#Ignore the composition and look at the guy okay do it for me

[ikiradraws]

It's tough to take care of troublemaking friends

Details under cut!

[lakesbian]

should comment on the first (<- optimistically hoping there will be more) lamb interludes too

i like ashton so far i think it's fun to add another more Noticeably Alien Freak lamb. kindof autistic to be a fucked up biohorror lab experiment that doesn't know how to imitate people yet and consequently has no volume control & errs on the side of speaking too softly instead when you think about it.

the effect of him constantly vividly imagining peoples heads exploding for fun may be somewhat lost on me because i'm like well he's not hurting anyone so good for him.

the nonhuman visual perception was fun to read about i liked that

it has sadly occurred to me while writing this that the next time we see him it's gonna be timeskipped so far ahead that he'll be a Normal Boy and i won't get to enjoy the development phase, which seems like it should be the appeal of adding a new little vat boy to the team

his interlude segment portrays jamie 2 as a bit of an older sister. this is a win for me.

helen thoughts:

best interlude so far hands down because helen is special. one of the best Scenes At All Ever so far hands down because helen is special. it is so EXTREMELY effective to show her away from the lambs for the first time and have her casually remind that the personality she's been displaying for most of the book is an entirely calculated act for the lambs' benefit, and even the glimpses beneath it they've been getting had a heavy dosage of acting involved in the presentation. utter fucking Crocodile of a girl. it's so good

it's also extremely fucking funny for helen to be told to stop acting and respond by standing up and going "i want to gore that guy over there. Sexually."

specifically a big fan of how it's explicitly belabored that she stands up during the interrogation because she's no longer acting. like, the idea that even the most basic level of expected human behavior that would seem common sense exists only because of an act, and immediately ceases if the act does, replaced entirely by some reptilian Thing who stands up and states desire to crawl murderously into someone's mouth--that's really fucking good. and then the act goes back up and helen the Thing remains lying there underneath.

not directly from the interlude but i thought it was cute when sy explained to her that she was possibly feeling loneliness. if i was mary i would treat helen right...reptilegirls need hugs too...i would let her cuddle with me at night like a weird cat...

gordon:

i like him but he's very simple and overshadowed compared to more special individuals like helen. i'm sorry gordon

i do think it's SO fucking funny that he unironically mentally gets worried and compares him thinking mary is hot to helen talking about wanting to crawl into peoples skin and shit. teenager experiencing normal levels of teenager feelings and being like oh NO im some sort of weird intense freak pervert of the earth. like no man youre just a teenager youre gonna be okay buddy. well, you're not going to be okay, but that's for reasons unrelated to being attracted to women. that part is normal and fine.

it's nice to have confirmation that gordon is mind beaming "holy shit please shut the fuck up" at sy just as often as sy is mind beaming it at him. not that we needed it to know, given that sy receives the mind beams 95% of the time minimum (and elects to ignore them almost as often)

i like the bit abt him being a segmented stitched-together person made from composite parts & his feelings also being sort of metaphorically processed as composite parts he can pick and choose from to engage with. griffon boy...

we should kill the duke

we should kill the baron

we should kill the duke and the baron

mary: unfortunately theres not so much to say about this one because she spent 65% of it vividly imagining how she could murder people. love you mary

lillian:

it was fun to see how sy looks from someone else's perspective and then find out what the fuck he was actually doing next chapter. and like just in general fun and convincing to see how she reads him without being privy to the one million insane things he's thinking at any given second

i have to confess i was bad at actually thinking a lot about lillian during this one. one of my main thoughts was "oh good we finally have more detailed description of how sy looks." wildbow novels are cool because you have to wait until one fucktillion words in to find out that a character has long eyelashes. adding that to my list of mental notes for drawing sy

detailed descriptions of how sy kisses lillian (extremely real and true and in character for him by the way you know he was doing a death note monologue in his head about his methodology) made me remember that im going to have to read the lesbian sex scene that fails the bechdel test at some point because mary tries to imitate it and then i went 🙁and had to try to stop thinking about that.

[bluemooniegif]

A college!Ihareno ficlet that will most likely turn into a full-blown fic? on your dash? More likely than you'd think!

Some basics that I'm gonna work into the story as a whole if I ever get around to writing it:

Iharu Furuhashi as a third-year biochemical engineering student. Do I know anything about biochemical engineering? No. Would he be the best employee Izumo Tech has ever seen? Absolutely.

Reno Ichikawa as a first-year music composition major. I do know a bunch about music... not that I've ever set foot in a composition class. I've heard the horror stories, though.

Anyway. Two idiots who think they have Absolutely Nothing In Common until the clubs start their meetings, and it turns out most of their interests (and friends) align. Chaos ensues. I'll shut up and give you the fic now okay I'm sorry here we gooooo !!!

"I told you you should've submitted your application earlier," Haruichi gripes, surveying the empty dorm with slight contempt.

"Well," Iharu snarls, "I was fucking busy. Housing wasn't exactly my priority when I was being fucked five ways to Sunday by literally everything in my life."

"You can just say the breakup was bad," Haruichi sighs, and Iharu's scowl deepens.

"Whatever," he drops his backpack onto the nearest desk chair, "it's done. I'm here now, I'll fuckin' deal with whoever rooms with me when he gets here."

"He's a first-year," Aoi supplies, opting to ignore Iharu's gawking as he shoulders his way in, two heavy boxes stacked in his arms. "Said so on the board. You should really start checking those."

"A greenie?" Haruichi whistles. "Bad luck, Furu."

"Thanks guys," Iharu quips, using his keys to tear into the first box Aoi sets down with more vigour than is probably necessary. "Always good to know I've got your unconditional empathy and support."

"We got you, man," Haruichi claps him on the back hard enough for him to wheeze, then slips quickly to the other end of the room. He fishes out a textbook and pretends to consider it to avoid being glared at.

Another hand falls onto Iharu's shoulder, much more gently. "It might not be that bad," Aoi says in that annoyingly passive tone he uses when he wants Iharu to shut up and calm down. "We can't judge anything about a person without meeting them first."

Iharu rolls his eyes and shifts away with an armful of clothes. "You know how greenies are, though," he pulls open the closet door with his foot, half-ducking inside to shove whatever he can into the drawers. "They're loud, and annoying, and have no sense of general etiquette. They dunno how to use the campus map, or the dining hall, or the fuckin' rotating doors. They're useless! Plus," he shoves the now-full drawer closed and wonders absently why the other two have gone so quiet, "I've done my time rooming with one. Having to do this again is, like, divine punishmen-"

When he closes the closet door and looks back towards Aoi, Iharu notices that there's someone standing in the doorway. Two someones, both with varying degrees of disgust written across their faces. The boy in front is staring at Iharu with an eyebrow raised, and he thinks to himself, Oh. Beautiful.

"Hello," the boy says, deadpan. "Annoying greenie roommate, Reno Ichikawa, here to deliver divine punishment."

"Oh," Iharu sputters, and he thinks he hears Haruichi drop something heavy with a curse- the textbook. He hopes it landed on the bastard's toes. "Oh, shit."

//

heheheeeeeeee

This is what inspired me to choose their majors btw:

Whew... anyway

[rui-drawsbox]

Okay obligatory DnD person as per the Dungon Meshi post(dnd/fantasy au + our life is amazing and I love it) but also I just wanted to say that there is a subclass of elves in dnd called aquatic elves that are kind of a happy mix between a mermaid and a, well, normal elf. I stick more towards spooky rather than nautical campaigns myself, so I’m not too familiar, but if I remember correctly they’re amphibious but with two legs rather than full mermaid.

Also obviously please ignore if you have different ideas but based off of what people have written about battle roles I could absolutely see some subclasses for the four!

Derek I could absolutely see as a Paladin(subclass possibly being oath of devotion or glory) basically the more defensive tank guys bound by an oath they make to themselves or someone important to them, which gives them a little spellcasting as well as actual auras that buff their allies later on.

Baxter I could see being a Bard (College of Swords), or what I kind of think of as a sort of battledancer. It would be a little less of a full spellcaster, but you can do special flourishes when fighting with a rapier which I always imagine as pseudo-dancing, plus he’d still get all the flashy bard spells. And to top it off, Bards actually use their charm(charisma stat) to cast spells which just screams Baxter to me.

Cove is a little harder but if you were going with him having a fish/animal companion while still being a melee fighter a Ranger(Beastmaster or Swarmkeeper) would be a good fit IMO, obviously with the Cove Creater he’s harder to pin than Baxter or Derek, but Ranger is pretty flexible. You basically get to choose a companion that’s from the land, air, or sea; and they can help you out in battle and follow you around, or as Swarmkeeper he could have his swarm be a school of fish.

Ruri is obviously a bit harder because you know your OC best, but if you really wanted to lean into more into the familiar/animal buddy route. Druid(circle of the shepherd) is always a fun choice! It’s kind of like the more spellcaster version of rangers’ Swarmkeeper where you can summon a lot of critters while still having some super strong elemental spells.

But anyway! I hope this wasn’t too long, I saw some (kinda) DnD our life content and I couldn’t resist! But thank you again for the adorable art of the main boys(and your lovely OC!) in a fantasy setting!

Second ask from dnd anon:

Oh! DnD anon part two!

But basically the theoretical party composition would look like:

Derek = Tank/Damage

Cove = Weapon Damage/Companion(s)

Baxter = Spells/Weapon Damage

and Ruri = Healing/Spells.

