#I'll post the rest of them in batches over time

[thewickwheat]

Some of the illustration comms from earlier this year~

[koinotame]

your (househusband) roommate, ajax

word count: 1.5K content warnings: unhealthy relationship dynamics, childe gets called your house husband but you’re not actually married, generally gross stuff (he sniffs your used shirt), it's implied of childe scares away someone else

a/n: this is a repost (slightly edited)! i lost the original post w/ the basic idea but essentially this is a side au of sagau/self aware genshin where the characters (in this case childe) find their way into your world, but in the process you lose all memories about genshin. i'll be reposting all of the series, but it's also on ao3! part two is here!

when you first learned who your roommate would be, you were exasperated. you’d heard about him before, and you were well aware that he's amassed a reputation of being a trouble maker. you had no interest in getting into trouble, especially not during your first year.

...so you were pretty pleasantly surprised when he turned out to be a total sweetheart.

you’re reminded of that when you enter the kitchen, rubbing at your eyes and yawning. the smell of pancakes wafts through the air, and you can’t even get out a small 'good morning' before ajax is grinning at you and sliding you some pancakes. "don’t wait for me and eat up, okay? I put plenty of love into them, so they should taste great."

you ignore his banter (insisting on waiting for him is a lost battle, you’ve learned) and take a bite. you don’t finish chewing before you sleepily nod.

he laughs good-naturedly. "I’m glad, I’m glad. do you want more?" another drowsy nod has him piling most of the remaining pancakes onto your plate.

he continues chatting with you while you eat and he finishes the batch, though he does most of the talking. as usual, he doesn’t seem to mind your silence too much. once he’s done, he turns the fire off and props his elbow on the counter to stare at you. you don't pay him any mind.

he slides the platter to you the second you peek at it. after having eaten well over two servings you’re not really interested in more though, so you shake your head. "I'm full. aren’t you going to eat any?"

he beams. "aww, were you thinking about me? don’t worry, I already ate." you’re almost certain he didn’t. avoiding the judgemental look that crosses your eyes at his response, he laughs in a way that’d be awkward if it was anyone else. "I’ll put the rest in a tupper then, okay? have them whenever."

he’s taking your plate and putting it in the sink before you can even stand to move it to the dishwasher. you sigh and stick out your tongue at him when he turns to you. "you know you really don’t have to go out of your way do all of this."

he smiles at you. "why not? I enjoy cooking, and you can be my taste-tester." the amounts he feeds you go well beyond that, and he's avoiding the rest of your question, but okay. you should've gotten the message—that it's futile to ask him this kind of question—by now.

while you you face plant into the couch to avoid thinking about anything else, ajax stays in the kitchen, cleaning up and humming some lullaby as he washes the pan and plates. it’s too early to think on this saturday morning. the cushion feels nice and soft against your cheek and you can’t help but burrow yourself further into the pillows.

wait.

you lift your head up, peeking your head out behind the back of the couch.

"the apron is cute."

he nearly drops the pan.

it’s not often that you bring over friends, so ajax insists on cleaning beforehand and serving your group snacks much like a mother hen would throughout their stay.

their two, maybe three if you're pushing it, hour stay. all you’re going to is chat, it’s not like they’re going to be staying overnight or anything.

you sigh but let him do what he wants.

some cookies are laid out by the time they arrive, and he’s hovering around pretty much indefinitely to serve tea or juice.

it’s cute, in a way, but your friends’ teasing is not.

"you know, he’s kind of like your house husband, isn’t he?" your friend comments, leaning over and biting into a powdery cookie.

you try to ignore the way ajax beams. you try to ignore the way he cheers to himself even harder.

"not really..." your weak attempts at rebutting their words make your friends laugh.

the rest of the session goes by normally; you talk about the kinds of things you’d regularly talk about with friends. someone in your group recently received a promotion, and somebody else got fired. somebody gained a boyfriend, another realised she didn’t have the time or energy for relationships not too long ago.

the longer the conversation goes on, the more the chatter becomes background noise as the you retreat to your own world. the drink in your hands gets lukewarm long before you finish it despite your frequent sipping.

when they finally leave, you feel more relieved than you should.

you see them off with a smile, but your head is pounding by the time you sit back down and your ears can finally rest. now that you’re (mostly, ajax is always just kind of there) alone, you can finally have some peace and quiet and relax.

or that’s what you think until ajax leans over the couch, head hovering above yours. "now that they’re gone… would you prefer dinner, a bath, or me?"

you stare at him. he doesn’t move, clearly eager for your answer. eventually, you sigh and gently push his face away. "dinner would be nice."

he laughs, something warm and domestic dancing in his cold eyes. "of course! it’ll be ready soon."

he presses a quick kiss to your cheek before leaving.

you whine, but the space he touched feels tingly even against your own hand.

"ajax."

he drops your wallet, not even attempting to take back the couple hundred bills peeking out. his response is nonchalant, even at his supposed surprise at having been caught by you. "ahh, I wasn’t expecting you to be back so soon. look at what I found!"

you stare. at him. at what he’s holding. at your wallet on the floor.

you’re certain you did not have that many hundred bills. you’re going to cry if you find him trying to stuff his money into your wallet again.

"you mentioned liking this, right? I was out earlier and I thought I could get it for you. you know, as a sign of goodwill and all, for being such a great roommate."

a couple months ago, you would have been perplexed. he insists on doing all of the chores and most of the cooking, and he pays most of the bills. is the 'great roommate' status because you’re quiet and don’t host loud parties, or…? you don’t question it anymore at this point.

"ajax."

a couple months ago, he might’ve gotten unnerved by your silence. instead, he pushes it into your hands, a wide grin on face, ruffles your hair and saunters out.

you have yet to find his wallet. despite that, all the cash (and then some) that you’d left on his bedside table or bed has always managed to find a way back to your wallet, so there would probably be little point anyway.

"ah, that reminds me!" he peeks back into your room a couple minutes later. "what would you like for dinner?" the nerve of him to ask this right after he calls you a great roommate…

"maybe some soup?" you say instead.

he smiles, bows, and takes his leave. the apron you called cute a few weeks ago is already fixed onto him.

you sigh, sliding the bills in properly.

wait a second. is that a credit card…?

you were expecting many things when you finally caught him, but him sniffing only your shirt—out of all your available laundry—wasn’t one of them.

"…what are you doing?"

you have never seen him jerk his head as quickly, nor have you ever seen him so red. or speechless.

you both stand there in silence for a few seconds before he blinks rapidly and his breathing becomes ragged. "it’s not—I—it’s not what you think, I swear—"

"okay, whatever." you wave him off. somehow, this doesn’t alarm you as much as it should. "I don’t care what you were doing, don’t do it again."

he nods quickly, considerably less composed than he usually is, and shoves your shirt back into the basket briskly. "also… can you stop leaving your stuff in my wardrobe. I know you know the difference."

"ah, that was…" he’s clearly at a loss for words, not sure how to justify himself after having been caught committing not only one transgression, but two.

you set the clothes of his you were bringing to him down, tempted to just throw them at him.

you swallow your nerves, almost nervously meeting his eyes. "look, I don’t really care, but can you at least leave me stuff like your jacket or sweater? your shirts aren’t really my style."

his breathing hitches again but he gives no response otherwise, so you shake your head and turn to leave. the laundromat room is thankfully empty save for the two of you, something you’re glad for.

as you pass through the door, it occurs to you that the guy who’d been smoking in here hasn’t shown up in a while. now that you think about it, that was the reason ajax had offered to take over laundry duty too...

oh well, it’s of no concern to you, you think to yourself as you make the journey back to your room.

[miss-musings]

"The Bad Batch" Timeline: Explained

I've had some interesting conversations with folks on Twitter over the last few weeks about the timeline of "The Bad Batch" show: How much time passes between any given episodes? How old is Omega during S1 or S3? etc.

The short answer is that the entire show takes place over 18-24 months*

(*NOTE: All timeline discussion excludes the TBB epilogue at the end of episode 3.15 "The Cavalry Has Arrived.")

EDIT: I’m also calculating time based on Earth weeks/months/years. I recognize that time in the Star Wars universe likely varies from planet to planet, so I just want to clarify we’re going off IRL time calculations: 7 days to a week, ~30 days to a month, 12 months to a year. I’m also not referring to any external sources (except Wookieepedia, but that’s more to confirm the timeline than create it), so I don’t care what some guidebook says. I’m going based on what happens in the show itself.

Wookieepedia lists Hemlock's death as 18 BBY, so 12-24 months pass between 1.01 "Aftermath" in 19 BBY and Hemlock's death in the series finale.

However, the two biggest and clearest indications of how much time passes during the show is Mayday's comments in 2.12 "The Outpost" and Omega's tally marks in 3.01 "Confined."

In 2.12, Mayday says he's been posted on Barton IV for over a year, and based on his comments, he wasn't posted on Barton IV until after The Clone Wars ended. So, it's been at least a year -- but probably more like 14-15 months because Mayday says "over a year" -- since the events of 1.01 "Aftermath."

Then after the time-jump during 3.01, Omega has about 5.5 months of tally marks. Rounding up from when Crosshair was arrested and taken to Tantiss, about 6 months have passed since 2.12.

So, between those two indicators, at least 18 months have passed between 1.01 "Aftermath" and the end of 3.01 "Confined." But, realistically, it's probably been more like 20-21 months.

Then, the rest of S3 takes place over a pretty compressed timeframe, as no more than a few days seem to pass between episodes. I'll get into this more later, but I'm guessing that the end of 3.01 "Confined" to the big showdown on Tantiss in 3.15 "The Cavalry Has Arrived" takes place over the course of 1-2 months.

Again, it's confirmed that 18-24 months pass between the series premiere and the series finale.

But, my best guess is that the entire show takes place over 22-23 months based on in-universe clues.

THE SEASON 1 TIMELINE BREAKDOWN

Overall, I'm guessing that Season 1 takes place over the course of 4-6 months. I think this is much shorter than some people think, but it makes sense to me based on context clues.

1.01 "Aftermath" takes place over the course of a few days, and then 1.02 "Cut & Run" to 1.06 "Decommissioned" all seem to take place in a very compressed timeframe. No more than a day or two seems to pass between episodes, and no more than a day or two passes within each episode.

So, I'm thinking the end of 1.06 takes place about a month after 1.01.

Then we get our first notable time-jump between 1.06 and 1.07.

1.07 "Battle Scars" opens with the Bad Batch having done at least 10 more jobs for Cid since we last saw them in 1.06. (FYI: this is based on Omega and Wrecker's order of 20 cartons of Mantell Mix).

However Cid talks about the Corellia job like it wasn't too long ago, and if we average 2-3 days per job (which seems realistic based on what we see in the show), then about a month has passed between 1.06 and 1.07.

So, at the beginning of 1.07, I'm saying about two months have passed since 1.01 "Aftermath."

Then 1.08 "Reunion" and 1.09 "Bounty Lost" take place immediately after 1.07.

Skipping over 1.10, we get another notable time-jump between 1.09 "Bounty Lost" and 1.11 "Devil's Deal." The biggest indicator is Crosshair's recovery from his injuries on Bracca.

Assuming at least a month for him to recover and be stationed on Ryloth with Rampart & co., that means at least three months have passed between 1.01 "Aftermath" and 1.11 "Devil's Deal."

Even though we don't have any firm timeline, I don't think more than 2 months passed between 1.09 and 1.11, because everyone on Ryloth talks like it hasn't been that long since the Clone Wars ended.

Anyway, then 1.12 "Rescue on Ryloth" takes place immediately after 1.11.

Now, we know that 1.14-1.16 all take place over the course of a few days. So that just leaves us with how much time passes between 1.12 "Rescue on Ryloth" and 1.14 "War-Mantle."

Given that Rampart gave Crosshair permission to hunt down his brothers at the end of 1.12, I'm going to assume he wasn't looking for them that long. Rampart never complains that Crosshair's manhunt is wasting time, or that it's taking so long that they should abandon the effort. Plus, they were also busy decommissioning Tipoca City and the other Kaminoan facilities, so I imagine that took some time.

So, maybe 3-5 weeks (or another month) in all.

To recap, we have:

A month from 1.01 to 1.06

A month between 1.06 and 1.07

A month between 1.07-1.09 and 1.11/1.12

A month between 1.11/1.12 and 1.14-1.16

Overall, 4 months for sure, but 5-6 months seems a good estimate.

This would also account for how much time passes during the Bracca and Ryloth arcs, and gives more wiggle room on how long Crosshair's recovery process was. Maybe it took him two months to recover from Bracca and be assigned to Ryloth. Or maybe Crosshair was searching for his brothers for more than a month after Ryloth. Who knows?

EDIT/ADDITION: 4-6 months also seems to be a reasonable amount of time for the Empire to establish the Daro base with commandos like Gregor and Scorch, and then recruit, supply and train all the TK troopers we see in 1.14 "War-Mantle."

But, overall, I'm estimating the events of 1.16 "Kamino Lost" take place 5-6 months after 1.01 "Aftermath."

THE SEASON 2 TIMELINE BREAKDOWN

I'll tell you now: early Season 2 is where a lot of my guesses go out the window, because we get far fewer clues as to how much time passes between episodes.

Let's start with the time-jump between the end of Season 1 and the beginning of Season 2.

Based on Rampart and Crosshair's conversation in 2.03 "The Solitary Clone," Crosshair was stranded on Kamino for a month.

Given that he didn't have any food or water on him when his brothers left him on the platform, he must've been emaciated and dehydrated AF, even if he found some way to collect rainwater and/or catch fish. And Rampart said he needed to be "medically cleared" for active duty.

At least two months seems a good estimate. One month for Crosshair to be stranded; another month for him to recover. It's possible it was longer, though, I admit.

So, at the beginning of 2.03 "The Solitary Clone," we're at least 7 months removed from 1.01 "Aftermath."

Now, I actually think 2.03 takes place before 2.01/2.02. Story for another time, but it boils down to:

1) The creators would want to kick off Season 2 with a Bad Batch-centric episode not a Crosshair-centric episode, even if Crosshair’s episode takes place first chronologically; and

2) Rampart learns the Bad Batch is alive in 2.02, but never has Crosshair arrested or monitored as a potential spy or anything -- this only makes sense if Rampart finds out TBB is alive after Crosshair is cleared for duty and has proven his loyalty.

But, ultimately it doesn't matter:

Based on Mayday's comments in 2.12 "The Outpost," early Season 2 has to cover at least 7 more months. That means that months are passing between episodes in early S2.

In 2.12, Mayday says he's been stationed at the Outpost for over a year, and that he wasn't stationed there until after the war ended. So, assuming at least a month after the war for him to be reassigned, and then 13 months for him to be on Barton IV ... 2.12 has to take place at least 14 months after 1.01 "Aftermath."

