#I'm only going to draw for 30 minutes or less

[pama-saga]

PAMdar save me

save me PAMdar

[lucalicatteart]

Poll adventure (paventure? lol) Day 6: read the small story tidbit below the poll for more details, OR just vote based on initial impression

(✦ see past poll results + further information HERE (link) ✦)

The winning option of yesterday's poll was that the adventurer should ask the Innkeeper about the suspicious egg he got from the Well Creature….

-

After finishing his food scraps, he awkwardly creeps back over to the main counter, pulling up a stool and just hoping the Innkeeper will eventually make eye contact with him... She finally looks to the side whilst cleaning a glass, his chance to blurt out whatever he can.

"SO!- uh,, I um... I found something weird, or uh.. I didn't find it actually, I guess, I..... s-someone, or something.. gave it to me, as maybe..? a reward, or.. oh, well i-it doesn't matter why.. but UH, but so, I was just wondering, d-do you think you might know anything about it? about like, uh... stuff? Objects.. perhaps.....?"

She stares with equal parts amusement and concern, crossing her arms and letting out a soft chuckle, "Well, I've seen quite a variety of things while working here, so - Yeah, I could try to help you identify an item, if that's what you're asking."

"G-good. Okay. Well.. It's, uh..... this." He's barely even placed the little wooden egg box up on the counter before she's already slamming the lid shut and reaching over to force it back into his bag. Suddenly serious, her eyes dart around the room, scanning to ensure no-one else happened to notice.

"Don't EVER let anyone see you with that, okay??". Abrupt tone shift making him even more nervous, he just stares blankly, muttering a few gibberish noises whilst nodding at her in confirmation.

"I mean, I'm not absolutely certain," her voice lowers as she speaks, "but to me it looks exactly like a Caiploras egg. Those animals have been nearly extinct for at least a hundred years. Only tiny groups of them still exist here and there, and even those eventually get wiped out as soon as they're discovered. Kings and nobles used to hunt them, especially for the eggs, 'cause of all the theories - unique magical properties, uses in enchanting, shit like that.. I don't really know, I'm not that experienced with magic.... But.."

She pauses for a few seconds to stare him down (this does not soothe his anxiety at all), examining intently, as if to determine whether he's actually trustworthy before continuing..

"...My brother is. He's a mage, and a scholar, and he specializes in stuff like this, all these rare animals and whatnot. He'll hate me just sending a complete stranger over there, but.. I think you should go see him. He'd definitely be able to identify it- hell, he'd probably even pay you for it, if it really is what I think it is. And, he'd know how to take care of it properly, raise it well, not just cut it up for fucking potions or whatever...", she scoffs bitterly.

Grasping at a nearby napkin to fan himself with, he shifts sweatily in his seat, "W-wh... but,.. How would I do that?"

"What do you mean? Do what?"

"F-find, him.. IHhh... I just.. I don't, know the area well.. is all, I uh...."

"I'll give you directions, obviously.. Are you okay? Do you like... need some water? You look-"

"NHnnnou, I'M FINE! I just, haha.. uh... Maybe, am.. not very good at....uh.. this.." He gestures around himself nonspecifically.

With a brief confused glance, she pours a cup of water anyway, then casually plucks a small notebook from her pocket to begin scribbling messily. "Well, look, I'll give you the information, and if you feel up to it, you can go. I really think you should, but, eh... your choice, y'know."

As he fights his shaky hands to maintain control of the water glass, she lays out the paper on the table, pointing at parts of her sketch. "He's over in Fargahel, which should be a few days travel from here. See? The roads kind of go like this, but it's mostly a straight path. Look for the ruins of an abandoned castle. He's holed himself up in there, the underground part, repurposed into some sort of 'sanctuary' for rehabilitating injured birds or whatever the hell he's up to now. He probably won't attack you or anything, but I signed a little note on the back of this so he knows I sent you.. just in case."

Neatly folding up the map, she slides it towards him as she leans closer to intensely meet his eyes. "Just remember, no matter what you do, do NOT let anyone know you have that egg. There are plenty of folks out here still hunting for them. You don't want someone recognizing it and coming after you. Especially with how, uh...", it feels like she might mention he doesn't seem he'd be very good at combat, but she simply lets the sentence trail off, shrugging with a smile and politely patting his hand as he takes the paper.

"Just get some sleep, yeah? Think about it. And talk to me in the morning if you have any more questions."

He slumps over to lean on the counter, resting for a moment after she walks back to the other end of the room, just trying to wrap his head around all the new information.. He only took the egg because it looked pretty! He just wanted it to hatch into a cool chicken or something! Why does it have to actually be some big stinky scary secret rare item?... With a heavy sigh, he resolves to never again trust mysterious creatures that pop out of abandoned wells....

Eventually trudging up to his room for the night, he flops onto the lumpy mattress that seems to just be hay stuffed into dusty old potato sacks. As he rustles around waiting to fall asleep, he considers all of his options... What should he do with the egg?

[meanbossart]

Oh boy, VaM is kind of a trial and error experience LOL I couldn't really show you how to use the interface and stuff without a whole video or something, but it's not THAT difficult to get a hang of if you just give yourself a day or two to play around, not to mention the number of tutorials you find out there. Luckily, if you only want to use it as a reference software that makes the process far easier (to this day I have no idea how to animate on that thing, since that's not what I use it for)

As for how I use it, it's pretty self explanatory - if there's a complicated pose I want to draw but I'm either having trouble with it, or just want to double-check angles/anatomy, I will use it as a resource! I use for most of my "proper" pieces (y'know, the nicer looking ones) and every once in a while for my silly comics if I'm having trouble with a pose.

Lets use this drawing for example (the character on top of DU drow belongs to @namespara )

I don't draw a lot of mud-wrestling (shocking, I know) but I had an idea of the kind of pose I wanted them to be in. So the very first thing I did was make a rough sketch of what I was envisioning:

I often do a rough sketch first, even If I know I'm going to be pulling the program up because A) It's less tedious than adjusting the models over and over again until I pick a pose and B) because sometimes I'll decide I don't need the reference, after all, and so that's 30 minutes I'll have spared myself of playing around on the software.

Now, this is a pretty complicated pose! It's in a weird angle and the bodies are making contact in ways I'm not used to depicting, so I did choose to whip out VaM for this one. I went into the program and after some messing around, I flopped my little dolls together like this:

Now something really cool about VaM is that you can completely customize your models, and if you have the patience, I would definitely encourage you to do so! Obviously, you don't have to make picture perfect replicas of every single character you have, but as you can see here I have made a DU drow "decoy" to help me better understand some of his features when I draw him: he has a strong brow, a short nose, a square jawline - these are all going to look a very specific way from certain angles, and I might not always be sure of how to draw it right! So it's useful to have models that bear SOME semblance to the character so you can better understand how different viewpoints will affect their bone structure and mass.

Also thank fucking god for the elf-ear slider. Figuring out how to draw those shits from certain angles was a huge pain in the ass when I started drawing DnD races.

So, with the reference in hand, I go over the sketch again:

Now you may notice that I don't stick to the reference 100%. There's three reasons for this:

posing on VaM is tedious as hell. You can get something incredibly natural looking and picture-perfect to reference from if you wish, but it's going to take you hours to do. So, for the most part I just slap guys together until the results are "close enough" and use that.

In my opinion, you should always aim to ENHANCE your reference material, not replicate it exactly!

While VaM is a PRETTY DANG GOOD source of anatomical reference, it isn't perfect, I often supplement it with further reference from real life resources or make tweaks based on my own knowledge where I catch it falling short (and, antithetical to what I just said, I sometimes fuck the anatomy up further on purpose if I think it looks better that way LOL it's all jazz baby).

Then lines, color, yada yada. I don't have a tutorial on that and I don't think I could make one, because my process is chaotic as hell, but I do at times use Virt-a-mate as loose reference for lighting too when coloring - waaaaayyyy less so however, because that process is even more tedious and I feel like I often get better results by just winging it. It is a feature of the program though, and I'm sure it would be helpful for someone who has a difficult time visualizing lights and shadows. I only started using this program a few months ago, so I happened to already have a pretty good understanding of that kind of thing and just don't personally feel like I get much out of that particular mechanic.

Here's a few other examples of pieces that I made reference for (WARNING: Suggestive)

Now, for the question many of you may want to ask:

"Can I trace this junk?"

And to that, I say: Buddy, you can do whatever the hell you want with the reference material you created.

However,

If your goal is to learn and improve your art, and to recreate realistic proportions and anatomy from memory, tracing won't help you.

Developing your own style, your muscle memory, and personal technique will all be hindered by choosing to trace instead of drawing from observation, so I would encourage against it. Hell - even when tracing is employed as a technique, it's usually by high-skill realism & concept artists who are looking to either cut some corners, save time, or just double-check their own proportions in order to improve further - if you try tracing as a beginner, you will most definitely find the result to still look stiff and "off".

So trust me, there is so much more to be gained from drawing from observation. Make note of tangents, compare proportions, use all the elements of the picture to dictate where and how things should go - it will be a far more rewarding experience.

Hopefully this has been helpful! VaM is a really cheap program (you get it on the guys' patreon for I think 8 dollars, just google it!) and it's definitely been worth my money as an artist since I found it. Learning to use it can be a little intimidating at first glance, but as I said above you only really need a day plus one or two tutorials to get a hang of the interface.

A fair warning though, IT IS A SOFTWARE MADE FOR VIRTUAL SEX/ADULT ANIMATION So when looking it up expect to see a some spicy content.

[ranticore]

aerated water and extremely stratified standing water on Siren

image: a pelagic phocid trapped under a flow of aerated water, unable to reach the surface to breathe

I had to whip up a picture REALLY quick because this is text heavy and it turned out nice :) not so nice for this guy but hey. I'm going to talk about the deadliest natural phenomenon on Siren.

First things first some basic Earth limnology, if there are no tides and the wind is not blowing, standing water doesn't move. Water which is not mixed by either a current, wind, or a tide, or some other mixing factor, will stratify. It separates into layers. There'll usually be an oxygenated layer on top and an anoxic layer underneath, which can only be inhabited by certain extremophiles adapted to low or no oxygen conditions.

This is the normal way of things on Siren when the tides aren't moving; the ridges of land formed by glaciation that break up the sea are effective wind barriers and mixing is minimal. It doesn't make a difference to phocids and selkies because these people are air-breathing; in fact this stratification is why all attempts at a human with gills never really made it off the drawing board, they would be less suited to live in this water than an air breathing human. The sea never gets that deep on most of the planet's surface.

Vents in the sea floor are usually inactive or minimally active, letting out thin streams of gas (same as what makes up the atmosphere; oxygen, nitrogen, etc). However occasionally, an earthquake or other geological event will cause a vent to force out what lies beneath the crust; aerated water. Aerated water is low-density water. It's used in wastewater treatment plants on Earth right now. And if you fall in, you can't swim. You go straight through it. (These treatment plants have mechanisms to detect anything entering the water, and a mobile floor will rise up to lift you out of the water)

Aerated water on Siren is known by a variety of ominous regional names as it's pretty universally feared by sea people. In the stratified water, the aerated layer sits on top of the normal oxygenated later, creating an interface where the less dense water sits on top of the denser water. In particularly rapid flows of aerated water, it can form thick currents on the surface which do not disperse for days or even weeks at a time, and they can be so large and so sudden that entire villages could be wiped out instantly. You can't swim through aerated water, so you become trapped underneath it. You can't see the interface easily from below, so it's hard to judge its edges, it's hard to see how far it stretches. At best, you might have just taken a breath and you'll have 30 minutes to find the edge of the flow, but what if you swim in the wrong direction? What results, if people are particularly unlucky, is a mass drowning event of all air-breathing creatures in the area.

The flow usually starts in a linear shape and if it encounters open water with no land ridges, it will slowly begin to spread into a roughly round shape, getting thinner and thinner as it widens out until the layer is too thin to pose any risk. The gas discharge into the normal water can be significant and provides a nice boost for the oxygenated layer. Pelagic people have to be alert for this danger and have drilled responses and emergency flotation devices at their villages, just in case (in fact they make their own underwater hot air balloons to quickly rise to the surface using lighter than air flight)

It's not just aquatic people who are at risk. Flying people who might think to land on the sea to rest in the middle of a long journey risk landing on an aerated flow that won't support them, causing them to sink immediately. Ships with the correct displacing hulls and hydrofoil arms that penetrate to the layer of normal water can traverse aerated flows, but rafts and canoes, used by most of the population, are in danger of vanishing below the surface. Most modern whaling vessels are hydrofoils.

The final effect of the flow is incredibly rare but it has happened enough to provide fuel for superstitious rumours about flying phocids and selkies; if you're directly above the vent when the aerated water explodes out, you will be airborne very quickly and also concussed and/or dead from bludgeoning damage.

The first recorded death from aerated water occurred during year 16, when a settler human unwittingly piped a swimming pool's worth of it into a test chamber. the beta phocid test subject, Ambla, was supposed to be doing some basic aquatic locomotion studies. they were taken completely by surprise and died before the pool could be drained to save them (beta phocid lung capacity was not impressive). Ambla was the first recorded death of a genetically modified human (technically the second, but the first failed to be born and died in the deep dream so was never really alive) and initially the lab workers blamed a malfunctioning pressure generator, thinking that it had somehow increased the weight of water on Ambla and pinned them. The other beta phocids were distraught, in retribution began a campaign to sabotage the pressure pumps and other atmospheric systems at the settlement so that nobody else would die in such a manner. It was their first act of rebellion.

[lolitakirstein]

Hey Neighbor Pt 9

Part 8

WC: ~1.5k

AN: I'm so worried about writing longer chapters in case they are too boring. but I hate splitting things up when I'm on a roll. ha

You watched as the man you had run into exited Toji’s house 30 minutes later. Unable to hear what the two were discussing you relied on their body language to give you some hint as to who he was. The men seemed formal towards each other yet relaxed; Toji with his hands in his pocket or across his chest, the other guy casually lighting a cigarette while showing his back to toji. There must be some level of trust between them, then. Before the man leaves, you notice him gesture towards your house. You draw back further from the window, afraid of being seen.

Once the car is out of sight and Toji returns to his house, you let out a breath you didn’t know you were holding. Should you ask Toji who he was or was that being too nosy? Not like i’ll get a straight answer, he refuses to tell me anything, you think, settling on being nonchalant about it.

Fortunately, you had work to keep you focused. And most fortunately, your hangover was minimal. Nothing more than a slight throb thanks to the pain meds Toji had offered you. You become robotic as you scan, sort, and shelve books and answer the same boring questions from customers. 

Before you can notice, it’s your lunch break. You sit in the small cafe that the bookstore offers, downing a hot chai latte and checking your phone. One message from the work group chat and one from Toji that was sent a few hours ago

Toji: You ok?

You fight back the urge to send, “I can’t tell you right now, it’s not the right time,” instead, pocketing your phone and playing hard to get. You clock back into work, ready to start the second half of your shift. 

 Wait, am I wanting him to chase me or something? This guy who knows things but won't tell me? Why am I trying to act like this is a dude i’ve swiped on Tindr? This guy has secrets, deep ones. Ones I probably don’t wanna know—

“Excuse me,” a soft voice snaps you out of your internal monologue. You spin around and are met with a man. His dark auburn hair is close-cropped at the sides while the top fashionably brushes just above his deep brown eyes. A soft shadow of stubble peppers his strong jaw. 

“Oh, hello. Can I help you?” you quickly revert to the robotic motions of a customer service provider.

“Yeah, I was looking for your classical section.”

“Are you looking for anything in particular,” you ask after leading him to the designated section of the store. 

“What would you recommend?” 

A question every worker hates. “Well, can never go wrong with Doestrevsky.” 

“Ah, yes, I read Crime and Punishment in school. Incredible prose,” he responds. 

Your heart lifts at finally being able to discuss books with someone. “Indeed, if you like that, you might like The Idiot. Same themes of human nature and society.” You grab a copy off the shelf and hand it to me. 

“Well I’d be an idiot if I didn’t take the advice of such a beautiful, well-read woman,” he says coyly as you walk to the counter.  You internally groan but also can’t help but blush at the compliment, though the joke was indeed awful.

