#I have one and I've assembled it and I am going to hang it in my ART ROOM tomorrow

[afniel]

Big Ikea Leaf

Big Ikea Leaf

[mlqueen89]

Four | Boundaries

Are there some aces up your sleeve? Have you no idea that you're in deep? I've dreamt about you nearly every night this week How many secrets can you keep? 'Cause there's this tune I found That makes me think of you somehow an' I play it on repeat

Do I Wanna Know by The Arctic Monkeys

pairing: jake “hangman” seresin / ofc (top gun: maverick)

rating: 18+ (minors dni)

Warnings/triggers: smut in overall series, mentions of parent death/absence, swearing (let me know if i missed any!)

word count: 8,274 summary: the one where ellie assembles the avengers her team and pulls back the curtain on her tech. jake switches up his approach and ellie grapples with early push back from the pilots. A/N: this chapter and the previous chapter were originally one chapter, but my magnanimous beta kindly told me to chop it in two, which left some breathing room for the wonderful opening scene, of which i’m so incredibly proud. and then i let my fingers go wild, and this chapter got split in two. basically, it’s so clear at this point that i’m gonna need more than 10 chapters to tell jake and ellie’s story properly. these kids are just the most fun, but also, the most stubborn.

this one is plot heavy. this whole chapter (technically 4 & 5) was the most exciting and fun chapter i've written for jake and ellie’s story so far, i hope you enjoy reading it as much as i enjoyed writing it. i've added a bunch of terms to the glossary, so feel free to head there if there’s something you’re not sure of terminology wise. i really wanted to make this authentic – ya know, as authentic as fanfiction could be. ❥ playlist ♡ masterlist ♡ taglist ♡ glossary of terms ♡ previous chapter ♡ next chapter ❥ 

Midway Park, Lemoore, California — 2005 

The early morning October air was crisp, carrying the faint smell of fresh cut grass and rubber tires as families gathered around the makeshift track for the annual soapbox derby.  

Ellie clutched her helmet under one arm, the other hand resting on the sleek grey soapbox car she and her dad had worked on for weeks with interspersed help from one or more of his old wingmen. Its reflective paint gleamed under the sunlight, a perfect replica of his old F-14 Tomcat, right down to the call sign, now replaced with her name and RIO painted on with the steady hand of her uncle Wolfman. 

She’d excitedly run the race in her head as she tried and failed to sleep, her eyes scanning over every detail of her helmet sitting on her dresser across the room and the olive one-piece flight suit hanging behind her door in the dim glow of the moonlight seeping in through the cracks in her slatted blinds. She hadn’t even eaten her whole breakfast that morning, partly because Wolfman had cracked the egg wrong in the pan and there were shells to pick out of the scrambled eggs, but mostly because her stomach tossed. Her legs swinging impatiently under the table as she pushed her food around her plate and watched her dad read the paper and sip his coffee like he had all the time in the world.  

“Alright, Ellie, here’s the deal, kiddo,” her dad said, crouching to her level. In his aviators, Ellie could see the reflection of her wide eyes before she took a look at the lineup of cobbled together cars and the other kids crowded around the roped off track. “The under-10 category?” he waved his hand, dismissive, “that’s baby stuff. You’re better than that.”  

Ellie frowned, her small hands gripping the curved edge of her old ski helmet, scrawled with uneven, bubbly kid letters RIO. “But I am under 10. I’m eight and a half and...” Ellie paused to count on her fingers, her pink nail polish chipped and barely there, “... two days!”  

Rick tilted his head toward his wingman, Leonard “Wolfman” Wolfe, who stood nearby with a clipboard and a devil-may-care smirk. “Not today, Rio. Today, you’re 10 and a half—officially. Right, Wolfman?”  

Wolfman tapped the clipboard with a pen, his mischievous grin widening. “Right-o, born two years earlier than the records say, 1994. Funny how paperwork can get all... mixed up.” His hand waved in the air, a magician performing a disappearing act, shaking an etch-a-sketch.  

Ellie’s eyes widened as her gaze shifted between the two men. “Dad, is that… allowed?”  

Her dad chuckled and ruffled her hair playfully. “Let’s just say it’s a tactical adjustment. Mid-flight maneuver. Trust me, you’re ready for the big leagues.” He crouched closer, lowering his voice. “You wanna race against kids who can barely steer, or you wanna take on the best and show them what the Nevens are made of?” Her dad tapped the patch with the wings stitched to the left side of her olive coloured jumpsuit, the last name Neven, E. embroidered there.  

Ellie’s lips twitched into a gap-toothed smile, her nerves melting under her dad’s infectious confidence, the feeling of pride blooming in her chest. “The best.”  

She reached up to touch the patch, her tiny fingers grazing the fine stitching. Ellie, her dad and Wolfman had hovered over her mom’s shoulder as Ellie’s thrift store coveralls turned flight suit passed under the thumping needle and thread of her mom’s sowing machine, each stitch pinning the embroidered patch to her uniform. She’d felt the importance of it then and now she carried it like a plate of armour. 

“That’s my girl,” her dad beamed widely before he stood again, slapping Wolfman on the back. “Alright, make it official, Wolfe. She’s in the higher category.” 

Wolfman offered a half-salute before he scribbled something on the form tacked to the clipboard and stepped up to the registration table, where a volunteer in a bright yellow shirt shuffled through forms. “We’ve got an entry for the 10-and-up category,” he said, sliding the clipboard across the table with a pop of the chewing gum in his mouth, a wry smile on his lips.  

The volunteer, a woman in her mid-forties, frowned, gathering the clipboard with a wary look at Wolfman before she redirected her green eyes to squint at the paper. “Eleanor Neven? Didn’t she race in the under-10 category last year?” The woman’s eyes passed between Wolfman and Rick and then stood slightly to peek at Ellie over the edge of the table before they returned to the form, her finger tapping at the birthdate, skeptical.  

Rick flashed a dazzling smile, the aviators reflecting the woman’s face back at her as he clicked his tongue. “Kids grow up fast, don’t they? She’s been eating her Wheaties.” For effect, he patted the top of Ellie’s head and pulled her to his side.  

“Plus, last year was a mistake. Wrong birthdate on the form. Happens all the time with military families. You know how it is—paperwork gets shuffled around, lost.” Wolfman added smoothly, leaning against the table as a line formed behind him with other families waiting to register.  

The volunteer hesitated, glancing between the two men again before she sighed, unclipping the form from the clipboard before she slid it into the appropriate pile and began gathering the numbered aprons. “Well… if the birthdate checks out—” 

“It does,” Rick said firmly, all the while his smile never wavered. “I triple-checked it myself. Wolfman here looked it over too. We were both there when she was born. She’s ten and ready to roll.”  

The volunteer’s eyes narrowed, her gaze passing from her dad then to Wolfman before she quietly handed over the documentation.  

Ellie watched the exchange for a moment before she reached up and tugged on her dad’s sleeve as Wolfman collected the stamped form and they stepped away for the next family to register. “Dad, what if they find out? Isn’t this cheating?”  

Rick crouched again, resting a hand on her shoulder as Wolfman crouched behind her, clipping the numbered bib there. “Rio, here’s the thing about flying—or racing,” he reached out to pat the edge of the soapbox plane’s greyed body, “sometimes, you gotta bend the rules a little to get to where you’re going. It’s not about cheating—it’s about knowing you’ve got what it takes, even if the rules don’t think so. Pushing against the limits a bit so we know where the edge is for next time. Tell you what, when we see Uncle Mav, we can ask him about it, huh?”  

Over her shoulder, Wolfman snorted loudly, before he coughed, clearing his throat as Rick shot him a look before he moved on to wrap a numbered arm band around Ellie’s bicep.  

Ellie’s gaze flicked to the track, where older kids were already testing their cars, their faces set with confidence. She squared her shoulders, set her jaw and nodded, though her fingers fiddled with the straps of the helmet tucked under her arm. “Okay, Dad. Let’s do it.”  

“Atta girl,” Rick said, standing and saluting her before he clapped his hands together, rubbing them in anticipation. “Now, get ready to smoke ‘em.”  

They wheeled the soapbox to the race area, Ellie’s fingers tapping out on the outside of the helmet under her arm, her heart beating hard in her small chest. Instinctively, Ellie walked around the soapbox car, her fingers brushing the frame.  

“Always do your preflight before boarding,” her dad had been gazing at her in the rearview at the red light two intersections before the race grounds. 

“Visual 360, fuel and instrument check.” Ellie had nodded, listing off the checklist; her neck craned from the back seat to see if she could scope out any other racers headed to the track. She unbuckled her seat belt to slide closer to the center console before Wolfman threw her a look over his shoulder. 

“Seat belt in this aircraft, kid.” He tutted at her, sliding his aviators down his nose as he popped his gum, pausing on filling out the registration forms in his lap, “you think we’re rule breakers?” 

“We’re not?” 

“Rule benders,” Wolfman corrected, levelling her with a look until she slid back into her seat and buckled up with a click before he pushed his glasses back up and turned his eyes ahead, “we prefer the term rule benders.” 

Climbing into the soapbox, Ellie settled into the low seat as her dad crouched beside the car, sliding the helmet over her head and clipping the strap under her chin. Wolfman leaned forward and tapped dutifully on the top of the helmet, as her dad adjusted it, tugging at the chin strap sharply. Wolfman grinned at her, but when he spoke, it was for his wingman. “She’s ready for this, you think?”  

Ellie’s eyes found her dad’s through the clear visor as he snapped it down over her eyes, his features softened as she smiled her gap-toothed smile at him and adjust the helmet around her head. “She’s a Neven, Wolfman. She was born ready. Right kiddo?”  

“So, Tilly’s given the a-okay, then?”  

Ellie didn’t miss the look her dad threw at his WSO over his shoulder. 

Wolfman raised his hands and chuckled. “Fair enough. Let’s hope she doesn’t notice we didn’t tighten the steering bolts all the way.”  

Rick’s eyes widened. “Wait, what?”  

“Relax, Hollywood. I’m kidding.” Wolfman chuckled, clapping him on the back. “Mostly.”  

Her dad groaned as the announcer called for racers to line up and he pushed her car onto the pitched ramp, the ready position. Ellie gripped the wheel as her front tires settled against the gate, the countdown echoing overhead.  

Ten.  

Nine. 

“Preflight checks complete, Lieutenant Neven?” He asked, standing at attention beside the soapbox, his voice calm and steady as the countdown reached the last eight seconds. 

Eight.  

Seven. 

“Preflight checks complete.” Ellie’s foot tapped on the break and twisted the steering wheel, leaning over to watch the tires pivot on spot. “Pattern clear?” 

Six. 

Five. 

“Pattern clear, aviator.” 

Four. 

Three. 

“Requesting clearance for take-off, sir.” 

Two. 

“Clearance granted, Lieutenant Neven.” 

One. 

“Go get ‘em, Rio,” she heard him whisper as he leaned over, pressing a kiss to his fingers and slapping them on the call sign stuck onto the front of her helmet. “Let ‘er rip, kid.”  

The gate in front of Ellie’s car dropped, her wheels moving forward and the soapbox rolling down the pitched track. Despite herself, she gave out a squeal of excitement as she gained speed, the wind picking up and whipping the strands of hair that escaped from under her helmet around her face. 

The world around her blurred, the orange, red and yellow hues of fall rushing by her in a wash of colour, thrill of the speed and the race flooding her senses. For a moment, the sound of the wind and the beating of her heart, she felt like she was flying, a small dot in an endless blue sky. Hollywood and Rio.  

On the second turn, as she broke from the pack of other racers, Ellie felt the change, the sudden increase in speed as the wheel in her hands vibrated and rumbled, wobbled and jammed, harder to steer. But then the hill grew steeper, and her soapbox car picked up more speed than she expected. Ellie’s heart jumped into her throat as she tried to remember what her dad had said about staying steady, about procedure if she came up on a problem with the steering. The third and final turn came fast—too fast—and Ellie leaned into it hard, pulling the stiff wheel as far to the right as she could muscle, but she felt when the car beneath her veered sharply, suddenly uncontrollable. When the front wheels hit a natural dip and then sudden bump in the track, Ellie felt it in her stomach. 

The next few seconds were a blur. Ellie’s grip on the steering wheel slipped, the wheel jerking to the right. Ellie felt the soapbox pitch before she left the seat inside, the sting of pavement rubbing a hole in the arm of her flight suit, hot and raw. In an instant, she felt the sharp pain shoot up her arm from her elbow as she tumbled awkwardly, the world around her spinning. 

The prickle of the hay bale stuck through the back of her clothing as the shooting pain in her arm intensified, the world stilled as she looked up at the blue sky above. Around her, she heard the hum of the wheels passing her and the eruption of cheers as the racers crossing the finish line. 

The taste like a handful of pennies in her mouth came next and when her hand went to her lips, it came back red. From where she lay on the grass, she could see the canopy of autumn leaves clinging to the branches, the blue sky filling in the rest of the mural overhead. 

Her head was spinning, and tears welled up in her eyes, leaking down the side of her eyes into her ears, as the pain in her arm intensified. She tried to sit up but whimpered, clutching her arm close to her chest. The finish line taunted her in the near distance, the checkered banner billowing lazily in the breeze. 

Suddenly, her dad was there, dropping to a knee beside her. “Ellie! Hey, hey—are you okay?” His voice was panicked, but his hands were gentle as he scooped her up into his arms, holding her close to his chest. 

Ellie sniffled, tears rolling down her cheeks despite her best attempts to hold it together, the pain in her arm and the sting of losing when she had been so close, the perfect storm that threatened to break her composure. “I-I broke it, Dad,” she managed through choked sobs, her arm cradled against her body, her breaths coming in gulps. As if an afterthought, she traced her front teeth with her tongue and hiccupped a small sob when she found a larger gap there than had been before, “and I lost a tooth.”  

Her dad’s face softened with a mix of something Ellie couldn’t quite map, his brow pulling together into a line as he brushed hair away from her face, tucked it up the lip of the helmet still stuck on her head. “Aw, kiddo, I’m so sorry. We’ll get you fixed up, okay? Let’s get you to the hospital.” 

Shifting her, he fished the car keys out of his pocket and handed them to Wolfman who, without a word, took off toward the parking lot at a clipped pace.  

Ellie could only nod weakly, burying her face in his chest, the familiar scent of his aftershave and coffee settling her, cocooning her. Even through the pain, there was a comfort in his arms, the sound of his heart pounding in his chest, thumping against her tear-stained cheek centering her like the tick of a metronome guiding her back to calm. 

As they headed to the parking lot, each bump or bounce of her dad’s gait a painful jolt to her arm, pushing a hiss from her lips, she heard him whisper softly, against the side of her helmet. “You were so brave, Rio. I’m so proud of you.” 

Ellie nodded with a sniffle as the sound of Wolfman pulling up the van closer, brakes squealing, drew her attention. “Mom’s gonna be mad.”  

“Oh, don’t worry about your mom, kid.” Ellie watched as her dad tried to laugh, but there was also a hesitation there that stopped his lips from turning up into his usually contagious, mischievous grins. “Your mom’s not gonna believe I let you get behind the wheel on the 10 and over track.” 

Ellie let out a soft, watery laugh. Tilly Neven wasn’t one to trifle with. “You’re in trouble.”  

Rick chuckled this time, the sound reverberating through her as he stepped over the curb into the parking lot and Wolfman slid open the door to the backseat, for a second, her dad held her a bit tighter. “Yeah, well… wouldn’t be the first time. Won’t be the last.” 

Ellie had never been good at public speaking. She’d never joined a debate club or been the first to volunteer her ideas if it meant a presentation.  

Once she’d received the text from Tony, confirming the tech upgrade and the program installation in the jets, she’d relaxed, but only slightly. It still meant that she had to do the part of her job she disliked the most, “the elevator pitch”. 

She’d have to face the men who would be flying her tech and say Hi, I’ve added a hunk of metal and some wires into your jets. It’s going to help, trust me. Ask them to put their trust in her, their lives in her hands. It won’t malfunction according to these computer simulations. It won’t leave you hanging in a dogfight. Pinky promise. 

She didn’t expect it to go off without a hitch. She didn’t expect them to cheer and lift her up on their shoulders. 

All she needed was a chance, a small bit of faith before they leapt. 