So, ultimately, I think 2.01/2.02 might take place 3-4 months after the Fall of Kamino in 1.16 "Kamino Lost." It would allow enough time for the Bad Batch to get new clothes, repaint their old armor, and for Omega to start all of her studies while the Bad Batch continues to do jobs for Cid.

Then we probably have another month between 2.02 "Ruins of War" and 2.04 "Faster." Then another month to 2.05 "Entombed." And then another month to 2.06 "Tribe." And then another month to the beginning of 2.07 “The Clone Conspiracy.”

Because of how compressed the back-half of Season 2 is, I think 2.07/2.08 takes place about 13 months after the war ends in 1.01 "Aftermath" and, thus, about 7-8 months after the Fall of Kamino in 1.16 "Kamino Lost."

Now, once we get to 2.07, that's when the timeline starts compressing again based on in-universe clues.

We know 2.08 "Truth and Consequences" takes place almost immediately after 2.07. So, no more than a week seems to pass between the beginning of 2.07 and the end of 2.08.

Then, 2.09 "The Crossing" takes place a few days after 2.08, as Omega is still adjusting to Echo's absence. Then 2.10 "Retrieval" is immediately after 2.09, and 2.11 "Metamorphosis" takes place maybe a day after 2.10.

So, from the beginning of 2.07 to the end of 2.11, maybe two weeks have passed in-universe.

Then, at the beginning of 2.13 "Pabu," Cid remarks that it's been 20 rotations since she last talked to the Bad Batch in 2.11.

From 2.13 to 2.14, I'm guessing 1-2 weeks have passed based on how much of Pabu has been rebuilt since the sea surge and other context clues (like Shep and Hunter's conversation about the Bad Batch staying on Pabu).

Now, we're not exactly sure where 2.12 "The Outpost" falls in the S2 timeline. I'm guessing it's simultaneous with 2.13 "Pabu" for thematic and dramatic reasons, but we see all our various plot threads align in 2.14 "Tipping Point." Everything Echo, Crosshair and Hunter & co. do happens within 2-3 days.

Then, based on Echo's comments, we know 2.15 "The Summit" takes place two days after the Bad Batch's conversation at the end of 2.14 "Tipping Point." And then 2.16 "Plan 99" takes place immediately after 2.15.

So, while I can't speculate much on early S2, I can tell you that 2.07-2.16 spans about two months.

To recap:

2 months between 1.16 "Kamino Lost" and 2.03 "The Solitary Clone"

Several months between 2.01/2.02 and 2.07

A week during 2.07 and 2.08

A few days between 2.08 and 2.09

Another week during 2.09 to 2.11

Three weeks between 2.11 and 2.13

Two weeks between 2.13 and 2.14

A week during 2.14 to 2.16

But, overall, I'm estimating the events of 2.16 "Plan 99" take place 15-16 months after 1.01 "Aftermath."

THE SEASON 3 TIMELINE BREAKDOWN

Unlike the previous two seasons, Season 3 is very compressed. Outside of the time-jump within 3.01 "Confined," the entire season takes place over the course of 5-6 weeks. Not months. Weeks.

Now, again, I actually think 3.02 "Paths Unknown" takes place during the five-month time-jump within 3.01. But that doesn't really matter.

As we see from Omega's tally marks, the end of 3.01 takes place about 5.5 months after 2.16 "Plan 99." So, we have our between-seasons time-jump spelled out for us this time.

This means the end of 3.01 "Confined" takes place 21-22 months after 1.01 "Aftermath."

Skipping over 3.02, episode 3.03 "Shadows of Tantiss" seems to take place within a few days of the end of 3.01. We see that Omega is still being monitored closely after her outburst in the lurca kennels; and Hemlock told Nala Se in 3.01 that the Emperor would be arriving soon to check on their progress, which he does in 3.03. Heck, maybe 3.03 takes place the day after 3.01, but I’ll give a little wiggle room and say it’s been a few days.

Then, we know that the beginning of 3.03 to the end of 3.05 all takes place in a very short amount of time. Maybe a week.

3.04 "A Different Approach" takes place immediately after 3.03, and no more than a day or two passes between the end of 3.04 and the beginning of 3.05 "The Return."

So, from the end of 3.01 to the end of 3.05, two weeks have passed at most.

The gap between 3.05 and 3.06 is the only span of time in S3 we don't have any solid indicators about. It clearly wasn't too long, as Howzer talks about Crosshair escaping Tantiss like it happened fairly recently. Overall, I'd guess it's been maybe a week or two since Crosshair and Omega escaped Tantiss.

Then, 3.07 takes place immediately after 3.06.

Excluding 3.10 "Identity Crisis," we know that 3.08-3.11 all take place within a short amount of time. No more than 2-3 days seem to pass between episodes, and no more than 2-3 days passes within each episode. In total, I'd say these three episodes take place over the course of two weeks.

Thus, I'm guessing 4-5 weeks, or about a month, passes from the end of 3.01 "Confined" to the beginning of 3.11 "Point of No Return."

Then, we know the timeline between 3.11 and 3.15 is very short because all the episodes take place almost immediately after each other. The only exception is between 3.12 and 3.13, when maybe 12-24 hours passes based on Omega's movements in the Vault and her brothers' plans to infiltrate the orbital station.

You can round up and say a week, but that almost seems generous to me. Maybe a work week. Like the Empire invaded Pabu Monday night and Omega & co. were back on Pabu Friday morning.

Overall, I think the beginning of 3.11 "Point of No Return" to the end of 3.15 "The Cavalry Has Arrived" spans 3-5 days.

To recap:

5.5 months from the end of 2.16 "Plan 99" to the end of 3.01 "Confined"

A week from the end of 3.01 to the end of 3.05

A week between 3.05 and 3.06/3.07

Three weeks during 3.06/3.07 to 3.11

A week during 3.11 to 3.15

Again, outside of the time-jump within 3.01, the entirety of Season 3 takes place over 1-2 months if we're looking at the larger post-"Aftermath" timeframe.

Overall, I'm estimating the showdown on Tantiss and Hemlock's death in 3.15 "The Cavalry Has Arrived" takes place about 22-23 months after 1.01 "Aftermath."

We know it's not more than 24 months after the war ends, because Wookieepedia would list Hemlock's death in 17 BBY instead of 18 BBY. So no more than 24 calendar months can pass between "The Bad Batch" series premiere and series finale.

But, accounting for things that happen within the show, 22-23 months seems about right. Like, it's been almost two calendar years, but not quite.

So, to give a real-world example, if Palpatine gave his "Revenge of the Sith" speech to reorganize the Republic into the Galactic Empire on Jan. 1, 2022, then the big showdown on Tantiss takes place in October or November 2023.

That means:

If Omega was 12 years old when her brothers met her on Kamino, she was 13-14 during the showdown on Tantiss.

After his inhibitor chip activated, Crosshair was separated from his brothers for more than 18 months before finally reconciling with them in 3.05 "The Return."

The Bad Batch worked for Cid for over a year, and she still betrayed them.

Phee and Tech's ~situationship~ might've lasted half-a-year between their first meeting in 2.01 "Spoils of War" and his death in 2.16 "Plan 99."

Howzer and his men from Ryloth were in prison for almost a year before Echo & co. broke them out in 2.14 "Tipping Point."

When Crosshair sent the Plan 88 message, the Bad Batch hadn't seen or heard from him in ~10 months (since the Fall of Kamino).

Omega only got to spend 15-16 months with Tech before his death in 2.16 “Plan 99.” 😭

Crosshair hadn't seen his brothers for over a year between the Fall of Kamino and escaping Tantiss with Omega.

Omega and Crosshair only spent about 7 months together during the show (5.5 on Tantiss and 1.5 after their escape), and most of that was off-screen. 🙁

Apparently, more time passed between S1 and S2 than during S3 (excluding the time jump and epilogue). Seriously. From the end of 3.01 to the final showdown on Tantiss, the Bad Batch had a very insane and stressful 5-6 weeks. They all looked like they could use a nap in that final group shot under the tree, and I don't blame them!

All the clones (except Omega) aged 3-4 biological years over the course of the show. So, if Hunter & co. were biologically 22 when they met Omega on Kamino, they'd be around 25-26 when they finally settle down on Pabu.

Not sure how this will help people, but I wanted to share it because I've been thinking about how insane this show's timeline — how loosey-goosey it is in some places while being super-rigid in others.

So, enjoy!

[ckret2]

I’m surprised you haven’t reblogged that one art of part of the axolotl arc yet

I reblog fanart for me in big batches.

It goes like this:

I see one fanart. I go "oh that's nice, I'll type a nice comment when I reblog it. I'm too busy to write something nice right now so I'll do it later." I open the fanart in a tab, get distracted, and forget it's there within 5 minutes.

I see a second fanart. I go "oh that's nice, I wanna reblog it. But I don't wanna skip over the fanart that somebody else posted yesterday, I don't want the first artist to think I don't like their piece just because I reblogged someone else's work but didn't get to theirs, so I'll wait until I have time to write something nice for both of them." I open it in a tab. I now have two fanarts in tabs.

Repeat 10 times for the next 3 weeks.

Finally make time to reblog all of them at once.

This is because I have ADHD.

But rest assured that I've seen it and love it.

[cherrirui-official]

Friendlocke Violet Gijinkas (Part 4/7)

Hell yeah we're over halfway done! Isn't that crazy? I don't have too much to say here sooooooo onto the usual stuff

I plan on posting them in order by groups of three, so there's gonna be seven parts in total, all of which I'll be linking here when done vvv

(Part One) (Part Two) (Part Three) (Part Five) (Part Six) (Part Seven)

!! These will contain personal headcanons I have for the cast, little fun facts, and also spoilers for Friendlocke Violet (for both the edited vids and the streams) !!

@saltydkart-reblogs

Designs under the cut!

VRISKA:

Vriska has an extra set of arms that they can retract and extract whenever they please. However, they usually keep those arms hidden.

The long needle she's holding is her trusty sword that she's used since her pirate days. She doesn't use it as much as she used too, but it's good to keep it on her for self defense in case of an emergency.

The marks on thier neck and shoulders aren't tattoos, they're birthmarks.

Good at sewing, as she often would have to fix her coat after getting into epic pirate sword fights. Sara and Vriska are sewing buddies!

It is unknown why they're unable to sleep, but while the rest of the team sleeps they often find themselves wandering around and doing whatever they want.

Artist's note: I based Vriska's design off the fact that I wanted to make her look like a bootleg version of the og Vriska. As in "Hey that's Vriska" but also "That's not VRISKA" if you get what I mean

MALL BINGO:

Trained herself to become resistant to poison (and by "trained" I mean she just ate a bunch of poison until her body became almost immune to it... please don't try this at home.)

Often goes scavenging for items when she's doesn't feel like robbing someone. If she's lucky enough she'll find some good items scattered around because "stupid trainers often leave good shit on the ground for some reason" (due to all the items you can pick up from the ground ingame lmao)

Mal lost her leg in one of her first heists, after she and another pawmi tried stealing from the wrong person at the worst possible time.

The gun she keeps with her wasn't originally hers, it belongs to someone else.

On a more positive note, Mal has plenty of stories and tall tales to share. She learned them from the eldest in her little pawmi group, as they would often tell her stories before going to sleep. Mal will often share those same stories with Peppy Jr and Mykyie Jr.

Can and will bite you. You won't be expecting it. Be warned.

GRUNPILO:

Due to his abundantly long hair, Grunpilo often lets Mal play around with it and style it however she wants.

It is unknown how or why he picked up on puppetry specifically, but it makes him happy so who are we to judge?

Speaking of which, he creates his own puppets by hand, from simple sock puppets to marionettes on strings. The two hand puppets shown are his favorite ones though.

Sometimes he'll be found speaking to them as if they're real.

Not good in social situations or confrontation, so Mal will sometimes have to speak for him. ("EXCUSE ME! He asked for no pickles!" /ref)

EXTREMELY light, very easy to pick up.

And that's all! Only three more batches left woo, hopefully I can finish them by the end of the year lol.

[drawloverlala]

November status update!

So! Spooky month is over and now we are at November! so here's my monthly update!

🌼Social Media management

So first I wanted to give a bit of a announcement given the difficult situation with artists and social media in recent times, specially on Twitter and the recent choices they've made, I've been thinking on what to do 🤔

I've come to the conclusion to only post full art on certain sites that are more for art and artists and the rest will be cropped art or very tiny version of them (not full resolution or quality)

🌱Sites where you'll find my art without cropping and better quality:

Tumblr / Inkblot / Artfol / Sheezyart (eventually) / Neocities(gotta update it though)

🌱Places where I'll post it cropped and less better quality:

Twitter / Bluesky / Instagram

Thought I'd still like to use tumblr for posting art as well and specially sketches and doodles, it's just still a very comfortable place to put these kind of things, but I'll just just my watermark more often on them

But yeah, social media management is something I was very messy about, and in recent months I haven't been able to keep up with everything about it so I needed to make some kind of order in there

🌼October ink art challenges:

nah, I tried but I gave up on it pretty quick lol, I've been pretty stressed up with work and side personal projects that I just didn't make the time to draw too much of that lol

it was kinda funny how quickly I lost steam with that 😅 but well it's not an obligation, maybe next year I'll be able to be a little bit more consistent and have more energy for that.

🌼Commissions:

So I finished the batch I got on August, though there's still a comic pages commission from that but I'm putting that and one I got last month together.

as for the batch I got on October, I got a bit behind it, mostly because I was trying to finish with the previous batch first, so this next week I'll work more on the current batch for sure! 👍

hopefully I'm able to finish all chibis next week at least!

🌼Ko-fi shop:

still not finished with the new items to put on the shop, and I haven't started yet with holiday themed things, hopefully this upcoming week I get more time for that, I just gotta really make some kind of order in my schedule lol 😅

Other than that, I guess the megaman X fan comic is coming along quite nicely, I'm still working on the inks, but dialogue has been more defined thanks to a friend of mine and there's about 7 pages left to ink!

but yeah that's all for now, hope you have a nice November!

