#In future I might put the top ties at the sides too

[scratchmakes]

This fabric I ordered to make a shirt with turned out to be stiffer than I thought so I pivoted and used it for a pair of improvised split side pants. The construction is based on a tiktok I saw a year or so ago and really only uses one crotch seam (and lots and lots of hemming + waistband ties).

The pleats should probably have been darts, but pleating is my favorite way to fit flats (fabric) to rounds (like e.g. my hips & butt).

Oh and have I mentioned the pockets?

Cost: 9 € (for fabric, thread's from the stash) Work time: ~8-10h

I have a few notes in case I do these again in future but for now I'm really happy with how fast and easily it came together and how well they turned out.

[harmonic-intervention]

I miss Tommy, so have some bottom dom!tommy smut.

Word count: 4037 - pwp, daddy kink, dom/sub undertones, orgasm delay, powerbottom!tommy/servicetop!buck

On ao3 now.

The first time Tommy bottomed for Evan, they didn't really take their time. Both of them were too keyed up - Tommy because he hadn't bottomed in a while, and Evan because he was so eager to make it good.

Tommy didn't really have a preferance, never did, especially now with Evan when everything was so much better than anything he had ever experienced. But there were times when he preferred one over the other, and before Evan, when that happened to be getting fucked, he often had to make do with toys and his own fingers.

Even, or maybe especially, in the gay scene, there were still expectations for the roles in the bedroom. Not for Evan, though.

So, the first time, there was little finesse and little foreplay, just them, a bottle of lube, and a desperate need.

It was only the first time of many, after all, and Tommy made sure they took their time in the future.

Tommy liked to play, and now, he got to play.

Tommy loved this - telling Evan exactly what to do, how to do it, and don't you make a mistake, boy. More than once, he had tied Evan down to the bed and ridden him how Tommy wanted to, ignoring Evan's pleads for more.

Today, though, it was missionary, because that was Evan's favorite position and Tommy had decided that he was going to be a little nicer today.

(They mostly fucked in missionary, actually. Evan had once said that he liked being able to see Tommy, and liked being able to thread their fingers together. Staring down or up at Evan's face, into his eyes, watching every minute change in his expression was ... well, Tommy had to admit missionary was rapidly becoming his favorite, too.)

Tommy was laid out on his back, a pillow under his hips because Evan was nothing if not thorough. Speaking of Evan, he was currently two fingers deep in Tommy - two fingers, because Tommy had made him pull out the third one.

He was partial to a good finger-banging when the mood struck, but this was less about feeling good or even the prep - this was all about teasing Evan.

See, Evan easily fit into the role of service top whenever Tommy took the reins like this. It was all about doing everything for his partner, taking care of them, making them come as much as possible, all while ignoring his own need. He tended to forget all about his own dick, following Tommy's orders enough to keep him satisfied.

The point for Evan was to get Tommy off and do it well. Which was why Tommy would not allow him that. He wanted to get him to a point where he couldn't forget about his needs.

He'd put Evan on his stomach, situated between his thighs, and told him to keep one hand on his hip. The other, he was allowed to use to finger Tommy open, but he was under strict orders to not even graze Tommy's prostate - or else.

Evan did as he was told with a determined look on his face, but Tommy could admit that he was having way too much fun watching that determination slowly shift into frustration as Tommy did not let up.

He slowly let him work his way all the way up to three fingers, giving him clear instructions as to when to spread them, when to push them deeper, when to take one out. And Evan listened beautifully, even though he obviously did not want to.

Tommy shifted a little, stretched his spine, pulled up one leg to plant his foot on the mattress, and Evan halted his movements, looking up at Tommy all wide-eyed and hopeful.

He played with the thought of telling Evan to get back down to one finger, just to fuck with him, but if he was honest, he was more than ready to move on. His stamina was good - great even - but everyone had their limit.

"Think we got it, don't we?" he asked, rubbing his leg along Evan's side.

Evan nodded so hard Tommy worried he might give himself whiplash. Upon command, he pulled his fingers out, slowly, and cleaned them off.

Evan shuffled around the bed on his knees, locating the bottle of lube somewhere half covered by the sheets.

"Condom, Evan," Tommy reminded him.

Evan scrunched up his nose in distaste and Tommy couldn't fault him. They rarely ever used condoms anymore, but the way Tommy was seeing this, he'd probably have to clean up on his own after, and he didn't think he'd be truly up for it when it came to it.

So, easier clean up. Evan seemed to understand that reasoning without words, too, since there was no complaining from him when he fetched one of the ones they still had in their bedside table.

"Put it on," Tommy instructed. "No touching yourself outside that."

Evan did as told, quickly and efficiently rolling the condom down on his cock, dripping and flushed a deep color. Still, Evan dropped his hand to Tommy's knee, not touching himself just as told.

"That's it." Tommy beckoned Evan closer with a curl of his fingers. "Come on now. Closer."

Once Evan had settled back between Tommy's thighs, sitting back on his heels, Tommy allowed him to put his hands back on his legs. Seemingly absentminded, Evan ran his hands up and down, up and down, staring down at Tommy's own cock with hunger in his eyes.

Tommy nudged Evan with his knee. "Alright, baby. Let's get started."

Evan did not need to be told twice. He pushed Tommy's legs further apart a little bit with his own bulk, and positioned the head of his dick right against Tommy's hole. He started slowly moving in with a controlled push of his hips.

Tommy couldn't help the sigh that left him. God, this was nice. But he wasn't here to just lose himself in enjoyment. He wanted to be a little mean, now.

The tip was in, and just as Evan was about to push deeper, Tommy locked eyes with him. He could see the exact moment Evan realized that he wouldn't like what Tommy had to say, and oh, how right he was.

"Stop. Pull out."

Evan looked at him, devastated. He halted in his movement, and his fingers curled into the bedspread. He made no move to do as told, staring wide-eyed at Tommy as if that would change his mind.

Tommy tilted his head. "Be a good boy now, Evan."

Sure-fire way to get Evan to comply. He had a praise kink a mile wide. Tommy had rarely ever had to actually do something to punish him when they played like that - thinking he had disappointed Tommy was punishment enough.

Evan did what Tommy asked of him and pulled out, sitting back on his heels again. His hands moved from the sheets to Tommy's thighs, but just before he could actually touch him, he halted.

"Can I touch you?" His voice was soft, quiet.

There we go, Tommy thought, there he is.

Tommy nodded. "Go ahead."

Evan put his hands on his thighs and kept him there for a moment, then started moving them. He felt Tommy up nice and heavy, but kept his fingers away from his cock or ass.

Yeah, there he was. There was that good boy.

Tommy was content to watch Evan for now, watch him run his hands over his skin, watch him try his very best to stay focused on anything other than the way he had to leave Tommy's hole empty.

With a content sigh, Tommy folded his arm behind his head. He smirked at Evan, who was watching him like a hawk, eyes caught on the flex of Tommy's biceps.

"You look like you want something, baby. Mind telling me what it is?"

For a moment, something like defiance flashed in Evan's eyes, and Tommy could guess what he was thinking. As if you don't know what I want.

That was only for a moment, however, and Evan dropped the act in favor, of sliding his hands along Tommy's inner thighs, closer to his cock. "I wanna fuck you."

Tommy quirked an eyebrow and clicked his tongue. "You can say that nicer." He moved his free hand as if giving Evan the stage. "Come on."

And Evan did not disappoint. His eyes went big and wide, like every time he wanted something really badly. "Please," he started, "please, I wanna make it good for you, please, please, lemme put it in, please, just a moment."

Tommy bit his own tongue to keep his composure. God, did he love this. Evan was just so good at asking, at begging.

"Just a moment, huh?" Tommy asked, pretending to think about Evan's request. "You sure you're gonna be able to pull out? Remember how difficult it was for you when it was just the tip?"

Evan opened his mouth. Closed it. Stared back down between Tommy's legs as if his dick would give him the strength he needed. He took a deep breath, swallowed what saliva must have pooled in his mouth.

"Please," he groaned.

Tommy shrugged. "You gotta give me more than that. Please what, baby?"

"Please!"

"Please what? Use your words now."

The dam broke. "Please. Please, let me, I wanna do, I wanna make you ... please." Another breath, another heavy swallow. "Please, daddy."

There we go, Tommy thought. That was what he wanted, that was what he loved - Evan desperate, so desperate to get his dick wet he couldn't form full sentences.

For another moment, Tommy pretended to think about it. He shrugged slightly. "Well, if that's what you want so bad." Tommy sighed, as if he wasn't dying for it at this point, too. "Come on, then."

He did not need to tell Evan twice. He moved closer, one of his hands on Tommy's legs to guide them to bracket his hips while the other one dug for the discarded bottle of lube again.

As Evan slicked back up, Tommy leaned up a bit and curled two fingers under Evan's chin, tipping it up.

"You come, you get punished. Got it?"

Evan nodded and leaned down to plant kisses on the skin of Tommy's knee and thigh. "Thank you, thank you," he mumbled.

Without instruction, Evan positioned himself again and pushed in, slowly, almost glacial, continuously looking up at Tommy, just waiting for him to say something and make him stop.

While yes, Tommy had thought about it, he'd ultimately decided against it. He'd also thought about clenching down and making Evan really fight for his self-control, but he was done with dragging it out. Maybe another time.

After all, he was playing with his own patience, too.

So, he kept his mouth shut until Evan was all the way in, until Tommy felt so pleasantly full, when he sighed in contentment.

Evan's eyes were closed, and his brow furrowed as if in concentration. Tommy shifted a little, bringing his knees closer to Evan's sides.

"You doing okay, sweetheart?" he checked in.

Pretty blue eyes opened again. "I'm good," Evan said roughly. "Just need a moment."

Which meant he was so keyed up that he almost came from just pushing in.

Tommy hoped he was as good at keeping the smug look off of his face as he thought he was.

He reached out, cupping the side of Evan's face with a hand and watched him lean into it, nuzzle his nose against the heel of Tommy's palm.

"There's that boy."

Evan smiled and rightened himself up again, but he didn't move except for miniscule jolts of his hips. Tommy decided not to punish him for that. He knew this behavior, he knew Evan couldn't control it.

"You really want it." He didn't pose it as a question, but Evan nodded nonetheless. "Then give it to me. I wanna feel it."

Another quick nod, and Evan gathered his legs up, hooking the backs of Tommy's knees over the bends of his elbows, and leaned forwards to jam his hands into the mattress.

The first time Evan found out how flexible Tommy was, he'd come almost immediately. Tommy didn't do yoga simply for his health, okay?

"This okay?" Evan asked softly, leaning close enough so that Tommy could lean up and kiss him.

"This is perfect," Tommy said in return, slightly moving his hips side to side just to really feel how big Evan was inside of him. "Fuck, you feel like a dream."

Evan made a quiet sound, like a strangled moan and a gasp in one. He shifted slightly. "Can I move?"

God, did he sound desperate. But he also sounded like he would listen if Tommy told him no.

When Tommy didn't say anything for a moment, Evan leaned in close to kiss him again, whispering, "Please, daddy, can I move?" against his chin.

Brat knew exactly what he was doing.

"Don't forget what we're doing here," Tommy said. "You get me there first. You come before me, there'll be consequences."

"What kinda consequences?"

That made Tommy laugh for a moment. He remembered the time when Evan intentionally went against orders because he was a little too into what Tommy had promised as punishment. Not a mistake Tommy was gonna do twice.

"Not telling you, baby. Now do your thing, will you? I thought you wanted to."

It was all that Evan needed to finally move. And move he did.

He pulled almost all the way out and slammed back in immediately, not even pausing to take a moment. He didn't always do it, tended to like it better to start slowly and build the pace and strength of his thrusts up over the time, but Tommy could tell he was on a razor's edge.

And thank god for that.

There were no pretenses now, only Evan's single-minded focus on getting Tommy off. And he was good, so good at it. He thrived under being told he was good, yearned to be good, so he had meticulously studied whatever got Tommy's rocks off to give him the best experience in bed that he ever had.

His precision in finding the right angle to hit Tommy's prostate on every single push inside was unmatched, and sometimes, he used that knowledge to tease, but not today.

Today, it was a constant thrum of pleasure from the press of Evan's cock, from the way he filled Tommy so well, from the way it felt as if he went even deeper every single time he thrust inside.

"That's my good boy," Tommy praised. "You're doing so good."

In return, Evan gave him a breathless smile and impossibly sped up.

"You wan'a hand?" he asked.

Tommy actually took a moment to think, lost his train of thought when Evan changed pace again to instead slam his hips harder against the backs of Tommy's thighs. He had to take a moment to close his eyes and just take it in, a moan leaving him involuntarily, thoughtlessly.

"Daddy?" Evan prodded but made no move to let Tommy catch his breath.

What a guy.

"Think I don't need it."

Tommy had known way before he and Evan started having sex that he could come untouched, but back in the day, it was a rare thing he could only get to with excessive stimulation. Excessive seemed to be Evan's middle name, though, so Tommy rarely ever needed extra to come. Or wanted it, for that matter. It kinda made him crazy that Evan could get him off without touching his cock once.

Evan dropped his head and moaned at Tommy's admission, eyes clenched shut in concentration. He took just a moment for a pause before he pushed back in hard. Tommy had to give it to him, he hadn't thought Evan would last this long after everything, but he was nothing if not committed. Tommy had told Evan to make him come first, and Evan would do everything in his power to do it.

The backs of Tommy's legs were starting to feel a little tight, like they were about to cramp from their position, but he didn't even need to say anything, Evan was that in tune with his comfort.

He slowed down until he was barely moving at all and pulled his arms out from the backs of Tommy's knees, moved them to bracket his waist instead. He leaned forward to kiss Tommy again, this time for longer, and without the strain on Tommy's joints that he was slowly starting to feel.

