#I’M TELLING YOU IT’S BEEN SO LONG SINCE I’VE DONE A DRAWING FOR THIS SHIP BUT OML- They’re both SO FRICKEN CUTE-

[whereismyhat5678]

can you draw Werner werman x dr kahl with their robots please?

To whoever sent this WEEKS ago, I am so sincerely sorry-

I FINALLY GOT TO ANSWER IT BUT I’M SORRY FOR MAKING YOU WAIT-

Also about their robots- I really didn’t know how I would make them fit so I just drew them together separately…and-

The background still looks bad to me but ZAM DID I HAVE FUN DRAWING KAHL’S ROBOT- and Katzenwagen was fun too, he’s adorable 🫶

[penkura]

where you belong [4/10]

Summary: As Luffy's big sister, you've viewed it to be your job to see him become King of the Pirates in place of your absent parents, even as you try to find where it is you belong in the world. You never really expected to draw the attention of Trafalgar Law in the process.

Pairing: Trafalgar Law x Fem!reader

Warnings: Discussion of feelings of abandonment, age gap relationship (four years), brief secret relationship, mentions and heavy refences to sex, mentions of alcohol, typical One Piece stuff. Other warnings to be added if needed.

Note: This chapter has heavy references to sex, but nothing explicit. I'm an old maid, I don't have that experience yet. :') Also its 9k words, I'm so sorry, but I hope it sustains you all until chapter 5 is done lol.

Taglist:

@pinksaiyans | @sukunas-play-thing | @spiderlily-w1tch-blog | @mineymak | @valen-yamyam16 | @shimmerxc | @luffy0s | @fluffybunnyu | @laws-wife-things | @crmnic | @eyes-ofhell | @hopelesslover06 | @nyfwyeonjun | @extremely-ashtridic | @idk67876 | @mysweetmagicworld | @lorelexi-main | @pandabiene5115 | @shakysif | @bern87 | @nymeriiiia | @arcanumlaw | @sp1ng | @birdie-24-05 | @bi-narystars | @mars-mizuko | @tojirin

[Ch. 1] ● [Ch. 2] ● [Ch. 3]

“You know,” Law can’t help the slight smile that makes it’s way onto his face when you look at him mid-bite but he does think it’s cute, “I thought you had feelings for Penguin for a while.”

You laugh after you swallow the bite of food you have, shaking your head but still smiling. The two of you decide to stay on the ship for the night, you’ll go into town tomorrow for a lunch date, but for tonight, you’ll just share some leftovers in the kitchen and sit close together. Every now and then you both place a kiss on the other’s cheek, it makes you giggle when Law does it, his goatee scratching your face a little, but you like it.

You like him, he already means so much to you, and you can already tell he feels the same way with you.

“No, no, definitely not. I think of him more like a big brother, really.”

“I’m sure he’ll be heartbroken to hear that.”

“Oh yeah,” you roll your eyes a little but still smile, “One of the two people who knew about my feelings for you is going to be so heartbroken that I think of him as a brother.”

“He’ll be devastated, I’m sure.”

You both laugh a bit, knowing that Penguin would absolutely play along if you brought it up, his acting skills on display if needed. He will be happy for the two of you when he hears, but it's fun to think of different reactions from his crewmates, you’ve been thinking about Luffy’s reaction since you realized your feelings for Law. You know he’ll be ecstatic, though he’s probably going to ask you to stay with the Straw Hats, at least for now. You don’t mind it, you’re sure Law will be fine with it.

The current plan is to drop you in Sabaody in a few months anyway, you’ll be separated for a while. At least you have transponder snails, you’ll be able to keep in contact that way easily. Less likely for letters to be intercepted and read in advance by Nami once she finds out.

“How long do you want to wait to tell your crew?”

Law shrugs, he hasn’t thought that far ahead about all this yet. He knows it’s going to happen, they’re going to find out somehow, maybe even by accident knowing them.

“A while, I’m not sure. I…I haven’t done this before…”

“…I haven’t either. Luffy and Ace would chase off any boys I liked, or any that they thought liked me…so I’ve never had a boyfriend.”

“I see,” Nodding, Law leans over and kisses your cheek again, making you giggle while he smiles, “We’ll figure this all out together then.”

“Yeah…together.”

Even when the rest of the Heart Pirates come back later that night, you and Law spend your time together, making sure at least that those who haven’t noticed your feelings for each other don’t find things out right away. You’re not ready for that, but you’ve both agreed to let Ikkaku and Penguin know, just for sanity’s sake and not having to sneak around everyone.

The rest of your evening is spent in his office after you’ve finished dinner, talking and making plans for the next day together, plans for after you go back to the Straw Hats if this sticks. You hope it does, Law does too, neither of you wants this to fall apart even if it’s just starting. Law takes you back to your room again, as he always does now, it’s become your favorite part of your evenings. If any of his crewmates come around the corner the two of you separate just enough that it doesn’t look weird, still talking until the other person is out of sight and you move back beside each other.

You’re sure that if he keeps walking you and kisses you before he leaves these times are going to be your favorite from now on. Practically none of the other guys come down towards your and Ikkaku’s room, giving you and Law enough time to enjoy each other before he says he needs to go, he’s got things to do before your (real) date the next day.

“Lunch tomorrow right?”

“Right.”

You nod with a grin, before leaning up to kiss Law again, which he gladly accepts and returns.

“See you in the morning then, Law.”

“You too,” Law gives you a smile and kiss on the forehead before he turns to leave, “I promise I’ll come get you this time.”

You fight not to laugh but nod, still smiling as you go into your room, all giddy and happy. Ikkaku is asleep so you won’t bother her, but once you get into bed, you’re trying not to squeal even though you can’t wipe the smile off your face as you fall asleep. Law does the same, even though he has no one else around him at the time. Its another night he sleeps easily, only because of you he believes. He has hopes this will be good, that you won’t leave him, and he won’t leave you even when he drops you off in Sabaody. He wants this to last, you both do, and it feels like it will.

Neither of you plans to give up on this easily.

+!+

Your first date off the Polar Tang is a success to both you and Law, he feels relieved after it’s over though, but he’s not opposed to another one of course. The rest of his crew goes about their business on the ship, leaving you and Law to slip off without anyone else noticing, Ikkaku and Penguin promise to keep everyone busy so you won’t be found out and you can enjoy yourselves.

You start off at a small café for lunch, laughing when the waitress suggests a sandwich to Law who nearly recoils at the thought of bread but just orders a salad instead.

“Stop laughing, you dork.”

“Your aversion to bread is so funny though, I’ve never met anyone who doesn’t like it!”

“Yeah well,” Law looks away as he takes a drink, cheeks just the slightest bit pink out of embarrassment, “I’ve never liked the stuff, ever since I was a kid. I’m sure there’s something you don’t like.”

You stop to think, as your food is brought to you, the waitress had been able to convince you to get the sandwich they were offering, as you look at Law’s lunch once it’s set down.

“Radishes.”

“Hm?”

“I don’t like radishes,” Nodding, you shrug a little, “Never have, I don’t like how strong they can taste.”

“Guess I’ll take your radishes and you take my bread.”

You grin and agree, the rest of your lunch spent in comfortable conversation, nothing feels awkward or weird, not after the night before. Law hopes you don’t ever find him passed out in his office again, though knowing the anxiety he can have, it may happen again. He's grateful you’re so understanding and willing to help him navigate this new territory.

But it’s also new for you, so you’re glad to learn alongside him.

Once you’re done with lunch, neither of you are ready to go back to the Polar Tang, so you take off to look at different shops through the town. Of course you find a bookstore, both of you excited to go in, though Law less obvious about it, you drag him inside and start to look at everything available. While you end up looking at the different books on poisons, Law ends up picking out a medical book almost immediately, before being drawn to the novels and comics, where you end up finding him several minutes later, lost in thought.

You just watch him, he looks like he’s thinking through which volumes of Sora Warrior of the Sea he has, to see if he needs any that are on the shelf in front of him. It makes you smile, he's so feared by so many so people simply because he’s pirate captain, but this side of him makes Law so cute to you, he keeps it to himself most of the time, but when you see it, you can’t help it.

He really is a good guy.

Law picks a book up off the shelf to read the back as you come over, pressing yourself again his side to try and rea it yourself.

“Find one you need?”

“Maybe…I don’t think I’ve read this one before.”

You hum and look at the cover yourself, reading the synopsis before Law puts his arm around your shoulders and brings you closer to him. It doesn’t surprise you that much, but it makes you smile. Despite how he looks to some people, you know Law is much nicer than anyone could ever expect, especially when he starts to explain the plot of this volume while you just listen and in turn wrap your free arm around his waist as Law decides he'll get this book too, asking if you found what you need before he goes to purchase his items.

“Yeah, I think I found everything I was looking for.”

~~

The two of you walk back to the Polar Tang while chatting lightly, Law trying to explain the full plot of Sora to you, which makes you laugh as you ask questions and he looks almost annoyed like it’s something he just explained but you weren’t listening.

It's not your fault he looks so happy as he goes off about his favorite series, the bright look in his eyes and slight smirk he has, he’s just so handsome when he’s happy.

“…maybe you should just read it.”

“If you let me borrow your copy I will!”

Law nods, thinking that’s definitely a better idea than him having to try and explain it. He’ll have to get you the first volume later so you can start it, see something he’s liked ever since he was a child. Maybe you’ll enjoy it too and he can have someone to talk about it with again.

As you approach the Polar Tang, you take Law’s hand in yours, he pulls you a little closer to kiss your head in return. You aren’t ready to go back yet, to have to pretend nothing is going on, but you’re willing to deal with it for now, just for Law. He might be older than you, but you understand he isn’t in the mood to be teased by his crewmates about his first relationship, so you can accept this situation. At the very least, Ikkaku and Penguin know, you think Bepo has his suspicions after you ran to get him when Law had passed out, but none of his other crewmates seem to suspect a thing yet.

“I wish we had more time today…”

“We don’t have to go back in immediately,” Law shrugs while you look up at him confused, making him smile softly, “We could, you know, stay on deck for a while…if you want, I guess.”

That suggestion causes you to smile back, nodding and dragging Law back to the ship, settling both of you in a good spot so you can talk and watch the sunset, maybe stay long enough to see the stars. He knows being in a submarine is completely different from what you were use to with the Sunny, so Law doesn’t mind staying outside for a while longer with you, he’s more than happy to do so, especially when you lean against his shoulder and continue to hold his hand.

“I think today was a good second-first date.”

“Oh is that what we’re going to call it then?”

Nodding, you hum before kissing his cheek, leading Law to press another to your temple.

“We’ll definitely have another date sometime.”

“Good to hear.”

You’re excited to see where things go with Law now that you’ve had this real first date, and when you tell Ikkaku everything later that night, she starts betting you and Law will be married in no time at all, which makes your face heat up at the thought. She’s joking of course, even as she says you’ll have four kids, but even you start thinking about what that could be like one day, though you never tell anyone else about it. It’s far too early to be thinking about such a thing, but Ikkaku’s insistence that she’s correct makes you laugh in the end.

You end up sleeping better than night that you have in a while, and Law does the same, after relaying the date to Penguin who is happy for his captain and proud he took that step with you. All of the Heart Pirates want Law to he happy, and if that means he’s with you, Penguin knows the rest of them will approve when you two decide to tell everyone about your relationship.

This family Law found will be happy for him, just as you know Luffy and the other Straw Hats will be for you.

+!+

“Have you heard of the Will of D?”

“Hmm?”

You’re laying across Law’s lap in his bed one evening while reading a book, him doing the same, before he asks such a seemingly random question. He’d been running his fingers through your hair (carefully, nervously, you’re both still getting used to this) and you thought he’d been so focused on his book, but it seems he has something on his mind instead.

You wrack your brain a bit, knowing it sounds familiar but at first, you’re not sure why until it hits you. Nodding, you close your own book and sit up beside him.

“Robin mentioned it once…she asked if Luffy and I knew anything about it.”

“Do you?”

When you shake your head, Law sighs a bit but nods, pulling you against his side gently to have you lay your head on his shoulder.

“Sorry I’m no help there.”

“No, don’t be,” Law waves off your apology, kissing the top of your head as you hum, “I was just wondering.”

You both return to your books for a while, you trying to focus but keep thinking about what Law asked. You know that you have no information for him about the Will of D, you only know it's something Robin has brought up; you, Luffy, Garp and Dragon have the D in your names, you’ve seen others have it as well, but that’s the extent of your knowledge. You’ve never really been interested in learning the meaning, even with Robin questioning you and Luffy, Garp never had an answer either if you asked him, not a real one. He just said it was like a middle name, nothing for you to worry yourself about. You were too young to argue with him, or maybe it was just that you respected him too much to do so, but it never set right with you. You wanted to know, why you saw that letter on wanted posters too.

Sometimes you wonder if it would give you more information about who you are.

“…what do you know about it, Law?”

