#I poured so much time and detail into this piece it's insane

[memie-art-blog]

A preview of my work for @invinciblezine's Epilogue zine!

[fug0th]

Pst! You know what time it is? New cosplay time! I decided to remake one of if not my favorite cosplays in my collection, Naven Nuknuk from Epithet Erased

This has been by far my most time consuming build (as well as expensive). this cosplay took a total of 279 hours over the span of roughly 8 months to make. That time doesn't include redoing sections or details that didn't make it into the final look.

And now for a detailed look at this whole outfit because dang, I put so many tiny details in.

Starting off with the earring and beads, I used a tequnic called lampwork to make them. The best way I can explain lampworking is like miniature glassblowing

Lampwork uses glass rods heated in a flame to create generally small pieces like beads or buttons. Lampworking can be incredibly detailed. While I'm still fairly beginner at all of this I was able to learn a tequnic called implosion to make the flowers look more 3 dimensional. I also used lampworking to make the buttons on the undershirt!

I did all the 3d modeling for parts like the glasses and the belt buckle. (Stealing pictures from my Instagram because the progress tracker i use corrupted my images)

While I don't usually focus on the 3d modeling in my builds it's a huge passion of mine. After making a model of the belt buckle I put my 3d print into casting clay. After carefully removing it I poured tin in to make the final belt buckle.

I also taught myself basic leather working and tooling to add some apple blossom inspired designs onto the belt and painted it.

Next thing I think I should talk about is the embroidery. I wanted to incorporate more details about naven into his outfit. After asking jello some questions we came to the conclusion that the embroidery should be lillies and carnations. Because of my constant insanity I hand embroidered everything. I also did some embroidery on the pants and used an embroidery floss that changes colors in the sun for fun.

Before I get any questions about materials I'll add in, the white shirt and embroidery are both silk. I struggle to embroider with cotton dye to the sound and feeling it makes, and I felt like being fancy so silk shirt too. The pants are a cotton twill (pretty much jean fabric without the indigo) and the green strips are silk. A perfect Segway into the tatting and knitting!

For those who don't know tatting is a traditional form of lace making found in many different places around the world. There are 2 main forms of tatting, needle tatting and shuttle tatting, I tend to use shuttle tatting due to how nice and portable it is. I thought tatting would be fitting to add to navens outfit due to it's other name, farmers lace.

And now for the big beast of this outfit, the knitting. Like with everything else in this outfit I dyed the yarn myself. It's 80 percent wool to 20 percent silk blend.

Huge thanks to jello for suggesting so many ideas, this outfit wouldn't be nearly as cool as it is otherwise.

Anyways I hope all y'all like the outfit! I had so much fun making this insanity

[introverted-scribblings]

The RFA w/ MC who loves sewing

What? A post? From me? You're crazy, there's no way that's happening.

I'm trying to get back into writing for this blog and recently started replaying Mystic Messenger because I want poor sleep 💕 Basically I'm letting my fixation fuel my writing because... the sentence ends there.

Enjoy these headcanons! I thought they turned out really cute~

(FYI: I used fem!MC for these headcanons; girlfriend/wife/etc.)

Yoosung:

He found out in the RFA chatroom when the two of you were talking about games and hobbies.

Yoosung had been excitedly telling you about the armor set he had gotten in his latest LOLOL binge, sending a picture and saying how he wishes he could wear cool armor in real life.

“I can make it for you”

“MC… what???”

And this is where he discovered your passion for sewing and your side-hobby of cosplay

He had a little experience with sewing, he could sew on a button and fix small tears thanks to his high school “home ec” classes, but you’re talking about making entire outfits and costumes from scratch.

THAT’S. SO. COOL.

He is amazed and thoroughly impressed by your talents, even moreso after you send some pictures of your completed works.

It’s amazing that you can make your own clothes, but he’s definitely super impressed with your cosplays. They’re insanely detailed, matching perfectly with the source material. He often says that your cosplays look better than the source material. They’re true works of art in his eyes.

Praises your talents nonstop.

Talks about it all the time to everyone. Every one of his friends knows how skilled his girlfriend is. And the other RFA members know tenfold.

After hearing you talk about your projects, Yoosung decided to join the sewing club at school in the hopes that he could help you with your amazing work! (Not that you need help, he really just wants to participate in something you love)

What ends up happening though is him sitting beside you at the sewing machine and getting lost in your working rhythm. (“Yoosung, are you paying attention? I thought you wanted me to give you tips?” “S-sorry, MC!! You’re just… really good at this… Like magic!”)

There’s no way he’ll be able to catch up with your skill anytime soon, so you compromise with him. You’ll make the costumes, but he has to cosplay with you~

(I have a short fic continuation of this! You can read it here)

Zen:

He found out just before one of his performances.

The costume he was wearing was a bit snug but worked fine in all the dress rehearsals, so he didn’t think much of it at the time.

You were backstage with him before opening night, ready to tell him to break a leg and give the audience a show to remember, when you saw the rip in his jacket.

It was a seam rip behind his left shoulder. Not the worst, but clearly noticeable.

Curtain was in ten minutes.

“Hyun, take off your costume.”

“Jagyia, I know I’m irresistible, but can you wait until after the show?”

“Not like that!!!” >////<

You pulled a flat black case from your purse and opened it, revealing a small sewing kit. You had everything you needed for a sewing emergency. Pins, buttons, snaps, scissors, an assortment of colored thread. And needles, of course.

You fixed the rip and strengthened the seam with four minutes to spare.

Zen asks you about it after the show (which went perfectly, thanks to you) and you explain your sewing hobby to him. Mentioning that you always have your little sewing kit with you for emergencies like tonight.

You show him pictures of the projects you’ve made and entire outfits you’ve designed and created from scratch. A good chunk of your wardrobe are pieces you’ve made yourself.

Of course he supports you! He’s so impressed and is constantly gushing about how talented you are in the chatroom.

Though nothing could prepare him for the moment you said you wanted to make something for him. Looking up at him with big hopeful eyes as you asked if he’d let you design him an outfit. His heart nearly burst.

You poured hours of time and effort into these pieces for him, determined to make this your best project yet. Your magnum opus. (You also sent concept sketches and fabric swatches to Jaehee for her “professional fan opinion”)

When he put it on for the first time, he was speechless. Everything fit perfectly, there wasn’t a part of the outfit that was uncomfortable in the slightest.

And he may be a bit of a narcissist, but he swore that the clothes you crafted made him more handsome than he thought possible. He looked good but never this good.

Your heart was filled with sunshine and warmth when he decided to wear it to an interview.

“My outfit? It’s custom-made. My girlfriend is a very talented seamstress and this was a gift from her~”

Jaehee:

She found out when she called you to complain about the c-fur she was still cleaning up around her apartment.

“Ugh, I’m sorry, Jaehee. I know how bad that can get. I took care of my friend’s cat for a weekend once and I spent an entire month cleaning fur off all my fabric.”

Your fabric?? “What fabric, MC?”

The fabric for your projects of course! Once she got you started, you happily explained your passion to her and how you’ve been making your own clothes for a while now too.

She is also very impressed with your skill and also impressed with how handy it is. You very generously offered to mend her favorite blazer when one of the seams split. You also fixed the two loose buttons you found.

When you two open up the cafe together, you made Jaehee a custom apron to wear. Even going so far as to embroider her name on it along with some decorative coffee beans.

It’s her favorite apron and the one she wears the most while working. (until it has to be cleaned, but then it’s right back in the cafe for her to use)

It gets a lot of compliments too and you’ve actually had a few customers commission you from Jaehee’s (unintentional) promoting.

You since made more clothes for her, even an entire sundress similar to one she had been looking at while you both were out shopping. (You didn’t think the one sold was her color, so you made one yourself that would highlight her best~)

The only issue is the thread and fabric scraps that tend to scatter just as bad as the c-fur… but hey, at lease the end result is more useful! And she can always count on you to tidy your mess when you’re finished~

Jumin:

You mentioned it offhand. Simply mentioning the stitching quality on one of his ties and how you hadn’t made a tie before.

He followed up asking why you would want to make a tie, to which you explained that you often made your own clothes but would love to give yourself a little challenge with something you hadn’t done before.

Initially, he didn’t quite understand. He could easily have any outfit you desired tailored specifically for you, there wasn’t the need to go through all the hassle of making it.

You had to explain that it was your hobby. That, while time consuming and occasionally tedious, you truly enjoyed making your own clothes, and showed him some examples from your closet.

“I’m quite impressed, MC. I’ve only seen this kind of quality come out of trained professionals.”

“I’ll take that compliment. Thank you, love~”

He gives you an entire studio for your projects. While you insist that he doesn’t need to give you so many elaborate gifts, you have to admit that the space is very nice. Much better than working in cramped conditions or on the floor.

While Jumin doesn’t have an interest in joining your craftiness, your husband is more than willing to encourage your hobby monetarily with machine repairs and high quality materials.

Whatever you want, you can have. You’re his darling wife after all.

He even gifted you an antique sewing machine, a vintage 1902 Singer Treadle. You don’t “use” it, but you learned how to just for fun. It’s a lovely decoration of your hobby at the least.

And, yes, you did make a tie for him. Two actually, but you only gave him the second one, insisting that the first was practice only.

It quickly becomes his favorite and he always wears it to important meetings. It’s like having you right there with him for support.

It also becomes quite the talking piece at one of the RFA parties when a member of the Cultured Citizens asks about the brand and price.

“This tie was handmade by my wife and is certainly priceless.”

707:

He already knew because of course he did.

He would often send you (jokingly) ridiculous “orders” with impossible time frames, including:

An iridescent “Statue of Liberty” costume - 3 days

Twenty-seven onesies for ducks - 4 days

A prom dress made of pasta - 3 days

An overnight yeti costume

The two of you would banter about it in the chatroom until someone told you guys to knock it off, it was never not fun.

Whenever you finished a new piece or outfit for yourself, you would try it on and call him while standing in front of the camera in the apartment, asking for his opinion.

The cat-themed overall skirt was the one that broke him. You were just so cute with all the decorated pockets~! And the buttons looked like little cats too! You’re just too precious~

After the dust of the first party settled and Saeyoung had his brother back, you took it upon yourself to make Saeran some new clothes. He was going to be your brother-in-law, after all, you wanted to make him feel welcome.

Of course, it then turned into making both boys some new clothes as you kept thinking of new ideas. Not that you minded, this was your passion after all.

I think Saeyoung would also give you your own room/studio in the bunker. A place where you could spread out without worry. (Vanderwood was just grateful he didn’t have to keep cleaning up thread)

Saeyoung was also happy to help with any repairs your sewing machine needed, or he’d just make you a new one… or three… with some—interesting—added features.

