#I need to fix the colours on the first and mess with the second too

[bluebutlikenotalways]

Button’s made some new designs

[abysstrap-ran]

❖ Deficit Yearnings Ch.2

(Viktor x Mage!Reader)

A/N: Disclaimer that I truly have no idea what I'm doing bc this is a very old draft and I'm 3x more rusty with writing than when I started this, so take it as you will. Might... draw up some hcs or some sort though. Arcane is eating my brain.

⊹ ˚✩ ━━━━━━━━━━━ ∘◦ ✥ ◦∘ ━━━━━━━━━━━ ✩˚ ⊹

“Firelights; so vibrantly green. The colour of Vitality, a symbol of hope.”

Of all things that would be Viktor’s perpetual undoing, of course it had to be something out of the realm of the science he was so familiar with. What were his attempts at a second chance at life, if not nought but futile?

The exalted fumes of the mines… The invisible scars it left. The corrosion within that spread, silently, deadly; until it was all too late.

⊹ ˚✩ ━━━━━━━━━━━ ∘◦ ✥ ◦∘ ━━━━━━━━━━━ ✩˚ ⊹

It had been a long day, and rough was a severe understatement for the week. Weeks, to be precise.

Their new project had literally run them through the wringer and from the looks of it… It would probably take them about a couple more weeks at best to figure out. 

Sure, the spare parts he’d gotten from his last errand run down to the Undercity did turn out to be the exact breakthrough that they’d been seeking, but it had also brought along with it a whole other slew of problems. Ones that they had to fix before they could even produce something worthy of calling a prototype. A prototype that would gain them the council's favor, or any bigshot out there who could help fund their ventures. 

Or, maybe attend a fundraiser party or two.

Viktor grimaced at the thought. 

No, definitely not parties. He hated those. Although Jayce would gladly beg to differ… Probably. 

Jayce was more often than not the more socially inclined of the duo, and loathe as he may be, Viktor had to admit that he would much rather be in the lab than greet others with pleasantries and a forced smile.

His conflicting thoughts must have reflected plain as day on his face, because Jayce had taken one look at him, hunkered down from his incessant pacing, and promptly fixed him with an inscrutable look.

Running a hand over his face, Jayce gestured at the mess of papers before them �� heaps and piles of blueprints, theories, research papers and folios of all kinds laid spread out upon their shared workspace. 

“I think we should call it a day, Viktor.”

“I’m sorry, what?”

“We’ve been at it for a week now, and we both know we need a break. When was the last time we really had a good night's sleep? And… the numbers of all the calculations we've been bickering about left and right are honestly starting to blur.”

Viktor had been affronted by his blatant dismissal at first, but that irritation soon disappeared upon seeing Jayce rub his tired eyes. Jayce was right. An exhausted mind would do them no favors.

Last he checked, he’d thought that it was a Tuesday, but a quick glance down at the calendar to the right told him otherwise. 

It was Friday, and it was already way past sundown, judging from the inky darkness outside.

“Alright. We’ll come back to this tomorrow.” 

And that had been the end of it. A right shower and a good night's rest today, and he'll be right as rain and ready to take on their not-so-little tech problem!

Or so, he thought; only for a niggling itch that had been at the back of his throat the entire week to make itself known just as he settled down to sleep in his academy-funded apartment. This time, with a vengeance. 

He sat back up with a faint grumble, lean fingers moving in ever-familiar motions in an attempt to soothe the irritation away. Like a worm, stubborn and persistent, it wiggled its way out of his throat into a rasping cough. 

Perhaps some warm sweet milk would be enough to soothe him to sleep — but wait, he’d bought herbal leaves for tea, hadn’t he?

Reluctantly drawing himself out of the warm comforts of the covers, he padded to the kitchen for a drink.

Viktor reached into the once-forgotten bag he’d gotten from the apothecary, feeling around for the bottled herb, only for his fingers to brush against the cool surface of not one vial, but two. 

Two?

His brow furrowed as he withdrew the vials out of the bag, setting it onto the counter with a faint clink. He was pretty sure he hadn't paid for this, which meant that the owner had thrown that in with his purchase free of charge.

There it sat, innocuously, along with its attached note, the ink glinting under the light of his kitchen. It was a small bottle of harmless-looking white salve.

‘Balm for your aches’ was written in a simple script. 

For… his aches? Viktor’s brow furrowed. Was his discomfort that obvious that even a stranger could pick up on it?

It wasn’t every day that someone received a handout free of charge; especially not in the Undercity. Which then begged the question — had you done it out of goodwill? Or… was it to curry a favor that you'd undoubtedly collect on someday? He still recalled how you’d thought of him as a topsider, which meant that you probably had some “merit” to gain from him.

Whichever the case, he supposed he'd find out eventually. Setting the balm aside, he picked up the vial of leaves he'd previously purchased, and went on to make the cup of tea that he'd been seeking.

A few minutes later saw him settled back under the covers, a steaming mug in hand. 

The warm liquid soothed his scratchy throat as he sipped from it, the leafy concoction quelling the itch that seemed to have permanently made its home there more often than not.  He watched the way the wispy steam rose and disappeared while the gears in his head turned, mulling over what could have gone wrong with their newest project. Opening his notebook, he revised the calculations and formulas they'd previously been bickering over. 

Had they miscalculated? No, he'd personally checked them multiple times over, and they were tried and true. A missing gear, perhaps? Or… were they perhaps taking the wrong approach to their problem? 

As the cogs turned, so did the onset of the accumulated exhaustion over the past few days. Warm, and no longer plagued by an ever-persistent cough, a comfortable fog settled over his brain, and he set his cup aside. The night was serene, and the muted sounds of the city of progress slowly but surely lulled him to rest.

He’d leave tomorrow’s problems for tomorrow.

⊹ ━━━ ✥ ━━━ ⊹

Meanwhile, down in the Undercity.  Your end of the night found you in the midst of your workspace, surrounded by jars and containers alike. Some filled, some empty, and some of which were cooling off on a rack after you'd filled them with a new brew. 

This wasn’t your shopfront, no. But rather, a separate room from what was usually known as the “apothecary” to most.

You’d never thought to name the place, really. So it didn’t really matter what the general populace had taken to calling your little establishment. And considering the dingy sign that named it so and the overall run-down state of the place… Yeah, maybe you’d have to rethink refurbishing the place once you have the funds to spare.

And speaking of funds… You inaudibly sigh, pinching the bridge of your nose. That was exactly why you were back here, in the backrooms of your shop, cooking up vials of product that had to be otherwise dealt with only in under-the-table deals.

Your client paid quite a hefty sum for these concoctions, which was why you had agreed to be their supplier whenever they came knocking. Thankfully, those orders didn’t come often, but since each one was different from the last, they were time-consuming to fulfill. Your only saving grace was that your client was the one graciously providing the resources required. And while this time’s request wasn’t complicated by any means, it was proving to be quite a headache. 

Checking the temperature of the fire beneath a bubbling pot, you reached over to a flowering pot by the table, plucking a few leaves from the plant before adding them to the boiling liquid before you. It frothed a little as you stirred, before producing a puff of viscous smoke that you were sure wasn’t supposed to happen. It gave an ominous gurgle before the liquid lurched, threatening to overflow from the confines of its medium. With a startled yelp, you quickly cut the fire and backed a good distance away from it in case it just so happened to be explosive. 

…Not that it hasn’t happened before. You wince, recalling how you had to close down your establishment a couple of jobs ago for a good month or two while the repairs were being made. That had cut you back a few months on rent, something you didn’t want a repeat of, thank you very much.

Once the pot showed no signs of imminent explosion, you cautiously withdrew the ladle and squinted at the notes you’d hastily scribbled off to the side. Picking up the pen lying by the side, you quickly scratched off a few points you made and tacked on another short paragraph beneath it.

“This combination doesn’t work… Wait, oh. Oh dear.” 

It was then that you noticed that your ladle had been reduced to a stick, with the spoon part of it having been completely dissolved. Whatever had been bubbling in there had eaten right through the wooden ladle.

You made a thoughtful hum before recording your new findings onto a new sheet of paper in detail, only to be snapped out of your reverie when a small knock sounded on the door connected to the shop. 

A familiar soot-covered face with mousy hair popped in shortly after, bearing a grin with one too many broken teeth and a cheery chime of “Heya, boss! Knew I'd find ya back here!”

You raised your head from the corner of the room you were working in and waved at the door. “Hey, lil’ mouse! You're not supposed to be here, but I'm almost done. Could you wait back out there for me?”

You got an equally chipper “okaay!” in response before the door closed once more. 

Rolling up your sleeves, you got to work bottling your unfortunate mishap-in-a-caldron. This time, using a metal ladle.

The result might have been a far cry from what you'd originally been aiming to create, but whatever by-product you'd created in the process, you're sure that it'll either come to be of use someday. Or… someone, somewhere, might pay the right price for it in the Lanes. 

That being said, however, you'd have to put it away for further perusal. You had no idea what this concoction was, other than the fact that it was strong enough to eat through wood, but that could wait. After all, there was a customer waiting for you back in the shop!

Sealing the last vial with a pop and stashing them all away, you then exited the room, stepping back into the thresholds of your shop. 

You slide the door curtains back over the door to the room out back before turning to greet the child that had come knocking, here to collect her usual package of medicine.

“You’re here pretty late, mouse. Did something happen?” You asked as you opened a drawer to retrieve the package that you'd previously set aside for her.

Mouse shrugged. “Went scavenging. Took longer than we thought to get back up to ground. Y’know, with what it’s like down there...”

Drawing down to her height, you handed it to her with a smile before seeing her off with a pat on the head. “You’re lucky I'm still here then. Here’s your package.”

You gave her a small wave as she exited the shop before turning back and returning to the room that housed your workspace and a few sparse pots of plants.

Rolling your sleeves up, you got back to work. Your client wanted a strong paralytic agent with an extra kick, and that's what he'll get. You just have to find a way to deliver within the week. Scratching your head, you went back to consult your notes, figuring that this would take a while.

 ❖☆————— ⊹ Deficit Yearnings ⊹ —————★❖

Previous Part: (Chapter 1) Next Part: (Chapter 3)

[yoonia]

🖋️ one your stories that sticks to me the most was the (im)perfect ending. I really wish to see how you visualize their lives after. will Joon ever find out about the baby? will they reunite again? what happens when they do🤭? will Joon finally get his head out of his a** and end his marriage and be true to his feelings 🧐 or will OC has her own happy ending with someone else🤔?

💌 I think other people have said this before, but you are an admirable person that I've ever met online. You've worked hard on your stories and have always given us a lot. even now, you choose to spread positivity and share gifts for others to celebrate your birthday and I think that's the sweetest thing anyone could ever do. happy belated birthday, Dia. You deserve so much happiness and a lot more. I hope your coffee is always hot and your pillow always warm. wishing you and all your precious kitties an abundance of health and joy 💝💝

omg I've been getting the same questions sent to me for this couple, so I guess this might be a good chance to provide some answers for those who have been waiting for it lol

I know that the last letter mentioned in the fic didn't specify how much OC shared about her baby, so I guess this is where we get to see what other things she sent with the letter for Namjoon. I hope you enjoy the snippet and the visualisation below!!

