#and im gonna be so real w yall

[moontrope]

decided to read jjk and the light novels because hopefully it will help with understanding 😪😪 also i miss reading so bad. something complicated like that should be fun to read — i think.

[nova-rpv]

a redraw of the first drawing i posted here to celebrate the fact that ive been in tumblr for more than a whole year posting my shit and havent deleted my blog in panic yippee \:D/ (mushy rant in tags)

[shawsimmer]

mom & dad

[lovesickeros]

☆ i dream of embers

{☆} characters arlecchino {☆} notes no au, drabble, gender neutral reader {☆} warnings none {☆} word count 1.1k

The House of the Hearth is quiet — or, if you really wanted to be precise, the rats scuttling through the walls are working around the bubble you exist in. The children dare not tempt fates hand unless you asked for them by name, a contradiction. An order to the rules — they mustn't approach you with trivialities, but they must listen if you speak. Your words carry more weight than gold in this house, whether you know it or not.

A tenuous position.

You haven't done anything to earn their reverence, their almost acrid fear — but Arlecchino has. She wields her silver tongue with as much ease as her polearm, ensuring your care in her absence. Her devotion, her service, is felt in the warmth of her chambers, the silks she adorns you with, the bed so soft you feel as though you melt into it. A gift, a promise — a gilded cage need not be something undesirable.

You've grown used to the encumbrance of her presence, these days. The deep timbre of her voice, honeyed yet melting into something rougher, quieting into haunting silence as if she seeks not to disturb you. Dim candlelight is all that illuminates her broad frame as she slowly presses the door open and closed behind her, pallid skin streaked with darkening red, her bottom lip smeared with it like lipstick. There is a tension to her shoulders even when she sets aside her polearm, out of sight and out of mind, harsh lines on her face visible in the deep furrow of her thin brows.

Here, she let's the weariness settle deep into her bones — it's just the two of you, even if she hasn't acknowledged you at all. Still, it's a vulnerability she shows no other, even if that vulnerability is hidden behind layers of barbed wire and teeth.

You watch rather idly from the bed as she wets a cloth in a basin of water, the bed creaking beneath you as your feet sink into the plush rug beneath. You know from experience that trying to help her is like trying to soothe a wild dog, but your knuckles brush over the sharp line of her cheek anyway, free hand stealing the soaking cloth from her hands when her jaw flexes and tenses beneath the pads of your fingers.

It is only then that she looks down at you, eyes as sharp as blades yet so indescribably warm — like a flame licking at your skin, burning so deep you feel it linger for weeks after. Arlecchino is not soft, far from it — but she blunts her jagged edges for you anyway, brushes her lips against your knuckles and allows you a moment of adoration. Carves her worship bone deep in the ghost of her touch against your lower back as she leans down, let's you wash away the blood certainly not her own, never blinking as if you'd simply up and leave if she stopped looking at you for even the smallest moment.

You are well aware she is caging you in. You let her.

Though she is still stiff as a board up to the moment you set the washcloth over the side of the basin, her jaw flexing again, a moment of consideration given. She is not used to soft and brittle things, though — not used to touch that does not lead to steel at her throat, in her gut, carving out softness like a butcher carves up meat, section by section.

But this affliction of affection is stronger than the discomfort, at times.

You almost half consider letting her take the room and have a night of proper rest, but she is faster than you — a calloused hand tilts your head back, half lidded eyes glinting beneath the weight of exhaustion, her thumb firm against your bottom lip. She could kill you without even blinking, you are aware, but she is nothing but careful with her touch — not soft, not Arlecchino, but there is adoration in her touch. Like thumbing a locket portrait, trying to imprint their features into memory by touch alone.

Her touch is fleeting, but the warmth lingers long after — you don't need to be touching to feel the weight of her attention. She stokes the flames of the dying fire, has one of the children bring a fresh pot of tea, lingers even when she doesn't have to. You're sure her desk in her office is far more comfortable to work at, but she'd crammed a small desk into the room anyway, stayed even long after you fell asleep most nights. You never did get to stay up long enough to notice her slip in beside you, nor wake up early enough to find her there with you, but the heat lingers — she leaves breakfast at your bedside table, a small note of affection if she's feeling particularly sappy. Even when you don't see her, she makes sure you feel her presence however she can.

Neither of you need to speak to express it. The silence is..oddly comfortable, filled by the shift of paper or scratch of a pen, the clink of a cup or crackle of fire. It's a little too easy to get lost in watching her work, masking a smile whenever she glanced back at you with a question on the tip of her tongue that goes unsaid.

It's better that way, you both think. The silence was best left undisturbed — as if trying to break it would be like breaking the mirror to each others lives. You don't busy yourself in the affairs of the House of the Hearth, and she doesn't make you. It's better that way, too. Maybe that makes you naive, blind even, to the bodies at her feet piled so high she could drown, but you don't want to give up this fragile tranquility.

So you let the dull scratch of a pen lull you to sleep, try not to smile too much when a hand reaches out in uncertainty to cup your cheek, thumb brushing over your cheek with so much affection it makes it hard to breathe.

It's a tenuous balance, but come the next night you will wipe the blood from her cheek again and she will care for you the only way she knows how — distant service.

And when you wake up to an empty bed, warm despite the fires long burned out, you'll still feel her presence in the allure of a warm drink and pastries at your bedside, a note tucked beneath the plate.