“Let me know how you like it?” you say after ringing him up and bagging his purchase. 

“How about we discuss it over dinner sometime,” he cocks an auburn brown.

“Oh,” you stammer, thrown off by the sudden offer. It’d been so long since you’d been on a date you forgot what it was like to be asked out. “Sure!”

“Great I’ll keep you posted on my progress,” the man who you now know as Connor pockets his phone after you exchange numbers. “I look forward to discussing it with you and hearing your beautiful thoughts.”

Ok, he was laying it on a little thick but you don't mind. The only interaction you had had with a man for the past few months had been with Toji. And those interactions were hardly civil, much less flirty. Though Toji tended to tease, it was mostly to throw you off the topic of his secrets. 

The rest of your shift goes by quickly and you arrive home before the sun goes down. As you get out of your car, you notice Toji sitting on his porch steps. You try to ignore him but ignoring him is like trying to ignore a bear about to devour you. You give a wave, walking fast to your house. 

“You ok?” Toji asks, still sitting on the steps. Damn, he either can’t take a hint or is just stubborn. 

“Yeah, thanks,” you respond fumbling your keys out of your pocket. You drop them. Cursing yourself for being so easily intimidated by him you stoop to pick them up. Toji’s feet appear in your line of vision. You look up at the giant man standing over you. You want to feel afraid, but you can’t deny the absolute feral part of your brain at the sight of him standing over you. 

“Why didn’t you text me back?” the possessive tone didn’t help dampen the submissive part of your psyche. Damn, why do I have to be such a whore for crazy men?

“I was working,” you squeak out, picking your keys up and walking to your front steps. 

“I wanna talk,” Toji says behind you as you march up the steps and unlock your door. 

“It’s fine Toji. Nothing to talk about,” you turn around, Toji is standing at the bottom of your porch steps. 

“There is,” Toji huffs a breath. “A lot, actually.”

You were not in the mood for this. Your day ended on a good note and you intend for it to stay that way. “Look, whatever it is. I don’t care.”

“Yes you do,” Toji takes one step up. 

You shake your head, even though you were screaming yes in your head. You will not let him win. “Nah, I’m good. I really couldn't care less what your little secrets are. I don’t even know you.”

“It’s not that, it’s just—”

The notification on your phone interrupts the moment. You reach into your pocket for it and notice a text from Connor. 

Connor: I hope you had a good rest of your day. I must say, you made mine :) 

Oh, the cringe was off the charts with this guy. But you can’t keep the stupid smile from appearing on your face. Followed by a giggle. Shit I’m giggling over a guy. I need laid 

“Who’s that?” Toji asks sharply.

“No one,” you shake your head.

“No one huh,” Toji takes another step up, finally standing in front of you. “‘No one’ got you smiling like a goof?”

“You have your secrets, I have mine,” you shrug.  

“You don't blush like that for just no one,” Toji teases, he steps so close you can feel the heat off of him. “Now who could possibly be making sweet little y/n blush so much besides me?”

You crane your neck up to look at him, refusing to show he’s affecting you. “I can’t tell you. It’s not the right time.”

Finally, you manage to knock him off his game by throwing his words back at him. He steps back, putting some distance between you. A scowl wrinkles his brow and his jaw ticks as he clenches his teeth. You smirk, pleased with yourself. “Good night toji.”

Toji

Toji stares at the door you slammed in his face, stricken dumb by the sass you dished out. He had expected this to be a moment of confession, finally getting it all out in the open. Now standing at your closed door, Toji has no choice but to retreat back home.

After dinner and tucking Megumi into bed, Toji collapses onto his king-size bed. He turns his head to the window, towards your house. The lamp on your bedside table creates a soft glow from your window. He watches as you enter the bedroom. Your eyes on your phone, smiling. 

Toji clenches his jaw. Here he was ready to start having an honest conversation with you, and you were too busy with this mysterious ‘no one.’ He hated being this way, but he couldn’t deny that he felt a sense of protectiveness over you. 

He watches you throw your phone on the bed, the giddy smile still on your lips—perfect lips, soft delicate lips he’s thought about kissing on multiple occasions. With your back to the window, you remove your shirt and toss it to the chair before you begin sliding your pants down. As much as Toji would love nothing more than to watch, he has enough decency to look away, he’s not THAT much of a pervert. 

He reaches into his back pocket, depositing the contents beside him. 

First is his cellphone which he text Shiu–I need to borrow a few of your tech geeks.

The second, is a sealed envelope. No address, no street names or numbers. Just 3 words written in delicate script:

il mio agnellino

[greypetrel]

Crisp those Lines!

Or: a small collection of suggestions for a crispy, neat lineart.

SO MANY OF YOU ASKED FOR THIS (it feels absurd to say, yes), so here you go.

A premise: there's no right or wrong way of inking, and some of the following tips entirely depend on the type of inking I do. Which is neat and clean, with no blacks, and moreover: digitally. More under the cut because it's gonna be long and full of explanatory pictures. Here's an example:

SOFTWARES AND BRUSHES:

Let's address the elephant in the room: Photoshop SUCKS for inking and linework. The stabilisation of the brush there is SHIT. Good for colouring and painting and doing photobashing, but for Lineart you want it to be precise. Do yourself a favour and don't use Photoshop. I generally use Clip Studio Paint, but i have to say that the best program for it that I've tried keeps being Paint Tool SAI 2. It has few functions, it's true, and I use CSP because it has more instruments. But if you don't want to pay much, SAI is incredible as for brush rendition and stabilisation.

As for the brush: you don't need a fancy brush, anything in your software will go. What I use and what works best tho must have:

Tapered start and end.

High stabilisation (I go from 60 upward, lower it down for trees and grass or anything more natural that needs to be less neat and flowy)

Low tapering.

It must be set so that pressure controls only the dimension. The more you push on your pen, the bigger the line gets. No colour or opaciy variation!

On Clip Studio Paint, I use the G-Pen in the program. It's good as it is, but I think I did some variations as per here:

FILE DIMENSIONS:Better work larger and then resize down. Sizing files up digitally is possible, but it leads to unfocused images. I generally work on files at 600dpi (300 is fine too, but don't go any lower. Particularly if that's something you want to print later on, any printing wants a minimum of 300dpi). in roughly an A3 format (bigger dimension is 43cm). Most pictures I upload here are 6000x5000 pixel. A bigger file will give you more possibilities with brush sizes, and it'll be easier. Remember: digitally, sizing down is ok, sizing up is not something you should do.

SKETCH:

This is the suggestion I should follow but never do. Having a clean, polished sketch simplifies your life A LOT. This is because if you don't have to worry about drawing details and fixing the anatomy of your drawing during the lineart, and doing it so GOOD because it's the lineart... You'll go that much slower and your life will be more complicated (it's not impossible, my sketches usually are very rough. I am ok with it, the most I do drawing wise is during the lineart... But I'm lazy, don't do like me. A good sketch will help you out.) Compare the two sketches below:

Another note about your sketch layer: you know those memes that complains that the sketch looks good but when you hide it the lineart is shitty? That's easily solvable. When you're inking, lower the opacity of the sketch layer down, A LOT. I generally go for a 30 or 40% opacity (depending on the colour of the sketch. the yellow sketch will go around 40% because it's less visible, the purple one lower).

When you're inking, you MUST see clearly the lineart you're doing. If the sketch isn't contrasting enough, you won't see clearly what you're doing... It's like trying to sketch with a dim light, not seeing the paper clearly. See the difference:

BEFORE YOU START:

You probably have read it everywhere, but it bears repeating: warm up your hand. You're using muscles and for more than five minutes. The warmer they are, the firmer your hand is, the easier it gets controlling your lines. It also prevents you from damaging your wrist. Stretching is also great, and grippers are nice to have. Keep your hand fit!

As for warming up: I usually do some calligraphy exercises, practicing on flowy cursives. You want to practice varying the pressure of your lines in a single trait, hence why calligraphy is good. But generally, what you can do is...

PRESSURE VARIATION AND LONG LINES:

So. My main tip and trick is to vary the pressure of your lines. In the same line, and between different details. This will help making the lineart more dynamic and interesting. A note: this works for semi-realistic styles. If your goal is obtaining a Cartoon Network style: they have generally little to no variation and it works. My suggestion would be to study the kind of style and effect you want to obtain, different styles will work best with different linearts. If you're aiming at hyperrealistic painting, there's no point in spending time over a lineart, for example, I inked the same lineart, but with a brush that doesn't vary it's dimensions with pressure, and not changing the dimension of the brush.

What makes my linearts look "flowy" and "neat" is the fact that I tend to draw less lines and longer, and pay attention when I stop, to start the line where I end it. This will give the impression of one continuous, single line, and make everything more fluid. See above in the french hood: on the right, I left the line rough on purpose, you can see where I stopped and started again. On the left, where I took care of it, you can't.

Generally speaking:

Thick, dark lines communicate that the object is close to the viewer (always keep the viewer in mind!) or in shadow. Lines should be thicker on the outside of your objects, to separate two planes, and in stuff closer to you.

Thin lines are delicate, they should be used in the background, for small details (see the hair, the lips, the small wrinkles around her eyes.)

As for line continuity: in both cases, the line of her face is one single line I drew. This can be obtained with a smooth result, particularly in curved lines, by getting the brush stabilisation on higher settings (80-100): sacrifice speed for accuracy.

MORE IS MORE, WHEN IT COMES TO LEVELS:

Particularly when there are two objects intersecating, or more characters interacting… Instead of inking all on the same level, I always do one level for each object, trace the WHOLE line as if there was nothing above, and then erase where it's not shown. This is a little thing, but pays off. Always in the drawing of above, the feather and the hem of the bodice were on separate layers, and then I erased the bodice under the feather. Take advantage of being inking digitally and not traditionally!

For many characters, here's an example of a vignette of a comic page before cleaning it up and erasing. Every single character and the weapons are on separate layers

For this it's very useful knowing your recurring mistakes. For example, I tend to draw heads bigger than they should. I know I do, so generally I keep the head on its own level, and the body on another, so it's easier to modify and size down just the head without getting crazy selecting only the lines you want with the lazo.

Again, you're inking digitally. It's not easier than traditionally necessarily, take full advantage of your instrument!

OTHER TIPS AND TRICKS:

High brush stabilisation sacrifices speed for accuracy. The line will lag a little from your cursor. Get used to watching the cursor and not the line, and trust that the line will follow.

GO SLOW.

Rotate and flip the canvas. Don't ask me why, but tracing long lines towards me is always easier than not the other way around.

Use the Free Transform, Warp, Distort etc etc and the Liquify to your heart's content if you notice the lineart has something wrong. The only cheating in art is using fucking AI generators (and AI pictures are not art, sorry not sorry)

References are your friends. Study how an artist you like does the lineart. Try and imitate them, and if you can and need to post them: tag them! (don't trace and sell it as your own)

Experiment with brushes, find one that you like for the effect you'd love. You do you, there's no right or wrong way of inking.

Remember to breathe when you trace those lines! (and to drink and do pauses and stretch, you don't want a tendonitis!)

Have fun. Lineart is not evil, lineart is your friend!

I hope this essay is exhaustive enough. I'm tagging ALL THE PEOPLE that requested it (and giving each of you a muffin). @ndostairlyrium @narina-gnagno @salsedine @whimsyswastry @layalu @n7viper

If you have any questions, don't hesitate in asking!

[quillpokebiology]

Pokemon Variants: Pumpkin

(My favorite Applin line variant!) Pumpkin refers to an Applin who hid in a Pumpkin, and its evolutions ended up resembling one.

(Not Height accurate)

Applin

Applin that go into Pumpkins. Since Applin go into the first fruit or vegetable they find, these Applins eggs usually hatch in Pumpkin patches. They're often seen as pests since multiple usually hatch at a time and steal all the Pumpkins. To prevent this, many farmers have made decoy Pumpkin patches away from the main patches I'm hopes that Appletun or Flapple will decide to lay their eggs there instead. Pumpkin Applin are slower than usual but have higher defense.

Appletun

If their pumpkin has a sweet flavor (or they are given the special item, Pumpkin Sweet), they will evolve into the Pumpkin variant of Appletun. Pumpkin Appletun were bred to look like pumpkin pie, with the shedding on their back even being edible and tasting like pumpkin pie. They're often used for parties and are symbols of autumn. In old Galar, it was tradition to feed Pumpkin Appletun fruit and sweets for Samhain celebrations. They symbolize prosperity, abundance, and protection.

Flapple

My favorite member of the line. Gives me a mythical forest vibe for some reason. Anyways, Pumpkin Applin evolve into Pumpkin Flapple by choosing a sour pumpkin for protection or eating the Sour pumpkin sweet. While Pumpkin Appletun are seen as a symbol for Autumn, Pumpkin Flapple are symbols of autumn and death. They're also seen as protectors and helping ward away evil spirits. However, they're not loved by everyone, as farmers see them as the worst pests of the line for their quickness and determine to eat their crops.

Dipplin

Applin evolve into Pumpkin Dipplin when they come across a Juicy Pumpkin, which only grow in Kitakami. They appear the most in the fall, when Pumpkins almost become as plentiful as apples in the region, and they're highly praised there for being a symbol of a good harvest. They're Syrup becomes pumpkin guts, which is thicker and more damaging but less sticky. They're often slower due to their bigger height.

//My designs can be used by anyone if you credit me! If you want, you can request other Applin variants to draw since these were very fun, and it only took around 30 minutes each.

[wheels-of-despair]

Draw Me Like One of Your Dwarf Girls, Eddie Pairing: Eddie Munson x You Summary: Eddie decides to work on his drawing skills, and accidentally awakens a monster in the process. Contains: Titanic references, female nudity, a brush with death. Word Count: 1.3k-ish

"Draw me like one of your dwarf girls, Eddie," you say in a sultry voice, trying your hardest not to laugh.

"What did I tell you about talking?" He pauses to give you a pointed look, since he's already told you to pipe down several times. You roll your eyes, and he returns to his drawing with a renewed vigor.

It's early 1998, and you've recently dragged your poor Eddie to a theater to see that damn Titanic movie everybody and their mother keeps raging about. All 3 hours of it. You may have neglected to mention the runtime when you bought the tickets. You owe him.

He survived, but was suddenly faced with the desire to "work on his people-sketching skills." Which of course meant it took him less than a week to convince you to strip and pose like Rose on the couch, wearing only that red guitar pick necklace he's had since high school.

You're stretched out and exposed and already bored. Two hours ago, he'd adjusted your hand a quarter of an inch this way, your knee a quarter of an inch that way, and you'd been instructed not to move.

Well, it felt like two hours, but it was really only about 30 minutes.

With nothing else to do, and being mildly disappointed that he didn't find your commentary amusing, you watch his eyes follow the pencil scratching across the paper you can't see. He's cute when he's concentrating. Tongue poking out, brow furrowed, that spark of creativity in his eye. It must be going well, because he smiles occasionally. He even giggled once. If you had to guess, you'd say it probably had something to do with a nipple. It was a little chilly.

"Just as I thought; it's a masterpiece."

"Are you done?" You'd only been in this position for an eternity.

"Oh yeah, this baby's getting framed." Ignoring you, he holds his sketch pad out to view it at an arm's length, beaming at his creation.

"Can I move now?!"

"Yeah, you can move."

You stretch your stiff limbs and get up off the couch, reaching for the flannel he'd discarded on a chair nearby, buttoning a few buttons as you pad over to where he sat admiring his work.

You place a hand on his back and look over his shoulder at the figure on his sketchbook. You're confused, but you can't take your eyes off of it. You can't think of anything to say. Until…

"What. The FUCK. Is THAT."

He looks up innocently and says, "What? I was just following instructions. You kept talking, figured I better listen."

You have no words.

You do, however, have a fucking BEARD in Eddie's drawing.

He sits there, looking up at you with a proud grin on his face, waiting for you to react.

You stare at him wordlessly, still in a state of shock.

Until he laughs at you. LAUGHS AT YOU.

Your brain begins to swirl furiously, until it flashes one word: KILL.