Also one last note about Druid is while druids have a lot of elemental spells (create water, spike growth, etc.), they also have the ability to do something called wildshape, where they can shapeshift into an animal for either out of battle(wildshape into a mouse to get under the crack in a door, then returning to normal and unlocking it) or battle (at later levels imagine fighting a spellcasting bear or even dragon) but also has more silly implications like wild shaping into a songbird to sing with Baxter, or a cat or sloth to ride on Cove’s shoulder.

got these asks a few days ago but i let them marinate in my brain hope you dont mind anon KJDSAUH

anyways AQUATIC ELF THATS PERFECT i tried to stick to what i knew about dumenshi rules in that post but for my first fantasy AU ideas i was going to do Cove a half mermaid (Cliff human x mermaid Kyra or elf Kyra [shes just so pretty its insane] x mermaid Cliff) that lived in a house right on the beach lmao, im happy that actually makes sense somewhere in dnd

i tried to look at the aquatic elves wiki from the forgotten realms fandom and omg so much text in the main page

also paladin Derek canon‼‼ imagine he does his oath to his brothers right after something dangerous happens to them when they were kids (im not saying his parents should die but im not saying they shouldnt--)

and bam!! tragic backstory 10x worse than his canon that is already bad enough :DD (try to make him feel less responsable now i wanna see that)

baxter turn rn. DO YOU THINK HE WOULD PLAY VIOLIN? I WANNA SEE THAT (<-this person didnt thought about drawing him with an instrument until it was time to write her thoughts) anyway it would def be a fancy instrument, daddy and mommy wanted to keep appearances i bet

one his spells makes his sword and moves shine and when hes under the sun his enemies become fucking blind

everything about him screams I HAVE MONEY but everytime people try to rob him he just rolls a nat20 in persuasion and they end up giving him money

and omg just imagine Cove's school of fish are all his pet fishes from the game JGASDFJK

im also. not discussing roles when the most i know about dnd is bg3 and i just finished 2 playthroughs. if you say ruri is a druid she's a druid, she makes super artsy flower fields and decorates every tree she sees with organical paint or smth jkfhds

Ruri's forest has a tree that connects with the ocean and they both just hangout sometimes (as if theyre not together 60% of the time already)

DRUID RURI THAT LIKES TO BRAID COVE'S HAIR WITH LITTLE POPPIES‼‼‼

MERMAID COVE THAT LETS RURI (otter form!!) RIDE HIS BACK WHILE HE SWIMS‼‼‼‼

mermaid cove humming a song and ruri falling to the river in trance/j

anyways anon i agree with everything tbh, there's so many ways to do a fantasy AU and i adore the dnd version (id kill for a dnd group or smth in my city)

i also have another fantasy au more vanilla but not-really. basically isekai baxter LMAO mostly an excuse to make ruri and baxter being domestic but before baxter developed any real domestic skill JHASFD

[solitary-cutie]

Darkness to our light. Part II

Part I

Part III

Part IV

prompt: you and coriolanus are married, it's unbearable for you, but it will all end soon

contains: dark, manipulative, controlling coriolanus. fem!reader.

And so you are sitting in the living room waiting for the only person ypu could talk to - the piano teacher. Sharing with desire to continue your once neglected studies, Coryo did not fail to fulfill whim of his better half and help Her. He would always help, even without asking. No matter if you needed this intervention. He would spend all the money on your wants without even mentioning it, as if forgetting, deliberately ignoring any checks in the stores, but you clearly knew that this wastefulness was another yoke around your neck, because one should be grateful. Especially if the checks came in the mail, and the history of purchases served him in calculating the spending for the month.

“Hello. Hey, you guys quiet today? Helpers’s a bit tense today. Not even tea! Can you believe it? Didn't offer! - The teacher laughed, putting out a folder with notes, a pencil, an eraser and an orange leather notebook from her bag on the snow-white piano.”

“Oh yes, He's planning a dinner party, everyone's getting ready. He's inviting coworkers, his sister. He's looking forward to the promotion.”

“Oh, wow. Who's coming from yours?”

You didn't say anything, was ashamed of yourself. “No, it is his night.” Silence. “Maybe you'll come?” Open hope in the voice of her student, almost her age.

“When? I had plans, but I'd stop by.”

“It starts at 7:00. I'll be waiting, you know! You can come when it's convenient for you.”

A weightless touch, as if you'd brushed something off the back of her hand. You ran your eyes around the room. He's not home. The teacher softened.

“Okay, I'll try.” She finally sits down on a nearby chair. “Come on, show me how you've been practicing. Have you tried to put both hands together yet?”

“I tried, but no luck.”

“Did you play the metronome?”

“Yeah, I got more confused.”

“All right, I'll do the math. Go ahead. E-e-e, one and, two and--“

The game began, with mistakes and quick, hurried edits.

“You've changed.” Said the teacher, stopping counting out the rhythm, because the student was already helping herself with the silent movement of her lips.

“He says the same thing to me.” She chorused the rhythm.

“You're not so much flirtatious, laughing. The author's depression? When was the last time you sat down at the pen?” She smiled.

“I miss it. Okay, wait, what's the best way to play this? I forgot.”

The teacher intercepted her hands and began playing the obscure part, counting out the rhythm aloud with intonation highlighting that "And three, And four, And one...".

“You're unhappy.”

“No, why?”

“That's not a question. I can recommend a psychologist, the best woman I know. She helped me let go of my resentments.”

“I'm not resentful.”

“Teach you to love yourself, so you don't deny those resentments, but accept them. Appreciate yourself, don't deny being alone, but accept being one with yourself. You are not alone, know you can walk away from where you want to walk away from.” The teacher did not realize how she had pushed the piano aside and how she had moved on to passionate speeches. She had been spared the resentment, but not the desire to save.

You looked around the room again out of habit.

“At least he doesn't hit you?”

“No, God, of course not.” You caught the doubt in her eyes and a second frown furrowed her brow. “No, seriously, I wouldn't stand for that. I'm not leaving him. I can't.”

“There's no word for "can't."

“I mean, what dictionary can I give you to back that up? I don't even want to leave. We are one and the same, and he won't just let me go. The only way I'm getting out of here is with my feet up. If I'm lucky and he dies before I do, I'll have a few years of pleasure.” She smiled, starting the composition from the beginning.

“In the left hand hurry a little. And how can you reason like that about a man you're married to? And if the children come, what will you do?”

“The later they come, the better, God forbid now.”

“Does he want them now?”

You hesitated, not stopping the game. It was embarrassing. Again.

“Well he hasn't talked about them yet, though I don't know how he plans to.”

“So even your body doesn't belong to you? You don't talk about your plans, not your plans, but his.”

“My soul doesn't even belong to me. Look, my arms are tired, can I take a little break?” Nod. “What's the best way to pedal here?”

“First learn to control both hands.”

Silence.

You wonder if you could call it a pun. If your body and even the imperishable substance of your being belongs to your husband, a white-haired angel raised in hell and invited into the ether of paradise, a world of powerful, fully-endowed people, will you be able to control what you lost access to on the date that the calendar refers to as the "Anniversary of Dating"?

The remaining hour of class passed in silence, resulting in the learning of a new sonata, even with the use of a pedal to stretch the sound, giving it a smooth flow from one bar to the next.

“I have a question here: when will you finally learn the bass clef? Will you stop signing notes?” The teacher mocked, marking in the diary the next lesson for January.

“It's a rhetorical question.” You looked at the Interlocutor. “Oh man, I don't like that bass clef, I can't memorize it. The only thing I know is what the C note looks like. That's it.”

“Don't forget the "B."

“Oh yeah, and then..." She made a long road to nowhere with her hand.

“And then let the Snow land on top.” He stood at the white archway that opened the living room, leaning lightly against the blue wall with gilded patterns and trees.

You shuddered, nerves to no avail, you were easily frightened, which could not be said of your teacher, - a girl strong-willed. Nevertheless, the fright laid a heavy stone on her heart, sinking it into her heels, and she dropped her pencil and, looking at him confusedly, hurried to pick it up.

“I didn't mean to disturb you, much less frighten you.” The ice-cold eyes flashed over each of the girls, burning their insides with cold.

Coriolanus knew you were partial to this pianist. From the first time you met her, He had noticed the glint in your eyes. Gross, He didn't approve of it, but He also knew it was certainly not worth worrying about. You amuse yourself as best you can from lack of socialization with Him. Yes, maybe you complain about Him, suffer, but you won't leave Him because you don’t want to. These reflections might have reassured Him if He had once experienced a semblance of even doubt, let alone anxiety.

“Ginny, my wife and I are organizing a dinner party tonight. We'd love for you to come.” His eyes darted to you, looking at your teacher. What will you do? If you start coaxing her “friend”, this conversation never happened between you, but if you walk up to Him and...

“What a great idea!” You whispered, flying up to your husband and hugging him by the forearm. He smiles, it all became clear, you had already invited her, but was it scary to ask Him? “I was afraid to invite Ms. Ring because of the possibility of rejection.”

Now you are on His side, snuggling up to Him to get hers. Manipulative. And who are you trying to bend to your will is unclear.

“Yes, of course, thank you for the invitation, I'd love to come. But I'm afraid I'm busy, so I won't be able to make it to the beginning of the evening.”

“I didn't tell you the time, in case you get there.”

You both looked at each other. The pianist was confused.

“Dinner starts at 6:00 or 7:00 in the evening. Ms. Ring apparently skips a lot of dinner.” She tried to put the question into an impromptu justification for the two of them, but it came out badly. The answer to his line didn't work anyway.

“It starts at seven o'clock, but knowing some of the guests, they'll be a little later.” He looked at his wife. “Play the new composition you've learned for me.”

“We haven't played it all the way through yet. We need time.”

“Play it.” Demand…

[hwabang]

Cake🎂- Yang Jungwon

Genre: fluff + very slightly suggestive (?)

Warnings: fem!reader, idol!Jungwon + idol!reader, older!reader only by a year, slightly suggestive = mentions of dancing sensually together, use of the word Noona, friends to lovers, Jungwon is obsessed with reader

Author’s Note: Y'all remember how in my first Jungwon imagine I wrote in the author's note that he's not even one of my enha biases but I wrote for him before writing for Jay and Heeseung?... Yeah, well, guess who has 3 biases in ENHYPEN now🤭

For reference here's KARD's 'Cake' Dance Practice

(gif not mine!)

"Collab with me."

Jungwon raised his eyebrows as he sipped his lemonade. "When you asked to meet me I was not expecting that."