[blue--ingenue]

Ominis Gaunt headcannons - {Pt. 3}

Author's Note: i'm back from the dead :) sorry for the extended hiatus! college is once again taking up all of my time, and my computational nuclear materials research is ramping up hehehe. i've been itching to write some Ominis fluff for awhile, and some lovely tags from @heyheyits-angel have inspired me to post for the first time in awhile :) hope you enjoy, and hopefully i'll see y'all in the next post in a few days!

at least one of the mermaids of the Black Lake fancies him. he often tucks into one of the plush armchairs near the windows looking into the lake with a book and steaming cup of Earl Grey. one of the mermaids is quite taken with his gentle demeanor and beautiful eyes, and a few students even swear she tries reading over his shoulder through the glass

Ominis never believes the students who try to alert him to this one-sided friendship. (he’s used to bullies trying to trick him into believing something they know he cannot see for himself). he finally believes them one day while he’s busy teasing a group of first-years. he tells them that a few hours of patient waiting may lead to an encounter when they suddenly gasp and exclaim that a mermaid is hovering near his shoulder on the other side of the glass

he’s about to open his mouth to tell them off when he hears tapping from the other side of the window

Sebastian teases him about his “secret admirer,” but Ominis, who hates the feeling of being watched, decides to curl up near the fireplace couches for the rest of term

extremely grumpy when he first wakes up. he takes great pride in his appearance, so he doesn’t want people seeing him before he’s finished putting himself together for the day

his tousled blonde hair is impossibly soft and falls over bleary eyes. his pajama pants are just a tad too long and pool slightly around his feet. his sleeves are also just a size too large, making his slender hands just barely visible from beneath the emerald silk

he has a major sweet tooth. growing up, his parents rarely afforded him candies and desserts. Noctua always snuck him a batch of biscuits or a few chocolate frogs when his parents weren’t looking

similar to potions, he isn’t particularly skilled at baking. the house elves prepared everything for him at his family’s estate, and his mother seldom spent time with him unless absolutely necessary, so he’s never learned

you discover this one day (before the start of your relationship) and insist on teaching him. the Room of Requirement senses your predicament and conjures up a grand kitchen, replete with every type of pan and ingredient you could hope for

he’s hesitant at first, but there’s nothing he wouldn’t do to spend time in your presence. at first he thinks he’ll be observing you bake, but once you start guiding him, he’s a goner. you ask if he feels comfortable with you guiding his hands and his response is an enthusiastic ‘yes.’ you place your hands over his, coaxing him to chop, mix, and whisk ingredients, and he’s grateful you’re behind him if only to hide how his face burns at the contact

the next recipe you try is one of Noctua’s, his favorite teatime biscuits, in fact, and he nearly cries as he takes the first perfect bite

you fall asleep in the Room of Requirement, nestled amidst a mountain of velvet cushions and downey blankets. a few crumbs on a nearby plate are the only evidence of your endeavor. two identical cups of tea sit cooling, untouched, as he drifts off to somewhere the nightmares can’t reach him for the first time in years

[lyra-r05e]

Hi again! It's time for another chapter teaser :)

This excerpt doesn't feature Sebastian at all (sorry to disappoint). As such, there's nothing explicit in the excerpt below, but if you're new to this fic it is absolutely explicit (minors be warned).

Chapter 13: Harvest will be posted on Sunday, October 20th.

What Friends Are For

Fandom: Stardew Valley

Rating: Explicit (Smut, Graphic Depictions of Violence)

Genre: M/F, Friends with Benefits / Friends to lovers

Pairing: Sebastian x Female Player ('You' perspective)

TW: alcoholism. Please enjoy "Shane's Birthday:"

This week has been incredibly busy for you. Every day until summer will be spent harvesting your spring crops and preparing for the transition to the new season. After selling a massive haul to a delighted Pierre, you barge into the clinic with determination.

“Is it too late for a coffee?” You ask, handing your thermos out to Harvey.

“Never,” he replies, placing his mug in front of you to pour into. “What would you like in return for this surprise gift?”

“Hey now, I don't always ask for something in return.”

“True, but your coffee offerings always come with a request or an apology. I assumed the former,” he smirks and takes a sip.

“Ok fine, you got me. I have a favour to ask of you, but it's totally okay if you don't feel comfortable doing it.”

“I'm listening,” he raises an eyebrow with intrigue.

“It's Shane’s birthday today, and I want to throw him a mini surprise party. But I know he won't come over willingly, so I was hoping you might give him a call,” you look up at him and gauge his reaction.

“Oh. I know where this is going,” Harvey rubs his temple under the arm of his glasses, “you know it's incredibly unethical for me to fake an injury, right?”

“I know, you can say no. Hear me out though, I just need Shane to think he needs to help feed Kiki tonight. He'll do it, he's soft when it comes to animals. It just has to be for a good enough reason, like I passed out from exhaustion and need an IV or something. You know?” You say hopefully.

Harvey looks at you, pondering his options. It's a bit of a stretch asking him to do this, he's completely justified in refusing your request. He twirls a pen around his fingers and sighs heavily.

“I just know he won't take it seriously from me, but if you ask him-”

“Fine,” Harvey sighs in defeat.

“Really!?” You clench your fists in excitement.

“Yes, for you I'll do it,” he chuckles, “when should I call him?”

“Hmm, around 6 maybe? In case he comes over right after.”

“Sounds good. I'll let you know how it goes.”

“Thank you! You're the best,” you wave and quickly exit the clinic, energized for your birthday mission.

***

You're just about finished frying the last batch of pepper poppers when Harvey’s call comes in. You quickly answer it and tuck your phone between your cheek and shoulder to keep your hands free.

“Tell me good news, Doc!”

Harvey chuckles on the other end. “Apparently I'm a more convincing actor than I thought. He was pissed, but he's on his way.”

“He’ll get over it soon. Thanks for doing this Harvey, I really appreciate it.”

“No worries, have fun tonight.”

“See you soon,” you end the call and fish the rest of the snacks from the oil, adding them to a tray in the oven to keep warm. Between these and the pizza you got from Gus, the smell coming from the cabin might give away the surprise.

You quickly tidy up, set the table and scatter some cheap decorations to finish the gift. You turn off the lights and sit quietly on your couch to wait for his arrival.

Shane's footsteps approach a few minutes later, and he tentatively tries the door. You always leave your door unlocked, so he slips in and calls out for Kiki, who comes trotting up to greet him. He gives her a few head scritches before standing to hit the lights.

“Surprise!” You jump up with your biggest smile, earning a jolt and a death glare from Shane.

“That explains the smell. You’re unbelievable, you know that right?”

“Honestly, you should expect this from me at this point,” you laugh, leading him to the kitchen, “Happy Birthday, Shane.”

Shane grumbles, but inspects the table with curiousity. You pull out the pizza and pepper poppers from the oven, and grab a large growler of your homemade pale ale from the fridge.

“There's no one else lurking in the shadows, is there?”

“Nope, just me.”

“Good. I don't have to share.”

“I'm glad you’re hungry, I was hoping to catch you before dinner. Did you have any plans tonight?” You pass him a mug of beer.

“I was just about to throw in a frozen pizza when Harvey called. The game starts soon,” he glances at the clock on your wall.

“We can watch it here if you like?”

“You like Gridball?” He raises an eyebrow.

“Truthfully, I don't know anything about it. But it's your birthday, so whatever you want to do I'm game.”

Shane ponders his options for a moment, staring at the spread of his favourites you prepared for him. “Yea alright.”

“Sweet,” you toss him the TV remote and pile a plate with food while he finds the right channel.

“I can't believe you put Harvey up to lie like that. I didn't think he was capable of it.”

“That man will do anything for a cup of coffee, I swear,” you laugh, “what did he say?”

“He said Marlon found you passed out and carried you to the clinic, and that he was worried about your new kitten. I almost refused, but he said you trust me the most when it comes to animal care,” he rolls his eyes.

“Nice, Harvey. Pulling at the one heartstring you have,” you grin cheekily.

“Yea yea,” he takes a big bite of a pepper popper, visible steam escaping from it. “FUCK that's hot,” he struggles to avoid dropping it.

“Oh yea, I just fried those,” you laugh, “good though, right?”

“So good,” a tear streams down his face, unclear if primarily from pain or pleasure.

The two of you stuff your faces while watching the game, Shane happy to answer your questions about the rules and add quips about the players. It's nice to see him so enthusiastic about something other than chickens.

When halftime rolls around, you tidy up and pack away the leftovers for Shane to take home later. He brings your plates for the dishwasher, and refills both of your beers.

“So..” he looks at you tentatively, and you raise an eyebrow at him. “Aunt Marnie told me Sebastian was here when she dropped Kiki off.”

You tense up for a moment before continuing with your task. “I was wondering if she would. What's the rumour going around about us? It hasn't come back to me yet.”

“There isn't one. I managed to squash it for you, you're welcome.”

“Really? How?”

“She asked if I knew anything about the two of you, and I said yes. She barely knows anything about Sebastian, other than he tends to stay up late in his room. She thought it was weird he was there so early, so I told her he often hangs out with you when he can't sleep and that you’re good friends.”

You flop back onto the couch and turn the volume down while the commercials ramble on. “And she just took your word for it?”

Shane joins you on the couch. “Yea. She's uh, really team Harvey for your romantic interest,” he takes a sip of beer, glancing at you for your reaction.

You lean your head back on the couch with a groan, putting your palm on your forehead. You slide your hand down your face and take a few big sips of beer.

“Those women need to get a hobby. Seriously, why does everyone think we’re going to date? We barely hang out, sure we're friendly with each other but come on, it's not like we're openly flirting,” your frustration is evident in your tone.

“Harvey is kind, and well respected. And so are you. They want him to be happy,” he shrugs.

“I want him to be happy too, but I don't want to be responsible for his happiness,” you furrow your brows, taking another angry sip.

“Touchy subject, eh?” Shane smirks, and you glare at him briefly. “Why are you so mad about it?”

You stare into your mug and sigh, unsure how to answer.

“...Maybe you and Sebastian are more serious than you think after all?” He says tentatively.

You sigh, and meet his eyes. “I don’t want to be responsible for Seb’s happiness either.”

“What about your own happiness?”

This is easily the deepest conversation you've had with Shane. It's a nice change of pace, being able to talk openly with someone who knows about you and Sebastian. You reflect for a moment before answering him. “I want to be happy on my own first. What about you?”

“Yea, me too. I got a lot of issues to sort out still,” he stares into his beer.

“Can I be honest with you?” You turn slightly to face him.

“When are you not?”

You grin briefly before returning to a serious expression. “I…I feel conflicted. About giving you alcohol. Ever since that day…” you trail off, memories of his limp body by the cliff flashing in your mind.

Shane fidgets slightly, avoiding your eyes. “I'm feeling better, truly. I don't rely on it as much any more. It's still a problem, no doubt about it. But I feel…much more in control, now. It's not an everyday thing that consumes my every thought.”

“That's good to hear,” you place a hand on his knee for comfort. “Let me know how I can support you. If you decide to quit for example, I'll remove any sign of it from your sight.”

“Thanks. Counselling has helped a lot. And so has the time with your chickens,” he smiles softly. “Now shut up, the games back on,” he grabs the remote and cranks the volume. You smirk at the abrupt end of your heart-to-heart, straightening up and resting your feet on the coffee table to enjoy the game.

The game ends later than you anticipated, Shane’s team squeaking out an overtime win as another little birthday present for him. You grab the leftover pizza from the fridge and hand it to him as he gets ready to go.

“Thanks for everything, Farmer. This was…really nice,” he smiles warmly at you.

“Awe, you’re welcome,” you lean in to give him a big hug, but your attempt is thwarted by a hand on your forehead.

“No. No, none of that,” he stands firm, resisting your attempts to lean forward and break his strength.

“Let me…hug you…dammit!” You grunt as you lean further into his palm.

“Fucking hell, why are you so freakishly strong?” He sighs, removing his hand. You flop into his chest suddenly, and he grunts as he catches you for a one-armed embrace.

“Oof!” You’re startled for a moment, but quickly squeeze him tight. Shane pats your back a few times, sighing dramatically.

“You’re a good hugger.”

“Don't get used to it. Now let me go, would ya?” Shane feigns annoyance, but his smile remains when you break away from him.

“See you in the morning,” you wave him off as he walks home, pleased with yourself for how well the evening went. It'll be hard to top that gift next year, you chuckle to yourself.

[theleastprofessionalchef]

Ah jeez, I started making this post end of May and saved it as a draft so I could come back with the recipe, and fully forgot to do that for uh. Yeah. A long time. I've since made a few more batches of successful mead, and have a couple more fermenting right now! I'll reblog with pics of them later.

Well! better late than never. Leaving what I'd written initially unchanged, so-

-

Two months apart - start and end - my first successful batch of mead! I've tried a handful of times over the years, but had an unfortunate habit of doing... SOMETHING wrong each time that resulted in lightly sweetened cleaning alcohol 😅

But finally, a success! Real mead! Sweet, but not too sweet, and boozy enough without being straight up moonshine

Recipe:

Roughly three pounds of honey

3? 4? Of those little mandarin oranges, quartered

1 packet ale yeast, I used this

Various whole mulling spices, I used a stick of cinnamon and a few cloves this time, but I've also tossed in cardamom pods and anise occasionally, maybe a couple peppercorns. Go wild

So much filtered/distilled water. So much. Like two gallons?

I'll be real folks, I used a cheap shitty online guide that I don't remember the link for, that said it was a good basic way to learn how to make garbage mead and that any brewer worth their salt would cringe at. It is also coincidentally the same guide I used years ago in the aforementioned cleaning alcohol incident; I haven't changed what I used or did, so I honestly don't know why that came out bad and this good. Shrugs! Yeast can't read.

Dissolve the honey in warm/hot water. Not boiling- you don't want to kill the yeast when you add it in. Think a nice, warm shower. Stir it well, add the oranges and spices, and mix in the yeast until also dissolved.

Load it all up into a large glass container like the one pictured. I ordered a carboy online for this, which is the 'proper' thing to use, but you can honestly get away with an old milk jug you've thoroughly cleaned and sanitized, if you again, don't care about it being the highest quality. Carboys come with the fermentation/filtration Thing on it to let gases out and nothing in (the little doohicky plugged into the top of the lid) but you can also get away with stretching the mouth of a balloon over where the lid would go and poke a teensy hole in it with a needle. The goal is to let the gases that build up during fermentation escape the container, but not to let outside air in.

Fill the container the rest of the way up with water, but leave a couple inches of space on top. This thang's gonna bubble like crazy once the yeast start feeding, and you don't want it to overflow and make a mess of your cupboard.

Put it in a dark, cool space, and wait a few days!

It'll bubble a lot those first days; DON'T mess with it. Leave her be. Let her have her hot girl summer. After a few days, maybe a week, it'll calm down a bit; now you can top off the water supply.

Fast forward uhhhh two months or so, and it's done! There's a more legit way to know for sure when it's done that involves watching the tiny bubbles that form near the top as part of the fermentation process, and figuring out when they'll stop, but I'm impatient and don't know jack and am here for a good time not a long time.

Enjoy mead! And maybe do some better research than I did if you want something fancy.

OH AND FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, DO NOT STIR IT WHEN YOU GO TO DRINK THE FINISHED STUFF

You'll want to scoop the fruits and spices off the top and then siphon it off into another container, or do what we did and simply ladle it off the top (because on a ship of 10-13 sailors, 1 1/2-2 gallons of mead won't last longer than an off day), and NOT drink the detritus off the bottom. You can kinda see it in the picture above. It is not like unfiltered apple cider. That stuff tastes gnarly.