Tommy sighed into the kiss, knowing that as soon as he opened his mouth, Evan would try and shove his tongue inside. He was a little gentler in his approach than Tommy expected, slowly curling his tongue behind the row of Tommy's teeth.

"You doing okay, baby?" Tommy asked into the small space between them, taking in Evan's flushed face. His curly hair was sticking to his forehead on one side.

"So good, daddy," Evan assured him. "Love you."

"I love you, too." And how. "Now come on. Get us there."

Evan buried his face in the crook of Tommy's neck. Tommy wrapped his arms around his back to pull him closer. From this position, Evan couldn't find the same momentum, but he didn't need it. He grinded his hips against Tommy's in tight circles, pressing right into his prostate.

Tommy bit the bolt of his jaw, buried a breathless gasp in the skin just below Evan's earlobe.

"Do you know how good you are, baby?" he mumbled. "Do you know how good you make me feel? How - ah, fuck - how I love having you inside me like this?"

Evan nodded against the side of Tommy's throat, his movement a little desperate.

"Hm, I don't think you actually do, sweetheart. Don't think you know how fucking lucky I am. Don't you- oh, fuck, fuck, there baby, you got it."

While Tommy was whispering into Evan's ear, Evan had shifted slightly, tried to crawl in even closer, and thus pushed his cock even deeper, so deep that Tommy thought he could feel it in his throat.

If made to choose between this constant grind against his prostate or the fast and hard fucking from before, Tommy would probably rather choke on his own spit. The latter had been great, but so was this, and he so loved having Evan pressed right against him, wrapped in his arms.

Without moving away, Evan tried to get more back and forth movement into his hips, and while that was nice, too, he quickly gave up in favor of drawing tight circles into Tommy, instead, a continuous press against his prostate now that made him gasp and moan.

Evan started begging, "Please, please, please," over and over under his breath, and Tommy was reasonably sure he wasn't even aware of it.

That paired with the constant stimulation of that big cock rubbing his insides in just the right way had Tommy teetering on the edge. Just a little something.

He didn't even have to say anything for Evan to deliver. He somehow managed to plant a knee, and he used that leverage to fuck into Tommy in short but harder thrusts without moving away from his place snuggled into the line of Tommy's jaw.

And then, he started talking. Begging, more like it. "Please, daddy, haven't I been good? Haven't I done you good, aren't you close, don't you wanna show me I'm good? I love you, come on, please, you can get it, you can, I wanna feel it, I wanna feel you come so bad, I wanna make you come, please."

No-one Tommy had ever had sex with begged this sweetly, and no-one had ever begged for Tommy to come before Evan. So of course, Tommy was a fucking goner.

The fingers of one hand buried themselves in the short curls at the back of Evan's head, the other gripped his side hard enough to leave the shape of his fingernails.

He groaned, long and deep in his chest, something that may have been Evan's name or maybe just some gibberish. He could hear Evan's own groan right in his ear when he clenched down on his cock, just to feel it, just to drag it out a little.

He shot off on his own chest and belly, and he could feel Evan move his head a little as if to watch. He probably was, seemed to have a near obsession between watching Tommy's cock or watching his face when he came.

Evan kept up the gentle sway of his hips, working Tommy through his orgasm as if there was nothing else in the world to do, and when Tommy finally came down to catch his breath, he realized with pride that Evan had held out.

He loosened his fingers from Evan's waist, rubbed over the red crescents left behind soothingly, then brought a hand to Evan's cheek.

"You okay?"

Evan nodded. "Can I-? Daddy, can I come now?" He didn't whine, but it was a near thing.

God, somehow, Tommy had bagged the best boy in the world. With a thumb rubbing over Evan's blushing cheek, he nodded.

"Of course you can. You want to come inside or on me?"

There were days when Evan would kill to come on Tommy's tits, or his face, on his thighs or ass, or on his stomach and watch their cum pool together.

Not today, though, judging by the way Evan looked devastated for a moment. "Don't make me pull out."

Tommy laughed, still giddy in the wake of an amazing orgasm, and stroked his hand through Evan's hair. "Don't worry, baby, I won't. You've done so good, you got me off so good. You can come, baby, you've earned it."

It only took two more thrusts before Evan dug his teeth into the skin next to Tommy's adam's apple, and he stilled, muffling the moan of Tommy's name against his throat.

He didn't move further, only to collapse bonelessly against Tommy's chest, and when Tommy clenched down a little once more, just a tease, the lids of his eyes fluttered.

Tommy let up, instead ran his hands up and down Evan's back, through his hair, waited for him to calm down a little.

His erratic breathing slowed, the mewling sounds he let out on almost every exhale quieted and disappeared, and with a huge sigh that seemed to press Tommy further into the mattress, Evan raised his head and opened his eyes.

"Fuck," he said, voice a little rough now.

Tommy chuckled. "Pretty much, yeah."

Evan nuzzled in for a kiss, mumbling, "God, I love you."

They kissed for a moment, soft and slow, but the cum drying on Tommy's skin was starting to itch, and when Evan pulled out and tied off the condom, his movement was sluggish.

"Wanna go clean up in the shower or do you want a bath?" Tommy asked.

"Can I have a bath?" Evan asked immediately.

Thank god for the - back then irresponsible - large expense for a bathtub big enough to fit two tall, buff firefighters.

Tommy got up, and Evan dropped back onto the bed, folding his arms under his head, looking like a right pillow princess.

It didn't take long for Tommy to put the lube back in the drawer, throw the condom away, and prepare the bathtub - after he cleaned up the worst of it, he was not willing to sit in cum-water for a prolonged time.

They sat together in the bath shortly after, Evan's back to Tommy's chest, with his head resting back on Tommy's shoulder - perfect position for him to kiss at Tommy's jaw sleepily.

While the sex was fun, Tommy almost liked this part even more, when Evan allowed himself to relax, and let Tommy take care of him.

Tommy was already making plans for next time. He couldn't wait to see how Evan would end up after, after Tommy had been more mean. After he had made him work even harder.

He knew Evan would get him back for it, but that was half the fun.

[everestgale]

Do you have any headcannons for your human designs of the voices, and would there be a different story to them (like if they have lives and jobs), or are they still just the voices of TLQ but as humans?

Sorry for taking a while to reply, I kept forgetting to actually write it all down (т v т)

The answer is: human voices are a part of a separate, post-New and Unending Dawn AU, where The Long Quiet is so sorrowful and longing after he killed the Heart of the Shifting Mound that he decided to unravel himself into a new world, created in the Princess's image, spinning his physical body into the world, his heart into the (human) voices, and his mind/memories into (human) vessels (since The Shifting Mound is gone, he has to essentially reconstruct them from his memories).

Yes, this AU also has human vessels because I've wanted to design how Princesses would look like if they were regular people ever since @/lavb-b did this for Prisoner, but I could never find proper motivation to sit down and design those. Voice brainrot has been very strong and very real (т v т)

And if you're wondering if this is how the idea of human voices started, the answer is absolutely not, it was originally just a funny design exercise, but I love coming up with silly in-universe reasons for my dumb ideas to exist, so this is now one of my AUs.

Tangents aside, it is a completely separate story from the usual post-canon shenanigans, human voices actually have zero solid memories of anything that happened before. For all intents and purposes, this is a different world, and so none of these people went through the horrors of the Construct; all they have is some vague subconscious feelings, gut instincts, nightmares, visions, but nothing solid or concrete that ties them to their Construct lives. At least, until I actually decide to make this AU into a story, I have a couple of ideas that I might explore in the future, or I might just leave this a silly modern slice-of-life AU, who knows!

As for specific headcanons, I actually don't have a lot of specific details planned or figured out since I'm only just now figuring out how even my regular post-canon world works, haven't had the time to really figure out what's going on with the human AU yet. But! Have a couple that I can remember off the top of my head:

Stranger pairs (Stubborn-Broken, Cold-Paranoid, Smitten-Skeptic, Opportunist-Hunted, and Cheated-Contrarian) are all siblings, with Cold-Paranoid pair being adoptive siblings. Maybe Cheated-Contrarian pair too, I'm not entirely sure yet.

They are all range between early 20s and mid 30s age-wise. The youngest of the group are Contrarian (definitely the youngest), Hunted, Hero, and Paranoid, probably in that order. The oldest are Smitten, Cheated, Skeptic, and Opportunist, though I can't decide if Smitten or Skeptic should be the oldest-

The younger side of voices (Contra, Hunted, Hero, Paranoid, Cold) are all university students (Contrarian is in uni because Cheated, his older brother in the AU, never did, so of course he had to /lh). The older side is... doing something. I haven't figured that out, but they all sure do have regular jobs and are trying their best to live a normal life. The universe (me) has other plans for them ^^

All voices do know about each other, at least vaguely (having them be five sets of siblings helps with that), but they are not as close of a group as they are in regular post-canon, due to age gaps and general lack of proximity. That does NOT mean that I'm not gonna put all these guys together into The Situations™

So yeah, those are some general ideas I have about my human lads, I probably have some specific headcanons for individual voices, but if I were to list them all here, this post would be like 2000 more words /hj Though if you are interested in a specific character, feel free to send another ask, I will try to write my vague ideas and headcanons down!

Thank you for asking, and I hope you enjoyed reading my random AU ramble!

[artbyblastweave]

I do like the ending to the TF2 comics, but it feels so evident that it was heading toward a different ending that I'm dying to hear theories on what it might have been. Penny for your thoughts?

So, this is kind of a difficult one to answer because the sheer amount of time over which the comics were produced means that "the original ending" could have changed way closer to the beginning of the project than the end. But, generally, I think the point at which you can sort of see the pivot towards the comics team realizing that they were going to have to resolve the story unaided was around issue 4 or 5.

I do believe them that something akin to the reveal about the Administrator was always the plan; it's simply too thematically aligned with the game as a whole. But I do think that the original plan probably tied into the space race, references to which have been threaded through TF2 since at least the pyromania update.

This is from the blog post for TF comics 3, which also featured discussion of the team's development of the now-shelved map Asteroid- A map set on some kind of moon base, released in a partially-completed state for testing and feedback purposes. The game mode consisted of hunting and destroying the enemies teams swarm of maintenance robots to charge a reactor to... do something. Speculations on what the lore underpinning this setup would be abounded; I recall people assuming for the sake of simplicity that Grey probably had something to do with the robots. No concrete lore ever materialized because the map dematerialized several years ago, but the effort on display indicates they were planning something with this.

Around this time, multiple assets were added to the game gesturing at some kind of conspiratorial project; The blue Mann co poster in particular has a space-related aesthetic.

Powerhouse, released in 2015, had a couple similar hint assets, again released at a point in the game's lifespan where the devs putting something in the game might actually hint at a future plan;

This is on top of on the existing lore about the Mann Co./TF Industries space program- Doomsday and the sabotaged Poopy Joe launch (later revealed to be the result of Helen swindling the U.S government out of their Australium for at-the-time unknown reasons,) all of which was still a comparatively recent addition to the lore when issue 3 and these posters came out. And, on top of all that, we have the climax of issue 4- the last cache of australium on earth being taken to space by Sniper's birth mother:

In the story as written the New Zealand excursion is pretty weird- it contributes to Sniper's characterization, but otherwise this amounts to an Australium cache introduced and lost in the span of the same issue; fundamentally an odd use of page space if they didn't intend to do something with this.

So, all things considered, the original plan would probably have involved an excursion to, and final showdown in, space. Either The Administrator or Grey Mann might have had a long term goal that was dependent on access to space, necessitating extensive australium access for reasons besides their life extenders; alternatively, they might have all just pursued Sniper's mom up there, the joke ultimately being that everyone wound up stranded in outer space in order to scrape a few more months of pointless life extension off the side of a rocket. The split difference might have been that Grey's grand evil plan involved space-born domination, which Helen wanted to prevent not on moral grounds, but because letting Grey succeed would ruin her plan to torture Zephaniah; this would rhyme with what happens in the story as written, where Grey really did have a conventional evil plan to kill everyone in Australia that got headed off mainly by accident than due to heroic intervention. RD_Asteroid would have released as the centerpiece of a tie-in update, a gameplay tie-in to the story arc.

Can't even begin to guess how Charles Darling and Oliva were supposed to play into all of this. They likely were, though; Charles has a connection to the tangled Mann Family web through Bette Darling, and the whole Saxton Mags resolution felt pinched as hell.

Standing disclaimer that a lot of this is from memory of being in the fandom as all of this was developing- there's likely stuff I've missed or forgotten.

[oniriquekise]

"It's April 12th, hon!"

Pairing: platonic Asmodeus x GN!MC; self-insert

Summary: You're about to celebrate your 30th birthday and start to feel a bit anxious. Thank goodness Asmo is there to hype you up before the party!

Warnings: NONE! Just pure fluff; NO BETA READ (I might edit it later)

Note: I'm officially 30 years old now and I'm not gonna lie, it did make me feel scared and anxious.

Word count: 1,046.

Never in your life have you imagined you would reach the thirtieth birthday milestone. It left a weird taste in your mouth, a bittersweet feeling of facing the reality: you were ageing. You weren't old, far from it, and you still felt as good as you did in your early twenties; but something about turning 30 years old made you feel a mix of excitement and fear of the future. 

Although you were as healthy as before, you were now both confident about yourself as a person and self-conscious about the few changes your body has gone through throughout the years. Not so suddenly, you felt the need to hide the few silvery hair strands on your scalp and set a rigorous skin care routine in which Asmo offered to help and take good care of your newly formed crow's feet. It didn't make sense to you why these aspects of your body would affect your self-esteem to this extent when these same features were so attractive when you spotted them on Lucifer. His greyish hair amongst the black strands made him look extremely hot and his own crow's feet were the cherry on top to make his image flawless. 