“Saeyoung, dear, I don’t think my machine needs a Ph.D Pepper dispenser.”

“But what if my honey gets thirsty while she works?!”

“...But won’t the sewing shake up all the carbonation? It would explode on my pretty clothes T^T”

“OMG! I’m so sorry!! I’ll take it out right away!!”

This kind of conversation happens regularly.

Eventually, there was one top-secret project that you were working on… one that you made Saeyoung swear not to snoop through. Even going so far as to have Saeran keep an eye out to make sure his brother stayed true to his word. (He did but he whined about it)

The project took a long time and you had to have Saeran help you order the materials in secret.

Saeyoung didn’t like being kept in the dark, it made him uneasy. You assured him it was okay and that you just didn’t want the surprise to be ruined.

He was still uneasy, but he trusted you.

And it was all worth it in the end…

When you walked down the aisle in your handmade wedding dress, glittering and shining like stars in the night sky you both loved so much.

[blossomslovely]

Isekai Yandere Strawhats

Masterlist

Previous

Synopsis: You can read them together or separately, I f*cked up the last part but I tried connecting some dots without fully disclosing everything bc I am not yet sure if I want to continue expanding on this story. If you’d like this to possibly become a series let me know !

You had been startled awake gasping for air and completely drenched in a cold sweat. It was the middle of the night, the ship was dark but the light of the moon shone through the porthole allowing your sight to adjust. You sighed to yourself, memories of your family. What a cruel thing the mind can be, you thought.

You were restless and couldn’t sleep any longer, dreaming of distant voices like you weren’t here on purpose was hilarious in a sinister way. You wanted to believe the person you had become was just a simple state of mind so that you wouldn’t go crazy. But you knew better, you knew to everyone else you’d be considered a lunatic.

You’d argue with yourself constantly, in every crevice of your brain, while also being the mediator wanting everything to stop. This was a good life you were living, free of idiotic way of life you lived previously. When you woke from dreams like this, for a minute or two everything was clear.

You could remember how you got here, remember why you left in the first place. And best of all, you remembered why you were so scared of these people in the first place.

You chuckled to yourself as you got out of bed, your stomach now empty and gurgling for a snack. Making your way to the kitchen you saw the light in the crows nest and a shadow passing through the fish tank. Of course he would be up, you knew his schedule.

You wanted to go up and ask if he’d join your for a drink and a snack but, just as you reach the second flight of stairs you stopped yourself. Alone time when you were awake was needed.

Of course there would be times where you were alone during the day but never completely alone. The constant fake concern or the random outburst to grasp your attention when your eyes went blank always reminded you, you weren’t alone.

You opened the locks on the fridge, rummaging around for alcohol, one of the greatest things about this world was how strong it was in both flavor and effect. Back home you were too young to drink but here you could have anything you desired.

That’s what you liked to tell yourself now. Whenever the itch got too overwhelming and started becoming a visible panic attack you knew just how to calm yourself. Deep breaths, look at just one thing, and clear your mind of negativity. It worked but sake worked even better.

You drank too glasses in the darkness, the affect making itself known when you stood up to bring the rest of the bottle up the stairs. Giggling when you almost fell face first only to be caught in the strong arms of the swordsman.

He looked pretty tonight, the moon was a friend who liked to light up the features of his face you wouldn’t notice during the day. Making him out to be a knight in shining celestial armor. You smiled at him and he gave you a small smile back guiding you to the crows nest.

You told him about your dream. He listened quietly sipping directly from the bottle only stopping to pour you some.

“ Zoro.. is anyone listening?” You asked eyes scouting the perimeter of the room. He shook his head and urged you to continue.

“ My dreams remind me that I’m not insane— well that I’m not completely insane. I want to say they ground me as much as they hurt me.”

The tears welled up in your eyes, threatening to fall in giant droplets of sorrow. He stopped drinking to give you his full attention as you went more in detail about the things you’ve bottle up.

You were like a scroll unraveling before him, if he were bold he make a joke saying that you were the one piece they’d been searching the sea for.

He understood completely why the crew was enamored with you. The little fighting fish trapped in a tank, who could only give without take, the colors of your scales vibrant and full of life while your tail flashes trying to ward off the parasitic infection dwelling all around and within.

He finally spoke up, startling your rambling about every little topic on your mind, “ I didn’t want to interrupt but I have something interesting to tell you.”

You nod eager to listen.

“ I know we’ve been waiting a while and this since is a golden opportunity now that we’re alone. On the last island I spoke to an old man, there isn’t a name for it yet but there are other like you. Travelers.”

You threw yourself into him and held him tight. This was the break through you’ve gone through hell waiting for.

“ There have been quiet a few others, over the last few years he’s said. Some trying to be discrete and others making grand entrances, they speak how you speak, using the same slang and everything I knew they were linked to your situation.”

“ This is incredible ! I knew there were others like be but… I always thought they’d be- Zoro?”

He suddenly yanked you off of him, picking up the bottle of sake and walking to the door. Just as you were opening your mouth to speak the floor started creaking, someone else was awake.

Panic set through you.

Do they hear anything? Did they hear your excitement? Who was coming closer?

Zoro opened the door revealing Robin. How could you possibly forget the other equally dangerous night owl on the ship. She smiled at you and waltzed in sitting on a stool.

“ I didn’t know you woke up Y/N, I would’ve joined the two of you earlier.”

“ Oh yeah I didn’t really want to check for anyone but I just— I seen his shadow and I couldn’t sleep so I figured… why not.” Your nervous laugh creeped in towards the end of your sentence.

You silently damned yourself and looked over to Zoro who sat right back in his spot drinking the almost empty bottle like nothing happened.

The three of you talked about little things, souvenirs from islands, Zoro about swords he looked at, and Robin went on about a foreign scripture she has yet to completely figure out.

Zoro’s presence kept you at ease and before you knew it you fell asleep again. The rest was short and you woke in your bed by the booming voices of your crew mates. Making your way to the kitchen you were greeted continuously upon entry, the captain patting a seat between him and Zoro.

The handsome Prince handing your orange juice in a wine glass to accompany your eggs and bacon. You ate silently till Luffy started stealing off Ussop’s plate causing a ruckus on the table.

The morning came and went and you were playing card games with the boys till lunch. The excitement creeped in when you were handing your cleared plate and heading off the the crows nest once again.

Watching from the upper deck was Nami accompanied by Ussop and Chopper holding baskets of tangerines and pop green. A keen eye was needed in order to be a navigator and that eye noticed your 180 when you were around Zoro.

“ They’re close those two..”

The others agreed watching you leap up the stairs into the crows nest. It was hard to not notice when no one else really bothered the grumpy swordsman in his little sanctuary.

The woman hummed then directed her little helpers to continue picking fruit while she went to investigate. She heard your cheers and giggles as she got closer to the door, daring her to press her ear on the door.

Intently listening to you laugh about a story from your childhood she failed to notice the blonde creeping up behind her with a tray of drinks. With a hand to her chest to keep her from punching him she pulled him close to listen along with her, much to his delight of course.

Although when the cook heard the joy a familiarity being shared with the swordsman he almost barged into the room. Nami having to physically hold him back so that their cover wouldn’t be blown.

It’s almost like they forgot the swordsman can dodge knives in his sleep. Zoro alerted you the moment Nami was walking up the steps. Yes, she was as stealthy and as sly as a cat but there was more in fooling a man like him. The topic of conversation changed and you had suggested writing notes while you spoke the next time around.

The itch was back but you didn’t want to alert Zoro. He was doing his best in keeping your endeavors discreet and telling him would out more on his plate. That night you were reading and the navigator invited you to sit with her while she drew up new maps.

“ Y/N, you’re pretty close with Zoro huh.” She spoke up.

Your eyes left the pages to look at the woman gracefully creating lines and squiggles on the large lithograph. “ Yeah, I enjoy telling him stories and he just listens or laughs.” You shrugged.

She hummed and continued, “ I was heading over to you to ask if you wanted to help peal some tangerines for Sanji to make marmalade.”

“ Oh crap you should’ve asked me during lunch. I can help tomorrow if you’d like.”

She looked over to you from the corner of her eye and smiled agreeing.

“ I didn’t mean to listen in but… you seem very relaxed around him, more relaxed than with the crew.”

“ He.. he just seems to put me at ease I guess.”

“ Why aren’t you at ease with the rest of us?” She inquired tilting her head and placing the ink pen in the corner of her desk.

You quickly rebutted hoping to ease the sudden tension beginning to bubble up. She was full of questions today and you felt like you were in an interrogation room without a door. She chuckled at your stuttering, it was so cute when you were nervous. She continued her work and changed the topic to not cause you anymore visible worry.

Laying in bed that night you finally felt at peace, before your interruption earlier Zoro had told you he knew a way for you to get back home. It would take some time and you would have to get the others off your radar.

Your thoughts quickly shifted to Nami and how she approached you earlier. To a non trained eye your conversation just seemed like small talk or curiosity among friends though the threat of something more was obvious to you. You were sure she did that purposely, looking into your eye, raising and eyebrow, and giving you that sly smirk.

Just to see what type of reaction she could coerce out of you without making things too transparent. You knew eventually they would look into your newfound closeness with the swordsman. You turned to the other side of the bed where the pillow was cold and the light didn’t hit your closed eyes. Shaking the thoughts away to sleep and deal with another day tomorrow.

The ship was still lively while you were resting, everyone doing their own little tasks and routines. In the room next to the crows nest Robin was bathing, she was enjoying her peace till a small knock came from the door.

“ Robin could I come in?”

Nami opened the door and waved sitting on the edge of the tub. “ I think we should tell Luffy about Zoro and Y/N.” She said letting her fingers graze the steaming water. Robin hummed and leaned over to her, “ We should eventually of course. However, don’t you think we should also go to Zoro separately first as well? To completely assess the situation.”

Nami agreed and decided now would be the perfect time since you were asleep and he was completely alone.

She knocked twice and opened the door peaking in, “ Zoro are you busy?”. He looked up at her with a weight lifting over his shoulder and shook his head. She waltzed in sitting in the booth seat hitting her lip, the nerves of trying to get a straight answer out of him settling in.

“ I wanted to talk to you about Y/N, you’ve been pretty close yeah?”

“ I guess? They just come in and ramble while I work out.”

“ Well I hope you aren’t forgetting that the crew also wants to get close to them.”

“ What’s that supposed to mean exactly?”