He’s not sure if you want to know the very little he does, but since it’s brought up to you before, and you both share that letter, though he hasn’t told you yet, it might not be a bad thing. Sharing what he knows might give you something to look at yourself, maybe even the next time you see Garp he could give you real answers. You aren’t a child anymore, you deserve to know anything that could help you find yourself and where you belong in this world.

“Enemies of the gods.”

“…what?”

“That’s what Cora-san said once,” Law shrugs while you start to think, “I don’t think he knew anymore than that, really…”

“…I don’t really like that thought, being an enemy of the gods.”

“Don’t dwell on it, I’m not sure what he meant by it.”

You end up nodding, turning your attention back to your book but not really reading it anymore. You don’t understand why having a D in your name is so important in this world, what it would mean for you, Luffy, your grandpa, really anyone with it, it’s so strange. If Dragon were around, maybe he would know something. Maybe he does but you can’t get any kind of answer from him since he’s never around. Garp probably still wouldn’t answer you, he’d tell you it’s nothing for you to worry about still, even though you’re all grown up and now want to know since Law brought it up.

The world you live in is a strange place after all.

“I have it too.”

“Huh?”

“A D in my name, I have it too.”

Honestly you’re not completely surprised, but just a little shocked to hear that. You know there are several people with the D in their name, you just didn’t expect Law to be one of them.

“So—”

“Trafalgar D. Water Law. That’s my full name.”

You don’t say anything about it, not for a while. Honestly Law starts to wonder if you’re upset he never told you, when you’d given him your full name the first time you really met. He'd kept his name secret for so long, it only felt natural to do so back then too, it wasn’t that he didn’t trust you.

Well, when you met it was, even after he learned you were Luffy’s sister, he hadn’t planned for you to join his crew for two years, or to develop feelings and a relationship with you. You were a stranger that simply was related to another pirate captain and had a D in their name, why should he have revealed it back then? The two of you weren’t close at all, so he’s hoping you understand that since neither of you really knows much, not telling you his full name at the time was a safety measure. It wasn’t anything personal.

“I wonder if we’ll ever find out why we have this letter, and why it seems like no one knows anything.”

To say he’s relieved you’re not upset with him is an understatement, leading Law to sigh a bit before nodding in agreement. He wants to know too now, more than he has before, to understand why this Will of D is so important to the World Government especially, that there’s so little information on it.

He wants to find out for you too now.

~~

“Have I told you why I wanted to write a book?”

Shaking his head, Law glances up from his notebook to you, sitting across from him with your own book that you’ve kept every tiny note and detail about your crew’s adventures in hand, giving him a smile.

“Wanna know?”

“If you want me to.”

You roll your eyes as bit, finishing a line in your book before setting your pen down to rest your chin in your hand.

“My other brother, Sabo, wanted to write a book about our pirating adventures for kids. I wasn’t really into writing back then, I thought it was boring but I did like reading,” sighing you lean back against your chair as Law stops his own note taking to watch you, “After he…after he died, I decided I’d take up his dream. It’s not going to be only for kids though, I want everyone to read how Luffy becomes King of the Pirates.”

“Hmm, I see.”

“…do you think it’s silly? To take up Sabo’s dream like that?”

Law wonders if people have laughed at you for taking your brother’s dream on yourself. You’ve told him how you’d lost Sabo, thanks to a Celestial Dragon, and how it affected you, Luffy, and Ace as you continued to make your plans to leave and become Pirates. You’ve always kept him in your mind, especially when you’ve gone to make your notes and write whatever needed to be done next, Law's even read your writing more recently to help you proof it.

You have a talent for writing and detail, even he’s gotten tucked into your unpublished work and wants to know what’s next. It's like he’s anxiously waiting for the next Sora novel, except his girlfriend is the author and he wants to see what’s next for a rival instead. It’s how he learned more about the way you all helped free Alabasta, your adventure in Skypiea, Luffy’s declaration of war against the World Government at Enies Lobby, the zombies you fought on Thriller Bark, and when you arrived in Sabaody. He wants to see how that moment you two first locked eyes was for you, but he doesn’t expect that in this book. It’s not important to Luffy’s story, so you’ll probably leave it out, he thinks.

He does hope you’ll send him copies once you’ve gone back to the Straw Hats, he wants to keep reading the story and stay up to date with you.

“It’s not silly at all,” Law smiles when you look at him with relief in your eyes, your own smile making it’s way to your face, “Taking on someone’s dream like that takes a lot of strength and courage, I think. I’m sure your brother is happy.”

“I hope so…”

“Makes me wish I had known what Lami’s dream was…so I could make it happen for her.”

It makes you feel a little bad to hear that, but you know Law isn’t trying to garner sympathy, like when he’d told you his life story. He didn’t get the time he deserved to have with Lami as her big brother, she didn’t have the chance to grow up and live out her own dreams and desires.

If he knew what they would’ve been, you know Law would be fighting to make it happen, like you with taking on Sabo’s dream.

“I bet she would’ve wanted you to be happy, Law.”

“…I would’ve wanted the same for her.”

Twenty more hearts…

Just a little more before Law will feel better about sending you back to your brother and crew, knowing he could extend Warlord protections onto you at least.

Just a bit longer before his plans can really be enacted.

+!+

You make a realization one day a few months later.

It happens while you watch Law work as you try to do the same, but somehow he’s distracting you just by being there. Not in a bad way though, it’s not like how Luffy and Ace would distract you when you were younger. It’s more of you simply letting your eyes and mind wander towards him, even when you should be working yourself, you just can’t help it.

The last couple months have been more than you ever would’ve expected. It may be your first relationship, and Law’s too, but you’ve both enjoyed every bit of time you’ve spent together. There have been a few close calls with your relationship almost being exposed to the rest of the crew, but no one has said anything to you or Law about it. You’ve done well to keep it secret, only Ikkaku and Penguin know everything.

You’ve felt nothing but safe and happy with Law, before you ever started dating, but now you feel it more and he’s told you how he wants to keep you safe, no matter what happens. You feel the same, it doesn’t matter that Law is older or stronger than you, he deserves to feel safe and loved too.

It's right before your birthday, and the Heart Pirates planned party to celebrate Law becoming a warlord at the same time, that you decide you know exactly what it is you’ve been feeling lately. Watching Law, enjoying the quiet moments, learning a little more about each other every day, you’ve come to realize you love him.

Everything you’ve come to know about Law and his life, how he’s treated you and his crew, the way he’s made space for you in his room and office, allowing you to stay as long as you need, it's brought you even closer to him and caused you to notice how strong your feelings for him have become.

You love Law and you have every intention of telling him that tonight, even after you both slip away from the party his crew threw together. Penguin notices, pointing it out to Ikkaku, and they both work to make sure the rest of the crew doesn’t notice or suspect anything. They’ve done their best to keep your situation a secret, you two can have all the privacy and time you need before you’re ready to tell anyone else.

Once you’re back to his room, after Law has given you your gift (a new notebook for your writings and your own copy of the first few volumes of Sora), you can’t help but to kiss him almost nonstop, leading Law to pull you into his lap as he kisses you back before you decide something.

“Wait, stop.”

When you put your hand on the one he has just under your shirt, Law thinks he’s moved too fast for you, that you aren’t ready for anything more than kissing and dating, that’s fine if so, but he starts to get anxious that he’s screwed everything up. He didn’t mean to, he wanted to make your birthday special, but only if you’re comfortable. If you aren’t, he’ll apologize and make it right however you want. He doesn’t want to ruin what you have right now, taking that next step in your relationship can wait if you’re not ready for anything more.

“Sorry, was that too fast? I didn’t—”

“No, Law, relax,” you giggle a bit seeing how flustered he looks, before continuing, “I just…I need to tell you something first.”

Now he’s more concerned and thinking he’s definitely done something wrong. You seem nervous about whatever it is you have to say, looking like you’re thinking about it. The silence is making Law more anxious as seconds go by, it feels so much longer. He tightens his arms around your waist just a bit to try and coax the words out, which makes you sigh, arms still around his neck, a soft smile on your face.

“…I love you, Law.”

“You…you what?”

You’re not worried that he didn’t say it back, or that he looks almost horrified at your confession, you know enough about Law to understand why, so you don’t feel like this was a mistake. You needed him to know, as soon as possible, you just had to get those words out to him, even though he’s looking more scared than you’ve ever seen and his hold on you is tighter than it’s ever been, you think.

It doesn’t matter though. You keep smiling at him while you kiss his cheek to try and calm down what you know are racing thoughts.

“I said I love you, Law…I just wanted you to know.”

He wants you to take it back, but he can’t seem to speak. With everything that’s happened in his life, you’ve said the three words he's been scared to hear come out of your mouth since you started your relationship.  What he’s dreaded happening ever since he agreed to be your boyfriend.

Not because he didn’t want this relationship, it’s not that he doesn’t want you, it’s that he’s now utterly terrified of what may come next.

The words you’ve said, your first ever love confession to Law has him near a panic once he realizes what you’ve done. You’ve said you love him, it’s only been a few months, how are you so sure?? Why did you have to say that, why did those words come out of your mouth, don’t you remember what’s happened to those who have said they love him?!

“Law.”

No, no, you’re not serious, that’s it. Maybe you’re tipsy or flat drunk, it’s your birthday and you’ve been drinking, that must be it. You don’t know what you’ve said and won’t remember in the morning, he's sure of it. It’s better you don’t remember, he’ll make himself forget this ever happened. You’re not in love with him already, you didn’t say those three words that haunt him with Corazon’s smile, or his mother’s perfume, his sister’s hugs, and his father’s laughter.

“Law, hey.”

It’s not real, none of this is real right now. He’s going to wake up and this won’t have happened at all. You can’t die, you can’t follow the footsteps of those who have loved him in the past. He can’t lose you too, he just can’t, not again. It won’t happen again, he won’t allow another precious person to be taken from him, not for the third time, please don’t die. Please don’t leave him like the others have.

“…you can’t die too…”

It breaks your heart to hear him say that, with shallow breaths that tell you he’s not okay and you need to do something, leading to you gently shushing him as his breathing picks up. You start to feel awful and know you’ve got to calm Law down before he goes into a full blown panic attack.

“Oh, Law, calm down. Breathe, honey,” Law doesn’t even notice he’s nearly hyperventilating until you place your hands on his face, bringing your forehead against his to try and calm him, “I’m not going anywhere, shh. It’s okay. I won’t die, Law.”

Oh, he must’ve been saying everything out loud, not in his head. He didn’t notice that either, it all must’ve come out so rushed he couldn’t stop from running his mouth with his fears and worries. He only realizes the tears in his eyes when you wipe them away, placing a kiss on his forehead before bringing his head to your chest, letting him wrap his arms around you as tightly as he can while he listens to your heartbeat. As he slowly starts to calm down, you run your fingers through his hair while he continues to hold you as close as he possibly can, it’s probably going to be a while before he lets you go.

“Law—”

“I,” his voice is strained from fighting not to cry but your shirt’s already damp from his tears even as he tries to choke them down, “I can’t lose you too…not you, please.”

You shush him again, kissing the top of his head this time before laying your forehead against his hair.

He feels a bit pathetic at the moment, if he were to be honest. Nearly twenty-six and clinging to his twenty-two year old girlfriend like a child does to their mother. If he were anyone else, Law would’ve pushed you away and tried to look more manly in front of you, but he knows you don’t want that and he doesn’t care to hide his feelings right now. You just wanted him to know, that’s what you said when you told him those words, it's why you say them again and brush your fingers through his hair once more.

“I won’t leave you, don’t worry. Even when I go back to Luffy and them, my heart is yours, Law.”

It’s an impossible thing to promise, that you won’t die and you’ll be safe after you return to the Straw Hats, but it’s enough for Law at the moment to calm him. He nods but continues to hold you close, face buried in your shirt while you stroke his hair and whisper your love and sweet nothings to him. He wonders if he should say it back, even though he’s not sure where his feelings are at this moment, but he still opens his mouth to speak.

“Stay with me tonight. Please.”

“Of course, Law. Whatever you need.”

“…I just need you.”

He’s not there yet, not where he can say the same words to you, but you don’t seem to mind. When you repeat them to him, over and over again, Law starts to believe that this time is different. Maybe this time, he won’t lose someone who loves him. Maybe he’ll be allowed to love you back, to have some happiness in his life for the first time in over a decade.

Maybe this time he’ll be able to return those words when he’s ready.

~~

The rest of the Heart Pirates know something must have happened the night before, after you and Law returned to the ship without them, since none of them see him for quite a while that next morning. Those who still don’t know your relationship think you two must’ve had a fight about something, while Ikkaku and Penguin, your confidants on the ship, have the full story from you when you bring both into your room after breakfast. You tell them not to expect to see Law much today, and when you finish explaining, Ikkaku gives you a sympathetic look while Penguin sighs and scratches his head.

