#I put this under a cut because it's long af but I did put some thought into this

[flowery-mess]

You’re so good with these… whole band and crew first kiss?

Thank you!💗 I love doing them so keep throwing them at me haha

First kiss with each boy under the cut🫶🏻

Noah

I feel like Noah would invite you over to his place for dinner on a friday night. You'd eat together and drink some wine, then sit on his couch and talk. You'd offer him your help with the mess in kitchen. Noah would play some music while you start cleaning the dishes. After you put everything in the dishwasher, you lean back on the kitchen counter and watch Noah move closer to you, he'd gently pin you to the table with his hands on both your sides and then lowered his head to yours. He'd slowly rub his nose against yours, then he'd move his lips closer to yours in the slowest pace you could imagine, until he finally kissed you. First he'd give you some small kisses to see if you're okay, then he'd deepen the kiss and you'd wish he never pulls away.

Folio

My baby Folio, I feel like he'd wait for the right moment, but it would be too long for your liking. You'd try give him hints, look at his lips when he's talking or gently put your hand on his arm. But not a single hint is taken. So one day when you're hanging out and he's looking really good, his hair brushed back, his face freshly shaven, black tight t-shirt and his bike pants on, you can't help it and when you get a chance you gently grab his cheek and pull him in for a kiss. He'd be surprised for like a second and then kiss you right back, grabing you by your neck and regreting he didn't kiss you sooner.

Matt

Oh Matty boy would be so mesmerized by you, he'd want to kiss you ten seconds after meeting you. You'd take his breath away with your inteligence and beauty. He'd make sure that he has something to talk to you about before anyone else from the group can. So you two talk the whole night, jumping from topic to another one. Some small touches would be exchanged too, Matt's hand on your knee, your hand on his hand. He'd offer to walk you home from their place, hyping himself up the whole walk to your house. So when you say 'that's my door' he's stressed af and he speaks before he thinks 'can I kiss you?' and you say yes. He walks you back until your back touches the front door. His lips feel just right on yours, and I'll let you decide of you'd invite him inside or not, hehe.

Nick

Sweet sweet boy Nicky. After talking for some time he'd invite you to a BO local show, introduce you to the rest of the crew, show you around the backstage and spend time with you before it's time to go on stage. He'd be a happy bean that you get along with his friends and that he can take the next step with you. So when you two are alone in the bathroom to fix his hair before the show starts, he can't take his eyes off you. 'Can I maybe get a good luck kiss?' he'd ask and you'd gladly give him good luck kisses. When you pull away he puts your hair behind you ear and can't stop the smile forming on his face, that stays there until the show's over and he can kiss you again.

Jolly

So for Jolly I thought of something different, but I hope you like it. Jolly met you when he was visiting Sweden. You're a friend of a friend, someone that shouldn't have catch his eyes like you did. You got introduced at this little get together of a group of friends. You kept stealing glances the whole night, had some small talk and exchanged numbers, because Jolly wanted to see you again before he left. He'd take you out for a few times and it doesn't happen until the day before he has to leave. You're sitting at a bench in a park, listening to Jolly talking about the band and what's next for them. He says they're going on a european tour next month and that you could come with them for a few cities, because he really wants to see you again. When you agree he can't help it, he leans a bit towards you and waits for your reaction. And when you just smile and lean your head to meet his lips halfway he doesn't waste any more time and puts his mouth on yours.

[hollowaluminumvessel]

Post-114 (Still Not Ferin Well) headcanons 🤗

long post, Hcs for gillion, Jay and chibo under the cut ♥

Gillion(real)

-since his lay on hands wasn't an immediate reaction, all of his missing skin and the holes in his hands became scar tissue.

-once they got back to the ship and everything was calm again, his hair was soooo ratty and knotted. The crew spent ages combing it out, washing out the blood and grime, and making sure it was tied up next time they did something like that.

-when doppelgilly was voided and became a husk, Gillion felt bad. He knew that he shouldn't, he knew that doppelgilly was some evil copy of himself but doppelgilly looked, acted, and felt like himself. It was like looking in a mirror.

-to chip, Jay, and the rest of the crew, he has literally never looked worse. He looks exhausted, he looks beaten. To gil thoigh, he thinks that hes seen worse. He hasnt. The moment he was healed, they sent him to the tub.

-he nearly fell asleep in the elevator, and then while Jay and Gryffon helped with his hair.

-Gillion WILL have lasting trauma and you are NOT changing my mind. I mean no chance he doesn't right?? A Triton literally said to him, WHILE CHAINED, "YOU ABANDONED US." COME ON BRO THATS NOT EVEN THE WORST OF IT

-when Gil was first taken, his neck literally broke. It's verbally stated that if he hadn't casted death ward, he would literally be dead. And he was yanked upwards, as if he were hanged. That bitch should be DEAD AF DAWG. DEAD

Jay

-Jay is second guessing herself like the sky literally fell and it's her fault. She's questioning her role, her right to be a leader, even her life. She spends that night crying as quiet as she can. It felt good, she hasn't had a good silent sob session in a few months. She needed to let it out.

-When Jay put together that Gillion was actually doppelgillion, the loud noises started happening and she fuckin BOOKED IT over to the leviathan room. She got them into this mess, if she didn't get them out she'd never forgive herself.

-when gillion was sent to the tub and the rest of the crew left to do whatever they pleased, chip held Jay back. He told her that it wasn't all her fault. He said that he doesn't blame her for indulging on information about her sister, because why else are they going to the hole in the sea? For laughs? No, it's for chip to do the same thing. They hug then. And then they go about their day/night.

-Jay's hair is singed. When they finished with Gillions hair, they turn to Jay's and cut it as short as she'll let them. Her hair used to be around waist length, as she'd ignored it for a while, only doing so much as to brush it every morning and night to prevent knotting, and goddamn that shit was greasy. She wasn't the only one though so they didn't put it past her. Her hair after the cut is probably upper back to shoulder length. Queen comes along and helps her style it so she doesn't look stupid like she thinks she does.

-she denies that she likes it at all. She's lying and they all know it.

Chip

-im gonna be so fr with myself and say I haven't paid the most attention to chibo so if I get anything character-wise wrong, mercy 🙏

-chips bones are weaker now, some even broken from when he opened the drawer and the ringing rang. Griz said it splintered through his bones, I'm not letting that go

-anyway think like Hector from coco. Some bones are split and broken, some are being held together with medical tape, etc. Basically he's more broken than ever.

-in the fight with the holloweds on the ship. One of them managed to get a lucky shot right on the hole in his chest where his heart should be. Later that night, it burns. He scratches, he rubs, he does anything he can to make the burn go away but nothing works. It seems to have lessened the next day though, so he's not worried.

-theres discolored bruising around his neck where the slimy tongue is.

-on the same note, chip was being dragged much slower, so his neck didn't break, but he was held much tighter.

-when chip told Jay it wasn't her fault, it was all he could do to keep from crying. Because deep down, he thinks it was his. He's the one taking them to the hole, he's the one that brought them into this mess in the first place. He wished he'd never met anyone on this ship, so at least they'd be safe, home, and away from this. He's disappointed in himself. He's angry and sad and he's so upset that he's putting his crew through this nonsense.

-chip thinks the fact that doppelgilly pulled some of the worst cards back to back was hilarious. Then he looks at gillion later on and sees how he's contemplating and he rethinks. He doesn't really change his mind, but he rethinks.

[uhohbestie]

TAMN Outline

Since we're so close to the end of TAMN, I just wanted to share what Lock and my outline looks like, especially because neither of us ever used outlines for writing fic before this LOL

The only reason we have one for TAMN is because we were determined to finish this thing within a year of starting it and really wanted to post a chapter a week. Realistically, between work and irl and different timezones, there was no WAY we'd be able to keep up with a weekly posting schedule OR our self-imposed deadline if we were writing on the fly, so an outline was a good way to keep us on track.

(Details under the cut 'cause this got long af lmao)

SO FIRST OF ALL. We have quick chapter markers to refer to just to keep track of where we're at. The obvious ones are as follows:

🐈 Scar POV Chapters 🦜 Grian POV Chapters 🧟‍♂️ Some sort of significant zombie encounter that chapter 💦 Smut

I took this screenshot a WHILE back so Chapter 12 was actually split into 2 chapters, as was Chapter 14. So while the two emojis in Chapter 14 were meant to signify both Scar and Grian's POVs in that chapter, we ultimately just split it into a separate Scar chapter and a separate Grian chapter.

As for the other markers, this is what they mean at a glance:

✔️ Chapter is written ✔️✔️ Chapter has been edited by one person ✅ Chapter edited by both of us; Ready to Post 💯 Chapter has been posted to AO3

The last one isn't in the screenshot above, but is another one we use. And, ofc, if it doesn't have any of those markers beside it, it means the chapter hasn't been written yet.

Other than that, every chapter heading has not only the chapter number, but a reminder of where Scarian are, the time of day that chapter starts at, and how long of a walk/drive to their next destination remains. Plus, the very first point is always the current date and the weather (in Celsius 🍁) for the day. It looks something like this:

For a short chapter like Ch. 6 where not too much happens, the outline is just a handful of points. Also, we put a strike through things we skipped as we wrote when we felt they no longer fit the mood we were going for. (Basically, the outline is here as a guide and we adjust as needed for full creative freedom.)

Now the LINKS at the bottom lead to ANOTHER document where Lock and I's original conversations are sorted, in case we need to reference back to something we don't remember. That looks like something like this:

So when you click the link, there's a pop up that will take you directly to the original conversation about it located in another doc.

Basically, Lock and I had talked about TAMN for months before every writing it, so when I suggested making an outline, Lock was like "yeah, we basically have a skeleton already with how much we've talked about it". So what we did was, I copy-pasted EVERY conversation we had about TAMN into a Google Doc, and then Lock went through and SUMMARISED EVERYTHING in each conversation into The Main Points. After that, I went and put them into chronological order in a new doc which then became the outline we use today! 💫

Thus, when you click on a link from the outline, you get taken to the conversation summary, and if you scroll down past the summary you get to the actual conversation itself, minus our usernames/formatting/timestamps to make it easier to read at a glance:

And then, ofc, the further along we got in the fic, the more complicated the plot and the chapters got. So instead of short and sweet outlines with a link or two to old conversations, we had to come up with a lot of in between events that still somehow added to the plot and moved the story along to the main points we wanted to hit.