Deciding to take a sip of your iced coffee, you quirked an eyebrow at him. "What were you expecting then?"

"For you to accept my confession."

You playfully scoffed. "Keep dreaming lover boy."

Jungwon smirked at you. "Always am baby. Why do you wanna collab with me?"

"Well, my members and I did a live the other day and at one point we asked our fans what they wanna see for our 2nd anniversary coming up. The staff prepared some options and the most popular one was doing a cover with another idol. Our team said we get to choose the idol, concept, and type of cover. So yeah. Collab with me."

"Well I gotta say I'm flattered." Jungwon picked up some of his cake with his fork and brought it in front of your mouth. "Say ah."

You followed his command and hummed once you tried the cake. "Wow, that's good. So what do you say?"

"What song do you wanna cover?"

"'Cake' by KARD."

Jungwon smirked and raised an eyebrow. "Is this your way of getting close to me? Because if so then just know all you had to do was say the word and I'd touch you."

Flustered, you took more sips of your drink, hoping Jungwon wouldn't notice the blush on your face. "N-no, that's not it... I– the song has been stuck in my head since it came out and once I saw the dance I knew I wanted to cover it, and now I got the chance to do it so I asked you."

"Hypothetically," Jungwon started, crossing his arms and leaning on them on the table. "If I say no, who will you ask?"

You shrugged. "I'm sure Jake would do it with me."

Jungwon poked the inside of his cheek with his tongue and scoffed. "Oh yeah?"

"Mhm! Maybe even Jay. Oh, I know Heeseung would LOVE to–"

"Yah," he whined. "Stop it I get it; you're hot and desired by many including my members."

You wore a proud smile on your face, loving how easy it was to rile him up. "So you'll do it?"

Jungwon looked at you as if you're crazy. "Of course I'll do it. Why would I give up any opportunity to be close to you?"

You ignored the butterflies in your stomach. "Great! So our team will contact yours and then I'm thinking you can come to my company every day for like 2-3 hours and we can start–"

"On one condition."

You sighed and nodded. "Okay, what is it?"

"After the release of our cover, you go on a date with me."

You were quite taken aback, but quickly gathered your composition. "Jungwon I told you–"

"Yeah yeah, we're both idols and you don't date younger guys." Jungwon closed his eyes and let out a frustrated sigh, opening them back to give you eyes filled with hope. "I've heard it numerous times Y/N."

"Th-then you should stop pursuing me.." Your voice was quiet as you fiddled with the fork on your dessert plate. You said it so easily, sure but did you really want that?

It was almost as if Jungwon could read your thoughts. "See but you don't really want that do you baby." Your silence made Jungwon let out another frustrated sigh as he took your hand gently in his. "Tell me, what are you so afraid of, hmm? And don't say fans, otherwise you wouldn't have asked me to do such a suggestive dance with you."

"Jungwon you're just younger and I don't–"

"I'm a year younger than you Y/N. What's so bad about me being younger anyways?"

"I-I don't know... I guess I'm just..."

Jungwon rubbed the back of your hand with his thumb, trying to coax it out of you. His eyes had a hint of worry in them. "Tell me baby," he said softly. 

You sighed before finally letting your real feelings out. "I want us to work, and I guess I'm just afraid that it won't and I'll be left here all hurt and all alone in the end. So I'm saving myself from that I guess... that's it."

Jungwon pouted before leaning closer to the table, taking your other hand in his free one. "Y/N.. why do you think we won't work out?"

"There's just so much that could go wrong and–"

"And how can you be so sure that'll happen with us? We both will try our best to make our relationship work yeah? So why not just give it a chance? We both want it Y/N, let it happen."

You contemplated a bit as Jungwon kept caressing your hands with his, patiently waiting for a response. "A-after our cover is released?"

Jungwon smirked. "Or we can go on one tomorrow too."

---

idk man i'm OBSESSED with the thought of jungwon being absolutely INFATUATED with a slightly older reader, like 🥵 anyways, hope this little drabble(?) was okay! love y'alll <3

[bluegekk0]

This might be a weird question, but what gives you the energy and motivation to draw?

I just don’t understand how people can make multiple high-quality drawings in such a short time

not a weird question at all! i've also used to wonder that a lot

for me, i think it becomes more obvious what motivates me to draw when you look through my art. my au is my primary inspiration for everything, i think about it all the time and whenever i see something cool or funny, i immediately start thinking of drawing something like that with my characters. that's why you'll see a lot of meme/photo redraws on my blog, for example. but it carries over to real life as well, like when i got a haircut and got inspired to draw fpk trimming grimm's fur. it's the little things that motivate me to get my tablet pen and draw, and being able to actually make what i'm imagining real is a great feeling

of course, this is not the first time i felt the urge to draw my favorite characters, i've had that every time i got into a new game or series. the difference being that, at their core, hk character designs are very simple and give a lot of freedom for experimentation, be it with original design interpretations, or more complicated compositions where you don't have to worry about too many details on the characters. this is what finally got me to focus more on painting and rendering, something i've struggled with for years before i got into hk

seeing the progress i've made is also a massive source of motivation. you don't notice it as you draw, but looking back you start seeing all the things you've improved and new techniques you applied, and it makes you want to keep going and get even better. i still have moments where i feel like i'll never be able to achieve the level of the artists that inspire me, but i want to try. at the end of the day, i'm doing this for myself, it's not a competition

and lastly, as toxic of a mindset it can be sometimes, the response and feedback i get from you guys also motivates me. i've never expected people to get this invested in my au, i honestly thought people would just ignore it, or call it dumb or worse. i don't think i would still be active on this blog, or really get far in my art, if it wasn't for the incredible response i got. sometimes chasing that high of having my art blow up gets toxic and it's something i'm trying to work on, but i can't also ignore the positive effect it had on me. i guess it's just a matter of finding a healthy balance

so in short, my advice is to find a character or two that you're really obsessed with, and just draw them. make it anything, it doesn't have to be the next mona lisa every time. draw them eating their favorite food, or give them a fun little outfit. you'll improve a lot with time, even if at the time it doesn't seem that obvious. from my own experience, using something like a meme inspiration as the base to experiment with your artstyle is another thing to do that serves as very good practice and keeps you engaged

it's not always easy, sometimes i lose motivation too, but having something to fall back on helps. just don't give up, keep drawing your favorite guy or gal, or anything else you enjoy, and it'll all be okay

[fioras-resolve]

I started Zero Time Dilemma! Here are my notes.

-So like, up front, this is a very different game from VLR or 999. Its intro starts not with an escape sequence, but with a choice. This sets the stage for what this game is Really about, and it's definitely a shift. It might turn out to be a lot for me, as someone who's not used to decisions as core gameplay

-The fact it's all an autoplaying cutscene gives ZTD a very different vibe from previous Zero Escape games. Not sure if I like it, but I might like it soon.

-So like, okay. After doing some cursory research, this game was inspired by Telltale's "The Walking Dead." It's a more cinematic experience, to appeal to the West. The thing is that Telltale had been doing games like this for a decade, and also clearly had more of a budget. So while Zero Time Dilemma being able to have actual shot composition is cool, the characters animate less than characters animate in a Telltale game, or in previous Zero Escape games for that matter.

-SHE SAID AMONG US, SHE SAID ZERO IS AMONG US LET'S FUCKING GO

-God the redesigns of pre-existing characters for this game are so fucking funny. ZTD!Phi feels fucking engineered to be hot, her design shows less skin than Alice or Lotus but manages to feel so much more horny. Although maybe that's just my tastes.

-Oh my god the choice to remix songs from 999 as well as VLR is inspired. VLR already straight-up reused songs from 999, but there's some songs remixed from 999 that didn't show up in VLR. Love that! Genuinely, it's cool.

-Wait so is Diana actually American? Or is she just a redhead with blue eyes for aesthetic reasons?

-Oh my god Carlos is the most Nathan Drake-ass White Guy to ever be put into a Japanese game. He's got the face, jacket, the voice, the Blonde White Dude Haircut. I love that Zero Time Dilemma's new wacky creatures after VLR's GOLM and Zero III are just white people. (Please ignore this if being a Latino turns out to actually be part of Carlos's character)

-So the big thing is that even though this is cribbing from The Walking Dead, its time travel mechanic means that I'm exploring possibilities more than living with my decisions. Although I am VERY early on still, I haven't even gotten to an escape room yet! Speaking of,

-I have not gotten to an escape room yet. What the fuck? That's usually the start of the game! Instead the game starts me off with the decision mechanic and the fragment of time stuff.

-Oh my fucking god, titty physics? In a game where the characters are animated this little? Mira is this game's scantily clad big-breasted woman, and this game immediately services the fans.

-I mentioned Phi's design earlier, and I've gotta say it feels like these character designs were all intended to be either relatable or titilating to a western audience. Like yes, Mira, Akane, and Phi are all different brands of hottie, but there's also Carlos, aka the most Video Game Guy ever, there's Eric, who's just some dude, and also Sigma is also looking incredibly Mid-2010s Western Game Protagonist too. And Diana is the first playable female character in Zero Escape so I feel like she is designed to be at least a bit relatable to femme audiences.

-I love how this is literally just Saw. "Each of your rooms has a small yellow button. Pushing it will let you escape, but send a shower of hydrogen flouride to the other rooms, killing them. The early bird gets the worm." This rules.

-I remember playing 999 and VLR and feeling like they were kind of bloodless, despite all the blood and death. The thing is that in those games, I almost never had to live with the consequences of causing someone else's death, in a way that wouldn't also be causing the death of the entire group. You know, a Game Over. But here, living with the consequences of causing someone else's death is the entire gimmick of the narrative. It's horrifying! I love it. Since this is Zero Escape there's prooooobably gonna be a relatively bloodless True Ending, but the fact that I don't know if that's true here is definitely worth commending.

-I also love how extremely straightforward the gimmick is here, there's no Ambidex Game or Digital Root to deal with here, you just decide who to kill and when.