Also, you didn't want to admit being scared of getting older. Technically, you weren't afraid of death, it was the only destiny shared by every human being. Well, every human being but Solomon. The man in question was probably older than your mind could ever comprehend. You wondered if his hair had been dark at some point in history and, if so, how he must have felt realising he was getting old too.

You stared at your reflection on the large mirror of Asmodeus' dressing table. Your face was actually prettier than you thought it would be. Asmo did a wonderful job with the makeup on your eyes. It really gave you a youthful appearance and made your eyes shine like none other. 

"Having second thoughts again?" Came the sweet voice of Asmo as he combed your hair. "You look a little troubled."

"You could say that," Sighing softly, you glanced at him through the mirror. "I will look older than all of you sooner than later."

"Oh, hon, you will have to live four million lives before you try and get to my age." He chuckled, his hands never leaving your hair untouched.

The giggles were inevitable whenever you and Asmo were together. While he usually seemed selfish and unaware of others' problems, he was, in fact, very insightful and his words reached your agitated soul every time. He understood how people's minds worked because he, too, has had dealt with a big amount of insecurities to deal with.

He kept combing your hair this way and that until he was satisfied with a perfectly put up hairdo. A simple bun tied at the back of your head with a pair of braids adorning both sides of it. Asmo really outdid himself this time and he knew it. The shocked look on your face said it all, you were left speechless as those cute eyes stared from him to your reflection. 

"Well? Aren't I the best hairdresser you've ever seen in all the three worlds?" Asmo asked, a confident smirk plastered on his lips while he admired his own work. 

"This is perfect! Asmo, you're unbelievable!" In a sudden wave of enthusiasm, you jumped from your seat and enveloped him in a hug. You two had been in his room for the past five hours dolling each other up for the birthday party the brothers organised for you and you were sure Asmo did his absolute best to make you feel the most beautiful being today. Since the shared bubble bath, the face mask and the time it took to do your nails, your make-up and help you into your outfit. He refused your offer to go to a spa and did it all by himself. 

Honestly? He did a better job than any professional could even think of doing. He made sure to make you feel his love at each of his actions; through the way he carefully caressed your face, or the way he kissed your lips to share his lip balm with you when you forgot yours. His fingers were gentle at every touch to your skin, even during your regular tickle fights. You felt his love through his touch, through his words, when he told you the reasons why you were the only person he loved more than himself and when he confided his problems in you knowing you would also make him feel secure and loved. You ageing was but a minuteness part of yourself as a person; he would love you in every shape, every form, every stage of life.

However, Asmo wasn't so naive to believe when you told him it didn't bother you. He knew his time with you was limited and it scared him nearly as much as it did you. You wanted to protect his feelings and that was so incredibly cute in his eyes. 

"It's time to go," you stated, finally pulling away from him, your eyes full of fondness. "I'm ready now."

He nodded, but made no mention of walking to the door. Instead, he took the D.D.D. from his pocket and opened the camera.

"Let's just take a picture of us first. People on Devilgram should feel a bit jealous of you today. You are ravishing, after all."

"Not only random people on Devilgram, but your brothers too, right?" You chuckled, getting closer to him until your cheeks touched.

The picture was flawless, you two were beautiful and now there was nothing holding you back. You would come out of that bedroom and meet everyone as you have done since forever. Growing old didn't have to feel so melancholic all the time and, for sure, you weren't the melancholic type at all. If anything, you matched Asmodeus' positive demeanor and your light personality would remain untouched by your fears. You just had to live everyday without regrets so, in a few decades, you would be able to look back and reminisce about your days of youth with love. 

"Shall we?" Asmodeus asked, offering his hand as he waited by the, now, unlocked door. And without a hint of hesitation, you took his hand and you both made your way to greet the guests to your thirtieth birthday party.

[homestuckreplay]

Biscuits’ Oven Jealousy Hours

(page 1220-1247)

Eggs and Biscuits are my new favorite characters. We were previously warned that they were morons, but I did not expect their names to be so literal or their powers to be so ridiculous. Eggs, it seems, can summon a duplicate of himself from another timeline every time his egg timer rings, which is often. In one timeline somebody has taken a bite out of his hat as though he is a peeled hard boiled egg. Biscuits, on the other hand, is able to time travel into the future by climbing into an oven and waiting for the future to arrive. People think he’s too stupid to realize he’s not time traveling, but personally I think he’s pulling the best scam ever. He gets an excuse to hide away, chill and not interact with anyone (or put himself in harm’s way). That’s a sweet deal.

We meet Fin, and the thread of Droog recruiting Deuce to assist in a diabolical past/future trail plot gets tied up beautifully. I like how past and future trails dissipate over time, putting limitations on Fin and Trace’s powers and making it easier to follow the panels visually. I also really like these shots of Deuce (p.1226-7) which is just like previous shots we’ve seen of dream Jade and robot Jade side by side, now with versions of a character from different points in time instead of in space.

‘Doze unslows himself and begins mumbling something feverishly. About his hat.’ I was a fool for not realizing how perfectly a character like Doze can be used for a punchline. The outcome of Deuce and Itchy’s game of musical hats and the previous line that this game might be ‘driving [Doze] nuts. Just very slowly’ (p.1181) being a giant bomb under Doze’s hat absolutely works. It’s a satisfying payoff for a miniature time travel escapade that was a little convoluted, but still followable and consistent.

That particular scheme tied up, there is still a week ish to go in the intermission, so who knows what’ll happen to complicate things further. The Midnight Crew are doing pretty well on the green torsos but we still haven’t caught a glimpse of Clover, Stitch, Sawbuck, Cans, or of course Snowman and Lord English. And we are barely at 10% completion on clocks destroyed so the Midnight Crew better step up their game if they wanna 100% the Felt Mansion.

‘Spades Slick cannot return to being Hearts Boxcars because obviously Diamonds Droog is too busy being Clubs Deuce.’ (p.1242) is a top tier line. I won’t overthink it, I will just accept its truth. Not sure what tone to take from the ‘But we all realized it. Because it's obvious and couldn't possibly be more clear’ later on that page though – but no matter which way I take it, it feels kind of unnecessary.

Anyway I am putting on my tinfoil hat again to talk about page 1236, where we once again see Die in the timeline where Slick is dead, in the strange colored wasteland. Blue and red sand, pink crystalline rocks left behind, emerald city in the distance, large green planet/moon in the sky, and a smaller pink planet/moon with its own tiny satellite. It is REALLY beautiful and looks very alien.. And it is ‘a desert amidst the ruins of a dead civilization’ (p.1236) just like what happened to WV, so... this is a different planet who played Sburb? In which case the Felt must have been the players who beat Sburb and survived and were able to come back to their old planet, while the Midnight Crew are the equivalents of WV, PM and AR, who left the game and actually succeeded in their civic infrastructure goals? And these are two rival gangs because they are literally the only people left alive? Presumably at one point there was one chess piece for each Sburb player, but the others may have been killed already, or the pieces from Prospit may not have wanted to be involved in crime?

Does this mean that getting some sick ass time powers is the prize for winning Sburb? It’s definitely on brand for Skaia given its ability to show scenes from all across time, but it’s not quite the ‘unlimited creative potential’ that was promised. Unless only Lord English has access to that, since he’s ‘killable only through a number of glitches and exploits in spacetime’ (p.1239) and probably has the powers of all the others combined? Did he just level up way more than his friends? Or complete an objective they didn’t, or screw them over inside the game? Is this wasteland/city the kind of life that John, Rose, Dave and Jade have to ‘look forward’ to if they win? Will John get to live in Can Town? Or is what we’re seeing now a ‘bad ending’ for Sburb, and the beta kids will be able to achieve a ‘good ending’ if they work together, where (for example) they can use these time powers to somehow entirely rewind time and stop Sburb from ever being invented or the meteors ever being triggered or something else? I know Nannasprite said Earth is ‘done for’ (p.427) but maybe not in all timelines? Or could the powers even be used to stop Skaia itself? what is going on????

[yandere-fics]

♡ Bathing With Them ♡

(Can you tell I have eczema based on how often I talk about them trying to be delicate on your skin, lol? I forget not everyone has skin that will try to crawl off their body if they even think about not following their special bath routine, lmao.)

♡ Kassien loses her patience a bit more in the bath because you keep moving about and she just wants to hold you very tightly so don't be too shocked if her claws come out ever so slightly. She's not too preoccupied with the whole getting clean thing, sure she says she loves taking care of you but she can take care of that later right? She deserves to be able to unwind with her mate right now so hold still and just let her hold you in the water. Don't blame her if her hands begin to wander either, she just can't help herself. ♡

♡ You need to run the water yourself if you're planning on bathing with her. She has very thick demon skin, not to mention she's wearing a rash guard and swim shorts when she gets in with you cause she's just doesn't like showing herself actually fully nakey ever, so she doesn't feel the temperature of the water on her skin too much, if you ask for col it'll feel like ice, if you ask for hot it will actually boil your skin so it's best for you to control the water temp instead. ♡

♡ Nora's first ever bath will be with you because in her centuries alive she barely even bothered to shower unless she happened to need to go into the general public to stalk a target but usually she just knew where a target was, killed them and then went home and laid down covered in a bit of the blood that happened to splatter on her so a bath is quite an experience. She wasn't expecting to like it nearly as much, sure she likes being close to you but she also just enjoys it even by itself, your presence is merely the cherry on top. She would still prefer you with her as she bathes but she would consider taking one instead of a shower when she needs to wash the blood off after a job before going to see you. ♡

♡ Nora likes it on the cooler side, it's relaxing to her but when she bathes with you she'll do it on the warmer side if that's what you prefer. What she really enjoys if she's having a warmer bath is having the window open when it's cold outside so the hot water and the cold air are clashing, plus she doesn't enjoy sweating, she only sweats from heat anymore but the cold air with the hot water keeps her from sweating too much so she likes it. She likely wouldn't do it with you cause she's worried you might get a bit sick. ♡

♡ Sawyer loves baths with you, she doesn't even need to be touching you while you bathe, while she would like to be able to take care of you and massage oils into your hair and fancy lotions after the bath, she just enjoys the quality time, though she will be delighted if you allow her to do her whole routine. If you initiate in the bath she will not be opposed to it but otherwise she likes to just sit there with you and doesn't try anything on her own because it's your special bonding time. ♡

♡ She prefers to keep the water slightly warm because she wants to take very good care of your skin so whichever is best for you, she'll do that. She never bathes on her own, she only takes cold showers in the mornings so she doesn't have a temperature she prefers for her own bathes, she just wants to take care of you so if the doctors say slightly warm is the best to avoid drying your skin or hair out, she'll do it. She has epsom salt fully stocked at all times as well and other medicinal things so your bath always smells very good and is very good for your joints. ♡

♡ Abigail bathes regularly after training so it's only natural her future duchess will bathe with her, if you're not in a relationship then she'll use the trainees hot spring with you in order to spend more time with you and while it's not as good as her fancy baths, she'll put up with it for you, she will make sure all the other trainees just so happen to be running laps at the time so you're not disturbed by anyone. Once she's finally with you though, then you have to use her private bath with her. ♡

♡ Abigail likes scorching hot water, it feels good on her aching muscles after a very long day dealing with stupid trainees who can't properly handle a sword in the slightest. She'll tone it down slightly just for you because her duchess is delicate and needs a bit less but even then it's still extremely hot. If she's adding something to the water she prefers an oatmeal bath or something like that because she wants to be gentle on your skin. ♡

♡ Raffie does bathe on her own but if you want to coax her to bathe with you it's going to take a lot of work. She's more likely to sit next to the bath washing you as you enjoy the bath. It's not that she doesn't want to be in the bath with you but does she even deserve it? You're so beautiful, really sunflower you don't need to invite her, she's plenty happy simply being allowed to serve you as you bathe. If you can convince her though then she'll be extremely affectionate to show you how grateful she is for you allowing her this honor. ♡

♡ She likes whatever temperature you like, it doesn't really affect her so she has no preference. She would love if you would put flower petals in your bath water though because you look so pretty with rose petal surrounding you, if you have longer hair then she'll watch in awe as you dunk your hair in the water and she sees it all splayed out, she can't help but think about how you look with your hair splayed out on her bed as she services you. She will not initiate anything in the bath as she's already been given the generous ability to bathe with you, she should not push her luck. She gets out first to dry you off gently and give you a very soft bathrobe. ♡

[whisker-biscuit]

To Gag a Gagster

Fandom: Critical Role, Legend of Vox Machina verse

Rating: T for Kidnapping, Violence, Threats of Mutilation, Mild Sexual Fantasies (AKA Scanlan Being Scanlan)

Summary: When Scanlan wakes up at the mercy of kidnappers looking for a quick ransom, he's not overly concerned - until he's threatened with losing his greatest (and only) weapon.

His voice.

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

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

Scanlan comes to in a daze, head pounding and body stiff. This isn’t unusual for him depending on the kind of night he’s just had, and the lack of memory from the last several hours doesn’t particularly concern him, either. He moans; the sound is muffled by a thick strip of fabric in his mouth. That’s pretty par for the course, too.

But then he tries to lift his arms towards the gag in his mouth and finds he’s unable to. They’re tied behind his back, pressed up against a hard, flat surface. That is…a lot more unusual than the rest. Scanlan’s eyes flutter open to find himself sitting on the floor of a completely empty room, propped up against a wall. His feet aren’t bound and he’s fully clothed, which are both pluses. He barely has the time to process that maaaaybe this isn’t what he’d thought it was before a flat voice on his right side makes him freeze.

