#Clouded Emerald

[amongemeraldclouds]

"if you're going to stare at me like that, at least buy me dinner first" | theodore nott | flufftober masterlist | 835 words

"Let's divide the project, do our part separately, and leave it at that," you stated, dropping your books on the desk beside Theo as if to punctuate your statement.

"Why hello to you too," Theo grinned, unperturbed by your stormy mood. Mostly because he knew it would further annoy you, and partly because he thought you were cute when you were annoyed. You may have been rivals who had the misfortune of being paired together for an important project, but he was not blind.

You settled yourself in the seat beside him, ignoring his sarcasm. Opening your book, you took out your pen to write down the project steps when Theo gave you a page he prepared that contained a detailed breakdown of what the project entailed and different steps you could take.

You reached in your bag to fish out your pair of reading glasses. Theo tried to ignore how adorable it made you look. He was already hyper aware of everything about you and the way you made him feel, he did not need to add more fuel to that flame.

You read the document and you hated to admit it, but it was excellent. It was another point he had won against you. Embarrassment crept up your cheeks as he managed to be a step ahead of you. "Well, this is certainly helpful," you said, trying to keep the neutral tone in your voice. You tried to hide how it ruffled you, except your blush revealed it all.

Theo reacted with a cocky grin, "stick with me y/n and you may learn a thing or two."

"I do just fine on my own," you narrowed your eyes.

"Except we do have to work on this project together. See that," he said, pointing to the third step he outlined in his document. You leaned in to read the section he indicated, your shoulders pressed together. The scent of his woodsy cologne invaded your senses and it took you by surprise.

You shifted your gaze from the page to his face. You blinked in surprise, he was so near. For the first time, you noticed his long lashes. The way his wavy hair fell near his eyes and you were tempted to brush it back. Suddenly curious how soft it would feel between your fingers.

Then he turned his gaze to you, piercing blue eyes stared intently into yours. It took your breath away. He often had a bored expression that you had no idea he could be this focused.

Your lips parted a few centimeters as your mind tried to snap you out of it. You were keenly aware this stare was longer than what was polite, but you couldn't find your way out of this maze.

It achieved the opposite effect as Theo's eyes shifted to your lips. From this close, he noticed how full they were. They looked so soft, he wanted to reach out with his lips just to confirm he was right. Heat bloomed within you as your heart pounded faster in your chest.

Seeming to catch himself, he looked back up, a secret desire swirling into ocean blue of his eyes. He cleared his throat, the spell of the moment over. Your eyes snapped back to the page as he took a second to remember his words.

"We need at least two pairs of hands to complete this step," he finished his sentence from earlier.

You sighed, deflated. There was truly no other way. "You might be right."

"What's that?" Theo leaned in, "you think I'm right?"

You scoffed, "don't get used to it.

He lowered his voice as he whispered in your ear, "but you know, if you're going to stare at me like that, at least buy me dinner first."

Your eyes widened as you opened your mouth to speak then closed it a few times, the words lost in the recesses of your mind. You stopped when you realized it made you look like a fish out of water. "You can't tell me what to do," you countered.

Theo continued, "pretty girl like you, I wouldn't say no."

You blinked, "you think I'm pretty?"

"I have eyes, y/n. I know you think you're better than me but come on. I'm not blind," he replied, waving his hand to dismiss the topic.

He brought the conversation back to the project, dejected by your horror at the thought of going out with him. But with the way you looked at him earlier, he could have sworn you felt the same way he did.

Theo was uncertain and he hated not knowing. Part of his academic prowess lent itself to his innate curiosity about things. He shifted slightly in his seat so his leg brushed briefly against yours and he enjoyed the electric rush from the contact.

As you both wrote down your plans, he made a mental note of another one. You were a question he was going to answer before this project was over.

[zeewipark]

Emerald ponds 🌸

© Jee Won Park (ig: zeewipark)

[rabbitcruiser]

Forest (No. 22)

Emerald Lake, YT

Tutshi Lake, BC (three pics)

[highabovethecloudssomewhere]

Bi-Yearly Book Catalogue (2024)

Every book I’ve read the past six months and what I thought, told as briefly as I can manage.

One Star Books:

Loveless by Alice Oseman

I understand that this book was helpful for a lot of people. It was the opposite of helpful for me.

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

My gripes with this can be whittled down into: this writer does not understand depression but really, really wants to cure it. Also, if you do decide to give this book a try, please mind the subject material. It really, really isn’t for everyone.

Two Star Books:

N/A

Three Star Books:

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

A simple book about an old man learning to want to live again. Where ‘The Midnight Library’ failed for me, this one succeeded. If you plan to read this one, be mindful of the content warnings. It also isn’t for everyone.