-Okay I know that fact-checking is anathema to Zero Escape's mystique but I refused to believe that the Sleeping Beauty Problem wouldn't be solved at this point, that's a mathematics thing, there's no way they just don't have an answer yet. So I check on Wikipedia, and apparently yeah, it's still open for debate! Shit! Wonder if this'll still be true in 2028 when the game takes place!

-…Yeah, this is definitely a game I'm gonna have to play in spurts. I'm kinda surprised, for a series that's always been about deadly games, just how much darker this one is. I kinda like it a lot, but it's definitely a lot to have to go through.

[tictac-murder-spaghetti]

Strychnine OC Intro

Okay this took me longer then I meant to to post but the boy is here!! The gooey little guy :) Strychnine is a criminal necromancer working in Edornoldn, one of the few cities where necromancy is actually legal but hey, who wants to have to deal with all that regulation to reanimate corpses? He's the self proclaimed supervillain of Edornoldn, with Ambrose being his rival, also declared by him and not reciprocated by Ambrose. They’re really just a silly little guy. Name: Strychnine, also known as #07 by his "mother" Pronouns: He/they (physically male but they're made of goo so gender isn't... really there for them fully.) Age: 27 Sexuality: Gay In Whump: He can really do it all! He's typically whumpee or caretaker, especially given his bad past, but you know... he is a mad scientist. They’re not a sadist at all but if you got them angry enough... you could end up on the autopsy table. Personality: Oh he's a menace. He genuinely wants to be a cartoon supervillain, half of his persona is ripped straight from the large collection of comics he keeps in his lab. They’re very eccentric and a little childish, and extremely persistent in their friendships. If you befriend him he will NOT leave you alone. He's very cartoonishly "evil", prone to bouts of maniacal laughter and monologuing about his "totally evil plan" to Ambrose. They’re extremely intelligent and competent, they know exactly what they’re doing and how to do it, and they’re charismatic enough to get lots of clients and be somewhat popular as a necromancer in the criminal world. Despite his fairly non intimidating appearance, he does not take well to people trying to push him around or intimidate him into doing things he doesn't want to, and the threats of horrific violence with a smile like :D on his face usually do a good job at getting people to not try that again. Beyond their persona, they’ve actually got a lot of issues with their perception of self and their "evil" is often a coping mechanism to ignore his past. People with gooey murder hands were never supposed to be good people, right? Physical appearance: Strychnine is a very small and lean guy, he's only 5'2 with a fairly small body type in general. Due to their body composition, they don't build muscles or fat well, so they look quite scrawny, but hey, they do have enough strength to drag bodies around and saw through bones, so appearances aren't everything. He's got a fairly dark skin tone with freckles across the bridge of his nose and downturned eyes with yellow sclera and red and grey ringed pupils. They constantly look slightly teary/drippy. He's got a bright cyan mullet of hair, and while it appears to be locks, it actually has a texture more akin to putty. They've got cyan stitches tattooed around their neck and shoulders, with ribs tattooed over where their actual ribs are. He's also got large vivisection scars across his chest. His typical attire is a dark grey labcoat over a slightly transparent black undershirt, long pants with actual caution tape safety pinned around one leg, a leaded apron, safety goggles, and large steel toed platform boots for the height boost haha. He always wears a pair of thick rubber gloves, due to the fact that his hands constantly drip a corrosive black goo. Fun facts! - Due to his radioactive composition, he glows. His hair and eyes glow constantly, and his blood has a "glowstick" effect - They’ve got an extremely high pain tolerance, mostly because of their past. They’re sort of hard to physically whump because of it, he'll probably just be annoying instead - Again because he's full of goo and acid, he can and will, eat ANYTHING. He's vegetarian but also often likes eating totally inedible things like extra screws and bits of glass, mostly just to fuck with Ambrose. - Their hair also can burn things like their hands, but unlike their hands, it cannot burn through clothes or material, it can just cause 1st to 2nd degree chemical burns if you try to grab it His Toyhou.se is here if you want more information or to see more art

[anxiouspaprika]

The Tinkerer

A small screwdriver picked open a lid of a cylinder with a ball on the other end. A tool was supposed to make user's speech much louder: press a button, speak into the ball and the sound will come out amplified. Owner of the tool stood in front of the counter, anxiously looking at his wristwatch.

- Don't worry, it's not even broken. Well, it is, but not for long, - a man behind the counter, named Tikki, put on a pair of clunky goggles with a dozen different lenses, that immediately started moving around.

A cylinder made out of transparent material slid out of the tool. Black lines were etched on it, forming a multitude of shapes and symbols, seemingly random. On the bottom there was one symbol, an author's signature, that Tikki didn't recognize.

- Where did you get that, if it's okay to ask?

- A small shop in the southern district, they sell all sorts of stuff. For performers mostly: lights, voice canes like this one, they are called "loud and proud", I think. How long will the repair take? I have a concert tonight, you see...

- About five minutes, if we're lucky. Half an hour otherwise, but that's rare, - he tracked the etched line, rotating the cylinder. The schematics were simple, but well-made and robust: a single chain of runes that received the sound from the top of ball on the "cane", passed it around the rod, amplifying the signal, and then turned it back into sound on top of the cane. In one place the line came too close to another symbol and shorted, damaging the rod.

- Well, would you look at that. A formidable craftsmanship, I must say, if these guys make the tools and not resell them. It only shorted in one place and didn't explode. Make sure to pay them a visit later, though, this should not happen, unless you beat somebody up with it.

Tikki's hands were working on their own. It was the most typical repair process: take a restoration mixture similar to the rod in composition, fill in the line, dry it with radiation from a crystal lamp and etch the new line, a bit further away, if possible. In five minutes, the owner happily exchanged a working tool for a paycheck and disappeared in the doorframe.

Tikki sighed and spinned in his chair. Pretty much everything in his little repairshop he made himself, including the chair and the tools. That is the beauty of magic, he thought, looking at shelves with small items for sale: amulets, toys, tools for house maintenance. Mostly toys. He grabbed one of the unfinished carcasses from the shelf on his left, smiled at the ugly, half-assembled head and put on a pair of gloves, his favourite and the most precise instrument.

An hour flew by: he managed to finish the little moving wolf that would run around and try to bite the owner with a toothless mouth, or lay on it's back and ask to scratch its belly. As he was adding finishing touches to the fur on the sides, a doorbell sang. In walked a woman in her forties, wearing a smooth black dress without any details, purse, and a small hat, chearly enchanted to stay precisely in the same position on the head: his goggles highlighted the symbols underneath the fabric, imbued with energy. Those things were pricey, since you needed a designer who was also a decent mage to make one.

- Welcome to Tikki The Tinkerer! I'm Tikki, how can I help you?

- Hello, - she ignored the shelves and approached him. - I heard from a friend you are good at repairing things?

- Well, some say I am.

- There, - she put an amulet on the counter. A small trinket with a pink jewel in the centre, worn on a chain around the neck, and older than most artifacts Tikki worked with. - This belonged to my husband, I found it in his things after, - she paused, then shrugged and forced the rest of the sentence out, - after a crash. Could you fix it?

- Let me see, - the amulet had a crack in the casing. - The exterior is damaged, but that's relatively easy to fix. Do you know what was this used for? Well, that's a shame. I'll try to get it back to life, in the worst case you'll still get a case back as a jewellery. Would that work?

- Yes, that would be great.

- Very well. Please, give me a minute... Maybe ten. I'll at least tell you what to expect. - She nodded and started looking around. The shelves with toys always attracted a lot of attention, even though people rarely bought them. Tikki was somewhat happy about it, he loved his little creations that he finished in his spare time.

An amulet came apart after a few picks with a screwdriver and a spell to make metal a little softer. Inside were spells, engraved in bare metal in a single thin line, going around the case in a circle. A crack interrupted the order of symbols, some of them completely unknown to even an experienced master. The jewel was intact, and charged with energy, as if the amulet was recently used.

- Well, this one is antique, - he paused, recalling what he could about the meaning of older generation of symbols. Some of them were similar to what he used for his golems, when they needed to see things. - Do you know what it does?

- No, unfortunately not. I have never seen it before.

- I reckon it was used for image capture, but most of the symbols are intact, so even if I'm wrong it should be possible to restore the function. And it's not a guarding amulet, which means it won't cause a fire or something...

- Would you think there are any images? And could you save them?

- The crystal used for storage is intact, but the schematics are old. Let's put it this way: either it will "just work" when restored, or the flow of energy inside is disrupted and it will explode in my face, erasing the information.

- Would you risk it? I can pay well, - she clearly wanted him to.

- Well, I am protected as long as the amulet is on the table, so might as well give it a shot. If it explodes I can still repair it, but the images will be lost. It should take me about fifteen minutes or so.

- Alright. Do your thing then, - and so he did.

The amulet floated above the table, with a few bubbles of barriers floating around. People would normally use a staff or other tool, but for things this small it was entirely possible to work with a small metal rod used for engraving and bare hands. A few incantations to protect the skin, ones that swordsmen often use to defend against random arrows and small cuts, a magnifying glass on the goggles and a thin nickel wire to offload the energy from the amulet case. And a thick shield to protect the client, isolating the counter from the rest of the shop. Now the laborious carving begins. The job itself is rather simple: melt the metal, repair the casing and then engrave the symbols to restore the function. The problem is that the amulet will likely short and spit all it's energy at once as soon as the line is restored, so he must control the flow with the left hand while carving with his right.

The job took about twenty minutes. He was drenched in sweat, but the crystal shone in pink light and projected an image of a woman. A naked, dark-skinned woman with green eyes looking eagerly above the amulet's point if view. Well, isn't that a curious arrangement, Tikki thought to himself.

He looked up. Pale skin, brown curly hair pointing from under the hat, looking curiously at the shelf with toys, at one of the small dogs playing with it's own tail. A smile creeped onto the grief-ridden face. "Oh well", he thought, "it's not like there isn't enough disappointment in the world, eh?"

