#Check out the full sets on my of! (link in pinned post)

[satans-knitwear]

Are we supposed to actually know the rules these days?? Or are they just making it up depending on their mood?? 🙄

Treat me ~ Tip me

[spookypete-94]

Take a Picture (part 2) NSFW

Sorry I know I'd post later after the first one! But the heat went out at my home and ya know... priorities.

Part 1

But enjoy!

No p in v, oral, some fingering, kissing, biting...jealousy- yada yada

scareactor!GhostxFem!reader

Y/N looked for the large man who had pinned her to the wall on her way out as she dropped off the SD card to Kate... She realized she never even knew his name. Walking to her car, she felt like she was being watched, but every glance over her shoulder, she was unable to locate the source.

This made her feel uneasy, but she had an assumption that she knew who it was. His large figure was just somehow so well hidden. Giving up, she put her car in gear and headed for home.

Slowly, she managed her night-time routine, the hour now late. Crawling into bed, she eventually found sleep after thinking of the interaction for what felt like hours.

It was around noon when she woke up again, checking her phone to multiple notifications and an email from her new employer.

"Thank you for the pictures. The success has gone wild on our social media. Our watermark has been placed on them along with her artist handle name for you social media. Please return tonight at 4 PM, same as last night." A link was then included in the email showing the album that had been shared on their multiple social media pages.

Opening it, she was in awe, not able to go through the pictures herself at the end of the night. She had no clue what she had caught. The main picture now at the top of their website is one of the nameless man she felt herself swooning for. Mid-scare, size hulking over a group, all of them cowering in fear. Her eyes traced over his muscles, the picture seized at the moment with the axe prop above his head before he was to bring it down.

Closing her eyes, she thought about being closed in by him once more. Stuck in the corner, his arms on either side of her, and his hot breath that was seeping through his mask creeping across her skin once more. The words he had spoke ringing through her head, hoping he would hold true on his promise. Unsure of how to make him follow through with it.

She ate and got ready, 4 PM not too far off from her shift start. Pulling into the lot, she found Kate outside of the briefing room.

"See my email?" she asked, her tone showing how impressed she was.

"I did!!"

"Let's have a repeat." Opening the door for her to enter. Y/N saw the room wasn't as full this time, but she was early. Yesterday, she had paperwork to go through and sign, but tonight, she had the pick of the room 6 she wanted to stand.

Choosing the back in the corner near a chair and table, she pulled out her equipment to get set up. The room eventually started to fill, workers filing in like an ant line. Her eyes would periodically look up where, at last, she locked on to the brown ones that had teased her last night. If his mask was off... she would be able to see his smirk. She would be able to tell he was happy to see her. But she didn't, and that lingering feeling of excitement and fear hit her all over again, factored from the unknown.

Watching his wide stride, her heart pounded, seeing him get closer. But nothing matched the feeling when she felt him stand behind her. She looked up at him, tilting her head back, trying to be inconspicus as she did so. However, his eyes were already down, looking at her.

"Evenin', sweetheart," he mumbled down to her in that deep voice of his. The embarrassment Y/N felt made her head quickly jolt down as she squeaked, now looking ahead. Chuckles could be heard from him, making her heart rate spike.

This briefing started out about the same, but instead of being in the main courtyard, she was on the other side of the park for the night. Learning the large man's name as Ghost finally, he would be on the main side of the park and in her area later at shift change.

"See ya' out there, kitten," was said lowly into her ear while he bent over and picked up his prop axe next to her bag.

"See you," was all she could manage to say, feeling dumb at the lack of words and her normal wit. Seems like this man just rendered her speechless.

Starting her trek to the back of the park before it opened, she was slightly sad she would not be able to see the droves of scariees come in like she did the night before... and maybe knowing that Ghost was there for the start of the night as well.

Setting up 2 cameras tonight, one on a tripod to catch groups of people going by, and another lose in her hands was her strategy for tonight. Always feeling like she did her job well, she was excited for tonight. The yelling from scarers, to the giggling fits as people ran away, allowing her to smile, distracting her from anything else. Conversations started to catch her ear, though, hearing whispers from young women and men about the large man at the front of the park. Him being the main person they had come to see. She knew instantly who they were talking about.

"The pictures looked great, but man he looks better in person."

"Did you see how close he was to us?"

"He's so hot."

Hating to admit it, but she felt so damn jealous. The attention he was giving to others, she wanted for herself. But having to remind herself this is what people pay for... and she was getting paid. Telling herself to pull her head out of her ass, she focused on her task at hand. Stopping people and asking if they wanted pictures with the actors helping time go by. Shift change finally came, and it seemed as though Ghost appeared. He brought a flood of people with him. People flocked to him, and he basked in it.

The jealousy flared up all over again, and she fought hard to reel in it's ugly green head. Grateful for the half mask she wore at least hiding her furrowed brow, but if anyone knew her well enough- they could tell by her tight lips how annoyed she was.

Glued to one spot, she stayed listening to people ask over and over again to take their picture with their "beloved hot" Ghost. Some even linking their arms around his waist or hands on his chest. Fuming. Absolutely fuming was the way to describe how Y/N felt.

It was a turn of events when Ghost pushed through the herd of people. Long strides once more to reach her. He towered down to look at her for a hot second before he picked her up and threw her over his shoulder, making her let out multiple gasps. One leaving her mouth, and the dozens of others watching him carry her away.

"What are you doing!?" she asked.

"Look like you need a break," his tone coy.

"I'm getting paid for this!" Her whining was quickly silenced from a light bite that he placed on the plush of her thigh next to his head.

"I'll pay ya' for what I'm about to do if you're that worried then." He said, snagging her camera and exchanging an SD card for one that was in his pocket with the one that had her work on it.

Taking her to the back of the park, and into what looked like to be a shop on the outside but was storage for the park.

He set her down on what looked like to be an old Victorian couch, no doubt used at the park. Arms caging her head, leaning in while he lifted up the mask.

"These are mine. No one else will see them or have them." Understanding what he was implying she nodded, eyes locked with his autumn ones. Lips then locked with hers, kissing her slowly.

"Can't be getting jealous at work." The tone he was using now taunting her.

"Easy for you to say."

The thunder of his chuckle reverberated through his chest. Placing his hands on her jeans he slipped them down, she lifting herself to allow him, hand brushing against covered pussy. She gasped at his braziness, but arched with him as his hands rode up her core and grabbed the hem of her sweatshirt.

"You want to be mine then?" voice still rumbling in her ear.

"Yes." She blurted out, preparing to lift her shirt.

He smacked her hand away, laughing louder this time.

"I will take my time here, little one."

Groaning, she laid back down. Lifting the camera, he began to snap photos of her mask, t-shirt, and panties.

"Want to document everything." He said, moving her legs into the next position, angling them as he took photos lower and lower. "Ya alright with this?" He asked kindly, making sure she was comfortable.

"I am," Y/N said confidently.

Lifting her shirt, he started placing a trail of light kisses in his wake.

"What's yer name?"

This time, a light giggle left her, finding it ironic she was this far with a man who didn't even know who she was.

"Y/N."

His mouth rewarded her for her answer. He bit at her ribcage, grabbing the thin flesh, starting to suck to place a hickey. Gasping and squirming harder, he tightened his grip on her, refusing to let go.

"Well, Y/N. You're mine, and I'm yours." Fingers running across the marked flesh before snapping another photo of her bearing his mark. Leaning in, he kissed her once more, fingers running across her lips after.

"These are mine," kissing her lips deeply hands now running up her shirt.

"These are also mine," he said lightly, squeezing her breasts, removing her shirt up over head. Fingers now tracing down her tummy and to her back where he squeezed her ass.

"This is mine." Before flipping her over, a slight grunt from the shock of him being so quick about it. Large hands grabbed her hips and ran up her body. Lightly, he pushed in between her shoulder blades, pushing her into the couch. She felt his teeth once more on her skin before leaving another love mark on her left hip.

Next, he stood up beside her as he took a picture of her from the side before getting back inbetween her legs and pulled her panties down. Fingers rubbed against her flooded core.

"But this is especially mine." He near growled into her ear before slipping a finger in, making her moan. Smoothly, he used one hand to unclasp her bra, it sliding down her arms from gravity. Wiggling his fingers inside her, curling up as he did. It made her gasp uncontrollably, but his tongue pressed against her, making her squeak. Slipping another finger in as he did, his tongue lower pressing into her clit and nose angled against her ass cheek. It was a pattern he was doing frevently, moving quickly to make her cum. Promptly, she did, walls squeezing around his fingers, him slowing down. Nipping at her outer thigh once more, he flipped her over on to her back. Grabbing the camera, he took pictures of her body fully naked, but face still covered with the mask.