“Gnome’s awake.”

Scanlan turns his head only to lock eyes with those of a stout half-elf who is squatting nearby. She wrinkles her nose with disdain when their gazes meet and elbows something behind her that he can’t see. From the “oof” sound that comes out in response, it’s another mystery person.

“Wake up! I said the gnome’s awake!”

“Fuck do you want me to do about that?” The other stranger stands and stretches in one fluid motion. This one is pure human; incredibly lanky in a way that might remind Scanlan of Keyleth if Keyleth wasn’t a treat to look at.

“You’re the spellcaster. Put him back to sleep.” Half-Elf Lady reaches forward to grab Scanlan by his chain necklace. He lets out a choked noise through the gag when she yanks him forward with it. “I heard rumors that he can use magic. I don’t want any trouble while we’re waiting.”

“What is he going to do tied up like that? He’s harmless,” Human Guy scoffs. “I’m not wasting any energy until we hear back from the de Rolo.”

Scanlan’s throbbing head spins with a hundred different thoughts. In order, the first twenty or so are “what the hell is going on?”; the next eleven are “what does Percy have to do with this?” and the final sixty-nine (nice – shut up, idiot, you’ve been kidnapped) are all different flavors of “I need to get the fuck out of here right the fuck now.” He starts trying to get his feet under him but the half-elf scowls and pushes him back against the wall with enough force his brain rattles in his skull when he hits it.

“Stay still if you know what’s good for you,” she hisses, pointing a threatening finger in his face. “We’re waiting for your nobleman friend to pay ransom to return you alive, but we didn’t say anything about unharmed. If you get annoying then we’re going to have a problem.”

It’s a damned good thing they had the foresight to gag him, then, and not because he’s a caster. Scanlan rolls his eyes to accompany the acknowledging nod he gives her. She shoots him a dubious glare but doesn’t start manhandling him again, which he counts as both a win and a loss.

Listen, the trip to Whitestone and back is the longest he’s gone without a lay in a while. Not his fault he’s got needs.

Seemingly satisfied, the half-elf stands up and heads for a door on the opposite side of the room. The click of the lock when she closes it behind her has him audibly groaning; he did not sign up for wrestling with a door without A Vax on top of the rest of this bullshit. The human still in the room pulls out a book, crisscrosses his legs onto the floor, and starts reading. Instead of giving any more thought to the impossible barriers in his future escape plans, Scanlan slumps backwards against the wall in the perfect picture of defeat.

But here's the thing about binding someone’s hands: there are three factors you have to consider when doing it. One, the material you use had better be solid enough not to fray or snap against pressure. From the feel of the ropes around Scanlan’s wrists, these are well past their prime. Two, the knot you tie better actually be tight and not easily pulled apart at the slightest tug. This part, at least, his kidnappers seem to have a decent handle on. There aren’t any quick-release strings from a quick run through with his fingers on the ends he can reach.

And then there’s three: you better be fucking sure you haven’t kidnapped an expert escape artist. As far as Scanlan’s concerned, decades of bondage experience – both professional and really, really amateurish – has pretty much made him the second-best thing to that.

All that to say that it takes about eight minutes for him to get his hands free. Closer to nine if he feels like being generous to his captors, and he’s really fucking not.

The human is still reading, completely oblivious as Scanlan flexes his fingers behind his back to get the blood flowing back in them. Taking down the Briarwoods and their asshole cronies is a new and prideful notch in his belt, but he’s not about to let it get to his head and think he can easily ditch these clowns without all his tools in place.

He’ll let it get to his head after he gets out of here. Both heads, actually, preferably accompanied with at least two partners and a shit-ton of wine. Maybe that one elderly nobleman who loved his after-dinner performance has friends who are just as repressed as he was.

Scanlan starts working the knot to the gag at the back of his head, trying not to drool at the fantasy already growing in his mind. An entire country club of old folks all clamoring for his attention as he makes them feel young again, experiencing things that never would’ve crossed their minds before he arrived to show them the light –

The human looks up just as he gets the gag out of his mouth. There’s a single moment where they lock gazes, both wide-eyed and startled by the other, before the man’s hand raises. The hairs on the back of Scanlan’s neck prickle and he barely starts to scream the first syllable to Scanlan’s Hand when a sickly familiar muffling smacks into his entire body. He gasps as Silence overtakes him, a looping mantra of fuck not again fuck not again, and the spell on his tongue disappears before even a whisp of purple can manifest.

Scanlan doesn’t think. He just runs.

He gets his fingers on the doorknob before much bigger hands grab him around the waist and tear him away. Scanlan screams an inaudible scream, half in frustration and half in fear, flailing and kicking for all his little limbs are worth as his captor picks him up. The muted scream cuts off in a wheeze when he’s slammed back-first onto hard floor, wind knocked completely out of him.

“How the hell did you get loose?!” The man exclaims, incredulous and furious. He wraps one hand around Scanlan’s throat to lift him partially off the ground and begins shaking him. “What did you use? A knife? A spell? What the fuck did you use?!”

Those deceptively strong fingers tighten enough that Scanlan starts gasping for an entirely different reason. He claws desperately at the grip cutting off his air, babbling excuses and pleas and word salads that never get farther than his paling lips. Nothing he does weakens the hold; nothing he says even has a chance at helping as his only real weapon has been silenced.

His captor finally seems to realize that he’s not going to get answers from a Silenced, choking hostage. He releases his hands and Scanlan gulps for breath beneath him, blinking away the black spots in his eyes without much success.

“Partner warned me you might be trouble,” the man grumbles to himself. He starts rummaging in his pockets, still keeping the gnome pinned under his knees. “I don’t want to keep wasting spells if you keep finding a way to get out of your bonds.”

Scanlan’s faculties return to him just in time to see a knife pulled out. He freezes, unblinking as he stares at the weapon hovering uncomfortably close to his face. The human makes a contemplative face like he’s considering what to make for lunch instead of whatever he’s thinking of doing with that knife.

“Hey!” He suddenly shouts towards the closed door. “You still have that healing potion with you? I wanna cut the little fucker’s tongue out but I don’t want him to bleed out.”

Scanlan’s heart stops beating.

He goes limp out of sheer shock for a single moment; so wholly stunned by the very idea that his brain almost can’t process what it would mean. But then the world comes back into focus by the glint of the knife right before it presses against his closed lips.

No.

His struggling renews with a fervor unmatched by anything in his life.

No. No. No.

A body so much bigger than his pins him down with its weight alone. His fingers claw and scratch against the ground until every single one is bleeding.

No! No! No!

He wants to scream against the horror of what he’s facing even though it would condemn him, but he doesn’t dare. He’s still Silenced; he wouldn’t even get the luxury of hearing his own voice one last time before his very existence shatters.

The hand not holding the knife grabs him by his jaw. Starts to force it open.

NO NO NO NO NO

The door swings open suddenly, silhouetting the form of the half-elf standing in the doorway. She takes a single step forward before a bullet smashes through her skull from the back, exploding out of her forehead. She’s dead before she even hits the ground.

“What the fuck?!” The man yells, jumping to his feet only to be met with a simultaneous arrow and dagger to his chest. He keels over, landing back on top of Scanlan who loses his breath for a third time in ten minutes.

Someone – maybe Grog, maybe an angel, maybe the fucking devil at this point – hauls the body off of him while smaller hands glowing a familiar gold are immediately at his side. Scanlan sees Pike above him, her lips moving in what must be reassurances, but he can’t hear anything through the static in his head. Maybe the Silence spell fucked with his ears, too. Maybe he’s just dying.

Dying would almost be better than –

He gasps as if possessed and throws a hand up to his mouth. The feel of blood against his fingers nearly sends him spiraling again but it’s just his bottom lip that’s been nicked; he finds his tongue safe and untouched within his mouth.

The relief that hits him is so powerful he loses all ability to hold himself up. Scanlan sags against Pike so thoroughly she squeaks out a surprised little “oh” that he finally hears now that the nightmare he was facing has passed.

“Scanlan! Are you still hurt? Are you okay?” She suddenly grips his arm as if noticing something on his shirt. “Oh, you’ve got some kind of effect all over you – are you Silenced?”

He gives a haggard nod. For the first time in his life, he’s grateful not to have to use his voice. He doesn’t know what would come out of his mouth right now but he knows none of it would be good.

“Hey, Scanlan, hey, it’s okay! It’ll fade soon, I’m sure.”

She brushes a tear from under his eye and – huh. When did he start crying?

Best not to think about it. The danger is over, the threat is past, and the last thing he needs to do is make his team think he’s crying over a stupid Silence spell.

Scanlan meets Pike’s worried expression and manages to smile. It’s shaky at the edges, wobbly and wet, but it’s enough to make her shoulders relax. A pathetic substitute that is still more potent than what anyone else in Vox Machina could ever do.

Everything’s fine, it says for him.

I’m fine.

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

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

A/N: This was half a spur-of-the-moment idea that sounded fun to write, and half a way for me to practice Scanlan's voice because Critical Role (and this little bastard in particular) has had me in a chokehold for about 8 months now.

Please send help.

[marshmallowprotection]

hello!! consider this like a bingo free space to talk about any headcanons or anything that is currently on your mind that no one has asked about!!

~embroidery anon

(or if there's nothing on your mind, take it as just some well wishes <3)

Well, lately I've been thinking about Saeran's scars and how they deserve to be handled with love and care. I don't see many people draw the scars he likely has on one or both of his ankles. But, I think there's a good chance those scars are there, and it doesn't matter if they're faint or bold, the feeling of having something touch that part of his body hurts.

It triggers him and brings him back to a place he never wants to be ever again. He spent his childhood with ropes and chains wrapped around his ankles, binding him to the ground, so he's not going to ever want to feel that weight around his body if he has a say. He's overwhelmed, frightened, and scared of being bound.

Whether they want to draw him with scars on that part of his body or not, the damage his mother inflicted on him isn't something anyone should ignore when they're thinking about that part of his body. He's afraid of being tied up... and I do grimace when I see people write him enjoying that, even in a safe space, if only because my worst fears in regards to this were proven to be true when he Rika restrained him.

Why do you think he disassociates from the very moment Rika puts chains around his ankle in the RAE? 

It takes him back to the worst time in his life.

In an instant, he's back in his childhood home, and he is being restrained against his will by his mother. She keeps him in Chains because she knows if she lets both of the boys run around without something to keep one of them back, they'll run away, she'll lose her meal ticket, and they'll die. Not that she cares about them living or dying, but if they die, she doesn't get what she wants and that's the money Saejoong gives her every month.

Her plan, in my theory, was to become a trophy wife and it didn't work out that way. She blackmailed Saejoong when she didn't get what she wanted and her miserable existence continued to spiral as she grew bitter at the boys for existing and not giving her what she wanted. She never wanted kids.

She wanted a lavish lifestyle and was willing to have a kid or two to ensure her success. Saejoong didn't want her as a wife. She wasn't the type of person who could stand with him and get him the life he wanted. He's been fighting and cheating his way to top. He needed a wife who would stand behind him, smile, and stay silent. We know he has a wife and kid he legally considers his own, but we don't know a damn thing about them.

I'm still not entirely sure if he already had a wife at the time he had an encounter with Mother Choi. Either way, her plan was to either scoop him up for marriage and win herself a lifestyle of luxury, or to be a pretty side piece who gets whatever she wants while not having to worry about running some household. 

I digress, we all understand that she kept Saeran on a chain because he was easier to restrain. She needed Saeyoung to run errands for her when she was too inebriated or hungover to do it herself. Saeran was just a baby. A baby she restrained with ropes and chains. That's not something he's ever going to shake off. I think, it might get easier in the future, but... it's always going to be a part of him.

He's never unpacked the scope of what that did to him. He hasn't had enough time to do so since his freedom from Mint Eye. But, I can say this to you.

Saeran Choi will not wear clothes that are tight around his ankles.

If he wears anything that goes over his ankles, it does not clamp to that part of his body. It has to be loose and if it does go over his ankles, it has to go over them entirely and land in such a place that doesn't trigger him.

He will never wear socks that are longer than ankle cut. Ideally, he will wear something that isn't longer than his ankles, but if he has to wear something that is, he will make sure that it is the loosest kind of soft fabric he can find. This man will not wear skinny jeans. You shouldn't draw that with in mind, to be honest.

I already hear someone trying to tell me about Unknown, yes, Unknown wears a tall pair of boots, but they do not stop on his ankles, they go well above them. You can also tell his pants are not tight around his ankles thanks to this photo from the secret ending. We also have a photo from his birthday a few years ago where he's wearing a different outfit, and wouldn't you know it, there's nothing tight around his ankle there! 

There is only one photo of him in existence where he's wearing something that has an ankle-cut style, and it's not the happiest image of him in existence. It’s SE Saeran wearing something that feels off. The shirt he's wearing in this image has been presumed by everyone in this fandom to be hand-me-downs. 

Technically, he's still wearing the tank top and pants from his outfit before, the only different thing is the fact that he's wearing a sweater that seems a bit too big for him and shoes that rest on his ankles that have replaced his boots. I do think the shirt and boots belong to his brother because they fit more with Saeyoung’s style.

It also makes sense that he wouldn't want to bother with choosing new clothes for himself, after all, he's only here because his brother begged and pleaded with him not to die. Saeyoung would’ve gifted him something to wear and given the fact that Saeran is still wary of his brother by the end of the Secret Ending, it’s a surprise to see him willing to accept anything at all, much less a shirt and shoes. 

Unfortunately, the reason why he feels so disconnected in this photo doesn't just have to do with the fact that he feels uncomfortable around the RFA, I think it's because the minute he put those boots on, he felt disconnected and detached. That look in his eyes has always bothered me.