He was as standoffish as always but if this wasn’t done who knew what the two of you could do. It’s not that she even wanted to question the first mate but no one else has been able to break the barrier with little Y/N… and of all people to it was the grumpy swordsman?

“ It means that whatever you’ve been promising them… isn’t going to make them..”

“ Rebel? I’m loyal to my captain, whatever ideas you’re having are wrong. They came to me because the rest of your are idiotic and overbearing.”

Nami huffed angrily at the assumption that she was overbearing and idiotic. She knew that at certain moments the entire crew would make you uncomfortable but her? She walked out slamming the door and the swordsman’s eyes hardened.

If Nami decided to personally ask him then someone more dangerous was involved.

Back in the bathroom the archeologist was humming quietly to herself as she drained the tub and let the steam dwell around her. The slam of a door from down the hall brought a smirk to her lips, Zoro had ticked Nami off and now she was going to play her part.

Robin knew from the moment you joined their journey you would be valuable. From the way the crew took a liking to you immediately and especially the way the captain would light up in your presence. Robin was extremely loyal to Luffy, she was going to do anything to ensure his happiness was preserved.

She knew you were scheming something with the swordsman. Just as she knew that the swordsman was aware of her presence whenever she’d try to lurk into the room. It’s not that she was doubting Zoro’s loyalty, but he obviously cared about you enough to even consider helping you get back home.

There were times where she questioned herself, she knew that keeping you here basically hostage was wrong. She lived her life running in fear and to keep you here against your will went against everything she stood for but… her captain was her number one priority now, and if making you cry yourself to sleep every night was the sacrifice then so be it.

The ship had finally settled and the moon was now at its peak, the boys room was filled with voices but surprisingly Luffy was quiet. Sanji took notice and eyes the swordsman from the corner of his eye. Without even looking towards him Zoro shrugged and turned the other way. He rolled his eyes and held his tongue not in the mood to argue, he was more concerned about his quiet captain who stared blankly at the wall.

Luffy wasn’t usually one to think too much about one thing for too long, so it was right to be concerned. Sanji stood tall peaking over into his cot and the boy met his gaze.

“ Something on your mind?”

A crack of a smile spring onto the captain’s face, he liked that his crew knew him so well. “ I’m just thinking of Y/N.” He sighed.

As of late you’d been running rampant through his mind. Every time he gets close you get farther and he doesn’t know how to fix it. You keep reminiscing about your old home and life, when you first got here you were ecstatic to be with him, he doesn’t know what changed.

You’d been more than happy when he welcomed you into his crew, you got along with everyone, and you fit so perfectly like his last puzzle piece. Then one day he woke up and started spewing things about wanting to leave. To leave him.

That thought angered him and he shot up from his cot startling Sanji. “ Why have the changed? We’ve been so kind. I don’t understand-”

“ They’re just homesick… we all get homesick.”

“ Yeah but it’s all the time with Y/N. She’ll laugh and play with us then started getting all sappy. It’s annoying me.”

“ Maybe it has something to do with this green moss ball sleeping underneath you— you seen how damn close they got. WAKE UP MOSS BALL!” Sanji hissed.

He kicked the swordsman’s cot waking him up and bringing the attention of the others in the room.

“ I have to watch in an hour what are you talking about in the middle of the night?”

“ How about you tell our very annoyed captain how you and Y/N have become so chummy.”

“ I don’t know why you’re all acting like this, isn’t it good that we’re friends? You guys need to evaluate your approach— and leave me alone.”

With that he fell right back to sleep the entire room thinking to themselves.

After that night the entire crew morphed into these disgustingly saccharine creatures. Catering to your every need like you were an infant who couldn’t be let out of sight for a moment.

In their minds you were their sweet Y/N and they were just helping you settle into your new home. Luffy’s annoyance spread to all the crew members, accept for you and they had a newfound determination.

Zoro decided it was better for the both of you to stop meeting too often, the outburst of Sanji let him know his efforts weren’t working. They were still hot on your tails and it was a matter of time before Luffy himself came to the two of you.

You were distraught, sitting in the kitchen eating a piece of cheesecake Sanji set out for you. You were finally so close and you had to be put on hold because for reasons Zoro wouldn’t share with you.

Enjoy ! 🍨 if you’d like a post specifically about Y/N and how she got here I’d be willing to do so, thank you for all the support.

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[space-mermaid-writing]

Consort and King [IronStrange]

Summary: Anthony Stark, King of Midgard, needs a spouse. Whether he wants one or not. So he accepts an arranged marriage with the Prince of Kamar-Taj – a man he has never met in his life to the day they are standing in front of each other at the altar, speaking their vows. Is it possible that the feeling of duty grows into something more? Will their future be happy?

Relationship: Tony Stark / Stephen Strange

Tags: arranged marriage au, royal au, strangers to husbands, enemies to lovers, slow burn, idiots in love, fluff, hurt/comfort, miscommunication, all the good stuff

Author's Note: I live. (Beta by @kvjjjjjj <3)

Ko-fi | Read it on AO3 | Series Masterlist | Word count: 3.3k | Previous | Next

Chapter 5: No more magic!

Several weeks, several long weeks they'd been married and Tony was beginning to despair at his predicament. The Queen’s chambers had been made available for Stephen to use as his private rooms. Since their wedding night they'd not slept in a bed together and they barely spoke outside of the public view. Stephen was honest to his word: in matters of showing unity he was supportive of Tony – but privately they were two strangers who argued more than they spoke civilly to one another.

Although Strange was most of the time an arrogant asshole, Tony had to admit that he carried out his duties properly and conscientiously.

Pepper had shown him some of his papers and Strange had made all his judgments to Tony’s satisfaction. He also recommended intelligent suggestions for changes. His reports were neatly written and it was rare for Tony to correct anything. Mostly it was a weirdly specific law detail, which his consort couldn't possibly have known yet.

Tony knew his kingdom was in good hands – at least politically – should anything ever happen to him. Even if he had no intention of being kidnapped again. Getting stabbed three times in his chest once was enough.

Tony was also becoming insanely jealous of Stephen and Peter's relationship. He didn’t know how it had happened, but Stephen had let his guard down and Peter, like he did with everyone, had charmed him with his character, his laughter and enthusiasm. Lately all he spoke about was 'Strange this' and 'Strange that'.

He finally decided to visit his husband in his study. There was hope. If Strange could warm up to Peter, he couldn't be a total asshole.

It was the first time Tony has entered Strange's study since his husband had moved in.

Strange stood by a bookshelf – it was crammed full as if he hadn't brought any luggage other than books with him when he arrived. A cup hovered in the air next to him, as well as a quill that wrote on a piece of parchment by an invisible hand – also midair. With a snap of Strange’s fingers, a book flew off the shelf and the sorcerer directed it to the table.

Tony was very surprised at the display of magic. He knew that Strange was a sorcerer, but he hadn't seen much of it before. He was slightly taken aback to see it shoved right in his face like this. Quite literally, as a pot magically poured a second cup of tea, which flew to him. Tony followed it with his eyes, but didn't grab it. He had to force himself to not flinch.

Although it had been many years ago, he still remembered what it was like to see magic directed at him.

But this was not the work of a witch, he reminded himself. The Mystic Arts were a respectable field of magic. No one was playing with his mind.

Not yet, said that little voice in his head, that was not yet over what had happened back then.

Strange noticed his visitor. "Tony, what can I do for you?" He was relaxed, sounded almost friendly. With a gesture, he let the writing tools follow the book to the table. The pen continued to write, not caring about being moved to a different place.

"Uh," Tony said eloquently. He cleared his throat. "I hear you're improving Peter's chess skills." He stepped up to the table so as not to stand in the doorway. The floating cup followed him.

“Yes, he is a fast learner and an eager student.”

Tony smiled because that was true. “The boy is wicked smart.” The cup nudged at his sleeve. Irritated, Tony pushed it away. He leaned over the parchment to read what the quill wrote, but frowned when he saw that it was a treaty with Vanaheim they had discussed.

“You are using magic for your duties?”

Strange brushed it off. “I use magic for everything.” Because it was a part of him and it came as easy as breathing air.

“But you are not actually writing this contract.” This did not sit well with Tony.

“I am. Well, my quill is, but it’s basically the same thing.”

Tony looked from Strange to the quill that continued to write the whole time. They were the same neat letters he had seen in all of his husband's writings. “This is cheating. Do you think this is a joke?” Anger rose in Tony, because this matter was important to him and he felt disrespected. Strange didn’t even glance at the parchment to check what was written there.

“Is it beneath you to pick up the quill yourself?”

Strange’s jaw tensed, his eyes suddenly hard. “You don’t know what you are talking about. I-”

“Oh, I do,” Tony silenced him with a wave of his hand. “For I am the King of this realm as my father was before me and his father before him. I would do everything for my people and while I don’t expect you to feel the same, I do expect that you at least write an important contract with your own fucking hands!”

He shoved the irritating cup aside angrily, spilling the tea in the process.

Strange took a step back as if Stark had slapped him right across his face. Then the mask was back on.

“As you wish, your Majesty.” His voice cut like a knife, but Tony didn’t care. He turned and left, not wishing to be in the same room as Strange any longer.

All the suppressed emotions of the last few weeks boiled up inside him. The disappointment at his husband's rejection, Strange’s arrogance of not even trying to make an effort and now his audacity to not even do the one job he was here for.

Putting aside the fact that Tony was the king, the ruler of an entire country, he was also just a human being. And he had reached his limit.

When he reached the door, he turned to Strange once more. “And I want to see no more magic. None! Not even a flicker of light.”

He slammed the door behind him.

Tony had had enough. Ignoring the astonished looks of the guards nearby, Tony stomped down the corridor. This whole marriage had been a mistake. He shouldn’t have agreed to it.

Anyone who crossed his path only had to take one look at his face to see that it was wise to give him a wide berth.

Everyone except Pepper, who caught up to him with a pile of parchment rolls in her hands and even dared to talk to him. She was a very brave woman.

“I was looking for you.”

"What are my chances of a divorce that doesn't end in a political war?" Tony asked, not slowing down his steps.

Pepper turned her head and eyed him. “Almost nonexistent.”

“I figured.” Tony muttered. There was no backdoor out of this. He was stuck with this man.

Tony stopped, sighing. “I don’t know if I can do this.” There was no edge left in his voice as he confessed this. He felt defeated. “I don’t know if I can live with a husband who doesn’t even like me.” Suddenly all the stories of noblemen taking mistresses made so much more sense.

Pepper’s eyes soften. She put her hand on Tony’s shoulder. "Give him time. He's in a foreign country with foreign customs. Maybe he’s just overwhelmed."