You clench your fists, and he begins to sense that you're not going to start laughing with him. His eyes widen, and he jumps out of his chair, vaults over the coffee table, and stands on the couch.

"I can explain," he says quickly, trying to sound calm, steps unsteady on the cushions.

You can explain too. Explain to the responding officers how one Edward James Munson met his gruesome demise.

"It's Tolkien."

You ignore him and advance slowly, like a predator stalking its prey. Eyes unblinking. Blood boiling. Steam probably coming out of your ears. He jumps off the couch as you approach the coffee table.

"It's from a book!" He's walking backward, holding out his sketch pad like a lion tamer with a chair.

His eyes bulge as he hits something solid. You've backed him into a corner. Literally.

"Tolkien! Middle-earth! The Hobbit! Nerd shit!"

Nerd shit won't save you now, Munson. You narrow your eyes and prepare to go in for the kill. He panics.

"Dwarf women have beards! It was a joke! I'm sorry! I love you!"

The "I love you" makes you pause, just as you were about to pounce and slash your prey to pieces. The hell?

"What?" you ask, giving your head a slight shake in confusion.

"Dwarf women have beards. In the books. You said to draw you like a dwarf. It was a joke. I thought you'd know what it was."

"You thought I'd know some random detail from a book I haven't read in over a decade?"

"I mean, it's a pretty memorable detail…"

You roll your eyes, heave a sigh, and pinch the bridge of your nose. Why is this not surprising?

"So you're not gonna kill me?" He's still backed into his corner. You consider it for a moment, deciding that you've played with him enough for today.

"Not tonight, Munson."

He exhales and leans his head back against the wall.

"But I WILL get you for this," you threaten, pointing a finger at him. He nods, used to this constant back-and-forth game you'd both been playing for over a decade. He knew you'd never really hurt him, just like you knew he wouldn't hurt you either. It was just a game.

You turn to walk away, and hear him whisper to the abomination he's still clutching: "Don't worry baby, you're still gettin' framed."

You whip around, eyes flashing. He gulps. You step closer, making him lean further back into the wall. He's cute when he's scared.

"Give it."

He stares at you with those big, beautiful brown eyes of his.

"Give it," you repeat, holding out a hand and waiting for him to place his sketchbook into it.

Reluctantly, he hands it to you. You maintain eye contact as your fingers find the thick cover page, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of looking at his ungodly creation again. You slam it shut and he flinches.

"What are you gonna do with it?"

Beat your nerdy ass to death with it.

Still clutching his sketch pad, you step back silently and gesture for him to walk on by with your free hand. He slowly peels himself off the wall and begins to move with an apprehensive look in your direction, and a thought occurs to you.

As he scurries past you, you smack him on the ass with his sketchbook. He whirls around with a yelp, hands clutching his cheeks. It's cardboard, you drama queen. You step closer and swing the book at his arm.

"You made me lay there for AN HOUR! While! You! Drew! That!" You punctuate each word with another smack of the sketch pad. He continues overreacting to each hit and falls to the floor with a wail when you finish yelling, clutching his imaginary wounds. You lift the book above your head with both hands, ready to finish him.

"It started out real! But I couldn't make it look like you! It wasn't pretty enough!" You graciously decide to let him continue, still holding the sketchbook in an attack position, just in case. "I tried," he explains calmly now, "but it wasn't working out, and then you said the dwarf thing, and I thought it would be funny. I'll make it up to you."

"Damn right, you will." You lower the book and release it. It lands on his chest with a light thud. He grins from his position on the floor. You step over him and make your way toward the bedroom.

"Starting now," you inform him from the hallway, not slowing or turning around. You hear him scramble to get up, knock something over, and curse before he hurries in your direction.

He's lucky he's cute.

[sincerely-sofie]

Seeing as you have finished writing the script for your AU thingy, I wanna know, how?

Like, were you motivated the whole time? Or was it a on and off writing type thing?

i'm trying to write but I don't know if I have the motivation...

How did you keep the motivation if so?

Oh man. I have so much to say about writing and creativity that I could make an entire series of posts talking about the subject, but I'll try to keep things orderly and brief.

Disclaimer: I should let you know that I have never finished a writing project before recently finishing my TPiaG AU. Keep that in mind when reading the advice I offer— the tips I give have only been put into work in my own life over the course of the last couple of months, but they’ve proven very effective in my experience!

Sofie Creativity Tips Episode 1, go!!!

Was I motivated the whole time I was writing TPiaG / How did I stay motivated?

Absolutely not. If I hadn’t provided myself a detailed chapter-by-chapter outline for TPiaG before starting the writing process, I would have given up thanks to a mix of writer’s block and absent motivation. Motivation is a fickle muse and prone to ditching me for months on end, so I’ve adapted by trying not to rely on it, but also by creating new motivation rather than clinging to past motivation. I create motivation for myself in two ways: removing friction when writing and being my own fandom.

Removing friction is pretty simple— I create very detailed chapter outlines that remove any fear of writer’s block, set up my devices in a way to make it easy to access my manuscripts and notes, download premade writing playlists that have Pomodoro session break timers built into them, and more. Anything that makes the writing process easier to get into and enjoy doing, I make sure to incorporate into my life.

Being my own fandom is less intuitive, but a thousand times more rewarding in terms of motivation. I make memes of my characters. I write self-indulgent snippets on the side. I make AUs of my own work. I make playlists and save audio clips that suit the characters. I draw comics exploring concepts that might not get into the manuscript itself but that I want to make content for regardless. Basically, I dive in deep into the story, characters, and world, and try to do so with the enthusiasm that I give other people’s projects.

(That part is extra fun, because if I have a headcanon, it automatically becomes canon to whatever AU or original project I’m working on. I have all the power in the world when working like this, and it’s very fun.)

What changed and made it so I finished my first ever written project?

This isn’t exactly what was asked, but because I have eschewed motivation as the main driving force in my writing process, I figured I’d give another insight into how TPiaG went against the pattern of half-started and swiftly abandoned projects that came before it and actually got finished. Late into October, I adopted a new method of producing first drafts. Previously, I would spend weeks polishing the same chapter and would only move on to the next chapter once the current one was perfect. My new method is the complete opposite. I’ve started calling it Writing BFF:

Write bad

Write fast

Write fun

First up, write bad. The point of this is not to waste your time writing prettily during your first draft. Don’t bother agonizing over how to reword that one sentence to be more elegant when it does the job well enough to get its point across. Don’t go off on a 30-minute research tangent in the middle of a writing session because you want to fact-check that one detail and make sure it’s perfectly accurate when you could just put a placeholder detail in brackets and CTRL+F search and plug in something accurate later on. Don’t write pretty, write bad. And be okay with it. You can’t edit an empty page, so fill the page with as much garbage as possible so that you can turn it into gold later on.

Next, write fast. This is only effective when paired with writing bad. Don’t pause, don’t hesitate, don’t deliberate. Write as much as you can and do it as fast as you can. This idea is best illustrated by Chris Fox’s book 5,000 Words Per Hour, where he talks about increasing your WPM (words per minute) and how it makes everything about your writing better. The person who creates a beautiful first draft once every three years is doing okay, but the person who cranks out a complete manuscript every three months learns leagues more about writing than the first person does by the end of three years. The second person has practiced outlining, drafting, editing, publishing, and more with every manuscript completed. The faster you write, the better you get, because practice makes perfect and quantity begets quality.

Finally, write fun. I write what I enjoy, and if I’m not enjoying it, I pivot the project so that I enjoy it again. I like writing deeply personal stories, so pretty much everything I write is heavily based on my life and experiences— TPiaG included. Grovyle’s portrayal is deeply influenced by my experience being an elder sibling who has been a bad example of self-talk, and cleaned up my act because my younger sister started echoing how I spoke to myself. Dusknoir’s portrayal is informed by my experiences with being the therapist / mom friend in different social circles as well as attending actual formal therapy. Twig is the character that my experiences have the greatest influence on in her portrayal, and I joke about her being a self-insert, but ultimately all of the characters are self-inserts to some extent. I also enjoy low-stakes and slow slice-of-life stories that are driven by character growth. If I ever stop having fun with a project, I inject more of myself and my preferences into my work to get it back into my favor.

TL;DR / Writing advice lightning round

Write as badly as possible as quickly as possible, and have fun as you do it. Momentum yields motivation and stagnancy yields doubt. Editing comes only after the first draft is complete. Be your own fandom and your project’s biggest fan. Give yourself direction and ward against writer’s block by making detailed chapter-by-chapter outlines. Make the writing process as easy and enjoyable as possible. Motivation is a lie and if you chase after it instead of making your own, you’ll be writing on hard mode for the rest of your life. Reject perfectionism, embrace flawesomeness.

If I didn’t answer your question right, let me know! I’ll do my best to correct it.

[l0ves1ckf0ol]

NOT SO BAD | xavier thorpe x gn!reader

"rita wouldn't be wrong though."

this was requested by anon, but i accidentally posted it by accident ( a draft) but then i took down the post to write a new one (aka this one) enjoy (also theres some mentions of death so.)

"hey freak!" before xavier could even turn around and see who it was, he got shoved down to the brick floor, he would have tasted dirt if he didn't close his mouth. he sighed, standing up to look back at the jericho goons, "you think you could storm your way here? in our own homes? you're the one who makes drawings come to life right?" they flood xavier's head with taunting questions that he didn't even get to answer.

it was the dreaded day of the festival. he had a lot of stuff going on in his head, and he certainly did not want to have his fun with these normies. defeated, he continues to walk away, not wanting to deal with them right now. they kept on chasing him though, until he stops next to a certain someone.

"look will you guys just shut the fuck up and leave me alone, you won't even be eating real food right now if it weren't for our principal funding your stupid charities to a town that can't even appreciate the minority." xavier spat, fed up the dudes just looked stunned, he thought he'd shut them up but it wasn't quite the case. xavier turns around to see a normie, in which was glaring dread into their souls.

"scram." that they did.

once they scrambled away, xavier only stared at the person. they look towards xavier and sighed, "sorry. the welcome comittee isn't as welcoming as it is intended." they apologized. xavier hummed, as his eyes landed on the tray of bread samples you were selling by a bakery.

"hey, can i have one? long day." he asks and they nodded in response. he takes a piece of cheese bread and began to eat.

xavier begins to wonder why he hasn't seen you, in the previous trips to jericho. "you new here?" he asked "ancestors lived here for years, i just went insane and managed to run away. and by insane i meant that an outcast friend of mine was killed." you told him, xavier sighed "did you kill that friend?"

you laughed hysterically, he then grew concerned of your behavior. "no, no, i didn't. someone killed her, no one in this town would just admit it. it's kept on the down low since then." you replied gravely. "when was this?" he questions you, you could sense his own curiosity "she didn't even make it until school starts to actually go to your school, she stayed at home mostly, it was around june when she got killed."

xavier hummed, never hearing of such a thing. it really was well hidden, if not, the normie was lying.

"your name?" xavier looked at them and forced a smile "xavier." you nodded, "y/n."

"i'm visiting her later, well by later i mean 30 minutes from now, my shift ends from there. wanna meet up there?" xavier scoffed, "typical setting to beat an outcast up, huh?" you rolled your eyes, "look mr. trust issues, i know you're on edge and shit and it's more than fine if you wouldn't come. as much as i hate to say this, you're unattracting customers." you grit your teeth, facing the groups of people staring at the both of you. xavier then walks away, contemplating whether or not would he want to meet up a normie.

he looks back, seeing customers now swarning the normie with the tray of bread, seeing you smile and attend to them made his heart go soft for a moment.

at that moment, he swerved his direction to the cemetery instead of weathervane.

-

when he arrived, you were following right behind him. holding a plastic bag of chips and scented candles. "what are the chips for?" he asks you as you stomped on orange autumn leaves, on your way to your friend's grave, passing by mossy and old ones, xavier was still doubtful of his decision, the cemetery was inclosed and no one would even hear him scream for help. "rita hates flowers, she likes junk food and scented candles so i bought some." you told him as you finally slowed down to a less flithy gravestone. you set down a bag of lays chips on the stone and opened one for yourself, setting down the candles as well. xavier crossed his arms as he read the engravings:

rita lupin

born: 2006 died: 2021

it was glad to know that his possible normie friend wasn't an asshole after all. he has never been to a funeral before, let alone even visited a grave, this was his first time and he definitely didn't expect some smiles from you as you stare down at the grave.

"hey rita, this is xavier. he was going to be your classmate y'know? anyway what are you- a werewolf or.."

"i'm just telekinetic."

he did not expect a normie to be talking to a grave.

you looked at the sky, closing your eyes and smiled. "rita would find you cute." you chuckle, he raises an eyebrow, stifiling a giggle "wow, rita is nice." he mutters. you knelt down and grab a lighter from you back pocket and leaned the candles on the stone, lighting up each one "i mean rita is not wrong though" you wink at him and he rolls his eyes with a wry chuckle. now it was just plain silence, the wind brushing past them, leaves occasionally floating along with it.

"do you ever cry, whenever you... y'know, visit her?" he asked you. "who wouldn't? she's the best werewolf i met." you replied, now facing him ever since you both arrived here. "you've never visited a grave before?" you asked. he shook his head, "nope." you nod in response. "to relieve you right now, sorry for y'know whatever normies fo to you and your peers. i also actually never knew you all existed until.." you trail off. the silence grew louder, xavier raised an eyebrow.

"until?"

"until ol' rita here." you point towards her with a sigh. xavier examines you, you're glassy eyes and your longing gaze, you seemed genuine. he didn't know why would you invite an outcast like him to visit your dead friend, or why did he even agree.

xavier silently admits he was wrong about this normie. maybe they were the exception, they weren't that bad after all.

[viperwhispered]

K so fun fact: I'm brazilian and we are people who are extremely affectionate with each other. We greet each other with hugs and kisses and physical touch is the norm for just about every type of relationship other than complete stranger. Due to this, the one emotion we are never able to properly hide no matter how hard we try is how much we love someone. It's the basis for every sort of positive relationship a standard brazilian will have. Even when it's just acquaintances, we're still guided by the love and respect we feel for our fellow man.

What does this have to do with Jamil? Simple: give him an s/o who is incapable of fully hiding how much they adore him.

Like they'll be subtle, they'll be discreet, but they will never be able to fully hide it. Secret relationship? Sure but it's not gonna stop their eyes from always discreetly wandering over to him. No PDA? Whatever you say dear, but it ain't stopping them from sticking close and brushing up against him.

As soon as they're alone, Jamil is going to be absolutely smothered. Always touching him one way or another, balantly looking at him with heart eyes, and bluntly replying to teases about how they feel towards him (cue blushy Jamil). Even when he's not feeling up to it, they still let their feelings out through acts of service (Kalim sitting, helping with chores, reminding him to rest, making dinner, drawing a bath, etc).

There is also the fact that while the s/o is able to lie, their capability to do so goes out the window when it comes to Jamil. Their able to give vaugue or ambiguous answers, but never outright lie. The reader will also go out of their way to manipulate conversations so it never lands on the topic of their relationship with Jamil.

If someone were to point blank as them if they love Jamil, they would be completely incapable of saying no.

Now the reader themselves doesn't particularly care, but always keep Jamil's wishes in mind. Which is why they respect his boundaries very well. But even then, their affection tends to spill over one way or another.

Which brings us to the comedy:

Kalim, post-CH4 and awakening his Scarabia powers, has noticed that the reader never gives definitive answers when it comes to their opinions on Jamil. Combined with the fact that they always seem to be physically close to him and always looking his way, things are a little confusing for our resident sunshine.

So he bluntly asks and there are two routes for this.

Route 1: the reader just replies: you want the short or long version?

Short version: simple "I love him" that takes less than 10 secs

Long version: 30+ minutes of every single little thing they absolutely adore about Jamil *fangirl style*

Point is that now Kalim is aware that reader is head over heels tumbling down a hill and he's somewhat sure that Jamil is at least interested (even tho the snake is tumbling right after). But he does not know the two have already crashed at the bottom of the Mariana Trench and are already dating.

Cue wacky Kalim shenanigans as he tries to get his two besties together.

