#I did this in like 15 minutes or something

[chiasaaa]

— anything for you

itoshi sae x f! reader

summary: sae finds himself doing things he wouldn’t normally do. all for you.

warning: english is not my first language. apologies for any grammatical or spelling errors.

— itoshi sae knew he was beyond saving the moment he set his phone against his pillow and clicked the record button, holding up three boxes of what seemed to be pr boxes for the brands he’s sponsoring.

no, said brands did not require him to film the pr boxes. they only wished for him to use and test it out in an attempt to gain his brutally honest feedback. so why is it that he has his camera open to do a little review?

it’s because he’s deeply and undeniably in love with a so-called idiot named you. you have him wrapped around your finger, and sae was the one to curl your fingers around him for you. a little while ago—right after emerging from the shower of his hotel room—he sent a photo of the three pr boxes that laid on his bed. his manager did tell him he’ll drop it off around the night.

itoshi sae: they’re here.

itoshi sae: [sent an attachment]

you: ohhh! unboxing vid, pls!

itoshi sae: not my thing

you: aww :PP

you: anyhoo, don’t forget to eat dinner!

you: i’m just pinning my sketches in the new mood board, then i’ll head back home.

he knew there was nothing else to your response. sure, you were a bit dampened by how he flat out rejected your request, but you’re not one to dwell in such silly things either. sae knew that you would be the last person on earth forcing him to do something he doesn’t want to do, and video reviews might as well be nonexistent in his vocabulary.

even so, he decided to give it to you. reviews of the products he’s sponsoring.

oh, may god save his soul.

“we’ll start with this one.” he holds up a pastel yellow box displaying the name of his favorite skincare brand. “i heard they’re releasing a new formula for my moisturizer that’s less sticky. if it works well, then i’ll be using that for my games.”

he takes out a tube from the box and showed it to the camera, plucking the lid open. “the bottle’s bigger than the previous one too, and the design’s more minimal. i like it.”

for the next hour, itoshi sae filmed each and every reaction he had for every product he tested, telling you his brutally honest reviews and picking out which ones he considered purchasing upon launch.

sae didn’t even bother screening the videos before sending them to you, well-aware that you prefer his rawest form than anything else. it is a factor as to why he feels so lucky being with you. though, he’d never admit it right at your face, he simply hopes he shows it enough.

imagine the look on your face when you just finished locking up your office, fishing your phone out to let him know you’re about to head home. instead, you were met with three 15-minute long videos of each promotional box sent to him.

itoshi sae: [sent 3 attachments]

itoshi sae: i have to admit, i like the new sunscreen the most. i’ll contact the company and have another delivered to you.

itoshi sae: you should also try the lip glaze. i remember you’ve been complaining about how your lips dry up in the winter. i’ll give it to you next week when you fly over.

your heart swelled at the sight of him actually filming his reactions, nearly slamming into a lamp post if it wasn’t for your driver tugging you back lightly to prevent you from doing so.

you: you really filmed!

you: i’ll watch it on the way home!

you: i love you, querido <3

and your appreciative messages were enough for sae to know that leaving his heart to rest upon your care is the best thing he’s ever done. you have always been the most positive influence in his life, and you never shame him for anything he does out of his character.

itoshi sae: i love you. head home safe.

[bullet-prooflove]

The PA: Rupert Campbell-Black x Reader

Tagging: @kmc1989

The first time you see Rupert Campbell-Black naked, he’s balls deep in Paul Stratton’s wife, her legs akimbo on his shoulders as she screams his name like he’s the second coming of Jesus. He looks up with a smile on his face as he sees you standing there and you tap your watch to remind him of his phone call with the Prime Minster in 15 minutes.

“You’re not impressed with me are you?” He says half an hour later as he sits behind a desk that’s almost as old as this house he’s rattling around in.

“You are exactly the same as the three ministers I’ve assisted.” You tell him as you stand there clad in black high waisted trousers and white silk blouse he’s love to tear right off your shoulders. He watches as you reach over the desk, the fabric shifting as you pick up one of his cigars from the open box on his desk and ignite it with a gold lighter given to you by Mrs Thatcher herself. “Granted you’re in better shape.” You gesture to his open robe as you huff out a plume of smoke that twirls in the air. “But it gets awfully boring.”

All the other assistants before you, they’re terrified of him. They avert their gaze when it comes to his proclivities, they blush and they stumble over their words. He runs roughshod over them but you…

Oh you take him to task in a way that get’s his dick hard, with a tone that indicates he’ll get a rough spanking if he doesn’t do what he’s told. He can’t count the amount of times he’s fisted his cock at the thought of some of the shit the two of you would get up to together if you just let your hair down every once in a while.

“It doesn’t get you wet at all?” He asks you, picking up his glass of scotch and swirling it around so the ice cubes clink together. “Watching me fuck?”

You tilt your head, taking another drag.

“I’ve seen barn animals go at each other with more intimacy and erotism.” You remark, blowing out a smoke ring between those pert red lips of yours. “You know none of its real and still you chase it anyway, you love to be admired and you hate to be obtained. It doesn’t take a psychologist to work out what that’s about.”

“That’s enough now.” He says, his voice tight and you roll your eyes, stubbing out the half smoked cigar in the crystal ashtray on his desk.

“Alright Mr Campbell-Black.” You say in a tone that drips with a detached professionalism. Honestly your indifference, it shouldn’t get his dick as hard it does but there it is rubbing against the inside of his robe like the glutton for punishment it is. “You know why I’m here, you know what I do. I don’t give a shit who you’re fucking so long as you keep it out of the papers and don’t embarrass the PM.”