“I’m not sure if time will change him. Maybe we are just too different.”

“Or too similar”, Pepper interjected.

Tony scoffed. He wasn’t in the mood for jokes. “If you’re getting nasty, you can leave right away.”

Pepper sighed, sensing Tony's frustration. "I'm sorry. This is my fault. I thought you two would complement each other well. On paper he looked like a good candidate. I didn't want you to be unhappy." She felt sincere remorse.

Pepper had been his right hand for years and Tony considered her a friend. All her decisions and suggestions had always proved very successful in the past. That was why he had entrusted her with finding a suitable spouse for him.

“You couldn’t have possibly known how he turned out,” Tony said softly.

“I should have. I triple checked every fact about him. Although, admittedly, there were a few gaps and unanswered questions. Mostly from the time when his parents declared his younger sister as the crown princess and before he started studying magic. There was no logical reason for both of them.”

"Well, obviously he has an aversion to everything regarding royalty." Tony shrugged his shoulders. It was no use complaining. But it was good to talk to a friend. And he could still decide not to crown Strange as king. Then he would remain a prince and a consort. His family in Kamar-Taj would probably be outraged – Tony could live with that – but Midgard would then be in a less strong position than with two kings – Tony wasn't so thrilled about that.

“Anyway, you said you were looking for me?”

“Yes.” Pepper shoved the parchment rolls into Tony’s arms. “I need you to have signed these by tonight.”

Tony sighed. “You know how to spoil me.”

_____________

At dinner, Tony and Strange met again sitting at opposite sides of the table. For once the king didn't care; he wouldn't have complained if Strange hadn't shown up today. But Stephen was dutiful enough to do it anyway. For him it was probably just another chore; like their whole marriage.

Tony focused on his meal. Pepper managed to have the cook make his favorite dish, Lemon Linguine. So that was something.

Wong was at Strange's side – as usual – pouring him wine. Tony paid no attention to the manservant, nor did he notice that his husband hesitated before reaching for his cutlery.

The sorcerer ate very slowly and deliberately, glad that Stark made no attempt at conversation. That way he could concentrate better on using his cutlery with more finesse than a three year old toddler. And that wasn't easy for him without magic. But the king's words on the matter had been clear and Stephen was stubborn enough to follow through.

He spilled some wine, but a quick glance told him that no one noticed.

Feeling safe, he became careless and suddenly the fork fell from his trembling hand, clattering loudly on the marble floor. All heads turned towards him and his cheeks burned with shame at his clumsiness.

Wong was quickly at his side, picking up the fork and wiping it clean before putting it back next to his plate.

Stephen didn't look at him or at Stark. He didn't want to know if the king was watching him, judgingly.

At this point, his fingers were shaking badly, and not just because of the damaged nerves. Fortunately, more servants appeared to clear the pasta and serve the second course.

At least Stephen thought it was his luck.

He stared at the trout on his plate, which stared back lifelessly with one glassy eye.

Yeah, there was no way he was going to fillet that. He would be able to cut the head off. But lifting the top half of the fish in a way that no bones remained in the flesh was out of the question. And picking out the fine bones that were stuck was even worse.

Before Wong could come to his aid yet again – and thus embarrass him even more – he pushed his chair back and stood up.

"If you'd excuse me. I'm not hungry today."

He put his napkin on the table and fled the dining room. Wong followed close behind him, not without giving the king a dirty look; as if this was all his fault.

Tony was surprised at first when Strange spoke, but he didn't stop him. If Strange was still sulking about earlier, fine. Tony didn't care.

_____________

Two days later, Tony entered Strange's study again annoyed.

"What is this?" he asked, slapping the contract for Vanaheim on the table where Strange was sitting.

At least the title of the document claimed to be the contract. Most of the text was illegible scrawl. “Is this a joke? Because I tell you, it is not funny.”

Strange had looked up from his work at the interruption and was now leaning back in his chair.

“You said, I need to use my ‘own fucking hands’ to write it.” His voice was calm. Too calm for the storm brewing in his deep blue eyes. Like when the sea retreated right before the tsunami came.

Tony was usually really good at reading people, but he was still too hung up on this argument. Too annoyed with everything to notice.

“I did! So why does this look like it was written by a five year old?”

“Because I can’t write properly if my life depended on it! I can’t do anything with my hands!” Stephen yelled. He jumped to his feet, holding his hands up in front of him. “They are useless!”

Tony was taken aback by this sudden outburst and his confession. He had expected many things, but not this. “What are you talking about?” It made no sense. He'd seen Strange do a lot of tasks with his hands. He used them all the time just fine. Besides that unusual clumsiness yesterday. And on their wedding day, he remembered. His fingers had been trembling, his touch light, and there had been scars under those gloves. Those damn gloves Strange was always wearing!

Stephen didn’t move an inch, staring at his hands. His mind seemed far away.

Tony reached out to carefully take Strange's wrist and gently pulled off his glove. Finger by finger.

The skin underneath was cold. Scars stretched across the slender fingers. Once certainly skillful, they were now shaking.

The second hand showed the same picture, only their wedding ring as an addition.

“What happened?” he asked softly; his anger gone.

His voice brought Stephen back to the present and he pulled his hands back as if he had suddenly been burned. The sorcerer sat down, his eyes fixed on the table in front of him.

"I don't want you to see me like this. Please leave" His voice broke at the end.

Tony opened his mouth, then closed it again. Then he stubbornly sat down. That made Stephen finally look up, defiant that Stark had not complied with this simple request.

“You don’t have to tell me,” Tony said. “But you are my husband and I vowed at our wedding to stand beside you for better and worse. So whatever it is you think you can’t tell me… I won’t think less of you nor will I reject you.” There was clearly a story here, along with trust issues.

Tony sighed when Stephen remained silent. He wished his husband would stop pushing him away. Stop hiding from him.

He hated the silence that threatened to spread again.

"A little over a year ago my uncle tried to get rid of me and usurp the throne," he began to say without really knowing why. The words just spilled out of his mouth. "He was successful. I wouldn't have survived if I hadn't had such loyal knights. They found me with three stab wounds in my chest."

His fingers moved involuntarily to the spot where scars still bore witness to the deed. He had been lucky enough to just lose a part of his lung and not his life.

He still had nightmares about it sometimes.

"I'm not telling you this to make this about me. I just want you to know that you're not alone."

Stephen had listened to his words with a blank face not saying anything for a while.

There was a pause and just when Tony thought nothing more would come… "It was an accident." Strange's voice was hoarse, as if it would take a great deal of effort for him to even utter a single word. "It was my own fault. I was arrogant and it became my downfall." He looked down at his scarred fingers. “My hands were crushed.”

His eyes settled back on Tony as his voice became more neutral – as if he had just been a bystander to the events he was telling about. “There was no way to fix me and my parents saw me no longer fit for the throne. As a last resort, I turned to magic; probably only because my parents despised it. But it helped me. I wasn’t useless anymore.”

Tony was beginning to realize just why Stephen had hated their marriage so much. "I'm sorry I said no more magic," he apologized.

Stephen nodded, seeing he was genuine in his apology. "I always thought I’d at least have a say in who I’d marry. But it was simply presented to me: ‘there, do it for your kingdom, they need you, as their prince. And it's the best offer you're ever going to get’. It was very convenient for my parents that I had to move here."

"They said that to you?" Tony asked bewildered. "That this was the ‘best offer' you'd get?"

Stephen nodded again, "I always thought they weren't in a rush. Now I think maybe it's because nobody else ever wanted me."

Tony felt the overwhelming need to hold him and so he reached out a hand and took Stephen’s. "I'm sorry, that this marriage took you away from the life you obviously loved so much," he said gently.

But then again – Strange was a prince and with that title came certain responsibilities.

“Please don’t think I’m ungrateful. This,” Stephen wiggled his fingers, “has nothing to do with you. It's something I have to come to terms with myself. I understand if you find them repulsive. They are not great to look at.”

Tony ran his hand through his hair, sighing. “Okay, now, that’s a lot to unpack here. First of all, thank you for sharing your story with me. If I had known all of this…”

"You wouldn't have agreed to the wedding?" Stephen interjected questioningly.

“I admit you haven’t been the package deal I was hoping for, but trust me when I say that this has nothing to do with your hands and more with your unwillingness to be nice.”

Offended Stephen opened his mouth. “Rude.” But it lacked sharpness, because Tony wasn’t wrong there. From the first day – since the night of their wedding to be precise – Stephen had put an invisible wall between them.

"I'm sorry I am not the husband you wished for," he added.

Tony smiled gently. This was finally the first step towards each other, that he had waited so long for.

"So, how does the magic help your hands?" He asked curiously.

"Well, for one I don't need to grab things." Stephen demonstrated by flying in two goblets and a bottle of wine from a secret stash. Good to know he had one.

Tony didn't object as the bottle poured them both a drink.

“I can also channel magic through my hands to stabilize them. It only works for some time but it is enough to make do.” Stephen lifted his glass and swirled the liquid in it.

Their eyes met and Tony had a feeling that they had come to a silent agreement.

“Do they hurt?” he asked bluntly.

"Some days more than others."

Tony nodded in understanding. "Sometimes I feel like I can't breathe and I'm suffocating."

Stephen lifted his goblet and they clinked them.

It was good wine, not one Tony knew. Probably another one from Kamar-Taj. He needed to ask Stephen to get more of it. The bottle topped them up on its own. That was magic he could handle.

When Tony had gotten up this morning, he hadn't thought he would bond with his husband over past physical trauma, but here he was. And he didn’t complain.

_____________

Taglist: @goopierthenyou (tell me if you want to be added/removed)

[amethystina]

Hi! Do you think about making a analysis on the last episode of TDJ? (If you haven't done already) I just rewatched this ep the other day and I feel like no matter how many times I watch it, there will always be something that surprises me. Every episode does this to me actually.

Not the last episode as a whole, no, since that would probably make my brain explode xD Like, it's just too big? ANY episode would be too big considering the number of details, plot points, character moments etc. they contain. I wouldn't even know where to start analysing a full episode, at least not in the way I usually write my metas.

I'd need a narrower framework to build my analysis on, like a specific relationship, a specific scene, a specific plotline, a specific theory etc. Which is why my two more detailed metas so far are very contained with very clear goals. That's how much I have to narrow it down to be able to accurately convey something, because otherwise there would just be too much information for me to condense into something coherent. And I would have no idea in what order to present things. Not to mention that I'd be terrified of missing something important because the scope would be too big.