He touched two lines if the inscription with a dull side of the rod. A crystal flashed, throwing all of it's energy outside, directly into the shields, breaking the fragile transparent bubbles. Tikki fell over and fell onto a cushion spell that activated after the first shield fell off. The woman gasped.

- I'm fine, I'm fine, that's pretty common, - he stood up and waved at her. - See, even the fingers are all in place! And the amuler is fine, see? The images are all gone, unfortunately. Old amulets use and store far more that the newer versions, but even by those standards it's a pretty strong one.

- Is it usable after that?

- Well, it will exhaust your mana pretty quickly, so do charge it in advance. And there are no controls so you will need to learn to control energy flow, at least on the basic level...

- That I can do. Will you show me?

- Just hold it like this, between the index finger and a thumb, and put the energy through. One it glows, press on the case, - the amulet clicked. - Done. To view, point the crystal to the wall and pour some energy into it. The image will project onto a flat surface, about a meter from you. Older images are on the left, newer once to the right, touch sides of the amulet to move, and that's about it.

He handed the trinket over, hoping that his act was somewhat passable. Little humanoid golems were meanwhile running around, collecting scattered tools and putting them back into places.

Tikki didn't charge the woman, saying he screwed up the photos and is the one to blame for it. That bit was true, he definitely was responsible. She went away, with a calm mind and a precious memory of her husband in a purse.

[calronhunt]

OKAY yeah I'm doing this so <3 old bbd stuff and i guess discussion of stuff that's not canon anymore under the cut. I haven't made a new video about the story since the big revamp so bare with me (i promise i got video ideas about it! just trying to stick to one video at a time so that stuff ACTUALLY gets done lol)

FIRST VIDEO I EVER MADE OF THESE GUYSSSSS i still associate this song super heavily with them and it kinda. shaped how their whole relationship developed early on in 2019 and such. However this one and the next one makes me realize that Lionel and Raphael don't have the like???? Enemies to lovers thing they got going on anymore. The story is more about both of their repressions of self and finding freedom in the other than like, guys who are opposed. Raphael still teaches Lionel but Lionel isn't as like. outwardly hostile to teasing as he seems to be in this video.

also looking at the designs is weird. Lionel why are you so spiky. Also contains Jo's design from before i decided to trans her gender so ignore that.

This one kinda has the same feelings as my previous one where it's like. These guys don't have this antagonism towards each other anymore (at least not at the start). Also has a character named Lola who got cut during the big revamp (rip to her). Also I completely forgot. that there used to be a plot point where GABRIEL FUCKED LIONEL FJDKSLJFKDS. OLD BBD WAS A TIME OKAY. IT WAS JUST ME DOING PLOT POINTS I THOUGHT WHERE SILLY AND FUN!!

other than that I think the art in this video is still pretty nice. I think the transition from warm lineless art to stark lined art with rim lighting fucks severely.

I REMEMBER BEING SOOOO PROUD OF THIS VIDEO WHEN I FINISHED IT INITIALLYYYY AND NOW I CAN'T WATCH IT ANYMORE. i get too embarrassed. Raphael doing Raphael-isms as he is wont to do. Also I think this is the first showing of old Jett? so that's neat. He was just a shitty one note villain and I always found him kinda boring so I'm glad I finally changed him. I think that's the only thing not canon in this video? Yeah it's just the jett stuff, everything else is still canon.

Maybe I should remake this video or something. I still think the shot composition/ideas/colors are fine. It's just. 19 y/o Alek it's okay. Your artstyle isn't horny enough yet.

can you believe I made a video about Gabriel. I mean I can and I still like this video but like can you believe that. The Events of the video are still canon, I would just frame them much differently. The reason Gabriel fucks up Raphael's face isn't tied to the Raphael maybe getting the throne at all anymore lol. The color palette in this is nice, and I like what I did with the editing and ideas and shots and such. Don't got much else to say about this one. I still pretty much like it lol

my fucking. my fucking baby boy Cassiel Hellborn. I still love this video so much I don't even care. I'm still incredibly proud of how it all came out even if the colors are a bit icky and bad. A LOT of it is uncanon or got changed one way or another. Cassiel is way more sympathetic and much less of a snake in the current version than he is portrayed here. He's still got a lot of deep seated anger that he's gotta let out though!!!! Wonder how he'll do that.

the last video i made about bbd before a big long break because of -static noises- ANYWAY, it's about my girl Ericka! Funnily enough even though it's the most recent video a lot of this. also isn't canon anymore lol. FUNNY HOW THAT WORKS. i'm honestly not even proud of the video itself. I'm not proud of a lot of the art or the colors or the animation bleghhhhhhhhhhhh. Trying to be kind to myself cause I was in a bad place but UGHHHH it's not very good. This is another one I should remake maybe :pensive: my girl ericka deserves better.

Kinda wanna reminisce and go through all my old blood brings dawn videos and just. talk about them I guess? I'll probably put it all into one post under a cut cause i don't wanna like. clog up people's timelines with my old videos lol

[urmindisastreamofcolors]

Back Off: Jake x Reader

A/N: I have writer’s block for part two of the twin’s fight sooo enjoy this one shot until then :)

Your management teams had decided it was a good idea for your band to collaborate with Greta Van Fleet. At first, you all had agreed until it became apparent that you and Jake would never get along. The first week went by pretty well as you all worked on lyrics and different songs, giving each other feedback. When you made a suggestion about a riff Jake was working on, he rolled his eyes and ignored you entirely. You didn’t let it bother you and tried to let it roll off your back, but the thought the Jake wasn’t impressed by your talent or valued your input bothered you a bit. 

At the start of the next week, your band recorded an EP track to see how you liked it. After you had finished, all of you sat down to talk through what could be done to improve it and make it award worthy. The constructive process was going well until Sam complimented your riff. Before you could offer your thanks, Jake let out a small sarcastic laugh before leaning back. 

“What,” you said with a touch of venom as you narrowed your eyes at him. Not being one to back down from a challenge he returned the glare and licked his lips before speaking. 

“Nothing,” Jake said with a dismissive shrug of his shoulders before stretching his arms along the back of the couch he was sitting on, Josh on his left and Danny to his right. Your band mates shared looks of confusion with the other boys at the stare down they were all witnessing. 

“Nothing,” you questioned with a lift of your brow matching his energy. 

“Yeah. That riff? Made me feel nothing. That was just music on a page.”

Stunned silence filled the room and everyone’s mouths dropped open at the sudden and rude comment. Your mind started racing.

That riff wasn’t there until you had all performed today. In fact, it was a completely organic composition. You didn’t know how to write a riff and you couldn’t even read fucking sheet music. You only knew how to play. 

Before you could stop yourself, you were on your feet and so was Jake. Both of you were yelling at each other and really giving each other hell. Finally, the rest of the group got you separated, but the damage had already been done. 

The fighting didn’t stop as a whole, but after Danny lost his shit, the yelling eventually did. You both still found the time to be sarcastic assholes and refused to work together unless absolutely forced. On the rare occasions you two didn’t try to kill each other, whatever you came up with was pretty cool, but those moments were short lived. After about a month of the group collaboration, your management teams informed all of you that they had lined up an interview and stressed the importance of it. 

“We know some of you...don’t see eye to eye,” your manager, Kara, said carefully while everyone looked directly at you and Jake,”but you’re going to be in partners for this interview and we’re grouping you based on instrument.”

“See, vocals are an instrument Sam,” Josh taunted while his youngest brother rolled his eyes. 

You and Jake shared a pained look at the thought of having to sit near each other. 

“Do we have to get along during the interview,” you asked as you flipped your hair over your shoulder. 

“Yes. You do. So, Josh and Kaylie will go first on Friday. Sammi and Sammy will go next. Then, Danny and Elise. We’ll finish up with y/n and Jake. The interviews should only be 5-10 minutes, so please refrain from killing each other,” Mike, the other manager said. You and Jake shared another look; one that clearly said there were no promises. 

The week flew by and next thing you knew, you were sitting in a hair and makeup chair getting finishing touches done. All of your other friends had finished and based off their laughter, it seemed to have went really well. Apparently, your Sammi and Greta Van Fleet’s Sammy were pure chaos which didn’t surprise any of you. It must have had something to do with the name you supposed. 

Once you had finished up, you made your way to the chair next to Jake who was waiting on you and apparently trying hard to not look impatient. When he saw you, his eyes widened a bit before he motioned to your seat. Once you had gotten comfortable, he sat down.

“Sorry,” you said to him quietly. This was actually the first time you two had sat next to each other and you could smell his cologne and shampoo. He was an ass to you, but you couldn’t deny that he was attractive. But his attitude? Atrocious. 

You fidgeted slightly in your seat to get comfortable for the interview. Suddenly, you both heard the countdown to cue you in and you both began to smile and do the intro. 

“Hi! I’m y/f/n y/l/n!”

“And I’m Jake Kiszka!”

“This is our Rockin and Rolling Interview,” you two chorused together. Apparently, you two could be a dynamic duo when you tried hard enough. 

The interviewer started asking various questions about stage outfits, hair and makeup, new albums and tour dates which were pretty typical interview topics. You and Jake played your parts and were both equally surprised at your shared sense of humor. You were enjoying yourself when the prying questions started. 

When the interview started, you didn’t really notice that weird glimmer in the male interviewer’s eyes or the way he stared at your exposed legs or where the hem of your shorts hit on your thighs. Jake had noticed that a lot of the questions were directed more towards you and he figured it was just to help your band get out there more. More importantly, none of the others had mention weird vibes or the guy being a creep, but you couldn’t deny that you were inexplicably uncomfortable. 

“So, y/n, what is it like being single and working with the guys,” the interviewer asked. Your back went ramrod straight as you realized you were cruising in dangerous territory. Jake glanced at you out of the corner of his eye.

“What does her relationship status have to do with anything,” Jake asked with his eyes narrowed slightly in confusion and the beginning stages of irritability. The next few questions were about zodiac sign compatibility and other flirtatious avenues of discussion and you were finally 100% sure that he was making you uncomfortable. At one point he had asked for how many people you had slept with. 

