#as soon as i can figure out how to work portrait of a girl.....

[lohstandfound]

the you & i scene from the b:apo au lives rent free in my mind

I very much enjoyed writing it I love that fic so much

[cuteniaarts]

Small drawing collection of my latest creation Emran as a teenager/freshly minted Air Acolyte, for my dear partner in unhinged OC shenanigans @katkastrofa, as promised <3

[stormz369]

☕💖 Can I Get Your Number? ☕💖 Ch 9

Jason Todd x (f)Chubby!Reader

written with a female reader in mind, first person pov, no use of Y/N, will probably get NSFW later, let me know if there's anything else I should tag this with!

warnings: some slightly confrontational conversations wc: 1.7k

Chapter Selection

Ding!

I groaned softly, looking over at my phone. 2 unread messages; Jason's daily ‘good morning 😌’ had just come in, but there was also one from Damian. I clicked on Damian's name, blinking groggily, and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. There was no text, just an attachment; a photo of a page from his sketchbook where he'd drawn a portrait of himself and his friend Jon.

I smiled softly, examining his drawing. It took my sleep-addled mind a moment to realize that what I originally took as a swirly background design was in fact writing. ‘Nice line work! But I'd like to see you branch out a bit’.

Damian: Attachment 4:03am Me: You're a very talented artist! … But, did your teacher write on your work??? 🤨 8:30am Damian: He did. 8:40am Me: … Wtf?????????? That's not cool!  8:41am Damian: It's just a sketchbook … I was considering giving it to Jon, but I can always remake it. The perspective is a bit off anyway. 8:45am Me: …. Oh. Hell. No. 8:46am

I jumped up, calling Jason, and got dressed. Jay answered after the third ring.

“You’re up very early, did I wake you?” He sounded a bit sleepy, and I could picture the little smile on his face.

“Yes, but that's not important right now. Do you know which school Damian goes to?”

“Um … yeah? Why?”

“... I promised him anything he talked to me about would stay between us. But I do need to go to his school. Do you think you can take me there?”

“... I guess? … Just … promise me that everything’s ok?”

“Everything’s fine, I just need to get there.”

“Alright, give me fifteen minutes. I'll be on my bike; wear long pants and closed toed shoes - boots if you've got ’em. … And maybe we can get breakfast after?”

I giggled and nodded; “sounds perfect! You're amazing, Jay!”

He stuttered a bit, mumbling a shy; “I … not really … I … I'll see you soon…” before he hung up.

Damian: What? 8:55am Me: That's just really not ok! What's your teacher's name? 8:56am

I threw on jeans and ran downstairs as Jay arrived on his bike. He held out a helmet for me, smiling softly. “Hey Doll~ … anything you can tell me about why we're going to the school?”

“... Not really. I just need to talk to one of Damian's teachers.”

Jason nodded, opening the bag on the side of his bike and offering me a red leather jacket. “Alright, well, this isn't how I had planned to give you this, but … anyway, here, put this on.”

I blinked a bit, taking it. “... Thank you? … It's really not that cold though…” I put it on anyway, figuring he wouldn't take no for an answer. It fit me perfectly, and had a soft lining on the inside. In the pocket I found a pair of black leather gloves, which I slid on as well.

“It's not for the cold - it's to protect you. If you're gonna be my backpack, you're gonna have proper layers on, in case we get in an accident. … Not that I think we will, I'm an excellent driver, but still. I'm not risking it. Not with you…”

I could feel my heart filling with warmth as I realized why he'd brought the bike today. This wasn’t just a riding jacket, it was my riding jacket. The helmet he gave me was my helmet. He'd gotten these things so we could go riding together... “Ohh, ok~ … What do you mean your backpack?”

He gestured to the seat behind him. “When you’ve got a cute girl riding with you they're called your backpack.”

I giggled softly, climbing on, and wrapped my arms around his waist, just like Red Hood had shown me all those months ago. “I see. Arms here, right?”

He nodded, gently stroking the back of my hand. “Perfect. There's a bluetooth headset in our helmets, so if you need anything just tell me.”

I nodded, leaning against his back, and we took off. Jason was so warm in my arms, and I'd never held him like this before. We'd hugged of course, and cuddled a bit, but this felt different somehow. Maybe because my hands were usually on his back, not his chest or stomach. I quickly started having to consciously remind myself not to fondle his abs, no matter how incredible they felt through his shirt…

All too quickly, we came to a stop in front of a private school. Once our helmets were off, I kissed his cheek. “I'll be right back!”