Do not shake the mead before drinking.

[themaladaptivewriter12]

"Happy Birthday, Leona!"

Title: "Happy Birthday, Leona!"

Parings: Leona Kingscholar x Twisted Wonderland Male OC (Mirai Yuhara)

Summary:

With Leona's Birthday being tomorrow, Mirai, Grim, and the guys at Savanaclaw try to throw Leona the best surprise Birthday Party, but suddenly things go haywire with only three hours to spare. Will they make it in time, or utterly fail?

cw: A bit of crude humor, but nothing extreme. Kissing, surprise parties, flowers and their meanings, fluff and humor

a/n: It's been a while, gosh I miss writing for these two. This was so much fun to do, and it wasn't even supposed to be this long. The creative juices started flowing, and the next thing I knew, parts that I was supposed to keep short and sweet were flushed out, and the next thing i knew, this thing was twenty pages long and 7k words.

a/n: Idk why, but for some reason, the tune that came to mind while writing the rap was the tune to the Pixies rap from the Fairly Odd Parents lololol. ｡ﾟ(TヮT)

Happy Birthday, Leona! Thanks for coming home twice this month with both your SSRs! (*˘︶˘*).｡.:*♡ I'll also make a banner for this later.

Reblogs are appreciated, just use my custom tag, #TheMaladaptiveWriter12, if you do!  (─‿‿─)♡

Cross posted from my Ao3: TheMaladaptiveWriter12

Leona’s Birthday was in a couple more hours, and let’s just say, this was the calmest surprise Birthday party planning Mirai has ever done. Well, that’s what he thought. Now they were on a time crunch and he honestly didn’t know if they would make midnight on time. 

Everything was going great, smooth even, but then things went downhill after the first batch of cupcakes were left in the oven to burn.

“Guys?” Jaxton, a Jackal Beastman, asked wearily, “What’s that smell?”

 “I don’t know,” Garfield, a Cat Beastman, said. 

Mirai sniffed the air, stopping his task of tying ribbons into bows, trying to decipher what the scent was, when suddenly it hit him. “The cupcakes!”

Mirai, Ruggie, and a group of other Beastmen rushed to the kitchen to see the oven billowing with smoke. 

“Ta-Take them out,” Jack yelled.

Mirai ripped open the oven and reached in to grab the pan before a series of shouts stopped him.

“Wh-What? What?!” Mirai shouted, turning to look at the group.

“You were just gonna grab those with your hand?!” Jack yelled.

“Of course not,” Mirai yelled.

“You literally just stuck your hand in the oven,” Ruggie shouted.

“I was using my prosthetic!”

The room went silent, the look on their faces was as if they found the dumbest species on Twisted Wonderland.

“Ya’know,” Ruggie started, “I thought you were gonna say something that implied I missed the oven mitt on your hand or somethin’, but this just confirms your stupidity and my point.”

“Hey,” Mirai shouted.

“Guys,” Garfield yelled, “They’re still in the oven!”

“Shoot!” Mirai snatched the pan and whirled around, trying to figure out what to do with it. “Wh-What do I do with it?! What do I do with it?!”

“Put it in the sink,” multiple guys yelled, “In the sink!”

“The window! Throw it out the window,” others panicked.

Mirai panicked and just threw the pan across the room, and just his luck, it clattered out the window, burnt cupcakes tumbling out onto the floor, into the sink, and the rest with the pan onto the ground below.

“Why'dja throw it out the window?!” Jack shouted.

“I don’t know! I panicked,” Mirai cried.

“Y'all wanna wake the boss with all this yellin’?!” Sergi, a Serval Beastman, scolded, popping his head into the kitchen. “Keep it down!”

The group in the kitchen quieted, a shared look of embarrassment coloring their faces. It was true, if the burnt smell of cake didn’t wake Leona, their yelling sure would.

“I-It doesn’t matter,” Garfield said, after a beat of silence, “It smelled anyways! We’ll get it later. What we need is another batch of cupcakes!”

“I got it,” Mirai said, already grabbing the utensils. “There was some batter left over. We can use that, then make some more.”

“I’ll help,” Jaxton offered, grabbing the ingredients.

“Ruggie,” someone called, “We need some help over here!”

“Coming,” Ruggie answered, leaving the kitchen with a small wave.

Jack and a couple of others followed behind him, and as for the rest, they stuck around to help with the baking.

“We need to get this burnt sugar smell outta the dorm,” Azizi, a Kudu Beastman, said. “If we could smell it out there, there’s no doubt Leona can in his room.”

“Well, what do we do?” Jaxton asked, “If we spray some air freshener, all it's gonna do is mix. And Boss hates that stuff.”

“Baking soda, lemon, or coffee grounds,” Alfonz, a Leopard Beastman supplied. “I looked it up. We got any of that?”

“Baking soda! Here,” Azizi said, shoving the tin into Alfonz’ hands. “And Lemons!”

The Leopard grabbed a small bowl and dished out a couple of spoonfuls of baking soda and to top it off, shave a sprinkle or two of lemon zest on the top.

“Ima go set this outside his door and hope for the best,” Alfonz said, picking up the bowl. “You guys can set some out here and in the lounge. Be right back.”

Alfonz left the kitchen and Azizi went to litter the place with baking soda. Mirai on the other hand looked at the clock and gasped when it read nine thirty-seven. 

“We’re not gonna make it,” Mirai whined, furiously mixing a bowl of cake batter.

“If ya keep on talking like that, then we definitely won’t,” Rover, a Dog Beastman, gruffed as he rushed by the kitchen with some party supplies in his hands.

“Anyone else need to add a gift?!” Ruggie asked, stacking the gifts carefully on the gift table. “Because once I finish this, your gift goes on the floor.”

“Me! Me,” Mirai shouted, rushing to put the tray of cupcakes in the oven before rushing out the kitchen. 

In the Lounge things were a mess. Streamers and confetti was all over the place, balloons and ribbons hung precariously from the banisters, and there still was no cake. Grim, on the other hand, was no help at all, snoozing away on one of the vacant chairs, a pillow over his head.

“Here,” Mirai said, handing his little box over.

Ruggie smiled and placed Mirai’s gift securely on top of his gift tower. “Perfect.”

Mirai smiled looking around the room, yeah it was a complete mess, but who this mess was for made everything worth it.

“Has anyone seen the ‘Ps’ for the Happy Birthday sign?!” Luan, a Lion Beastman, yelled.

“Did you check the closet?” James, a Wolf Beastman, asked.

“I wouldn’t be asking if I did!”

“Where’s Chi-Chi?” Ikemba, a Boar Beastman, asked. “I need him to crawl behind the shelf to plug this in.”

“You calling me small?!” Chiumbo, a Meerkat Beastman, yelled.

“Well, I certainly can’t fit behind there.”

“Give it to me,” the Meerkat pouted, crawling behind the thing.

“Anything else you all need us to carry,” Jack asked, entering the lounge area, a group of stronger Beastmen following close behind.

“Not that I know of,” Raphael, a Mountain Lion Beastman, said from his spot on the floor.

 The fact that Leona had so many people who care for him, to plan a surprise Birthday party in the middle of the night, made the Prefect’s heart swell with joy. Thinking back on the day, Mirai couldn’t help but laugh to himself, wondering how they even pulled any of this off.

Ruggie started the day off cleaning His Royal Highness’ room. He wanted to make sure Leona felt as comfortable as possible for his big day tomorrow, and that also ensured that he could sleep undisturbed for as long as he wanted, without having to come in and clean. Also, for what was to come later, they didn’t need to be stepping on discarded homework, sweaty gym clothes, expensive jewelry that should not have been left on the floor, or Leona’s worn unmentionables. Ruggie wouldn’t do that to Leona, so to save the Lion’s pride, he picked them up and tossed them into the laundry basket at his hip.

“Whaddya doin’?” Leona groggily muttered, not bothering to open his eyes and or face Ruggie properly.

Thankfully, Ruggie was a great liar. “Heard a couple o’ guys talkin’ ‘bout how they wanna wash clothes today. I don’t wanna be stuck with having to fight over a washing machine all day, so I might as well do it now an’ get it outta the way.”

Leona just huffed a sigh, rolling over to face away from the rising sun, “Jus’ close the door on ya way out.”

“Will do, Boss,” Ruggie smiled. 

The Hyena continued to clean as quietly as possible and it wasn’t until he was just about done that he noticed Leona had fallen back asleep. Once his task was done, Ruggie slipped out the door, closing it slowly.

“Alright! task one: done,” Ruggie whispered as he made his way to inform the others.

Later that day, Mirai, Ruggie, Jack, and a group of Savanaclaw students made their way over to Sam’s shop to get some supplies for the party. Jack’s group was in charge of party favors, and Ruggie’s group was in charge of food, and as for the rest, they were here to pick Birthday gifts for their Dorm Head. Mirai had already secured his gift, the present arriving in town two days prior. All he had to do was pick it up and have it wrapped. That was a little event all in itself, but at least he wasn’t like the others, rushing to find a suitable gift with only one day to spare.

“What do you need from me?” Mirai asked.

“Actually,” Ruggie started, “I forgot to tell you the Birthday tradition for Leona this year.”

“Tradition?”  

“Does it involve food?” Grim asked.

“No,” Ruggie huffed. “Ya see, this year, each third year student gets honored with their own Bloom Bouquet, or Broomquet as we like to call it.”

“Oh, yeah! I remember now,” Mirai said, thinking back on Cater’s and a couple of his other third year friends on their own Birthdays

“Yeah, but the thing is, the dorm has to make it in honor of that student, we want you to make it.”

Mirai looked taken aback, “Why me?!”

“Well not “make it” make it, like we want you to assemble it.”

“Why not someone else? Like you or Jack?”

“There was nothin’ in it for me,” Ruggie supplied. “And we asked Jack if he wanted to do it, but he claimed his hands weren’t too good with small meticulous stuff like tying ribbons an’ stuff. So you’re the next best thing.”

Mirai bit his lip, deep in thought. “I can just get him one myself, it doesn’t have to be this particular bouquet.” 

“I know, but wouldn’t it be nice if Leona got a Broomquet made from his boyfriend this year?”

“Gross,” Grim huffed.

The fight in Mirai dissolved. Flushing, Mirai sighed, “Alright, alright. I’ll do it.”

Ruggie smiled, “Good. Now go find your flower to add to the Broomquet.”

Mirai made his way to the Botanical Gardens and over to the flowers, wondering which one to pick. Ruggie sent him a picture of a list of flowers that were already being added to the Broomquet for reference. 

“So yellow is the theme here,” Mirai muttered, looking at the picture of other third years from their dorm and their Broomquets.

“Why can’t we just pick a dandelion and be done with it?” Grim huffed.

“Because it's for his Birthday, it has to be special. You wouldn’t want some ordinary tuna for your Birthday, would you?”

“I guess not,” Grim grumbled.

“Thought so.”

Mirai wandered the gardens, looking at each yellow flower, trying to make sure none of his potential picks were repeated. As he followed the path, lost in his head, the Prefect stepped on something as he turned the corner to the next row of flowers.

“Why am I getting a sense of deja vu here?”

Mirai gasped, jumping a couple steps away only to find the man on his mind, lying between two low hanging willow trees. A single bright green eye landed on the Prefect, making the blonde’s skin prickle with goosebumps. “What was he doing here?” Mirai thought, “Wasn’t he supposed to be in gym class?”

“S-Sorry, Leona,” Mirai muttered, flushing from embarrassment. 

“Are you really? Cus it feels like ya did this before,” Leona smirked.

“A-And all those times were accidents, I-I swear!”

Leona chuckled, “Calm down, I was only messin’ with ya. Whaddya doing here?”

“What are you doing here?” Mirai shot back. “You’re supposed to be in gym class.”

“I went to gym class,” Leona smirked. “Vargas said I could make up for the days I skipped by running twenty laps around the field. I did, and then I left.”

“Leona!”

“What? Vargas never said I had to stay after I made up those classes. It’s his fault for not being more specific.”

Mirai sighed, exasperated.

“Well,” Grim said thoughtfully, “He’s not wrong.”

“No, he is wrong,” Mirai scolded, “And don’t be gettin’ any ideas Grim. We’re going to gym later today.”

“Awww.”

“You never answered my question, Herbivore,” Leona muttered.

“Huh?” Mirai gasped, eyes snapping back to the Lion.

“My question. Whaddya doin’ here?”

Mirai froze, he had forgotten Leona asked him that. Mirai’s thoughts were reeling as he tried to wrack his mind with what kind of story to come with. “I-I-I, uh, I wanted, I want some flowers to, to, uh, to…brighten up my room!”

“To brighten your room?” Leona questioned with a raised eyebrow, not buying a word the Prefect said.

“Y-Yeah, I-” Mirai’s eyes darted around the gardens until his eyes landed on a bright yellow Lily. That’s it! “I-I-I was feeling a little down an-and I asked Professor Crewel if I, if I could have some Lilies ‘cus, because they remind me of my mother.”

“But I thought we were getting flowers for that bouq-” Grim started before Mirai cut him off loudly.

“Yes, a bouquet for my mother! I know she’s not here, but it’s the thought that counts. It’s like she’s here with me, ya’know?”

Leona’s eyes immediately softened, his ears flattening against his head. Gosh, Mirai hated that look on the man’s face. He hated lying, and he hated the fact that he just lied about how he was feeling, but that was the only excuse he could come up with on the spot. But the Lily part was true though, Mirai loved Lilies, they always made him happy, and they always reminded him of his mother. Also, now he knew just what flower to add to Leona’s Broomquet.

Leona sighed, “Hey, I-”

Mirai shook his head hurriedly, hoping Leona would let him off the hook. “I’m fine, really. It’ll pass like it usually does. Lilies always remind me of her, and they always make me happy.”

Leona sighed and after a moment of silence, Leona spoke once more, “Stay?”

“Next time?” Mirai asked, clipping a couple of yellow lilies and placing them in a plastic bag. “I wanna get these in some cool water.”

“There better be,” Leona huffed, lying back down, and this time, tucking his tail in beneath himself. “Be careful on your way out.”

“Oh? Why should I? Is a big bad lion gonna get me?”

“He might. And if ya don’t wanna be stuck here for the rest of the day, I’d advise you to start walkin’.”

“Whaddya gonna do abou-”

Leona lunged forward, a playful growl on his smirking lips and Mirai squealed, grabbing Grim as he ran out the Botanical Gardens.

Back in his room, Mirai sat on the floor, trying to figure out where to put everyone’s flowers. He was artistic, but he wasn’t some prodigy. He wanted the Broomquet to look very aesthetically pleasing, but also, he wanted it to be fair. Like, he really wanted to put the lilies dead center, but he didn’t want it to look like he was putting himself over the rest of Leona’s dorm. And as much as symmetry would look pleasing to the eye, that’s just not how flower arranging was done. 

