#This is my favourite case design that I've seen

[gumbootillustrations]

UGH I FUCKING FINALLY FINISHED THIS

so yeah, have the divine warriors of the second war of the magi!!

more deets n closeups under the cut :3

aph!! i like to think that although the incarnations of the divine warriors r generally pretty similar, they do have some minor differences. for example, whereas the matron of the first war of the magi (irene) had one of the sets of wings on her head covering her eyes, the matron of the second war (mcd!aphmau) has both of them held back. this is bc whereas irene had lost her humanity (and therefore the ability to connect with mortals), aph hasn't - and, therefore, her eyes are open to the struggles of humanity. additionally, i took a lot of inspiration from honkai impact 3rd for these designs - in aph's case, i was inspired by elysia's herrscher of human: ego battlesuit and how it looks like a wedding dress (which a lot of folks have interpreted as an expression of her love for humanity, which is smth i want to convey w aph).

i think my favourite part of aaron's destroyer form is his seal (the thingy behind his head like a halo). i wanted to rlly play into the whole destroyer/devourer aspect of his abilities and domains, and i thought a black hole would fit perfectly! it also sort of (unintentionally) plays into how i see the dynamic between the matron and the destroyer and how they're both mirrors of each other; whereas the destroyer, well, destroys (and his black hole devours everything in sight), the matron creates and nurtures (seen in how aph's seal is almost like a white hole). i also wanted his armour to look a lot like the armour that shadow knights wear, albeit without all the spikes and spines and whatnot given that he isn't a shadow knight himself (shad's destroyer form from the first war probably looks a lot more similar to traditional shadow knight armour).

i'm lowkey suuper proud of how travis's keeper form turned out (even if i had to go back right at the end n fix it bc i forgot to add his tail 😭). i wanted this form to sort of be a mix between a high mage and a rogue: whereas the keeper embodies knowledge and magick, travis himself is a prankster who relies on cunning and trickery to gain the upper hand on his opponents. as a result, he's the only one who doesn't automatically manifest a weapon when he shifts into this form - instead, i feel like he chooses to rely more on magicks and witchcraft during combat.

katelyn's design was lowkey the hardest to pin down. originally, i wanted to go for something that was suuuper inspired by roman armour and had a copper and teal/turquoise colour scheme, but it wound up feeling too magical girl-ish and i scrapped it. i've retained the roman inspirations, but i headcanon that her flames are so hot they burn blue, so i settled on a blue-and-white colour scheme w some purple elements. i think my favourite part is her gauntlets! i feel like she uses them as an extension of herself/another pair of hands to punch with. the blue elements also lean into menphia's association with the moon - in ashes, ashes, tu'la is based on the roman empire and, as a result, is where werewolves originate from, and with werewolves having such close ties to the moon.... yeah. i'll probably do a post on tu'la later on at some point.

my blorbo

garroth's design is probably the one that's changed the least, but i'll still need to update his ref sheet anyway. i don't know if i conveyed it very well but the sort-of wing-things on his back are slabs of earth that can be shaped into a shield - originally i had him holding a shield but i wanted him to look a bit more divine warrior-ish so i retooled his design.

the boy! i was tossing up between having vylad or dante fill the role of the wanderer, but i settled on dante as i feel like vylad fits better as a sort of weird guide sort of figure within the narrative. plus, i have a real soft spot for dante and wanted him to remain in the limelight a little bit - i love his dynamic with garroth and laurance and i wanted to explore that further. i sort of wanted to play into his whole red-and-blue colour scheme that we see in canon diaries, but bc kul'zak is a nature deity (specifically of the wilderness), i wanted to incorporate some greenery into his design. i hope i've done an okay-ish job here - overall i'm pretty happy tho, but i can't promise that there won't be any tweaks in the future.

this is a redhead laurance propaganda spreading blog and i Refuse to apologise for it. i'd like to think that laurance's original colour scheme is similar to his justiciar form - lots of beautiful reds and golds and oranges to match the flames of his father's forge - but after he comes back from the nether with a Severe fear of fire he switches to the greens and browns that he's known for in canon. eventually he slowly begins to reclaim his fire and returns to the golds and oranges that he's introduced with (haha colour symbolism go brrrrrr).

but yeah. the special interest is special interesting. let me know if u have any questions!

[woodswallow]

RammWear

As I once stated in this post, I feel close to my favourite Rammstein members Richard, Paul and Schneider when I wear clothes that are inspired by their (stage) outfits. I love wearing my R+-merch of course, but for me this is a more subtle and everyday-method to have a bit of them with me :)

So, over the past 3 years, I was inspired by their style, bought clothes (sometimes secondhand) that resembled theirs and tried to mimic their style. Of course not every part – I only wanted stuff that I really liked, not for the sake of imitating them. I wanted clothes that are also MY style, but are inspired by theirs.

So lovely @vulnerant-omnes gave me the idea to do a little RammWear fashion-show, where I am showing my „ot3 <3“-style. Here's a first part of it:

First: My Richard-stage belt :D Daaamn, I LOVE it so, sooo much and I'm so proud of me that I found something, that resembles his stage-belts so nicely, but having also a bit more of a alternative/boho-style to it. It's real leather and is purely decorative, so not a real „belt“ - but it does accentuate the butt quite nicely – just like Richards ;D

Here's a reference picture, in case someone doesn't know what I'm talking about:

Second: My hommage to the Paul Landers stage outfit!

My god, I love his stage outfit so damn much! It fits him so well and in my opinion is very flattering to his body. I love all the pouches and the decorations, it has a very unique „industrial-/end of the world-style“, like from another planet. I searched for ages to find something that resembled this outfit and especially the pants. I found the original designer (Demobaza – damn cool, incredibly expensive!) and also a copy of that, which was „only“ half the price, so still damn expensive...and it didn't fit right, I was so sad... but I took some pictures anyway. So these are the copied stage pants, I send them back because they were too tight on my stomach:

But then I found a very nice second hand biker jacket in sweatshirt style. When I wear it with my favourite grey jeans, it gives me some Paul-Landers-stage-outfit-vibes...what do you think? It's definitely not a copy, far from that. But I'd say it's a low budget hommage, very my style and definitely made for everyday wear – which was very important for me. I don't want to buy stuff which looks great but I never wear. My mum complimented me on that jacket and I really love it :D

Third: My Schneider-necklace and Richard-ring!

Schneider has worn this necklace for years now. I saw it on him during concerts, photo shoots and even on private pictures. It must mean something to him. And I personally am a big fan of jewellery that is with you everyday, that you never take off. Like it's belonging to you. I have the feeling it's like that with Schneider and this necklace. I did some research about the type of necklace, it seems to be an anchor chain. Mine is made of titanium, very lightweight. I love the grey, not shiny colour and how it's unisex looking, not too feminine but also not too massive or "manly".

In the picture is also my Richard-ring. You probably/maybe know this very early VIVA-interview from 1995:

There the cameraperson has a really weird way of filming, and once he/she zooms on Richards hand. I noticed that ring and liked it very much, I think it suits Richard very well. Unfortunately I've never seen it on him again. But still, he wore it at that time. I found a similar one, it has some ornaments that his doesn't have, but I really love that ring – have worn it for almost 2,5 years straight now, everyday and I feel naked without it.

Please let me know if you're interested in seeing more like this (a „like“ on this post counts for me ;). I have some more R+-inspired pieces and could make another one or two posts :) !

[trinketfairy]

SQUISHMALLOWS/BUM BUMZ ALTERNATIVE MASTERPOST

After posting my warning on Jazwares for supporting Israel, I've been asked time and time again to make my alternative plushies brands available for non-Twitter users, to which I say "absolutely, fuck that site." It's well overdue at this point, so here's my list of plush brands that are way better than Squishmallows and Bum Bumz!

Unfortunately can't provide images due to Tumblr's image limit, but I'll provide websites for you to search through when available.

Complete list is under a readmore for convenience.

Squishables: If you want that same "kawaii" aesthetic and round shapes, Squishables is your best bet. They're great too because a lot of their plush are designed by fans who are given a cut of their sales. Sign up for their email notifications, they have sales very often!

Amuse/Amufun: If you're really into the "kawaii" aesthetic, then it makes sense to look directly towards Japanese brands! You may know them for their Alpacasso line. It can be expensive to get them imported, but I think they're very much worth it.

Jellycat: I can't say I 100% recommend their newer plush anymore considering their steep decline in quality, but their older plush are still so wonderful and full of character. You're bound to find something by them that you like from their catalogue. (Editor's note: This is what my original thread said, but it seems like Jellycat has improved their quality control, so I feel much better with recommending them again!)

Mary Meyer: If JC is too much out of your price range, then Mary Meyer is what I recommend next to them! Their Marshmallow Zoo line is a huge favourite of mine, I love how full of character they are.

Aurora World: Aurora World has plenty of brands under their belt, so there's bound to be something that tickles your fancy. Brands under the Aurora World company include Palm Pals, Eco Nation, Miyoni, and their baby line, Ebba.

Steiff: Ah yes, the OG teddy bear brand, the one that started it all and is still going strong. Be warned that they can get pretty expensive depending on what you're looking at, but I hear that they're so worth every single penny.

Douglas Cuddle Toys: Probably the quintessential plush brand when it comes to realistic plush, especially cats and dogs, but they have tons of other species available too! Pretty affordable too if you're buying them at retail price

Wild Republic: Another one that does more realistic-looking plush, but I think they have a wider selection of species to choose from. If you're looking for a niche animal, Wild Republic (likely) has you covered!

Shinada Morisaka Global: Another plush brand I have yet to get my hands on, but one that I hear fantastic things about. I mean come on, how can you not love these little guys??

Pokemon Center: Jazwares unfortunately holds the license to make Pokemon plush, but that doesn't mean they're your only option when it comes to Pokeplush! TPC has been making their own Pokeplush for ages now, and they have plenty of different lines to suit your tastes.

Sunlemon: They're expensive to get imported but oh my god are they worth it. The quality is truly umatched compared to American plushies, I adore my tanuki to bits. Please get more eyes on their stuff.

Prime Shiba: Definitely a more expensive option, but I think they're cute plushies for every dog lover. Their stuff often goes on sale often so definitely take advantage of them!

Plushie Dreadfuls: You've probably seen one of their mental illness-themed bunnies before, but have you seen their Pride and Zodiac collections too? They also have many generic-looking plush if the personalization isn't up your alley! Ok so this was in my Twitter thread but apparently since then some shit has gone down with the company CEO making some offhand remarks that got misinterpreted but he acted like an ass in response to it, I recommend doing your own research on it before you buy in case that's not something you wanna support.

StrawbunnyCake: Want to go more small business? Consider supporting a fellow disabled creator, StrawbunnyCake! Their stuff is adorable, and you're sure to fall in love with their characters.

Hannimations: Also on the list of small businesses is Hannimator! Easily best known for their Pride-related Colourful Puppies/Kittens plush lines

Paleoplushies: If you're super into dinosaurs and other preshistoric animals, then Paleoplushies is sure to have something you'll like! They're all handmade by a single artist, so please show them your love and kindness

Cirquell Curiosities: Another great small business to support, most known for their high-end demon goat plushies! A lot of their stuff is one of a kind too, so they're the place to go if you're looking for a unique plush.

Snughouls: The unique and elusive Care Weres line by McMadMissile is sure to win over your heart! It originally started as just being the werewolves, but has since expanded to all kinds of demonic creatures from the Kickstarter! There's even some designs waiting to be funded!

Next are a bunch of brands that weren't personally recommended by me, but get my seal of approval:

AfternoonFika

Creep Cat Toy Co.

Weighted Wildlife

Tasty Peach Studios

Bunnies By The Bay

Snoozimals

Smoko

ChottoBonita

Honeylambs

CraftedCuddlez

Cyborutchi

Fluffnest

MarDeLunaArts (+ on Etsy)

Bellzi

B Softies by B Toys

That's all I have to share, but if you have any other brands you think are worth highlighting then by all means I invite you to reblog with your additions. Please remember that this is a collective effort and we're all counting on each other to act. Keep your head up, don't stop talking about Palestine, and remember to prioritize the official BDS brands list. From the river to the sea 🇵🇸🍉🕊️🫒

[lullydoesstuff]

Tips on how to create a Demon Slayer OC

Hello guys and welcome back on my side-blog! Today I wanted to talk about something that might be useful of you want to create a good KNY OC and just... vibe with them or create art, write about them... everything. If you want to see mine you can find all of them on @bluespiderlully (that is also my main blog), but for now let's just talk about some things you have to keep in mind while creating.

🩷 Design

This part is very important when it comes to art and descriptions, I'll start to say that I've seen MANY original versions of the Demon Slayer Corp uniforms and that many of them look good, so if you design a totally new one, go for it and slay. Another important thing concerning the uniform is buttons, there's plenty of characters redesigned out there, they have colorful buttons in their uniforms and they all look so cute, but in canon we see that the buttons' color is used to define the rank of someone, common slayers have silver buttons, Hashiras have golden ones. We're talking about a military thing, so rank is pretty important and this should be kept in mind. Last but not the least: it's 1920s Japan, so maybe having your character wearing some ballet shoes or sneakers might result cringy, avoid that.

🩷 Backstory

This is maybe one of the most important parts. When you write a backstory you should consider the period of time where the story takes place and the general rules of the world where your OC is living. For example, Taisho Era: your character could have lost their parents due to WW1, or they could come from America or other parts of the world used to interact with Japan (selling/buying stuff), possibilities in this case are infinite and this era gives you the opportunity to create the best backstories ever. Next, Japan had major tensions with China and Korea so this gives you the opportunity to insert this in your OCs backstory (this is something I didn't use, I just have an half-American character but I regret not using any of this political tension for any of my characters, please of you're out there and trying to create an OC, do it, it's very interesting).

🩷 Personality

Don't make your character a Mary Sue/Gary Stue. If you don't know what a Mary Sye/Gary Stue is I'll explain very quick: it's a too perfect, too kind, too sweet characrer, without any flaws and loved by everyone... I think the reason why this characters don't work is clear, the lack of internal and external conflict is very important, since we're talking about Demon Slayer let's take Tanjiro as an example. Tanjiro is kind, but he's not perfect and he keeps asking himself if what he's doing is morally okay, he keeps tormenting himself about the fact that he's actually killing people just for his mean to turn Nezuko back into a human and he blames himself for other people's deaths... this is the demonstration that you can write a kind and sweet character, but focus on thier psychology and ideas, if they're already perfect they won't have any evolution, and once they had one maybe at the end of the story, don't make them perfect either, especially since you're talking about a world were your OC would most likely be a soldier, if they end up being alive they'll have traumas and let's be honest, no one will ever be perfect.

🩷 Power

Okay, so this is maybe the main point. DON'T. MAKE. YOUR. CHARACTER. OP... thanks, here's a cookie for you 🍪. If your character is an Hashira like mines, they ABSOLUTELY need a reason why they're one, okay? They can't be weak of course, they need to be very very skilled at something. We all agree about that but making your character extremely powerful, extremely strong and skilled, "they're the strongest Hashira ever", "they can solo Muzan" doesn't make your character interesting, it makes your character cringe. But of course they can have skills that others don't have, let's take one of my characters as an example: Ayumi Shinazugawa, my favourite child. She has a bow, no one else has one and she's really skilled with it, no one is as skilled as her... with a bow... because Ayumi is a 1.50mt schizophrenic blueberry with anxiety, she's not stronger than other Hashiras. If they need a sniper, okay, they'll take Ayumi, if they need anything else they'd take someone else, definitely, and she's not the kind of character to be sent in a mission alone, it's just unsafe.

🩷 Relationships

We're now at the last point. Having characters that are siblings with other characters in the show can become very very interesting, because you can explore more the canon character too, I personally love this trope everytime. But now let's come to romantic relationship, ships, the best thing on Earth after white wine mixed with strawberry juice. First, if your OC is an adult please leave Muichiro, Tanjiro and every other minor alone, if you want your character to date one of these the way is very simple: make them a minor too, shipping a minor with another minor is fine and it's realistic too, if you think it's wired just think about your first romantic relationships and crushes... how old were you? Probably 14/15. There's another thing you must consider, the fact that many characters in the Demon Slayer universe have a rude personality, I mean, you could totally ship your character with people like Obanai or Sanemi, but their personality should at least match theirs or being similar, to date someone you have to get along with this person, so consider this, it's not something to ignore, and it absolutely counts for friendships too. Consider that if your character is very kind they could have disagreements with characters like Obanai or Sanemi, and the disliking would probably be mutual.

I hope this post was useful for you, and I hope you all come out with amazing OCs, I love to see them and I love how much creative this community can be so please don't spare your creativity and give life to the OC in your head that just wants to be drawn or written.🩷

[crownedghostprince]

Thorin's Company x Heterochromia!Reader Headcanons

Thorin's Company x Heterochromia!Reader

Fandom: The Hobbit/LoTR

What if the dwarves met and loved (platonically or romantically) someone in Middle Earth who had a very unique condition where their eyes were coloured differently? In this world, heterochromia is incredibly rare with only a few known cases in the entire world so the dwarves are naturally curious about this.