Ellie stood at the front of the briefing room, her hands resting lightly on the podium, her gaze scanning the faces of the four pilots clad in green flight suits seated before her. The air smelled of stale coffee and old leather, the scent of a room that had seen countless debriefings, strategy meetings, and quiet moments of reckoning.  

She had spent years developing this technology, refining it, arguing for its place, its relevance, in the future of aviation. She’d tweaked it here, twisted its usefulness there, bridged a gap when she’d been turned down at one turn and climbed through windows when doors closed in her face. Now, standing here in front of the men who would be the first to fly with it, she had to vault this hurdle too, convince them it was worth trusting with their lives. Standing here, pitching for their faith in her, was more nerve wracking than presenting in front of Admiral Simpson and Rear Admiral Stark. 

Taking a breath, Ellie steadied herself, ignored how Teak and Lover scuffled between each other in their seats, how Hangman’s eyes never left her, the feeling of his gaze, eyes focused, hot on her even when she wasn’t looking at him. Rooster sat behind him and kicked his chair with a well-aimed boot, the sudden jolt of his seat enough to knock Hangman out of his stare. 

She didn’t ask for their attention, didn’t wait for them to notice that she was ready to begin. With a click of the remote in her hand, the screen behind her flickered, displaying the blueprint layout of an F-18, its labelled components taken straight from the NATOPS handbook. “Gentlemen. I assume Captain Mitchell has already given you a brief overview of what to expect, so I won’t waste your time on introductions or small talk and formalities.”  

From the corner of her eye, Ellie could see Mav fold his arms across his chest, his eyes trained on her. He’d given her the floor immediately without preface, without introduction. 

“You’ll recognize this as the wireframe of your F-18,” Ellie continued before she clicked to the next slide. An overlay slid into place, the standing systems overlaid with a complex web of radar signals, AI pathways, and electronic warfare integrations—her tech, on full display, laid bare. If she was expecting a reaction, they didn’t give her one, just silence. 

“What you’re looking at is the next step in avionics evolution,” she pressed on, her voice steady, turning toward her audience. “A fully integrated, adaptive system that combines radar, AI-driven threat assessment, electronic warfare, and seamless data-sharing into a single interface. Instead of relying on separate, often outdated systems, this package will allow you to fight, evade, and communicate with a level of efficiency we’ve never seen before.” 

If her heart wasn’t beating in her ears, she would hear the silence that met her words. She’d recognize it as the silence that wasn’t the good kind, the kind of silence that led her to over-explain herself. But she didn’t. 

Rooster, sat forward, his forearms on the table as he studied the schematic with an unreadable expression. Lover was nodding slightly as he squinted between the screen and scribbling notes in a small flip notebook he’d pulled from the breast pocket of his flight suit. Hangman lounged in his seat, fingers laced behind his head, smirking, carefully flipping a toothpick in his mouth. And Teak—Teak sat back, arms folded over his chest, a look Ellie recognized as the tell-tale look of skepticism written across his face. 

Ellie paused, her eyes drawn down to her notes. Pause for pushback, she’d written. She didn’t have to pause for long., 

“So, what?” Teak drawled, tilting his head slightly, waving at the screen. “You want us to trust some... glorified autopilot to make our decisions for us?” 

Unflinchingly, Ellie met his gaze, actually looking at him for the first time. Teak’s jaw flexed; the sharp lines of his cheekbones and nose lending him a striking appearance. His eyes, an intriguingly particular shade of cerulean, not unlike a clear September sky, studied Ellie as she took her time to process the response. “No. I want you to have every possible advantage when you’re up there. The AI isn’t replacing you—it’s making sure you have all the information you need, exactly when you need it.” 

Ellie clicked the remote again, and the screen shifted to a simulation. Two aircraft maneuvered through a contested airspace, one operating on traditional avionics, the other using her system.  

The first fighter responded only to what its sensors could detect, reacting to threats as they appeared through visuals or radar. The second fighter’s system anticipated missile locks before they happened, evaded before the pilot even registered the danger visually, and counter-jammed enemy radar before the target was painted. “It’s all based on data, numbers. But right now, those numbers look very good,” her eyes turned to the screen and watched the simulated planes for a moment, observed as they streaked through the mock mission, data readings popping up on what looked to be a pilot Heads-Up Display. 

“This system isn’t meant to fly for you,” she continued, turning back now as the simulations continued to play on loop on the screen behind her. “But it will see threats before you do, adjust possible countermeasures dynamically, and ensure your radar stays clear even in a fully jammed environment. In short? It gives you an advantage over the enemy, helps make sure you have a better chance at coming home.” 

Hangman broke the silence next, the sound of his low whistle drawing Ellie’s attention as he leaned back in his chair, his open legged posture, relaxed as ever. “Well, damn. That’s one hell of a sales pitch.” 

Rooster, his eyes still flicked across the data readings displayed on the screen behind Ellie, his fingers tapping absently against the table. “How fast can it adapt if an enemy starts throwing curveballs? Let’s say a bogey or SAMs or laser guided missile systems.” 

Ellie clicked again, dismissing the simulation and bringing up another set of figures. All colourful charts and data sets. She’d come prepared for this line of questioning.  

“Milliseconds. It’s built on machine learning models trained on thousands of real-world engagements. The more it’s used, the smarter it gets. If someone tries to jam your frequency in one way, it recalibrates instantly. If an unknown aircraft enters your airspace, it cross-references flight patterns to find weaknesses, predict its next move before you would have to react. It shows you possibilities.” 

“So, you’re saying it levels the playing field against fifth-gen threats?” Lover was sitting up now, his pen tapping against his open notebook, his broad shoulders rolling forward as he pointed at the data set. Ellie thought she read excitement in his hazel eyes as he thumbed his nose. 

“I’m saying it not only evens the playing field, but it tilts it in your favour.” 

Silence stretched between them, charged with something between curiosity and uncertainty. 

“Sounds like a lot of fancy tech that can get hacked, fail, or—oh, I don’t know—override pilot input at the worst possible time,” Teak said flatly, Ellie could almost detect the chortle behind his words. Convincing Teak would be a challenge. 

Ellie forced herself to pivot—she had dealt with resistance before from officers ranking higher than Teak. Early on, she had learned pilots didn’t like change, especially not changes that altered the way they had trained, the way they had survived. Wolfman had told her as much the first time she’d passed the idea by him, Mav had all but told her what to expect from every level of Naval officer, so she wasn’t about to let skepticism derail the entire briefing. Skepticism was a given. 

“It has redundancy systems,” she said evenly. “If one function is compromised, the AI reallocates resources to keep the essentials running. If something catastrophic happens? Manual override is always in your hands. It’s a tool, an aid, not a replacement for skill.” 

Teak scoffed before he loudly popped his chewing gum. “Yeah, well, forgive me if I don’t put my life in the hands of an algorithm.” 

Hangman chuckled, tilting his head toward Teak who sat a row behind and to his left, a lazy grin growing on his face. “Teak, buddy. You sound like my granddad bitching about GPS when it first came out. Relax, old man.” 

Rooster huffed out a quiet laugh. Lover fought a smirk. Teak’s jaw ticked as if he swallowed his words. 

Ellie let the moment settle before she spoke again.  

“Look, I know this is all new. And I know change isn’t easy to trust. But the fact is this system isn’t here to hold your hand. It’s here to keep you alive in environments where traditional systems would leave you blind, deaf, and dead in the water.” 

She let her words sink in before she continued. “I don’t expect you to trust it yet. That’s what testing is for. But I do expect you to fly with it and see for yourselves, let it speak for itself.” 

Ellie scanned the pilots before her; Teak’s jaw flexed, but he said nothing more. Rooster sat back, nodding slightly, still mulling it over. Lover shrugged, casting a quick look around the room, eager. Hangman just grinned, his eyes never leaving her. 

“Well, sweetheart,” he said, the amusement in his tone clear as he adjusted his seat in the chair, “I do love a good test drive.” 

Ellie rolled her eyes and ignored him, clicking the remote one last time to pull up the first test flight parameters. 

“Good,” she said. “Because you’re all wheels up in about 30 minutes.” 

Maverick clapped his hands together, rising from his chair. “Alright, aviators; suit up and make your way to the tarmac. Let’s see what this tech can really do.” 

The room stirred to life, chairs scraping against the floor as the pilots stood, some stretching, others already discussing the upcoming test amongst themselves. Ellie stayed put, gathering her laptop and notes, methodically shutting everything down. 

The pilots filtered out one by one. Rooster passed the podium, tapping out a quick rhythm on the edge and shooting her a small nod on his way out, and Lover muttered something about looking forward to seeing it in action as he tucked his notepad away before air drumming with his pen. Teak, however, barely spared her a glance as he brushed past, his shoulder grazing hers a bit too close for comfort. 

Ellie exhaled, letting the tension in her shoulders ease. That had gone about as well as she could’ve hoped, a little (expected) pushback, but three out of four pilots being open to try it wasn’t too bad of a ratio. She’d had worse before. 

“Nice job, Rigby.” 

She blinked, glancing up. Hangman was still there, standing a few feet away, hands on his hips, the toothpick sticking out the corner of his mouth, and that ever-present smugness dialed down to something… different.  

Ellie hesitated before she responded. “Thanks,” she said, closing her laptop. “Though I’m sure you’ll find something to critique once you’re in the air.” 

Hangman chuckled, that familiar twinkle in his eyes. “Oh, sweetheart, sounds like you know me better than you think.” But there was something almost appreciative in his expression, something that lingered a beat too long. 

Ellie’s fingers curled around her MacBook, as something unreadable settling in her stomach. 

Then, movement near the door caught her eye, breaking her from the moment. 

Teak. 

He hadn’t left after all. He lingered just outside of the briefing room in the hall, his sharp gaze passing between her and Hangman pointedly, assessing. Ellie wasn’t sure how long he’d been there, but judging by the way his expression flickered—something tight, something almost knowing—he’d seen enough to form some kind of opinion. 

Jake winked at her, clapping a hand on the edge of the podium as he stepped past her, “see you on the tarmac, Rigby.” 

Ellie forced a nod, schooling her expression as Hangman stepped out, his hand grabbing Teak’s shoulder and giving it a shake, “c’mon granddad, I’ll show you how all those buttons work.” 

Teak shook Hangman off, his lips pulled into a tight line as he lingered, just a second longer. Ellie’s eyes met his for a beat, a moment when he held it. Then, just as quickly, he was gone. 

From the control tower’s observation deck, headset on, fingers drumming against her folded arms, Ellie listened the comms chatter. 

From her vantage point, she could see the three jets taxi into position, the Californian sun sitting high in the blue, cloudless sky. It was as perfect a condition as she could have hoped for, at least the weather was cooperating. Around her, the Control Tower hummed with the activity of the staff, coordinating clearance with the ground crew and flight patterns of aircraft already in the air. 

For years she’d imagined standing here, envisioned a time in the future where she’d be watching as her tech did its thing and the numbers started rolling in. Now, actually standing here, her heart beating in her throat, she found herself overrun with the need to fidget, the chew her lip, to bite her thumbnail. 

Down on the runway, she watched as the jets roared to life, sleek bodies glinting in the afternoon light. Rooster, Teak, Lover, and Hangman. All of them sitting in cockpits wired with the most advanced avionics package ever put into a single system. If this worked—if it really worked—it would change everything. On the other hand, if it failed... well it didn’t bear thinking about, not right now at least. Ellie felt her foot tapping out on the tiled floor as her fingers dug into her arms. 

“Alright, gentlemen,” Maverick’s voice crackled over the comms from somewhere in the sky, the feedback from the cockpit scratchy in her ears. “Today’s a simple test. We’re looking for a baseline. The system is going to integrate with your HUDs and onboard AI, feeding you the real-time data and making sure you have everything you need to stay alive. Your job? Fly how you normally would. My job? Try to kill you. Hard deck is 5,000 feet—let’s keep it clean, nothing fancy.” 

“Clean and ‘nothing fancy’ ain’t exactly in my wheelhouse,” Hangman drawled, his accent cutting through the frequency, his voice sounding isolated, in a tin can. Ellie resisted the shiver that rolled up her spine. Though he was hundreds of feet away, a small spot on the runway, his voice in her ears sparked something in her. 

Ellie rolled her eyes, mostly at him, but a little at herself, instead choosing to focus on the screens in front of her, hovering over the shoulders of the techs sitting in front of the radar equipment which beeped dutifully. 

Rooster’s sigh was deep as he cut in over the frequency. “Just try not to break anything before we even get started, Bagman.” 

“No promises, Rooster. No promises.” Ellie could hear the smirk in Jake’s voice. “Lover, you ready to walk your old man through this?”    “I swear to God, Hangman,” Teak shot back, quickly, his comms fizzling to life. “Keep running your mouth—” 

“Easy, easy—” Jake responded without missing a beat, the clicking of toggles being flipped dull in the background behind his voice, “no need to get feisty now, just say the word if you need me to break it down real slow for you.” 

“Knock off the chatter,” Maverick cut in. “Wheels up in thirty seconds.” 

Down on the flight line, the engines surged, afterburners flared, and one by one, the jets launched down the runway, blurs of speed that streaked into the sky like silver bullets. Ellie’s gaze shifted, watching their flight paths on the monitors in front of her, the integrated system humming to life as it started pulling in data, linking each aircraft into the seamless digital web one by one. 

“Telemetry looks good from here,” Ellie spoke into the headset, her eyes took in the data as it began streaming to the screen in front of her. “All systems online and reading normal. How’s it looking up there?” 

Rooster was the first to respond, his familiar voice filling Ellie’s ears. “HUD’s crisp. AI’s already starting to flag heat signatures and terrain. Feels intuitive.” 

Ellie could feel the prickly of excitement before she schooled it back; too soon to start celebrating. 

“Same here,” Lover added, a smooth calmness in place. “Looks good from where I’m sitting. Got anything nice to say, Teak?” 

“System seems a bit chatty. Lots of information to sort through. Feels like it’s thinking for me.” Teak’s voice came through on cue, predictably, less enthusiastic. 

Ellie bit her tongue, she’d make a note to address it later in the debrief. She’d carefully remind Teak that the whole point of the system was to boost and enhance their decision-making, not replace it. As with anything new, it wouldn’t seem natural or easy in the beginning but would benefit them in the long run. Old dogs, new tricks. 

Hangman’s voice came last. “It’s good, I’ll give you that. But let’s see how it handles when I put it through the wringer.” 

Suddenly, a spike of data jumped on Ellie’s screen. Hangman’s jet shot forward, pushing past the planned test parameters before Ellie could yell out a warning over the comms. Outside, Ellie could see his jet as he yanked into a high-G turn, rolling hard, his plane screaming through the sky at an angle that should have stalled out lesser, greener pilots. 

Alarms flared on Ellie’s screen, screamed in her ears, so loud she instinctively lifted the headset off one ear. “Jesus Christ,” she muttered, already flipping through the diagnostics filling her screen, her fingers flying over keys to manually redistribute the generative thinking, fast. 

“Hangman!” Rooster barked, his voice booming over the screaming of her tech in her ear. “You trying to rip your own wings off?” 

“Relax Rooster,” even as Hangman grunted through another high-G cartwheel, strained against the force that pushed him back into the seat, Ellie could hear the playfulness in his tone, “just seeing if this fancy tech can keep up with me. So far, it’s keeping pace.” 

Barely, Ellie thought, her mind scrambling as she worked through the manual controls, pulling the recalibration coding from the back of her mind as her heart threatened to pound right out of her chest. The system was compensating as best it could, shifting power away from instruments and recalibrating to track Hangman’s sharp, unexpected turns and dives, climbs and rolls. It was working—but Ellie could already see stress indicators creeping in, the red signals flickering in the corner of her screen, the warning signs of a catastrophic failure. She hadn’t coded the parameters today for bullshit. If Hangman kept pushing, he might overload the AI’s allocation process before it had the chance to adjust and provide the baseline she was looking for. 

Her tech picked up Maverick on her screen as he joined in. 

Maverick’s jet came in fast from above, dropping out of the sheltered glare of the sun like a streaking missile. Ellie could see the system flag Mav on Hangman’s HUD in an instant, feeding Hangman a collision path before Mav entered weapons range. 

“Bogey incoming,” Ellie heard the AI voice warn in Hangman’s ear, on her end, she could see the system scanning, populating his HUD with information on the unknown aircraft. 