This was actually what took me the longest during outlining, and poor Lock kept going "JUST LEAVE IT BLANK, WE'LL FIGURE IT OUT AS WE GO" but I really wanted to have SOMETHING down just to give us a springboard to launch off of, because we had no idea if we'd have time WHILE writing to come up with anything.

(This continues on for more pages since we combined two chapters into one here, but this is the gist of what the outlines turned into per chapter as we got later and later in the fic LOL)

Turned out to be the right call, because it's saved our asses more than once when on a time-crunch! That said, there were a couple chapters where we DID in fact go "idk about what's in the outline, what if we do this instead?" and then do that because it Felt Right. So again, the outline was super helpful but not a hard and fast rule. (Though Lock and I had our fair share of "WHY DIDN'T YOU WRITE WHAT WAS IN THE OUTLINE"/"I FORGOR" moments that have been fun every step of the way 😂)

AAAND, I THINK THAT'S IT! THAT'S OUR OUTLINE! 🎉

Just wanted to make a post for it to document because it was such a novel experience, hahaha! Like I said earlier, neither Lock nor I ever used outlines before, even when writing fics together for other fandoms :')

I've got two completed longfics under my belt from before TAMN in my last fandom and I wrote those completely on the fly as well. Worked out just fine, but like. It took me 2-4 YEARS to finish the fics, and they were both MUCH shorter than TAMN is. 😅 Nothing wrong with that obviously, but it was a lot of fun to try something new and it felt incredible to be able to have a new chapter ready to go each week! ;w; 💜

We're almost done writing the fic and honestly idk what we're gonna do with all this free time once we've wrapped it up... time to come up with a new longfic ig LMAO

IF YOU MADE IT THIS FAR, HOORAY! 🎊

Here's a little bonus for you--

From the time I went to a gun range and shot both a rifle (near the head) and a shotgun (the spray by the stomach) and took notes so that we could use it in our fic JHGFDSKJHDF THE CRAZY RESEARCH WE'VE BOTH DONE FOR TAMN I STG 😂😂😂😂😂

[vintage-vermin]

I like Ongezellig, it popped up like half a decade ago on my feed randomly. Thought it was cutely done, saw Maya and was "oh no, she just like me fr fr" Waited and saw part 3 show up and then the rest.

I sometimes just have stuff that I love, but don't even bother engaging the fandom in any way. There are shows that have helped me be less of a cunty teenager decades ago that i love, but I have never gone to a fan forum or searched tags on any site. Sometimes I only search out the creative parts of the fandom and don't bother with discussions.

I love the random little things you can find on sites like Tumblr or other art-focused platforms for Ongezellig. Redraws, OC's in the shows style and fun pieces of some of the background characters Because oh, oh no, I'm not a fan of the rest of the community. But we'll hit that up later. Later. The creator made webcomics before. Had a little youtube channel with YTP's and some random reviewy stuff. Had an old Deviantart with some furry and the rare pony thing. Did an interview for a dutch comic collection ages ago that was a fun read.

(So, you only have to mail this letter) (Mailbox has a colloquial word where it's shortened to 'bus', same word as the vehicular one. "To put a letter on the bus") (... Yes, the one without wheels) He had a little comic named 'Caiasos' that was a bit of a disjointed adventure. Followed with Mayo & Curry. Simplistic 3-4 panel comics with a bit of a newspaper format.

(One day, Mayo wondered what ink tasted like) (You know that's poisonous, right?) (The box reads "Correction Fluid") A lot of the Mayo & Curry stuff is dutch snackbar puns or kinda standard early webcomic 'sleaze' as I can only describe it. Ever read like Chugsworth Academy?

(Hey Curry, it's not really clear what our relationship is in this comic. Are we family, girlfriends, roommates...) (Haha, silly Mayo. If you read the comics well it's very obvious.) (Anyway, time for walks!) Cute enough I suppose. I used to read Sexylosers when I was like 15, who am I to truly complain.

The creator did some creative & animation schooling and made a fun project. Some of you may have seen this one fly by, too!

Somewhere around the same time, he also made a little bumper for a comic festival.

He would also do little bits on dutch history, wether it be the Dutch History Iceberg video that got popular a bit ago or his more comedic Stille Willem videos. Studio Massa, the creator, was looking to get the Ongezellig show picked up. Some of the early episodes do throw in a school shooting thing and some very dutch middleschool discrimination to the Belgians. Granted, these are pilots. Would it have been picked up, I'm sure a few things here and there would get a fix up. This did not come to pass after a long time of trying to showcase it and even finishing his pilot series. However, he did land a job at a national tv station. I hope to see new projects of his over time, maybe even bring 1 or 2 of his old characters to new life in another show.

Little write-up on my experience with a subsection of it's fandom and community under the cut, feel free to ignore at your own discretion.

I went on a little deepdive to find out more a bit ago, I didn't follow the Petje-af or the Discord at the times of their inception or popularity. One of the first places you end up is imageboards and booru's. What a treat. Some of the ' documentation' of the shows reception online is very muddled. Encyclopedia Dramatica kinda stuff. Inane terms and barely understandable references to sites or people. He also has a KF thread that lists a large amount of uncomfortable information. By the time I found a few of those boards and booru's, it was already clear that they had some mass-extinction thing happen a few years ago and had to rebuild an imageboard and a booru or 2. Dragging myself to the very first page already got me greeted with "WE WILL REBUILD" sentiments. I get that there's a certain combination in the show that will bring in a specific audience. Underage characters and some historically charged discrimination. There's an underlying edginess to one of the characters that brings in a certain type of people. I have seen multiple posts and write-ups spanning a few years between eachother where people sort of announce they are done with the shows fanbase on this level. Lot's of adult art of these characters. While most places seem to be purged of this and plenty of (THIS POST HAS BEEN DELETED) messages all over by this time. There's a sentiment shared across a lot of these types of fans. "fucking tr00ns ruined my fucking show" I've come across plenty of junk where some one makes a call to action because they found some one with a trans flag in their bio and posted some art of the show. I can't really find the root of this problem. All that seems to have actually happened is that a buncha people were being massive bigots in the discord, got banned for it and then they got indignant about it. There's mention that some one spammed some boards with the show ages ago and somehow invited tons of transphobia into the room. Like I said, it's all muddled and written from certain perspectives.

It's like that one part of the K-on fanbase really. I just find strange and a bit of a shame that there's such an active and hostile subsection of this little fandom. I have come across multiple write-up from people who just can't interact with their fun little show without some out-there types showing up. Even little videos that try to bring this show to a larger audience find their comments littered with bizarre callouts to the small imageboard groups. A prized possession of that snippet of the community is a game about Mymy shooting up her school. I understand this is supposed to be a niche layer of fandom that's still pretty isolated to 4/5 sites at most. I understand that there will always be outliers. I dunno, frustration about a fun little show made manifest.

[fuckyeahpedropascal]

Pedro boys smoker matrix

Friendly discussion and even fiery debate welcome as always! 🔥

I'm back! In true Cee fashion, this idea attacked me from nowhere and I couldn't stop until I was done. This was so much fun to put together, and I have many thoughts to share under the cut.

• Masterlist •

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Pedro boys as Spice Girls (R)

Pedro boys chattiness matrix

Chain smoker

Javier

The OG who makes these sucking on these cancer sticks look sexy AF, he is the only one out of the Pedro boys who deserves this accolade. Whether he's lighting up, talking around a cigarette, staring into space smoking on one - it doesn't matter what he's doing with it, he sells it.

Stress smoker

Tim Rockford, Dave York, Marcus Pike, Maxwell Lord

I wanted to put Tim in the chain smoker category, I'm convinced this stressed detective easily smokes a pack a day, but since we weren't treated to any evidence of his smoking habits, I decided to put him in this one instead. The others are pretty self-explanatory given the nature of their jobs, but can I just say - I would kill for a glimpse of Dave York smoking.

Social smoker

The Thief, Max Phillips, Nico, SNL Charlie

You know these guys wouldn't miss the chance to schmooze, especially over a cigarette.

Weed only

Dieter Bravo, Ezra, Oberyn Martell, Javi Gutierrez

I mean, if they had weed in Westeros, Oberyn would be all over it, it fits right in with his lifestyle. Both Dieter and Javi do recreational drugs in the movies, and Ezra? He gives the vibes that he grows his own weed.

Quit after kids

SNL Meemaw, Joel Miller, Frankie Morales, Jack Daniels

Don't @ me, Jack didn't lose his baby and his wife, he had two more kids and is living happily ever after 😭 We saw Joel's reaction to Tommy smoking, and I like to think that Frankie quit smoking and drugs after his baby arrived. And you just know that Meemaw used to smoke cos she's badass.

Never smoked

Din Djarin, Pero Tovar, Edward, Ricky Hauk

Din for obvious reasons of his religion, and Pero because I did some *research* and the movie is set in the early 11th century, which is before tobacco was introduced to Spain or China. But I just know that Pero would be a chain smoker in another life. It's so much fun including the two baby P's in this compilation - I've never watched Buffy or Touched by an Angel, but you can't convince me these two literal angels have ever touched a cigarette.

[sabh0]

What's your opinion on the anime? I find it pretty funny, but I can't say that I am not disappointed to see so many scenes missing.

For exemple, I wanted to see Dazai cry laugh at Chuuya's young mistress act, show that it was a joke shared by both of them, rather than one made to us at the expense of Chuuya. They took a genuinely funny moment and made me cringe SO hard for no reason T^T

God i could go on for hours about how Bones ruined this series. I'm obviously thankful we have an anime adaptation but. Well just compare bsd anime to jjk one or smth and yeah.