— title: Our Imperfections| pairings: Namjoon x female reader| genre: second chances!au, infidelity!au, post divorce/break-up!au, angst | word count: 1,410 words — summary | Namjoon is on a mission to fix the mess he created. — ratings & warnings | +18 / M for mature; talk about divorce and custody, post break-up, mentions of infidelity

— original: The (Im)perfect Ending by @yoonia — fic drop date: Oct 30th, 2024 — song companion: loved

“Don’t forget that you need to pick up Sunny early Saturday morning for her class camping trip.” 

Hearing her voice on the phone, clipped with orders, used to make Namjoon wince. Now he is used to it. Always so business-like, even when talking about their only child. 

“Did you get that?” 

Her voice returns when he doesn’t answer. He holds back from rolling his eyes and calmly answers. “Yeah, I got that. Saturday morning. Early.” 

His reaction isn’t the only thing he is holding back. Asking why six-year-olds would go on a camping trip might only end up with him getting a long lecture through the phone. He doesn’t have that much time to endure that. And having his ear burning from it is really the last thing he needs right now. 

“Right. I’ll text you the details.” A sigh, then, “Sunny also wants you to be the one to drive her to school Monday. So I’m packing up extra clothes for her to stay with you another night. Is that good?” 

Namjoon closes his eyes. As much as he loves having extra time with his daughter, having the child’s mother schedule their time for him without consulting him first rubs him the wrong way. If he doesn’t know any better, he would have thought that she keeps doing this as a payback. Causing trouble and brushing his ego for choosing to step out of their marriage—the marriage that she had worked so hard to paint as perfect for the world to see. 

But Namjoon knows better. 

He knows that she has always been this way. 

Even when they were still together, she always had to be the one running the show, while Namjoon would have to follow. She was the one holding the pen, writing the story for them through her rose-coloured glasses, while forcing him into a role that he never felt like he could fit into. 

At one point, it caused him to lose himself. 

Only that he realised it too late. Far too late, because it hadn’t just started when they got married, but long before—when they grew up together and being fed their parents’ beliefs that they would end up together once they turned adults; when they became teenagers and she insisted that it would only be right if they started dating to make their parents’ dreams come true and when she started planning their wedding day just when Namjoon was starting to find a chance to write his own story, to walk a different path, with a completely different person. 

It wasn’t until he was able to find his old self and feel like himself again through the mistakes he made when he finally found the courage to leave that life. Yet, once again, he was too late. 

Far too late. 

“Namjoon? Do you—” 

Her voice breaks him out of his wandering thoughts, only for her words to get drowned by the sound of the announcement blaring through the speakers above his head. 

“Attention, passengers on Flight 345 with service to Sydney. We are now beginning our boarding process at Gate 12B. Please…” 

The voice fades as passengers rush in front of him to find the departure gate, and Namjoon waits until the announcement stops before taking his palm off his phone. 

“Where are you? Are you on another business trip?” 

Namjoon almost laughs. He finds it hard to believe that after spending an entire fifteen minutes on call with him, she never thought about asking him where he was or where he was up to. 

Business as usual. Even when it’s about our new arrangement. 

“Australia. I just landed. That’s why I couldn’t take your call until now.” 

“Oh…” 

“You do realise the longer you’re on this call, the more expensive it will be, don’t you?” 

Silence, then her bitter voice is heard. “How was I supposed to know where you were?” 

You could have asked. 

Sighing, Namjoon shakes his head. “Look, just text or email me all the details about Sunny’s trip. I’ll be back in Seoul Friday afternoon. Okay?” 

“Okay.” Her voice softens. “Take care, Namjoon.” 

The call ends, and Namjoon breathes a heavy sigh. Feeling exhaustion after speaking to her is one thing, but once it wanes, guilt always seems to take root. It doesn’t matter if he had fallen out of love a long time ago. He cannot deny that he has made too many mistakes that he is still trying hard to make up for. His decision to stay in the marriage for Sunny, using her as an excuse to hang on to the final threads that were offered to him instead of stepping away from that fallen marriage, was his last, yet probably most detrimental for his own mental health and any chance he ever had to make things right for everyone. 

Including you. 

Hoisting his duffle bag on his shoulder, Namjoon walks across the airport’s lot to find his ride. There is a reason why he is here, and he isn’t going to stop until he finds what he is searching for. 

It takes him nearly an hour to reach his destination. 

The small coffee shop looks quite inconspicuous as it stands between various other shops downtown, yet it still catches Namjoon’s eyes the moment he arrives. 

Quaint and delicate, with natural wooden colours chosen as the accents at the front side of the shop and dark window frames, it reminds him so much of you. 

The sound of the bell chimes above his head as he steps in, immediately welcomed by the fresh scent of coffee beans, chocolate, and a bit of cinnamon. Spicy and sweet and pleasantly warm. A young boy with a thick Australian accent welcomes him from the cashier, yet his eyes travel across the room, where the figure that has been filling his dreams at night appears. 

Smiling at the young barista, he walks up towards you instead. You have yet to notice him in the room. Your eyes are locked on the small child sitting on the sofa by the corner, swinging his legs as he receives a small sip cup from your hands. 

His eyes find him first, looking over your shoulder while you still have your back facing Namjoon and the front door. 

“Now you sit tight right here until Mommy finishes work, okay? And don’t—”

“Mama?” the boy cuts you off before you can finish speaking, his chubby finger pointing towards Namjoon, “Da..?” 

Your body freezes. Namjoon hears a soft gasp before you straighten up and slowly turn to face him. The moment you see him standing there, your eyes grow wide and you quickly move to hide your son behind you. Only the child is quick, as he hops off the sofa to stand right behind you, clinging onto your legs as he peeks at Namjoon. 

A line which he read from your letter echoes in his mind as he returns the boy’s curious gaze, just as it does many nights after you were gone—

“I have a boy. He’s here. He might have a dimple on his cheek too that might show up once he’s grown a bit older. His name is…” 

Namjoon bends down. “Sammy, is it?” 

The boy, Sammy, slowly nods. Namjoon smiles. “You look handsome. You’re being a good boy to your Mommy now?” 

“Yea…” 

Chuckling softly, Namjoon straightens up to face you. Your eyes are covered with tears as you look back at him. “How—” you gasp, “What are you doing here?” 

Because I’ll chase you to the end of the world if I could. 

Those are the words that Namjoon has always wanted to say to you. A promise that he never got a chance to say before you left him. It was a mistake that he had been dreading the most when he first received your letter, along with a copy of your sonogram and your final word of goodbye. 

“Keeping a promise,” he merely says. “I think we have a lot to talk about.” 

A deep sigh escapes your lips. The sound pains him. But the sight of every tension being lifted from your shoulders gives him a sense of calm. 

“I guess we do,” you whisper to him with a broken smile. 

A lot of them. 

He can almost hear those words coming from you. Just like he almost says out loud,

I have all the time in the world to talk and listen now. For you. 

For your fall tune, I think this song will fit perfectly well for this.

𝖙𝖜𝖎𝖑𝖎𝖌𝖍𝖙 𝖋𝖆𝖑𝖑 𝖘𝖊𝖗𝖊𝖓𝖆𝖉𝖊: dia’s birthday bash 2024 ⇝ closed!

[otakusheep15]

Hiii! I was wondering if you could do the obey me brothers reacting to you with newly dyed hair? Like the day before you were one colour and you spent the majority of the night dyeing your hair because you felt like surprising them with a fun change, and when you come down in the morning your hair is just an entirely different colour (or colours!)

Thank youuuuu <3

When I say I dye my hair every few months, I mean it. This would be a regular occurrence for me, trust.

MC Dyes Their Hair

Lucifer

He notices immediately, but he doesn't call you out on it right away. In his mind, as long as you're happy and confident in yourself, he doesn't really care what you do with your appearance. Of course, he'll give you a compliment if he knows you're someone who likes attention and/or praise, but, besides that, he's not one to draw too much attention to it. The only other comment he might make is if it's a bad dye job. Maybe it was your first time, or it was late and you were tired, but if he sees it's not the best work, he'll offer to book you an appointment with a stylist to get it fixed. Overall, the most normal about it. He still appreciates it and thinks it looks good of course, but he won't make a big deal out of it.

Mammon

Honestly, depending on when he first sees your hair, it might take him a second to notice anything is different. Sometimes he can be a bit focused on his own thing to truly take in his surroundings, so it becomes a silly game of how long it'll take him to notice. Eventually, whether through your intervention or own his own, he notices. He'd be mostly confused at first, wondering how you dyed your hair so quickly without anyone noticing since there's usually at least one of them awake at night. Other than the initial confusion, he'd be pretty impressed. He's always been one to experiment with his hair, so he's totally on board. If he notices you're particularly good at dye jobs, he might even ask you to do his so that you match (not that he'd say that last part out loud of course).

Leviathan

Oh, he's absolutely obsessed. Naturally, he compares you to one of his fictional faves and suggests you do a cosplay. He gives you a ton of compliments, basically becoming your one demon hype squad. After the initial excitement, he does calm down a bit, but the cosplay idea never really leaves him. If you agree, he'd absolutely create a cosplay for you that matches your new hair. Also, if you ever want to dye your hair again, he's your best bet if you need some assistance, as he's the one who has the most experience with dying his own hair. He loves dying his hair, but he gets scared of going to professionals, so he learned how to do it himself.

Satan

Also fairly normal compared to some of his brothers. He notices but doesn't draw too much attention to it. He'll give you a compliment, but he sort of leaves it at that. In his mind, it's not that strange for you to do. As long as you're happy with how you look, he is as well. If you change hair colors on a regular basis, he might be more inclined to make comments about it, but if it's just a one-time thing, he doesn't draw too much attention to the change. However, if you made a big mess in the bathroom while dying it, he will comment about that. He'll scold you lightly before offering to help you clean if you haven't already.

Asmodeus

He definitely has a sixth-sense for something like this, so don't be surprised if he shows up in the middle of you dying your hair. He's absolutely delighted that you're making such a change, and he offers his assistance if you need it. He also likes changing up his hair pretty regularly, but he's more inclined to visit an actual stylist rather than doing it himself. Still, he can do it himself if needed, so you're in good hands if you accept his help. He's also good at helping you pick out what color suits you best if you're on the fence. If you need help coordinating outfits with your hair, he's your demon as well.

Beelzebub

His reaction is pretty muted, but he does like the change. He gives you a compliment, compares you to some kind of food he ate recently, most likely makes a half-joke about wanting to eat it, and walks off to continue his day. He's pretty normal about the whole thing, and doesn't see much reason to make a big deal out of it. If you want him to make a big deal out of it, he'll try his best, but he's never been one to make a big deal out of changes like dyed hair. He does think it looks good, and he's very blunt with his compliments, so you'll still know he's a fan of your new look.