“Yeah, no shit,” Hangman muttered. “Breaking left. You got eyes on him Rooster?” 

He rolled hard to evade, dipping lower into the valley, barreling toward the 5,000-foot Hard Deck, forcing the system to compensate for rapid altitude changes, environmental shifts, and G-force strain all at once. 

Bitching Betty dinged through the cockpit, through Ellie’s headset. Altitude. Altitude. Pull up. Pull up. 

Ellie’s pulse ticked up as the warnings started going off again. 

“Break right, Hangman.” Rooster was in through the comms now, “I’ll get tone if you’re out of the way.” 

“Hangman, ease off,” Ellie cut through on the comms, her voice carefully controlled and calm but firm. She tried her best to keep the panic out of her tone, “You’re overloading the processing core. The AI needs time to redistribute resources, give it half a second to think and do what it’s there to do.”  

“Sounds like a ‘me’ problem.” Hangman was into another roll, breaking right as Rooster’s jet streaked in to assist and Hangman tumbled into another evasive maneuver, Mav hot on his tail. 

“It will be when you lose your radar feed,” Ellie shot back, around her the Control Tower Operators calmly diverted aircraft around the training area. “If you don’t—” 

The screen flickered on Ellie’s end, the system’s red flashing code stuttering, reflecting the same blip on Hangman’s HUD on the top corner of her display. 

A half-second glitch. 

A data delay. 

Not long enough to crash the system—but long enough to be dangerous if this were a live, life or death dogfight. 

In her ear, Hangman cursed under his breath as Mav capitalized on the momentary hiccup, his jet screaming in with impossible speed, locking a missile tone before Hangman could fully react, adjust. 

“That’s tone. Fox Two!” Mav’s voice cut through the comms, calm, collected. 

A simulated missile strike. If this had been real, Hangman would be punching out right now. 

The comms fell silent for a beat before Maverick’s voice came through, even and unreadable. “That’s a splash.” 

Ellie let out a slow breath as the system regulated, the red indicators disappearing from her screen as the system isolated the issue and rerouted, recalibrated. The system had held. Barely—pushed into the red, hanging on by what seemed to be a simple line of code. 

Hangman, to his credit, was quiet for a moment. 

“Well,” Jake began, the huff of exertion from the laundry list of evasive maneuvers and the strain of the resulting G-force on his body, “guess I found the breaking point.” 

Ellie pinched the bridge of her nose, the tips of her fingers turning white, closing her eyes to breathe out a noisy, measured breath. 

“You found it immediately,” Rooster at least had the decency to sound as exasperated as Ellie felt. 

Lover hummed in agreement. “Kinda impressive, Hangman, honestly. You always go around breaking your most expensive toys?” 

Ellie exhaled sharply, evacuating all the air from her lungs before she breathed it in anew. Patience.  She’d need to practice patience or take a vow of silence to keep herself in check. “Hangman, get back into formation. The rest of you, continue the test as planned. And for the love of fucking god, stick to the parameters this time.” 

“Copy that,” Rooster said. 

“Got it, Boss Lady,” Lover added, his voice light. 

Teak, gruff as ever, just muttered, “Knew this was a bad idea.” 

Hangman sighed, pulling his jet back in line. “Alright, alright. I’ll behave. For now.” 

Ellie didn’t believe that for a second. 

Ellie pushed open the control tower door with more force than necessary, so hard it swung back against the outer side of the building with a heavy slam as she stepped onto the sunbaked tarmac at a clipped pace. Her boots hit the pavement hard as she strode across the flight line, headset hanging loosely around her neck, her pulse still elevated from the way Hangman had handled the test. 

She’d expected the first test flights to be bumpy. What she hadn’t been expecting was that the bumps might come from Hangman. After his tone in the briefing, Ellie had expected pushback from Teak, had been waiting for him to act out, but Jake? This was just him being a cocky son of a bitch, and she wasn’t about to let it slide. She couldn’t. 

The rest of the test had gone according to plan, but the baseline readings had been skewed because of Hangman’s hadn’t followed instruction. Today had essentially been a wash for anything except for redline readings. 

As she approached the line of jets, she threw her hand up to shield her eyes against the dipping sun, catching the last pilot climbing out of his jet—Rooster. He caught sight of her immediately, his pace shifting, angling himself in her path before she could storm clear across to the hangar and into the locker room and rip into Hangman in front of everyone. 

“Cool it, Rigsy,” Rooster murmured, hands up in a peacekeeping gesture as he tracked backward while Ellie pushed forward. Against his 6’1 frame, Ellie looked small, and the wall of his body blocked her trajectory. “You look like you’re on the warpath.” 

In the reflection of the aviators over his eyes, Ellie could see herself, eyes narrowed. “Move, Bradshaw.” 

Rooster didn’t budge, shifting as Ellie tried to step around him when she realized he wasn’t going to clear the path. “Not until you take a breath, or maybe seven.” 

Ellie let out a sharp, humorless laugh. “Oh, trust me, I’ll breathe just fine once I’ve had a word with Seresin.” 

Rooster exhaled through his nose, arms folding across his chest as Ellie stopped abruptly. There was no way he was moving. Fleetingly, Ellie wondered if being stubborn was a requirement for flight school. “Yeah? And what exactly are you planning to say? Because from here, it looks like you’re about to walk in there and lose it in front of the entire locker room.” 

Ellie clenched her jaw. “He went off-script, overloaded the system immediately. Forced it into a failure point before I could even establish a baseline. That’s not testing limits—that’s recklessness. You have to establish the baseline before you—” 

Rooster shook his head. “That’s how he flies. You knew that.” 

“That’s how an asshole flies,” she shot back, a flare of anger, not unlike the flickering lick of a solar flare, rising inside of her. 

Rooster’s lips twitched, almost as if he might laugh, but in a moment, he was composed again, not taking the bait. His hands were on his hips now, helmet tucked neatly under an arm. “Look, I get it. Maybe better than anyone. He’s frustrating. He’s cocky. But he’s also one of the best pilots in the Navy, and trust me, you want him pushing this thing to its breaking point. Better him than someone out there getting shot at when the stakes are high.” 

Ellie’s arms crossed tightly over her chest, the muscles of her jaw working to bite back the words she really wanted to say. It took her a moment, carefully choosing her words before she spoke again. “That’s not what this was about. He didn’t do that for the sake of the test. He did it to prove he could break it. That’s all he cares about—looking good, coming out on top. He doesn’t give a damn about the work that went into this.” 

Rooster studied her for a long moment, his eyebrow quirked high. “That’s a lot of assuming for someone who works with provable theories and data sets for a living.” His jaw ticked as if he was clenching and unclenching. “You don’t know him.” 

“And he doesn’t know me,” Ellie shot back. She wanted to say that Jake didn’t know what it was like for her, he didn’t know how many pieces of her life and her time and her blood, sweat and tears had gone into every fiber of this tech. She wanted to say that he didn’t know why she was doing this. Instead, she shifted her weight and tightened the fold of her arms across her body. She could be stubborn too—it practically ran in her DNA. 

Rooster sighed, shifting his weight. “I guess you’d better get used to being pissed off then, because he’s not going anywhere.” 

Ellie pressed her lips together, her frustration still simmering, but Rooster wasn’t done. “Look,” he said, more measured this time, “I told you before—Hangman will follow if you make it clear who’s in charge. But he’s got to respect you first. And right now? You’re just reacting to him. He pushes; you push back. Wash, rinse, repeat until you both die. He thrives on that. I tried it that way. It doesn’t work.” 

Ellie narrowed her eyes, studying Rooster for a moment, before she rolled her eyes and threw her hands up. “And what exactly do you suggest? That I just let him run the show?” 

Rooster shook his head. “No. I’m saying he’s testing you just as much as he’s testing the system. You want to keep him in check? Show him you can handle him.” 

Ellie’s fingers twitched at her sides. She hated that he had a point, hated even more that Hangman would probably enjoy knowing just how much he was getting under her skin. It took a measured breath and a focused thought with intent to push down the anger into her toes. “How do you suggest I do that?” 

Rooster shifted his weight, as if he were trying to pull something out of his hat. “Maybe start by coming out tonight?”  

Ellie huffed, the sun starting to heat the back of her neck uncomfortably. She didn’t shoot it down right away and so, likely sensing an in, he continued. 

“Hard Deck. Might help your case if the guys see you as something other than what they’re pegging you for now.”

Ellie arched a brow, she didn’t want to engage Rooster right now, she hated that her anger was ebbing away, if only slightly. She hated that there were politics she had to play into to get her tech where it needed to be. “Oh? And what exactly are they pegging me for now?” 

At that, Rooster smiled. Ellie knew Rooster knew her well enough by now to see that her anger was dissolving. “A mysterious, tech-obsessed hard-ass who spends too much time in her office and not enough time pretending to be human. Also, someone trying to make their lives harder.”    Ellie huffed a laugh despite herself, shaking her head. “Great. Love that for me. Is it terminal, doctor?” 

“Not entirely, it’s fixable at this stage,” Rooster teased as she watched his shoulders relax. “Couple rounds at the Hard Deck, let ‘em see you’re not a soulless drone, and suddenly you’re one of us. I’ve seen you with Nic, I know you can be fun, or at least fun-adjacent.” 

She gave him a skeptical look, choosing to ignore the comment about her being fun. “I don’t think drinking beer with you guys is going to make Hangman and Teak be any less of pains in my ass.”    “No, but it might make Teak less of a pain in my ass if he stops thinking you’re some uptight, out-of-touch scientist trying to change the way he flies,” Rooster pointed out. “Might be worth it.”    Ellie exhaled, considering. “What about Hangman?” 

“You mean the way he flies or the way he’s been trying to flirt you into submission since he laid eyes on you?” 

Ellie felt her stomach dip and she took a careful, measured swallow. “Both.” 

“Not sure that’s curable.” Rooster hissed, perfect bedside manner for delivering a terminal prognosis. 

Ellie huffed and set her hands on her hips. She wasn’t the type to care what pilots thought of her—she built tech to save their lives, not to win their approval. But Rooster had a point. If she wanted them to trust her system, they had to trust her first.  “Alright,” she said finally, pushing back from her desk. “One drink. But if any of them start talking about ‘mansplainy’ shit, I’m out.”  Rooster nodded, the grin on his face. “Fair deal.”    Rooster waited for a beat, stepped back and waited another, as if he were testing to see if Ellie might sprint past him on her way to the locker room anyway. When she didn’t move, he offered her a small wave and turned, stalking down the tarmac and peeling parts of his flight gear off as he did so.  

As his figure shrunk, Ellie sighed and rubbed her temples.  Great. Now she had to go pretend to be human. 

a/n: i mean, does ellie even have a mom/dad with wolfman and mav stepping in? not me cackling as i imagine wolfman in an apron making scrambled eggs, terribly. anyone wanna crack that with fanart? haha

if you love this series, reblog, comment, like! chapter 5, the technical ending of this chapter will be up tomorrow!

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[coridallasmultipass]

I've never done one of these before, am I doing it right??

( The bag is really cool, thanks @ender--slime !! )

Wow tho, finally found a use for the old Homestuck charms I made in like 2012 or 2013!! They were originally going to be another decoden phone case, but I scrapped that idea when I had a cooler idea for a Derse-themed 'the prince is awake' case, and then later got into different fandoms for the next cases.

(My favourite is still the teeny tiny Squarewave!)

I hot-glued some earring posts and stuck plastic backs on the Strider charms to pin them down. They of course all popped off the hot glue when I tried scrunching the panel in there, but I managed. I left the second white panel sandwiching the backs, so they don't tear up the bag itself.

I also offloaded four heavy Gurren Lagann charms that were hanging on my phone. They've been clattering around on my phone for a whole year, now. (Actually, just a few days shy of a whole year.) I'm feeling SO naked handling my phone without them causing a racket, now. They were so heavy and so loud. I might miss them already, but I don't know if I have enough flat Homestuck things to put on here yet? (I WAS going to like just draw and print my own collage or something. But I still forgot to get printer ink.) So. I'll probably take those off once I figure out how else to fill this with a unified Strider concept. ((I wish I knew the GL charm artist, but I bought them second-hand.))

I seriously have no idea what I'm doing at all, so I watched some videos, and one person put fairy lights, so I went and robbed my Valentine's tree of its red battery-powered lights for this. It had to be wrapped weirdly, and I was all pushing a pen in there to shove it into shape (and popping the charms off the earring posts again, sigh).

The shitty holographic foil wrapping paper I added kept getting torn, too, but it's gold and matches the hardware, so I had to try it. (I LOVE GOLD.) Maybe it will work better if I glue it down onto foam instead lol, but IDK if foam will bend to squish in there. And I threw on an extra M56 lanyard I had, just because?? I usually have a red one on my phone. IDK what else to use the lanyards for, besides my phone.

I still have a TON of handmade smuppet charms, but they all have charm loops baked into them, so I don't want to put those inside the bag. Maybe on the outside somewhere?? The orange smuppet in the bag was THE original I used to make the mold for the other clay smuppets. (Was going to make a smuppet charm bracelet, but never got around to chaining them together. Art college was rough, man. Left so many projects behind while flying back and forth.) I gotta think about it.

Anyway, yeah. Here's my first go at assembling an ita-bag panel.

[mayordea]

TIME FOR THE LONG ASS 2024 REVIEW

i am once again gonna review each highlighted piece i have made in 2024 so far like last year even though it's sort of unnecessary i have a bit to commit to

yappery under the cut

JANUARY

jan's piece is my smash poster celebrating the 25TH anniversary! this after i got rlly into making giant multi-character ensemble pieces, and i've wanted to do a poster like this to celebrate smash, so i'm glad i was able to step up to plate. usually i think my art from january ages pretty bad in these reviews, but i actually still like it from the composition, colors, and the drawings of the characters. i still have the print of it hanging in my room! ^o^ other highlights from the month is the complimentary poster i did with smash ultimate's dlc cast... well i kinda mention that out of obligation because i actually do think this one aged like ass, mainly the shading on the characters looking pretty bad (especially as a print). i think i shoulda saved this idea for later in the year to time it with smash ultimate's release day of december 7 (i am extremely deadline-pilled) but i probably wouldn't have cared by then so i just did it like, immediately after the 64 poster. so it probably smacks of burnout + i can't shade with blue that well

FEBRUARY

this one sorta represents seven whole drawings i did for one series. it's my seven piece set of artworks based on mothy's evillious chronicles, and i chose rilliane's because i think at the time i was putting this together i thought she came out the best (i began assembling this starting april 2024 lol), but idk! i still think she's pretty solid but i think she's tied up with kayo and banica. one thing's for sure, i know sateriasis is my least favorite of the bunch by a wide ass margin, i really wish i executed it better! not much other interesting highlights for this month besides my other vocaloid art series, the alice of human sacrifice ace cards. i think they aged alright but again this is another idea that i wanna execute better in the future.

MARCH

oh boy another series!!! this was part of my four part series redrawing the crossed paths artwork from octopath traveler ii. i chose the one featuring partitio and osvald because it was my favorite at the time. i still think it aged pretty nicely but it has some rendering hiccups that rlly bother me but in terms of colors/the background i still like it. if i had to pick a new favorite, it might go to throné and tenemos or cassti and ochette. another notable highlight of this year was a piece of oc art i made. i need to do something unabashedly overdramatic and angsty with my ocs again cuz i still like this one too. i think i opted out of selecting this one to highlight since cropping a face was kinda awkward lol.

APRIL

an overdramatic oc art has been highlighted! another one i like (it's almost like i picked my best for this chart). it was sorta the origin of me using my favorite watercolor brush in procreate to have an extremely rough idea of the colors that naturally blend together, creating a pretty cohesive palette when i render it (which is the current basis for how i render in my current style). april otherwise is kinda boring idk i don't like a lot of the other drawings here lol. this utsu-p album redraw ft robin is still pretty cool tho imo.

MAY

i feel like i had some nice variety to pick from, but i chose my improvisational and edgy grima drawing since i think stylistically it stands out the most. i found my new favorite sketching/doodling pencil brush in procreate and made a whole drawing using it, and the texture is so niiiice. other highlights: COOL OC ART (ft kandy). part of me feels like it's kinda corny but i was born on da cob so whatever, this one was fun and i still like it!!! there was also my art based on bad end night. i'm a tiny bit mixed on the rendering/colors, idk i was experimenting with a different brush for lining and shading and the slight difference in texture makes it a little weird but that is shit that only matters to me. i think it's a hell of a lot better than the bad end night drawing i made back in 2022, so in terms of "redemption" i think it was successful.

