#anyway. i wanted to prove to myself i could still draw her

[mikunology]

Out of the panels and into your heart, it's Hatsune Miku!

it's been a while

[victoria-daydreams]

The Winner Takes It All || Challengers

Part III: The First Crack

AN: Guys, I'm not going to lie this is the most chaotic posting schedule known to man and I'm so sorry. Parts of this chapter got deleted not once, but TWICE! I had to walk away from this story before I did something I would regret, but I'm back again. I know for sure the engagement for this story will have decreased significantly, but I don't care. I've put too much time and brain power into this, so I'm seeing it through until the end, there's probably only three or four parts left anyways. A lot of song references sprinkled throughout and I took some minor inspiration from certain movies, I wonder if you’ll be able to guess it.

Trigger warnings: emotional cheating (Art and Gianna truly embodying the song B.A.S. in this one), slight manipulation

Word Count: 7.0k

Taglist: @seriousaliysa @hopeless-y @malscorner @miximora @urfavesim @mmmunson @jackierose902109 @youngestxhearts @blkdivinefeminine @kalikailz @lottiematthewsceo @lonnie2390147 @begoniaespresso @everydayimagineer @pnkstali @softimgyu @amethystwonders11 @hazbinh0e @ysuftmikey @summerssover @hummusxx @callumturnerwife23 @whitewashedghanian @brunettegirl @igotmajordaddyissues @soldesole

Part IV: Cocky Af

SIX YEARS LATER - US OPEN, AUGUST 2012

With a powerful forehand, Gianna hit the return back over the net, her muscles rippling with the effort. The neon green ball whizzed across the other side and straight down the court, just out of her opponent's reach. Immediately, Gianna felt her knees buckle and she fell back onto the court, letting out a cry. The thunderous applause and screams are instant, vibrating the hard court beneath her. She had did it, Gianna had did it. She was now the US Open Women's Champion.

Her hands covered her face, tears pricking in her eyes as Gianna's shoulders shook with soft sobs. All the sacrifices she made, every argument she had with her dad, the blood, sweat, and tears she shed had culminated to this very moment. Her crowning achievement, Gianna Langdon was a Grand Slam winner. The media had reported on her every move in the tournament, debating if she possessed the mental toughness to advance in the Open after having a rough start in her first match. Today, she proved her doubters and her most vocal critics wrong.

Composing herself a little, she dragged her hands down her face and sat up from the ground. Gianna rose to her feet and jogged her way over to Irina who was at the net patiently waiting there. Her head hung dejectedly, but she offered her hand to Gianna's shake which she accepted. The handshake was brief and Gianna released her hand to turn her attention to the umpire to thank them before facing the roaring crowd who maintained their rapturous applause.

With a grin that could rival the sun, Gianna began clapping herself before bowing several times to thank her fans and supporters. Staring out into the crowd, her eyes found her family's, their cheers were the only ones that truly mattered to her. Her brother and sisters were going wild in the stands, jumping up and down before embracing each other. Beside them, her mom and dad were openly crying and clapping harder than everyone else. Their eyes were filled with so much pride and joy that it almost made her want to break down sobbing again.

"What a journey this has been for you Gianna!" the interviewer began. "Tell me, what is going through your head right now?" she asked, before moving the mic over toward Gianna.

"Oh man," Gianna breathed out, still winded from the strenuous match only moments before. "There's not enough words in the dictionary to describe how I'm feeling right now!" she answered, a brilliant smile on her face. "This means the absolute world to me! I was pinching myself after I fell out onto the ground to make sure that this was actually happening," she continued, drawing out some laughter from the crowd.

"This is your first major title win, Gianna. How does it feel to finally hear those words spoken aloud?"

"It's incredible, truly," she replied, nodding her head. "I've been training so hard for this very moment since the day that my daddy put a tennis racket in my hand. And today, I'm finally bearing the fruits of my labor," she went on, resting her hands on her hips. "This title win is as much a dream come true not only for me, but for my dad as well, Maurice Langdon," she informed, and the Jumbotron camera quickly cut to her father in the stands. "Without his tutelage and guidance, I would not be where I am right now. When I left Stanford, I told my dad five words. 'Let's go make some magic'. I think I can safely say, we accomplished that here today," she finished, causing the crowd to aw at her outpouring of love for her father.

Smiling, her dad blew multiple kisses in her direction before placing his hand over his chest, genuinely touched by her praise.

"I did two things today that I previously thought impossible. I won a major title!" Gianna exclaimed excitedly, to which the crowd roared in cheers. "But more importantly, I made the Maurice Langdon shed tears for the first time ever!" she joked, a ripple of laughter echoed from the crowd as they were all probably familiar of her father's renowned stoic nature.

Gianna's on court interview lasted for a few more minutes before finally, it was time for the trophy presentation. She would forever be immortalized in tennis history with a picture of her proudly holding the US Open above her head. With her press conference wrapped up, the toll of the day was beginning to wear on her. Gianna was exhausted. Every bone, every muscle, every part of her.

Walking alone in an empty hallway within the Arthur Ashe Arena, the sound of Gianna's phone chiming echoed in the air. A smile lit up on face at the text she received from a name with snail emojis beside it.

"Can't wait to see you tonight, champ" with a winky face at the end of the message.

Matthias Schnell (snail as she liked to tease him since the words were similar in pronunciation) was a rising German tennis superstar much like herself. The two met at Wimbledon where they were both making eyes at each other during the tournament, but after she won against him and his partner in the mixed doubles semifinal match, Matthias congratulated her and asked her for number, the rest was history. They weren't official yet, but they were well on their way.

"Gianna!" a familiar voice called.

In a blink of the eye, her smile dropped from her face.

"I know that's not who I think it is," she thought.

Gianna clicked her phone back into sleep mode and quickened her pace, ignoring the repeated calls of her name. Until, she felt fingers lightly wrap around her wrist, an action which made her furiously whip around and rip her arm from the grasp of a strawberry blond haired man.

"Don't fucking touch me!" Gianna hissed.

"Gia—" Art began.

"No! You don't get to call me that!" she snapped, stabbing her finger in his direction. "You lost that privilege a long time ago!" she snarled.

"Please, Gianna," he pleaded, taking a step closer to her. "You ducked me in Atlanta," he reminded, only causing Gianna's nostrils to flare.

With a Nike baseball cap tucked low over her brow, Gianna made her way down the hall of the hotel. It was the night before the Atlanta Open, a tournament she usually didn’t pay any attention to, but this year she was here to support an old friend. Max Sullivan, a name she couldn't believe she was saying. After the Juniors Championship, they didn't part on the friendliest of terms and it was all Gianna's fault. She told Max to his face she thought he was a mediocre player and to add insult to injury, she also said she should take his trophy since she's the one who did all the work on the court. It was a mixture of immaturity, cockiness, and a kernel of truth.

Nonetheless, it would seem her words lit a fire under Max's ass, because from college and now as a professional tennis player, his growth had been tremendous. So, the only lesson Gianna took from that was, bullying works. Depending on his performance, she was considering them to be doubles partners again.

Placing her hand on the door handle to the stairwell, Gianna froze. It felt like someone was watching her. Without hesitation she turned her head in the direction of the hotel lobby, her heart all but stopped as her next breath caught in throat. Gianna's vision became similar to the dolly zoom effect at the sight of Art. The two of them were no longer standing on opposite ends of the hallway. By the second, it seemed like the distance between them was rapidly shrinking.

"Gia?"

He barely raised his voice, but it was just loud enough for her to hear as a soft frown creased his brow. Gianna didn't respond, instead choosing to avert her eyes to back to the door. Her breath beginning to quicken while her heart thumped wildly in her chest, the only thing keeping her on her feet was the death grip her fingers had around the door handle. Out of the corner of Gianna's eye, she could see Art slowly approaching towards her. Panic seized her at the thought of them being within arms reach of each other. They haven't spoken to one another in five years, Art's last attempt was rewarded with a swift slap across his cheek after he cornered her in their sophomore year, pleading for her to speak to him again.

"Gia, please, I'm begging you. I don't know how much longer I can take of this," Art pressed, desperation rife in his voice. "I miss you," he added, his voice cracking as he bent down slightly to try and meet her stare.

Gianna remained silent, keeping her gaze fixated on the cement with her arms folded tightly against her chest . A heavy, lingering silence engulfed them when Gianna finally flicked her eyes up to Art's, startling him. She did not mask her rage, Gianna's eyes burned with hatred which caused Art to flinch. Suddenly, her hand flew forward striking Art's cheek, the force of the blow causing his head to whip to the side. Then, she turned on her heel and stormed away.

Art was less than ten feet away from her when Gianna forcefully pulled the open, rushing clumsily up the stairs and almost twisting her ankle in the process.

"Gia wait!"

Art and Gianna had a silent, intense stare off for several moments, before Art cautiously took a step closer towards her with arms raised.

"Gianna, please. I just wanted to tell you congratulations on your first grand slam win," Art explained softly, with a weak smile.

"I don't want it, least of all from you," she spat, looking him up and down with a sneer.

"Will you at least hear me out?" he asked, frustration creeping in his voice. "I only want to talk," he stated.

A deep, scornful laugh bubbled out of Gianna as she slowly closed the gap between them.

"And what the fuck, would we have to talk about Arthur?" she asked icily, the harshness of her tone making Art recoil. "You know I want? I want you to be a good boy and run along," she continued, moving in for the final blow. "A pet should never stray too far from its master, so how about you go fetch the lost dreams of her career and leave me the hell alone!"

With every venomous word Gianna hurled at him, Art withered from the verbal daggers she threw at him until he was left in a state similar to which a dog would’ve been after it had been scolded by its owner. How fitting. If he'd had a tail, he would have tucked it between his legs.

Gianna's lip curled in disgust, "Fucking pathetic," she muttered, stalking away from him and purposefully letting her shoulder bump Art's arm as she left.

~~~x~~~

FIVE YEARS EARLIER — STANFORD UNIVERSITY, 2007

"40-15! Match point!" the chair umpire announced.

Gianna punched her fist in the air as the crowd erupted into applause and loud cheers, the yelling of her name mixed within them. It was only an exhibition match, but the Stanford bleachers were packed full as if it was the Junior's US Open all over again. It was the highly anticipated potential match up that never came to fruition at the tournament. Today, however, spectators could finally behold the athletic spectacle of two titans facing off against each other. More importantly, they wanted to see if Gianna had it in her, to pull off the upset of the day.

Glancing at her opponent on the other side of the net, Gianna watched Tashi shake her head in frustration, a deep scowl marring her pretty features as she picked at the strings of her racket. Behind Tashi, the ball boy bounced a ball to her and smoothly caught the ball with her racket.

Gianna crouched down, a smirk on her lips as she let the rubbery grip of her racket roll back and forth against her palms, rocking from side to side.

"One more point," she thought. "And I will have beaten Tashi two times in a row this week,"

The neon ball bounces softly off the ground and Gianna's grip tightened around the handle, readying herself. The moment Tashi released the ball high in the air and jumped to hit it, Gianna knew it was going to be excellent serve from her friend. Playing against Tashi was a tasking feat in itself, but going against her when she was absolutely livid and frustrated? Most competitors might as well be signing their own death certificates, Gianna however, had Tashi right where she wanted. Off-kilter and playing sloppy.

Whizzing over the net, the ball came flying at Gianna like a heat seeking missile and for a split second she wondered if Tashi had envisioned her face on the ball as she returned the serve. The next hit came in the form of a forehand slice and Gianna sent the ball back across the court with a strong one handed, backhand return. Tashi sprinted over to the ball, but fell a stride short as the ball bounce off the ground with a force that made dirt kick up.

"Game, set and match, Gianna Langdon," the chair umpire announced in a loud voice. "6-3, 6-3".

The crowd erupted in cheers as Gianna herself threw her arms in the air in victory. Jogging to the net, a grumpy Tashi was already waiting for her with her hand extended out. As usual, she still really hadn't gotten around the concept of losing to Gianna and it showed.

"Good game," she muttered.

Gianna, on the other hand, was clearly starting to get the hang of beating Tashi, and boy did she enjoy it.

"I know," Gianna acknowledged, with a smirk.

Instantly, Tashi's face darkened and she yanked back her hand, abruptly breaking the handshake. Tashi's reaction didn't phase Gianna at all, instead, it made her even more smug.

"And so it begins," she thought amusedly.

Walking back to her bench, she grabbed her gear and put it in her sports bag before leaving the court. Gianna had barely gotten far from the tennis court when Art fell in step beside her.

"Great match!" he complimented, with a grin.

A light chuckle left her, "All in a day's work," Gianna replied, lazily looking over at him.

"Everything alright between you and Tashi?" Art wondered. "She looked pissed off when you two were at the net," he remarked.

"She'll be fine," Gianna assured, with a dismissive wave of her hand. "You know how Tashi gets when she loses to me," she reminded, briefly looking ahead her. "She hates being humbled," Gianna added, smugness growing within her.

"Do you think she—"

Her head whipped in his direction, "You wanna come with me to dinner with my family?" Gianna asked suddenly, cutting him off mid-sentence.

She's had enough of Tashi for the last hour and a half, it was time to place attention elsewhere.

"Seeing how my best friend is not going to talk to me for the rest of the day," she went on.

"Wouldn't I be intruding?" Art questioned, one of his brows raising.

"No, because I invited you," Gianna answered simply. The two came to a stop on the corner of the sidewalk, facing each other. "Come on, I need to make this dinner somewhat bearable for me," she said, grabbing a hold of his hand with both of hers after seeing the indecision on his face.

Art's eyes flitted down to their hands, his throat bobbing before he swallowed thickly. In the back of her mind, Gianna knew what she was doing wrong, to essentially be toying with his emotions, but she desperately needed a buffer from her dad.

Gianna looked at him from under my lashes, "Pretty please, Art? For me?" she asked, using her thumbs to trace circles on his skin.

Art inhaled deeply, his eyes darting back to hers and he wordlessly nodded his head.

"Yeah, yeah!" he agreed hoarsely, finally finding his voice. "I would love to, Gia,"

"Uhh, you're the best!" Gianna cheered, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

Without thinking, she stood on her tip toes and pecked him on the cheek. She pulled back, a grin on her face as she stared at Art who had a smile playing lazily on his lips. Gianna spun around, resuming her path back to her room.

"Meet me at my dorm in an hour," she exclaimed, not bothering to turn around.

Today, it was Gianna’s world and everybody else was living in it.