Belphegor

Most likely to tease you about it, especially if you change your hair up often. Anytime you change your hair, he makes a sarcastic comment about it, but he's only teasing. Truthfully, he does like the change, and he thinks you look good. He's just an ass about it, but that's not anything new. If you want real compliments from him, you'll have to force them out a bit. He can be bratty, so he won't usually give full compliments without at least a little teasing. If you push him enough, he'll drop it and give you a real, genuine compliment. It's not out of malice, just brattiness. Still, he thinks you look good, and he does enjoy seeing what color(s) you chose this time. He also laughs if you made a mess of the bathroom and watches you clean without being much help.

[the-offside-rule]

Liam Lawson (Alpha Tauri) - Streaming Buddy

Requested: yes

Warnings: none

Liam sat laughing along with his chat as he read through some of the messages. He stretched and let out a tired groan before sitting down and wanting to do something else. "Ah guys I'm absolutely shattered. I'm so bored. What should we do?" He waited a few seconds for people to send in some answers to his question which he quickly skimmed through it. "Okay, warzone again, we've already played. Marbles, not the same without Marcel, come on guys let's get creative here." He read through them all. They were very plain, a bit boring. He was seriously contemplating finishing the stream up when he spotted one sgmuggestion that he liked. "Simulator with Y/n. I like that idea." he chuckled. The chat went ballistic, they wanted that too. They rarely ever saw Y/n on streams so of course they wanted it.

Liam took out his phone and began texting Y/n who was sitting in the living room, watching some Netflix. She needed a break from a very stressful year at university so having some time to relax and not worry about anything was a nice change. Her phone lit up on the table, meaning someone had just messaged her. She stretched and reached for it, almost falling off in the process and had a look at who it was. She smiled as she saw Liam's name pop up. She opened her phone and read through his message, confusing her a bit. He probably just wanted her to order some food.

"You wanted me?" Y/n whispered to him. "Sit down." He said, scotting over a bit in his chair. "We won't both fit there Liam." Liam grinned. "Feel free to sit on my lap then." Y/n felt her cheeks burning red but thankfully it was hard to notice because of his coloured lights. She slowly sat down and looked toward the camera almost as if she was silently saying this guy. Liam wrapped his arms around her and held her closer. "So, why am I here?" she asked. "Well, somkeone suggested that you try out the simulator." Liam said. Y/n closed her eyes and slid down a bit. "No." She whined, making Liam laugh at her reaction. "I can't drive to save my life." Y/n was already starting to make up excuses. "Nah, you'll be fine come on." Y/n stayed on his lap. "Babe-"

"You can't get up if I don't get up first."

Liam let out a sigh. "Really?" he asked. Y/n nodded her head and grinned before Liam shot her a cheeky smile and picked her up. "Hey!" she squealed as he carried her to the simulator. "Just do one lap come on." Liam said putting her down and then fixing the camera on her. "Oh fine." She said giving in. She began racing around, making a complete mess of everything. She was breaking too early, going onto the throttle too late, Liam felt the need to go and show her how to do everything. "No, you're doing it wrong, you have to change the gears when all the lights on the steering wheel go on." Liam started explaining bit by bit to her as she drove agonisingly slow around the track. "Right, pick up the pace. Come on." Liam said. Y/n stepped on the pedals the pick up the pace and she was doing just fine until her tyre touched the grass and moved her line completely. In an attempt to save the car, she corrected herself but ended up spinning and crashing into one of the barriers. Y/n's eyes went wide as she took her hands off the steering wheel slowly.

"What just broke?" he asked as Y/n crashes. She kept quiet for a while until she mumbled a little "everything." Liam shook his head and tutted as if she was a child. "How did you spin on a straight?" he asked in disbelief. "Look right, I don't know what you expected-" Y/n said in between laughs. "To finish at least one lap maybe." Liam replied sarcastically. Y/n groaned and slid down the chair. "It's fine, you just don't know how to do it." Liam laughed. "Right, teach me then." Y/n said. Liam nodded his head and moved her again before he lifted her up and sat down, placing her back on his lap. "Right, watch carefully then." Y/n's smile softened before she lay back. "So yeah, you have to be careful into turn one, it's a hairpin pretty much. As for the rest-" He paused and looked at her face in the stream. She wasn't even focusing on the simulator. "Babe, you listening?" he asked. Y/n lifted her head back until she saw him. "No." She replied sweetly. Liam arched an eyebrow and continued on driving. "Why? Why aren't you looking at the screen?"

"I'm looking at something way better right now." Liam tried to contain his grin when she said that but failed miserably. "That was so cheesy." He mumbled. "Well I can't help it I love you, you little- oop, you crashed." She said pointing at the screen. "Oi, that was your fault."

"You shouldn't have been distracted." Liam grinned before kissing her hair. "Yeah, yeah. Let's just race huh?" Y/n laughed a bit before relaxing and watching Liam go around the track. "I love you too." He whispered, making her smile. "Yeah, yeah. Let's focus on the Racing now eh?"

[hballegro]

i wasnt lying when i said henry was 85% done last night

file name is 'its MY hyperfixation and I decide who lives'

previous editions

lieutenant colonel henry blake here wearing pants that DEFINITELY arent swim trunks that he's pretending are normal shorts

hes wearing goldtoes for no reason i just didnt like how it looked with all one colour and didnt have the energy to give him funny socks. potter will probably have to wear horse socks to compensate 😔

i enjoyed completely Making Shit Up with the fishing lures. like i followed his hat in the show for most of them but for 2 they were literally just the first cool thing i saw looking up 'vintage fishing lures'

the group shot NOW WITH EDITS!

before long im gonna have to break this group shot into 2 sections. tumblr is getting PISSED at me.

breakdown of what all i changed + bts under the cut

the list is not long. most of the list is trapper.

everything is before/after, so first image is old and second image is new

smoothed stuff out for marg's skirt so it looks more like spandex or whatever

slightly nudged sidney's right eye [our left]. like its really slight but it makes my brain happy

bullied mulcahy's legs. AGAIN.

lessened hawkeye's stubble. just a tiny bit.

broadened radar's shoulders a little, made him have a bottom lip, messed with his neck

and for trapper. im just putting a fullbody; i changed his face. widened his shoulders a bit. fixed his head so its in the right place. changed his skintone by a degree of like .0001. i think i made his legs longer too. also his pants are a colour that makes my brain less mad.

there isnt much bts this time;

week 1 of college has kicked my ass but we stay winning. we stay drawing lieutenant colonel henry blake. we cant be stopped. we being I, myself, and Me

anyway. i need to go eat something.

three to go. we can DO THIS

also this IS field day, and im keeping with the red sweatbands/bandanas/other things but it also serves dual purpose as a beach episode at this point. Good Ending where instead of the chicken on the bus [or henry's plane] its all of them crawling back to the 4077th with sunburn

SHOUTOUT TO ME FOR NOT HAVING TOO MUCH OF A BLUE BIAS. WE ACTUALLY HAVE A DECENT BALANCE OF COLOURS. I REALLY LIKE BLUE SO THIS IS BIG FOR ME.

anyway if you scrolled this far and have any thoughts abt what potter, charles, and klinger should wear, including just colour speculation, leave a reply or something, i DO monitor my posts very closely

[havethetouch]

Here be pirates

2020 - Siti, Mahdi

2021 - Ila, Mel, Eli, Asa, Ava, Ife, Niv

2022 - Ixtia

2023 - Lev, Ora, Dar, Ira, Ayo, Efe, Nia, Jia

2024 - Nor

Figured I throw them down all in one post because why not most people are not even aware how vast the cast of this lil pirate story is, and those are the characters that got their design down, I have some more that I still play around with a bit on terms of colours and shapes. Aside from Ava and Lev, everyone got their first design try on a quick headshot that felt right and then threw colours on. Ava and Lev just got a ref sheet right away because idk I hit the golden moment with those two. (context: I hate doing refs and it usually takes me ages to do them even if if I have their designs down to a T. Mahdi for example.. is after Siti oldest characters created for this story and I only finally got around to finish his ref what? At the end of last year (2023)? Niv only got her ref like in July of 2024. Like fuck you could not pay me to do reference sheets the only reason I even do them is so that I can hand them to the handful of people I like to buy comms from (and sometimes for AF) who need the visuals bc they cannot just see them in my head otherwise I would not bother.)

The order these are drawn in is also not necessarily the order those characters have been living rent-free in my head either. Like there is Wyn who I vaguely know what he looks like for 3 years now but I have not brought him to paper yet lol. However the first few are. Siti was obviously the first, it started with her, Mahdi came second in my head even though back then I didn't even knew his name yet, he was an integral part in Sitis backstory and had the workname "Mapmaker/Scholar" but I knew while I tinkered with Sitis story that he needs to come back into the picture and then I started developing him. Technically it went like this: In the course of Sitis bg story she is faced with the loss of people she considered family (among them the mapmaker/scholar who she shared the closest bond with) during a vicious pirate attack at sea that she is the lone survivor of but even as I worked on that part I was like... "ain't no way that this fucker died, he is probably messed up but I bet he survived I want him to survive and reunite with Siti down the line" - and then a bit later in my head (mahdi, kicking the door in) "Hello there. I have risen!".

It still takes the duration of a decade before these two reunite. Which is also the starting point of Siti being the captain bc those two yearn for the sea regardless of the trauma.

After came the first five, being Ila, Ava, Eli, Mel and Asa. Ife and Niv followed soon after and then it kinda gets muddy with the rest. I had some rear up louder some just slipped in through the backdoor and at some point I started to design those as well. Nor is the most recent design in the lineup which I adopted from someone else because I had her down at her core but I could not decide on which animal which vibes but I saw demi-reality sell this zebra lady on their TH and I looked once, twice, thrice and went "oh. That is Nor." It be like that sometimes. But yeh so that is Sitis crew, at least those of them that have fixed designs. It is funny to look at the first headshot ever of Siti she changed not really much at all from that one aside from the fact that I got her unique face shapes down better in a way that I could not properly bring to paper back in 2020. So much shit happened around those years too, many losses in my family, among them my own father so many of these characters are intertwined with that grief and brainfog and memory loss that came with that trauma. A wild time that feels like a different life at times and I'm glad to have it behind me now. And I didn't even mean to get so personal about it here but those characters are, like I said, very much intertwined with a lot of that which also reflects in most of the early casts stories. But yeahhhh anyway I keep tinkering around, lots of writing going on in the background among some other stuff I have planned.

