#I’d probably take very few commissions at a time when I do them

[happi-dreams]

do u plan on opening commissions :o

Helloooo!!

not at the moment! I have sixth form going on currently and I want to focus my energy on that on the moment, though afterwards I think doing commissions would be fun! :D

[monstersflashlight]

Patreon Commission for anon

Request: I’m gonna give you a lot of creative freedom on this one! Any dynamic/gender/monster your heart desires. But I’d like some size difference, some stretching of a hole (which hole is up to you). If you want some ideas I’m thinking it could be hot if the top(s) and the bottom had a scene where the top is praising the bottom as they stretch them with a particularly big toy, the sub is sobbing but loving every second of the delicious agony (masochist af).

A promise on what’s to come

Ogre x fem!reader || size difference, dirty talk, praise kink, sex toys, (very light) degradation

When you started dating an ogre, you guessed he would be hung, but nothing prepared you for the reality of it.

He wasn’t only hung, but his dick was way above average ogre physic, too. He was too big, too wide, too long… There was no way you could take him, but you wanted to, you wanted to so very badly you almost cried yourself to sleep over it. He reassured you it was okay, your poor human pussy wasn’t ready for him… But you craved. And if one thing was true about yourself is that you were a hardworking girl that could get whatever she wanted.

So you worked for it. You worked really hard for it… And he helped.

You might be a size queen, but he had more than a little interest in seeing you stretched around big cocks. When you told him your intentions of working yourself up to his dick, he growled so loudly your walls vibrated. You smirked at him and teased about your little human pussy being stretched, and he growled again. By the time you showed him your new toy, he was panting and his dick was so hard you could see it clearly in his pants.

And then he got to work, and you ended up spread on a bed, with his big hands guiding your new toy inside of you. That wasn’t that big, less than half his size, but you worked to bigger ones…

Until he got you one that was just a tiny bit smaller than his own, the last step before being able to ride him until you felt him at the back of your throat. Until you could feel his insane amounts of come filling your insides until your stomach was distended and you were leaking… So close.

He growls when you take another bit. “Look at that! You are taking it so well, my love. Such a good girl for me, taking the toy, stretching around it so prettily.” His eyes are focused on your pussy, and you aren’t even sure if he’s talking to your or to your pussy, but you don’t care. You are stretched to the point of light pain, and your brain is short-circuiting already.

“Please, please, please… Let me come,” you beg. Your eyes are teary, and your breathing is erratic as he twists the toy around, the ridges along the shaft making you see stars when it rubs against your G-spot.

He chuckles, flicking your clit in a way that sends a spark of pain mixed with pleasure down your spine. Your eyes roll back into your head and you scream his name. “Not yet darling, is not in all the way. And what did I say before?” You blink at him, not sure what words are anymore.

“I- I don’t remember,” you whisper, your voice is fucked up after screaming and crying for what feels like an eternity but probably was close to half an hour as he worked you open.

He stops his movements at your response, and you whimper, a few tears escaping your eyes. “Think carefully, what did I say?” You try to reach for the toy and do it yourself, but he stops your hand, pinning it to the bed easily.

You think about it, you think about it really hard as a sob leaves your mouth. You need to come so bad. “That- That I could come when I got it all the way in,” you finally let out.

“That’s right! So smart and so good for me,” his praise makes you whimper. When he treats you like his dumb little human, your body reacts instantly, the condescending tone sending shivers of pleasure to every cell in your body.

“Are you ready for more, my love? Do you want to be good for me? My good dumb human?” He asks, the sadistic tone of his voice making you moan.

“Yes, yes, yes,” you chant as he feeds your hungry pussy a few more centimeters of the toy.

It’s so deep, so very, very deep. You can feel it in your throat, but you can’t look down, you don’t know how much is left and you feel about to burst. It’s like you are going to be ripped in two, but it’s so good you can barely keep your mouth closed as drool drenches the pillow and pleasure overruns any other emotion or sensation in your body.

Your ogre is whispering stuff at you, he’s complimenting your pussy, your bouncing boobs, your squeezable body… But you can’t barely process it, you can almost savor your orgasm, is so close you want to reach it with all your energy...

“Come on darling, touch that little clit for me, let me see how you please yourself around our new toy,” his words are lewd and hungry, making you let out a silent cry of pleasure as you obey.

Your fingers feel slippery and cold against your heated skin, you can feel yourself stretched around the dildo as you gather some of your own juices to rub your clit. He grunts when you do so, the hand around your thigh tightening and making you whimper.

It’s so deep and your fingers feel so good… It’s the best experience of your life, life altering… like every single time you try a new toy with him. It’s like it’s an improvement on the last one, and each time your brain is blown a little bit more.

You can’t even understand how it would be when his dick is finally in you, but you know it would change your insides forever, not only physically because it would definitely rearrange your insides, but also mentally imprinting himself in your deepest soul.

“Come on, my love, just a bit more and you’d be so full, so stretched…,” he lowers his voice to add: “and then I’ll fuck you for real.”

The promise in his voice at the same time he pushes the last centimeters inside of you make everything explode. Your brain disconnects completely, your whole body shaking as the most intense orgasm of your life rocks your reality and makes everything around you disappear. Maybe you are crying, maybe you are screaming your lungs out, or maybe you are silently drooling over the pillow as wave after wave of pleasure washes over your body like warm water in a cold day.

And when you come back to yourself, he’s not done with you. He never is. He’s hungry for your pussy the same way you are hungry for him.

The second you blink your eyes open he’s moving the toy inside, his sweet words a wild contrast with the way he’s moving his wrist to drive you insane. He fucks you with the toy until your insides mold against it, until you feel so open and exposed you are like a live nerve ready to be played with.

And good goddess does he play with you…

By the time he’s done with you, the bed is drenched in fluids and your pussy is painted with his come, a promise of what’s to come… his dick inside of you.

Reminder that you can suscribe to my Patreon and read a ton more stories starting at the free suscription!

[shogunish]

𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝗼𝗷𝗼𝘀 & 𝗶. [𝟬𝟰]

synopsis. you got your period & satoru bought too many pads.

words. 996

warnings. reader cusses like once

note. i got my period and thought, hey why not turn this into some cute fluff for the series 😔🤞🏻

comments and reblogs are highly appreciated! <3

previous || next

odd.

no calls, no text messages and the ones satoru sent you all remained on delivered.

usually, you’d ask satoru how megumi was doing, ask for pictures of the dogs, but this time it felt like your very presence was erased from the face of earth aka the display of his phone. a coil of worry sat in his abdomen like a snake, just waiting to crawl up his neck and slowly suffocate him before it’d eventually eat him up in one go.

“are you still alive?”

after thirty minutes of no reply, satoru got up from his seat on the couch and made his way over to your apartment. with a spare key — which you’d given him for emergencies — he unlocked your door with a quiet creak. “[name]?” he called out carefully, but got no reply. satoru swore he heard a shuffling of blankets from the living room.

with the curtains half-drawn, only a few sunrays dappled the living room. on the coffee table rested an empty pack of painkillers, a half-empty bottle of water and an empty bowl of chili chips. the tv was still running on the lowest volume, playing some movie satoru didn’t care about; not when you laid on the couch curled in on yourself and buried underneath a fluffy blanket like a hedgehog.

“satoru?” you raised your head from the pillow and rubbed some sleep from your eyes. you’d been taking a nap, satoru guessed.

taking a seat on your couch, satoru peered into your tired eyes and the pained expression painted across your face when you moved. “you look like shit,” he deadpanned, “what’s up? you haven’t been answering any of my messages.”

with a little hiss slipping through your teeth, you sat up on the soft cushion. a hot water bottle was stuffed in the waistline of your sweatpants. “sorry. i got my period and i’ve been feeling like shit all day. thanks for pointing it out, by the way.”

there was a little tug at satoru’s heartstrings when he saw your face so unusually pale and the discomfort in your body. he knew there was little he could do, yet he still asked. “is there anything i can do for you?”

satoru was too good for his own good. he didn’t have to check up on you and make sure you were alright. after all, you were supposed to be nothing but his son’s babysitter. or nanny. or whatever satoru called that arrangement. yet, here he was, in your home and looking at you with eyes that betrayed the worry in his abdomen. how could you refuse such an offer? you couldn’t, that’s how.

“actually..could you fetch me some pads and painkillers? i’d go myself but– oh fuck.”

as another cramp seemed to stab your womb, satoru gently put his palms on the slope of your shoulders and pushed you back down onto the soft cushion of your couch. to see you so out of commission tugged at his heartstrings in way it probably shouldn’t. “say no more. you just rest. i’ll be right back.”

all you managed was an affirmative grunt and a nod of your head before satoru made his way out of your four cozy walls to fetch you some pads and painkillers.

about half an hour later, he came back with a bag of the things you asked for and some salty and sweet snacks as well as some heat patches for your lower back.

“..why’d you get so many pads? these are enough to last me a year.” a smile tugged at the corners of your lips as you pulled out item after item.

satoru shrugged his shoulders, a sheepish smile on his handsome face. “you didn’t specify which pads you needed, so i asked the lady in the aisle for help. well, in the end, i wanted to be sure and bought a little bit of everything.” he filled the bowl on your coffee table with some salty chips and stole one or two chips for his own before letting you have a taste. “i think i did a good job. i made sure all of them have wings, too!”

laughter bubbled in the back of your throat and for a moment, you forgot that your uterus was made of knives – or maybe it was thanks to the painkillers you had swallowed. “yeah. you did the best job.”

when your praise went in his ear like sweet honey and you looked at him with those sweet eyes, satoru swore his heart skipped a beat under his ribs. a feeling he hadn’t felt in so long, but it wasn’t too bad. at least, it was better than the snake of worry in his tummy.

“you didn’t have to buy all these things though,” you said and turned around so satoru could reveal the skin of your lower back. with careful fingers, satoru stuck the heat patches to your skin before pulling your shirt back down.

“you’re right. i didn’t have to, but i wanted to,” satoru replied, sitting back on the couch and casually draping his arm over your shoulder to pull you a bit closer to him. “besides, you looked so miserable that i took pity on you.”

“..i’m gonna pretend like i didn’t hear the last part,” you grumbled and snuggled up to the taller man who took up half of your couch, but you didn’t mind. in fact, you appreciated the warmth he radiated and so willingly shared with you.

satoru found a piece of home as you were cuddled into his side and watched the movie running on tv. how sweet it was to have a pretty woman in his arm, finding amusement in the silly lines of the characters and eventually snoring away on his shoulder like it was where you belonged.

satoru made a mental note to come by in four weeks again when your period would start just so you’d let him cuddle you.

taglist. @risuola, @torusmochi, @cinnamonmon, @ayanominitrash, @lordbugs, @phoenix666stuff, @hotvinimon, @stevenknightmarc, @sukunasleftkneecap, @erigaur, @lu-lynds, @staryukis

[mamayan]

☆彡CHOMP★彡

KNY HASHIRA HEADCANONS

BITE FACTOR!

What they do if you randomly bite them♡

FLAME HASHIRA! Kyojuro Rengoku

Awareness: Zero, he doesn’t expect the chomp. He doesn’t react violently though, so don’t worry too much.

Bite Factor: He’s very muscular but when relaxed he’s got a 8/10 on the chew factor. Only a 4/10 if he flexes (which he will if he thinks you’re going to bite, he wants you to think he’s strong).

Best Nibble Points: Bicep (he wants you to), pectorals (tiddies), his ass—

Reaction: He’s gonna either laugh or pop hard, sometimes both. Pick your location wisely. If you bite his ass he’s smacking yours.

SOUND HASHIRA! Tengen Uzui

Awareness: God level. You snuck up on no one. 100% knows what you’re up to, he can hear you licking your teeth. Your ability to chomp will be solely dependent on his mood to allow it.

Bite Factor: Also a very muscular man, jewelry limits chomp, 6/10 not flexing and 3/10 flexing.

Best Nibble Points: Fingers (be gentle he and his wives need all of them), forearm, cheek—

Reaction: He allowed the bite in the first place, so 100% hard. Probably hard before you even bit. If you nibble very gently, he may pat your head.

Bonus! His wives all enjoy this game too, and will play with you and invite you to play with them. They are all 10/10 on bite factor, but vary on awareness and reactions.

STONE HASHIRA! Gyomei Himejima

Awareness: He knows your there, but 100% doesn’t know your intention is to chomp he’s fucking blind. Be careful! He might accidentally pull you off, and that might take your teeth out.

Bite Factor: He’s jacked but has a good soft layer of fluff for a whopping bite factor of 9/10! If he’s flexing, 4/10.

Best Nibble Points: Lips (be gentle and don’t be mean), inner thigh, tummy—

Reaction: If you’re smart and don’t try and take a chunk out of him, he is just curious what you’re up to. Might squish your cheeks and tease you. Might cry. If you chomp too hard and he isn’t prepared, he might push you throw you across the earth.

WIND HASHIRA! Sanemi Shinazugawa

Awareness: I’d say 50/50 he’ll see it coming. If it’s the first chomp, he’s unaware, but he learns quick. You’ll need to start adding in feints to trick him. He will avoid any chomps he thinks are coming his way. He gets embarrassed and then angry.

Bite Factor: Fucking terrible, he squirms and squeals, but he does have good squish… 6/10. Flexing is a given because he tenses up like you’ve put a knife to his throat right when teeth touch flesh.