And you get to see how your favourites might react in this Headcanon style fanfiction!

Requests: Closed. Requested: no.

Warning(s): Minor mentions of bullying and reader's family members dying in certain headcanons. Nothing graphic. <3

Note: Please note I will be changing reader's heterochromia for each dwarf's headcanon to make the writing very different. I hope that's okay. This is because this is mostly a crack-fic <3

I will also sometimes specify when reader is a woman, or has feminine characteristics/pronouns are used or mentioned, I hope that is also okay. Enjoy! :)

Word Count: 13,401 (roughly lol)

[Second Person Perspective]

(Apologies for the image. I was going to post an image of Thorin's Company here, but then I realized you might not have seen a picture of a bunny today. This adorable bunny image was originally posted by "Heidi's Cottage" on tumblr! Please show them some love!!)

♡

Thorin: (Romantic): (Dark Blue eyes with Brown around one's center)

♡ Your eyes are a little harder for Thorin to notice at first.

♡ The dark colours of your eyes and Thorin being too embarrassed to make eye-contact with you when you first met are the reasons it took him a week to notice your unique eyes.

♡ You had first met at Bilbo's house in the Shire where the candlelight bounced off the blue of your eyes when Thorin glanced over at you.

♡ You pretended to not notice him stealing glances as you listened to the gathering.

♡ So, after a week of Thorin being protective, sweet and considerate towards you, he finally noticed your eyes.

♡ It was a beautiful sunny morning and Thorin was allowing the company a few more minutes to brush and re-braid their hair.

♡ You decided to take care of your own hair and absentmindedly admired the clouds as they drifted by from above.

♡ Thorin joined you under the warm sun and made some small conversation about the journey, how rough it would be...mostly making sure you're prepared mentally.

♡ But his breath caught in his throat when you turned to meet his eyes.

♡ He always thought you shared the exact same eye colour, albeit your eyes being a much darker blue, but today he was proven wrong as his eyes drifted to the eye with the brown ring around the pupil.

♡ In the sunlight this brown colour was very distinguished and even looked slightly like caramel.

♡ He was so stunned by the beautiful design adorning your eye he didn't speak for another minute.

♡ When you finally asked if everything was alright, he slowly nodded and spoke.

♡ "In all my years I've never witnessed such beauty. Like a rare gemstone whose colours are only truly seen once under the sunlight."

♡ Please his compliments are so cute and sweet. And creative!

♡ "It's as if your eye wrapped itself in a warm autumn blanket before the cold blue winter covered it with its' icy snow."

♡ He loves your eyes even more now.

♡ They're a sight he cherishes every day.

♡ Sometimes when he can't see the brown around your pupil, he'll gently move you into the sunlight, or bring a candle between you two so he can watch the colour light up and glow.

♡ He made you a dagger with a beautiful wooden design around one of the two sapphires that adorned the handle.

♡ "I wanted to capture your eyes in this dagger for future generations to witness and admire." He smiled as he gave you his gift.

♡ There were also intricate words in Khuzdul that you now knew read, "The eyes of My Beloved."

♡ This sweet hopeless romantic makes sure you never feel embarrassed about your eyes and also stops anyone who might even joke about them. To him they're something to celebrate. Not to mock. <3

~~~

Fili: (Romantic): (Light Blue and Dark Green eyes) ((This is gonna be long, sorry lol))

♡ Your eyes are very noticeable when people first meet you.

♡ Your light blue eye stands out the most and draws people to your eyes when they first meet you, thus leading them to immediately notice the dark green colour of your other eye.

♡ When I say dark green, it's not that dark, it's simply a very strong and rich green colour.

♡ However this was not the case when you first met the dwarves during a fight against some orcs as the group ran towards Rivendell - your home.

♡ You were waiting for Gandalf's arrival when you and the other elves heard orcs just in the distance.

♡ You all saddled up and you rode alongside Lord Elrond as you all charged into battle, firing your arrows and drawing them away from Rivendell's secret entrance.

♡ You rode your horse past the entrance to the secret tunnel to make sure the orc that fell in was definitely dead and you noticed a group of dwarves, alongside Gandalf, just hidden inside.

♡ Your hair covered your eyes and the light being directly behind you made you appear more like an apparition to the dwarves rather than an actual, physical being.

♡ Thus you quickly turned away, allowing them to finish their journey to Rivendell alone as dwarves and elves typically do not get along.

♡ Once you had made it back to Rivendell, circling the dwarves and feeling unsure of their intentions, you noticed a beautiful blond dwarf in the group.

♡ He stood out from the rest of the group, the sunlight bouncing off of his hair and causing it to practically glow under its' light.

♡ You dismounted after Lord Elrond and greeted Mithrandir (Gandalf) before turning to the group.

♡ Your excellent hearing picked up on all of the stunned, but soft, gasps that flooded the group upon seeing your unique eye colours.

♡ You were simply amused by their reactions. Afterall, your eyes were a rare sight to behold.

♡ Quiet, polite whispers started to circle the group before Thorin and Lord Elrond greeted each other.

♡ "Are those her real eye colours?"

♡ "Of course, Ori, hush."

♡ "Whoa~"

♡ "Did you see his eyes, Fili?" That was a brunett dwarf with scruff talking to the blond.

♡ You simply gave the group a curt nod and avoided the blond's eye-contact before following Lindir up the steps so you could clean up and change out of your armour.

♡ The thoughts circled through your head. But specifically the name of the beautifully handsome blond dwarf...'Fili'. His name rolled through your head over and over again like a bouncy melody that never leaves your thoughts.

♡ Eventually, whilst playing your small harp you noticed heavy footsteps walking up the stairs towards you. You opened your eyes and continued to play your favourite melody as the birds in the trees above you sang along.

♡ As you expected, one of the dwarves walked up the steps and stopped at the top. But unexpectedly, it was the blond, Fili. You greeted each other with a smile and he approached you nervously.

♡ "I like your eyes. It's like the Gods couldn't choose if sapphires or emeralds would suit you better, so they gave you both." He smiled dreamily.

♡ Damnnnn he got that 'Line of Durin' rizzzz. (I'm sorry).

♡ (I'm still sorry about before) ♡ (please accept my apologies....) ♡ (I will give you cookies)

♡ And this is where your sweet romance blossomed and continued to bloom for many years.

♡ "Thank-you. I like your hair. It glows like fire under the sun's light. It's stunning." You smiled back, taking a break from your music to flirt with the sweet dwarf.

♡ He brings you green zennia (associated with lasting affection) and bluebell flowers (associated with everlasting love).

♡ When he found out what your favourite animal was he immediately made you a courting gift. A necklace with the animal as the main piece with a sapphire and emerald for each eye. Matching your eyes perfectly.

♡ You happily showed him your own courting gift. "We were thinking the same thing!" You laughed as you gave him the painting you'd made of him.

♡ It was hyper-realistic and you could see every strand of hair and even the eyelashes adorning his blue eyes on it. It was also textured so he could feel the grooves and bumps as he brushed his fingers across it.

♡ He loved it and you two had the best courtship ever.

♡ You courted for a couple years before marrying and life had never been better for the both of you.

♡ "Your eyes are enchanting. Like the forest meets the ocean. And they marry." He grins, sliding across a small box with rings and hair beads.

♡ "Oh? Is this your way of implying something?" You smile back, sliding over your own small box.

♡ "You gotta stop thinking the same thing I'm thinking. At this rate we're gonna have two celebratory weddings." He laughs.

♡ "Y'know, I see nothing wrong with that."

♡ Y'all are so cute, please have a nice two weddings.

♡ He loves making you laugh and smile - watching your eyes light up with joy. You make him so happy every single day.

~~~

Kili: (Romantic): (Dark Brown and Blue eyes) ((This is gonna be long, sorry lol))

♡ When you started travelling with the company, you had fallen from the modern world into Middle Earth with your sunglasses.

♡ And damn was the sunlight bright! So you almost always wear your sunglasses unless it's night and you're sleeping.

♡ So no one usually sees your eye colours and when they do, it's more just a glance of your blue eye.

♡ Then, one day Thorin decides to set up camp earlier than usual allowing everyone time to relax in the sunlight and watch the sunset as you all ate Bombur's delicious cooking.

♡ You spent all your time during the journey cracking jokes and trading stories with everyone. But you mostly hung out with Fili and Kili, having fun riding alongside them and dancing in the rainy nights.

♡ It was a lot of fun to be with this group. And this day was no different as you sat beside the brothers and joked around.

♡ Once the sun had set enough and the sky started to change colour you took your sunglasses off to admire the colours without the soft orange tint you were used to.

♡ Fili - being an excellent wingman for his brother and best friend - left you both for a few minutes to help Bombur clean up the dishes and find more firewood with Bilbo.

♡ You smiled and dragged your eyes away from the sunset to see Kili's reaction and found him already staring back at you with the softest brown eyes you've ever seen.

♡ A moment passed between you two as you both admired each other's eyes before chuckling and awkwardly turning back to look at the sunset.

♡ "Your eyes are beautiful. I've never seen anything like them. Everyone's eyes are usually very similar...but yours are different. I like them" He grinned. You watched as his face and ears grew red.

♡ "You're so cute. Thank-you, darling."

♡ He brings you blue flowers that have bits of brown on them. Whether from decay, dirt, mud or just the colouration. (is that a word?) But either way he loves bringing you flowers.

♡ Especially your favourite flowers. He'll bring you those whenever you pass them on your journey.

♡ You both play silly games to pass the time where you basically say what you like about the other, or try and guess their favourite thing, etc.

♡ He doesn't draw too much attention to your eyes, because he doesn't know if it's a sensitive topic or something you're uncomfortable with.

♡ But he definitely encourages you to wear your sunglasses less often when you're comfortable with it. Especially when it's just the two of you together.

♡ After reclaiming Erebor he'll sometimes surround you with candles until he can't fit anymore in the circle around you. Just so he can see you lit up under the candlelight.

♡ He's cute.

♡ Definitely brings you clothes with brown and blue mixed together in beautiful patterns that dance down the fabric and across the threads.

♡ He loves seeing you dance, loving how your eyes light up with excitement and joy. Sparkling towards him like gemstones under moonlight.

♡ Once you learned Khuzdul, he confidently made you a dwarvish bead as a gift with the words "my darling river" written on them very finely.

♡ You wear it all the time and only take it out to brush your hair when he's there. But typically only he can take it out to brush your hair and then braid it back in.

♡ He adores you and sees your eyes as just another reason to love you.

♡ Kili loves your sense of humour, your fun facts, all your little quirks and habits, etc.

♡ But surprisingly, he loves your hair more than anything else.

♡ He loves when you style it in a new, or fun way. He also loves when you dye it and will offer to help you dye your hair.

♡ Once you even dyed some bronze highlights through his hair that shone like copper in the sunlight.

~~~

Dwalin: (Romantic): (Dark Brown and Light Hazel eyes) ((This is gonna be long, sorry lol))

♡ Dwalin and the Company were fighting orcs and running for their lives, following Gandalf to safety when you jumped in from out of nowhere to help them fight the orcs.

♡ You used your incredible arcobatic skills and daggers to take down the orcs and wargs with the dwarves' and wizard's aid.

♡ After the fight, you turned to the group with a big smile, specifically greeting Gandalf.

♡ After bowing for Thorin and the group and introducing yourself, Gandalf encouraged you to join them over a nice dinner.

♡ You were only planning on staying until they found camp, enjoy dinner with them and then be back on your own way - aimlessly wandering the beautiful land.

♡ But Gandalf's offer was hard to decline, especially after you'd met the incredibly cool dwarf, Dwalin.

♡ His scars probably had awesome stories to tell and you were curious to hear them.

♡ You loved his style, the cool and cold exterior he had with a constant frown. But you saw his eyes clearly had a different story to tell.

♡ You decided in the morning you'd accept Gandalf's kind invite and would fight for the dwarves to take their home back. "I'd be honoured to fight alongside you all."

♡ "Here you go, lad. Just sign this paper and we'll proceed." Balin smiled, handing you the paper. You thanked him, signed it after a quick read and finished packing up the camp. You were on your way on another strange adventure with this equally strange wizard.

♡ But at least you had someone to talk to.

♡ You were kind to everyone, but especially went out of your way to talk to Dwalin, even if it was just small acknowledgements and 'are you okay?'s. That's all you needed, honestly.

♡ It took a while, but you saw him quietly warming up to you which showed mostly during a fight. You were a bit further away from the group than you had intended to be when Dwalin suddenly appeared by your side and helped you take down the group of orcs surrounding you.

♡ You both nodded and returned to the group, not saying much else until the rest of the orcs had run off or died. "Thank-you."

♡ "It's fine, lad." He simply nodded and walked by your side.

♡ After reclaiming Erebor and the battle (in which Thorin, Kili and Fili lived) you and Dwalin talked for hours whilst recovering. Not only were your temporary beds just across from each other, but you both were given some books to read until your bones healed.

♡ But you couldn't read Khuzdul, so you asked Dwalin to read them to you. He seemed hesitant but after a couple awkward hours of silence and boredom, he finally read the books.

♡ He read sentences in Khuzdul first, then translated them to English before continuing to the next.

♡ You didn't mind. In fact, hearing him talk in Khuzdul was fascinating to hear as his accent got thicker and his voice was louder. A contrast to the quieter English he'd then speak to you after.

♡ It took months and months before you both began to court and even then he hardly ever complimented you.

♡ It took a candlelight dinner, a walk through the forest outside of Erebor under the moonlight and you constantly complimenting him until he was brave enough to return your affections.

♡ "Your eyes are stunning. They glow like fire under the light." He smiled, turning away to look at the trees.

♡ He's surprisingly awkward and shy for someone so tough and cool. He's not sure how to compliment you, or court you.

♡ But he always knows what you might like gift wise. He'll bring you daggers, belts and once even a water-proof cowl from Dale for your travels.

♡ All the gifts he brings you perfectly compliment your eyes. Browns, oranges, soft yellows and simple beige outfits.

♡ Every time he leaves Erebor, he'll return with rocks, accessories and hats as simple little gifts he got for you.

♡ He cares a lot about you and always make sure any injuries you have are immediately tended to, even if you brush them off as simple scratches.

♡ He brings you food and water if you've just returned from a journey and want to go straight to bed. And when Thorin allows him, he'll journey with you.

♡ He loves to dance with you, especially under the sunlight in an open field of flowers. The colours and light cause your eyes to twinkle brightly and he loves it.

♡ The brown turning to caramel, the hazel shining in an almost green colour under the sunlight and blue under the moonlight.

♡ He loves to bring you new shades of clothing to see what colour your hazel eye will look most like when you wear it.

♡ Sometimes you'll wear blue and your hazel eye will look similar, but other times you'll wear red and the hazel in your eyes turns almost brown.

♡ Your eyes are a fascinating sight for him watch.

♡ He even writes down little notes about how your hazel eye changes around each colour.

♡ Even though the colour is also based on lighting, mood and other factors, you don't mention that. It's nice to just listen to him mutter and write little notes about your eyes each night.

~~~

Bofur: (Romantic): (Dark Hazel and Silver eyes)

♡ Your eyes are incredibly hard to miss.

♡ Bofur noticed them immediately when you first met in the ruins of Dale after the battle for Erebor. You had come from Laketown alongside everyone else and had quickly learned how to defend yourself and fight against orcs during the battle.

♡ He was walking around the ruins of Dale to help check on everyone and bring to them the healers and you were ushering children back to their parents and helping people dig themselves out of rubble when you two stumbled across each other.

♡ Both of you were scratched up, bruised and tired. But despite all that, you were both awestruck by the other's beauty.

♡ His shining armour, fluffy hat, twinkling eyes and the soft smile that grew wider when you greeted him. Gosh, you were nervous just talking to him.

♡ Your glowing hair, soft skin, dumbfounded look and distinctive eye colours. How could he not smile upon seeing you?

♡ He thought you looked stunning.

♡ After that day, you both hung out a lot. Whether in Dale or Erebor, you'd both just aimlessly walk for hours laughing at each other's jokes. You'd eat dinner together. Sometimes with the Company and other times with your friend group.

♡ He didn't shy away from complimenting you before you were even courting.

♡ "The silver glows like a diamond under the moonlight. What an amazing discovery...to see a gemstone this far above the ground." He smiled.

♡ "Such a beautiful mixture of green and brown and blue. Like a river flowing through a pine forest. Its' beauty is truly unmatched by any forest I've seen."

♡ Don't let the Ents overhear Bofur! He's so sweet!!

♡ So you best believe, his compliments only increased tenfold after you began courting.

♡ "Ghivashel, you look stunning this morning." (Translation: Treasure of all treasures).

♡ "Do you need help with that, mizimel?" (Translation: Jewel of all jewels).

♡ He loves making dolls with mismatched eyes now. He specifically made one for you though. Matching the hazel and silver of your eyes. For the hazel eye he used a zircon gemstone and the silver eye was a diamond.

♡ The beautiful doll had a lovely dress and hair that also matched yours. With your permission, he cut some of your hair and sewed it into the doll's head. The doll sits right beside your bed at all times and sometimes you even cuddle it to help you sleep.