Route 2: reader continues to be vague and says something like "It's not really that simple"

Kalim interprets this as you two having a bad relationship/hating each other. The cherry on top of his guilt sundae is the assumption that reader and Jamil are only tolerating each other for Kalim's sake.

Cue paniking sunshine and enter wacky hijinks of Kalim trying to get Jamil and the reader to be friends (not possible unless they break up but at least his heart is in the right place).

Both routes include Kalim learning the truth and duck taping his loud mouth shut, a poor long suffering Jamil, and a very amused reader who is just laughing at the situation while cooing over their flustered boyfriend.

As a Finn I have a feeling we might be quite close to opposite ends of the spectrum here when it comes to showing affection, especially physically 😅

I do love the idea of an s/o who can’t quite hold back their feelings despite their best attempts. It feels very real, too. Like, of course you’re gonna look after the person you care about, and can’t help showing concern if something seems to be going wrong, for example. Like, they seem to get hurt? Of course you’re gonna look worried. They look happy? Of course you’re gonna be happy for them too.

(Also ngl I do try not to lie if I can help it but do sometimes make sure to set my words carefully so yeah I can feel those ambiguous answers for sure.)

Hasdfs oh Kalim you dear sunshine. I can just see Jamil’s confusion at first when he realizes what Kalim is doing, looking at his s/o with a “do you have something to do with this” look. Jamil’s surprise turning into exasperation when it just keeps on happening, and weighing in the options of if it’s less of a hassle for Kalim to know what’s going on after all.

“cooing over their flustered boyfriend” tho. Yes. Totally. Always love this for Jamil. (tho I’d certainly feel awkward too trying to sidestep / calm down Kalim’s antics)

[callofdudes]

Vampire Simon "Ghost" Riley.

CW: Sexual themes and mild gore.

Featuring ✨GhostSoap✨

Alright, so I've been going through some AU's and I've been wondering about Monster AU's for COD because who doesn't like a monster AU?? And I was thinking about vampire Simon. Apparently i'm not the only one with this idea so I'll put my spin on it here for you guys. I've put a lot more thought into this than I probably should have but hey, whatever.

At first I started making Headcanons for Simon to be your typical bloodsucker vampire which is what I'll stick with. But there are also two other kinds of vampires. One of them I think could really work with Simon as well, so I'll briefly explain that below along with my Headcanons for bloodsucker Simon.

There is a difference between the viral vampire and a psychic vampire. (There are also supernatural vampires which i guess just have different powers??) Psychic vampires don't rely on blood but psychic energy. They don't have to be unalive or immortal but just humans with the ability to draw energy from others to feed themselves. But they are no less dangerous than a blood feasting ones, especially if they cannot control their powers. People say they are born with their abilities so most don't even know they're feeding off of others.

This could work for Simon because Johnny has lots of energy that he can spend and using his families energy would align with the abuse. With these vampires, feeding on the energy of friends and family isn't ideal because you can drain all their energy.

Simon occasionally feeds on Johnny because he can jump back easily the next day from whatever little Simon does take. When Simon comes clean about who he is during their relationship Johnny gives him permission to feed on him whenever he needs, but only him or enemies. Eventually it turns into a little game. During sex Johnny begs Simon to take his energy and after some convincing it turns into this kinky thing. Simon takes Johnny's energy during sex and Johnny loves the feeling. It makes everything feel so much better and that minute shift in his body feels amazing.

Simon is a vampire, which ties into one of the many reasons he was abused and not seen as an equal in his family. Simon is the only vampire, it's a recessive gene but Simon's older brother did not get said gene.

Simon was abused by his father who thought his son's growing abilities to be unfair and being a vampire he needed to "man up" faster.

This is a reason why Simon has very few freedoms as a child. He couldn't go to school since as a young child up into his teen years he slept for a large majority of the day and was up all night. Lenient online classes worked best for him.

Simon was conditioned to animal blood, and although human blood always smelt ten times better, he didn't start to sense the difference until his early teens. But his father would beat and abuse him out of the thought of drinking human blood. Whether he knew this would keep Simon weak and in submission or he was genuinely against hurting anyone outside of his own family (abusive bro) Is debatable.

When Simon signed up for the military he didn't know much about the world around him. He would wear a hoodie under his gear to hide his face and his skull gloves on his hands.

One of the reasons Simon is almost never shown with less than two layers on is because he works out in the sun a lot. His skin is deathly pale underneath. Simon's fangs also grew longer and more notice from 17 to early 30s so the mask Is another additive to that.

Simon didn't classify to anyone in the military that he was a monster. But Simon started to gain attention for the way he could take down enemies. He could kill them with speed and stealth that was probably inhuman for someone his size. But with Simon's ability to teleport and transform, along with his superhuman stamina and durability he made the perfect soldier.

Simon trims his nails frequently, but he doesn't dull the point of his nails, making it easier to tear into flesh. Why would he need this??

When Simon became a soldier he was away from blood for a long time. Considering their meals are limited and they are in no way being served medium rare stake on the dime every night.

When Simon went on his first field mission he was hungry, and after raiding a small campout he'd been stung by the delicious taste of human blood. He'd never had it before. But they were dead anyway, so what was the harm?? Granted they were still fresh bodies. He'd find the bullet wound or sometimes he'd make a different puncture hole and feast. Knees in the dirt draining the fresh bodies of their blood.

And Simon loved it. He could never drink animal blood again after letting his aching fangs sink into the throat of these men.

Rumors started going around that some bodies collected had puncture wounds on their throat or in their wrists, but they could never trace it back.

Now Simon was never cruel. He only drank from the fresh bodies around him. After tasting such blood the different scents around him did make him hungrier, but he went on missions frequent enough that he wouldn't starve to near death.

And he kept this up for a couple years with no problems.

Now you might be asking, what about him sleeping all day!? Well, Simon is an insomniac, that's what normal humans call him. He's up all night either in his room or prowling the grounds . Usually if Simon has enough energy he can walk around during the day. When he has time to spare he'll catch a quick nap, and make up for all the lost energy on the days he gets time off. If he has no recruits to deal with for a while Simon will go to his room and crash. People have rumored about this because once Simon curls up he doesn't wake up until his body permits him to. Which has only occasionally been a problem.

Well when Simon was finally recruited to the 141 he doesn't tell Price (or maybe he does I haven't decided) whether he tells Price or not it doesn't really matter. Simon had enough energy to live when he was in a larger unit, but being in the 141 for specifically very strong soldiers he was fed much more.

And it was only him and Price for a bit until John "Soap" MacTavish and Kyle "Gaz" Garrick joined.

Now this wouldn't have been a problem. Gaz was quiet and stuck by Price's side like Ghost, which Ghost had no problems with. It was Soap he had a problem with.

Soap was loud and bubbly. He was always trying to hang out with Simon which already wasn't really his thing. But Ghost and Soap share a blood type. Now I headcanon that Simon finds people with his own blood type so much more delicious.

Simon wanted to tear out his throat the minute he smelt the scent radiating off the Scotsman. But he only drinks from the freshly dead, that was what he told himself. So he tries to avoid Johnny because every time he's around him his fangs ache and he starts acting up.

But Johnny is always around him and he can't get away. It's when they go to Las Almas that Simon starts to slip.

When the events of the mission "Alone" take place Simon is already out of energy and hungry. Soap is actively bleeding out and Simon doesn't want to risk being around him, so against his better judgement he takes off.

Of course he makes up a half truth excuse for this and brushes it off. He helps Johnny maneuver through the buildings.

When Johnny comes across the soldier with one of Simon's knives in his throat and pulls it out, there is no extra blood splatter. Blood is covering the knife and dried from the wound, but there is no extra blood splatter when the obstruction is removed. Later he comes across another body slumped in the corner. John searches him and finds two puncture marks in his throat by his Adams apple.

And each body he finds has those same puncture marks in different places. He brings this up to Simon who is a little two eager to dismiss it. Simon is just trying to hold himself together because he knows when he is reunited with Johnny he will be bleeding. And he doesn't want to hurt him.

Other things point to this, and for extra points Johnny noticed it all. Keeping tabs of sorts.

Simon can see in the dark better than anyone else so when they get to Alejandro's safehouse he notices Rodolfo's movement before Johnny does.

When Simon removes his mask his lips are an odd reddish hue though his face is pale. Johnny recognizes Simon's odd eye shape, one of the things that sets Simon apart from the others is his oddly slitted pupils. Their sharper than the others. And they contract oddly with the flickering light above them. Johnny also takes in the odd point of Simon's ears.

Again, Johnny keeps a tab on all of this. At first it's just simply because he wants to remember Simon. He wants to know more about the legendary Ghost. And so he can draw him and write on him in his journal. But then things start mysteriously clicking in his brain.

Simon doesn't eat dinner with them. Or food of any kind. Simon goes to his room to eat but Johnny has never seen the man eat any food.

If Captain Price knows what Simon is there is probably a classified freezer for lieutenant or higher members, but that only classifies Simon and Price. Who are the only two who have ever taken a vested interested in the freezer. When Johnny goes snooping it's just a bunch of vacuum sealed white bags with a mysterious liquid in them.

He brings it up to Gaz who doesn't really care and eventually to Price who he mentions it to offhandedly when talking about Ghost. Whether Price knows or not he won't give much thought to it and easily dismisses it.

Simon was always very careful about where he treaded. Considering there were many limitations to being considered soulless. But when on a mission and cutting through a home, Johnny briefly, very briefly looking in a mirror along one of the houses hallways. And it was just him. Simon was right next to him but it was only him in the mirror. Simon had played it off as Johnny's unpredicted adrenaline rush and his eyes playing tricks on him. And Johnny believed him. For a while.

(fill in the blanks a lot for plot duh duh)

When Johnny does come to the conclusion that Simon is infact, a vampire, he doesn't confront the man right away. He waits. And he waits. And he waits. By this point Johnny had already developed feelings for Simon and doesn't want to risk the very real blossoming relationship by confronting him.

If Simon was really a vampire could they love each other??

When Johnny does confront Simon it's when he decides to confess. He knocks on his door at a late hour and Simon is not surprisingly awake. He lets Johnny in and they sit. Johnny pours his heart out to Simon. About their missions and about his growing attraction toward him every single day.

But he doesn't bring up anything about vampires.

Simon is hesitant, on one hand he loves Johnny. On the other he doesn't want to potentially hurt Johnny with the truth of his existence and trying to hide. Because he yearns for Johnny in more than one way.

Simon ultimately reciprocates and they start dating. Johnny's theory is only backed up by Simon not wanting to kiss or to touch. It's odd at first, but it all slowly makes sense.

After a couple months of their relationship Johnny had decided he's done and he's going to kick the can. Late when he's staying in Simon's room and their talking, Johnny lunges for it.

He slides closer on Simon's bed and clutches his mask. Simon rushes to stop him but Johnny is already pulling the mask up, lips settling on Simon's. They're cold and rough. Simon is caught between freaking out and melting.

Johnny pulls Simon in and whispers against his lips "I know." When he pulls away Simon is stunned. Johnny pulls the mask off fully and watches his eyes shift to look at Johnny.

"Do it, bite me. You're probably starving." He pants when they part. After convincing, Simon pulls off Johnny's shirt and traces his fingers over his neck. "Will it hurt??" "I don't know. But hold your breath. I'll try to be gentle."

"You know??" They talk and eventually Johnny convinces Simon to show him his fangs. Their sharp and pearly white. That goes straight to Johnny's dick. He kisses Simon and shoves his tongue in his mouth. Simon moans as Johnny's tongue explores his mouth and glides over his fangs. Johnny can feel them prick into his tongue and draw blood from just the point. It makes Johnny hornier than he expected. He thought he'd be freaked out.

It doesn't hurt. Johnny can feel Simon's cold lips trail over his skin, teasing him and then his fangs trace the skin. The hairs on the back of his neck raise and Simon breaks his skin. It's not painful, it's pleasurable. Johnny isn't ready for the pleasure that blossoms in his stomach and hits him like a thousand kisses over his throat.

Simon latches onto his throat and shudders, finally getting to taste Johnny's blood after so long smelling it and longing. It goes straight to his dick and his body is trembling. Johnny is crying and moaning' clawing Simon's shoulderblades.

Simon could drink until Johnny is cold and silent but he forces himself to pull away. Johnny smashes his mouth onto Simon's and can taste the crimson liquid on his tongue.

Neither expected this to be so erotic but their first time together is better than anything they could have imagined. It turns into this little game. Simon feeds on Johnny at the dead of night before fucking the life out of him. Sometimes it's gentle but most of the time after getting hard at the taste of his blood Simon is feral and wants to have Johnny in every single way.

Johnny teases him about his abilities too. With his shape shifting Johnny will often beg him to turn into a bat, Simon tries to tell Johnny that's a myth until he's caught having a nap in the rafters of the shower/locker room by Johnny. He then starts to beg his boyfriend to be a bat more often because he looks so cute.

Another thing Johnny's notices is how Simon's pupils expand and sharpen. When he's relaxed his pupils will relax and almost soften out, mostly around Johnny or Price. When he's feasting or hunting/on a mission his pupils are sharp slits.

After Johnny finds out Simon does not hesitate with himself around Johnny. He can whisk Johnny away without care for how fast he runs and feast in front of him.

Simon only feels comfortable drinking from Johnny now that he knows his fangs have the opposite effect of pain.

Drinking is not a fast process so if Johnny has a fresh kill and Simon is getting tired he'll guard the entrance of wherever they are for at least ten minutes to give Simon time to replenish himself.

That's all the thoughts I have for now. I don't have anything planned for this out I wanted to write down the ideas I had for a blood sucking Simon who has erotic sex with Johnny- 😂

Apologies for any spelling mistakes!

[elwolfen]

Alfred Molinathon Day 8

The Forger (2011)

Everly Campbell

His Role: When I first watched this a while back, I thought Everly was going to be a more kinder man who takes Joshua under his wing... boy, was I wrong. He is so full of himself and thinks his the most hottest artist in that town, which I can't fully say, I don't fully comprehend the intricances of painted works. But I think it looks nice (when he's not copying others). He does take Joshua under his wing, but for more unsavory reasons. Watching him explain the process of art forgery and take such care with this delicate work was very enjoyable, I would like to see him paint his own work.

His lies of wanting to take in ths lost kid just for the purposes of profiting off his artistic gift? Sly and devious, then to over exert this poor, abandoned, literal child? Even more unethical than just forgery. While what he said about his mother wasn't too far off, it was still a hurtful thing to say towards a kid dealing with abandonment.

It's absolutely twisted for him to keep telling everyone (including Joshua) that it's for Joshua's own good, that this will better his life, and how Everly wishes that someone would've been so grateful as to give him that same chance at honing in on his talent and become successful. While Anne-Marie reasonably calls out his bullshit of not nurturing a child from a terrible situation and profiting off his hard work for his own gain.

For Joshua to go from a physically abusive mother to a mentally abusive, possible father figure is a horrible thing for any kid to go through and I'm happy that he's with someone who truly cares about his him.

I very much enjoyed Everly and Joshua's dynamic beginning to end. Especially how it changed when Joshua hid the artwork and Everly started to squirm at the thought of losing this big gig.

Little tidbit: If I were Joshua and suddenly a very imposing man just walks up behind me very fast and knowing he was pissed? I'd leap from fear so high I'd get stuck in a tree during their little walk and talk scene.

And how did our dear Everly fall from grace? Beautifully. Presenting the totally "untouched" work he "found" to be examined to be a true piece at his birthday party!? What could possibly go wrong? Everything. First, Anne-Marie comes up and tears it with a knife she threatens him with and her announcing his crimes that she had help with a long time ago. That's a bad look already, but oh no, the final nail on the coffin? Underneath the paint was a drawing of Dennis the Menace, a piece of masterful thinking from Joshua. He wasn't ever gonna get away with this, and Joshua has no interest of staying any longer.

~~~

The Rest of the Movie: I did think Amber and Joshua were kinda cute, but slow down was right, Amber! 30 minutes, and this is their second scene together and Joshua is already asking for a kiss? Then, forcibly kisses her anyway? Hormones be damned. It gets a lot less cute when his jealous ass can't behave during the party. Look, I get it, I wouldn't have assumed that was her cousin either by how close they were. I wasn't like that with my guy cousins but to still attack someone like that? Jeez. He didn't even hesitate. And him just lying to Anne-Marie about what happened? Goodness.

Ryan (Amber's brother) really was the true wingman in all of this. Even after all the fights.