The peace of this position was quickly over as he yanked her legs up over the side of the couch, making her yelp. Head was now hanging off the side of the couch where her hair cascaded down to the floor, pooling at the ground.

"I got ya love," he said, calming her, fingers at the base of her jaw turning her head to the side, backing up and taking pictures of her body in this provacative position.

Y/N had never done anything like this before... let alone with someone she just met.

The intimacy from him only increased, watching him crawl to her. He tugged at the ties on her mask, it was now falling to the ground where he left it. The prop played into the art he was making. Sitting back on the ground in front of her, the camera continued to snap. She was muse completing his master piece.

"Look at me," his voice was low and seductive.

Instantly, she turns her head to look at him, completely bare before him. Watching the shutter close and open, the flash went off, and she stayed staring at where his eyes were behind the camera.

"Good girl," he crawled to her once more, quickly reaching her to kiss her long and slow. Tongues running together.

The bells ringing out to midnight, signifying the park was now closing. Everyone turning into pumpkins.

"Get dressed, get your gear." He said, popping the SD card of his into his pocket and putting hers back in.

"What??" Shocked he wasn't going further, disappointed a better term.

"Going to take ya' for dinner first 'fore I fuck ya' proper. Get dressed. I know of a 24 hour diner." Lightly tossing her clothes to her.

"Oh." The skin of her cheeks bright red, once again embarrassed from her needy behavior.

Once dressed, she flipped on her camera, making sure the images were not of her before she turned her SD card in.

"Told you, for my eyes only." He said, showing her the SD card.

Nodding once more, scurrying to drop the cards off with Kate, ready to go on this date with Ghost.

"What are you?" He asked, blocking the door smiling coyly.

"Yours"

"And I am?"

"Mine." The answer came out easy, grinning.

"Good girl."

Simon Ghost Riley Masterlist

[luvvyouforever]

rhys and john keats - modern au!rhysand x college student!reader ❥

↳ reader can barely handle the weight of college but rhysand is there to pick her up and help the pain.

↳ so self indulgent it hurts. set in a modern age where reader is a college student but rhysand is still high lord? idk honestly. mentions of stress, self doubt, comfort, crying. my day-to-day life essentially.

↳ requests are open! check characters in pinned post and link for requests is in my bio :)

the living room of your shared apartment with rhysand is a sight to behold. papers, printed copies of poems, books, pens, highlighters, and three energy drinks enclose you in a circular shape. it's horrifying and the sight is not eased by your messy hair, dark circles, and tear-stained cheeks. the semester was getting to you, clearly.

three papers were due for one class in the next two weeks. six quizzes were on the agenda and you had easily ten multiple page texts to read before class at 9am the following monday.

it had never been this stressful before but your time in college was coming to an end and that only ramped up the amount of work you had to complete. your final few semesters were certain to end you and you'd never get to walk across that stage to receive a blank page of paper which would eventually be replaced with your actual diploma. that's how it felt, at least.

minutes full of agony passed until you heard the familiar flapping of strong wings on the balcony. you didn't move from your sitting position as rhysand sauntered into the room, smile so wide it reached his violet eyes.

"my dear y/n," he whispered. his voice was so sweet that another tear forced its way out of your eye and down your cheek again. he must have sensed it, the stress pouring down your bond, or maybe he could somehow smell the salt of the tear as it dripped onto the page in your lap. he knelt down to meet your face and he pouted. "what's going on, darling?"

for the first time that night, you tore your gaze away from your work and met his eyes. "there's too much," you mumbled with a watery voice. "i can't do this."

he made a click with his tongue while examining the piles of work on the floor. his fingers lifted the assignment prompts and poems and syllabus requirements. more tears fell and you silently cursed each and every one of them.

"why can't you do it? what's challenging you?" he asked gently. it was not meant to condescend but he was trying to figure out how to help you in the best way possible.

"i feel like the analyses i'm coming up with are dumb, i don't understand the lines, the rhyme scheme is stupid, and i don't know what my thesis is for a moronic paper on keats should be. it's stupid and dumb and i'm stupid and dumb."

rhysand moved his hands to your cheeks before you could even react and pulled your face to meet his strong eye contact. his purple eyes bore into yours and he poured liters of reassurance down the bond. that mental claw in his head brushed against your mind in a calming manner. "do not say words like that, my love. you are so intelligent. and you're fully capable of managing everything on your plate."

you sniffed, feeling pathetic in his strong gaze. "i don't feel that way, though. i don't know how to deal with this stress, rhys. it's impossible. it's like this huge tower looming before me and i'm being asked to climb every single step in the best possible way or else i'll be pushed off of the top."

rhysand breathed out a sigh and his hand found your own. "i'm gonna help you climb that tower, okay?" he grabbed a brightly annotated copy of a keats poem and read over it.

"have you even read keats? or dickinson? do you know what a thesis statement is?" you asked. there was a bite to your words but it didn't faze rhysand in the slightest.

"of course i do, love. what do you think i do in my spare time when i'm not being an expert ruler? there's a small section i had put in the library, down on one of the lower floors, and it's full of human books. there's anthologies of authors, textbooks on writing, math theory, whatever you want, it's there. and i've perused it all. this poem-" he held up the printed keats "-is one of my favorites.

"so, the way i interpret this poem is that in order to withstand and stay strong in the face of suffering, we should indulge in poetry, beauty, and art. don't you think so?" he began to recite some lines which resembled this theme and suddenly, it all made sense.

he did that two more times with the other texts you had to write about. everything connected when he taught it and read it. you now had three outlines completed with well-developed thesis statements, annotated stories and poems for discussion, and three out of six quizzes were completed.

"thank you," you said, pouring as much love through your bond as you could. "really, thank you. this means so much to me."

"of course, my dear. shall i put on a sweater vest and glasses and replace your professor from here on out?"

you giggled and finally stood from the floor. the two of you walked into the kitchen to begin making a nutritious, filling dinner with your favorite velaris-sourced wine. "i would absolutely take you up on that offer if it didn't mean everyone in the class would be vying for your attention."

rhysand's arms wrapped around your midsection while you prepared food for dinner. his head leaned forward so that his mouth was by your ear. "i only have eyes for the smartest person in class."

can you tell i'm an english major? this is all very self-insert, i read the keats poem i talked about like two weeks ago :p

[problemsynth]

The Masquerade Breach Zine

Hi I am ProblemSynth also known as Zeke. I’m a bi-transmasc artist and occasional writer with a love of vampires and VTM. I am also making the (probably terrible) choice to set up a free community zine for the first time.

Overview

Masquerade Breach is a free community E-Zine for enjoyers of the Vampire The Masquerade games and media. The theme of this project is the violation of the “Masquerade” and the various ways kindred breach it.

While the focus is largely on vampires, you’re invited to interpret the theme not just through the eyes of kindred but also through the eyes of mortals and hunters.

There is currently a soft limit of 30 applicants with those applying after entering a wait list in the event of drop outs.

Goals

The aim of this project is to collect pictures and short stories from the community in one place, and give it back in the form of a free printable PDF. 

This zine will be distributed largely through tumblr and the discord with links to the PDF on Google Drive. Links to the social media(s) of participants will be shown alongside the tumblr and Discord posts.

I will be pinning this post to my blog for reference.

As this is my first public Zine I expect some hiccups along the way. I will do by best to communicate when they happen via tumblr, discord, and dms (when necessary). Please be a little patient with me as I work things out.

Applicant Restrictions

Please be at least 18 years old. 

What’s The Schedule?

Applications - Dec 10, 2023 to Feb 21, 2024 (full)

Submissions - Dec 10, 2023 to Feb 29, 2024

Formatting submissions - Mar 1, 2024 to Mar 31, 2023 

Distribution - Mar 31, 2023

You Can Find The Whole Project Plan Here

You Can Apply Here

The Discord Is here

Please feel free to contact me with questions.

Edit: Slight update to the release date. Life happened and march wound up being nonstop work from all sides. so theres going to be a few weeks delay on release as i get things in order. many sorry's.