He blushed a bit and nodded, taking my helmet. “Just don't get kicked out.”

Ding!

Damian: What are you doing? 9:15am Damian: … It's Mr. Jackson. 9:16am Damian: Why aren't you responding??? 9:45am Me: Sorry, was on Jason's bike. Don't worry about what I'm doing. … Shouldn't you be in class? 9:46am

I approached the front office, tucking my gloves into my pocket while I waited for the secretary to get off the phone. When she looked over at me I offered her a warm smile; “hi. I'm here to speak to the principal.”

“Do you have an appointment?”

“No ma'am, but I do need to speak to them.”

She raised an eyebrow and looked me over, getting up and going into the back office. An older man followed her back out and offered me his hand as he introduced himself.

“How can I help you, Miss …?”

I introduced myself. “I'm here on behalf of one of your students. It seems a Mr. Jackson was grading his students' sketches and thought it was appropriate to write his critiques directly on them.”

He blinked, an unamused expression on his face; “I see … are you the mother of a student here … young lady?”

“No, just one of their trusted adults.”

“... I see. Well, I'm afraid we cannot have non-parental figures at school during the day. You'll have to leave now. School policy, you understand.”

I smirked, observing him for a moment. He reminded me of my high school principal; an old, rude man who had no respect for those he viewed as under him. “... Oh, I see. I thought you'd rather speak with me about this matter, but it's fine. I'm sure Bruce will handle it.”

The bell rang as I turned on my heel, heading for the door. Before I got to the main entrance, I heard the man following after me; “excuse me? Young lady, are you saying you're here on behalf of-”

“What are you doing here?” I jumped slightly, turning to face Damian who had seemingly materialized behind me. I put on a pleasant smile.

“Ah, hello Damian. I'm so sorry darling; I tried to handle this matter just between us, but it seems your principal,” I turned to him, putting on my best bored and slightly disdainful expression, “what was it again? … Right, Mr. Cole. Well, Mr. Cole won't speak with me, so I suppose I'll be calling your father instead.”

The principal paled, stuttering out; “the- there's no reason to bother Mr. Wayne at work. I'm sure he's very busy. Why don't we head back into my office and we can discuss this?”

“Oh!” I pretended to be surprised; “well, if you're sure. I would hate for you to break school policy.”

He shook his head, practically pulling me along. “I insist, please.”

Damian followed us, frowning a bit; the principal looked like he was about to argue, but thought better of it. Once his door was closed and we were all seated, he cleared his throat. “Now, … what seems to be the problem with Mr. Johnson?”

“Jackson. The art teacher.” I frowned a bit, sitting back a little. I turned to Damian, smiling gently; “would you like to tell him, Damian, or …?”

He shook his head once, a guarded expression on his face, and I nodded before turning back to the principal. “Mr. Jackson wrote a critique on one of Damian's pieces, and-”

“Art teachers have to critique the students, Miss. I'm sure it wasn't meant to be harsh, but-”

I held my hand up, hoping my expression was as stern as I wanted it to be; “The issue, sir, is not the fact of the critique. The issue is that he wrote it on the piece. Writing on top of any artist's work is just wrong, even, perhaps most especially, when those artists are your students. Your students work hard on their art, and what they do with it after submitting it for their assignment is their business. But they cannot do anything with their art after class if your teachers are writing on their work.”

The man shrunk in his seat as I spoke, looking between me and Damian. “... I … I see. Yes, that is … not ideal. Of course. … I will speak with Mr. Jackson.”

I nodded. “I'm glad to hear that. Well, I think that was everything. For now. Unless Damian would like to add anything?”

The boy shook his head again, getting up, and we left the principal in his office. Damian walked me to the main entrance and out the door before he spoke again; “... You didn't have to do that…”

“Of course I did. What your teacher did broke all the rules of common courtesy. And if he's doing it to you, he's doing it to the others too.”

Jason raised an eyebrow as we approached, nodding to Damian. “He's not coming with, right? I can't take both of you.”

Damian rolled his eyes. “It's not even lunch yet, Todd.” He looked up at me, a curious expression in his eyes; “... You hold your own admirably.”

I chuckled softly. “Well thank you. Let me know if there's any fallout, I'm happy to do an encore performance if they try anything. And I hope you'll send me a picture of the completed piece, when you remake it. It was beautiful.”

His lips curled up ever so slightly and he nodded before heading back into the building. Jason stared at us, offering me my helmet. “... Did he just smile?”