The word ‘again’ hangs in the air between the two of you because that’s what brought you into his life in the first place, a naked tennis game and a fight that was more of a running of the bulls at Tony Baddingham’s garden party.

“I know you’re not a normal PA.” He says as he leans back in his seat, drinking you in because you, you’re somewhat of an enigma. It’s clear you have aristocracy in your blood, he can smell that kind of breeding a mile away but instead of being married off you have a clandestine position in the ruling government and the PM’s ear apparently.   “You’re the one she sends to keep the naughty boys in check, although I am very curious about a woman like you goes about doing something like that. It has to be more than you’re capability with a riding crop.”

“You heard about that did you?” You say, placing a hand on your hip and it draws his attention to the light curve of your waist, where his hands would rest so perfectly as he fucked you.

“I heard he still has the scar, right across the back of his hand.” He says, indicating to the exact placement of the mark with his fingertip. “That he yelped like a puppy being kicked in front of the whole hunt.”

“He made the mistake of putting his hands where they weren’t wanted.” You inform him with an iciness that could freeze hell itself. “I’d refrain from making the same mistake if I were you.”

“Oh I wouldn’t dare.” He says, holding up his hand in mock innocence. “Trust me, if I touch you, I’ll make sure it’s very much wanted.”

“Hm.” You say, your lips pursing into a pout that makes his dick leak because the thought of fucking that mouth, well, it’s enough to bring a man to his knees, multiple times. “Keep it that way and we won’t have any problems.”

You are going to be a formidable opponent, he just knows it. Those other ministers they’re child’s play compared to the shit he gets up to, he’s going to enjoy putting you through your paces.

“We’re going to have a lot of fun together, you and I.” He says, taking a sip from his glass of scotch, the edges of his mouth tipping up into a smile. “I just know it.”

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Like My Work? - Why Not Buy Me A Coffee

[goat-fanatic]

hihi not a creature au ask sorry but do u have any tips to improving art skills? /gen, second question how did u get into digital art?

dont be sorry the asks are for anything really

my biggest tip is pretty boring and has been said a billion times probably but you u fortunately need to do the boring basics. you can go anywhere you want from there and its gonna be much easier. ex. - drawing alot of boring 3d shapes in dofferent types of perspective. boom now you can draw backgrounds. drawing from models in realism  (live ones are better but photos are great too). boom now you have the skill and knowledge on how the human body works and can play around with it to develop ur own art style. greyscale form practice (like shading cubes or drapery or still life). boom u understand how light and shadow works. the hardest thing really (imo) is learning colour. me personally, traditional painting (acrylic, oil, guache, tempera) helped the most (again ALOT of still life). but learning colour theory, or just fucking around with whatever colour medium you like until it looks good is also very helpful. so again basics are really important.

next thing is, use resources. theres so many free  art resources out there and theyre very helpful. my personal fav lately are quickposes and david finch on youtube. use refs, if needed take ur own.

also mindset stuff like being okay with making "bad" drawings. shitty sketches, wierd colour xombinations, wonky perspective. making art is not abt not making mistakes, but abt making them and learning from them cuz if u dont try ull never get it right, even if its bad at first. also always go from overall to detail. make 5 minute sketches, that forces u to focus on form and translatinf the overall idea more than hyperfocusing on detail. and ofc alot of consistent practice. draw every day, whether its a 5 min aketch or something more polished. (im gonna attach some of my oractice sketches so u get the idea of what im talking abt cuz i feel like im not the best at explainin)

as for digital art, i was first drawing on a regular ass samsung tablet with a pen wrapped in tin foil (it makes it work like a stylus fun fact) on ibis paint which is free and honestly it was great. on thing is if ur starting digital get some free simple program cuz if u try to start with something thats "industry standard" its just making ur life harder cuz on top of learning how to draw oj a tablet, you have to learn the software, and u dont need that when u start. i got my actual drawing tablwt after like two years and i was working in krita (also free and really good). now i work in csp and its amazing but theres alot going on and it is pricey (but well  worth it imo) digital is easier in alot of ways but i still recommand learning traditionally

sorry for the shitty photo quality im bad at posting traditional art. but thats what im talking abt these are like 10-15 min each, focusing on form and the overall and not going into much detail

[us3rnam3-r3dact3d]

the world (it burns through me)

Chapter 15: Darlin'

Ao3 | 2.6k Words | Darlin's POV

Sam ambushes Darlin'. Milo gets them ready. Darlin' looks in the mirror. Milo and Sweetheart go out to dinner. Sam and Darlin' too, in their own way.

TW: discussions of childhood poverty, discussions of disordered eating and malnourishment.

Sam decided to ambush you with the question on a call. It was a dirty trick, one that worked remarkably well on you, given that, when the words came out of his mouth, you’d nodded dumbly while loading the hoses back onto the rig. You didn’t even process until halfway back to the station what exactly he had asked you. 

“Holy shit!” You barked as you were tossed by Asher’s wild turns. Milo’s head whipped to you, concern painting his features. 

“What’s wrong?” David snapped from the front, twisting in his seat to look at you. You flushed, suddenly faced with the horror of having to tell David Shaw that your… your Sam had asked you out on a date. You blushed like a teenager having to explain to their dad why their outfit was rumpled after junior prom. 

“Nothing.” You said quickly, staring straight ahead again. You did not want to have this conversation, especially not when you had to have it over the radio to be heard over the rumble of the engines. You would actually rather throw yourself in front of the rig than air your not-so-dirty laundry for the entire rig to hear. 