[animalcrossingshowdown]

someone sent in this ask and I spent literal hours putting together this tutorial but then it wouldn't let me post it and when I went back into my inbox the ask was gone?? good thing I copy and pasted it, so here it is in its own post

I'm not sure if this will work with programs other than photoshop, but this is how I do it. I know @shinobi-bacon has a tutorial here on how they do it which is pretty different from the way I do it, so if my tutorial is confusing maybe theirs will click with you better lmao. I stole the greenscreen idea from them anyway

SO FIRST, you want your villager on a green screen background. to do this, go to harv's island and use a custom pattern to make the walls and floors bright green. If the villager you're using has green in their design, you'll have to pick a different colour that isn't in their design, but for most villagers green is fine.

if your villager has every colour on them like pietro or stiches then rip you're gonna have to do some manual editing frame by frame. try to choose a colour that doesn't touch the edges of their silhouette too much in that case because it'll make life easier for you

so once you have them in green purgatory, record them doing their emote or whatever. I just use the built-in screen record function that the switch has. press and hold this button to record the last 30 seconds that your switch displayed:

next send that video to your computer and trim off the start of the video so it starts right before a recognizable part of the animation. for this emote I cut it off right before the blink. if you have a slow computer, you'll probably want to trim the end off too so the video is only a little bit longer than one full animation loop

(you can use the video editing software of your preference, I just use quick time player Edit -> Trim)

okay time for photoshop. go File -> Import -> Video Frames to Layers

for "range to import" select "from beginning to end" (or you could skip the last step about trimming the video and select a range here, but I find it kind of finicky), and make sure "make frame animation" is checked

once imported, if it doesn't pop up on it's own, go Window -> Timeline to get your animation at the bottom

click through those frames at the bottom until you find an easily recognizable frame (I chose the first frame where her eyes are closed) and delete all the frames before it. in the layers panel, the layer from the frame you've selected should be the only one turned on. delete all the layers below it

now go through the frames to find the next identical frame. this is where the animation loops. delete that frame and all the frames after it, as well as all of their corresponding layers (note in the picture, frame 121 is selected, and it's exactly the same as the frame from the start of the animation)

hit the play button on the bottom left to double check that it loops properly

next, make sure both THE FIRST FRAME AND BOTTOM LAYER are selected, and crop and reduce the image to your desired size. you can do this step later if you want, it's just that doing it now will reduce the load on your computer and make it run a bit faster. just as long as the first frame and bottom layer are selected, you can do this at any time

SAVE HERE because if you mess up this next part it's a pain to fix, but it's easy to quit and start over if need be

now it's time for my best friend the actions panel !! say hi actions panel !! (Window -> Actions). what the actions panel does is record your steps so you can quickly automate repetitive tasks.

in the actions panel, click the folder and name it whatever you want

then click the little plus and name that whatever you want and hit record. You'll see the dot turn red to indicate that your actions are now being recorded

now with the BOTTOM LAYER AND FIRST FRAME selected (ignore that I have the wrong layer selected in the pictures, I fixed it after), go to Select -> Colour Range

click on a part of the canvas that would be green

shift+click on the rest of the green background and adjust the fuzziness until just the character's silhouette remains

hit OK, now the background should be selected. go Select -> Inverse so that the character is selected, and click on layer mask.

click the next frame button (you MUST click the button, not the actual frame. you need the recording to recognize "go to next frame" and not "select frame 2"),

then keyboard shortcut option + ] to select the next layer up (again, you MUST use the shortcut so it knows to move up one layer and not just "select layer 2"),

and then stop recording.

now just repeatedly click the play button and it will do all those steps we just did for each frame :)

this part is usually where it gets messed up for me. if it did something weird like duplicate the same frame or layer your animation over a static frame, just quit and reopen that save I told you to make earlier. the action recording you just made will still be there when you reopen photoshop, so just select the first frame and bottom layer and repeatedly hit play again. if it STILL doesn't work, you probably did something wrong

the recording is now saved in photoshop forever until you delete it, so you can reuse the recording for other gifs! but if they use a different colour background, you'll need to make a new recording (you can see I have separate ones for blue and purple screens). also if you were working with one of those colourful villagers and parts got masked out that shouldn't have been, you'll have to go frame by frame and manually fix them. that's why we masked out the background instead of deleting it.

now it's time to make it into a gif! go File -> Export -> Save for Web. make sure Matte is set to "none" so you don't get those weird white flecks. colours and dither you want as high as they can go, but you can lower them if you need to make the file smaller (though I'd recommend resizing the image smaller first). the bottom left shows your file size. currently as of January 2024, tumblr allows gifs of up to 10MB

and there ya go! gif! :)

[ominoose]

Do you have any headcanons about Kane/Shimmer! Kane?

Can't believe I'm getting asked this ahh thank you so much 😭 Some of this is inspired by the books, some are just from my gut.

Kane:

He grew up in Tennessee, lived in a small town. His goal growing up was to help people, always admiring the aesthetic and way military men held themselves.

A secret ambivert. Outwardly he is very extroverted, always wanting to mess around with friends, permanently down to go out drinking with his friends whenever the offer is thrown around. Kane could carry a conversation with anyone, be it a complete stranger or the shyest person on earth.

Behind closed doors, besides people he feels truly comfortable with, he's absolutely content with silence. He doesn't come across as a bookworm, but he is when he has a quiet moment to just enjoy a bit of text. Usually its nerdy sci-fi, probably some Star Wars too.

Secretly loves building Legos. He's a man that likes to occupy his hands, traditionally he'd fix up cars but secretly when no one's home he'll pull out a lego set and get to work.

Kane can fall asleep anywhere and everywhere in two seconds flat. The moment he closes his eyes and puts his head down with the intention to sleep, he's dead to the world. Could also sleep through a bomb, but his body seems to sense when somethings amiss and wakes him up.

His love for the ocean came from being pent up in his small home town, partially related to his need to join the military growing up, he wants to travel. Growing up in the same four walls, the same school, the same houses surrounding him, the same trees and yellow corn for miles made him want something new. In the ocean, there's an absence of anything but water and sky. It's simple, not in the complicated small town way, but in the way that lets the mind go where it wants.

Shimmer Kane:

He doesn't have many actual memories of people he'd known when he comes home, only an instinct. There was a pull towards his partner, in his gut, his heart, his mind. It's almost this primal, caveman urge to protect and maintain the person.

Sometimes he's normal with life, sometimes he is genuinely like an alien that's discovered something new out of the mundane. He knows what a fork is, but when he first held a spoon he held it up and inspected it for a few minutes.

Still enjoys lego sets. Instead of sitting down with them, face scrunched, humming or even cursing when he messes something up as he used to, Kane's quiet now. He sits silently, methodologically putting pieces together, face completely blank. If you asked he wouldn't be able to explain exactly why he feels pulled to it, but its the closest thing he can attribute to comfort.

Similarly, he could stare at the sea for hours. Usually Kane now only his very muted feelings about anything, be it memories, people, places, colours, foods, weather, etc. When staring at the sea, those feelings become more colourful, more saturated, more life like. On occasion it even takes on pictures.

This Kane is aware he is not the original Kane, but isn't sure what that entails. Is he a clone? Is he something mimicking the first Kane, and if so why? Is he from this earth or whatever spawned from the meteor that hit it, or both? Is he an individual, his own man, being, or is he confined to whatever made the first Kane, Kane?

The thoughts plague him, driving him close to frustration. It's like a permanent filter over every thought or action he takes. The constant need to analyze himself and the world around him in relation to the man before him almost makes him self concious, not that he would recognise such an emotion.

Deep down, not only does he crave security of self, he craves acceptance. I wouldn't say he's aware of this, he's pre-occupied with just being, with observing the world around him. Kane doesn't put words to feelings, not even sure whether he feels or not. But if his partner or a close friend from Kanes past or even someone new that's aware of his situation explicitly and openly accepted the new Kane as an individual, he'd unknowingly cling to them.

[biggestxsimps]

I Forgive You

Draco Malfoy x Male Reader (Part 2)

A/N: I haven't watched Harry Potter in a while, like I said in Part 1 of this, I’m not aware of everything in the HP universe so let me know if I’ve messed something up and I’ll try to fix it. I haven't written in first-person POV in a while so I hope it’s alright 😭

Part 1: I’m Sorry

Y/N’s POV:

The last couple of months felt like something out of a nightmare, never in a hundred years did I think Death-Eaters would storm into our school. Though I was in danger, I couldn’t help but watch as Draco stood on their side, I still think about it now. How he looked so terrified, so worried as Hagrid brought Harry’s limp body to the crowd. I shake my head. I can’t continue to overthink that evening, I’m in safe hands now, I just hope Draco is too.

I walk into the kitchen, deciding to finally grab something to eat. My eyes fall on the leftovers from last night’s dinner. As I grab the container, I hear a ‘swoosh’ as an envelope falls beside me on the counter. The food now left my mind as I reached for the envelope, something about it seemed familiar. I slowly pull the letter out, quickly scanning the writing, I feel my heart sink at the realization. Why would he be writing to me? I prepared myself before properly reading the words.

Y/N L/N,

I’m aware that I’m, no doubt, the last person you would’ve wished this letter was from, but I urgently need to speak to you.

I don’t wish for your forgiveness; just for you to let me explain everything to you. I feel terrible for leaving you with no reason.

I’ll be at The Three Broomsticks tomorrow evening, if you feel comfortable, please come and see me.

 Draco Malfoy.

I felt my heart skip a few beats, no matter the pain that boy had put me through, I still missed him dearly. Now I have a chance to see him again, to talk to him again. My mind wanders back to our previous year, I can’t help but smile at the bittersweet memories, flashes of sharing laughs in the halls to quiet cuddles in our dormitory.

I couldn’t help but toss and turn that night, thinking about talking to the blond boy after what felt like so long.

Timeskip

The day had surprisingly gone by fast, 5pm only an hour away now. I decided to start getting ready, I didn't want it to seem like I dressed up for him, but I still wanted to look presentable. I started with a pair of black dress pants, then slipped on a vest over a white button-up and completed the look with a (Colour) tie.

I walk over to the full-length mirror in the corner of my room, flattening the wrinkled pieces of cloth before taking a few minutes to fix my hair. I glance down at my wrist, only 10 minutes left, I let out a deep breath.

Draco’s POV:

This was a stupid idea, I doubt he’ll show up. My eyes look up at the darkening sky, if he were to show up, he’d be here very soon. I look back at the crowding tavern before taking a second to take a breath. I was ready to talk to him, I had to. I look at the (f/c) rose in my hand, it’s not much, but I hope he’ll like it.

Y/N’s POV:

I can’t help but stare at all the colorful lights and buildings, it had been a while since I walked the Hogsmeade streets. Often coming here with Draco for a butterbeer in the colder months. I sadly smile at that, it feels like a lifetime ago.

I take a longer route to The Three Broomsticks, wanting to soak in the views before seeing the blond boy. A wide grin found place on my lips as I looked at all the parts of Hogsmeade I used to hang out with friends in, small memories passing through my mind at the sights.

I stopped my ogling and checked my watch, I didn’t mean to take as long as I was, time seemed to just fly as I walked around. I shake my head, in the back of my head, I knew that I was just trying to prolong seeing him again, I couldn’t bear the thought of falling back in love with him just as I was starting to move on.

I rushed over to the tavern, not wanting him to wait any longer than he already had. I sigh as The Three Broomsticks make its way into my view, my eyes search around the entrance, stopping on a well-known head of blond hair. I take a second to look over him, his shaking hands holding a (f/c) rose. I feel my heart beat a little faster and my lips tugging up as I start to approach him, his pale eyes lighting up as they see me. Merlin, he was beautiful. 