“Yes, the boy knows how to smile, Jay.” I chuckled, pressing a kiss to the side of his helmet above his cheek before slipping my helmet on. Once my gloves were on and I was in my seat, I wrapped my arms around his waist. “So, how about that breakfast?”

Next ->

Divider by: @saradika-graphics

Taglist (open):

@jawdropforkpop @krys0210 @snowy-violets @superthoughts @wordsfromshona @mystic60 @iwannabealocalcryptid @morstuavitamea-a @frosty--giants @arisa191 @prized-jules

[heavenlyraindrops]

Hello! can you see a girl reader who wants to be perfect in everything (in appearance, in weight and in work) and cries if someone bypasses her? characters: adam or lucifer :)

“ᴘᴇʀꜰᴇᴄᴛɪᴏɴ” ——> ᴀᴅᴀᴍ & ʟᴜᴄɪꜰᴇʀ x ꜰᴇᴍ!ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ ——> ᴡᴏʀᴅ ᴄᴏᴜɴᴛ: 1.2ᴋ | ᴡʜᴇʀᴇ ᴛʜᴇʏ ᴀꜱꜱᴜʀᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ʏᴏᴜ’ʀᴇ ᴘᴇʀꜰᴇᴄᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴀʏ ʏᴏᴜ ᴀʀᴇ

warnings: profanity, mentions of not eating (? Idk)

A/N: omds my first request! thanks anon, hope this is on par with what you were hoping for! Soz if I got anything wrong/ misinterpreted the request :(

——> Lucifer:

You smoothed your hands down your sides, eyes locking onto the reflection in the mirror and assessing the dress you were wearing. You were due to visit Charlie and the Hotel- she was holding some event- soon with your husband. 

But you knew you couldn’t. Not right then, in that state of mind. 

Your muscles ached with hours of stress and overworking yourself, the eye bags that carved shadows into your face from the lack of sleep hidden by your makeup. You loathed the way you looked- not because it was ugly, you were beautiful enough- but because it wasn’t perfect enough. 

You were worried you weren’t good enough for Lucifer. You were worried you weren’t as good as her. Lilith. 

Be anything, you’d think. Be anything you want. Just be better than her. 

You knew this sort of mindset wasn’t healthy, but you craved to be like her, to be better. Her figure, her looks, her success. Whenever you were with Lucifer, you felt like the shadow of her loomed over you, foreboding, ominous. And no amount of his kisses and affirmations could make it go away.

Of course, it wasn’t just Lilith- you were an obsessive perfectionist at heart. Your desire to be perfect already had its grip on you, but then you saw her and you realized that you weren’t at the top. You weren’t the best, as long as she was there. And it crushed you.

Sometimes you’d go without food. Sometimes you’d go without sleep. Sometimes Lucifer would kiss you and tell you he loved you and then your eyes would fall onto her portrait, gleaming in the shadows, and every ounce of warmth would rush out of your body.

Three knocks sounded on the bathroom door, and you flinched out of your haze of misery. 

“Angel?” His voice drifted in through the door. “You okay in there?”

No. No. Not now. Tears threatened to spill over. You clenched your fists, nails digging into your palm. Of course my brain decided to make me have a breakdown now. Perfect timing. 

You opened your mouth, to speak, your chest clenching as you tried to keep your voice steady. “I…” you trailed off suddenly, clamping your lips together after hearing your own voice. “I’m fine.”

A beat for silence. “You’re not fine. Open the door.”

You did, hoping to god your face didn’t betray how you felt. His arms were crossed, sleeves rolled up and coat and hat off. You shrunk in on yourself as his frown deepened once he saw your face. 

“What’s wrong?” He said, gently, quietly, as if you would break. “You’ve been acting off lately.” His hand searched for yours to hold. Eyes soft and concerned. Your heart tore.

And then the dam broke. You slumped your tears rushing like a huge tidal wave, the storm behind your eyes pouring out and suffocating you. 

Within moments his arms surrounded your shaking shoulders, as you curled into his shoulder, your body racked with sobs. “Hush,” he soothed, stroking your hair away. His body was tense under his shirt, you noticed as you clutched the fabric, and you suddenly felt a jolt of nausea. You pushed him away. 

“Don’t look at me,” you sobbed, hiding your face in your hands as you curled in on yourself on the cold tiles. 

“Why?” Lucifer said, voice beseeching you to listen. He took hold of your wrists, pulling them away from your face. “[name], just talk to me.”