JUNE

kind of a boring month tbh, i got miitopia-pilled again so i was probably busy playing that this month + i was home for the summer and i am extremely lazy when i am at home lol. but to compliment the dive back in my miitopia era i made a sorta sketchy drawing with kandy as my great sage. check it, it's another with my new pencil brush, and i definitely remember having fun with this one (though her robe physics kinda make no sense based on how i drew her ref, i never look at my refs for my ocs/i usually break their designs to fit certain poses silhouettes 💀💀💀). uh i guess the one other interesting piece (imo) from this month was my giant miitopia poster that i was too chicken shit to share proper until recently (if you missed the edit where you can fully see it, there ya go). it's kinda oversaturated vomit and i'm not crazy proud of the execution but it was ambitious and kandy's section still looks really good imo so it has value in that regard to me.

JULY

i participated in my first artfight this july! i drew many cool ocs. by about the halfway mark i got hella burnt out tho and started doing my own stuff to freshen things up (it was also around here when galasynth entered production and i met MANY AMAZING VOCALOID ARTISTS!!! SHOUTOUT TO THOSE MUTUALS :)))))). for this month i chose my poster based on touhou eosd since i think this might be the most gracefully aged piece the whole year (it's probably my favorite!!). the colors just came out real nice.... idk!! a notable piece from this month that couldn't be posted in july cuz of zine nda's was my actual galasynth piece. this was a pretty significant piece since it permanently altered my current rendering/coloring workflow (sorta established in the highlighted piece in april but now with lineart and with a differently textured brush). the touhou poster was created shortly after as a response to this new workflow! other one of note was my perfect cherry blossom poster

AUGUST

brave frobin's design for feh was revealed and i drew it 😼😼😼 (AND I CALLED IT earlier this month. not that i needed to use a lotta braincells but). this was a further step in practicing my new rendering style and see how detailed and meticulous i could get with the colors when i had ONE character to focus on with NO background and i think it was pretty successful. though im glad i posted the wip cuz the colors were probably better there than the rendered... what overthinking does to a mf. another banger from this month was a piece of oc art, it's nothing special but it was a rendered panel redraw of an unpublished comic i made of them and i liked it so yeah. (i also posted my decora una drawing this month which was my scrapped concept for galasynth, but according to my notes it was actually finished in july... but shoutouts to it regardless)

SEPTEMBER

aaaagh this month didn't have much goin on, probably cuz i went back to school around here and the work was getting crazy 💀💀 but i still found time to make something i'm proud of! i drew my oc based on a twitter prompt a mutual of mine shared and i reeeaaally still like it!! especially the details on the corals waow... (i don't really have much else from this month that i consider noteworthy enough to mention here so :P)

OCTOBER

spooky art!!!!! i didn't have much interesting going on this month because again i got very academically demanded of and didn't have much time to draw, BUT i vowed to make a tribute piece to "trick&treat" by oster project for halloween, so i hauled ass to get something ready for that and to have ONE traditional drawing this year (yeah i didn't draw a lot on paper this year unfortunately ☹️☹️☹️☹️☹️). other highlights: a traditional drawing of gekiyaku pills for vsynthtober which i did a whole two prompts of (you just saw all of them) + a digital drawing of geki (i really started to like gekiyaku around this time). as much as i still like the latter's colors and texture it sorta started a bad trend where i sorta just drew characters from the shoulders up with not much pose to speak of + no interesting background just for the sake of coloring it. not that it's completely devoid of value but it was a pattern i was starting to get a little to comfortable with. i'll touch more on this in the closing thoughts section, but this new rendering style did sorta hinder my want to experiment with my digital rendering styles compared to previous years where i prided myself on having a bunch.

NOVEMBER

BOTH of my favorite pieces from this month fall in the same trap as the thing i mentioned above. i picked my drawing of hibiki koto for the chart since the pastels added a nice value shakeup. i STILL LIKE IT, it's nice, but did perpetuate this bad habit/shortcut. the other one was my drawing of great sage kandy (current pfp!). the colors here are pretty fuckin nice still imo, so as a coloring tech demo like this flavor of drawing i was doing i think it succeeded.

DECEMBER

AND FINALLY, the end of the year. i finished my december piece early in the year kinda just to check the box off and get this chart off my back (a totally normal thing people do when drawing art throughout the year). i have wanted to do a legacy of lunatic kingdom poster like my eosd one for a while after falling in love with its ost, but it just felt scary. the characters were very detailed and also there were moreeee 😭😭😭 but i got myself to do it cuz i found myself tempted to fall in the same trap as described in october/november (i was gonna draw koishi with the same crop/thought for the bg/emphasis on rendering. you might see her done by the end of the year), but i was like "NO, i must earn this laziness" and finally did something ambitious again. and yeah, i think i did pretty good with this one, even if the crowding of characters and details is sorta unruly.

ok so maybe i'm a little artistically constipated rn

doing this thorough review has sorta gotten me worried. i talked about this in my review last year, but i wondered if my progress has plateaued since i liked a lot of my art throughout the year and didn't see much significant improvement. but looking back no i definitely improved from 2023, and i'd say i broke some new ground with experiments i did throughout the year (the piece from december is still my banner!!). i also had a few different digital rendering styles i played around with for some variety.

this year, after the completion of my galasynth piece, i got really stuck in a specific rendering style and didn't rlly experiment that much with shaking it up. i also didn't feel compelled to try doing solid lineart or rough paintings, and i got stuck in a "halfbody with basic poses and backgrounds" pit when i know i can do better and more cool if i just TRIED.

i am writing this pretty early in december so hopefully i can bring something new to the table..... idk, maybe the differences in my digital coloring styles are only visible to me, but i certainly notice this repetition and wanna break out of my current bubble! i am working on a collab piece that should go live by spring next year that will hopefully do this :) (and i certainly won't be abandoning my current style, at least not overnight/without trying to evolve it, cuz i really like it and have received many kind compliments from people about it! so thank you thank you!!!!)

i look back at some of my pieces from last year and earlier this year and see some variety in how i go about rendering or textures or colors and wanna go back to that. so that'll be my goal for the rest of december + 2025!!!!! ^_^

anyway that's that, it was a good year despite my current crisis, i think i made some good art. also don't be like me and feel obligated to make nice art every month for an aesthetic chart, i do it cuz i draw fast and i am easily satisfied by them. take breaks touch grass drink water, play and draw. yay!

[dragonmuse]

Demystifying Writing

(or There Is No Wrong Way, but Here's One Way)

One of the things I've noticed as I've bobbled through twenty years of fanfic spaces (this happens in traditional writing as well, but this is where I hang out) is a lot of talk of 'muses' and 'this character told me that this is how it'll go'. Or 'I can't say how I got my ideas'.

And I do know that feeling! Sometimes you are just in the flow or it feels like you got struck by lightening and it's a great feeling. You know exactly what this character wants and it even seems to guide against your original plan. It's a beautiful feeling!

But that very feeling can make us feel like writing springs from some deep unknowable place that we cannot possibly reach voluntarily. By creating that mystic feeling, you also need to become an oracle who is in touch with that other side.

For myself, I do have those moments of feeling like my blorbo is just whispering in my ear. But for the most part, it's something else altogether: construction.

I am not an outline writer, I generally do not have a huge plan, but I do have scenes I'm considering, things I'm working towards. And I tend to think of a story as a mission-based project. I have posed myself a few questions, usually 'in this given circumstance, how do these characters find each other and what impact do they have on each other once they do?' Usually I already have an answer in mind 'they fall in love and both wind up in a happier situation' for romantic fics for instance. All right, so what gets them to that place while not changing the core of what I perceive as their personalities.

Writing can be mystic, but writing can also be as pragmatic as brick and mortar assembly. I am standing on the island of beginning and I am looking at the island of ending. What do I need to do build the bridge from here to there?

So if you don't have a muse and you don't feel inspired by things beyond fragile human understanding...so what? Your writing is just as valid if you're someone who sits and thinks it over and can explain exactly where your ideas came from. Inspiration can be very clear and concrete. 'This coffee shop seems like a fun place to work, what if my blorbos worked here?' is a perfectly fine way to start thinking about a story. From there if you write each scene with a workmanlike attention 'what sort of event would pull them closer together?' etc etc.

And hey, maybe you want to write something about two writers with different approaches to writing. See? Anything can get you started!

[thepupperino]

Weekly Tag Wednesday

Hello again!!! Thank you @energievie for the game and @lupeloto, @spacerockwriting, @jrooc, and @spookygingerr for the tags!

A little game for you today: imagine you're friends with both Ian and Mickey (I'm talking hanging out at their apartment, going out for drinks, the whole nine yards). Which one of them would you take with you for the following activities and why? No cheating 😅 Only of them because I promise you the other won't get upset.

But first...

Name: Keely

Age: 29

Location: Utah

And now, for the activities:

Fishing: What if I don't want to go fishing? Stealing Jess' answer and bringing Mickey so we can get drunk on a boat

Rom-com marathon in the park: Ian is my rom-com buddy

Clubbing: Ian (I hate Caleb but I love that little screenshot of Ian dancing at the wedding--you know the one I mean right?)

Wine tasting: Mickey? Idk I've always wanted to do a tasting and I feel like I would have fun with Mickey

Escape room: Mickey but he'd probably make me feel stupid (for context I am bad at escape rooms)

A day at the spa: Ian, give that man a break

Office Christmas party: I'm new at this job and feel like Ian would be on his best behavior

Darts competition: Like as my competition or like as a partner? As a partner I'll pick Mickey because that man grew up in a bar

Treasure hunt: Ian, I feel like it could be fun

Assembling IKEA furniture: Hear me out, for some reason I believe Mickey is very good at furniture assembly? And if not then at least we'll get frustrated together

Tags below :)

@sleepyheadgallavich @too-schoolforcool @heymacy @deedala @gallapiech

@wehangout @catgrassplantdad @rereadanon @callivich @sam-loves-seb

@samantitheos @bawlbrayker @deathclassic @mybrainismelted @crossmydna

[kanonavi]

2023 XVX Fic Recs!

Hi, all, I hope you're having a lovely holiday season! Around the beginning of this year, just for fun, I decided that I would record all of the fanfics that I read this year, and during the summer I had the idea to take some of the best fics I read in 2023 and compile them at the end of the year into a rec list. Since xiaoven was the ship I read the most fics for, I've decided to just do a rec list for them this year, but maybe in the future I'll branch out more!

As with any rec list, please take note of the ratings and the tags for any given fic! Just because something suited my taste doesn't necessarily mean it will suit yours, please take care of yourselves. Now, here are 10* fics that I read this year and think that other xiaoven fans should read too! (Also uh. Sorry for how much I'm about to talk in the reviews lol)

*Keep an eye out for a few bonuses that I've peppered in ;)

~

We Creatures of Fate, by Wackachu

[Ongoing, Teen, 57.9k, 7/?]

Xiao is a weapon forged from red, carved from the hearts of weeping souls and etched into the memories of grieving mothers. While free under the care of a new God, he finds salvation, yet feels as trapped as the day the chains first clamped down onto his wrists. Venti is a God, one born from the wishes of others as opposed to his own. After losing his loved ones, he can't help but feel lost, high on a throne all alone, built upon all things he despised. The two find each other by chance, yet the rest can only be described as fate. ---------- A telling of Xiao and Venti's story with a hefty load of lore

If there is any fic on this list that should be read, it’s this one. I am an absolute sucker for speculative lore when it comes to Genshin, and the picture that the author has assembled of Archon War-era Liyue is absolutely masterful. Within the threads of that beautiful tapestry, they’ve also been interweaving Xiao and Venti’s developing relationship all the way from when they were a newly-freed Adeptus and young Archon respectively. They have a long journey ahead of them (the burn is slow, folks), and I think that said journey is an absolute must-read.

~

Extra Recs: Wackachu has also written two other xiaoven one-shots, which I highly recommend for more bite-size pieces of their excellent taste!

~

the holy light of your single lantern, by boxofcrows (@miralia)

[Complete, Teen, 34k, 6/6]

“Long divided by river and sea, For years we two have failed to meet – And suddenly to find you seems like a dream.” Thousands of years of silence, broken by a single visit.

This fic wrapped up recently, so it’s a great time to go and show it some love! One of my biggest sorrows is that xiaoven is rather lacking in really good canon universe fics compared to other Genshin ships, but this fic managed to fill that hole in my heart. The author does a fantastic job of capturing the way that Xiao and Venti’s conflicting natures and ideals can cause friction between them, all while maintaining the undeniable magnetism that they feel towards each other.

~

Relax In My Arms, by alphaparrot (@aparrotandaqrow)

[Queerplatonic XiaoVen, General Audiences, 5.9k, One-Shot]

As Lantern Rite arrives, Xiao is found exhausted and spent by Qiqi of Bubu Pharmacy, who brings him back to Liyue. Upon awaking, Xiao quickly makes his exit and returns to Wangshu Inn, where Venti is waiting for him on the balcony. Xiao isn't in the mood to party, but maybe a chill hang-out would help him relax. Venti knows just the thing to help Xiao relax and recuperate, and as they both get comfortable, they begin to reflect....

Author's Original Promo Post!

Queerplatonic xiaoven was a flavor of their relationship that I hadn’t tried before this fic, but it really sold me on it. What I’ve always loved about xiaoven so much is the inherent intimacy that can be achieved between them once all of the emotional barriers between them have been stripped away, and I think that those ideas are explored very beautifully here. Xiao and Venti trust and love each other so deeply here, and it shows in every word and touch that they exchange, and I think that it’s a must-read for anyone whose brain chemistry was altered by the ‘Endless Suffering’ trailer (so basically, every xiaoven fan ever lol)

~

i can not save us (but you can), by anemowisp (@sillygirl19)

[Teen, 19.4k, One-Shot]

two boys figure out what the hell they're doing

In the midst of one of the most turbulent times in my life, one particular line in this fic really hit me where it hurt, and it’s one of the few times that I’ve actually cried reading a fic. In my xiaoven-enjoying friend groups, we sometimes call Xiao and Venti old men with teenager problems, which means they don't always work when turned into actual teenagers/young adults with those problems, but I think this fic pulls it off really well.

~

what queer sins stain thy soul, by Anonymous (@sincerelyandyourstruly)

[Mature, 3.2k, One-Shot]

In which Xiao, long-established asexual, learns that identity is not as stable as he’d like to believe.

As an ace person myself, I feel it’s so rare to find a really good asexual character study where the asexuality is actually one of the central focuses of the intimacy taking place (if anyone has any recs of that variety please hit me up!), but I think that this fic pulled that off really well. It also delves into that particular vibe of when one’s identity might be shifting, which can be a really scary thing, but Xiao in this fic is lucky enough to have someone he loves and trusts to support him as he explores his new desires, which was really comforting to read about.

~

Where Words Fail, by kavvueh (@kavvueh)

[Complete, Teen, 34k, 12/12]

Author's Original Promo Post!

"You're Barbatos," Xiao repeats breathlessly. The young man in front of him nods. "Yep." "But..." Xiao cuts himself off and tries again. "You're the God of songs and poetry." The Anemo Archon nods his head sagely. "More or less." Xiao fixes Lord Barbatos with the most incredulous look he can manage. "... You're failing Music Theory."

As someone who was also suffering through music theory alongside Venti as this fic was publishing, all of the attention to detail in the musical aspects of this fic absolutely tickled me. But all of that was merely a foundation for a lovely story about a pair of souls finding their partner in a new life. The musical connection that xiaoven have is one of the essential tenets of the ship, and this fic did a beautiful job of using that idea to its fullest potential.

~

Extra Rec: kavvueh has recently started publishing a new xiaoven fic with a similar setting, so if you enjoy these kinds of fluffy modern aus, give that one some love as well!

~

The Stars in Teyvat are a Lie, and So Is the Sky, by yueyunn

[Complete, Teen, 148.2k, 13/13]

There were several issues that Xiao immediately took with Ningguang’s proposition for him to produce for Barbatos: his other artists had upcoming comebacks and year-end stages that required his attention, he was overworked enough as it were already, and Ningguang was not exactly someone he was looking to do any favors for. While her persistence to overlook all this was one matter, nothing aggravated him more than Ningguang completely ignoring the obstinate fact that he. doesn’t. work. with. idols.