“Damn, I never thought Captain would react like that…”

“Can you blame him?” Ikkaku makes an annoyed face at Penguin before turning back to you, “The last person to tell him that…”

“Was Corazon, and he died soon after.” You nod, the story is still fresh from when Law told you everything, so you do understand. You understand why he nearly had a full mental break down last night after you said ‘I love you’ to him, he hadn’t expected it and in his past experience, those words do not lead to positive outcomes. “I feel so bad about it…”

“Oh, no, no, you shouldn’t,” setting a hand on your shoulder, Penguin tries to reassure you as Ikkaku hugs you, “I think it just means Captain cares about you a lot more than he even realized, if his first thought was that he was going to lose you.”

“Penguin is right, Law definitely has strong feelings for you. He was probably just worried. He seems to think all he ever does is lose people…”

“He’s not going to lose me,” you grip the pillow in your lap tight for a moment before releasing it, “I love Law, and I’m going to prove it to him that he doesn’t just lose people who love him. He's still got all of you, right?”

They both nod as you sigh, moving to get up from your bed when Ikkaku asks where you’re going.

“I’m going to bring Law something to eat, he’s been in his room all morning.”

“He may not want anything…normally he’s good to just—”

“No, I’m gonna make sure he knows I’m here for him,” once you’re up with shoes on, you give the two a smile, “Let everyone know Law and I are fine, I’ll take care of him today.”

Penguin goes and lets everyone know it’s a day off, he tells them Law isn’t feeling well and to go do what they want, practically everyone leaving to go back to the island for shopping or relaxation. You, of course, stay aboard, starting to make something for you and Law to share for lunch, anyone still hanging around leaves you alone, knowing you’re taking care of things. Whatever might be wrong, because none of them believe Law is sick, you’ll make it okay.

You’re nearly done making the food when you see an arm come around your shoulders, the other around your waist, Law presses a soft kiss to the back of your head before putting his forehead on your shoulder.

“How are you—”

“I’m sorry about last night,” he’s quiet as he speaks, you shake your head before setting down the spoon you were using and turning around to take his face in your hands, “I just. I didn’t expect that and it freaked me out because I thought of my…my family and Cora-san, I’m sorry. I know it doesn’t mean you’re going to die, but I—”

“Shh, it’s okay,” You kiss him before hugging him properly, letting Law continue to hide his face in your shoulder, “I know I surprised you, but I really just wanted you to know that I love you.”

Taking a breath, Law still doesn’t like hearing that from you yet, but he nods, tightening his hold on you. The two of you stay like that for a while, you once again speak sweetly to him, making Law feel better but he still feels like he’d look like a child to anyone else if they saw this. Some people wouldn’t see an adult relationship but maybe think he's leaning too much on you, but you haven’t had any problems with that yet. It doesn’t fully make sense to him, why you haven’t pushed him away and said this is all too much, with the emotional baggage he has, he doesn’t understand it at all.

“I’m scared I’ll lose you too sometimes, you know,” Law pulls away enough to look at you, confused by what you mean at first, “You’re a Warlord now…I know it keeps the Navy off you, but other pirates will still come after you. I don’t want to lose another loved one.”

“You’re not gonna lose me.”

“Then you have to believe you won’t lose me either.”

He gets that and understands you didn’t tell him you love him because you were trying to scare him or anything like that. You really do just love him, Law knows he’s going to have it accept that even if someone tells him those words, it doesn’t mean they’re doomed immediately. It doesn’t mean he’ll lose them, precedence be damned, he’ll be the one to make sure nothing happens to you. He was too young, too small to protect Corazon or his family, but now that he's grown and stronger, he can at least protect you while you’re under his care.

“I’ll try.”

“That’s enough for me,” you give Law a smile that he slightly returns, before leaning up to kiss him briefly, “I love you.”

Although he’s not ready to say it back to you, Law nods before kissing your forehead and hugging you again, quietly thanking you. Its enough, you know it’ll take him some time to get to the same point, but that’s okay.

You’ll just keep loving Law, helping him where you can, to show him that he doesn’t only lose people he loves. He’s not going to lose you and you’re not going to lose him.

“You should probably eat something.”

“Yeah, probably,” Law watches you as you turn back to finish the lunch you were making, “Also…before I freaked out last night, we…are you okay...going further?”

For a moment you’re confused, before you see the light blush on his face and realize what Law means, your own face heating up when you quietly say ‘oh’ as you remember. Things got interrupted after you said you love him, and the two of you had settled to laying in his bed, his arms around you and face in your shirt while you just held Law close and calmed him.

After another minute or so, you just nod.

“Yeah I…I’m okay with that,” you can tell he’s relieved when Law sighs and nods, making you smile, “But another night. Right now we should eat!”

Law doesn’t really get how you’re able to change subjects so quickly but he is hungry so he’s not going to complain about it. Not when you’ve made one of his favorite meals and taken the time to make sure it’s perfect for both of you. You both enjoy your lunch together, and whenever another one of his crewmates comes by or returns to the ship from their time on the island, they all seem just as relieved to see Law is out of his office and doing well, he’s back to acting as a captain should later that day.

Everything is fine, and they all know you’re to thank for that. Every one of them, that doesn’t know yet, hopes that you and Law will come together one day, and they’ll all support you and their captain through everything.

+!+

When Law wakes with you in his bed after your first time together, he’s still not sure he believes it. He watches you sleep peacefully for several minutes, knowing you’re safe with him, that you chose to spend the night with him for the first time because you love and trust him.  Honestly he couldn’t even believe the night before was the first for both of you. He’d figured that, even though you’ve never had a boyfriend, you’ve probably hooked up with someone before. It’s common for pirates to do, or he thought maybe Sanji or Zoro had managed a situationship with you. But when you tell him neither had ever even made a move on you, he’s surprised.

“Probably because I’m the captain’s sister haha. I’m considered off limits to those boys.”

He’s not sure if your crewmates would like knowing you’re with him, he hasn’t been since your relationship started, but he’s started not caring. You’re an adult, you can make your own decisions. You did last night, after Law made sure multiple times you were comfortable with taking your relationship further. He hopes you don’t regret anything when you wake up, but with how much you said you loved him last night, he knows you won’t. He really does wish he was at the point where he could tell you the same, but you understand, he doesn’t know how but you do.

Law watches you sleep for a few minutes longer, stroking your cheek while you bury your head deeper into his pillow in your sleep.

“Mm…love you…Law…”

It’s strange how you can say that so easily, even in your sleep, and how it makes him feel so emotional at the same time. How do you do this, make him want to cry at 5:30am just from saying you love him? It’s enough for Law to leave his bed finally, going to his bathroom to wash his face and calm himself down before he wakes you. Splashing water on his face, Law stops to look at himself once he dries off, he doesn’t know how to handle this. How to handle the love you give him so freely and easily. The last person to do that was Corazon, that’d been so long now.

“Cora-san…I don’t know how to handle this…”

Law never really expected to fall so hard for someone, it wasn’t something he ever worried about. Falling in love, getting married, having children, it’s not something Pirates normally do, he’s only ever viewed it as a civilian lifestyle. To be settled in one place where they could raise their family, it sounded good when he was a child but now, it’s such a dangerous thing to think about.

If the right person figures it out, he’s afraid he’ll lose you like he’s lost everyone else that’s told him they love him.

So many new ‘what-ifs’ are taking over his thoughts, there’s so much to think about now.

What if someone finds out and uses your relationship against him, or against Luffy? What if you get pregnant? Of course you were safe last night, but even Law knows protection is only so effective. Law would protect you of course, but it's another fear that someone could find out and use it against him. He doesn’t think he could handle losing a family again if that were to happen.

What if you decide he’s too much with the baggage he has? Would you leave him and want to forget your relationship even happened?

No, after last night, Law is sure you won’t do that, at the very least. You’re in this for the long haul, and so is he, neither of you are getting out of this relationship easily. You’re both too attached at this point.

He’s there for a few moments longer, thinking and trying to work things out in his head, before he’s surprised by your arms coming around his middle and your head laying on his back. You place a soft kiss to his tattooed back with a ‘good morning’, which Law returns.

“Did you sleep well?”

“I did. You?”

You nod, smiling up at him when he looks over his shoulder at you and places one of his hands on yours.

“I borrowed your shirt, hope that’s okay.”

“More than okay. It looks better on you.”

It makes you giggle while Law smiles, you tell him you’re going to steal it then and he doesn’t fight you on it.

“Do you wanna take a shower with me?”

“I’d love that, Law.”

Your shower is quick, only due to you needing to head off to your room so no one is suspicious of you being gone all night, especially Ikkaku so she doesn’t start asking questions. You’d rather stay with Law for the next couple hours before everyone else is awake, since you personally believe that most of his crew has figured things out by now, but you do understand his being worried that it might leak to the World Government and someone could target you to get to him once he becomes a Warlord. You try to extend your time with Law by wrapping your arms around his shoulders and kissing his face over and over, enjoying the slight blush he gets from it that only you ever notice.

“All right, all right,” he doesn’t sound annoyed, more like he’s appreciative of your affection, “You need to go on back.”

You pout, shaking your head before burying your face in his chest while he sighs and pats your head. “Last night was nice…I don’t want to go yet…”

“It was nice. Next time, you can stay longer…”

“Next time, hm?” Your grin makes him roll his eyes before responding to you.

“Don’t read too much into it, dork,” Law pinches your cheek a bit, making you whine before he kisses you one more time for that morning, “Of course there’ll be a next time. You’re my girlfriend, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, I sure am,” nodding, leaning up just a bit more, you rub your nose against his briefly, “And you’re my boyfriend, my love.”

You leave a moment later, after telling him again that you love him, and Law wishes he could’ve responded in kind to you. You don’t seem to be upset he doesn’t, you never have. You’d told him that a simple ‘thank you’ is enough of a response until he’s ready to say it back to you. You’re willing to wait until he’s ready.

Law hopes he works things out before you have to return to the Straw Hats in a few short months. He doesn’t want to leave you wondering once you’ve separated.

Cora-san…I think I found who I’m meant to be with for the rest of my life…

Despite the worries and he has about losing you, about someone finding out and trying to use it against him, Law is determined not to let anything happen to you, even after you return to Luffy and your crew.

He's not going to let another person who loves him be harmed again. He’ll prove he doesn’t just lose loved ones and he can protect them.

Even if still may take him some time to return your words, Law is going to protect you, even when you’re miles away from him again.

I won’t let anything happen to you.

+!+

You’re not surprised when the Heart Pirates throw a going away party the night before you’re set to return to your crew. They’ve docked in Sabaody, but your intentions are to leave the next morning, you arrived a day early thanks to Law’s planning, so you have just a bit more time with the people who have become another family to you. They’ve all celebrated your birthday twice now, and tonight they’re celebrating you as an honorary Heart Pirate, you’ll never be rid of them, they all laugh when Shachi says it with a grin. It makes you laugh too, though you feel sad at the thought of leaving them, you’re anxious and excited to go back to your crew.

You want to see Luffy again, despite the part of you that wants to stay with Law.

Speaking of, you notice after a few more minutes that he’s not been around or said anything, and don’t see him when you stop to try and find your boyfriend. When you ask Hakugan, he says Law had gone back to his office a bit ago, telling him not to worry about anything and to keep the party going for you. It makes you wonder if he’s gotten overwhelmed once again, to the point you sneak off like you do often it seems, to go check on him. You don’t plan to let him stay locked away in his office, not when you have so few hours left before you have to leave, so you knock on the door and say his name, not getting a response at first.

“Law? Can I come in?”

“Go back to everyone, I just need a few minutes.”

“Are you sure? We can—”

“I’m fine, don’t worry.”

You don’t leave, trying to find something to say, before you nod to yourself.

“Okay, I’ll see you when you come back then.”

It’s not the party itself that overwhelmed him, Law only got that way as he heard everyone saying such nice things about you, how much they’ll all miss you when you leave and they’ll be waiting to see you again. The strain in Bepo’s voice when he talked about how much he’ll miss you being around too, the grins Shachi and Penguin had when they talked about your stories you’d tell them, Clione and Uni bragging about your cooking, Ikkaku nearly in tears because she was going to be the only girl on board again. It was just too much for Law at the moment, especially when Penguin nudged him and told him he needed to say something too. It felt too final to do that, made Law anxious, and he had to leave. He didn’t want to seem like a downer or make anyone else sadder than they already were to have you leaving, so he chose to step away for a bit.

You’ve changed things in the last two years, Law really does believe that. Especially with him, you’ve made him realize he's not going at things alone with his crew just along for the ride.

You’ve fallen in love with him and given him something he’s needed for a long time, reassurance more than anything, that you aren’t going to leave him alone.

Even if he doesn’t come back to the party, you’ll be okay with it. You’ll join him that night once everyone else has started to wind down and it gets quiet again. You’ll have one more night together before you leave, that’s more than enough for Law right now.

~~

“You could stay.”

“No,” Sighing you set yourself up on one elbow, holding your face in your hand, while you brush your fingers through Law’s hair with the other, “I really can’t.”