You sniffled, face burning as he cupped your face in his hands. “Cause I look hideous,” you muttered. His eyes swept over you, taking you in thoughtfully. 

“You don’t look hideous.”

“Yes I do,” you choked out, and he sighed, his breath skimming your nose. “I’m not good enough.” The words tumbled out of you as you struggled to rein them in, to control your tongue. “I need to be perfect, but-“

“Hey, hey,” he said, firmly, shushing you. “Who said you need to be perfect? Who said you aren’t already?”

You blinked at him. “Huh? I- no one-“

“Then shut up,” he muttered, pressing his lips to your forehead. “You’re already beautiful, understood? You’re the most perfect person I’ve ever met. You don’t need to be any better.”

Your heart swelled, tears drying on your face as you took in the way he looked at you. You pulled him in for a kiss before quickly wiping your eyes. Mascara smeared on the side of your hand, and you cursed, stumbling up.

He grabbed you by the waist, pulling you out of the bathroom. “Not now, darling,” he murmured, pulling you back into the bedroom. “Worry about that later.”

“I’m sorry,” you mumbled. “We’re probably late now and-“

“We’re not going,” he said, and held open his arms, legs pressed to the side of the bed. Without thinking, you immediately crawled into his arms. 

You closed your eyes, the steady beat of his heart calming you, the warmth radiating from his body engulfing you. His voice rumbled against your hair. “I love you, got that?”

“I love you too.”

——> Adam:

“Babe, you need to start fucking eating more.”

Your eyes locked with Adam’s behind you in the mirror as you ran your hands down your sides, tracing your figure. You hated it- so much, because you knew you weren’t good enough. Mediocre at best- and you couldn’t stand that. 

I’m a Winner. I need to be perfect. For Heaven, for myself. You met Adam’s eyes again. For Adam. 

He’d had two wives before you. What if you weren’t enough?

And on the other hand, there was Lute. God, you wanted to be her so bad. You’d always been number two to her, in your own mind at least, and it was slowly driving you insane. Her voice, her body, hair, skills, everything about her screamed unique, cool, original, individualistic- you could have gone on forever. And you, in comparison, were just… plain.

The mere thought clawed at you like a wild, desperate animal. Your husband’s eyes in the mirror held concern for you- concern that made your stomach churn. 

“I’m fine. Aren’t you going to eat dinner?”

He rolled his eyes. “The fuck’s the point of eating dinner alone when you’re right here?” 

You fought to keep your voice calm as his gaze pierced through you, your shoulders sinking. “I’m not hungry.” As if on cue, your stomach grumbled. 

He ran a hand through his brown hair, fluffing it up, exasperated. You flushed as he grabbed your waist, pulling you in, before his hand fell to your hip and squeezed. 

“Goddammit, [name], you think I don’t fucking know what you’re doing? It’s obvious you’re starving yourself.” He pressed a kiss to your neck and you pushed him away gently. 

“Starving is an overstatement,” you said weakly, and your stomach grumbled again. He pinched your cheek furiously. 

“What are you even gonna fuckin’ get outta this?”

You hugged your sides, a lump forming in your throat at the angry look on his face. “Are you mad at me?”

The furious expression etched across his face fell immediately? “Huh? What? No.” His face fell even more as you turned away, rubbing your eyes. “I’m just mad you think you need to stop eating for whatever reason-“

“Whatever reason?” You bit out. “Look at me, Adam! I’m not enough. I need to be perfect. I can’t-“

“You are perfect,” he said flatly. You froze, looking at him. Your own ragged breathing was the only thing you heard, apart from the ticking of the clock. He stared back. You knew he wasn’t good at comforting- so you also knew he wasn’t saying this for your own benefit. 

“I’m not,” you forced out the words, “I’m not good enough.” You gestured to him, then around you. “For you, for everyone. I’m not the best version of myself, I can’t-“

“For fucks sake,” he snapped, cupping your face in his hands and roughly pulling you in for a kiss, tongue immediately swiping over your lips. He pulled away, breath hot on your face.“If you weren’t good I wouldn’t have fuckin’ married you.”

The sincereness lining the rough edges of his tone set it in for you, and you kissed back before he pulled away, and he linked his arm with yours and dragged you into the kitchen, huffing. 

You flopped down onto the kitchen table where he left you before he returned with a plate of food, sitting opposite you. He propped himself up on his elbows and quirked an eyebrow. 

“Eat,” he said.

You did.

“Good?”