[nexility-sims]

dear new followers (& y'all who've been here, i reckon)

i have realized that my pinned post is super outdated and unhelpful at the moment, so redoing it is on my to-do list. in the meantime, feels like a good time to give some quick intro links. hopefully these will help those of you who actually want to know what's going in the N-Verse figure it out.

my current story ("1992") is a prequel-slash-spinoff, and it's new, so now is a good time to catch up / follow along:

you can find the directory of posts here

you can jump in chronologically here

you can find the most recent posts here

the character page is here

there's a gameplay au (yes, another spinoff) here

it's a spinoff of my main story (calling it "house of tecuani"), currently on hiatus, which takes place sixty years earlier. you don't need to read it to follow the spinoff, but nonetheless:

the intro to the story's premise is here

you can find the directory of posts here

you can jump in chronologically here

check out the reference family tree here

i do a lot of worldbuilding, findable here

i post outtakes: past settings and present ones

it's a prequel because it's a collaboration with @/armoricaroyalty, whose half is set twenty-five years later, in the present:

you can jump in where the collab starts here (or, ideally, explore gabe's full story here)

lastly, i am always eager to answer questions, i love spam-liking, i try to reply to comments (altho i am slow), and i'm on disco 24/7 if anyone wants to hit me up, so please interact if you feel like it !

thanks for being here and / or sticking around ♥️

[tspud-whiteboard]

[Full Previews, Final Files and Extras can be found on GoogleDrive!] !!! THE DEADLINE HAS ARRIVED !!! (End of June it was) I am currently working on putting together the final files, but as this might take a while, YOU CAN STILL KEEP SENDING ME YOUR FELLAS! Once I’ve prepared the actual, finished, fullsize versions, this pinned post will unpin itself and I’ll put a different one here, with the final previews, the download links and some information what the future may hold... maybe I’ll do a Season Two if the interest is there. But we’ll have to see about that. For now, [SUBMIT MORE] like the wind while you still can! Hello, hello! Welcome to The Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe Whiteboard Collaboration (a just-for-fun fan project)! I’m assuming that you found your way here because you’re well aware what The Stanley Parable is, and that you are curious to know what a Whiteboard Collaboration might be about!

Let me cut straight to the case then. It all started in 2023 - the 27th of April, to be precise - which just so happened to be the One Year Anniversary for the release of The Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe on Steam and consoles, along with the historically very important and internationally renowned - or at the very least grudgingly accepted - 4/27: STANLEY DAY!

To celebrate the occasion, and only one day too late on the 28th, an idea came forth to put together a Whiteboard, containing all those Stanleys by all the fan artists out there (all credited, of course!), a worthy tribute to the Man of the Hour! And as you can see... we’ve already got quite a few collected!

But why stop there? Since plenty of people also came up with their own Narrator designs, and there’s a good few Timekeeper-Settings-432s and Curators, and plenty of other characters (defining the term loosely here), we might as well give them all their own little space to look absolutely dashing next to each other! Imagine, all those different designs, united in one glorious collection!

My point being... I’d love to see yours in there as well.

So... how can you join in?

The gist can be found up there in the first image, but let me also put it into text form down here, with some extra information:

[Submit] your Stanley, Narrator, 432 or Curator mugshot (or all of them at the same time!). You have [some other canon TSP favorite]? Go ahead, submit ‘em, too! We’ll find a spot. The format of the picture needs to be 300px (width) x 400px (height) to fit with the others. I can resize and cut them into shape if needed, but it’ll be easier on all of us if I don’t have to do that. All pictures will have a small white frame added by me afterwards, to give them that authentic printout flair.

Should the [Submit] button not work for you (I triple-checked and it works for me, but then who knows what this thing does while I’m not looking), sending your artworks through PM or tell me where you posted them is fine as well!

AUs and all art styles are fine! Please only submit one picture per character (if you have more than one design, maybe pick your favorite, or elegantly squeeze them into one picture. If you absolutely cannot decide, sending two pictures per character is okay, but I’d like to cap it there to give everyone equal amounts of space.

Must be Safe For Work!

This is also very important: Tell me how to credit you! Your name will go under your artwork, I do have to put something there. I’ll likely default to your username if I have nothing else to go by, but it’s best if you directly tell me, right there in your submission.

I will publish your submission(s) on here as soon as I’ve added it to the queue, so you’ll know it went through okay, and so you can show it around to others if you wish! (I can’t do that with PMs, of course.)

THE DEADLINE: Please try to submit your artworks before the End of June! Yes, 2023. This month. In this year. There’s a chance I’ll change this if a sudden influx of new entries rolls in, but as of now it looks like it’s a good time to start wrapping this up. I want my life back and all. ...But prove me wrong, why don’tcha? Why not tell your favorite TSP artists that they NEED TO BE ON THIS THING? NEED TO! WE CRAVE THEM, PRECIOUS. ...Sorry, got carried away there.

I give updates regularily. Previews of the latest Whiteboard statuses, questions that need answering, sometimes I might just add some nonsense rambles, all inclusive, for free.

The FINAL files, whenever they’re ready, will be 8000x4000px in size each and are mostly a much bigger version of the previews, with maybe a few small changes for the aesthetics.That’s quite massive. Humongous. It’s really impressive to browse all those artworks next to each other at that size. Here’s the [Google Drive] link, for all to download from and share around. So far, you can always find the latest Previews and a bunch of random Extras there, along with the first fullsize Stanley board as a test. Please do make suggestions if there’s better options, or if you can’t drive the Google.

I also post on Twitter and the Crows Crows Crows Discord server (fanart channel). If either of those are more comfortable options for you, or if you know someone on there who might also be interested in joining this collaboration, maybe poke me so I can give you directions. Or you might be able to find it yourself, I’m not actively hiding them away. Not even passively.

I think that’s all for now! If you have questions, suggestions, reservations, my Asks should be open. Looking forward to hopefully a lot more additions to the Whiteboards, there’s quite a few of you guys I’d loooove to see on there!

[luxaryllis]

My Friend

Note: I'm back!! I wrote this fic for @twst-charity , which is a Twisted Wonderland-themed charity drive for Palestine. Please do check it out and donate!! Their pinned post and blog in general has a lot of information, and they also have contributor sign-ups open as well! I really hope you guys can support in any way you can!

Here's the link to donate and send a request as well! The whole thing works rather similarly to giving a commission, except you simply have to provide a proof of your donation and then give your request.

Anyways, this is a fic focused on Rollo and the donor's oc, Robin! Fic is under the cut. I had so much fun writing this, especially since this was my first time writing for Rollo. Hopefully I can also get to work on other requests for the charity drive and the requests on my inbox as well! This is also full fluff so no warnings from here!

Chatter and laughter fill the cafe, filling the area with a lively and bustling atmosphere. The smell of coffee beans and freshly baked pastries waft through the air and easily excite the customers piling in. The door jingles lightly with every person walking in, and people all converse together happily. Groups of friends, couples, families, and even those alone are enveloped by the welcoming ambience of the cafe.

The bells jingle again, prompting the servers to enthusiastically thank the two people who were leaving. Rollo and Robin step out of the warm cafe, a cold breeze greeting them as soon as they step outside. Robin takes a small sip of his hot chocolate, smiling happily at the toasty feeling it brings to him. The shorter boy lets out a small hum of contentment as the hot beverage smoothly goes down his throat.

“Mmmh! Thanks for treating me, Rollo. This cafe really is good!” Robin grins up at Rollo in happiness and gratitude. Rollo only nods, using his handkerchief to cover his mouth a bit. Rollo’s voice is slightly muffled as he speaks from behind the cloth, “Of course. It’s my pleasure. This cafe is known for its authentic traditional food from Fleur City, so I thought it best to show you the richness of Fleur City’s culture.”

The two start to stroll together by the sidewalk, a peaceful silence between the two friends. A few butterflies flutter over, making Robin giggle slightly as he watches them fly about without a care. The butterflies then proceeded to fly away, the whimsical wings fluttering off. Just as the winged insects flew out of view, a small drop of water fell on Rollo’s shoulder, making him pause and look around to see whoever or whatever made the water fall on him.

With that one droplet of water, came another. And another. Until drops of rain were falling from the sky. Robin lets out an exclamation of surprise, not having anticipated it to start raining. It’s somewhat evident that Rollo didn’t expect it either, if his annoyed mutters into the handkerchief fully covering his mouth mean anything. The two quickly run back to the cafe, stopping just outside and taking shelter under the extended roof. Rollo heaves a sigh of relief and pockets his handkerchief, looking at Robin who was trying to dry his slightly damp hair.

Robin lets out a small chuckle and quickly downs the rest of his hot chocolate, setting it by the table nearby. The two take a seat and watch as Fleur City becomes a rainy wonderland. While it was a mundane and normal sight to Rollo, who has lived in Fleur City his whole life, it seemed almost like a life-changing experience to Robin. There was just something so beautiful about how the raindrops fell and made puddles in the ground, rippling with every drop that fell. How the petals of the flowers outside would bend a bit when a drop would fall on them, and how the bright sun still shines despite the rain and darkening clouds, making a wonderful scene.