~~~

The relationship between Joshua and Anne-Marie was sweet. It's understandable why she took him in so quickly, this kid needs proper care and comfort. Then, to find out an accidental fire caused her only surviving daughter to need life-saving surgery; which she funded from her forgeries. Only for her to die not too long after? I'm sure it was overly agonizing for Anne-Marie to go through, something that finally made her quit that art world. Her seeing more of Joshua's dark drawings of his mother's drug abuse was saddening to know that's all he saw of her. Her final reveal at Everly's birthday was a delight, she had zero fucks to give about this art world. But if I were Joshua? I'd be a little pissed that my thunder was stolen, but still, good for her. Good for them! He finally has a home.

~~~

Ms. Reese going out and searching for his mother like that, is an extra step I appreciate. Just for her to find an absolute mess of a person and to later learn she was abusing him was heartbreaking. All she wanted was to help and finds the worst in parenting.

~~~

In that gif above? I swear I have that same exact flannel that Joshua is wearing under his sweatshirt!

~~~

The Poster Situation:

The first poster? Very obvious that whoever made this was trying to cash in the fact that Josh Hutcherson (Joshua) was in The Hunger Games and decided to use that font. Which is hilarious.

The second fits way more with the movie. I like the feeling it invokes.

And the third, I really like it. It slaps hard, but not for this movie.

[afortoru]

𝑩𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝑰 𝑳𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒀𝒐𝒖

Pairing: Ram x wife!reader

Summary: you always try to remain calm during those days but your husband knows how to pamper you even if you don't show it, but you're not complaining too.

Genre: fluff, periods comfort

Warnings: periods, cramps, slight cursing cause of the pain

Word count: 2.8 k

Notes: this is my first fic and yes I'm so embarassed, it's not proofread so pls pls pls bare with me. Just in the afternoon I was suffering with cramps so i decided to write this and guess what I suffered more...almost had a crisis wondering would i actually finish it today. If you're reading, i lobe you soo much *mwah*.

You felt something uneasy in your sleep as you shuffle in your bed trying to go back to sleep, since you knew it's still too early for you to wake up. No matter what you did, nothing worked atlast waking you up.

You opened your eyes to see the time on the clock hanging right infront of your bed, it was little bit dark you couldn't see exactly what time is it but through your blurry vision you make our that it's 4am.

Sighing you decided to go to the bathroom to check if it's really what you think it is. Before moving out of the bed you eyes drifted towards your husband's sleeping body, oh how peacefully he was sleeping. You didn't even want to turn the lights on now since you know he's already a light sleeper. Ram's tranquilly sleeping,lost in his dream world made you smile a bit forgetting that how annoyed you were that you couldn't sleep anymore now.

Not wanting to disturb your dear husband you made your way towards the bathroom as you pull back your pallu over your shoulders. It was a bit chilly but still a sweet cold sensation was touching your skin, i could've enjoyed this only if i didn't wanted to sleep a bit more, you thought to yourself.

Pushing the bathroom door open you stepped inside, tugged your saree up in your skirt as you closed the door.

"Aah shit, here we go again…why god?", you knew your prayers won't help stop your periods and those nasty cramps. Sighing and mentally preparing yourself for the upcoming 5 days suffering plus doing the household work, it's gonna be one hell of a bloody ride.

You have always tried to stay calm trying to busy yourself with the household work during period. Not wanting to bother anyone but your husband, Ram, he had always told you to rest as he would always try to help you cope with the pain.

You came back to your room. Your were glad to see him still sleeping as you made your way towards the wardrobe to get your pads. It took you another 30 minutes since you also decided to get showered too. 

Now you're standing in front of the mirror getting ready for the day with your wet hair still tied in your red cotton towel, knowing oh so well you gotta survive the nasty cramps still wanting to keep a straight and calm expression.

Normally you could have gone to your Pooja room by now but you can't today so you decided to wake Ram up a bit early so he could do the pooja today but there's still time left for him to wake up so you decided to first to prepare the breakfast.

Entering the kitchen, you started preparing the ingredients.

"Ahh..mmm…fuck this hurts so bad" you shrieked in pain while doing your work. " Oh lord, just a little less pain would help, please….mmm….ufff damn cmon" you sighed as you felt the pain getting a bit less as you continued your work.

It's already 6 am, i should wake him up,you thought to yourself as you made your way towards your the bedroom only to find the bed empty and your husband is nowhere to found. Did he already woke up… you walked towards the bathroom, the lights were on inside and there was a sound of running water. This was enough to let you know he was already awake. 

"You woke up early today?" he said making his way towards you while rubbing his wet hair with a towel. 

You just nod while sitting sitting on the wooden sofa in the drawing room.

"Why, what happened is there something today?" he asks sitting beside you as you shifted away from him leaving him astonished. "Hey what happen-", "I need your favour" you stated cutting him off mid sentence. 

"Will you please to the pooja today?" you asked as he regain his normal expression. "Sure I will, but are you ok, is there anything you wan-", "first do the pooja, you know you can't touch me before the pooja".

He just nodded. Ram was quick to tell that you're on your periods and there's no good for him asking you more questions now. 

As he left to the pooja room, you made your way towards the kitchen to make the tea for the both of you. Your and his taste in tea were coincidentally the same. You liked it with more milk and sugar and Ram seemed like a person who would like a strong tea but he was more towards the way you had your too. Your were truly shocked to know he also likes his tea with more milk and sugar in your early marriage, maybe a little dash of malai (cream). 

You tried to divert your mind but the cramps were hella stubborn. "Aahh..uh shit" you hold on to the kitchen counter as you pressed your lips onto each other to minimise the pain but it didn't help.

"Hey, are you ok?" you felt your husband's hand on your waist on the side which wasn't covered with your saree. You shook your head to no.

"A-are you d-done with p-", he knew what were you about to ask just as he carried you bridal style and start making his way towards the hall. "W-what are you doing? put me down, the tea!" you stated as you now you clutched you hands on his shirt.

"Taking care of my wife and the tea, I'll bring it so you just lay down and let me take care of you", he put you down on the wooden sofa placed in the centre of the hall. He made you lie flat on your face, facing the sofa. 

You felt his hands on your back, massaging smoothly. "Feels good, dear wife?", you hummed as a reply. He knew exactly what makes you feels relaxed at times like this. 

You felt his hands in you your feet as you looked back, "n-not my feet, hey it's fine you don't have to massage under my feet honey" you said showing an expression of uncomfortableness but little did you know he won't listen since he's determined to take care of his wife before leaving for his work. He knew that rubbing under your feet makes you feel good during periods. 

"Don't worry my sweetheart, I know it feels good, isn't it? Plus if you're worrying about me touching your feet than don't cause you're my better half and i don't have any problem doing it" he stated calmly with a smile over his face as his eyes meet with yours telling you to just relax and let him do it.

"The tea, it must be cold by now" you stated as you suddenly remember that you left it in the kitchen since Ram said that he'll bring it later.

"Don't worry, I'll reheat it but first you tell me are you feeling ok now, I'll do massage you more if you want" he asked showing concerned to you.

"I'm fine now, you can you bring the tea now" you affirmed as he nodded and stood up to walk towards the kitchen.

5 minutes later he showed up from the kitchen not just the tea but with the breakfast."Oh god i totally forgot to serve you breakfast,maati maari gai hai meri aaj" you spoke as you palmed your forehead."Hey it's alright, i wasn't hungry anyways and how can I think about food when my has no appetite, huh bec-", "because I'm your other half, i get it Pati dev, now let's just eat cause i don't know about you but I'm hungry" you completed his sentence. 

He chuckled. After few minutes later you realised that it's time for him to leave for the police station. You stood up to take the utensils in the kitchen but then he stopped you and pulled you onto his lap.

"W-what are you doing again, you know you'll get late if-" your stopped talking as you feel him nuzzle his face inti your neck from behind. 

"Don't worry wifey, i won't get late" he stated as you could feel his hot breath on you neck, with this you decided to let this moment sink the both of you. Afterall you also needed him even if you don't show it always. 

Few minutes together before you have to push him away to get ready to leave for work.

"I wish I could stay longer with you but please take care of yourself and you call call me on the office phone if you need anything, ok ?" he stated before giving you a kiss on your forehead.

"Sure my dear husband, I will call you and only you if I need anything" you affirmed him with a gentle smile, "also Pati dev, thankyou so much for the massage, try to come early tonight. I'll miss you" with your statement Ram chuckled a bit. "Ofcourse I will, how can I not accept my beautiful wife's order as an obedient police officer" he assured you before leaving for the police station.

You were smiling at his little joke as you waved him goodbye. 

Entering the house again you checked it's 7 am, so there's another 15 hours for him to return at around 10 pm in the evening and you already miss him.

You sighed as you made your way inside the bedroom, there wasn't much work to do so you decided to take a nap.

Normally you'd cook lunch for him and send it through an office boy or sometimes you'll pay him a visit with the lunch but today Ram banned you to do anything as he said that he'll have the lunch from the police canteen. 

With so many random thoughts about your husband and your future, you never knew when did you fell in a deep slumber. Maybe it's because you wake up early everyday and still have enough strength to stay awake all day but today your body needed rest as it doesn't seem to wake up anytime soon.

You wake up with a loud knock on your main door as you try to make out how much time has passed since you have been sleeping.

"Oh my god! It's almost 5 pm!" your eyes widened realising you have been sleeping for that long. You made your way towards the door hearing the banging."Whoever it is, they are one hella of an impatient person" ,you mumbled to yourself. "Aai baba, darwaja hi tor doge kya" you opened the door to see your favourite brother also Ram's best friend, Bheem.

"Bheem bhaiya! it's you, please come in, kaise aana hua" you scanned his expressions as he looked worried.

"Behen where were you i have been knocking for so long, you got me worried" he stated in concern. 

"Oh my, I'm sorry bhaiya i slept maybe that's why I couldn't-" you were cut off as Bheem placed his hand on your forehead to check your temperature,"behen are you sick, should i take you to the near hospital" he cuts you off, concern over his speech and all over face for you.

"I'm fine bhaiya, no need for going anywhere please come in" you requested."Are you sure you're fine and you have no fever?" he asked in concern. "Haa bhaiya, I'm fine now please come in!" he's been just standing outside the doorstep even you keep requesting him to come in.

"No behna, i can't come in actually Ram bhaiya sent these mogre ka gajra for you. I'm here to just give it to you, that's all" he stated as he handed you a black polythene with the gajra inside. Your eyes widened in surprise "he send this f- for me?" , Bheem nodded with a big smile as a reply. "T- tell him I'm very thankful and i loved it but he should come home early if he wants to see me wear this", bheem chuckled "sure I'll tell bhaiya to come home early to you my little sister". 

He left as he patted your head and waved you a goodbye.

You were about to close the door as you see Bheem running towards your house, "BEHNA! listen i forgot something to tell you!" 

"Oh my god calm down bhaiya, what is it?" you asked 

"Ram bhaiya said you don't have to cook dinner and that he'll bring something tonight for you"

"Oh ok, bhaiya. Is there anything else bhaiya?" you said trying to look calm but internally you were blushing thinking about your husband's way to take care of you.Bheem shook his head as he finally left.

You had a light snack around 7 pm since your weren't hungry. Periods always makes sure to ruin your appetite whether it gives you cramps or not.

You took a shower in the evening and got fresh. Standing right infront of the mirror to get ready you took out the gajra out of the black polythene. It smelled beautiful, just like your Ram, so sweet that you always wanna keep him with you and always be with him wherever he goes. 

You put on the gajra on your hair and tucked it properly using some clips to secure it in your bun.

You were busy folding some clothes as you heard a knock on you door. Walking out of your room, you checked the time.

It's only 9 pm now, it must be someone else, you thought to yourself thinking it's not your husband. 

As you opened the door your eyes widened in amusement seeing Ram standing in front of you. He was holding one big black polythene and one small one. You were so happy to see him come early for you that you almost jumped to hug him but his firm arms were quick to hold you in his embrace.

Ram smiled as he kissed your forehead, still hugging you."How are you doing, are the cramps hurting alot?" he asked but you ignored his question as you said, "I missed you, thanks for the gajra though, they are beautiful!".

Ram already noticed the gajra on your bun, " not as beautiful as you, my love" he said as he patted your head, making you blush in his broad shoulders.

"Should we go in now, i know you're hungry look I bought all your favourites for dinner" he spoke looking at you.

You two walked in and Ram plated the dinner after he got fresh asking you to just sit and let him serve you. You keep telling him that he can atleast let you serve it but no he won't budge. 

After eating you pleaded him to atleast let you do the dishes. So you two did it together, still better than him doing all this by himself. You knew his job was very tiring both physically and mentally. You always try to give him with maximum rest when he's home, most of the nights as he lays his head on your lap telling you about his day is something both of you loved to do.

You were sitting on the edge of the bed waiting for him to join you in the bed as Ram entered in the a room with a bowl and spoon in his hands.

"Gulab jamun for my sweet gulab jamun, my dear wife!" he exclaimed making you smile at the sight of your favourite dessert. You looked at him so in love that you couldn't explain, you really wanted to kiss him all over his face so you did. As he sat beside you on the bed, you set the bowl aside as pulled him in a soft kiss. Now it was his turn to be surprised. He was amazed with a sudden shower of love from his wife, he didn't thought much before he held you close and kissed you back pressing his lips over yours, you both closed your eyes and the feeling you two were sharing was the most valuable thing you could ever ask for. 

You pulled back as you rest your head on his shoulders and you both started laughing softly, his hands still holding you close to himself. 

"So was it the Gulab jamun, cause if you kiss me like this I won't hesitate to bring it for you everyday", you chuckled at his words hitting him slightly. "No dumbo, it's you, it's cause I love…and also the gulab jamun" you joked making him chuckle.

He fed you the gulab jamun as you both finished eating it and settle on the bed to finally dooze off in each others arm.

You know he'll always fight everything that would ever try to hurt you and if it's something like periods, he'll do the most corniest things to make you feel good afterall a little bit of cringe is ok when two souls are so in love with each other.

Tagging my babies: @lotus-n-l0ve @vijayasena

This is the first fic i posted yall, I'm emotional sobs

[cosmichorrorsarestillnicerthanme]

Triad: Part 1 (Ninguang X Beidou X Reader)

Alternative Title: Ninguang uses her godly Rizz to get you and Beidou to work together, a saga

(Yes I'm alive, I’m just having trouble getting through my asks, and I just needed something else to do, sue me.)

Warnings: Language, Fighting, Implied Sexual Content (Not Really Though)

Word Count: 1,535

Time to Write: Three Hours

Ningguang, Tinquan of Liyue, owner of a Geo Vision and a woman with a will thirty times stronger than any iron, a tongue as sharp as any blade, and an eye for business and numbers only surpassed by that of Rex Lapis.

She was currently pacing a hole through the floor of the Jade Chamber outside a locked room while her closest friends and confidants stiffly watched her, unsure of what to do in this current situation.

Could she really call Kequing, Ganyu, Yelan, Baixiao, Baiwen, and Baishi her closest friends and confidants when they were all under her employ? That’s a question for another time, a less uncertain time.

After all, you never wrote up what to do in the case of your being so severely injured to the point that you were unable to stand by Ningguang’s side.

-=-=-=-=--==-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The first time Ningguang and you met, she was a little less than twelve years old, and she was about to get her face punched in by another group of kids who were also trying to sell their food at the market to make a little mora.

As the largest of them, and the one Ningguang assumed to be their leader pulled back her fist to throw the first punch Ningguang braced herself to be sent flying but before the largest one threw the punch a voice called out “HEY BEIDOU!!! THINK FAST!!!” as a fist slammed into the side of the largest one’s face sending her flying instead.

“YOU!!!” The largest one, apparently named Beidou shouted in a mix of furious rage and ecstatic joy as she spat out a tooth.

“ME!!!” you responded with a toothy grin as your own group of kids quickly showed up behind you.

“It seems those two are going back at it again huh?” one of the older men running a stall asked while shaking his head with a smile.

“What’s the score again, something like 30 wins to each of them and 24 draws?” another man asked.

“Yup, the score is even right now, doubt it’ll stay that way though!” another laughed.

“What do you say to the usual stakes Beidou? The loser has to buy the other dinner.” You asked as you cracked your neck.

“Heh, why not!” Beidou laughed as she shook off the punch and cracked her knuckles.

-=-=-=-=--==-=-=-=-=-=-=-