~~~x~~~

A few hours later

On the floor of Gianna's dorm room, biology notes, index cards, and textbooks were pushed off to the side and strewn about. Her and Art were studying for their upcoming quiz, but Gianna decided she had a better way to occupy their time. With one foot outstretched along the plush rug and the other being held by Art as he blew on it, Gianna let her head bob along to "Sittin' Up In My Room" by Brandy playing on her docking station as her toenails dried.

"When your parents dropped us off before they left your father said 'I'm glad to see developing an identity of your own'," Art quoted, looking over her toes and at her. "Why did he say that?" he questioned curiously.

Gianna let her head fall back letting out a long, dramatic sigh, "It's a long story, but also a short one," she answered, running her fingers through her hair. "My dad and honestly my mom as well, believe that I cannot be my entire self or even unlock my full potential if I'm always attached to Tashi's hip," she explained.

"Wait, they're upset because you're too close to your best friend?" Art asked incredulously.

"I know. Ridiculous, right?" she said, tossing her hand up in the air.

"If that's how your parents think of your friendship with Tashi, that may explain why your mother was giving me the cold shoulder at dinner," Art reasoned, adjusting his grip on her foot.

"Yeah, I'm sorry about," Gianna apologized sheepishly. "I don't what that was about," she said, shaking her head.

"No, it's fine," he assured. "I'm pretty sure Farrah hates me as well, so it balances it out," Art commented, with a chuckle.

Gianna's eyebrow arched, "What makes you say that?" she wondered, chuckling at the thought.

"She said if I do wrong by you, that, and I quote 'your kneecaps are fucking mine, white boy,'" he informed, his warm breath fanning across her toes.

A smile broke out onto her face, "I'm the baby of the family, of course she's going to spout empty threats," Gianna replied, rolling her eyes playfully.

"Didn't sound that empty to me," Art complained.

"Well, we are talking about Farrah here...so you may have a point," she conceded, with a shrug.

The tickling heat of Art's blowing came to an abrupt stop.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked, a concerned frown knitting his forehead.

"You know, now that you mentioned it, my ex did break my heart and he came back to school with a limp the next day," she lied.

They stared at each other in silence for a few seconds, Art's frown deepening. He opened his mouth to say something and Gianna raised her eyebrows in challenge as realization dawned on his face. Gianna's mouth began to twitch as she fought the urge to smile.

"You liar, he didn't break your heart. You broke his," he remembered, a grin spreading across his lips.

Art and Gianna held each other's stare and after a beat, they both bust out laughing. Three months had passed since their argument at the mini golf course, but they've acted as if it never occurred in the first place. Was it the healthiest way to handle the situation? Probably not. But, in a way, it benefited both of them to ignore it for their own selfish reasons.

For Gianna, her relationship with Tashi was beginning to show all the signs that it would be a stale one. She had remained dead set about not wanting to broaden her horizons for the sake of their relationship, much to Gianna's dismay. At this point, Tashi was more of a girl friend than an actual girlfriend. And Patrick, for as loving and caring as he was, the boy could be inattentive at times. Sometimes he would forget to watch Gianna's matches after she sent him a link that aired them. Or, other times he wouldn't pick up on her tone that she was not in a good mood and continue talking about his adventures as a professional tennis player.

Then, there was Art. He had been her rock whether he realized it or not. Gianna figured he stuck around because he didn't want to give up their friendship entirely, despite the you know, major crush he still harbored for her. Gianna was grateful, honestly. Everything that was transpiring in her relationship with Tashi and Patrick had actually brought them closer. Art filled in the gaps she was desperately craving from her boyfriend and girlfriend, attention and spontaneity.

"Catch," Art called, tossing her jacket towards her.

"Caught," Gianna said, grabbing it from the air with ease. "What are you trying to do? Test my reflexes?" she joked, sliding the jacket onto her arms.

"No, but I'm happy to inform you they're wonderful," he quipped. "We are going to Cantor Arts Center, somewhere I know you've been dying to get to," he informed, moving to stand in front of her.

Gianna let out a little squeal of delight as she sprung off the edge of Art's bed.

"Thank you, thank you!" Gianna exclaimed, throwing her arms around Art and hugging him tightly.

"Anything for you," he breathed, his laughter vibrating through her body.

"I don't know why you're worried about Farrah's threats," Gianna said dismissively. "You would never hurt me," she stated confidently.

"Never!" Art promised. "Out of curiosity, should I expect the same from her?" he asked, flicking his chin at the shirt Gianna had on.

Gianna glanced down at what she was wearing, it was a plain, white tee with the name of the ballet troupe that her sister danced with emblazoned on it.

"Pfft, Alicia is a downright angel compared to Farrah," Gianna assured.

"And Luke?'

"Only dangerous if you let him get close to you with a baseball bat," she warned, smiling at him. "Speaking of my brother, I'm getting tickets for the season opener game for the Dodgers, and you're coming with me," she stated, leaving no room for argument.

One of his brows rose at this, "Just me?"

"I would bring Patrick, of course," Gianna responded, leaning back on her hands. "And Tashi too, if she can squeeze me into her oh so busy schedule," she added, an undercurrent bitterness in her tone.

"I'm sure she would be thrilled to go with both her girlfriend and boyfriend to a Dodgers game," Art said, with a brief, strained smile.

At this, Gianna mentally slapped her forehead.

"Way to go on reminding him of his position in our friend group," Gianna thought.

"Oh my god, I’m so sorry Art," Gianna apologized profusely, covering her mouth with her hand. "I swear, that was not my intention when I brought up us going to the game," she insisted sincerely, reaching out and placing her hand on top of Art's knee.

He shrugged, "No harm done, Gia. I know you well enough to know it wasn't on purpose," he said, a tight smile still drawn across his mouth.

Another annoyed sigh blew past Gianna's lips, "It's so frustrating, you know? Somehow, some way, my relationship manages to find its way into every conversation, she grumbled. "It's annoying to me, I know it's gotta be annoying for you, it's probably the last thing you want to hear actually,"

"Listen, I'm always happy to lend my ear to my friend," Art reassured, his face softening while resting his hand on top of hers. "Seems like you're in need of a shoulder to lean on, I'll gladly fill that for you," he said, squeezing her hand.

She felt comforted, even though all he had offered was the simple gesture.

"I can always count on you, Art," Gianna said, grinning brightly. "Now I know what Patrick means when we talk on the phone," she remarked.

Art seemed to perk up at this, “Oh? What did he mean by that?”

"Just that I’m the easier girlfriend talk to," she revealed, with a small shrug. "Patrick and I are a lot closer than she realizes," she admitted offhandedly.

Gianna didn't miss the way Art's eyes lit up a bit, an unreadable glint in them.

"Is that so?"

"You know Tashi, she's 24/7 about tennis. She's been harping on him about losing and always trying to give him pointers when that’s not what he wants to hear," she explained. "And for him, I'm that person he can turn to talk about anything other than tennis," she continued, with a small reminiscent smile.

Gianna thought back to the time she had Patrick practically doubled over in laughter, recalling all the stupid shenanigans her and her siblings got up to back at their ranch in Louisiana. It delighted Gianna to know she was capable of eliciting that much joy from her boyfriend when he needed it the most after getting practically chewed out by Tashi following a tough loss.

"You and I share that same dynamic," Gianna went on, motioning between them. "It's so much easier talking to you Art, compared to Tashi and even sometimes Patrick. In fact, I always look forward talking to you. You make me feel seen," she confessed, feeling Art's fingers curl around her hand more tightly.

It wasn't uncomfortable nor painful, but a physical reminder that Art seemed to be hanging on her every word.

"You always engage with my interests. Every bio class, you slip a new recipe across our desk that you found on the internet for me to try, more difficult than the last," she said, unconsciously leaning in closer in. "You're even brave enough to try out said recipes, not knowing what the results will be," she joked, chuckling softly. "Anyways, I guess this is my extremely long winded way of saying I'm grateful to call you my friend. And, thank you for being such a trouper and coming to dinner with me and my family," she told him, her mouth shyly curving upwards.

A long moment of silence fell between them, the only sound filling the room was the low instrumentals of "He Loves Me" and both her breathing and his. Art coughed, briefly ducking his head down and trying to keep the blush which Gianna saw was creeping over his cheeks. When Art's eyes finally flicked back to hers, Gianna felt her insides twist. The barely disguised want in his gaze made her warm all over.

This was becoming all too familiar, this careful dance between them balancing on the tightrope of friendship and something more. Gianna's resolve to keep Art at arm's length from months ago was weakening. They both were teetering, another step closer and over, would plummet them into uncharted waters.

"I don't know if I'm deserving of such high praise you, Gia," Art said softly. His eyes darting to her lips, daringly lingering on them and then back to her eyes. "But, I promise I will never break the trust you have within me," he vowed, shifting closer to her.

"You can't tell Tashi or Patrick about this,"

Smoothly, Art's fingers slid around Gianna's hand and went under hers to lift it towards his mouth.