Perhaps I was a bit like Xiao in this fic at the beginning of this year, because I approached the two idol/celebrity aus on my to-read list with open skepticism, and then ended up absolutely adoring them both. What I loved about this fic the most was how much care was put into actually translating the character’s canon backstories into the modern idol au setting. The author clearly has so much love for the characters, and it really shows through in the way that everyone has their chance to shine, even the side characters. This fic also updated recently with 15k words of extras, so it’s a great time to visit or revisit it!

~

Extra Rec: gold rush, by underthethousandstars was the other idol/celebrity au I read this year and really enjoyed, so if those aus are up your alley, I highly recommend it!

~

low-key (no pressure!), by windrise (Twitter - @/wyndrise)

[Ongoing, Teen, 75.7k, 11/?]

Following his friend’s questionable suggestion, Venti partners with Xiao—the resident grouch of his early morning stats class—for his music project.

If you want to sit down with a fic that will give you the warm fuzzies, this is definitely the one to pick. As alluded to previously, I don’t really go for modern aus as much, but this fic absolutely blew my expectations out of the water. I was getting the ‘squee’s as I read about Xiao and Venti growing closer over the course of working on Venti’s project, as the author has an excellent grasp of the deep inner kindness that the two of them hold, and how that kindness would naturally draw them together.

~

bouquet of lies, by underthethousandstars (Twitter - @/zhongliorder)

[Complete, Mature, 85.9k, 12/12]

In a world where humans can use elemental magic, Xiao uses his to move through the shadows becoming Liyue’s phantom killer. Known to the public as Alatus, he is their most notorious assassin. One day Xiao secures his biggest job yet: kill the Crown Prince of Mondstadt, Venti. Harbouring no love towards any royal family Xiao pulls off his mission with success. Or so he thought.

This fic falls solidly on the darker end of xiaoven stories (the ‘Dark Fantasy’ tag is there for a reason!), so if you happen to like your ships with an enemies to lovers flare, this is definitely one to check out. This is one of those stories that really managed to pull me into the world of assassins and political intrigue that the author has crafted, and on top of that it puts a fun spin on exploring Xiao and Venti’s individual guilt and the way that it affects them as people. The first fic in the series is finished, but the second installment is currently in progress, so I highly recommend checking that one out as well!

~

every morning in the dark, by magicites (Twitter - @/bribird_wings)

[Complete, Mature, 77.1k, 34/34]

Stuck in a time loop where he succumbs to his karmic debt, Xiao struggles to see the point in moving forward. Venti struggles to save him.

While by far the heaviest of any of the fics I’ve recommended so far (mind the warnings and the tags!!), if you can stomach the subject matter, this is one of those fics that I would refer to as XiaoVen Essential Reading. The author has a pitch-perfect grasp of what makes xiaoven, qualities which are pushed to their limits as the two of them struggle to break free of the loop that they’re trapped in. I took severe emotional damage while reading it, but my only regret was that I hadn’t read it sooner. It’s definitely A Lot, but it’s so, so worth it for anyone who really enjoys this pairing.

~

And with that, we reach the end of the list! If you've made it this far, thank you so much, and I hope I've given you some fics to add to your to-read list for the coming year! I tried to incorporate some newer fics with some classics, so hopefully there's something here you haven't heard from before.

With that said, I'll hopefully be back next year with some more xiaoven or other Genshin fic recs! <3

[bassettmemes]

PRINCESS CHARM SCHOOL. ↳ quotes from the barbie cinematic universe's princess charm school.

"i hope you're doing your homework and not just watching that parade."

"you'll hurt your eyes looking at this."

"i am so not a princess!"

"every girl’s a princess, some of them just have fancier crowns."

"it's time! it's time! it's princess charm school lottery time!"

"who’s a lady royal? [name]’s a lady royal! who works at the palace? [name] works at the palace!"

"i don’t belong with a bunch of fancy princesses and lady royals. look at me, I’m a waitress. i've got straws in my pocket and ketchup on my socks."

"great. i've already flunked carriage riding."

"you’ll notice that all of our students carry themselves with dignity and sophistication."

"i understand that the lottery is a joke. isn’t it obvious? commoners like you just don’t belong here."

"oh, pretty as a princess! i mean, lady royal!"

"all princesses-in-training and lady royals-in-training are due for assembly for the starlight welcome in one minute."

"fail as a princess-in-training and you will lose crown privileges."

"i'd like a proper introduction!"

"there is a legend that queen isabella and her family didn’t all die in that accident."

"that's lovely if you want to be the crazy princess who hears music in her head."

"you're practising being a princess, not being a migrating duck!"

"did you get those shoes at a garage sale?"

"a true lady royal never hangs her head."

"you should be expelled from this school, you are an utter disgrace!"

"you know what really bugs me? when commoners like [name] come to princess charm school. they make it less special. she makes US less special."

"princess charm school is the best, royal skills put to the test! we learn grace and we learn poise, now it’s time to make some noise! go princess charm school!"

"who am I kidding? i don’t fit in at all! i’m like a burp in a symphony."

"everyone thinks i don't belong. everyone except you guys."

"do you know what it takes to be a princess?"

"lt’s said, that the crown glows on the true heir of gardenia. it glowed when queen isabella was crowned, but hasn’t been seen since."

"i didn’t know PEOPLE made clothes. i thought they came from elves, like toast."

"okay, that's the craziest thing i've ever heard."

" i wouldn’t be wearing this crown without your help. will you accept being my lady royal?"

"there's a princess in every girl."

[norcalbruja]

Met another potential anito, and the avengers have assembled for... vengeance?

I do not know what the fuck keeps happening with my attempts to contact other Filipinos, but it's happening again.

My friend's friend who I contacted for spiritual help just seems to keep losing track of me for WEEKS at a time. I've been trying to schedule a consultation and recently asked her if she was busy and I should talk to someone else, but she just said "thank you for being patient with me," so... I don't actually know if she's busy.

I don't want to keep hounding her every week for a CONSULT before I can actually get help, so I asked her now if it's easier to just pay her a bit for the phone consultation, and then I'll pay her more for a proper spiritual session, when we actually figure out what the hell is wrong with me.

So I've been dealing with pest issues in the apartment, and this is REALLY FUCKING ANNOYING, considering my landlords raised the rent when all they did was fix the counters and give the apartment building a shitty boring paint-job to make the outside "look nicer."

--

Meanwhile, Haik Number Four has constantly been remarking on how miserable I am and he's said something a couple of times like, "This is evil, what people have done to you."

So I was like, "Haik, technically nobody's done anything to me. I email or message folks in the art business for help and most people just don't answer. Neither do most of the anito." And he went, "Doing nothing IS evil! You specifically ask people for help, but they can't even tell you 'I'm sorry, but we don't have time!' They leave you floating around for weeks with no answer!"

Meanwhile, Tatay the ancestral spirit says Haik Number Four is just "being dramatic," but... yeah, Haik obviously doesn't agree with that.

But late one night, Tony Stark stepped into my spiritual "room" and he was like, "God, your life is a mess. It shouldn't have taken you ten fucking years to get your art off the ground! Your friends are doing okay, but you're just stuck in a day-job and living with your mom! You're AT LEAST as talented as the Fifty Shades of Grey author who filed the copyrighted parts off her FANFICTION, but you can't even get your own place, or recognition from RICH people!"

So I was like, "Yes, Tony, I know. You helped me with my laptop, at least. I just need... more help, unfortunately."

So he said, "And that's why I'm here, Cyborg. To avenge those ten fucking years."

And I'm just thinking, 'Damn, Tony, that's class-traitor AND Green Goblin talk."

--

So a few days ago, Haik Number 4 brought me to this stone boulder/pillar thing, and it turned into a handsome Filipino guy, Who Calls Himself Dumakulem, the Tagalog mountain-god. His wife Anagolay also showed up and said hello.

Tealdeer, it ended the same way it ends with other spirits who say they want to help, but I'm just tired of hearing it. I don't want to get my hopes up and end up stuck in this same shitty apartment for another three years.

Behind the read-more button for, like... desperate screaming. And Eric Draven being brutally honest about my fears of "dying and THEN having people suddenly pay attention to my work, as if I haven't been begging people to read it constantly while I was alive."

--

So I tried to be polite with Possible-Dumakulem and Possible-Anagolay, but soon they started talking about how my situation is so alarming again.

I knew they were going to say they wanted to "help" or something, so I told them, "NO. DON'T SAY IT. PLEASE. I can tolerate spirits calling themselves the anito, but don't fucking tell me you want to help. Nobody ever does that! They feel bad for me, they say my life sounds boring and unfulfilled, but nothing changes anyway. My heart hurts all the time. I don't want to hear you'll help if you can't ACTUALLY HELP ME. Get me a briefcase full of money, or an art career where I can travel and hang out with people, just--JUST GIVE ME MY OWN FUCKING LIFE! IF YOU WANT TO HELP ME, JUST FUCKING DO IT!!! CHANGE ONE OF THE MANY SHITTY THINGS IN MY LIFE SO I CAN BE A BIT LESS MISERABLE! AND IF YOU CAN'T HELP ME YOURSELF, FIND SOMEONE WHO CAN! PLEASE!!!"

Lola Buwaya was, um... irritated at Possible-Dumakulem and Possible-Anagolay again. But they unfortunately switched to Tagalog, so now I've just got the half-understood gist of Lola ranting. She said something like, "Hayop siya na! Tony Stark heard her before you did! If you won't treat her like a person, don't be upset when she doesn't treat you like gods! You left her with a squid for years, and a sailing-god was the only one to answer her! But now you don't want to hear unkind words?! Do you want her to be a person again?! Then you must act like gods, and give her what she asks!"

Meanwhile, Spirit-Me just devolved into flailing and screaming "LET ME OUT!!! LET ME OUTTTTTTTTTTT!!!! LET ME OUT OF THIS FUCKING HELLHOLE!!!! PLEASE!!!! I SWEAR I'LL PAY YOU BACK IF SOMEONE HELPS ME!!!! JUST LETTTTTTTT MEEEEEEE OUTTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!"

As noted with Hera, I've lost my shit and just started "screaming to anyone who's listening" in my meditations before, but I really don't like if that happens in "public," with SPIRITS around (unless they're close spirits, like the Water-Spirit or Dionysus).

Unfortunately, Spirit-Me started coughing up blood again, and THAT was obviously not good.

So various spirits heard Spirit-Me and were trying to calm me down (again), ranging from Dionysus, to Tony Stark, to Tatay.

Eric Draven stepped in and he was like, "You know what I'm thinking about this mess with her people's gods? That it's just an excuse for people to wring their hands. None of you actually want to get off your ass and fucking help her."

And Tatay said, "Naku! The dead man again! And Haik is here--is he not one of the anito?!"

Eric told him, "You really think a squid and a sailing god can help her so much with art? Or buying a house? She's not afraid she's going to die: She's afraid she'll die AND THEN people will finally read her stuff, like she begged them to for years. They'll talk about how much POTENTIAL it had, and 'all the things she could have done,' and they'll pretend she wasn't ready to jump in and do it.

"They'll see her social-media and her blog, where her baking posts get more likes than her art posts, and then they'll feel guilty about never clicking the Share button or leaving a comment. It won't help her OR them at that point. So none of you should bother calming her down anymore. Just let her scream and bleed and wander the forest like an orphaned girl. If you won't help, that's okay--just let her find someone she can pawn her soul off to, or some shit. How much money is a soul worth? "

So the room just went DEAD silent and I think it actually got cold for a bit. Eric Draven doesn't fucking play around with... warnings about a needlessly wasted life???

--

So regarding Lola's rant to Possible-Dumakulem and Possible-Anagolay: 'Hayop ka' is normally a Tagalog insult and literally translates to "you're a beast/wild-animal." It's mostly used for when people aren't acting right. IE, if you're being rude or obnoxious, someone's gonna yell at you, "hayop ka!"

It's often used in tandem with "walang hiya" (shameless / you have no shame) or "walang utang na loob" (no responsibility / you're being ungrateful). In English, it would be something like "were you raised in a barn?!" or "you're running wild / you've turned feral," but as I understand it, 'hayop ka' has a REALLY distinct undertone of 'you have lost your humanity/civilization' as opposed to the English analogs mostly meaning 'you have no manners/respect."

So 'Hayop siya na' means "she's become an animal now," but Lola's basically saying that the anito's lack-of-action/support turned me spiritually "feral," so the unspoken part is "she's become an animal BECAUSE OF YOU." And now she thinks they're just swooping in and thinking/hoping that I have JUST enough humanity left to 'treat them like gods," despite running around for so long with snakes, crocodiles, and giant squid.

Honestly, there has been a constant theme in my spiritual shittiness regarding "what makes you human?" or "how much damage/neglect can a soul take?" and then there's the issues of "well, you're doing the same things that everyone else is. You're literally not doing anything unusual. But since you never got anywhere with it, now people keep thinking you're crazy and talking to yourself (or to 'spirits pretending to be gods'), but the actual issue seems to be that you have incredibly bad luck."

Like, a lot of spirits are consistent about how it should never have taken TEN YEARS for me to get my projects off the ground, because with all the stuff I write about the anito, SOMEONE should have stepped in and helped me out (besides a giant squid who is God-LEVEL in strength, but he can't actually grant wishes), and it's cruel/unnecessary/evil for me to basically keep doing this on my own.

I have a theater script called "Takotsubo: The Story of A Superhero" that I've been trying to get off the ground. It's a deconstruction of the 'superhero' genre that heavily involves "when white people suit up and start taking on criminals, they're heroes, but when Black and Brown people do it, they're gangsters/vigilantes."

Everyone I've asked about it tends to say, "well, this sounds really cool! But it's also gonna be expensive and you're an unpublished writer, so not many people will risk this for you," and I was like... "Well... Guess I have to win the lottery or find a rich comic fan, then?"

I was thinking of converting the script to an actual comic series after I finish it. Because as expensive as relearning how to draw is, or finding an artist to pay for that, drawings don't need fight training or insurance for medical bills.

And like... whenever I look at that group of documents and grumble about how I need to practice drawing again, the spirits are upset that I'm basically thinking of "starting over" and doing this by myself... as I've done with my PROSE works, and we all know that hasn't gone anywhere, either.

[mrslandgraab]

Simblr Goals 2024

Hi! Err...hello...*clears throat *, hope ya'll doing well and made it through the year? I think my biggest goal for 2023 was to just make it till 2023. I wanted to finish my Master's (did not whoops) and started a new job (still there!) and then somehow depression hit somewhat and eh... I got a new PC, started playing Baldur's Gate 3 and Pathologic Classic HD and had barely the time to just devote myself to the Sims...and now it's the holidays and I notice - I really miss it and I miss hanging with you guys :) Therefore, I decided to give myself some small, achievable goals this year. I don't need to fulfill all of them - but I wanna motivate myself. And the fact that I am on vacation next week means I might be able to do just that.

Finish Setting Up On Win11 As I mentioned, I did buy a new PC. I still have my very beloved old laptop that has a bunch of CC and the Trepes and all on there -it's time to find out who I want to take with me, and what I need to say goodbye too. But ideally I want to be able to run this darling completely on Win11. By now I can already run the game - it's all about assembling mods, cc and clean neighbourhoods by now!

2. Start Something New Because I need to think about where I go with the Trepes (who I love but that pet wish is killing me but I love the lore I built around this), I think the best way is to just start something new - maybe build a neighbourhood I do not play after all? Choosing a college FIRST and playing just that before starting one of the mainhoods attached to it?

3. Write "brutal." "brutal." was actually a project I prepped for this year and scrapped because I had too much going on - it's a premade-focused story with Angela as a protagonist (because she is my favourite) and I really want to write that story. I wanted to experiement a bit more with the screenshot-style I've seen in some ts4 posts - my goal is to at least shoot and publish one chapter! :)

4. Have Fun! I always want to have fun with the game - and then I get too caught up in "omg I need to upload THIS or I am not allowed to play anymore" or "oh this screenshot ain't so good". NONE OF THAT! We'll play! That's what counts!