“Yes, you can.”

“Luffy needs me,” you lay your head on Law’s chest, while he keeps an arm around your shoulders, “I’d love to stay but…I need to be with him.”

Law doesn’t say anything at first, placing his hand on your head and stroking your hair. He knew that would be your answer, even with an open invitation to join his crew and stay on the ship. Every one of the Heart Pirates loves you, they’re all happy Law has found you, and they wish you’d stay. Ikkaku wants to have a roommate still, even if you’ve been spending most of your nights in Law’s room, she’s going to miss having someone to gossip with. Penguin and Shachi want you to stay because they’ve never seen Law so relaxed before, and Bepo just loves you so much, you’ve helped him with so many things the last two years.

They’ve all come to see you as a member of the crew, if the going away party they threw for you is anything to go by.

“…I wish you would stay.”

You stay quiet but nod, moving enough to lay on top of him with your arms crossed under your chin. You’re sure you haven’t seen him look so sad since he'd told you his past, but he's definitely not near tears or anything. You don’t expect that anyway, it’s not Law and that’s okay. You love him as he is.

“Are you going to tell him about us?”

“Mm,” you nod a little, already having that planned, “Luffy needs to know, I don’t like to keep things from him.”

Law understands that, he’s perfectly fine with you telling Luffy. If you had said no, he was going to try and convince you to do so anyway. He deserves to know, maybe he’ll be understanding and let you join the Heart Pirates, who knows? You know Luffy the best, you may have the same idea, but Law also knows you probably won’t leave right away even if Luffy is okay with it.

“I love you, Law,” you lay your head back on his chest and Law simply hugs you close, kissing the top of your head, “Nothing’s going to change that.”

“I know…”

Once you fall asleep, Law watches you for a bit, wishing you would make the choice to stay with him and his crew. Everyone loves you, they feel like you belong there with them, he can’t count how many times they’ve all told him to just steal you away from the Straw Hats, but Law could never do that. He’d never force you to stay if you didn’t want to.

He's realized he loves you too much to do that. When you’re ready to stay, you will, he knows that.

“It’s so stupid…” Law is quiet, whispering mostly to himself to keep from waking you, “I wish I could just tell you. But the words just don’t come out when I try…”

He worries he’s woken you when you start to stir in your sleep, until you settle back down, he breathes easy again and holds you closer.

“…I do love you…I hope you know that.”

I promise I’ll tell you when I can.

[there-must-be-a-lock]

Jason Todd/Frank Castle ship manifesto and rec list!

For @dc-marvel-crossovers Pool Noodle Party.

These two are both scary motherfuckers when they want to be. Between the guns and the vengeance — yeah, the surface-level similarities are clear. But they’re also people whose core motivations are a) loss and b) a sense of justice. They lost faith in the ability of others to protect the people they love, and so they decided to do it themselves. They get a lot of shit from the other vigilantes in their respective circles for their methods of doing so; I think the lack of judgment coming from the other person would absolutely draw them together.

And at first glance, I think they can both easily be written off as angry characters, but both of them have a massive soft, caring streak under all that Kevlar and grumbling. It comes out mostly in the way they look out for (and fight on behalf of) the innocent — women, children, dogs… they’re both natural caretakers, but they’re rarely allowed to express it, and I think that caretaking is a huge part of what I love about the idea of their dynamic. They only allow themselves to be soft and to be taken care of because they’re with someone who also respects their strength.

Fic recs! Most of this tag belongs to the amazing @mightymightygnomepriest and @bittercape! Please go check out their work if you want more of this pairing — every one of their fics is great, not just the ones I’m quoting here.

forever trusting who we are by @bittercape - like I said, it’s the caretaking for me! This is peak softness, and I love the lived-in feel of the unspoken communication that comes from a long term relationship.

The rhythm of checking and mending gear is a familiar one, and Jason is comforted by the hiss of the whetstone against an already-sharp blade, as familiar as breathing.

Slightly less familiar is the way Frank leans against him when he comes back from packing up their gear. His weight is heavy against Jason’s back, seeking contact like a big cat.

can’t start a fire without a spark by @mightymightygnomepriest - Frank is literally in the rain trying to rescue a puppy in this. It’s so ridiculously endearing. There’s also caretaking (of course) and some sexy sexy sex.

Out of the corner of his eye, Jason catches sight of a calendar. He wonders if he’s been a good enough boy this year that Santa’s delivered him a dilf.

Probably not.

Even if We’re Just Dancing in the Dark by @daddyswickedqueen - a remix of the previous fic on the list, but god damn I love Sagacity’s take on this premise. The inner voices of both characters are so well done.

There’s a low laugh that could, in other meteorological conditions, make Jason shiver. Right now it’s too fucking cold and wet to tell.

Jason stays right where he is. This goddamn puppy is going to be warm and dry tonight or he’s going to commit war crimes. Again.

Parting is all we know of Heaven, (—and all we need of Hell.) by llamallamaduck - Witcher fusion! I know very little about the Witcher fandom but was able to follow without problems, and the glimpse at the world was more than enough to have me wanting more. Great characterizations.

“I’ve been around for a while, kid,” says the Witcher, shifting. Automatically, Jason’s eyes snap to track the movement. You can’t not pay attention to that shit. He’s not even making any threatening gestures; he’s rubbing his temples with one hand and is propped up by the other. Nevertheless, Jason wants to curl his shoulders, bare his teeth and show he’s not easy prey.

Make This Easy by @thepartyresponsible - it has once again been 0 days since somebody in the crossover server recced a TPR fic, and for good reason. Significantly darker than the others on this list; this is not a happy story. But it involves one of my favorite descriptions of Jason of all time:

There’s some kind of predator under his skin, the same way there’s one under Frank’s. Maybe this kid’s teeth run a little closer to the surface, but Frank still recognizes his own. It’s just weird as hell to find someone like him caged up in a body like that. He wonders if that’s what he looked like in his early twenties, some unholy mashup of empty eyes and soft edges, baby fat barely lingering on a body already smelted into a weapon.

He was never that pretty, but Russo used to be. Maybe that burning match energy is something boys like them learn early. Self-immolation as a form of self-protection. Nobody’s going to get their hands on them if they’re already on fire.

[quibbs126]

I’ve made another fankid, this one’s name is Cloudberry Cookie

So I’ve been struggling to come up with designs for my actual requests, which sucks because I want to draw more fankids, so for now I’m just drawing ones that I’ve been wanting to do, but aren’t on my requests, with wildchip being one of them

Anyways, so for the name, I picked cloudberry since cloudberries are berries, so like Wildberry, but they also grow in very cold climates, like where Crunchy Chip lives

Cloudberry I think was originally a contender for a hollycacao fankid, but then I thought it could also work for wildchip, so that’s what I did instead

Also, another contender that I had for this ship was pineberries, since they’re white with red seeds, which reminded me of Crunchy Chip’s hair, but if you replaced the dark brown with Wildberry’s pink. But I liked cloudberries more, so I went with that. But if I make another one, I’ll probably do Pineberry

Cloudberries:

So I’m aware that neither Crunchy Chip nor Wildberry have orange in their hair, but cloudberries are that color, so that’s her hair color. I still worked in Wildberry’s pink though. Not the proudest of how her hair turned out, or at least the top part, like I think it looked different in my head, but I was trying to make it look closer Wildberry and Crunchy Chip

I admit, I probably could have done better with her outfit, I just wasn’t entirely sure what to do with it other than “cold climate”. Maybe I’ll redesign it some time later

I also made a version with markings like Crunchy Chip’s, but I thought maybe they were just tacked on, so I took them out. But I’ll still post that version at the end, to see if that looks better to you guys

Now let’s get on to her character, since I have some stuff for her

So Cloudberry lives in the Dark Cacao Kingdom, as she prefers the cold climate, but she mostly just lives in solitude in the mountains, not really part of the military like her father. She visits her parents from time to time, and she has a good relationship with them both, she just prefers to live by herself. Generally she farms cloudberries, knowing where they grow, and will on occasion sell cloudberry jam to others. But she also works as a hunter and tracker, being open for hiring if you want someone or something tracked down. Also, she uses and trains birds, like the Cacao Hawks (was that what they’re called? I can’t seem to find where they’re mentioned). She likes the Cream Wolves well enough, she just prefers birds. Plus, they can send letters for her

Generally she comes off as a rather serious person, at least to others, as she’s mostly focused on the task at hand, but she’s also very intelligent and witty, and will sass when you least expect it (unfortunately I am not very witty, so I cannot tell you what she says)

As for the sketch with Crunchy Chip, I just imagine he would just be showing her off to anyone with the time of day. Also that her hair used to be more bouncy and berry like in shape

Edit: oh yeah, something else I thought of that I wanted to mention. So cloudberries are supposed to be incredibly rare and hard to find if you don’t know where to look. Assuming Wildberry and Crunchy Chip baked her, I’m just assuming they were trying to figure out what ingredients to use, and Crunchy Chip suggests these berries he’s heard grow in his kingdom but are very rare, and as they aren’t really sold places, they have to make this long trek across the mountains to find cloudberries, which they inevitably do. I don’t know why I added this bit, I just thought it was neat

Also for some reason, in my head I kept calling her “Wendy”. I don’t know why, but she felt like a Wendy. I guess if she ever needs a proper human name, I’m going with Wendy, despite the fact it sounds nothing like her name

But yeah, I think that’s about it for her, hope you enjoy!

Oh right, the alternate one with her markings! Forgot that

[focusontheheart]

Meet the Team Lead - DinoKieran

Give a warm welcome to the passionate Lead for the Seyka route, it's DinoKieran! You can find them on AO3 as DinoKieran!

Hi! The name’s Kieran (you can call me Dino) , long time nerd and longer time Fanfiction writer. I played Zero Dawn for the first time a few weeks before Frozen Wilds came out, and I’ve been enamored ever since. Before playing Burning Shores, I was a solitary fan just keeping to myself, but I finally decided to take a step out into the wider community and now look where I am! I’m knee-deep in Horizon Fanfiction WIPs, 3D printed Machine miniatures and the beginnings of cosplay, not to mention this huge project. I’ve never been a part of something so collaborative in a fandom before, and I can’t wait to share what I’ve made!

Q&A with Dino under the cut!

What is a favorite piece of work you've done (completed/ working on/ in-concept)? 

Because I’m still such a newcomer to the Horizon fanfic world, almost all of the works that I’m most excited about are all works in progress (keep an eye out though, I’ve got a lot on the way! I love a good rare pair ship and it shows!), so instead I would like to draw your attention to a fic that connected me to an unexpected ship: "Snowburn" by OutOfRetirement. Ask anyone in my social circle and they’ll tell you just how obsessed I am with that fic!

What are some of your favorite tropes (to write/ draw/ read)?

Give me a slow burn, honestly. Getting the opportunity to detail the long and complex construction of a relationship from first meeting to falling in love speaks to my soul! It’s a perfect opportunity to carry out in-depth character studies. A good Modern AU wouldn’t go amiss either. I enjoy being able to take characters out of their world and creating a less chaotic, simpler world. Gives me a break from writing drama, I guess you could say lol.

What is an unexpected thing or fun fact about you?

Outside of writing, I have what I like to call my ‘roledex of hobbies’. These hobbies are a mix, from whittling and embroidery to wildlife photography and houseplant collecting, I know I never have to worry about being bored! 

What has been your favorite thing about working on this project so far?

Honestly? Just getting to be a part of it! I’ve been a fanfiction writer for over a decade, but have never had the chance to work on anything collaborative outside of a singular joint fic I wrote a few years ago. Over the years I found myself watching other writers getting to be part of projects like Zines and believed that was something out of my reach, but now I’m here, surrounded by a wonderful community, and part of a project I never saw coming. Words cannot describe how thankful I am for this opportunity!

[kihakugato-art]

The Harriet Pinup Art Project

Session 0- goals and preparation

Out of the sessions this one will probably be the wordiest- my apologies that I can't break it apart with more images! Hopefully the future sessions will have more show and less tell.

Goal for this project-

To make a good enough quality artpiece that it could be printed as a poster or print. I won’t end up making it an actual print since it entails some considerations I’d rather not mess with, but I’d like to at least push my art to that quality. This is my loftiest of my goals but a goal nonetheless.

To finish this piece within the month of September. It’d be nice to get it done sooner, and its equally possible that I may end up finishing it later than that, but I want to take my time with this piece for longer than I normally would for an art piece. I rarely work on my pieces for longer than a week on average.

What is the planned setting/composition for the pinup?

A candid of Harriet sitting on the edge of the deck of her ship (or off of a dock) all chill albeit possibly mischievous. She will likely be holding/eating a grilled fish on a skewer, giving lowkey implication that she snatched/stole it out from the ship’s kitchen/BBQ before mealtime.