The more I think about it, the more I fear that it's because he's wearing shoes that make him uncomfortable but he doesn't want to voice his discomfort. He doesn't want to be smothered by his brother who still needs to sort out his trauma with parentification. But, I have to point this out because it's the only image where he's wearing shoes that do this. 

[toychest321]

Ranking and Reviewing Every Pregnant Steffi Love Doll (1992-2024) 🤰🏼

(Now that I've got your attention, before reading this, PLEASE donate to or boost Ahmed's GoFundMe to help get him and his family out of Gaza 🙏🙏🙏: https://www.tumblr.com/toychest321/748238434888466432?source=share)

1992 - Newborn Baby/Twins

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find much information on these dolls' origins, aside from a few secondhand listings online. As far as I can tell, the body mold (and subsequently the very first pregnant Steffi Love) was created in 1992, and the rest above followed shortly after.

Overall, I give these six 7.5/10. At first glance the outfits are relatively simple, but I think they carry that late 80s/early 90s charm. As for each individually:

NBB: Navy Suit w/ Hat: 8.5/10 A standout look compared to the dresses most common for pregnant Steffi Love dolls. Points for being unique

NBT: Blue Floral Dress: 8/10 The flowers remind me of watercolors, and the pastel pink flower ties the colors all together.

NBT: Pastel Floral Dress w/ Pants: 7.75/10 Kinda reminds me of pajamas

NBT: Blue Polka Dot Dress: 7.5/10 A decent look in theory, but the silver pants make it look cheap. White ones would have paired better with the dress

NBB: Multicolored Floral Dress: 7/10 Too much going on compared to the blue florals, though fun fact this one is mistaken for Pregnant Midge in a lot of those "TOP 10 DISCONTINUED BARBIES" articles

NBB: Pink Floral Dress: 6/10 The cheapest-looking out of the six, I think I've seen that exact fabric used on a Barbie Fashionista skirt

2006 - Welcome Baby

It seems a new body mold was made for these that would be re-used in future releases, though in 2019 the arms would be switched out. The variants available, unlike, the 1992 releases, were Caucasian and Black (coming with either straight hair or an afro). The initial release came with the darker pants, face mold, and middle part seen on the left, but later releases would use the face mold and side part seen today with lighter pants.

Overall, a 10/10. I honestly love the y2k vibes coming from this look, and like the vintage Navy Suit doll it's a welcome departure from her usual maternity clothes. I think the left's darker pants work with the outfit a bit better, but I prefer the right's face mold.

There's also this variant with a pink polka dot dress (although I'm not sure when she was released) that I would honestly consider a completely different doll if it weren't for the title.

Unlike the previous, she's a 6/10. Her look is nothing special, and especially disappointing compared to the other variants of this line. I like that they used a different hairstyle, but she's just so... plain.

2011 - Happy Family

Little information exists regarding this playset, especially considering a modern remake uses the same name. This does seem to be the first pregnant Steffi release to include both her boyfriend "Kevin" (🙄) and her little sister Evi Love.

Overall, 7/10. It's a fairly decent look that I have no particularly strong feelings towards.

2015 - Happy Family

Seems to be a reproduction of the original 2011 playset with updated looks. Steffi and Kevin are using different face molds, but it includes the same accessories as the previous and next Happy Family playsets.

Overall though, 7.5/10! I like the pink pattern on Steffi with the solid color miniskirt, and it's so cute that Evi has a matching outfit!

2019 - Welcome Surprise

I think this is the first instance of Simba using their most recent arm mold for their pregnant dolls. I can't remember how big Gender Reveals were during 2018-2019, but apparently they were big enough for Steffi to want a piece of that pie, confetti cannon and all.

Overall rank when putting aside the gimmick, 6/10. While I admire the coherence in theming with using light blues and pinks with a confetti motif in the skirt, the top makes the outfit look somewhat juvenile.

??? - Sweet Expectations

This one might have the LEAST info available on it. I'm guessing by the arms that this was likely released as a budget alternative when that arm mold was first being used, so it was probably released from some point around 2019 onward. Not sure why the box says "Baby Arrival" when the name of the doll is completely different tbh

Overall, 5/10. Just a worse version of the polka-dot Welcome Baby variant. The dress looks like it’s made from wrapping paper.

2021 - Happy Family

The most recent Happy Family playset, and yet again Kevin's got another facelift. He's becoming yassified.

Overall, 6/10. Ngl just a more boring execution of the original version.

2021 - Welcome Twins

And here we enter the Pregnant Steffi Love renaissance! I'm not entirely sure why we get so many releases in 2021-2022, but my guess is Welcome Surprise sold better than they were expecting in 2020 so they probably started making all of these shortly after.

Overall, 6.5/10. I'm not really feeling the colors or pattern, and we'll see a better rendition of this outfit with the Newborn Baby set in 2022.

2021 - Royal Baby

This playset actually has a brunette & brown-eyed variant that marks one of the only other times the hispanic(?) Steffi from the XOXO Friends line appears (ngl I should make a post about that line sometime as well).

Anyway, overall I give her an 8/10! While I would have personally given her puffed sleeves, I admire the overall aesthetic! Between this and the upcoming Mermaid Family, I also like how they're the only company making pregnant fantasy dolls.

2021 - Mermaid Family

Here it is! If you've heard of any pregnant Steffi Love dolls, it's probably this one. Here we see Kevin's third facelift, and his most yassified mug yet. So many jokes I could make about his face I can't even list them all here.

Overall, 9/10. The concept alone sells this through sheer absurdity. I love that Steffi has a tattoo on her baby bump, and that this apparently confirms mermaids are a species of mammal. Even if I'm not entirely certain I'd buy this (just because of the space it'd take up), I respect the hell out of it.

2022 - Baby Surprise

Fun fact, this one is currently the only pregnant Steffi Love I've been able to find in my area. As seen above, she comes in three variants: white & lavender dress with side pony, red & pink dress with side part, and rainbow dress with high pony. She comes with 9-18 accessories (toys, pacifier, etc.), and the surprise element is that she could be having a boy (9 blue accessories), a girl (9 pink accessories), two boys, two girls, or a boy and a girl (9 of each color).

Overall, 5.5/10. The stock photos don’t get across how metallic the material for these dresses look in-person. And the ruffles at the sleeves remind me way too much of the Barbie Fashionistas for my liking.

2022 - Newborn Baby

This one has a similar outfit to the Welcome Twins playset, and is the only pregnant Steffi love to have articulation. She comes with a baby carrier, and when you press her necklace it makes the sound of a baby crying.

Overall, 7/10. I like the colors and pattern much more here than the Welcome Twins set. Even though it isn't spectacular, the accessories are cute and its central concept is well-executed.

2022 - Newborn Baby Room

And here we have the most recent pregnant doll released. My guess is the 2021-2022 batch didn't sell as well as they had hoped, so they've slowed down since then. But I doubt that'll keep them from making use of the body mold more in the future.

Overall, 7/10. At first glance the materials used for this dress looked very cheap, but it sorta grew on me the more I looked at it? It reminds me of a cupcake. However, I’d never have the room for the playset, and the doll itself is still relatively plain.

Even if a lot of these dolls were just decent, I still gotta give props to Steffi. There's only ever been one pregnant doll released under the Barbie umbrella, and that was for a side character ONCE. Steffi meanwhile may as well have being pregnant as a personality trait! Hopefully Simba makes more dolls like this soon, because I'd love to see what concept they might come up with next!

(And now that you're at the end of the post, I am reminding you to PLEASE DONATE TO OR BOOST AHMED'S GOFUNDME. THERE HAVE ONLY BEEN 49 DONATIONS SO FAR WE NEED TO GET HIS POST TO REACH FURTHER: https://www.tumblr.com/toychest321/748238434888466432?source=share)

[dany36]

after months of putting it off i finally finished xc3 future redeemed with 25ish hours in yaaaay time to put this thing to rest with some extremely junk thoughts below (with spoilers of course)

i gotta be honest, i wasn't really looking forward to playing through this dlc ever since it was announced. it came out in...what? april? may? i forget, but it was around the time that i was playing the dlc for horizon and then i think totk dropped after that and i just kept using that as excuses to not pick it up and play through it. plus i wasn't a fan of the design for older shulk (yeah yeah i know inspiration from dunban but idk just personal preference that i didn't vibe with it) and well rex is probably my least favorite protagonist tied with the dude from tales of arise (lmao i forgot his name), and really overall i didn't care to play as them again, so i mean not the most perfect material for me to look forward to.

anyways, some positives:

-seeing colony 9 again was cool but the excitement to callbacks to places in xenoblade 1 kind of wore off in xc3. so when i heard the original colony 9 overworld music it didn't make me flip my shit as when i would see references to it in the base game. it was more of a oh that's cool i guess. same with valak mountain even though when i played DE i was so excited to see it again.

-might be because it was a dlc and the world wasn't as unnecessarily huge and empty to explore as in the base game but i actually was having a better time exploring this world than the base game's. finding relics and containers was actually useful and rewarding (and necessary i'd say!) this time around instead of finding your nth useless drop-off container or whatever those things were in the base game that i just stopped bothering to pick up.

-oh in comparison to finding and sending of husks which i again lost incentive to do very early in the game, finding city survivors was better because at least you would get to see colony 9 grow etc.

-the chain attacks are still as fun as ever and FR is no exception. it was great hearing the chain attack music again!

-i felt like the bosses were harder this time around? alpha kicked my butt several times before i was able to beat him. i mean i certainly didn't have the best gems (sorry, not gonna go farming!) and didn't unlock all the slots for accessories/gems/affinity growth but it was a nice change having to be on my toes and carefully plan my chain attacks instead of just doing whatever like i would do in the base game lol.

-glimmer actually? sorry that your dad is rex but your healing powers saved my ass so many times in the last battle that now you get an honorific mention. like...this girl was just ON. TOP. OF. IT. i'm a bit confused about the instrument theme that she had going on though--was this an xc2 reference that i'm forgetting or something? like did pyra/mythra really like music? lol. anyway i really liked her and nikol's friendship and the bits that we got to see of it, it's why i never changed their unity combo because they are besties and they always attack together :) OH and that sidequest that ends with A volunteering to teach glimmer how to play the lute was cute, especially since that sometimes you get to see them practicing together at rest spots. i wish we had gotten more types of those sidequests but well, can't have it all i suppose.

-A. i was very wary about her character starting the dlc but she actually ended up growing on me, design-wise and battle-style wise. her friendship with matthew was interesting and i liked how she would compliment matthew's wild and reckless side. idk not much to say here other than i thought she was cool despite me being judgement about her character initially lol.

-matthew. pretty fun protagonist. it was like having reyn as a protagonist except with a bit more smarts. again i was wary about his character starting off but his personality as a protagonist was refreshing and he was pretty fun to play as, too.

the negatives:

-the secret locations were...pretty lame? they were in the base game as well so idk what i expected. i'd get to a secret location and i'd be like oh....is that it? i don't remember xc2's secret locations or how they'd compare but i know most of the time xc1's would get a little bit more of a reaction from me.

-the affinity scenes oh my god. they were so boring and meaningless to watch most of the time. i think i watched at least like 80% of them and there wasn't really anything that would make me look forward to watching them like xc1 future connected's. i think in one of them you're just talking about the fighting machines that they're building in colony 9? or looking at a tomb?? like idk i certainly wouldn't feel like i was growing my "affinity" with any of the party members! plus the fact that they were just like shots of the scene you were looking at instead of seeing the characters interact (like with FC's) would just make them feel even more souless. idk maybe i'm just so jaded about this whole thing now but i just didn't really feel it when shulk talked about fiora at the overlook park or dunban outside of his house. i guess it also doesn't help that he's talking about them with people who don't know anything about his world so that must be weird to him too. so i mean idk i'd always look forward to the heart-to-hearts in xc1 and affinity scenes in FC and here it was just like maybe one or two that i was like "wow i'm so glad i got to see this!"

-ok this is pretty random and i'm not sure it's a negative but i was just reminded of this when talking about the previous point: towards the end the whole party is walking together towards prison island and within earshot of everyone else shulk is talking to A and he's like "hey, A, when I refused to become a god..." like lmao imagine being nikol or glimmer and hearing THAT sentence. like WHAT hahahaha like SIR what do you mean!!!! anyway!!!

-na'el. i'm sorry but...why am i supposed to care about her again other than she is matthew's sister? she likes kids and likes to play the piano? unlike N who i got to sympathize with after learning his origins, i never really cared much for na'el and actually was like "whatever lady, i don't care much for you!" whenever she'd show up, so i wasn't able to really to connect to matthew's struggle or whatever. like i know she's supposed to remind us of N/moebius with her being like "i don't wanna fight anymore i just want things to stay as peaceful as they are RIGHT NOW in the city!!" but idk i never found her character to be too sympathetic or interesting for me to care about, so her whole thing was just....pretty weak to me which is kinda bad considering how much of the game seems to revolve around her.