I will be complaining more under the cut,,

First the overall writing choices:

-Deleting or changing skk scenes to the point im not even shocked when ppl think these two actually somehow hate each other.

-The way they portrayed Sigma. They deleted half of his personality and backstory. And just speedrunned the Sky Casino arc like if seeing that place was giving them nightmares. No wonder he gets mischaracterized now.

-Tachihara's internal conflict about belonging to either Port Mafia or The Hunting Dogs? Bones never heard about it. It's not like IT'S A VERY IMPORTANT PLOT POINT.

-Akutagawa's whole character in the anime is just 'edgy and angry and bad grr'. In the manga he had some 'kind' or even seelf-reflection moments that were ommited in the anime. Like where he realizes defeating Atsushi didn't satisfy him (ship fight, season 1). Or when he gives files about the orphanage Director to Atsushi and says he won't fight him today because he lost someone impirtant to him. Sskk vs Fukuchi fight?? No scene where Sskk r helping each other walk. Instead we get Akutagwa just pushing Atsushi away. Won't even start on that last smile that looked more like another angry expression.

-THE WAY THEY CHANGED "DAZAI'S ENTRANCE EXAM" INTO SOME CURRENT TIMELINE EPISODES. IT MAKES ME SO ANGRY LIKE. THIS NOVEL WAS SO GOOD. Showing both Dazai and Kunikida's characters and partnership so well. But no. Let's just??? Put Atsushi there. Let's delete the fact this thing happened 2 years ago. And let's delete everything that was actually important about it, too.

-also some changes in the Dark Era arc. Like. Lord. Dazai is so much more emotional in the novel. His expressions r described so well. But the anime either shows him from the back at those moments (him finding out Oda was almost killed by a sniper in Ango's room) or just deletes/changes the thing (Oda dying. This scene is so emotional in the novel. From the description u can tell Dazai was crying/on the verge of it as Odasaku died. But in the anime he looks calm and then we get a far aeay frame and he just. Gets up and that's it yeah.) They also deleted the scene of him visiting Oda's grave.

-The way they rushed seasons 4 and 5. Just to give us an episode that goes further than the manga and has the shittiest writing ever when it comes to skk's plan revelation (im so angry about this u guys have no idea. I sincerely believe that if this episode never came out, the manga would go differently bc there's no way that Asagiri who wrote things like Stormbringer suddenly thought that some dollar store vampire make up will fool a guy who's centuries old and literally lived next to vampires. But well!! Seems like these two speeches Dazai gave weren't important at all and now we can just forget about them yippiee)

I could definitely mention WAYY more examples of that but this is already long af. Like guys. I know u cant fit everything in an animated show. It takes time to make it and all but. Bro. The character's in the anime r so shallow compared to their original versions.

.

Now onto the artstyle of the anime.

Lord. U know? It was actually pretty in the first 2 seasons. The official arts at the time were also really nice to look at.

No idea what happened later. Why did Bones suddenly decide that those ugly turtle smiles r gonna become the main thing in the character design. Why so many fisheyes. Atp sometimes i look at the official art and i go oh lord even i could fix it. It really feels like they draw some characters ugly on purpose now (Chuuya being the main victim for unknown reasons).

Tho i must say they have their moments even now. Some last episodes of season 5 weren't really bad, especially the Meursault part (love them for animating Dazai and Sigma dancing so well. And for that 101 animation. And maybe for the heartattack they gave me with 109 and Chuuya shooting Dazai so many times.)

.

On some other things, i really like the music! Bsd openings and endings never miss,,,

[yaksinhats]

aaaa I love Arthur!! (very much a Paladin Durge enjoyer)

does Arthur ever drop the "goody-toe shoes paladin" act at any point or does it start becoming genuine? is he keen on embracing Bhaal or is he less eager about the whole "inseperable from Bhaal" thing by the time he gets to Act 3 and... y'know, actually has an identity seperate from Bhaal?

First off, aaa thank you so much!! (As anyone can tell from looking at my blog for more than 5 seconds) big durge paladin enjoyer myself, I think there’s a lot of juicy stuff to really dig into making durge that class.

Secondly — these are fantastic questions! Thank you so much for sending me this ask it gave me a good opportunity to write out some thoughts, and write I did! These really get at the crux of his character, and so my answer is a bit long winded, hopefully it is not too much of a bore to read. Put all this under the cut, because it is like I said… long winded.

To fully answer these questions, I want to start by breaking down the way I talk about my durge.

There are three sections of his life —

1. Pre being brought into the cult of bhaal (named Eliànder Daenan by his mortal adoptive parents)

2. Living in the cult of Bhaal (Named The Dark Urge and Karis by Bhaal) (side note: he makes a notable escape attempt during this time, but that’s a discussion for later)

3. Post nauteloid and amnesia (Named Arthur by himself)

My take on these different sections of his life is that, despite everything he has experienced, amnesia, being functionally kidnapped into an apocalyptic death cult, etc etc, he is, at a fundamental level, the same person. However, his life circumstances are so different in each phase of his life that Eliander, Karis, and Arthur, often have drastically different and wildly contradictory outlooks on life and how they view themselves.

For example — Arthur and Karis are both yearning for normalcy. Karis is yearning for normalcy he has lost, and Arthur is yearning for a normalcy he never had. It shows in the way they dress — Arthur’s paladin fit is what he is most comfortable wearing, while Karis’ simple (and gay af) shirt pants belt and boots are what he is most comfortable wearing. They are both wearing costumes of the men they want to be.

They are also both (and Eliander, but in a much more “normal” way) deeply drawn to the philosophy of Cyric, the god of lies, religion, but that’s a tangent for another time.

So to break this down more, I’ll start with Karis. At 80 years old (I’m treating this as the equivalent of elf 16, and saying elves come to maturity at 100), he essentially is violently kidnapped from his family and tortured into becoming the chosen one of an apocalyptic murder cult. All good durge stuff! Without getting too into specifics, the way I’ve thought about it is this he’s suddenly brought into a situation where, if he denies his “true nature”, he is tortured. If he accepts his “true nature”, he is treated like God Himself and given near absolute power over the people who have been torturing him. (& On top of all that, they keep feeding him human flesh and…. It tastes really good. This is pretty hard to ignore evidence that these people might be making some points).

All that to say, Karis starts living pretty quickly with this insane cognitive dissonance. He quickly takes up the mantle of The Dark Urge to end his own torture. He’s doing all this to try to preserve his sense of self, but the only way he can see to do that is by internalizing the ideas that the cult keeps pushing on him that there is no real difference between him and Bhaal. It’s very, very messy. At his worst moments, he genuinely believes he is Bhaal. At his best, he clearheadedly sees this as a lie necessary to his survival, and how he feels about it can completely change from one minute to the next.

The one thing that remains constant in all of this is that Karis always hates Bhaal, and yearns for any opportunity to rebel or defy him. He just also sometimes thinks he is Bhaal.

Arthur, on the flip side, does not understand any of his life circumstances. All he knows is that there is something very different about him than other people, and is wildly overcorrecting in a desperate attempt to fit in.

The paladin guise is started without much thought — the tabard is the armor he was fitted with before being sent out of moonrise, and he has his wits around him enough to hide his amnesia from (most) of his companions. He knows he doesn’t know shit, doesn’t want to be taken advantage of, and, working with the tools at hand, spins together a lie of fake paladin order.

It works out pretty well for him, all things considered! It turns out paladins are Respected Authority Figures, and this makes bossing people around pretty easy in some circumstances.

Then Arthur is caught red handed in Alfira’s guts, and he learns the hard way what he already suspected — he needs to convince the band of travelers he’s found himself that he is not enough of a threat to be killed or exiled — especially when he learns his freedom is dependent on Shadowheart’s mysterious artefact.

And so he leans hard into the Goody-Two-Shoes paladin routine. He can sometimes convince strangers and passerbys he fits the bill, but he knows he can no longer convince his companions he actually is the heroic paladin who has it all together. So he settles for trying to pretend to be someone who wants to be a “good paladin” or at least wishes he was.

I’ve joked a few times Karis & Arthur are very bard coded paladins, and it’s because at the heart of it, they love to perform, and to them, their oath is an act. Arthur’s not thinking about it this way, but at the end of the day, he loves getting to play the part of the dashing hero. It’s fun. It’s silly. He gets to be stupid and goofy, hoist his sword in the air and claim to be rallying people in the name of justice. And most of all, he gets to pretend for a little bit he isn’t categorically evil and doomed to a life of exile if is true nature is revealed! What a thought! On top of that, when he pulls it off, people like him. He thinks he’s doing a bit, and eventually becomes slightly horrified to learn that he actually likes the bit, and has made the bit his whole personality.

I’m sure you can speculate as to where that might end up for him.

& I think that answers your question about if the act ever becomes genuine. As for Arthur, and what he thinks about Bhaal —

Arthur likes violence. He likes murder, and he likes cannibalism. He enjoys them, and when he thinks he can get away with them, he often tries to. But like I said earlier regarding Alfira — he quickly learns he needs to keep his urges under tight control. If anything like Alfira ever happens again — he could be easily cast from the group, become a cultist or a mindflayer, or just get outright killed by one of his companions who will not tolerate unwarranted bloodshed. (Cough cough, Lae’zel).

Also — he hates being told what to do.

So when Bhaal comes in and tries to force his hand, even though Arthur barely understands what is happening, and does not know this is Bhaal, Arthur rebels, and Arthur rebels hard.

Arthur is someone who was always going to reject Bhaal — but not because he thinks his actions as durge are morally reprehensible. And so when he’s free, well, it creates a bit of an interesting situation.

I hope that very long winded explanation answers your question, and again, thank you so much for sending in the ask! I had a lot of fun typing this all up. If you want to read more, my coauthor inkymouse on ao3 and I write Astarion fic where we use Arthur as our deuteragonist durge (its what that dialogue snippet form earlier is from). We actually just finished part one, which spans the first two weeks of the tadpole gang’s travels together post natueloid crash, and you can read it here!