Best Nibble Points: Love handles (he’s ticklish and it’s funny to hear him shout), hamstring (easier sneak factor), ears—

Reaction: He is .2 seconds away from screaming for mommy Ubuyashiki to tattle on you. He won’t tell you his dick is hard nor will he admit he wants to bite you back. His reactions are genuine and honest, what you see is what you get. 10/10 for cuteness and flushed face when you do get him.

WATER HASHIRA! GIYUU TOMIOKA

Awareness: …none. He’s absolutely defenseless like a newborn kitten. He’s so damn startled and shocked it may leave him out of commission for a little while give him time okay.

Bite Factor: He may look cold but he actually is cold. He’s made of steel. Awful chomps but don’t tell him it’ll hurt his feelings. 5/10 and I’m being generous.

Best Nibble Points: Triceps, palm of hands, neck— (he’ll go feral watch out).

Reaction: What he lacks in chomp factor he makes up for in reaction. Just go ahead and pull your pants down now, it’ll save time. He gets shockingly turned on! Feel free to really sink your teeth into him, he might moan.

SERPENT HASHIRA! Obanai Iguro

Awareness: Low! He doesn’t expect the chomp even when you’ve chomped him before! He might be cautious around you for a few days after but he’ll forget.

Bite Factor: He’s lean and pretty tough sadly, even worse of a chomp than Giyuu. 4/10. I don’t make the rules, oh wait I do.

Best Nibble Points: Shoulders (easy), clavicle, hips— why you down there?!

Reaction: Either comical and you receive a lecture on discipline or he’s melting like butter in a hot pan. He might tie you up and leave you dangling for a while don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time.

MIST HASHIRA! Muichiro Tokito

100% platonic, he is a child!

Awareness: Where did he go? He’s gone before you get the chance to chomp ｡ﾟ(ﾟ´Д｀ﾟ)ﾟ｡ If you manage a lucky chomp, count your blessings the kid is quick.

Bite Factor: Lowest on this list! 1/10, he’s got no more baby fat but not enough weight yet to qualify a good chomp factor. Baby Muichiro though would be 100/10 cuz baby cheeks.

Best Nibble Points: NONE don’t bite him weirdos. BABY CHEEKS— I totally bite my nieces cheeks lol

Reaction: If you get a cheek chomp, he’s letting it happen. Be appreciative he’s allowing you near him, be polite to the cats napping and keep your voice down. 2/10 cuz he’s straight faced and not very cute about it.

LOVE HASHIRA! Mitsuri Kanroji

Awareness: She’s actually very aware! All chomps are welcome and adored please bite her.

Bite Factor: ekekekekEKEKEKEKEMEKEEKEKEKEKEKEKEK ♾️/10 like the perfect chomp every time no matter where you chomp. She’s so damn soft but she’s also fairly muscular too, it’s the perfect combination she’s got memory foam thighs.

Best Nibble Points: THIGHS (she’s a little ticklish too, points for the cute giggles), Chest (I said what I said), coochie— (I SAID WHAT I SAID)

Reaction: No cute surprises but she’s very cuddly and sweet. She will nibble back~ ♡

INSECT HASHIRA! Shinobu Kocho

Awareness: Woman has eyes in the back of her head I swear, no surprises for her. Any and all chomps are proofed and vetted. Good luck.

Bite Factor: A perfect 10/10! No surprises though, she’s small and soft, perfect bite material get it like wife.

Best Nibble Points: Anywhere. Literally, I’m not joking. If she lets a nibble through, she’s got plans for you.

Reaction: Just go ahead and put the collar on already, you’ve initiated play at this point. That sweet smile :3

[estellan0vella]

Sunshine's Guide To Murder│Lee Minho

Chapter Twenty Three: Gil? SS: 5 (ignore time stamps and dates) Word Count: 0.7K & 1.3K Content Warnings: None? Fluff and cuteness Previous Next Masterlist

The car moves through the white landscape, Florence + The Machine playing through the speakers as Hayun sits cross-legged in the passenger seat, her face turned toward the window. Snow blankets the world outside, a seamless stretch of white, and inside, the warmth from the heaters is relentless, filling the car with a cozy, almost drowsy heat.

Minho drums his fingers on the steering wheel, glancing at Hayun. "You know," he starts, his tone half-annoyed, half-amused, "for someone who hates the cold, you’re seriously underdressed. Why would you not wear a coat?”

She looks over at him, a ghost of a smirk tugging at her glossed lips. “I didn’t have a coat that went with my outfit. It’d make me look all puffy.” She tucks her legs up tighter, almost as if challenging him.

He raises an eyebrow, snorting as he adjusts the temperature up a notch. “Right. So, hypothermia’s a solid trade-off for a ‘puffy’ look. Makes total sense.” His fingers drum on the wheel in time with the beat of the song as he shakes his head, amused despite himself.

Hayun rolls her eyes, adjusting her legs even further until she’s completely cross-legged on the seat, leaning back against the door with her knees tucked up. Minho glances at her and then back at the road.

“If I crash, you know your legs will be irreparable, right? Your hips will probably be out of commission, too,” he says, his tone mock-serious.

She gives him a lazy side-eye, tilting her head. “Are you planning on crashing?”

“No,” he admits, a small smile creeping onto his face. “But it’s the principle of the thing.”

As they pull up to a drive-thru, Minho doesn’t even ask for her order, pulling up to the speaker and placing his own before getting her usual honeycomb hazelnut frappuccino, extra shot of coffee. He reaches over to grab his wallet, paying for both drinks without a second thought, and a few moments later, the barista hands him two cups.

As he passes her the icy frappuccino, he gives her a look of exaggerated disbelief. “So, let me get this straight. You’ve got my car heating on full, my heated seats cranked to warm up your spoiled ass, and you order a cold coffee?”

“Yup.” She sips on the straw, batting her lashes at him. “There’s nothing quite like a cold coffee when you’re warm and toasty. It’s called balance, Minho.”

“Lucky you’re cute,” he mutters, shaking his head with an amused huff as he takes a long drink of his iced americano. “Otherwise, I’d let you freeze. Nobody else gets my heated seat privileges, you know. Feel special.”

“I’ll be sure to put that on my résumé,” she replies, her voice mock-serious. “The only recipient of Lee Minho’s heated seats. Feeling very special, indeed.”

He smirks, pulling out of the drive-thru and heading back to the road. The warmth of the car melts away the winter chill outside, creating a small, cozy world for just the two of them. Hayun leans back, sipping her drink, her eyes dancing with humor and a hint of curiosity.

“So, is this our first date, then?” she asks, glancing over at him, her tone teasing.

Minho’s eyes narrow just a little, a smirk spreading on his lips. “I told you I was gonna do this shit properly. Dates, wooing, the whole shebang. Like I’m courting you in Georgian England or some shit.”

She chuckles, raising an eyebrow at his expression. “Courting me in Georgian England, huh? The honour of it all. I assume a date to the aquarium is the modern equivalent of a grand ball, then?”

“Damn right, it is,” he replies, feigning complete seriousness as he taps the GPS screen. “I don’t just take anyone to the aquarium, princess.”

“Ah, so this is the wooing phase,” she murmurs with mock consideration. “Noted.”

He chuckles, his eyes on the road as they approach a busy roundabout. “Now, shh,” he says, glancing over at her. “I need to focus here. Roundabouts are confusing as fuck.”

“Oh yeah, that really fills me with confidence in your driving abilities, Minho,” she deadpans, but her grin breaks through almost instantly.

When they arrive at the aquarium, Minho expertly reverses into the spot, using one arm to turn around and look over his shoulder, his hand casually draped across the back of her seat. Hayun bites her straw, looking away quickly, eyes scanning her phone as she hides the faint flush creeping onto her cheeks.

Once Minho turns off the engine, Hayun downs the last of her coffee before stepping out of the car, only to be immediately hit by the cold. She shivers hard, tugging her sweater tighter around herself, and Minho raises an eyebrow as he walks around to her side, sliding an arm over her shoulders and pulling her into his warmth.

“Regretting not wearing a coat now?” he teases, a slight smirk tugging at his lips.

She leans into him, shrugging nonchalantly. “At least I still look cute. Isn’t that the point?”

“Unbelievable,” he mutters, squeezing her closer as they walk toward the aquarium entrance. The winter air bites at their cheeks, but she doesn’t seem to mind as much, her eyes already lighting up in anticipation of what’s inside.

“Being a personal heater’s a pretty solid way to woo me, you know,” she says, looking up at him with a mischievous glint in her eye.

“Oh yeah?” he grins. But before he can say anything else, she suddenly slips her ice-cold fingers down the neck of his hoodie, making him jolt. “Yah! What the fuck?! Your fingers are freezing!”

He tries to step back, but she just looks up at him with a pout, and he sighs in mock exasperation, staying still as she keeps her cold hands pressed against his warm skin. “Do you have circulation issues or something?”

“How would I know?” she says with a shrug, but she can’t hide the smile as he winces.

“You should probably see a doctor. Seriously, you’ve got icicles for fingers.” He stops and cups her hands in his, blowing on them and rubbing them between his own hands to warm them up. “We’ll thaw you out in here. Come on.”

The aquarium’s warmth is a welcomed contrast to the cold outside, and they move deeper into the building, stopping first at the jellyfish exhibit, the walls around them bathed in a tranquil blue glow. Hayun’s eyes widen with fascination as she steps closer to the glass, watching the jellyfish drift through the water in graceful, hypnotic swirls.

“Did you know jellyfish have been around for at least 500 million years? Some species are even biologically immortal,” she says, her voice filled with wonder. She points to one of the glowing creatures. “Those are moon jellyfish. They’re completely harmless to humans but still so eerie. And that big one over there? That’s a lion’s mane jellyfish. Its tentacles can grow longer than a blue whale.”

Minho blinks at her, a little taken aback, eyebrows raised. She looks back at him, equally puzzled by his expression, and they just stand there, blinking at each other in silence.

“How the fuck—?” he begins.

“Oh,” she says, understanding his surprise. “I have an eidetic memory. I remember a lot of stuff I read or hear about, especially things that interest me.” She shrugs, but there’s a hint of pride in her eyes.

He shakes his head in disbelief, though his smirk remains. “Of course, you do,” he mutters, still in awe. She’s both unpredictable and fascinating, and he can’t help but watch her as she turns her attention back to the tank, the soft glow of the water casting her features in a delicate, almost surreal light.

Hayun studies the jellyfish for a moment, a nostalgic smile tugging at her lips. “You know, Jisung and I both had the biggest crush on Gil from Finding Nemo when we were kids. You kind of remind me of him,” she says, glancing at him. “Guess some things stick.”

Minho blinks again, thrown off-guard. “Gil?” he echoes. “The moody, scarred fish from the dentist’s tank? How do I- What about me reminds you of him?”

She laughs, turning fully to him and folding her arms, studying him like she’s seeing something he isn’t. “The whole mysterious, broody thing you’ve got going on” She raises an eyebrow, daring him to challenge it.

Minho shakes his head, the corners of his mouth twitching. “You know, princess, I’m not sure if being compared to a Disney fish is the compliment you think it is.”

She rolls her eyes, nudging him with her shoulder. “Take the compliment, Minho. Not every guy can pull off the stoic, scarred-but-softhearted hero. And hey,” she adds, pointing back to the jellyfish, “at least it’s not the blobfish.”

“Fair point.” He chuckles, and they both fall quiet, watching as the jellyfish float, almost in slow motion, across the glowing blue waters of the tank.

For a moment, everything else fades, the cold outside, the darkness they’ve both had to wade through, and the weight of everything hanging in the balance. It’s just the two of them, standing side by side in this surreal, quiet space, surrounded by the strange, peaceful beauty of these creatures.

After a few minutes, Minho tilts his head, glancing over at her. “So, if Gil was your type as a kid, what’s your type now?”

She smirks, pretending to think as she taps her chin. “Dark, and broody. Maybe a little rough around the edges but secretly kind of a softie. Has a mysterious past, possibly related to a tragic, previously unsolved mystery.”

Minho lets out a low laugh. “So basically, Gil. With legs.”

“Pretty much.” She grins, and he shakes his head, that easy smirk of his slipping into something softer as he watches her.

“Good to know I’m hitting all the marks,” he says quietly, almost to himself.

They continue wandering through the aquarium, stopping at each exhibit. Minho listens as Hayun rattles off facts, her enthusiasm lighting up her face in a way that has him utterly captivated.

In the shark tunnel, she watches the sleek, menacing creatures swim overhead, her gaze intense, and in the coral reef exhibit, she leans close to the glass, her breath fogging up the surface as she watches the fish dart in and out of the colourful corals.

At one point, she slips her arm through his, leaning against him. “You’re right,” she murmurs, her voice soft. “This is a pretty good first date.”

He looks down at her, the warmth from her side pressed against his filling him with an undeniable sense of rightness. “Glad you think so,” he replies, resting his hand over hers. “You’re gonna have to get used to it, though. Wooing’s just getting started.”

She laughs, her eyes sparkling as they move on to the next tank. “Fine. But only if you promise not to bring me here every time.”

“Deal. Next time, I’ll take you somewhere way more interesting,” he says, raising an eyebrow, his tone full of challenge.

“Oh yeah?” She crosses her arms, tilting her head. “I’ll hold you to that.”