“What do you think Grim? Should the lilies go here, next to the orchids, or here, next to the rosebuds?”

“I don’t even know what those are! How am I ‘pposed to know where to put a bunch o’ weeds?”

Mirai sighed, flopping backwards onto the floor. He never was gonna get this done on time. He wanted this to be special for Leona. Mirai knew Leona had conflicting views surrounding his birthday, that he often didn’t see the want or need to celebrate his own birth, and Mirai could somewhat understand that. 

From Mirai’s own experience, he could understand not liking one’s own Birthday, for he didn’t like celebrating his own Birthday either. For Mirai, it reminded him of that life changing accident, it reminded him that his mother was no longer here to celebrate with him. Some days it felt as if he were the cause of it, and others felt as if he celebrated his own Birthday, he was celebrating his own mother’s passing. But since being here, Mirai’s thoughts have changed, not entirely, but slowly, and that’s what Mirai wanted for Leona.

Leona’s reasoning was light years away from Mirai’s own, but that didn’t make it any less damaging, and or unimportant. Leona didn’t didn’t have to change his view completely, because change didn’t happen overnight. One day couldn’t change twenty years worth of trauma, twenty years of feeling inferior, of feeling forgotten, hated, and like a burden, but if tomorrow made the lion reconsider his outlook on his Birthday, even by the smallest decimal, Mirai would be happy.

Mirai looked over the text message one more time, reading over their names and meanings, trying to get an idea from when it hit him. 

“I think I figured out how I’m gonna arrange them,” Mirai said happily.

“Don’t care,” Grim yelled from his room.

Mirai swore he was gonna bonk that cat on the head the next time he saw him. 

It was eleven twenty-two and things were still in utter disarray. The burnt smell was finally going away, the pan from outside was retrieved and the cupcakes were finally cool enough to be iced. They also decided to make a cake entirely out of cured meats. It was Azizi’s idea to use cured meats instead, saying how the smell of cooking meat would wake Leona up.

“Has anyone found the ‘PP’ yet?!” Luan yelled.

“Have ya checked your pants?” Jaxton cackled, making Ruggie and several other Hyenas burst out laughing.

Luan growled menacingly and Jaxton growled back.

“Guys,” Jack warned, “Now is not the time.”

In the lounge, things were coming together nicely. The majority of the decorations were up, but there was still much to do, not to mention all the stuff they had to clean. The snack table needed assembling, they needed to find the rest of the sign and the finishing touches to tie in the whole thing.

Mirai was slowly bringing over trays of frosted cupcakes. The white frosted ones were a vanilla cake topped with coconut cream frosting, the brown frosted ones were a spice cake topped with chocolate frosting, and the yellow frosted ones were a pineapple cake topped with a mango frosting.

Jaxton tailed him with a three tiered spice cake topped off with a buttercream frosting. It was beautifully iced, a diamond pattern etched into the cream topped off with yellow and brown sprinkles. Mirai honestly didn’t know how the Jackal did it with so much stress and such little time.

Azizi was last with the meat cake, the two tiered masterpiece made up of jerky, sausage, prosciutto, salami, and pepperoni. It was held together by caramelized maple bacon and toothpicks, the maple glaze sticky and savory sweet, and meat cake was topped off with a savory barbecue sauce that was dripped over the edge of the cake, tying it all in. The thing seemed to shimmer in the golden light of the Savanaclaw lounge, giving the tower of meat an elegant look. It almost made you forget it was made of meat.

“Found the ‘Ps’ for the sign,” Chiumbo called. “They were under the chair!”

“Give ‘em here,” Luan called, rushing over to the lost letters.

Finally the sign was complete. The back wall finally had the words Happy Birthday decorating it with its dazzling silver color.

“Time check,” Mirai called, arranging his cupcake display in a yellow, brown, and white pattern.

“It’s eleven thirty-five,” Ruggie called.

The room froze, all of their heads snapping to the nearest clock, as if to confirm the time for themselves. 

“Now’s not the time for sitting around,” Ikemba chided, “Pick up the pace.”

The room sprung into action. There were things being thrown, feet scurried across the floor, tails swishing behind them. 

“I need some help cleaning up the confetti,” Rover yelled.

“Coming,” Garfield.

“I’m adding the floating lights now,” Raphael said, “So no one’s allowed in the water.”

“Done stringing the lights,” Alfonz called.

“Has anyone seen my shirt?!” James yelled, running around the room.

“Why’dja take it off?!” Ikemba yelled.

“I was hot!”

“Balloons are done,” Sergi hollered from atop the banister.

“Meat cake is finished,” Azizi said, sprinkling the last touches of oregano and thyme leaves on the cake.

“The music is set,” Chiumbo chirped.

“Give me another minute," Jaxton said as he slowly placed a hibiscus flower atop the cake. “I’m almost done.”

“I’m lighting the candles,” Luan informed, casting the room in a warm golden glow.

“Whoever is done, start making your way to Leona’ room,” Ruggie called. “And remember to keep it down.”

The room began to thin out, the dorm making their way to Leona’s den. Mirai added the finishing touches to his cupcake display, placing a flower or piece of candy here or there. Once he was finished, whatever was left was added to the table display.

“You guys ready?” Jack called, holding a sleepy Grim in his arms.

“Y-Yes! I’m coming,” Mirai called, “Lemme just-”

Mirai didn’t finish his sentence as he rushed to the kitchen to grab the single cupcake that he had saved for this very moment. It was a one of the spice cake ones, topped with buttercream frosting and gold luster dust. Round pearly sprinkles decorated the top, one side encrusted with golden sugar crystals. The finishing touch was the candle, a small golden crown that took Mirai ages to find. It reminded him of Leona and Mirai hoped he liked it.

Mirai was one of the last ones upstairs with seven minutes to spare. Everyone was crouched in the hall, quiet as a mouse. Mirai couldn’t resist picking up the ghost camera that hung around his neck and snapped a photo. He wanted to capture every moment of this night, so they all could look back on this one day and smile with the same exact warm and fuzzy feeling the blonde had now.

“Alright, Prefect,” Ruggie whispered, opening the door so it was ajar, “you first.”

Mirai slowly crouched his way in, moving all the way around until he was smack dab in the middle. One by one the others made their ways in. Of course there was some pushing and shoving, and of course some tails were kneeled on, but slowly but surely, all the guys crowded the bed until Leona was surrounded by the occupants of his entire dorm. 

Mirai looked over Leona’s peaceful form as he snored away under the pale moonlight shining through his open bay windows. He looked devastatingly beautiful, it was almost ethereal with how he slept, chocolate tresses cascading down strong bronze shoulders. Something about it all, all of this, everything, made something like a mixture of love and sorrow well up in his chest. Mirai didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, but he swallowed the feeling down, he’d deal whatever that was later, but right now, it was Leona’s hour, his day. 

“Fifteen seconds,” Ruggie whispered, pulling Mirai from his thoughts, and the room went still in anticipation.

“Fourteen,” Jack whispered.

“Thirteen,” Raphael continued. 

“Twelve,” Jaxton smiled.

“Eleven,” Azizi added. 

“Ten,” Luan whispered.

Leona stirred in his bed, a glowing green eye cracking open.

“Nine,” Ikemba said.

“Eight,” Chiumbo counted.

“Seven,” James continued.

“Six,” Rover added.

“Wha-What are you guys…” Leona trailed off, rolling over to sit up.

“Five,” Garfield said.

“Four,” Alfonz cheered.

Leona’s reflective green eyes darted around the room wildly, reflective eyes of many colors staring back at him. “Wha-” Leona muttered, eyes widening when he noticed the amount of people shoved into his bedroom.

“Three,” Sergi called.

“Two,” Grim cheered.

Suddenly the room was lit by a small flame, the lighter hovering over the wick on the crown shaped candle before it came to life with a near silent ‘poof.’ Everyone’s gazes honed in on the single flame, then back at Leona was sat there in shock.

“One,” Mirai smiled widely. 

“Happy Birthday, Leona,” they all cheered. Confetti poppers sounded, party favors were blown, and pictures were snapped. Suddenly the bedside lamp covered the room in a comforting golden glow, and before Leona could say anything, his dormmates began a very unique rendition of the Happy Birthday song. Sound effects were added, someone was definitely off key, parts were too slow or rushed, a rap verse was added, and was someone singing in an opera voice? It was silly, it was loud, and it was goofy, but it was happy, it was loving and caring. Soon it came to an end.

“Happy Birthday! To! You,” They all finished, before cheering at their own monstrosity of a song.

“Now blow out the candle and make a wish,” Mirai smiled, handing over the cupcake.

Leona could immediately smell the spice and buttercream frosting. Taking the small cake from his hands, Leona stared at it, taking in the detailing of the clearly handmade treat. Opening his mouth, Leona went to blow, but he was immediately stopped by a series of shouts.

“What?” Leona asked, taken aback.

“C’mon,” Azizi protested.

“Make a wish,” Chiumbo urged.

“You don’t have to tell us what it is,” James reassured.

“Just wish for anything,” Rover said.

Leona sighed, “Alright, alright.”

Leona closed his eyes, thinking for a moment, and after several seconds, his green eyes opened once more, and with a breath, he blew out the melted crown candle.

The guys cheered loudly, blowing the party favors once more, confetti showering over Leona’s bed.

“You may eat,” Sergi urged.

Leona shook his head, a small smile on his face as peeled off the golden cupcake paper, and took a bite. Immediately, Leona’s taste buds had ascended. Leona groaned in delight as his tongue was met with the buttery soft buttercream frosting, not too sweet, but sweet enough to pair beautifully with the spice cake. He could taste the cinnamon, ginger, cloves and nutmeg, it wasn’t too strong, not too spicy, but it was enough to get that soft, rich and pillowy, spice cake flavor.

Leona forgot himself for a moment there, until he caught the snickers coming from his dormmates. Shaking his head, Leona scoffed without malice, “Go on, laugh. ‘S’not gonna change the fact that this cake is so frickin’ good.”

They all laughed as they watched Leona devour the last of his cupcake. Mirai laughed, snapping a picture of Leona, who had frosting on his cheek, and the corner of his mouth.

“Oi,” Leona shouted, the flash of the ghost camera alerting him of Mirai’s dastardly deeds.

“Oh, no,” Mirai smirked, “That one’s def gonna go in the scrapbook.”

“Scrapbook?!”

“Well now that that’s out the way,” Jaxton cheered, “Let’s party!”

“Woohoo! Party time!”

The mass of them pushed and shoved their way out of the room, and back down to the lounge and shortly after, loud music began to shake the floor.

“Party?” Leona asked, but his question fell on deaf ears as he was promptly pulled by his arms. “W-Wait!”

“C’mon, Leona,” Garfield said.

“Yeah,” Chiumbo agreed, “Let’s go.”

“W-Wait! Wai-O-Okay! Okay,” Leona rushed out, moving to kneel on the bed, his sheets falling away from his hips. “Lemma get dressed first.”

Mirai immediately turned his head towards the window as he had just gotten an eyeful. Mirai honestly forgot the Beastmen tended to sleep absolutely naked, especially during the warmer months.

“Yay,” the two cheered like small children before rushing out of the room to join the party.

“See ya downstairs,” Ruggie said with a chuckle, Jack hot on his heels.

The rest followed suit, giving their own waves, not a single one of them bothered the state of undress from their Housewarden.

There was a pregnant pause before Leona spoke again, “You still here?”

Mirai’s eyes darted in Leona’s direction, but his gaze never fell on the Beastman, “C-Can I look?”

“Sure.”

That ‘sure’ was too nonchalant, Mirai didn’t believe him, “N-No, are you dressed?”

“Aw,” Leona teased, “You didn’t want a show?”

“Leona,” Mirai warned, but his flush on his freckled cheeks made it less threatening.

“I’m dressed,” Leona chuckled, “You can look now.”

Mirai slowly looked his way and, yeah, he was dressed. Leona opted to wear just the top and the jeans to his dorm specific uniform, not bothering with the jacket or any of the jewelry he typically wore.

“Let’s go?” Mirai asked.

“Yeah, I’m coming,” Leona muttered following Mirai out the door.

The party had just started, but yet somehow in full swing. The music was blasting, the lights were dimmed, and the food looked good. Now that Leona was up, the guys decided to grill some meat on an open flame. Yeah it was kinda smokey, but fresh meat off a grill, slathered in an array of sauces was something you couldn’t beat.

Cake was served and it was delicious. Leona got the first slice, which he all but shoved in his mouth. His excuse, that the spice cake was “so dang good,” earned a blush from Jaxton, and teasing from the others. There were so many to choose from, but Mirai’s favorites were the chocolate frosted cupcakes he made, and Jaxton’s spice cake. Leona and the others practically ate everything they could get their hands on, especially Grim, but this was why they had seconds and thirds ready. 

The music was good, the bass rattling the lounge. Mirai couldn’t understand, for a bunch with such sensitive hearing, they sure did like loud dance music. Azizi and Garfield challenged each other to a dance battle, which Garfiled lost, then somewhere down the line, they got Jack and Ikemba to dance, which turned out hilarious. Raphael goaded Leona into dancing at some point, and after several minutes of badgering and whining, Leona danced. Let’s just say after that beautiful display, Mirai was smitten even more with the Lion.

The party continued, games were played ranging starting with dorm races. Luan, Leona, Rover, Ruggie, Raphael, Jaxton, and Alfonz raced for a good while. They started from the lounge and had to make their way around the dorm and back. Leona, Luan, and Alfonz were tied with three wins, Raphael and Ruggie were tied with two, and the rest with one. Mirai remembers seeing the look of sheer determination on Leona’s face as he sprinted down the halls, the Lion and the Leopard hot on their Housewarden’s tail, and when Leona crossed that line first, Mirai remembers screaming the loudest.

Ikemba was thrown into the watering hole by a couple of the guys at some point, and after Chiumbo went on an angry tangent, and was inevitably chucked into the water after the Boar, games of chicken were played. Mirai watched from the sidelines with a couple of others while they all splashed and yelled in the water. Chiumbo was on Ikemba’s shoulders, and James held Azizi. The Wolf and the Boar kept a steady hand as the two on their shoulders wrestled for a good while, the was no give, until the Kudu overpowered Chiumbo and sent the Meerkat into the water. 

When things began to simmer down, card games were played, and of course Ruggie, Garfield and Sergi cheated, which they denied with their cunning cat-like smiles. But when the others exposed their lies by pulling cards from their sleeves, seats and hair, the Servat, the cat, and Hyena just laughed. And where there were no card games being played, small conversation was being made. It was peaceful.

Mirai stood away from the group with a smile, snapping pictures here and there. This was probably one of the best Birthday parties Mirai had ever planned, this probably even topped his own Birthday party the guys threw him a month prior. Mirai was looking through his camera roll when a heavy hand grabbed his shoulder. Mirai gasped, head snapping to the perpetrator, it was Leona. 