You pulled into the station a few minutes later and you were up and off the truck before anybody could ask you questions. You had less than about twenty minutes left in your shift, and you had two hours after that before you needed to meet Sam for dinner. He’d thrown out the name of a restaurant, but it was in some foreign language and sounded ten times more fancy than what you were used to. You were fairly certain that you’d be kicked out wearing your DFD shirt and joggers, but that wasn’t something you had control of at the moment.

David wouldn’t mind if you hit the showers so long as you got to the rig within three minutes of the bell ringing. You could go from naked and soaking wet to geared up and still soaking wet in a very short amount of time. 

“Hey-” Milo caught your arm as you dumped your turnouts and spun you around. “What’s up? You’re acting weird.” You scowled, rolling your eyes. 

“Fuck off.” You muttered. “I’m not. I’m fine.” 

“Sure.” Milo snorted. “Yeah. For sure.” 

“Shut up.” You growled. “I’m gonna shower.” 

“Twenty minutes.” David admonished from the rig. He tugged at the velcro of his turnouts, face drawn. He had started looking worse and worse recently. Quinn had gone radio silent, having not sent another picture since the night you’d told David. You could tell that the absence was worse than the present threat for David. If Quinn was standing in front of him, David would have somewhere to point his focus. As it was, he was a tired guard dog, jerking and biting at every shift and shadow. 

You swallowed your guilt. You’d put him in this place, this state. You nodded sharply. 

“Come on,” Milo bumped his shoulder with yours, giving you his best puppy dog eyes. Stupid, pretty brown eyes. You were such a sucker for assholes like Milo. “Share with the class.” 

You puffed out your breath sharply through your nose and turned away from David. When you admitted it to Milo, it was quiet, secretive. 

“Sam asked me on a date.” You felt embarrassingly like a high schooler when you said it, and cringed back from your own voice. 

“What?” Milo shouted, so much louder than your admission had been. David grumbled his disapproval from his position a few feet away. Milo ignored him and turned to face you square on, grabbing your shoulders in each hand. “Where?” 

“I don’t know.” You sighed. “Some fancy place. Some sort of… French? Name?” 

“La Récolte?” Milo demanded, his voice cracking with disbelief. “I’ve been trying to get into that place for months!” 

“I don’t know man, he’s taking me.” You shook yourself out of his grasp and started moving towards the showers. You were feeling distinctly vulnerable talking about this out in the open. You wanted a wall at your back if you were going to keep spilling your guts to him. 

“Well when’s your reservation?” 

“He just told me he’d pick me up at six.” 

“Okay, good, that gives us some time.”

“Time?” You came to a stop and turned, facing Milo down. “Time for what?” 

“Well, I don’t think you have shit to wear to a place like La Récolte.” Milo rolled his eyes like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “So you’ll come over and borrow something from me.” 

“I’m like… half a foot taller than you.” You laughed. Milo shoved your shoulder to turn you back around. 

“Yeah, yeah, whatever, I’m sure we’ll figure something out.” He said as he started bodily pushing you towards the showers. “At the very least, we need you not to smell like fucking smoke.” 

In the end, Milo did find something in his near endless closet for you to wear. You weren’t sure how he afforded all of those clothes on a firefighter’s salary, but you couldn’t knock him for liking fine things. You knew that, much like yourself, Milo hadn’t come from much. He had wanted plenty as a kid, and he found a way not to anymore. You couldn’t deny a man a thousand fancy suits if it meant he got to step away from that ever present need that lingered in you from your childhood. You wondered if it crept up in him anyway. 

He had a loose, maroon suit that he hadn’t had the time to go get hemmed yet, so the pants only hung about an inch above your ankles. He produced a pair of his boots to go with it and hopefully hide that gap, but you couldn’t shove your foot in them no matter how much you tried. In the end, the two of you settled on you wearing his suit but your boots, no matter how scuffed and dirty they were. 

You stripped out of your DFD uniform, the heather grey t-shirt and fitted pants abandoned on Milo’s bathroom floor as you avoided your reflection in his giant, full body mirror. You could picture him and his partner, preening over each other's pretentious outfits and unfair good looks in this mirror. Your eyes slid to him in the background as he plucked a white shirt out from his collection to bring to you. As he turned, his eyes met yours in the mirror, caught you staring. You cut your gaze away. 

You were forced to look at yourself in the mirror, stripped down to your indecents, and squinted hard. You realized, as you cut your focus across your form, that you hadn’t really looked at your reflection in a long while. Your hair was longer. The stab wound that Sam had stitched up had settled into a neat, puffy scar on your abdomen. Your hand fell to your stomach, which had been concave and aching for a few months before you returned to Dahlia. Now, it was soft and full. The lines of your abs weren’t as stark. You couldn’t see the curve of your ribs. You weren’t just muscle and skin and bone and blood. You pressed the pads of your fingers into the tender skin, felt it recoil gently. 

“Huh,” you breathed. Milo’s eyes flicked up to you, brow quirked, the spitting image of his mother. 

“What?” He asked. He tossed his chosen button up to you. 

“No just… I’ve gained some weight.” You shrugged. You tugged the shirt on, began to button it. 

“Is that a…” Milo’s voice trailed off, his tone smothered in trepidation. 

“Not a bad thing.” You shook your head as you adjusted the already starched collar. “Just a… thing. I don’t know.” 

“You looked half dead when you first got back to town.” You thought he was probably trying for a joke, but his voice betrayed him, painted a clear picture of the fear and worry your state had caused him. 