♡ He spends hours asking you to sing and read to him whilst he lays down beside you or on your lap. Loving the way your eyes light up when you reach your favourite parts. Or when you're particularly proud of how you read, or sung, a part.

♡ Some nights it's just you and Bofur sitting under a tree, leaning against its trunk whilst listening to the world around you.

♡ You cherish the quiet moments you get to spend with Bofur, as sometimes you can't spend time together when you're both so busy with work.

♡ So, you both just enjoy each other's presences when you can. Resting together, falling asleep in soft grass and waking up to a bright sun above the hills, surrounding you both with its' glow.

♡ Beautiful morning, after beautiful morning. Time passed for months, seasons, and years. Until you both decided to marry. :)

~~~

Balin: (Platonic): (Light Blue and Dark Blue) ((This is gonna be long, sorry lol))

♡ Growing up was a struggle for you as your father had died fighting for Moria alongside Thorin Oakenshield.

♡ But Balin had noticed you when you were just a child; a young Dwarf watching the warriors return from Moria's battle.

♡ You watched as they praised Thorin Oakenshield and called him 'King' and 'Future King' depending on the dwarves.

♡ But still you searched for your father. More interested in hearing how the battle went from him.

♡ And when you couldn't find your father, you began to cry. A hand was gently placed on your shoulder so you looked up and there Balin was. Looking down at you with sad eyes.

♡ You hugged him immediately and began talking incoherently - asking for your father, where he was and why he hadn't returned.

♡ Balin took you under his wing after that day and to his astonishment, he watched as you grew up and your eyes slowly changed colour.

♡ Eyes can sometimes take years before they reach their permanent colour and that was how it was for you.

♡ By the time you were 7 years old, your eyes changed into totally opposite blue colours: one light blue like a topaz and the other very dark like the ocean.

♡ Balin raised you as best he could with help from Thorin and Dwalin. You also became good friends with Thorin's nephews, Fili and Kili.

♡ None of the dwarves ever ostracized you for your heterochromia, but instead they really adored you.

♡ Balin and you always travelled to the markets together. You were always helping him when he was tinkering with toys, practicing with a sword (you'd have a small wooden sword) and you both also tended to a garden together.

♡ Growing Coneflowers in the garden as they are very hardy flowers that can grow despite bad soil and drought. Hence growing them in a mostly dry, stone-y environment was a piece of cake.

♡ He could never resist your puppy-dog eyes when you wanted to travel with him. The light from the sun made your eyes sparkle and he didn't ever want you to cry or feel left alone.

♡ If he couldn't take you somewhere with him, Dwalin was fine with watching over you and letting you learn a bit of simpler smithing. He'd show you how necklaces were made and even some rings.

♡ If you ever grew self-conscious of your eyes, Balin would write and read to you stories of fantasy creatures with different coloured eyes.

♡ Somethings like... "Juniper didn't know why the others would play without him. He didn't know what made him different from the rest. He sat by the river one day and listened to all the different birds. Their different songs and colours. When suddenly, he realized something! He was different! But not on the outside!...

...Juniper ran to his mother very excitedly! He happily declared to her, 'I'm going to become the best fairy dancer one day!' and she smiled with joy, 'Of course you will be! And I'll be there to watch your every performance!' It was on this day Juniper decided his eyes were not the reason others did not play with him. It was because they didn't know who he was on the inside, and he was going to show them who he was! And he would dance with them at every celebration! He'd perform each move perfectly and smile the whole time. He'd show the world who he was and shine brightly for all to see."

♡ And many more stories similar to that, but perhaps a few pages longer...or a few chapters longer. :)

♡ You had many books of these fantasy stories handwritten by Balin by the time you were a teenager. And you re-read them all the time.

♡ He'd say "Child, never feel different because of your eyes. Know you're different because of your heart. Because of what you'll do with your life when you grow up. Know you're going to do amazing things in your life."

~~~

Bifur: (Platonic): (Light Brown with half of one eye being Light Green) ((This is gonna be long, sorry lol))

♡ You grew up in Earth with a cat companion that had the same colour eyes as you.

♡ Her name was Delta and she was a calico that followed you everywhere and slept with you in bed every night.

♡ Unfortunately for Delta, this meant she fell into Middle Earth with you when a portal suddenly appeared below you on one of your walks in the garden.

♡ You both fell super fast and you gripped Delta tightly against your chest - braced for impact.

♡ But the impact was softer than you thought it would be. Slowly you opened your eyes and looked around you.

♡ Realizing you had fallen directly onto a bush and a large portal above you, far up in the sky, closed.

♡ 'Oh dear...' you thought, 'Mum's not going to be happy about this.'

♡ To be fair, for an eleven-year-old, magic portals were the least of your concern and instead: 'when mum finds out I'm going to be grounded,' was currently more concerning to you.

♡ Delta - being very cuddly - allowed you to pick her up and carry her around once you brushed some dirt off yourself.

♡ You wandered. You were very lost by the time the sun was falling behind the hills that lay far past the forest you were trapped in.

♡ It was only just getting dark when a group of horses and people travelled down the road towards you and Delta.

♡ You watched as they came to a stop. A tall wizard-looking man with grey hair and beard was at the front of the group and he looked at you with very soft and kind eyes.

♡ Delta hissed at the sudden people, so you took a couple steps back and tensed to run.

♡ But the wizard spoke to the others and decided to set up camp and stop for the night. He hopped off his horse and walked towards you, switching a staff from one hand to the other as he approached before he crouched down, leaning on the staff for support to meet your height.

♡ "Hello." He greeted warmly.

♡ "Hello..." You greeted less confidently. And that's how you found yourself in the world of Middle Earth, meeting a group of dwarves, a hobbit and a wizard.

♡ They took great care of you and as you were too shy to speak, Bifur especially took to caring for you. He picked up on your non-verbal communication a lot faster than the others did and helped you climb onto the horses every morning.

♡ He helped you down every evening and made sure you were given food first every dinner and breakfast. He even made sure there were on-the-road snacks just for you to have lunch.

♡ Bifur never pushed boundaries or made you feel uncomfortable or unsafe. Quite the opposite actually, you felt safer with him rather than anyone else. Perhaps it was because he didn't expect you to talk, or respond.

♡ Nor did he ever push you to verbally communicate when you were still feeling too shy or scared.

♡ Although in our eyes the dwarves are incredibly friendly and kind and not very intimidating - save Dwalin - to an eleven-year-old, they were quite the scary, loud and unpredictable bunch.

♡ Laughing loudly quite suddenly, or grabbing food quite quickly and talking and singing all the time. You found you couldn't guess what they'd do next, but you also grew to love that chaos about them.

♡ Bifur was actually the first to pet Delta when you joined the Company on their adventure. He pet her to reassure you that you were both safe with the group.

♡ And yes, that worked perfectly. You stuck with them the whole journey and whilst they took extra care in keeping you safe, secure and out of danger, you still had to do a fair bit of running to keep up.

♡ Especially after you lost the ponies to the goblins. The Company was tempted to leave you with the Elves of Rivendell but Thorin immediately denied the idea and made sure you travelled with them.

♡ Lord Elrond had been very kind to you though and gave you paper and ink to draw with. You spent hours in Rivendell drawing flowers for the Company and showing them off proudly at night.

♡ They were very impressed and encouraging.

♡ But back to Bifur and you!

♡ At night when you were first adjusting to the new environment, you became terrified by the lack of light and began to cry, holding onto Delta for comfort. Bifur took notice immediately having been on first watch.

♡ He quietly called you over and came to get you. He then let you sit beside him as he watched over the camp and told you silly little stories via charades and shadow puppets. He used what was left of the fire's light for the shadow puppets.

♡ You became calmer and happier as the stories progressed and eventually you had drifted to sleep. You felt safe and you had a purring cat on your lap, so why wouldn't you feel safe?

♡ Bifur made sure you were supported and had a pillow to sleep on, letting you use his. He gave you a couple back pats as you drifted off until finally you were asleep and no longer crying.

♡ He went back to watch and kept an eye on you in case you had nightmares, but you slept just fine.

♡ As you may have noticed, the Company hasn't had much to remark about your unique eye colour.

♡ This is because your eyes a slightly harder to notice a difference in. The brown is very bright and the green is a soft shade that almost perfectly blends with the brown half of your eye.

♡ This perfect blend of colours made it harder for them to notice that the colours were different on your smaller eyes that you often avoided meeting people's gazes with.

♡ But they noticed it almost right away on Delta and thought she looked adorable.

♡ Bifur thought she was quite a lucky little kitty to be loved by someone so kind despite her unique eyes. Then one day you spoke up as they compliment Delta's eyes and asked about them.

♡ "Yeah, I was really excited when we found her. My mother said it was a big coincidence that we found a cat with the same coloured eyes as me." You softly laughed, petting Delta with a smile.

♡ The Company was quite for a while before Bifur finally made them ask you more about it.

♡ "What do you mean, child?"

♡ So you showed them. "I thought my eyes were very noticeable." You giggled, letting the light enhance the colours.

♡ Overall, your eyes are less noticeable, but Bifur made sure you knew that your eyes changed nothing about you. You were more than your outward appearance.

♡ But also, this is Bifur we're talking about. He brushes things off very fast when it doesn't seem that important.

♡ If you ever feel insecure? He'll grab a translator (Bofur) and make sure you know that your eyes will never change how others see you. Especially when your eyes are so pretty.

♡ He's great, but in a quiet way. He brings no attention to your eyes, mostly not noticing anything different regardless and only talks about them when you do. Like I said, he'd never push you to talk about stuff you don't want to.

♡ Bifur simply wants to make sure you survive in this new world and grow up just fine.

~~~

Ori: (Platonic): (Yellow and Grey)

♡ Ori was excited to travel with his friends and family and to go on such a daring adventure across Middle Earth to retake the mountain of Erebor.

♡ He was especially excited to join his family in some food at an apparently "very welcoming hobbit"s home.

♡ So when the Company showed up at Bilbo's home unannounced and without much more knowledge from the Wizard on who exactly this hobbit was, they were very surprised to find a young adult hobbit living with the older hobbit.

♡ About Ori's age, roughly 18 or so if you convert their ages to human years.

♡ Ori was excited to meet someone else his age, aside from Fili and Kili who were slightly older. So you can imagine everyone's surprise when they see her eyes in the bright candlelight.

♡ Now they've seen grey eyes, especially on older dwarves. This wasn't an uncommon eye colour at all.

♡ But yellow? Yellow eyes? And grey? Both? At the same time, but in a different eye each?

♡ That was certainly new.

♡ You didn't mind all their questions at first. Until they asked how it happened to which you had no clue. You didn't understand genetics, or biology and how could you? You were a simple florist who designed bouquets for any occasion a hobbit asked for.

♡ Anniversary? Roses, carnations and peonies. Birthday? Dahlias, orchids and chrysanthemums. Apology? Tulips, daffodils and lilies of the valley.

♡ But biology? All you could think of in your head was sunflowers and azalea for yellow; and low ho silver iris and edelweiss flowers for grey.

♡ But that was your brain designing a bouquet after your eye colours. Not the knowledge of how your eye colours came to be.

♡ Young Ori was especially fascinated by your eyes. How the grey would turn into an almost soft, pastel yellow in the candlelight and your yellow eye would glow like embers from a fire.

♡ When you were allowed to travel with the group, Ori watched as your grey eye glowed silver in the moonlight and the yellow glowed like a soft gold.

♡ You and Ori got along greatly and had lots of fun just talking about flowers and art. Ori would show you his sketches and they were so good you could pick out each individual flower he drew without needing to see his references.

♡ You were thankful he never judged you for your eyes. He was probably the first friend you had that didn't immediately judge you for looking a little different or 'weird' as others would say.

♡ He was super sweet and he even drew your eyes as best he could when sketching. You were more than happy to model for him as the sound of his sketching helped lull you into a cozy sleep late at night.

♡ This especially helped as the climate got colder and the floor harder to rest on. He can also read.

♡ So he'd sometimes read a book very quietly to you as you both huddled around the fire. You didn't understand the written dwarvish in front of you, but Ori was careful with his translations and the stories were very interesting.

♡ He said he only brought a couple of copies of books from back home, that way it wouldn't matter if he lost these books, he'd still have the originals. (In case you were worried).

♡ The stories of birds, dwarves, dragons and grand adventures kept your interest whilst sending you off to sleep. You dreamt about these grand stories. No wonder they were Ori's favourites.

♡ He was so sweet and always complimented your eyes. So you always complimented his eyes back. It was like having a brother. Similar to how Bilbo was almost like a father to you since he took you in eight years ago.

♡ You were a lost hobbit from a small hobbit town that was quite a while away from the Shire. Your parents died of disease and you were terrified of being next.

♡ But Bilbo properly nursed you back to good health and helped you through the grief and acceptance.

♡ And now here you were. Standing strong and with new friends, watching your 'father' flirt terribly with the leader of the group, Thorin.

♡ It was pretty funny and you and Ori got to joke about it lots when the other's wouldn't hear.

♡ Ori never once purposefully draws attention to you or your eyes, but he'll always be there if you speak up or someone else does.

♡ Like a protective older brother. He learned a lot from Dori.

~~~

Dori: (Platonic): (Silver and Dark Brown) ((This is gonna be long, sorry lol))

♡ When you were born, like most babies, you had very blue eyes. Just like your parents.

♡ But as you grew older, your parents watched with worry as your eyes changed. One eye getting lighter and lighter every day as the other became darker and darker.

♡ Your parents tried not to be too worried. After all, a local doctor said it was natural for children's eyes to change colour some weeks, and even years, after birth.

♡ But by the time you were 5 years old, one eye was completely silver and the other was a very dark brown. Your parents did their best to help you feel normal and to always comfort you after other children's strange or mean comments.

♡ Despite all that though, sometimes you wished you had an older sibling that could be by your side growing up. Someone to play games with, read books with, bake food with, etc. The other children were scared because your eyes made you 'different'.

♡ So they avoided you for many years. By the time you were an adult, you felt very insecure and styled your hair to fall over your silver eye as, 'brown is more common', children kept saying.

♡ During your first ever adventure outside of your small human village, you discovered a wandering grey wizard who took great interest in your clothing. You were wonderful at sewing and embroidery and he loved seeing all the intricate flowers, dragons and designs you had done on your clothing.

♡ He was especially surprised to find out you even sewed all your clothing yourself. He invited you to join him and the elves of Rivendell, of whom he was on his way to surprise with a visit. "They are very skilled with the fine arts such as embroidery and could teach you anything you wished to know about the art." He promised with a mysterious glint in his eyes.

♡ You ignored the thought at the back of your mind that wondered what he was planning and instead accepted his offer immediately. And he was right. Lord Elrond was very welcoming and taught you a great deal about sewing and embroidery. He even offered for you to visit as often as you liked between your future travels and you excitedly accepted.

♡ (Now the moment you've all been waiting for)

♡ One day after you had returned to Rivendell, a group of Dwarves and a hobbit showed up alongside a familiar wizard. You noticed them when they walked up the steps into Rivendell, following Lord Elrond who gave you a curt nod.

♡ You smiled and waved back, still holding a stunning Elven dress in your hands that you'd been embroidering. The elves had helped you to make it for special occasions if you ever wanted to join their celebrations in proper Elvish attired.

♡ Despite friendly nods from the hobbit and wizard, the Dwarves didn't really acknowledge you all that much - aside from glances to see if you were elf or human.

♡ But during a dinner with the elves and guests, they got to know you a bit more. Especially when you laughed and cheered to their songs and dances.

♡ You couldn't possibly be all that bad if you liked their music.

♡ They were there for weeks and during that time you slowly got to know them. An older dwarf, who was the eldest of his brothers, would especially spend time talking with you after you shared interest in wine.

♡ Every time you tried a new wine with him, he'd make sure to tell you all the cool details and facts about where and how it was grown, as well as how long it was left, why it should be left for however long, etc.

♡ You can now predict how long a wine should be left for based on how it was made. You also can sort of tell how aged a wine is by its taste. Not really, but you try and Dori gives you extra credit for that.

♡ His own brothers sympathize with the random wine and grapevine knowledge you'll be left knowing for the rest of your life. They too were subjected to hours of drunk Dori's stories and trivia.

♡ But the family was fun to hangout with - especially when they were completely drunk - so you didn't mind all that much.

♡ One day whilst you were drinking, Ori suddenly spoke up and asked, "Excuse me, (Y/N), but why does your hair cover one of your eyes? Doesn't that just make it harder to see?"

♡ "Aw, leave them alone, Ori." Bofur spoke up from the corner, smoking. "I think it's a cute style, (Y/N)." He gave a quick thumbs up.

♡ You returned it with a smile. "Nah, I don't mind the question." You chuckled, replying simply, "It is a bit hard to see with, but it doesn't affect my sight that much."

♡ You didn't feel comfortable telling anyone about your eye colour at that point. But Dori somehow sensed that something was a little off with your reply. He didn't pry, but he used his exquisite big brother skills to deduce a perfect solution to your current discomfort.

♡ Cheese.

♡ Therefore, Dori discreetly elbowed your arm and like a proper 'Wine Aunt' that visits every Christmas, he snuck you a little gift - a piece of cheese - when no one was looking and gave you a little nod of encouragement.