You and Beidou wailed on each other for a good thirty minutes, in the end it came out as another draw.

However what made this all the more interesting to Ningguang aside from what seemed to be the pre-teen equivalant of a friendly gang war was that You, Beidou, and her all had something in common, the fact that each of you had the potential to obtain one of the worlds most treasured artifacts, a Vision, Ningguang didn’t know what made her think this, call it women's intuition, a business hunch, or whatever else you wanted to, but she knew that you, Beidou, and her were special, and if she get your groups to work together, well the mora practically minted itself.

Now if only she could get You and Beidou to stop beating the Celestia out of each other every time you were in the same room.

But for that Ningguang would need a little group of her own.

Luckily she had some strings she could pull to get one on short notice.

-=-=-=-=--==-=-=-=-=-=-=-

One week later Beidou and her group were staring down you and yours as Ningguang stood between you with the group she had managed to pull together on short notice Kequing who she had blackmail on where the majority of her allowance was going (So many Rex Lapis plushies), Yelan, who owed her for getting her out of more than a few tight spots, Baixiao, Baiwen, and Baishi, who were the cousins of your right hand man, Qiqi in case things got violent and little Hu Tao who always followed Qiqi around.

“Now then, I have a business proposition for each of you.” Ningguang said with ease that was most definitely not practiced in the mirror.

“Who the hell are you!” Beidou shouted, causing you to sigh.

“She’s that girl you were harassing last week, y’know the one that you called p-” you said before Beidou interrupted you.

“I KNOW WHO SHE IS I WAS JUST TRYING TO BE UH WHAT’S THE WORD, IT BEGINS WITH AN “I” Beidou shouted as she tried to find the word she was looking for.

“Intimidating?” Ningguang offered.

“YEAH INTIMIDATING!!! THAT’S IT!!! THANKS UH NINGUANG WAS IT? IMMA JUST CALL YOU NING!!!” Beidou shouted.

“Hey, Beidou, think you can turn off the caps lock? You’re giving me a headache!” You exclaimed as you tapped your foot on the ground.

“I’LL GIVE YA A HEADACHE WITH MY FIST JACKASS!!!!” Beidou shouted.

Ningguang let out a long suffering sigh, this was going to be much harder than she thought it would be wouldn’t it.

-=-=-=-=--==-=-=-=-=-=-=-

“So, let me get this straight, you want me and my group, your group and Beidou’s group to work together, correct?” you asked Ningguang as you took a bite out of the powdered sugar rolls provided by Little Hu Tao.

“Yes, with my brains, Beidou’s manpower, and your brawn and skill, we’d be able to achieve our respective goals around 70 to 100 times faster if my rough estimates were correct.” Nigguang stated as she held Qiqi in her lap. 

“Hmm I’ll admit it’s as good a deal as me and them will probably ever get, but what’s the catch? This is one of those deals that sound too good to be true y’know.” Beidou asked while taking a piece of cooked fish from one of the bowls with her chopsticks.

“You two have to play nice in public, that means no more fighting in the market.” Ningguang told the two.

“But anywhere else is fine?” you asked.

“Within reason of course, as long as it’s outside the purview of the public eye you could beat each other to bloody pulps for all I care.” Ningguang said with a shrug.

-=-=-=-=--==-=-=-=-=-=-=-

From there the three of you skyrocketed in the market of Liyue, Ningguang’s brains allowed the operations the three of you used to run individually to explode in size and quality. 

Beidou’s manpower and charisma made sure that there were plenty of people that could work on the operations day and night if needed.

And finally your muscle made sure that anyone who tried to cross the triad the three of you made didn’t do so without consequence.

By the time each of you were eighteen the amount of mora between each of you individually would’ve been enough to fund a voyage around the world thrice over.

Eventually Ningguang told the three of you that she was preparing to enter into the next stage of her goal, the politics of Liyue.

It was on this night that Ninguang received her Vision.

Coincidentally it was also on this night that Beidou managed to smuggle some Sake from Inazuma and talked (Read: Forced) Ningguang into trying it.

This led to quite the night filled with you chewing out Beidou and chasing a drunk Nigguang all over Liyue at night.

-=-=-=-=--==-=-=-=-=-=-=-

“Beidou I swear to the Archons that if Boss Lady got into some sort of trouble that not even Rex Lapis himself will be able to help your ass!” you cursed to your friend as you pushed your way through the nightlife crowds of Liyue.

“Hey how was I supposed to know she was lightweight!” Beidou defended herself.

“WE ARE UNDER DRINKING AGE FOR ARCHONS SAKES!!! YOU WOULD ASSUME THAT ON PRINCIPAL!!!” You shouted.

“HEYY GUYSH WHERSE YALL BEEN!!!” a voice shouted to you through the crowds.

“Oh thank the gods!” You exclaimed as you spotted Ninguang through the crowd before noticing the new addition on her thigh.

“Beidou you better start fucking running as soon as we get her back to her home.” You told Beidou through gritted teeth.

Why- Oh, oh shit. Well if you don’t kill me she will. I’m not sure which one would be better.” Beidou stated as every single drop of blood drained from her face when she saw the new tattoo on Ningguang’s thigh.

-=-=-=-=--==-=-=-=-=-=-=-

“Oh Archons my head!” Ningguang groaned as she opened her eyes and tried to grab her head.

Keyword tried as there was a weight on each of her arms keeping her from lifting them.

When Ningguang turned her head to see what was holding her down, Ningguang turned blood red.

On her left was the sleeping Beidou in not but her underwear with a dopey smile as she used Ningguang’s rather large chest as a pillow.

On her right was you, looking completely mortified at the current events even in your sleep while Ningguang’s arm was wrapped around your neck, holding you in place with only the destroyed remains of your clothes on your body.

“Oh Archons, please don’t tell me that I somehow managed to seduce them while I was drunk! I wanted to be sober for that!” Ningguang whispered under her breath, her eye’s wide in shock.

[sirowsky-stories]

Part 30 - The Finale

Pero Tovar and Female Reader (nicknamed Bee) Modern AU

The happily ever after awaits, but as always, there's a bump in the road.

Creator chooses not to use Warnings! This is 18+ONLY! Author's Note: Thank you to everyone that's read and commented, liked or lurked. I'm sorry to leave these guys, but I am very happy with this ending, so I hope you'll like it too <3

Word Count: 9485 Masterlist (this story) Author’s Masterlist

<><><><><><><><><><>

   You were getting married in a few days.    That was a tough thing to wrap your head around, even though it was the most wonderful thing ever. Not that it technically changed anything, it was just such a… Thing.    Everyone you’d told had been completely ecstatic about it, adding to the love-fest, but also unwittingly adding a level of pressure that you hadn’t really anticipated.

   You would’ve been fine with simply bringing your father and best friend to church, had a short ceremony and then just made dinner together and had a relaxed party at home.    But word had spread, not just through your family and friends but through your customers as well, and what was most surprising about it was that it was your old clientele that had been most excited, calling to congratulate and asking if they could join the festivities.

   And you hadn’t been able to turn them down. Not after they’d all been so understanding about your injuries and inability to draw anymore. Which was why the wedding had become a gigantic THING.    Over a hundred guests were coming.    You’d had to close the shop for the entire week just to give Abby enough time to organize and prepare everything, from flower arrangements to cakes, not to mention decorating.

   Your chosen venue was an old barn outside of the city, which had long since stopped being used for hay, and become a local dancehall instead. And while it couldn’t seat such a large crowd for a meal, it could seat them for the ceremony, and then they’d all have to take their chair with them out behind the barn, where the tables would already be set, and the lunch already served.

   All of which had been Abby’s idea, and while it had sounded a little spartan to you, your trust in your chosen sister was absolute, so you hadn’t questioned her choices even once.    She’d roped in both Dean and Claire to help with the food, cakes, and snacks, while other acquaintances of hers had provided the furnishings and the logistics of moving them to the location.

   So, thankfully, you hadn’t needed to do much at all, beyond deciding what you wanted to look like on the day. But that was perhaps also why you felt somewhat detached from the whole thing. Like it wasn’t actually happening to you.    Meanwhile, Pero was so wonderfully unbothered. He couldn’t care less how it happened, so long as you were happy with everything.

   And he’d heard you on the phone with so many of your old clients, hearing how moved you’d been to hear from them, so to him, it had never been a question of whether you should turn anyone down from attending.    To him, each guest was just a testament to your kind heart and the open arms with which you’d approached the world throughout your life.

   However, he was also completely drunk on you, ever since you’d decided to try for another baby, so you weren’t entirely sure that his perspectives were all that reliable.

   The morning before the big day was a Friday, and he seemed to wake up in some kind of breeding mode, perhaps as a result of the overall love-theme of that weekend, but in any case, he was downright feral from the moment he opened his eyes.    For forty minutes straight, he had you pinned under him, scarcely letting you move at all, whether you were on your front or back, while he relentlessly drove into you.

   His arms strained to constantly keep your hips elevated against him, and every time he came deep inside you, he refused to let either of you rest, or a single drop of his seed from going to waste.    Not until you were both so spent that your every muscle was trembling, and your bodies just couldn’t move anymore, did he finally let up and allow himself to collapse beside you.

   “Honey…” you breathed after a long pause. “Are you okay?”

   He was so exhausted that all you got in response was a small grunt at first. But after another few minutes, he opened his eyes and looked at you.

   “Sorry, I didn’t mean to be so rough.”

   “Don’t worry about it, I would’ve told you if I didn’t like it, you know that.    I’m just wondering where that came from?” you clarified, and he huffed a laugh, but it seemed like it was directed at himself.

   “You are ovulating, mi amor. It always drives me crazy, but since I will not get to touch you tonight, or tomorrow, I needed to make sure you would be full of me until then,” he explained, prompting you to ignore the fatigue in your body so that you could rise to your elbows, because you needed your head to clear.

   “Wait, what? How-… Since when can you tell if I’m ovulating? I didn’t even know that!” you exclaimed, truly thinking that he must be joking somehow.

   You weren’t actively keeping track of your cycles, beyond having a general idea of when your next bleed would be, because you and Pero rarely ever went a day without sex anyway, so it seemed superfluous.    Surely, he’d just counted the days since your period, how else could he possibly know?

   “You smell different,” he elaborated, turning your jaw slack in the process, leaving your mouth hanging open, which only seemed to amuse him. “It is a very enticing type of smell for me, it always makes me want to put my mark on you. Figuratively, of course.”

   “No way… that can’t be real,” you challenged, but he just smiled and scooted closer, demonstratively sniffing the skin of your lower arm.

   “Oh, yes, it is. You always smell nice to me, but for these few days, it gets… muskier. Richer and more noticeable. You smell like you normally do after sex, even before I’ve touched you.”

   “Seriously?”

   “Mm-hm,” he hummed, and he sounded really pleased.

   “Huh… I never would’ve thought that. I mean, I know we all have our own scent, but I really didn’t think that it could be that noticeable to anyone.    But wait, what do you mean you can’t touch me tonight? We never said we’d do the traditional night before the wedding stuff.”

   “We never said it, no, but I have a feeling it will happen anyway. There is so much to do today, and we will need our sleep for tomorrow, when we’ll both need to get up early and get started on preparations for what is also going to be a very long day.    And to be honest… it is a distraction. At least for me. And I don’t want to be distracted this weekend, I want to be in the present, with you, for all of it.    We have each other to enjoy carnally for the rest of our lives.”

   You sighed lightly, ending in a smile, because this man was just too damned sweet.

   “Well, when you put it like that…”

   He smiled with you, reached up to kiss you softly on the lips, and then started trying to coax his body back to life so that he could get up.

<><><><><> 

   Pero really was very excited about the wedding. He wasn’t even sure why, but it just felt like such a wonderful thing to get to celebrate his love for you among so many people, all of whom had had some form of positive effect on your life, and vice versa.    The only thing he was slightly saddened about, was the knowledge that the extent of the groom’s side was William and no one else. He had nothing more to bring. The rest of them would all come for you.

   But he was tremendously happy that so many people wanted to be there for you. And he was immeasurably proud that he’d get to stand before all those people and hear you confess your love for him.    The sadness he felt lay only in how poor he felt in not having anything but himself to share with you in return. An irrational sadness perhaps, since you’d already proven that none of that mattered to you.

   It was just such a harsh reminder of how alone he’d been before you. But also, of how rich you’d made him.

   Saturday did see the two of you waking up tired, following late night preparations and fixing of last-minute problems that had of course occurred, because it wouldn’t be a big celebration without at least a few mishaps for you to bemusedly recall in the future.    But you were both happy, even as you first woke up, despite the terrible fatigue and the comfiness of the bed that you now had to leave.

   You kissed good morning and then rolled out of bed to get the day started.    You’d agreed that breakfast was going to be a nice and calm affair, with just the three of you, plus Groot, both to give you a good start of the day, but also to make sure that you’d eat something before all the stressful stuff. Because once that started, you knew that you wouldn’t have time to sit down for a meal.

   Mae wasn’t in the best mood, though. She was sleepy in the mornings in general and didn’t approve of being woken extra early, so she was cranky throughout breakfast.    But it was still just a regular morning, and it was nice to just sit there and talk and let your minds have a rest from the party.    From now on, it would have to sort itself out anyway, because it was too late to change anything, and if something went wrong at this point, you’d just have to go with it.

   After the meal, however, it was time to split up.    Pero would take Babybee with him, while you went to get your hair and make-up done with Abby, after which, your bestie would bring your daughter back to you while he went to a barber and then Dean would help him with the suit.    And then it was pretty much gametime.

   William was gonna go with him to the barber and get a little makeover, or really just a tidying of his head-hair, after all his time in the bunker.    He was living in the country house with Dean and Abby now, so they’d brought him to the barn when they’d left that morning, making it easier for Pero to pick him up.    And getting there, he was astounded at how good it all looked in the daylight.

   Everyone but Will had all been there the night before, putting up the flower decorations, twinkle lights, and all the finishing touches, but it was still something else to see it all come to life under the sun.

   “There’s my boy! How you feeling, son?” Dean greeted him as he stepped into the barn with an impressed whistle.

   “Like the luckiest human being in the world,” he grinned in return, hugging the small mountain of a man.

   “Oh, I do believe you are, Mr. Tovar. Although, I am somewhat biased.”

   “As a father, I think you are allowed to be.”

   “Thank you,” Dean laughed warmly, before the men pulled apart.

   And right then, Mae came waddling through the grass, having made her way across the lawn on her own bare feet, with a watchful eye from her father, of course.

   “Babybee! My sweetest little angel, how are you?” the grandfather giggled, in his own uniquely booming way, and the child was immediately excited.

   “Baba!” she squealed and giggled, and then promptly fell on her butt when her focus was disrupted.

   She’d been quicker to learn how to walk than talk, but mama had unsurprisingly been her first word. Closely followed by baba, which she called both Pero and Dean.

   “Oh, my gosh, you’re getting so big! Soon you’ll be running off doing all the stuff you’re not supposed to do, and then we’ll all be in trouble,” the older man cooed while scooping her up in his big arms.

   “Mm, especially now when her parents will soon be busy with two of you,” the younger man added, making Dean splutter in shock.

   “What!? You guys are pregnant?”

   Ooops… He’d assumed that you’d told your father that the two of you were trying, you always told him everything.    But apparently, you’d been too busy to mention this part.

   “No, not yet… Ay, forgive me. I thought she had told you that we have started working on it,” he sheepishly admitted, but the older man just laughed heartily.

   “Nope. But that’s fantastic news, my boy! The family keeps growing. What a truly wonderful thing,” he chirped, and pulled his son into another hug.

   But as they parted once more, Pero’s eyes went around the room, looking for the only missing piece of the moment.

   “He’s out back, by the treeline,” Dean said, much more mellow as he noticed where the younger man’s focus had gone.

   “He did not wish to come inside?”

   “To tell you the truth, I don’t know what he wishes. It’s been a year and a half since Bee first got through to him, and still, it’s like he actively resists anything that might put a smile on his face,” the older man sighed with a mild shake of his head.

   “Well, let’s leave him be for now. I am sure Abby has left some things for us to do.”

   Together, the three of them put together the finishing touches in preparation for the guests, although Mae mostly just tagged along and babbled.    Their chores included fixing the welcoming drinks, putting the tablecloths out and then setting the tables, making sure all the chairs were accounted for since there weren’t any spares, and checking and double checking the sound systems for the microphones.

   Then the musicians arrived. You’d insisted on a live orchestra instead of a DJ, and that was what you’d gotten. Thirty performers strong, in fact.    And while the men listened to them warm up and test their instruments, they both had to agree that you’d been right. Living music being performed live would never top recorded music blasting through speakers. That was simply a fact.