“Guess I am looking a bit less skeletal these days, huh?” You found the punch line for him. He chuckled, shaking his head. 

The suit didn’t look half bad on you, especially when Milo fussed over your hair and draped you in one of his gold chains and a few of his rings. You had tried to refuse the jewelry, but he had insisted that he couldn’t stand a look unfinished. You ended up agreeing just to get him to shut up. 

Sam knocked on Milo’s front door at six on the dot, right as Milo finished his ‘detail work’ as he called it. He rushed for the door before you could and threw it open, grinning as Sam stepped in. 

“Well, don’t you look handsome.” Milo cooed, brushing his hand over the shoulder of Sam’s navy suit. You stepped out from the bedroom and took him in. 

The suit was obviously tailored, and it fit him like a fucking glove. The trousers lined his long legs and scooped around his hips tantalizingly. You trailed your eyes over the line of his jacket as he fixed the top button, fingers shaking and struggling for just a moment before he got it. The buttons were big, probably to combat that very problem. His white shirt was perfect and unbuttoned just enough to show off a brush of chest hair, dotted with grey. 

You were drooling. You closed your mouth and swallowed. 

Sam’s eyes trailed over you for a moment before he smiled, teeth sharp and sinful. 

“Fancy place, right?” You rasped, suddenly self conscious. You fiddled with the hem of your suit jacket. 

“Yes.” Sam’s eyes flicked to the chain around your neck for a moment before meeting yours again. “Yes, it’s a fancy place. You look perfect.” He realized that he had revealed too much, his face flushing as he cleared his throat. 

“Oh-kay,” Milo clapped his hand on Sam’s shoulder. “You crazy kids had better get going. I want no funny business, young man, and you better have ‘em home by midnight or so help me-” 

“Yeah, yeah,” Sam rolled his eyes and shoved Milo half-heartedly. You stepped between them, linked your arm with Sam’s when he offered it. 

Sam’s truck was nice. His suit was fitted and probably cost more than everything you owned. He was taking you to a place Milo was longing to get into. 

One of these people was not like the other. 

You gripped your hand into a fist as he pulled up outside of the restaurant. It was a small, black building with its name emblazoned in backlit silver lettering. A kid in his twenties wearing a three piece suit ran up to the driver’s side door as Sam threw his truck into park and stepped out. Somebody opened your door and extended a gloved hand to help you out of the car. 

You froze, staring at that extended hand. You did not belong here. 

“Darlin’,” Sam’s voice cut through the fog that was overtaking your mind, “you okay?” You turned to look at him, and your face must have betrayed you, because his expression softened, brow down turned as he examined you with the intensity of a healer. 

“Fine.” You said quickly. Sam was taking you- you- out to a fancy place. He wanted to be seen in public with you. He wanted to parade you around in a borrowed, ill-fitting suit like you were some fucking prize to be won. You wouldn’t ruin the night for him because you felt out of place. 

“No.” He shook his head, sitting back in the driver’s seat. “No, you’re not.” You sneered, turned away from him. You didn’t want him to read anything else from your face like you were an open fucking book. 

“I’m fine.” You reiterated. The valet tutted softly and made a big show of looking back at the line that had gathered behind Sam’s truck. You wanted to pull your hair out. You wanted to find some place to hide. “Seriously.” 

“Do you wanna go somewhere else?” Sam asked softly. “If you… Darlin’ I won’t drag you in here if you’re uncomfortable.” 

You looked up at him, face closed off. His brown eyes stared back at you, unwavering. 

He was serious. 

“Yeah.” You said. You felt that wall you’d thrown up crumble, just a bit. “I mean… as long as you won’t… like I don’t want to cost you money.” 

“It’s fine.” Sam shook his head and pulled his door close. He gave the attendant that had opened your door a pointed look until they closed it. “Don’t you worry about that.” He cranked the truck and peeled out of the parking lot. Your chest eased. “Where do ya want to go?” 

“I’m not… I don’t eat out much.” You admitted. You jerked and dug into your suit pocket to retrieve your phone. “Sorry, one sec, let me-” you scrolled through your contacts and called Milo. 

He answered quickly, like he’d been sitting and waiting for you to report back. 

“What’s wrong?” He demanded, voice strained. 

“Nothing.” You said quickly. “Look, if you can get to La Whatever-the-fuck before seven the reservation’s yours. It’s under-” 

“Solaire.” Sam provided. 

“Solaire.” 

“You’re serious?” Milo squealed. You smiled. 

“Yeah. Wine and dine your sweetheart before I do.” Something crashed on the other end of the line and you heard Milo call their name across the house. You hung up in the middle of his stream of ‘thank-you’s. 

In the end, the two of you parked outside of a Seven Eleven and browsed the fluorescent aisles for dinner. You found out, in that shitty, near empty gas station, that Sam snorted when he laughed too hard. That he preferred original Cheetos to flaming ones. That he wasn’t afraid of a gas station hot dog, no matter how many horrors he’d seen in his time in the ER. That he loved root beer, which was a crime you just couldn’t forgive. 

You carried your haul back out to the parking lot and sat, shoulder to shoulder, knees pressing together, on the curb, eating your shitty snacks and trying to put a dent in your Big Gulps. 

“Thanks.” You said softly, mouth still half-full of your third hot dog. “For… yeah. Thanks.” 