Art didn't take his gaze off of her, "It will be our little secret," he whispered, sealing his promise with a kiss to each knuckle more lingering than the one before.

~~~x~~~

Staring at her reflection, Gianna vigorously dabbed her sponge all over her face to blend her foundation evenly across her skin.

"Between the two of us, whoever gets the makeup deal first, can we please for the love of god make sure the foundation range goes beyond the color of a paper bag?" Gianna yelled, with a huff before finally placing the sponge onto the bathroom counter.

If she had to keep mixing two foundations just to get the correct shade for her skin any longer Gianna was going to lose her mind.

"Babe, you are the color of a paper bag," Tashi quipped, from within her room.

Gianna playfully rolled her eyes, "Yeah, only in the winter," Gianna pointed out, exiting Tashi's bathroom. "I still have a bit of my summer tan left," she said crossing her arms and leaning against the door frame.

Pushing herself off her bed, Tashi walked over to Gianna and her hands instantly found themselves attached to her hips.

"Regardless, you look amazing Juliet," Tashi teased, letting her eyes trail down Gianna's costume.

It was Halloweekend at Stanford which meant only one thing to all students across campus, three days packed full of partying. Gianna, was one of those students who was thoroughly looking forward to the festivities with a costume planned for each night. Tonight, she was dressed up in a white dress, a cross necklace, and a pair of feathered angel wings inspired by Baz Luhrmann's iconic rendition of Romeo and Juliet. It was simple, elegant and the pure white fabric of the dress against her skin made her appear ethereal.

"You’re looking fantastic yourself, Josie," Gianna complimented, noting her girlfriend's leopard print bodysuit and cat ears. "And I didn't even have to twist your arm to go out tonight," she joked, placing her hand at the back of her neck.

A faux pout found its way on Tashi's lips, "Hey, I can be fun," she said, before placing a chaste kiss on Gianna's lips.

Gianna raised an eyebrow, "Oh? This is certainly news to me," she responded, laughing a little.

"Ha-ha very funny," Tashi replied dryly, before moving down Gianna's to jaw and pressing her lips against her skin. "Excuse me for embracing the festive spirit," she deadpanned, her breath tickling her ear.

"I am not complaining one bit," Gianna clarified, with a blissful smile while Tashi kissed down her neck. "You're going to ruin my makeup," she complained, her eyes falling close and her breathing becomes ragged as Tashi found the sensitive spot on her neck.

"You're fucking hot without it," Tashi murmured, nipping at her collarbone.

A sharp series of knocks startled the two of them, breaking apart from each other in quiet laughter.

"Must be Art," Tashi guessed, fixing Gianna's hair.

"Gotta be," Gianna agreed, releasing her grip on the back of her girlfriend's neck.

Pushing herself off the door frame, Gianna took a couple, deep breathes in effort to calm her body down. With a hand on her hip, Gianna's finger wrapped themselves around the doorknob and swung open the door.

"Why the hell are you knocking like the police?" Gianna scolded warmly, staring at Art who was dressed up as Waldo with round glasses perched at the end of his nose.

Art opened his mouth to respond which Gianna assumed would be a witty one. Instead his mouth remained stuck in the same position while his eyes looked her up and down.

"You look amazing, Gia," he blurted, his mouth still open in awe.

Gianna placed her hand on her chest, "Aww really?" she asked, with a knowing smile.

"Yeah," he said, nodding his head vigorously. "You look like…well you like angelic," he breathed, flashing her a sheepish grin.

"Corny!" Tashi yelled from behind her. "Seriously Art? You couldn't have chosen the most obvious word?" she questioned, putting her arm around Gianna’s shoulder.

"It's the first word that came to mind!" he cried playfully, looking at Tashi.

"It's not Art's fault, that I'm just that breathtaking," Gianna said, placing the back of her hand to her forehead and swooning dramatically.

"Ugh, you see what you started Art?" Tashi joked, shaking her head with a smile.

Gianna turned to Tashi and they broke into a fit of laughter.

"You're gorgeous, really,"

The girls' laughing came to abrupt stop as Gianna paused, her eyes locking with Art's. She felt herself lean back, shocked by his soft utterance causing her face to heat up massively.

"Oh," Gianna breathed, still stunned. "Thank you Art, that's very sweet of you," she said, tucking some of her hair behind her ear.

Gianna wondered it was possible to get a high off of words, because she was experiencing it. From beside her, Tashi loudly cleared her throat as her hand slid down Gianna's back.

"We should get going, don't want to be late for the party," Tashi suggested, her hand curling itself around Gianna’s waist.

Gianna felt herself be tugged her ever-so-slightly closer to Tashi's side, a wordless warning to Art to watch himself. If the message was received or not, Gianna had no way of knowing, but it was from that point on there was a noticeable shift in Tashi's demeanor. And Gianna was doing everything in her power to pretend that there wasn't. She tried to defuse the subtle tension between all of them by talking about the latest horror movies released in theaters, only Art engaged in the conversation while Tashi remained uncharacteristically quiet.

With her arm wrapped still wrapped fairly tightly around Gianna's shoulder, Tashi led her to the porch of the house. Already she could feel the bass pumping from the inside and it became more intense when they entered. "Disturbia" was blasting from the speakers and cheers swept the room at the song playing. The three of them are immediately pressed together in the crowd. Gianna couldn't believe how many people had shown up to this party. The place was packed with students in all sorts of costumes, ranging from serious dedication to hilarious ones clearly thrown together at the last minute. Gianna turned her head to say something to Art, Tashi had other plans, however.

"Let's go dance!" she yelled, in order to be heard over the music.

Allowing herself to be dragged towards the center of the room, Gianna looked back at Art and flashed him an apologetic smile coupled with a half shrug before being swallowed up within the throng of partygoers. The two danced facing each other, their movements loose and carefree while their bodies swayed to the beat of the music. With every song they danced along to, Gianna watched as Tashi’s mood brighten until there was a wide smile plastered on her face as they sung along with "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)" at the top of their lungs. Their laughter filled the air and Gianna spun herself around, her hair whipping across her face while kicking up the fog lingering in the atmosphere from a fog machine set the spooky season mood.

Facing away from her girlfriend, Gianna spotted Art across the room dancing with a tipsy blonde haired girl who appeared to be having the time of her life, but Art looked completely out it and was seemingly just going through the motions in a halfhearted dance.

Gianna turned back towards Tashi, "I'm going to step out for a bit for some air!" she shouted over the music.

"Don't be too long!"

"I won't!"

Pushing her way through people, Gianna made way to the back door quickly opening and shutting it behind her. Immediately, she’s struck by the autumn air crisp and cool, leaving goosebumps on her arms. She didn’t mind it however, it was refreshing after being in a packed living room. Gianna moved across the backyard deck before finally coming to a stop at the railing and bending over to rest her arms against metal surface. Casting her glance upwards, she admired the full moon lighting up the dark sky, the stars faint due to the lights of the city in the distance.

"You're doing on that purpose,"

Gianna's face scrunched in confusion, she looked over her shoulder to see Art standing not too far behind her.

"What do you mean?" she asked, shaking her head in confusion.

"Isn't there an identical shot like this in Luhrmann's version of Romeo and Juliet?" he pointed out, making a finger frame and observing her through it.

A small laugh left her as she remembered the specific scene he was talking about; it was when Juliet was watching fireworks going off from the balcony.

"Perfect," Art said softly, angling his fingers so she was precisely aligned in the square shape of his fingers.

Gianna scoffed and rolled her eyes, "Shut up," she said, a smile on her lips.

He mirrored her expression, dropping his hands and made his way closer to her.

"Why did you come out here?" Art asked curiously, using the side of him to lean against the railing.

"It was a fucking sauna in there," she answered, which Art chuckled at. "I needed air," she added. "What about you?" she asked, flicking her chin at him. "Why are you out here? I thought you and that blonde girl were really hitting it off," she joked, with a knowing smirk.

Art let out a scoff of his own, "Shut up," he laughed, echoing her own words a minute ago.

"What? I don't want her getting jealous—"

"Jealous?" he repeated incredulously. "Even if she was, wouldn't matter," he said, shrugging his shoulders. "She doesn't compare…" he trailed off, and a breathy chuckle passed his lips.

"To me," Gianna thought, finishing his sentence.

"So no point of competing," he finished, with another small shrug.

"You never did answer my question," Gianna remarked, tilting her head to the side. "Why did you come out here?" she asked again, pushing herself up from her position and turning to fully face him.

"Seizing the opportunity to dance with you," he answered bluntly, causing Gianna's eyebrows to shoot up in surprise. "If that's alright with you?" he questioned, his voice softer in tone than before.

Inside, the speakers began playing "Time of the the Season" as Gianna mulled over his offer.

It's the time of the season

When love runs high

"It's harmless, a lot of friends dance with each other," she thought.

Her lips curved, "I suppose one dance couldn't hurt, I don't think it's going to cause a bloody feud between families," Gianna quipped, making Art smile warmly at her.

Looping her hands around his shoulders, Art's palms found themselves on the sides of her abdomen as they began to dance to the music. Then again, Gianna wasn't quite sure if she should call it that, it was more of them gently swaying back and forth. Neither of them spoke, as neither of them knew what to say. They only turned away from each other with shy smiles, both releasing quiet laughs which slightly eased the palpable tension lingering in the air between them.

"You know, back in Louisiana I used to love stargazing with my siblings on our family ranch," Gianna mentioned, breaking the silence that fell between them. "It's one of the few perks of living in the countryside. There's not any light pollution, so you're able to see the stars in their full glory unlike cities," she went on, lifting her head up at the moon and the starry sky above him. "You have to visit me in Louisiana this summer. It's a breathtaking sight honestly, their beauty is unmatched," she said wistfully, their swaying coming to a stop.

"It truly is," Art agreed softly.

Beaming, Gianna looked back down at Art to see him already staring back at her. Her breath hitched ever so slightly. There was not a trace of doubt in Gianna's mind that Art hadn't looked at a single star and was solely looking at her this whole time. His eyes traveled the length of her face before moving back to her own. All the while, Gianna mentally noted Art's hands were sliding down her sides and onto her hips, pulling their bodies closer together. A shuddering breath left Gianna feeling her heart begin to race with anticipation, a mix of want and uncertainty coursing through her.

Art leaned in towards her, "Gia," he murmured, his voice barely above a whisper.

Holding his stare, Gianna leaned in closer causing their noses to just barely brush against one another before she pulled away at the last minute in hesitation. She knew the implications of crossing this line, the risks it carried. But the warmth of Art hands seeping through the material her dress was dizzying and actively drowning out all logical reasoning from her, it just all felt too good. So natural. Slowly, Gianna moved back in as Art dipped his head down, their lips a hair's breadth apart.

An ear splitting shriek jolted the two apart and Gianna felt herself sag back against the railing, gripping it for dear life because it was damn near the only thing keeping her on her feet. Fireworks shot up into the air from the front of the house, exploding into a dazzling sight of red, green, purple, and orange. The raucous cheering of partygoers followed soon after. The frat boys must have brought the fireworks and are now setting them off in their drunken state. Gianna covered her mouth with her hand, inhaling shakily.

That was too damn close, she should have never even allowed it get that far.

Art's back was still facing her when she managed to stand at her full height. Gianna’s hand dropped down to her chest, her breathing slightly erratic and her racing just as Art turned around with a dopey smile on his face. Once he saw her expression, his smile vanished.

"Gia?" Art called, concern written all over his features. He a took step closer to her, reaching his hand out toward her. "Gia, are you alright?" he asked again.

His fingers had barely grazed hers when Gianna rushed past him and back towards the backdoor to the house.

"Gianna? Gianna what did I do? Come on, Gianna, speak to me, please!"

Art's questions and pleas were tuned out by her own voice repeatedly saying one word.

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!"

[lenainris]

Art Break

That's not a break from socio media, that's just some break from making art. I don't know how long that's gonna be. Maybe a week or a month or more. Anyway, today I'll post some art work that I'm proud of how it turned out. And I'll post something else on November 1st for Roxy. I don't know what happened to her, if you know it would be nice if I found out. I hope she's okay. I'll post my present for her anyway, and it'll stay here till she gets back. (I hope she comes back by then. I'm a little sad that I did something for her and she can't see it.) Why am I taking this break? Besides that something has come up in my life, I still want to write fanfiction. And my hyperfixation won't let me write fanfiction and make art at the same time. I said I could write fanfiction and do art, just to prove to myself how delusional I am.

If I decide to draw something in the future, this will be the comic I haven't finished drawing yet.

Have a nice day. ^^

[doe-eyed-fool]

Fallen {Chapter Twenty Nine}

Alastor x (fem)Reader

I was left in the dark room, for I don't know how long. My anxiety and fear had taken over all rational thinking. I was fully vulnerable like this, if anyone else other than Vox were to show up, they'd know that I wasn't a demon like themself.

But an angel. I didn't want to think about what would happen then, what Vox might do with me...

The only reason he hasn't told anyone else, is because he's waiting for Alastor to arrive. A part of me wished that Alastor wouldn't come. But I knew that wouldn't be the case. I just didn't want him possibly getting hurt or worse...

I began to tear up just thinking about it, I hung my head low as I sniveled. If God was listening at all, if God was still willing to grant me one last wish...Is that for Alastor to walk away from this unharmed.

And If I could be so selfish, I'd want to leave this terrible place with him. I'm not ready to give up the best thing that's happened to me. I wasn't willing to loose Alastor.

That was my wish, my prayer. I could only hope that God would just hear me out...

Suddenly, the sound of muffled screaming could be heard from the other side of the door in front of me. My crying paused as I realized just who was the cause of those screams, that grew ever louder by the second.

I lift my head just in time for the door to slam open, revealing Alastor in the entry way. His suit was covered in blood, his antlers extended outward, and his eyes darkened black with red radio dials replacing his pupils.

His smile, was not one of joy, as it strained and twitched. Though, as he saw me, his blind fury began to settle.

He slowly returned to his natural state, his eyes back to normal as they fell upon me. "Y/n..." He exhaled. Alastor hurried to me, and looked me over. I look up at him with tear filled eyes, only for my attention to be caught by someone slowly approaching us.

My yell was muffled, Alastor snapped his fingers and the cloth and chains disappeared.

"Behind you!" I barely got the warning out, before thick wires were being shot towards Alastor. He turned to dodge them, but unfortunately he was not quick enough. Two of the wires stabbed into his side, and let out a wave of electricity.

My heart sank at the sound of Alastor's pained cries. The light from the voltage lit up the room with a blinding blue color, only to settle down after a few seconds. Alastor just barely caught himself as he slumped to the ground.

His breaths left him in heavy and ragged draws. He looked up to see Vox, standing over him with a wide smirk.

"Alastor." He jerks the wires from Alastor's body. Another yell left Alastor as they were roughly removed. "About time you showed up."

Alastor glared at Vox, his voice cracking and breaking with distortion. "You have some nerve..." He stood tall, a low growl left him as he continued. "You dare take away my darling, and lay your filthy hands on her...You're just begging for me to tear your soul from you and broadcast your agony for all to hear!"

"I have some nerve?" Vox raises an eyebrow. "Says the guy who's been hiding an angel this whole time! How exactly did you find her anyway?"

"That is the least of your concerns right now." Alastor says lowly before his antlers begin to extend, his claws growing and sharpening. Cracking of bones could be heard as his body grew to an intimidating height. His eyes darken, bright red pinpricks for pupils.

"I'm gonna finally put an end to your pitiful, overhyped, existence once and for all!"

Vox chuckles. "I'd love to see you try." Multiple wires, as if tendrils, sprout from his back, each one sparking with electricity and perfectly aimed for Alastor. 