-again this isn't exactly a negative but one thing that confused me was that i'm PRETTY sure matthew mentions the queen of keves being imprisoned in the castle, which is something that nia also mentions when you rescue her in the base game. so is the reason why shulk and them are not worried about that atm is because...of the truce...with Z...and...alpha being the main threat?? i mean I GUESS but unless i misunderstood (not sure because as soon as i heard that i was like uhh HELLO??) it just seems kind of weird knowing that melia is captured (unless matthew meant the "fake" melia which to him would be the "real" one since he wouldn't know) and they're just like yep!! that's right! she's imprisoned! anyways.

uhhh this is getting way longer than i wanted it to be so i'm just gonna wrap it up and say yep, that was A DLC alright. i mean again this is just me being jaded but after i finished xc2 and saw that they were trying to connect xc1 with xc2 i was just like...why lol. considering how i thought xc1 ended pretty well?? i just never really cared about how this whole thing would connect, so i don't really remember ANYTHING about xc2 other than how much i did NOT enjoy it, i never played its dlc because i didn't care about the lore. while i was playing the dlc i know some xc2 stuff flew right over my head, and i'm rusty on my xc1 lore, but again, xc2 disappointed me so badly that i just never really bothered to keep up with the overall lore. i enjoyed some parts of xc3 yes but after i finished it i was never like oh i hope they make a dlc of this and that!!! unlike when i finished xc1, where i DID want to play Future Connected because of how miserably things ended for melia in regards to her dead family, her people, her half-sister who apparently hated her (BUT LUCKILY RECONNECTED WITH AT THE END), and her whole hometown being fucking destroyed. might be me being biased because melia is like one of my favorite characters ever but i mean...who wouldn't want to know what would happen post-xc1 to such a tragic character? which is kind of funny to say considering that we more than likely would not have gotten FC if it hadn't been for xc2 lol.

anyway, overall i don't really feel too strongly about this dlc. i was just mostly going through the motions and trying to get it done so i can just move on with my life lol, i got other games to play. like sure it was great seeing the worlds at the end unite once and for all and apparently there were some xenosaga references towards the end to make this whole thing be in the same universe (which flew over my head since i'm not that familiar with xenosaga), so that's cool and all, but idk rex and shulk sacrificing themselves and the game trying to make me feel sad by having nikol and glimmer run up to them because those are their dads!!! ;( just made me shrug and be like "ok i guess??" yeah i'm tired lol.

oh well, for now time to wait for the next game in the xeno series!!!!

[elvenbeard]

omg i wanna know more about vince's arasaka ex-boyfriend! he looks cute! hope he's not a dick. but then again you gotta be a certain level of dick to survive in arasaka so maybe im setting myself up. do the other co-workers know or was it a hush-hush thing?

AAHHH!!! öashdfafd thanks so much for asking!!! BETTER BUCKLE UP, this is gonna be long and angsty xDD

(putting his not-100%-polished or canon appearance here again cause I like having pics with my long posts XD)

Okay so... his name is Shou, like Vince he is half-Japanese, but he actually grew up and spent the majority of his life in Japan. He comes from a similar background as Vince, too, corpo-family with ties to Arasaka, excellent education, good grades, a little bit of an outsider even, but he never intermittently left the corpo world like Vince did. He got his entry-level position job at Arasaka fresh out of university and has been (outwardly) loyal and obedient ever since, rising in ranks in no time.

He's roughly 10 years older than Vince, and in 2074 gets transferred to Night City from Tokyo, to help with the expansion of the Counterintel department there. Technically he's on Jenkins' level, experience- and skill-wise, but since everything works a bit differently in Night City, for the time being he ends up a part of Jenkins' team on a level with Vince. It would've been Jenkins' duty to show Shou the ropes actually, but he delegates the task to good old Agent V instead, and that's how they first properly get to know and work with each other.

Let's just say, there is definitely an instant curiosity/interest and base-level of attraction from both sides XD Vince and Shou work well together, share a lot of common interests, have similar ambitious personalities, (both of them are a little bit of a dick, really), and inevitably they also spend a lot of time together. The one thing that Vince is most interested in though, that Shou always seems to avoid answering directly, is why he volunteered to come to Night City from Tokyo. Most people V knows that are striving to rise to the top would wish for it to be the other way around. Shou is always like "I wanted a change of scenery", "I wanted to broaden my horizon", "It looks good on my resume to be in the teamlead of this project" and so on, but none of that feels 100% genuine and so Vince keeps his walls up and tries to maintain a professional distance, despite really liking him otherwise. Emphasis on "tries", cause Shou is not making it easy for him either xD

Some time passes, Vince is still adamant about not wanting a relationship with a coworker (also because he is low-key worried if he lets someone into his life too closely, they might discover he's in contact with Jackie and leaking very classified company secrets to him now and then). But still, one evening Shou and him end up alone at a bar together and one thing leads to another...

Initially their relationship was definitely more on the hush-hush side, not because they were ashamed of it or anything, but because Vince didn't want to be blamed with treating Shou favorably over the others in his team because he was sleeping with him. As time went on though the others definitely caught on, and there was a little bit of drama and bad blood, but nothing they didn't know how to deal with. They had to make it official towards Jenkins and the head of the department at the time soon-ish after becoming a thing anyway though, to not run into problems on that side either, but it went surprisingly smooth. Vince actually was very very happy at the time and wouldn't have figured to ever find someone he'd click so well with that he started to imagine a long-lasting future together.

Long story short though... It never came to that. I mentioned in the lore post that their relationship ended abruptly and bitter, and yeah. Let's just say, Shou hadn't come to Night City for a change of scenery, but as part of an elaborate plan he'd been setting up for years to get out of Arasaka for good, make a bunch of money in the process, and disappear from the face of the earth. Fuck off to somewhere where they'd never be able to track him down, the Soviet Union or something like that. He hadn't planned on genuinely falling in love with Vince though.

Aware that Vince was (apparently) very loyal to Arasaka, he also knew it would need some effort to convince him to come along with him, leave everything behind for good and start over somewhere new. So, what's his idea here? Make it seem like Vince is leaking info to a competing corp by messing with his computer and files. He abused Vince's trust to basically force him to come with him, cause at the press of a button he'd be able to notify Jenkins of Vince’s “betrayal” and he would have no other choice but to run away. Vince figures this out accidentally, and just briefly before Shou can set him up in a way so that there would’ve been no turning back. Since Vince is *actually* leaking company info, just not to a corp but his best friend whose safety he’s now also extremely scared for, he kind of has to make a choice between “run away with the love of my life” and “run to Jenkins and tell him about the setup before Shou can go through with his plan”. And he ends up choosing Jenkins out of loyalty to Jackie.

Let’s just say… the ensuing chaos did not end well for neither Shou nor Vince, but at least Vince walks out of it somewhat alive. Shou never felt in the wrong btw (and really, he was not wrong to want to get himself and Vince out of Arasaka asap). He did what he did out of love, genuinely convinced it was the only thing and the right thing he could've done. Best, most loving intentions, worst possible execution.

(one day, when I have Vince in NPV format, be ready for gut-wrenching VP of all of this. I'M NOT OKAY ABOUT THEM. Also, imagine the very awkward convo with Kerry later on that starts with "So, I told you everything about Louise... now how did your last relationship end?")

[jerzwriter]

Make Me Admit List

1 - Would you have sex with the last person you text messaged?

6 - What are you excited for?

90 - Opinion on sex before marriage?

82 - Favorite type of cookie?

79 - Last concert saw.

For both the T and Cs

Hey Nonny - thank you for the asks! And I don't know how I ended up with two T and Cs! lol From -> Make Me Admit Stuff

OK, for question 1, I literally put names of people they might be texting in the wheel of names and spun... so this is what I got! lol

1- Would they have sex w/ the last person they text?

Tobias: The last person they texted came up as Jackie. And no, he's not having sex with Jackie - not now, and prob not even in his old ho-ho-ho days because Jackie wouldn't have it. lol

Casey: The last person she texted came up as Sienna. And no, even though Casey is bi and thinks the world of Sienna, it's just not someone she thinks of in that way.

Trystan: The last person he texted came up as Astrid - so no. lol

Carolina: Her last person was Trystan, and, well.... we've already crossed that bridge. lol

6- What are they excited for?

Tobias and Casey: Their first anniversary is coming up on November 16th, and they're taking some time away together, and they can't wait. Tobias is also starting to talk about when they can have baby number 2... Casey is also excited about that, but willing to put it off a little longer.

Trystan: He's just so excited to be back in New York and free of the constraints he had before. It's the first time he's ever felt truly free, so even though he's coping with the aftermath of everything that happened in Book 2, he's in a good place overall because he has a lot of hope for the future.

Carolina: Carolina is excited to be back home in New York. Being in Drakovia gave her a newfound appreciation for it. Also, she is there with Trytan at her side, and that opens a whole new world she's eager to explore.

90 - Opinion on sex before marriage?

Tobias and Casey: If you follow Tobias and Casey - you already know this. lol Obviously, they don't have any issue with sex before marriage - at all. Since little Samantha was already conceived when they said I do, that solidifies it. lol

Trystan and Carolina: they're both a-OK with it too. lol

82- Favorite type of cookie?

Tobias: Chocolate chip (the classic) and peanut butter; bonus if they have a Hershey Kiss on top.

Casey: Homemade chocolate chip, on the thinner side, and nothing comes close (but she won't turn most others down, either).

Trystan: Coconut macaroons. He had his first one at Magnolia Bakery in NYC, and it was love at first bite. Since then, he is obsessed.

Carolina: Her favorite is mantecaditos, a Puerto Rican cookie with a thumbprint where you place a dab of guava jelly. And, truth be told, after Carolina makes a batch of these for Trystan, they are officially tied with his macaroons!

79- Last concert saw.

Tobias spoils his girl, so he takes her to see Taylor's last show in Los Angeles. Taylor was in the Boston area too soon after Casey gave birth to Sammy, and she was so sad, so Tobias surprised her with tickets to the last show in LA. She took her bestie and fellow Taylor-obsessed friend, Bryce, along with her.

But that's not the last one, they say. They also saw Hozier's Unreal Unearth concert last month in Boston.

Trystan: I'm not sure. I don't think he's been to any concert recently, and Carolina will be doing her part to change that.

Carolina's last concert was last year, Bad Bunny in Yankee Stadium.

Thanks for the ask, Nonny!

[danganronpasurvivoraskblog]

Depends on how you’re gonna execute them

//So I'm seeing a lot of mixed reactions, which is about what I expected.

//I know I kind of just made a blunt statement before, but allow me to address any concerns in regards to this implementation, so I'll start my explaining my reason.

//A big factor of this final arc is getting to understand the emotional state of the characters.

//Because as you might have realized from their actions so far, a lot of our "heroes" are getting way too desperate.

//For even the most passive and strong-willed characters on the side of Hope, falling into Despair and taking what Kuripa's route is is starting to get more tempting every day.

//And I believe that this is a good way to do it because it will be entertaining and will hopefully grab your attention. If you're wondering how I'm going to format it, it will be similar to how A Student Out Of Time does it.

//On that note, if I may be honest about something, I thought about doing something like this a LONG time ago, back when "The Fugitive" happened, but then ASooT beat me to it, lol.

//I guess I'll chock it up to great writers think alike.

//What it will be is I will format it as a series of custom CG's, and then the characters will sing a song, or a parody of a song, that is relevant to the situation. I promise you, I DO NOT plan on doing these for the lulz and for no other reason.

//As I mentioned, the songs themselves can be tied back to the characters and their current emotional state and frame of mind.

//I can't exactly explain the format without showing it though, so I'm afraid you'll have to wait to see for yourself. However, Team Sky Anon isn't far off with their assumption.

//There are two other concerns I want to address besides that.

//First of all, this won't be the only arc that has this. It'd be pretty awkward for this to be just a total one off for this arc alone, so I imagine I will bring it back for future plot points and conflicts.

//So don't worry about it being a throwaway gag.

//And the other concern is one that I consider to be most important: Don't worry, I will not be turning the whole arc into a musical.

//There will literally be like...three songs tops. The rest of the arc will just be the action and plot that this blog is synonymous with.

//I'm not losing my touch, I promise.

//Still though, you may be wondering. Am I concerned that this might not work out the way I want it to? Like, it will break the immersion?

//Well to that, I say...Yes. Very much so.

//But as I said, this is something I've been wanting to do for a while, and the way I look at it is like this...We don't know if these things will work if we don't TRY. If this doesn't work out, big whoop, I just won't do it again in the future.

//And I want to try something new, because god damn this blog needs that.

//And I will say once again for good measure that there is motive for this and I intend to use it carefully. I'm not just going to drop a song in the middle of a dramatic fight scene or death scene, or just put "I Need A Hero" in the middle of a montage like EVERY! MOVIE! EVER!

//Which is why it's so important that I hear you guys thoughts. I'm not necessarily looking for feedback, but I AM looking for ADVICE.

//Are there any things you guys suggest with this? Because my ears are open and I'd love to hear your thoughts.

-Mod

[pf-spectre]

Chapter 4: Rome’s Downfall

“I mean, What the hell! We worked so long just to get the prototype working at all, and now some thieves think they can just have it?”

The east side of Brastin wasn't busy this morning. It was the weekend, which meant that the street market was all set up. Many vendors jumped on the opportunity for new, cheap and stylish outfits to fit the coming ice age the city folk were convinced was upon them. Bargaining could be heard left and right and the numerous scents coming from the food trucks all mixed into one, enticing any passerby to spend a few bucks on a snack.

Neil and Graham had been walking around aimlessly, trying to get their heads wrapped around this situation, all in their own way.

“Those designs took SO many iterations! And you sure you don't have anything but those lousy outdated model files backed up?” Neil continued from his previous statement. If you had managed to get a look under his tinted glasses you would've seen the visible eye bags permanently giving him a tired look, despite his obvious best effort of a third energy drink of the day in his right hand.

Graham pulled at his cigarette and exhaled some smoke before shaking his head.

“Put it all on the flash drive. You should feel lucky we have a working prototype we can build at all” He glared down at Neil. “I might remember a few crucial details too if you give me the time”

Neil looked around nervously, his hands trembling just the slightest bit as they passed yet another winter coat vendor trying to sell them the ‘future of fashion’.

“Well that really depends on what Andromeda has planned for us. Imagine if she canns the whole project! We'd be doomed!”