“Course.” Sam answered easily. He seemed lighter, less tense than he had when he picked you up. He looked fucking good in that suit (so fucking good, God, you wanted to take it off with your teeth), but he also looked… uncomfortable. Probably about how you looked. “I don’t want you feeling out of place.” He shrugged, like accommodating your bullshit was the easiest thing in the world for him. “Besides, that place is more Vincent’s speed.” He laughed softly. 

“Oh, I can see that.” You grinned. “Pretty princess eating eight tiny French bullshit courses.” 

“And don’t forget lavender flavored air for dessert.” 

You waggled a twinkie in front of Sam’s face. “I’ll take this any day.” 

Sam laughed, snagged the twinkie from your hand. You chased after it as he leaned away until you were practically in his lap. Your eyes met his, his hand fell to your hip. He kissed you for the first time since New Years, and his touch still made you feel like you were crashing down through the atmosphere, like you were burning up and falling apart.

Maybe you could forgive the root beer if you could always taste it on his tongue. 

“Yeah,” Sam gasped when you broke apart, his forehead pressed to yours, eyes closed serenely. “Me too.”

[hexgirl13]

leon kennedy with a fuggler obsessed gf

wc: 677

i've been obssessed with leon and fugglers, so i thought why not combine them. this was kind of written with re2r leon in my mind, but you can imagine any leon of you want! also, there is no outbreak in this!

it had been a long day for leon. chasing after and catching criminals wasn’t easy. especially when most of them were double his size. not to mention the constant teasing his fellow officers would inflict upon him. despite all this, though, being a cop was still something he thoroughly enjoyed. it was his one big dream that he finally accomplished. however, this feeling could never compare to the ones he felt for you.

everytime that office clock striked 5:00, he was rushing out of the precinct. knowing that in just 15 minutes he’d be reunited with you. today was no different. he came home, shrugging off his jacket, hanging it up on the coat stand. then he quickly kicked off his shoes, before practically running down the halls to find you. “baby?” he called out. “where are you?”

the two of you lived in a small apartment, so there weren’t many places for you to be at. if you weren't in the living room, you were in your guys’ shared room. peeking his head inside the room, that's exactly where he found you. you were sitting atop the bed, dressed in one of his old shirts from when he was in the academy. the stress in his body almost seemed to immediately melt away. “there you are, baby,” he said with a smile. he walked over to you, wrapping his arms around you. “i missed you- oh my god! what the hell is that?” he yelled in surprise.

you looked at him over your shoulder. “huh? what do you mean, babe?” you asked, almost as if you were confused.

“i mean, that,” he said, pointing at the green plush in your hand. “why do their teeth look like that? and did you put your lashes on it?”

“first off, it's a fuggler, and their teeth are supposed to look like that. and yes, i did.”

“more like fugly,” he muttered. he couldn’t take his eyes away from it. “why did you get it?”

“well, i saw it on tiktok, and i was like, i need to have it. so i went out to the stores and found this one! it's not the one i wanted, but i still love it nonetheless. her name is daisy,” you rambled, a small smile on your face while you did so. leon loved seeing you so happy, even over something so creepy.

“baby, you named it?” he asked with a chuckle.

“of course i did! why wouldn't i?” you asked incredulously.

leon’s chuckle then turned into a full on belly laugh. “oh, baby, i love you so much,” he said, pressing a kiss to the top of your head.

despite dating for almost two years, you still blushed everytime he said he loved you. “i love you too. do you like her though?” you asked, holding up the fuggler.

“yes, baby, i do. she kinda scares me, but she’s… cute. in her own special way. just like you,” he replied, now tilting your head back to kiss your lips.

was the fuggler weird? yes. but, in the most loving way possible, so were you. it fit you and your personality so much. he loved the things that made you happy, and if it was this little thing, then he wouldn't want it any other way.

a few days later

you just came home from doing some errands. you were completely tired and wanted nothing more than to collapse into your bed. leon had texted you that he was heading out to get some dinner and would be back soon. after putting away the groceries you just bought, you headed towards the bedroom.

on your side of the bed was a new fuggler. not just any fuggler though, but it was the fuggler. the little black bat that you had wanted. there was a note placed beside it that read:

i found this at the store for you yesterday. i know you've been wanting it and i hope you love it, baby.

leon ♡

(p.s. we should name him gerald)

[sternentreue]

2 and 15 from the codex thing for Firion please!

Finally getting to my huge pile of asks this weekend! Thank you for sending these, I had so much fun with them!!! 🩷

I still haven't decided how Firion feels about the slow burn, if he's just as oblivious or frustrated at some point, so for now I settled on "desperate for feeling loved", oops.

transcript under the cut

2. An entry from Rook’s journal

A PAGE FROM ROOK'S SECRET JOURNAL

The paper is slightly damp and the ink has run out here and there.

Spite made an appearance today. The others still think he's dangerous and they keep their distance, but I think he's just confused and lonely. Lucanis doesn't pay attention to him and drowns him out. And he tries to hide this side of him from me, more or less successfully. I told him Spite didn't bother me and then something shifted in him. He was so close, I barely remember how it happened, my ears were ringing and my knees almost gave out. My heart is still pounding just thinking about it. But he stopped halfway and left.

I thought he would kiss me. I must have looked like an idiot.

I can't seem to figure him out. One minute he just looks at me, and me alone (maybe that's just wishful thinking), with his big brown eyes that make my stomach turn, and he says these sweet things and makes me snacks in the middle of the night, and the next minute he's being obscure and treats me like an associate.