(I'm also just a terribly wordy person who can't write short things to save my life. Can you IMAGINE how long that analysis would be? x'D)

I obviously have a lot of details and ideas stored in my brain, but in order to convey them in a way that's actually digestible to other people, I need some sort of prompt or structure first. And, sometimes, that structure can actually be a fanfic. I'm not joking when I say that Who Holds the Devil is basically a gigantic meta at this point, because I'm pouring ALL of my thoughts and observations from the drama into it.

Which, in all honesty, if I had known that when I started? Then I probably wouldn't have written the fic x'D Because it's so, so daunting to go: "Alright, I'm going to summarize all my thoughts and feelings about this piece of media into this one work!" Granted that this one work is huge enough to fit A LOT of thoughts and feelings, but it's still a pretty insane endeavour.

Anyway! I'm sorry if that's a bit of a disappointing answer. I just don't think that my specific brand of analysis would be all that efficient on such a broad scale. I'm more of a detail-oriented person? So it would have to be something specific from the last episode, not the episode as a whole.

[astramachina]

✨Did you know (probably not since I refuse to talk about it)✨ that The Architect/formerly The Atramentuos Originator is actually a predecessor/prototype for The Singularity Project?

The history is LONG, and after cannibalizing some vital elements of the fic I decided that yeah, both things are different enough that the fanfic itself can go back up and stay up this time.

If you squint you'll realize the whole "hyper-genius goes to Antarctica, experiences the Horrors, finds something godlike in the ice that enlightens him even further, ???, profit" is a narrative both stories have in common. But there's some very key differences!

↓↓ If you also wish to be enlightened on the mystery that is TSP ↓↓

IDK if this counts as a "WIP Intro" because it's not strictly about TSP but I wanna go a bit into detail about the writing journey for both pieces.

I wrote Originator/Architect back in 2020 following, and I kid you not, a string of scarily coherent nightmares that made me feel like the protagonist of a Lovecraftian tale. Maybe it was thanks to the beginning of the pandemic and the world itself feeling like it was ending, but either way, out of my teaching job and in less than stellar living accommodations (and before starting therapy), I did the one thing I could do: write about it.

I have a long history of writing extreme AUs with the self-imposed parameters of "keep these characters as in-character as humanly possible", which is what I set out to do with this fic. As a consequence, Originator did not get much attention. The stobotnik fandom was YOUNG, just a couple of weeks old, and Sonic doesn't particularly lend itself to horror, so it made sense. That also meant that I was devastated that such a rich piece of somewhat original work was withering away in obscurity. I poured hours of work to the point of manic insanity into this fic hardly anyone was reading, which made me fly off the handle.

The last straw was my newfound fandom BFF refusing to read any more of it because it scared her. It was then that I realized "this is good, but it feels like too much", so I yoinked it off AO3 with the intention of turning it into a 100% original piece of fiction. But see my previous point about keeping characters as in-character as possible. That threw a huge wrench into that idea, because both these characters were 1:1 reskins of Stone and Robotnik.

That did not stop me from embellishing the universe. New characters popped in, Stone and Bot got new names, I wrote one-off short stories (one of which nearly got traditionally published), and even plotted entire stories with these new characters. None of it went anywhere. SOMETHING was missing, and I wasn't sure what. The story eventually faded from memory as I went on to work on various original novels, learning from Originator's mistake.

Fast-forward to November 2023 when, out of nowhere, I got struck with a "vibe". Not a scene, not a theme, not a trope, nothing even remotely coherent, just a vibe I couldn't even put into words. I spent weeks trying to synthesize a feeling into colors and sounds, into something tangible enough to be written down. There's a 10 page document of senseless words that go nowhere. Half written sentences. A surplus of the color orange. "Smoke. Viewing room. Burning rubber on the run. Neon. Worms? The ground is upturned by something," etc.

By January of 2024 I had a bit more a heading. "70s, mad scientists, the unknown forced to become known, the loneliness of godhood", but it was STILL fighting me. I didn't want to write a book because it felt like something that could not be contained in prose. Which was a huge problem for me because the only kind of writing I've ever done has been prose (I'm excluding theater here because I've only been playwriting for about two years). And so the story continued to writhe and rot in my brain because I still could not understand what it wanted from me.

It was sometime in February, maybe March, that I was watching a video essay on Midwest Angelica, and the narrator made this forceful remark on how there's no excuse for anyone to not embark to create something like it.

"Blender is free. Video editing programs are free. YouTube tutorials are free."

This ruined my life by cracking my brain wide open.

All of a sudden, things began to slot into place. "I can absolutely make a webseries if I want to. Literally nobody's stopping me. How hard can it be?" (THE ANSWER IS VERY. BLENDER'S LEARNING CURVE IS STEEP. AND DON'T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON DAVINCI RESOLVE. BUT ALSO I HAVE TO FILM????)

New project finally unlocked, but that also meant unlocking a lot of skills I have 0 knowledge of. Even looking down the gauntlet, the story continued to evolve. "What if I make it into an ARG" and "what if it launches off a video game demo".

The plans were BIG, the stakes were even BIGGER, and I'm just one guy who just got a pc powerful enough to get the ball rolling. So.... time to get to work, right?

WRONG.

There was still no story. I had characters, yeah, some themes, some scenes, but what was the meat of it? And then it came to me.

"Hey, remember Originator? Remember what we did with BotnEmil and StoJules? We should revisit that. While we're at it, we should revisit some older OCs from a long abandoned 2017 WIP."

And then I did. All of this to say that if you do ever embark on the journey that is The Singularity Project (official title still pending) whenever it releases, then you will have a leg up by knowing that Originator/Architect can be considered a "modern day retelling" of TSP's earliest story line.

How so?

Dr. Emil Krasner embarks with the Shackleton Expedition of 1914, a journey that ensures his assistant, Mr. Jules Al-Jurjani, returns with ice samples carrying an unknown specimen.

You see where I'm going with this? What little I thematically cannibalized of the original version of Originator is so minuscule and drastically different that I just. Decided to slap that bad boy back up.

Now, I'm obviously not going to tell you how this ties into what I've already shared of TSP. You guys know about Mike, Cy, and Verne. And this is, technically, an ARG, so the puzzle is half the fun.

Which also makes interacting with writeblr more than a little difficult because how the fuck do I share 1) without spoiling stuff and 2) stuff that's not in prose format???

Anyway, if you read all of this, may the universe give you a nice treat today. I'm gonna go do some video editing.

[talopeiros]

Learning to Smelt - 1

I've been wanting to talk about this for a while. Last year, I wanted to pick up smelting. It seemed fun, and felt right up my field in the realm of making things. I did all the research, got the equipment and earlier this year I finally managed to start! My goal is, once I'm comfortable enough to do it solo (since I had help from my insane uncle during my training adventure) to have it livestreamed and smelt things on request! Honestly at this point I reckon my skills have advanced to the point of almost competence (huzzah!) Nonetheless I want to post some stuff showing the process, just in case anyone's curious!

First off, I made an AGGREGIOUS error when it came to choosing the smelter brand. The one I bought didn't have a connector that worked with Australian Gas tanks, only US ones. I was very luck my uncle had a bunch of spare fittings/hoses lying around otherwise it would've been impossible to do anything from the start. Funnily enough too, despite it eventually getting to +1000 C temperatures, it didn't need that much fuel overall! Only had to slightly open the valves with one full rotation on the gas tank. I guess that's by design, since the whole idea is keep heat in (this just in, local hoplite PNGTuber discovers how heat works!) Also, fun fact! Don't buy a shitty $50 temperature gun that says it can get to 1000+ C and expect it to do so! So many infrared sensors are so pricey and there was no way in tartarus that I would use that kinda money on a glorified nerf gun but then it turns out the cheap one I got was incapable of reading anything beyond 400 C. Fortunately you can just eyeball it when it comes to smelting using this simple rule! If metal = solid: Wait If metal = liquid: Congratulations, you've done it!

Have to make sure it's done in a well-ventilated area too. Doubly so if you're melting brass since that garbage can burn and make zinc oxide which is NOT GOOD. First time I melted stuff was just done to make sure I knew what I was doing, not to cast anything. All I did was melt down brass and copper separately to make small ingots.

(btw if you ever plan to make casted finery, don't bother with a specific ingot mold, those things are pricey. Just get a cast iron muffin tray w/o the teflon on it or something similar. You can make a lot more that way and they're more likely to fit in the crucible if you want to re-melt). Also another piece of advice: DON'T OVERLOAD THE CRUCIBLE. My uncle wanted us to melt down all the copper we had (which was a lot, I had been going to town on the neighbourhoods wiring/plumbing in preparation for this) since "it was more energy efficient to smelt more instead of letting it cool down!" While technically true, a crucible full of copper is VERY HEAVY and picking that thing up with crucible tongs is gonna be a legendary struggle. We did end up spilling a bit, fortunately it didn't go anywhere. The vid attached to this post shows it: A crucible full of copper and regret for our lack of forethought. Following day I did try to cast one thing: My channel emblem as a medallion. I poured molten copper into an open sand mold and well, you be the judge:

Still, twas a good first go! Thanks to the ingot molder we used the cast metal in it's default form comes out in a style akin to that of a paperweight.

I'll be posting details on the second and third smelt soon, so stay tuned!