[20dollarlolita]

hi! me again. cut/sew 015 has me in the trenches. if you don't mind, do you think you could look at the instructions and tell me if they're setting me up for failure? specifically steps 9, 10, and 18. i've tried pinning the shirring to the bodice in every way i can & it either doesn't turn out the way that step 18 indicates OR the straps come out twisted. i'm not sure if i did something wrong at steps 9 and 10 (i've triple and quadruple checked and don't think i have) or if it's a misprint. ty!

So, I have the instructions here, but the instructions do not specify notches, so I'm doing a little bit of guessing here.

Quick note from someone who's been doing amateur lolita sewing tutorials for almost 9 years now: when you make a design that will be lined, write the instructions such that you treat the lining as if it's a different fabric from the face. Even if the end user decides to line the garment with its self, it will help people understand what is going on. This is because a lining in the mirror version of the face fabric. When you have four pieces that are identical, except that some of them are mirrored, things get very confusing very quickly.

Anyway, for everyone new to the party:

Cut/Sew dot Co is an indie pattern brand. They're basically one incredibly dedicated woman who designs, patterns, cams, builds, tests, writes instructions for, markets, and distributes the patterns. She's made nearly 100 different patterns, as far as my counting goes. Their goal is to make alternative j-fashion inspired patterns available for everyone, especially beginners who don't have a lot of technical sewing experience.

They're relevant to this blog because 1) they make patterns that they claim are lolita fashion patterns and 2) one incident in 2020 where the designer had a go at the lolita fashion community because we said her designs weren't actually lolita and 3) someone specifically asked me about this pattern.

I've previously made one of her patterns, and the main issue that I had with it was that none of the images of the pattern actually properly represent what the pattern will actually make. My other issue is that the patterns seem to have 1/4" seam allowance, which is a really bad seam allowance to use when you're sewing a garment that needs to be adjusted and have techniques like gathering and zipper application. 1/4" seams are usually used in quilt piecing, where they're being used on stable plainweave cotton and not on curved, load-bearing seams.

Anyway, CUT/SEW 15: Lolita JSK appears to be a self-lined JSK with a 1/4 back shirring panel and a 12" invisible side zipper closure. It has a front faux-lacing panel, and princess seams with trim along the princess line that extends all the way to the hem. The hem has two wide ruffles.

I'm not here to critique this pattern. That will be later.

So the questioner here has kindly provided me with the instructions, and here's my best ability to help them. The question is that steps 9 and 10 explain how to assemble the bodice, which is then set aside until step 18. When we pick the bodice back up in step 18, it feels like it has somehow changed and does not line up with step 10.

I am posting the instructions here in the hopes that my input will help other people who bought this pattern use it effectively. These instructions and images are posted to help cut/sew's customer base use their product without frustration.

STEP 9:

9. Place the sewn bodice front face up in your work space, making sure the dress straps are laying flat. Take a bodice side back piece and lay it under one of the dress straps so one edge of the strap just meets the notch along the top edge of the bodice side back. With the angle of the straps, the other edge of the strap should hang off past the bodice side back by about 3/4” - that’s okay! Pin this strap in place right at the notch, then take it to your sewing machine and baste the strap in place, sewing 1/4“ away from the edge..

Lay the sewn bodice front face up in your work space, then take another bodice side back piece and lay it over top, face down. Match it to one of the basted bodice side back pieces on all sides, then pin the two together. Take the pinned bodice to your sewing machine and stitch the two together along the top, sewing 1/2” away from the edge. Pull out the basting stitch underneath, then press out this seam.

Repeat this entire step with the second set of bodice side back pieces on the opposite strap. When finished, flip both bodice side back pieces out so they’re face up, then press the seams you’ve just sewn flat.

Okay so this makes plenty of sense to me, once you remember that this is self-lined. This means that there are four side-back pieces in play. We're going to call that left-sideback-face, left-sideback-lining, right-sideback-face, and right-sideback-lining. LSF, LSL, RSF, and RSL, if you will.

The image up there shows the in-progress picture, but here's what I think it'll look like when you've finished everything, and you're at " flip both bodice side back pieces out so they’re face up, then press the seams you’ve just sewn flat.":

The important thing to note is that, from my understanding of these images, you will have the straps attached with the short end (where is says SA in my drawing) facing the center.

For the record, this is where commercial patterns have notches. You notch the side seams on all patterns so that you don't get confused about what pieces connect to the side seams. Notches make patterns easier.

10. Place the shirred bodice center back face up in your work space. Lay a sewn bodice side back piece over top, face down, and match the edge with the notch and strap to one raw edge of the bodice center back. Pin the two together along this side, then take the pinned bodice to your sewing machine and stitch, sewing 1” away from the edge.

Repeat this step on the opposite side with the second bodice side back piece to create one continuous bodice.

So here is where the instruction diagrams confused me a little bit. I added some color to clarify things: The PINK line is the back sewn to the shirring panel. The GREEN line is not sewn to anything.

When this step is over, and we lay the complete bodice out, it will look like this:

If this is what your bodice looks like at step 10, when we pick back up in step 18:

18. Place the bodice front face up in your work space. Lay the bodice back over top, face down, and match the two together on the right side. Pin them at this seam, then sew both together by stitching 1” away from the edge. Trim the raw seam with your pinking scissors, then press open this seam.

Note that you're only going to sew one side seam here, because the other one will have the zipper installed. We can't actually lay the piece flat anymore, but if we could magically lengthen one of the straps so that it was suuuper long, it'd look like this:

I think your part is getting twisted because that image up there that I had to add the green/pink line on isn't very clear about what side is being sewn. If you look at that and sew the sides that LOOK like they're lined up in the picture, you'll sew your side backs backward.

I just want to emphasize that THIS is what notches are for. Notches are a means of communication between the pattern developer and the user. Placing your standard one notch on your side seams will allow the person who uses the pattern to know for sure what pieces are being connected to what pieces, and where those should be. The decision to not notch the common things (back and front, side seams, sleeve holes and sleeve caps) is just something that makes no sense to me.

While not directly asked, I am also VERY confused about the instructions for placing an invisible zipper in this dress.

I really, really want to like cut/sew as a company. Their mentality is in line with my own: make things easy for beginners, and make the environment they're in accepting and supportive, and people will be able to build things and have fun. I regularly have to remind myself that just because something didn't get done my way, it doesn't mean it wasn't done effectively. Cut/Sew has put out something like 100 patterns, which were all the work of one incredibly dedicated individual. My general complaints with the company have been with social media presence and marketing, as well as not having clear images of the garments and/or technically usable fashion flats. My other beef that I had with them, the 1/4" seam allowance, seems to be resolved in this pattern. It looks like they've gone up to 1/2".

If there's enough demand, I can buy this pattern, make it, and provide a technically accurate flat as well as complete images of the garment. Just let me know if you want to see that and then get ready to wait possibly literal years until I acutally get it done.

Hope this helps somehow. G'night.

[jaggedwolf]

pll rewatch 2x01-2x03

new season, a forced separation, an unexplained greenhouse set

the introduction of one Dr Anne Sullivan. Shares a name with Helen Keller's instructor for no discernible reason, she is played by an actor known to the contemporaneous recappers I've been reading, because more than one of them go "Oh, it's Annabeth Gish!"

She was in 27 episodes of The X-Files and 6 episodes of The West Wings, both shows I'd expect TV recappers to have watched

Another sleepover, featuring the liars revolting against the strength of Spencer's coffee

They don't even get to have coffee because all non-military and non-Tom parents are assembled to tell the girls (1) yeah we think you're making shit up (2) you have to go to grief counseling because you are too obsessed with your friend's death

Our 2010s suburban teenagers are like we don't want to go therapy because we are not crazy (note: Spencer and Hanna are most negative on this topic)

Emily is traumatizing herself by rewatching the Jenna-Toby video, and then gets traumatized by Pam letting a broker go "get rid of all personality from this room asap". Pam work on your scheduling

Spencer on one couch while her parents + Melissa are on the opposite: will this framing ever change?

I'm just saying, in the supposedly unlikely event your daughter and her friends aren't lying...she almost fucking died! Give her a little comfort!

Caleb's apology is very good sad boy, but more than that or Hanna not getting back with him, what I enjoy in this early season era is that there is no secret noble motivation. He did a shitty thing for selfish reasons, because he dismissed everyone involved as rich pretty girls, it isn't more complicated than that and doesn't need to be

Spencer trying on sexy(?) shirts for Toby when it's like. The dude's hair has gotten worse and you know he just put on a random t-shirt and jeans. Also he won't care.

Anw the show has remembered that Toby and Emily are friends. would love for them to be able to hang out without a Spencer motivator, but you know, custody's been transferred

It is a sweet scene, I like Toby immediately taking out his knife and Emily going :0 and Toby going it's okay, I've already gotten my teen carpenter upgrades, I will fix it up (and he does, as we see in the background later)

only Ezra comment is that they painted on his abs LOL please that man does not go to the gym

Jar of Hearts plays as all the girls are really emo about Sullivan-endorsed and parent-enforced separation between them. love that they are so distraught by this

and Spencer freaking out so badly once she hears a sound outside. Spencer :(

I say "parent-enforced" very loosely because all four girls sneak out at night to meet at a greenhouse. It's a great-looking set but where is this greenhouse whose is this greenhouse why is this greenhouse. Is this a public property. Did they break into the local botanical gardens.

It's probably abandoned. Classic.

Okay later episodes show them constantly passing Alison's house when leaving the greenhouse. Do Spencer's parents own a greenhouse nearby.

Emily should be more upset about her laptop being wiped, beyond the videos, like that's all her shit!!!

okay i guess Emily doesn't use her laptop that much, I am projecting

very funny to me that the first Emily/Samara scene this season is at a swim meet. does Paige notice this or is she too busy going insane because there is a scout here and her dad is going well there's the scout too bad you aren't anchor huh

Probably she does not notice because she is laser-focused on swimming and in her "ignore Emily unless we are literally doing a relay together" era. Good/bad for her

Sorry you will continue to get my theories on what Paige is up to when not on-screen. Until I crack and fic it.

Random break-ins happen, reported by Pam. god 2024 pam would be on NextDoor huh

A ring camera would solve a lot of problems in rosewood

Toby is the saddest unemployed boy in the world and Spencer would like to be his sugar mommy. 100% believe Spencer would be good at that

Honestly who cares if she lost Melissa's ring, Melissa sucks, so does Ian, the Hastings can easily afford another ring.

Spencer saying "I wanted to say it first" in response to Toby's ILU and still not saying "I love you too"....Spencer will Win even at love

Aria got fucking shoved into that lamp holy hell, forget her wrist her torso probably should get iced

Samara and Emily have a conversation about first girlfriends

Samara is already kind of boring, I'm surprised they don't kiss in this episode

There's a flashback where Spencer and Emily were going to have a sleepover before Ali crashed. i should be commenting something intelligent about this being the rare chink in Ali's armor, instead i want to know everything about flashback-era Spemily sleepovers

Look it's rare evidence of the liars having individual friendships back then, and they are quite cute in their little sleepover outfits of Spencer's pajamas and Emily's hoodie

Spencer is so fragile-looking when she asks Melissa if she'd protect her....oh Spencer, I'm glad you have Toby and his abs right now

I am also glad you have nightmares where you discuss theories with your friends at the movie theatre while a black-and-white horror film plays. Going to count this as Emily influence

Emily tells her mom it's Paige calling when the landline rings and Pam goes sure and moves on, and like, I have so many questions. obviously the Fields and the McCullers know each other from the swimming but last time Pam saw Paige's dad, he was being a real dick.

has Emily told her mom that Paige isn't a real dick, was Pam at home when Paige came over in 1x20? many possibilities, given that Pam is not confused or disturbed by the phone call claim

Emily you could have said any random swim teammate

I still really like the Aria-Jenna scene, that Aria's forced to listen to what Jenna lost and that Jenna is tricked into revealing this vulnerability to one of the liars - very pretty lighting here too

Hanna's plot is kinda whatever to me these episodes, it's her parents flirting, Mona, Lucas

I like that she and Lucas are friends again already, but I am doubtful of her strategy in getting Lucas a date. love him and Caleb being bros though, I wonder what Caleb wanted from the hardware store

When A was petting the dog all I could think was that in a darker show, A would've snapped that dog's neck at the end of it...

Pam talks to Emily about her sexuality again after looking at Emily's kid stuff and that makes Emily tear up the forged letter - I forgot that Pam brings it up of her own accord here, and it is nice that don't have it be and all settled thing after yelling at Nick McCullers

was distracted in the whole car scene about the forged letter because (1) is this the first hanna-aria-emily scene we get where it's not because spencer is off somewhere else getting almost murdered? (2) hanna somehow thinks emily's forgery skills can get her into harvard. hanna wants emily to re-use a stamp from an old letter she has. hanna what the hell

[gaviicreates]

Journeys in Amigurumi (Bingo Roll 1)

Spoiler: This was a challenge!

For my first roll of the bingo card, I got "make an amigurumi" - and as someone who is most comfortable with flat 2D projects with little sewing, I knew this one would really be taking me out of my comfort zone. I'm not happy when I have to sew, and I am incredibly not happy when I have to attempt embroidery.

I may not do a full blog post for each bingo roll, but as this is so completely new to me and a large part of this bingo is the journey, here we go!

For full disclosure, I've made ONE amigurumi project before this, and I haven't picked up the technique once since. So before we dive in - have a quick picture of where I started 12 years ago.

I had to dig some really old photo archives for this one.

This lil' guy was made to be a warbler for my fandom at the time. I am sure he was based off a pattern, but it's unlikely I'll be able to find it now. I also don't think I know where this lil birb is anymore; he's gotten lost in the shuffle of moving a few times since.

Step 1: Research

Research - Before even choosing a pattern to begin this challenge, I wanted to first understand more about amigurumi, so I took to Youtube, which is my usual place to learn all things.

For my intro to amigurumi, I started with a few channels:

LePetitSaint Crochet, especially this Amigurumi fundamentals playlist; olliehollycrochet, especially this beginner tutorial video; For inspiration, I've also found Skein Spider

There are quite a few amigurumi channels out there - these are just a few that I enjoyed across my youtube dashboard.

The next step of research was finding a pattern, and I feel as though this is the part of the rabbit hole I am going to ADORE continuing to explore.

Step 2: Practice

Before I started "the" project, I wanted to first get a sense of the tension and play around with a project. Just something small. In effort to avoid buying more materials, I took to stash busting some of my scrap cotton. For the test piece, I found the pattern Octobuddy by the blog, Sweet Softies.

As someone with already pretty tight tension, working with a smaller hook took some getting used to, but I liked the way this pattern was written - he's an adorable little Octopus, but it also helped me get used to the shaping and stuffing process. I used household cotton balls since poly-fil isn't the type of thing I just have on hand. I did end up buying some for the final project.

This was a good exercise for me, as I started to feel comfortable with the actual crochet and using a tighter gauge. As I was sewing the eyes, I ended up pulling the cotton up or not being able to push the needle through. He was a bit overstuffed, or maybe I tried to assemble out of order, or maybe it's just my lack of sewing experience striking again.

Beyond that, the hardest part was in fact the the embroidery of the eyes, and his are quite... something. I was not originally going for the wink, but as the two sides became less uniform, I decided to lean into it. They still turned out pretty shoddy, and I can NOT stand doing this. I told myself never again, but for another spoiler... I did it again.

My Octobuddy might still be a bit overstuffed, but he's super squishy and relaxing to squeeze, just like a stress ball, the perfect size for my palm. So he's been hanging with me at my work desk.

Step 3: Do the thing

I won't say I was ready for the next thing, per se, but I also wasn't getting anywhere just looking at the cool things that could be made with this technique. So why not jump right in?

For my actual pattern selection, I chose "Hubble" by Projectarian, available on ravelry. I love me an aquatic creature, and it called to me that not only was this pattern free, it also came with a beginner friendly pdf, quick reference, and an entire selection of written tips for the new-to-amigurumi crafter.

Squid time!

Again, I wanted to use up scraps, so my first challenge with this pattern was adjusting it for the yarn weight I had on hand to use. As a result, the eyes were made with a way too tight tension. The pattern called for some crochet for the sleeping pupil lines, but there was no way I was going to get my hook in there. For the second time, I took up a sewing needle and attempted embroidery. This time turned out a bit better than the Octopus. I adore how soft he looks with the brown cotton yarn I decided to use when I couldn't find black.