[ellouchi]

Interesting bits I found from my Mouthwashing playthrough pt 1

When you watch someone play, you can't really interact with the game in a way you want. I really really really wanted to look at nooks and crannies of MW, and I finally got to it!!!

Disclaimer: what I'm talking about isn't something groundbreaking and may seem obvious to you and maybe you've already seen some of the things I'll mention. Sorry if there are typos I'm writing this almost at 3 pm. Be kind please or I'll mentally explode you.

Starting strong with "Why Curly didn't do anything about Jimmy". Curly has been working for Pony Express for 10 years, and if the demo is cannon, Curly knows the protocols and policies of the company like the back on his hand. Given this and what Jimmy said about staying "model capitan", Curly's inaction can be partially attributed to him simply not wanting to put himself and/or others under company's scrutiny.

Crew beds! Daisuke having his personal belongings close, Jim having ... a mug, and Anya being the only one to make her bed. A bit odd that her bed is this close to Jimmy's, but she did say she had troubles with sleep and is probably busy with Curly so she doesn't sleep there often/long. It's kinda funny how Swansea's bed is the furthest away because "he snores" lol.

Next: books in infirmary. Very poor assortment: Intro to medicine, First year nurse, First aid on the frontline (?), Human anatomy 101, Epidemiology (??).... Pony Express sure does know how to cut corners. It makes Anya's endeavours even more impressive: if those are the only medical books she has at her disposal, it's a miracle she managed to keep 4 degree burns victim alive for around 5 months with barebones knowledge.

Jimmy beating the "stinky" allegations!!!!! (well sort of) Rat loves to shower!!!!

"Up or down? Illusion of choice"

"Clown mania! Learn what it means to be clown meat!" The way I "Umm??"-ed when I read the clown meat bit. Devs are freaky af...

I didn't include their whole dialogue but 1) Jimmy working with Swansea longer than Daisuke yet not making any effort to understand the people he works with... 2) Jimmy says THIS to Daisuke and then turns around and BULLIES Anya FOR NO REASON??? Pissed me off so damn much when it clicked.

Continued in part two because there is an image limit I think!!!

[katkarlov]

HEARTBREAKING: The Worst Person You Know Just Made a Great Point

So, yeah, the House of Hope. This is Ari, my half-wood elf ranger, my first playthrough. It's not finished, and like every true BG3 fan, I have started several since. With this one, I'll admit, I got frustrated. I have a lot of characters in classes I'd never play, and I'm playing all of them at levels I never reached, so I don't have any idea WTF I am doing.

Luckily, Buck and my nesting partner came to the rescue. My partner has an excellent grasp of the systems of D&D and how I play games, so he and Buck were able to help talk me through the basement fight. Once they did that, I could get through Ansur, Orin, Cazador, and the Sharrans on my own. So, ordered some pizza, fed the pup, and got started on the House of Hope!

Putting the rest under cut because it's spoiler-y. Proceed with caution.

BUT! Before we do? Free Astarion pic. Stay cunty, my friend.

Ari: We've all gotta have a thing. My thing is kissing the sad-faced idiot to the left of me.

This is the face of a man who's like, "I'm going to perform the shit out of this ritual!"

Also, I fucking hate these robes. How are these in the game? My man looks like a sack of potatoes. That is BURLAP. That is a very rough, loose weave. It is mad itchy, like gains AC because no one wants to touch it itchy. It has a cream turtleneck... or worse, a turtleneck dickie?! Bro is rich (thanks to this reddit thread, this is now my headcanon) and powerful af, and they put him in these? Larian truly hates Gale Dekarios. Also, the glasses, which I love, make him look like a dork, but that's on me and I accept it. Fucking nerd. I love him.

These three consistently serve the best expressions. Halsin? Chillin. Astarion (who I ascended in this playthrough for the story)? "So, a new little freak then? That tracks..." Ari? Alarmed and moving backward toward her very powerful wizard boyfriend. Like, "hey babe, please tell me you have Hold Person prepared, just in case..."

Also, I decided to be autistic about the House of Hope. I have pretty annoying pathological demand avoidance, and this comes out pretty hard in video games. So, I decided I wouldn't do this the way it could or should be done. No, I was doing it my way, and if that meant save scumming, I would be save scumming and I did. A lot.

I wanted one thing: not to kill Haarlep. I found out you could not kill them, so I decided I wouldn't. The advice to use Supreme Sneak to break into the safe doesn't work easily. You will come out of stealth if you perform an action while using Supreme Sneak. This led to me shuffling as close as possible, trying to stay out of sight, etc., only to trigger the conversation immediately. Eff that. I had Gale prepare Greater Invisibility, which worked great for me. After this, I grabbed the hammer and the gauntlets and started hauling ass to the prison.

So, me? I'm an idiot. As I've mentioned, I have the unholy alliance of ADHD and autism. This means I get hyperfixated on details and entirely ignore other ones. This came together with me assuming that the bath in Haarlep's room only recovered HP, so the first few times I ran to the prison (especially when I tried after fighting Haarlep), no one had any spells; everyone was just running for their lives. You get to the fight in the prison, and it's a mess. I mention this to my nesting partner, who, bless him, knows this about me and says, "Hey... I think the bath is a free long rest. Test it for me?" Well, well, well... he was right! So, that, along with not doing the Haarlep fight, made that run boring but easy.

OK, so I'm in the prison. The first time I did this, I was stupid. Only Astarion and Ari were in the room when I started the fight and had Astarion try to free Hope. Why? First, I was clearly insane. Secondly, yes, Astarion has Longstrider and moves further, but he is 160 lbs wet and got destroyed. Do you know who moves quickly and has chest hair? Sing it if you know it! It's this guy!

Yes, I know I'm not normal about this man. Luckily, my nesting partner thinks it's hilarious. Also, this is him in some good armor in my artificer run. So much better. This is a man who used to be the archmage of the City of Splendors and possesses a scroll of revivify.

While he doesn't have much better survivability than our lovely Astarion, he does have something Astarion doesn't: many Misty Step casts. Also, I figured this out mid-therapy session, so my therapist got to hear all about how I'd figured out how I was going to smash them crystals. So, giving the hammer to Gale and everyone in the room meant that the enemies were downed before we had the crystals down, even with one of my primary damage dealers doing otherwise occupied.

Went upstairs, cleaned up the hallways, time to fight Raphael. Let's go!

Raph girlies, I get it. Big disappointed parent energy. I have trauma, I understand. Mine just came out as a need for Gomez energy. To each their own...

Firstly, I love that, even angry, Raphael is a diva. He's not going to be distracted by emotions. No, he has a monologue prepared, and by the gods, you will be listening to it. I also forgot that he has his own damn theme song, which had me cracking up trying to finish this fight at 11PM.

That is a great reference to Henry here, especially from a British guy.

So, Yurgir. I did kill him back in Act 2, but I thought, "what the hell, let me try convincing him!" I had three inspiration. First three rolls? Meh. I'm like, "OK. One more. I want one inspiration, just in case..."

It ended up being pointless because dude did fuck all, but I got it. I didn't have to fight him and that means I'm a Good Person.

So, remember I said I cheesed the ritual to get here? Well, it only makes sense that I should cheese the final fight. How, you ask? Well, a bit of luck and a geodesic dome. Thanks to an arcane recovery charge, I cast Globe of Invulnerability twice, leaving Gale, Astarion, Hope and Ari protected. At the same time, Halsin, as an owlbear, called Raphael out, WWE-style.

After that, I destroyed one of the soul towers, and owlbear Halsin could keep Raphael stunlocked until the last turn when he just beat the snot out of him. Everyone else took care of the cambions, who also enjoyed the warm embrace of the geodesic dome far too much for my tastes, but we got it done. Time to go back to the material plane, drop the gloves, and go home to kiss the wizard for a job well done.

Well, the kick in the ass is that after all of this, two days worth of playtime, I didn't even need to do it. See, my stupid idiot brain assumed that freeing Orpheus meant no one was forced to become an illithid. So, because the Gith have been a thorn in my side and Lae'zel accidentally became permadead in the Orin fight via a bug (she died by my accidental damage standing on the altar, but awake and freed), we're siding with the Emperor this run. Who am I gonna squidify? Wyll? No. He's just a baby.

[maliciouslove]

𝕃𝕚𝕝𝕒𝕔

SFW, shopping district!AU, aged up characters (21+) 

pairing // todoroki shouto x reader

summary // a story you’ve never shared with anyone before is how you came to love flowers as much as you do. it’s simple really—it all started with him. it all started with the boy who brought you a single flower every day of the week when you scraped your knee riding his bike. your first love. but how long will it take for him to come to understand it?  

word count // 4.2k 

tags // CEO!shouto, florist!reader, childhood friends to lovers, fluff, (hurt) comfort, mutual pining (except shouto doesn’t know he’s pining), shouto with long hair, shouto is dense af, jealousy

Do you believe in soulmates?

You could understand why so many people thought of soulmates as some sort of far fetched, overly romanticized pipe dream, but honestly—you knew better. Because you had already met your soulmate. 

The evidence pointing to that?

You’ve known him since birth basically, being born less than a year after him. You grew up together, living two houses down from each other. You spent your entire youth together: from playing in the sandbox, making pretend meals out of mud and stones and using leaves as money, to being classmates throughout middle school and highschool, always walking home together and doing homework in your living room late into the night. 

The two of you were truly inseparable and shared everything—so when he got a bike at the age of six and you didn’t, of course he was more than willing to share. He wanted to teach you how to ride, put his little blue helmet on your head and fastened it under your chin, calming you down because you were nervous. 

“But what if I fall…”

“I’ll catch you.”

And the way his big heterochromatic eyes were fixed on you, full of promise and safety, gave you all the courage you needed for you to get on that bike. And he tried, he really did try to catch you when you lost control of the bike and swerved right into your front yard, trashing your mother’s flower garden and falling face first into the peonies. 

That little boy was so worried, mortified by the idea that you got hurt because of him, he simply could not stop apologizing. Even when you told him through tears that it doesn’t really hurt that much. I just scraped my knee a little, I’m okay!