Did I misread his sweet gestures or have I not shown him enough that I’m interested? Or too much? Sometimes he seems to be uncomfortable with my attempts at flattery. Maybe he's not into men, or elves? Or maybe (illegible) in me as a person. (illegible) hurts, thinking about it. But I mustn’t be selfish. I am not entitled to his affection. I shouldn’t be feeling this way about him, (illegible) anything at all. He must focus on our mission and so must I. But I’m I want (illegible) feel so alone.

I was looking forward to spend a little time with him today. I hope he will still allow it.

15. Rook’s packing list for travel to a quest location

SCRIBBLED NOTE

Harding wants to look for the missing dwarves tomorrow. Deep Roads — ask Davrin to come with us.

To pack: 

— back pack — bed roll — comfy pants — brush  — water flask — washing cloth + soap — bandages — canavaris (ask Lace) (packed some — Lace) — petroleum jelly (hands) — long coat (ask Davrin) — treats for Assan (ask Lucanis) — sketch pad (just in case) — books (just in case) NO BOOKS (— Lace)

Added in Lucanis' handwriting: I expect you will be gone for a few days, so I packed some boxed lunches for you, including treats for Assan. Remember to eat and drink enough, I know you tend to forget. It will be cold too, please wear the socks I have knitted for you. I don’t want you to come home with your toes all blue. Be safe. — Lucanis

[hidden-by-a-trench-coat]

I thought I was going to have a straightforward answer and then I realized: what even counts as "morally wrong"? And then spent the next like 15 minutes going through characters and considering if what they did could be considered morally wrong-

Anyway, with perhaps the most directly 'morally wrong' character I like the most, I think I'd go with Don Vincenzo from The Grape Depression? There's something about him that just fascinates me and I quite enjoy it. He lost his own son, decides he wants another one, basically threatens a man to make him one, and then once he actually gets the boy, he straight up sets it on fire

But at the same time he did give the family money and I don't think he was fully morally wrong? - Idk, I can't put my thoughts into words

Some honorable mentions go to James from The Unrelenting Aubergine because I don't think he's really morally wrong necessarily, but he did kind of go mad with power and completely screw over his brother's dreams by flipping the land (the farm that James knew Titch cared so much about), so who knows how far he would've gone with that. But to me he just seems kinda lonely (same with the Don above, actually) and I think that's what draws me to his character

And then Old Lady Margaery who could steal literally everything from me and I would still absolutely adore her. I don't think she's really morally wrong, though. Like, sure, she's a witch that deals drugs but like... Is that necessarily morally wrong? I don't know. She's just kind of giving people what they want? So. I don't think she counts, but I absolutely love her so much

(Quick edit, I forgot Phantom Begruvia from Phantom of Hornchurch, which I also absolutely love, but I don't really know if he's like. Morally wrong???? Like yeah, he went to Hell so I guess that's probably morally wrong. Yeah. Idk, he's cool too - I'm too lazy to add more thoughts about him now but I don't think he did much else morally wrong other than that. And maybe murdering someone???? But like. Maybe he didn't? It's never realllllly stated, so who really knows)

what's your guys' favourite morally wrong character?

ill start, my favourite character is the Father from Burglary and Bobsledding, he starts his role as very financially-starving, accidently stuttering and showing his true motivation on why he wants his boys to grow up to be bobsledders, money.

-in which Helter points out but is sadly ignored

he then ends his character in death, by revealing that he didn't do the gambling for the finance and for bringing money home to the family, he did all the gambling only for the thrill of it. the excitement of spending money.

and he dies. with no good ending or peaceful resolution. just. an absolute heartbreaking story of a bad father

[sunnfish]

[ID: A loose digital drawing of Sasaki and Miyano from Sasaki to Miyano. They are laying down cuddling with their arms wrapped around each other, and Miyano’s leg slung up around Sasaki’s waist. It’s rendered in saturated, loose scribbled colors. /End ID]

Happy first sasamiya of 2024

[ryssbelle]

My cousins made their own troll Ocs and I drew them in my style.

They were very excited about it

[iamthepulta]

i did it u_u

[rigelmejo]

some basic language learning thoughts (based on some common questions i see on reddit forums). as usual, if you don't like the suggestion, feel free to ignore and throw it out! what works best for you will be what works best for you - everyone is different. at the end of the day, if you continue studying (hours add up), study some new stuff (expand your knowledge), and practice/review some stuff you've studied (improve comprehension of what you know), then you'll improve. You can achieve that in a ton of different ways, and any way which motivates you to keep doing it is great.

What's the easiest language to learn? My thought on this question is... it doesn't matter as much as it might feel like it does. If any language is going to take hundreds or thousands of hours of study, you will probably want to have goals that motivate you to study for THAT long, for years. If Danish 'takes less hours to learn' than Thai, but you watch Thai shows everyday and follow thai webnovel writers and twitter, and don't have much interest in anything Danish (and no friends that speak the language), then Thai is going to be 'easier' because you have more reasons to USE it. If Spanish and French seem to take a similar amount of hours to learn, but you're planning to go to school in a French speaking country and get a job there? Well you have a more pressing Need to learn French, that will hopefully help motivate you. The 'easiest' language to learn is the language you have REASONS to learn. The language you will use, and keep using. If you have no pressing reason to learn any language, but want to learn a language? Find reasons. Make goals that require the language.