At some point in attaching the legs and tentacles, I did lose track of where I was - but that was on me since I got lazy with the stitch markers. It was so close to the end, I was able to wing it to decrease the final row and stitch up the center. Before then, I added a bit more poly-fil.

I chose not to add pom-poms at the end of the legs for the same reason as I didn't add tassels to the blanket I made. Being a mom of three dogs makes you super aware of the types of things the furbabies will get into. You should've seen their faces when I brought home the poly-fil.

But I'm ranting away and you haven't even seen him yet!!

Step 4: Finished Object!

Body: Hobbii Rainbow Cotton 8/4 - Rosewood, 3.5mm Eyes: Hobbii Rainbow Glitter Gold 8/4 - Natural White, Hobbii Rainbow Cotton 8/4 - Light Brown, 2.00mm Legs and Tentacles: Hobbii Rainbow Cotton 8/4 - Rosewood, 3.25mm Pattern: Hubble the Squid by Projectarian I call him Hubblet since I made him so small. Sleeeepy squid baby.

Make an Amigurumi✔️

[cresssselia]

Legacies Hope Mikaelson Fanfiction

For the full fanfic go to -> https://www.wattpad.com/story/358349998-a-legacies-story ----- Chapter 1 ------ (2.5k words)

The drive to Virginia was a long 11 hour drive all the way from New Orleans. My Aunt Freya drove me all the way. I slept most of the time which annoyed her a bit, as she got bored of the silence pretty quickly.

"Wake up, we're here" Freya said, nudging on my shoulder as she pulled into the gate entrance of the Salvatore school.

I opened my eyes, seeing the large school in front of me as Freya parked. The school was huge, bigger then any mansion she could think of. It could almost be a college campus from the size of it."Remember Hope, here your name is Hope Marshall and you're nothing but a witch." Freya remarked, opening her door to leave the car.

"Then you should stay in, in case someone recognizes you as a Mikealson." I said, quickly, before she got too far out of the car.

"True. Well good luck, and have fun." Freya said, as she backed into the car.

I waved bye as I walked to the front entrance of the school. As I walked up, two girls were waiting for me, supposedly my tour guides. One of the girls was blonde, while the other was brunette. Both of the girls were tall, wearing polished uniforms. I walked over to them and shook their hands, "I'm guessing you two are my tour guides?" I asked.

"Yes, I'm Lizzie, and this is my twin sister Josie, fraternal obvs." Lizzie said, gesturing me inside.

"You must be Hope Marshall?" Josie guessed, walking in suit next to Lizzie.

I followed behind, quickly catching up. "Yes, I am." I said, continuing to follow the two girls down a hall.

"This is the main hall, where access to all the classrooms and major rooms are." Lizzie announced, pointing down the hall.

The hall was wide, with enough space for a large group to all walk together. The walls were a dark spruce wood, with oak linings. All the furniture in the hallway looked almost antique, very old if anything.

We continued to walk till we got to a large opening full of chairs and tables, it was currently mostly empty with just a couple students lingering around.

"This is the cafeteria, it also doubles as the auditorium for assemblies." Lizzie announced.

The rest of the tour felt like it went on for hours, the school was a damn maze. So many rooms, hallways, bathrooms. It felt like I was in a palace, though I did know the house used to be a residence to the Salvatore brothers. But how could two people possibly need all this space? The twins had given me a map, which helped make sense of it a bit, but still some areas were a little tricky. I'd hopefully get the hang of it after a couple weeks though.

After the tour the twins asked some questions about me while they walked me to the main office to collect my schedule.

"So, we weren't really told beforehand. Are you a witch, vampire, or werewolf?" The girls asked in unison. It was almost creepy.

I paused. "A witch." I said, confidently. This was the lie I was going with, which would hopefully work for long enough. My mom and father made an agreement with the headmaster, Alaric, that it would be safest for me if no one truly knew my real identity. So, I would be going under as Hope Marshall, a normal witch.

"Oh, so are we!" Josie said, cheerfully. "We are siphoner witches, from the Gemini Coven. Not many of us in the world." Lizzie added, looking down at me. She was much taller than me, I was only 5'3 so it didn't take much to beat me in that arena.

"I've heard they are a bit psychotic." I added, leaving silence between the three of us. Regretting my comment immediately by the twins reactions. Josie stood a bit behind Lizzie, looking unbothered. However, Lizzie's face was becoming red and she put her hand on the wall, which emitted a red glow. Josie quickly grabbed her hand, as a signal to stop. But thankfully we had reached the headmasters office. The headmaster opened the door quickly, and Lizzie relaxed a bit more.

"Hope Marshall!" Alaric said, from beyond his desk. "You girls can go. Thank you." He said, as Lizzie and Josie left the room, closing the door. "Here is your schedule, Hope Mikaelson." He said, as I walked towards his desk.

"Thank you, and for our arrangement." I said.

"No worries, it might be rough to hide your wolf nature for a bit. You will get used to it. I'm sure. I also hope that you will be able to make a lot of friends during your stay here. You seemed to be getting along fine with the twins." He said, keeping his voice down to not be heard by passersby in the hallway.

"So far." I said, trying to keep down my laughter. He clearly hadn't heard what just happened in the hall.

I picked up my schedule and left his room. At the bottom of my schedule it said my room number, 118. The dorms were on the second floor, so I took my bags that were in the front of the school still and headed there.

When I opened the door, I was surprised to see my roommate. I was told I would be in a single room, to avoid anyone finding out my true identity. I guess however, Alaric was very serious about me making friends.

The roommate turned out, while sitting on her bed. "Oh hi, you must be the new girl. I'm Cate." she said, cheery. She was also wearing the same uniform that the twins had been sporting, however she had her brunette hair tied in a clean bun, rather than having it free-flowing.

"I'm Hope. Hope Marshall. Nice to meet you. Are you also a witch?" I asked.

"Yes, so I'm guessing you are too. That's nice. I hate when they mix us up sometimes. Better to stay on our own." She said,

I paused, not knowing how to reply. "I guess so." I said as I laughed nervously.

Immediately, I turned as I heard a knocking on the door.

"Come in." Cate said, loudly so the person on the other side of the door could hear.

A tall girl with brunette hair walked in, she was also very polished with her hair tied up and her clothes properly on. Unlike most students who took uniform dress code as a suggestion.

"Emma, meet Hope; my new roommate who is also a witch." Cate announced.

"How nice." Emma said, walking in the room to sit on the bed with Cate.

"So, where are you from Hope?" Cate asked, as Emma attently leaned in.

"New Orleans, Louisiana." I said,

"That explains the accent." Emma said, giggling a bit.

My southern accent wasn't too strong as my parents weren't from New Orleans and I was mostly secluded from people. However, I still had some influence that rubbed off on me.

"Today there are no classes, so that the new students can adjust and understand the lay of the land here." Emma said, cheerfully.

"That means we can give you a real tour of the school." Cate added on.

"I had already been toured by two girls, Lizzie and Josie, earlier today." I said, a bit confused.

"Yeah, their tour is what Alaric, the headmaster, wants you to see. We will show you all the cool places, nooks and crannies." Emma added.

The two girls quickly got up and took my hand leading me out of the dorm. We walked down a long hallway which led to the steps, which I was on early to find my dorm. We then wandered down another long hallway which led to the backdoor. Once we were outside we walked into the woods.

"So where is this place we are going exactly?" I asked, as we began to rummage through the woods.

"It's this abandoned structure, of what used to be a building, all the parties happen here. It's also just a nice spot to chill out. The Saltzmen twins found it a couple years ago, it's pretty neat. We all call it the old mill." Cate said, leading me to a clearing.

It did look a bit run down, not many walls and no glass on the windows. Bottles were seen broken on the floor and in some crevasses.

"Hasn't been cleaned up since school let out." Said Emma, noticing me eyeing all the trash and bottles.

"I can see that." I said, sarcastically.

We began to turn around and head back to the school building. We were just in time so we immediately headed to the cafeteria. I followed swiftly behind Cate and Emma as they led me there. I began to recognize the halls and rooms, which was good, yet much still remained a maze to me.

When we got to the cafeteria it was crowded, bustling with people.

"The school tries to promote the idea of the 3 supernatural species coexisting together harmoniously. However, we still usually stick to our own species when sitting together, hanging out, etc." Emma said.

The two girls ushered me over to a table. "This is where the witches sit." Emma said. The 2 girls sat next to each other, having me sit across from them.

I recognized two other girls at the table, Lizzie and Josie, who had been my tour guides earlier. They were sitting a seat down from me, glancing at a boy from another table.

Said boy began to walk over to Lizzie and Josie, "I saw you peeking, what's up." He said.

Lizzie's face quickly turned to disgust as she approached. Josie tried to ignore him, looking back at her food.

"MG, you had your tongue down you know who's throat. Don't think we wouldn't know." Lizzie said, with her fists clenched.

"She was available, not like Josie is still dating her." He jeered.

The disgust on Lizzie's face increased, causing MG to swiftly walk away to avoid any more confrontation with her.

After watching the whole thing go down I looked back to Cate and Emma. "What was that about?" I asked.

"MG was caught last night with Josie's ex-girlfriend, Penelope Park. Apparently she had cheated on her, so they had a really bad breakup." Cate explained, keeping her voice down.

"Oh wow, and is MG a witch also? Same with Penelope?" I asked, I didn't really know anyone and wanted to change that quickly.

"MG is a vamp, but Penelope is a witch. He goes for anyone he finds cute, some say he even has a liking for Lizzie." Emma said, playing with her food.

Later, after lunch. I returned to my room while Emma and Cate were hanging out with some of their friends.

A letter began to magically float through my door and into my hands, with my name written on it. I quickly opened it, confused as to what it could be about. It contained a piece of paper with some print on it reading

"I want you to attend therapy with Emma Tig at least twice a week. Just to make sure you're adjusting well and so you can talk to someone who knows your secret. None of the other teachers will be informed of your identity, don't worry.".

I sighed, and burned the letter by quickly saying Incendia to make sure Emma wouldn't see it.

I wasn't really excited by this news, but I will try to make the best of it hopefully.

Emma came back into the room a bit later, asking if I wanted to come down for dinner. But lunch was so big I turned it down. I decided I'd go outside and maybe see if I can wolf out in the woods.

I left my room and attempted to find my way to Headmaster Saltzman's office. This wasn't too difficult as there were some signs in the hallways that were a bit helpful. Once I got there I knocked on the door.

"Come in." He announced.

I quickly opened the door and sat down at one of his chairs.

"Vis sera portus" I said, to seal the doors so no one could come in or hear our conversation.

"I was wondering if the woods were a safe place to wolf out. I haven't turned in a while, I get restless." I said, now that the spell was up.

"I assume you can do it in the backwoods, behind the mill. Just don't be out there for too long and be careful." Alaric said, looking at the time on his clock.

"I'll be fine, don't worry." I said, quickly taking down the spell and leaving the room.

I headed toward the back door that Emma and Cate had led me out earlier to find the old mill. On my way out MG, the vampire from the cafe, approached me.

"Hey, you're new right? What are you doing out of the cafe?" He asked, stopping me in my tracks.

"Oh, uh, just going out for a walk. I'm not really hungry." I said, nervously. I wasn't too sure what he wanted or was doing.

"Sure. Be careful. You never know what's out there." He said, while walking away.

I then returned my focus to the back door and left the building. It was brisk out, but manageable. I knew I'd be warmer when I turned either way.

I walked into the woods, till I thought I reached about the middle. I began to take my clothes off and placed them neatly in a bag I had prepared to leave by a tree.

Once I was out of my clothes I shifted into my wolf form. This was fairly easy to do now since I had first turned 2 years ago. The pain was minimal, or not at all there. And once I turned the feeling was indescribable.

I began to run throughout the woods, feeling the dirt and grass below me. I could hear the birds in the trees and bugs in the grass.

After about an hour I made my way back to where I left my clothes and shifted back into my human form. I quickly changed and headed back into my dorm.

When I got in, Emma was already seated on her bed reading a book.

"Oh hey, where were you?" Emma asked, looking up from her book as I entered.

"Took a walk in the woods. Wanted to explore the grounds a bit." I said, trying to keep it smooth.

"Be careful going alone, next time go with someone. You never know what's out there." Emma said, then she quickly resumed reading her book.

My second warning of the woods today. I wondered what was really out there that people needed to be careful around. "What's out there?" I pondered. "I didn't really see anything when I went on my walk, it seemed normal."Emma sighed, and put down her book. "There are just rumors of things that go bump in the woods, and locals could be out there too. Better to not run into either. I'd just stay clear of it next time. Usually the only time people go out there is for parties at the old mill because with more people it's safer." She explained. I nodded in understanding and went to sleep in my bed as she continued to read.

[umbralsound-xiv]

Small Changes.

Though we work together, it's rare we ever get to sit down for... Any kind of conversation. Which is why i wasn't all that surprised when Adelle asked me to join her for a chat.

Adellenne Hocoleux leans back from the tea tray she's assembled, fidgeting slightly with her gloves. Dozer sleeps across the room beneath her desk and, at the sound of the door opening, she sits up just a bit straighter. "Hello, Mist. I prepared the grapefruit tea you seemed to enjoy so much. There's also some of those sesame biscuits." She shifts, smoothing down her skirt. "You have been well, I hope?"

Mistienne Aurloix: "Well enough. No one is dying, all our people are accounted for, and i'm on top of paperwork. I've even had enough time to take Ouryu out for a run." The latter comment brings a smile to her lips, eyeing the tea as she takes a seat on the sofa. "Thank you, Adelle. Were all my friends so considerate, i might consider having more of them." Huffing a note of amusement, she reaches for the teacup to cradle in her hands, settling it on her knee. "And yourself? We've barely had chance to speak aside passing notes back and forth and occasional nods in the hallway."

Adellenne Hocoleux: "I am doing far better than I have before," she admits with a little laugh. She takes her own up up, adds honey and a bit of candied lemon. "I have been doing a bit of thinking, actually, with Khu's visit wrapping up." Her thumb brushes over the lip of the cup. "I thought about making a little change, but I wished to speak with you first."

Mistienne Aurloix: "A… Change?" Mist's words hang with trepidation, gaze immediately darting from where it had idly wandered to her tea, immediately to Adelle's sapphire gaze. "About the company? In what way?" She doesn't drink. Only listens.

...Now the reason for such a social meeting becomes more apparent. Not that i'd have been upset if it was simply to catch up, i do enjoy it. But, busy though we are, we never have so much time to do so...

Adellenne Hocoleux: "Less about the company, more about me." Her smile is gentle. "Ever since I came to join this company, I have treated it as though I owe it some great debt. You are not the only one to joke about how little time I spend away," Adelle drinks while it's still piping hot, having to blow away steam that rises in fine curls toward her face. "I am going to take an extended leave. A holiday, if you will. With Khu. I did not want to just leave a letter or tell you over the linkpearl."

...Extended leave? ...How long for? Gods, not a cycle. I think i'll go mad before summer if that's the case. ...She had best come back. She has to come back.

Mistienne Aurloix: "Adelle…" She trails, taking the time to formulate a proper response. She slowly edges a finger along the rim of the teacup, before offering a small tap to set tiny ripples into the liquid. "…How long for? I by no means plan to stop you going, and i think time away will be… Good, for you. For both of us, i think. Just…" Her brow knits at words she doesn't say.

Adellenne Hocoleux: "A quarter of a cycle there, then we will hopefully both return for another, and then…so on and so forth." Her shoulders rise in a small shrug. "So long as they do not chase me out, and so long as he is permitted to come back with me. Waiting another cycle to see one another was too hard agree to again."

Mistienne Aurloix seems to visibly relax as Adelle elaborates, nodding slowly. "There's no qualms about him coming here with you, unless you mean from the Hydrae themselves. I'll admit, i don't know too much of them. This… It's serious, then?" A brow lofts.

Adellenne Hocoleux nods to you.

Adellenne Hocoleux: "I care about him deeply, in a way that I have not quite understood before. It would not be fair to either of us if we did not give ourselves the proper time to explore that." She chuckles. "We leave soon. Our bags are already packed, and our route is decided on. I have even considered who might keep up with my part of the paperwork, so you will not have it entirely on your shoulders."