“You’d better,” he replies, and they share a look, unspoken words passing between them, a promise that neither of them has to say out loud.

As they leave the aquarium later, stepping back into the cold, Minho shrugs out of his hoodie, handing it to her despite her protests and making her pull it on.

“Minho, you’ll freeze-”

“I’ll be fine,” he says, pulling the hood up and tucking her hair beneath it. “Besides, I’m Gil, right? The brooding fish or whatever the fuck. Can’t have you freezing to death on our first date.”

She laughs, rolling her eyes but pulling the hoodie tighter around herself as they walk back to the car. The snow crunches beneath their feet, and they fall into a comfortable silence, the world around them quiet and still.

And as they drive back, the heaters blasting and the car filled once again with her music, Hayun leans her head against the window, a small smile on her face, feeling the warmth of his presence beside her in a way that’s as comforting as the hoodie around her shoulders.

“You know,” she says softly, breaking the silence as they near her place, “you’re really good at this whole ‘first date’ thing.”

“Only for you, princess,” he murmurs, his eyes focused on the road, but the faintest smile tugging at his lips.

Taglist: @hityoulikebahng @drewsandsebastianswife @fackeraccount @lily-loves-kpop @stilldontknowhoiam

@ziggy1221 @justaspoonofjam @tr-mha-fan @candycurshidkwhatthehell

@heeseungspookie @smigcrazy @skzstannie @nightmarenyxx @beaann

[the-100-days-of-junkan]

Day 82

Another one that I love!~ Gonna be a lot of those from here on if you couldn’t tell!

Junko’s the Ultimate Fashionista (in the english release at least but hey Ultimate Gyaru has to have a little crossover right??), so of course she handles Mikan’s wardrobe the moment she’s allowed to. So . . . Extremely cute scene of her having Mikan try out clothes to see what she does and doesn’t like. 

An opportunity for Junko to pamper Mikan, AND i get to draw Mikan in a sweater???? Heaven. Also like are we all in agreement that sweaters just look fuckin amazing on Mikan?? Like I admit, I think I just like drawing Sweaters on Mikan but they just make her look so much cuter because of how god damn cozy she looks in em. 

Unfortunately that’s all I have to talk about for that topic? I think? So instead let’s shift over to a recent development involving Junkan!

I’m in the midst of working on the Junkan Christmas Eve comic, which hopefully will be getting posted on time a few days after this, and during the process of making there’s been something new with my current abilities.

I have officially hit the point of proper freehanding on these two.

Y’see this probably won’t make too much sense but i’ll do my best to explain. 

So normally when it comes to sketches I’ve done things a bit less proper compared to more professional artists. I usually get a little start on the anatomy, and then just start sketching all the character details and moving out from there. It isn’t often that I do a full sketch for the basic anatomy of a character, I only do it when I really wanna not fuck up a pose. And as you also know up till now only one piece in this event was drawn normally. Everything else is a sketch that i cleaned up and colored, or just a sketch. 

This is because generally speaking I can’t do art using my normal pen tool without a sketch to work off of, it requires a lot more finesse to use the G-Pen both because of the larger shifts that can occur in line width, and the slightly looser feel it has compared to my Pencil Tool. 

That’s all to say that I have drawn Junko and Mikan so many fucking times that I can just, draw them without proper sketches now. I’m at a point where I just need to draw the head, torso, and legs for an anatomy sketch, and then with the G-Pen I can just, draw from there. That’s big for me personally, and also fucked up because god how even??? There hasn’t been a drop in quality either so far, i’m still able to refine the expressions and i haven’t fucked up with the arms too much yet, I’d even say it’s resulted in some of my favorite Junkos and Mikans period.

Now, the catch is that again, this is only Junko and Mikan. I could prooooobably get to this point with Mukuro eventually just because her design is much simpler compared to other DR Characters? I struggle with getting her colors right rather than linework, but that’s about it and still not really useful in my main line of work unless I memorize every character that’s ever existed, and it took like 150 fucking times for Junkan I can’t do that for an obscure RPG character that I might get commissioned once and then never again. 

It’s also not something that I think i’ll apply to my normal Junkan works, because I am a perfectionist to a fault when it comes to pieces I care about and I want to make sure every detail these is exact. I need to be meticulous for ship art like this, every detail is important. And I can maximize that with sketching.

This new skill is basically useful for one thing. Speed. 

I pride myself on my efficiency, even if I have waned over the years due to burnout and overwork, when I get into it I can fuckin move with my art. And so if I need to say, make a 28 page comic in under a month? Being able to mostly skip an entire phase of the art process is very, VERY useful, ESPECIALLY because it’s a comic. Something which generally takes more time than my normal art by nature of it’s format and what it involves. When making the Comic for Day 60 it was all sketches, which was equally fast but could leave small imperfections at the time that either went under my radar or I just let slide because i was trying to be efficient. 

This is basically perfect for having to speedrun a Junkan comic, it’s all the speed with the usual amount of visual quality.

So in short . . . I’m turning into a nightmarish hell machine but specifically for drawing Junkan. I am genuinely curious how much farther I can go up from here, like, what the hell else could I be capable of with this???? Am I just gonna learn how to fuckin beam the art onto the canvas with my brain???

Moral of the story is just get mind numbingly obsessed with a ship and I guess you’ll get better at stuff??? I have no idea, i’m still kind of processing the comedic value of what this year has been because I was desperate for these two to make out. 

As always, Reblogs, Comments, and Little Notes in the Tags are appreciated!~ They always make my day!~

[dudelymantits]

Tell us more about your Adler/Star pairing please 👀✨

Sure! Thank you for asking! As usual this ended up longer than intended oops

So originally a few months back a friend mentioned how there should be more Signalis rare pairs and one of the ones she ended up mentioning was Star/Adler. For some reason this one stuck with me and kinda marinated in the back of my mind until I started to flesh them out more.

They both are stationed at my totally normal radio outpost B-92 Becquerel, because of Becquerel’s smaller size this station’s work hierarchy is set up differently than S-23 going like:

KNCR-B9201: this Kranich is the main head of the facility, she takes the place of a Falke unit and has a lot of other things going on that are not really relevant to this post besides the fact she is eternally tired because of them and therefore dismissive of certain issues that she shouldn’t be.

The three “heads”: these guys oversee the three main sektors of the facility with each being, Radio/military, Research, and Civilian/other. That last category is run by our Adler!

ADLR-B9201 or Grey is a newer unit being commissioned after the death of the previous Civilian overseer gestalt, Grey handles most of our usual expected Adler paperwork and bureaucratic duites, but he thinks due to the other two guys being “lackluster” in their own ways Adler often finds himself having to pick up whatever technical work they “didn’t end up doing in time”. Grey wants to run the place nice and organized, but his gestalt coworkers and boss seemingly having better things to worry about they don’t care he has a larger workload than everyone else. He stresses over performance and often wishes he worked as a normal Adler unit with a more clean cut ladder, but here? To many variables and people he has to get along with.

Thing is that it’s partially his own fault, he wants everything ahead of schedule and obviously that’s not happening, and if he would just work at a more normal even pace and communicate with the rest of his coworkers a large number of his problems with his work environment would be fixed, or at least lessened. Basically he’s the last guy you’d want to work with, very controlling and wanting to completely change the place he works at rather than adapting to what already had worked there before.

This bleed into his personality making him just a ass to be around, “pissy little bitch” was what I called him for months, he was whiny and short tempered especially when things didn’t go his way. And this is where Star comes in.

STAR-B920?: Eloka is a pretty average star, higher ranking than most but not to the point I’d call her high ranking yk? Above average…! Eloka also likes to push buttons and see exactly what she can get away with. This is partly why she’s in the middle of B-92’s Star ranks, she’s pissed off the ones above her so much they wouldn’t dare promote her more than they already have but also they recognize she’s more skilled than the newbie’s and weaker stars. She doesn’t care for hierarchy like most Starlings, and therefore finds it entertaining to break their rules.

Eloka has a record for getting herself in a mess, with other Star, with other Protektors, with relationships, hell she probably has gotten stuck in the Ara vents or on the rooftop a few times. She’s pretty silly. So when the new Adler got stationed and she heard about his poor temper you know exactly what she started doing, fucking with him!

Pretty quickly this turned into a game of “how quickly can I get Grey mad today?” Typically with insults. She also gave him the nickname Grey rather than referring to him as Adler, which he saw as a disrespect of his authority, she gave it to give him because of his atypical grey chest plate. Now you may be thinking, if she’s causing so much trouble for a higher up wouldn’t she be decommissioned? Well this is where it goes back to the other two heads, basically they would all have to agree to the decommissioning of a Protektor and Kranich would then order it. So even if he wanted to and probably threatened to at first they both knew that was an empty threat. It wasn’t constant picking but slowly became more consistent.

At first they really hated each other due to this strange routine they developed for obvious reasons, but slowly Grey started to grow more used to it and became less explosive in his reactions and he actually started to like her interpretations, and she started to also get used to this pattern. The pranks got lighter and rather than her fucking with his office she’d rearrange the files in a less disastrous way, tripping him lightly, ruffing his hair etc. He still found these mildly annoying but when they didn’t happen their days didn’t feel complete.

Both were oblivious to their growing affection but started to be with each other more and more, Eloka finding reasons to be in his office and Adler finding reasons to be less of a dick and controlling because he actually had something else in his life now to focus on and was kinda forced to chill out. She also started to find his grey chest plate cute. and a small bet was started by the stars and eules on who would ask the other out first, some units put their bet on Eloka because she had a history of girlfriends before and was usually the one to ask them first, where others argued that because she usually was so blunt with women why hadn’t she done so with him yet?

I’m not sure who wins the bet yet, but I do have it that Eloka was flirty with Grey from the start originally for fun but later actually meaning it sometimes [he still is bad at picking out when it’s serious or not] he also started to return the small pranks and insults back now, and the flirting that came with that. After they actually get together I imagine it would remain mostly the same as before, but with them now exploring their new relationship.

I also feel like Eloka would talk to him about guns a lot, and him talking about his stress at work. I have a scene in my head of her just in his office talking to him while kicking her feet like a teen girl lol. This could lead to him getting more into weapons, but I also like the idea of him getting into computers as well. He’s still a workaholic but not as much of an ass so improvement for sure.

Other thing to note: I don’t think Adler’s need a Falke specifically to function, I think they need structure. The reason it’s painted as them needing a Falke is national propaganda. Adler’s I feel work very well with clear hierarchy which is why I made grey specificly hate the one he’s in. Also why you shouldn’t have multiple Adler’s in one place most of the time, they don’t work well in teams. Even for Adler’s like S-23 we see him have issues with the Kolibri’s in his notes, who I see as being on equal footing to Adler but handling different parts of the facility than him. Adler’s also don’t strike me as leaders, they are helpers and need someone or something to follow, and for a country like the nation why not make sure he follows your literal man made goddess? Someone made to embodied your ideals?

Oh yea no Falke at this station lol

If you read all this text ily

[wayfayrr]

Birds without feather flock together

This was a commission from @lost4pandora, it's wild x reader in their winged au - it's mostly fluff with a tinyyyy little bit of drama with the chain it was a lot of fun to write, the dynamics of this group is just so fun

[masterlist]

‘Wild’ - it still doesn’t feel right calling my link that nickname- hasn’t gotten back yet and it’s been at least a few hours since a bunch of the others decided they needed to talk to him. Didn’t think it’d take them till post sundown though, and from how on edge Twilight is getting… I don’t think he did either.

“You’re tinkering on it again?”

“Huh - what, well yeah I guess I am.”

Maintaining my gun is a good distraction, something quiet but well seems like Sky picked up the hearing of whatever bird he got his wings from because there are very few things I can do without him noticing. Even for this he’s cracked an eye open to look at me lazily, though still affectionately. 

“Well you only really do it when you’re stressed, I’m sure there’s no need to be at the moment.”

“You can be as sure as you like but that doesn’t change the fact that Wild and the others are still gone.”

I can’t help being stressed, not with how he’s been agitated after every single time they’ve spoken to him alone; at this point, it can’t just be a coincidence. It can’t be. The way he starts picking at his back where his wings once were tells me all I need to know. Just as Wolfie perking up from my side tells me that there’s something approaching the camp, and by the fact he hasn’t started growling it’s probably our missing members returning. 

“I’m sure because seeing as they wanted me to come with them they’re probably trying to convi- never mind. I know it’s hard but just trust me, I know they’re fine.”

“Wait no, no you were about to explain something then. What are you trying to hide?”

“I - I’ll tell you later  privately, I promise - I’m on your side here I swear.”

If the way he glanced in the direction they left from is any clue, he’s nervous about them knowing what he’s just said; it’d be cruel to push him. No matter how much I want the answers. It’s surreal how what was once a mundane task can bring so much comfort, mindlessly packing away my tools now just seems to melt off the stress. Sky mirroring it is also a bit of a relief, he looked as if he was going to start ripping out feathers if he got any more worked up. Perfectly in time for the others to walk back into camp. With Wild stressed out like I knew he’d be. The wordless flop into my arms is new though, and I’m not sure if I like it or not.

“Hey lovebug, you holding together alright?”