Draco’s POV:

The sound of a familiar pair of footsteps starts to grow louder, I gaze up at the sound, my eyes locking with his. ‘Wow’ The grin on his face making my cheeks flush. He was somehow even more handsome than I remember him being. 

Y/N’s POV:

“Good evening, Draco'' I nodded my head towards him, his face reddening. He looks me up and down before opening his mouth, a mix of incomprehensible words tumbling out. “Pardon?” I quietly chuckled. “I-I’msosorrythatIleftyouthewayIdid-” “Woah, woah, slow down.” I smile at the nervous boy in front of me, taking his hand and rubbing my thumb over his fingers like I used to when we were together. “Take it slow, alright?” His body starts to loosen. “I’m here to listen.” 

The color on his cheeks starts to deepen as he nods, quickly looking away as he takes a few breaths. He turns back towards me and starts.

Draco’s POV:

I feel my stomach flutter and my knees weaken at his touch, Merlin, I can't focus on anything but his trailing fingers. My head shoots to the side. How am I supposed to talk to him when I can feel my heart beating in my throat? My lungs let out shaky breaths before I ready myself to talk to him.

“I know I should’ve told you back then, and it was foolish of me not to,” I start. “I just didn’t know how to tell you everything and how you would’ve reacted to hearing it. I trusted you dearly, but I was still afraid you’d hate me and see me as a monster for what I had been forced into.” I feel my voice waver and pause for a second, continuing after I collect myself. My eyes quickly glanced into his own, watching as they pinched in understanding.

“I knew that if we were close, you wouldn’t be safe. Not with everything going on, not with all the eyes on me. I meant it when I said I did it for your safety, I couldn’t stand the thought of losing you forever because I was too selfish to let you go first.” A long sigh leaves my lungs. “I- I just wanted to keep you out of everything, avoid putting you through the terrors I had seen.”

“I’m so sorry I hadn’t told you back then, I truly wanted to, I hope you can forgive me.”

I stop, a deep breath bringing my speech to an end. I yelped as I was pulled into an embrace, Y/N’s coarse hands rubbing circles against my back. My eyes start to water ‘Merlin, how I missed this, him.’ I dug my head into his shoulder, the cloth soaking up my tears as his cologne filled my mind.

Y/N’s POV:

I couldn’t stand to see him like that, so conflicted, like he was last year. His eyes started to well with tears, and I just couldn’t resist pulling him into me, holding him like I always used to. My hands rubbed along his back as his face fell onto my shoulder, I loved holding him like this. My hand reaches for his cheek, pulling it up to see his face, his eyes hazily glancing back up at me.

“Of course I forgive you, Draco; there’s nothing you could ever do to make me feel even the slightest bit of hatred for you.”

“I- Really? You forgive me after all that happened.”

“Yes, if I’m being honest, there is not a waking moment when you are not on my mind; you haunt my every thought and dream. I couldn’t stand the idea of losing you now that I have you again.”

“Y/N”

“Yes, Draco?”

“Do you think we could try this again? Us? I won’t let anything come between us now.”

“I’d love to, Dear.”

Draco’s POV:

I can’t help but swoon at the name, I’m so lucky to have him back. All those months of planning and fear were worth it in the end; I was in his arms, and he had no intent on letting go. As I now become more aware of my surroundings, I feel the rose I had paid so little attention to in my hands, the couple stray thorns pricking me.

I carefully back away from his chest, instead standing half-an-arm's length apart from him. His hands now resting on my lower as I bring the rose up to his view. His smile widens impossibly larger at the flower, freeing his hand and grabbing the (f/c) rose before placing a small kiss against my forehead “You remembered” I meekly nod “You haven't left my mind either.” 

“Since we’re already here, what do you say we make the most of it and hang out like we used to?” My eyes light up as I look up at that. “You asking me out on a date?” I giggle. “You said it, not me.” I accept the offer, and he takes my hand and brings me into the tavern we were standing in front of. “Butterbeers on me.” He grins before opening the doors.

Y/N’s POV:

It had been a couple hours, but it felt so much longer. Being able to talk to him like this again, treat him like my lover again, I couldn’t stop the smile that forced its way onto my face. My eyes wandered his frame, I took in everything I had been missing for the past few months. His silky blond locks to his inviting grey eyes, to the dust of red on his pale cheeks, to the unique marks littered amongst his skin, and finally landing on his plump lips. He was truly gorgeous.

He must’ve noticed me staring, because his ears also start to blush, I place a hand on his thigh, moving my face towards his. His eyes flutter closed as we share a long awaited kiss. 

Draco’s POV:

My heart nearly beats out of my chest at the connection; it was everything I hoped for, the kiss just as loving as it used to be. I snaked my arms around his neck, pulling him closer. His hands grabbed my waist before breaking away. “It’s getting late; would you like to come home with me?” His hand reaches for my own, fingers dancing upon my palms. 

“I’d love to.”

A/N: This somehow ended up being 3x the length of Part 1, idk how I did it. I hope it’s comprehensible, I haven't proof-read it. Thank you to  @sotvs-luv for requesting the part 2 to this. (I’m unsure if you wanted to be tagged so if not, let me know and I’ll take it out!)

Masterlist  

- Written by Owner 1

[marcusoseman99]

Daisy Rabbit pt 2

Luke: Well you get some sleep kiddo, and you can help out later on.

Jessica: Ok thanks I promise that ill close up tonight.

Luke: You better I am too old for this.

*Jessica laughs as she walks behind the counter and through the door behind Luke and starts walking up the stairs. She gets to the second floor where there are four doors in a small hallway the lighting is terrible like the condition of the hallway itself with wallpaper that’s falling apart and rotten wooden floors. *

Jessica: No matter how bad it gets Luke’s will always feel like home…. even like this. I hope I can help Luke fix this place up proper one day.

*Jessica walks into one of the rooms holding a brown clutch bag the room is bland and basic bed and desk with nothing else. She walks to one of the corners of the room and pulls up a piece of the floorboards off. *

Jessica: I love this room…love that I didn’t have to share it at least bit grey but mine none the less. I wish I could tell Luke about all this mess, but I don’t want to worry about me or get scared by what I do.

*Jessica takes out the clothes she wore while she killed the man in the factory then takes out the knife she used and holds It solemnly*

Jessica: I’ll have to clean this later.

*Jessica take out her mask and holds it with both hands and looks into its empty eyes*

Jessica: I wish I could wear you all the time make everything easier but pretty sure I’d freak the fuck out of people.

*Jessica places everything she took out of the bag into the floor and puts the floorboard back in place she walks over to her bed and lays down on her back and starts looking up at the roof that has paint peeling off of it. The scene cuts to a clearly younger Jessica sitting in a different bed around 5 years old.

The room is small and even worse than the one present Jessica is in with the mattress on the ground while Jessica is sitting on it holding a raggedy doll. Thunder outside of the room gets louder and louder till Jessica is hiding under her covers. *

Jessica: MOMMY!!

*Jessica yells and yells but nothing happens till the scene shows the room get darker as time passes then a woman walks into the room with the same hair colour as Jessica she walks over and sits on the mattress. Jessica springs up and hugs her and the woman embraces her tightly but peels her off and holds Jessica by her shoulders. *

Woman: You were meant to be asleep by now you goof.

Jessica: The thunder was scary.

Woman: Oh doll it ain’t nothing that can hurt how many times have I got to tell you.

Jessica: I’m sorry-

Woman: Shut your kisser and listen to me.

*The Woman takes Jessica into her arms and rocks her gently*

Woman: Don’t you ever feel like that cuz I will always be here for you doll even if I do work late.

*They both laugh as they hug tighter*

Jessica: *muffled* I love you, Mommy.

Woman: *Laughs* I love you too Darling now hush up and sleep.

*They both lay down together and fall asleep then the scene cuts to adult Jessica Laying in the same position as her past self but in her new bed*

*The scene cuts to Kelly and Morris in a Ford model T car the men sit in silence Kelly is driving with a cigarette in his free hand while Morris rolls down his window and looks out at the streets filled with people*

Morris: You shouldn’t have been smoking at the crime scene you could have contaminated evidence.

Kelly: *inhauls his cigarette* Wow really…. *Under his breath* smartass

Morris: What did you say?

Kelly: *grunt* You. Are. A. Smartass.

Morris: I understand this is my first assignment but-

 Kelly: But nothin just shut your mouth and you might learn something.

Morris: Let’s just get to the station.

Kelly: Negative new guy I’ve had all the files we need delivered to our motel.

Morris: That is-

Kelly: IT IS…... the smartest goddamn thing you have ever hear you got me boy.

Morris: *sigh* Fine.

Kelly: Bettter not sass me or I'll throw you out this goddamn car *inhauls cigarette* fucking kids.

[ana-chronista]

Its not really much of a prompt but I've always wanted to see Jan painting Nace’s nails and being all blushy because they're touching hands

Not much of a prompt, you say, Anon? Well, my brain apparently took that as a challenge as it managed to spin this out for 1500 words. Enjoy! (And as always, if you would like to let me know your identity, I can gift this to you when I cross-post to AO3. 😊)

“So... will you?” It takes Nace asking a second time to shake Jan out of his surprise. It’s one thing to mess around together on stage, all up in each other’s personal space with hands trailing over guitars or faces, or even in interviews, crammed onto couches that always seem slightly too small for five fully grown men, nudging and poking at each other to pass the time. But this – Nace appearing in front of him in the dressing room with no one else around asking if he’ll help him out by painting his nails for the first time – is something else entirely. Maybe it shouldn’t be. They’ve been friends for ages now and basically live on top of each other along with the others. But it just is, somehow. He realises that Nace is still watching him with that expectant expression because he still hasn’t replied, and rushes to fix that before the silence drags on any longer. “Er, yeah, sure.” he offers, shifting his own bottle of black nail polish to one side. “I’m done with mine anyway.” Nace smiles and pulls a chair over to sit opposite him at the narrow table. “Only one hand though?” he says, nodding at Jan’s left hand. “I noticed you do that, but I don’t think I ever asked you why.” “Oh, er, I’m no good at painting with my left hand. I pick at it anyway, so it never lasts long and...” He shrugs, trying to cut himself off before he rambles too much. “It just doesn’t seem worth it.” If Nace notices Jan’s mouth edging towards running away with itself, he doesn’t say anything. “Oh, OK. Makes sense.” he agrees amicably as he passes over a new bottle that’s been nestled in his hand. “Still, I’ve never painted mine before so I wouldn’t even know where to start really.” Jan frowns at the familiar bright purple shade of the bottle. “Is this Kiki’s?” “Yeah, he said I could borrow it. Besides, it seemed like a good colour for the first time. I like purple.” He can feel a smile tugging at his lips as he shakes the bottle. “Like Gengar, right?” “Yeah, exactly.” Nace replies, and when Jan glances up he sees a wide grin lighting up the bassist’s face. It does things to his insides that he doesn’t want to think about, especially not when they’re alone and this close. He takes a deep breath and gestures with his free hand. “Alright, whichever side you want to start with.” The sharp scent of the polish stings his nostrils as he opens the bottle and clears the brush, providing a moment’s distraction as Nace slides his left hand across the table. It takes a moment to get used to painting from a different angle to usual, and another moment to get used to the different shape of Nace’s nails, but he soon finds it easy enough. The older man’s hand is pliable in his own as he lets Jan move it whichever way he needs to get the best angle, years of bass playing apparently leaving him with no issues about holding his fingers in potentially uncomfortable positions for a while. They’re nice fingers, Jan notices. Not that he hasn’t before – he’s been mesmerised on stage and in practice more times than he can count by their speed and dexterity on the bass – but there’s something different about it now, up close and just the two of them. Try as he might, focusing on the rhythmic strokes of the brush and the need to keep the colour even doesn’t distract him fully from the strong muscles and firm knuckles of Nace’s long fingers. His throat feels dry suddenly. He finishes up as quickly as he can and sits back. “Left side’s done.” he says, dipping the brush again and starting to scrape off the excess. “Be careful with it while it’s drying and we can – ” But before he can even finish the sentence, Nace puts his right hand directly into Jan’s free left one, almost startling him into knocking over the bottle. The calluses on his fingertips brush gently against the inside of his wrist just briefly before he pulls back to settle his palm more comfortably in Jan’s.