Such a stunning sight should definitely be captured on camera.

The younger boy takes out his camera and turns it on, looking through the viewfinder of the camera. Robin squints in concentration as he fiddles with the focus and zoom rings on his camera, trying to find the best way to capture the wondrous moment. Rollo watches on in slight confusion, but doesn’t say anything just yet. He knows when someone needs to focus, and photography is a delicate art that requires all concentration. A shutter and click sound is heard, and Robin looks at the photo he took. A bright grin grows on his face as he sees the picture.

“Rollo, Rollo! You should take a look at this!” Rollo blinks a bit and leans over curiously, looking from above Robin’s shoulder to see the picture. It was just a standard picture of Fleur City raining; it wasn’t anything extraordinary. While Fleur City was a beautiful sight, was it really worth taking a photo of it while it was raining? It’s still the same city, after all; it’s not like there’s any change to Fleur City as it rains. The same buildings, the same flowers, the same people.

And yet... when looking at it through Robin’s camera, everything seems brighter, almost mesmerising. Rollo was used to the sight of Fleur City, though he loved his homeplace very dearly, but even he didn’t expect to see this beautiful sight. The camera caught even the smallest of details, and it was so wonderful to see that such a moment was perfectly captured and preserved. Rollo forces himself to hide the small smile growing on his face, but lets himself release a sound of affirmation and pride. “Hm, you did well. A beautifully taken picture. The beauty of Fleur City truly shines with this...”

It was rare for Rollo to give praise to anything or anyone, and is more seen showing his disdain for things more than anything else. Robin blushes a bit and sheepishly grins, puffing out his chest a bit in confidence, “Hehe I’m glad you like it! Oh! How about I print it out for you? You really like Fleur City, don’t you? I can print it out as a keepsake for you or something.”

Rollo blinks a bit in surprise, “Really? You would?” He pauses and hesitates a bit. His pride and ego is telling him not to accept it; after all, he shouldn’t seem so vulnerable in front of others. Especially not after what happened last time. He swore to himself never to let his emotions truly get the better of him. He’s been forgiven by the NRC students, but he’ll never forget their faces and the faces of the people who got hurt because of him. But then... it’s Robin.

It surprises him how kind Robin is, and he feels almost taken aback when Robin nods happily, his big grin brighter than even the sun. Rollo sighs in defeat, “I would like that. Thank you…”

Robin lets out a celebratory noise and keeps his camera. “I’ll print it out when I get back and give it to you, then!”

It was so surprising sometimes, how Robin can be so sweet to someone like Rollo. Rollo knows he can be too much. He knows he’s done so many things that are wrong. No matter how much he works, he knows he might never truly make up for it. He doesn’t understand how Robin, who has been so exposed to magic despite having none himself, can be so caring and understanding. How can Robin be so kind to him? Rollo is rather sure that, after what he’s done to Robin’s friends, he wouldn’t even want to be associated with him.

Rollo breaks the peaceful silence between them as he softly speaks, “Why? Why are you so kind to me?” Robin blinks and tilts his head to the side with a confused expression. “Hm? What do you mean by that?”

The older boy sighs and tries to explain, “I mean... certainly you should feel some sort of disdain towards me, shouldn’t you? It’s a wonder that you’re so kind to me. So why? Why are you…?"

“Huh?! Hey, don’t say that, Rollo! Why am I so kind to you...? Well, I guess it’s because it looks like you need a friend!” Robin musters up a kind smile to his companion. “I don’t see how it’s so special, though, but I’d be very glad to be the friend that you need!”

A friend… Rollo’s had close acquaintances before, maybe some people he’ll confide in sometimes, but he’s never really thought of anyone as a friend. After the incident with his younger brother, after he swore to himself to eradicate all magic in this world, he’s never had someone he can truly call a friend. He tries to keep his blush and smile hidden behind his handkerchief, muttering to himself as he averts his gaze.

Yet Robin thinks of him as a friend. Are there people out there who think of him as a friend too? Perhaps not, not with his terrible temperament. But Robin seeing him as a friend is a big surprise. Or, knowing the first year’s friendliness and kindness, maybe it isn’t so shocking.

“I don’t deserve someone as amazing as you…” Rollo mumbles out softly, his voice muffled by the handkerchief over his mouth. As Rollo watches Robin hum in confusion, asking what he just said, he swears to himself to not make the same mistake he made last time.

Robin makes him feel like a normal person again. Like he isn’t just Noble Bell College’s Student Council President. Like he’s just another person. Like he didn’t actually do so many terrible things in a fit of rage and revenge. Like he’s just a friend to someone. It’s hard to muster up the words to describe the warmth he feels, and Rollo’s pride and ego just can’t let him express his true feelings. Not now. Not yet. For now, he can only manage to say what he’s always wanted to say in his head.

“Thank you, Robin. You’ve saved me, my friend.”

[69constellationsinatrenchcoat]

Hi! I'd love a rundown of why you use PluralKit and Tupperbox! I've not looked much into did management apps before tbh

Awesome! This is adding on from this post about SimplyPlural.

Your main options for tracking apps are SimplyPlural and Octocon.

Octocon is currently only available on android while SimplyPlural is on web, android, iOS and can be run as a program/pinned to taskbar on Windows (I don't know how but one of my sysmates installed it as a web app program 😅).

Main options for discord proxying (or messaging as an individual); PluralKit, Tupperbox and Octocon. All three are added to a server as a bot, and allow for a proxy/app message that displays as a different username but remains linked to your account.

Using commands specific to each application, users can find out who posted each message.

Okay so back to the question

Why do we use TB and SimplyPlural instead of the alternatives?

SimplyPlural

Super easy explanation: we've been using SimplyPlural longer than Octocon has been around. We've got about 16 months worth of tracking data, friends, 40 or so custom fields saved in it, along with all our alters and personal info. Making the switch to Octocon was something we tried when it was first announced, but we decided against it after giving it a test run as both an app and as a discord bot. We had some issues with importing custom fields and image hosting.

For those of you who don't know, custom fields are categories, or questions that you can ask an alter to fill in; some come built in like favourite colour, food etc, however you can also add your own as needed. Ours include everything from name, internal relationships (e.g. alter A hates alter B but adores alter C, alter C is alter D's child, alter C and B are siblings etc), skills, favourite things, and positive/negative triggers, amongst other things. We use them all the time, and a fair number of our alters have filled in the questions - losing that information was not something we wanted to do (..or heaven forbid... copying all of it over from existing SimplyPlural profiles). I suspect this is something that Atlas, the developer, is working on.

Presently, Octocon doesn't have the functionality we need/are used to from SimplyPlural. Sooo, onto some positives; things we adore about SimplyPlural

>The ability to host images within custom fields and alter descriptions, using '' allowing us to do things like this...

Kaden learnt how to do this and posted about it at the time, since then he has since been slowly explaining to the rest of us how to do it.

Our SimplyPlural profiles are one of the places where we can be fully ourselves without worrying as much about the collective's outward appearance etc; some of us dress our profiles up with collages, fancy text, banners, and flags while others just have a bit of information or an empty bio; it's completely up to the individual (and not being biased or anything, but our personalities really show up in profiles).

> Front history

Having a full breakdown of fronters past (as long as they log it) is super helpful, especially when our therapist wants to check in on triggers etc. It also helps us to figure out when an alter may have gone dormant or may only appear at specific times. I specifically like that it gives you a visual breakdown of who was fronting during what time, and it holds information on individual alter profiles about when they fronted, and for how long.

>Privacy buckets

This is something I posted about a few days ago. The current beta version has reworked the privacy settings from public (all friends), trusted friends (selected people) and private (your system only) to entirely in the user's control. Instead of having 3 options, you can make specific categories for groups of friends, or even label each of your friends with one bucket and choose each alter, custom field and custom front they can see.

@persmo made a really detailed post on this in late August that I've linked here.

>Friends

The ability to change the amount of data friends are able to see (eg. ee shared members, see fronter etc)

>Message Boards

Each profile has their own message board. Messages left on boards send a notification to the phone when that specific alter fronts, meaning if someone forgets to check the shared chat, they still get the information. Notifications will continue being sent every time they mark front until that alter marks the message as read.

Being able to leave messages for each other has been a literal lifesaver.

>In-system Chat

SimplyPlural has a section where you can chat solely within your system. It functions a bit like Discord in the way that you set up sections with individual chats inside of them.

We use them for fun things like silly quotes, reading logs, infodumping, as well as more serious things - if something happened to someone we love, we'd mark it in there to make sure the information is passed on to those who need to know.