But it wasn’t okay for him because he promised to keep you safe and failed. So he stood by your side, tightly holding your little hand in his as your mother was cleaning up your wounds and lecturing you about safety. And his tiny chest would feel tight every time he looks at your injury, eyes heavy with guilt and worry. 

For the next week until your scrapes were fully healed, every time he’d come to your house to play he would bring a small flower with him to give to you. 

The first day, he brought you a daffodil, clutching it in his hand as he nervously presented it to you. The second day, it was a tulip, most likely stolen from his mother's garden. On the third, he had a wild rose, a few cuts visible on his fingers, proof of his struggle to get the flower for you. On the fourth, he had three geraniums in hand that quite frankly looked bigger than him, but he smiled brightly as he gave them to you. On the fifth, he got you marigolds and taught you how to make a flower crown out of them, and on the sixth he got you peonies, bringing some for your mom as well as an apology for ruining her garden. And finally, on the seventh day, he got you lilacs. 

“To congratulate you on your recovery.”

“It was just a scrape, Shouto…”

“So?” He was then crouching down to inspect your knee, satisfied that the scrape wasn’t going to leave a scar. 

“Why flowers?”

“Because they’re pretty like you.” 

What a simple, yet powerful answer. Despite your young age, you thought long and hard about his answer as you tentatively took care of the lilacs. With every day that the flower wilted, a fondness bloomed in your heart, and you learned that you like flowers, that you very much like the boy that gave them to you. 

After that, there was nothing that could tear you two apart, not even college. True, you’d spend a lot more time apart, face timing every other night and texting on the daily, but you’d still hold onto old traditions. You’d always be at his door at exactly 00:00 on his birthday, singing (poorly) a birthday song holding out a dessert you made yourself—a muffin with a candle stuck in the middle, strawberry shortcake (his favourite), cheesecake, cherry pie, even some pudding once. 

He would always pick matching Halloween costumes, and he’d always walk you home every chance he could. He remembers all your favourite coffee orders and, without failure, texts you good morning and goodnight. He watches out for you and holds your hand when you cross the street, squeezing once before he lets you go. And without failure every year for your birthday he gives you a bouquet of lilacs that’s simply twice as big as you are. 

You always believed that with time, Shouto would notice the longing in your eyes. After all, you weren’t really hiding it. Quite frankly, your love for him was seeping out of you: far too large for your body to contain. Every word you spoke to him was harbouring feelings, but alas, they were feelings that never reached him, their fingertips millimetres away from his heart. So close, yet too far away. 

But that’s okay. You loved him just the way he was—kind, reliable, and just a tad clueless. What he lacked, you made up for, and the same was true the other way around. You fit together like two pieces of a puzzle. He just didn’t know what that puzzle was yet. But that’s okay. You loved him just the way he was. 

And before you knew it, college was over too. Shouto went off to become the CEO of a big company. He was brilliant at his job. But then again, he was brilliant at most things. He could play the piano at the age of four and the violin by the time he was six. He was an incredible athlete, and he always had the best grades. Valedictorian. Graduating summa cum laude. 

You? You stayed true to your heart and did the thing that brought you most joy. You opened your own little flower shop in the old shopping district where you grew up. You’ve wanted one since you were six, and you’ve held the vision of what your workplace will look like since you were ten. You studied hard and went on multiple internships to polish your skills as a florist so you could stand where you are now. 

Your dream was slowly coming to life. 

You had just finished furnishing the store and setting up for your grand opening the next day when you heard a soft knock on the door, and a familiar face smiling behind it. And there they were—lilacs. 

“Congratulations.” His voice is low, serene, but his eyes hold a sparkle of excitement, a glimmer of pride. “You always wanted to have your own little shop. I’m so proud of you.”

His smile is enough to silence all your worries. As you lead him up to your little apartment above the shop, you tell him all about how you almost weren't going to be ready on time for the opening, about the delivery service that brought you the wrong order and now there were no red roses in your store. What self-respecting florist doesn’t have red roses in their store?

He told you about his work as you were placing the bouquet of lilacs into a big marble vase. Something about the stock market that you didn’t really understand, but you nodded along and listened closely anyway. He loosens his tie and makes himself comfortable in your home as he always has, but he doesn’t notice how long you stare at his tie. How much you wish you could just… pull him in by the tie. Does this man even know how good he looks in a suit? 

It’s always the same: He comes when he can, stays for dinner, talks about everything and anything—or nothing at all. His presence is soothing, yet so large; it fills every nook and cranny in your apartment. He belongs. With you. After dinner he doesn’t stay long, his workdays are longer, harder, so he can’t stay as long as he wishes to. But that’s okay. Because he kisses your forehead every time, and it sets off fireworks in your chest. 

“I’ll come tomorrow too. For your opening.” 

He was so big now, he took up the entire doorway. How time had changed him. His childish round cheeks were now gone, instead, he had a defined jaw. His big round eyes now had laugh lines around them. His hair was also longer now, combed and tied in a ponytail. He didn’t wear short jeans anymore but rather an expensive suit and watch. But he was still your Shouto. The boy who has always been there for you. 

“You don’t have to, you know, your schedule is busy enough as it is.” You offer him a way out, but you secretly hope he comes anyway. You want to see him again. You want him to say he’s proud of you again. You want him.

“I insist.” He smiles reassuringly. “I want to see your dream come true.”

At this you can’t help but laugh a little. 

“I owe it all to you.”

“Nonsense. You got here all on your own.” 

You shake your head. It’s not what you meant. I fell in love with flowers the day I fell in love with you. But the words never come out. They become a part of the graveyard of unspoken words that rests on your lips. But that’s okay. This is all you need. 

It’s okay.

Once he leaves the apartment feels much colder and your arms ache. Your heart feels just a little heavier once again. Just a little though. You’ve become exceptionally good at keeping these thoughts to yourself and channelling them into your work instead. You let your flowers talk for you. 

Carnations—I miss you.

Forget-me-nots—Please remember me. Selfishly, I hope you never forget me.

Amaryllis—the pride that stops me from revealing my feelings. 

Pink camellias—I long for you. To hold you. To call you mine.

Yellow tulips—a symbol of my hopeless, unrequited love. 

And of course, lilacs—you are my first love.

This is the great thing about flowers. Like relationships, they require a lot of love and care, and like long-lasting friendships, they carry so much meaning. Friendships, just like flowers, carry countless memories hidden between each petal, they carry expectations—the sun will rise each morning, the flowers will bloom, and he will always be right by your side.

Flowers hold so much meaning—for every feeling blooming in your chest, there is a flower to symbolize it. 

The petals of unspoken words lie heavy in your chest, but perhaps one day those petals will get scattered, and at least one will reach his heart. 

But for now… this is okay. This is enough.

It’s already the end of May, but it’s extraordinarily cold tonight, and the wind is unkindly bending tree branches under its will. There is no moon, nor any stars, just clouds of uncertainty and doubt. Flowers cannot bloom in darkness, so they wait for morning light. The same applies to people—hope comes to us at dawn. 

Shouto wakes up promptly at 5:55AM, exactly five minutes before his alarm. He’s barely awake, but his mind drifts to you. Would you be able to take an hour off for lunch? Perhaps dinner would be better? He wants to celebrate the happy occasion. He wants to see you, even if it’s for 10 minutes only. Even if it’s less, he wants to be close to you, to feel the comfort of your presence, to see you smile and hear you laugh. 

He doesn’t think twice as he picks out his suit, a neat lavender coloured tie to match his little pocket square. He has four other ties like this one, something about the colour just feels right to him. The first half of his day goes by in a blur, practically working on autopilot as his mind just keeps going back to you. Are you smiling right now? Is the opening day going well? 

He imagines you happily buried under a pile of flowers and chuckles to himself—something Midoriya doesn’t fail to notice, but evidently chooses not to ask about anyway. The green-haired man had a pretty good idea what was on his boss’s mind anyway. Which is why around 11:30 he practically kicks Shouto out of their shared office and reassures him that he has things handled. 

“You have more important things to do now, go on.”

His heart is beating quite fast in his chest, so he deliberately slows his pace in an attempt to calm himself. But it appears that the closer he gets to your little shop, the faster his heart seems to race. He briefly considers consulting a cardiologist, but shoves the thought aside as soon as he can make out your silhouette behind the register. Your voice carries through the shop like a melody, and for a while he just stands by the entrance and listens. 

“It’s been sooo long, I’ve missed you Denks, you should swing by more often! I never see your face anymore.” 

Shouto can’t quite see your face from the broad shoulders of the blonde man in front of the register, but he can hear the little pout in your voice. He can vividly picture it. 

“You’re absolutely right, let me make it up to you! Let me take you out to dinner sometime? I’d love to catch up, spend some quality time with my favourite florist.” 

There is a pang in Shouto’s heart. Who is this? A friend of yours? But he knows all your friends? 

“You know what, I’d love that. How about sometime this weekend?”

“Perfect! I’ll text you the details, okay? I gotta run for now, but thank you for the beautiful flowers! Almost as pretty as you are!” 

The unknown man leans over the register and places a tiny kiss on your cheek, grinning widely at you and waving his hand goodbye. He doesn’t even look at Shouto as he passes him by at the door. 

“Shooo! You came!” He barely has time to compose himself and react to you throwing yourself on him and wrapping your hands around his neck. The moment you touch him all his previous thoughts fly out the window. Nothing else matters but you being in his arms. 

“Of course I came, it’s my girl’s big day today.” 

Once again, everything feels easy, natural. It feels like home, like you are a place he can return to whenever he needs to, a safe haven. The rest is easy—talk, have lunch, laugh, discuss visiting your parents soon, having a family dinner together since it’s been some time. But the question remains, gnawing at him. 

“Hey, um… who was that blonde man you were talking to right before I walked in? You two seemed familiar?” He hated how the word tastes in his mouth: bitter and unpleasant.