You nodded, wolfing down some more. He chuckled, and leaned over, kissing your forehead. 

“Love you. Don’t fuckin’ forget that.”

You sighed, then smiled. “Love you too.” 

[hannahssimblr]

“I have to say, this is an impressive body of work.”

I shift in my seat, “By impressive do you mean that it’s good, or that there’s a lot of it?”

This gets a laugh. “Both,” says the man, Paul, flicking through a sketchbook with tattooed hands, fingers stained from nicotine. I notice things like this now. Hands. I notice their lines and their bones, all their interesting details, and perhaps Paul himself could gauge this now as he pours over my figure studies where there are pages upon pages of hands, old and young, my friends, my sisters at the piano, an old woman clutching at a handrail on the train, and my own, a hundred times in different ways, blisters, plasters, hangnails and bruises from the rugby pitch.

The woman, Ida, shuffles through a stack of watercolour paintings I did last summer, mostly seascapes, the beach and the rushes, the whitewashed houses and rusted iron of the Wexford coast. Just looking at them I can recall the grit of sand under my bare feet as I warmed them on the deck of our holiday home behind my portable easel. In three months I’ll return again for one last summer, and after that I expect I’ll miss it there. 

“And you said you didn’t do a portfolio preparation year?” She says, peering over the rim of her glasses. 

“No, I’m still at school.”

“Highly unusual for a sixth year,” her eyebrows climb up her forehead, “You've clearly dedicated a lot of time to this.”

I shrug, “Yeah, I like making art, I don’t know.”

It’s difficult to tell what this woman is thinking. Everything about her is harsh, dramatic, from the sharp fringe that sits straight and neat above her brows to the slash of her mouth, thin lips, pointy chin, hard eyes, but I have to assume for the sake of my own self esteem that she doesn’t positively loathe my portfolio. She spends some time looking through my work, slowly, methodically, sometimes leaning closer to frown at something, maybe some proportion that’s off, bad composition, a clumsy attempt at ambient occlusion that doesn’t hit the mark… 

“It’s beautiful,” she says simply, and I exhale. 

“Oh look, a familiar face,” Paul holds a portrait to Ida, “That’s the girl that we were interviewing a few people before this, what was her name again?”

“Michelle,” I say, “My girlfriend.”

Paul nods, “Michelle, right! Good likeness,” and places the notebook back onto the table. Leaning back in his chair, he cracks his knuckles, “Look, Jude, there’s no two ways about it here, your work is outstanding. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a portfolio that hits every mark, every requirement and goes beyond, I mean,” he lets out a puff of air and gestures to the table, “this is nuts. And for a sixth year? Come on. This stuff would blow some of our third and fourth year college students out of the water.”

I feel like I could melt off the chair with relief, but try to suppress my utter delight so that they don’t think I’m too hungry for validation.

“Cool.”

“It’s the sensitivity,” Ida adds, “Your observation skills, your sense of weight, movement, knowledge of anatomy. It’s rare to see this kind of work from a secondary school student. Your efforts are just… so impressive.”

“And look, we know it depends on your Leaving Cert points, and yeah, that’ll be a contributing factor when it comes to acceptance, but, like,” Paul looks over the table again, tossing his hands up conclusively, “as far as I’m concerned, we’ll see you in September.”

Ida’s mouth curls into a smile, “We hope. If you choose us.”

If I choose them? Am I dreaming? How have I become the kind of person who is coveted by an art school? Surely not. Surely soon I’ll wake up and discover that this whole interview has been a product of my dreams. Too much time spent stressing out over art, the requirements, the brief... Almost certainly I’ve fallen asleep somewhere and none of this is real. 

“That’s really kind of you to say. I’m glad you liked my stuff.”

“Blown away,” says Paul, and he leaps to his feet to shake my hand like I’ve just won a prize, “all we need is a pass in the Leaving Cert, you can surely manage it.”

“Yeah, I’ll make sure I do.”

They’re smiling at me as I gather up my work, and still smiling as I give them one last sheepish wave from the door, and I realise I am still smiling too as I face the hallway of waiting students, staring at me with portfolios rested against their knees. I probably shouldn’t look too overjoyed, it might knock their confidence, so I try to look very bored instead as I pass by, though I may explode from the inside out.

Beginning // Prev // Next

[cosmiischillin]

Twilight Town: The Bad Luck Banshee

The bad luck magnet herself is Misery, no really, it’s her name. She’s probably the most popular character in the show aside from Ruby (and probably Frank and Len). She definetly represented the goth girl of the show rather than Ruby who was different between the show and her original character.