“I’m sorry, but I’m not comfortable answering such personal questions. I think I’m-,” you began to say as you stood up to place the microphone down. Before you could even fully raise out of your set, the interviewer had grabbed you by your arm and yanked your body towards his. You let out a yelp as a warm muscular body wedged itself between you and the weird ass interviewer. 

Jake placed a protective hand on your stomach and pushed you back gently putting more space between you and who he perceived as a threat. Without thinking, you put your hand in the middle of his back, right on his spine as you scooted further behind him. 

“Back off,” Jake growled out with a scowl. Before the guy could respond, Jake spun to face you, placing his hand in the small of your back before leading you away. You were shaking and tears pricked at your lower lash line, but you willed yourself not to cry. 

When you two had made it back to the makeup room where you had all gotten ready, everyone jumped up when they say the look on both of your faces. Kara and Mike tried to ask questions as you grabbed your things, clearly ignoring them. 

“We’re leaving right now and that interview had better not fucking air,” Jake practically yelled as he fumed. You two could hear the male interviewer approaching the room you all were in and Jake turned to face the door quickly, blocking you from his view. 

“Get him away from her or I’m going to rock his fucking shit. We’re leaving. Now.”

Nobody else held up your mad dash for the SUV outside waiting and already running. Once you were safely secure between, Jake and Josh in the middle row you put your head in your hands while questions flew your way. 

“What happened?!”

“Y/n, are you okay?”

“Why were you going to deck him, Jake,” Danny finally questioned and everyone sat in stunned silence that Jake had threatened to hurt someone over you. You were still shaken up and felt a sense of relief when Jake took over telling the story.

All you could really think about was his hand in the small of your back and hot he looked pissed. Even more than that, the first feelings of fondness for Jake danced in your stomach. It felt a lot like butterflies.

[enhabot]

𝗹𝘂𝘃𝗯𝗼𝘁. ─  04 [ the girls are fighting. ]            𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒅 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒕. 494 ──────────

would you consider yourself to be a violent person? not at all. even your friends conclude that you’d much rather solve issues at hand with words rather than with fists. a true mediator at heart, if you did say so yourself.  

yet, truth be told, you really do have a strong urge to curb-stomp yang jungwon in the shin right now. you have to give it to him, though; he’s really good at bringing out the worst in you.

“what’s your problem?” you spat. jungwon just rolls his eyes and shoves his hands into the pockets of his hoodie. how goddamn annoying.

a few beats of silence have already passed when he finally decides to speak. “i should be asking you the same thing.”

you let out another scoff. “okay, first of all. i already apologized for what happened. i admitted that it was my fault, and offered to switch courses— not once, not twice, but four fucking times! get over yourself.” you can feel the frustration begin to bubble to the surface, like a volcano that’s on the verge of eruption. whatever composition you had left was starting to slowly disperse and leave your body.

you can tell that jungwon also feels a similar level of irritation when he looks at you with an unfriendly gaze. “we couldn’t have switched courses even if you wanted to,” he huffs. “you asked me way too late.”

you want to scream at him and tug the strands of your hair. how fucking infuriating can he be? “maybe because you wouldn’t give me your damn number. i literally had to get it from jay,” you exasperate.

jungwon narrows his eyes at you, a grimace pulling at the corners of his mouth. you hear him mutter something along the lines of, “would you want to give your number to some person who fucked you over because they can’t do their job properly?” a puff of cold air escapes his lips as he lets out an annoyed sigh. “anyways, aren’t you the one who needs to get over yourself and realize that not everybody is going to like you? you’re so pretentious.” 

you pause, processing his words, letting them play in your head over and over again; your mind has come to resemble a broken record player.  aren’t you the one who needs to get over yourself and realize that not everybody is going to like you?

jungwon figures that he must’ve hit a sour spot, because he notices your expression falter for a split second before it reverts back into its hardened state. “piss off, yang. what the hell do you know about me? i hope that i’ll never have the misfortune of seeing you and your nasty, two-faced self, again.” without another glance, you trudge off into the distance, ignoring the amused stares of his friends and angry stream of tears running down your reddened cheeks.  

you’re going to make yang jungwon eat his words one day.

𝘀𝘂𝗺𝗺𝗮𝗿𝘆.    ever since the day you accidentally screwed over yang jungwon’s course selection during freshmen year, you were pretty sure the guy disliked (if not absolutely hated) you. after several failed, uncomfortable attempts to get jungwon to forgive you, you settled that it would be much easier if the feelings remained mutual. thus, you avoided him at all costs! you treated him as if he had something along the lines of a nasty case of the bubonic plague. surprisingly, it went pretty well… until you ended up seated next to yang jungwon in a cramped lecture hall. oh boy, did i mention that you also have a group project to do with him? ah yes, these next three weeks will be fun.

𝗮𝗻.               ngl i didn’t proofread this so im sorry if this sucks booty butt 😭 i also havent written anything in a HOT minute so lmk if y’all don’t want anymore written parts, i’ll understand 💪💪😩 anyways, another part will be released today so stay tuned! 𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁         @yjwooon @yangyanghq @lumixen @instahann @sleepy-paws @plshhhhhhh @ncityy04 @2cool4y0u @wonionie @youreverydayzebra @reallysmolrenjun @strawberryyukhei @studioreader @clear-color-hair @alo-ehas @hobistigma @notrosemary @sunysunoo @whoe-dis @jayparkfromenhypen @k1ttyl1x @mikaa7 @ivswonie @ghjasksdk @enhyseob [ open ] ────────── [ 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘃. | 𝗻𝗲𝘅𝘁. | 𝗺.𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁 ] ───

[outercrasis]

Sessions

Pairing: College!Din Djarin x F!Reader

Word Count: 2.6k

Warnings: None (let me know if I missed something!)

Summary: Everyone is talking about the mysterious new guy on campus

A/N: I had a ton of fun writing this extremely self-indulgent AU and I have plans to keep writing more about these two. It won’t be an actual chaptered fic, but at some point I’ll throw together a masterlist with a chronological order to things.

Series Masterlist // Main Masterlist

Introductions

The semester had only started four weeks ago and he was already a legend around campus. Almost everywhere someone could be found whispering about him. You'd even heard faculty speculating, wondering about the rumors they overheard their students sharing.

You first heard of him in your literature seminar, some of your fellow classmates discussing a recent rumor about the now fabled man. Something about a motorcycle and a child caught your ear, prompting you to interrupt and the girls in front of you who they were talking about. 

The looks you received from the pair were incredulous at best. “You mean you haven’t heard about him?”

“Heard about who?” you asked, genuinely confused. It had only been the first week of class at the time and you were too caught up with your own busy start to check in on the rumor mill.

“Mando, obviously. He’s all anyone is talking about.” From there the girls had happily filled you in on all the latest sightings and rumors. 

Mando, as they called him, was shrouded in mystery. He'd popped up on Corellia University's campus when the semester began and no one knew a thing about him. He hadn't gone to Corellia before, internet searches turned up nothing, and even the skull-like symbol on the back of his leather jacket wasn't familiar to anyone. Any information on him was conjecture at best and there was plenty to go around. Once the rest of the class caught onto what you three were discussing, theories began to fly.

People discussed how he’d been spotted downtown, beating on some guys in a back alley. He’d also been seen uptown the same night though, strolling through Basalt Park. One girl was nearly certain that she’d gone to elementary school with Mando, but he’d mysteriously disappeared one day without explanation. Someone else was confident he was just a cop trying some weird shtick to go undercover. Then one person insisted he had a kid with him sometimes while another was trying to explain that he was actually a murderer. The rumors only became more ludicrous from there.

By the end of the discussion you only ascertained two things for certain. He went by the name Mando and he wore some kind of special helmet. Information you could have gotten by watching him pick up a drink at the Java Hut. Not nearly enough to warrant this level of fervor in your opinion.

From there, hearing about Mando was inescapable. You got home that night only to have your roommate and best friend, Layla, launch into theories about him. Within the week someone set up a social media page to try and track his location around campus via DMs fellow students sent in. That had struck you as invasive and unsettling, but the messages about him kept flooding in.

By pure chance, you had yet to actually see him for yourself. There weren't even any creep shots for you to look at. People had been trying to take photos of him, but he was like a ghost. In the time it took them to pull up their cameras he'd disappear. 

There wasn't even more concrete information about him beyond what you'd learned that first day. Just more and more speculation, a good amount of it made up purely for the shock factor. Another week slipped by, the semester picking up, and Mando news became standard in your day. There was always something new going around about him and as much as you tried to avoid it and focus on your studies, you couldn’t help but wonder about him yourself.

Who was this guy? Was this all some stunt or ‘social experiment’ that would be revealed by a sociology student at the end of the semester? Or was he a legitimate peculiarity, doomed to stick out like a sore thumb? You weren’t sure if you should hate him for making a big deal out of himself or pity him for all the unwarranted attention. Either way, you were sure that whenever you met this enigmatic Mando, you’d know.

×××××

You grumble looking at the submission form. The name and student ID information is blank again. You told Todd last week those fields needed to be made mandatory. How else were you supposed to know who to email when you end up with a no-show for the hour?

Looking further down you're pleased to note that they're at least a grad student. Despite the unfinished form, graduates almost never skip sessions like these. You're thrilled to have the opportunity to discuss something other than freshman composition for once. It's fun helping the wide-eyed freshies, but you can only go over basic comma rules so many times before you start to lose it a little.

There's a knock at the study room door and you look up only to be rendered speechless. It's him. Mando. With a kid on his hip. So Alissandra hadn’t been lying when she told you about the toddler she saw with him. Interesting. Continuing to take him in, you can’t help but focus on the obvious - the only thing you knew about him other than his supposed name, the helmet. 

It’s unlike anything you've seen before. You're fairly certain it's a motorcycle helmet, but it's been modified. Rather than the typical rounded shape, his is all sharp angles and flat at the front. It’s colored a sleek, shining chrome that gleams under the washed out fluorescent lighting. Most arresting is the way he's changed the face of the helmet. The cheeks dip inward at a sharp angle, creating deep, curved contours. His visor is a T of black glass in the center, entirely impossible to see through. It's intimidating and… kinda hot?