The outfit will preferably have shorts/daisy dukes, a top of some sorts, draconian features out (so her lil penguin wings and her long flippered tail, maybe also feathered webbed hands/feet) in her human form for added interest, with a shirtless/tits-out as an additional outfit variant (I hope to come out of this project with at least 2 different versions- a sfw and more nsfw version). Her happy trail must be in view as well as her chest to add to the pinup-ness.

I may also give a canon-compliant colour pallete (so the teal/red/white) for her outfit as well as a non-compliant variant (the colour those clothes would be normally in the real world) depending on how well the colours compliment her.

Inspiration-

Of all things, the one that finally motivated me to think of taking a crack at it, it was the Brazillian Miku art trend. Created by ErinArtista (artpiece link X).

Tanned skin, teal hair, tomboyish energy, the parallels to Harriet are very similar which made it hard not to think about her when seeing the trend spread in full force.

The version that really got me thinking of Harriet in such an outfit was by irreligiositat (artpiece link X) which gave the interpretation of Miku having a big teal happy trail. Being Harriet has a blue-green happy trail herself, it caused the final mental click.

[image source]

Before this I had previously thought about drawing Harriet in “sexy” outfits- especially Mordred’s shorts/coat outfit (no surprise since I credit Mordred for being some of the inspiration for Harriet).

Although other OCs in a pinup artpiece have crossed my mind before, Harriet has always been the easiest to imagine; she canonically sometimes straight-up walks around shirtless or nude out on the deck of her own ship simply cause she’s the carefree type to do so! No other OC of mine is that bold (barring some WIP NSFW OCs that are still baking in the brain oven).

As I’ve been feeling more comfortable/bolder I have grown more motivated to explore this kind of art.

Preparations

Inspiration/reference board/folder

Collect images to assist in compiling/understanding the art being created. I don’t do this too often unless I’m very uncertain about certain details for the art piece. Also being I don’t draw often enough the references help give some guidelines for the brain to follow.

[yes I am well aware of how sus the third folder looks- don't make me bonk you for the obvious]

While the number of folders/images may grow as this project progresses, I am currently starting with 4 folders with 49 different images total; A folder for backgrounds, cooked/skewered fish, outfits (particularly daisy dukes- cause I had some confusion on certain art depictions of them that I had to get clarified on), and various sitting poses that come close to what I’m after. Also Harriet’s reference sheet so we can keep more inline with the iconography of her design (and also help when we get to including her draconic features since I’m not used to drawing a transitional form).

Canvas preparation and tutorials

I’m starting this on Clip Studio Paint with A4 paper dimensions (albiet with a stupidly large canvas size to avoid accidentally drawing too small) with 300 resolution.

For tutorials I am currently starting with only one- how to use 3D models in CSP, since I have never used this feature before, and I feel this could be extremely helpful on quickly getting an idea of what will look best for this composition.

Pretty cut and dry overview, even if it’s a lot of new information to take in. In the future I may use the fancier features of it such as making specific body types (meaning I have help with grasping Demauria and Riivar’s absurd height differences) but for this project we will start/stick to the default body even though it’s not quite accurate

With the new information I imported a female 3D model from the materials section, and selected one of the sitting presets to get started with.

I also imported the top poses from my inspo board onto the canvas so that I can quickly reference from them while working on messing with the 3D model.

Depending on how well I can mess with the poses I may even do more than one 3D’d pose so that I can compare/contrast which I’d prefer for this piece.

[imjustabeanie]

Hey there! It’s Morgan (@whiskersz) here for the matchup trade! First of all, I’m very happy that you came to me for a trade, I didn’t even know these were a thing before seeing your work!

Some basic info – I’m 20, use he/they pronouns, I’m Bisexual and Nonbinary and I have no preference for the gender of who I’m gonna be matched with :) I'm also Italian!!

So, I guess I should start by saying that I’m quite the introvert. I find it very difficult to start a conversation with people I don’t know and even when we’re already acquainted it takes me a while to open up fully. I’ve been called scary before, which happened also because I naturally look a bit annoyed all the time and apparently I don’t laugh at many things.

Once I open up though, I’m very silly! Literally the definition of ‘just a guy’; I like cats, drawing, painting, watching series and playing videogames and shipping myself and my OCs with my favorite characters, and writing about cute scenarios; I also love shopping and ‘dressing to impress’, I never leave the house with a random outfit, I dress in hopes that somebody in the streets will look at me and think that my style is awesome. So, I would say I kind of like attention in a way. Speaking of my style I always dress like I’m straight from the past, I own stuff that used to belong to people who bought it in the 80s, but even earlier! I also really love anything vintage and I’m somewhat of a maximalist, my desk is a mess of trinkets, action figures and jewellery.

As for what I dislike, I really hate gory scenarios, I can’t stand seeing that kind of thing at all and I actually pass out a lot from just hearing the description of such things. I also generally dislike annoying noises such as loud chewing, and people who don’t respect my boundaries. If somebody is like that, I’m not afraid of telling them that they’re getting on my nerves, though if we’re close I’ll be way kinder to them as I tolerate stuff from my loved ones way easier.

It’s maybe unexpected, but in a relationship I’m very loving and caring and I will worry about anything and everything, I’m also very empathetic so if my partner is feeling down I’ll unfortunately feel down as well, but I’m very willing to ignore my feelings since I’m just basically mirroring what they feel as I would rather be supportive and positive in times of need. My love languages are a mess, I basically express my love through words, actions, gifts and expressing that I want to spend time with each other all together; the last one is a bit more special maybe since I rarely feel up to doing things with people in general.

I don’t want to make this too long, so here’s my deal breakers and then we’re done! I’m not a fan of clinginess, I care about my loved ones a lot but I need a lot of space to practice my hobbies and to do my thing in general. I also dislike people who get angry easily, I’m a very chill person so I’d rather be surrounded by equally chill people. For the rest, just be loyal and honest and then we’re chill!

Hope this is all good! Take your time with this and happy writing :3

I nearly answered the wrong ask lmao. So sorry for the wait I hope you like it!

Your hazbin Hotel match is.....Vox!

For husker:

Don’t judge or blame me….your match is…Vox! I was surprised too since I initially hesitated between Husk and Vaggie….and somehow ended up with Vox.

Vox is a passionate man (demon?) to say the least. You did say that it’s difficult for you to start conversations in general so he’ll be the one starting them (and he likes it). What’s annoying with Vox is that it takes a little something special (his own interest) for him to start considering the person if you know what I mean. That’s why my scenario here is that you were a friend of someone in the Hotel (it can be anyone). Vox is interested in the hotel so he socialized with you to get inside infos. When he realized he actually started enjoying your company he acted like a schoolgirl and completely isolated himself because well it’s the first time! After the V’s saw him in that miserable state of mind they finally decided to confront him. It was effective cuz he confessed a week later.

Vox, as the other V’s, sometimes doesn’t respect boundaries (but not as much as the other two) by wrapping his arm around your shoulder or waist without asking first. But once you put him in his place he’ll accept it and then apologize by treating you to a nice date (plus a bouquet of flowers ofc). Something that’s nice is that he does take criticism (unless it’s from Alastor) but he’s too prideful to apologize properly by words. Instead he’ll take a step back and think about his actions so he won’t repeat the same mistakes.

He loves how good you dress up. He also dress to impress and likes someone that’s like him. He commissions new outfits for you almost weekly and always goes all out (velvet helps with the choices and coordination)! You’re the couple that everyone wants to dress up like if it helps. He relishes in the envious looks people give you both, it’s obvious from the big grin on his face (if you let him, he’ll kiss you and basically give the middle finger to everyone watching). Getting matching jewels is a must. I also see him as a watch type of guy so if you get him one he will wear it all the time. When in public, he speaks first and always starts the conversation so you don’t get awkward. If he feels you getting shy he’ll take over.

Vox is basically vintage himself. I can completely see him collecting stuff from all time periods (beside radios) His house is basically an organized hoarder house. Which means he has strings to bring you some very good and rare stuff. Each month he makes it his personal quest to bring you a box of a few rare items. He also brings with him vinyl for you two. After a long day he enjoys listening to music over a nice diner with you. Then he takes your hand and dances around the kitchen/living room. When he comes back home to you, he gets softer/more honest. He tells you about his ups and downs. He takes your opinion very seriously too.

I believe he is too date with all new series/movies (to be expected since he’s in the entertainment industry). That’s why you can always count on him for good recommendations. But if you introduced him to human world series/movies he’d welcome it! This means that you two always write a recommendation list to the other and it makes up for many common topics!

He sucks at video games. He’s too impatient and loves the fast types of games. He does try to have a healthy competition I promise but he gets all sulky when he loses lol. He’d like to get into more time consuming games but he doesn’t have much time (he did get the idea that it’d be good to get into the game industry to bring/brainwash more demons….). He gets jealous easily and it’s not uncommon to find him criticizing every character you matched yourself with. Oh boy I can’t imagine if it’s an actor….poor actor getting glared at will be so confused.

He enjoys your drawings! He gifts you with the supplies since he knows you like drawing as a mean to encourage you. If you actually started a career he’d back you up. If Vox finances animated series he’d give you a shot of actually present your characters to the artist for inspiration. He’s genuinely proud of you for that. He does criticize to help you out of course and if he doesn’t like it he’ll tell you why. Now for cats…I love cats but I don’t see him as an animal person. He won’t stop you from getting a cat but will get jealous if the kitty gets too much attention. Ironically cats love him….He likes that you support him all the time despite his obvious evil ways. We can say that love is keeping you two together.

Now for some bad parts….It happens that Vox gets all worked up (when a certain someone is involved). It’s very rare that he blows up on you due to stress but it happened once or twice (the reason you’re nearby is that he usually hugs you to calm down). He was fully apologetic afterward and even expected you to break up with him for it. Also he has an unhealthy rivalry with Alastor so yeah….

Tada!

[floralcrematorium]

thoughts about the asian characters(easia, seasia, south asia, west asia)!! do you have future plans to draw any of them?

YES!!!

literally the only thing stopping me is that i cannot draw men. i’ve been pushing myself recently with the fruk sketch and i actually had started a little drawing for Piri from the ask game a while ago, but I haven’t finished him yet. gave him a really cunty pose but can’t figure out what clothing i want to stick him in 🤔

i’ve got quite a few unfinished sketches lying around, notably of miss vietnam, but i’ll release this little concept of miss taiwan from my band au, lest i fear she will never see the light of day:

i don’t think i’m gonna stick with this outfit for band au, i was just kinda fucking around and finding out. i really just wanted an excuse to draw some flowy fabric with all of her movement but didn’t want to cover up her whole body with a dress. i was listening to “hot to go” while drawing this and you can tell

i’ve been putting off drawing china for a hot minute. he’s been a favorite of mine for a long time, but i’m unsure of what i want to do with him. i don’t have any ships for him and when i do draw him, i want to make sure he turns out fantastic. i feel like i can’t get my other two favorites, france and norway, right and am so scared of having yet another fav that i just can’t draw the way i envision them

i’ve had the idea of doing a series of illustrations with piri and food for a hot minute now. more so comics than standalone illustrations, but i digress. i’ve been wanting to learn more filipino recipes because until some of my family members were interested in learning more about their culture/heritage when i was a teenager, the only pinoy dish my mother could make was pancit. we’d have vietnamese cha gio every now and again, but a lot of my experiences with filipino food are either things i barley remember from church events or family friends’ houses when i was a kid or in that period of exploration when we’d go out to eat at filipino restaurants. not going to get into why i’m not well connected with my heritage on main (it’s complicated and i also chronically gaslight myself into thinking that i’m not allowed to connect with my heritage for a variety of reasons), but i’d like to learn more, and i think the recipe comics would be a good way to do so. i don’t know if or when i’ll get it it, though :( a lot of my drawing comes from a spur of the moment “i have to get this out of my head NOW” and the projects i actually have lined up and planned get pushed further and further back (i am. eyeing the hetagirls art nouveau portraits nervously bc i’m halfway done but haven’t touched that project since april)

food is also just hard as hell to draw, i’ve never been good at it. i did a little triptych in college with filipino food in gouache and it was a disaster

all this said, you Will see an art nouveau portrait of miss taiwan soon. soonish. she’s meant to be after czechia, but the whole art nouveau portraits thing came to a stop because i can’t figure miss czechia out, so i may just skip straight to taiwan. also been wanting to do that “draw SEAtalia in your style” template for a hot minute. hell, i never did the DTIYS template i made for china (or france) because i’m just really bad at starting the things i want to do 😭 i make things feel too precious in my head and then get worked up when they don’t turn out right

anyway, TLDR i am dying to draw more piri in the future. ideally i’d like to draw everyone at least once, but piri has my attention. and miss vietnam — i hold a soft spot for her too

thanks for the ask!