I made sure to keep my distance, knowing if I were to get caught up in their fight, I'd just get myself hurt. Or killed. I trusted that Alastor could handle himself, but it pained me to watch whenever he took a hit from Vox.

Though, Alastor proved to be at the top of his game. Either avoiding or taking every throw from Vox like it was nothing. And Vox was only slowing down, where Alastor was beating him.

He knew he wouldn't be able to last much longer...

Suddenly, when he got the chance to avoid Alastor, he turned to me. And just like that, I was hypnotized once again. I blacked out, unable to control myself as I rushed straight into the middle of the scrap.

Alastor just barely managed to avoid striking me with one of the tendrils. With every hit he tried to land, Vox had controlled me to take if for him.

Luckily, Alastor would not allow any of them to hit me.

"I knew you had a weakness." Vox began. "Turns out it's just some woman. How pathetic."

"I'll tell you what's pathetic." Alastor growled. "Not fighting me yourself!"

"I never claimed to be a fair man." Vox shrugs. As Alastor was distracted, he didn't see the wire that Vox had snuck up behind him. With a quickness, Vox shot the wire deep into Alastor's back, before sending a large volt of electricity into him. Vox tossed me aside, to revel in Alastor's pain.

I groaned, slowly gaining my awareness back, only to look on in horror at the sight before me.

"You should had stayed gone Alastor! Because now, I'm about to put an end to radio for good!" Vox howled with laughter. He then lifted Alastor up into the air by the wire, and slammed him against the window, shattering it.

My heart pounded in my chest, my head was screaming with panic. Alastor fell to the ground, the voltage only increasing by the second.

I could only watch as he writhed in pain, and Vox stood victoriously. I looked for something, anything that would help Alastor.

That's when my eyes landed on a large stray shard of glass. My eyes darted between the glass shard and Vox. My heart rate growing faster, if possible. Could I really do that?

I'd get myself killed trying, I know I would but...

I can't stand this anymore!

I picked up the glass and rushed towards Vox, he turned to me just as I stabbed the broken shard into his gut. He cried out in pain and anger before swatting me away. I fell back into a near by wall, my head making contact before my body.

I slid down the wall, blood dripping from my nose where I was hit, and my head throbbing with pain.

"You little bitch!" Vox hissed as he removed the glass. Figures. It would take a lot more than that to take down an overlord. He began to make his way towards me, I was barely holding on, whimpering as the ringing in my ears began to grow louder.

Alastor tried to move, yell for Vox to stop, or something. But he was unable.

Just as Vox reached me, the door to the room swung open.

In the doorway, was a demon, who I assumed work for VoxTek. He looked panic, his voice trembling as he spoke.

"Lucifer is here!"

All three of of froze, the electricity holding Alastor back finally subsided. Without wasting another second, Alastor sunk into the ground with in shadow form before reaching me. He quickly grabs hold of me and uses what little energy he had to teleport us out of there.

"Fuck!" Vox exclaimed. "God damn it, I had him! And now his royal highness is here!? What the fuck!?"

"What the fuck indeed!"

Vox felt his stomach drop at the sound of "his royal highness'" voice. He turned to see Lucifer standing before him. His grin growing at the sight of Vox's shock.

"U-Uh, Lucifer!" Vox smiled awkwardly. "What brings you by?"

"The sound of two overlords tussling." Lucifer shrugs. "The radio demon vs the video star! I just had to see it." His eyes trailed to Vox's hand, where there was a smudge gold. He then looks up at Vox.

"Tell me, just where did that radio demon go?"

Tags-

@krak-jj

@martinys-world

@cherry-cola-100

@wonderlandangelsposts

[theskeletonprior]

The ????: I Skipped A Few Days

This is a casual little writing challenge to get myself into a habit, perhaps, or if not, to get some words from the meat of my brain to the pulp of the page. All of my stories for this challenge are set in the world of RAVENOT, and if you’re curious, you can take a look at my WIP intro right here. And if you’re really keen, you can read the first chapter (sort of a pilot as I toil) right here! Now onto the daily ramble.

I didn't get nearly as much writing done in that first week as I hoped. With the work that I do, and the commute that I have to take to get there, it's tough to squeak in the time for a particularly inspiring amount of daily writing. 5k and one completed story per week was ambitious, and not a goal that I think I can attain at this time without taking some heroic measures. And the purpose of this exercise is to be pretty chill. So there will be no heroic measures (at least not on my part!). Instead, I'll reset my expectations, and hope to get this short story completed by the end of the month. On the brighter side, as of this posting, I've clocked about 2k. Not exactly the kind of numbers that would see me pump out 50k in a month, but again... We're being chill, here. I'm still struggling quite a lot with the horrors of my internal world, and occasionally with the horrors of the external world, and whether or not, in the midst of all that, my writing is any good. What am I doing any of this for? The short answer seems to be that I simply don't know how to stop, and I also don't want to stop, or I would. I figure the rest will come on its own time. Anyway, here's an excerpt for today.

Hadan took the arrow back, the shaft already beginning to blacken at Ravenot's touch. "I will not keep thee from thy watch," he said, keenly aware of the sentry's desire to flee. That was good, in its own way. Few were those who ought to linger long beside him, and even they did so at their peril. Hadan looked to Yarrowling, the silent look still so evident in its beseeching that Ravenot could almost hear the plea. The old woman nodded, and Hadan was gone so swiftly he seemed as though he ought to have kicked up dust. "Thanks for bringing that arrow back," Yarrowling said, "those silver tips don't come cheap." She paused then, wrinkled lips puckering as she sucked them in over her gums. "So what's the word, Unmade?" "I will await the dawn here in thy square," Ravenot told her. "I would not cause further unease with my presence here, but I must stay for a time." "I'll have our watch draw lots before I send 'em back to their beds. If one of ours is with you, it'll settle most of the worry what will come of your visit to our town." "For this, I thank you." Ravenot lowered his head. "I won't call you welcome," Yarrowling said, "but I hope you know it ain't personal." "Trouble doth sit astride my very shoulders. I shall fainly bear it elsewhere, should our fortunes prove fair enough." That earned him a taut grimace from Yarrowling, which he took for a semblance of a smile.

Until next time!

Taglist: @rosieartsie @void-botanist @carmillasboywife

As always, let me know if you’d like to join or leave the taglist, and I’ll act accordingly.

[wandafiction]

Selachimorpha - Just Us Chapter 68

Warnings: Mostly Fluff, Slightly Suggestive Theme

Word Count: 4841

Series List | Chapter 67 | Chapter 69

================================

"Where are the boys anyway?" I turn to Wanda once I've helped her out of the car and closed the door.

"With Hope." Wanda slowly snakes her arm around the back of my waist, obviously afraid of my reaction so when I wrap my arm around her shoulder to pull her close I feel her body relax. 

"Ho- oh- you met Hope?"

"Mhmm, I did. She is giving the boys a behind the scenes tour of the sharks. Or so she said she would." 

"I always find it funny that Hope ended up working in the aquarium." I lock the car, and me and Wanda start to walk back to the entrance as we continue to chat.

"Why?"

"Well because she majored in Entomology. Officially she is Dr Hope Pym. But of course being a Pym she couldn't have just one major so she also majored in marine biology."

Wanda hums as she moves her head to rest against the side of my chest. Her hands seem to be gripping a little tightly to my coat, not that I'm going to question it. I have a feeling she is going to be affectionate or at least more cuddly and touchy for a while. I don't mind as long as she feels safe enough to talk to me. 

I mean maybe it's partially my fault she didn't open up as well, not just her past. I mean I am meant to make her feel safe enough to talk to me, not about everything all at once but little by little. When I realised how much I was opening up, which was a surprise to even myself I knew it was because I felt safe and protected. So I could open up. 

It just makes me think maybe Wanda doesn't feel those things. So if holding on to me, cuddling just something as simple as pecking her lips so she knows I'm there will slowly draw her out of her shell so I can start breaking down her walls then I can wait. But then again, even with all that being safe isn't just about the small affections it's more about what the other person feels when with one another. 

"Do you feel safe with me?" Wanda removes her head from my side to look at me with scrunched brows. 

"Of course I do, baby. You make me feel protected and loved." Her eyes search mine and I think she sees my hesitation about her answer because she lets out a small sigh as we continue walking slowly to the entrance. 

"It's not that I don't feel safe enough to talk to you baby, because I do and I'm so thankful that you care so much. It's just my problems were never the biggest in the room, so I learnt to push it down...hide it away from others and myself. I don't even know how my emotions boiled over today, I have a lot going on up here." She taps her head as she presses her lips together, looking at the surrounding area as we show our re-entry bands and get in without a fuss.

"There's a few things that I need to talk about, it's nothing about you and not about me and you. It's all on me, and I know I'm not very good at the talking, and the being open. It's all new to me. The fact you had to drag it out of me this morning proves that point. I went from 0 to 100 in seconds and in no way is it your fault. I need you to know it's not your fault. So tonight, once the boys are asleep we can talk. Properly. I am still learning things about myself, more and more since being with you and I'm still learning to be okay with all this change." 

"Then we can learn and grow together." I stop us just outside of the ocean wonders building so we are not talking about this when we find the boys. "I don't need you to tell me every little thing as soon as it happens, I don't ever want to make you feel like I am forcing you to do something you don't want to do. Apart from today where I felt that I desperately needed something just as much as you needed to release something. I just want you to tell me when you're stressed or something is playing on your mind, nagging you from the deep dark and scary. Because I don't want to be on the other end of it when it all boils over." 

"I really am sorry baby, I just let my emotions get the best of me. I didn't mean a thing that came out of my mouth, I was so lost in my own mind at that moment, I have never even thought about those things. So please believe me when I say not a single thing I said is true, you would have been a great mother had you been given a proper chance to watch your baby girl grow up." Wanda's hands cupping my face, my eyes flutter closed and I lean into her touch. 

I may be hurt by her words, but I do believe her when she says she doesn't mean it. I've been there, I said a lot worse in fact but she is apologising and making sure I have some understanding of why. It shows how remorseful she actually is. I turn my head to the side kissing the palm of her hand, a soft smile grows on my face and I see a lot of Wanda's worries wash away for just a moment. 

"I'm going to have to do a lot of pining and wooing to try and make this whole day up to you." I huff out a small laugh kissing her hand a few more times.

"I would say yes, but just you being open with me is showing me that we can get past this. This doesn't mean I can forgive you straight away and I mean maybe a little pining over me wouldn't cause a great deal of harm, but just know. We are going to be okay, I want us to work and this is just a bump in the road that we have to smooth over before we can move forward." 

"You are wise beyond your years Y/n, and it makes me fall in love with you even more with the way you see things in life. You have an extraordinary way of looking about things and your outlook on life is so fundamentally positive it truly astounds me." Her hands move from my face to hold the lapels of my coat pulling them across my body a bit more. "So tonight, how about we all have a nice family meal. We can have a small movie with the boys. Then once they have gone to sleep we can talk, really talk. About everything." 

"That sounds lovely princess. We can stay up as long as you need to and we can speak about anything you need to. I love you Wanda."

"I love you too Y/n." 

I wrap my arms around Wanda's neck pulling her into me, her arms wrap around my waist underneath my coat as her head rests on my chest. One of my hands moves to scratch at her scalp, and her hot breath warms my shirt when she lets out a content sigh. I rest my chin on the top of her head, my eyes scanning the surrounding area to see the world outside of our little  bubble that we once again create. I squeeze my hand against Wanda's shoulder and lean back to look down at her, putting some hair behind her ear.

"Let's go find the boys."

I wrap my arm around Wanda's shoulder pulling her into my right side, and her hands grab onto the front and back of my coat; her head resting back on the side of my chest. I text Hope as we walk in asking where to meet her and she gives me the code for the door to get through the back and meet them at the top of the shark tanks. 

Wanda gives me a confused look when I drag her away from the main attraction and down an unlit hallway, and to a door that says do not enter in big red letters. Wanda pulls on my hand, gaining my attention before I can start putting the door pin in.

"What are you doing?" Wanda whispers as her head tilts back to look back down the hallway, obviously making sure no one sees us.

"Nothing." I shrug nonchalantly as I go to the keypad.

"Y/n we can't be here."

"Says who?" 

"The big red sign right there." She whisper shouts as she points at the warning sign. 

"Do you trust me?" 

"Of course I do." I smirk as she sees where this is going.

"Then trust me with this."

"Fine but if we get arrested for trespassing I'm throwing you under the bus and you can stay the night in a cell." She says half seriously but with a joking tone.

"It's a risk I'm willing to take." I turn to the pad and start to input the code.

844339277777#

I hear the door click and smile at my success, trying to keep the act up that me and Wanda are breaking into the backroom. I turn to look at Wanda as I push the door open, and her jaw drops a little, her eyes flicking to me then the lock.

"That's a long as fuck pin. How did you even guess it?" 

"It's Hope's favourite insect, so I thought it was worth trying." 

"Of course you did." 

I roll my eyes as I pull Wanda through the open door and down another dark hallway and up a flight of stairs. Her grip in my hand tightens when she hears voices ahead trying to pull me back and away from them.

"Wanda, it's just the boys and Hope. She gave me the code for the door and we are heading to meet them."

"Meany pants."

"Scaredy pants."

"I wasn't scared, I was just being...overly cautious."

"Sure Jan." 

I pull her back under my arm now she knows my true intentions and allows me to lead her to the top of the shark tanks. The boys are too busy pointing out everything they see and getting excited at the smallest thing. Hope looks up from her spot next to the boys, smiling happily when she sees both of us walking toward the three of them. Standing up and making her way towards us, the boy's eyes not even looking up from the tank.

"I was wondering when you were going to show up." 

"Well we are here now." I let go of Wanda so I can hug Hope, before letting go and wrapping my arm around Wanda's shoulders again. "Hope this is Wanda, Wanda Hope. I heard you two met already but I thought I would introduce you properly."

"It's lovely to officially meet you Wanda, I would say I have heard lots about you but this one has been keeping you a secret from me." 

"Oh has she now?" Wanda turns to me as Hope hums out a yes. "And why is that baby?" Wanda's tone is playful.

"Because the last person I introduced her to, she ended up whooping his ass." Hope laughs out holding her hands in fake surrender.

"Hey if you bring me a dumbass named Scott who thinks he can just pry his way into my life because my father and you like him then think again. He deserved getting his ass whooped a little."

"Maybe but aren't you giving it a real go now?" 

"Enough about me. Wanda, your boys are so adorable and amazing. They really find this stuff interesting which is pretty cool actually, not many teenagers think looking at sharks is cool. They take a picture and leave, but your boys have a keen interest." 

I let out a small laugh at the change of conversation knowing full well that Hope and Scott are most definitely together.

"Thank you. Yeah they have always been very adventurous and inquisitive. They love exploring and finding out new things to learn. They definitely got that from me." 

"Well not that they have spotted you guys, too busy looking at the sharks but do you want to join them in looking in the tank?" 

"When have I ever said no?" 

"When you were with bitch face."

"Okay, no need to call me out on my shit." I laugh so she knows I have taken no offense and I see Wanda smiling between me and Hope at our banter.

"Mom, Y/n come look. This is so cool." Tommy calls us over finally spotting us. 

"I will leave you guys to it. I have a few talks around the building so just come find me before you leave so I can say bye." She gives both me and Wanda a hug before disappearing down the stairs.