“Hm? Oh, Denki? Old college mate, but he quit his study midway because he moved away for a while. Apparently he kept my number, reached out to me the other day saying he’s back in town so I told him to stop by my shop!” You smile fondly, and it tugs at Shouto’s heart. It feels strange. His hands are sweating. 

It doesn’t feel easy anymore. 

It doesn’t feel natural. 

As usual, he walks you back home, wishes you luck with the rest of the day, and gives you a forehead kiss, yet it doesn’t give him the same feeling of calmness it usually does. It feels stiff. Rushed. Why are his legs carrying him out of your shop so quickly? Why is his mind racing without having any particular direction? Why? 

Once back in the office he thinks he could bury these feelings with work, he hoped it would be a sufficient distraction until he can schedule an appointment with a good doctor. But Midoriya beats him to it. 

“What’s up with you?”

“Nothing, just have a lot on my mind. Need to focus.”

“Uh, no. Spill. What’s on little Shouto’s mind?”

And Shouto knows better than to argue and evade. They have been friends for years, and Izuku Midoriya is known for his persistence and his need to help others. A good man, a man he trusted with half his company, so why shouldn’t he trust him with the mess of feelings in his head? 

So he does. He tells him about the other man, the conversation, the date plan for the weekend, the ugly feelings that it gave rise to, the struggle to understand them. The youngest Todoroki bared his heart to his friend, hoping that he would have some insight, an answer as to why he feels so strange. 

But he just laughs. An exasperated chuckle, and he buries his face in his hands, fingers running through green locks as some sort of ritual to help him remain calm.

“You cannot possibly be this oblivious, Sho…”

“What do you mean?” he replies in earnest. Izuku sighs once again. 

“Okay, uhm… is this the first time you feel like this?”

Shouto ponders for a moment and searches his memory. The answer comes quite fast, no, this wasn’t the first time. It has happened before—in middle school when you got paired to do a science project with another boy and you stayed with him after school. He felt a similar pang when you would laugh at that other boy’s jokes. When you would lend him a pen, or your notes.

And then again in high school, when all the other boys were raging with hormones and would stare at your legs a little too long. I made him frustrated, angry even. Why? When one of his classmates hinted he had a crush on you, it made his chest feel heavy. It made him green with envy, it made him lose sleep that night. Yet his heart felt as light as a feather as soon as he learned you rejected his advances. 

It had happened before. He had been jealous before. 

“And why do you think you were jealous?” Izuku pressed further, giving Shouto enough room to sort his own feelings out. 

“Because… I respect her, and I want the best for her?” He still sounds puzzled, so the green-haired man gives him another gentle nudge. 

“I’m sure that’s true, but is that all it is? Do you think anyone is ever going to be good enough for her?” Izuku raises his eyebrow, lips curling into a knowing smile.

“No.” Shouto shoots out immediately, eyebrows furrowed and chewing on his lower lip. 

“No. Nobody will ever be good enough, I… Fuck.” His foot was furiously bouncing under the table, his whole body felt tense, on edge. Like the eerie feeling that you’re forgetting something important. Like when a certain word or phrase is at the tip of your tongue, but refuses to roll off and come to reality. 

“So, you care for her, you respect her, you feel jealous when other men approach her with a romantic interest, and you think nobody will be good enough for her. Sho, you’re a brilliant man, so tell me, what do you think that means?” Izuku gives him a reassuring pat on the shoulder and a little squeeze, giving him the courage to come to terms with reality. 

And surely, almost like a movie, all the memories of you play inside his head. The first time you tried coffee jelly and scrunched up your nose in disgust because it was too bitter for you. When you cut your hair short and ended up hating it, refusing to come out of your room for a week. When you got drunk for the first time at a karaoke bar and sang “My heart will go on” while on top of a table. You, in your prom dress, posing for photos as the sun sets behind you. It was probably a beautiful sunset, but he couldn’t care less for it at the time. He only had eyes for you. 

Everything you did was wonderful. 

He found the way you scrunch your nose at things you dislike to be adorable. He thought you looked as beautiful as always with short hair. He adored how happy you look whenever you sang. To him, you were perfect. To him, you were his entire world. 

It makes sense now. All the puzzle pieces fall together and the realization makes him feel like he could fly. 

“I’m… I love her.” He finally looks up at his friend only to find him smiling back at him. 

“Well, what are you standing there for? Go to her!”

The sky is dark. When had it gotten this late? His feet were carrying him through the narrow streets, lavender tie discarded a long time ago. As soon as Midoriya said those words his feet moved on their own. Didn’t even stop to get his car, he just ran out the office, sprinting like his whole life depended on it. 

He loves you. 

He has to run faster, God he needs to tell you. How can he be so blind? How could he miss that the colour of lilac reminds him of you? Or miss the fact that you’re always on his mind? How can he not see that you’re in every detail in his life? All the feelings that previously had no names are back, swallowing him whole. Longing. Jealousy. Regret.

His hair is no longer tied in a neat ponytail, it’s loose and wild from the wind, it’s as messy as his feelings are, but that doesn't matter right now. Two more blocks, and he’ll be at your apartment. What does he say? What is his plan? What if he’s too late? 

Heart hammering in his chest, he takes the stairs up to your apartment two at a time. God, his hands are shaking, his face feels warm. Wet. But his hand is already knocking on the door. It’s not soft like the usual, it’s urgent, it’s desperate. His mind is spinning, why is his face wet?

The door creaks open and there you are in your sunny yellow dress, perfect. Always been perfect. For him. 

“Shouto, what ar—”

“I love you.” It’s barely above a whisper, and the silence following these three words is deafening. 

The sound of the TV fades into the background, there are no birds, no cars outside. Just the two of you. The moment feels static, completely still, yet still buzzing with energy. It stretches longer than it should, as if time warps and stops to make way for love. The world feels small right now, it shrinks and the entirety of it fills the tiny hallway.   

You don’t say anything, you simply brush his tears away with your thumb, searching his eyes. His hair is dishevelled, chest heaving. He ran here?

“Again.” 

It takes a moment for Shouto to register what you’re asking of him. He takes a step closer, shortening the distance between you two. 

“I love you. I have for… for quite some time now.”

The words make you simultaneously feel like a weight has been lifted off your shoulders, and also as if there is an elephant sitting on your chest. It’s hard to breathe and your eyes feel prickly, even your voice quivers. 

“Again.”

He takes another step and he’s impossibly close to you now, his large warm hands cradling your face, heterochromatic eyes staring into yours. 

“I love you. You’re the only one for me, I’m… sorry it took me so long, I—”

Now it’s your turn to cut him off by pulling him by the collar of his white shirt and kissing him. His lips are soft, and a little wet from the tears, but so sweet. Gentle. Another step forward and then another, and you’re slowly being pushed back into your apartment, your back hits the wall as he deepens the kiss. When his own desire and impatience finally slip through the cracks he lifts you up, wrapping your legs around his waist and pressing himself impossibly hard against you. 

“Sho.. m’not goin’ n..ywhere.” You try to mumble through the kiss, but it only elicits a smile in response. When he finally pulls away you can see his face is dusted with pink, eyes raking over you as if he’s seeing you for the very first time. 

“Please… please be mine?” 

There are many emotions in his tone—desire, fear, jealousy, pure excitement. Hope. They’re the words you’ve always wanted to hear, and now that you have, you can’t help but wonder if you’re hallucinating. If this is just a very vivid dream. If it is a dream, then surely, the next part won’t matter once you wake up. Right?

“You silly man, I’ve been yours since I was six. God… You made me wait so long.” 

You’re smiling, but there are tears streaming down your face. All the feelings that you had to express through flowers, all the unspoken words, the longing, it’s flooding your senses like a broken dam. 

You feel the rough pads of his fingers under your eyes, wiping the tears the same way you did for him. Once again, he kisses your forehead, after which he simply presses his own to yours. 

“Let me make it up to you. Please.” 

Your name sounds so sweet coming from his lips right now. A plea for consent, a plea to allow him to finally have you. Make you his own. Erase everyone else from your mind until there is only him. Permission for him to be selfish.

“I’ll spend the rest of my life making it up to you if you’ll let me.”

𝐃𝐈𝐒𝐂𝐋𝐀𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐑! I do not own any of the characters or people mentioned in my work. these are works of pure fiction that do not reflect the views, opinions, or actions of any person, real or fictional. Furthermore, all characters I write for [thirsts, drabbles, fics, etc.] are aged up to 21 or older – they are adults with adult characteristics presented and written in adult contexts.

all rights reserved © by maliciouslove. my work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. all fanfics belong to me, please do not copy, translate nor repost the fics or files seen above as this is strictly prohibited.

[relatableblorbopoll]

Round 1 of preliminaries, group 13

The first two places get a place on the bracket

Little reminder: there will be 2 more rounds of preliminaries, the losing blorbos of this poll still have 2 chances of getting in the official bracket

Propaganda under the cut

Cecil Gershwin Palmer (Welcome to Night Vale)

"Gay, not cis/he's gender nonconforming or at least can read that way, he reads as having AUDHD, he's got hella memory problems, he's probably got some sort of personality disorder, hes got a complicated relationship with his mother and father but loves them (we know like nothing about his dad), he loves his sister and wants her happy, he holds grudges for a long time, he doesn't know his age, he's gay, did I mention he's gay? He's got trauma he can't remember, he can't look at himself in a mirror, his fashion sense is... wonderful, he's got real bad vision, when he falls he falls hard."