[tenshiharmonia]

So, I went to see the Super Mario movie saturday afternoon and I must say, I had an absolute blast. Don't get me wrong, it was far from perfect. And I'll have to agree that it could have used ten or fifteen more minutes to pace things a little more organically. But really, I had a smile on my face the entire time. As a Bowser fan, the film was an especially exhilarating treat. From enjoying himself at a heavy metal concert, to bashfully trying to woo the princess, writing her an exquisitely awkward love song and rehearsing his proposal with Kamek, to ruthlessly tearing into the hero after they saved the day ruined everything he worked so hard towards, he walked such an astounding line between adorable and intense (also, I'd like to add that he was really, really sexy :3 ). Not that the other characters weren't delightful too, of course. I must admit, I'm actually quite surprised that they chose to address Peach's origins. I mean, even back when the brothers being from Brooklyn was a staple of the series, the incongruity of a (seemingly) human princess leading a nation of mushroom people never really came into question. If a sequel there is, I'd definitely like for that point to be explored a little more... Also, I'm particularly fond of the way the Kongs were integrated into the story. To tell you the truth, I've never really cared for the DK side of the franchise all that much. But really, the visit to the Jungle Kingdom was quite a riot, both in terms of action and worldbuilding. And let’s not forget the sheer insanity of the Koopa General... Really though, that movie was just, so much fun. Bright, colorful, light-hearted, unadulterated fun. Which is not to say that it was without emotions. The brothers' feeling of inadequacy, both expressed in different ways, their tearful reunion, the need to prove themselves to the world and to each other... Truly, fraternal affection is the crux of the film. In fact, family as a whole is an omnipresent theme throughout the story, from Peach's devotion to the Toads, to DK's own issues with his dad. And I'm not even talking about the love that was poured into all the little details. It's already been said a thousand times, but there are so many Easter eggs* hidden in the film, be it in the picture or the score. I've seen the movie being described as a "love letter" to the franchise and its fans, and really, I feel like there is no better way to put it. In a sense, I'd say it's like a puzzle : watching all the different little pieces fall neatly into place is also part of the fun. Sure, it wasn't The Last Wish, but then again, it didn't need to be. In its case - and I insist on the word "case"** -, the world is the plot. And the film executes it spectacularly. Anyway, this accolade is probably long enough (unlike the movie, which could afford to be much longer, if only because what we got was so good already :p ). Still, let me emphasize one last time what a joy it was to see the Mushroom World come alive this way, in such a luminous and bustling manner. Honestly, I wouldn't mind if instead of a sequel, we were to get a whole-ass show, in the vein of the first three cartoons. A mix of slice-of-life and adventure to explore this beautiful version of the Mario universe and everything it has to offer. I think it would be great. With that being said, thank you for listening to my divagations on the matter. As always, it was nice to get those thoughts out of my system. I mean, it was such a wholesome movie ; I needed to share my giddy excitement with the universe. ^_^

* Quite fitting for the season, now that I think about it. Although the film is so rich in references, that I'd almost be tempted to refer to them as "Fabergé eggs". XD ** I know better than anyone how good at storytelling the franchise can be - as recently demonstrated by Sparks of Hope -, so don't take this statement as a generalization it isn't meant to be.

[calculatesguilt]

As a fellow dr.atchet disliker, I would like to hear your detailed thoughts on the ship, if you don't mind. For me, I feel the ship fundamentally does not work. There are even certain events within MTMTE that make them liking each other to be questionable.

Oh yeah, totally.

So to start off I would like to mention that I do not like how JRo writes religion and religious characters. One of these exceptions is Cyclonus because his beliefs are actually respected. Now, the way he writes it comes off very much as "Culturally Xtian Atheist Who Thinks All Religion Is Bad." Who's to say if this is true but he very much comes off that way.

This is important for later. I'll be breaking it down into three points:

The power imbalance

Ratchet's toxic atheism

JRo world makes prior relationships characters had meaningless

The Power Imbalance

I feel like an insane person at times when I think about this. As in "Am I just crazy or are people completely ignorant to it."

First off: The only interaction we have between Drift and Ratchet in MTMTE (Season 1) is the Pharma situation and when Drift recounts Ratchet saving his life. This, I feel, became the basis of their... sorta friendship (hard to call it that when all we were given was bits and pieces.)

This exchange has always felt a little off-kilter to me because this is... This is a Doctor taking care of a Patient. I believe Ratchet meant what he said but for this to be the foundational aspects — the driving force behind their relationship has never really sat well with me. I could See Drift looking UP to Ratchet for that, and indeed this is where the power imbalance comes from.

There's also this from Empire of Stone. Drift is pouring out his heart, telling ratchet his greatest fears and why he's doing what he's doing and what he's most afraid of becoming again.

And how does Ratchet initially respond?

I get this is supposed to be a joke and bring levity to the moment but it just doesn't work.

It's never really felt like they were on equal ground, and it's never felt like they come to that equal footing. When we reach the end we're supposed to believe they did eventually but we're rewarded for nothing. There is no actual substance or growth shown, if anything the majority of what we're shown in Lost Light is Ratchet constantly belittling and mocking Drift. Which brings me to:

Ratchet's Toxic Atheism

Drift makes a good point here but Ratchet's never really shown to be wrong about how he treats religion. In fact he's rewarded for it and does the ultimate Uber Atheist Boner of "proving religion wrong" on Mederi.

Ratchet became a stand-in for JRo's soapboxing and to pair him with Drift in the end is like. It sucks! It feels bad! And Ratchet is never criticized for how he treats religious people or religion save from Drift and it is always played off as a joke!!

Then, at the end, we're not given Real closure to this fact, we're given this which completely cheapens them and feels completely undeserved. We were not shown this growth. We were not shown this change We were shown, foor the most part, Ratchet being a complete dickhead to Drift. (And frankly everyone around him.)

(I would pull up more examples but my dedication of rereading mtmte/ll for this isn't that powerful.)

It's JRo World

One of my biggest gripes with mtmte/ll is that characters relationships prior to the series are not carried over. Which would be fine if this was aiming for a soft-reboot of IDW1's era, however it... really isn't. It builds upon a lot of prior writing and a lot of current writing from the sister series of RiD (especially in regards to Megatron.) So having absolutely no prior relationships carry over (Perceptor and Drift. Ratchet and literally anyone else other than Drift. Rodimus and Drift just in general with their shoddy writing in the later half.) makes it feel... what's the word I'm looking for... incomplete, I suppose

It feels like he wanted to have pre-established relationships between these characters but didn't want to build off actual pre-established relationships so he created one between Drift and Ratchet and it just doesn't work for me.

Anyways I'm sure there's plenty more examples out there that I've missed but I cannot bother to go thru the entire comic series for them flakjslfdkj.

[hexiewrites]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 43!

2. What’s your total AO3 word count? 562,348, which is honestly insane

3. What fandoms do you write for? right now mostly stranger things. I've got most of a ted lasso fic written but who knows if that'll get posted?? and prev, harry potter.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos? 1. don't take this sinner (dramione, marriage law ish), 2. same as it ever was (steddie, two timelines, one of my first steddie fics!) 3. carve your name into my chest (steddie, the hockey au of my dreams) 4. come get your man (he got lost in my DMs) (steddie, social media, steve being a horny DM guy) 5. there'll be a riot (cause I know you) (steddie, the matty-healy-rat-man-Eddie-vibed mostly smut fic)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? ugh. I WISH!!!! I want to be better at this, I really do. I usually start strong but I end up with limited energy/time and I want to filter that into writing more. if you've ever commented: I FUCKING LOVE YOU and think you're SO cool! if you really WANT a reply, the best way to get that is to ask me questions haha. it starts to feel weird just "thank you!"ing everyone, ya know?

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? I am.... not an angsty ending person tbqh! I think the closest is probably you love the sea, which is a flintwood rarepair selkie fic that I deeply love. it ends happy, insofaras they end up TOGETHER, but if you think more about the implications and how fucking sad it's going to be for oliver... well. I'll leave that to you guys.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? god, I'm well known for having "endings so happy they border on absurd", according to one person online. so, pick your poison I guess! anyways the fic THAT person was referring to was same as it ever was, so, let's go with that!

8. Do you get hate on fics? I have been so lucky lately to not get much hate at all lately, which is a real privilege in the fandom world. remember that I cut my teeth in early days of harry potter, and people were BRUTAL. I definitely HAVE gotten hate - my aforementioned dramione fic has a bit of a weird twist that some people were PISSED about (and once I got an incredibly detailed comment about how badly I fucked up my representation of black Hermione because she... didn't talk that much about hating her hair? which I know is AN experience but not necessarily a universal one) but overall, at least this fandom go around, no hate. thank you, everyone, for that!

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? yes. lots and lots and lots of it. mostly kinda kinky and pretty much all pretty gay. let's not talk about how many times I've had to tag dacryphilia and what that means. I just like when people fuck about things, yknow?

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? nope, never! and I likely never will. too much to keep track of.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? not that I know of, thank god for that.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? I've had requests but... I would need a translator willing to work pretty closely with me because I want to make sure certain choices come across well, and I haven't found that yet.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? not officially, though I did write a buckingham companion piece to the amazing cowboy-bar fic @riality-check did!

14. What’s your all time favorite ship? OH GOD don't make me choose! ALL TIME is still probably dramione, but steddie is a very close second. in terms of canon ships, I'm such a sucker for buffy/spike (leave me alone), and veronica mars/logan (AGAIN LEAVE ME ALONE) and rory/logan (BECAUSE RICH WHITE BOYS NAMED LOGAN ARE A WEAKNESS, APPARENTLY)

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? pour one OUT for you can't take the sky from me, which is my firefly inspired harry potter au ft pansy/percy, mostly because I had so many big plans for it that I've completely forgotten AND I just can't write in that fandom at all anymore. sorry everyone, I do love what I put out and I wish there was more of it.

16. What are your writing strengths? prose, smut, tying things together with little bows, and spending way too much time in my characters heads

17. What are your writing weaknesses? dual POVs, getting so lost in one character I don't flesh out the others as much as I mean to, action sequences, and consistent motivation

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? I've done it before (mostly in clean ice, cold hearts, can't lose) and my typical strategy is to indicate that the characters are speaking a diff language (in french, I use guillements and italics) but not to actually WRITE the french, unless it's very short and the POV character doesn't understand it on purpose like in carve.

19. First fandom you wrote for? harry potter baby! my oldest posted fic that I've found online was from 2002, when I was... too young to be interacting with the internet like that, that's for sure.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written? carve your name into my chest and it's no contest. I love same as it ever was as well, which I think is a better WRITTEN fic technically speaking, but carve was a huge passion project that I had so much fun with, and the response to it had been one of my favourite things in the world. oh, and special shout out to make this inn our own, which is my second longest fic ever and was just an absolute joy to do. so, those three, I guess!

tagging with no pressure: @riality-check @hereforanepilogue @maxineholtzmann @stevespookington @stevethehairington @withacapitalp and whoever else wants in!

[mr-jaybird]

🎁🌻🎯

🎁 Have a piece of a WIP you want to share?

I actually don't 😭

One of my insane behaviors is that I usually sit down and write an entire chapter/one-shot in one sitting, or if it's a long one two days in a row, but usually just one. I don't like doing a bit here and a bit there although maybe if I did I'd update faster ripppp. However the net result is that I don't have any pieces available for this sadly :(

🌻 How often do you read your own fics?

It honestly depends. I do read my own fics, though I almost never go back to ones that from special interests I've moved on from. I write the things I want to read so I really enjoy rereading my own work, especially if it's been long enough I've forgotten details, but some are also so achingly personal that I've not gone back to them for fear of ripping open emotional wounds that have since gotten a bit scabbed over! There is one particular She-Ra one shot I wrote that I'm not sure if I'll ever read now because of what was going on in my life at that time that I poured into it. I often translate personal pain I'm going through into the experiences and emotions of characters I write.