Me and Wanda don't wait another second before sitting down either side of the boys as their eyes scan the water, but I can't look at anything but Wanda. The way the reflection of the water and light dances across her face creating these amazing patterns that show her in all her beauty. I get lost in all that she is, it's like she is enchanting me to never look away, a strong force not letting me leave until I've remembered every little detail that magically seems to appear under the reflection of the world around us. I didn't know such beauty could exist, but she is a goddess in human form. In another world she may be known as Aphrodite or Venus, but in this world she is Wanda. My Wanda. I am so happy I get to spend everyday with someone only most people could ever dream of just meeting. 

I don't realise I am still staring until I feel a tap on my shoulder, my eyes flicking to the culprit who is a very worried looking Billy. 

"You okay Y/n? I've been trying to get your attention for a while." His voice quiet, keeping the conversation between us. I give him a soft smile, looking back at Wanda who is already looking at me, a light blush covers her cheeks as a fuzzy smile is painted on her face.

"I'm more than okay Billy. Just lost in a world of my own creation and coming out on the other side." 

"Hmm, what's it like on the other side of your mind's world?" 

"It's scary some of the time, it's like I have a ticking time bomb waiting to implode on everything good that I have built on the other side. All the good, all the bad and everything in-between the two exists on the other side. But in the inner world there is nothing but darkness which is scarier than anything on the other side of the world that has been crossed." 

"I want to go to the other side, it sounds like a very interesting place."

"You are already on the other side Billy, it is our reality, our present, it is what we call home. It's full of hope and wonder. It's a truly amazing place to finally be." I don't know if my rambling of other worlds and other sides makes sense to Billy, but he nods his head a couple of times thinking over my words. 

"So the world in your mind is like, uh, your mental health and the other side is you finally seeing a way out of it. Or a way of dealing with it." 

"You are very smart for your age Billy, very mature to understand what it was I was on about." 

"Thank you." It's quiet for a few beats. "I'm proud of you for pulling through whatever it is you are or we're going through." 

"I am too." 

"Hey you two, stop whispering to one another and come join us." Me and Billy got so lost in conversation we hadn't even noticed Wanda and Tommy move to sit on the opposite side of the tank.

"Yes come here Y/n, please, Hope said you have some really cool shark facts or know a lot about sharks. And I have SO many questions." Tommy waves his hand over frantically trying to get me to hurry up.

I give in, rolling my eyes as I stand up holding a hand out to hoist Billy off the floor. He jumps to his feet and to my surprise pulls me into a hug, his arms wrapping around my neck as he rests his chin on my shoulder. 

"I love Y/n." I wrap my arms around his shoulders and give him a small squeeze.

"Love you too Billy." I pull away. "Now! Let's geek out about sharks." 

I drag him over to where Tommy and Wanda are and as we go to sit down Wanda pulls me down next to her, landing with a small thump on the ground I huff of air escaping my lungs. She gives me a small apologetic look but doesn't say anything. Instead she moves her legs from underneath her laying on her side with her head in my lap. Like I said, extra cuddly. I weave my hands through her hair, every now and again scratching her head. 

"So boys, what do you want to know?" I turn my attention away from Wanda, but make sure my hands keep messing with her hair. 

"Everything!" They both wiggle excitedly on their butt's.

"Okay well let's start with the scientific name for sharks."

"There's another name for sharks?" Billy raises a brow in question.

"Oh yeah, don't they give them like Latin names or something?" Tommy looks at me in excitement at his fact.

"They do. So sharks are also known as Selachimorpha. "

"That sounds fancy?" Wanda laughs against my lap. 

"It is very fancy. So. What's the coolest shark in the tank to you boys?" 

"The tiger shark there. The one with the jagged teeth and looks like it could eat you alive." Tommy points out the shark he is on about.

"So that is a sand tiger shark. Also known as Carcharias taurus . False to the beliefs of many people the sand tiger shark is not actually that closely related to tiger sharks themselves. They are also very harmless to humans, never has there been a fatality at the hands -or rather teeth - of these sharks." 

"So it's not that deadly?" Billy asks as his eyes follow the slow moving beast around the tank.

"Not to us no, but if you are a squid, some bony fish or even some types of shark then they would most definitely be deadly."

"So it's called a sand tiger shark, but isn't actually a tiger shark?" Wanda speaks quietly from my lap.

"No, not at all. But it isn't just known as a sand tiger shark either. In the UK it's known as a grey nurse shark, which is a common name in other places too. The funniest name, and I would say the most descriptive yet least helpful is what they say in South Africa." 

"What do they call it?" Tommy leans forward slightly to see past Billy to me.

"It's called the spotted ragged-tooth shark."

"Wow, that's such a creative name." Billy's voice is full of sarcasm. 

"That's what everyone says. Anything else you want to know?"

"What about that one that's got the really flat head." Wanda asks, taking a peek into the tank.

"The one resting on the bottom?"

"Yeah." Wanda settles her head back into my lap and I swear I almost hear her purr when I start scratching at her scalp.

"Do you boys know what that one is?" 

"I think I saw the sign downstairs that said it was a nurse shark." Billy informs us.

"That's correct. Did you catch the scientific name?" 

"No but I know it was long and complicated." I laugh at his confession.

"It is. But the scientific name for a nurse shark is Ginglymostoma cirratum. "

"How do you know this stuff?" Tommy asks, stunned at my knowledge.

"I like to read, and my friend studied this for like 4 years in college. I helped her study, these sort of things stick with you." 

"Fair enough. So tell us about the Gin...Gingly…. What is is again?" Tommy asks, frustrated he can't get it the first time. 

" Ginglymostoma cirratum. "

"Okay, so tell us more about the Ginglymostoma cirratum. "

"Okay where to start? Oh so these sharks have had more attacks on humans than the sand tiger shark. There have been plenty of nurse sharks that have attacked humans, but I blame the humans not the sharks."

"Why the humans when it's the shark that attacks." Wanda turns her head to look up at me in question.

"Because a lot of divers disturb them and try to touch them. They aren't very cautious probably because of how lazy and slow the shark looks, but in reality it will bite you. So don't be fooled." 

"Why is the nurse shark the only shark who is laying still? Is it dead?" I giggle at Tommy's question, shaking my head.

"No, not at all. It's probably asleep." 

"But I read somewhere that sharks don't stop moving even when asleep." Tommy now turns to me slightly confused at the discovery of the nurse shark's habits.

"That is true for most sharks. If most sharks stop moving they will quite literally drown, because the way their respiratory system works. So sharks don't actually have lungs, like mammals do. So sharks like fish have gills, now the gills are basically like the lungs of these animals. So as they move, they leave a small gap in their mouths and water passes through their gills. There are these teeny tiny blood vessels within these gills which are able to extract oxygen from the water, and also remove carbon dioxide from their blood at the same time. Like all animals, sharks need oxygen to breathe and carbon dioxide is a harmful gas that can kill us and them. So that's why a lot of sharks will swim all day everyday, they even swim when sleeping." 

"Okay so that's why, in those programmes, where sharks are caught in the big shark nets by the beaches are dead. They don't starve like I thought, but instead drown? That's really sad for a creature that swims around its whole life." Tommy's face creases into a sad frown.

"It is, but the shark nets are there to keep people safe from sharks like great whites. But they are not the best solution when they end up killing animals." 

"Okay so how can a nurse shark stay still if they should be drowning?" Billy questions and I smile at how intrigued they are and how happy they are listening to me ramble out my knowledge.

"So it's pretty simple. It's called the buccal pumping system. So the shark will lower what is called the floor of their buccal cavity to pull air into their mouths. Then the floor of the buccal cavity is raised so the water rushes through the gills and the oxygen can be extracted from the water, like normal. They can do this for quite a few hours as well." 

"That's so cool that they have evolved in a way that basically makes them the lazy sharks of the ocean." All 4 of us laugh as Tommy's eyes move left to right as he looks around the tank.

"Or all the other sharks have dumb evolution traits because they can't ever stop moving, which must be pretty tiring." Billy points out. "Sharks are cool."

"They are aren't they?" Both boys hum in agreement and when I look down to Wanda I smile at what I see. "I think it's time to get home boys?" 

They look over to me about to question my reasons when their eyes dart down to see Wanda asleep, with a relaxed smile on her face. I gently dance my finger down the edge of Wanda's face, on the outline of her hair as I quietly whisper her name to try and wake her without starling her. I feel her start to move her head in my lap, I smile as I expect her to look up at me but roll my eyes when she is stubborn and keeps them closed stopping her movements. So I continue to draw along around her jawline, as I whisper to her.

"Wanda." 

Nothing.

"Wanda."

Nothing.

"Princess."

Surprisingly nothing, but smile when I know what will get her to break into a smile.

"Baby." 

And just like that a smile makes its way onto her face as she turns her head to look at me, her eyes fluttering open. When she sees me looking down at her with a warm smile her nose scrunches with her smile only increasing in size.

"Hi princess." 

"Hi baby." She does a small stretch of her arms and legs, but chooses to keep her head in my lap.

"I think it's time to go home. The boys agree. We can always come back another day and explore properly." 

"Okay, let's do that." Her eyes close for a second but shoot open when water ends up on her face. 

She tilts her head backwards to look at the boys upside down who are laughing as they wipe their hands dry. Her back is arched off my legs, her legs slightly bent and it takes a lot of willpower to not say or do anything. In any other environment I would definitely do something, but I can't. Maybe she is doing it on purpose and teasing me because she holds that position much longer than is needed. The boys are already on their feet and ready to go. 

"You guys coming?" Tommy tilts his head in question. 

"You go ahead, and say bye to Hope who should be giving a small talk in front of the shark tank. We will catch up." I'm thankful they don't question further and walk off and towards the stairs. 

Wanda watches them go, her body still in the very compromising position so I move my hand to rest on the inside of her thigh. I bite my bottom lip when she gasps, as I squeeze it gently, her back arching slightly more as her eyes close. 

"You're being naughty babygirl." 

I remove my hand from her thigh as she whines at the loss of contact, but finally relaxes her body. She moves her head back to my lap looking up at me with blown pupils, her lip between her teeth. 

"Behave or no strap." She gasps and sits upright, staring at me with a look of bewilderment. 

"That's rude." She crosses her arms, jutting out her bottom lip to form a pout. "You know how much I love that thing."

"Then be a good girl and behave." I stand up holding my hands out for her to grab, grumbling as I help lift her to her feet. "Come on, the boys are waiting." 

"Uhm, Y/n." I turn to give her my full attention as her voice sounds nervous. "I still want to talk, tonight, before we have sex or anything. I think it's important, I don't want us to be using sex as a distraction from what needs to happen." 

"I agree. We can get lost in the haze quite easily, but tonight's all about us talking and creating an environment where both of us feel safe enough to talk to the other." 

"You're not mad after that little moment?" 

"I won't ever be mad at you for not wanting sex. If you don't feel like it, not in the mood for it or even if we get started and you change your mind. I will never be made." I smile at her as I come to a small realisation.

"What are you smiling at?" 

"You."

"What about me?"

"You just opened up about an insecurity about how you were worried about my reaction to you saying no sex."

"Huh I guess I did. Well look at that I'm making progress."

"We are making progress." She stands on her tiptoes to peck my lips a couple of times and I mumble my words against them as she continues to peck them. "We are also making the boys wait. So come on, let's get home and have a nice meal. Then when the boys are asleep, we can talk." 

"You have to ask me the question first." For a moment I'm confused at what she means but then a smile grows on my face when I realise what she is asking for.

"Yours or mine princess?"

================================

[baelpenrose]

Nihilus Rex 27: Mind Games

Nils and Lash have some nice, healthy communication. Also, more jokes about mind games and preparation to deal with their enemy, rival and possible ally. As a behind the scenes note, yes, Ottendorf, Altendorf, and Altdorf are all real variants of the same type of cipher, and me and @canyouhearthelight arguing about which one was most in character to use was actually part of the gag that just went into this chapter. Sometimes it's fun writing hopelessly OP characters where we just get to nod obliquely at all the shit our nerdy asses have picked up over the years.

You better be careful what you do

I wouldn't wanna be in your shoes

If they ever found you out

You better be careful what you say

It never really added up anyway

I got friends in this town

Miranda Lambert, “White Liar” 

Nils

Class was boring - I mean, it would have been interesting, especially the political debate that came inherent in the macroeconomic discussion of regulation - but frankly with everything else going on and the plans Lash and I were hatching it felt almost beneath notice. Like a waste of time before we got to the real action.

Our weeb friend was a smarmy son of a bitch, I had to give him that, and trying to trace him took work -  one of the other reasons that I was just as happy to use the challenge and draw him to us. If it worked, it let us keep flying under the radar and gave us a layer of plausible deniability, and if worst came to worst it handed us a convenient option for another patsy if he proved less than tractable.  Lash and I would have to be careful in our eventual conversation with him in how we phrased everything to make sure statements could be read to assume that he was pissed that we were taking credit for his ideas to set it up properly, but it could be done with good planning. Recruit if we could, cash out the option to get the Feds off our backs if we couldn’t - because we were going to need to deal with the fibbie at some point either way.

I shared the thought with Lash to get her thoughts, and see if we could begin establishing how we wanted to lay in that contingency. “Hey, so it occurs to me, if we can’t recruit this guy, we may want to have some kind of setup to feed him to the feds when we encounter him, let them think we were just doing some dumb, edgy marketing for our totally-legal activism and the actual ‘economic terrorist’ got pissed at us for trying to take the credit. If we can’t get him on our side, better not to have him in the way, right?” 

She looked thoughtful for a moment - or more accurately, like she was plotting - before asking slowly, “How likely would we be to frame him for some of the shit we’ve done? Even just stuff we did before we met?”

“I’d have to look at his profile a little more closely, but bear in mind that the hack itself doesn’t really match the profile of either of our usual patterns, and nothing we did before that rises to the level where the federal government cares enough to pay attention.” 

“I took money from Microsoft and donated it to charity,” she pointed out. “Repeatedly.  That would definitely land on the news, at least.”

“Right,” I said, taking a breath, trying to steady myself, “and let’s not get into my thefts from social media and various databombings on their harvested userdata, BUT that followed a very different profile than the bank job, which is what we knew drew their attention - they’re looking for the people who’d run the bank job, not people who are little more than thieving horseflies buzzing around the heads of corporate titans and taking a few drops here and there that said corporations never notice enough to report.” It was an unpleasant truth - we’d stolen probably tens of thousands between us, but not all at once, and in increments that the corporations we’d robbed could lose to rounding error. 

“Hey, you said you wanted him fed to the Fed, not to go down for the loans,” she shrugged. “Wire fraud across state lines is still FBI-worthy.  Not to mention that many counts.” Lash started silently ticking off on her fingers before staring at them and nodding. “Yeah, plenty of counts, for sure.”

“Fair. I’m worried they’re looking for the bank robbers and we have someone we can give them as a patsy. So when we meet with him, let’s feel him out and make sure any statements we have are set up so they can be misread as him trying to find out if we’re stealing credit for his work, yeah?” 

“Can do.” She snapped off a sarcastic salute before grabbing my elbow and semi-forcing me to slow down. “Either way, our ‘viral marketing campaign’ is ready to go as soon as you set up the location for the final clue.  So, make sure your sandbox is as secure as possible so we don’t get any bugs in there.”

I nodded. “Yeah. I’ll have it ready in an hour. Want me to order some pizza while I do it?”  I had an extra tab open while I was getting the proxy networks set up and sketching out the ciphers for the clues.

“One meat lovers, one spinach and bacon, coming up,” she agreed, pulling out her phone. “Don’t forget to write down the address for me once it’s ready so I can translate it a couple times and hide it in the last clue.”