♡ "Thanks, Dori." You whispered when everyone was singing loudly and distracted.

♡ "No worries, kid." He grinned.

♡ Months went by, then years after they took back Erebor from Smaug. And you remained good friends with the Company and Bilbo. It was this winter you had decided to visit, your big brother figure Dori.

♡ During the time they were adventuring you opened up to Lord Elrond about your eye colours and he helped you feel more confident and comfortable with your appearance.

♡ It was the small things. Like the elves helping you change your hairstyle ever so slightly to show both your eyes and to frame your face better. Silver jewelry and beautiful leather clothes, boots and gauntlets.

♡ But all they did helped you so much, you'd almost forgotten there was anything different about you to begin with.

♡ So when you visited the dwarves, it's safe to say that jaws dropped.

♡ After all, heterochromia is one thing. SILVER heterochromia is another. Your eyes matched the fallen snow. The silver jewelry that adorned your ears as gifts from the kind elves. The silver moonlight that shone behind you when you entered the mountain.

♡ Bofur and Nori couldn't stop complimenting how beautiful it was and Ori desperately wanted to draw you. He'd never seen someone with two, beautiful eye colours and he wanted to remember the incredible sight.

♡ Dori basically became a temporary bodyguard by making sure no one was asking weird questions, or crossing your boundaries. He made sure to take you to a nice, quiet corner for some wine if you got overwhelmed by the attention.

♡ Your first night there was chaotic, but Dori had your back.

♡ He wasn't about to let anyone upset you. The group really helped you feel comfortable and confident. Adults being curious about such a phenomenon is very different to growing up with adults that feared the change.

♡ One day, Dori surprised you with a jeweled dagger the company had gotten together to make for you. "So you can stab anyone who insults you." Said Dori.

♡ "So you may defend yourself from danger, orcs, goblins or bandits." Corrected Thorin.

♡ "Or so you can look like a cool warrior facing off against wild beasts when hunting." Encouraged Ori.

♡ "Alright, alright. But it's also for stabbing." Dori huffed.

♡ "Guys, thank-you all so much for this." You smiled gratefully. The dagger was adorned with two jewels. A smokey quartz and a crystal. It matched your eyes.

♡ "It was Dori's idea." Balin grinned, throwing Dori under the river with his callout.

♡ "Well. Any decent person should carry a proper weapon of high quality. You see, higher quality daggers made by dwarves have a much better chance at actually piercing through veins and arteries with one cut and swing rather than the duller man-made blades that you sort of have to saw into an enemy's skin to pierce it deep enough to cause any proper damage...and of course that means the enemies will find their tough skin to be no match to the stronger, well smithed metal of dwarven craftmanship." Dori ranted in defense. Rambling a little, but you didn't mind.

♡ "Fascinating." You listened with awe.

♡ "You didn't catch half of that, did you?" Balin raised an eyebrow, watching you with a knowing-look.

♡ "Well, I understood half of it." You grinned honestly.

♡ "Ah, well allow me to explain slower." Dori cleared his throat and began with an added distant groan from Nori who'd heard all this several times growing up with his big brother.

♡ It was worth listening to Dori's explanations, facts and stories though. He was well-spoken, explained anything you missed and clarified anything you didn't understand. Like a big brother you had always wanted to be there for you.

~~~

Nori: (Romantic): (Orange and Dark Blue) ((This is gonna be very long, sorry lol))

♡ "If you let me sail, we'd be there by now." You huffed as Bard sailed the boat to the shores where the wine barrels wash up (after the Wood Elves let them out of the cellar of the Woodland Realm).

♡ Bard and you grew up together. You first met each other when your parents had decided to fish in the same spot out of Laketown and he pointed at you confidently saying, "You're weird."

♡ Other than the fish you were wearing on your head for a hat, you had no clue what would cause him to say such a thing to you.

♡ 'It must be because my eyes are two different colours!' You finally decided. After all, most other kids didn't like you for that reason. Apparently orange eyes were strange - especially when your other eye is a strikingly dark blue in comparison.

♡ "You're weird too!" You finally declared back.

♡ "At least I'm not wearing a fish for a hat." He rolled his eyes.

♡ "How dare you insult Saltwater the Third!"

♡ "What? Did you eat the other two?"

♡ "Daddd!!!!!" And that's how you two met as children.

♡ Don't worry, you still had a fish hat and you wore it all the time. The current one you had is Saltwater the Forty-Seventh if you were curious.

♡ Back to the present moment you two were in, he simply responded logically, "If you sailed us, the boat would be on the shore and the wine barrels would be in the water."

♡ "I don't see a problem with that. We could surf the barrels back to town."

♡ "Alright, (Y/N). You win. If you can surf a wine barrel all the way back to town, I'll let you drive the boat next time." Bard bet with a grin.

♡ "Deal. I'll be seeing you in town, later." You smugly smiled back.

♡ "Yeah. Tomorrow." Bard laughed. You couldn't help but laugh with him as the boat came to a stop along the shore. "Alright, let's go find those barrels." He sighed, hoping down and tying the boat to a makeshift post.

♡ You scouted ahead as he tied the ship up and saw the barrels further down the shoreline than usual. This isn't too odd considering the river's currents can be unpredictable. But it was the start to a very different day.

♡ The barrels were further up the shore - at a very rocky point - which meant you now had to climb up the rocky hill to go around a bunch of trees hanging at the edge of a cliff above the water to get to the opposite shore.

♡ You were halfway up when you thought about calling to Bard to let him know about the barrels when you heard water sloshing, footsteps and hushed voices nearby.

♡ There was no way it was Bard so you crouched down and watched a young dwarf with brown hair walk to the edge of the cliff not too far from you and sit down.

♡ He was emptying his boots of a lot of water right beside one of the barrels that you had first spotted from a distance.

♡ Upon closer inspection down below beside said barrel was another dwarf, a bit bigger with very grey hair that matched the rocks and a light coloured tunic that looked like dirt. Or was just very dirty. Either way he was basically camouflaged until you looked more carefully.

♡ 'Okay, so two dwarves near the barrels that elves use. I'm sure that's just a strange coincidence and they're just travellers.' You thought to yourself. Bard was only just climbing up the hill to join you so you decided to sneak around and spotted more dwarves that were seated behind boulders.

♡ 'Never mind, that's a lot more than two.' You mentally groaned. You snuck back to Bard just as he made it to the top of the hill. You pointed at the dwarves and used charades to count out 'thirteen' to Bard. His mouth gaped open and with a roll of his eyes he grabbed his bow from his back.

♡ 'Seriously?' You mouthed gobsmacked his first instinct was to shoot and ask questions later.

♡ 'There's more of them than of us.' He mouthed back whilst drawing his arrow back and aiming at the younger dwarf.

♡ 'So what? You're just going to shoot them?' You glared. He met your gaze again.

♡ 'It's not going to kill them.' He argued.

♡ 'I don't think that's the point here.' You finished and he reluctantly relaxed his drawstring.

♡ 'Fine. Just let me intimidate them.' He finally mouthed to you as the young dwarf was emptying out his other shoe now. He sneaked past you, drew back his drawstring once more and stood up to be clearly seen. The young dwarf froze in place and slowly turned around to look up at Bard. You decided to just watch from a distance, only having the skill to fight with a dagger for self-defense.

♡ He must've had all the dwarves' attention by now, still aiming his arrow at the same poor young dwarf. Bard's attention then shifted to the other dwarf who quickly stood up and grabbed a large branch - prepared to defend everyone.

♡ Bard then took his shot, the arrow whizzing straight into the branch's wood. Another dwarf in the distance, this one looking younger, picked up a rock and went to hurl it to Bard - but Bard was quicker and he shot the stone out of the dwarf's hand with another arrow. "Do it again, and you're dead." Bard threatened with another arrow drawn back.

♡ "Excuse me, but - uhm, you're from Laketown?" A new voice spoke up. You watched as an older, white-haired dwarf stepped forwards with his arms up in surrender whilst he cautiously approached Bard. "If I'm not mistaken?" Bard shifted and pointed his arrow whilst letting him continue talking. "That...barge over there." The older dwarf points to our ship which could be seen, but they had only just noticed in the distance. "It wouldn't be available for hire, by any chance?"

♡ "There's a chance." Bard unnotched his arrow and put it back in his quiver, swinging the bow back around his arm before stepping down the rocks as carefully as he could. "But it's unlikely. We're only here for these barrels."

♡ "We..?" The older dwarf was cut off when Bard waved you over and you helped him to start moving the barrels up the cliff to the ship. "Oh.."

♡ "Do you need help with that, lass?" A different brunet dwarf asked, approaching you and Bard carefully.

♡ You and Bard shared a brief glance, calculating how much sooner you could have dinner with a little help and finally you nodded. "Yes, please. Thank-you."

♡ And that long introduction, chat, is how you first met Nori.

♡ You, like Bard, were very skeptical of the dwarves and only helped them with the promise of pay. Double pay meant you and Bard could easily half it and you wouldn't be totally sacrificing all your pay to your pet cat. Which in turn meant you could buy yourself food!

♡ (Yes, you have a cat and yes he is your first priority. He's the best mouse-catcher in Laketown. He's the sole reason mice have been less of a problem and don't get into the winter food storage sheds anymore.)

♡ Nori thought you were odd to say the least. You wore a fish on your head, had completely different coloured eyes and talked like you were either high, or drunk, 24/7.

♡ You almost didn't have anything more to do with the dwarves after that fateful day, but Nori saw you struggle and stole some food before he went to the mountains and lemme tell you. After nearly 9 hours since your last meal, that little gift of stolen food was like a marriage proposal.

♡ In the Battle against the orcs there was no way you were just going to sit in a building uselessly with a bunch of other women. You grabbed a sword, petted your cat and charged a bunch of orcs, slicing as quickly as you could to deflect and kill them.

♡ During the chaos of everything, you bumped into Nori. Although you had no clue how he and you and ended up fighting near each other, you stood strong and watched each other's backs as orc after orc charged you.

♡ The battle felt never ending and you could've sworn a tinge of pink had lit up the sky and clouds whilst you fought for your survival. The sun was setting and you were still fighting.

♡ Once the battle was one and the injured were healed and Thorin paid people what they were owed, Nori and you sat down together near a dying campfire. You had gotten along since the battle.

♡ He would crack so many jokes it was great! He also liked your jokes. Your favourite thing about his jokes was: they were never about your appearance, or eyes or the fish hat you wore. He would joke about anything!

♡ From teasing his own siblings to laughing at how silly the Elves looked - being all serious. But he showed nothing but adoration for your eyes.

♡ Months passed and Dale was rebuilt. You and Bard had moved into Dale with Bard's children. Nori visited often. You two went fishing, shopping, hiking and scouting together.

♡ Eventually, he started to court you. His antics were amusing. Watching how dwarves court was quite amusing to a human. Nori would steal you items to show his quick fingers, stealth and skills. He'd steal you things he knew you liked.

♡ He squared up against almost any possible rival and even attempted to square up against Bard to win your approval. But Bard denied him and sent him to shop some wood instead.

♡ He didn't need to go the extra mile though. You felt the same for the sneak-thief. He was kind and funny and considerate. What woman wouldn't fall for him? Once you could finally sit him down for a meal, you expressed your feelings for him.

♡ The next day he made a courting braid and asked to braid it into your hair. You gladly accepted and allowed him to gently brush, wash and dry your hair over the next few hours. After the braid was in, you asked if you could do the same.

♡ And so the two of you spent the next few hours together once again, but this time as you brushed, washed and helped re-tie Nori's hair. It was probably the most memorable day you had in a while and you have always cherished the memory ever since.

♡ One day, when you were feeling just a little self-conscious, you asked how Nori felt about you looking different. Being a human surrounded by dwarves more often now...having two different coloured eyes...adults talking about you behind your back despite children adoring your cool fish hat.

♡ It had all just started to get to you and you didn't know how to handle it.

♡ "Darling, you're perfect to me. I don't care if you have blue hair or pink skin. You being human doesn't change how I feel about you...and neither do your eyes." Nori spoke softly.

♡ "Your eyes are like a sunset that meets the ocean. I've fallen in love with those stunning colours of yours." Nori placed his hand against your cheek and rubbed circles with his thumb as you leaned into his touch. Tears were threatening to spill out of your eyes.

♡ "Never change. For anyone. Please...keep being yourself...even if it's just for me. I love you." Nori pulled you into a soft embrace and let you cry out your feelings for as long as you needed. He meant every word he spoke and wanted desperately to show you in some way.

♡ The next day you woke up to a full breakfast-in-bed meal of all your favourite foods and even a nice hot drink for the cold morning. Nori brought you dark blue flowers with orange centers and orange flowers with dark blue ribbows tying them together. He loved your eyes and he really meant it.

♡ He even brought you a hat stand so you wouldn't lose your fish hats. (You had a slight habit of losing them).

♡ He was sweet and thoughtful when he needed to be. <3

~~~

Oin: (Platonic): (Grey and Light Green)

♡ When most people fall into a fictional world, usually it's their favourite. Most of the time, they're minding their own business and not working a 14-hour hospital shift.

♡ Unfortunately, you didn't conform to the norms of society very often and just had to fall through a magic portal as you finally finished clocking off for the night day. Because it was 4am when you finished work.

♡ So you can imagine the company's surprise when a mysterious figure falls from a strange portal in the sky. And when they get closer the stranger is fully decked out in weird blue clothing (scrubs), with their somewhat short hair neatly out of their face and very worn-through shoes.

♡ As if the person did hours and hours of walking in the same shoes every day.

♡ Which you did do.

♡ You're very lucky Gandalf is a super kind person to bring you with them to camp for the night and to look after you, because when you hit the ground it didn't matter that the fall hadn't knocked you out from the impact.

♡ The minute you were laying down in soft grass with the warm sun shining down on you, you were out like a light. You could've slept through a hurricane, tornado siren and nuclear explosion.

♡ Nothing the company did to make sure you were alive and okay the next day, woke you. All they could do was leave you to Gandalf's care as he carefully rode onward whilst making sure you didn't fall off. And hope you didn't hit your head.

♡ When you did finally wake up, you were hungry as fuck.

♡ You ate any food Bombur made and had three serves of dinner. The company was respectful, but cautious of you. They didn't really trust you until you helped treat Ori and Bombur's cooking burns with cold, creek water and some of Oin's herbs.

♡ After they realized you were a doctor they had so many questions. You happily answered any of their medical questions about the body, brain, organs and anything else.

♡ One of the questions they had was regarding your two different eye colours. "How did that happen?" "Does it just happen, or does an accident cause it?" "Is that an injury?" "Does it hurt?" "Is it annoying?"

♡ You patiently answered each question. "I was born with this. One of my eyes slowly darkened until it stopped at this light green and my other grew lighter in colour each day until it was fully grey." "It can be caused by injury, or an accident. Specifically if the accident or injury involves the eye. If the eye is damaged it may lose some melanin - the colouring - and thus change to a lighter colour. But that is not the case for my eyes."

♡ "No, it doesn't hurt. It feels the same to me as your eyes feel for you. I can see perfectly clear and it causes no issues. It isn't annoying, I'm already used to it when I look into mirrors or my water's reflection."

♡ The younger dwarves were especially in awe of your eyes. Despite the whole group growing to like you and come to you for medical aide, Oin especially took a liking to you. He was fascinated by such a young person knowing so much about medicine.

♡ He took you under his wing in this world and taught you all about the different herbs, mushrooms, medieval medicines and other treatments or small surgeries they were capable of performing.

♡ You absorbed all the information quite quickly like a sponge which further impressed the older healer.

♡ When Oin was sleeping early at night, or just resting in general, you would take over as the go-to-medic for the dwarves when they got a small injury, felt sick, or need medicine - like for sleeping better.

♡ You would also make them cups of tea, maybe a nice soup if most of the company caught a cold from icy, freezing rivers that they swam through.

♡ Even though the group wasn't sure about you at first, they really came to appreciate you in their times of need. Especially after the battle for Erebor. If it wasn't for your expert medical knowledge and quick fighting and thinking; Fili, Kili and Thorin (respectively) would've died from their terrible wounds.

♡ They had fought recklessly - though that was mostly Thorin's fault for being foolish - but thanks to your knowledge on healing and stitching, the three recovered quickly and in just a couple weeks they were back up on their feet.

♡ You kept a close eye on them; making sure they weren't going to overwork themselves. After the battle and aftermath cleanup was all sorted, Thorin took over the Throne and ruled as King Under the Mountain. He officially made you Oin's assistant and you basically became a 'royal healer'.

♡ Despite the official title, you decided to help anyone who was in need. Especially young children. The children were always fascinated by your eyes. They thought the colours were incredible.

♡ It was so heartwarming when they'd come back just to give you a drawing they did of you. You decided to set up a picture wall to hang all the lovely drawings. Anytime you felt scared, or were sick, you'd look up at the wall and remember how sweet and brave those kids were.