Misery was drawn a lot before I got to working more of Twilight Town. Hell, she had a portrait and profile done before everyone else. So I am excited to talk about her and my plans for her in the AU (and the sound of me laughing getting cut off)

The Fairy Woman

In my long long looooooooooooong research of monsters, Banshees might have been my favorite. Banshees are said to be “fairy women” in Irish and are female spirits whose screams were meant to signal that death was close. It’s never confirmed in the show but the fanon pretty much consider Misery to be a banshee (same goes for the rest of her family). I decided to add those original folklore elements to her in Twilight Town like her pale eyes that looks like they’re staring off to the distance or someone’s soul. I definitely want to go into more of her abilities or even other powers such as her ability to sense misfortune before it happens and even her insane pain resistance.

As for her family, I might expand on it more as her family being female folklore figures would be a lot of fun to look at. Looking back on it now, I’m really disappointed that most of misery’s family members are reused models of her or of other ancestors (And I don’t like thinking about Mildew’s portrayal as an extremely racist mashup of East Asian culture) As a kid I used to fixate on Yo Kai (Kuchisake Onna, Futakuchi Onna, and Yuki Onna being my favorites), La Llorna, Bloody Mary, Sirens, and Baba Yaga (I guess I was super into monster stuff even before Ruby Gloom). Though I want to do my proper research before I portray folklore figures from cultures I’m not apart of.

Design

To be honest, I never figured out why I made Misery Black Irish. Maybe it’s because when I first drew her, I gave her black features unintentionally so I kept that in. Or that in the show there were pretty much no BIPOC characters (and the shows portrayal of Romani and Chinese was…bad). When I posted her new look, people actually liked this version of her so yeah, I kept it!

As for shipping her with Iris. I wanted to do something besides shipping them with the twins (I was guilty of this as a kid). I found their dynamic cute and it was something different. Misery’s bad luck would have made it impossible to be with people but when there’s Iris, who wouldn’t even give a thought before putting themselves in danger, it’s sorta sweet.

I imagine Misery to be the one who warns the group before something that can end in disaster even if it ends up being a small inconvenience. I was heavily inspired by trad goth for her hence why her clothes are a bit more modern than her dress as a kid.

Origin and Background

Misery is a magic monster under the umbrella term Faerie, a type of monster most humans treat like cute mischief makers, except for a certain type of Fae, a Banshee. Misery’s whole family are shrouded in bad luck, being known as harbingers of disasters. Although in the past banshees could be seen as warnings or giving their grief to families in need, time passed to where banshees were feared and rumored to kill with their screams. They couldn’t hide away due to the forces of bad luck they bring.

Misery moved to Twilight Town when she was 8 as her family got ran out of another place by an angry mob. Misery soon moved to Ruby’s mansion when her family decided to move again and allowed her to choose if she wanted to leave or not. Despite her bad luck being, well, that, Ruby seemed to not mind. Almost like her cheerfulness and optimism made the bad luck seem almost sufferable.

Look at how silly she is.

Next Up: The Frankenstein Twins

[tumblingdownthefoxden]

"The Assistant and The Star"

Chapter 2: The Queen and King

Quiet as a mouse, a tall blond boy browses the grand pantry of the castle's kitchen with deviance on his mind. He knew he wasn't allowed to take snacks from the pantry. Dahlia had banned him from even entering the pantry after the night that he alone ate the pantry into needing a new shipment of food before the scheduled time. But he was in dire need for food after his short breakfast and work with his dad. His father made him leave home early to organize the Ceremony list. The boy named Dario didn't know why he had to get up early just to gather the names and picture of people he had to look out for when the ceremony was at sunset but his father insisted that "the early bird catches the worm" so they needed everything completed as soon as possible. And in his father's defense, it took quite a while to gather the name and portrait of anyone who had already given up a wish the previous year.

'But the second mouse gets the cheese' Dario thought as his arrival to the castle was soon after the breakfast rush. The kitchen was clean and stood vacant of any cooks that could stop him. Only other person there was Simon, snoozing at the bench against the wall after completing his 8 hour shift. He scanned the shelves holding baskets of fruit, jars of jams, boxes of cookies and bowls of bread for anything to soothe his cravings. He took a box of cookies from the shelf. A batch of Kingly cookies, shaped like the face of King Magnifico. He took 2 from the box but then had the temptation to take the whole box with him. Dario's cravings will act up again later, they always did. There were 5 more boxes of Kingly cookies and the king was a patient man, surely he wouldn't mind one missing box.