“Yeah, babe, I know, we’ve been picking at this for a minute.” I said, softly smiling. I wondered if she knew she talked to me the way her mom talked to her dad. I had almost finished the third cipher we were going to be doing it with. “Think three will be enough, or should we do four? At five it feels obnoxious, but if he wasn’t too paranoid to be hooked with fewer than three, he’d be a piece, not a player.” 

“Forty five minutes until food,” Lash announced before looking up. “I’m going to translate it at least twice - once to hex and once to… I dunno, a sound frequency maybe? So four should be fine on your end for the ciphers.”

“You got it. Altdorf code it is.” 

“Altendorf,” she corrected, scrunching her face at what she thought was a deliberate mistake on my part.

“Nope. Altdorf. Right wing computer nut, probably also a gamer. Altdorf code is a memetic variant on the classic Altendorf book cipher, named for a thing in a game franchise popular with that crowd.” I replied, smirking. Dating a girl who knew as much cryptography as I did was a blast, but it was occasionally fun to flex on each other. Loved it when she caught me out, as she often did, but it was sometimes fun to catch her off too. 

“Freaking nerd,” she half-mumbled, knowing good and well I would hear her. “But if it works, it works.  Provided he figures out all the clues I’m laying out.”

“And then we put all this effort into this to show off for each other for nothing…” I muttered, watching her work over what she did as I finished up selecting a handful of games, books, and comics to cipher off of, with arc numbers for each and internally contained clues within the cipher to hint at what the target should be using for the Altdorf code. Nonsensical to anyone who didn’t understand it, but comprehensible to anyone who did - if you understood the rest of the cyphers it was under, of course. 

“Ew, eyewatering,” she grunted before adjusting something. It must have worked, because she was able to actually look at the screen when she was done. “And now for the clouds…”

“Those clouds look awful.” I said, idly thinking out loud. “Really bloated, data-wise.” 

“That would be because they are compressed audio tracks,” she confirmed. “Which, when unzipped and played, give the hex code.  But yeah, they’re ugly, aren’t they?” The door buzzed and she looked at her phone. “Pizza’s here.”

“Ah.” I stood up and got the pizza, tipping the guy. After he left I turned back to Lash. “So, now we wait. Trap is baited and set with a challenge for a new ally or an enemy we can get rid of quickly. Speaking of the question as to what we do if he is a new ally: thoughts on how we get rid of the fed? She’s poking around the white supremacist scene, and stirring them up harder might lead to more of them poking around if she gets shot.” 

Lash rubbed her face before getting up to get plates. “My first instinct is to lay low and monitor.  Right now, there’s no actual evidence tying us to the situation, so monitoring would be the most conservative and safest call in the immediate future.  And it gives us time to plan something in the event we do need to intervene.”

I nodded as I poured drinks for both of us. “Yeah. Fair point. Give him about two days, then we’ll meet him together. Two options, either he thinks the whole made up names thing is actually bullshit, in which case he’ll want to meet both of the people he’s working with and we can establish a triumvirate, or he thinks it’s for real and is playing like he thinks it's dumb, then he’ll want to meet with the heads of both groups, which means we’ll need you there to rep one of them. What angles we play depends on what angle he hits us with.” I was still thinking about the way we could feel that out while also maintaining the option to sacrifice him and dispose of him to the feds if he wasn’t amicable to a team up, but honestly that was mostly just a matter of careful phrasing. 

“If it comes to that, as long as I am repping the Icono-whatsits, I’m good.”

“No, I thought we’d have the brown, anarchic immigrant’s daughter represent the carefully crafted illusion of the violently traditionalist ones who want to restore ‘traditional values’ because that would totally make the con hold up. Tell you what, when we take it global, and we have to do this in India, THEN we swap roles and you have to play a Hindutava nationalist and pretend to be a Disciple chick. For today, the heel role is mine.” 

She set her plate down with a loud clatter, glaring at me as she stood up. “And on that completely uncalled-for note, I think I need to head home for a few days.  Let me know if he gets in contact, and we’ll go from there.”

I sighed, realizing what I’d done wrong, then felt a surprising flash of irritation - at her, at myself, at the fact that every time we started getting closer I said something obnoxious and that we never just got a few weeks without some shit happening. “You know what? Yeah. I’m sorry. That was unnecessarily rude. If you want to go home, I get it, but please eat first, or at least take some pizza with you. I shouldn’t have been that much of an asshole - I’ve been jittery since the Fed showed up, and I shouldn’t be taking it out on you. Know you can’t pass yourself off as a white supremacist, I mostly wanted to joke around about the fact that as this goes global, we may have to practice swapping roles for other countries. That’s all.” 

Lash took a deep breath and picked up one of the pizza boxes. “I know it will eventually be necessary for me to be the bad guy, but seriously. What part of this,” she waved a hand over herself, stopping to gesture emphatically at her face, “in any way says I won’t just blow our entire ass cover if I try to be a white supremacist? It’s not like I’m shirking work or something.”  The free hand shoved her hair back and she exhaled. “I think we just need a couple days to get actual sleep and calm down.”

“You aren’t shirking work, I know.” I said, trying to take a breath. “I’ve just been…I’ve been constantly trying to figure out every possible angle we can take this from, because I want to keep us out of trouble and keep the feds away, keep this prick away from your family, keep everything under control. I said something sarcastic that I thought was funny because yeah, obviously this,” I gestured at her, “was not going to be playing the white supremacist, this,” I gestured at my own face, “was. And I wasn’t looking forward to it. And it isn’t your fault I’ve been obsessively plotting, I haven’t been telling you all of it, but it’s been all of the babbling about contingencies I’ve been doing since the fed arrived. Because I’ve been afraid. And I shouldn’t have taken it out on you.” True, but I did also want her to see my perspective of how much effort I was putting into this whole thing.  “And if you need me to give you a ride home tonight, I will, but seriously take a pizza. Because it’s too late for you to be walking home.” 

The pizza box in her hand dropped back to the table and she growled in frustration. “UGH! And all the shit with Uber and taxis lately…” She fell back into what had become her seat on the couch. “Fine. But I’m sleeping out here. In clothes, so don’t get any ideas, buster.”

“We didn’t have time to go mattress topper shopping, so you’ll probably sleep better, and I’m insisting on plenty of blankets. And you’re eating your share of pizza.” I shrugged. “And even my Catholic ass won’t feel guilty about you being too damn stubborn to take a ride I’m offering.” 

“No ride. I refuse to owe you,” she spat before biting viciously into a slice of pizza, shoving half of it into her mouth without a trace of grace.

“And thus, couch, blankets, and coping aplenty.” I said, sitting down. “You okay, Lash?”

“I am sleep deprived, stressed about the apartment being ready when my parents are discharged next week despite knowing that Mori has had it ready since the day after she got here, and I’m mad at you for being a jerk.”

“Mori took care of the apartment, you know it, you know you know it. You’re going to sleep better tonight, and I’m sorry for being a dick.” I said, coaxingly. “Things are going to be alright. Let’s eat, brush our teeth, then we can rack out, okay?” 

“Fine,” she muttered, demolishing another slice of pizza.

I wasn’t certain what it said about my life - or life, in general - that “relationship issues” were causing me slightly more confusion and headaches than “FBI investigation” and “rival terrorist” combined. It definitely said something, but I wasn’t entirely certain what. Maybe it was a me problem. Maybe if I wasn’t dating someone who would do terrorism with me I wouldn’t have this problem.

But then it wouldn’t be worth it. 

[acheronist]

how did you start learning tattooing? what made you want to try it?

ohh... hm. Well. Okay to be so honest and short and easy with you I was really depressed and having my quarter life crisis and so I picked it up as a way to try and get myself back on track with like. being alive + doing something semi-meaningful with my life lol

here's the longer detail stuff that I fear is a bit too tenderhearted to just have out in the open

💌

near the end of last year (november-ish) I was yapping with a friend of mine from art school who ended up getting into tattooing after we had graduated, and explaining that i didn't like how publishing illustration was treating me and i felt like i was spinning my wheels and going nowhere. so she really encouraged me to give tattooing a shot? because I needed to do something different and she thought my art style could be really well suited for tattooing... and ofc i've been tangentially aware of tattoo culture but i was always kind of too scared that I wasn't like........ GOOD OR COOL ENOUGH? FOR IT? it seemed very intense and like there wasn't going to be room for me yknow. but anyways after talking with my friend i started doing a lot of research about like.. the history of tattoo culture and how techniques developed over the centuries and what are the popular styles now and what modern health/safety expectations of tat artists are now etc. just kind of taking it all in. following a lot of artists on social media etc and talking to my friend about what her apprenticeship entailed... but I bought myself a shitty cheap tattoo kit online in december and spent most of december-february just trying to teach myself how to handle a rotary pen machine and get a feel for it? and basically spent all of my time either playing around with my machine and fake practice skins or drawing or researching about tattoo history. and then in february/march I redid my whole portfolio with some neo trad designs + my other illust work and started visiting some local shops and basically just begging for 15 minutes to talk to someone in the industry and figure out if I was hopeless or not lmaooo. I went to about five shops and got soundly rejected / turned down from all of them, so I was really taking it as a sign that I should give up? but then the last shop I was going to try was like. idk it felt different and way more optimistic than everywhere else I'd tried at.... the artists on break at the time all took a chance to look thru my portfolio and talk to me, the shop owner is an angel, and so we went from "can I just ask for your professional opinion on if I suck at this or not" to getting introduced to everyone as they were working like "this is isabel she's gonna be our new apprentice!😊" which was!!!!!! CRAZY.

and so it took about two weeks after that before one of the more experienced artists in the shop was like 🙄 Fine I will teach another fucking apprentice I guess. Whatever. and I was like oh no he hates me. (turns out there's some shop lore about how awful the last apprentice was and everyone was kind of waiting to see if I'd turn out the same way) so I've just been working really hard ever since to prove I'm serious and now I'm everyone's favorite little idiot in my shop eheheh

but yeah! so I've been apprenticing officially in my shop since the end of march!!! just learning and trying to be helpful for my artists and trying to take it on the chin that I'm brand new and still learning and have a long way to go yet without getting miserable about it... but I feel very optimistic and way better now than I did in december, and everyone in my shop is soooo so kind and encouraging of my progress it really does feel like... Oh there is hope for me after all!

but yeah anyways. I just wanted to have an archive of my work as I progress and improve? so now everyone who follows my stupid ass blog has to bear witness to me being slightly bad at tattooing for months yet xoxoxo

[whynotzoidbergdotorg]

Hi, I was just wondering what are the other reasons you dislike Ali Nahdee. I personally thought she had good point in native rep but she sometimes gets into anti stuff. She acts like seeing abuse relationships on tv will cause people to get into them. I personally didn’t like her but I still thought she had something to say.

she was personally racist to me.

back when all of the marketing around the princesses being in wreck it ralph 2, she had gone to the disney store to “critique” the pocahontas merchandise (totally normal behavior for someone who’s not even powhatan….) and had made a comment that a pocahontas doll was “paler than she was” (and provided an image in poor lighting—I would grab the tweet in question but not only did she block me, but she also nuked the whole thread after blocking me)

now, I didn’t follow her, and I actually had found the tweet in question in early 2019 when I was searching for reference images of disney’s pocahontas (as I had been commissioned to draw all of the disney princesses for someone) and her tweet came up in the results, because i specifically had been looking for the version from that movie (commissioner wanted me to draw those versions of the princesses in specific)

anyways I pointed out that not only was pocahontas not actually that dark skinned in the movie (providing a direct screenshot from the film as proof), but that historically she wouldn’t have been that dark skinned either (because get this, I’m actually part powhatan—and while I am admittedly white passing due to being mixed race, my maternal grandfather, who is native american, isn’t that dark either. he does have copper colored skin, and does tan rather than burn, but he isn’t like. super dark like ali was complaining pocahontas wasn’t on that specific toy.) anywho i prefaced my tweet with my heritage (I’m actually related to the real pocahontas’s family, funfact. not a direct descendant, more like…a distant cousin??? though in the past I have remarked on how in the portraits of her that exist, I look fairly similar in certain facial features, mainly my nose, eyes, hairline, and overall head shape)

anyways, after i pointed this out, and made it clear I didn’t think she was saying this maliciously, I just think she might have had a warped view of how pocahontas is meant to look…she blocked me, and then started subtweeting me…

first, she accused me of using a “poorly photoshopped image” of pocahontas to prove my point (I didn’t, I screenshotted directly from the movie off a cartoon website, so likely the source was a DVD since there was no logo in the corner, and from what I could tell the colors of other characters and scenes looked correct)

THEN she accused me of lying about my heritage—and mind you this was AFTER she blocked me so I couldn’t reply to defend myself or further expand on my native heritage—which anyone who has EVER talked to me for an extended period of time knows I am HAPPY to infodump about. Because both I and my mother have done tons of research about our family tree—and that part of our family in particular (since its one of the few parts of my mothers family thats well documented and in a language we both natively know.) I mean I even know the specific name of a shawnee chief I am directly descended from! (Cornstalk—funfact, the mothman mythos is closely tied with Cornstalk’s curse, which is an alternate belief about the strange events associated with mothman sightings)

Now, again, anyone who knows me knows there are THREE things that really really tick me off in regards to my native heritage—and that is 1) calling me, or any other woman of native descent “pocahontas” (because first of all, her name was actually Matoaka, AND she’s not event the only significant native american woman in history), 2) being asked if I am related to Pocahontas/Matoaka (I actually punched a kid over this once when i was little. ironically I then later found out I actually am distantly related to her. what a small world!), and 3) being accused of lying about my heritage for “oppression points”. (well, there’s more than three, but that would just be getting into a whole other tangent, and I’ve already gone on like, four tangents in this post alone)

This last one makes me absolutely furious because I’ve had people (all white) say I can’t be native because “don’t look native” to them. when like. that’s not even fucking true??? other native american people (specifically other cherokee people—which is one of the tribes I am descended from) have recognized me as looking native american, and like other members of their tribe. I literally have the facial features, I just happen to have fair skin, and lighter hair. I mean hell, if you looked at my baby pictures (which I don’t have any on my device right this moment unfortunately) I did not look like a “white baby”. I didn’t start “looking white” (as in my hair lightening) until I was older. I’ve had white people try to gatekeep and erase my heritage from me because of their own perceptions of my appearance (based solely on my skin-tone).

So yeah, the bitch accused me of lying about a significant part of my heritage, a part that’s very VERY important to me, a part that I refuse to let others erase (especially since I’m SURE the colonists who murdered Cornstalk and his son—both my ancestors—would love to erase that misdeed and bury it).

I mean, imagine claiming to be all about the rights of indigenous women, and then smearing and making sweeping accusations about another queer, indigenous woman! Could never be me.

But I guess I could never understand the brainrot of someone who spends all day complaining about fictional representations made by white people, instead of raising up indigenous creators who worked hard to create their own, better representation instead.

[another-bsod-fan]

a chat (very loosely based off real events ig)