If he’s ever thought of what it might feel like to have those callused fingers tracing over his thighs, or the weight of that palm pressing on his spine to bend him over, or that strong grip wrapped around him, well, he’s certainly not thinking about it now, no matter what the heat rising in his cheeks and pooling in his belly might indicate. Those are definitely thoughts best kept between him and the walls of his shower. The silence between them is ringing in his ears. He knows Nace is watching him intently as he prepares the brush and starts on the blank set of nails. Even while refusing to look up, he can feel his eyes burning into him as he keeps his head maybe a bit lower than it needs to be, hoping his loose hair is doing a good enough job at hiding his flushed cheeks. Right now, he feels like Nace would be able to see every less than platonic thought he’s ever had about him written all over his face. Much safer to keep his head down. Three nails to go. He dips and clears the brush again. He can manage this. Two nails to go. Is it hot in here all of a sudden or is it him? He doesn’t want to ask. It feels like the walls are narrowing in on them. One nail to go. Whoever designed this table had no idea how tall real people are. It feels like they’re far too close. Nace’s foot is centimetres from his own but it feels like he’s pressed right up against him. If he shifts at all, his knee is going to brush Jan’s thigh. And finally... “OK, all done.” Jan says, leaning back with a nod. “If you decide you like it, we can do a second coat after that dries fully.” He wants to kick himself as soon as the words leave his mouth. The last thing he should be doing is putting himself through all that again, but apparently his need to be a good friend and do the job properly has won out. That, or perhaps his subconscious wants another go at holding Nace’s hands. But he pushes that idea out of his head as soon as it pops up and busies himself with screwing the bottle back up. Maybe a second time round won’t be as intense; at least it feels like the walls have moved back out again. Nace, meanwhile, is twisting his hands this way and that, fingers splayed carefully to avoid any smudges as he admires his newly painted nails. “Great, thanks! It looks so much better than when I do it myself.” Jan freezes. Nace’s tone is light but his words pin Jan to the spot nonetheless. “Wait, what?” he manages past a throat that’s suddenly too dry again. “I thought you said you’d never had your nails painted before?” There’s a pause that goes on slightly too long as Jan stares at him in disbelief, until suddenly Nace’s lips quirk up at one side in a grin that’s anything but apologetic. The scrape of his chair on the floor tiles is shockingly loud in the otherwise silent room, but Jan doesn’t even have a moment to register it before Nace is standing, palms pressed flat and still against the table top, and leaning over to – His lips land right at the corner of Jan’s own, teasingly light but distinctly there for a moment longer than friendliness would allow for. In his mind’s eye, Jan sees a flash of himself turning his head just a fraction, meeting Nace’s mouth with his own, but before he can kick himself into action, the bassist is already pulling away with a slight scratch of stubble and a warm rush of a murmured “thanks, Janči” right in his ear.

He hopes Nace is too busy sitting back down to notice the shuddering breath he lets out, but with that self-satisfied smile still in place, it honestly could have gone either way. Desperate to avoid lapsing into another silence and having it be a whole thing, he says quickly, “They’re probably fine now, as long as you’re careful with them.” Nace glances at his nails quickly and nods, but his mind seems elsewhere. His gaze flicks to the black nail polish before returning to meet Jan’s own, rooting him to the spot. “If you like, I’ll do your right hand for you.” And Jan’s not sure he’s fully capable of coherent speech right now, but at least whatever answer he gets out sounds positive enough. Then again, maybe he doesn’t need to say anything at all, because Nace’s already reaching for his hand, brushing his thumb over Jan’s palm, smiling all the while.

[inkstainedhandswithrings]

The Shiny Captain

A/N: I saw a post by @infinityrevengers and it made me write a shitty, non-beta'd 4am fic :). enjoy!

warnings: non, just dumb fluff

pairing: Captain Rex x gn!reader (platonic)

summery: you do your new friend Rex a favour by cleaning off his armour for him, only for him to sheepishly tell you that he doesn't want shiny armour please.

masterlist

It had only been a few weeks since you'd joined the crew on board the Resolute. The Clone Army was stretched thinly across the galaxy, and many clones that had formerly been assigned to engineering and medicine had been 'repurposed' to become soldiers like their brothers. That, of course, left a lot of vacancies in the aforementioned fields, which is why you, a civilian, with a degree in engineering and basic medic training were offered a job pretty quickly.

You liked being on the Resolute a lot. You'd only been along for one campaign, hanging out in the hangar and fixing ships - and the odd clone trooper once in a while, if it wasn't too serious or they just wanted to avoid a dressing down from Kix - and chatting with he troopers moving in and out of the ship all day. Or night. Or whatever timezone you had been in. You lost track of that the second you entered hyperspace.

One of the clones that you'd taken a particular liking to was Captain Rex. When you first met him, he sort of intimidated you. How could he not? He stood tall and proud, dual DC-17's on his hips and Jaig Eyes painted on his helmet in that deep 501st blue. Clone Captain Rex, first in Command of the renowned Skywalker's Fist. Nothing to be scared of right?

After about two days though, you found out that there truly was nothing to be scared of. You were in the mess hall with Fives and Echo, sharing a truly horrible meal - you would never get used to the brown sludge and gray cubes they grew up on - when Rex walked in and joined you. That was the first time you saw him without his helmet on and you immediately noted the blond hair and dropped a compliment, as it was the first thing that came to mind.

"Oh wow, Captain, didn't know you were a blond! That natural? Looks good on you."

Your compliment had left him a stuttering mess and you had to hold back a laugh as your image of the stoic clone captain became much more human in an instant.

"Uh... yes it- uhm, thanks... thank you, yes its natural," he had managed to get out.

The short conversation left your two companions hiding their matching grins and you wondered if you had said something wrong. You could imagine that the clones had their own culture. Their own way of doing things. Perhaps pointing out an uncommon hair colour was considered a faux-pa's?

A few days later you ran into him again and had stammered out an apology which he quickly waved off, saying you hadn't done anything wrong.

"It's just not something I grew up being... proud of," he'd explained, leaving you even more confused.

Clearly, your comment had flattered him, but there must've been something else making him feel as conflicted as he seemed to be. You decided not to push it.

But maybe you should have taken the time to learn more about what you had started calling clone culture, because it only took you a couple weeks to actually commit a pretty serious faux-pa's.

It had been the morning after a pretty tough mission. When Torrent and their Captain had wandered off a banged up gunship, looking a bit battered and bruised, you'd worried. You should've gotten to work on the gunships right away, but you took a minute to talk to Kix about injuries. He wouldn't need you to help out in the med-bay that night, but he appreciated you checking in.

The Captain noticed too, and approached you to give his thanks. You noted his armour seemed to have an extra coating of black dust on it. Likely volcanic ash from the planet they'd just returned from.

The two of you got caught up in an easy conversation, like you did many times since your initial, semi-awkward meeting. It had ended with him clipping off his armour and falling asleep leaned against some supply crates filled with parts that you were using to fix the gunships. You ended up pulling an all-nighter, not minding the Captain softly snoring behind you. In a way, it comforted you. At least this way you knew he was alright.

Once you were done it was already 0600 and you'd have to be up again in about an hour, which didn't seem like it was worth it to you. But you didn't want to wake Rex either and just leaving him behind here in the hangar while he was asleep - and without his armour strapped on - seemed wrong too.

Deciding to do him a kindness you found a rag, some water and some soap, making sure it wasn't so aggressive that it would remove the paint. You set to work, washing the dust and grime off the Captains armour until it looked white and shiny and pretty again. Like it was fresh off Kamino. You smiled at your work, pride rising in your chest. Not only had you managed to get the gunships going again, you'd also saved your friend some valuable time that he could now spent resting.

Another ten or so minutes passed and despite you fighting it, you must've drifted off, because the Captain's wrist chrono woke the both of you.

When your eyes fluttered open, you were met with the sight of the Captain stretching his arms and neck out. Maybe letting him sleep propped up against a supply crate all night wasn't the best idea. Oh well.

Rex said your name with a tired smile. "Mornin'. Managed to fix those gunships?"

"Yeah, all fixed. Even got some... extra work in," you said, trying to be onimous.

"Extra work, eh? Can't wait to see it," Rex said, reaching for his first few pieces of armour, stacked exactly the same way they were last night - you were meticulous, thank you very much. "Let's grab some caf first though, ya? I need to...," Rex trailed off.

He was halfway done putting on his armour, only the top side of his blacks still visible. He was currently holding up his chest plate turning it over in his hands. He seemed puzzled as he picked up his pauldron and vambraces, swiping his fingers over them.

You smiled up at him proudly. "I cleaned it for you! Figured I'd take some of your load of, seeing as the last mission was a little rough."

"You.... cleaned my armour?" Rex repeated slowly.

"Sure did! Now it's nice and shiny again!"

The way you smiled up at him made Rex's heart ache. You were trying to help him. To cheer him up after a tough mission. Which he appreciated, and yet. He couldn't bring himself to appreciate shiny armour. He sighed and said your name softly. "Thank you so much for... caring... but, uhm... do you remember our conversation about, uh... how did you call it? Clone culture?"

Fear crept up on your face as you fixed your eyes on him. "Yes?" you responded, only cringing slightly. This was gonna be uncomfortable.

"It's not a big deal...," Rex began.

"Really? Would you tell me if it was?"

"Uh, I.... uhm, well," Rex stammered, answering your question well enough. "Uh, the thing is... Shiny armour... Well, clones, the young ones, fresh off Kamino... We call them shinies. Because their armour-," Rex was interrupted.

"... Is shiny. And your a Captain so-," you trailed off this time.

"So I'd prefer to leave my... shiny days behind me," he chuckled awkwardly.