Still not a word, he’s simply burying himself closer to me with a sniffle… and a sob? What were they doing to him what was enough to bring him to tears. I’ll have to take sky up on his offer to explain, or maybe I could question Wars unlike the rest that were with him he looks so guilty. For now though Sky is the safest bet, he’s said that he’s on our side; the question is do I really trust him? 

Even if I don’t it’s worth putting it aside for link, being able to comfort my lover is more important than anything else right now. So getting answers needs to be a priority. Thankfully I think Sky picked that up from the glare I sent him, well not that that was hard to pick up from how he immediately went to Time to argue why he should be allowed to go off with the both of us. From the first day we met something about him has just been off.

“I promise you I’ll get to the bottom of whatever upset you my lil fluffball. They’ll get what they deserve for upsetting you.”

A tilt of his head was my reward for the soft whispers, giving me a better angle to pet and pick the many branches out of his hair. 

“If you want we could run away soon, I mean really why stay with these other heroes if all they do is upset you?”

He liked that idea a lot if the chirp he let out is any indication. 

“I’d sing for you pretty boy, as soon as we get back, I swear that to you my love.”

“Um-” 

“Wars? What do you want?”

“Time’s agreed for you and Wild to leave the camp with Sky and myself, we can leave now if you want.”

Hopefully sky will still be willing to talk even though wars is there, who knows maybe they both end up spilling it. Granted Wars himself has been acting with more, what guilt? Pity? Towards Wild and I since the other day when the post arrived, this whole stiuation has just made him moreso, perhaps that’s why Sky suggested he be the one to ‘aid’ us, if that’s what he did.  

“That would be perfect. Do you know where we can go for privacy?”

“N-no this isn’t a hyrule I’m familiar with, you two are the heroes here so if anyone knows a good place to go it’s you.”

I won’t lie to myself and say it isn’t at least a little pleasant to see the usually pompous parrot more timid and reserved, link seems more comfortable with him acting like this too. Enough to let me stand and help him to his own feet. 

“Mhm, you’re right about that. We aren’t too far from the plateau; you and Sky should have no issue carrying us up there right?”

“We won’t will we wars? It’s the least we can do for them, isn’t it?”

It didn’t take long to get up there and now we’re out of earshot of anyone who could possibly want to eavesdrop on us, with Wild back in my arms where he belongs. 

“What’s been going on then, what has everyone been saying or doing to Wild. That’s what we’re up here to discuss isn’t it?”

“They -”

“We.”

“Wars and a few of the others have been pressing wild about his wings. Or lack thereof.”

[obsidianpen]

The whole scene with Liam using his Veela magic to get past Hermione’s memories was so creepy, and then him stealing a kiss 😫 Liam, no consent is never okay boi! But then you also revealed Liam experienced abuse due to his creature magic, which is so flipping complex and fantastic character development/choices on your part. Like him doing that is not black and white. And that sure af does not justify him mentally diving into Hermione mind, kissing her while she’s under his influence, but it adds weight to his decision. Ahhhh shades of grey all the way down! I love your writing Pen

thank you anon! Been getting lots of comments on the Liam portion of the last chapter, so I’m just gonna address a lot of them here:

I think it’s interesting how very up-in-arms angry a lot of people are over that specifically. Yes, of course it was morally Bad and it’s totally natural and legit to be super pissed that Liam would do that…. But I also think it’s worth looking at things from his perspective. Is it assault to interrogate a criminal like that in wizarding Britain? I’d say yes (legally in the magical world idk, probably very gray area; it would depend on if there are specific laws in place barring part-creatures from using their abilities on detained criminals… unclear, when things like veritaserum are okay, so yeah idk), but there’s a lot going on in the background that we (you? Hermione? The readers?) aren’t seeing. The real negotiations are happening between Madison and Dumbledore while the minister is out of commission. They’re both willing to ignore a few laws to get what they want because - here it is - they think they are doing the right thing.

well, okay, Madison’s being compelled by the MACUSA too, but he also thinks he’s doing the best thing for hermione by saving her from a trial in Britain. Isn’t even wrong really.

but Dumbledore - easy to see him as evil rn, but remember, he suspects riddle of murdering a poor innocent child! He thinks (correctly!) that riddle killed Myrtle and got hagrid to take the fall. He sees an opportunity to right that wrong, to clear Hagrid’s name, and to prevent someone like riddle - a murderer - from being free in the world and killing again. Because he will. And does, canonically. Dumbledore doesn’t even know about the fact that he killed his dad and grandparents yet!

so enter Liam - he honestly cared about hermione; she helped him get this job he’s been wanting, he thought she was long-time friends with his bestie… he believed all of it and thought they’d have a future as fun colleagues at the very least. Then she suddenly vanished with this creepy (to him - and he’s not wrong) guy who shows up out of nowhere and then he learns not too much later that she attacked Walt, fucked with his memories, and then lied to all of them; Walter gets fired, and then when they track her down, he learns that she also attacked and modified the memories of some witch and her house-elf in Britain (oh and she nearly killed the minister and two other people in her escape attempt)…

From where he’s standing, hermione is not a good person. She’s assaulted and modified the minds of several people, she’s stolen and used some old lady’s gold and name and affluence, she’s invented an entirely new fake identity…

so, when Albus Dumbledore and Lester Madison, two of the most powerful wizards he knows of (one of him is now his boss) asks if he can get these memories from her using a bit of his special brand of magic… what is he supposed to say? When it would, in the end, conceivably save both her (by getting her back to America) and put away a much more sinister wizard (if Dumbledore is correct and this creepy dude that whisked hermione away is actually a killer… and he is!). He may not have been jazzed to do it - he never tried to seduce her in America before, after all, and never would have - but one doesn’t say no to your very adamant new boss and freaking Dumbledore, the guy who defeated Grindelwald, especially not when the ends really do seem to justify the means (to them, at least). And all of this is not even touching upon the very vague hinting at Liam’s personal history with abuse.

anyway, kind of a rant, just had to put it out there because yeah, what Liam did was icky and nonconsensual but what hermione has done to people many times was also icky and nonconsensual and arguably a whole lot worse (imo, of course, but everyone is entitled to think differently there!).

[whumprecs]

you’ve prob done this but umbrella academy whump/angst recs?? all ur others are so good!

Sorry about the delay! So I am a huge Five fan, so most of them are slanted that way, though I think Diego sneaks in there a few times -but also they're almost all Family Fics.

I'm going to leave off the NSFW/non-con ones I know of, just in case. If you are interested, feel free to send another anon ask (or message if you would prefer) and I'll send links.

i'm walking backward into my own myth by eluvion  Five is in 1963. He’s in 2019. He’s in 2002. Time is falling apart, and Five is in every piece. Five is a disease, and time is coughing up a lung.

Or; Five Hargreeves breaks time.

I kept running (for a soft place to fall) by chromaticality He'd hoped they had given up. Really, he should have known better. The Handler thinks he's the solution to all her problems. Five thinks he'd like to turn the whole place into a slaughterhouse. But with Allison and Luther caught in the crossfire, Five has to cooperate with the Commission's plans until he can figure out a way to get everyone home.

No Time, No Time, Dear Brother O’ Mine by I_Logophile

At Gimbel Brothers department store, Five’s injury is a bit more serious than a simple bullet graze. Not that it matters to him.

That is, until the police show up while he’s trying to leave, and Five finds himself remembering things he’d rather forget. -- There’s something going on with his brother. That much is very clear to Diego.

Why else is Five at a crime scene? Why else is he attacking the people trying to help him? Why else is he going around ranting about time?

There’s something going on with his brother. And Diego is going to find out what.

He just has to get Five some medical attention first.

the walls kept tumbling down by Ingu It started small.

There was a nagging ache in his chest, phantom pain from where the bullets had pierced his flesh, in the overwritten timeline that never will be.

(the one where rewinding time doesn't miraculously resolve mortal gunshot wounds)

Here, Beneath My Lungs by beastboy12

After they get back from the 60's, Five starts investigating a string of suspicious murders while distancing himself from a family he's convinced he's already lost. So, naturally, Klaus and Diego join him. "Holy shit, Five," Diego says, rushing forward. "What the hell happened to you?" Five is off-balanced by the sight of Diego. Shouldn’t he be at the other address? What is he doing here? Klaus appears on the other side of Diego and lets out a laugh that sounds almost frantic. "Oh, thank God you can see him, too.” “Why are you here?” Five says. Diego scoffs. “Yeah, no, the one covered in blood doesn’t get to ask questions.”

Series

Part 1 of Five is an emotionally stunted yogurt lid

The Longest Roads Lead to Home by assaily (twistedskys) Five raised his glass to the rafters. “I’m home,” he said simply. “I’d like to take the time to enjoy that, y’know.”

Diego watched him pour another drink, suddenly understanding him. He’d been gone a long time, lost in a really terrible place that probably never felt like home unless he could somehow forget he was the last soul on Earth. ‘Home’ meant a lot to him.

When Five’s glass was ready again, Diego raised his own, still half-full. “To being home,” he said.

That earned him a smile, a real one that managed to soothe the crease in Five’s brow and make him look so incredibly young in its sincerity, and so incredibly old in its deep gratitude. He raised his glass and clinked it against Diego’s. “To finally being home.”

~-~

Or; Five gets kidnapped and it goes wrong (for the kidnapper).

heart heart head by morimaru

a series of hurt/comfort snippets featuring Five.

Blink by Lady_Origami When Five blinks, sometimes he's back in the world of ash and embers. It's hard to remember how to breathe when that happens. In which Klaus tries to play the role of supportive brother with Ben's help, and Five struggles more than he lets on.

Can you hug me as I go? by maddienole What if the FBI captured Five instead of Vanya?

2x7 canon divergence.

Simple by sharkneto Diego runs into Five at the park. He’s just here to catch a mugger. Why does Five always complicate things?

Lend a Hand by sharkneto If Luther’s being honest, he’s not sure how they’re going to get out of this one. Effectively trapped and powers negated, the Umbrella Academy is in a dire position.

Luther really needs to stop underestimating the lengths Five is willing to go to save his family.

Howling at the Moon by assaily (twistedskys) Five is now a permanent resident of the Hotel Oblivion. The rooms are crap, service is even worse, and he's pretty sure his family left him here. But at least they're safe, right?

A pre-season 3 AU of season 3, Hotel-as-a-prison concept from the comics.

lie awake, sleep awake by morimaru Number Five does not get sick. He refuses to be sick. His body obeys. Right up until it doesn't. (- this one is literally my favorite of all of these rec's, I have lost count how many times I've read it)

and all the kids cried out by morimaru The one where Five is sick, the Handler is clingy and hard to get rid of even after death, and Klaus has a ghost-busting side-gig that is a lot less exciting than it sounds.

Guilt Trip by I_Logophile In typical Five Hargreeves fashion, a drug ring bust with his family turns into a rescue mission, which turns into a complete and utter shitshow. Because, of course, things had to go sideways— No, scratch that. Things didn't just go sideways, things went upside down, backward, and inside out. And then got blown up. Literally.

In the aftermath of the whole fiasco, Five is left reeling, floundering, drowning in guilt.

Because how could he have done that?

How could he have attacked his family?

spoiled by morimaru Number Five is a survivor. He fought his whole life: he fought their father, the apocalypse, the commission, then – the apocalypse, again. Having made that fateful jump back to 2019, he unwillingly left his old body with all of its scars behind. Physical ones, at least. It’s funny, in a way, that the hardest thing for him to fight ends up being food.

The Dangers of Vigilanteing by aceofwhump Diego gets injured during one of his vigilante acts and is forced to go back to the one place he swore he'd never return: The Umbrella Academy

Also, the best way I've found to get to the fics I want in this fandom is to troll through favorites of the authors of my favorite fics. Most fandoms that doesn't seem to work, but this one it does. Happy reading, and again - sorry about the delay!

[whenihaveyouromione]

When I Have You - Chapter 102

(commissioned from @elyonblackstar.art on Instagram)

This was originally chapter 100, hence the difference, but then it changed. This is still my favourite chapter.

Lyrics from "First Times" by Ed Sheeran, a song he wrote about his wife :)

Read on ao3 or Fanfiction.net.

---

Chapter 102

~~~

Ain’t it funny how the simplest things in life can make a man,

Little moments that pass us by

~~~

“Woah!” Ron’s jaw was on the floor and he couldn’t quite pick it back up again. Hermione had told him that tonight was black-tie style dress — which, in Muggle terms, meant really fancy clothes — but she’d not informed him that what she planned to wear to the event was a very elegant — very low-cut, he noted with a grin — black dress that he never would have pictured her ever wearing. She’d curled her hair, its usual bushiness gone, and she’d even put on makeup. She looked absolutely stunning and he found it difficult to take his eyes off her. 

Hermione smiled at his reaction, but a moment later, she looked down. “Is it too much?” she asked, suddenly sounding uncertain. “It’s not something I’d usually wear, but —”

“Absolutely not!” Ron said firmly. “You look great. No… that’s not the right word. You look so, so beautiful, and that’s saying something, because I really do think you look beautiful all the time.”

Her lips curved up into a smile, her cheeks tinging pink. 

“Though,” Ron said, a smile forming on his own face, “I do think it would look better off you. If you know what I mean.”

“I always know what you mean, Ron,” Hermione answered dismissively. “And one day, you’ll have to be careful of what you say around our daughter.” She stepped closer to him, taking Rose from his arms. She was looking very drowsy, the time nearing seven-thirty in the night.