(Here's one from me - I wanted to learn Japanese, in theory I can mostly do anything I want by just reading/watching/playing translations, however I am the kind of person that really enjoys reading originals in their original form... so that's motivating. My recent kick to study more? A show I want to watch is untranslated, so I better get to studying so I can still watch it.) Your goal can be anything from: I want to visit X, I want to talk to X friend/family better, I want to blog in multiple languages, I want to watch untranslated media, I want to sing my favorite musicians songs easier, I want to work in a country that speaks it, I want access to more recipes in X language, I am into history and want to read a history book from X time period in X language, I want to play a video game before localization, really the sky is the limit on goals you can set. Your goals, and how much you want them, and how often you do the sub-goals (so if reading untranslated cnovels by an author you love is your goal, maybe along the way you read easier webnovels to motivate you and find more writers you like), is going to push you to keep studying. Even if your goal is 'pass language B2 test' if it has a deadline, and it's a goal connected to other goals (like going to work in a country with the language, translating work, writing better), that will keep you motivated. Motivation is what will make a language 'easier.' If you can't find the motivation, even the languages which should take the 'least amount of time' will feel hard.

All that said, I am now about to contradict myself. While I really think motivation is the biggest factor in if you'll keep studying and keep learning... there are languages which due to their similarity to languages you already know, will take less Total Study Hours to make progress. As an English speaker, it only took me 6 months of very lazy unorganized studying (half hour most days) to be able to start reading non-fiction French with only a handful of word lookups per page. A lot of that was because French (especially science words and proper nouns like places) has so many cognates with English. I basically 'had' thousands of words of French I already knew, just because I knew English. It took about a year to read fiction books in French only looking up a handful of words per page, for 'general main idea' comprehension. When studying Chinese, it took me also about 12 months to read fiction, look up a handful of words, and understand the 'general main idea.' But I was studying 2 hours a day. So I studied around 182.5 hours to read French fiction with word lookups, and 730 hours to read Chinese fiction with word lookups. And the Chinese also took longer to learn to read with NO word lookups, since there was no english-cognate carryover to sound-out and over rely on like with French. (Although at a wonderful certain point, you know enough Chinese hanzi that new words are built of mostly hanzi you know, and you can use that to guess the gist of a LOT of new words when extensively reading with no word lookups - that happened for me at about 2 years). My point is: Chinese DOES take more hours of study to reach language skill milestones as an english speaker, compared to French! It took me the same amount of months, because I studied Chinese more hours per day (to make up the difference - and I had a better study plan with Chinese). But if you are a total beginner, and unmotivated and KNOW you will study maybe 1 hour per day and probably not more, then learning a language that is more similar to one you already know WILL take less study hours total to reach skill milestones. And that will hopefully be motivating.

(Another example: I spent 3 months of 1-2 hours a day studying Spanish, and can read Spanish nonfiction - thanks to the similarities to French and English. I can read fiction too but it requires word lookups. Japanese, due to kanji, also got 'easier' to read once I had learned more Chinese hanzi. So if your goals include learning languages with some similarities, then once you learn some of those similarities it will make future learning 'faster.')

I spent a month once studying Esperanto (a constructed language). Do I ever use Esperanto? No. Did I find the experience helpful? Yes. Because Esperanto is designed to be fairly easy for european language native speakers, has no exceptions, it had 1. a lot of similar-words to english so I could practice 'guessing similar words' (a skill I'd use a lot with French and Spanish later), 2. practice guessing what word endings mean grammatically (since Esperanto has no exceptions the grammar patterns are much more obvious than say grammar patterns in French). 3. Practice recognizing spelling to sound connections. Those 3 skills are useful in learning any language, but natural languages will have more exceptions to the patterns.

After spending a month on Esperanto, I saw HUGE progress after studying a few hundred words, noticed a huge amount of grammar patterns and how to notice them, and just generally got the experience of 'this is what skill milestones feel like.' Later, when studying French, I used that experience to recognize French word endings and what they tend to indicate, word functions, patterns in pronunciation, guessing with cognates/similar words, and I knew what the first 'milestones' I was aiming for would be. In a similar pattern: French milestones took me a few months each to hit, so when I studied Chinese later and it was taking 2-3 times as much study time... I knew which milestone to expect myself to 'work toward' and achieve next, and knew what making progress should feel like (even if it felt like it was moving slower) so I didn't give up. I was aware that Chinese language skill milestones might 'take more hours' so I didn't panic when it was taking me almost a year of reading graded readers in Chinese to move on to simple webnovels, whereas in French I'd only been reading graded readers for half a year before I felt ready to move on. I knew the general process, because I'd done it before in a shorter timespan with French, with Esperanto.

Is Esperanto useful to you? Only you know that. I personally did not find it useful in general for me, and didn't continue to study it. But it did teach me 'how' to study a language, what progress to monitor, and gave me the confidence that I was capable of learning.

If you really feel you're incapable of learning any skill in a new language, then spending some time on a language more similar to what you already know (if possible - a language you have motivating goals with), may help you see you are capable and can learn. An addition to this: spend a LOT of hours studying as a beginner, if lack of progress demotivates you. Once you push past the beginner stage, you'll be able to do goal-related things in the language you study and that will keep you motivated. But in the beginning, progress feels slow and you feel very confused. So the more upfront studying you do, the quicker you will push through that hard-to-motivate stage.

Is learning a language that is more similar to ones you know going to take less hours of study? Probably. But either way, motivation over hundreds or thousands of hours, for years, is going to be needed. So the goals you wish to achieve will be more important in your success, rather than how many 'hours' it will take.