>Groups

Alter groups are incredibly helpful for us, even though we're a relatively small system. We use them as tags for interests, roles, ages and tagging sources for our few introjects.

Tagging interests and roles often ends up looking like this 😆 I promise it makes sense to us... ish.

>Analytics

System analytics is one of the features we use a lot in therapy, especially now that we have more than 6 months data saved in SP tracking. We can see at a glance how much one alter has fronted in a set amount of time, and how many times they have tracked as fronter.

>App reminders

SimplyPlural allows for users to set reminders at specific times (eg. everyday at 3pm take your meds) but also that the reminders are sent after an action happens. We have an automatic reminder set up for a set amount of time after someone marks front, to make sure they are still fronting.

>Honourable mentions

System polls

Switch notifications (both for our friends and for when our system friends switch)

'Quick front entries' - adding a member to front history if they didn't track

User reports; reports generated by SimplyPlural that remain attached to a URL that can be sent to family, friends, therapists etc without giving your SimplyPlural username or making them get the app.

Cross platform support: SimplyPlural runs on android, iOS and web, meaning as long as our friends have a log in they can use it... and we can run it on all our devices.

I've totally missed some things, but they're the most important points

TupperBox

This section is shorter, promise.

We chose TupperBox over PluralKit and Octocon as we didn't want to have any personal data (beyond names) linked to our discord. PluralKit has the capacity to have member profiles, however the trade-off is having a system ID number that is attached to every member profile (no matter how tight your privacy is) that can be used by anyone to pull up any linked information that's marked public. More information on why here.

PluralKit makes users automatically public with commands and the online portal being the only way to change it. Unfortunately, many treat PluralKit as if it's private and often include extremely personal things in their descriptions (triggers, sexuality, etc). More conversation on that here.

Unfortunately, I don't have much experience with Octocon's integration on Discord, but I have heard pretty good things about it.

Tupperbox has less functionality than PluralKit and Octocon in that it's mostly streamlined for role-playing simplicity. All that displays when you send a proxy message is the name of the tupper/user and an optional profile picture, which we drastically prefer. It sucks not being able to bring up a profile to say who we are, but we'd rather have that than have our PluralKit leaked.

All of this is personal preference, use whatever you find works best! :)

[bookish-library]

The Underworld Saga, No Longer You

It's time for No Longer You! This is where stage elements really start to come into play, I hope y'all enjoy! Should be posting Monster soon!

Apologies for any formatting errors, I'm on mobile

Ao3 link here, full story under cut!

Stage directions are referenced, so here is a key:

(SR/SL are if you were standing on the stage, and what your left and right would be. If you were in the audience (house) it would be reversed) SR: stage right SL: Stage left CS: Center stage DS: Down stage US: Up stage MS: Mainstage (not a real industry term, but useful for this situation) Segue: means continue straight into without stopping Check out my pinned post for a diagram of the stage!

Segue from THE UNDERWORLD

Stage is still in the Underworld, fog machines continue, lights highlighting TIRESIAS in white/grey. As TIRESIAS begins, fog machines amp up, creating a thick fog by time of chorus. Projections will be onto mainstage fog. CREW exits during V1, leaving ODYSSEUS on the extension. TIRESIAS is blindfolded (use see-through fabric) and carries a wooden staff. Note: ODYSSEUS does not step onto mainstage during song until directed. 

TIRESIAS stays SR until ODYSSEUS speaks. 

TIRESIAS:

I am the prophet with the answers you seek

Time, I've unlocked it

I see past and future running free (He gestures, cue PROJECTION: A streak of white, winding across ground level, from TIRESIAS, SR to MidSL)

There is a world where I help you get home

But that's not a world I know

ODYSSEUS ( spoken, taking a step towards him ):

What?

Projections appear behind TIRESIAS as he walks.

TIRESIAS (crossing to CS):

I see a song of past romance                                                                         (PROJECTION: Shadow of PENELOPE)  

I see the sacrifice of man                                                                               (PROJECTION: Shadow of CREW being slain by POLYPHEMUS)

I see portrayals of betrayal                                                                             (PROJECTION: Shadow of crew opening bag of wind) *replace if more context later?

And a brother's final stand                                                                             (PROJECTION: Shadow of EURYLOCHUS, sword drawn)

I see you on the brink of death

I see you draw your final breath

I see a man who gets to make it home alive                                                    (PROJECTION: Shadow of ODYSSEUS, but something is…off about his appearance)

But it's no longer you                                                                                     

(TIRESIAS waves and projections fade away)

ODYSSEUS (crossing towards him):

This can't be

We've suffered and sailed through the toughest of hells

Now you tell us our effort's for nothing?

TIRESIAS:

I see your palace covered in rеd                                                                      (PROJECTION: Ithaca palace, ceiling spotlight highlight in red)

Faces of men who had long beliеved you're dead

I see your wife with a man who is haunting                                                    (PROJECTION: PENELOPE held close by a shrouded figure)

(ODYSSEUS takes a step towards the projection) 

A man with a trail of bodies (Projection disappears)

As ODYSSEUS speaks, he crosses the short distance between himself and TIRESIAS, placing a foot on the mainstage. As he does this, the audience gets a glimpse of the monster that Odysseus could be.

ODYSSEUS (spoken, angrily):

Who?!

TIRESIAS steps onto the extension, crossing past ODYSSEUS. ODYSSEUS turns to follow, stepping off of the mainstage. No projections for this chorus, let Tiresias do his thing on the extension.

*Note: I have no clue what the chorus is saying, so it will be left out of the lyrics for now

TIRESIAS:

I see a song of past romance

I see the sacrifice of man

I see portrayals of betrayal (He gestures at the ship set)

And a brother's final stand

(He turns to face ODYSSEUS)

I see you on the brink of death

(Takes a few steps towards him, ODYSSEUS steps back in horror)

I see you draw your final breath

(In time with music, he crosses to ODYSSEUS as he says:)

I see a man who gets to make it home alive

(Reaching ODYSSEUS, he pauses, standing shoulder to shoulder with him, as if he was to whisper this in Odysseus’ ear)

But it's no longer

You

(As he holds his final note, he brushes past ODYSSEUS and travels to the mainstage, exiting into the fog [ideally the fog is thick enough for him to become obscured])

Timed with ensemble vocals, ODYSSEUS starts after TIRESIAS, but realizes it's futile, stopping mid-extension walkway. He is left alone to deal with the weight of what he has been told.

Segue into MONSTER

[magic-is-something-we-create]

My commissions are open!

- With some new options, no less! -

Examples of each kind can be found below the cut, along with a link to my Ko-Fi for ease of ordering! I have 8 slots available as of posting; check my pinned post or Ko-Fi for more up-to-date info on openings.

Note that prices are in USD, and only negotiable if your request falls outside of listed categories.

- STYLE OPTIONS -

Loose line style:

- A looser, thicker, pencil-lined style that's finished quicker, and more seamlessly blends with painted backgrounds and lots of texture.

- Cheaper; usually done in 1-3 days.

Sharp line style:

- Your typical pen-like line style that takes longer to finish, but allows for more intricate details, refined end results, and higher-res pieces that lend themselves well to sharper shading and coloring book pages.

- More expensive; usually done in 4-7 days.

All illustrations have options for either style base, as well as FLAT COLORS, FULL RENDERS/SHADING, BACKGROUNDS OF VARYING COMPLEXITY, and ADDITIONAL CHARACTERS/SUBJECTS. These are considered addons and WILL affect the price and time to completion.

I'm currently offering commissions for:

- Character/Creature busts (with 1-4 characters) ($10 base for Loose; $35 for Sharp)

- Character/Creature full bodies (with 1-4 characters) ($20 base for Loose; $45 for Sharp)

- Still life illustrations (no characters or creatures, but basic background included in base price) ($30 universal base)

- Icons (headshots only; multiple characters = matching set) ($10 universal base)

- Framed card illustrations (1-2 character limit; 1 creature limit) ($120; this is a format for a fully-rendered sharp-line piece with additional costs for frame composition, hand lettering, and detailed background.)

Examples can be found behind the cut, in my #my.art tag, and on my Ko-Fi linked below!

---> My Ko-Fi. <---

If you prefer not to use Ko-Fi for your order, message me here on Tumblr or on Discord (pkfinn#2463), or email me at magicissomethingwecreate@gmail.com with design references and/or character descriptions and your preferred payment method, and I will follow up as soon as I can! Non-Ko-Fi orders are paid half upfront, and half right before sending the completed file.