♡ Oin made sure you never overworked, got proper sleep and meals and he also taught you dwarven sign language so you could treat deaf and hard of hearing patients like Oin, or Bifur.

~~~

Bombur: (Romantic): (Dark Brown with Yellow around one eyes' center)

♡ You were a great cook and fighter. When the spiders of Mirkwood became a massive problem, you were put onto a patrol team that did two rounds around the borders of the forest each day.

♡ After that, you worked hard to make lunch and dinner with the other chefs and cooks. Great feasts for celebrations and small feasts to sing songs around fires with.

♡ So one day when you were preparing a great feast for another fun celebration, a border patrol lead by the Prince of Mirkwood arrived with a large group of dwarves who had been found wandering aimlessly off the path.

♡ You didn't think much of it until they escaped and caused great havoc with their unorthodox exit out of Mirkwood: riding in empty wine barrels out of the backdoor from palace, exiting through the back gate.

♡ Orcs then attacked the dwarves and elves whilst the elves attempted to keep the dwarves from escaping further and the orcs from causing more damage. You watched all this from a distance, killing off the few orcs that attempted to get inside the building.

♡ You couldn't keep track of how much time passed after that, but soon an army of elves were called to arms by the King. Everyone gathered in their armour, grabbing their weapons and standing out the door waiting for further instructions.

♡ You had joined the army, ready to fight against the dwarves that had recently reconquered Erebor. It was for the simple matter of helping the Laketown people who had called for aide since the dragon attack burned down their town.

♡ There were carts of supplies you would all bring to the people who were currently taking refuge in Dale.

♡ The walk to Dale with all the supplies took quite a little while, but when you arrived and saw all the wounded, sick and how desperate everyone was for food - the trip was worth it. Once the King talked with the head of the group and figured out what had happened, he then handed out the supplies.

♡ All the elves got to work: helping the injured and sick with their knowledge of medicine, handing out food, blankets, water and more. You got to work cooking up a massive pot of soup with vegetables and some meat for everyone to have a serving of, as was requested of you.

♡ That was the main reason you were there helping. Your aide in battle was secondary, helping the people was your primary mission.

♡ When the battle began, you did your best to fight off the orc invasion in Dale. There was no reason for you to be fighting up front at the front gate of Erebor when there was a serious battle just at your own feet.

♡ Defending children and the elderly during all the chaos was the most difficult part of the battle. You had to make sure that, whilst they fought and laid finishing blows, they were not hit unaware by orcish archers.

♡ Once the battle was won and the war was over, it was time to help with the aftermath. Burying the dead, tending to the injured, cooking up pots of soup, or stew, for everyone and handing out bread, water and other necessary materials or foods for people to sustain themselves.

♡ The dwarves were allies at this point and did their best to right their wrongs. There was an especially friendly dwarf who came up beside you one evening with more vegetables and meat - exactly what you requested from the dwarves for the next meal - and he even helped you cook it all up.

♡ He knew some herbs that you had never seen before and you taught him some elvish cooking that made food taste more tender and juicy - it was wine, but don't tell the kids.

♡ Over time you got to know your new fellow chef, 'Bombur'. You two spent the next couple weeks cooking food for the hungry masses until everyone had food supplies and shelter to stay at in Dale. Repairs to houses took a while, but once most of the major houses were done for food storage and temporary shelter, you were relieved of duty.

♡ Despite that, whilst the King finished up his business with the dwarven king, Thorin, you continued to hang out with Bombur. Sitting around campfires, cooking smaller meals together, trading jokes, stories, adventures and tales. You grew quite fond of the dwarf.

♡ When it came time for you to return to the palace with the King Thranduil, you promised to write to Bombur and he promised the same.

♡ And you both kept your words.

♡ You sent letters back and forth for many months and occasionally visited the dwarf for special celebrations where he asked for your aide in cooking - an excuse to spend an evening with you.

♡ Many years later, after five full years of courting each other, you both got married and lived together in Erebor. The King Thranduil did not mind your choice in love and wished you luck on your journey.

♡ The King Thorin accepted you fully as another good chef in the kingdom and made sure a feast was prepared for your wedding so you and Bombur could relax and simply enjoy the day together.

♡ Another couple years passed. You were all sitting at a table enjoying a couple beers when Bofur spoke up, teasing Bombur. "Still can't believe you managed to find and romance such a beautiful lady, Bombur. I mean, her unique eye colours," He gestured to your central heterochromia, "...her stunning hair, glowing skin, incredible cooking, gosh Bombur, you're so lucky. I hope I find a pretty wife soon too.." He sighed, taking another swig of his fifth beer.

♡ The alcohol must've been hitting him, so you merely comforted the tired dwarf. "I'm sure there's someone out there waiting for you too, Bofur." You chuckled. "Right, Bombur?"

♡ Bombur was staring at you intensely when you turned to him.

♡ "Bombur?" You tried again, waving a hand in front of his face. "Erebor to Bombur, attention Bombur." You teased. He leaned in closer and you were expecting a kiss, but he hesitated and maintained strict eye-contact.

♡ "Your eyes are slightly different colours!!" He announced excitedly. There was a moment of surprise and silence until the whole table was roaring with laughter.

♡ "You only just now noticed?? We've been married two years!! Courted for five years!! Knew each other for many years before that, how did you not see this?" You gasped.

♡ "I never really took a good look at that...I assumed it was the same in both eyes...I thought it was candlelight most days." He admitted quietly. His whole face was red at this point, so you pinched his cheeks and gave him a quick kiss.

♡ "Darling, I love you! But for Mahal's sake, dear..."

♡ "I know...I'm sorry, love." He shyly offered you his food as an apology and sign of love.

♡ How he didn't notice for all those years remained a damn mystery in your mind. But that was okay, because he was a bit silly, but very sweet.

~~~

Gloin: (Platonic): (Orange and Black)

♡ When you were just a young dwarf, you got separated from your family and lost in a busy marketplace.

♡ Your parents went to look at jewelry whilst you looked at some well made toys and trinkets for children. By the time you were finished looking around...it was too late. You had completely forgotten where they said they were going to be.

♡ You started running around, ducking under people's bags and trays, darting between people and dodging their legs and arms.

♡ Whether it was by fate, luck or chance, when you started to give up your search; sitting down on a stone bench crying, Gloin walked past and noticed your small presence.

♡ He set his groceries down and sat beside you. "What's the matter, lad?" He asked softly, rubbing your back as you desperately tried to sob out coherent words.

♡ But Gloin had a child already and didn't have to spend too long decoding your gibberish to understand you lost your parents and were all alone in distress.

♡ "Aw, that's alright, laddie. Come along, I'll help you find your parents. Hold my hand so you don't get lost and let's go have a look, okay? I'm sure they're looking for you too." He gave you a soft smile and led you back into the centre of the bustling marketplace.

♡ He was correct - your parents had been worried sick looking for you. You apologized and hugged them. They were so relieved and grateful they invited Gloin, his wife and child all to dinner that evening and Gloin happily accepted.

♡ They shared their home address with him and let you two say goodbye before they headed home. You had such a big day, you needed a bath and snack before dinner.

♡ After that fateful day, Gloin and his family had remained good friends with your family and you would play with Gimli quite often. Hide and Seek, I Spy, Tag, you name it - y'all played it.

♡ Gloin would join in too with your own father! It was so much fun running around and squealing when they jumped out from the shadows with a "Boo!"

♡ Gloin was basically an Uncle figure to you. Constant visits, birthday celebrations and presents, babysitting you and Gimli when your parents went on a date night.

♡ And the same with your parents babysitting Gimli so Gloin could treat his love to a nice date night!

♡ When you became a teenager and started an apprenticeship in smithing, you slowly became self-conscious of your eye colours. This was an unusual feeling. Doubt? But also guilt perhaps?

♡ Like a spiraling feeling in your stomach...like your eye colours made you different. Made you stand out...and you felt guilty for it.

♡ You couldn't figure out what was wrong. What went wrong. Spending so many years feeling accepted by Gloin, your family, his family - especially Gimli. None of them even mentioned your heterochromia.

♡ They didn't point it out as if it was a major characteristic of yours, a defining feature, or trait. They always pointed out your creativity, your energetic and bubbly personality.

♡ But since starting the apprenticeship and working alongside other apprentices - they started pointing out how strange, or "different" or "weird" your eyes looked.

♡ These thoughts and confusing feelings kept you up at night. But you didn't dare mention it to anyone. This was a new and strange feeling that you still couldn't put into words.

♡ It felt a little silly that you felt guilty for something you were naturally born with. You couldn't explain how strange that feeling was.

♡ There must've been a noticeable change in your demeanor, however, as everyone started being extra doting and sweeter to you at home.

♡ This went on for months until one day you were sitting outside with Gloin and he asked how you had been feeling recently. "Since starting the apprenticeship." And that's when you broke down into tears.

♡ That small, slightly concerned, question was the final blow to your constant turmoil.

♡ "Aw, lad. I thought you looked a little down recently. Come here, it's okay...shhh...it's all going to be alright, laddie." Gloin hushed, rubbing circles on your back whilst hugging you.

♡ Once you had let out all your pent up emotions, you felt like you could explain how you felt to him. You told him how the other apprentices' comments had been making you feel.

♡ How you felt guilty, doubtful, unconfident, different...the list went on. Gloin didn't interrupt you the entire time you spoke. He simply listened and occasionally nodded. Until you had let all your thoughts out.

♡ You felt embarrassed for breaking down so fast, but Gloin spoke up. "I'm sorry you've been feeling like this for so long, lad." He sighed. "Maybe your eyes are different colours. And maybe you stand out a bit because of that...but that doesn't outshine the rest of you."

♡ "Y'know, everyone starts to feel like that when life gets strange, or difficult. And that's okay. What you've got to remember is the talents you possess. Your skill at crafting things, is who you truly are. The person you want to be - aspire to be! That's who you are. Your appearance will change with time. You might start to go blind...your hair will turn white, but what truly matters is what you do until then."

♡ "If you take their unthoughtful comments to heart, you might miss what's right in front of you by dwelling on how 'different' you feel. Focus on the present, laddie. Focus on this apprenticeship and show those apprentices what true skill and talent looks like! And when you show 'em up and prove their comments useless...well, I hope to be there...standing behind you - watching you shine."

♡ Gloin gave you a big bear hug and ruffled your hair a bit. "Alright, kid." He stood up with a grin. "All these feelings are exhausting and you must be hungry by now. After all, you're still growing." He chuckled and helped you to your feet.

♡ "Let's go get some dinner." The talk you had with him had really helped. You took his advice and ignored what other's said, unless it was advice or about your creations. You were passionate about your creations.

♡ You learned to make lots of different things. From swords and maces, to necklaces and rings. Eventually, you aced the apprenticeship and continued to work at the forge shop - selling your creations and accepting new challenges everyday.

♡ And if you ever had another bad day like that again...Gloin was right there for you - making sure you got back up to your feet and never gave up your passions and dreams.