Before he left the pantry, there was a knock. Dario spun around to the ajar door of the pantry. No sign of anybody there. He sighed in relief, he couldn't let Dahlia see him. 5 more knocks (in the rhythm of "How to Build a Snowman" from Frozen) sounded. He looked and saw a hatch on the floor. He knelt down and knocked on the door as well. The knocking came back. He looked at the the handle and saw that the door was padlocked.

Dario hid the cookies in his shirt and went to look for a key. After every opened drawer, opened cabinet, there was no sign of a key. He considered waking up Simon to ask him if he knew of the key, when the three girls ran inside. "Hey guys, how are you?" Dahlia said before going into the pantry and pulling out a ring of keys. One swift move and the padlock was opened. Dahlia opened the hatch and emerged Asha. Dario jumped back at the sight of the black figure with an Ibex face but relaxed at the sight a little goat in their arms.

"Thanks Dahlia." Asha said, letting down Valentino. Dario grimaced, he never could get over that disguise. He ran away from Asha once when she first wore it to their outing during the Winter solstice festival. He was told off for it but could you blame him? If you saw La Muerte walking up to you, wouldn't run like a cat with a flaming branch tied to its tail?

"Hey Dario. How is everything?" Asha asked, taking off her cloak. Dario lifted his hands and signed, "I'm okay. What of you? No one followed you here?"

"No, not this time." She folded her cloak and placed it on the bench next to Simon, putting her mask on top of it. Bazeema walked over and sat down on the other side of Simon. "Should we wake him up now? We need a favor." She asked.

Dario snorted. "If you can wake him, be our guest." He signed. When Simon was napping after his shift, not even a trumpet could wake him up. He tried.

Bazeema leaned over and whispered into his ear, "Simon, Dahlia just made a fresh batch of cookies!" In a singsong tone. His snoring stopped and his eyes briefly opened. "Cookies?" He mumbled. Dario stared, mouth agap with how easy that was.

"No, she doesn't have cookies but we need to ask you something." Bazeema said, referring to her and Asha. "But first, I need to ask something." Dahlia budded in, intendly staring at a shelf in the pantry. "Has anyone seen a light blue box like the ones from the pantry? One of them is missing." The others were silent but Dahlia's eyes were on Dario and his bulging shirt. "Nobody happened to see a box of cookies from the shelf?"

"Maybe someone stole it overnight." Dario signed, glancing to his side. Dahlia left the pantry and walked up to him. "Oh, really? Because I checked the pantry this morning and saw all 6 boxes in place. No one other the cooks can even enter the kitchen during the Breakfast rush. You just so happened to be in the kitchen when I arrived and the only other person in here was asleep so where is the box?" Dahlia asked again.

Dario stood still, leaning back from her short but imposing stature. Dahlia still glared at him.

"Must be a mystery..." He signed with a shrug. Dahlia grumbled and held out her hand.

Sighing his defeat, Dario pulled out the cookies from under his shirt and handed it to her. She opened it to inspect how many were there. Only 2 were missing. "I swear Dario, you're going to make me loose my job one day!" Dahlia said, putting the cookies back. "I only took one box, would the King even notice?!" He signed. "The King might not care but the citizens at the festival will. I cannot get another avalanche of complaints because we ran out of Kingly cookies too soon." She explained. "At least, you didn't take the Queenly cookies. Then we really would've been in trouble."

There was only 1 rose gold box of the Queen shaped cookies next to the Kingly cookies but they were the most important. That box was for the royals themselves, and the King was critical about their condition. The last baker that ruined a batch of those cookies is currently in the dungeon. If Dario did eat from there, Dahlia would have to rush to make a new batch, but that would've been after she killed him.

"With that out of the way. Simon, could you help us take Asha home tonight please? Just before your shift?" Bazeema asked.

Simon rubbed his eyes. "Asha needs me to take her home? Is it that bad?"

"It will be so we could use your sword and shield."

"For the people or the woods? I can fight a person but a bear would be difficult. Are the bears active at night?" He asked, sitting up. "I'm not sure what to do about my nap before shift. I can't pass out on my rotation again."

"There's no pressure at all. If you still need to sleep, it's fine." Asha reassured, holding her hands out. "I-I can run home. I can handle myself."