I retain the right to refuse any commission for any reason, and will provide a refund if any money has been exchanged; I am not comfortable drawing sexual material, below-the-waist nudity, or vivid gore, so please seek those elsewhere. Anthro characters will need more extensive reference material as well as time, as I am out of practice, but if that's fine with you, don't let it stop you from asking for one!

- EXAMPLES -

[Left column is loose style, right is sharp. If format warps on your dash, the first one is loose style, second is sharp.]

Bust examples (direct style comparison, too):

Fullbody examples:

Still life (loose style):

Icons (sharp example is >2 years old, but still fairly accurate to the style):

Framed cards:

[cg-sunnyd]

Pinned Post!

💫 hiya! my name's capri :)! 💫 You might know us from other hit blogs like my main agere acc or my side where I rb agere related images!

──── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──────

This is our CG-esque blog! There's two of us running this blog - TL and Capri :) Big age is 21+! please send an ask/dm with your side if you're following for a side acc! it won't be published, but we aren't comfy with non-agere blogs following!

DNI (Intro/Links below)

-please no nsfw/k!nk interaction. if your account isn't child-friendly, please DNI. -from the river to the sea, palestine will be free - if you are zionist, do not interact. you are not wanted here. -no syscourse- we are ENDO-FRIENDLY. if you are not, kindly respect yourself and us as well, and do not interact. -this is a side account- please don't be sad if we don't follow back! -please don't trauma-dump or come into our dm/asks with explicit things (ex: SH, abuse, ect). we have our own personal struggles, and while we are so, so sorry you have to face the struggles you do, we cannot be your counselor or therapist. -this doesn't mean that you can't come here looing for comfort or to talk about a rough day! i would love to listen to you, and to be a shoulder to support you. i just ask for no explicit details <:) -capri is not looking to be a personal caregiver! this is her general CG blog, but please don't dm asking if she can be your cg. she feels bad and has a hard time saying no. -emoji anons are welcome! i'll try and keep track :P -Padded regressors are safe and welcome here! -TL is totally cool for setting up this intro post for capri 😎

intros/links

💫Capri🍎 -i'm the one that will be most active on here, and mostly answering asks - aka, i'm the caregiver or person you're more likely to interact with :) -i use she/her or he/him, but i lean towards she/her. any terms are fine with me - mama/bubba/daddy, ect, but i lean more towards fem ones :). -i would love to see things that you make, draw, or create! you're more than welcome to tag this blog in posts or creations. -orange and pink are my favorite colours, and i love otters -i would love to just hear from you all! from babbles in the inbox to telling me about your day, i want to hear it☺️ -banner done by @thecouncilmakes (isn't necessarily sfw!) -an awesome pink-otter collage made by rainbowtimekidtime!

🚀TL🦈 -I'm more of a big brother than a full CG, but I love chatting with others and seeing things! I'm mostly just here because I want to be involved, lol -I use he/him or it/its pronouns, and masc terms only for me please! -I run agere art requests here- consider checking them out! -tag will probably be TL posts lol

🍎you can see a list of tags here!💫

💫 emoji anons absolutely welcome!🍎 🤍🐞 | 🦌🤎 | 🦋🌙 |

All in all, be kind, be respectful, and we're always happy to hear from you!

🍎things i've made!💫

-bedtime bear board! -pink skitty board! -juicezone request (blue + yellow themed board)! -playground themed board for anon! -falling leaves themed board! -apple themed board! -trick or treat (candy) themed board! - - -📖it's too much... (feeling overwhelmed/overstimulated story)! -📖rip and tear (tantrum/throwing a fit story!)

[squarebracket-trickster]

Hey I’m new to tumblr and want to start posting some of my writing for people to read and comment one. Do you have any tips on WIPs, drafts and how to get attention on it? Very new to this space so I don’t really know how things are done.

Hi! First of all, welcome to Tumblr (and Writeblr)!!

The first thing I recommend you do is make a Writeblr intro post and tag it #writeblr intro. Introduce yourself, what genres you like to write, who some of your inspirations are, what your WIP(s) is/are about. You can scroll through the tag to see what others have posted if you need ideas.

You can also make WIP specific intro posts and tag them #WIP intro. These tend to include images that match the vibe of your WIP and will also contain a blurb of what your story is about and a snippet or two of your writing.

For any writing you post - snippets, full chapters, WIP intros, OC intros, single sentences from your WIP - you can also make use of tags like #writing, #writeblr, #writers on tumblr, #fiction writing, #creative writing, #original writing, and genre specific tags like #fantasy writing. Put the five highest trending tags first to guarantee your post shows up in them.

Another great way to grow your blog (and help your writing find an audience) is to interact with other writeblrs. Follow the people who reblog your intro post, send them asks (and ask games like Story-Telling Saturday (STS) or Worldbuilding Wednesday (WBW)), reblog their WIPs, jump in on open tag games. My post for how tag games work can be found here. The more people get to know you the more people will send you asks back, tag you in games, and most importantly reblog your WIP posts so they can reach a wider audience.

You can also specify in your bio if you are ask/tag game friendly. You are more likely to get tags/asks if other writeblrs are certain they won't be annoying you haha.

In general, posts containing links to original writing hosted on other platforms (google docs, wordpress etc.) tend not to do as well as posts that contain the writing itself. I've also heard that posts with images and interesting titles tend to do better. Same with formatted paragraphs and dialogue as opposed to a single, huge text block.

Another thing you can do to help readers find your work is make a master-post for all your WIPs and pin it to the top of your blog. List each WIP, then add hyperlinks below (in reading order) to each post containing snippets/excepts from it. [To make a hyperlink: click on the three dots on the top of the post you want to link to, select "copy link", then go to the post you want to link from, select the text you want to link, then ctrl+v. This will be your end result.]

In settings, you can also feature up to 10 tags that you use for all content on your blog related to specific WIPs. This will help make it easier for readers to search for and find your content too.

My last bit of advice is to talk about writing on your blog (and use the tags). Make little jokes and memes, those "oof relatable" kind of posts, and make and reblog writing advice from time to time. It is the hard truth of WriteBlr that these posts get a lot more interaction than original writing does but they do serve to get your blog seen by more people because they are short, relatable, have wide appeal, and/or low-effort to read. Strangely, they seem to prompt people to check out your blog. I tend to get a small wave of new followers every time one of my posts reaches 100 notes or more. I can only speculate as to why this is.

I hope something in here helps and good luck!

If anyone else has any tips feel free to add on!

[whump-me]

Whumptober Day 26: Working to Exhaustion

This is a standalone story in my original Mind Games universe, a modern-day sci-fi/fantasy thriller setting about ordinary humans with superhuman abilities and the people who want to use or destroy them. Full description in my Whumptober masterpost, which is linked in my pinned post.

This story contains: whumper turned whumpee, sympathetic (former) whumper, overwork, emotional whump, minor whump mentions

Words: 1800

---

Wesley leaned in closer to his computer, ignoring the growing ache at the base of his neck. He squinted at the grainy satellite images. “Here,” he said, jabbing a finger at the center of the screen. “This looks like it could be one of their facilities.”

He paused to rub his dry eyes. After hours of staring at the screen, they felt like they were full of sand.

“See this giant clearing fifteen miles into this middle-of-nowhere forest? That’s exactly the kind of location they like. And the clearing is too symmetrical—it looks man-made to me. This building here could be another logging camp, but I don’t think so. The shape is all wrong, and if you look over here…”

His voice trailed off. Mary wasn’t answering.

“Hey, are you listening?” He looked over his shoulder at Mary, who was working at the other computer on the opposite side of the small room.

Mary didn’t answer. Her chin was slumped forward onto her chest. She let out a soft snore.

Who could blame her for sleeping? It was the middle of the night. Or at least, Wesley thought it was still the middle of the night. He’d been at this so long, he had lost the ability to keep track of time. His watch said two o’clock, but it was anyone’s guess whether that was a.m. or p.m.

His desk was cluttered with energy drinks and empty bags of chips. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d had a proper meal. For that matter, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d cracked open a bag of chips.

He reached into the grocery bag at his feet. It was empty. He was pretty sure it had been empty the last time he’d reached for a snack, too.

As he straightened back up, he caught a whiff of his armpits and wrinkled his nose. When was the last time he had showered? Sometime before his last full meal. Other than that, he couldn’t say.

He grabbed the closest energy drink can and tipped it to his lips. It was empty. He grabbed his coffee mug and did the same. One sad lukewarm drop hit his tongue.

“The dancing cows are what?” Mary mumbled. Her chin jerked up. “Wait. Where am I?”

“You were asleep,” said Wesley.

She rubbed her eyes. “How long was I out?” She checked her own watch. “It’s two in the morning.”

“Or the afternoon,” Wesley pointed out.