“You scared me,” Mirai sighed, his heart pounding.

“That’s because you got the heart of a mouse,” Leona gruffed.

Mirai stuck his tongue out petulantly. 

“Or maybe a ferret?”

Mirai laughed, setting his camera down. “Having fun?”

“Yeah,” Leona said quietly, a small smile gracing his lips.

“I’m glad. We all spent so much time trying to do this for you, so I’m happy you’re enjoying it.”

Suddenly a siren sounded, and James, Raphael, and Rover come out with sunglasses on their faces, air horns in their hands, and a megaphone. 

“Weeeeewhoooooooo,” James yelled. “Are you ready for some live music?!”

“Oh no,” Leona sighed, pressing a thumb and forefinger to the bridge of his nose.”

“Oh yes,” Mirai smirked, pulling out his phone to record.

Jack grabbed Leona by the hands, pulled him to his chair. Leona couldn’t get himself together before the guys covered him in beaded necklaces and smacked a plastic gold crown on his head.

“This one goes out to you Leona,” Rover yelled, pointing at his Housewarden across the room.

“Happy Birthday, Housewarden,” Raphael shouted.

What followed after was a horrible rap about Leona and his Birthday. It was a bunch of nonsense. Rover kept howling, which triggered James to howl. Raphael was beatboxing, then when Rover continued to rap, James started breakdancing.

“Happy Birthday! Happy Birthday! Today is your special day,” Rover rapped.

“Happy Birthday! Happy Birthday! C’mon let me hear ya say,” Raphael continued. 

“Happy Birthday! Happy Birthday! Happy Birthday,” the wolf, dog and Mountain Lion chanted, ending their performance.

The guys cheered and clapped. Dogs barked, cats meowed, others trilled, yipped, and others roared and howled. They threw confetti, hooped, hollered, and made noise with their noise makers, the works. Mirai was cackling, tears in his eyes, and Leona looked thoroughly embarrassed from his seat. 

“Ay yo,” Raphael called, “Somebody send that to me!”

“Already on it,” Azizi laughed.

“That’s going on the cloud,” Ruggie laughed.

“I’m posting this and tagging every last one of us,” Luan guffawed.

“Do not,” Leona shouted.

“Alright,” Alfonz called, “I think it’s about time we opened presents.”

“Me first,” Jaxton yelled.

“Move it,” Luan yelled, shoving the Jackal, “He’s opening mine first!”

“I grabbed mine first, therefore he opened mine first,” Chiumbo squeaked.

“Hold on, guys,” Jack scolded, “You’re going too fast. We already picked the first gift, remember.”

“Oh yeah,” Rover yelled. “Where’s the prefect?!”

“Overhere,” Ruggie said, walking back into the room with the Prefect in tow. 

Leona looked up and spotted Ruggie and Mirai, who was holding a distinctly shaped wrapped gift.

“I, uh, it’s uh, it’s from all of us,” Mirai stammered. 

“But,” Ikemba urged.

“But they chose me to assemble it,” Mirai finished, passing over the large gift. “Happy Birthday.”

Leona stood up, taking the wrapped object by the smaller end. Leona already could tell what it was the moment they brought it in, Sevens, he could practically smell it from where he was standing. Unwrapping the gift, Leona slowly revealed what he suspected, his Broomquet. Leona stared in awe at the bright vibrant yellows and the deep reds and purples. Turning it around, Leona spotted a card, tied to around the base of the bouquet by a string.

“What’s this?” Leona muttered, picking it up.

“Read it,” Azizi urged.

On the card were all the flowers they chose and their meanings. Leona read it over carefully, taking in each and every one of them.

“You can choose whichever meaning you want,” Chiumbo reassured.

“We just wanted to convey how much you mean to us,” Garfield added.

“A thanks for being our Housewarden for these past three years,” Alfonz said.

“Thanks guys,” Leona smiled, placing the Broomquet beside his chair.

“Now that that’s over with,” Luan said, “Prefect!”

Mirai jumped, “Y-Yeah?”

“You’re up first!”

Mirai barely coughed the box thrown his way, the gold wrapping paper slipping in his hands. “I, no, I, i-it’s, it’s okay,” Mirai stammered, face flushed, “I-I can go last!”

“Nah, after that reaction,” Leona smirked, slouching in his chair, “Hand it over.”

Mirai flushed a pretty pink and slowly walked the small box over, “Happy Birthday, Leona.”

Leona took the box gingerly, and unwrapped it carefully, trying to tear the wrapping paper. Pulling it away, a black velveteen box fell into his hands. Leona looked up at the Prefect, his eyebrows raised.

A chorus of teasing ‘ooohhs’ and giggles rang out the room.

“Is that what I think it is?” Luan teased.

“Prefect,” Raphael teased, placing a strong arm around his shoulders, “I didn’t know you had it in ya.”

“I gotta get pictures,” Chiumbo squealed.

“I-It’s, it’s not like that,” Mirai hurried out, “I-If it was, I definitely would never do it posed as a birthday gift.”

Leona was silent as he pulled open the box. Placing it in his palm, he pulled out a gold necklace. 

“I uh, I wanted to give you something you could take with you, when you leave later,” Mirai muttered, playing with his earrings, “You don’t wear earrings, and I definitely couldn’t do matching rings, a-and I know you always were a necklace, so, yeah.”

Leona put the box down, to inspect the necklace. It was a small, thin piece of jewelry, dainty, compared to the adornments the Prince normally wore, and lighter too. In the middle of the chain was a gold sun, and in the middle of it, was a small red gem.

“Put it on for me?” Leona more like commanded, running a thumb over the vibrant red gem.

Mirai shuffled over, taking the necklace from his hand and unclasped it. Leona sat up straighter, his head tiling up to look the Prefect in the eye as Mirai gingerly moved his hair to clasp the chain around his neck.

“Th-There,” Mirai muttered, flushing, pulling a similar gold chain from his pocket to show the Savanaclaw Housewarden. The necklace was an identical pair to Leona’s, the only difference being the gem in the middle. Instead of the ruby colored gem that adorned Leona’s, Mirai’s was made with a blue and purple gem instead. “And when you go back home tonight, you have a little bit of me with you, and I, you.”

Leona stared at the Prefect for a moment before standing up from his chair. Mirai’s gaze flicked up to the Beastman, his heart stuttering, thoughts reeling. Before the blonde could get a word out, Leona slipped the chain from Mirai’s fingertips.

“You can match me tonight,” Leona muttered, clasping the necklace around Mirai’s neck, “when you accompany me for my Birthday party as my partner.” Leona’s fingers trailed along Mirai’s jaw as he pulled away, his green eyes boring into Mirai’s.

“Kiss him,” Luan whispered.

Mirai flushed, his head snapping to the others.

“Kiss him,” Ikemba followed.

“Kiss him,” Alfonz chanted.

“G-Guys,” Mirai stuttered, trying to quiet their teasing.

“Kiss him,” they all chanted. “Kiss him! Kiss him! Kiss him!”

“Guys! Seriously! I’m not gonna-”

Suddenly, Mirai was grabbed by the waist and pulled forward. Mirai's head snapped back to Leona who was looking down at him. The Prefect couldn’t even get a word out his mouth before a pair of warm lips were pressed against his. Leona deepened the kiss, and Mirai melted, resulting in hoops and hollers from Leona’s dormmates, and groans of disgust from Grim.

“I hate yall,” Mirai pouted, hiding his face behind his arm.

“Alright, who’s next?” Sergi asked.

The rest presents were given and opened, Leona accepting each and every one of them with an open heart. The Housewarden received things from new knee pads for his spelldrive uniform, to things like brushes and combs, and hair care products. Somewhere down the line, Leona received a pillow, a new blanket and an eye mask for sleeping, which the Lion greatly appreciated. 

By the time they finished, the sun was rising over the horizon. It was getting close to five in the morning and not a wink of sleep was had. The air was warmed and with the brightening sky, eyes were closing, so food was put away, tables and chairs were moved, and blankets and pillows were spread out across the floor. 

They all lay together like a Lion Pride that had retired for the day after a successful hunt. There was no more music, no more chatter, but the sound of birds chirping to start their day, the serene sound of the waterfall that constantly from above them, and the occasional snore or nonsensical muttering from unconscious lips. 

Chiumbo lay across Ikemba, using his body like a pillow, a blanket wrapped around them. Jack lay with James and the other wolves, and Ruggie with the other Hyena. Raphael and Alphonz lay with Luan and the other lion’s and big cats, Grim sprawled out next to them as they basked in the sun. Sergi and Garfield kept Rover company in the far corner, and Azizi slept by himself, closest to the water. Leona lay at the highest part of the lounge, curled up like a house cat in the midday sun, and in his arms lay Mirai. 

The Prefect laid there, his eyes tracing the hard lines of Leona’s collarbones, his gaze eventually wandering to the shiny gold sun pendant. It was beautiful against Leona’s rich skin, and Mirai swelled with joy. Leona had loved it, much to Mirai’s delight, it made all that fuss he made about finding the right gift those some odd days ago null and void. 

Mirai reached up to touch it when Leona spoke, “You can’t sleep if you’re looking at me.”

Mirai gasped, snatching his hand away from Leona’s chest. Looking up at the Beastman, Mirai saw that his eyes were closed. He wasn’t looking at him, but Mirai knew that he acknowledged him with the way his ears twitched. He knew Leona knew he was looking at him.

“S-Sorry,” Mirai whispered.

“Nothing to apologize about,” Leona muttered. “But if you wanna make it up to me, you can by closing your eyes and getting some sleep.”

“Alright, alright,” Mirai sighed, but didn’t move to go to sleep.

“Whaddya thinkin’ ‘bout?”

“You. Did you have fun?”

Leona sighed, opening his eyes to look down at the Prefect, “Yeah, I had fun.”

“Are you happy?”

“Whaddya on about?”

“It-It’s just, I know you really don’t like celebrating your Birthday,” Mirai whispered, playing with the collar of Leona’s shirt, “but I wanted to do something to make you happy, even if it’s for a little bit. You guys made me happy on my Birthday, so I wanted to share that happiness with you.”

“You did,” Leona muttered, rubbing his cheek against Mirai’s.

“Was it enough-"

They both froze upon hearing movement from someone. Leona and Mirai waited until the shuffling and mumbling stopped, and only when it did did the two let go of the breath they seemed to be holding.

"Was it enough to make tonight just a little better?” Mirai whispered. 

“Since you’ll be going with me, it shouldn't be too bad,” Leona smirked, “We can make fun of the snobby delegates and nobility, get drunk off of the champagne, and once the cake is cut, we can ditch the garish affair for a night to ourselves.”

Mirai chuckled, pressing his face into Leona’s chest to muffle his laughter. Leona yawned, his mouth wide, the noise deep in his throat and Mirai yawned shortly after him, seeming to catch the yawn bug. Getting closer, Mirai pulled his blanket around himself, tangling his and Leona’s bodies together, and Leona sighed contently, a quiet chuffing noise escaping his throat as he pulled the Prefect closer until his form engulfed Mirai’s smaller one. 

“Night Leona,” Mirai yawned. “And Happy Birthday.”

“Good night, Herbivore,” Leona whispered, “And thanks.”

[beneathsilverstars]

you could. probably think if some characters are texture eaters and if so which textures they would prefer or what reactions they'd have over disliked textures

@kimdokjafan replied

I would love to hear what you have to say about the party's food preferences! Things like favorite food, things they dislike/won't eat

i started answering this anon and then got this reply, so i'll combine them. got really long lol, food is such a complex topic!

bonnie enjoys the multi-textured fish head, so they're probably big on texture! i think they're starting to have enough cooking experience to get put off when a texture isn't correct. like the problem isn't the texture itself but rather that rice should not be like that, they overcooked it, yuck, ugh! they would probably make a new batch if possible. however, they're also used to eating what you have because it's all you have — sometimes the nice neighbor drops off her shitty mac n cheese and it's better than nothing, or you mix up salt and sugar for today's bread but you're almost out of flour — so they'll try to come up with a new use for the fucked-up batch where the weird texture works better, or just eat it themself. unpleasant, but better than serving it to someone else or wasting it! as for what they enjoy the most: lots of different textures mixed together, like a salad or deluxe burrito. and chewy things!

we know bonnie's favorite foods are pineapple, rice, and samosas. i'd say they love sweet things as most kids do, but they're really starting to prefer a little more complexity to their sweet treats, like the tart acidity of pineapple. rice is a great favorite bc it's a comforting plain staple, but it can also be used in such a variety of dishes, as the entire base or to add texture! bonnie likes spicy, sour, etc... bring on the flavor! honestly i don't think there's many ingredients they don't like, it's more often a case of that flavor doesn't go there, why would you do that??? maybe they haven't grown into bitter vegetables yet.

siffrin also likes the fish head, so they really enjoy a fun texture, and they like trying new foods as they travel — but when they don't like something they hate it. but they also hate to raise a fuss! so if they're eating with other people, they'll try to just eat around the offending element without making it too obvious that's what they're doing, and then claim they're just not that hungry. if they're by themself, they'll spit it out and rinse out their mouth and eat something crunchy. they don't like tomatoes, which is convenient bc they also don't like when sandwich bread gets soggy at all. they don't like mushrooms or caramalized onion. they enjoy super crunchy things and a nice thick soup!

we know malanga fritters are presumably his favorite. i think he likes mashed potatoes too. fish, of course, and hearty stews. he loves clam chowder! he used to be a big sweet pastries fan, but post-canon he pivots to fruity sweetness bc he can't stand caramel-marshmallow-candy sweetness anymore, and even fruit's on thin ice. most of his disliked foods are about the texture, not the taste. but he's also really sensitive to associations - if he coincidentally gets sick after eating something, eats something badly seasoned, etc, it'll put him off of that taste for a while even if he doesn't remember why.

iirc isabeau wasn't into the fish head. he likes simpler and more predictable foods! he gets yucked out by overripe fruits, but luckily it's usually pretty easy to tell if a fruit will be good. if he does accidentally bite into a bad one, he makes a face and swallows it as quickly as possible, and asks if anyone else wants the rest before he donates it to the local wildlife. he likes fluffy breads and nuts! he's the kind of guy to pack a stack of pb&js and an apple for lunch every day, just buying a different flavor of jam each time he runs out. he doesn't like anything too spicy or bitter! probably a cheese fiend too.

mirabelle isn't super particular about textures, but she is pickier about tastes; she doesn't like a couple common vegetables, like green beans and cooked carrots, and a couple common sauces, like mustard and marinara. she doesn't like nuts, but sometimes eats them anyway because they're so popular in dormont's house for some reason and she gets tired of refusing to eat them, and now she sorta hates them even more but also will absentmindedly stand there munching on them? in general if she doesn't like a food she's served she'll still try to eat enough to be polite, but sometimes can't manage it. some foods she loves are honey, olives, and apple pie. she does love plums too, but it's less that they're objectively her favorite taste and more that they're her thing. it's fun having a thing!

odile likes delicate textures like flaky pastries and watermelon, and doesn't like purely glop-based foods like oatmeal, though it's tolerable with a crunchy topping. she really enjoys a good meat, like a nice herby steak or buttery pork belly. she doesn't dislike sweets, but she doesn't indulge in them in often; when she does, she prefers lemony desserts or bitter chocolate. she finds most foods tolerable at least, and especially likes sharp flavors, like vinegar and vodka!