[MikuHolic and Enanan made a chat] [Enanan]: Hello, Ichika. I'm just coming here to say that your posts about Hatsune Miku are pretty cool. [Enanan]: I also noticed you followed me as soon as I followed you, which is even cooler! [MikuHolic]: Thanks, Ena! I've been a fan of Miku for a very long time, so it's not surprising that I post about her so much. [MikuHolic]: I also appreciate your Hatsune Miku fanart a lot! [Enanan]: Thank you, Ichika-chan! I always like seeing people enjoy my art, even if they're not really that great. [MikuHolic]: What do you mean? Your art is great in every way! [Enanan]: Well, most people around me would like to disagree, but I still appreciate that you care. [MikuHolic]: Most people..? [MikuHolic]: Not to get personal all of a sudden, but have you been trying to prove them wrong with your art, if I heard it correctly? [Enanan]: Yes, of course! I'm still doing all I can to do that and establish a place for myself in this world, no matter how much I stumble. [MikuHolic]: I've been dealing with something similar, too. You've probably read my posts about my band's live performances, right? [MikuHolic]: It's been quite rough for me and my bandmates, but we're still trying our best to succeed [Enanan]: And you did! I remember seeing one of your live performances online and you all nailed it! [Enanan]: What I'm saying is, I don't think you and your band would've made it if you were by yourself, of course. [MikuHolic]: I'm glad you shared your support, Ena! Even if we still don't know eachother very much, I'm very happy to see you care about me and my band [Enanan]: You're welcome, Ichika-chan! But I think we got a little off-topic here. [Enanan]: I just want to say that I appreciate you liking Hatsune Miku a lot. I don't know how I really got to enjoy her, considering she's not talked about much from where I'm at. [MikuHolic]: Well, her mission is to spread music everywhere around the world no matter what, so I think she did her job well [MikuHolic]: She's also done a great job at saving me and my friends multiple times, so there's that. [Enanan]: Miku also ended up saving me a lot, too. I don't think me and my friends would have gotten this far without her! [MikuHolic]: I made through life and I resparked my courage to be with my friends again because of her, so we're on the same page with this. [MikuHolic]: Well, now that I think about it, we're a lot like each other despite us being so different. [Enanan]: Anyways, I'm going to draw something for Miku again, just for you. [Enanan]: I'm glad we found ourselves through Miku, Ichika-chan [MikuHolic]: Oh! I didn't realize it was so late already! [MikuHolic]: I'm sorry, but I have to go sleep now! I'm glad we could talk about Miku together. [Enanan]: I'm glad too. I'm just going to stay up a little more late for a project. [MikuHolic]: See you soon, Ena-san! [Enanan]: See you soon too, Ichika-chan.

pings: @attention-k-mart-shoppers @alex-just-vibing @chocolateclover @katsuclove @kur0mizaii @ratsarevalid @starry-sky-orchestra @thecasestudyofmikaela @palacholic

[esta-elavaris]

oh i am SO on this. 13 (i'd love to know what character you most want to write for in the future!), 14 and 15 :D

13. What's a character or ship you haven't written/drawn yet but would like to some day? I'd love to write some Game of Thrones stuff one day (Sandor Clegane or Bronn, probably) but god that's a fucking undertaking. Good news is it'll be a sensible 15.6 years before I can reasonably start another new thing so it gives me time to have a think 🫠

Doesn't help that the idea I have for a Bronn fic is one I'm not even sure I came up with - I have a hunch what I'm the idea I'm thinking of is actually a memory of a Bronn fic I read years ago as a teen, so I'd need to comb through EVERYTHING I can find to make sure that's not the case before I begin, because I refuse to begin without doing that, and even then if I found nothing I'd be worried that I just missed whatever story the idea came from, and uhhhh fuck that. But it's good to have something holding me back from my Fic Aquirement Sickness 😭

I'd also love to write a Phantom of the Opera fic one day. I doubt I could bring anything original to the fandom but I mean, I have the same fear with the Dracula fic and folk are still enjoying it for what it is!

14. Is there a character or ship you were so sure you would never write/draw but now you've changed your mind? It wasn't that long ago on this blog where I was furiously insisting to people that I would never write a Boromir fic, I wouldn't put the stress of tackling Tolkien upon myself, it was too much to attempt, there was no chance.

Anyway, HWFG just cleared the 120k word mark 🤡 (and I'm very grateful to the people who talked me into it!!)

There are other smaller fandoms that I always thought I'd never bother with just because they're so small that I didn't think anybody would read them, but you guys are proving that fear wrong and making my day CONSTANTLY with your willingness to follow me into some truly random bs 💜💜💜💜💜

15. Have you noticed your style change over time?

Absolutely!! Little By Little is my oldest fic that I don't hate, and even then the growing pains within that make me cringe a little (CTW followed it, and that's the earliest one that I still like! It marked the end of me finishing a project and immediately hating it) -- the early chapters in particular are plagued by way too much introspection (listen, I'm an overthinker, I have no concept of how much thinking is too much thinking in general).

It does also change between projects, though, I think, because I try to match the "tone" of the source material to some extent.

I also think it's really cool because most of LBL was written when I began writing daily as a rule, and that's when you really see quick and substantial improvements in my ability, so it's been a great way to measure it all!

Novel work is trickier because I get so nervous when I write it that it impacts the quality, so it's less of a linear thing and more dependent on how I feel on any given day. It's wild going back to chapters I wrote when I was worried about it and editing it from a calm mindset so that it's actually good. That whole process is most of why it's taking me so long 💀. When I finished my first draft and went back to the beginning to read (it was all done by hand, so it was a long time after I'd written the first chapter) I noticed that the first chapter was so bad and then suddenly it just? Got decent? When I found my rhythm and got over the nerves, mostly? That was a nice moment. I promptly worried the pal I was living with at the time by walking laps around her living room because I couldn't believe that it was good and I was too excited to sit down. Good times 😭

Thank you!!! 💜

Fanfic ask game

[twin-books]

The above piece was a redraw of this old piece for my Fragmented AU. This new piece is a collaboration with @koo1creations​. I did the sketch, she did the line art, I did the coloring, she added the cataclysm effects, I did the rest of the effects. We both really enjoyed making this. I am very grateful to her for helping me make this so I can finally post the second part of the Fragmented AU. If you are curious you can find the second part here: Fragmented AU 1. Where it all began. Yes, it took me one whole year to finally get to this. I was really trying to figure out how I wanted to write this and my antagonist and then life got busy... Anyway, I finally got around to it. Again, I preface by saying this story isn’t meant to have any salt. It is only for pure fun. I wanted a mystery in Miraculous and since the show refuses to give me one, I made one myself. I do try to keep it as canonically accurate as possible but the story does take place between season 3 and 4. Anyway, if you want to know what the drawing is about please enjoy the following. I decided to try something a bit new. I do hope I succeeded.

Adrien Agreste doesn’t remember September 7th. If you had asked him what happened that day he couldn’t tell you. But that doesn’t bother him.

It should, though.

It should because that was the day Ladybug and Chat Noir fought over how he barely showed up for fights anymore. That was the day Chat Noir promised her he wouldn’t miss another fight, another patrol, another moment where she needed him again.

He doesn’t remember that. But Chat Noir does.

Why?

If he had the ability, he would remember that the day started out like any other. He was juggling going to school, piano practice, private lessons, fencing, and modeling all at once. It was at night where it all went wrong. In his scramble to get things done he missed yet another important akuma battle. Ladybug had to bring in another 5 heroes and even then, still barely managed without him. They all needed training. Training she didn’t have time for. It was too much for her to handle. Between that and her responsibilities as the new guardian, she lost her cool.

When he showed up late, again, she ripped into him. Of course, she didn’t truly mean every single word she said and immediately apologized afterwards. But the damage was done. He knew he hurt her and he knew he had to fix it. So he promised he will always be there when she needs him. She appreciates the sentiment but knows he can’t keep that promise. He would prove her wrong.

When he heads home that night his chest is burning with anger. He is mad at himself for failing Ladybug. He knows he could do better.

He is so stuck in his own head that he fails to notice the small black cat following him.

Had he noticed, he may have been able to observe how it moved. It was like a glitch. Like some sort of extra in a video game missing a few frames in its walk cycle. It sucks in the light around it as it travels forward, the area around it almost appears blurry.

It's careful in its illogical movements. It stalks behind him, maintaining a safe distance. Its tail is wiggling and its eyes are fixated on Chat.

It’s hunting.

When it meows, Chat jumps in surprise and then turns to it. It is sitting still. Those visual glitches are no longer a problem with it frozen in place so Chat doesn’t notice a thing. He carefully approaches. Its pupils grow wider as a result. It’s clearly excited. “Hey there little guy...” Chat says, crouching down in front of it, only an arm’s length away. “What are you up to?” It doesn’t move. “I bet you’re doing great compared to me.” Chat falls to the ground, sitting crossed-legged. He sets his elbow on his knee and rests his head in his hand. “I can’t seem to do anything right.” He sighs. “Or nothing I want to do right.” He reaches his hand out to pet the cat’s head. When Chat looks away it leans into the pet. Chat is no longer paying attention to it, absentmindedly petting it as he rambles on about the earlier day events. “I just want to make it up to her! I wish I could be both Chat Noir and Adrien.” Another sigh escapes him. “You’re so lucky all you have to do is hunt mi-” He’s cut off by a sharp pain shooting up his arm. He lets out an agonizing cry. It feels like venom is shooting through his veins. His reaction time is quick and he rips his arm away from the cat. Or, at least, he thought he did. It takes him a little longer to realize the cat’s jaw is still clamped onto his hand, somehow holding him in place, and its grip is getting tighter. He watches in horror as spines protrude from its tail, flesh falling off to give way to them. It is accompanied by the loud cracking and twisting of its spine. It’s a sound that makes Chat want to gag. His eyes grow wide as he quickly stands up trying to shake it off. It somehow pulls its whole body forward with pure muscle power and digs its claws into his arm, its tail wrapping up and around the rest of his arm, the spines digging through his suit and into his skin.  How? How is it doing that? That shouldn’t even be possible! His suit is made of magic! Unless... It’s made of magic too. He notices that somehow, even with its jaw firmly locked onto his hand, its lips begin to melt away, making it appear like it’s smiling as wide as the Cheshire cat. There’s a loud crack. A bright green, electric like energy manages to escape through the gaps in its teeth and skin. That’s when it occurs to Chat that this is his right hand and the pain shocks him back to reality. “My miraculous!” He screams, slamming the creature into a wall. He continues this several times but its grip only gets tighter. Its teeth sink into his skin, making it feel like it’s hitting bone, as it sets his nerves on fire. He’s only making it angry.  Chat narrows his eyes knowing what he has to do. “Cataclysm.” He growls. The creature suddenly yelps in pain and immediately jumps off Chat, splitting into several smaller versions of itself, each shifting and morphing into incomprehensible shapes. It seems it can no longer hold its more “innocent” appearance.   Chat is quick to take his opening and uses his baton to bat each piece of thing into a wall. It doesn’t put up much of a fight. It seems his cataclysm really frightened it. It quickly sunk into the wall, much to Chat Noir’s shock, forming an exact shadow of him and quickly running off. He begins to chase but only stops when he feels his right hand begin to numb. He looks down to examine it and finds a fracture in his ring with crackling magical energy quickly seeping out. He looks back up to find the creature has disappeared in all the other shadows, masterfully blending in. With his predator out of his sight he grabs his rapidly numbing arm. He then notices that despite just using cataclysm, there is no countdown timer.  He needs to get home. No time is wasted. He makes it to his home and through his bedroom window in what he could have sworn was under five minutes. His hand is shaking now, he can’t seem to control its spasms. His heart is racing a million miles a minute. “Plagg, claws in!” He immediately whispers, afraid of shouting for fear of waking someone. Even in a crisis like this he still can’t get his priorities straight. Almost instantly the rapidly escaping energy is sucked back into the ring as Plagg appears beside Adrien’s head. Slowly the feeling begins to return to his hand but he still can’t seem to stop the shaking. He turns to Plagg and notices how Plagg twitches, similar to Adrien’s hand, as if he can’t control his body either. “Are you okay?” The little cat asks, seemingly unbothered by his own jittering. “Am I okay?” He cries. “Are you?” Plagg looks down at his own paws and notices the way they tremble. His eyes grow wide in horror. “What-What happened?” “I don’t know!” He says in exasperation. He was hoping Plagg would have the answers. He runs his fingers through his hair, trying to ignore the shaking of his hand. This motion gives Plagg a perfect view of the ominous glowing coming from the bottom of his ring. He quickly grabs Adrien’s hand and flips it over to look at his palm. There’s a small fracture  in the band of the ring. “No! No!” “What’s wrong?” “The reason I can’t hold my form is because my magic is seeping into you!” Plagg says. “You aren’t meant to hold this kind of magic without some sort of conduit! If this keeps going this could cause a huge disaster! I’m talking extinction of the dinosaurs' levels of bad!” “What?” “We have to tell Ladybug! I think the grimoire has a page on how to fix this!” “No!” Adrien yells after Plagg before he can escape through a window. “Adrien. This is really, really, really bad. This can’t wait.” “Please. I-,” Adrien is struggling to find the words. He’s ashamed to admit that he just doesn’t want to bother Ladybug again after he let her down earlier. He fears her look of disappointment. “Can’t we just-” He takes a moment to breathe. “Can’t we just figure out what happened first and get our story straight before we bother Ladybug about this?” Plagg’s eyes drift to Adrien’s hand, the convulsions becoming more and more violent as time goes on. Then he looks into Adrien’s shaky eyes. “Adrien…” Plagg bites his lip. “Fine. But let’s make this quick! What do you remember?” “Okay. Cool. So, um…” He hums in thought, trying to go over the events in his mind. “I was heading home and then I stopped for a moment in that alley way. I was trying to figure out how to make it up to Ladybug-” “Not important. Skip to the point where the miraculous broke.” “Right! Sorry.” Adrien pauses for a moment, trying to think it through once more. So much of it didn’t make sense. “I was petting this cat. It looked like a normal cat. But then it bit me. And this cat, this thing, had the jaw strength of a crocodile!” Plagg nods in understanding, showing he’s following along. “It grew spines out of its tail,” He makes a disgusted face as he recalls that memory, “and then wrapped it around my arm and it somehow pierced through my suit. And then I heard this loud crack and saw this bright green light and I just knew… I knew that was the miraculous.” “How?” Plagg gives Adrien a puzzled look, seemingly having a hard time wrapping his head around the scene Adrien is describing. “I don’t know!” Adrien says, continuing on, “I tried slamming it into a wall but that only made it angrier so the only other thing I could think to do was use cataclysm.” He turns to look at Plagg and that’s when energy starts crackling out of the ring again, suddenly sucking Plagg into it with him shouting protests along the way. Adrien jumps back in surprise, staring down at the ring as the energy starts stinging his skin. He can feel his hand going numb again. “Plagg? Plagg! I didn’t say claws out!” He feels his heart rate spiking. Something isn’t right. “Plagg, claws in.” Nothing. “Plagg, claws in!” Nothing. “I said claws i-” He cuts himself off when he sees the black beads suddenly appear one by one, surrounding his hand like a swarm of wasps. Surrounding his ungloved, unprotected hand. “Plagg?” He whimpers. He’s scared now. With nowhere else to go and no magical outfit to protect him from the raw power of destruction it directs its wrath towards Adrien. The black particles seep into his skin causing unimaginable pain as he falls to his knees. “Plagg, claws out or in or whatever! Please, Plagg!” He begs, but the pain only gets worse. He’s not escaping this. He quickly rips the ring off, in a futile attempt to stop it. He tosses the ring aside and lets it slide under his dresser. Too late. Tears pour down his cheeks as he screams in agony. He cannot hear the shouts from Nathalie or his father. They are asking if he is okay, what is going on? Cracks similar to the one his miraculous bears begin to form in his skin, followed by violent magical energy trying to escape through them. He’s consumed by the rapidly escaping magical light as two pairs of panicked footsteps can be heard racing towards his room. “Adrien!” When the door is slammed open that light is already gone. Adrien is curled up in a ball on his bedroom floor. His eyes are squeezed shut. He is no longer screaming. Nathalie races over to him while Gabriel looms in the doorway. “Adrien! What is going on? Are you okay?” She helps him up and onto his bed. He’s silent. The silence is deafening. Gabriel steps forward. “Adrien. It’s the middle of the night.” He says, sternness in his tone. He eventually lets out a sigh. “Why were you screaming?” “I’m sorry…” Adrien says, shaking from a lingering unknown fear. “I don’t know. I don’t know!” He can’t remember! Why can’t he remember? What happened? What happened? Adrien begins to sob. Nathalie pulls Adrien into a tight hug while Gabriel clenches his fists and turns to leave. “Gabriel.” Nathalie says, calmly. “He needs you.” Gabriel stops and looks back at Nathalie. “You look like you have it handled.” He says and takes his leave. Nathalie’s grip on Adrien gets tighter. He can tell she’s angry but she would never say that. Instead she rubs his back. ���Shh…” Her tone is soothing and brings his pulse back down to a normal pace, “It will be okay, Adrien. I’m right here.” It takes a while to calm him down but eventually Nathalie can finally lay Adrien to rest in his bed. “Call if you need anything.” She whispers to him. Once she has made sure all his fear is silenced she heads for the door. “Good night, Adrien.” He feels so tired. He pulls the sheets over his head, shielding his eyes from any light that comes from the moon and the stars. He can no longer remember why he was so upset. He eventually succumbs to sleep, unable to notice yet another sudden bright light that fills his room for merely a second. Chat Noir is now standing in the middle of his room. Chat looks around in confusion before fleeing out the window. He’s in a bit of a daze. Wasn’t that Adrien Agreste’s room? Why was he in Adrien’s room in the middle of the night? What happened? He can’t remember.