“No, I actually have a modern watch, unlike that ancient thing you insist on holding on to. It says it’s morning.” She swiveled her chair around to stare at him. “Have you been awake this entire time?”

“I guess I have.”

“For that matter, did you get any sleep the night before?”

Wesley thought back, but couldn’t remember. The hours and days blended together into one undifferentiated time soup. He didn’t answer.

Mary heaved herself up from her chair with a groan. “Get some sleep,” she urged as she stretched her arms above her head with a yawn. “You’ve been working too long.”

“Just a little longer.” He pointed at his screen. “I think I may have found a PERI facility.”

Mary didn’t even look. “It’ll still be there after a good night’s sleep. And if you keep pushing yourself like this, you’ll make mistakes.”

Wesley shook his head. “The kids in those facilities can’t wait.”

“A few hours won’t make a difference. And you won’t be any use of those kids—or anyone else—if you collapse.” She held out a hand to him. “Come with me. I’ll help you find something to eat—how long has it been since you’ve eaten actual food? And then you’ll sleep. Real sleep, not a nap. Five hours minimum.” She glared at him with mock sternness.

He waved her hand away. “I need to do this.”

If he had been less tired, he might have been able to disguise the intensity in his voice. As it was, Mary drew back, startled. She narrowed her eyes at him, studying him with new curiosity.

When she spoke again, her voice was gentler. “You lost a kid to PERI, didn’t you?”

How he wished it were that simple.

He thought about saying yes. But he was too tired to lie.

“I have to help these kids,” he said, “because I used to be one of the people who abducted them.”

He hadn’t picked the targets for abduction. He hadn’t analyzed the blood test results covertly collected from hundreds of pediatricians’ offices around the country. He hadn’t spent hours per day poring over human-interest stories in small local newspapers, searching for something that might indicate a child with a psi ability.

He didn’t even understand all the details of how the Enhanced gene work. Only that it was present in a small subset of the population; that, when activated, it led to the development of a single psi ability, the nature and strength of which could not be reliably predicted; and that, for national security reasons, the Psi Enhancement Research Initiative wanted the existence of this gene kept secret at all costs.

And, of course, he knew what PERI did to the kids. The ones whose abilities were strong enough and useful enough, and who proved cooperative enough, got sent into black-ops training starting at age five. The other got sent to the labs or the breeding programs.

He had known what he was a part of.

But he hadn’t picked the targets. He hadn’t made those choices. He had just been the muscle, and he had convinced himself that somehow made it better.

He had used all the old tricks. Telling kids their parents had been in a horrible accident and they needed to come with him to the hospital. Asking them to help look for his lost dog, complete with a leash and a bag of dog treats as props. But most kids were wise to those tricks by now, after decades of stranger-danger assemblies in the schools. More often than not, he had to wrestle them down and shoot them full of sedative.

He still remembered the feeling of how it felt to hold a small, squirming body down while he waited for the sedative to take effect. That was the kind of thing it was impossible to forget.

He blinked away the memories. Mary was staring at him. The concern in her face was gone, replaced by something harder. Her eyes were knives of accusation. They were dark pools of grief.

“My daughter was taken.” Her voice could have frozen a volcano. “Ten years ago. That’s why I originally joined up with this group—because they said they could help get her back. Six months later, they finally tracked her down. It was too late. It had been too late before I joined. She wasn’t operative material—she was only a weak telepath. They sent her to the labs. She died there.”

“I couldn’t keep doing what I was doing anymore,” Wesley said. “That’s why I’m here now.”

“How many kids did you have to kidnap before your conscience started bothering you?”

He didn’t answer that question. She wouldn’t have liked the answer.

“I’m trying to atone for what I did,” he said instead. “I’ll work myself to the bone for the rest of my life if I have to.”

“The rest of your life won’t be enough.” Her voice hadn’t warmed a single degree. “You can never atone for what you’ve done.”

She stalked from the room. She didn’t ask him to follow her.

He stayed where he was. He rubbed more sand from his eyes and kept on scrutinizing the satellite images. If this was a PERI facility, where was the road leading in? Or was the road at all? That square spot off to one side—was that a helipad? If so, reaching this facility would be nearly impossible.

But they would try. He already knew the other would be on board. They all had their reasons for fighting PERI. Most had a story similar to Mary’s.

A few had a story similar to his.

He marked the image for further evaluation and went back to scanning the backlog of unexamined footage. Maybe in another week or two, he would work through it all.

He found another clearing, in another dense forest, and zoomed in closer. Close enough to see haunted-eyed children marching in straight lines. Close enough to see inside the blocky rectangle of the central building, down to a basement lab where a child lay on a cold metal table.

She looked up at him with eyes as cold as Mary’s. “You can never atone for what you’ve done,” she said.

“I’m sorry,” Wesley said.

“If you think that’s enough to make up for what you did, you’re dreaming,” she said. Her mouth didn’t move, but he heard the words anyway. “Wake up.”

The color leached from her skin until it was a lifeless gray. Her body was too still. Only her eyes still had life in them.

“Wake up.” The voice was Mary’s now. “You’re dreaming.”

Wesley’s eyes snapped open.

He looked down at his watch. Now it said six o’clock. He still didn’t know if it was morning or night.

“Look at me,” Mary ordered.

Slowly, reluctantly, he looked up.

Mary had changed clothes. That wasn’t all that had changed about her. Her eyes weren’t quite so cold anymore. Neither was her voice.

“Look, I’m sorry for what I said before,” she said. “I know you’re not the only one here with a story like that. Mostly, I try not to ask. Losing my daughter is a pain that never goes away. When something pokes too hard at that pain, I bite.”

How many people had he caused that same pain for? More than he could count.

“You were right, though.” His quiet voice was rough with exhaustion. “I can never atone for what I did.”

“No,” she agreed. “You can’t. All the all-nighters in the world can’t make up for what you did.”

Maybe he had imagined the hint of warmth in her voice and in her eyes. But he didn’t have the right to complain. She was right to condemn him. He felt the truth of her harsh words in his aching bones.

Then the ghost of a smile came to her face. “So you might as well get some rest,” she said. “Seeing as you’re damned either way.”

She offered him her hand. This time, he took it.

---

Tagged: @cakeinthevoid @gala1981

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[veedraws]

Sharing is appreciated :) TWST x Halloween merch pre-order and giveaway OPEN!

Details under the cut. If you're participating, good luck!

Important Dates

PO ends: May 4th 11:59PM EST 

Giveaway ends: May 18th 11:59PM EST 

All links are in the pinned post Pre-Order Details

Please use the google form if you're picking up in person OR a Canadian resident (shipped order).

Pick up options available for Otakuthon, FanExpo Toronto and Anime Revolution.

All other regions please use my shop.

If you don't mind the hassle and want to save money you can DM me (twitter/IG/email) for a personalized shipping rate and skip the shop fees.

Pre-ordering is the ONLY way to guarantee the design you want.

Left overs (if any) will be posted on my shop after August but there is no guarantee that the design you want will be available.

All TWST pre-orders will come with a secret bonus item.

Giveaway Entries

You can have up to 4 entries. Optional entries only count if the main entry of the platform is completed.

Twitter Entry: Like AND Retweet AND comment your fav card in emoji (example will be given on both platforms).

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New followers welcomed but please don't follow just for the free stuff. I made following optional specifically to prevent this type of behaviour.

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Giveaway Rules

Winner will be picked within 2 weeks of the giveaway ending.

I will DM the winner before announcing the winner publicly

If your DM is not open OR you do not respond within 24 hours of my message a new winner will be chosen.

Open to all regions as long as it's reachable by USPS.

Shipping and merch is covered by me. This giveaway is 100% free.

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If you're the type to make call out posts, harass other users, and/or justify online bullying over fictional content or ships don't enter.

Participants who use multiple accounts or abuse the rules in anyway will be removed and blocked from all future giveaways.

1 winner will be chosen from a combined pool from both platforms

Prize is a set of prints with all 22 boys of NRC

If the winner has already pre-ordered the set they have the option to receive another set or use the full set value as store credit for additional goods/upgraded shipping. Refund will not be given.

If giveaway is more popular than expected additional prizes may be considered.

Prize will be shipped out sometime between June - September depending on my availability and when I get the merch.

Please don't participate if you're in a rush to get the goods.

Winners who are demanding, entitled or rude are automatically disqualified. A new winner will be picked should this happen.

Last but not least this giveaway is primarily for my followers and people who support me. I sincerely hope one of you receives this gift!

Thank you for watching me grow as an artist! I hope that as I grow bigger I will have more opportunities to do giveaways!