This was going to be the hardest part for them. Rose was spending her first night away from them. Well, just a few hours, really. It had been Hermione’s idea, but he knew there was some regret in her decision to have her parents look after Rose while they enjoyed a night out together. 

It was their anniversary. Four years being married, and almost eight years together. It was a special night, Ron knew that, and he wanted to make the most of it.

“She’s good to go,” he said gently. He didn’t want to show his own hesitations about leaving Rose behind, because if he did, then Hermione would probably change her mind. They’d at first contemplated bringing her parents here, so at least Rose would be somewhere familiar. But, Ron had then reasoned that they could just pick her up on the way home. They were heading into London anyway. 

Now, though, he was pretty confident that he’d be bringing Hermione home before they did anything else, because they had very little time these days to be alone, especially when Rose slept in the same room as them. They’d had to get creative. 

Hermione nodded. “I guess we should go then.”

“Yep.” Ron guided her to the fireplace, his hand on her back, which — to his delight — showed a lot of skin. He grinned. 

“Stop smiling,” Hermione said, though she wasn’t facing him.

“How’d you know I was smiling?” Ron asked, dropping his hand. 

“Because I know you,” Hermione answered. “The moment I put a nice dress on, you’re all over me.”

“I’m always all over you.”

“I’m holding our daughter,” she reminded him, though there was amusement in her voice above anything else. “Once we drop her off at Mum and Dad’s, you have me all to yourself.”

“Alright,” Ron said. He picked up a handful of Floo powder and tossed it into the fireplace. “You go first.”

Hermione cast him a very amused look, but she did as he requested, her hand over Rose’s head to shield her from any ash. When she was gone, Ron followed, still grinning to himself. 

The other side was a very calm and peaceful atmosphere. Robert and Jane had known of their hesitation about leaving Rose, and so they were not showing what Ron could only imagine to be pure delight at having their granddaughter to themselves for a few hours. 

“Wow, Hermione, you’ve dressed up well,” Robert commented as Ron stepped out from the fireplace. He’d already cast anti-stain charms all over his suit, and he was pleased to see he’d performed it effectively. “As your dad, I am not sure I approve.”

“My husband approves,” Hermione said, smiling. 

Robert flashed an amused look Ron’s way, and Ron was very proud of himself at how well he hid just how much he approved. “I bet he does,” Robert muttered. 

Ron passed a bag full of Rose’s things to Jane.  

“And everything’s in there?” she asked, accepting it. 

“Yes. There’s three bottles,” Hermione said. “You hopefully will only need two, but there’s three just in case. She’ll probably sleep until about midnight, which is when we aim to get home.”

“So early?” Robert asked. 

“The show goes until eleven, so we’ll give ourselves an extra hour, just in case. We may even be back earlier.”

“Well, don’t hurry back,” Jane said. “The two of you haven’t had a night out in a long time, and it’s your anniversary. If you’ve packed an extra bottle for her, then you can probably stay out a little longer. When do we need to feed her again?”

“In about an hour,” Hermione said. “Then again when she wakes around midnight. And then… maybe again if we’re not back.”

Ron knew that wasn’t going to be the case. As much as he wanted to enjoy their night, he didn’t think they’d cope much longer than their allocated time away from their daughter. 

Jane smiled, her eyes on Rose. Her smile turned sympathetic when Hermione hesitated handing her over. 

“She’ll be well-loved here, Hermione,” Robert assured her. “You kids enjoy yourselves.”

Hermione kissed Rose’s cheek, and then with very heavy reluctance, she passed Rose over to her dad. “Bye, sweetheart,” she choked. “We’ll be back soon, I promise.”

Rose watched her, smiling. 

“See you, Rosie,” Ron said, stepping forward and tickling her under the chin. “You be good, alright?”

Rose gave him a smile, too, and before either of them could change their minds, he slid his hand into Hermione’s and led her to the door. There was a bus stop just down the road which led straight into the city. 

Ron closed the door behind them, wincing at the last sound they heard — Rose’s cries. 

“Oh,” Hermione said, pulling her hand away. “I feel so awful. She doesn’t understand. She probably thinks we’re abandoning her —”

Ron stepped toward her, a hand on each of her shoulders and kissed her. “She will be okay,” he said calmly. “Let’s enjoy our night together because we won’t get many of these moments. I want to celebrate being married to you.”

Rose could still be heard, even though they were standing out the front.

“Let’s go,” he said, taking Hermione’s hand again. “Before my resolve breaks and I go back in there again.”

Hermione seemed to appreciate his honesty. She smiled and squeezed his hand. “Let’s go,” she said. 

~~~

The first kiss, the first night, the first song that made you cry

~~~

Ron was certain he’d never set foot in such a fancy place again. This was something Hermione had organised, telling him she’d splurged considering this was the best year they’d had so far. They were attending dinner and a show — of what, Ron had no idea and didn’t really care about. He was just excited to be spending an evening with his wife, without them having to worry about a baby.

Though, worry they still did, even if neither of them mentioned it. Ron had set that rule on the bus ride over. He wanted tonight to be about them. Every other day of their lives was about Rose. 

The foyer was crowded with other couples, all dressed up like them. Hermione didn’t look out of place at all, though she was still the most beautiful. Ron couldn’t take his eyes off of her, or remove the smile from his face. People dressed in tuxedos came around offering free drinks, and Ron accepted a glass of wine, regretting it the moment he had the first sip. 

“You have it,” he said, choking down the bitter taste and handing it to Hermione.

“I can’t,” Hermione said. “I’m not comfortable drinking alcohol while breastfeeding.”

“Oh, right.” Ron looked around for a place to subtly dispose of the glass, but couldn’t find any. Everyone else was drinking slowly from their glasses. “I don’t know why I always think it’s going to be better the next time,” he told Hermione. “Goblin-made wine is much better.”

“Well, unfortunately they don’t sell that to Muggles,” Hermione replied. She smiled so brightly, and Ron’s heart swelled. 

“You are so bloody amazing, you know that right?” he said to her.

“That’s just because you like what I’m wearing.”

Ron chuckled. “I will freely admit that what you’re wearing is doing amazing things to me right now, but I really didn’t mean it like that. You know I love you no matter what you’re wearing. You know I love you.”

“I know.” Hermione stepped forward, her body pressing against his, arms around his neck and she kissed him. Her lips were so soft and tender and he was pleasantly reminded of their very first kiss and the thrill he’d felt at having her finally. It felt so long ago now, and so many kisses ago, but it would always remain his favourite.

He held her waist, ensuring she didn’t pull away too soon, but his hands slowly crept up her sides, reveling in the silky smoothness of her dress. He moved them to her back, feeling her exposed skin, but that was too much for him. He groaned, breaking the kiss before he got too carried away in a very public place. 

Hermione stepped back, seeming rather pleased with herself, and to his utter relief, an announcement sounded from somewhere that the doors were now open. 

Hermione dug into her small bag and pulled out two tickets. “Ready to go in?” she asked. 

“Please,” Ron replied, his voice strained. 

Hermione was laughing silently at him, he could tell, but she turned and walked toward the door, offering her hand for him to take. 

They were led to a beautiful table set for two, somewhere in the middle of the room. It was dark in there, but each table had a candle in the centre, creating a romantic atmosphere. 

Once seated, Ron immediately reached for Hermione’s hands. “Do you remember the first time you kissed me?” he asked. 

Hermione’s eyes widened at the sudden question, but she soon relaxed and nodded. “It’s hard to forget.”

“It’s hard to imagine just how far we’ve come since then,” Ron said. “All the things we’ve done together, all the things we’ve achieved… it all started there, didn’t it?”

Hermione gave a small smile. “I think it would have happened after that, if it didn’t then.”

Ron laughed quietly. “You’re probably right. I was quite in love with you at that point. I’m glad you made the first move, though.”

“Would you have? Made a move if I hadn’t, I mean?”

Ron paused before answering. This was something he’d thought about occasionally over the years. His answer always changed, but he nodded. “Yeah,” he said finally. “I think I eventually would have. It just would have been after I went through every possible scenario in my head to figure out what the best move would be and it may have taken me years to work it out.”

Hermione laughed. 

You find that funny?” Ron questioned, grinning at her. 

“Well… yeah,” she said. “Because aren’t I usually the one to run through every scenario in my head and you the one to act without thinking?”

“Which is why I’m glad you decided to do it that way for once,” Ron replied. 

Hermione smiled. “Tell me, have you thought about it? Did you reach a conclusion on what your preferred method of winning me over would have been? I’m curious.”

“Does it matter?” Ron asked. “It didn’t happen that way.”

“I want to know.”

“I dunno. How much would I have had to win you over?”

“You probably would have just had to have held my hand and I would have thrown myself at you.”

Ron returned her smile. “So, it wouldn’t have been all that different.”

“Tell me.”

“Alright, well, if it reached a point where nothing was happening with us and I felt I needed to make the move, I think I would have asked you out. While stammering over the question in sheer terror of what your answer might be.”

“You mean out on a date?”

“Yeah. You sound disappointed. It’s not as fun as throwing yourself at someone in the middle of the war, is it?”

“I think it’s a very Ron thing to do. I would have been flattered. And I, of course, would have said yes.”

“I like the way it happened better. I think back on that moment very fondly.”

Hermione’s eyes drifted to their entwined hands. She didn’t speak for a long time. Ron relished in the peacefulness, tuning out the chatter surrounding them and focusing solely on the woman next to him. 

“I think that was the moment I knew.” When she spoke again, her voice was barely a whisper.

“Knew what?” Ron asked, though he could guess. He’d had the same feelings in the same moment. That kiss — their first kiss — had erased every doubt in his mind and he’d never been more certain of anything when she’d been in his arms. 

She looked up, a look of complete joy on her face. “That we’d end up here. Married. With a child. Just… happy. It just felt —”

“Right,” Ron finished. 

“I knew in that moment, that if we survived the war, then we weren’t going to look back, we weren’t going to question anything. I could feel it in you, too. You just knew as well.”

“I knew it without a doubt,” Ron confirmed. “Our friendship was over.”

Hermione laughed. “Yeah, we ruined that, didn’t we?”

“But I will admit,” Ron said, “I did have some doubts.”

Hermione looked at him curiously, so he hurried on to explain. “Not about you, not about… us… not really. They came around the time you said you wanted to have sex with me. That panicked me more than I let on.”

“I know,” Hermione said. “You were pretty nervous that night. But you lost those nerves pretty quickly, though, if I remember correctly. I recall you being on me pretty quickly again after that first time.”

“Ha! Yeah. Yeah, I was…” He paused, thoughtful, trying to figure out how to word what he wanted to say. “That just felt like the point of no going back for us. I worried that if we did that together, we’d find it was actually awkward moving from friends to lovers, but then being friends would feel awkward after being so intimate.” He looked up, noticing her amused expression. “That makes sense, right?”

“It does,” she assured him gently. She frowned slightly. “Can you believe I didn’t actually think about that? I never even contemplated that it might be awkward, or weird —”

“And it definitely wasn’t,” Ron assured her. “And once I realised that, then I never looked back. But… at the time, I just thought if it didn’t work out for whatever reason, then I’d lose you entirely — as my girlfriend, but also as my friend.”

By the look on Hermione’s face, it was obvious that she was only now just realising that what he said could have been a real possibility. Thankfully, it hadn’t worked out that way, but the thoughts hadn’t seemed to cross her mind until this very moment. She confirmed that by saying, “I’m so glad you’re only telling me this now.”

Ron laughed. “Yeah, well… my mind might have been telling me that, but the rest of me was pretty keen, so I wasn’t going to think too hard on it in the end. I knew that if I said anything, you would have taken the high road and said we should wait, and I didn’t want that either.” 

“Sounds like a confusing time for you,” Hermione said, amused.

“Oh, it was,” Ron assured her. “I both wanted to be with you in a sex way, and didn’t want to ruin anything between us.”

Hermione flashed another smile before her expression turned serious. “Ron, I do hope you know just how much I love you.”

“Of course I know.” He squeezed her hands in assurance. 

“No, but… I know I’m not always the best at expressing my feelings. You’re so open, and I’m just a little more guarded. I know sometimes it can come across to you — and maybe others — that my feelings for you don’t always match your feelings for me. That’s not true at all, you know that, right? I’m just not as good as expressing them openly like you are.”

Ron nodded, sensing she felt a little saddened by her confession. Though, he’d never thought he was great at expressing how he felt, he just had a terrible time at hiding it, too. “Yeah, I know that. And don’t worry about it, I have no filter. You know that. I say things without thinking. It’s a curse.”

“You’re my happy place, my safe place, my everything and I’m so very appreciative of it all. It just… I guess it overwhelms me a lot of the time, to feel so much for one person that it leaves me with no words to express it. But… I fell in love so young, and I just never fell out, and… I just love you, Ron. So much.”

Ron’s heart just about leapt out of his chest. “Please stop talking,” he begged. “Because if you don’t, well, I might just do something I shouldn’t do with so many people around. 

Hermione laughed. 

He leaned down to kiss her, deepening the kiss enough to let her know that he loved her, too, but not enough to draw attention to them. “And don’t forget,” he said, his lips near her ear, “you were the one to say you loved me first. I’ll never forget that.”

That had her cheeks turning red, her hands tightening around his. He extracted one hand and rested it on her knee. She melted at his touch, which pleased him. 