What do you do if you get demotivated that it's taking SO LONG to hit the next language skill milestone? Fair concern. I got demotivated OFTEN by how much longer it took to reach milestones in Japanese compared to in French. First: try to keep perspective. It's normal for it to take more hours to understand certain things, if the language is not very similar to ones you know. You have to build a bigger foundation of understanding for lots of totally new stuff. Second: you're going to hate me but I'd suggest upping the study hours per day (or week). Studying Chinese RARELY demotivated me, despite it taking more actual hours of study to hit milestones compared to French, and why? Because I increased my study time for Chinese so I was still REACHING milestones in a reasonable amount of months (very similar to the months it took to hit French milestones). 2 hours a day of Chinese study was more than 1/2 an hour of French study, but 2 hours was doable. And it meant I still got to watch shows and read within a few months, and watch/read without looking many words up (depending on difficulty) by the end of year 1. Once you are doing the goals or sub-goals you have, it becomes so much easier to stay motivated. Once I could watch cdramas before they got translated, or read any novel I wanted using Pleco or Readibu to help? It was very easy to stay motivated and do things I WANTED to do in chinese. From there it was just practice/learn using activities I had the goal of doing.

Finally, similar to the suggestions above, if you find yourself in a motivation rut what can you do? I personally try to do 'study sprints' when I'm getting demotivated and need to see significant progress. What I do is pick a small goal, then spend 1-2 months studying as much as I can to improve in that goal. Suggestions: A beginner may make the goal to study the alphabet, a pronunciation guide, and 300 common words and see how far they get by the end of the month. (If at the end of the month the pronunciation is easier to hear and alphabet is easier to read then they succeeded - and they likely will). Another beginner may make the goal to read graded readers 1 hour per day or more all month and see how much they can read. (If the first graded reader they read is easier to read at the conclusion of the month, such as less unknown words or faster reading speed, then they succeeded - and they likely will see progress). A beginner/intermediate learner into flashcards might try to study as many flashcards in Anki as they can for a month. An intermediate learner may pick an audiobook and try to listen to AS MANY chapters as they can in a month, or may pick a novel and look up every unknown word while reading for 1 hour per day or more, until the end of the month. The idea is to pick a goal where you KNOW you're current skill level, work HARD on studying to improve that skill for a month, and then try to do the skill again and see how much progress you've made. I find it very motivating. It can take months to broadly notice progress milestones like managing to improve in your overall reading skill to tackle more difficult novels. But it can take just A MONTH to learn a few hundred new words and make the current novel you're reading become much EASIER to read, or the current show you're watching to become much EASIER to follow, or for the listening skills you're struggling with to become much more instant and reliable.

Example: one of my most recent sprints was to improve my Chinese listening skills. So for a month, I listened to audio flashcards of chinese-english sentences audio, and audiobook chapters (re-listening to each chapter a few times). I saw progress in 1. The audiobook got easier to understand over time, and 2. I tried watching a cdrama I've watched before, only this time I watched it without any subtitles, and it is now much easier to quickly comprehend and follow the lines (even without chinese subs). A sprint I did after a 2 year funk with minimal japanese progress was to cram study 2000 words in memrise Nukemarine's LLJ decks (took 3 months) then try to play a japanese video game I'd tried playing before the sprint. Another japanese sprint I did was listen to japaneseaudiolessons.com free lessons for a month, to work on improving my listening comprehension and recognition of word-order faster, and it did really help with seeing an improvement in those things.

As a beginner, I think the sprints can help with staying focused on small achieveable goals and seeing your progress (like reading daily, watching a show daily, studying X new words daily, going through a chapter of a grammar book weekly, etc). And then as you get farther and can actually do some of your sub-goals, can help with pushing yourself to some significant improvement in a particular area. (Like if you reached a sub goal of reading easy webnovels, it might be a month where you read a webnovel with more unique words that's 'harder' and look all unknown words up, and by the end of the month you see that medium-difficulty webnovels now feel as easy as the 'easy' ones did at the start of the month).

And then... if you study like me, which tends to be periods of a LOT of study followed by lulls where I might watch/read/listen to the language but not do much active study, then the sprint goal months tend to help cram in 100 hours of study every so often. So that you'll still (on average through the year) have studied 1-2+ hours a day. I do not focus well, and sprint goal months along with more relaxed months where I just watch/read/listen to stuff when I feel like it, is the only way I can get myself to study regularly. If you can consistently study daily, then sprint goal months can help you make Significant progress in a very specific area if some slow-progress area has been demotivating you. (And you can turn the sprint goals into challenges with friends, or tests to see what study methods work great for you versus bore you).

[wellthatschaotic]

neurotypicals are so frustrating,, i keep forgetting that "can you do x" means "go do x"

[slav-every-day]

[katrani]

okay FINALLY got the tip jar stuff sorted out, yay gonna do some dishes, make dinner, then i should be able to do some yatagarasu

(not that i expect anyone to chip in but my job is school-year related so it'd be nice if i could get something for the hours i put into this, since i'm about to be down a paycheck with winter break)

[voxmilia]

Lesson learned: hermes needs a shout out whenever I thank any deity or he's gonna steal one of my earbuds, the little shit (affectionate)

[idissectgermanwords]

Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz (noun, neutral):

Rind (noun, neutral); bovine

Fleisch (noun, neutral); flesh, meat

Etikette (noun, feminine); etiquette

-ung (suffix, feminine); used for the nominalization of verbs

über- (preffix); over

wachen (weak verb); guard, watch

-ung (suffix, feminine); used for the nominalization of verbs

auf- (prefix); on, to

geben (strong verb); give

über- (prefix); over

tragen (strong verb); carry

-ung (suffix, feminine), used for the nominalization of verbs

sitzen (strong verb); sit