[benwvatt]

my recent kataang fics!

hi! I’ve written a few kataang stories recently and would love to share them. AO3 links included! And there are more fics under the “read more.”

my darling, how long do you want to be loved? is forever enough? is a rated-G oneshot about the two of them bonding over Katara’s pregnancy.

Katara laughs and buries her head in the crook of Aang’s neck. In bed, he’s been tracing lazy figure eights across the small of her back. “How did we get here?”

“Well, we left the Earth King’s party after thirty-seven minutes-”

Still laughing. Aang can feel her head shake against his chest, like a magnolia raining leaves in a storm. He wants to close his eyes as long as possible and memorize the ebbs and flows of her joy, the imprints it makes in the air.

“Oh, right! And we stole dumplings,” Katara adds gently, “wrapped in napkins in my purse! I’ll never get the grease stains out.” If only oil and water were similar, she could lift the marks with a swish of her hand.

“I guess you’ll just have to use regular ol’ soap and water. Like a peasant.”

“Like a fool!”

in reverence, my cup runneth over for you is a rated-T one-shot about Katara and Aang dancing in their kitchen.

They will raise children here someday. Aang wants a daughter with whom to dance in the kitchen. Together they will shift, clumsy under skeins of moonlight; he’ll toddle around, practicing steps by letting their girl stand on his feet. She will teach him the extra-extra-cool dance moves, picked up from magazines or some technology not yet invented, because grown-ups simply don’t understand.

Aang kisses Katara. Oh, she is going to be the rest of his life. The sheer notion of this runs through his mind like a horse unbridled.

“I love the kitchen,” she finally murmurs, hugging him closer. “No need to worry, not with me.”

He already knew, but a reminder never hurts.

He talks to her about the wilder dreams (not wildest, for those have already come true) and they waltz over dusty floorboards that leave speckles on the bottoms of their shoes. The kitchen will be furnished another time. Tonight is for dancing.

you’ve got me more than clumsy, but you’re my yellow lovely is a fluffy rated-G oneshot about Katara taking care of Aang while he’s sick. 

“Honey,” Aang murmurs, two full syllables this time. Voicing anything hurts at the moment 一 he’s taken ill this week 一 but he has to catch her attention. “Katara.”

She groans. “Yeah?”

“You gotta go. I - I’m gonna get you sick if you stay any longer.”

Her head shakes ‘nope’ and Aang can feel the brush of her hair against his neck. You could hear a pin drop. Even the crickets have ceased chirping tonight.

“I’m not fun to be around.”

“That’s a lie,” she whispers. “Can I kiss you?” He’s been trying not to get her sick all week, and she ought to ask before moving any closer.

“I miss you.” Aang wraps his arms around her and leans in. “I don’t think I should kiss you. Germs. Disease. Y’know, plague and death.”

“How did we get to death?”

i’d paint a river of stars for you (cross the ocean sapphire blue) is a romantic AU about Kataang getting together in the South Pole, set in a world where the war never happened and Aang routinely visits Katara and he’s super in love with her. Rated T!

Aang looks down at her hand. She’s still wearing the friendship bracelet he wove for her out of linengrass.

He wants, not for the first time, to press his hand to her face and kiss her. He wonders if her cheeks would be cold against his. Hasn’t ever been close enough to check. Aang moves his thumb an inch until it’s over hers.

He looks at her. Is this okay?

Moonbeams wash into the bedroom through the ice. She might be blushing but he can’t quite tell.

Do you want this? Do you want me? he tries to communicate with his gaze. He was never very good at this. Monks are taught to let go of desire, not harbor it deep inside.

when the ice forgives is an AU in the works. In which, post-series, Kya is discovered sleeping in an iceberg and Katara’s whole family bond over the discovery that she’s alive. Katara & Aang are also engaged in this story and they’re very sweet.

“Were you preparing something in the kitchen?” Aang asked. He’d slept in, and he was hungry.

“I… might have been.” She pursed her lips for a moment, then let the grin wash away any hint of neutrality on her face. “Okay, there’s some baozi. And I was wondering if you wanted to eat hot pot for lunch? That was, uh, the noise you heard.”

She was so comforting. Everything about it, from her culinary plans to her one morning cup of tea, stolen from him, was predictable. He loved her. He told her, and they curled into the bed. Katara laid down, absentmindedly stroking her thumb across Aang’s cheekbone, and reminded him he was a sap. An honest, lovable one, but still.

“I like you,” she whispered. The words hung in the white, almost silver, morning light. They were predictable too, and Aang couldn’t get enough of them. “I like you very much.”

He kept his gaze on her and ran his thumb over the curve of her eyebrow, down her cheek until he was tracing her bottom lip. “You’re so…” and he kissed her before saying, “special. I didn’t think I could meet somebody like you. Someone so uncommonly kind.”

[therubyreader]

Book Bites: Volume 1

Hello again! I know it's been a while since I’ve written anything in a while, real life has a way of beating you up sometimes, and while I still want to write book reviews, I also know I don’t have the mental capacity to write long reviews like I used to, so I have come up with a compromise! Introducing Book Bites, quick reviews for the books I’ve been reading recently which I will be simultaneously posting on my Goodreads account, they will be spoiler free unless stated otherwise. I also wanted to let you all know I will be switching to tracking books on Storygraph for the coming year, I’ve started posting on there already, so check out the link in my pinned to follow my account! Please let me know what you think and let's get into it!  

The Seventh Veil of Salome – Silvia Moreno-Garcia ☆☆☆☆☆ 

As soon as I heard that Silvia Moreno-Garcia was publishing a new book I had to place a hold on it at my library through Libby. I’m a huge fan of all of Silvia’s writing so I knew that I was going to love this book as soon as I read it, and I was right! This book tells both the story of the biblical Salome, the woman who ordered the head of John the Baptist, Vera Larios, an unknown Mexican actress who somehow managed to land the coveted role of Salome in the movie production set in the golden age of Hollywood, and Nancy Hartley an unsuccessful actress trying to become a star. The way the books is written is extremely unique, there aren’t any chapters just changing points of view between the three women, and bits where it is written like a documentary based on the movie being made in modern day. While this format is a little weird at first, it really lends to the story telling experience and it makes for a beautifully written ending. I absolutely loved going on this journey with all three women, all facing unique hardships and their unified struggle of a woman trying to be successful in a time where men held all the power. If you love historical fiction and are a fan of golden age Hollywood movies, you’ll love this book but be prepared to go on an emotional rollercoaster with each of these characters. 

The Map of Love - Ahdaf Soueif ☆☆☆☆☆ 

This book was recommended to me by one of my dear friends, and since I love making them read books that I loved, it was my turn to return the favor. The book tells the story of a woman, Isabel, who inherits her great-grandmother, Ana's, suitcase full of her writings, and after some guidance from Omar, an Egyptian American man she has fallen in love with, she travels to Egypt to meet Omar’s sister, Amar, to help her unravel Ana’s hundred year old love story. The book switches points of view between Ana’s journey to Egypt from England and her love story with an Egyptian man, Sharif, and Isabel and Amar’s own struggles in the modern day. The point of view shifts a quite jarring at first, it does take a while to get into, but once you do it's such a good way to tell the story of all three women and the political landscapes of their times. It really puts into perspective how Egypt is such an old country as there is common locations across those hundred years as well as common problems, namely the situation in Palestine which we are still living through twenty-five years after the book was published. I absolutely loved this look into the late-Victorian era and early Edwardian in a country outside the US and UK, though the story is greatly influenced by both. If you want to read some more diverse historical fiction and have the patience for a long and dense book, then I highly recommend this one. 

The Honey Witch - Sydney J. Shields ☆☆☆★★ 

I was once again influenced by TikTok and their rave reviews about this book and decided to check it out at my library. This book is about 21-year-old Marigold Claude, a high society outcast and soon to be spinster who is whisked away by her grandmother to a magical island after finding out that she is the next Honey Witch meant to protect the island, its magical inhabitants, and the people of the nearby town, all while grappling with a curse that prevents her from falling in love and a brewing evil. I was promised by the people of TikTok a witchy sapphic romance and it unfortunately underdelivered, the book took too long establishing the world and magic system, and once things started to get into motion each plot point was connected to the next with very flimsy strings and everything felt super circumstantial and forced. The life altering evil was over and done with in fewer book pages than I would’ve liked, and the romance was written like a bad Wattpad story from 2012. I did give it three stars because I thought all the characters were very compelling, though victims of a subpar story, and the world and magic system that was very well thought out. Honestly, not a bad book, but if you want to read it, I recommend keeping your expectations lower so as to not be disappointed.