[the-knight-of-destiny]

Okay, so long long ramble under the cut about the nature of Ratgrinder Discourse™, I'll preface by saying that I don't want any of this to get hostile with anyone, because I think that's frankly silly to do over a webshow. That said I am also open to critical discussion so if anything I say doesn't make sense, or doesn't track I'm open to critique on it! Obviously spoilers up to Episode 19 of Fantasy High Junior Year underneath. Also it is a VERY long post, several pages, so don't click read more if that'll be overwhelming/too much at once. I just had to get my thoughts into words.

So, this will be long but I'll try to break it up. For clarity I want to establish my main point and give a quick TL;DR here, so here's the short version, long version even further below. My main points are as follows: 1: It is okay to not be happy with how a narrative is going in a show/story you enjoy. Critique is not hate, if anything it's a form of praise in a way. People wouldn't be having such long and frequent discourse about D20 and it's current season if they didn't feel strongly. 2: Similarly, we as an audience have a very different perspective of the entire story unfolding compared to the Intrepid Heroes/Cast. I think a lot of people jump to assumptions about the cast's thought process when that really isn't something we can gauge beyond what they say in episode and on Adventuring Party. 3: For me at least, even if I am left unsatisfied by an ending it doesn't ruin the fun I had in a work. Now if you just wanted my bullet point thoughts without elaboration, there they are! The rest of this is going to be an insanely long ramble (seriously, exit now if you aren't up for that, it's pages long) that I don't expect anyone to read, but I like to get my thoughts outta my brain. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

So, in regards to the Ratgrinders dying in the fashion they have, there's been a lot of discussion on literally every place there is to discuss Dimension 20, Twitter, Tumblr, Reddit, I'm sure other places as well. Really it all comes back to one thing, Dungeons and Dragons is a game, but Dimension 20 is a show. We as viewers have some level of narrative expectation, now for everyone that's different. Some folks have specific hopes for plot and character arcs. Others just want a general vibe, but the cast are players. Sure they are performers, but they are players in a game in equal measure. I've alluded to this before but a lot of the sincere vitriol to antagonists thus far (and especially the Ratgrinders) comes from the fact that the players have been fully immersed in a world and as characters where the Ratgrinders have been a constant thorn in their side for tens of hours of play time. Obviously one can still not like how they've engaged with them (I'm still not sure how exactly I feel about it,) but a lot of it is coming from that distinct perspective. When Fig took Ruben out, she specifically was frustrated because she 'wasted her season' on him. There's a meta level of Fig being angry with Ruben as a character who shares a world with him, versus Emily being frustrated as a player that a lot of her in-game actions did not hash out. That's actually totally natural, by the way. The interesting way that DnD serves both as a narrative of the characters in the setting, but also of the players rolling dice is part of what makes actual play like Dimension 20 so interesting. It's why I think SOME of the disappointment with Brennan and the Intrepid Heroes comes from a strange place, we literally cannot experience the story the same way the cast have. We get a week between chunks of story, they film the episodes in batches. We can think for as long as we want about our critical thoughts, they have to improv on the fly. We get to watch the Ratgrinders as antagonists in a story, the IH are actively hindered in their gameplay by the Ratgrinders as enemies.

That said I would be lying if I said I wasn't worried about some aspects of Protagonist Centric Morality™ in this. Oisin having a mildly flirty conversation with Adaine once when he had ulterior motives is a deeply awful manipulation, but Fig catfishing Ruben the better part of an entire year is her trying to reach out and understand him (?). Kipperlilly threatening to desecrate Eugenia's grave is deeply fucked up, but Riz openly advocating mutilating Oisin's body for tactical reasons, and Fabian loudly declaring he intends to do the same to Ivy for literally just his own self-satisfaction are 'fun unhinged moments'.

Before I go on, obviously the Ratgrinders are the bad guys. They're taking part in an evil plan, they've done villainous things throughout the season, especially very recently, etc. This isn't some argument that the Bad Kids are secretly the real monsters or something, obviously not. I just think it's odd that people read into the Bad Kids' actions in the best possible light at all times and the inverse for the Ratgrinders. This protagonist centric morality also comes down to the true reason behind any and all of Fantasy High's villain redemption. Ragh gets redeemed because the player characters think he's possibly useful and/or endearing. Aelwyn gets redeemed because she personally helps Adaine. The only one that Brennan really pushed forward on his own was Zayn, who they barely engaged with. People compare the Ratgrinders to Penelope and Dayne a lot, and understandably so. However I think this is sort of the complication and in my opinion, the silver bullet to understanding what's actually happening with the Ratgrinder's narrative place, Dayne more specifically. He does very little evil on screen. I mean, he injures Fabian and is most likely the one who killed Zayn, but comparatively to Aelwyn, he does almost nothing. He gets killed without so much as a thought, and in a fun (?) parallel to current Ratgrinder discourse, does actually have his body desecrated after death by Fabian. Because he hurt Fabian personally. Aelwyn gets forgiven of doing a lot of terrible shit (and this isn't Aelwyn hate, she's like my favorite NPC.) because it didn't directly affect any of the Bad Kids besides Adaine, and even the bad stuff that did affect Adaine can be sort of off-loaded onto their parents. So it's why I say this discourse is tough, people inevitably say "Well, the Ratgrinders are villains, of course they'll get killed." And this isn't inherently a wrong statement, they look at the bad things the group is doing and understand they must be stopped, why are people upset clearly bad guys get beat and/or killed in DnD games? Because they aren't actually getting killed in such brutal ways because they're bad guys, it's because they personally annoyed or hurt the Bad Kids. This is also why Ratgrinder fans often feel both frustrated and vindicated at once (I speculate, but I feel it's a safe assumption,) because on a meta level Kipperlilly is literally right. Her friends and likely herself are getting ripped to shreds because they crossed the special protagonists, because they started to really frustrate the Intrepid Heroes. The Bad Kids have forgiven atrocities before, but the Intrepid Heroes are really quick to dismiss and kill people they find annoying.

The ultimate example I feel of this, is Mary Ann. Ruben gets blasted into hell because his actions personally annoyed the players, Ivy gets stabbed to death while being repeatedly insulted and threatened with mutilation because her actions personally annoyed the players.

But Mary Ann is the one they all think they can redeem or save, because her personality is more cute and endearing to the players. That kind of says it all better than I ever could.

[legionofplush]

Here's a project I've been adding to since like November and never posting cause I'm always like "it's unfinished, I just found one more to make." No more of that, here they are, a bunch of little one piece characters in animal onesies! This started just with captains who had animals or minks on their crew and spiralled out to include zoans and people with pets and kept on going. The first one I made was Law so here he is in a polar bear onesie!

I'll post the rest of them over the month along with some other plushies I've made in the mean time. I've got way too many of these babies and I've still got more to make but I'll have a few of each of this first batch for sale in my shop later in the month.

These are made based on a variation of a pattern from cholyknight's patreon. Please go check out her work: https://cholyknight.com/

[twinsunstars]

Why I Love the Characters of The Bad Batch

(a lil fun post before the chaos increases)

Hi everyone! I've seen some people talk about why they love the characters of the Bad Batch before on here, and I felt like making my own post and discussing how each character from the show speaks to me and why I like them so much. I'll discuss a few characters that I find myself resonating with, and you all can sit back and just listen to me ramble. :)

Hunter

Being the oldest sibling of the Bad Batch and a man who is shorter than his brothers, I relate to Hunter a lot not just because I am the oldest sibling and 5 feet tall. Hunter does everything he can to keep his squad safe and cares for his brothers and sister, and he is often looked towards as the leader of the squad. Many people often come to me for advice. Hunter is a big comfort character for me (and so is the rest of the Batch), and he’s the character I connected with the most ever since the Batch were introduced.

Wrecker

One thing I absolutely love about Wrecker is his playfulness. He isn’t afraid to be himself around others, and it relates to how I show my personality and playfulness around others with ease (not fully though, my insecurity gets in the way haha). He had Lula with him most of the time for comfort, and I’m always sleeping while surrounded by many of my stuffed animals. He knows when it’s time to get serious, especially when things are being hard around him (such as Hunter being really depressed at the start of this season with Omega missing), and he’s there to help comfort others. I love how smart he is. Wrecker spoke to me by helping me understand that I don’t need to be perfect, I just need to be someone who makes me feel happy. I quote Wrecker, “Defective and effective!”

Tech

Tech is honestly me whenever I ramble to others about things. He loves to explain things to people and talk about things that he is really interested about and fascinated by, and it’s me whenever I am around people. His little speech in “The Crossing” was amazing, and I love him for opening up about his feelings slowly that way to Omega. He’s always got his nose buried in his datapad, researching things, and I’m always looking everywhere and reading information whenever something interests me. Tech is an amazing character and will always have a special place in my heart.

Echo

We hear Echo being called the mom of the Batch, and I am often called the mom of my friend group. Echo’s determination to fight for what he believes is right and wants to do makes him one of the characters that motivates me whenever I have things to get done and want to chase my goals and dreams that I have in my life. Echo cares for his brothers and sister, and he’s ready to fight for the right things. He’s also a soft sweetheart.

Crosshair

The main thing about Crosshair that I resonate with the most (especially this season) is his path of healing. Ever since that scene where Omega teaches him to meditate to help his shaking hand, I was breathing along with them. Since the beginning of this year, I set myself onto a slowly paced journey to heal from all that I went through last year. Watching Crosshair start to heal on his own just warmed my heart and had me following along with Omega’s meditation lesson so I could work on healing just like Crosshair was. Crosshair’s been through a lot of suffering with the previous seasons, and it’s time for him to start healing from all of that. Even though the show has a lot more pain for him in store likely T-T

Omega

Omega is such a little sweetheart, and watching her grow up over the seasons has been emotional for me. She was this little naive girl in Season 1, and she is still young, but she’s maturing really fast. With all of the things she’s been going through each season, it’s likely one of the reasons why. Omega’s been learning from her brothers and learning a lot about the galaxy she lives in, starting to expand on her knowledge and understanding the rights and wrongs of the world around her. I learned a lot of things at a young age and it’s part of how I started being seen as mature at a young age because of this, and there was a lot of things I went through at a young age that caused me to mature quickly. Omega still has her playful and optimistic nature inside of her, and I love that side of her.

Emerie

Yes, I even found myself resonating with Emerie at one point for good reason. The reason why I personally resonate with Emerie is because I see her naive side in me. I grew up being an obedient girl with my parents and mostly doing what they told me to do, and I often easily believed things that they told me. Emerie has grown up believing that the world around her isn’t safe and if she stays in one place and follows what she is told to do, then everything will be okay. I saw myself in her after realizing this, and Emerie has a lot to learn in the coming episodes.

With four episodes left, The Bad Batch has been such a great show and they will continue to be part of my long list of comfort characters. It’ll cause pain, but it’s still a great addition to my life, adding color, happiness, and sadness to my heart.

[litnerdwrites]

Gluttony x reader

Pet - Gluttony X Reader

A/N: This was really fun to write. The B&M bonus chapters for TOTF paperback have me ready for more, and the teaser that was dropped today? I can't wait. October can't come fast enough. If you have any requests or just wanna chat about the series, feel free to send an ask. There are so many thoughts just rattling around in my head right now. I have some Euphemia content in the works, and I'm working on the next chapter of Clandestine Affairs. I'll post whichever one is ready first next week. Otherwise, enjoy.

WC: 1164

TW: References to sex but nothing outside the canon typical. Like, if you can handle the way Lust speaks in the books, you can handle this.

The good mood that his successful hunt put him in began to sour slightly when Prince Gluttony returned to his royal house. 

He sauntered through the halls with a grin and only briefly offered nods of acknowledgement in the direction of courtiers that offered smug grins and quick congratulations. They knew his routine, and what he did, and with whom, after every successful hunt, and they couldn’t be happier for their Prince, and their Princess, whom they’d grown to respect and admire, almost as much as he did. 

Gluttony fully anticipated that his fiance, Y/N, would be waiting for him, curled up in their sheets, as per usual. Perhaps she’d be resting on her stomach, legs twisted together and swinging in the air as she read, or rested her chin on the pillow while waiting for her. Perhaps she’d be curled up on the couch or balcony with her journal as she wrote furiously about her day, or her  plans. His mind drifted as he wondered if she’d gone to the trouble or procuring a new set of lace for him to rid her of, or if she’d chosen to wrap herself in a robe or silken sheets from their bed. Sometimes she was dressed normally, other times, he found her in only his shirt or jacket, with a sly grin on her face.

His little vixen always had a new surprise for him after a successful hunt, even on the days she’d accompany him on said hunt. Which is why the scene before him had him… Vexed. 

“Welcome back Gabe,” Y/N chirped from her spot on the bed, “Heard your hunt went well.” 

Gluttony stalked towards the bed in silence, his expression schooled into cool, nonchalance as he debated on if he should express irritation, envy, or amusement. There, huddled amongst the silks and satin, lay his fiance, covered in a swarm of ice dragon hatchlings. 

Usually, the hatchlings they chose to raise were kept in their own ‘kennels’ of sorts, similar to what Wrath used to raise his Hellhounds, only designed specifically to the needs of ice dragons. This newest batch likely hatched while he was on his hunt, but how they ended up in his and Y/N’s bedchamber is… Well, he’d like to say that it’s a mystery but… 

“You should’ve seen them when they hatched Gabe,” Y/N coos, scratching at the chin of the dragon curled up beside her head, “I wanna dress them up in bows and glitter and jewels,” 

Gluttony blinks. 

“Y/N, my beloved, those are Ice Dragons, not puppies,” he tries to calmly explain. 

“Oh, I know. But they’re so cute, I could just gobble them up!” 

A dragon got up and walked on wobbly feet, across the bed, and curled up against her stomach, giving the tiny strip of skin between her silken top and shorts little licks, before puffing out steam. Y/N squealed at the sight, beginning to coo over the creature again. Glancing over the bed, Gluttony counted seven hatchlings rolling around in the bed, and let out a sigh. 

He took a seat on the edge, careful to avoid a hatchling dozing there, before reaching for his fiance. One of the tiny dragons snarled at his approaching hand, blowing puffs of smoke towards him, in lue of the fire that they’re just a bit too young to breathe at this point. Fixing the creature with a glare, it narrows its eyes right back on him, showing rows of shiny teeth, sharp enough to rip through flesh, even at this age. 