   Shortly after that, Abby came back to take Babybee over to you so that the boys could start getting ready, and Pero couldn’t help but ask.

   “How does she look?”

   “Happy and very much in love,” was your chosen sister’s answer, and while it wasn’t what he’d meant with the question, it was still the perfect answer.

   “Good,” was all he could think to say in return, and then he darted off to find his brother.

   It took him a minute, because the man had moved from where Dean had suggested he’d been earlier, to sitting just outside the tent where the food was being prepared.  

   “Hey. Ready to go?” he asked once he got close enough to be heard.

   “Sure,” was all the other man replied, getting up and falling in beside Pero on their way back to the car.

   He was no chatterbox, nor particularly positive in general, but that morning he seemed even more down than what was his usual these days.

   “Look, if you don’t want to do this, it’s fine,” the Spaniard reassured him, reiterating what he’d told him half a dozen times already.

   “I know,” Will answered dispassionately, as if literally nothing could ever excite him again.

   Once at the barber shop, both men took their seats beside each other while their barbers got to work, and throughout their visit, William never said a word.    Pero kept up a decent conversation with the young man working on him, who really was a chatterbox and seemed to love all things wedding-related, but after twenty minutes of hitting a stone wall, the other barber gave up, and joined their conversation instead.

   So, by the time they left, the Spaniard was somewhat annoyed with his comrade.

   “Are you even the least bit happy for me?” he asked quietly after parking the car back by the barn, but before stepping out of it.

   “Pero…” the other man sighed.

   “No, tell me honestly: do you want to be here at all today? Because no one is forcing your hand, but if you’re going to be here, then at least try to be part of the love, instead of sitting like a thundercloud in the distance, waiting to block out the sun.”

   Will closed his eyes and let his head fall forwards a bit then, seeming to struggle with something, although what that might be, his brother could only guess at, because the man seemed determined not to share his innermost thoughts with anyone.    For all his progress, he still kept himself cut off from the world around him, rarely even engaging with it even on a superficial level, much less in any meaningful way.

   “I’m not sure that I remember what happiness is, Tov,” he started, still with his eyes closed, but he opened them before continuing, staring out at the fairytale wedding your best friend had created with little more than nature and electricity. “But I see how happy you are, and I want that for you.    I want you to have everything that I never could.”

   “Ay, hermano… I know you do not see this, but you can still have those things too,” Pero tried, but then Will’s eyes fell shut again and he shook his head firmly.

   “No. Even if my heart somehow allowed it, my fear would never let me go there. That’s one part of me that even your wife can’t reach.”

   “Hey, do not get ahead of yourself, she’s not my wife yet.”

   “Sure, she is. Just not legally.”

   That made Pero chuckle, because it was absolutely true, and it was as close to a joke as he’d heard from his old friend in what felt like forever.

<><><><><> 

   Abby returned with Mae after just twenty minutes, at which point, the only thing you had left to do was put the dress on, which was going to be put off for as long as possible to prevent mishaps.    Which meant that there was nothing preventing you from just playing with your daughter for a while.

   You were back home while you waited for the boys to get ready, so all her toys and favourite things were available, and she had you all to herself, with the exception of one very pleased German Shepherd.    Groot had had his own little spa-day while you’d been in hair and make-up, getting bathed, blow-dried and combed until his coat shined, by the local dog-grooming specialist. And he was so proud of his impeccable exterior.

   Although, not too proud to still roll around on the floor and play.    Mae had learned that if she stood up and started walking, the dog would come to her side and let her use him as a crutch, or just keep her from hitting her head against things.    But the thing she loved the most, was if she happened to fall, because then he’d mirror her, dropping to the floor and rolling over as if he too had taken a spill.

   Almost like he knew that she might consider falling a failure, and wanted her to know that there was nothing wrong with falling, because everyone does sometimes.    In any case, it always made her smile when she saw him do that, no matter how sad or upset she might be, but since she was already happy today, it made her laugh hysterically instead.

   Soon enough, though, the door opened, and your father’s voice came booming through the house.    He had quite a tight schedule the poor man, but he seemed to love it. He was used to it, after all, as well as military level planning, and precision execution, so in truth, this was where he really thrived. In the thick of it.

   “Bumblebee? You still here, sweetheart? No cold feet?”

   “In the living room, dad. And my feet are currently too hot,” you called back, and watched him walk in and absorb the sight before him.

   Mae had decided to build a castle out of pillows and blankets, and for some reason, you needed to be the base of this castle, which was why you were on your back on the floor, with about twenty things on top of you, including the dog.

   “Hah, look at that. You might have a future architect here, Bee.”

   “Let’s hope so,” you chirped, just as your daughter realized that her grandfather had stepped in, and immediately abandoned the castle.

   “Go on and get dressed now, Bee. I’ve got everything set up outside, as soon as you’re ready, we’ll get going,” he smiled at you while picking up Mae.

   “Okay. Will you get her changed in the meantime? Her clothes are hanging on the crib.”

   “Yeah, we got it, mama.”

   Your baby had repeatedly proven herself to not like dresses, which was why her wedding outfit consisted of a crème coloured overall, soft and stretchy so that she’d be comfortable, and her favourite sneakers, which were green.    She was gonna have as good a day as possible, and that didn’t require her to look perfect.

   The same could be said for you, but you actually wanted to look a little dolled up.    This was likely to be the only time in your life when you were gonna have an opportunity to play Cinderella at the ball, or Belle at her dance with the prince, and you wanted to take the opportunity to live in a fantasy, just for this one day.

   Still, your makeup wasn’t over the top and while your hair was certainly better tamed than you’d ever manage on your own, it wasn’t tied up in any complicated fashion. Most of it hung freely, with just a few tendrils pulled back so that there’d be something to attach a few small white flowers to.

   The dress, however, was in a league of its own.    It was a sweetheart cut tulle dress, with a top layer of snow-white lace that had been embroidered with leaves and the same type of flowers that were now in your hair.    The skirt wasn’t flared, but there the lace had been bedazzled by thousands of beads and glass diamonds, most thickly gathered at the waist, carrying on down to your mid-thigh, before they started getting more scattered.

   It was a masterpiece, made and tailored just for you, by the wonder woman that was your sister Arabella.

   Stepping out of your room once it was on, your father momentarily lost all his marbles on the floor somewhere, along with his jaw, which was all the proof you needed that it was indeed perfect.    You smiled at him, and his mirroring smile was enough to bring tears of joy to his eyes.

   “Oh, my baby… you’re so beautiful,” he said through the stocking in his throat, while carefully stepping closer to hug you.

   “Thank you, dad. I feel really special today. Just so full of love…” you croaked in return, trying not to let your own tears spill, even though your makeup was waterproof.

   “I know what you mean. So, let’s go celebrate all this love, shall we?” he suggested, stepping back to pick up Mae, who was trying to grab the hem of your dress because it was shiny and much too tempting for baby fingers.

   But you weren’t bothered by her potentially picking a few little sparkles off, so you reached for her once he’d gotten her up, and he handed her to you without complaint.    Instead, he picked up your bag of essentials for the evening, slinging it over his shoulder before grabbing your phone and keys from the shelf in the hall, and then held the door for his girls so that he could lock it for you once you and Groot were outside.

   There was a small train on the back of the dress, just enough to make it fan out behind you, and he was quick to sweep it up while you made your way to the carriage.    Like the true romantic that your father was, he’d insisted on taking you to your wedding by horse and carriage, and it wasn’t some rickety old thing either. It was a retired Royal carriage that he’d bought on auction and restored to its former glory.    A convertible model, black, with silver detailing and deep green velvet on the seats.

   He helped you and Mae get in via the step that fell out whenever the door on the side was opened, letting Groot hop in last, and then he climbed into the coachman’s seat and grabbed the reins.    Happy and Ike were excellent carriage horses, content to trudge along at a moderate pace and would always stay perfectly still whenever they were brought to a stop, needing no groomsmen or helpers.

   Your daughter absolutely loved the ride, and joyously sat in your lap, pointing at everything she could see, for once not speeding past too quickly for her to even make anything out, getting increasingly excited every time you named what she indicated, even though she had no idea what most of it was.    Meanwhile, the dog sat on the seat opposite you, happily letting his tongue catch the wind.

   Since your house was already on the outskirts of town, the ride wasn’t that long, which resulted in you reaching your destination a little too quickly.    But, as it happened, that would turn out to be most fortuitous.    Because while you stopped a bit down the road from the barn, along a stretch that was lined on either side by very old maple and beech trees, a familiar frame came towards you.

   A gangly, middle-aged black man, with a digital camera that probably cost more than your average monthly salary, slung around his neck.

   “Mr. Okusanya… Hi. It’s so good to see you again,” you said, smiling at the memory of the only other time you’d seen him, nervously trying to order a drawing of a diamond-decorated cock, much to Pero’s polite confusion.

   “Thank you for letting me invite myself, Mrs. Tovar.”

   You glossed over the premature use of the name, because you already loved how that sounded, and really, what difference did an hour make?

   “After your kind response to my handicap and the loss of your order, how could I not?” you replied, unable to stop the slight sorrow that always accompanied any reminder of your lost skill and passion, from slipping into your voice and your expression.

   “Oh, never mind that. As it turns out, just voicing that particular interest without being ridiculed or belittled in any way, helped me to be a more confident person.    Thanks to your kindness, I’m getting married too, next year. And I never would’ve dared to tell him anything about that if you hadn’t opened the door for me first, so believe me, I am only ever grateful to you.”

   His words sent a flurry of warmth and compassion through your chest, as well as a slight swell of pride that you’d been able to do something so profound for this man, by just being yourself, leaving you speechless but smiling widely.

   “And on the subject of my gratitude, if I may, I’d very much like to repay you,” he added, after wiping a stray tear from the corner of his eye. “Will you let me take your wedding photos?”

   Stunned, you just stared at him for a moment, and then nodded your agreement, because it was just such a wonderful thing to offer.    You hadn’t even considered hiring a professional photographer, because you hadn’t felt up for the whole idea of structuring a photoshoot into your schedule and then having a stranger, and essentially a paparazzi, lurking about all day.

   But this wasn’t a stranger. And as a photographer, he was used to nature motifs, including animals which were generally mobile and required him to blend into the background not to startle them away.    Odds were, you’d never even notice him moving around the guests.

   “That’s very kind of you, sir,” your father suddenly entered the conversation, having stayed out of it while you got reacquainted, and because you hadn’t remembered to introduce him.

   “Oh, gosh, I’m so sorry!    Amari, this is my father, Dean. Dad, this is one of my former clients, Amari Okusanya,” you hurried to correct your mistake, and then remembered your child, still sitting on your lap. “And this is my daughter Mae.”

   The two men exchanged pleasantries and then Amari suggested taking some photos right there, with the gorgeous trees for a backdrop, while you waited for the clock to strike.    You stepped out of the carriage and followed his instructions, letting him move the skirt of the dress around to experiment with angles and movement, all the while feeling mildly lost since you’d never posed for anyone before.

   But he noticed and suggested taking a few pics with you by the horses, which instantly set you at ease. And then with Groot, then Dean, then all of you, then just you and Mae, and he kept going like that, just keeping you occupied, allowing him to snatch candid photos in between the posed ones.    Until you were suddenly out of time.

<><><><><><> 

   Pero heard the carriage arrive on the road outside the barn. The shoes that he had put on your father’s horses clapping against the pavement in a double rhythm, bringing him his bride and partner in all things.    It made his heart swell just knowing that he was about to have you beside him again, ready to declare to all these witnesses, that you had chosen him.

   He didn’t know who anyone in the room was, save for Abby, Will, Claire, Kate and Cody, but it didn’t matter. They were all there to celebrate your love, and for that, he appreciated each and every one of them.    William had taken the stage with him as his best man, but stood like a statue behind him, participating only with his presence, not his joy or excitement, which Pero could forgive because at least he was there. For a long time, that was more than he’d dared to hope.

   Abby was across from him, on the other side of the altar, ready to free your hands and support you in any way you might need, already smiling with tears in her eyes before you’d even arrived.    The two of you had been through so much together, throughout your lives, and been able to stick together through all of it, creating an unbreakable friendship that he would always cherish and protect.

   The orchestra was lining the entrance of the barn, so when they started playing, it was because you and Dean had told them that it was time.    That you were ready.    So, when the music started, everyone rose to their feet, and Pero sucked in a nervous breath, suddenly unable to see anything but the sunlight that shone through the door.

   Mae was too small to be a flower-girl, but Groot wasn’t.    He came first, walking down the aisle while pulling his little sister in a tiny cart, attached to him via a harness, both of whom Pero had designed and constructed especially for today.    And, ever the princess, Mae smiled and cooed as she was paraded in front of all the fancily dressed guests, all smiling at the adorable scene.

   Then suddenly… there you were.

   As if the sun itself had beamed you into that wide doorway, you seemed to glide into view, shining almost too bright for him to make you out at first, but as you stepped closer, the golden light released you, letting him see all of you.    His breathing slowed even as his heart pounded harder. Because however nervous he’d been before, your presence always soothed him. Even now.

   Unknowingly, he tried to step towards you, but a hand on his elbow held him back, reminding him that there was a procedure to this.    He heard Will’s voice somewhere behind him whisper almost reverently about how beautiful you were, and he could only nod in agreement.    He heard Abby snivel quietly, and saw your eyes turn to her with a tear-filled smile, just as you reached the altar and handed her your small bouquet of wildflowers, picked from around your house and the meadows around the barn.

   Then Dean’s large hand was suddenly on Pero’s shoulder, and he was slightly startled to realize that he’d never even noticed your father walking in beside you.    The older man was a mess of tears and smiles, pulling his adopted son in for a hug before he could bring himself to step aside, and let Pero step up to take his place at your side.    The two men laughed quietly together for a moment, at their own overflowing emotions, and when they pulled apart, you were smiling at them with an equally overwhelmed heart.

   With pride oozing from his every pore, Pero stepped over to you, offering you his arm for support as you climbed up the two steps onto the altar, while your other hand lifted the dress to keep you from tripping.

   “You look so beautiful, my love,” you suddenly said, while Abby fiddled with your skirt so that it wouldn’t twist around your legs.

   He hadn’t expected that hearing your voice would made his heart jump and pinch and bounce with excitement and gratitude, so when his own eyes abruptly filled with tears, he didn’t know what to do except just smile at you.

   “My sun…” was all he managed to choke out in response, but you understood.

   He had always been a star in your orbit. And he always would be.

<><><><><> 

   The entire ceremony was overwhelming for so many reasons.    Walking up that aisle and seeing him standing there, actually in awe of you, was almost more than your heart could bear.    Your ears registered Mae cooing and babbling when Groot brought her to Claire on the front row, next to the empty seat where your father would sit, but your eyes saw only the stranger.

   And in a single second, you saw everything that had happened between you.    From that first unwelcomed kiss, to finding him on your porch, inviting him in, letting him claim you… and everything that had followed because of it.    So much of it had been bad, but you’d still suffer through all of it again, a hundred times, for the love and joy and wonder that it had brought into your life.

   Then he was taking your hand, and his touch brought you back to the moment, to the reality of the man before you. The man you’d chosen, risked everything for, and allowed yourself to love without boundaries or restraints.    The words came of their own, from some part of your brain that you weren’t in control over right that second.

   You wondered if your face mirrored his in that moment. If you too looked as though the protective dam around your heart had burst open, flooding the air around you with rainbows, sparkles and sunshine.    You hoped so.