[chief-kett]

Hello!! I would like to ask your history (??) of drawing, that is, for example, where you started and what you think about your skills at the moment

And yet, I’ve been wanting to draw on my favorite ships for a long time, but they are problematic and I’m very scared to publish my work on the Internet (you know, wishing the worst and so on) Have you ever had this happen and if so,how did you deal with it (even if not, tell me what you think about it)

And your art is excellent, I love how the characters look together or more in the art(⁠✷⁠‿⁠✷⁠)

I began to be interested in drawing in the eighth grade (at 13-14 years old). It wasn't studying art or anything serious, I was just escaping from the real world, drawing characters from MLP (after that I drew FNAF, since this was the time of the birth of the game and all these theories). MLP and FNAF is the beginning of my “career” as an artist. At this beginning, I refused to call myself an artist, I was simply ashamed to be called an artist, because I considered myself unworthy of this title. I just didn't know at the time that there was a name for "emerging artist" lol. For years I just continued to draw what I liked and didn't care what other people thought. I did what I really liked. Then I learned what shippers, pairings and yaoi are. And it blew my mind! My art almost completely turned into fan art with my favorite pairings (my forever first OTP is randicon, which later almost completely eclipsed pompous pep). Somewhere in the same period, I started reading fan fiction, and later began writing them myself. Then I created my blog on tumblr, which currently no longer exists due to one mistake. And this mistake is precisely connected with the problematic maxvid pairing. To put it bluntly, I published adult/child pornographic art on my old blog. I did it out of emotion - I was angry for a reason. Only a few days later I thought that I had made a mistake and wanted to delete the post, but I didn’t have time because my blog was deleted or something like that. I wasn't upset, even though this blog had been alive for many years - about 7 years to be exact. I came to terms with it very quickly and saw this as a chance to start with a clean slate. And now here I am, “reborn as a phoenix.” I still send maxvid and pompous pep (which is also considered problematic). And, yes, I have slight doubts before publishing art, but I quickly reassure myself that this is fiction and those people who don’t like such crap can simply block me so that I don’t get on their radar. Just because I ship problematic pairings doesn't mean I support them in real life. No. Any genuine violation of the law is condemned. And yet, I just don’t care about other people’s opinions. I haven't done anyone any real harm. I don't force anyone to look at my work. If someone stumbled upon my work by accident, it is not my fault. This is the Internet. There's a lot of crap here that you might unintentionally step on. If you want to publish your work, it is important to evaluate where you can publish it. To publish or not to publish is your decision. In any case, you will surely find your audience. And thank you for liking my work! This is very nice and important for me :3

[blueheartedmayor]

LORE UPDATE: The Captain of the First Invincible

Ah, Damien Truman. An unassuming person. A kind-hearted mayor who doesn't seem particularly remarkable, yet somehow keeps attracting the attention of a variety of individuals who aren't fully human.

He's a timeline anomaly, but it's not quite that simple.

It's been brought up many times before - Damien is a near replica of a Mayor from a century earlier. But for those who have been paying attention, their personalities and looks are quite different, even if they are slightly alike. (This post has an old sketch that tries to show this)

However, have you considered the idea that an anomaly can be the result of either the past or the future? What about the possibility that the past impacted the future so much, it altered it while it was in the middle of happening?

A complicated question (which is a rule when it comes to things I write), but that's because there's a piece of the puzzle you're missing - and that is knowing what exactly I mean by "the future". Isn't Damien Truman considered the future?

Yes, and no. To be more accurate, he's the in-between of the past colliding with the future. And for that to make sense, I need to show you a new piece to the puzzle… And it might be nice to let him introduce himself:

Before you continue, bear in mind that he means the first Invincible, not the second.

(The main warning is that Noah’s backstory has brief mention of a ship crashing. I have marked it with asterisks and a reminder of said warning)

-

Here’s something you need to know about the Invincible (the first and the second). The crew looking familiar is not intentional, but it’s not a coincidence either.

-> Celci looks remarkably like Celine. Not only that, she is associated with having a cold front but a heated temper, takes no nonsense, and is dedicated to finding the best way to do the right thing. Unlike the previous inspiration, she’s honest and upfront. She wants to do things properly, by the book, with everyone in agreement until she ultimately realises in her corrupted timeline that no one is listening to her.

-> Gunther takes the loyalty and weapon skills of Abe and turns it up a few notches. He takes his job of protection seriously, making sure that everything is accounted for to the best of his knowledge. And when there’s a chance that those commandeering the project might have cruel intentions? He’ll stand up for the sake of justice. He’s here to keep the colonists safe, even if it’s from the Captain.

-> Burt does not look like William, but the mannerisms are there, to an extent. The aloofness is there. The eccentricity is there. Even the moustache is there. However, instead of fighting for control, he opts to rely on the computer to destroy the ship.

->The Head Engineer… Was not Mark. I’ll get back to where he is later. Instead, the Head Engineer is considered to be quite handsome and/or beautiful. They’ve worked alongside the Captain since they were training in the Academy together as teenagers.

Finally… Our Captain.

Captain, our Captain. Everyone, I'd like you to meet Captain Noah Venture, who oversaw the running of the first Invincible. For reference, I’ve taken the above photo and put a drawing of Mayor Truman beside it.

(btw, there's an outfit reference waaay at the bottom!)

It’s hard to tell because I’m in a room where the lighting isn’t fantastic, but a lot of the main features are the same. The more square jawline is identical, as well as the choice in facial hair. When Damien lets his hair down on a day off, it falls in the exact same way as the two long strands on the left. Finally, most importantly, they both have hazel eyes, something which the WKM never had (along with WKM!Damien having a rounder, cleanly shaven face).

Hope you’re ready for a backstory!

-

ABOUT AND BIO

Icon Choice TBD (seriously, I’ve done so much today I’m not doing that as well)

Name:

Noah (Hebrew: Rest. Associated with the biblical figure who navigated an ark to save the animals from an unprecedented flood.)

Doran (Irish: Stranger or Exile.)

Venture (Noun: an undertaking involving chance, risk, or danger.)

(How do these connect into a pun? Say 'Noah D. Venture' out loud)

Birthday: April 19, 20XX (The long-distant anniversary of the launch of the first space station)

Age: 31

Gender: Male

Sexuality: Pansexual

Alignment: Lawful Good

-

Positives - Charming, Polite, Honest, Loyal, Dedicated

Negatives - Self-Sacrificing, Stubborn, Wary, Emotionally distant from those he doesn’t know

-

Noah was, for lack of a better term, a prodigy in the world of space travel. He was the son of both a respected archivist and a leading astrophysicist, and had inherited the family’s love of space. It was his dream to explore the stars for himself, and he was blessed to live in a time where it was more accessible to do so. He knuckled down and worked hard in school, achieving top grades to the point where several third-level institutes were vying for him to enrol there. The military could see he had great education prowess. Several top-level universities tried to bribe him with scholarships with the intention of holding onto him so he could lecture there. Some people even suggested he should go into politics. But nothing could sway him from enlisting in the Space Academy.

Originally, his focus was going to be on space suit engineering to help crews work in better-equipped outfits, but the first year of the programme was a more holistic approach that allowed students to try all areas before formally choosing a path. This was how he first met his most trusted friend, who was adamant they wanted to focus on the development of space-travel technology.

Then, in the spring, each of the classes were tasked with taking part in flight training simulators. Arranged into smaller teams, the students were given roles to help solve a problem before something bad happened. Noah was supposed to be first-mate, but the student who was assigned captain was overcome with motion sickness and couldn’t concentrate. He jumped into action, checking in with each member of his team and asking for their advice on the matter. Then, to make sure he wouldn’t get in trouble, he asked the captain if it was okay to follow this particular idea. The captain, barely able to lift her head, murmured that Noah should do whatever he thinks.

The team passed with flying colours. The student who was supposed to be captain was brought to the nurse (once the simulation started, there was no way to stop it until it finished), and Noah was praised for his handling of the situation. The instructors pulled him aside and asked if he had ever genuinely considered looking into being part of the space transport and exploration department. He was showing great potential, and his family history meant he had an advantage that others would not have.

After much deliberation at the end of the year, Noah decided to specialise in this area. The rest, as they say, was history.

Noah was phenomenal, and that was not an understatement. He had a very strong, innate sense of leadership. This, paired with his naturally calm mannerisms, ensured that anyone assigned to work with him wouldn’t feel as panicked as they might otherwise have. He also had plenty of opportunities to work with his friend in the Engineering department, and the pair got on like a house on fire. Not only that, he continued his interest in space suit technology on the side, learning how to make little adjustments to his own uniform to help with better mobility.

It was little surprise to anyone that Noah received the highest level of degree he could and, once he undertook further training in the management of teams and a course in diplomatic matters, was soon assigned to lead one of the shuttle ships that would routinely travel back and forth to the International Space Station.

For many, that would be enough. It was a steady, secure job with few hiccups. For Noah, this would have been plenty.. However, since this was Noah, things weren’t going to finish that simply. 

**(warning for space ship accident)**

One routine shuttle back to Earth had one of the most unexpected things happen - the ship was hit by undetected space debris. One of the wings was badly damaged and disintegrated entirely as they re-entered the atmosphere. Each crew that worked with this service was instructed to land in a certain area with no exceptions, but Noah could tell by the readings on the screens dotted around the Bridge that if they followed that to the letter, they would likely die. An order was put across the intercom: adjust the landing position by redirecting the ship to the ocean fifty miles east of the base. After that, everyone was instructed to put on the necessary life jackets, sit down and ensure they were fully strapped in for a very rough landing.

Then, he sent a distress call to the base along with rough coordinates of where they were going, and strapped himself to his own chair.

**(warning for accident ceases here)**

When he came to, he was being checked by a medical team to make sure there weren’t any major injuries. Then, he was sent to the administration office where he was chewed out for disobeying orders.

In the middle of the director’s long-winded lecture that would inevitably include Noah’s dismissal from the company, a report on the status of the shuttle came through, revealing the extent of the damage on the ship. Noah broke protocol, but it saved everyone on board. He was a national hero.

He didn’t stay in that job much longer after that. Captain Venture was soon approached by one of the major space development organisations to help with working on the development of the lunar colony. Here, he was reunited with his closest friend from the Academy and they set to work. This, too, came with its own challenges, but they were never insurmountable. He was often tasked with duties beyond his role, not limited to: navigator, bodyguard, delegate, and babysitter. Whatever he was asked to do, Noah found a way to do it.

Six years into this post, Noah and his friend were approached by the Colony Development Programme. This was a government-funded project to start looking into a long-term solution to finding a new planet for humans to live on. This project was intended to go above and beyond the lunar colony, with plans to search the great unknown. If the miracle of coincidences to create the living conditions on Earth happened once, it must have happened a second time somewhere. The CDP needed the elite in every field to help this project succeed. The pair did their research to ensure it was legitimate, and they both accepted the offer - provided both were hired. Noah made it clear that he would not go without his friend, and they insisted the same. If they were to work on a job that would literally change their lives, they wanted their closest friend there.

–

Back on Earth, both were introduced to the Supervisor. This was a man named Reimar - a dramatic, well-meaning man who seemed far older than he looked. He kept a lot of details to himself, but Noah did discover that Reimar had been a terrible person in his youth, and was trying to atone for his mistakes now. It wasn’t something Noah could understand, but he did notice the way Reimar would flash a look that was tinged with either sympathy or regret if he thought Noah couldn’t see him. Whatever was burdening him, Noah wouldn’t protest if Reimar thought this was the best thing he could do.

I shall interrupt and show you what Reimar looks like, since he does not exist in canon:

It should be obvious, but this is where Mark is. An Actor who had been playing the part of a somewhat sadistic storyteller like a beloved mask, he had spent the previous two decades coming to terms with the atrocities he committed, including setting the events of the Manor right and ultimately reclaiming his broken body. He still has access to the story-telling powers, but he doesn’t use them anymore (aside from giving himself enough funds to cover this project, of course).

Reimar worked closely with Noah and the newly instated Head Engineer to ensure the Invincible was nothing less than perfect. A lot of the ship had already been constructed, but a lot of extra details were added. Reimar and the Head Engineer created a long list of audio-based protocols that could be activated by those with the right titles. Noah insisted that there needed to be a strong sense of security and protection to cover any and all eventualities. He didn’t want another accident as long as he lived.

Then, one day, there was a sighting of an artefact crashing to the planet. Noah did not want to get involved in how dubious everything was, but the CDP obtained it and discovered it was a space relic of untold power. With the right source, they could create a warp point and cut the journey between galaxies into ribbons.

Noah couldn’t shake the feeling that this wasn’t a good idea, but he was outvoted.

With each new core section, a new member of the team was added. Celci, then Burt, then Gunther. Each time, Reimar’s initial reaction was the same as when he first met Noah - surprise - but he never explained it.

An important note here. In the middle of all this, Noah adopted a puppy. It was a fluffy, black and tan corgi that he intends to keep as a companion while travelling. Knowing it will likely be the only living connection to home (aside from his aunt Dorene who had somehow made the shortlist for colonists), he named the puppy Barnum after his home town.