♡ You were forever glad to Mahal for such an amazing friend.

~~~ The End ~~~

[cai-magica]

I've seen theories cropping up around the new trailer already and I'd like to comment on/add to them! Apologies for my (probably incoherent) rambling lmao, I am VERY EXCITED and I'm still gathering my thoughts together ♡

There seem to be multiple versions of Homura alongside Devil Homura herself, I'm assuming she's splitting herself off into her component parts similar to how she split the original Madoka from her final goddess form. There's a theory floating around that Homura has taken over Kyubey's role of recruiting magical girls, in which case it would make sense to have multiple of her. They don't seem to be a hivemind like the Incubators however, they seem to be individual iterations of Homura carrying their (her) own conflicting thoughts and emotions. We can see this in the new key art poster, she's facing off against herself.

The new outfits are interesting, Madoka's dress definitely looks like the one we saw in the concept movie. Sayaka's clothing also calls back to this, the bandaging covering her face similar to the mask we saw her wearing. This could indicate that she's being silenced somehow?

The new girl is very intruiging; her face is obscured, but her character design clearly incorporates elements of Homura, Mami and Madoka. She almost seems to be a combination/amalgamation of those three?

I'll probably add more to this later as I continue to gather my thoughts ♡ I am honestly beyond excited for this, we're finally getting an update to my all time favourite series ten years later! Winter 2024 cannot come soon enough ♡

[cerridwen007]

Put him in his Place.

        

Pairing: Javier Peña x f!reader

Word count: 3k (18+)

Summary: Javier comes home from a particularly hard day at work and instead of being able to help him relax and take his mind off work like you usually can, he snaps at you causing you to put him in his place.

Notes/warnings: SMUT,established relationship,oral (female and male receiving), fingering, unprotected p in v, slapping, rough sex, switch reader, switch Javier, powerplay, dirty talk, Javi being a cocky little brat.

A/N: This is the very first smut I've finished and am posting to Tumblr, so please let me know what you think/ what I can improve on. I'm pretty shit at editing but I looked over it a few times so hopefully it's okay/easy to read. Also when I was writing the start I kept thinking the song Sunny by Bobby Hebb would work really well with it for some reason. Like I was picturing it like a scene in a movie,(spoiler) Javi and reader just aggressively making out to that happy song haha, which I honestly don’t know if it's been done before. So if you wanted to maybe play that song just as you are about to start reading and see if it fits. Sorry for the long author's notes. Hope you enjoy it!

Javier and you have been rocky ever since Pablo Escobar got put in prison, a jail of his own design that was basically the opposite of a jail. Yes, Javier has been stressed since you met about work but now more than ever his stress has been through the roof.

Usually you were able to calm him down with a drink and some "relief" and he would be fairly relaxed till something else at work came up. You understood it was a stressful job and a stressful case. You just hoped it would be over soon because seeing Javier stressed all the time killed you a little inside. Although you didn't mind one bit helping him relax in more ways than one. Tonight was a bit different though.

Javier opened the door hard, making a loud bang, he slammed his fist against the door shutting it. "Fucken hell!" You cringed a little at the loud noises before walking over to greet him in the most soothing voice you could. "Hi Javi, baby, how was your day?" It didn't work. Instead of responding "not the best but atleast I'm here with you now" like he usually did before giving you a big long kiss, he angrily walks past you.

"I need a drink"

Before you can go to pour him one he grabs himself a full glass of whiskey and knocks it back in one go. He then starts pouring himself a second glass. You chime in trying to calm the lion. "Honey I made your favourite tonight! And after dinner maybe I could run you a nice hot bath, and then maybe I'll let you have a little show of my new lingerie set!"

Instead of scooping you up and taking you to the bedroom with a sly smirk on his face like you expected him to do he scoffs and shoots down his second drink of the night. He gets up and walks over to the door not even making eye contact with you.

"I'm going out, don't wait up."

You grab his wrist gently, "Hey I don't know what happened at work today, we can talk about it if you want but we don't have to but I don't think it's a good idea to drink your troubles away.

"God, nothing happened at work okay, stop mothering me and leave me like the rest do okay!"

His words hurt a little and they hurt hearing knowing he is hurting and that for some reason he doesn't want to confide in you about it or let you help him. But still you brushed them aside knowing that Javier struggled to open up sometimes.

"Okay I understand your upset Javi but please don't take this out on me okay I'm just trying to help you cause I care about you."

He pulls his wrist away from you  and looks into your eyes with an anger you haven't ever seen in your shared home, a look that is only used when dealing with the most terrible criminals in Bogota.

"I’m not fucken taking anything out on you okay bitch, you're just being a clingy whiny child that won't leave me alone, for God's sake I need my space."

Something overcomes you, you are not ever an aggressive person even in the bedroom, and you knew that it was not the normal Javier speaking, no disrespecting, you like that and that he must have had a hell of shitstorm day at work but still, you needed to put him in his place.

You raise your hand and slap him fairly hard across his cheek. You immediately feel bad and go to apologise. " i...i...sorry I didn-"

"Do it again"

"What?"

"Slap me again, harder this time"

" if this is trap I don't want-"

"It's nothing like that, don't get me wrong I love how much you care despite what I said but this what I saw in your eyes as you slapped me, that passion, made me wanna ravage you all night."

Each word he speaks you see the desire grow in his eyes and the wetter you get.

"Stop talking."

You slap a little lower and harder on his jawline leaving a red mark that stings his smirking face. You both lunge at each other holding each other's face in your hands, lips pressed firmly against one another's, tongues slip in and out of eachothers mouth dancing around, encased in wetness.

Javier pushes you against the wall hard, smashing the glass of the picture frame behind you. You moan out in pain and pleasure. You push off the wall walking Javier backwards and your hands start roaming to each other's bodies each trying to get each other's clothes off as fast as possible. Your lips only break to catch your breaths and to get a better look at the buttons.

You push him up against the wall this time keeping you body close to his. He groans a little in pleasure as you do. He pushes off the wall and the shirts come off. In one quick movement he undoes your bra and hoists you up so your legs wrap around his hips. Throwing you against the wall harder times you both moan, you can feel his hard cock pushing against your waist.

He kisses down your jawline, down your neck to your breasts where he fondles them in his hands and sucks on the left nipple, the stimulation of one of your most sensitive areas causes you to moan loudly. You brace yourself with one hand on the wall palm flat. The other hand on the nape of Javi's neck moving up to his soft dark short hair.

He switches nipples, you grind against his cock hinting you want more as the desire builds up in you more and more. He takes the hint and pulls you off the wall putting his lips back against yours, hot and wet. His hands go down you back to your ass where they hold on for dear life. He backs into the bedroom. Your hand that was on the wall now holds his jaw. He turns around and throws you both down on the bed, him on top of you.

He strips your pants off you quickly before doing the same to himself. The heat between your legs rises seeing his toned tan arms flex as they literally rip your panties off you, pulling the shreds down your legs out of the way. He looks like a wild animal about to sink its teeth into prey, eyes alive with anger, hunger and lust. But you're not backing off in fear.

You pull him close to your body and roll so you're on top of him, and grab his member in his boxers firmly, he raises his hips and head up, his brows crease together overcome with pleasure with a tinge of pain. You grab the top of his head, his soft warm brown hair gripped between your white knuckles. Pulling a little you put him in his place.

"You won't do any of that till I tell you to.” you harshly whisper into his face, releasing his cock from your firm grip.

He stares in your eyes not breaking contact, his lips slightly turning into a smirk while his eyes are still very much alive with passion and hate.

"Oh yeah?" He growls

He flips you over so he is on top now. He grabs your wrists with one of his hands and raises it above your head. This is a play for power now. Javier liked your fire and control just as much as he likes having his own. So he wants to test to see how far you will go before you give into him.

"You're going to regret that" you say with a firm tone.

"Make me" he smirks

You lift your head to kiss him. He goes in for the kiss. You swerve and sink your teeth semi lightly into the crevice between his neck and shoulder, leaving a mark that will last a while. Javi pulls away and groans in pain, but is turned on more than ever. While he's distracted you pull your wrists apart from his hold and flip so you're on top again, straddling him.

"You're being a very bad boy," you hiss.

"Can't help it" he smiles, grinning.

You push firmly down on his chest and go to kiss the mark you gave him seconds before. You leave a trail of kisses and bites into his skins down his chest and stomach. He groans with every contact, each making his cock pulse in need of release. You make it to his boxes and pull them down slowly. You lick your lips and purse them around the tip of his dick. He whimpers quietly.

"I haven't even started yet baby and you're already whimpering, can't wait for you to start screaming my name."

You say smirking before putting your lips back on his throbbing dick, pushing the tip past your lips and adding a hand to his thick cock.

You start slow but quickly build momentum and his dick becomes slick with your spit and his precum. He fights the urge to buck his hips up and instead grips the sheets with one of his veiny hands and pushes some of your hair behind your ear with the other.

"F...fuck sweetheart.... you're too good at that!"

You smirk around his cock, your teeth lightly graze him for a second causing him to groan loudly. You fasten your strokes as he moans in total pleasure. You smirk to yourself knowing you almost got it out of him. 

Moaning your name turns into incomprehensible whimpers as you bring him to his high, but you're not finished till you milk out every last drop with your hands firm around him, licking everything he has to offer.

Both of you breathless, you go up to his face and passionately kiss, exchanging the taste of him and his pleasure to his own tongue. He goes to sit you up and switch positions before kneeling in front of you so he can offer you some release now.

"Oh... no baby you don't have to do that... tonight's all about making you feel goo-"

"Please... let me... please let me make you feel as good as you just made me feel... let me taste your sweetness."

He was begging you to let him stuff his face between your thighs. God it made you feel powerful, to have a man like Javier on knees before you, you couldn't say no to that. Not to mention that everytime he ate you out, (which with Javier was often because he couldn't get enough of you) he left your legs trembling for the rest of the night from his fucken godly tongue.

"Okay baby, you've begged enough." You tease.

Before you can say another word his face dives between your warmth, head first into your wet folds. He licks a tender strip up your pussy before teasing your pulsating clit with the tip of his tongue. You throw your head back and uncontrollably moan out.

“Fuck!”

He wraps his hands around your thighs and pulls your centre closer to him. He slips a thick finger into you slowly causing you to arch your back into his touch.

"Javi" you breathily moan, totally succumbing to the divine pleasure that this man was devoted to giving you just with his mouth and hands. The pathetic whines you make as he slips a second finger into your hole, pumping them in and out of your pussy make his cock twitch. But he pushes down the need to be buried deep inside you till he fully repays the pleasure you gave him.

Knowing how close you are by the more strangled and loud moans coming from your pretty little mouth, he fucks you harder and deeper with his fingers and further stimulates your throbbing clit with his tongue, very gently biting down occasionally, blending the lines of pain and pleasure.

"Cum for me cariño, give me all your sweet essence to drink.  He breathes against your wet centre.

Those words push you over the edge. A series of loud breathy moans escape your mouth, your legs trembling, threatening to crush Javi's head, but he doesn't care or notice. He is too busy working you through your high, licking up every sweet drop of your liquid pleasure he can get from you.

He eventually comes up and crawls up to you cradle your reddened face between his hands, passionately kissing your plump lips.The taste of both of your pleasures are exchanged, dancing around each other tongues. You break away, both of you still out of breath from the previous activities. He lies down on his back next to you.

Your mind flashes back to the start of the night, the events that ultimately led you here. You feel the heat rise in your cheeks once again as the anger you felt overcomes you once again. You think Javi still needs to be taught a lesson, and just thinking about putting him in his place makes your pussy ache in need for his cock to fill the emptiness his fingers left moments ago filled.

Noticing a shift in the air, Javi asks you what you're thinking about.

"Oh just how I still think you need to be put in your place Peña." You growl.

He smirks, loving every second of this new power dynamic he gets. "Oh you gonna teach me a lesson baby" he teases waiting for a reaction out of you.

"Oh you fucken bet, smartass" you snap back. Quickly you move on top of him again and slap his face. 

“Your a very lucky man Javi, to be blessed with such a patient partner who is used to dealing your shitty attitude, offering every ounce of love and care she has to you every time you have a bad day at work, sucking your dick so hard you forget all you problems for the night.”

“Oh yeah I sure am lucky-”

You push your thumb to his lips while holding his chin in the rest of your fingers, shushing him. 

“I wasn't finished talking!” you snap.

“Someone better teach you a lesson about manners before someone permanently shuts that dirty little mouth of yours.”

Javi gulps, his cock straining against your warm weight above needing more and more to release his show of affection in your tight wet cunt.

You tip his chin up, pulling your thumb down his lips slowly. You push your face close to his, mouths almost touching. 

“What, cat got your tongue?” you whisper seductively in his mouth, licking your lips. Your hot breath causes his cock to pulsate even more and goosebumps to emerge over his neck. He swallows hard, a quiet moan escaping his throat.

“Good boy, you finally learnt that it's best to shut up then let your sly tongue ruin the fun for you.” you joke.

You once again firmly grab his throbbing boner and stroke it a few times before guiding it to your entrance, you slowly sit down on it, letting your cunt adjust to his wide length. Breathy moans fall out of both of your mouths. Once you reach the base, you let half of his cock fall out before taking it all again. You fasten your pace, arching your back as the angle his cock hits every time causes your breath to hitch in your throat, making strangled moans. 

He becomes a whimpering mess below you, both from the pleasure you were bestowing upon him and because of his overwhelming need to turn you over and fuck the shit out of you himself, fueled by the need to appease and pleasure the one good thing in his life.

“Please let me fuck you baby make you feel way better than you can make yourself feel bouncing on my dick.”

You stare at him, at first annoyed but then smile knowing that nobody can make you feel as good as he can, even yourself. You felt you had teased him enough tonight not letting him take full control like he usually did. You smirk nodding and give a playful slap on his chest.

“Okay but you better fuck the shit out me pretty boy, make my cunt ache for days after this.”

“Oh mi amor, you won’t be able to even walk for days after this.” he said with a smirk twisting into a devilish smile.

He swiftly sits up to embrace you tightly, his pace quickly surpassing that off your own. The new angle hitting you somehow even deeper than before, causing your eyes to roll back into your head. You now are the one who whimpers pathetically, love-drunk on every mind numbing thrust Javi provides you. Chills run throughout your body as Javi brings you closer and closer to your orgasm. In between his deep grunts and breathes he whispers dirty, dirty words into your ear. 

“Yeah that’s right… nobody can make you feel as good..as…I can cariño.”

“I love your tight little cunt….and those little desperate sounds you make… when I fuck the shit out it.”

“God you look so fucken pretty…. when you're about cum on my cock… wanna stay like this… with you forever.”

The both of you are so close, to help you finish he squeezes to tighter, closer to him, kneading one of your breasts with one hand and circling you clit with the other, using his hands as the anchors to enter your pussy as hard and fast as he can. Your hand reaches up to behind his head as you both simultaneously reach your high.

“Ahhhh…. fuck…. Javi…. you feel so good!”

You turn your head and look at him, he leans forward and kisses your forehead, panting hard as he rides out his high. He carefully slips out his softening dick out of your aching, sensitive pussy. You both fall into the bed holding each close as you catch your breaths yet again. 

“Fuck I think i’m going to need you come home from work angry more often.” you laugh out of breath.

He laughs against the back of your neck. “Yeah also feel free to slap me whenever you want cause fuck… that was hot.”

You both laugh, nodding. This night turned out better than expected, and you wish to be nowhere else except here entwined closely with the love of your life, hot,sticky and tired after you extraneous activities, slowly drifting to sleep with nothing but the sounds of busy Bogotá and Javi’s deep breaths caressing your neck.

[fraternum-momentum]

This is so so stupid but I got very happy when I read in your strawpage you are from 2003 too, I've lurking around seeing your art ever since DOL caught my eye and you're one of my favourite artists so having that bit in common is cool! I also love your DOL designs, especially Kylar's and Whitney's but the fave gotta be your PC she's so pretty! Seeing your fanarts keeps tempting me into posting dol art of my own so if I ever draw dol I'll draw our wet cat (Kylar) together >:)

Also if you haven't played Fields of Mistria or Homicipher I definitely recommend them! The first one is similar to Stardew Valley in the sense you're a farmer, you can decorate your house and romance any of the bachelors/bachelorettes but this one is more fantasy-like and the artstyle reminds me of 80s anime and Sailor Moon. The second came out recently and I haven't played it yet but I saw the trailer and some fanarts; you wake up in a terrifying unknown world where you have to survive and the romance options are very creepy men, one of the appeals of this one is trying to learn the world's language, it looks fun

Wish you a nice weekend! PS: Is it ok to follow you if I like South Park? I know DOL is darker when it comes to sexual stuff but just in case I prefer to ask boundaries

HELL YEAA '03 BABIESS 🤝🤝 ngl that dol era was probably peak bc i was fucking around with a lot of my mooties and just interacting with the fandom in general, it was so funnnn :3 and ky and whit r probably the most popular ones out of the 4 school li's (designwise my favs r still my fallen syds bc pretty) so understandable (⌒_⌒)d

but thats insane that u find my pc pretty bc thats probably the most boring, most generic looking self insert ever 😭😭😭😭 so many people have cooler looking pcs out there so im flattered that u like mine 😭😭😭 ??????? for some reason 😭 ??????????

and you totally should !!!! (if u want to of course) despite me not posting as much dol as i used to i still love seeing dol fanart !! but do whatevr ur heart desiresss and no pressure :3

and i've actually been following the development of fields of mistria ever since i saw march in my twt feed !! i just want to wait for the full release so i dont have to keep repeating playthroughs n stuff (its the same with hades 2, i just tried out the beta test bc its free so i went why not lmao)

OKAY. I KNOW i said im gonna play homicipher but like,,,,,,,,, this is def just a me thing but when everyone keeps saying to play this thing or watch this thing (arcane,,,, homicipher,,,) it just disincentivises me to do it 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 especially when i know im gonna like the thing. IDK WHY,,,, maybe its kinda like the same philosophy as someone telling u to do the dishes when ur alr on ur way to do the dishes and like ok i dont want to do it anymore ?? idkkk its weirdd

Re: P.S. you can follow me from whatever fandom ur in ! as long as youre not a minor and u have either 'adult' or your age in bio then its all good

SORRY I WAS KINDA CONFUSED AS TO WHO U WERE TALKING ABT I THOUGHT IT WAS THE HORSE 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 i think u meant celia from tpof :3 ? that's probably one of my favorite drawings ive done ! i dont remember how i did it anymore thou,,,,,,,,

AND YEAA!!! i used to be an infamous irumatsu shipper back when i was active on my main on insta ! my silly lesbiabs,,,,,,,,,, they r everything to me,,,, my favorite chara is shuichi tho ♡

CATCHING UP WITH LORE 😭😭 U DONT HAVE TO DO ALL THAT,,, u arent missing out on much dw 😭 ty tho,,

weirdly enough i never got into creepypastas. i def stumbled into them from time to time like slenderman, jeff the killer, ben drowned n shit but i think ever since i got scared shitless by the smiledog.jpeg (??) i never stepped my foot into creepypasta territory ever again 😭😭😭😭😭 ok i like horror but im really really bad with jumpscares and suspence and stuff. i get scared easily orz,,