The men were informed the previous night that their so dearly important passion project had been stolen. The security cameras didn't get any faces and the few identifying markers could belong to anybody in the city. Their supervisor, Andromeda Rose had informed them that she would like to meet up with them in a certain cafe and discuss further plans, as she rooted for their success despite their not so-efficient work ethic.

Graham looked at the cloudy sky, breathing slowly. “I've got a life back in Pinewell too. With a house and everything. You're the one in trouble if that happens” He said calmly.

Neil scoffed.

He checked the address Andromeda had sent him on his phone and looked around.

“The cafe should be somewhere down that street, I think. We have everything prepared just in case, right? Gotta maximise our chances” He made sure, and Graham nodded, drawing attention to his messenger bag in which he kept his laptop before quickly putting out his cigarette at a nearby trash can.

A small bell rang with the opened door of the small cafe located in a street corner. The smell of coffee and baked goods hit the two men in the face. Not many people sat inside, surprisingly, and pop music could be heard quietly playing through the confines of the room.

Sitting at one of the tables was a middle-aged woman. Her curly black hair with just a few white streaks running through it was tied up in a fluffy pony tail near the top of her head. Her sharp ears were adorned with earrings, where one half was golden and the other had three pieces of shaped clay dangling down in a chain, almost reaching to her shoulders. She was stirring a latte with a fancy stirring spoon as she noticed the men entering the cafe. She waved them over and offered them seats.

“I hope you two don't mind, but I already ordered you something as well”

The men noticed the two extra coffees infront of them. They had had significant time to cool down to a drinkable state.

“Oh, er, of course no!” Neil smiled, one corner of his mouth twitched a little.

“Great.” Dr. Andromeda Rose, General Spectre Researcher and supervisor for the Synthetic Spectre Project noted, before continuing:

“Now you boys know about the situation you find yourself to be in at the moment, right?” Her face showed genuine concern.

“I've managed to convince the guys at the upper levels of your progress, so you will receive funding for a few more months, but if you don't find that device you had been working with before or manage to build a functioning replica, I won't be able to help you either.” She explained calmly to the men before asking “have you managed to recover anything?”

Graham calmly pulled out his laptop out of the bag and logged in. He typed around for a few seconds before turning the screen around to Andromeda, it displaying earlier prototype blueprints and notes to their mechanical components.

“This is the best we could hand over at the moment, but I had more in mind for later too with a mechanical approach to synthesising the energy.” He explained as Andromeda took a sip before leaning closer to the computer screen, examining what was placed in front of her.

“And you can't forget-” Neil chimed in, “the experience we had gained before with our experiments is still in our minds. We could get some new, although less cleanly built prototypes out very soon! Give us a week at most” he chuckled rather nervously. As Graham had been explaining he somehow managed to chug his entire drink, and Graham was just about to start on his.

Neil continued speaking as he grabbed a messy notebook which was filled with paperclips, loose papers and sticky notes hanging out of it.

“I've got a few notes on the biological standpoint of it as well, although I'm not sure if you'd be able to read it, it's still good to prove it exists right?”

He opened on one of the more recent pages, the hand writing on them proving to be illegible. The anatomical drawings and sketches of various ways the mechanisms and a human body would react in conjunction were spot-on though, with each vein portrayed almost with complete accuracy.

“The writing is just labelling and exact explanations, but this is basically the same thing I was going to give you, but a bit more in my style ya know? So we have a working hypothesis and some basic tests on the function already done as well! Although some of these might not be up to date, and I don't remember which ones…” Neil admitted.

“Oh my…” Andromeda mumbled as she tried to look over the pages he was trying to show.

“I should've taken up biology, but this seemed like it could change more in a short amount of time, you know?” Neil added on before taking the notebook out of her hands just as she was reading the pages. Andromeda got a tiny bit startled by him doing so before she pulled herself together again and cleared her throat quietly.

The group of scientists continued chatting about other topics such as the weather conditions and private lives. Andromeda revealed that she had been thinking about getting a pet to combat her loneliness at home, and Graham, a former pet owner himself, gave her some advice. Though, in the end, Andromeda still couldn't settle on the idea. Shame, isn't it?

“As long as you can give me any results showing progress as soon as possible, you should be fine. I will keep you updated on what the guys in the upper seats are saying, but asides from that you can just hope what you had turns back up.” She reminded the men as she paid for them and they packed to go back out and make their way back to wherever they would plan on going next.

“Got your hat! Idiot!” The teenage boy shouted before making his way into an alleyway, almost without being seen.

“Hey! Give that back, meanie!” Lin shouted after him, her voice shaky as if she was nearing tears. She was holding her cursed, crystal-covered arm in place.

“Damn it, Dima, can we not do this in a crowded area?” A third person shouted. They were the oldest.

The group ran through the crowds near the Brastin plaza with great haste. They had had a mission before, but it almost looks like one of them might have been stalling…

“-but you said it could show different characteristics from the traditional spectre? That part could definitely be explored more if that's the case, why didn't you mention that sooner!” Andromeda chuckled, covering her mouth a little. Her ears always pointed downwards when she did that, Neil noticed.

The scientists had been standing still, continuing their conversation before they would eventually part ways. Their respective cars were parked on different streets, but they still had things to discuss.

All of a sudden, someone blazed past Andromeda. She barely caught a glimpse of them aside from their curly black hair and worn out black denim jacket. They were carrying something in their hands, resembling a hat of some so-

Somebody else ran basically head-first into her, the force almost making her trip over!

Once Andromeda had caught herself, she turned around to face the kid who had done this, who frantically was trying to get her hair back in order around her ears and regain her balance.

“Ehhhh- I'm so sorry!!”

The girl looked up at the woman, her hands shaking and her raccoon ears laid back.

A third person showed up, considerably older but still visibly a minor. They looked around to where that first guy ran with an angry expression.

Andromeda kneeled down, trying to make eye contact with the kid and speaking calmly.

“Is everything okay? Can you see and hear me? How many fingers am I holding up?” She tried to go through the usual steps to see if somebody is even really conscious, or what she remembered them to be before Graham stepped forward, talking to the oldest.

“Are you with her? Is there any parent or caretaker you can reach quickly?” He asked in his usual monotone manner.

“Well-” the oldest looked around again, their cat ears up and alert. “It's kind of complicated? They're not quite near…”

The boy came back with a cocky smirk, dangling the hat in his hands before the oldest snatched it from his hands aggressively.

“Where are we even right now? Brastin? Yeah, their parents are practically on the other side of the country.” He laughed.

“So no home either?” Graham checked. The others shook their heads.

“WE CAN PROBABLY TAKE THEM IN. Somehow.” Neil barged into the conversation with a hopeful glint in his eyes. “I mean, Andromeda, you've got space, right? And we COULD use some help with applying the new prototypes. Imagine the presentation!”

Andromeda smiled softly at the idea, ignoring the second part. “I could probably make some room for a few weeks, you're right”

The boy looked at the oldest with a smirk. “THAT’S how you do this. I told you I have a plan B”

“You told me we were going to sleep on the streets if plan A doesn't work out.” They responded.

“So you need the housing for a while? Would you like to stay with us a bit?” Andromeda asked, to which the others nodded.

“Then come with me, and you two-” she pointed at the other scientists. “Get your work in order.”

previous

[all-the-things-2020]

All Our Future Prospects - Chapter Seven

Summary: Claire tells Ezra her feelings for him. Cee is delighted by this turn of events.

Rating: PG

Ezra walked down the street, trying his best to look nonchalant even though every cell in his body screamed to rush ahead. He knew the transit bus wasn’t due for a good half an hour (and that was if it was on time, which they rarely were) - he was just anxious to meet Cee and Claire. He told himself it was mostly Cee he was eager to see, but he knew that wasn’t true. Maybe fifty-fifty, he lied to himself. He’d been away from Cee for longer than three days on multiple occasions, but this was the first time he’d been apart from Claire since the day they met and her absence left an ache deep in his chest. He refused to contemplate what it would be like when she went back to work in a few short weeks.

He reached the school gates and settled in to wait. He was the only one loitering there, but the security guard who perambulated the school perimeter was used to seeing him meet Cee for dinner and merely nodded as he passed by. Ezra had often had small fantasies about the man tripping and injuring himself — nothing major, of course, just enough to put him out of commission for a while — allowing Ezra to snag his job. Walking the grounds of a school armed with a whistle and a radio tied to the local police frequency would certainly be easier and more mentally stimulating than the factory job he’d ended up with.

For hours each day, he sat on a stool and flipped a switch as engine parts slid past him on a conveyor belt. If the part was intact, he flipped the switch one way to send it further down the line; if there was a defect, he flipped the switch the other way and shunted it to the reject bin. It was one of the few jobs that could be done one handed and he knew he should feel lucky to have gotten it, but the hours were long and the pay was a pittance. You’re doing it for Cee, he reminded himself a thousand times a day. As soon as he had enough set aside for next year’s school fees, and a bit extra to tide himself over, he could send out feelers for a new prospecting partner.

His ruminations were interrupted by the low roar of the bus approaching. It pulled up next to the curb and began to disgorge its passengers. Teenagers with duffle bags and backpacks tumbled out and headed for the school gates. Cee waved at him as she waited her turn to go down the steps from the bus door, and he waved back, but his eyes were searching for Claire. He spotted her through the dusty window, with another woman who must be Yung Li’s mother, shooing the last few teens off the bus.

Cee waited next to the bus for Claire to disembark, and Ezra suppressed a smile at the girl’s impatient foot taps as Claire and the other woman said their goodbyes. He couldn’t blame her; it seemed to take them forever to take their leave of each other. Finally, though, Claire adjusted her bag on her shoulder and turned toward Cee, who’d grabbed her arm and tugged her forward.

“Ez!” Cee cried as she launched herself at him. “You should have seen it! Claire did the zip line and it was awesome.” She hugged him quickly and pulled out her holo device. “You can’t see it as well on the preview screen but look!” The tiny screen didn’t show much more than a figure the size of an ant zooming through the tree tops, but he nodded appreciatively.

“I knew she could do it,” he said. “Didn’t I tell you?”

Claire smacked Cee’s arm and the girl grimaced. “You told me he said I’d never do it,” she admonished.

“Well,” Cee said with a shrug, “I knew you wouldn’t unless it was to impress Ezra, so maybe I lied a little?”

“I might be scarred for life because you lied to me?” Claire asked.

“Scarred? What happened? Did you get hurt?” Ezra gave Cee a stern look. If she’d put Claire in harm’s way …

Claire waved her hand. “It was nothing,” she said quickly. “And totally my fault. I came in a little too fast, hit the brakes too hard and bumped my shin on the side of the platform.”

Cee snorted. “From what Dex said, it was more like you slammed into the edge,” she said. “There was blood everywhere!”

“I scraped some skin off my leg,” Claire said calmly. “It bled a little, but it stopped right away. The bruise looks worse than the scrape, to be honest.” She smiled at him. “I’m fine, Ezra. You can stop looking so concerned.”

“Geez, Ez, you’d think she came off the bus in crutches, the way you look,” Cee teased.

“I am concerned for the safety and well being of our guest,” he said, “as any good host should be.”

Cee snorted again. “Whatever,” she said. “I’m gonna go put my stuff away and grab dinner in the dining hall. We’re going to do a presentation of all our holos and stuff for the rest of the students. I’ll show you tomorrow.” She pointed at him, then turned to hug Claire. “Bye, Claire. Remember what we talked about.” She not so subtly jerked her head in Ezra’s direction, then smiled sweetly at them both and darted off. “Hey, Dex, wait for me!”

“What was that about?,” he asked.

Claire gave him a half smile. “I’ll tell you later,” she said. “Right now, I want to drop off this bag at the hotel and get something to eat. We can go to that little place with the stuffed peppers you like.”

“I thought you hated them,” Ezra said, falling into step beside her as she started toward her hotel. He was getting a bad feeling. A mysterious prompt from Cee, a half smile, and now the promise of one of his favorite foods for dinner. Something was wrong.

“I do,” Claire admitted, “but you love them, and they have a salad I like. I’ve been eating camp food for three days, and I’m looking forward to something that didn’t come out of a packet or was roasted over a fire on a stick.” She laughed, and he felt a little bit better. If she was still joking with him, it couldn’t be that bad.

He waited outside the hotel while she dropped off her bag. “You can wait inside, you know,” she told him. “The lobby is really nice.”

“I will be perfectly content out here on my bench, little owl,” he said. “I spend all day locked inside a factory. It is a pleasure to enjoy the sky and the birds and the rustle of the leaves in the wind.” He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. The air on Galadon always had a subtle spiciness due to the ubiquitous gumdrop trees. They looked nothing like the candy, but one of the earliest explorers had likened their scent to the spicy gumdrops his grandmother had always kept in her candy dish, and the name stuck. Another of those quirky little details that never failed to delight him.

She reappeared a short time later, sans bag and with a fresh shirt. “Sorry I took so long,” she apologized. “I realized that top had a stain on it and I decided to change.”

“No need for apology,” he said. “As I said, I enjoyed my time communing with nature. And now that my soul has been fed, how about my stomach?”

She smiled, this time the full smile that always made his heart swell with joy. “Yes,” she said emphatically.

They walked in companionable silence for a few minutes while he tried to think of a way to carefully broach the subject of her secretive exchange with Cee.

“I’ll tell you after we eat,” she said, suddenly.

“Do you now possess the ability to read minds?,” he said.

She laughed. “No, but I can read faces,” she said. “I know you’re curious. And a bit concerned.” She looked him in the eye. “It’s nothing bad, I promise.”

“And I will be content with that knowledge until we have eaten our fill,” he said, relaxing a bit as they continued down the street. Whatever her little secret, it could wait. For a little while.