Lily and the Octopus by Steven Rowely

It’s about a dog who has cancer. I think that says it all. There were parts of this book I really liked and parts I really didn’t like. It lost me halfway through and I stopped caring about the stakes, which is really upsetting when the stakes are a dog. But the good parts are really, really good. Just be mindful of the premise going into it.

In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune

I liked the character work, loved the world building and on a technical level the writing was well-done. My gripes have to do with the story’s internal contradictions and how the only character traits I can think of for the main character are “asexual” and “inventor,” neither of which are explored properly (emphasis on asexual here). I didn’t like that despite being 21, the main character was narratively treated like a child, often involving his sexuality. I had to google how old he was multiple times because I couldn’t believe he wasn’t in his mid-teens given how he reacted to the story and how the story treated him. Loved the writing on a technical level, though, and I do plan to read more from this author.

Four Star Books:

Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree

A COFFEE shop AU? In MY high fantasy? If you like DnD, low-stakes high-fantasy and fun character work, give this one a read. It’s very cozy.

A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers

It’s a book about a nonbinary tea monk and a robot who lives in the mountains. Slow-paced with good vibes and great world building. I read it in an evening and came away from it feeling warm.

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

Achilles and Patroclus’ relationship breaks my heart again. This was incredibly well-written and appropriately devastating. I just wanted them to be happy.

Countdown to Countdown by Kong Xiao Tong (graphic novel)

I bought a physical copy of this because I’ve always loved the artist’s work and wanted to support, and I enjoyed it a LOT. Beautiful art, fantastic characters. I know not everyone can avoid a physical copy, but the webcomic is available to read for free online and I highly recommend giving it a try.

Our Dining Table by Ori Mita (manga)

Learning to enjoy mealtime with loved ones again after childhood trauma? Y’all. It’s a single-volume manga and it’s well worth your time.

Five Star Books:

Beartown by Fredrik Backman

This was the most devastating book I’ve ever read. If you are interested in reading it: find a list of content warnings first. I went in blind. It is hauntingly real and the author handled the material so, so well. I can’t recommend this book without that caveat. But it’s one of the best-written books I’ve read.

The Saturday Night Ghost Club by Craig Davidson

This book is about a man looking back on his life as a boy - the friends he made and the misadventurous ghost-hunts his uncle dragged them into. It’s just the right amount of campy with fun characters and a brilliant use of prose. If you’re a less experienced reader and want a book that is easily digestible while also being extraordinarily well-written, I’d recommend this book in a heartbeat, and it’s every bit as entertaining for more advanced readers.

What you are looking for is in the library by Aoyama Michiko

Five stories about five people, all in different stages of life, and their unique experiences with the same librarian and the same library. Individually, each character in each story has their unsatisfying lives changed in an unexpectedly simple way, thanks to the library. There’s nothing wild about this book, but it is wildly impactful. The library is for everyone!

Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson

Heroine travels the treacherous seas to save the man she loves. It’s a book about perspectives and joy and making unlikely friends, breaking curses through clever means and never, ever giving up. It has all the whimsy of a classic fairytale, yet not once could I predict how it was going to end. It’s fast-paced and hard to put down. The world is intriguing and the characters are wonderful.

This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

This book is utterly mind-bending and I loved it. Two time-travelers chase each other through reality on opposing sides of the Time War and gradually fall in love. It’s great. The biggest complaint I see leveled at this book comes from less experienced readers who struggle to follow the narrative - and I do agree, if you’re just getting into reading for fun this might be a book to save for later. But don’t let me stop you. I loved this book.

Conclusion:

Reading is great. Libraries are your friend. I always love book recommendations and I’m on GoodReads as BeyondTheClouds777, predictably. If any of y’all take a stab at these books (or have taken stabs in the past), I’d love to hear your thoughts! I’m back in my bookworm era and thriving.

[kaliune]

[sephauris-clipart]

combined my zodiac orbs and stuff for a gleebus :3

[willemdafriendlyfriend]

Knuckles in FFVII Rebirth?

Photo from Katsuyuki Yamazaki (Cloud Strife's mocap actor)

[f-o-and-selfship-club]

Had a go at the understand my ship meme with my two sonas

[windtooth-plane]

YoOoo hidden niche of pearls

Soooo about the scavengers,, and the bombs

What was that all about HmMMM?