The little boy he's holding starts to wiggle in his grasp, physically demanding to be set down in the study room. Once his feet touch the floor, he immediately runs over and climbs into the chair next to you. He's a welcome distraction from his father’s? brother's? guardian's? commanding presence in the room.

The boy can't be older than three, smiling up at you with a wide toothy grin. His hair is covered by a green beanie with large floppy ears sewn onto it and he's wearing a little brown jacket with a sherpa collar. Maybe a bit too heavy for the early autumnal weather, but if the rumor that the kid rides on a motorcycle with Mando is true, it’s perfect. His eyes are large and brown, shining up at you with a slightly mischievous glint.

"Hello, what's your name?" you ask, smiling back at the child.

"Grogu," comes the reply, not from the kid, but from Mando.

You arch an eyebrow at him. He can't be serious with that name. "Grogu?" you ask.

He shrugs, placing his bag on the table. "I came home one day and he told his babysitter that was his name now. He won't respond to anything else. So, Grogu."

You look back to the bouncing toddler. He's still grinning, nodding along with what's been said about his name. They must not be lying then. Either that, or it was some elaborate prank between them and you would never be in on the joke. 

"Well okay, Grogu it is." 

You extend your hand out to Mando, offering your name alongside it. He offers a leather clad hand in return, giving you a firm handshake. You're pleased when he only gives your hand a gentle squeeze, not crushing it like so many other students have done. His gloves are unique as well, black with orange fingers, the leather well worn in. It's warm to the touch, his body heat radiating through the thick fabric. 

"Mando," he says, officially introducing himself as he takes the seat on your other side, across from Grogu.

"Mando," you repeat, cementing it as a truth from the rumor mill. "Got any other names?" You hope that comes across as casual and not intrusive. He hasn't even gone to remove his helmet, telling you he isn't a man who cares much for people prying into his business.

"No. Why?" Mando cocks his head slightly as he asks, the helmet adding an exaggerated look to the movement. He reaches into his bag, pulls out some crayons and a pad of paper, pushing them over to Grogu.

You shrug, trying not to think about how you heard his name might be David from someone in your composition course. "Just thought I'd ask. One hears many things around campus and it's hard to tell what's true or not."

"What do you mean?"

That question makes you pause. Surely he knows. Part of you is still convinced he’s doing this act on purpose, trying to gain notoriety for some reason. The way he asked though, something about it tells you that the poor man is clueless about the buzz he's caused.

"Mando, you're like the talk of the town right now. We only just met but I've heard plenty about you," you explain. It's hard to tell with the helmet on, but you're fairly sure he's shocked underneath. Grogu ignores you both, excitedly scribbling away on his paper.

"I'm fairly sure most of it's just rumor and speculation, but still. You're like a thing around campus," you add.

He's quiet for a moment, his laptop only half out of his bag. "Oh," he finally says. "I didn't know."

Grogu gives a happy shriek not a second later, breaking the awkward tension that had begun to creep into the room. He's beaming, holding up his crayola masterpiece. On the paper there is what appears to be a hastily drawn frog using every color in the box.

Mando returns to himself, pulling his laptop the rest of the way and continues to get set up. "Great job, kid. It looks good."

Most people would have said that dismissively, a platitude to get their child to stop bothering them. When Mando says it though, the authenticity is palpable. He said six words and you can hear the pride lacing them all together. It’s sweet, the obvious affection this clearly private man has for the toddler. 

You can’t help but wonder what his connection to Grogu actually is. The way he spoke just then, if you had to put your money on it, you’d say father. The kicker then though is if he’s biological or not. And if not, then how else does a grad student get strapped with a three year old? Thinking about all the potential scenarios is enough to make your head hurt.

You’re also left wondering where all the more violent rumors about him are coming from. His tenderness is so readily on display that it’s hard to imagine the man before you choking someone because they cut him in line at the local froyo shop. He’s mysterious and gives off a vaguely dangerous vibe, sure, but less than five minutes around him and the kid and it’s obvious he’s no threat to you. He’s just a guy trying to get his assignments done for class, same as everyone else.

Your stomach still catches in your throat as Mando starts unexpectedly tugging off his gloves. From what you’d heard, he never takes anything off: not his jacket, not his gloves, and certainly not his helmet. All anyone knows of his true appearance on campus is that he’s obviously male with rumors flying around about everything else including simple attributes, like the color of his skin. Now, here he is, casually revealing this groundbreaking information to you.

His hands move fluidly, pulling off each glove in just a few easy tugs. His skin matches the heat you felt from them just minutes ago, a warm golden tan, with a few faded lines of scars worn in. Watching him type, pulling his paper up for you to discuss, you feel a deep and sudden ache to have his hands touch you again. A simple handshake is no longer enough. Every stroke of the keys is measured, deliberate, and leaves you wondering how he would use those fingers on you.

“This is what I have so far.”

His voice snaps you back to reality, a quick wave of shame washing over you. Where did all of that come from? It was just a man’s hands for heaven’s sake, certainly not something you should be horny about at two in the afternoon. Not to mention that he came in here looking for your help, not wanting you to start fantasizing about his hands expertly working you over.

You clear your throat and tear your eyes away from the offending appendages. “Great, let me just read the introduction here so I can get an idea for what you’re writing about.”

You settle into working with him easily. His paper is already well-written, just needing tweaks here and there to bring it to the next level. It’s nice working with him. He’s attentive, clearly listening to everything you have to say and taking it into account. He doesn’t even try to challenge you as some of the more macho male students are wont to do. By the end of the session, you can’t help but wish all of your time as a tutor was that easy.

“Thank you,” he says sincerely, tucking his laptop away. “You really helped.”

You smile at him, thrilled with his genuine complement. “Of course, that’s what I’m here for.”

He finishes packing up his and Grogu’s things, with you silently lamenting as his gloves slide back on. It still feels like a ridiculous thought, but he really does have beautiful hands. There’s a small tap on your arm and you look to your left to see Grogu patiently waiting. He’s offering something to you, paper outstretched in his little hands.

“Thank you,” you say, taking the sheet from him. You look at it to see a frog carefully drawn on the page. It’s not the same as the first one he showed you and Mando, this one more deliberate and thoughtful. The colors are still just as varied, but it’s obvious he took more time to think about where he was using each one. You can’t help but smile at his small masterpiece.

“It looks great, buddy. I’ll keep it forever,” you tell him. Grogu beams at your praise, excitedly looking over to Mando. 

Mando nods at the kid. “Yeah kid, I heard her too.” He turns his head towards you. “Thank you again. I’d take good care of that drawing. He’ll never forgive you if he finds out you got rid of it.”

“Does that mean I’ll be seeing you again?” Your own boldness takes you by surprise. You have no idea where that came from, how those words spilled without a second thought. Part of you is already cringing at Mando’s potential reaction.

He surprises you once again though, holding a hand out for Grogu to take. Shouldering his backpack, you hear an amused huff of air from under the helmet. “Yeah, mesh’la, I’ll see you around.”

There isn’t a chance to reply as Mando turns, escorting his tiny charge out of the room with him. You’re a little dumbstruck, now equally surprised with him as you had been with yourself. 

And what was that name he just called you? Mesh’la? You don’t even know what language that could have been, much less the meaning. Something about his tone when he said it tells you it’s a good thing though, that he’s not secretly calling you rude names in some unknown language. You can’t help but wonder if you’ll ever get to find out.

.

.

.

taglist: @honestly-shite

[ks-dreams-fantasies]

Hi can I request like a vinnie x reader like the reader wrote deja vu by olivia rodrigo (let’s pretend the reader wrote it and released it) and when the music video got posted on yt yall watch it together with the hype house members and when it finish your crying (tears of joy) and vinnie is proud of her and the other hype house congratulated the reader and thomas and alex filming everyone’s reactions and later thats night the reader and the other hypehouse member are hanging out in the living room and vinnie is all cuddled up to the reader and mia ask who’s the song abt and the reader said its abt vinnie and she explained it that she wrote the song when they broke up and vinnie got with another girl and everyone is shock.. you ucan continue it and do whatever you want in the end thank youu<33

Déjà Vu - Vinnie Hacker

Sooooo, I feel like this wasn't my best piece but I hope you still like it. I love Olivia Rodrigo 👀 I just can’t imagine Vinnie breaking someone’s hearts tbh, he looks way to sweet 

Warning : None

Word Count : 1.2k

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Today was an important day for you and your career. Your debut single Déjà vu was coming out and you couldn’t stop yourself from being excited but nervous at the same time. Having been doing covers of your favorite songs on social media for the last 2 years, fans wouldn’t stop asking you when your own music would come out. Today was the day they would hear your ideas for the first time in what seems like forever. You had posted little bits of some compositions you had made but never did you post a clip over 15 seconds long, let alone a full song.

You had been recording a lot in the past few weeks and when you presented the lyrics to Déjà vu to the producers, they fell in love with it. In all honesty you didn’t think it would be one of their favorites since it was sad and angry. You had written these lyrics a while back when you and your now boyfriend were apart. You and Vinnie had been good friends since the moment you had met. Being two growing TikToker, you found yourself hanging in the same places with the same group of friends.

Your relationship was complicated to say the least, you both knew you had feelings for each other, but he wasn’t ready to be in a relationship at the time and you were afraid to get into one as well. It didn’t stop the both of you of doing everything together, you were inseparable. From sharing one spoon to eat your favorite strawberry ice cream, to sharing clothes, you did everything a couple would do. All went crashing down the day you went on a trip with your best friends, a bunch of pictures of Vinnie and a blonde girl holding hand and sharing ice cream, laughing, came flooding the internet. You couldn’t believe what you were seeing, the guy you liked, the guy you thought liked you too was with another women having the time of his life not even giving the time of day.

A few days after you came back from your trip, Vinnie had texted you, but you had decided to ignore him, staying in your room writing down into your notebook. That’s how the lyrics for your new song were created.