   The priest took over then, and as per your instructions, kept it short, sweet and light-hearted, as churchly rituals could so easily become stuffy and stale.    But this pastor was young and had a modern view of church, believing it to be something that needed to adapt to the present, as all things did, and had no trouble drawing laughter from the crowd and thereby stripping the ceremony of all nervousness or tension.

   You’d written your own vows, and just getting through them without forgetting every other word became another humorous spectacle, but one that you both felt entirely comfortable with.    Because how were you supposed to say such powerful and incredible things to one another, in front of a hundred people, without getting flustered? It was impossible to begin with, so there was nothing to do but laugh at it and soldier on.

   The engagement ring that he’d made for you had been made of steel, polished until it shined and then engraved with a planet.    And the wedding rings told the story to completion. Identical in every way, except that yours added a star next to your planet, while his depicted that same star, but falling into a symbol of infinity.    So simple, and so perfect.

   And then, finally, there was the kiss.

   The priest had only barely gotten through the sentence when Pero surged forwards. And you weren’t far behind yourself, resulting in a minor crash of your bodies against each other, and more laughter from the crowd, followed by cheering and applause.    But you barely even heard it over the rushing of your blood and the happy pounding of your heart.

   His arms held you so tightly to him, even long after the kiss had ended, unwilling to let you slip even an inch away from him. But not out of fear or possessiveness.    He just didn’t wanna let you go. He wanted to feel your joy just as much as you wanted to feel his. To touch your skin and feel how it warmed with the desired contact.    But most of all, both of you just wanted to live in that moment and never let it go.

<><><><><><> 

   The guests saw nothing strange at all about being asked to bring their folding chairs with them to their seats, and without complaints, grabbed one each and started making their way outside to the tables, where the food had been served during the end of the ceremony.    You hadn’t scheduled any speeches or really, anything at all past this point. From now on, it was just a feast, where the goal was simply for everyone to enjoy themselves.

   There were no seating arrangements and no folder with any program for anyone to read or stick to. Just good food, an orchestra that took requests, plenty of wine and beer for those that fancied it, and an announcement from you that everyone was welcome to dig in.    That was it. The rest would happen if it happened, and however it wanted to happen.

   During the meal, Pero really struggled to look at anything but you, or occasionally Mae when her sounds drew his attention. But she was with her grandfather and as happy as any kid could be, so his focus kept coming back to you.    He found himself watching the silliest little details about you, like how you held your fork, or how your throat moved when you chewed. The tiny hairs on your arms that fluttered in the breeze.

   Not one drop of alcohol crossed his lips, and yet he felt utterly drunk all day.

   “If I may have your attention, dear guests…” Dean eventually found the microphone, unable to keep from giving a speech to his only daughter on her special day. “I can’t let this occasion pass, without saying a few things.”

   His rich, strong voice carried to every ear across the open area, and everyone fell into a deeply respectful and complete silence.

   “A father’s greatest fear in life, is that his children won’t be safe. But when that life is good, and his children are safe, his fear instead becomes about their happiness. And for a long time, I thought I knew what a happy Bumblebee looked like.    But as it would turn out, I was very wrong.”

   He paused then, needing to swallow against the tears that were already coming.

   “When Pero entered her life, my daughter became something new to my eyes. Something I’d never seen before. It would take me some time to figure out what that was, but eventually, I realized that it was in fact, security.    It was the comforting and effortless happiness of knowing that her heart is safely held by someone else’s hands. Someone who truly values that gift and without hesitation, returns it.    Now, that doesn’t mean that life is suddenly perfect. But it does mean that the good moments, truly are as good they can be, and that’s something to be grateful for.    That’s what you give to my baby girl, Pero, and that is why I will always love you, my son.”

   If he had planned to add more to that speech, that plan was halted then, because that was as much as he could get through before the emotions became too overwhelming.    And not just for him.    Unable to let such amazing words go without acknowledgement, Pero rose and stepped over to the man, pulling him into a strong hug that saw them both break down for a minute.

   But when they pulled apart, it was with smiles in their features and joy in their hearts, even if their faces were drenched in tears.    And you were right there behind him, throwing your arms around your father’s neck as soon as it was free, letting him lift you off the ground with how tightly he held you.    The crowd applauded again, and there weren’t many dry eyes among them.

   After that, the late afternoon flowed in its own kind of rhythm, sometimes slow and mellow, with conversation and mingling, and sometimes energetic and loud, filled with dance and laughter.    It rose and fell, over and over, but Pero seemed to be sailing his own river in the middle of that ocean, remaining steadfast at the same pace, no matter how rowdy the seas churned around him. Undoubtedly lulled by his continued drunkenness on love.

   Until Groot suddenly placed his head in his lap and whined unhappily.

   The sound was so unexpected that it made him pause and turn his entire attention to the animal, and when he did, Groot got up and started walking away from the festivities.    He stopped when the human didn’t follow, looking back at him with another whine, so he got up and fell in behind the dog, wondering what he could possibly want to show him at that particular place and time.

   The canine led him across the entire field that connected to the barn, passed the horses that had been set free to graze while the festivities carried on, all the way down to the creek, the same one that trailed past your house, further up the road.    And when they got there, Groot indicated something of interest down by the bigger rocks that were closest to the water.

   “Of course, it must be down there…” he sighed, looking at the dog with a quizzical brow. “Do I have to? Can you not go down there and bring whatever it is you want me to see up here?”

   The animal just kept looking at the rocks, slowly wagging his tail while he waited for the human to get the message.

   “Fine. But just so you know, this suit was very expensive,” he griped as he loosened his tie and rolled up his sleeves.

   Carefully climbing down the slippery bank, he miraculously managed to reach the bottom without any mishap, and started looking for whatever the dog was indicating.    At first glance, he missed it, because he wasn’t expecting it to be something that connected to his past. But once he saw the small hidden package, he already knew what it was going to be, and his heart skipped a beat.

   At the Falcons, they’d been taught that if they ever got separated from their partner and were fatally injured, to hide an identifying mark within a scarf or sock, and then use nature to conceal it.    They hadn’t worn dog-tags or anything specifically identifying like that, but their partners had known their every item of clothing and every one of their possessions.

   And since William had still refused to rejoin society, Pero was very much aware of exactly how few things the man now owned, and exactly how each of those things looked.    A worn and frayed cap that had once belonged to a young Dean, so old now that it no longer had any colour, had been bundled up and jammed down between two larger rocks, and then almost completely covered by mud and leaves.

   He pulled it out, placing it on one of the larger rocks before gently prying it open to find a neatly folded note, protected by a plastic bag, inside.    Sorrow filled his soul as he stuffed the bag into his pocket and started climbing back up the bank, somehow managing to escape without muddying up his pants, only to then sit down in the soft grass back at the edge of the field.

   Groot instantly knew that he wasn’t doing well, and sat down beside him, leaning his entire body against Pero’s side, for support as well as comfort.    He gratefully scratched the dog’s chest for a few beats, to thank him, but also to delay opening the note.    Because even if it wasn’t as bad as he feared, it wasn’t going to be anything good.

   He hadn’t seen Will at the party for a while, but he’d assumed that the man had just wandered off to escape the positive atmosphere for a bit, since he wasn’t susceptible to it, which probably made it grating to listen to and be surrounded by.    He really hadn’t thought that something like this might happen. Especially not now, after so much time had passed and so much progress had been made.

   But there was no avoiding it. He’d have to read it sooner or later, so he might as well get it over with now, when the atmosphere of love that was waiting for him back by the barn, would help him endure whatever pain this would cause him.    So, he pulled the bag out and ripped the plastic open, shoving it back in his pocket so it wouldn’t fly off on the wind while he unfolded and read the piece of paper, unbiddenly recognizing that it was a sheet from the shopping-notepad on Dean’s fridge.

   Which meant that he hadn’t done this on impulse. It had been planned, since early that morning, at the latest. But probably much further back than that.

   ~Pero,    I know that this will hurt you, especially today, but I can’t put it off any longer.    My life was supposed to end that day, with them. Everything after that has been wrong. Just layer upon layer of wrong.    I didn’t have it in me to end it back then, and I still don’t. But I’m also not gonna fight for a life that isn’t meant to be. I’ll leave my fate to nature, and if she decides to end me, I’ll finally get to rest. If she doesn’t, then I guess that’s just my penance.    Either way, this is our ending, brother.    I never deserved you, but I have loved you all the same.

   Please, tell your wife that I will forever carry her bravery and kindness in my heart. Tell her I’m sorry.    I am so very sorry.    Will~

   He read it three times before he could accept it. And then another three before the tears made it too hard to see.    The pain made him want to blame the man for giving up, after all your effort spent trying to save him, to give him a chance to live again. It made him want to scream and curse his brother to hell for making all that struggle and heartache and misery pointless.

   But he couldn’t, because that wasn’t true.    The harsh truth was that Will had never been given a choice. You and Pero had decided to try and undo Lang’s conditioning, unable to trust anything he’d said while under another man’s thumb.    And then, when you’d finally started breaking through, the two of you still hadn’t believed him when he’d asked you to stop.

   No matter how much progress he’d made, you had never heard him when he’d said that he didn’t want this life.    Because you hadn’t wanted to hear it. Either of you.    And that now left the Spaniard with two questions.

   Should he wipe his tears away, plaster a fake smile on his lips and go back to try and let the positive atmosphere purge his sorrows? Or should he take you aside and tell you what had happened, ruining the day for both of you?    But he already knew the answer, because there was no way that you wouldn’t see the pain in his eyes, no matter how well he tried to hide it.

   You knew about the conversation that had taken place between him and William that day when you’d invited him to the house, so you knew that he hadn’t been doing so good.    Still, Pero felt certain that this would somehow hurt you even more than it did him. Because to him, his brother represented his only good childhood memories, the only positive influence on his entire existence prior to meeting you.

   But to you, he represented something far greater.    Even with how briefly you’d known him, the poor man had somehow become tethered to your sense of hope, your belief in miracles and the healing power of love and acceptance.    And your husband feared that losing that was going to rip a hole through your soul.

   Even so, he couldn’t lie to you. Not today, when you were celebrating togetherness.

   He got up and started walking back, wiping his tears and straightening his tie on the way, doing his best not to let all the guests see how hard he was fighting to hold himself together, as he made his way through the crowd to find you.    But you knew at first glance, before he’d even reached you, and came to his side to follow him out of earshot from everyone.

   He couldn’t say it, so he showed you the note instead, and watched with a sinking heart as the words drilled through your being like blunt swords.    You didn’t say anything at first. You just closed your eyes and tried to breathe. Tried to keep it from overpowering you.    And you managed it a lot better than he had.

   “He’s gone,” you whispered, but it felt like you were saying it to yourself.

   As though you were trying to tell yourself, convince yourself, that this was the new reality and that you had to let it be.

   “I don’t know what to do…” Pero admitted, gesturing blindly towards the guests and the party, feeling so torn between the joy of the wedding and the sorrow of this unexpected tragedy.

   “There’s nothing we can do,” you said, and your voice was so sad, but also unexpectedly strong. “He’s gone.”

   It seemed that you had decided to lean on love, and to let that hold you up, at least until this day was over. And in your surprising resolve, he somehow found a path back to the light of his heart.    And as the day turned to evening, and the world darkened, revealing the thousands of twinkle lights that hung above the crowd and throughout the barn, the two of you did somehow manage to find your way back to a resigned sort of peace.

   Perhaps in the knowledge that he was still alive, or in the fact that at the very least, neither of you had made this decision for him.    That for the first time in a very long time, William Garin was free.

-=¤=-

   “Daddy!”

   “Hey, Mae-Mae! How was school?” he asked as his daughter came bouncing towards him, smiling widely as she waved a piece of paper in her hand.

   “It was fun! Look! We made pictures of our hands!” she excitedly explained while handing him the picture.

   “Oh, wow! That does sound like fun. Maybe we should ask mama if she has any fun paint at the shop, and we could all make pictures of our hands.”

   “Yeah!”

   “Yeah, let’s do that. But right now, we must go home and let Groot out.”

   “Okay, daddy.”

   He opened the car door for her, and since she was three years old now, she could climb in and up into the car-seat by herself.

   “Hi, Jace!” she called once she was in her seat, but Pero gently hushed her.

   “Shh… He is sleeping, angel. We will wake him when we get home.”

   “Oh. Sorry,” she whispered, trying to peer at her little brother at the other end of the backseat.

   “It’s good that you are excited to see him, just remember that he is still very small and has lots of growing to do.”

   “And we grow best in our sleep, right daddy?” she proudly repeated what you’d told her on numerous occasions when she’d been trying to stay up past her bedtime.

   “That’s right.”

   He booped her nose and then made sure she was safely buckled up before closing the door and getting in the driver’s seat.    Once home, he let her out first, handing her the house keys once she was on the ground, before rounding the car to pick up his nine-month-old who loved nothing more than to sleep, and especially in the car.

   “Hey, dormilón… time to wake up, we’re home,” he cooed once the boy was in his arms.

   Meanwhile, Mae was already unlocking the front door to let the patient Shepherd out, giggling as he playfully bounced around her before running over to greet Pero and make sure that everything was alright with the family, before he felt okay to go relieve himself.

   While they waited for you to get home, Pero played with Mae while simultaneously tidying up the house, getting dinner started, changing Jace’s diaper, and doing some laundry.    The trashcan in the kitchen was full, so while his son had gone back to sleep, he told Groot to keep an eye on the girl while he took the garbage out to the bin.    He had absolute faith that the dog wouldn’t let his daughter anywhere near anything dangerous in the minute that it would take him to get back.

   But just as he’d dumped the bag into the bin, a movement to his left caught his eye.    It was so small that he assumed it to be a trick of his own senses, which seemed to be confirmed when he looked towards the imagined movement and found nothing there.    Dismissing it, he turned to walk back inside, only to find himself stopping halfway there. And this time, he wasn’t imagining anything.

   Before he’d even turned, he knew that it was real. As though the pressure in the air had suddenly changed, he felt the man’s presence.    Slowly turning his head, his long lost brother came into view between the trees. Alive, and by the looks of it, doing alright.    A tear-filled smile spread across Pero’s face, and then the man was gone.

   He waited until after dinner, when the kids were tucked in and sleeping soundly and the two of you were huddled up on the couch together, trying to stay awake after a long day, to tell you about it.

   “I saw him today,” he said softly into your hair, as you rested your head against his chest.

   “Who?” you answered, sounding comfortably sleepy.

   “William.”

   It took you a second to absorb that, and then you sat up so that you could turn your body around and look at him. As if you needed to see his eyes to believe that it could be true.

   “He only gave me a glimpse, but… he’s alive, Bee,” he continued once you could see him, and suddenly your entire being seemed to shine.

   You didn’t say a word, and you didn’t need to. He could see how that part of your soul, that part that he’d been so afraid would get ripped to pieces by losing Will, came back together right then.    You’d been so composed after you’d read that note that he had come to believe that he’d been wrong about how you’d take it. But now, a year and a half later, he could see how you healed as your faith in miracles was restored.

   You didn’t know it yet, but as your children would grow up, a mysterious stranger would watch them from the shadows.    Time and time again, he would shield them from harm in an ever more dangerous world, and even though they’d get frightened on the few occasions that they’d happen to catch a glimpse of him, their father would always tell them to trust him.

   And when they’d ask him why in the world they should do that, he would tell them the three most important lessons that life with you had taught him:

   “Because even a killer can be a good person. Even a mother can be a terrible person. And even a stranger can be a brother.”

THE END

===============