You nodded in understanding. "Of course! Gosh, Rex, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to..."

"Hey, hey, no, please! You were trying to help!"

"Well, that worked out great, didn't it?" you joked. It illicited a soft chuckle from him, but you could tell that somewhere, he was still slightly... disappointed, for lack of better word. "If it helps, I'd love to take one of these newly fixed gunships down planetside with you. We can... roll around in the mud or whatever, get that armour dirty again."

Rex let out a louder laugh this time, shaking his head. "Yeah, I think shiny armour is enough embarrassment for one week, but maybe I'll find a mud puddle to throw you in when you finally come planetside with us."

You chuckled at his obvious threat. "Unfortunately, I just handed in my two weeks notice. Apologies, Captain, looks like you won't get your revenge this time 'round!"

"Eh, I'll find something fitting. Now, how 'bout that caf?"

And so you made your way to the messhall with your shiny Captain, ready to defend him from Echo and Fives's quips, which you both knew were coming.

[apathyofthesympathetic]

My gift to @daisy-bugs for the @pjo-equinox-solstice-exchange! Ngl I’m not actually sure I need to post this because I had awful wifi for a couple days so I forgot there was a check-in, but I wrote it anyway and I’m going to assume that I should

The only character listed that I didn’t include was Leo, and I did my best to give it a happy ending. I also posted it on Ao3 (registered users only) if you want to read it there. Hope you enjoy!

Nico left the campfire early. He was too exhausted to socialise tonight.

Thankfully, Will was nowhere to be seen, and thus wasn’t present to strongarm him into the infirmary. He instead walked across the greenery to Cabin Thirteen, a gloomy and foreboding building with a pair of black fire torches burning beside the entrance. This wasn’t anywhere near the first time Nico had seen his cabin - he’d slept here at least twenty times since the second Titan War - but he still didn’t really know how to feel about it.

It always felt like it was made for someone else. Like he was intruding in someone else’s house. The inside was too quiet, too pristine, too untouched. Once, he tried messing up the blankets in all the beds to try and make it feel more lived in, but he felt even worse afterwards and ended up fixing them immediately. It was the closest place he had to a home but it still felt… off. He was definitely thankful for the nights of sleep it had given him, but most of the time he shadow travels here and immediately passes out. He doesn’t linger like he’s doing now.

He finds it doesn’t feel quite so alien anymore. It doesn’t feel like he’s trespassing, it feels like he’s finally allowed to be here.

From the outside it was a tall, imposing building, lit with torches of black fire and constructed from marble, concrete and obsidian. It had, both inside and out, accents of gold, silver, hematite, onyx, jet and black tourmaline. Its windows were few and far between, stained dark purple and lined with empty plant boxes, dark curtains drawn over them.

The inside was just as dreary. It had a dozen or so beds, each lined with drapes to separate them from the cabin at large. They all had drawers beneath them and a desk beside them. The far wall was covered in empty bookcases.

In the middle of the cabin there was a dip in the floor, a few steps leading down to an impression lined with cushions and furs and rugs. There was a trapdoor in the centre of the nook, half hidden by a loose blanket. The edges of the impression had plant boxes cut into the floor, filled with soil and covered in blooming plants. A gift from Persephone, no doubt.

Upon closer inspection, each of the plants were labeled with a folded piece of paper half embedded in the soil, which also listed watering instructions and sunlight requirements. Unless someone else had been in here taking care of them the notes were entirely unnecessary. Grey asphodel, red anemone, poppies, and moonflower. One of the plant beds was empty, with only a note that read ‘dandelions, perhaps?’

Nico really hated Persephone.

The flowers glittered like crystals in stark contrast to the otherwise gloomy interior. Though that could be blamed more on the lighting than the plants themselves. Above the nook was a skylight cut into the sloped ceiling, a glass window with an intricate pattern that was stained every colour of the rainbow. It fell across the nook and plants in a rolling fountain of light, glowing like a hoard of gems and dousing the rest of the cabin in colour.

It gave Nico a headache. He went and sat on the edge of the bed he always slept in which, like all the others, resembled a coffin. Polished mahogany frame, brass railing, blood red pillows and blankets. Apparently whoever designed this place thought children of Hades were vampires.

The mattress was soft. The blankets were fluffy. The pillows were smooth. It was the nicest bed he’d had for as long as he could remember.

The bedside drawer had a few of his tokens inside: Bianca’s hat, her sketchbook, his Lotus Hotel credit card, his Mythomagic cards and his figurines, including the one Bianca died for. He’d checked on everything the day he went to Tartarus, and he checked it again now. Everything was as he left it.

Nico took off his sword belt, shoes and socks. He slid under the blanket still wearing the rest of his clothes. He would need to move quickly if they were attacked in the night, having to change would just slow him down. Besides, he didn’t own pyjamas, unless the beds’ drawers came pre-stocked with complimentary clothes.

He didn’t bother checking. He arranged himself into a comfortable position, making sure it didn’t strain his shoulder, and closed his eyes.

He opened them five seconds later.

Nothing was on fire. There was no blood. No bodies. No monsters. No gods of misery intending to torment his soul for the rest of time.

No threats. Nothing dangerous.

Nico closed his eyes.

He adjusted the blanket a minute later. After five he shoved a pillow under his chest. He tried laying on his side, his stomach, his back, but the mattress was too soft and comfortable to relax. The blanket started feeling like it was trying to swallow him whole, so he kicked it away. Before even twenty minutes have passed the pillows join it.

Nico finds himself surveying the rest of the cabin. Like the last time he was here, there’s a thin layer of dust over almost everything, as it had been left relatively alone after construction finished. That’s good, if any enemies decide to spy on him during the night their footsteps would be obvious. There isn’t anything for them to hide behind except the other beds, the impression, and maybe the drapes or curtains.

It was starting to get really cold, so Nico grabbed the blanket again. It’s too warm, too fluffy. Too nice.

After around twenty minutes of staring at the rest of the cabin Nico tried closing the drapes. It’s almost good, the way they shield him away from the rest of the world, but it’s too claustrophobic. He felt closed in, trapped, and knowing that if the cabin was attacked he wouldn’t see the threat makes it all the worse.

He shoved them back immediately, before slinking back to the bed and sitting on it cross legged. He pulled the blanket over his back and let his brain trick itself into thinking it would protect him. The mattress dipped under his weight. It’s too soft, like a marshmallow. Nico felt like it would swallow him if he made a wrong move.

He moved back, managing to not be smothered by a mattress, and leaned his back against the wall. It’s smooth, cold. Perfectly straight and even. It’s easy not to mistake it for the walls of the jar.

Nico tried closing his eyes again. He gives up after five minutes. Where was Hazel? Surely the campfire wasn’t going to last that long. Did something happen to her? He should go out and check -

No, Nico, now is not the time to be an overprotective brother, he chastised himself. Hazel’s earned herself some freedom, she didn’t need an overbearing brother now of all times. She can take care of herself. She’s fine. If camp was attacked he would hear it. If someone died he would feel it.

Unless they attacked in the night. After midnight maybe, once everyone was asleep. They could waltz right into camp and slit everyones’ throats and Nico would be none the wiser. Sure the sheer number of deaths might wake him up, but if the enemy knew that they would kill him first. They’d waltz into the cabin, right up to his bed, and slit his throat or suffocate him so he wouldn’t ruin -

Nico sprang to his feet and began pacing around the nook.

Maybe the infirmary had some melatonin. No, if Will was there he’d force him to spend the night thanks to that ridiculous ‘three nights’ idea Nico agreed to. He wanted to delay that for as long as possible. Besides, then he wouldn’t know if Hazel was still okay. And he’s pretty sure antiseptic and blood wouldn’t be the nicest smell to surround himself with if he’s trying to fall asleep.

But he wasn’t trying to fall asleep, was he?

Nico stopped walking in circles. The fluffy red blanket trailed behind him, collecting dust. Great, there goes his footprints plan.

His eyes caught on the trapdoor in the centre of the nook. What’s underneath it? That might be a good place for monsters to hide.

Nico began descending the stairs only to trip on the last one. He caught himself on his hands with a wince. Maybe he was more tired than he thought.

Oh, yeah, he’s definitely tired. When he blinks it takes him a second or two to open his eyes. That’s not good - he had to be alert.

Nico’s in the middle of lifting up the trapdoor when he remembered the camp’s magical borders would stop any monsters from entering.

That wouldn’t stop any Romans that weren’t fond of the truce. Either way, too late now. He might as well check.

He lifted the trapdoor the rest of the way, squinting into the darkness. A thin flight of stairs descended into a large mostly empty room, lined with shelves and counters and drawers. It looked like a kitchen.

There was a circle of dirt cut into the otherwise stone floor, with an abandoned shovel on top of it. Ah, a setup for spirit summoning. That might be useful. He could check in the morning if the Physician’s Cure worked on Leo.

He hoped it did.

Maybe he should check tonight.

No. If he checks then it becomes real. Then he has to acknowledge it happened. He has to face reality for what it is, even if the reality is that Leo was dead and wasn’t coming back.

If that’s the reality, he’d quite significantly prefer to wait until morning.

Nico closed and leaned away from the trapdoor with a sigh. He’d also prefer to sleep until morning.

Well. That what the others would want him to say, anyway. He’d much rather be alert when they’re inevitably attacked by all the people that promised Gaia aid.

Just then, the door opened. Nico bolted upright and watched Hazel enter, looking exhausted and grief-ridden. She paused in the doorway and looked at Nico. “Can Frank sleep over?”

Her voice shouldn’t be as emotionless as it was. It sounded flat, blank and free of inflection. Nico nodded silently and Frank poked his head in.

They both walked over to the nook and joined him inside, tucking themselves beneath the same blanket and huddling together against the pillows. Something in Nico’s chest eased at their presence. He found it easier to relax now he knew Hazel had not, in fact, been stabbed, mauled, burnt or otherwise attacked.

He was a little frightened by how much he cared about her. Most people he cared about either hated him or died.

He wondered if this is how Bianca used to feel.

He pulled his blanket tighter around himself, leaning against a pillow and making sure he could still see the door and his sister. He forced his muscles to relax - which felt like an oxymoron if there was one - and tried to keep his eyes closed for more than five seconds. He failed miserably of course, but he felt this could be expected. His eyes kept wandering over to Hazel, like he expected her to spontaneously burst into flames. When had he grown so protective of her?

Part of him thinks he always was, that he latched on the second he saw her shade wandering around. Or maybe it was later, when he saw how differently the Legion treated her despite Reyna’s efforts. Maybe it was when he first started comparing her treatment to his own. Maybe it was when he first started helping her get a hold of her powers. Maybe it was when his tongue first slipped and he called her Bianca. Maybe it didn’t matter.

There was a knock on the door, and someone poked their head in. It was Percy and Annabeth. Percy looked apprehensive, like he expected Nico to stab him the second he opened the door, which wasn’t an entirely unreasonable assumption. It was Annabeth that spoke. “Hello? Sorry, we saw Frank and Hazel come in here. We were wondering if we could sleep over.”