[goshdangronpa]

Makoto naegi

For the ask thing? Here ya go! And please bear in mind that it's been a long while since I've experienced Trigger Happy Havoc, which I only encountered by watching a walkthrough that didn't do any of the free time events.

Favorite thing about them: He's not the smartest - both Byakuya and Junko probably has hive beat in terms of sheer intellect, and Kyoko could almost certainly solve the cases on her own. Even so, he's no idiot, and he succeeds by combining careful reason with a level of kindness and faith in his fellow human that none of those three can match. His decision to trust that Kyoko is lying for a reason is what ultimately exposes the mastermind and saves the survivors' lives. It's all too easy for mystery genre protagonists to set aside emotion for cold, hard logic - that's the impression I get from Kyoko (whom I like a lot, to be clear). Makoto won't play that way, and that's awesome.

Least favorite thing about them: playing Ultra Despair Girls taught me that a character can be a total normie and somehow make that a hilarious and fun personality to follow. Makoto can't even match his sister in that regard. Not that he needs to be quite like that, though. Saying my least fave thing about any DR character will still end in their favor.

Favorite quote: it's the most obvious pick, but as someone who'd never even heard of the games before watching THH's playthrough, I can't emphasize enough how much of a kick I got from him interrupting his classmates' lies and conjectures with the blunt and plainly rude "NO! THAT'S WRONG!" So friggin' funny. Makoto is nice, but he does not tolerate bullshit!

BroTP: Is it unusual to be a fan of Yasuhiro? I, for one, would enjoy a straight man/funny man duo between this overconfident yet easily spooked moron and his level-headed yet polite friend who pulls him out of jams.

OTP: I once followed a wonderful Tumblrite who was the world's foremost expert on Chihiro Fujisaki. He shipped her with Makoto and invented such a wonderful narrative for them, along with plenty of sweet art, that I was converted. They're so cute.

NoTP: I don't think much about ships, not enough to reject many with any intensity. Let me think ... every nice guy has their limits, and I can only imagine that Makoto would draw the line at the notion of dating Toko. She's a fantastic character in UDG, but such an unrepetantly irritating piece of work in THH. I like to think that he's skeptical, to say the least, of her ability to be a good partner toward Komaru when he first hears about them.

Random headcanon: this isn't the hairstyle he actually wants, he just can't figure out how to tell the barber what he wants done.

Unpopular opinion: what are the popular ones, anyway? Uhhh how about this. Blank-slate audience avatar characters get a lot of flack among writers and critics because they're usually just so functional (give the audience someone to relate to and follow) and boring (outshone by more colorful castmates). Makoto stands out in a franchise defined by titanic personalities just by taking everyone as they are, having the smarts to solve complex murder mysteries, and being a chill and friendly guy. He proves the value of the archetype and shows that characters of this stock can distinguish themselves.

Song I associate with them: https://youtu.be/AFfmNQbcucw (I had to resist putting Mark Morrison's "Return of the Mack")

Favorite picture of them: so good that I actually drew it myself

[controversialcoven]

I think I might make a series where I draw homestuck characters to some of my favorite quotes

Here are some of the quotes if anyone is interested

Tumblr loves to fuck up my readmore section so sorry if things are repeated or look weird fhshfhsbd

“If you worship someone too much you’ll end up losing your freedom”

“Human beings are love in motion”

“So you dodged a bullet that you wanted to take”

“You nailed down the windows and locked the doors but the cold was coming from inside”

“Of all the things you fuck I’m the most empty”

“And being my moms least favorite only child must mean I’m her favorite too”

“You can’t light a fire that’s already burnt out”

“He sang as if he knew me in all my dark despair, and then he looked right through me as if I wasn’t there”

“Just let her crash and burn, she’ll learn, the attention just encourages her”

“It’s a felony in Florida to own a fake ID so tell me am I guilty if I change when no one is near me”

“The living need attention too”

“I will not let my grandparents bury their grandchild”

“We rise up to fight just to die, that’s just how the world works sometimes”

“For human grossly under qualified, for canine grossly overqualified”

“Kiss me with forever where only death remains”

“Your insides were never my size”

“I dig a hole in search of kites”

“This was all new to me once, and when it was it was so easy to love”

“I can’t feel my heartbeat so why would you give me a heart?”

“Falling in love with someone is wonderful so don’t call yourself the devil. I love you”

“If I’ve no one to fight how do I know who I am”

“Just because we live doesn’t not mean that we’ve survived”

“She tells the clock what time it is”

“To love and to be loved is to rest”

“I am that which seeks to know the compassion of the goddess within”

“Only once you’ve been unsheltered you can stand in the sunlight”

“Life is both mundane; life is beautiful”

“Being known is being loved”

“I am a mosaic of everyone I’ve ever loved, even for a heartbeat”

“yeah im perceiving the horrors but i’m also perceiving the beauty of life as well”

“And when we kill the gods neither heaven nor hell will be waiting for them because they created those to imprison us”

“I wouldn’t change a thing, you’re the one I want to sink with”

“We live because of the dead”

“Spun sugar melts in water anyways”

“So what if I do it for attention, does that really make me bad?”

“We can’t go back, only forwards”

“Thy who bites is truly the bitten.”

“The pillars of humanity, in no particular order, are Joy, Absurdity, and Sharing”

“I was like a patient who cannot tell the doctor where it hurts, only that it does”

“I’ll let you drag me to hell if it means you’ll hold my hand”

“It is not what you want but it is what you chase”

“In the name of peace we bring war”

“If wellness is this, what in hells name is sickness?”

“Unknowingly I prepare my punishment before I commit my crime”

“I've got no celebration, just this consolation; time eats all his children in the end.”

“I choose to burn out rather than fade away”

“At night I burn myself with cigarettes just to prove I’m still alive”

“Darling, it's the end of the world! We've reached the end of our usefulness and now we're doomed, let's waltz into the grave together!”

“We see the images flashing by, but cannot remember the names, just the fragmented memories that came along with it.”

“I’ve found another sense of comfort, another friend, another place to rest my head.”

“I strived to be like them. But I was still alone.”

“He came out in the end, losing more than anyone else.”

“Every time I listen to this I space out and think about everything I've ever done. All my choices and how they got me here. All the lessons I've learned, people I've met, things I regret, and things I wish I could change. All of it just seems so fast paced. Like I never experienced all of it. Thank you.”

“from ashes i was made, and ashes i return, and so i walk alone, and wonder why?”

“I will destroy you in the most beautiful way possible. And when I leave you will finally understand, why storms are named after people”

“Time will not wait for those who are late”

“With the morning starlight and the midnight sun, we spin around until we’re one”

“She’s not what I wanted, she’s what I didn’t know I needed”

“She may not satisfy my desires, but she satisfies my heart”

“I want to find peace of mind, maybe no mind is the answer to that conundrum”

“Tomorow is nearly yesterday and everything is stupid”

“But I couldn’t escape myself no matter how badly I wanted to”

“Do the gods mourn their fallen?”

“You come into the kings court holding the hat of a jester and expect not to be laughed at?”

“You can fall asleep and wake up drunk on the sky”

“Not a girl, not a boy, just a little baby”

“Make a hell out of demons haven”

“A subtle drop of poison a day keeps the kings will at bay”

“To look death in the eye and not welcome her with open arms is to not accept life at all”

“I miss you like a past life, I can’t remember if you were ever mine to miss. I missed you like we both died, a star crossed endeavor. I’ll miss you in the next life.”

“All of existence had her hand tenderly upon your hip”

[vendettamuses]

@maximuses SAID: i want you safe. i want you close to me. -> boba and delphine

⚔️ Prompts for Lots of Yearning // ACCEPTING ⚔️

The words are accompanied by the gentle creeping of his fingers along her back until his hand rests at the small of it. Guiding. And angled just so that, should the situation call for it, he can take her waist and pull her closer. The words are whispered, his breath ghosting against the shell of her ear, making it twitch and shift toward him. Without looking, she answers him lowly, her eyes still squarely fixated on the crowd around them. Taking note of who is watching.

"How much closer do you need me to be?"

He chuckles in response, letting the question go unanswered. Verbally, anyway. She already knows how he would respond if he could. But Boba Fett is a man of action, not words. This she knows too. (Though she also knows this is one thing he wishes he could be better at. He has said before how he is envious of some of the others - of how they can speak their love so freely, letting it flow like water in a river from their mouths. He wishes he could be so poetic and flowery in his expressions. And truth be told, sometimes Delphine wishes he was more well-versed in such a form of romance. But even still, she adores how direct and how blunt he is in what few words of adoration he does offer - no flowerage required.)

The hand at her waist rubs small circles against her back, soothing and steady, before sliding to her hip and drawing her in closer. Fingers curl protectively over the gentle slope of her hipbone, whispering a silent as close as I can have you.

"You worry too much for me." She hums as they press on through the market, stopping briefly at an unmanned fruit stand to look over the produce. Around the, the crowd parts to make way, looking on and whispering amidst themselves once their backs are turned. She hears it all. The gossip and rumors, the suspicions and the interpretations.

"Because I have seen what the galaxy is capable of," He returns, mirroring the softness of her voice. "And I have lost so much to it already. I won't let it take you from me as well. Not if I can help it."

His grip on her only grows more firm and more protective. She cannot help but be pulled into his broad, armored chest. Her hands find familiar, deep green beskar, warmed by the sun and shifting under heavy breaths grown from tension at the mere thought of him being apart from her. "You won't lose me," she hums, tracing her fingers along the edge of it, letting the heat of them seep through the rough fabric of his shirt beneath and carefully soothe his rushing mind. It works, just like it always does when she touches him. He stills like a beast soothed, his grip easing on her waist enough so that she can turn herself more directly toward him. At last, their heads turn to finally look at each other with familiar fondness.

"Delphine-"

"You won't." She cuts him off, reaffirming her statement. "Nothing will take me from you, Boba. You have to trust me."

He opens his mouth to speak but quickly shuts it. Still, it is not quick enough to prevent Delphine from hearing the message loud and clear. I trust no one but myself. It stings, but she supposes she should not be surprised. The years of service as a bounty hunter, serving only those who would benefit from his work regardless of whether he lived or died, losing people he loved over and over, knowing only death and violence and loss from each time he tried to make a fresh start for himself and others. It would only be natural for him to deduce that trust is not something he can afford to offer.

But he wants to. He desperately wants to. That is why he is here with Fennec, and with the Mods, and with Krrsantan. And her. He wants to do right by her. He wants to be good for her. He wants to provide for her and protect her and prove that this is - that they are not a mistake.

"I'm trying," he whispers, shoulder sagging as he sighs. Still, she smiles, the hand on his chest reaching up to gently cup his cheek. A warm thumb caresses just beneath his eye and without thinking, he closes them and leans into her touch. He breathes in the scent of smoky warmth and nectar and citrus that radiates from her. The soothing sensation of her touch grounds through the storm of his thoughts. And seeing him melt into her so easily, she smiles. She smiles and thinks, damned be the crowd. Damned be the whispers. Damned be the thoughts. Their secret has long been revealed. Damned be the consequences. And she leans in. Her breath ghosts against his lips, startling him briefly before his gaze fixates on her face so close to his. Pupils dilate, looking to drink in as much of her as he can in this moment as she whispers to him.

"I know."

Then she kisses him, and he feels his heart quiver in his chest. She's never done this before - never been so open and bold about their relationship. Always, always has she been so secretive, insistent on keeping things quiet and private. And he's never minded - though he has yearned for the opportunity to display their love just the slightest bit, if for no other reason than to send a message that she is not to be trifled with. That she is his partner, under his protection. Though, he has also wanted to do so just to prove his devotion to her. But she always thought that such acts would be counterproductive, attracting unneeded attention and painting a target on her back; highlighting her as a means of getting to him.

Now, such concerns seem so far from her. And he loves it.

He kisses her back, gentle and adoring. Fingers gently touch her chin, guiding her even as his fingers burn with the desire to grasp her more tightly, more intimately. All too soon, she pulls away. The kiss is brief but sweet and searingly intense. It leaves him wanting more, and she only stokes that desire as she caresses his jaw and looks at him so lovingly before dropping her hand completely.

"And I love you."

The murmurings of the crowd were far from him in that moment. His mind could only concentrate on her and her words, and he could only think to himself how lucky he was to have her. To have someone who knew his every flaw as well as she knew the desires of his heart, and loved all of him just the same... What he had done to deserve her, he did not know.

But what he would do to keep her was limitless.

[rini-rushed]

a long journaling 😪

oh my god FUCK ME

maybe i don’t sleep enough that’s why im breaking out

but that doesn’t make sense, i’ve been sleeping at 11 for a long time

ISNIT CAUSE OF DAY LIGHT SAVINFS ???

I DONT EVEN KNOW HOW IT WORKS IN THJS SHIT COUNTRYYYRYD

also any tips to stop moving during tests and exams, or yk

stop moving around in general for when i���m sitting down

anyway i’m glad swimming is done but that just means i have art and i ducking hate my art teacher, but i’ll deal with her

i have to

i have to deal with this ginger bitch or else i won’t be drawing at all

ok in the chat i over exaggerated, as in, i could care less but care more about a bunch of things in my life rn

i only identify as agender because i don’t care about what gender i am, not because i have any sort of dysphoria

i don’t want to think about the gender of my partner and idc what i was born as, im still a bitch

what if my friends actually don’t like me?

one of them said they’re happy there’s no one who likes girls in their grade (i’m pansexual, and while i don’t strictly like girls, i care enough to think back to it but i don’t care enough to expand on that)

i don’t care for like a lot of things, and i feel like im becoming superficial as a person

like now i’m doing short term solutions to back track my long term issues that have been possibly proved(?) to be slowly eating me away

i’m starting to discredit who i was like 3 weeks ago and now i think im being an irrational little bitch

like middle school me, the mother fucker i rather die than revert back to

i’m sleepy

i can’t listen to myself 😪