Just like the day before, and just as you expect tomorrow to be. But one day you'll gently pull apart the barbed wire and be let in — not today, no, but someday. It's a slow process, but you're patient enough to wait — and when she let's you in, you'll tend to the scars that it left like you've always done.

One step at a time, one day.

[bsotted]

ok well. unfortunate news: sometimes ur niche is so niche u've already niched the niche. this is exactly the same as the feeling of hitting the end of ur ship tag in ao3 🥲

*edit: sorry i accidentally named like every character ever in the tags so ppl are Seeing this post who dont have the benefit of so much as a single crumb of context. if i accidentally namedropped ur blorbo its bc of this post:

anyway. i was excited for recs bc i also enjoy this genre of fictional character. unfortunately as above the niche is niched, it turns out. at least for me, content enjoyer georg, who has apparently already seen or read everything anyone else has already seen or read except for a small handful of specific media properties that i do not wish to see or read for various personal reasons and also not literally everything ever... just the same things as everyone else has already seen and read... u get the idea. ok thnks 👍🏻

[bedforddanes75]

hello who wants filth. maybe nobody but its here anyway. IM SCARED

[jendoe]

okay it has been. Months. BUT i wanted to pop in since today is my birthday and let yall know how much i've appreciated the patience and kindness that's been shown to me this year 🫶 i am really proud of myself for getting here and i can only thank the wonderful people in my life for it 🤧 so lots of love from ME to all of you and also here's a picture of my fosters bc i Have been doing things in my absence

[feline-evil]

I can't think of anything that could kill a generative ai system faster than letting it pull from blogs on here, its going to be fed so many erroneous callouts and pointless discourse posts that its gonna generate a way to speedrun offing itself

[jerrys-bait-shop]

I'm finally getting a new therapist in a few days and I'm overthinking it so hard rn like at what point am I supposed to explain to this woman that I'm actually a literal whole ass dragon 😭

[dandyshucks]

my brother got turned down by a girl he ... has been referring to as his gf the past two weeks (? idk what went on there lol) and after my brother left the house my mum was kind of chatting w me about how hard it must be for young ppl these days to meet ppl and find ppl to date, and I was just kind of sitting there idly nodding along and wondering if she's ever thought about the fact that I've never been in a relationship before but all my siblings have 😭😭 two of them are in relationships rn and have been for over a year, and then this other sibling got dumped(?), and I'm over here like... 🧍 happily holding hands with fictional character....

[snekdood]

nvm op sucks so im stealing their post:

[omophagic-beast]

having therapy in the middle of the day and going back to work afterwards is wildddd

[bdor1995]

[METAL GRINDING AND RIPPING NOISES] job apps........

[alukaforyou]

i am so pissed my crazy grandma keeps feeding people food to my cats holy fucking shit even tho me and my sis told her over 10 times now to cut that shit out, and every time shes like ok i wont ever do it again,, MOTHERFUCKER!!!!! literally she has given them fried chicken, MARINATED SAUCED CHICKEN, DONUTS?, cookies / crackers, and a huge spoonful of STICKY WHITE RICE THIS MORNING my sis saw and went off on her and SHE got angry saying that she wont do it again? but thats what she said last time?? so me and my sis kept going off on her about how thats what she always says and what is she not understanding when we tell her people can be harmful to cats so just do not fucking give them any. at least my dad will occasionally give her a piece of unseasoned boiled shrimp AFTER googling "can cats have x as a treat" nooo my dumbass grandma is convinced she is right and knows all about animals so feeding them a little bit of whatever the fuck is ok, well assflash newshole a little bit DAILY adds up holy shit who gives cats donuts. and we have cat treats and cat food, what the fuck is stopping her from getting some treats if she wants to feed them so bad. for real just dumped a spoonful of rice in front of them at 7am, 1 (one) hour after i ALREADY fed them???? like hello i buy premium ass food for them, take them to the best reviewed vets, spend a shit ton on insurance, for WHAT for u to give them korean chicken and whatever you have on hand every single day oh my god. and the nerve of her to SNAP BACK! BITCH!!! 지가 잘못하고 뭔 지랄이야 씨발 개또라이네 also its not even her old lady memory problems that makes her forget shes not supposed to do this, she SNEAKILY feeds them when me or my sis isnt around like i was chilling in bed a few days ago when i heard the wrapper opening sound for these kr fried donut things we have and i was like this is fucking suspicious so i went out to look, and my grandma was standing so suspiciously close to the cat by the window literally in position to feed her DONUT when i was like wtf r u doing, and she SHUFFLES AWAY SO FUCKING QUICK and was like "i wasnt gonna feed her" LITERALLY DIE BRO DIE PASS AWAY DIE DIE DIE. also my mom HATES living w my grandma too cuz she for real has ISSUES. christ. pass away. ur like old just die bro. honestly my mom & dad have been on their best behavior after i basically surprised moved out and went nc with them, like that scared them good so they begged for me back, and i gave them a 2nd chance which is why i visit them sometimes and they have been helpful caring for my cats while im away (my roommate is allergic so i cant have them at my current apt) but my fcking grandma. getting crazier by the day. she will also vehemently deny doing anything, even tho family members have WITNESSED her doing it, and she always says "i never did that" or "fine i will never do it again" but she keeps. clowning. :) lord help me im abt to beat this elderly womans ass for real

[unjorts]

if you notice something watching you, would it not be polite to Look back and say hello ?

(do not actually say hello or acknowledge it in any way if you do not want to invite its presence into your life.)

[butchlifeguard]

small issue w nami is that i havent worn a skirt in 2 years and blue jeans in 3