They purchased their food (Claire insisted on buying, and after a perfunctory refusal, Ezra let her - one of his core maxims was to never turn down free food) and settled on the grass in the park across the street. Claire dove into her salad, sitting cross-legged with the bowl in her lap. “This tastes wonderful,” she said around a mouthful of lettuce.

Ezra popped a stuffed pepper into his mouth. He liked them not only because of the fiery kick they held, and the gooey, tangy melted cheese inside, but because they were easy to eat one handed. Plus they were cheap. Cheap and filling was always a big plus when it came to food.

Claire finished her salad and opened the bottle of lemonade she’d splurged on. It was one of those fancy ones, made with sparkling water and it fizzed up out of the top when she unscrewed the lid. “Oops,” she said, scrambling to take a drink before too much spilled out. He tried not to watch too closely as her lips closed around the top of the bottle. They probably tasted like lemon now.

She sat back with a sigh and closed her eyes for a moment. “Okay, you’ve waited long enough,” she said. She opened her eyes. “Cee and I had some good chats while we were away.”

“About me?” Ezra guessed.

Claire picked a blade of grass and spun it between her fingers. “About lots of things. School. Girl stuff. Boys.”

“Last time I checked, I was a boy,” he prompted.

Claire smiled. “You were on the list,” she admitted. She dropped the blade of grass. “Cee asked me why you and I are just friends. She said she can tell we like each other and … I explained my reasons for wanting to keep things on a platonic level.”

He nodded. “Excellent reasons,” he said quietly.

“They are good reasons,” Claire said. “But Cee pointed out that saying goodbye is going to hurt, whether we’re friends or … something else.” She sighed. “She wants you to be happy, and she’s still young enough to believe in happy endings.”

“Hardly anyone gets a happy ending in this world,” Ezra said. “We’ve both learned that the hard way.”

“But there are happy interludes,” Claire said quietly. “Sometimes you have to take what you can get, when it presents itself.” She slid her hand across the grass, twining her fingers between his.

He turned his head, looking at their joined hands, and then at her face. “Are you sure?,” he said softly.

She nodded. “Why not? Just because we know the ending doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy the story as it unfolds.”

He squeezed her hand, so small in his, and they sat in the grass, side by side, until it started to get dark. “We should be going,” he said. “I’m sure you’re tired from the trip and I have work in the morning.”

He let go of her hand so they could stand, neither of them young enough to get up without the leverage of a hand on the ground. As soon as they were up, though, she slipped her hand back in his, and they walked along, their hands swinging gently between them.

“I need to go slow,” she said. “I don’t have a lot of experience with this type of relationship.”

“Of course,” he said. “I will follow your lead, wherever it takes me.” He raised their joined hands to his lips and pressed a gentle kiss on her knuckles. She leaned a little closer, her elbow bumping against his side now and then.

When they reached the hotel, they lingered outside the door. “I’ll see you tomorrow for dinner,” she said. “Cee wants to show you all the holos she took. I thought we could go to that little cafe with the pancakes; they have nice white walls she can project the holos on, since we don’t have a screen.”

“That would be delightful,” Ezra said. Should he try to kiss her, or was that moving too fast? He searched her face for clues but she was simply looking at him, a slight smile on her face.

“You can kiss me, if you want,” she said.

He laughed. “You do read minds, don’t you, little owl?” He leaned in and gently kissed her, brushing his lips against hers.

“Good night, Ezra,” she breathed as he pulled away.

“Good night, Claire,” he said. He watched her walk into the lobby, then started on his way to his boarding house. He ran the tip of his tongue over his lips. He could still taste the lemon from her kiss.

*******************************************************

It took Claire a long time to fall asleep that night, despite her weariness from the long weekend. She couldn’t stop thinking about Ezra’s lips on hers, the slight tingle from the peppers he’d eaten for dinner. All during the bus ride back, she’d changed her mind a dozen times about whether to take Cee’s advice or not; now that it was too late, she still wasn’t sure if she’d made the right decision. When Ezra had pressed his lips to her hand, and then to her mouth, she hadn’t questioned a thing, but lying awake in bed, she doubted herself. If one kiss discombobulated her so much, what would she be like after a few weeks?

She slept later than usual the next day and after breakfast she headed for the museum, hoping to distract herself until dinner time by exploring the botanical collections in more depth. On her way in, the receptionist, Marta, waved her over to her counter, where she was chatting with an older woman with silver hair caught up in a messy chignon.

“Claire, this is Johanna Goode, our printer,” Marta said. “I know you admired her brochures and I thought you’d like to meet. She just dropped off a new box.”

Johanna smiled. “I’m trying a new letterpress technique,” she said. “I always use the museum brochures for my experiments.” She held out a brochure printed on thick tan paper, the letters and images crisply debossed into the paper.

“It’s beautiful,” Claire said. “You can feel the letters.” She ran her fingertips over the page, delighting in the slightly rough texture of the paper fibers.

“Thank you,” Johanna said. “I’m thinking of expanding from just printing books and promotional materials to doing invitations and artwork. Letterpress calls for a thicker paper than what’s been available until now, but there’s a nice little artisan mill about three hundred kilometers from here that’s starting to make some higher grade papers.” She shook her head. “You probably have no idea what I’m talking about. Sorry.”

“No, it’s fascinating,” Claire said. “Do you ever give tours or talks? I know someone who loves books who’d love to learn all this.”

Johanna tilted her head. “I’ve never had anyone ask, except clients who want to see the printing machines,” she said. “But I could certainly arrange a little tour for you and your friend.”

“Oh, she’d love that,” Claire said. “She’s a student at the boarding school.” She hesitated a moment. “My boyfriend’s niece.” The words stumbled a bit coming out of her mouth, but they felt … right.

Johanna’s eyes lit up. “I would be delighted to introduce a young person to the art of printing and binding,” she said. “Not many of them are interested in hand crafts anymore. The automated printer-binder, maybe, because it can print a book on demand in ten minutes.” She shook her head. “Everything has to be fast these days.”

“I’ll talk to her tonight and find out when would be a good time for her to miss some classes,” Claire said. “I know she won’t mind skipping a day of school.”

*******************************************************

Cee was waiting at the gate that evening when Claire arrived. “So?,” Cee said. “What happened? Did you talk to him?” She was bouncing up and down on her toes.

“I did,” Claire said calmly.

“And?”

“We held hands,” Claire said.

Cee clenched her fists in glee. “And? Was that all?”

Claire paused for effect. “He kissed me goodnight.”

Cee did a little dance of joy. “Yes! I knew it. I knew you liked each other.” She grabbed Claire and hugged her tightly.

When she let go, Cee turned her head and spotted Ezra. “Here he comes,” she said. “Should I say something or play it cool?”

“Play it cool,” Claire suggested, even though she could practically feel the vibrations coming off the girl. “Don’t embarrass him.”

“Hey, Ezra,” Cee said when he got closer. “Ready for some incredibly boring travel holos?”

He gave the girl a one armed hug and then approached Claire. He hesitated just a moment before slipping his arm around her and bending down for a quick peck on the cheek. “I’m ready for anything,” he said, his hand lingering on her shoulders as he stepped back. “I am at your command, ladies.”

Cee smirked. “In that case …”

Claire cut her off. “I thought we could go to the cafe with those little pancakes,” she said. “If we get a booth, you can project the holos on the wall. They have that nice, smooth white finish.”

“Yeah,” Cee said, tucking one arm through Ezra’s left and the other through Claire’s right. “Maybe this time we can get the ones with the little berries on top. The chocolate chip ones are good, too.”

They walked along, arm in arm, and Ezra looked over Cee’s head to wink at Claire. She smiled and winked back.

Over a dinner of pancakes and coffee, they looked at Cee’s holographic record of the weekend. Fortunately, she didn’t have any footage of Claire’s awkward landing on the zip line.

When she showed the clip of Claire soaring off into the air, looking decidedly panicked, Ezra laid his hand on Claire’s thigh and gave it a quick squeeze. “I’m proud of you,” he said softly. “That took a lot of courage.”

They were sitting together on one side of the booth, Cee on the other. She saw Cee surreptitiously watching them while she flipped through the holos on the device, and she saw the tiny smile that grew a bit larger every time the girl caught them touching each other or sliding a bit closer on the seat. By the end of the presentation, Ezra had his arm slung casually along the back of the booth and Claire was pressed up against his side. Cee kept an eye on his hand and when it dropped down to rest on Claire’s shoulder, pulling her even closer, Cee smirked before busying herself with the last of her pancakes.

“Should I dip out early so you two can have some time alone?,” Cee asked innocently as she laid down her knife and fork across her empty plate.

“No,” Ezra said. “You most certainly should not. This is a dinner with friends, not a date. You are not intruding, birdie. You’re the main attraction.”

Cee shrugged and dipped her head. “I don’t have any pictures left,” she said. “And I told you all about the trip. There’s not much else to talk about.”

Claire took the opportunity to pull the museum brochure out of her pocket. It was a bit battered from being folded. “I went by the museum today and the printer was dropping off some new brochures she’d printed,” she said. “They’re really fancy. It’s a new technique she wanted to try. Anyway, we chatted a bit and I asked her if you and I can take a tour of her print shop. She can show us how they do old fashioned book binding as well as printing.”

Cee’s eyes lit up. “I’d love that!,” she said. “Ooh, I bet I can get credit for shop and lit class if I write up a report or something. Maybe even history.” She shot an apologetic look at Ezra. Her history grade had improved slightly, but was still dismal.

“Look at your schedule and pick a day where you won’t miss any tests or important lectures,” Claire said. “Especially in history.” She turned to Ezra. “I wish you could join us, but I know you have to work.”

“As long as I know the two of you are enjoying yourselves — and will give me a full report over dinner — I will cheerfully remain at my post,” he said. “Someone in this group has to be a responsible adult.”

Claire nudged him in the side with her elbow. “I am a very responsible adult, who happens to be on an unscheduled sabbatical,” she said. “Otherwise, I’d be hard at work, too.”

He chuckled and pulled her a tiny bit closer. “I know, little owl,” he said. “You’ve earned your vacation, many times over.” He pressed a quick kiss against her temple and Cee giggled.

“Talk about immaturity,” Ezra said, shaking his head at the girl.

“I’m just happy to see you happy,” Cee said, taking a sip of her coffee.

They chatted a while longer, until all the cups were empty, and then Cee admitted she had a history assignment to work on. At that, Ezra banished her back to school. “If I’d known that, young lady, I would have postponed this little holo party,” he said, wagging his finger at her. “You’ve got to get that grade up.”

Cee sighed. “Yes, sir,” she said, throwing him a mock salute.

Ezra mumbled something under his breath that Claire didn’t quite catch, but which Cee certainly did. “Hey, you said I couldn’t use those words,” she said. “No fair.”

Ezra raised his eyebrows, mocking innocence. “I never said I couldn’t use them,” he said. “When you’re as old as I am, and have been through as many trials and tribulations as I have, you will have earned the right to expand your vocabulary into the more dubious depths of our glorious language.”

They left Cee at the school gates. “Make good choices!,” she called to them as they walked down the street toward Claire’s hotel.

“I swear, some days I wish I’d left that girl in the Green,” Ezra said, shaking his head.

“No, you don’t,” Claire said, slipping her hand into his and giving it a squeeze. “You’d do anything for her and you know it.”

“I would,” he admitted.

They reached the hotel and Ezra nodded toward the bench. “Shall we sit for a while and enjoy the end of this beautiful day?”

“That’s a wonderful idea,” she said, “but I think the garden behind the hotel would be a little more private.”

He smiled broadly. “Then lead on, little owl,” he said. “Show me this secluded bower.”

She led him through the lobby and out the back doors into the little garden. She knew exactly the bench she wanted, tucked back beneath an arbor of something that looked like roses but smelled more like orange blossoms. Ezra nodded his approval and they sat down. For a moment, it was awkward, but then he slid his arm around her and pulled her closer and she reached up to lay a hand on the back of his head and they were kissing.

This wasn’t like the chaste kiss they’d shared the night before. These were greedy kisses, hungry kisses, simultaneously satisfying and stoking the fire that built inside them. Claire had never felt like this before. She couldn’t get close enough to him. If she could have crawled inside his skin, that still wouldn’t have been enough. She sat back with a gasp.

Ezra’s eyes were closed, his lips plump from her frantic sucking and nibbling. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I don’t know what came over me.”

Ezra opened his eyes and chuckled. “The same thing that came over me,” he murmured. “Lust, little owl. Lust, pure and simple.”

She played with the curls at the back of his neck. “I’m not ready …,” she began, but he shook his head.

“I know,” he said, leaning his forehead against hers, his voice soft. “And so this is as far as we will go for now, birdie. Passionate kisses on a garden bench, surrounded by the perfume of flowers, as the sun dips below the horizon. A romantic setting for our baser urges. It will more than suffice.” He kissed her nose, her cheeks, her chin, and then his mouth was on hers again and she was swept away, acting on pure instinct and desire.

The sun had long set by the time she disentangled herself from him. “You have work in the morning,” she whispered.

He sighed. “That I do,” he said. He stood carefully and reached his hand out to help her to her feet. As they entered the lobby, she felt as though the desk clerk was watching them, even though she could see he was absorbed in his book.

“Good night, Claire,” Ezra said. He kissed her forehead before turning to walk out to the street. She stood in the lobby for a long moment before she pressed the button to summon the lift to take her up to her floor. Once inside, she leaned against the wall and closed her eyes. She smiled as she lifted a hand to trace a finger over her swollen lips. You are either making the biggest mistake of your life, she told herself, or you’ve finally found happiness.