But then, at last, the big day arrived, and the launching of the Invincible went off without a success! Everything functioned as it should, and no unprecedented hiccups hindered the first leg of the journey. It was fantastic.

Well, aside from the warp core needing to be activated one day later than scheduled because there was turbulence on the ship that resulted in Noah crashing to the ground with fragile items that resulted in him receiving nasty gashes across his face. But don’t worry about him, he’s fine! One project that was a result of his tinkering was a modified (spare) space helmet that he programmed to help accelerate healing. It was the perfect time to test it!

Once Noah insisted the crew didn’t need to panic about his face, the protocols were set up for creating a wormhole, and the crew went into an induced slumber.

-

However, I must briefly pause here, for the story of Noah splits in two depending on a choice centuries earlier in the timeline. Here, I have a little diagram to help explain it:

If the events of WKM happen: the warping fails. However, everything ‘reverts’, not ‘resets’. The crew and colonists wake up in their beds on Earth, and it’s the day after the warp core was attached to the ship. Reimar arrives, and suddenly realises that Noah no longer exists. There’s no record of him ever existing. Not even his dog is present. Without a Captain, it wouldn’t take long for everyone else to realise something went horribly wrong (if they regained their memories of ever leaving in the first place). Reluctantly, he shifts reality a half-inch to the left and assigns the Head Engineer to the Captain’s post, gives himself the role of ‘Mark’, the Head Engineer, and renames the ship to Invincible II. He also blocks all memories of him knowing the truth, and hopes that everything goes okay. (It doesn’t.)

(Alternatively, the failed first attempt leads to the development of someone else’s Invincible II, simply with no memory of the original crew. Reimar would be too ashamed and would try to keep his distance.)

If the events of WKM never happen: an altered version of ISWM begins. A lot of the problems he faces are similar to canon. As a man who was known for trying to take time to wait and find the best option, he really struggled with the intense, fact-paced chaos of trying to fix whatever went wrong while also dealing with the still-raw injuries on his face (and yes, despite other injuries he received healing and scarring upon death, the facial ones were slower to heal because they were inflicted before the looping began). But he was stubborn, and he was full of hope. He held firm to the idea that life was not something set out in stone. It could change, and if he tried different things with each loop, he would find the solution to help. This wasn’t his fault, he was being falsely accused. 

Everything was constant. When he died, he was immediately sent elsewhere. He didn’t sleep once during the entire fiasco (not including the initial run that let him have a peaceful life on a new planet), but he died hundreds of times in his quest to find the Head Engineer. If they could just stick together, they could fix this, side by side. He was sure of it.

He built up all this anger and hate, but directed it inward. He should have been able to save them sooner. He should have been able to fix this and find a better solution. He was trained to deal with strenuous situations. He was a renowned problem solver, yet making all the ‘correct’ choices would have him killed, time and time again.

And then, finally, he was reunited with the Head Engineer alongside the Warp Core. He gains yet another scar for his growing collection when he is hit so hard with a fire extinguisher that it smashes the heavy-duty glass on the helmet, embedding pieces of the glass into his skull. But when he regained consciousness after a minute, he held firm and refused to let go, finally bringing the chaos to an end.

-

VERSES.

So where would this leave interactions? I do have some verse ideas that can be used as starting points:

The Invincible: This can have characters in a ‘first setting’ before things go horribly wrong. This may-or-may-not also include the events of his version of ISWM, but I’ll have a think about it.

Extra Guidance: In the mess of the events of the proper ISWM, the Captain (or any other crew member) of the Invincible II crash-lands into the Invincible I. Without the immediate threat of the universe collapsing in on itself, it’s a moment of peace, and a chance to get advice from another Captain on what might be done. 

Wrong Ship: Noah is thrown out of his own timeline and dumped onto the Invincible II. He has to adjust to a ship where he recognises so many people, but no one knows him. Not only that, he has to find a new role without stepping on the toes of the Captain. He can’t let what happened to his ship happen again.

Modern Setting: Well… That’s just the default setting for Modern!Damien, isn’t it? :P

–

HEADCANONS AND HELPFUL INFO

Finally, some points that might answer some questions, since I’m sure this is all SUPER confusing

Noah is Damien Truman (modern boyo), but he is not the Damien of WKM. The easiest way to determine if it’s a Noah is to see if there is a corgi.

Damien Truman has no memories of being Noah. In his verse where he becomes Colony Development Lead, it doesn’t bring back anything.

Noah has no cane! However, he does indeed have the mantra of ‘Life Is Ours to Choose’.

Dorene is his aunt - his mother’s sister. He always found her a little eccentric, but was wholly endeared by her and was delighted she was selected to come along. There was something very nice about having someone from the family. Noah had no idea why she was awake during the chaos, but there wasn’t a way to help her beyond trying to get Celci to check what happened. Fortunately, he did not mess up enough to be confronted by her.

Speaking of Celci, she isn’t related to Noah, but everyone agreed they act like siblings sometimes.

UPDATE: Outfit

I had written a whole section about this but apparently none of it saved anywhere?? Sigh. Outfit write up take 2.

The outfit is inspired by what Jordan wore on set! Instead of a military uniform, he actually wore a leather jacket with sleeves put over them. I took this and combined them into the one outfit. The turtleneck is long-sleeved and the fingerless gloves tuck into it. The material of the trousers are heavy duty, but comfortable, and the boots are a lucky pair he's had since he worked on the lunar colony.

His identifier code "N5433" is on his right arm, and the only pin he wears is a little homage to Barnum. His data pad is also on his right arm, despite him being right-handed, as he is generally multi-tasking when typing. The crystal is still embedded into the left hand. Currently unsure of the after-effects of this.

The facial scars are still a WIP, but they will be present under the helmet (and yes, the hat is stuck onto the helmet). There's a button on the side that can retract the glass so he can be seen if necessary, but he doesn't want to panic his crew too much. He does feel very silly wearing it, don't worry, and it will sometimes vanish in the midst of the chaos.

[noneuclideanwhimsy]

Snowdrop, Tulip and Violet for all of the Singularit+y members!

Corey is really interested in technology, she isn’t exactly an expert but she just likes to geek out about it, Zircon brings her to xir ship and points out what all the knobs and buttons do and she’s just like ‘:O’! She hates absolute silence, she calls it ‘dead air’, she needs something happening around her to function, preferably something interesting!

Sylvan likes when his art makes people smile, be it his music or his illustrations (he draws sometimes!). He’s had a bit of a rough life, his parents have been cast out from society for opposing the villainous government of this Earth and a lot of people still saw him as a social reject pre-Singulari+y for that reason, so all he’s ever wanted to do was play and sing for the other outcasts he grew up around and bring them joy, to which the rest of the band happily agree, so the reject towns get private concerts on the occasion! He hates being in the spotlight, however: he often stands out due to his gender-nonconformity which lead to some bad experiences in the center of attention in the past, and being center-stage still gives him really bad anxiety for that reason despite the fact that he’s now happy looking the way he does, long black hair, dresses and all. The rest of Singulari+y! respect this and allow him to perform slightly off to the side, so that he can be heard but never with the full focus of an audience on him.

Zircon loves physical affection, xe’s a really tactile person, xe’ll put xir hand on your shoulder and hug you often if you let xir, but xe does respect boundaries. Physical touch is seen as something very exciting and important among xir species, since they often travel alone and rarely get to do it to one another. Xe doesn’t like enclosed spaces, feeling ‘trapped’ makes xir really claustrophobic and nauseous, xir ship is mostly fine because xe’s familiar with it and it’s actually fairly spacious just for xir alone, but there’s a bit later on in the story where the villains briefly capture xir and trap xir in this glass tube for a bit, it’s super uncomfortable for xir, xe feels so relieved when Corey busts it open with a chair!

I’d show Corey an item of modern technology (Singulari+y!’s story takes place in 198X on an alternate version of Earth) just to see her excited reaction! I’d also like to go shopping with her, she has fantastic fashion sense, she’d love modern clothing (especially of various alt fashion movements!) it’d just be a really fun time for both of us!

I’d tell Sylvan about how things will turn out okay, on both his version of Earth and ours, because he’s overheard from his family what the government were doing and why they were resisting and is probably the most concerned about the state of Earth out of the group.

I’d infodump Zircon all about the funky human things that don’t really make much sense, possibly look up the histories of why we say and do certain things seemingly arbitrarily, xe’d be really eager about it and be glad to have a better understanding of humanity!

Ooh, these were tough, I’ve never done voiceclaims before, usually because I typically have a hyper-specific idea of what a character sounds like in my head and it becomes kinda frustrating when none of your ideas match but you also can’t really describe what would be different to make it match!

Anyway, Corey’s speaking voice is quite deep for an 18 year old girl, she usually speaks pretty slowly but the rate of her voice accelerates rapidly when she’s talking about her interests! I imagine she sounds something like the way YouTuber Yume’s Studio voices Marina from Splatoon, here’s an example of that!

Sylvan was a bit difficult to pinpoint and I still don’t have any examples in mind for how he talks, the way he sounds kinda has ‘older sibling’ vibes if you know what I mean, and he has an eeever so slight southern accent.

I’m done denying it, Zircon sounds like early 70s Bowie, but with the British-ness turned down a little in favor of the impossible to place accent I described that one time!

This was a lot of fun! Sorry it took so long, thank you so much for the ask!!

[the-void-writes]

“I’ve longed for you since the day I met you.”

Thank you so much for convincing me to get back to Pedra 💖 I’ve been meaning to develop her more, and I honestly think this snippet with her and Josephine is really cute!

Warning: 18+ only for explicit content

Our Side Of Paradise - Music

Josephine loved Saturday nights with her wife. The boat rocked softly on the water, and she could hear the beautiful music of the waves and the breeze. Of course, as peaceful as it was to get away from the bustling town square, the best part of the night was the heavenly music that flew from Pedra’s lips.

Her knees were propped on the bed, legs spread slightly for Josephine’s hand to slip under her night dress. Pedra coiled her arm around Josephine’s neck, pulling her lips to her shoulder. Josephine kissed her fervidly, taking in the wonderful scent of her skin. She smelled of the ocean, the wood polish of the ship’s railings, and the smallest hint of rose water. It reminded her of home. In fact, Pedra was her home.

Josephine worked her fingers delicately, drawing out more beautiful music from her wife. Pedra held her hand to the bed frame, trying to keep herself upright as her knees buckled underneath her. She shuddered as her wife snakes her free hand up to her chest— the wondrous, curved chest she had always wanted, the one that Gazali’s gods had graciously given to her. Pedra couldn’t describe the pure joy it gave her to look into the mirror and truly see herself for the first time.

“Josie, mi amor,” Pedra said, gasping sharply at another soft stroke.

“I’m here for you, love.” Josephine kissed the inside of her wrist. “Just relax and enjoy yourself.”

“Oh, if you insist.”

She giggled, and Josephine shook her head with a loving smile.

“If you can still speak, I haven’t done my job well enough.”

She sped up her pace, proud of the moan she got out of Pedra, who tangled her fingers in her wife’s dark hair.

“You know me, Josie. I can’t stop talking.”

She laughed. “I know, dear. That’s why I love you.”

Pedra tried to turn her head. “You mean that?”

Josephine took her chin and kissed her so deeply that her gloss left a mark on Pedra’s lips. Pedra leaned into her with that lovestruck smile that Josephine adored.

“Pedra, mi alma— I’ve longed for you since the day I met you, in that dumb overgrown garden. I know what I’ve signed up for, and I couldn’t be happier.”

Pedra closed her eyes, twirling loose strands of Josephine’s hair between her fingers.

“Te amo, Josie.”

She smiled and flexed her hand, making Pedra jolt against her palm.

“Tell me again, mi corazón,” she said. “I want to hear it all night.”

[dearestdoe000]

tell me about your ocs??? please??? (when you have time ofc)

Hii!!! I took super long to answer this since I was (and am still) on vacation! And now I’m super sick w a cold so I finally have time to sit and write the lengthy response I wanted to TwT

Ok so ima tell you about two of my fav characters :D ok I’ll start with my bby Magma

So Magma, or 078032 as she is officially known, lives in a dystopia. Now, I’m still working on this world and I’ve done and redone it so many time ToT so I’m not really gonna get in specifics, but basically she has to work in harsh conditions almost all day as a metal worker. Metal gets shipped to her quadrant and her and her coworkers have to mold it into whatever is ordered. Her sister was killed because of defiance but she denies her sisters entire existence because it hurts less that way.

She used to be pretty defiant and bold until her sister died. Now she is overly nervous and never talks. She has the spine of a wet piece of cardboard and will avoid confrontation by all means possible. She does NOT have ur back. I would die for her. She joins two rebels because they lie to her and say that if she does she will be promoted to a noble in the queens office (Magma is a major suckup). She then ends up falling for one of them bc they have so much enby swag. Big plot stuff happens, the rebels end up thinking she’s cool and it’s emotional bc she was planning on turning them in and they were planning on ditching her but now none of them want to do that.