Hazel smiled, cheeks dimpling. She and Nico said “Sure” at the same time.

Nico silently resigned himself to keeping as far away as possible. Thankfully Percy seemed to be on the same page, and he and Annabeth laid down on the far side of the nook.

Nico stared up at the stained glass skylight. Mostly to avoid looking at Percy. The moon and stars shone pinpricks of multicoloured light down around them, like a rainbow had shattered and left pockets of colour floating through the air. It felt oddly serene, like it was actually Iris or some other god laying their protection over them. He couldn’t understand how something associated with his father could be so beautiful.

(Well, aside from Persephone, but she was a bitch.)

He didn’t know colours could be so comforting.

The pinpricks of light shone on Percy like a sunset reflecting off the shore. The ones over Annabeth were warm and soft, like books and blankets and stuffed animals. Hazel’s glittered like a hundred different gems, like she was surrounded by wealth and beauty and yet the thing she gravitated towards most was Frank, whose lights shone like lanterns reflecting off a cat’s eye, like the glint of teeth and the edge of a shield.

Frank was sleeping as a human for once. Nico was pretty sure he preferred to sleep as a bulldog. He and Hazel were curled loosely around each other, a fluffy blanket tucked up to their chins. Frank seemed to have fallen into a fitful rest but Hazel was still awake, blinking open her eyes every few seconds to take stock of her surroundings. Percy and Annabeth were in much the same boat, though Percy was determinedly pretending to be asleep, like he could manage to trick his own body. Annabeth’s eyes were closed and she was tucked into Percy’s chest. The only sign she was awake was her hand slowly spinning the beads on her necklace.

Nico adjusted his blanket again. It didn’t feel like it was suffocating him anymore. He was just uncomfortable enough to be able to relax.

That didn’t stop his entire body from tensing as someone else knocked on the door.

Reyna poked her head in, and he slumped back over in relief. Reyna was amused by that if the tone of her voice was anything to go by, “I see you’re still awake. Mind if I join the sleepover?”

“Sure,” Nico told her quietly. She looked even more exhausted than Percy, but also more put-together.

She didn’t waste any time before entering, quietly closing the door behind her two automatons, who both stationed themselves by the stairs to the nook like a pair of guardian angels. Reyna had already removed her armour but Nico didn’t doubt she had at least one concealed weapon. She grabbed a particularly soft looking fur and lay down near Nico.

Nico found himself relaxing at her presence. He felt safer around her. She’s proved that she would fight to protect them, she trusted him. And with her dogs standing guard no one would be able to sneak up on them.

It was easier now to actually try to sleep, rather than pretending to. He still felt his eyes drifting open to look at the door or study the others. He tried to remind himself that the dog automatons would wake them up the second they heard any danger. It did little to steady the beat of his heart.

He tried counting. Supposedly, that was meant to help. He managed to count to forty before he abandoned that, and instead started counting his breath, making each inhale deep and every exhale slow.

Time dragged on, slow and mulish, and it was Reyna who broke it. “You’re not in danger, you know,” she said quietly. She was giving him that knowing look. Like she could see past his skin and flesh and bones and was studying his very soul.

Nico doubted his soul would be as interesting as she made it seem. “Feels like I am.”

“Well your feelings are lying to you,” Reyna whispered. “The camp borders keep out monsters. Peleus keeps guard against anything stupid enough to attack it.”

“Are you calling your own army stupid?”

“I’m calling Octavian stupid,” she said with a sly grin. “Thankfully he isn’t around to stir up trouble anymore. The Romans are all happy with the truce. The giants are all dead by the sounds of it. If something happens, if anyone is attacked, someone else will be there to help and we’ll be woken up in no time.”

Despite making these same arguments to himself only an hour beforehand, it felt truer coming from her. Her voice held warm certainty and steely resolve, like the gods themselves had told her her words were true. Like she couldn’t imagine she could be wrong, and even if she was they’d be all right.

Nico found himself believing her.

“Why are you sleeping in this cabin and not with the Legion?”

Reyna tilted her head away from him, staring up at the stained glass. “To be honest? I wanted to make sure you’re safe. I was worried your powers were hurting you again. I needed to make sure that if you went shadowy again I’d be there to help. That you’d still be safe.”

Nico smiled eyed drifting shut. “Thank you, Reyna.”

She smiled as well. “Thank you for letting me protect you.”

(And she was right, in the end. When he woke up in the morning, finding that Jason and Piper had also made their way into his cabin, everything was fine. He had a home, and he was safe there.)

[iamumbra195]

So I just came across a post about Pavitr in the comics having an existential crisis about not being white like all the other different variations of Peter Parker (I’m definitely reading his comics at some point).

But now I’m remembering something from when I was a kid and I was wondering if this was like a universal POC experience from before you actually understood the concept of race and discrimination or if it was a just a weird fucked up thing my mind came up with.

See when I was younger, I was in an arab predominated school, there were like two other black girls but one of them was lightskin (I didn’t even know she was black until like second grade XD) and I hated the other for... various reasons (she was my bully for like six years but we ain’t gonna talk about that) so like I had no sense of kinship with like anyone in my class or school 

Because of that environment and the fact that I didn’t know why the racist secratary always got me in trouble while letting the other girls get away with not wearing the proper uniform until like fifth grade, I had so much fucked up self esteem like when I tell you all my memories of looking in the mirror as a little kid were so messed up-- I straight up hated my appreance and would see like this warped monster thing, I’m being completely honest. When I look back at pictures of five/six year old me I’m like ‘I was cute, why the hell do my memories look so different?’

Not to mention all the colourism and older people who looked like me telling me not to stand in the sun too much so I wouldn’t get any darker. I wanted straight hair for soooo long-- like all the way until I was thirteen and relaxed my hair for the first time and ended up ruining it for like five years after that.

Here comes the fucked up part. 

I never actually met a lot of my extended family when I was younger, so when I would imagine them, I would imagine them looking nothing like me because my mom always told me they looked pretty-- I would imagine them as ARAB, like with dark wavy/straight hair and all their predominate features. 

Anyways, I was a little tiny bit surprised when I met them and they looked nothing like my imagination. But the worse part was perhaps the fact that literally every single one of them had naturally straight/wavy hair or they relaxed it every few months so it would stay that way. I was still obsessed with straight hair at that point so when they offered to get the lady who does their hair to relax my hair I was super happy and excited about it but guess what??? 

She ruined my hair. I lost so much of it, it became dry and tangly because she didn’t bother doing it properly because I was catching a flight in like three days and I needed to leave the thing in for like two days so by the time I got the results it would be too late for me to ask her to fix it or give us our money back.

For the next like three years I kept cutting my hair until all the damage grew out completely and now I don’t have a lot of hair and it’s doesn’t grow as much as it used to.

So yeah.  

I wasn’t around white ppl a lot as a kid, no public school or anything so I think experience was different and my ‘beauty standards’ were more arab beauty standards but Idk tell me if you guys had a similar experience.

Circling back to the thing I said about Pavitr, I felt like that period of my life was the time where I really related to Pavitr’s existential crisis because I constantly felt ugly or that I wasn’t good enough because I didn’t look like the girls around me. I was also kinda (?) bullied for being chubby so that did nothing to help.  

So yeah, I have a lot of feelings about this. UGH.

I really hope they explore that part of Pavitr’s life a little bit in BTSV

P.S.: does anyone else feel really disconnected from their ethnicity and culture and feels really awkward at barbeques with distant cousins and their extended family because you feel like you don’t belong or that they’re judging you because you can’t speak your native language and have grown up mostly around judgy, racist old arab people as your teachers so you adopted a lot of arab mannerisms and.... yeah, I’m gonna talk about this another day

[mrslittletall]

Cooking Mama 2 Review

People wanted it, so here I am typing up my Cooking Mama 2 review:

So, first thing first, the game is a clear improvement over the first. You still have a lot of recipes to cook up in little minigames, but they got rid of the "change recipe" mechanic, which was a good thing.

Because while it was fun to discover the recipes, it also meant that a lot of recipes were starting the exact same and you were doing the same steps over and over again, which got repetitive quick. They also started to add some sweets and baked goods into the recipes, which were completely absent from the first game, so that was nice too.

You simply unlock recipes by doing well on the available recipes, so unlocking all of them was not hard. And after you have all recipes, you can go to a new mode where you can feed Mama and your friends and family and cook the recipes without help in one go. Failing a mini game starts over (this time Mama won't fix it for you).

I liked this mode, it was a lot of fun to see how well you could do without warning what the next step would be.

So, now on to the mini games. They actually brought back a few mini games from the first game, but most of them were new or improved. The cutting minigame for example, in the first one to dice an onion you had to half it, then do another mini game to slice it and then another mini game to dice it. That is now all in one step. They also added an indicator to the "fry something" minigame and are showing you where you forgot to peel something.

For some recipes there are completely unique minigames, for example the pizza has you roll out the pizza dough by being a pizza artist (I failed this one so often when I tried to gold medal) and the Ravioli recipe lets you cut out the Ravioli and stuff.

There were some mini games that I found pretty hard. The first one was "let it cook until it is in the green area". If you had too little heat, it would be undercooked, too much and it would boil over. You could stir to get the heat down, but wow, it was hard to get it correctly.

The second hard mini game was a simon says style where you had to put ingredients in the bowl in the correct order and it was shown to you really quickly. Most of the time it was pretty easy, but sometimes there were five or six thing to remember and that was when it was getting hard! I totally get why Jaiden struggled with the Mango pudding…

The graphics of the games were fine, like in the first one. You now can customize Mama and let her wear something else and have different colours for your kitchen appliances, so that was fun. The sounds were typical DS quality and I have to apologize to the music of the first game.

That actually wasn't royalty free music! The second game uses it too in a remixed version, so it was totally composed for the game. It has the same charming piano melodies as the first game, but is nothing to write home about.

I played until I gold medalled every recipe with Mama and got at least a medal from everyone I could feed. Oh, and there was a third mode where you could compete in some minigames and see how much of a record you manage. I played that too.

So which recipes did I struggle the most with?

Cream puffs, strawberry roll and ravioli.

The cream puffs had this damn mini game where you had to remember six things and I failed it so so OFTEN! At least the rest of the recipe was easy, so when I finally got it, it was over for the cream puffs!

The strawberry roll had a brutal mini game where you had to get eggs fluffy. That was far too hard for the time you got. I needed to practice a lot.

And the ravioli? Well, had a noodle machine mini game where you could really mess up easily and Mama was VILE on this one, even one mistake and she wouldn't give you a gold medal… Mama, whyyyy…

Anyway, it was an enjoyable game overall. Improved the first game in all points and the food looked legit very tasty and I even felt like I want to see and try some of the recipes myself.

Oh, I need to tell you about my favourite recipe ^^ Sweet potatoes. Sounds simple, right? Just bake them!

NOPE! The game has you bake them, then you spoon them out and make pulp, then you fill the spooned out sweet potatoes with the pulp, then you put egg yolk on the sweet potatoes and bake them again and that is the finished product!