{HNOP: "His facility collapsed, however, his puppet was retrieved by Emerald Leaves of the Pines' slugcats. He had been living there for some time attached to the same structure with an emergency port umbilical cord, however, now I believe he headed to Chimes' can after Clock decided to go there on her own. I don't know the details, as almost all of the people I've mentioned hate me. Islands and I are still fri- . . . Accomplices... and Pines treats me like he treats everybody. Endless and I haven't talked.}

{TEXT: "Well... An iterator from another local group gave me a pearl. Something I was never supposed to have in the first place. I know that now. The pearl contained sensitive information regarding the self-destruct taboo. Needless to say, the iterator Endless Moving Nights was attempting to surpass it. After talking to an iterator called Eight Islands under Storm Clouds, he gave me the blueprints to highly explosive spears. I gave them to my scavs to use against Endless.}

[purcaholic]

In a realm of pastel dreams, where joy paints the sky with faceted clouds, low poly castles rise in a jubilant mosaic of vivid triangles. The sun dances playfully across crystal plains, and polygonal creatures frolic in forests of emerald pyramids. Here, magic twinkles in sharp-edged gleams, and laughter echoes in pixelated prisms, crafting a vibrant tapestry of happiness in geometric symphony.

[amongemeraldclouds]

conquering fears | soft!mattheo riddle | flufftober masterlist | 1.1k words

You crouched at the corner of the room, arms wrapped around your knees as if you could make yourself invisible from the zombies and serial killers that were out to get you. Masked men just playing a role, you reminded yourself.

Whose bright idea was it to voluntarily pay to walk through a dark building filled with everything that nightmares are made of? Oh, it was yours. You groaned inwardly. This year's Halloween was supposed to be a time for conquering fears. Yet all you mastered was the art of cowering. You sighed and set a new goal for yourself: set smarter goals.

Movement in the corner of your eye brought you back to the present. You had been spotted. Your breathing grows ragged as your muscles stiffened. Tears pricked your eyes, but you paused when he raised his hands, signaling he was not a threat.

"Hey hey, it's okay," he said, his voice so gentle you forgot for a moment you were at a haunted house. Slowly, he removed his mask, tousled hair spilling down his forehead. You looked over his face, eyes bright and jaw sharp. He's cute.

He approached you cautiously as he lowered himself to meet you at eye level. "I'm Mattheo," he said, offering you a small smile. You introduced yourself, trying to find your voice.

“Let’s get out of here, okay?” He asked, his voice soft, as he extended his hand towards you.

You eyed it suspiciously, face burning with shame, “you probably think I’m a coward.”

“I may be wearing a mask, but those dolls,” he said, pointing to the shelf across you, “also freak me out. This whole thing is designed to frighten you, so of course you’re scared.” He shrugged as if it was no big deal.

A small smile broke across your features, “but you work here for fun.”

His eyebrow quirked at your remark, “and how can you tell?”

You leaned in closer to the space between his neck and shoulder. You sniffed to confirm your first impression, “expensive cologne,” you said pointedly. “You’re not in it for the money, you’re here because it’s fun.”

He tilts his head so you’re looking at him again. As your eyes met, you realized how much closer he was. You could feel his warm breath on your face as he smiled at you to confirm you were right. His heat radiated towards you, melting the chill down your spine. You felt yourself relax in the presence of this stranger and it sparked your curiosity. “Why do you enjoy it?”

“Okay, Sherlock,” he said, moving back. His sudden distance echoed in the space between you and you already missed how close he was, how safe you felt with him. You nearly reached your hand out. Instead your vision went dark, “I’ll show you why.”

You felt his arms around your head and delicious jolts of electricity moved through you as he adjusted the straps to your face, fitting it to you. “Be my parter in crime?” He asked with a twinkle in his eye, hand outstretched once again. 

“However could I refuse?” You asked, gesturing to the mask that was already on your face. Your heart sped up, in excitement this time as you took his hand and rose up off the ground. He brought you towards him, bodies flushed together as he leaned in to whisper. “You’re a monster out to hunt your prey. You’re in control here, now go show them just what you’re made of!” he said, by way of a pep talk.

You were made of jelly legs and rosy cheeks. That was probably not what he meant. You were grateful this time when he stepped away. You took a moment to gather yourself, channeling your inner fire.

He brought you to another corner of the room where you could hide together and scare unsuspecting visitors. The first time you both leapt out from your hiding space, you screamed at the same time the guests screamed, equally frightened by their terror. Mattheo wrapped an arm around your waist instinctively, to remind you that you were perfectly safe.

When they ran off, still screaming, you found yourself laughing off the adrenaline and how silly it all was. “Fine, I get it,” you said after a while, when you lost count of just how many you had managed to scare. “This is fun,” you grinned beneath your mask. While he couldn’t see you, Mattheo grinned back. 