ive heard of it ! seen a lot of (really insane) fanart for it !! havent played it tho but i like some of the designs :3 i keep seeing the guy with the horns? malleus ? hes cute,, well tbh all of them r cute so its a hard choice

[pareidoliasys]

I love ZZZ and I love Hi3, Part 1 and Part 2, can we please stop comparing them and also stop shitting on Part 2 I'm so tired, I have so many thoughts and I'm tired and sleepy and might! Delete this in the morning who knows, maybe my thoughts will change by then. I'm just. So exhausted of this

Positivity at the end regardless. It's not all hurt and doom and gloom

- A story that is life changing and completely stunning with some of my favourite characters of all time

Things Honkai Impact 3rd is:

- An 8 year old game with a structure originally built to run on the mobile devices of the time which does make it stiff to play at times but still makes it an absolute wonder

- Doing it's best building off the clunky original code base of the game

- Continuing to make great stories with Part 2 while trying to make it's own identity as a new Era of Honkai Impact

Things Honkai Impact 3rd is not:

- Failing to live up to its past with the new part, there's been 3 chapters and most of the people I see complaining about it haven't played more than the first chapter and even if they have they look at it with such a clouded and negative lense, the part 2 story is WONDERFUL and it just gets better with each chapter

- The Worse ZZZ, Honkai Impact is and always has been its own thing in comparison to EVERY Hoyoverse game to come after it, even Honkai Star Rail is not like Honkai Impact at all.

- Deserving of being completely shit on constantly, criticism is fine but I've not seen any good cases of that in months, I actually do have my own criticisms of hi3 part two even if it's been my entire life since it came out but nobody approaches it critically nowadays because they're too stuck in part 1

Things Zenless Zone Zero is:

- The best combat I've played in a while for a gacha game

- Full of really fun characters and designs with amazing and fluid character animation

- A game that came out around two days ago and barely has given us enough to make a proper judgement on the quality of the story.

Things Zenless Zone Zero is not:

- A HONKAI IMPACT 3RD REPLACEMENT

- A GAME THAT SHOULD BE COMPARED TO AN 8 YEAR OLD GAME CONSTANTLY JUST TO CLOWN ON THE OLD GAME

Can we please. Judge ZZZ on its own merits without making people feel shit for enjoying Honkai Impact 3rd and especially for liking Part 2. I don't even want ZZZ to be in the same category of games as the other Hoyoverse games, please, let it be it's own thing so we can just enjoy it for what it is, super ultra fun.

I hate continually seeing people I Look Up To in the Honkai Impact 3rd community using part 2 as a punching bag for not immediately having the most engaging first chapter ever when we ALL know how bad Hi3 was before Chapter 9, so many people go out of their way just to explain to newcomers that it gets good by chapter 9 and how the early chapters suck and you have to read several Manga just for anything to make sense.

Give Part 2 the love it deserves, stick with it for longer that one or two chapters, play through the third chapter and wait with the rest of us for chapter 4 through 6 and beyond, if it continues to disappoint you that's fair but please stop thinking of it like Part 1. It's not Part 1, it's not Part 1.5 and definitely not something like Part 1.5 the second, it's a new story that has its own characters and its own dynamics and its own story to tell with characters who have an incredible amount of depth to them, like Thelema and Songque.

I love Honkai Impact Part 1, I love Honkai Impact Part 2 and I love Zenless Zone Zero. Can we just enjoy our own things without constant negativity with all the comparisons. It's so so so tiring. These are amazing worlds that touch the hearts of so many and that.. Is what should be focused on.

We should focus on the lives that these stories change, the people who were made better by the experiences these games gave them. Focus on the amazing artists in these communities that feed everyone amazing works of all kinds and focus on the passion behind both the people working behind the games and the passion of the people playing them. That's what deserves the focus here, not lashing out with negativity when there's good in the world like this.

I wouldn't be where I am in life without Honkai Impact 3rd. And I am forever grateful that I now get to be here to experience ZZZ with the people I love who I met because of Hi3.

That's what's most important to me in the end.

[arminreindl]

About a week into the ongoing Atlantis Challenge by @knuppitalism-with-ue and these are my current entries. I want to challenge myself this time by going with different mediums of art for the individual entries as well.

Unsurprisingly, my favourite entry concerns the two species of crocodilians I submitted, both with their own inspiration. Obviously the cookoo caiman is inspired by cookoo birds, but theres also elements of chinese alligators (for being "chatty") and dwarf caimans (for wandering around). The whole "chirping to get the attention of larger species" is partially inspired by an annectode of researchers handling the juvenile of a smaller species (iirc a New Guinea, tho I might be wrong) only to be charged by a large adult saltie. The Loggerhead takes its design from extinct species like Kinyang and Baru, making my gator from phase 2 more robust. The flaring tail osteoderms are an exaggerated version of something I've seen in a particular Orinoco croc. Both were drawn traditionally with pencil and colored digitally.

The Zeus quail is mostly for fun. Again based on an entry from last phase (the Olympian quail) I went all out with the Zeus comparisson because idk, felt like it would be interesting. The anatomy is based on large, robust birds like grouse. Obviously I used watercolors in the execution.

And then there's the Garden Howler, an ape like plesiadapiform with a face only a mother could love. Hell even as the creator I think they are ugly as sin, but thats the point. Fully digital is not something I do a lot, but again, experimenting. Inspiration comes from both the Greek Sirens (the bird like ones) sitting in rocky areas and singing (like howlers monkeys or gibbons in this case). There's obviously elements of proboscis monkeys and a touch of mermaid hints with their habit of diving into water if available.

[e-vay]

EVAY QA BULK POST 2

Here's a new assembly of asks, assorted by topics so you can browse only what interests you:

PERSONAL ASKS

Anon Asked: Have you ever watched The Nightmare Before Christmas? I was wondering if you watch it during Halloween or Christmas or do you consider it as both for the two seasons?

A: I LOVE THAT MOVIE!!! I consider it appropriate to watch for the last quarter of the whole year haha.

Anon Asked: Do you sometimes envision you and your husband as Sonic and Amy?

A: I do not, we really aren't anything like them. Ryan is very quiet and humble and shy. And yes I am forward and romantic like Amy, but unlike her, I'm an annoying little gremlin LOL!

Anon Asked: Have you ever watch 'Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'? You MIGHT like it amd I highly recommend you watching it ( but don't force yourself if you don't want to)

A: I've never actually watched it properly, but I've watched compilations of it and I really enjoyed what I saw! I love the art style of it and I like how all the turtles are unique. Plus Ben Schwartz, c'mon!

Anon Asked: Hi e-vay, have you ever played life is strange?

A: Hi! YES! I loved that game. Nana always said that she was Chloe and I was Max haha. I didn't play the sequel though.

Anon Asked: Here’s some positivity to counter that negative ask you got! What’s your favourite thing about your new style? *grabby hands* Gimme all the details!

A: I appreciate that. Honestly, I didn't purposely "change" the way I draw; art just evolves over time ¯_(ツ)_/¯ Besides, I still think my style is MY style. I feel like the characters are more on-model and expressive and don't look as flat as I used to draw. If people don't like my art anymore that's fine. I like it, so really that's all that matters.

Anon Asked: EVAY I AM DISTRAUGHT, I've been perusing your blog looking at fanfics but I keep coming across some posts that I can't access anymore like ones by kbspeeding :( Do you know of any way to read them?

A: I know, it breaks my heart, too :( To my knowledge, there's no way to access the posts of anybody who has deactivated their accounts. I wish that wasn't the case because I sincerely miss her work, but I have to respect her and others' decisions to remove their content.

MISC SONIC ASKS

Anon Asked: What do u think of the amy rose ballerina hc? I think it’s so beautifully graceful and fits her so well💗🩰?

A: I'm not sure what specific headcanon you're referencing, but I definitely believe she knows ballet! Especially her idle animations in the Boom games. That girl knows how to dance.

Anon Asked: Do you like sonic unleashed or have you ever played it?

A: I never had the chance to play it, but I love the story and I love what I've seen. I am hoping they'll re-release it for the PS4 (or PS5) so I can finally play it!

Anon Asked: If you don’t mind me asking, what do you think of Barry the Quokka, the protagonist from The murder of sonic the hedgehog? If you don’t know anything about them what do you think of their design?

A: Of course I know the trash bin king! I like his design a lot. He's super cute and I love a nervous wreck of a character. I also loved that he was just this totally normal dude who has to spend an afternoon with the most insane group of friends ever.

Anon Asked: If you had to choose, what is your favorite and your least favorite sonic game?

A: I always have a hard time answering this because there are so many styles of games and I think some are better at certain aspects than others. For example, I think Frontiers had the best writing and actor perfomances. I still think Sonic Adventure 2 has the best gameplay and replay value. And Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is my favorite of the classics because I think it's the most visually perfect and the gameplay is a lot of fun. But if I have to choose, I guess I have to go with SA2 because I never get sick of it. My least favorite is Sonic Spinball haha I suck at it.

@tonyrockstar15 asked: Hey E-Vay, have you thought of making your own Sonic Fan-Cartoon?

A: I kind of already do that with my comics :) I would love to make animations, but unfortunately I just don't have the time to do that kind of thing regularly.

Anon Asked: Do you think sonic does his taxes?

A: He has no income! But if he did make any money, I'm sure Tails would make him do it (and by that I mean, file his taxes for him because he's worried Sonic will do it wrong)

@twistedchaos101 asked: Hey, What is your expectation for the new Sonic Frontiers DLC?

A: Sweet, sweet content! By the time I'm writing this I've already played some of it and I LOVE IT! UGH, Sonic Team has been so good to us in 2023! 😭💙

Anon Asked: Hey E-Vay! Big fan of your art. I was curious to know what’s going to happen with the Hell Hath No Fury comic? Will it be continued or left up to fan interpretation following the Shadow page?

A: Thank you so much! I will finish it. It won't be left up for interpretation. I just have to get to it.

Anon Asked: Is there a possibility that everyone I mean Sonic,Shadow,Amy,Tails, Aurora and so on have some mental illness? I now that Shadow does have PTSD at some point, but does anyone else have some specific mental illness? Btw love your art ✨

A: Thank you so much for the compliment! I'm not a professional so I don't feel right diagnosing anyone with anything, even if they are fictional characters. I personally suffer from anxiety and depression so I can speak to that, but I don't think I am the person to comment on anything else.

MY OCs/AU ASKS

Here are some fun questions I received from @pccyouthleader about Aurora that I wanted to share:

Q: What are Aurora’s primary and secondary love languages?

A: I had to take the Love Language quiz as Aurora. I got her primary as Quality Time. Physical Touch and Acts of Service were nearly tied for second.

Q: Does she like practical jokes? I remember you saying at one point that sometimes she acts without considering the reactions.

A: Yes! She loves a good prank, so long as it doesn’t hurt anybody. Sometimes she doesn’t realize that not everybody enjoys a practical joke though.

Q: Is Aurora competitive?

A: She is, because she feels like she’s got a lot to prove. But not to the point where she’s going to hurt a kids feelings just so she can say she won at something. She’s always going to let little ones win.

Q: Do she have a guilty pleasure?

A: She loves reading romance novels and sometimes she writes friend-fictions like Amy does in Sonic Boom or Tina in Bob’s Burgers hahaha

Q: What quality does she most value in Shadow?

A: She loves how he is unapologetically himself, if that makes sense. Despite what he was created for, he is his own man/hedgehog and he’s forged his own path. Even when others try to put him down or break him, he knows who he is and he doesn’t back down and she’s in awe of that.

Q: Pet peeves?

A: Closed-mindedness is the main thing. Whether that’s about something important like accepting somebody for who they are, or something small like not willing to try a type of food for the first time. She doesn’t understand how people can be like that and it irks her. She also hates when people agree to something and then they flake out haha

Q: If she were shopping, what type of store would she choose and what type of item?

A: One of those record stores that has a little bit of everything. You go there for music and movies and books and they always have fun, quirky gifts. Even though the world she lives in is futuristic, she can appreciate classic things and finds them fascinating. Otherwise yeah she’d love a thrift shop because there’s always strange stuff in there. Wherever she shops, she can’t leave any store without getting something silly that she found cute.

Q: What is her most and least favorite chore?

A: Her favorite chore is spring cleaning, where everybody rummages through everything and downsizes stuff. She likes it just because of the things she’ll find that she’s forgotten about or never knew was in the house. Her least favorite chore is laundry. It’s boring and it never ends!

Q: Outside of swimming and singing, what others hobbies does she have?

A: She loves to dance, that’s a big one. I’ve also joked in the past that she’d do really well if Shadow ever brought her to a gun range, so with that in mind she’d find things like laser tag and paintball super fun

Q: I remember you saying she hadn’t traveled a lot, so if Aurora could choose anywhere to visit, what place would she most like to see?

A: She’d love to go to outer space. She’d never been to space before meeting Shadow. But she also gets that it’s a “ridiculous” dream since she hasn’t even explored all of her own planet yet. Honestly she would be happy to travel anywhere, she wants to see the whole world and beyond. She wants to experience the most of life.

Q: What is her favorite fairy tale?

A: Thumbelina. She could see herself in that story a lot: a small lady who is loved but doesn't really fit in anywhere, and gets whisked around by others trying to control what she does with her life. In the end she's rewarded for her kindness and finally finds where she belongs.

-----

@nerdk7 asked: Don’t know if you answered this question, but how did Shadow propose to Aurora? Was it sweet? Chaotic? Or both?

A: I can't reveal that yet! 🥰 I want to keep it a surprise!

@mod-bubamon asked: I have a question about cc...maybe a few im sorry I'm kinda obsessing over how adorable she is tailsxcc for life We know cc can indeed feel,but can she feel pain? Does she know about the ai art and apps? How does she feel about them? I'm sure that in winter mobians fur coats grow thicker. So did cc somehow implement that into her body? Also how much more cuddly would she get when tails fur grows out? Sorry for all the questions out of nowhere, I've been a fan since I've started tumblr a while ago.

A: Please don't ever apologize for questions. I'm happy you're so interested! And especially glad you enjoy CC! When she was in her original "drone-like" form she couldn't feel pain but she could feel fear. When she builds her Mobian body, she engineers it so she does have all kinds of feeling-receptors, including pain. Not that pain is enjoyable to her, but it's important for her to be able to have as much of the Mobian-experience as possible. I wasn't expecting AI Art to pop off the way it has so I never thought to include it in my work. CC is beyond the AI form now though, she's a full on person. Just like Sage became a full person, beyond just her programming. So I think she and Sage have the ability to create their own forms of art from their own minds. I think I've address something similar in the past: CC has the ability to just play music from her body like a speaker, but she preferred to learn how to play an instrument because she wanted to experience the art form properly. CC didn't think to include a winter coat for her Mobian body, but upon snuggling with Tails she'd definitely add that to her list of future modifications! He's the fluffiest of them all in the winter so he'd be so snuggly and warm and lovely. Thank you for following me!

@firerush asked: What does Aurora think of her Werehog form? What does she think of Shadow's or even Sonic's if that's canon?

A: She likes that she's finally tall, but other than that she doesn't like how she looks. She's very self-conscious about her werehog form. But she loves how Shadow and Sonic look as werehogs.

@jhyannarqq768 asked: How would you think if Aurora was the project while shadow was a mortal one? And i just wanted to ask how would you think if there's a another universe that Aurora it's he imortal and shadow it's the mortal?

A: Well, if she was the project she wouldn't be Aurora. She is the creation of Sonic and Amy so without them she wouldn't exist :) As far as her being immortal and Shadow being mortal: If Shadow was engineered in the 50s and he wasn't made immortal then they never would have met. He would have passed away long before she ever came around.

Anon Asked: How good of a fighter is Rory?

A: She is average as far as physical combat. She's better at diversions and dodging, using an opponents' energy against them. If she was playable in a game, I imagine she'd have a lot of QTE actions that allow her to dodge a boss and make them tire themselves out before she uses her light powers to damage them. While she attended the Young Heroes program she learned combat, but Sonic never wants her in harms' way so he instructed her to always try to distance herself from enemies so she can use her long-range light powers. But she won't back down from a fight if it means she can protect someone else.

@jordanjoebanana asked: Can the Shadora kids turn super when they have all the emeralds or is it only just Shadow,Aurora,and Sonic?

A: All the kids can go super except for the third litter (Cinder, Diamond and Boon). Those three aren't able to use chaos emeralds at all. The family does not know why.

@mysticalsuitfury asked: What led you to create a child for sonamy and naming her aurora?

A: I always make fan kids for everything I'm obsessed with. If you knew me from my Naruto days, I had a huge world of Naruto kids. So naturally I wanted to give my favorite couple of all time (Sonic and Amy) a kid! As far as the name, Aurora is my favorite name in the world. Ever since I saw Sleeping Beauty as a child, I've loved that name. So I gave my favorite name to the child of my favorite couple. Also I think it suits her personality: Colorful, cheerful, hopeful.

@twistedchaos101 asked: Aurora speaks how many languages?

A: She only speaks English.

@aurorathehedge6 asked: How old is Ruff and T-Bone since Aurora is now an adult and have kids?

A: Ruff is 8 years younger than Aurora and Tumble is 12 years younger than Aurora. For most of my comics where Aurora is not yet married, she is 20 years old.

@animeartbros asked: Do Aurora Piper and Blitz hang out much?

A: Piper and Blitz are constantly bickering so a girls' day out tends to involve a lot of yelling and picking on each other haha. It involves a lot of Aurora going "Girls, remember, your sister is your best friend for life. You don't know how lucky you are to have siblings! TT_TT Please stop fighting."

Anon Asked: Has shadow ever taught any or all of his kids how to use a gun and if so how did Aurora feel about it? | And another Anon asked: If Shadow tells his children where babies come from, I am sure that he taught them how to 'defend yourself' with a gun at a very young age ... or at least tried haha I see sometimes short comics in which Shadow tries to teach Cream how to use a gun and I can imagine that this mf would totally try to do the same with his children. Would Shadow succeed if he tried this or would Aurora stop him?

A: Gun-wielding is a part of Shadow's identity so I'd never take that aspect away from him. And Aurora actually enjoys shooting too (targets, not people!) so she doesn't feel weird about that topic. However, I believe that they are huge proponents for RESPONSIBLE GUN OWNERSHIP so they keep all their weapons securely locked up and unloaded at ALL TIMES. And Shadow wouldn't teach the kids how to shoot until they're MUCH older and responsible enough to handle such a dangerous weapon. But you'd better believe he trained them well in marksmanship via laser tag and paintball as kids!

Anon Asked: Hi! I noticed that in your Aurora-comics Sonic grows a mustache as he gets older - what made him come to that decision? And what does Amy think about it???? What about kissing Sonic with a 'stache? I, personally, think he kind of resembles Eggman so, I'm not that big of a fan but that doesn't matter! I'm more interested on their POV. I still love the way you draw them, btw. And it's really sweet to see them together through the passage of time 🥰

A: Hi and thank you so much! Honestly, the reason I gave him a mustache was just to make him appear older haha. I tried multiple ways to age him up but the mustache was the most effective. Originally, I wanted to give him something more distinguished but I ran into two problems: 1 - I didn't want people mistaking him for Uncle Chuck. 2 - I don't see Sonic taking the time to properly sculpt a mustache/beard, so I gave him something rough and simple haha. I have drawn him deciding to grow it out and Amy's reaction to it :) Amy loved it, then didn't like it, then went back to loving it because now she gets the most ticklish, delicious kisses! 🥰 The good thing about hair/fur is that it's not permanent! You can always change it :)