“It’s amazing to discover the things that have made me happiest in life,” he said to her. “Growing up, I wanted the glory. I wanted to be Quidditch captain, to be Head Boy, to… be an Auror. I wanted to be recognised. It was my dream.

“But, you know what I think of when someone asks me what my happiest memories are? The things I think of when I conjure a Patronus? Asking you to marry me, actually marrying you, the birth of our daughter. Those are the best moments of my life, my greatest achievements. I wish I could go back and tell my eleven year old self to not worry about all those things I worried about — to tell him that none of what you want is going to make you happy, but you’ll find happiness in the simpler things. That the best job in the world is being a dad to a little girl that you will love more than your own life itself. And that that girl you met on the train, the one that annoys the pants off you, that maybe you need to be nicer to her, because one day she is going to make you happier than winning any Quidditch Cup ever could.”

“Not that you’re going to fall hopelessly in love with that girl?” Hermione teased. 

“Eleven-year-old Ron wouldn’t have been able to handle such information,” Ron said. “He was far too immature for that.”

Hermione smiled. 

“But I do wish I could just tell myself that it’s the simple things that will end up making me the happiest. I wish someone had.”

Hermione laid her head on his shoulder. “And maybe if you’d known all that, we wouldn’t be here now.”

“No, maybe not. Not sure I would have believed it, to tell you the truth, though.”

The lights dimmed after that and all talking ceased. Ron moved his arm to fold around her waist, drawing her even closer to him. 

And somehow, as he sat there with her, he realised that his heart really did have the space to love her just that little bit more than he did yesterday.

~~~

The greatest thing that I have achieved

Is four little words, down on one knee

~~~

Ron felt at peace when the show ended. He’d enjoyed it, and the food had been delicious. And to his surprise, neither of them had mentioned Rose. They truly had enjoyed their time together, it being just the two of them. Rose was probably sound asleep in the small portable cot Hermione’s parents had gotten, happy to have some new people to play with. 

They left the theatre hand-in-hand, smiling. 

“I really enjoyed tonight,” Hermione said as they made their way down the street. 

“Me too,” Ron said. “Another moment to add to my bank of growing favourite memories.”

Hermione smiled. “I almost don’t want it to be over.”

“It’s not,” Ron said, and he stopped — the place deliberate — and turned to face her, grinning at her.

“I’m not sure I like that look on your face, Ron,” she said warily. 

“There’s one more memory I have from our life together. And I’m very fond of it.”

That didn’t abate Hermione’s wariness at all. It increased it, if anything.

“And what might that be?” she asked.

Ron’s grin broadened and he nodded to his right. Hermione turned her head, both of them now staring down a dark alley. 

Hermione frowned. “It’s a rubbish alley,” she said. 

“It’s not a rubbish alley. It’s an alley, and I have very fond memories of you pulling me into one once.”

“Oh, Ron,” Hermione said, finally catching on. “We don’t… we’re a lot older now. I’m not as… well, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

But she didn’t protest too hard when Ron tugged on her hand and pulled her into it. The benefit this time, was it was dark and no one would see them, even if they walked past. 

He backed her up against the wall, enclosed in the dark entirely, and by the time he brought his mouth to hers, she was kissing him back. She flung her arms around his neck, forcing his body against hers. 

This was going to be the last time in many more months before they got to be so close for such a long time again, and he wanted to savour every moment with her. But he also wanted to tear that dress from her body, because as good as it looked on her, he knew it looked better on the floor. 

He settled for dropping one strap down her arm, just to see how far he could get with her before she stopped him. He trailed his lips along her jaw, down her neck and to her shoulder. She, surprisingly, held him tighter, allowing him to kiss her. 

So, he tried the other strap, and kissed her there, too. He did that for a long while before her hands slid away from his neck and he thought that this was it. As much as she was enjoying it, the knowledge that there were people nearby had gotten to her and she didn’t want to go further. 

But her hands didn’t push him away. They moved to his waist, and then to the belt buckle of his suit pants. He slid the straps of her dress down further, fingers trailing her skin. 

“I’ve missed you,” he murmured against her neck. “Merlin, I’ve missed you.” He pressed against her, suddenly even more desperate than he’d been before. 

He was surprised just how far she was taking this. She’d managed to get his buckle open, though she didn’t go any further than that, instead allowing him to kiss every part of her exposed skin. 

After a while, he reached behind her, feeling for the zip of her dress, and finally, he felt the hands that he’d expected long ago, push him away. 

“Stop, Ron,” she said, her voice filled with apologies. 

He dropped his hands, pressing his forehead against hers. 

“I thought I could do it, but —”

“Let’s go home,” he said gently. 

She nodded, and he held her tightly, reaching with one hand to take out his wand. He Apparated them both home, where Hermione was much more willing to allow him to unzip her dress and have it fall to the floor. 

~~~

The first look in your eyes when I said, "I love you.”

~~~

It was well after midnight, nearing one, when they Floo’d back to Hermione’s parents’ place. Both of them were awake, the lights in the living room on and the television going at a low level. 

Both looked surprised to see them come through the fireplace rather than the door. 

“Didn’t get the bus back?” Robert asked with a knowing look. He then looked them over. “That’s not what you were wearing when you left.” They’d changed into something more comfortable after they’d pulled themselves out of bed. 

Hermione flushed, but didn’t bother giving a response. 

Ron grinned. 

“How was she?” Hermione then asked, changing the subject quickly. 

“Oh, perfect,” Jane said. “Cried a little after you left, but she settled pretty quickly and was all smiles after that.” She smiled herself, as if reliving a very fond memory. “We had no issues getting her to sleep. Was out like a light after we gave her a bottle, changed her… oh, she was a delight.”

“That’s our Rosie,” Ron said proudly, noticing the smile forming on Hermione’s lips too. She’d done a lot of smiling tonight as they remembered how they’d reached this moment, the best part of their lives, but it never got old. 

“Did you two have fun?” Jane then asked. “How was the show?”

“Tonight was amazing,” Hermione answered. “The show was great, but it was just nice to actually spend some quality time together. We did a lot of reflecting, thinking back to the moment that got us here. It was lovely.”

Ron nudged Hermione affectionately, and her eyes glistened with love. 

“Where is she?” Ron then said. “I’ll go and get her.”

“We put her in the spare room upstairs,” Jane said. “We fed her at midnight, and she went straight back down.”

While Hermione began to explain to her parents about the show, which really had been the least thrilling part of their night, but the safest one to talk to her parents about, Ron went to get Rose. He entered the room quietly, smiling at the sound of her even breathing. 

He bent down to pick her up, begging her to stay asleep. She did, her only sign of disturbance being a grunt.

He carried her back downstairs, treasuring her tiny body against his, so warm and fragile and perfect.

Hermione smiled at him and then she came over to peer at Rose.

“Thank you,” she said to her parents. “We really appreciate it.”

“Our absolute pleasure,” Jane said. “She was a delight.”

Hermione smiled again and then, with Ron still holding Rose close to him, she set up the Floo connection. 

Ron indicated that she should go first, that he was okay to follow. 

She obliged. For a moment, he simply stood there, staring at the space she’d been a moment ago. And then Rose stirred against him and he was reminded again of just how simple his life was now, and that he wouldn’t have it any other way.

~~~

I can't wait to see everything that's yet to be

Our first child, and then a million more first times

~~~

[ikemenfanfiction]

Sasuke: Mini Story

1 of 3 “You’re Irresistible” Mini-Stories (Feb 2020) Masterlist Fandom: Ikemen Sengoku Featuring: You (MC) & Sasuke (fluff). Based in a Sengoku AU where you are already dating one of the featured characters. Synopsis: When your day goes wrong how will your lover help you remember that he will always find you irresistible? Disclaimer: All Ikemen Sengoku Characters are the rightful property of Cybird and I do not claim them as my own. WARNINGS: none

INTRODUCTION: You couldn’t help sighing as once again war council finished and you felt you had nothing to contribute. Why did Nobunaga even ask you to be here? As Chatelaine you were supposed to assist the residents of Azuchi Castle as best you could. Yet outside of delivering the mail you sometimes felt completely useless. Sure, Mitsunari was helping you with your reading and you were attempting to write in a manner closer to “Sengoku Style.” Still, that was taking much longer than you had hoped and most of your efforts to make notes of what happened in war council were still more humorous than helpful. Masamune and Mitsuhide had nearly laughed their heads off the last time they snatched your proffered notes out of Ranmaru’s hands before he could make suggestions. Nobunaga’s page had been quite speechless when he thought it was a shopping list not “The council minutes” from the meeting you’d just been in. With the discouragement weighing you down you gathered your things and headed for the door—not expecting a certain someone to intervene. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> (Continue with Nobunaga) (Continue with Masamune)

Sasuke: “Are you feeling all right?” Hideyoshi’s voice broke through your concentration and you looked up to find his concerned golden eyes on you. “S-sure. Why wouldn’t I be all right?” You ask trying to sound convincing. “You don’t seem quite yourself today. I was wondering if you were feeling unwell?”

“No, I promise I’m just fine Hideyoshi. There is just a lot for everyone to do and I should probably go get started.” “Were you still going into the market today?” He asked before you manage to get very far. “I was. I just received another sewing commission yesterday and I don’t quite have everything I need for it.” You admit hesitantly. “I was wondering if you’d be willing to pick up a few things for me then? I don’t quite have time to get to it but—” He handed you a short list which you glanced over. Was this just a ruse to make you feel helpful? Everything on the list were items you could find easily enough but Hideyoshi usually kept most of these things on hand. At your cynical look Hideyoshi’s expression turns a little sheepish. Finally he admitted, “Okay… you see I asked Mitsunari to go shopping for me earlier this week and it ended up being a bit of a disaster. I’m too busy to go myself just now but frankly the tea he selected is especially atrocious. Could you please pick some up for me so I can stand to get through tea ceremony today? It would mean a great deal to me.” You almost burst out laughing at his pleading expression but somehow manage not to. “Of course. I’d be glad to pick these up for you Hideyoshi. Are you certain there isn’t anything you need to add?” “I think that will do for now but thank you!” The relief on Hideyoshi’s face was almost comical but you manage to hold back your amusement as you head back to your room to get your things. As you recheck the sewing items you will need to purchase you notice something unusual in your basket. It seems to be a… an invitation of some kind? You open it to find a short note from your favorite person in the entire Sengoku Period. “I miss you. If you can get away a certain ceiling ninja would like to have lunch with you.” It wasn’t signed but you easily recognize Sasuke’s handwriting. Yet you couldn’t help wondering when exactly he had left it among your things. With extra enthusiasm you hurry to finish getting ready to leave for the market. You turn onto the street where Yuki usually has his booth thinking that is the most likely place to discover your ninja-boyfriend. Yet suddenly the bag you were carrying seems to have disappeared and you pause to look around in confusion. Behind you is a rather suave looking civilian leaning casually against a wall as he cleans his glasses.

“Sasuke?” You say as you realize your bag is slung casually over his shoulder. “Your bag looked a little heavy this morning. I figured I’d help you out.” He said replacing his glasses making them flash in the afternoon light as he tilted them just so. Did he have to make your heart jump like that? “Thank you! I got your note! I was a little sad I wasn’t there when you dropped it off.” “Oh, you were there. You just happened to be sound asleep by the time I dropped in.” He brushed a wayward strand of hair behind your ear while his beautiful brown eyes seemed to be taking in every detail of your face. How long had he been away? Three days? It somehow felt like a month! “Why didn’t you wake me?” You ask feeling extra disappointed that he would simply let you sleep. “It was closer to morning than my normal visits. Work kept me out quite a bit longer than usual.” The regret in his voice made you reach for his hand. As he laced his fingers with yours the remorse in your heart faded to a happy warmth. “Promise next time to wake me? I don’t like finding out I was so close to being able to see you then I didn’t get to.” He suddenly leaned in close and brushed a quick kiss against your cheek. “The problem isn’t with you seeing me. The problem is I won’t want to leave the moment you do.” “Sasuke.” You breath his name softly. “Come one there’s a tea shop I really want you to try.” Once you had your tea—and the sweets Sasuke inevitably ordered for you along with it—he began asking how things were going with work. You explained how you needed to pick up a few things for your latest commission in the market. Once you mention Hideyoshi’s list, however, Sasuke’s enthusiastic questions began to overtake the conversation. You find yourself laughing as you share what tea Hideyoshi asked for and how entertaining it was to hear him complain about the tea he’d been forced to use lately due to Mitsunari’s unfortunate shopping adventure. “Sometimes I get so envious of you (YN).” Sasuke confides. “You get to hear them discuss things in war council and see them interact. It’s so amazing I can hardly stand it sometimes.” It didn’t take long for you to discover that your boyfriend was the ultimate Sengoku Period fanboy. All personal information about the Oda warlords was considered absolutely fascinating. “Nah it’s not really amazing. You being a more than moderately awesome ninja is way more amazing than anything I do as Azuchi’s Chatelaine.” You shrug trying not to allow the gloom that hung over you that morning ruin your time with your boyfriend. “I’m sure you make such a difference Sasuke. If anyone should be jealous it should be me.” His hand captures yours and in an instant he draws it to his lips. He presses a tender kiss to your palm before closing your fingers around it then enclosing your hand in both of his. “Sasuke?”