For Choosing Life specifically I have reread the earlier chapters a few times, and I plan to get it bound in an actual physical book when I finish it. It's gotten too big for a complete reread while in the middle of writing it now but like. That fic particular is the culmination of everything I personally would want to read in a fic. Though my Horizon special interest will likely move on at some point, I don't think Choosing Life will ever not be important to me because of how much love and work I've poured into it, and it's part of why I'm so devoted to finishing it.

🎯 Do you have a writing milestone you’re working towards?

Yes! Finishing Choosing Life, which I estimate will be around 300k words when done. It's just past the halfway point, I think, and today is its one year anniversary of its publication! Not sure if it will take me a full year to write the rest--I hope that the crisis I've been dealing with at work abates by June and that I'll have more free time again. We'll see! It WILL be finished before Horizon 3 lmaoooooo

[bh-writingdump]

C@ve Sl@ve

Last Chapter of Divine Punishment

[1st draft]

It reminds me of Red/Sans in Divine Punishment. He endured being murdered by someone he loved only to come back and not being able to cope with that reality. If it was cut and dry, kill his mate, it’d be one thing but seeing someone else make a toy out of his mate broke something inside him.

I don’t think it clicked while he wasn’t quite as bad as crest but he wasn’t all that much better. he still pushed and bent the rules of consent.

Its about how when your destroyed feeling something so strongly, it takes time to feel safe enough to put the pieces back together.

I could see Red coming back but not entirely remembering what happened. He remembers that he couldn’t find CEO but not the reasons around it. he may know he was beaten but not know all the details. Maybe it’s even a shock that CEO doesn’t beat him the moment CEO sees him as him.

This would be after clothing and either at or close to the temple.

CEO wants to know, “Did you disobey the spirit of the deal due to insatiable hunger or did you have control?”

Red: fuck yeah it was me. enjoyed every second of it.

You: course it was, why did I ever—

You clutch your belly as the vines bounce around inside. To think that even for a second you thought he had a redeeming quality… You turn your back on the bound skeleton.

Red: are ya seriously leaving me with the fish?!

You: why not it’s what you deserve

Red: what you say?

You: but not the rest of you

You return, kneeling beside red staring at him with a kind of intensity that makes him ready for an attack.

You: Wolf, I know you can hear me.

Red: who the hell are you talking—

You covered his teeth.

You: you’re good. same as Mx wolf. I’ve not known many folks in my life but you two are some that…” CEO opens and closes their hands, blinking away the tears. “I wish I had appreciated the time I had with you two but.. it wasn’t the right time.”

Red: you’re going insane now? heh, who would’ve thought I’d be the one to break you.

You: you can do better. be better

You take a dep breath, “Goodbye”

Far down the hall, the pain gets worse. Glaring as you feel spindly vines pour out of your cunt. Alphys tries to help you out but its out of her field of expertise. All you can do is give drugs and strap you down for observation.

Vision fills your eyes. You see yourself back with Red again. “You don’t’ get ta leave till I say you do.”

You laugh, he slams you against the wall. You see him depict you as scared. You merge with his vision, you control you, he controls him. staring back. at him you say “it’s over.”

“I fucked up. Is that what you want me to say?”

You sigh s he drops you. the vision shimmers as his concentration falters. “Red, do you remember Crest?”

“Who?.. we never… did you?” His gaze narrows.

“Wolf got most of the eggs. Couldn’t get one. it’s a clone.

“Then lemme get it. I can fix it.”

You shake your head, too tired to explain.

Wolf howls in the background. For once, the immovable mask on Red shakes but he shrugs it back on. “there’s no way. You should be dead.”

“Up until recently, I might’ve made it. Wolf was flushing me out ever week. it’d been suppressing the clone’s progress but now… there’s nothing to hold it back.”

“Get back here! I’m getting that out!”

You sigh, rubbing your face. “Red, there’s a million humans out there. Go find another to toy with.” The vision breaks down. your brought back to the room. As you predicted, the vines had taken over, in their center, Crest stood in a collection of pollen and dust. His smirk as sharp as ever.

“It’s over. I’ll be bead within the hour.” You explain.

Crest: don’t worry, the first thing I did was nullify that pesky poison.

With the vines out, your cunt feels overused. So when a slimy vine slides along its lips, you shudder.

“Liar.” You hiss.

“We’ll see~”

He calls down the hall. “Doctor, if you so please?”

Alphys stumbles out jerkily, vines coming out of her mouth. She pulls out a needle, pressing it into your arm. You wince as the cold fluid is pumped into your veins.

“Thank you~ that will be all.”

Alphys collapses in a corner. You founder as Crest forms a physical body out of vines. “Relax, I’m about to bloom, if you do exactly what I say, you too can be reborn with me.”

“I’d rather die.” you want to say but his touch silences you. Every part o your body equal parts terrified as slowly getting aroused. “Yes…” he purrs, angling his dick for your cunt. He inches in.

You try to hold back your moans.

“How exquisite. Are you sure you weren’t made for me?”

You try to lean away as he inches into you. his lips follow, peppering soft kisses up and down your neck. You whimper. “oh, com now. I can see how your body wants me. don’t lie.” The wet slap of his dick in you sends a flash of headiness through you. you moan as your body works against you, tightening around Crest’s dick.

Out of nowhere, Red breaks in, cuts down Crest, then tears his dick and the vines off you. You can’t stand with the drugs in you begging for something in you. Red tries to escape the facility but the vines restrain him no matter how he shifts into a wolf so he returns to himself.

“Aw, how precious.. why don’t we give you a happy reunion before you die, yes?”

Crest fucks you from behind until you’re a babbling mess. Begging for more. Billions of tendrils drill into your ass while you jerk off red. Red, for his part, keeps trying to attack crest but the vines restrain him, giving you free access to his dick.

“Why wait? Why not make zem yours?”

Crest puts you on Red’s dick. You immediately get nervous even with the drugs. He’s big erect. You sob at how you stretch.

Red’s pissed but tries to calm you, coaxing you into sucking his tits to cover up the pain with arousal. Though the tears keep coming, barely gives you relief.

Crest puppets Red. “See what you missed?”

“Don’t listen to him. just you and me.” Red says.

You cling to Red, burying your face in his chest as you slowly get fucked a vine in your mouth stops you from speaking, more burrow into your ass.

It’s so much stimulation.

Too much.

“How dull. Alphys!” Crest calls.

“you fucking—gah!” Red says.

Reds dick swells from the injection until blood leaks from your cunt and the vines hall you hard on and off Red’s dick.

You flop up and doll like a rag doll. his dick burrowing up into your ribcage.

Alphys kills Crest but not before your rendered insane, groaning and choking on so much cum and vines as they pump cum into you.

Red can’t stand the blood, you dying like this so when you ask for more, unable to beg for death except by sending a vision, he complies.

And snaps your neck.

.

.

.

[CS: Last] pg9 -->

[lifenconcepts]

You know what, I think I may be bordering insanity with how much I love and adore media of characters and all..

like I adore so many little creatures in a screen that it’s like dropping little bits of water into a very weak bucket before it suddenly bursts all over your shoes and hands. Like, fuckkkk my sanity is quite healthy and yet I become entirely feral when fed too much of the media I like.

I search for good art a lot, I spend way too long doing that, yea, and from that I can get a bit sad if nothing really good comes out of it.. and yet the times where the art just keeps pouring, my mood is great, my mind is ecstatic, and all my senses are overwhelmed with pleasant sensory overload (tasty food, music I like, ART I love seeing, stims…) I seriously begin to wonder what life would be like if I were completely manic,.

just like, entirely.

what sort of art would I create in that state? What beautiful pieces of writing would come from an overwhelming sense of accomplishment and inspiration when the purpose of it is long forgotten and I’m left with digesting a lot of very significant things within my brain, details I won’t disclose as for I genuinely do not know what they are. Perhaps something along the lines of pure divine purpose and a clarity unlike any other I’ve seen possible. I used to joke about getting high on weed or what not but in all seriousness, when I own a place I can feel entirely comfortable and safe with letting my logic dictate nothing and my truest inner instincts and self come out, I’ll delight in the sensations of what people of the past did - who had used drugs and other substances to reach what they considered ‘peak enlightenment’,

and if I can achieve pure euphoria to the point of shaking from mere art I like, I only wonder what a substance stimulated peak would be like.

and yet, I shall refrain, at least for some time, due to understanding the dangers that may lay ahead in a case of letting mistaken information lead my way, and so I shall likely not use any of the sorts purely out of knowing the dangers of what an addiction can lead to..

[urdinosaurs]

painting pottery with e-42 miles, except he's really good at it

you knew full well that miles was artistically inclined. how could you not with how many hours he spent bent over his sketchbook or in front of a blank wall with cans of spray paint in his hands? painting, however, was another thing entirely.

so when you take miles to a place to paint pottery for fun, he takes that shit seriously.

a cute date idea goes south quickly when this man pours hours over his ceramic haunted house, obsessed with the finest details and painting every tiny crook and nanny. it takes him an hour to finish his first coat of paint…out of three.

and don't even try to talk to him or distract his focused mindset because he shuts you down so quick, saying, "i needa focus ma, hold that thought f'me."

he makes sure to stay true to his word and will take breaks to compliment your work and let you speak about the latest drama he missed with your friend group. he even enables you to keep talking once he gets into the groove while mainstream pop plays over the speakers. just don't expect a reply. not that he isn't listening, far from it, but miles has trouble diverting his attention between you and adding the fine points to the haunted house.

the day bleeds into night. the children occupying the place with their parents have all left the now quiet building, a few of you still remaining, and after four and a half hours of painting, miles finally finishes. he endlessly apologizes for taking up so much of your time when this was supposed to be a date for the both of you. though your reassurance that you were more than happy to see him doing something he found to love seems to go over his head when he turns his attention to his piece with a frown.

if anything, trust he will never be satisfied with his work and will ask for your advice constantly on whether it needs more paint, more details, more sponging, more brown here, more blood splatter there with a pout. no amount of praise and compliments will convince him that his piece is a stunning work of art, no matter how many times you tell him.