Basically she is my fav girl and all I do is draw her and think abt her. She’s tall af too and I love her.

The next one is Bella. Same story as Magma, but she’s the evil queen! Kinda. She’s the public face of the country, mainly because she’s young and beautiful (40 looking 25, yk) and very easily idealized. Her mom does everything behind the scenes and basically tortures her. Now this is not to say she isn’t to blame for everything being awful. She’s an absolute scum of a person. But I love her.

Her story is very long and convoluted since it has gone under far less reboots than Magma’s, so I’ll simply it. Her family consists of her, her mom, her dad, and her brother (ftm). Her mom is v homophobic and transphobic and very very abusive. Her dad tries to leave with her brother but her mom ends up killing her dad in a fight. Her brother runs away and is presumed dead. She decides to just do what her mom says after that.

Important to the story is her good friend Reeha. They are lesbians. Very secret lesbians but very lesbians. Reeha tries talking bella into realizing how messed up her country is and during one such outburst, Bellas mom catches on and orders Bella to administer this chemical that wipes Reeha’s memory and basically makes her brainless. It’s worn as a crown, think the ice kings crown how it changes him. Anyways, that isn’t enough and so her mom makes her slash Reeha across the face with this sword thing (it’s v symbolic and stuff but I don’t have time to get into it) and Bella does. And then she’s like super depressed and stuff. Like she’s always been, but it’s like. Really bad now.

Magma and Bella meet at the worst points for both of them, and it’s very interesting. I haven’t really decided what to do after this.

Thank you for the ask @ham-nah !! It made my day when I received it and writing this has made my day again!! I hope ur having a great day! And you should tell me abt ur ocs if you have any :DDD

[phoomwhoosh]

3, 20, 25?

(I'd ask 19, but we all know the answer to that :p)

Thank you, dear! Wait, what's question 19?

Is there something you always find yourself repeating in your writing? (favourite verb, something you describe ‘too often’, trope you can’t get enough of?)

LMAO OMG okay yeah, fair point. I bury Daniel alive a lot.

Under a cut because it looks long. XD

3. What is that one scene that you’ve always wanted to write but can’t be arsed to write all of the set-up and context it would need? (consider this permission to write it and/or share it anyway)

Oh, man, alright, okay. We’re shifting into Dragon Age mode for a moment here. I’ve always wanted to write a scene where Lazlo (my Warden, character from the first game) shows-up in the third game and just straight-up annihilates Corypheus (the main villain). But I will never write all of that set-up since I have no idea at what point he WOULD do that. Ideally before too many people die, I guess. XD

20. Tell us the meta about your writing that you really want to ramble to people about (symbolism you’ve included, character or relationship development that you love, hidden references, callbacks or clues for future scenes?)

I absolutely love the cliff dreams I’ve written for Consign me not to darkness. They’re symbolic of his struggles and also it’s a callback to, in my opinion, one of the worst moments in the third movie. He was trapped on that cliff just like he’s trapped in the cabin. I wish the whole story was done and posted so I could talk more about this. It's currently the thing I've been thinking about a lot.

25. What part of writing is the most fun?

The most fun I have is when I write a scene and I can see it happening. Which, like, yeah, I can imagine that regardless but sometimes the image is so vivid and clear and I’m just like, “I have something here, folks.”

It’s just so fun to picture, like, Chozen and Daniel making a pizza together or an original character of mine mistaking a deviled egg for a tiny cake because she’s blind in one eye or Lazlo standing in the snow with his breath ghosting in front of his face or a ship sinking underwater with the only survivor watching in horror. It makes me wish I could draw, like, at all. Instead, I write and hope somebody else can see the image as clearly as I have.

Questions can be found here.

[cann1ballistic]

Hello!!!

I just wanted to say I’m a fan of your art!!! Both here and on twitter!!! Unfortunately I’ve never said anything before, I also don’t follow you on twitter because of the antis. It’s also why I’m dropping an anonymous ask instead of showing my account.

I’ve watched the trolls movies before but the third movie was what got me into looking for art and fiction cause I wanted to see more of Branch and his family. And new official content takes a long time to come out, so I decided to look for more content online since there are many artists and writers that are always creating more content!!! Sometimes it’s even better than the official stuff 😂!!! I was looking for more stories about Branch and his brothers growing up together and stuff like that, more family centered stuff.

I was however, a little surprised with the Trolls fandom base because of the antis, I’ve been reading and seeing art from different fandoms for many years now and so far, at least for me, I’ve never seen such intense anti pro shippers. In fact, I’ve never quite understood what the word meant before, I thought it had to do with problematic ships, which I thought had to do with shipping for example heroes and villains or if two people have a big age difference.

I never even realized that incest was part of it. In all the fandoms I’ve read stories that include incest before magic or technology or natural biology, etc solved all the problems. Same with age differences, some characters would be aged up. Villains would turn out to have tragic backstories or one of the supposed good guys was tricking the protagonist. And I never noticed people being overly vocal about it. I mean I knew there were antis out there but it never got out of hand. An example of that, at least for me, was the Harry Potter fandom, I never had problems with antis or feared being blocked by certain artists because of what I read or who I followed.

But with the Trolls fan base some artists are very vocal about it. If a certain artist sees that you follow a pro shipper artist or if they see you comment on any of their art or if you say anything about the subject that they don’t like you are immediately blocked!!!

And twitter isn’t very private, everyone can see who you follow, your likes, retweets, your comments, etc and that makes it super easy for the antis to block you immediately!!! To avoid that, any pro shipper art I like I bookmark it, since that is the only thing other people on twitter can’t see. I don’t leave comments or like the art, cause I know if any of the antis find out about it they will block you, screenshot your account and tell everyone to avoid and block you cause you are a pro shipper or neutral. And I really don’t know what a neutral is!!! I’m guess it’s someone that doesn’t care either way, I think?

The antis will also talk shit about you behind your back!!! I also don’t leave comments on the stories on AO3 and I’ve considered making a second twitter account so that I can follow the pro shipping artists from the Trolls fandom I like in peace but!!! I’m so paranoid about the fact that the antis will discover my original account somehow that I haven’t done it!!! Here on tumblr you can at least keep your likes and who you follow private.

There are so many amazing Trolls artists out there, unfortunately they are for the most part very outspoken antis, at least from what I’ve seen.

Sorry!!! I’m venting a little here, it’s just… for the longest time I was ok with whatever showed up in front of me, story and art wise. For me it didn’t matter the pairing or anything else as long as the story was interesting!!! I’ve read stories where the only thing in common with the cannon content was the names and appearances of the characters everything else was completely different and I was fine with it because the story was super interesting!!! And there’s also the fact that it’s FICTION!!! Just because you are ok with what people write or draw doesn’t mean you’re ok with it in real life!!! I mean there are authors out there that write horror, gore and murder mysteries but that doesn’t mean that they want to actually kill some in real life!!!

The Trolls antis got me so out of sorts that I actually had the balls (metaphorically speaking) to ask my psychologist if it was ok to like this sort of stuff!!! And I told them about the antis, liking stuff like incest art and stories, the whole just because you are ok with it in fiction doesn’t mean that you’re ok with it in real life, etc!!! And they agreed with me!!! Told me that I shouldn’t worry about it and that some people just take somethings to seriously!!!

So… Again sorry for venting, but I wanted to share my experience and opinion with you.

I also want to say that you and all the other artists and writers that are ok with pro shipping should keep producing your amazing content and ignore all those nasty antis!!! Cause you are amazing!!!

So please keep up the amazing work!!! And don’t let anyone get you down!!!

Thank you for the encouragement, i appreciate it! To be honest i’ve become so jaded over this topic in general that it’s nice to be reminded that there are people online who do in fact enjoy fandom more than starting slapfights lol (not scolding you for talking about it of course, feel free to vent!)

my own rant below the cut lol

I’ve found that a lot of fandoms with audiences who skew to the younger side tend to be the most combative, so it checks out that you’ve found the Trolls fandom to be like this. A stark example that i’ve seen is the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle fandom, specifically around the Rise of the TMNT series, which came out in….2018, i think? (i didn’t get into it til 2022 so idk) BUT fans have been shipping the brothers together in that fandom since the 80s and largely nobody bat an eye until Rise happened, and brought a lot of the younger crowd into it. NOW, suddenly it’s Too Far to ship characters that have been shipped since before most of the new fandom members were born 💀

a lot of these younger fans had the misfortune of coming into fandom around the same time that a lot of TERFs and other conservative types were getting REALLY vocal on here around 2015-2018; of course, they grow up into really conservative types who spread the same nonsensical rhetoric to those younger than them, and so on and so forth.

i cannot emphasize enough that NO fandoms were like this (on a wide scale) pre-2015. this is coming from my perspective as someone who had VERY vanilla tastes for most of my fandom career…the fact that the term proship even exists is a testament to how much fandom has changed; proship is a term that popped up as a reaction to people using Anti Shipper as a way to tout their fandom activism (derogatory) & purity politics.

(being Neutral, btw, means basically nothing afaik because being Proship means that you mind your business, and people who are neutral just say that they mind their business and want nothing to do with the entire argument. Antis call them pros and pros also call them pros so idk how it’s even useful as a label 🤷‍♀️)

ALSO I FEEL THAT SELF DOUBT!! talking to your therapist was a good idea though, it’s good to get a reality check when you need it, haha. I had a moment several years back where i was questioning why i, as an adult, was into a fandom whose target audience was teenagers, before i realized that it’s not that deep and you can do what you want forever lmao

I would love nothing more than to dismiss the entire pro vs anti argument if i’m honest, but i can’t ignore the real life abuse that comes from it. I understand why you’d be afraid to be public with your opinions; especially on a garbage website like twitter, where reporting accounts only ever seems to work for the wrong people 🫠

The best way to do fandom has always been and continues to be to find your group of friends and be insane with them. (AND TO BLOCK LIBERALLY!) I hope you can find some people to chill with 🫂

[noahhawthorneauthor]

Pirate Playmates

I’ve found myself on a pirate ship, fending off invaders of the uncivilized sort with a saber in hand and a feathered hat upon my head.

“Captain Kleo, we’re taking on water!” I shout, causing the crew to panic.

Kleo raises her own sword to the sky, one eye covered by an eyepatch and tangled hair catching wind. “No matter, I shall call upon the mermaids! They owe me a favor see, said anytime I need them—”

She starts to ramble on with another story that’s almost too good to be true (which is most certainly the case), but First Mate Felix shakes her shoulders as the ship quakes.

Wooden planks creak and the ship wavers much too far to the left, then to the right. The flag rips in the wind and actual mist coats my face. “Kleo, hurry!” Felix cries, launching Kleo into action. She delicately takes off her hat and sets it upon Felix’s head, then runs full speed at the edge of the decking and jumps, swan diving to her death.

This can’t be part of the game.

I gasp and run to the edge, taking hold of the chipped railing with blanched knuckles. But of course, a safety net of magickal vines holds a flailing Kleo, slowly lowering her to the ground before dissipating into a green dust. Arlo peeks around the tree trunk holding up our ship, glitter in his hair and a silken red ‘tail’ trailing the ground behind him.

“Captain Kleo! It’s been so long since we last met, are you alright?” He asks in a high pitched tone, full dramatics in effect.

He’s amazing.

With the kids, of course. Around them, he’s warm hearted and fun, with the right words always there for curious, vulnerable hearts. Felix is a strong Empath, he wandered in my mind by accident on the way over and I had to raise my defenses. I wonder what the boy sees in me, why he’s so curious. I suppose most people are, but my gut tells me something more is going on.

Dusan watches with a small group of kids that chose to watch our impromptu pirate play rather than participate. All ages are sprawled out in the soft grass a short distance away, shaded by an autumnal blooming cherry tree.

I’m not quite sure how we got here, but I don’t mind one bit.

Kleo holds her nose, making blub blub noises as she ‘treads water’ with her other hand. Arlo waves his hands in the air, causing Kleo to draw in a breath of air. She feels at the imaginary gills that have protruded on her neck. I grin, her acting is superb.

“We need help! My ship, we need patching, could you help me? My crew will die if we don’t save them!” She cries.

On cue, the trunk sways harshly and I’m thrown overboard, along with a small fae boy. I catch him in my arms, but a scream escapes my throat.

Vines are conjured to life once more, gently lowering us to the ground. Cheers erupt from the ship above us. I sheepishly look up to Arlo through the mud sloshed onto my face. He bites his lip, hiding a smile as he takes the boy from my arms and slings him onto his hip like he’s done it a thousand times before.

He helps me up with his other hand, but there’s no time to waste as the ship shudders atop the enchanted trunk. He points at the mud pit surrounding the bottom of the tree, revealing a very obvious hole in the bottom of the pirate ship. (was that there before?)

“Let us borrow the earth, it shall help us.” He says in a serious, wise merwoman voice.

One of my favorite scenes, and I have large prints of it in my bookstore! Art by @gagakumadraws

Bookstore