“I don’t like that sad look in your eyes. So I wanted you to keep this with you in case you need a reminder that I love you.” You blink at him as you find your eyes burning with emotion. “I… thank you Sasuke. I know you love me, but thank you.” You offer him a smile that’s as warm as you can summon. “Why do you feel that way about being Chatelaine?” He asks gently. He allows you to extract your hand so you can finish your tea. You take a quick sip before trying to explain, “I think I was just feeling a bit discouraged this morning. I feel like I don’t really contribute anything to the council. I’ve been trying to take notes but the last time I showed those to anyone was completely embarrassing.” You go on to tell him about Mitsuhide and Masamune’s comments and how useless you feel. He listens attentively as you explain your struggle to feel like you are making any difference at all as Chatelain. “When Hideyoshi gave me that list today I almost thought it was just… well… It felt like he was just trying to cheer me up by asking me to do something for him. I almost said as much before he admitted what happened with Mitsunari.” “(YN) do you have any idea how much of a disaster it would be if I tried to finish that sewing commission for you?” Sasuke asked capturing your hand and placing it palm down on the table. He then began tracing his finger over the sensitive skin at your wrist then up each finger and back again as though studying every contour. “I don’t know. You seem pretty great at adapting to whatever the situation demands, Sasuke. Are you trying to steal away my seamstress mojo?” “Trust me, no. In fact while I might manage to sew something together—emphasizing the ambiguity of that term—the result would be far from fashionable in any sense of the word.” You can’t help laughing a little. “What do you think Masamune would say to Mitsunari if he decided to become Azuchi’s head cook?” Sasuke asked continuing to stroke your hand affectionately. “Oh! He wouldn’t even make it to the kitchen before Masamune would intervene!” You laugh. “Right, because that isn’t Mitsunari’s strength. Just like sewing isn’t mine.” You hesitantly meet his eyes. You understood what he was trying to say yet you still couldn’t quite banish the disappointed feeling. You wanted to do more to help out yet everything you tried had been far from effective. “So what is your strength?” Sasuke asked finally wrapping the warmth of his hand around the one of yours he had been thoroughly teasing. “I don’t know.” You admit softly. “Sewing I guess? Managing to deliver mail to the right person?” You shrug.

“What about some of my favorites? Your ability to brighten a room with that smile for example?” “Sasuke.” You whisper as embarrassment makes your ears burn. “Or there’s the ability you have to care about other people. That’s one of the things that most qualifies you to be Azuchi’s Chatelaine… at least in your boyfriend’s opinion.” Suddenly you pull his hand toward you, and imitating his earlier actions place a heated kiss into his palm before curling his fingers around it. “What was that for?” You’d never heard his voice waver quite like that before and somehow you couldn’t quite bring yourself to meet his gaze. “I wanted you to have it. So, no matter where you are you remember you’re the person I love the most in this entire world.” Suddenly Sasuke was gone. You blinked for a minute and looked around the shop only to find him urgently paying the bill. He came back and without a word took your hand and let you out of the shop. “Sasuke?” You ask hurrying to keep up with his pace. You barely register that you’ve reached the shadows of a building before he pulls you into his arms and kisses you fiercely. “Sasuke—” You gasp in between kisses as he holds you tenderly in his arms. “You were right.” He murmurs stealing another kiss. “I should have woke you this morning. You’re too irresistible to take out into public like this. I needed to be alone with you first.” Eventually his kisses slow and he leans his forehead against yours. “Let’s discuss this further in private.” He suggests as his breathing eases to a normal rhythm, “But right now I think you have some shopping to do?” You nod smiling up at him brightly as he leads you back into the marketplace.

[animalsalvationassociation]

Small Q&A:

No I’m not back but I had a few generalized questions about the blog popping up so I thought I’d answer a few just to clear the air. Yes I am still on hiatus.

Question 1: Watermarks

For anyone confused as to the watermarks that are on my art pieces — @cookiecrumbles52palace is my main user for all of my art blogs except for secondary art accounts like character creation pages on Instagram/TikTok.

[ Here is an official link to all of my socials. ]

—

[ And this is if you want to learn more about me ]

—

Question 2: How do art??

“How are you so good?”, “Wow I wish I could be like you!”, “You’re so talented I could never!”

It never gets easier answering this. Every artist/creative would agree with me, these are by far the most asked questions I get on literally a daily basis. They bring me joy and the validation I’ve always wanted but at the same time they make me extremely sad and uncomfortable.

As of 09/2024 I will be hitting my 12 year mark of being an artist and a writer. It’s a rough estimate of when I began, but I basically started in September around the age of 11.

“What got you started?” you ask?

The Ninja Turtles.

When I was a kid that’s all I wanted to do. I wanted to be a comic book artist for a living (my favorite show at the time being Nickelodeon’s 2k12 TMNT) I remember my lonely days of sitting on my bedroom floor spending hours a day drawing just a few panels at a time. And although I was a kid with no friends, starting a new school year in a new house/school/state, I at least had my stories however monstrously drawn they were.

Now nearly 12 years later I’m self taught, I work a part time job in retail, I live at home with my family at 22. And my dream is to be a published author illustrating her own stories. I’ve already illustrated a published book but eventually I want to create for my own novels.

I’m still learning how to adult and take care of myself. And let’s be honest I don’t do a very good job at either of those things, I have a lot of health problems and my emotional state keeps me from doing a lot of things. But I wouldn’t change my situation for the world because even though I’m struggling, I’m happy.

Basically my point is . . . no matter where you are on your creative journey you have a bright future ahead of you. You’re going to make mistakes and hit a million roadblocks, but if you keep working and believing in yourself then you’re gonna go far. My best friend in the whole wide world is my younger self, because she kept pushing even when others had given up on her and I couldn’t be more proud of what she became. Even if it’s hard to look in the mirror sometimes.

Question 3: DM / Asks / Art Requests / Comms

I’m officially sorting through my asks. I’ve been having some spam asks recently and I will be deleting some of the ones I don’t feel comfortable answering. I am sorry but I have my limits, if your ask gets featured then it gets featured I don’t know what else to tell you. (I don’t know how to phrase this kindly)

Adding to that, do not follow me if you expect to get art requests in return. Just because you asked nicely doesn’t mean I’m going to spend my precious free time making something for you. If I wanted to do commissions or requests then I would put that in the bio or in a pinned post.

Art is one of the single most important hobbies for me alongside my writing. It’s a way for me to escape without having to leave my room/house. Please understand, there are plenty of other artists out there with amazing art that would love to handle your commission or requests that probably have so much more free time than I do. And I would be happy to point them out to you because they probably need the money more than I do.

Question 4: Returning??

“Man Cookie, you’ve been gone for a few weeks like you said you would, but do you have a date of when you’ll be coming back??”

Tbh with you, no. I’ve been trying really hard this year to involve myself in Art Fight, and so far I’ve been having a lot of fun doing that as well as working on some other projects like my Voltron fanfic or my novels.

But when it comes to Octonauts I’ve been really nervous about getting back into things. Which is pretty silly but kinda makes sense considering everything I’ve been creating in the last few months all on a whim.

I think my plan is to finally start posting again the second or third week of August. The first week and a half I’ll be at a family reunion, and if I’m correct I should have some time to just relax and get into my own head space.

No promises but I may end up working on a headcanons post for the A.S.A. Au to help solidify some things for our wonderful Octonauts. Not sure when it will be done but I’ve already started on Kwazii’s. Other than that no art until I’m off my hiatus.

I promise I haven’t forgotten about any of you, and thank you for the wonderful comments you left on my last post. Just thinking about it makes me want to cry all over again! 😭

Have a wonderful day and please stay safe/healthy! I love you all! And a special thank you for making it to the end of the post, you’re wonderful. Here’s a cookie 🍪

[bearlytolerant]

Fandom: My Time at Sandrock

Rating: M

Pairing: Fang x F!builder

AO3

Chapter 1: a visit

Summer, 104

Sage

—

Sage stepped off the bus from Portia as a cloud of dust floated up into the air and she reeled back breathing it in, eyes watering and nose tickling. She sneezed into her sleeve and reopened her burning eyes to be greeted by Logan. Taller than her by at least half a foot, and eyes as blue as the oasis, Sage understood why her twin sister was immediately magnetized to the man the day she saw him. On a wanted poster no less. It still made Sage chuckle to this day.

Logan stole her suitcase right out of her hand and beamed at her.

“Where’s Violet?” She asked.

“I’ll give you one guess.”

“You need to make her take days off.”

“You think I can make her do anything? She’s as stubborn as a boxing jack. Worse actually.”

Sage sighed. “Yes. She is.”

“She says you ain’t much different.”

“Perhaps. But have you considered there is a reason she gets that first place trophy every year?”

“She told me once, that you let her win.”

“I’m here to tell you she’s lying.”

Logan chuckled at that while curling his hand around his belt buckle. “Well, come on, maybe once she sees you, she’ll realize her commissions can wait.”

“I do admire your optimism,” Sage said as she trailed after Logan.

It was just a short stretch to walk from the bus stop to Violet’s workshop. But it was enough for Sage to realize she’s over dressed, roasting under her long sleeved shirt with a matching belted harness and cape. Her trousers were loose at least, and laced boots knee high to keep all the sand out. But every piece of her outfit was too much black for a desert sun. She mumbled an almost inaudible incantation to keep herself cool while lagging behind Logan’s long-legged stride, hoping he hadn’t noticed. Though, the man probably knew their family secret. Still, better to be safe.

“Does my sister have to run to keep up with you?” Sage commented when they arrived at the gate.

She steadied herself on the fence to catch her breath and wished she would’ve kept up her training with Arlo the past year.

Logan laughed. “I have to run to keep up with her!”

He held the gate open and Sage peeled herself off the fence to follow him into the yard. Somehow she believed that what Logan said was true. Violet was always flitting about like a bee, buzzing along to her next task. Veering to the right, past the stables, Sage spotted her sister slouched over, painting steady strokes of blue onto some flower boxes. Her white shirt sleeves were rolled up to her muscled shoulders, sweat shining in rivulets that trailed down her tanned triceps. Sage was similar in build, though she’d been kissed more delicately by Portia’s summer sun, her freckles less prominent.

“Hey Darlin’, look who’s here,” Logan said.

Violet glanced up from her work, her dark blue locks pulled back into a thick braid while a few strands framed her face, her grin spreading wide as the bright sunlight glinted off her nose ring. The brightness almost obscured the freckles that dusted her nose and apples of her cheeks. She set the box aside, wiping her hands on her red and white striped work apron and threw her arms around Sage. She wrapped her sister up in a long, overdue hug and squeezed. When they finally parted, a string of half dried paint clung to her shirt and Violet swept it away with a chuckle.

“You want to take a tour of the town?” Violet asked. I need the paint to dry on those boxes so might as well give you the lay of the land.” She plucked her leather work gloves off and pocketed them in the front of her apron.

“You act like I’ve never been here before.”

“A weekend at the Blue Moon Saloon and the church, mostly cluttering up your schedule with wedding duties is hardly what I’d call getting a feel for Sandrock. Besides, Mi-an, Wei and I have spruced up so much more since you were here last month.”

“Very well, show me your pride and joy,” Sage said with a smile and Violet clapped enthusiastically.

Violet practically vibrated with joy. “You’re gonna love our little town, Sage. Can’t wait to show you around. Maybe I can even convince you to move here, yet.”

—

The valley stretched as far as her eyes could see but Sage’s drifted up to the sky. Inside the tram cart, she imagined herself flying and free. The way the fluffy clouds swirled on the horizon, soaking up the sun's rays and glowing in orange, with ruffles of purple, made her wish she had wings. She was ready to float on air after a day of endless introductions and small talk.

“It’s gorgeous up here.” She dangled her arms over the side of the cart and watched a bird flit across the sky and disappear behind a distant peak.

“It is,” Violet replied from beside her with a little sigh.

“Can’t believe you built this.”

“Me neither. I didn’t do it alone though,” she continued. “The Sandrockers are just always working together to pull through for me. They’re good people. Real good.”

“They are. The way you talk about this place, plus the views and the warmth of the people—makes me want to leave my old life behind and live here.”

“So why don’t you?”

“Because—well, Vi.” There was only one reason really but she didn’t know how to say it. “I just can’t.”

“You can. You’ve told me time and time again how you’ve never wanted to be a builder. So, why don’t you stop holdin’ yourself back and start working toward your future? Logan and I would be more than willing to get you settled in here.”

“You would?” Sage cocked her head sideways at her sister.

“Of course.” She grinned while throwing her arm around Sage’s shoulder. “Plus you know me, I always want you around. It would be so nice to have you here in Sandrock. You could come with me to Saturday night story time with Owen and Sunday fireside meetin’s that always end up with a little party back at my place and—”

Violet launched into a speech of activities to participate in together as Sage turned back to the view. The sun sunk halfway below the horizon, brushing the sky with hues of pink and orange that had her believing her sister's words. She could move to Sandrock. Minus all those activities she was planning.

There was nothing holding her back. Well, nothing except her misplaced hope that he might return.

—

Sage pulled fresh rolls from the oven and slid the tray on top of the stove. The savory scent of caramelized onion and garlic she added to the dough before it baked filled her nose and her stomach rumbled.

“That smells heavenly,” Violet told her in a sing-song voice and then the doorbell rang.