Noah (Total Drama Series)

"sometimes i act like him and also i relate to him because i also have a girlfriend named emma so i am literally noah"

Basil (Omori)

"anxiety. Gay. Toxic positivity"

Stanley Pines (Gravity Falls)

"Bro has the same insecurities as me fr"

Wen Ning (Mo Dao Zu Shi/The Untamed)

"He's just a little guy with so much anxiety and autism coding And so much bottled up rage deep down He loves his frend. Total ride and die The way he is normally so awkward and quiet and doesn't seem to know what to say to people, but also he can pinpoint someone's insecurities and tear them down ruthlessly if he's sick of them. He appreciates even the smallest kindness and never forgets it. Sadly, he does put up with bad treatment too much"

Nick (Only Friends)

"falls in love with a guy because he gave him attention and made him feel good despite the fact that the man is a walking red flag. is whipped af and dickmatized"

[phannibal]

finished the fight the future novelization!! overall it was an extremely mid adaptation that did not take advantage of the change in medium to do anything interesting, but it was still a fun read and honestly some plot points were clearer than in the movie. liveblog and standout moments under the cut :3

immediately the narration feels like someone is describing something that’s happening on screen. this is not a good thing; a good adaptation is able to use the strengths of its medium to tell the story in a way that is compelling in and of itself (day of the doctor perfect example) (this is why screen -> book adaptations fall flat when using a different author, the book author has a lot of guesswork to do wrt POVs, motivations, and other internal character stuff) (but do I really want to read a book by chris carter)

wait this is awesome face blindness can’t affect me in the written word. wow turns out that one guy was two guys all along

y’know it’s almost not fair to criticize this book for being a clunky adaptation bc fight the future leans so hard into its own cinematography in a way that makes it irreplicable in text. god I want to write a dissertation comparing this to the dotd novelization with references to the other x files and target novelizations and comparing franchises and impact of same vs. different author of the same story. waves sadly at my nonexistent media studies degree

he comes into the initial hearing and her heart LIFTS. this is what i’m talking about use the medium to give us character insight!!!

oh no fucking way. author just used “who’s” when the correct word was “whose.” probably worst mistake I have ever seen in a published book

the dialogue in particular does not translate well to text. maybe there’s a way to make m&s’ opening back and forth just as iconic and characteristic in print, or mulder’s drunken exposition slash tagline just as comedic yet foreboding, but as is, they (and other standout lines) just fall so flat

they don’t even say that he’s peeing on the independence day poster 😑

did this author come from fanfiction or something bc the amount of “the younger man” I’m having to roll my eyes at is obscene

this is the biggest glimpse we get into any character’s thoughts so i’m holding it to my chest forever and ever

god so the 3am “what are you implying” “is that what you’d like me to do” feel WAY more loaded in text

also “she had been thinking exactly that” 🥺

TWICE. yeah i bet

I’m like 90% sure some lines of dialogue are slightly different like just meaningless word order choices but I’m not putting on the movie to confirm

no okay the above is definitely true. “the one thing in the world he can’t live without” is NOT the original line but goes just as hard

have to include this bc it is absolutely the most changed dialogue in the whole book. wish i could see into this author’s head

realizing for the first time that the guy that planted the bomb = the guy eavesdropping on mulder in the bar = the guy driving the ambulance because in a book you have to spell that type of thing out

i DID actually pull up the movie upon reading these lines bc i was like i knowww i would remember this. i wonder if the author was working off of the original script or something and this was part of that? or if she was really just allowed to freestyle

god so we know in the movie he just kind of jumps down a random ice hole after he initially falls through. here it’s specifically and clearly a vent because ig this author could not rationalize him choosing to jump down a random hole

long af image so click to read but INSANE insane emphasis on the cpr scene for no reason. like that lasts 2 seconds in the movie but is fully a page and a half here, thanks for that at least ms elizabeth hand

protectively :')

why is this exchange so neutered?? where is the passion? where is "some hollow personal cause of mine" and "i can't. i won't"?

that's all i got! i think these excerpts really demonstrate the shortcomings of a direct, no-frills screen-to-text translation. i can't help thinking that this book was meant to be just another thing to put on shelves and sell, as opposed to being born of a genuine desire to retell the story in a new way. like i said, still fun though, and enough new tidbits to make it worthwhile!

[fiestylittlebeetle]

I have musings about how Malware's recovery goes in GC but it's got allot of complex feelings and concepts involved, and although i think the sheer dumbassery of canon would allow it on some level, I know some people might look at this and be like "bro you're literally stupid"

like everything I'm writing for this comes with a asterix that leads to a foot note that says "malware is not forgiven"

more under the cut for your judgement

god how to put this

Ben does not forgive malware for hurting him, or doing anything he did. In fact he doesn't really like malware at all. but as an adult and fighting him in a weakened form. fighting him him felt unfulfilling and kind of pathetic.

he kinda felt like he just beat up someone who could barely defend himself because they dont like eachother. it kinda made him feel like a jerk even if he hates malware

like in AF he straight up took satisfaction in Vilgax needing to ask him for help and even got him a petty little kids meal. so ben is not above helping his enemy even if he acts petty about it

I dont think ben really hates anyone that deeply that he would look at them suffering and go "you should suffer more" thats just not who he is

GC Malware's comeback is messy, and he's not really completely the same malware that Ben took down by force before because he's weak and exhausted and angry but the anger he has is like, trying to use a pilot light to boil a pot of water

After their initial fight Ben does toss Malware in the plumbers holding cells for a while. and Malware does maybe consider trying to escape, but read above as to why he doesn't bother. he just lays in their and hopes either something happens allowing him to get out, or he passes out and doesn't have to think about it.

Ben comes back for him after the last post i made about him meeting Malware 23, and considers "What if I help him this time. Azmuth isn't going to do it, and I couldn't do anything when I was 10 or 17. But maybe I could do something for him now" and he's had a good long think about it. what could Help Malware.

and ya'll are gonna treat me like im insane here but, hear me out

he hasn't told his mom about the Feedback incident, or really brought up Malware at all, so she doesn't know shit. and what Malware lacks is people who care about him, but especially familial people who care about him.

so he's plan is to see if his parents will let him let malware crash their. the stipulation for malware being if he does ANYTHING to his parents, ANYTHING sinister, Ben will rain hell down upon him like he's never known before.

Malware considers this and maybe even asks why ben is doing this

bens response can be summarized "cause im a better person then you, and even after it all, even after you HURT ME, I'm going to help you, and you're going to feel better, and you're going to feel guilty about it even when life gets better, and that seems like a reasonable punishment"

Malware doesn't really have much of choice here btw. He is being forced into this situation weather or not he likes it. and you may go "well you cant FORCE someone to recover" and you're right

but malware isn't gonna put up much of a fight cause he knows his limits (right now)

Sandra is open to the idea of letting malware stay in their guest room for a while, Carl is dubious but agrees cause he sees his son doing something kind. Malware is disgruntled, awkward, and uncomfortable (also Ben lies through his teeth about malware being a "friend" to his parents. like actually through actual clenched teeth)

for a while Malware stays holed up in the room, mostly sleeping or considering his deflated anger.

Sandra tries (and succeeds at some point) to get him to come out and be social. Her and Carl maybe even learn a little about him too, mostly just a vague idea of him being abandoned, and not liking other people very much.

i havn't gotten much further into the details, but I think Sandra would at least be the one who, after interacting with Malware a couple times, realizes he's very depressing. And it makes her sad that he seems so allergic to connecting with people. to her, as a mother, he comes off as a kid who hasn't been shown enough love and attention, and she is actually kinda correct.

details aside i had this idea of Sandra and Carl coming back to the house after being out for a day and finding Malware collapsed (a spontaneous system shut down)

and they roll him over so he's flat on his back, and Sandra has his head in her lap petting him while Carl is on the phone with the plumbers trying to see what kind of help he should get (they're being difficult and Carl already dislikes them so hes having a bad time TM)

anyway Mal eventually starts coming to and upon opening his optic and seeing sandra, and she's like "Oh you're awake!" and realizing what's happening he immediately sits up, almost knocking sandra back, telling her not to touch him, and feeling humiliated.

He's humiliated, but he's also feeling something, anger? no something else, satisfaction? no no something ELSE

ah yes

appreciation

And before someone asks "couldn't he just run away when no one's there" the answer is yes BUT he has no where else to go and he's not really in any condition to be defending himself against other people/aliens who will most likely have powers or weapons to use against him. Sticking around is the best bet rn

Now, you could bring up Khyber here but at this point Khyber had already been tried (basically Khyber was the first person malware found when he woke up. But remember that fight with Mal and Ben I mentioned? Khyber was also there but realized Mal kinda sucks and is useless now and so ditches him to save his own ass. Don't worry. Khyber will be back later when he's got more resources. But it's cause he knows malware is weak, and also one of a kind rare Mechamorph that's perfect for his trophie shelf.)

[portsandstars]

Vere cosplay description/tutorial continued part two (belt edition).

If you made it this far, GREAT!!! You're doing fantastic.

My interpretation of his waist/below

I chose to make the belt into a skirt, rather than the whole thing as a dress. This seemed a lot easier to me than trying to combine things further, and honestly I'd definitely recommend this. I made the belt pattern by covering my torso in Saran wrap, tape (masking or duct tape) drawing the belt shape on my torso, and then cutting it out. Note that your front and back of your torso may differ in shape, so I'd reccomend drawing where your belly button is.

I then cleaned up the lines and made it into a pattern piece. Make sure it's symmetrical.. and ADD SEAM ALLOWANCE! If you're not impatient AF then I'd reccomend tracing your tape pattern onto paper so it's actually flat.

It's important for this belt to be SO STRONG because it's going to be under a LOT of strain during the day due to how it's tight and where it is on the body. Maybe it's overkill but I cut out a front and back piece(so my pattern x2), interlining, and added cotton underlining for strength to both the front and the back pieces.

Steps

1. make ur pattern with Saran wrap and tape

2. Clean up your pattern

3. Iron all your fabric and cut out your pattern (2 x of pattern, 2x of underlining cotton, 1x of interlining)

4. Staystitch and zigag fabric (except not the pleather bc we don't care Abt it as it doesn't fray)

5. Attach your interfacing to the cotton (front side cotton) and then baste the cotton to the pleather (front and back). So now you have 2 pieces of the belt, inside and outside piece.

6. Make the pattern for the strips of leather on the front. You should trace your belt pattern and then draw on the strips onto this tracing. They can't be straight lines bc this belt is a C shape tbh, and so they are almost like mini belt patterns. Don't forget seam allowance for their hems!

7. Sew these straps to the outside piece. If you have an idea for the metalic front belt details it would be great to attach them here in this step but I didn't bc I didn't have a good idea (might get them 3d printed though).