Mistienne Aurloix: "…I mentioned you were considerate?" Mist echoes her previous words, and a faint yet present smile tugs at her lips. "…If they're selected by your hand, i won't have any issue, i imagine. Who?"

Adellenne Hocoleux: "Elizar Brucemont. He is an author who has been staying here, and I have employed him as a retainer unofficially. He has formal education, and I have had him assisting with quite a bit of the legal language lately. He can be somewhat naive, but thankfully not in this. He should do quite well for you," She takes another sip, thoughtful for a time. "He is a bit excitable though."

I trust her decision wholeheartedly, of course i do. I... Look. Matters of the heart have never been something that i enjoy thinking or speaking about, but i think Adelle of all people deserves her own slice of happiness for all she's endured. If she wants to chase that, i encourage it.

Mistienne Aurloix: "…Excitable." The joy drains somewhat from Mist's expression, but she doesn't let it get the better of her. "I trust your choices as much as i ever have. I never liked the idea of working with anyone, but you've proven it can be enjoyable. Just… Adelle?" Her gaze fixes on her, allowing the moment to hang. "…Please come back. I'm not saying i couldn't run the company without you, i could. But the truth is, i don't really want to."

Adellenne Hocoleux beams with delight at you.

Adellenne Hocoleux: "I do not plan to be away forever. In truth, the moment we get there they may very well chase me out. I will find out one way or another when we arrive." She heaves a sigh but relaxes back into the sofa. "I could not stay away forever. This is my home."

Mistienne Aurloix: "And you will always be welcomed into it as such." Finally, she takes a sip of tea. "…What are they so opposed to as to want to chase you out?"

Adellenne Hocoleux: "Everything, actually. My magick, my scars, the fact that I am an elezen woman, all of it tends to weigh rather heavily against me. I am hopeful things will eventually change, but I have little idea when that will be. They opposed Neoma when they met her as well."

Mistienne Aurloix: "…Even Neoma? Gods…" The usual frown takes her expression, then. "…Surely Khu will vouch for you? He holds some sway?" She asks, hopefully. "I never knew their customs were so… Strict."

If even someone as sweet as Neoma was opposed to visiting, it sets some apprehension for Adelle. Of course, she's a lovely and capable woman, and i admire her greatly, but Adelle has a manner of caution about her that Neoma distinctly lacks. ...She knows what she's doing, though. She's one of the smartest people i know.

Adellenne Hocoleux: "They are strict, yes, in a way I cannot fathom. Khu is their priest, so he can usually convince them of things he would otherwise be unable to. His brother and uncle are two of the leaders of the tribe, so it is mostly convincing -them-." She shrugs, shoulders rising and falling on a sigh. "I love him, though, and such a thing is worth it if it means spending more time with him."

Mistienne Aurloix pulls her lips to a line at the word, but doesn't protest it. "If you're both going, he must be confident enough that he stands a chance of convincing them, yes?"

Adellenne Hocoleux: "He has convinced them of many things. We hope that this will be the start of something long lasting. There is always the chance that they will refuse to permit me to continue returning with him, and if that is the case, then we will need to decide what to do then. Have you ever encountered a people like that?"

Mistienne Aurloix: "Ishgardian nobility?" Mist lofts a brow, offering a crooked grin that's half serious about her answer. "…What will your plans be, if… They refuse?"

Well, i'm not wrong, exactly. So set in their ways and so stubborn about having anything different than their own exacting standards, the less pleasant nobles of Ishgard fit that description fairly well.

Adellenne Hocoleux: "I will find that answer when I have to. For now, I have hope, and so does he. It is not a complication that we have to worry ourselves with on the journey, at least. The two of us are ready to weather some rather chilly camping. Dozer is coming along this time, too." She looks toward the window and finally seems to be aware enough of her tea to take another sip. "It is not summer so, hopefully everyone remains in one piece."

Mistienne Aurloix: "…Nothing more than the usual wear and tear. We'll be fine, i'll… Try not to send them anywhere dangerous…" Mist sighs, frowning to her tea. "They're plenty good about finding trouble themselves…" She looks to Adelle again, then. "…Anywhere notable you'll be going, on the way?"

Adellenne Hocoleux: "It would be marvelous if they stopped for a while. Maybe picked up a new hobby or two?" The suggestion was hopeful even if she clearly didn't believe her own words. "Not that I know of. We will be trying to get there before the main snowfall, so that the tribe can migrate to other camps. The areas change, based upon the stars. Do you think you will be able to keep yourself entertained while I am away? I know we have such marvelous, exciting times together."

Adellenne Hocoleux beams with delight at you.

Mistienne Aurloix: "I'll find something. If not, i think this Elizar man will find it for me, by the sounds of it. Or Bexy will." She makes a face at even the suggestion. "Does she know you're going? Know to stay out of too much trouble because you won't be here to put her back together?"

Adellenne Hocoleux: "I mean to speak with her, at least to let her know what she aught to be doing to take care of herself while I am away. I do not wish for my work to fall on Neoma and Mhira's shoulders, but I trust them. We have had smooth sailing so far. If all goes according to plan, I will be back not long after Heavensturn."

Mistienne Aurloix: "…I trust you already have the gift for our niece in hand, already? I can't believe she'll be three. Three cycles old!" Even speaking of her seems to bring some warmth to Mist's features. "…Bexy will do as she wishes. Though the company on an official basis can't deal with the ongoing situation with the slavers… I know Bexy and some of the others are far from done with them."

...For reasons i didn't enjoy but had to abide by, i couldn't exactly speak with Bexy on a ready basis when all the chaos was at the thickest. I got little glimpses, here and there. And i know her tone well when she isn't done. She's merely granted them a reprieve, and with Sayuri back and others with her, i know she wants to do... More. Gods, Bexy... How much blood is on your hands, now? Guilty blood, but... ...Does she still even count them?

Adellenne Hocoleux: "Could you speak to her about it? I am concerned that she will get in over her head, or someone else will following after her. Their numbers vastly outnumber us, and if even a handful of them wanted to make an example of her? Together? She is isolating herself to try to solve this problem. I…worry. She listens to you in a way she does not listen to me."

Adellenne Hocoleux expresses her worry with you.

Mistienne Aurloix: "…How i wish that were true. Bexy's whims are her own, and though it frustrates me, i'd much sooner have her on our side than anywhere else. Their numbers… Do outnumber us, yes. But she's far from alone. I'm… Not sure how much you know of the situation. She only tells me when i specifically ask. I think… She knows i'll try to find out more. Try to help, so she cuts off that temptation from me." Mist sighs, "It's probably for the best."

Adellenne Hocoleux slowly nods. "I know what I heard, and what I hear in Ul'dah. My home is in the Goblet after all, and I hear what the locals gossip about in the markets. Please, if you think she is getting in over her head, remind her that there are other ways we could go about this. There are, what, hundreds of them? She is fighting with a handful." Adelle took another sip of her tea and set the cup aside. "I will bring her back souvenirs, and our niece. I have presents already decided for everyone really.

Mistienne Aurloix: "…We can't do anything. Not you or me. Or the company, officially. Adelle… She's killed almost a quarter of their number; probably about that, if you include Sayuri and… What was the other woman's name? Vex? She's been about the house, but i've not had chance to meet her. She's hunting them still, and while i can't argue that the world would be a better place if the worst of the slavers were dead, i just…" Another sigh, as she nurses her tea. "Same as you. I worry. But i'll remind her, all the same. You know we'd be fools to get in the way of something she wants. Especially if it pertains to the safety and well being of the company."

Adellenne Hocoleux nods and rubs a hand at the back of her neck. "I understand that, even so much as I wish she cared for her own well being that much more. I cannot revive her if I am halfway across the star." Adelle offers her a weak smile. "Speaking of, you will keep the workroom in the basement locked, I trust?"

...I know well what Adelle is implying, but i really don't want to think about it. One of the ways i see her in a similar light as Bexy. I don't exactly... Approve of what she's doing, but i'd rather she does it here where i vaguely know what is happening, than somewhere else. At least i know she does it for the right reasons.

Mistienne Aurloix: "Locked and undisturbed." Mist nods assertively. "…It will be fine, Adelle. Though i know we'll be in your thoughts, that doesn't mean that we always have to be at the forefront of them. In truth… I'm somewhat jealous. I wish i could go to some far-flung land for a few moons. But i'd be bored within a moon, and come running right back."

Adellenne Hocoleux: "You did it once, ages ago. You were gone for quite some time. Perhaps when I return, you can go spend some time in Kugane?" Her hand falls again to her lap. "You would hardly be bored there."

Mistienne Aurloix: "…Perhaps. I just… I don't want to leave it all to you. You know who i'd leave in my shoes, in the interim…"

Adellenne Hocoleux: "I would be happy to run things at her side, you know I would. She simply…is growing. She is asking for help, at least. That is growth."

Mistienne Aurloix: "I just wish she'd grow faster than a sodding cactus. Even with your green fingers, she…" Mist sighs, lips pursed into a frown. "At least i wouldn't have to worry about you two disagreeing. I know she's… Better than she was. Or at least, i hope so. It's hard to tell, sometimes."

The truth is, i don't know. She's killed so many, and i know it's because... They had Sayuri and Eir. I thought it would all stop, at least for a time, when she got them back, but she only seems to want to keep going. Bexy, you surely can't mean to kill all of them. There were hundreds... ...Surely not. Not even with help...

Adellenne Hocoleux: "She is. She knows how it feels to want to stay, now. She knows how it feels to want to see another sun." She leans back fully against the sofa. "Along those lines, I think we aught to start really thinking about what we want for the company moving forward. We are still helpful, still mercenaries to a degree, but I think we really should move forward as more."

Mistienne Aurloix: "…So many of us know only that life, though. Assuming you're meaning we continue doing as we are, and we simply… Branch out? Work with other people, do other things? That sort of thing? It's been nice having our own chefs and craftspeople in-house, and not needing to outsource that. Have you any ideas?"

Adellenne Hocoleux nods to you.

Adellenne Hocoleux: "Branching out is exactly what I mean. We might only know this life, but everyone has the capability to learn and expand, or even to desire more. We can move forward with opening the bar, perhaps host cooking classes? Ways to teach people new skills to grow their life."

Mistienne Aurloix: "I'm all for it, though i wager my duties will remain largely the same. We… Can think on it? As in, what it will exactly entail, when you are home from your travels? It your mean those skilled in other things can host their skills to a wider audience… And perhaps we can get some new skills through the door? As a sort of… Collective, i suppose?"

I'm not against it. Things will remain the same or better for those already here, and it encourages new talent and skills beneath our roof, which are always nice to have on hand. Being a bounty hunter, or... Well, mercenary i suppose, has told me i should really be prepared to expect anything.

Adellenne Hocoleux: "That would be a spectacular way to help the star, I think. We have been a home for so long, and now we can do more. We have the means, we have the knowledge. We simply need to do it. It was what ERA started as, was it not? A way to help?"

Mistienne Aurloix: "…A way to help. Be it those who we go out to aid, or… Those that come to us seeking better for themselves. There's no reason we can't build on that. Make it encompass all sorts of things, rather than solely mercenary work. Though i'm not fond of people in the bar… People often come with information, and i'm sure there's plenty to be learned."

Adellenne Hocoleux: "I will see what thoughts Khu has about it as we travel. He may have a different perspective. We might even find things along the way that we would like to have on the menu. If there are those who wish to continue mercenary work, we have those options, but now we will easier find things for those who know how to do otherwise. Like Alari, for example."

Mistienne Aurloix: "It's certainly something to bear in mind. When we've our plan for moving forward, we can formally change the company name, and… Well, who only knows where we'll go from there, hm?" Finishing her tea, Mist drains her cup, settling it back on the table. "But, that's for something when you return. For now, you have much more exciting things to look forward to, hm?"

Adellenne Hocoleux smiles at you.

Adellenne Hocoleux: "I am looking forward to the traveling very much. Is there anything in particular you would like upon my return?" She shifted the tray away from them and shifts, so that she can rise alongside Mist. "I am not above making detours."

Mistienne Aurloix: "Just for you to come back." Mist smiles, a little wryly. "Maybe something handmade?" Steadily, Mist rises to her feet. "You'll know it when you see it, i'm sure."

Adellenne Hocoleux: "I will return before you know it. I am sure everyone will hardly notice I am away, so long as there are no corpses we need answers from." Adelle smiles. "We leave soon. I will send word when we have arrived safely, if that is a comfort."

Mistienne Aurloix returns the smile, though a long sigh accompanies her. "Please, do. I hope it's everything you want it to be, Adelle. You deserve that much, at the very least. I'll be waiting. And trying to not lose my mind in the meantime."

Adellenne Hocoleux: "Have a lovely evening, Mist. I will see you shortly."

Mistienne Aurloix dips her head, and after looking over Adelle with a small, yet genuine smile, she heads for the door. "And you, Adelle. Be well, until i see you next." And with that, Mist slips through the door.

See, this is where she's wrong. We will notice she's gone. In the way the tea doesn't dwindle as fast as it usually does. In the way people will have to ask for what they would like making. In the unfamiliar hand paperwork is written in, and the caution i hope people choose to take in her absence. She's entitled to her freedom, and i'm glad she's taking it, but... Sometimes, i don't think she appreciates how important she is to us. Both as a part of the company, and... A friend.

[angeltreasure]

Cecilia here, how are you doing? I talked with my Priest who's also my spiritual help person, he seemed to think that I should visit the sisters I went to late last month again once I have enough time off work to do so. I agree with him, I'll contact them again here soon if they don't get back to me after this week. The vocation director is a busy woman after all, and there were a lot of women at the retreat recently, like 50-75 at least. I also broke the news to my mom finally about discerning. It went better than expected, she's just confused more than against it, she was not surprised though since I've thought about religious life before and had tried to tell her. Her biggest hangup is that she might not get grandkids if I don't get married since my brother made it very clear he doesn't want kids. She kept making jokes about the Sound of Music musical saying once I'm a novice I can find a rich widower with like 7 kids and then marry him. I appreciate that it's off my chest with her, but I don't know how to broach the subject with my brother, he's now an atheist in a band out of state in a relationship with a trans woman saying he's nonbinary himself. So I'm not really sure how to tell him I'm wanting to go into religious life. Pray for my family please to come to the faith once more and that they will find it in their hearts to let me explore God's call, along with the repose of my Grandaunt and Granduncle since they passed away last week, we're going to their funeral on Monday both of them were uber Catholic, 101 and 97 respectively. God Bless.

Hello Cecilia!,

I’ll pray for you and all of those intentions! I’ve been good. I am hanging in there. I haven’t told my dad or anyone on my dad’s side yet. I wanted to on Divine Mercy Sunday but something in me said wait. My mom’s side pretty much knows. My mom is for it, and my brothers question if it’s really something I want, while some aunts don’t believe it.

Our bishop just lifted all remaining rules that coronavirus made for our diocese, so I was thrilled when I saw we could have the Precious Blood in Mass!… it will take much prayer. We have a huge parish that keeps growing more and more, it will take at least 80 new volunteers of Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion just for the blood alone to cover all of our Masses! Please pray for us that people eagerly come forward.

On May 27 I’m making my first visit to the cloister I took a ride to, just for meeting up to ask questions. They didn’t offer any overnights yet but we’ll see! The non-cloister also got in touch with me this week, so after their super busy tour of the Eucharistic Miracles displays, they will be reaching out to me one on one from across the country. I still wait for replies from the other two but I look forward to any reply with hope.

My first Rosary with my new materials was better than the Rosary making class! It did fall apart a couple of times, but my I managed to fix it. I presented it to my mom for her birthday because every day she prayers the Rosary…she has so many! One of my aunts wants me to make her one so that’s today’s little project which I’ll take pictures of. Afterwards, I’ll be making them for the poor. All I need is to assemble them and buy larger bags to place them in along with a print out of how to pray the Rosary. I have so many materials, it’s been quite exciting to plan some designs in my head.

I was Lector 1 today at Mass. My pastor gave every ministry tips/training notes. Ours was having a good pause at the end of our reading before saying “The Word of the Lord….”, and he also wants us to dress more modestly this summer. I’m excited for that, so I’ll be shopping around for cardigans and such to cover up more and be more like our lady. I have a ton of veils to mix and match. I’ll have to study next week’s readings too.