Anon Asked: Omg ur feeding us so WELL with the content I honestly can’t picture actual sonic canon anymore without Aurora like she is completely canon in my mind I love her so much!! Also I have a kinda weird question, if Aurora saw a gay or lesbian couple out in public as a little kid and she was curious about it, how would sonic or amy explain it to her?

A: Aw, thank you! Well the Sonic franchise has been feeding ME well this year so I have the energy to nourish you all hahaha. I'm so happy you accept Aurora 🥰 I like to think that Sonic and Amy are very accepting and loving people and would raise their children to believe that too. Also, Aurora is VERY used to seeing public displays of affection from her parents, so if she saw two people kissing or holding hands in public, no matter their gender, she'd be bouncing up and down "OOH ARE THEY IN LOVE?! ARE THEY IN LOVE??" and Sonic and Amy would be like "That's right, Tiny!"

Anon Asked: What have been going on in Aurora's mind when she was a baby?

A: I'm not sure babies think about much 😉 Just general thoughts of "Mom, Dad, Food, Joy, Sleepy" But hey I could be wrong!

Anon Asked: Out of curiosity, I know that you ship Shadow + Aurora together (and I’m okay with that)… But what if the Time-Travel Adventure never happened?… What if Shadow never went on a Big-Space Adventure and stayed with the Others?… What if he was there to watch Aurora grow up, with the Others?… What would their relationship be like, if that happened?… Would Shadow become like Aurora’s Uncle or be like a Teacher/Mentor to her, in the ways of combat?… Or would they somehow still have a romantic relationship, instead of platonic? 😇?

A: Even if Shadow never left, I don't imagine he'd spend much time with Aurora as a child. He and Sonic are not friends, and though I'm sure he'd consider Amy a friend, I don't think they're close enough for him to want to be actively involved in their kid's life. I don't think he'd even be actively involved in Ruff and Tumble's lives if he was on-world the whole time. It'd be more of a "Oh... hey kids... just here to see your mom... goodbye..." He'd likely be more of an idol to Aurora and she wouldn't mean anything to him. That being said, I do believe in soulmates, and again Shadow is immortal so he does not age. So I believe that once she's grown up, that's when he starts to really see her for who she is and that attraction would come later in life, but that would not happen while she was a child obviously.

Anon Asked: What was the scariest movie that Aurora ever saw and how exactly did it end?

A: Aurora does not like scary movies so she avoids them haha. Sometimes she'll agree to watch a classic horror movie with Shadow because he likes that kind of thing but she still finds it terrifying haha. Aurora can sort of handle movies like Wolfman or Dracula but not anything more intense than that. She couldn't sleep for days after "Night of the Living Dead (1968)"

Anon Asked: i appreciate the effort you went thru compiling all those asks. felt like a free readers digest that was nice to read through! …and now here are more questions 😈 1- how does grandpa sonic feel about shadow’s shadoralets? i wonder if he jokingly calls em faker and lil fakers sometimes haha. 2- whats it like having amassed long time followers of your art stuff? (ive been around since the ol 2009 days)?

A: I'm so happy you enjoyed my last set of asks, Anon. I hope you return and see your question here! Grandpa!Sonic is wayyyy more accepting of his son-in-law at this point and doesn't hold (much) ill-will towards him. However he does revel in the fact that Shadow doesn't know a moment of peace now that he's got a million children haha! But he loves his grandkids to death and so does Grandma!Amy. I did an old comic (having a hard time finding it right now) where Sonic has a dream about his future grandkids and when he wakes up he calls them "Tiny Fakers" but he would never actually call his grandkids that. They're his family! I appreciate that compliment and I can't believe you've been following me for so long! I'm honored (and blown away haha!). Honestly though I don't really think about the concept of having "followers" all that much. I just look at it as I'm here having fun drawing silly things and I've been lucky enough to have other people come and enjoy it with me. I'm very thankful for the support, especially to those who have tagged along for as long as I've been online.

-

SHIPPING ASKS

@tatablue2004 asked: Do you like silvaze?

A: I like it enough, but I don't actively seek it out. I'm mostly indifferent to Blaze and to Silver as characters so I'm not that invested. But I do think they're cute.

@chrismantike asked: What’re your thoughts on the shadaria ship? A: 👎

Anon Asked: Sonadow yes or no?

A: Yes! I like them having a bickering, sassy relationship where they still annoy each other but they actually really care about each other.

Anon Asked: How do you feel about Sonic x selly? Would you ever draw them? Maybe for a time travel thing or a space rip or something??

A: I believe you're asking about Sally Acorn. If so, no I do not ship it and I won't draw it. If you're referring to another character, then I'm sorry but I don't know who that is.

Anon Asked: What do u think of amy being sapphic in any shape or form?

A: That's hard to say, since we've only ever seen Amy have eyes for Sonic. I'm not against it, though.

Anon Asked: In your universe, have Sonic and Amy had any suuuper big fight in the marriage? If so, what would it be like for them and how do you think it’d “affect” their relationship??

A: I mostly avoid heavy topics and fights because we get enough of that in other media and I like most of my art to be a safe place people can go to to just get a good boost of feel-good serotonin! So for my main storyline, they get into little arguments and bicker over small things because all couples do, but I try not to ever put them in a giant blow-out fight that will alter their relationship. That being said, the biggest disagreement I ever have them going through is in Aurora's Time Travel adventure (which still hasn't been published yet, sorry!). Sonic adamantly believes Aurora should not risk her life and time travel in that story and Amy disagrees. This will put tension between them for awhile, but ultimately they will be okay.

---

Thank you all for the questions! There are way more but I don't have the mental capacity to answer any more at this time lol

Evay QA Bulk Post 1

Evay QA Bulk Post 3

Evay QA Bulk Post 4

Evay QA Bulk Post 5

Evay QA Bulk Post 6

[reallyhardy]

that tamagochi bag is the most you thing i've ever seen your vibes are so specific and it matches that so well

😭😭😭 thank u. i wish desperately that such a thing could be mine, but in the meantime i can enjoy my own bag collection. here's some of my favourites, to remind myself that i already have some pretty cool stuff, and to share that cool stuff:

1. my smiley face backpack ( gifted to me by the wonderful @sillywhimms ) it's been very loved, if you look closely you can see it's been repaired with electrical tape 🤣

2. my strawberry purse ( a 2nd hand primark bag ) that has been my designated wedding guest bag. it comes with me to weddings.

3. my watering can purse ( another 2nd hand purchase, this time from a label called 'PYLONES' ) which comes with me to other fancy non-wedding events.

4. my polly pocket face bag ( also 2nd hand, originally a playset carry case as it has elastic loops inside to secure dolls ) she comes with me to fancy-ish events too, or just anywhere.

the bottom two definitely get the most excited responses from people when i take them out and about. very fun bags, we love a novelty bag.

[puzzlefaggot]

is umineko good. i've been looking into it and everywhere i look says conpletely different things on the topic. i love visual novels and the such and the characters look gorg! . would you reccomend it??

tl;dr it's good i like it a lot (i rambled too much below)

if you couldn't tell from my recent posts I definitely think its peak . in fact everyone whos opinion ive heard about it has been that so im actually surprised youve seen things other than that lol <- not saying its perfect just that everybody talks about it Very positively

i would 100% recommend it if you like visual novels (I've considered it THE visual novel for the longest time which is why im happy i finally got around to playing it), if youre asking Me specifically i will also assume you are a layton fan, in which case i can also recommend it if you have at any point wanted to play a game with better female characters or an actually deep and layered story (i love layton plots but a lot people on here read way more into them then there actually is lol). it matches the aesthetic a lot as a western style mansion mystery, its setup actually reminds me a lot of curious village's beginning with a rich family trying to gain access to an inheritance that seems to be locked behind a riddle pertaining to something gold. also,

umineko does however have many moments where i wanted to just drop the game, not because of anything actually bad but because of a totally subjective thing of i hate how many fucking characters there are, i seriously nearly stopped playing when i saw these designs because what the hell is this how does this work in a western mansion mystery setting. and they add 12 more characters like this with every episode and they all get 10 hours of screen time because this vn is quite literally bordering on a million words. rant over you don't need to worry about this. just be forewarned that it's really anime

this may sound like a joke but if you want to read umineko i would recommend preparing yourself with a pen and post-it notes, even though it has absolutely no gameplay i consider it a videogame because it requires your active attention and mind as it is 100% a mystery that you have to solve. each episode actually has a "difficulty" rating for how difficult it is to understand its events

anyway, definitely recommend, easily one of the best vns ive ever played (wanna say top 3 but that's possibly recency bias), if you do play it i hope you enjoy my favourite funny guys who yell at each other

[bekaterrier]

Happy Audio Drama Sunday! I listened to a few things this week (gushing and spoilers ahead):

@woodenovercoats S4: You know it's going to be a good season when it's already got me tearing up in the third episode! Madeline and her family!! 😭 Madeline and Rudyard besties! 🥰 I absolutely loved seeing Antigone continue to grow this season. She just wanted to be seen, to know she was strong enough to be seen, and she was!! We also got to hear Rudyard give more time to his life outside the funeral home, particularly his special interest in history! We finally got Chapman's backstory! Heartbreaking though. 💔 Holy shit that sound design when Chapman and Rudyard go over the falls was *chef's kiss*. My first thought re: the Funns running Chapman's was "Oh lord, how is Rudyard going to F this up?" It was really nice to hear them actually properly put on a funeral like we knew they could. Throughout the season, we heard Eric and Antigone grow closer and some feelings start to develop there. Then hearing Eric calling out for Antigone in his dream was...whew. "Sorry about the chloroform." 😂 Georgie's cycle of grief is so real. It hits you at the most unexpected moments. They're a town!!!! And of course he came back, he's home!!!!! This ending is so perfect, so absolutely satisfying. This show was incredible ♥️

@midstpodcast S1: I've been seeing so much about this show in my feed lately as its third and final season released, so I just had to jump into it. And wow am I hooked! The way the narrators share the story and the character voices between them is fascinating. The world building is absolutely incredible - the visual they painted of the fold sweeping through is just chilling. Combine that with the actual visual elements created by the podcast, seen in the YouTube videos...so so cool. Side note - I hate the Trust; the way that its systems ensure that those at the bottom are kept down, rewarding those already at the top...kudos to another podcast where one of the villains is capitalism. In any case, I was so absorbed in the stories of each of the three protagonists, trying to see ahead to how their lives would intersect, I almost forgot about the very first scene! The moon falls out of the sky!! Absolutely wild!! I'm very much looking forward to learning more about the consequences of this and the impact on Midst.

@midnightburgr Welcome to the Horizon Part 3 - The Wayfaring Stranger: God I love this town and these people. I laughed out loud so many times this episode! Frank and June's reactions to Verge's background are hilarious. I'm so glad we have Verge in this mini-series. It's also so fun to hear them flirting with Deirdre, especially after hearing their VAs as not so friendly in Moonbase Theta, Out (love you Cat and Tina). The news that we get from Trinkett about the comet is verrry interesting and concerning, so looking forward to seeing where that goes.

@tellnotalespod S1 & S2 (to date) re-listen: TNT is currently on their mid season break, so I re-listened to everything that's been released so far. I said earlier this season that it was going to be tough listening to all the S2 episodes in a row since many of them made me cry individually...and I was right! 😭 I am so looking forward to the rest of S2, and I really hope Leo, Riley and Julia all get the hugs they need, preferably from each other.

@storiesfromylelmore Winter Solstice crowdfunding episode: I love hearing the kids out and up to their shenanigans! It was also really sweet to get a glimpse of the parents doing their thing, but also loving all the kids (even though Elas can sometimes be puce). I also loved hearing more about their world's Winter Solstice story! The worldbuilding is so fantastic.

@hinaypod Episode 41 - Danny Boy (Pride Episode 2024): I'm glad I listened to this one during the day because I definitely would have gotten creeped out by some of the curse's descriptions if I'd listened at 2AM, as I sometimes do. We got quite lore dump on our favourite horrible old man, but I still have so many questions!!

[chiniece-curlygirlystory]

Girlhood + Hair

A huge part of girlhood for me was surrounded by my hair, particularly how it was styled. Being a young black girl in the Caribbean, I think it's indicative of our experience at one point we'd sit in between our mother's legs or a very close relative to have our hair braided on a Sunday afternoon before school on Monday. Styles ranged from extravagant partings in canerows, braids, and two-strand twists adorned with clips, bubbles, and ribbons to make us look presentable. This was the case for me until at some stage my hair was relaxed. Moving from detailed and creative hair designs downgrading to a simple container of chemicals making my once kinky hair filled with expression into a sleek conformative look. I can remember being 6 years old when this happened, my mother had relaxed hair it was easier for her to manage at the time and she thought why not do the same to me? I was old enough for my young scalp to take on the harsh chemicals. I still remember the pink and green box with the little girl on the packaging her hair straight with curler set curls in them at the end, I thought wow I'd look so pretty like that too. Although now I look back on it as the innocence of my virgin hair being stolen from me. After I turned 14 I decided to no longer have my hair chemically relaxed I wanted to get to know my natural hair. I couldn't remember what my hair looked like when I was robbed of an experience figuring out how to manage my hair. So I took it upon myself to go on the journey of becoming a natural again. I did the big chop and rocked my tiny afro for quite some time then my sister did my hair in afro kinky twists for the first time. It made me feel like the prettiest girl on earth and no one could tell me otherwise. She had never done that style before on anyone, I was basically her guinea pig so she could figure out how to do it on herself. I of course was more than willing to be a lab rat, they looked wonky but I didn't care I loved them because I had never seen myself like that before. I felt pretty with my hair relaxed yes, I loved getting my hair put into a fresh curler set every Sunday, but something about the kinky twists had just resonated with me more. I felt a sense of identity with all its imperfections the wonky parts, I felt different and that was better than anything in the world. Another part of your hair journey as a young black girl was when you were allowed to get your first set of box braids with colour at the ends. For some reason, the universal option chosen is more often than not purple.  I've asked my friends and they too said their first experience with coloured braids was purple. We all gravitated to purple there's something so innocent about our collective love of the colour purple in our hair as young girls juxtaposed our different tones of beautiful skin we all looked phenomenal. Even now as I'm on the cusp of being a full-blown adult entering my 20s I still find myself experimenting with my hair in different styles. This year alone I've done several styles from faux locs, butterfly locs, Marley twists, box braids with beads, French braids and lace front wigs. I always find myself back to kinky twists, they hold a special place in my heart they opened my eyes to see my true beauty in a natural state. My younger self got to experience that feeling of getting a natural hairstyle done for the first time I'll never be able to get that back again  I do envy my younger self for having that feeling of being renewed, reborn, liberated even. Hair and one’s journey with their hair is a particularly important part of girlhood specifically black girlhood that no one speaks on and I'm glad that I'm able to do so through my blog.

     I didn't go natural I started to love the hair I was born with.

           -Your favourite Curly Girly 

All photos used can be found in the linked Pinterest board :)

[queerwritersingerdramaqueen]

HEAR ME OUT

I like a reverse AU as much as the next person but the way it gets done sometimes is so out of character so I'm gonna just throw my two cents out into the void for anyone to draw inspiration from because I don't have the motivation to write it myself right now!

So, starting with the ones that get reversed a lot: Hank and Connor

Connor is obviously younger than Hank, so make him a newly assigned lieutenant who is trying to live up to his position of power. Being Connor, he's unsure, he questions himself a bit, he's scared of messing up as someone with power over others. Portraying him with Hank's personality just doesn't fit if you ask me, Connor's not that guy.

Now, due to Connor being a great but still new Lieutenant, who better for Fowler (or maybe Amanda if you want to get deep in a reverse AU) to partner him with than an Android that's basically perfect. which is not to say he should be optimistic and cheery as he is in some depictions. He can still be a stone-cold bitch or a sarcastic prick but less in the vein of "I hate everyone around me" and more in the "You're a bitch, you don't deserve my kindness" sort of way. AND HE CAN HAVE THIS ATTITUDE WITH HANK TO BEGIN WITH BUT I HONESTLY THINK HE'D BE MORE INTIGUED BY ANDROIDS AS MYSTERYS THEN GENUINELY HATE THEM, YOU CAN PRY THAT IDEA FROM MY COLD DEAD HANDS.

I'd also like to make a point that, whether Cole is a character in the story (as a brother or a kid from a case) who is present to make Connor sad, HE *CLAP* CAN *CLAP* STILL *CLAP* REACT *CLAP* LIKE *CLAP* CONNOR. He doesn't have to become Hank's mirror image after Cole's death, he can grieve in his own way. And even if you do chose to make him take the same route, he doesn't have to act like Hank when he's sober! (this is coming from a place of frustration that Connor just... wouldn't be cold towards everyone for no reason and it annoys me that he is in some fics)

Hank as an Android would be gruff and straight to the point because he is a "machine." He's designed to be no-nonsense, straight to the point and probably annoyed by Connor's persistent Empathy (similar to how Connor can be during some playthrough's of the game). The absolute key to this portrayal would be emphasising that Hank acts like this because he is programmed to. Cyberlife has to have a reason for making Hank the way he would be so please, jump on the nuance of why Hank would be such a sullen, apathetic android and the implications that has for him to achieve deviancy. He's not meant to be nice to the people he works for, he's meant to do a job.

Now for the icing, how does this reverse dynamic work in context of the plot?

Connor needs someone steady and secure to fall back on lest he succumb to the pressures of the position he's in. Hank's blunt, maybe sometimes rude way of getting to the point is exactly what Connor would need to stay afloat. He needs someone who can be tough and give it to him straight when he's doubting himself. In regards to their cases, yes, he has a very "Hank" way of responding to the android actions (i.e. shooting Chloe, Hunting down the Traci's) in that he takes an empathetic approach towards the Andorids but less from a "they look human and it's disturbing" standpoint and more from a "deviants are alive" standpoint from the get go. He shows empathy towards the Traci that was killed in the Eden club, he tries to understand why deviancy is occurring, he defends Hank against anti-android people.

(And please feel free to fight me on that point, I've seen one playthrough and have a general idea of Hank's reactions to deviancy based on fanfic and whatnot. I'm not an expert on how Hank reacts and I want input)

And here's my favourite part, Hank deviating with Connor's help. It is Connor's humanity and empathy that really intrigues me on this part. When people portray him with Hank's characteristics, he comes off really angry and Hank deviates from a position of "I care about this kid, I have to look after him." And while this is *chef's kiss* it's not the only possible way for Connor to influence his deviancy. His general kindness to people around him, his resilience, his empathy, his humanity can influence how Hank starts seeing the world around him. (I guess that it just really bugs me that Hank only seems to really deviate for Connor when there are so many more facets that can make Hank the purveyor of his own deviance, with Connor giving him the nudge)

Just like in canon where Android Connor helps Human Hank find purpose in his life again, Human Connor can help Android Hank realise he is more than a machine, that he's alive.

In conclusion, stop making Connor into Hank! (I obviously can't stop you but food for thought.)

I'll come back at some point with other characters.