“Come on,” he said, taking your hand once again as he led you through the haunted house. You were fearless this time, managing to scare other actors in masks. The hallways were filled with yours and Mattheo’s laughter, adding a layer of mischief to all the screams around you.

Before you knew it, you reached the end of the haunted house and you were not yet ready to say goodbye to this stranger. This could be the start of something. You led the way this time, shoving his shoulders back into the wall. He laughed in surprise, his eyes searching yours.

It felt good to conquer your fears, but you couldn’t have done it without Mattheo’s help. You took the mask off in one swift motion as you strode towards him. You needed to conquer your fears all by yourself and there was one thing that only the fearless version of yourself could do. You clutched the mask as you steeled yourself, smirking. As you closed the distance, your lips came crashing down on his.

You felt him freeze for a second before he smiled against your lips. His hands found its way to the back of your head and neck as he pulled you closer towards him. Your hand snaked through his curls, they were even softer than you imagined and you tugged at them. He moaned in response, of course he was a masochist. Your lips moved in sync as if you had been practicing for years. And of all the things that took your breath away today, this was your favorite.

When you both came up for air, you admired your handiwork - his messy hair and crumpled shirt. “That was to say thank you, for helping me,” you explained.

“Well, then I’ll give you more reasons to thank me,” he declared, his hand still playing with your hair. “Have dinner with me?”  

Your brow furrowed, “don’t you have to finish the rest of your shift?”

He grinned, “I don’t actually work here, I was just a knobhead who wanted to scare the actors.”

“So you don’t just conquer your fears, you fight fire with fire,” you nodded. “A knobhead, in short.” 

He raised his hands with a scoff, “hey, at least I’m self aware.”

“Can’t hold that against you,” you agreed.

“I know other things you could hold against me,” he quipped.

“Hey,” you smacked his shoulder, “at least buy me dinner first.”

“That’s the plan,” he said, leading you out. “Enough tricks for today, it’s time to get you a treat.”

[sunsetcarnation264]

Because of living with and being raised by six people (Chiro, Antauri, Otto, Gibson, Sprx, and Nova), it's inevitable that the kids would pick up some things from and take after them.

Peridot is vegetarian like Antauri and she refuses to swear, not even once. She also ends up being like Jinmay in terms of sewing and being the seamstress of the bunch.

Magma is definitely like Nova in a few ways; anger issues that he needs to work on, the color of his fur becomes darker or brighter depending on his emotions, and of course his fire. Everyone still jokes about Magma being Nova's biological son instead of Sprx's or Antauri's to this day and he just rolls with it. Oh, and having similar weapons to Nova, that's definitely one of the ways of him being very much like her.

Soma takes after Otto in terms of being creative. He might be a monkey of science and the supernatural, but he loves to draw and paint. He also tends to be similar to Chiro when it comes to shows and gets pretty damn passionate and excited about them, even getting some merch when he can.

Diamond is a big eater like Otto and she's willing to eat just about anything. Say it's an all you can eat buffet, and you bet your ass she and Otto will go through it within a few minutes. …She won't touch Antauri's smoothies though, healthy or not that's the last thing she'd ever touch.

Astral is very much a gamer. While the others have played video games and liked them, both parents and kids, Astral takes more after Chiro in that aspect. If they're not going out for anything history or antique or even retro things to get, you're very likely able to get him outside by saying that you'll go to the arcade. Just don't expect him to play DDR lol

Emerald can be extremely jealous, similarly to how Sprx and Nova can be. Although since she's semi verbal, her jealousy is more quiet and she'll be clingy and overprotective, as if to say that girl is hers and hers alone.

Marino could possibly be seen as similar to Sprx in the sense of keeping things down rather than being open about it, e.g. being Marino wondering if he's doing a good job as a brother, worried about being the one to hurt his family rather than protect them like he should (especially with Marino's worst fear of being just like Mandarin), etc.

Kaminari absolutely loves plushies. She collects them right along Nova, even in her teen years, though she's more open about liking them than Nova would be.

There's probably more examples I ain't thinking of right now, but in a big family like that, it's not like they wouldn't be similar to their non biological parentals in some way.

[rabbitcruiser]

Forest (No. 21)

Emerald Lake, YT

[atlas-divide]

You saw Groudon and Kyogre now here’s Rayquaza! One of these days i wanna print this as a poster to sell. We will cross that bridge when we get to it though lol. 

[themelodyofspring]

JOMP Book Photo Challenge

June 07, 2023 - Clouds 🌥️

[emeraldhazeidentity]

Sorry for the wait! Chapter 23 of Solace is now live!