"ion know what you're talking about, mami. it just don’t look right, yknow?"

turns out he just has to step away because the moment he does, he starts seeing the same hard work and beauty in it that you do.

taking pictures is a must, and you make sure to praise his skills in the caption of your post, despite how humble he is about his abilities. once that's done, miles will insist on paying for the pottery, even though it was your date idea.

he argues that it's his thanks to you for introducing something he has found a love and art for. he kisses you on the crown of your head, urging you to agree, and you relent, letting him pay. his arm snakes around your waist as he finishes the transaction, wondering out loud about dinner while you exit, the surrounding buildings' neon signs illuminating his motorcycle.

but best believe you will pay for dinner that night just to get under his skin. though when he asks you about it, you feign innocence with a grin, and he can only shake his head with an appreciative sigh, pressing a thank you in the form of a kiss to your lips. "you're too good for me, ma."

you don't bother telling him he has paint on his cheek.

thank you to the person who did, but guys, i still need fic recs based on this idea bc i can't find any and i'm going insane so pretty pls with a cherry on top help me 🤞

[genshin-obsessed]

You Get Injured!

Yo! I’m back and this time with a little bit of angst. One thing about me: I ADORE ANGST!!! LEMME BREAK SOMEONE’S HEART!!! I love, love, love writing angst so much! Anyway, enjoy!

Summary:  You get injured on the job, what’s his reaction?

Includes: Aether, Kaeya, Diluc, Venti, Razor, Xiao, Xingqiu, Zhongli, and Childe! (YES I ADDED AETHER >:0)

Come one, come all! See what happens when you come home injured!

Warnings: Mentions of blood, no details though.

You were supposed to be with Aether, but he had his own commissions, but he swore he’d come help you right after. You weren’t patient and ended up getting into a fight with too many hilichurls and it didn’t end well.

He immediately remembered the time he lost Lumine, but for some reason, he was even more scared than that incident. He felt as if the wind had been knocked out of him and he’d completely frozen up. When he saw your bloodied form fall to the floor, it brought him back to reality.

He ran to you and pulled you into his arms, desperately searching for life. He needed to see that you were ok. In fact, he’d taken your hand and squeezed your wrist to feel your pulse. It was weak, but it was there. He pressed his lips to yours, ignoring the taste of iron that followed.

As the doctor was stitching up the larger gashes, he was cleaning up the blood around your face and whispering words of encouragement to you. He gave you water and held your hand throughout the entire process.

PERSONAL NURSE AETHER REPORTING FOR DUTY! Beck and call, whenever you need him, he’s there for you. He put his adventuring on hold until you were 100% better.

Did you need an adventuring partner? Cuz Aether needs one! And you’re the perfect candidate. He’s going on adventures will you- well ok, he’s going EVERYWHERE with you but for a while. Once his nerves and anxiety dies down, he backs off quite a bit.

You had been fighting hilichurs for a commission and the last thing you had expected was multiple Mitachurls to be around. Well, there were more than you could handle and they floored you.

His heart almost stopped when he saw your bloodied form walking towards him, reaching out ever so weakly. He sprinted towards you, hating that he wasn’t there for you. Why was he so slow?! Why were so you far away, dammit?

He takes you into his arms and holds you close before quickly rushing you to the doctor. He knew he might’ve been a bit rough, but he could barely think. All that was going through his mind was him wishing that it was all just a nightmare.

He’s there 24/7, whenever you need him. He’s got meals, blankets, cuddles, kisses, whatever you need. He helps you with EVERYTHING. He knew it was hard to shower with all those wounds and he didn’t want your stitches to open up, so he was a bit strict.

After your full recovery, he’s a little bit hesitant to let you go on your own. He might just join you on a mission or two. Don’t mind him, but once his worries are eased a little, he backs off. Besides, the cavalry captain can’t exactly run around with you, even though he so desperately wants to.

You were on your way to Mondstat from Liyue where you ended up on a beach with more ruin guards than you could handle (may the lord protect you if you wander there on accident).

Full fledged panic. It almost feels like someone was actively tearing his heart out. He couldn’t even breathe in that moment. He desperately wished he could heal you (I don’t think he can…), make you all better so you wouldn’t have to hurt so much. Were… were you crying?

He ran to you but the second he reached out to touch you, he pulled back a little. He was almost scared to touch you, like something as gentle as his touch might shatter what remained. He didn’t want to hurt you anymore, but it was clear you couldn’t walk so he had to carry you.

He does hold you close when you get help, whispering words of encouragement and love to you; anything to help. He immediately helped clean the blood off of you, trying to be as gentle as possible.

Through your healing process, he’s beside you constantly. He helps you with everything. Anything you need, he’s there. Thirsty? He’s got some water. Hungry? He’s got a plate of food. Need cuddles? Scoot over.

He’s actually terrified to let you go, but he knows you. This is your job and he’d seen you in action. So, he does let you go… as long as he can stick to you like glue (Cries in no Venti).

You had been hunting some abyss mages down and everything was going great… until it wasn’t. A rookie mistake almost caused your death. You’d never been so scared and the only thing you could think of was Diluc in that moment. You wanted to be in his arms.

He thought he’d been caught in a nightmare. He genuinely believed it wasn’t you. But when you called out to him, he was yanked back to reality. Everything felt so weird, it felt like a weird out of body experience for him. He was so scared he was shaking as he reached out to touch your bloodied face.

The first thing he does is check you to see how bad your injuries are before he brings you home to his personal doctor. Your blood burned him, it stung as tears welled up in his eyes. How could he let this happen to you? How could he fail you like this?

As the doctor patches you up, he sits beside you, holding your hand and giving you kisses every now and then, telling you you’re doing great and that you’ll be ok. He was still shaking, but he didn’t want you to worry, so he did his best to hide it. 

He’s extremely busy, so he can’t be beside you 24/7, but he tries to be with you every single night. In fact, he lets the knights handle everything while you heal, not wanting to leave you alone for too long

You best believe he’s hunting down every single abyss mage in existence. One hurt you? They all suffer. You try to keep him in check by keeping him at your side.

You had decided to challenge Electro Hypostases on your own... You should’ve been more careful. You didn’t realize how powerful it was and you got extremely lucky. 

Oh he can smell your blood from a distance. So he didn’t even need to see you to know you were injured. He was terrified. His heart was beating so fast and he couldn’t catch his breath. He felt himself going insane when he couldn’t find you.

Well wolves lick their wounds, but he couldn’t lick yours. One, it wouldn’t work, your wounds were too deep, two, he was a human, not a wolf. He knew your friends could help you so he rushed you back to Mondstat (I’m sure this is probably wrong, feel free to roast me).

Although he knew the doctors were just trying to help, he couldn’t stop himself from being aggressive. He even growled at a doctor when you whimpered as you received the stitches. Kaeya and Jean had to hold him back.

No one is allowed near you until you’re fully healed, Razor doesn’t let anyone get close. It’s not just him being super possessive, he was deeply terrified that in case someone attacked you while he wasn’t there…

Your new adventure partner is Razor. Even if he has to live in Mondstat with the other humans, he’ll do it. As long as you’re with him. Don’t bother trying to argue, it won’t work.

You had a teeny weeny competition with Xiangling that you two could find the best ingredients first. You got careless, wandered into a hilichurl camp, only to get floored by 4 mitachurls.

Who hurt you?! Who hurt you and where are they? Xiao just wants to talk. 

Thankfully, the boss of the inn was able to find some help for you and helped patch you up, while Xiao waited patiently. On the outside he looked calm, on the inside- well it was chaos. Nothing could calm his anger and anxiety.

He reassured you that you did a great job, letting you know that he was proud of you. Not to mention, he kept thanking you for coming back alive so that he could save you. He didn’t even want to think about what could’ve happened if you weren’t able to come back… 

He kept you close. As you healed, he was almost like a personal nurse. He brought you whatever you wanted and lots of almond tofu. If you don’t like it… well more for him.

He was very reluctant to let you go. He couldn’t go with you and it was his biggest regret. But he knew holding you back would do nothing, therefore he poured all his faith and trust in you. So please... come back to him.

You had gone to visit Chang the Ninth and on the way back had seen a village get attacked by some abyss mages. You jumped into action without thinking… at all.

Xingqiu actually hadn’t looked up from his book because he was so invested. You called after him, collapsing nearby but he wasn’t even paying attention. Finally, he heard you scream and jumped, his heart leaping out of his chest. He still won’t forgive himself… or pick up a book.

He immediately takes you back home, carefully carrying you so that he wouldn’t agitate your injuries anymore than they already were.

He stayed by your side and even helped patch you up, wanting to do as much as he could to help. He even kissed your injuries to help them heal faster.

He stays by your side as much as possible. You suggest he read you some books, but it seems like he’s too scared to touch any. Something that might need time to recover from.

Xingqiu’s still too busy to join you, but whenever he can, he definitely does. He is a little too protective in the beginning but as time goes on, he finds himself being able to hold back.

You just needed some chaos devices, just a few. YOU DIDN’T EXPECT TO GET YOUR ASS HANDED TO YOU SO BADLY!

He couldn’t believe it. His heart had almost stopped when he saw you walking towards him. You were covered in blood and you weakly reached out before you fell. He dashed forward and caught you before you hit the ground.

He takes you to his place, getting a doctor to immediately patch you up. As they were cleaning your wounds, he tried to stay calm, yet had this overwhelming urge to destroy whatever hurt you into a million pieces.

He stayed with you, nursing you back to health. Of course, constantly forgetting mora was a thing when buying you literally anything. This will never change.

He wasn’t able to understand why he couldn’t physically let you go in the beginning. Slowly, it made sense that he was scared. Scared he might lose you and that you might never come back. Scared you might disappear like you almost did. But you were… well you. So he had to trust you. Come back home to him safely.

You had just finished up your commissions and were head home when you stumbled upon an Oceanid. You needed a cleansing heart… or four. You weren’t prepared and you were a little tired, but you went anyway. You were lucky you came back alive.

Childe had set up a cute little date for you two, but you were running a little bit late. He was starting to get worried and when he asked Katheryne, he was surprised to learn that you hadn’t returned home from your commissions. Then he saw you. Leaving a trail of blood and limping towards him. He felt as if someone had done all that to him instead.

He immediately runs to you, with Katheryne following. The two of them quickly get you some medical attention, but Childe refuses to let go the entire time. No matter what anyone says, they can’t take you away, so he goes with you everywhere.

You explain what had happened afterwards and he was angry that you’d put yourself in danger for a stupid item. But at the same time, he was proud of you for beating the Oceanid and coming back to him, regardless of what shape you were in. You still got an earful though.

He wanted to be around you 24/7, but he’s really busy. He tries to get away from work as much as he can to spend time with you. Throughout your healing process, he does a lot to help. Simple things like making you meals, the ones that melt your heart. 

He was reluctant, constantly checking up on you and even wanting to go on adventures with you. But he couldn’t spend every minute with you, so he needed to learn how to ease his own anxieties. Of course, you would never say no to going on a few adventures with him.