After that, things got awkward between the two of you, both of you having the same friend group, hanging out wasn’t easy. He would often bring his new friend with him and the situation made you uncomfortable and sad. They would share moments together, moment you first had with Vinnie, moments you thought belong to the two of you. The girl even posted pictures of places Vinnie would bring her to, places you showed him first.

A few months past and the two of them broke up, leaving the majority of your friends and yourself happy. Soon enough, Thomas invited you to move into the Hype House and you did. You and Vinnie got back to talking frequently and he one day asked you to lunch which you agreed to. You decided to give him a second chance and soon enough he asked you to be his girlfriend. Everyone had been talking about your relationship, approving of your love. The fans were mostly happy, some of them were mad that Vinnie found a new girlfriend, but for the most part, everyone was supportive.

Four weeks later, here you were, all sitting in the backyard waiting for the show to start. Your roommates had decided to surprise you with a nice diner, and they had set up an outdoor projection screen for the release of your debut single. Vinnie had his arms wrapped around you as the both of you sat down on a huge bean bag next to the others. You were all laughing and talking when the voice of the presenter got your attention.

“She’s been getting more and more popular over the past two years and fans had been waiting for her to drop her own music. From singing covers of her favorite songs on the internet to now coming out with her own song, this artist is destinate to a great career. We had the pleasure of getting the exclusivity of her debut single and videoclip, here is Déjà vu by (Y/F/N)”

The screen changed quickly, your face appearing as you licked some ice cream in a convertible. You had told Vinnie about the song a few weeks prior since it was about him. You could feel his arm tightened around you as he kissed your temple

“I’m so proud of you baby” he whispered so only you could hear. You smiled feeling the tears well up in your eyes, realizing how far you’ve come. It wasn’t always easy, but you were doing what you loved with the people who you cherished most. Once the videoclip ended, everyone was clapping making you laugh slightly as tears poured out your eyes.

“OMG! This song is so good (Y/N)” Kouvr said smiling widely as you turned towards her, seeing Alex filming.

“It is, and the video is great” Thomas continued

“Thank you, guys! You’re too kind, you’ve been supporting me from the beginning, and I couldn’t thank you enough for that” you said wiping your tears, looking at them.

“I could never do what you do, you’re so creative, where do you get all your inspiration from? Like for this song, I didn’t know you had all these emotions built up” Mia said, questioning you. You felt yourself tense up as Vinnie rubbed your arms softly.

“It was from an old relationship, all is good now” you shrugged, trying to avoid the question

“Well, this guy seems like he made a big mistake, who would do this to you?” Michael said trying to light up the mood

“Actually, it was me” Vinnie spoke as everyone looked at him with big eyes, including you.

“I’m sorry. What?” Kouvr was the first one to speak

“I was a dick to her two years ago, and I know I broke her hearth. I still regret it to this day and I’m sorry about everything” Vinnie stated now looking at you deeply

“I decided to forgive you and give you another chance and look where that has gotten us. I was scared at first, because of what had happened, but you proved me wrong. You showed me that you’ve changed and that you weren’t that guy anymore. You make me feel so special and I feel so lucky to have you”

“I love you baby, and I’m so proud of you” he said before kissing you tenderly, his tongue finding your bottom lip, making you smile slightly against his mouth

“Okay guys, get a room” Alex said, pushing Vinnie slightly

“We’ll gladly do that” he stood up, offering you his hand to help you do the same

“Stop” you said swatting his chest softly, laughing “Thank you guys so much for this perfect evening, I couldn’t wish for better friends”

“We love you (Y/N)” Mia said bringing you into a tight hug “And you” she said pointing at your boyfriend “If you break her hearth, I’ll have to kill you”

“Don’t worry, I won’t make this mistake a second time”

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks for reading

Hope you liked it, let me know what you think

-K

[graboidfarmer]

Yoooooooooooooo! CONGLATURATION!!! I am honoured on your behalf :P. Since you're taking drabble requests, I had a really out-of-left-field idea: something involving Mouse and Robbie (because it occurred to me that I don't think they've interacted much in the main fic, if at all, and I wanna see your take on insecure emo boy. :V)

Thanks for the request, this was so much fun! I love getting to stretch my nerd muscles. (Also this turned out hella long.

It’s another typical day at the library: filling hold requests, reshelving books, selecting others to be put up for sale. There’s a certain point when it becomes mindless busy work, and you fall into a trance. At first you don’t even notice the teenaged boy standing in the middle of the Romance section.

He’s tall and skinny, with jet-black hair that covers eyes rimmed with smudged liner. You recognize him as the boy who dated Wendy and terrorized Dipper last summer; Dipper’s drawings of him are shockingly accurate. Robbie Something. He’s hunched over a paperback sporting an image of a muscle-bound man and a scantily-clad woman riding a wild-eyed stallion. Poor horse must be in agony.

The kid’s expression is that of mingled bewilderment and horror. You decide to take pity on him. Trying to be as unobtrusive as possible, you walk quietly over to him.

“Hi, can I—“

The book nearly flies out of his hand as he jerks in surprise. “Holy shit!” he gasps. “Where’d you even come from? You snuck up on me like a little…”

“Mouse?” you supply with an apologetic smile. “Sorry. You just looked like you might need some assistance.”

The teen narrows his eyes. “What, do you work here or something?”

In answer, you tap the name tag on your chest.

“Oh,” he blurts. “Right. No, I’m good. This?” He gestures at the lurid novel in his hands. “This isn’t— I don’t read this kind of stuff. This is just for… research. I’m working on a project.”

You pretend to ignore the obvious avoidance tactic. “Oh, what kind of project?” you ask with interest.

“Composition. I’m a musician.” He leans against the bookshelf behind him, the very picture of directionless youthful rebellion. “Indie punk rock. You probably wouldn’t be into it.”

You shrug. “I don’t know, I like the Ramones, and the Pixies. Are they punk?”

The kid’s eyebrows shoot upward, clearly not expecting that response. “Yeah,” he says slowly. “Yeah, those guys are legit.”

You suppress a smile. “So, you’re writing a punk love song?”

The boy — Robbie — immediately goes on the defense. “Maybe, so what?”

“No, that’s great,” you tell him. “It’s just… Harlequin romances may not be the best resource. From what I understand, punk is about defying stereotypes and cultural norms, and those books kind of perpetuate outdated, sexist ideas of love and gender roles.”

He gives a scoff. “So you’re some kind of love expert?” he asks skeptically.

You nearly let out a laugh. “Wow. Uhh, no. Quite the opposite, actually.” A harsh, bitter quality seeps into your voice, against your wishes. “I just read a lot. Librarian.” You clear your throat. “Anyway, I’ll be over here if you need help.”

You start to walk away, but Robbie calls to you. “Wait.”

Turning, you find him wringing the old paperback in his hands. “Okay, look,” he says in a low voice. “My girlfriend broke up with me over this stupid fight. I’m writing a song to get her back. Not like… get her back, like I want revenge,” he amends quickly. “I just… She’s super important to me, and I don’t want to lose her.”

He looks so genuinely remorseful, you can’t help feeling sorry for him. “I think a song would be a really sweet gesture,” you tell him quietly. “What sort of things does your girlfriend like to read?”

He reaches up and scratches the back of his neck. Fingerless gloves. Oof. “She’s… really into poetry,” he replies at last. “Shakespeare and Dickinson and Keats and crap like that.”

A smirk finds its way onto your face. “Okay, well, people wouldn’t still be performing Shakespeare’s plays four hundred years after he’d written them if they were crap, but anyway. Let’s check out the poetry section.”

He follows you like a lost puppy, the cheesy romance novel still clutched in one hand. “You know, writing songs is a lot like writing poetry,” you say as you scan the shelves. “They’re both about rhythm, flow, expression, hidden meanings.”

“Pshh, I know that.” His eyes dart around, as if expecting someone to challenge his claim.

After a moment, you find what you’re looking for. “It sounds like your girlfriend has an appreciation for Gothic poetry. How familiar are you with Poe?”

For the first time, Robbie smiles. Well, almost anyway. “I’ve read some of his stuff for school. He wrote The Tell-tale Heart, right? That was sick.”

“He also wrote a lot of poetry. Not just ‘The Raven’, but some beautiful love poems. They’re full of such vivid imagery and loss and melancholy, and his use of rhythm is masterful.”

Ah, dream too bright to last!

Ah, starry Hope! that didst arise

But to be overcast!—

You shake your head. “I’d recommend ‘Annabel Lee’, ‘A Dream within a Dream’, and ‘To One in Paradise’, for starters,” you say, handing him an anthology of poems. “Just don’t copy out of them, because I can almost guarantee your girlfriend has already read them.”

Robbie’s cheeks turn red. “Yeah, no, I learned my lesson. I write all my own songs now.”

You check his book out for him at the front counter, glancing at his full name on the computer screen. Robbie Valentino. Appropriate, you think with a smile as you slide the book back to him.

“Thanks,” he mumbles.

“No problem,” you reply. “Good luck. Oh, hold up!” you add as he starts to leave. He frowns, but stays where he is as you run to the Fiction section and grab an additional book: High Fidelity. “This isn’t poetry, but I think you might find it interesting. It’s about a guy who works in a record store and loves music. He goes through a breakup and has kind of an existential crisis, but he learns a lot of things about himself. And his name is Rob.”

Robbie blinks a few times. “Uhh… okay, I’ll check it out.” You quickly scan it and hand it to him. “Later.”

His manner is amusingly furtive as he leaves, as if he’s terrified that someone he knows will see him carrying around a book of poems. But at least he took them. There’s hope for him yet.

The next time Robbie comes in to the library, he makes a beeline to the counter just to inform you that his girlfriend loved the song, and they’re back together. He invites you to come hear his band play at the all-ages club in town, and that you had better not “lame out”. As you watch him go with another armful of poetry, you feel strangely smug.

You may have been a nerd in school, but it’s finally paying off.