8. Freestyle some pockets bc ur gonna rly want some on the inside. I made one the size of my phone as well as credit cards.

9. Sew the pockets to the inside of the belt piece.

10. Put right sides together and sew the top seam of the belt together (seam by your belly button). Belt is like )( now. clip this inner seam.

11. One option you have is to now hem the bottom of the outside and the inside. In this case, you would put the pleated hanging fabric between these two layers and then topstitch it down. This isn't what I did but it'd look better imo than having it hand stitched to the inside. If you don't want to finish it this way, keep the right sides facing each other , sew the bottom hem, and then turn inside out. This will not be possible if you've added stiff belt details btw.

12. Figure out your pleating. I did this by pinning my fabric to my waist while was wearing shorts and seeing what density of pleats looked like and how it compared to what I wanted. It'll depend on how translucent your mesh/tulle is. You can do a small section, and then extrapolate. For me, I did a test of 17.5 cm of freehand pleating which I discovered was 98 cm of fabric (unpleated). As I needed the top pleated edge to be 44.5 cm long, that was-250 cm of fabric for EACH SIDE. These side skirt things are REALLY awkward bc you need all this pleating at the top to get the look but at the bottom, it's supposed to be little wider than a foot or so. Below I demonstrated my end shape with paper. You start with the wide top for the pleating, and the bottom the ending width you want it to be. Then, place weights at the corners and bring up the edges. Cut off the excess. Pleat the top edge as you would normally ignoring the odd shape and it should work out. The proportions in the bottom image is NOT ACCURATE Bc the top edge should be 250 cm and the bottom edge like.. 40 cm.

13. personally I just sewed the pleats to some small strips to keep everything together and then handsewed them to the inside of the belt (with my arm insidethe belt, like a pillowcase). But like I said, you could easily add them into the seam of the belt for a neater look.

14. Add your black gauze in here. Tbh it doesn't need a weird shape it can just be a rectangle that you pleat

15. I placed an unpleated mesh pannel behind the pleating and sewed small tacks throughout so the fabric stayed pulled back to the side. It felt too skirt like (?) Without this and more puffy, too. You don't have to do this but it was my solution and was pretty unobtrusive.

16. Hand fix your chains in. The cotton is also important for supporting these bc they're heavy af. I used chandelier chains, and I'd reccomend getting some where the links are NOT welded shut or it will be difficult to adjust the length of the chains without heavier duty metal working equipment.

17. Add in some structure! If the belt is an open pillowcase, this goes where the pillow would. I used a stiff plastic folders (below) cut into shape (smaller than the pattern by a bit so it doesn't mess with seam allowances). This gives your belt SO MUCH HEFT and is great!! You could also use foam too! Highly reccomend!

18. Add a closure. Personally I used a zipper, but a corset back would work great too especially if you fluctuate size. We don't see his back yet so you can do what you want lol.

19. Personally I added some wire to the bottom hem of the tulle to help it be straight and hang better with the weight but I didn't really like how this turned out.

Just for posterity, here's the pattern I made for the legbands. They're prettttty close but not SUPER close. I'd recommend covering your leg in ductape and having yourself or someone else try to draw the shapes in a mirror. It's wack AF though so I thought seeing what mine looks like laid flat might help you.

[23sanguinity]

As my friends know, I am both a long time lover of Moana and currently obsessed with the transformers. So when I wanted to make transformers art but had no ideas I looked at my tiny Moana doll and was like what. What if she turned into her boat

Info on design +refs used bellow cut (I ramble a lot, be warned)

I basically traced a picture of my tiny Moana doll and an image of her boat to design the initial concept and because my friends thought it was cool I wanted to color it, so I sort of traced the vague shapes of the sitting lady reference and made the second pictured sketch from that. I colored over the second sketch, and decided that while I usually don’t do line art it would look better with it, so i did that but after finishing up I didn’t like how little color it had without a background so I spent a little time doing that. Procreate tracked 3hrs36 but I was sketching some random bullshit before I had an actual idea so it’s probably about 2-3 hours? I think? I am completely time blind even on my meds.

Another note is that I didn’t consider how an actual transformation would work at all, just that the parts had to go somewhere. I imagine the head folds under between the two storage compartments

I actually have a lot to say.

The hair was tricky, I wanted to still evoke her hair texture as she wears it in the movie but couldn’t really do that so on the final drawing I ended up just implying that shape of the hair. The idea was that any little sticks and bits would be segmented with some rope running down the middle so they could move, but it looked a lot like braids, which while cool, isn’t really what I wanted.

I thought several times about how it would be cool to know about the actual wood types used in this type of boat and how the colors I was using likely would not match up with this, but did not end up doing any research to incorporate into the final piece. I think the tones I used get the job done but aren’t really true to the movie or any sort of real world boat. If I draw this design again I’ll definitely keep fiddling but for now I’m happy that the sail at least looks right.

Back to the hair (lol) I thought a bit about replicating her bun instead, but couldn’t quite figure out what to make it with. I might try a redesign that doesn’t have any hair, maybe with some segmented sticks going down her head but stopping at the neck, but idk

If I draw her again I also want to focus on more of the little details- sail texture, wood grain, the little pattern on the hull/legs, I’m just impatient af and rush everything I do (also probably why the hair didn’t quite work out, I can’t slow down enough to do it properly)

I also need to look at more references, the ones I included are literally the only ones I used, and there are a few things that would look better if I did

I didn’t incorporate her oar into the design, thought I wanted to, I both worried about messing up the scale (honestly the rushed background kinda did anyway, whatever tho) and unsure how to incorporate yet another long stick. Most of the design I got around the stick issue by segmenting them but I don’t want to do that with the oar, because while breaking it doesn’t compromise structural integrity it does have a more visible role in the plot. Also, I’m not entirely sure where to put it, because again, it’s more plot relevant than other individual boat components and I’d want it to be clearly visible.

You know I think this is what art teachers wanted from me. And I’m just doing it for fun now

[dustyspines]

I miss the gang and am obviously obsessed with how you write them, do you have any thoughts or snippets you’d like to share?? <3

many sorrys it took me so long to get to this but because it's you i wanted to put in some extra effort!!! so YES i have snippets and many thoughts so under the cut here i present to you: pinterest board screenshots and gang snippets from my currently unnamed (tentatively titled the dictionary) fic <3

karl. beloved. he's the sweet muggle-born hufflepuff who has an affinity to charms, specifically in the modification/adaptation of charms to make household items more useful. he works in a little trinkets shop in diagon alley where people bring in misbehaving items that need fixing, or to request an adaptation to something they need help with. he charms quills to write in different colours so those with colour-blindness can see. he charms teapots to chime when they reach the boil so those a little more forgetful don't set their houses on fire. he did a year's training the the misuse of muggle artefacts department before taking up the job, and it's the joy of his life <3

outside of work he plays the piano, he loves music and finding funky jumpers in charity shops that are to big but are cosy for all seasons. he loves animals, and his second best subject was magical creatures, but he needs socialisation with people more than he does animals which is why he's so outgoing and friendly and sickeningly loyal to his friends (to a point where he sometimes oversteps but it isn't intentional)

craig. another BELOVED. outspoken but respectful half-blood slytherin with a passion for football that he used to provide tactics for the quidditch team at hogwarts. he's the shortest of the group but is nimble and fast which is why nobody cares, nor does he. he likes coffee in a Proper way, and is very passionate about the brewing of certain kinds (a point of contention with yann who doesn't give af and will use instant coffee powder just to tease him). he works as a speech therapist/mind healer hybrid at st. mungo's, specifically working with kids with traumatic childhoods who need help with their speech before they go to hogwarts. he has a good base knowledge in both magical and muggle medicine practices so is usually the mom friend of the group, but he doesn't mind.

he likes friendship bracelets (because the kids he works with will make him loads of the thread-knot kind) and he forces his friends to go on jogs with him when he thinks they've been inside for too long.

POLLY beloved!!!!! back in school she started a student radio broadcast (thanks to karl's charms skills where he found a way to connect the gramophones/record players in the castle together to work without electricity). she loves music of all eras and is chronic for being a bit of a know-it-all. after school she took up an assistant position in the biggest magical radio broadcasting company and has been hosting the breakfast show for a while now where she plays a mix of muggle and magical music.

she loves rings and mismatching nail polish but the paint is always chipped because she's so hands on with everything. her hair is perpetually braided because she can't be bothered to keep tucking it behind her ears all the time. she has a slight mean streak and knows it but it always comes from a place of care because she just can't stand people who beat around the bush instead of being honest with each other. yann is obsessed with her n they've been living together since they left school but she pretends to be cool about it just so he looks like the crazy one.

yann <3 he wears glasses, he has lovely wavy hair. you'll never catch him dead in a pair of jeans. he's a pureblood from france who went to hogwarts because he'd been living with his grandmother in london since he was a kid and decided staying in the uk would be better in the long run. he works in madam malkin's as a tailor but focuses on male silhouettes, and most of the clothes he wears are made by him. his grandmother taught him everything he knew and he decided he didn't care enough about magic to take up a magical career, hence why he went into tailoring instead.

he has the whole tall and handsome and mysterious thing going on (he's the tallest of the bunch) but it's ironic because he's the most open of them all when you get to know him. super smart but you'd never know because he's very quiet about it. keeps secrets the best because he understand the value in having a person to trust and talk to, but gives the best advice so people don't end up upset. refuses to listen to any criticism of polly because she's always nice to him; doesn't realise it's only him she's always nice to because they're together. has big tunnel vision when it comes to her.

^ that board is just called vibes because it's just capturing the Essence. they start age 20/21 and it goes until they're 24/25, so it's a good four years of their life post-hogwarts.

it's very right where you left me LOL. friends break up friends get married etc. etc.

i haven't written too much that is super Finished, the doc is at 30k-ish words right now. but there are two Gang-centric scenes so here are some lines from those that i really like :)

aaaand that's The Gang. for now. it's fun to know where they're going to end up without really knowing how they get there.