“Did you invite someone over for dinner?” Sage asked.

“I sure did. But it’s a surprise so you’ll just have to wait and see.”

“This better not be a blind date. You know I’m not ready. I didn’t come here for that.”

Violet booped her nose and chuckled. “Not a date. I promise. He’s a friend and I just think you’d get along. He’s quiet. More than you, even. But he’s real kind.” She hurried towards the door but stopped in the frame and glanced back over her shoulder. “But it wouldn’t hurt to put the feelers out.”

Sage inhaled deeply to keep from shouting at her sister and turned back to the rolls. Violet disappeared and Sage reminded herself that her sister’s intentions came from a good place. Sweet even. Another deep breath and she noted that the tops were perfectly browned and ready to serve and smiled to herself with pride. She dug around in the cupboards for a basket to put them in and spotted one high up on the refrigerator and climbed the counter, stretching herself across the small gap. The tops of her fingers curled around the basket. She teetered but regained her balance, snatching the basket and clenching it against her chest, she crouched down and then jumped to the floor.

She busied herself with setting the table and then stirred the stewed mushrooms on the stovetop. Adding just a hint of extra cilantro, she left them to simmer a tad more while tossing the alfalfa salad with a few extra fresh veggies and a light vinaigrette. She set the salad bowl on the table with tongs and returned to the stovetop just as her sister ushered in the most beautiful man with blue eyes and long silken black hair she’s ever laid eyes on. He was nearly as tall as Logan but much more slight, dressed in a simple white button up and slightly tattered trousers, she gathered before averting her gaze. It’s rude to stare, she reminded herself.

“Sage, I want you to meet Doctor Fang,” Violet said.

The name sounded so familiar but she couldn’t quite place where she’d heard it before. She raised her hand in a small greeting. An awkward wave. “Hi,” she said.

Doctor Fang’s expression was unreadable as his eyes fell on her. A raven suddenly swooped in from behind him and landed on his shoulder. It whistled then said, “Pretty bird! Who’s this?”

“It’s—the builder’s sister,” Doctor Fang said in the softest, most comforting voice Sage had ever heard. She wanted to wrap herself up in it like a cozy blanket and fall asleep under the stars.

Picking her jaw up off the floor, Sage blinked. “That’s right. I’m Vi’s sister, Sage” she said to the bird.

“This is—X,” said Doctor Fang.

“Well it is a pleasure to meet you, X.” She offered a small smile. “And you, Doctor Fang.”

“Now that we’ve got all the introductions out of the way,” Violet clapped excitedly, “let’s have a seat, dig in and eat!”

Sage slid into the chair next to her sister and filled her plate with salad and then buttered her roll liberally, delighting in the way the softness just melted in her mouth as she took a bite. Meanwhile Violet told a story about her most recent adventure. Something about trying to collect cactus flowers for Doctor Fang when a boxing jack (which Sage had heard about plenty of times but fortunately had never come across) knocked her on her ass. Thankfully Logan had been at his outpost and spotted her in time to assist. Violet and Logan took turns telling the story of his heroic save and Sage listened while filling her stomach with the delicious foods on the table. By the end of their storytelling, Sage was done eating and collected her dirty dish from the table. She didn’t learn a thing about Doctor Fang because he barely said a word. Not like he could really get a word in edgewise anyway.

Eventually Logan and Violet dropped their plates in the sink and she was surprised when the Doctor joined her, drying the dishes she'd set in the drying rack.

“The rolls—did you make them?” He asked as he pulled open the cupboard, stacking the plates he'd dried.

“Yes,” she replied.

“They were very—good.”

“Thank you,” she said as she worked at cleaning the pot next.

She bit down on her lip while she scrubbed, channeling all her focus into cleaning. She almost forgot that Doctor Fang was with her and that she’d left him in silence for a decent length of time. But she only had one dish left.

Sage wiped the last dish clean and handed it to Doctor Fang. The walls shook and there was a low groan that

filtered through the floorboards as she briefly grazed his long fingers in the dish exchange. Flushing red, she muttered an apology. But Fang acted like it was nothing.

“I must—return home,” he said as another moan, much louder and longer than before, washed over them.

Sage refused to be left in the house with her sister and Logan, so at the risk of sounding desperate she asked, “can I please walk you home?” She cringed.

“Yes,” he stated simply, unaffected by the sounds going on around them. Or at least appearing not to be anyway.

Sage wished she had half his decorum.

“Thank you,” she breathed, following after him as he made his way toward the door.

The cool air washed over her as she sighed with relief, easily keeping pace with the Doctor as he led the way to his home in the night.

—

“You live in the clinic?” She asked once he stopped just outside the door, one hand pushing on it, letting the light spill out, grazing the top curve of her black boots.

“Yes,” he said simply. One foot was in the doorway, the other with her.

She wasn’t sure if he was waiting for her to go or for her to come in. Each minute passed made her second guessing worse.

“Come in!” Squawked X. “Don’t be shy! Shy!”

“X! Be quiet,” Doctor Fang said softly.

Sage took that as a sign.

“Wanna go back?” X squawked again.

Sage stared at the two of them a bit baffled. “Not particularly. I need to find something else to do while—” she hesitated. There was no need for an explanation. He was a stranger. They owed nothing to each other. “I hope you two have a good night,” she said instead and turned around.

“Thank you.” Fang’s words were a whisper of a hand on her shoulder but as she glanced back, the door clicked shut as the clinic bathed her in its warm red lighting.

Sage knew she couldn’t go back to her sisters just yet and she didn’t want to go to the Saloon. There was just too much noise and brightness there and she was far too exhausted from the day. She wandered over to the bench, situated between the clinic and the Golden Goose, and took a page out of her good friend Mint’s book. Curling up with one arm under her head as a pillow, she closed her eyes and let sleep take her.

But it wasn’t long before she dreamt of the Rogue Knight again. He had pinned her to the ground, his sword at her chest and his laughter echoed as his mask melted away. The kind brown eyes of a betrothed betrayer mocked her. She thrashed and glanced away, not wanting to see the face behind the mask. Pain rippled through her nerves as the edge of his blade tore through her clothes and nicked her skin. Then he plunged it deep. A sharp intake of breath and she threw her eyes open, jolting upright. Five years gone and she hated the hold he had on her even after all this time.

X was pecking at her shirt and she didn’t mean to swat at him. “Wanna go back!” He was shouting over and over as she came to, blinking. It was still night.

She sat up and X landed on the shoulder of Doctor Fang. “Are you okay?” He asked.

“Yeah. I just—I had a nightmare. I’m sorry.”

Doctor Fang stared at her, tilting his head quizzically then turned away. He gestured for her to follow. “Come with me.”

[yandere-sins]

So I thought I’d give a little life-update as there’s a lot going on at the moment and I think it’s visible on my blog as well. Maybe the positives first:

I do really like my new work, I like that I have set hours (even if I do overtime here and there) and though it got incredible stressful the last few weeks, I think the four people that work in my office space are the coolest in the whole company and I love the support I am getting, it’s something I always wanted for my work-life tbh! My dog is also doing very fine, she’s really a total sweetheart and I wouldn’t know what to do without her, and at least I, myself, am doing pretty okay-ish physically, so nothing to complain there.

Now to the negatives.

Unfortunately, my mom’s cancer returned but is quite hard to pinpoint. She went back to an even more aggressive chemotherapy and we’re hoping for the best. Honestly, I don’t wish cancer on anyone, it’s such a tough battle and even just as the primary caretaker it’s been really hard to deal with for me, luckily I have grandparents and a brother who all deal with it and help and support, so that’s good! My mental health though is suffering. It’s biting my own butt now, but I cancelled therapy to focus on work at the beginning of this year and now my therapist is fully booked, so I will have to sit out this month probably. I am telling that because that’s the reason I am struggling with concentrating on one thing for a long time, which includes writing, which explains the fluctuation of posts you are seeing, since I try to get requests and drafts done on the weekend when there’s less stress. Sadly only works like 30% of the time...

Going forward I have decided to indefinitely pause commissions. I have noticed that they put too much pressure with the deadline and expectancy on me when I am already struggling and sometimes need a day to myself. I can’t say when they’ll come back, but thank you all so much for your interest and support, it’s always a pleasure to write your ideas and I never had a bad experience with commission ♥

Good news for Mermay: it’s still happening! ... buuuut I am shortening the story I came up with. I think I was too ambitious with the three routes I teased, so I am trying to figure out how to ensure that it won’t drag out as much as Atreo’s story last year. Unfortunately, the start will be delayed some more, but we were going to celebrate Mer-June anyway, so at this point it probably doesn’t make as much difference (’:

Because the question arose a few times already, I will not be playing Honkai Star Rail. It has a few reasons, but the main one is I don’t have the time. Sorry to everyone who asked about it, but it’s just not the right time for me at the moment! ): I’ll probably be miserable again later when everyone has moved on to it and I am stuck behind but I have to make cuts somewhere ;;

I actually have some commissions and requests that I haven’t released yet, so I will try to schedule some of these in the meantime while I work out how to go about stuff. If you’ve been around for a while you probably know I like routines that’s why it’s always important for me to build them and keep them up. Other than that, I’ll probably focus on Mermay and my own writing projects which will happen rather irregularly. No guarantees on posting, sadly ):

I do realize tho that it just isn’t always possible to keep up frequency of posts and interactions I had when I started this blog, as much as it saddens me. I have to prioritze my real life before my internet presence (and I really need to not feel guilty about taking breaks from everything ever so often ;;), so if you see me vanishing for a few days, it’s just that really.

Thank you everyone who stuck around and supports this blog ♥ There’s another big milestone coming up veeery soon and I am always in awe that so many people would stay to read my silly little stories!! If you have some time and don’t mind waiting for a response, I’m always happy to chat and answer questions, so please don’t hesitate to hit me up!

Thanks everyone ♥

[jacepens]

Historical Research on the Wild West Chapter of Live-A-Live!

(That no one asked for, but you’re getting anyway hehe)

So first, I really want to be able to securely say around what year this chapter takes place in. Just judging from the whole setting it’s likely somewhere from the late 1800s to early 1900s. But can we get more specific? Uh, yes and no.

Let’s look at Sundown and Mad Dog’s pistols!

So the Colt Single Action Army (aka “Peacemaker”) was first produced in 1873-1941. Assuming that Sundown has the first version of the pistol and assuming their story doesn’t take place in the 1950s, we know that the chapter takes place in those years.

Now, Mad Dog’s pistol, the Buntline Special, is weird because it didn’t actually exist in production until 1957. First, it was fictionalized (maybe real?) in a novel published in 1931 that describes these pistols being commissioned and gifted to five lawmen in 1876.

Aaand apparently only one of the men who received the special long-barreled pistol kept it at 12-inch. But that aside, I’m going to assume that Mad Dog either commissioned this pistol for himself or was maybe even one of the men who received it as a gift? (I’m going to go out on a limb and say he wasn’t that popular though.)

So great! 1876, maybe a few years after seems like a good starting point. And depending on how long they’ve had those pistols when the story started, I would securely put their chapter in the mid-to-late 1880s, possibly early 1890s.

But is there anything else to back up this claim?? You bet!

Let’s talk about Custer’s 7th! (Which I can’t believe took me so long to Google and see that it’s real and not made up lmao)

The supposed massacre of Custer’s 7th (supposed because while there was a huge battle that Custer’s 7th lost; it did not completely wipe out their forces) took place in 1876. Notice a pattern yet?

Witt these three significant details with dates on them, adding a decent amount of years, I think the chapter is meant to take place in the 1880s, possibly early 1890s. It really depends on how much time you think should pass from these events to the present chapter. (Correct me if I’m wrong but there’s no specific mention of when Sundown became an outlaw, right?)

But anyway, this was only one thing I wanted to research. Then I noticed that Mad Dog sometimes has a noticeably different vocabulary from those around him, and knowing that he probably (secretly) reads a lot of old books and plays, I was curious if his vocabulary could tell us anything about what he reads the most.

The first word I noticed was “aspersions”, so let’s look at Google’s Ngram viewer that takes the frequency of certain words in their books database to see when a word was used. I recognize that this is not the most thorough or reliable way to get this information, but I think it’s at least a good starting point.

And…wow, ok, yeah that’s a pretty significant jump in the use of the word “aspersions” in literature. I think we can at least say it wasn’t a popular word in the late 1880s where we’ve already placed them, but it was very popular in the 1700s.

Let’s take a look now at “valiant” and “conscience”.

Yeah that’s definitely a similar pattern I’d say.

Now, how about “sentiment” and “simpletons” (which genuinely surprised me)?

Would you look at that, it’s the same pattern again!!

And just to prove this isn’t the nature of Google Ngram, but actually something significant, let’s look at soirée!

The opposite of our pattern so far!

While, I’m not saying this is the most factually sound, I am saying Mad Dog’s preferred literature is from the 1700s and no one can change my mind on this.

For those of you who know books better than me (and read all of this?? Hi) if you have any ideas as to specific books he probably read and enjoyed and let shape his personality…please oh please tell me, I’ll give you a little virtual kiss on the cheek if you do.

Anyway this is my research?? On their chapter so far. If you read all of this thank you!! Now I know you’re just obsessed with these cowboys as I am. And if you have any questions or anything to add please feel free to let me know!!