Before Gluttony can move to swat the creature away, a gentle hand is placed on its nuzzle. He watches, perplexed, as Y/N hushes and soothes the creature until it turns its back on Gluttony, swishing its tail before curling up beside her. With a shake of his head, the Prince reaches his hand back out to cup his fiance’s cheek, a smile gracing his cheeks when she leans into his touch with a sigh. 

She sits up, bringing a hand to cover his.

“Welcome back,” she kisses his palm. 

“I was wondering what sight I would be graced with when I returned,” he gives an amused grin, “This isn’t the sight I had in mind, beloved,” 

“You know I love keeping you on your toes, Gabe,” 

Gluttony, chuckles, shaking his head. 

“You do understand that they can’t stay, don’t you?” he asks.

“Of course they can! We can move them to make space for you, then they can climb on both of us,” 

Gluttony takes one look at the proud grin she has at her own idea, and immediately wants to shove her to the mattress and kiss her until she can’t do anything but smile and sigh. The mental image of her face, drunk on pleasure, has his eyes darkening. 

“As much as I’m sure you’d love that, they absolutely need to go back. You can visit them, but they can’t stay here. Especially not as they grow,” he reiterated. 

“But, Gabe,” she whines, picking up one of the creatures and holding it to his face. “They’re just babies.” 

The dragon lets its maw fall open as it yawns, blinking at him before narrowing its eyes at him and puffing smoke in his face. 

Gluttony narrows his eyes. 

“I understand that, but it’s going to grow up and we’ll have to release them into the north. They’ll have a difficult time being accepted by the other dragons, or even just surviving, there if you coddle them too much,” 

That thought seed to not have occurred to her, he realized, when Y/N’s pleading gaze became solemn in realization. She brought the dragon to her lap and stroked its feathers, clearly contemplating his words.

“I don’t suppose we’d be able to avoid releasing them?” she asks sadly. 

Gluttony shakes his head, thumb tracing her cheek. 

“The other dragons wouldn’t like that very much,” 

She nods solemnly. 

“They’ll remember you when you grow up,” he offers gently.  

“Like Silvanus?” she asks with a pout. 

Gluttony chuckles.

“Like Silvanus,” 

Y/N nods sadly, and they call in servants to take the dragons back. Some of the put up fights, but when Y/N is the one handing them over, they just stare at her with big eyes, almost like puppies. Gluttony scoffed at their faces, as Y/N gave them a tearful goodbye, reminding them it was for their own good. A touch overdramatic if you asked him. However, when the Hellbeasts were finally gone, Gluttony reached a hand around her hip. 

“I didn’t get my prize yet,” he reminded.

Y/N chuckled, raising a brow. 

“Really?” 

“I won the hunt,” he shrugged, “I want my reward,” 

“Is glory not enough, your highness?” 

Gluttony tugged her down to the bed, pinning her hands above her. His eyes darkened at the sparkle in her own, E/C orbs. 

“You should know by now, beloved, I always hunger for more,”

[robertfettuccine]

My Post-May the Fourth Bad Batch Thoughts

there's lots of 'em

[spoilers]

To start off, I was So excited for the finale I stayed up to watch it when it came out (1am in my time zone) and idk it didn’t feel worth it to do that during finals week after watching the ep

Maybe I had too high expectations but I figured that to wrap up the entire show we’d at least get an hour? Maybe more? I was hoping for something like the s1 premiere but no 51 minutes and you suffer.

Ok I've decided to put my thoughts into 15 minute increments for Organization Purposes

Part One thoughts:

Ok so right away I feel the "wrecker is gonna die" vibes. "Can you make it?" "Try and stop me." It feels very final it feels like he won't. I def thought my first time around that he wasn't gonna make it

The way Hemlock holds that gloved hand... I thought surely that had to be important somehow. I've been wondering about it since he was introduced.

Echo looks like handsome squidward sorry

The way Omega rewires the droid.. Tech. But the way she starts giving orders to the rest of the kids is so Hunter. She really is her fathers' (plural) daughter.

Sidenote the way her theme combines with a light, string-heavy version of the Bad Batch theme while she and the kids are getting ready to leave the vault... mmmm me when music

Ok back to the Batch and ough.. Wrecker is seriously hurt this had me so nervous they're out of med patches I thought for Sure he was gone

Imagine you're in the military and you get sent to some super secret boring base and your whole job is to stand around and guard a submerged lizard (?) and you're already confused and over it and then you find a bunch of kids in your walls???

WOw this is really minor but the cut from the kids and the Zillo to Echo and Emerie at 9:46 felt Really awkward. That's all.

the HAND thing again what is With that Hemlock??

Wrecker again with the Dying

REX MENTION!!!!! WTF IS A BAD HELMET PAINT JOB

"Clone Force 99 died with Tech" what a great line. If only it carried emotional weight within the rest of the story. If only the character's actions made that make sense. Hmm.

"If we all go in, we're not all making it out" see this is why I thought I was getting rogue one'd

"Omega needs you both" is sweet and cool, but she doesn't. She's proved this whole season that she's competent on her own. Idk.

Plan 99 namedrop? Also crosshair's self hatred and guilt is so devastating he's constantly trying to atone and it's so.....

Tech namedrop????? And for WHAT??????????

nOO that stormtrooper.. they done squished his ass

Jax is afraid of heights! Just like Wrecker!! Good character moment for everybody.

Part 1 TLDR: The first third of this episode was full of contrast, which was super interesting to watch. Omega and the kids are doing great, the lighting on them is generally softer and.. idk, lighter. They get hopeful music and they succeed. The Batch on the other hand..... everything is so ominous. It feels like somebody's gonna die (and it feels like it's Wrecker). My main gripes: some of the jump cuts feel like the episode was hastily stitched together and they don't make sense, I don't really know what to do with that knowledge. The Plan 99 conversation didn't make any sense within the context of this season (I'll elaborate later). Positives: Omega is really winning this ep, you can see all of her brothers in her and it's beautiful. What they've done with her theme in the music I Love. That moment with Omega and Jax when he says he's afraid of heights is really sweet.

Part Two Thoughts:

Ok starting off strong, Scorch questioning his orders for a bit? He's going to lose brothers? The door closes before we can hear what he says over the comm? I really thought maybe Scorch redemption.

Ok Hemlock is activating the CXs. There's four of them.

They all have different armor.. and different body types.. very similar to the batch....... hmmmmmmm

CX-2!! *clown noises*

Ok close up on the same CXs from before. One of them uses blades. One has.. sci-fi brass knuckles? CX-2 is there. This feels like Evil Bad Batch.

THE CLOSE UP ON CX-2 SPECIFICALLY WHY IS HE IMPORTANT

wrecker dying again uhnnnnnnhnhhhhhhhhhh

The brass knuckles CX just grabbed a panel of Something and used it as a shield. That's Plan 82. That's Wrecker's job.

WHY IS THERE ONE WITH GOGGLES JUST LIKE TECH'S? WHY

Goggles clone duel wields sword-vibroblades. ?

The one with the staff.. Hunter?

Ok Vibro-Sword CX, why toss the Sword to CX-2 so he can cut off Crosshair's hand? Why not just do it yourself? Those things have enough reach that he could have sliced it off himself.

The way CX-2 talks is Just like Crosshair. The inflections are exactly the same.

Ok I get Hemlock's a sadist but why keep the Batch alive at all? Seems like that's more dangerous than experimenting on them is productive

Echo and Omega's reunion is lovely. "Hey kid. And... other kids." he's doing amazing

Using the Chief Scientist's datapad just like last time Omega escaped... nice.

Hemlock's hand again.

Ok so crosshair just gets a hand stump and we move on?? This whole scene felt weird and out of place to me but Especially that.

Yeah!! Clone rebellion. Echo is Fives if he won (and had no melanin)

Maybe Electrostaff CX is Wrecker? He seems taller and has a wider build.

But nvm Brass Knuckles CX plays wrecker's part in the batch and Electrostaff doesn't

GOGGLES AGAIN WITH THE SWORDS?? WhY isn't CX-2 fighting with the rest why is he with Hemlock why does he stand out so much WHY

"My work will always be Kaminoan" yeah Nala Se isn't redeemed for me she's still a supremacist and a eugenicist and she and Rampart both deserved what they got. Satisfying ending for them both though.

Part 2 TLDR: This part had a ton of potential. There were a lot of suspenseful and mysterious shots. The story started getting more intense, even though the kids escaped successfully. There was weight there, and as an audience we could tell how much was on the line. I loved watching this part. My main gripes: Honestly none with this part alone. All of it felt pretty in-character, it had depth, it had weight, and it had meaning in the story. It makes less sense when we get to Part 3 though. Positives: I absolutely loved watching this part of the ep. It had me on the edge of my seat trying to figure out just what was going on with the CXs and who wasn't going to make it out. Giving Echo the chance to continue his brother's mission and free the clones was great. Nala Se and Rampart both got a fitting end, I was very satisfied with that as well.

Part Three Thoughts:

Wrecker is fighting Staff Guy (possibly Evil Wrecker) oh that would've been so cool

And they just STABBED HIM?? JUST LIKE THAT?? What was with the focus on CX-2 throughout the ENTIRE SEASON when he literally Didn't Matter At All???

We're not even gonna talk about the hand then huh. Ok.

Closeup of the Goggles Helmet?? What was the purpose. What was it.

And then they have SOmeone pick up the sword and helmet all ominously and then it's just some guy. We see his face. It kinda looks too small for his body. Like bad photoshop

Ok so echo doesn't have lungs? or like..

There is Such a focus on the Goggles. Like we were never supposed to see his face. Like it was maybe supposed to be suspenseful.

Ok why so ominous if Wrecker is just gonna shove his face into a wall instantly? Why all the suspense and cool shots?

When CX-2's ship blew up I thought for sure it was from Rex or Phee's ship. But no. (can regular DC-15s even Do that?)

HNNNNNHG wet hair Hunter

SCORCH?? Ok so he could have been some random guy and it wouldn't have made a difference. What was the purpose. Why did he have a name? Why bring in a Legends character just to get rid of him in the most anticlimactic way possible?

Hemlock threatening Omega literally doesn't make any sense? It carries Zero weight. Omega even brings it up and Hemlock doesn't respond. Because it doesn't make sense for his character. Why.

Nice little callback with Crosshair's shoulder rest

Crosshair shooting Omega's binders off should be a tense moment but it's not. There's nothing at stake here. We know he won't shoot Omega. What am I supposed to be feeling?

Ok seeing Hemlock just get absolutely Pelted was nice

She hugged Crosshair first. Maybe we can start resolving some of his guilt. If we actually took time to show characters processing their emotions.

We're Still not talking about the hand? That feels notable, is that just me???

Ok and everyone just.. leaves. We just leave. It's done? Where was the climax supposed to be genuine question

Ok so we're namedropping now. Project Stardust with a nice subtle imperial march in the background. Okay?

We are back on Pabu now. The clone kids are there. The clones are there. The kids are there. Emerie is there. Everybody's happy.

Where is Phee?

Echo's ending is actually fine. I went into this ep the first time thinking for Sure he was going to die. Instead he's doing what Fives died trying to do. He's the last Domino but he doesn't have to fall and I think that's ok. But why isn't he with Rex in Rebels?

"With Hemlock gone, and his data destroyed, they're finally safe" - M. Night Shyamalan in the ATLA movie because we must Tell our audience Everything. Seriously why are we telling the audience something they can see? Why does Omega say that out loud? Nobody would say that. It's obvious. That line was just SO out of place

No real goodbyes for Echo though? No sweet character moments? No reactions from anyone?

Nice clones theme though. Fives would be proud.

All the dialogue between Omega and Hunter in this final scene just feels so.. off. Lazy. Show us what's going on, don't tell.

Why do Crosshair and Wrecker feel like such an afterthought here? Why is it so Awkward? Why were they over saying goodbye to Echo and Omega and Hunter weren't? It feels like they weren't supposed to make it out. It feels weird. It feels forced.

Part 3 TLDR: This was the part of the ep that just fell flat for me. It had some cool moments, but it felt really rushed and poorly thought out. It feels very out of place with the previous 30mins. It almost feels to me like it was rewritten, although I may just be delusional. My main gripes: This part of the ep should have had the big emotional moments and also wrapped up all the loose ends introduced in the rest of the season. It did none of that for me. Why cut off Crosshair's hand to have none of the characters really acknowledge his sacrifice? That isn't a resolution to his arc. None of the Things that happened to the Batch this season were processed at all, and everyone except Hunter and Omega was pretty much sidelined towards the end. CX-2, who was built up all season, died in a super unsatisfying way. The dialogue and staging of that final scene felt super off. The cavalry never arrived. Positives: As always, the Kiners killed it. The music was great. I love a happy ending, that rarely happens in Star Wars and I would've absolutely eaten it up under the right circumstances. Watching Hemlock finally get it was super satisfying. Echo's ending as a continuation of the Domino Squad's quest for clone individuality was really fitting actually. That One shot of Tantiss... glorious.

Epilogue Thoughts:

The way the city is set up on Pabu makes it look just like Tantiss in the overhead shot.

Aww the red bandana in Omega's hair

Hunter aged much better than Rex.

"We want to keep you safe" "You're our kid Omega" OK WHERE IS THE WE? WHERE IS THE OUR????

Ha she's taller than him short king Hunter wins

"Keep an eye on Wrecker and Crosshair" you're not gonna say bye? They aren't gonna see you off?? No way Wrecker would be ok with that

The GOGGLES :((((

Omega's lil salute like Tech in S2E4 Faster my heart

Where are Crosshair and Wrecker in the epilogue. It feels like a weird choice to leave them out. They're just as much her dads as Hunter is.

Epilogue TLDR: Honestly I liked that this was their ending. Finally, some Star Wars characters can have peace. With that said, My main gripes: significant lack of Crosshair and Wrecker, who absolutely wouldn't have let omega leave without saying goodbye. Similarly, lack of Phee, who seemed to be becoming a mother figure to Omega. I can't imagine she wouldn't have seen her daughter off. Positives: old Hunter. We don't get to see that many clones age, and Rebels animation, as much as I love it, just didn't quite do it justice. It was great to see some characters get to actually live out full (ish) lives at peace. Also older Omega's character design was peak.

Oooookay so this ended up being a Lot longer than I intended it to be when I started writing it but I just had a lot of thoughts on the finale and needed to put them somewhere. I loved the experience of being a part of the Bad Batch fandom from start to finish, and I made some great memories for sure. While the finale wasn't necessarily what I was hoping for from this show, I loved being delusional with everybody. Plus, this isn't the end. (we know they won't give up the clone wars animation style it makes them too much money)