"No no, it's alright." He said, standing up to stretch. "I would love to help you home. The mission will be good for me anyway. I can just take a nap sleep sooner and the travel will wake up."

Asha shifted on her feet. "Oh, thank you."

Hal bounced over to Asha's side. "Hey! Do you think it's possible to go to the festival for a few minutes. My cousins are performing a Kaolack dance in town square after the Ceremony. I would love for you to see it."

"Don't you think that's a little risky?" Questioned Dahlia.

"The crowd dies down after the Wish Ceremony and with the rest of us, we could keep an eye Asha and other people. She needs to have fun! She can't keep living like this!" Hal took Asha by her arms and turned her to face Dahlia. "You see her shoulders! The tension in her stand! Our lady is stressed! She has been working and running from antagonizers all week! Asha deserves some form of a treat from the festival!"

"Would you like that Asha?" Asked Bazeema, popping up behind them. The two girls jumped at her sudden appearance from Simon's side but Asha nodded. She would like to find something for her Saba in the market and since her employment, she couldn't enjoy the festivals like before. "Okay then, it's set!" Hal cheered.

"Oh, hey, could someone start a fire please? I should have time to make tea for the King." Said Asha. It was routine for her to bring tea to the King during festivals. It was a hard time for both of them but tea makes everything manageable. Simon opened a drawer and pulled out a box of matches that he handed to Dahlia. Once she lit the fire, the others went about preparing mint tea as Asha kept the fire going. 10 minutes later and Asha was squirting lemon into the porcelain tea cup from the King's tea set on a tray. "Okay, it's ready!" She chimed with a smile.

There was a knock at the door and Dario went to open it. One look at the visitor and Dario staggered back before bowing down. At the door, stood Queen Amaya in her rose gold gown. The others saw her and bowed as well. Asha rose her head. "Good morning, your majesty. I hope you're well. Wait. Am I late for the King?" She asked.

Amaya smiled warmly. "No, you're fine. I wanted walk around the castle and see who was here right now. Would you like to see the King now?"

"Oh, yes, thank you." She took up the tea tray and walked up to the queen before turned back to her friends. "I'll see you guys later. Could you watch over Valentino please?" Dario picked up Valentino and gave her a thumbs up. "Thank you!" She said and walked. Dario shut the door and handed Valentino over to Simon, who was back on the bench. "I need to meet with my dad later today, I'm gonna leave him with you, okay?" He signed. Simon yawned and nodded as he took the little goat. "Yeah, I got all day." He began stroking his head. "We'll have a good time. Oh... Valy. Was your fur always this sof..." Simon dozed off again. His arm around Valentino and his hand fixed on his head. Effectively trapping the little goat under his weight.

Perplexed by his circumstance, Valentino bahhed for help. Dahlia giggled. "Sorry buddy but I can't have you run around the kitchen. And the last time we watched over you, you escaped into the city and got lost for 3 hours. You'll be safe with Simon. You do seem cozy in his arms!"

Valentino gave her a look.

He was going to remember this indignation.

---

"I'll admit, the advisor of the English King is charming but he is so dull. When we weren't talking about trade negotiations, he would go on and on about his polo games." The Queen ranted to the Assistant.

"But polo games have such fine horses." Asha used to read about horse when she was 12. The English breeds were pretty to her.

"Indeed, he loved his polo pony. He spoke about the strength and agility of his pony with more delirium than about our trade." -She glanced to Asha- "Honestly, anything is better than trade negotiations."

"Did the advisor really lift a statue during your lunch break to impress you?"

Amaya chuckled. "Yes. He even asked to lift me! But I declined."

"And Magnifico wasn't there?" Asha whispered in shock.

"That advisor better thank the heavens every night that he wasn't."

"Much about him sounds like a horse. From his strength to his food intake."

"Ha. When he first arrived, you would've thought he was a horse by his stench."

"Queen Amaya!" Asha choked. Surely, the Queen has gone too far in her ill manner speak of a nobleman.

"Oh, how will he know." She waved her hand.

It was a long way to the King's study at the top of the castle but it was worthwhile for the conversations with the Queen.

They arrived to the grand wooden doors of the King's study. "Are you ready?" Amaya asked. Asha nodded.

She opened the doors and let Asha pass by. It was a clean space with a wall of black mirrors across from her but King Magnifico was nowhere in sight. Asha set the tray down on a table next to the book shelves. She looked and noticed something off. Along the wall was a glass case holding the King's staff. Along the edge of the edge we're designs of what looked like dragonflies. The staff had fallen from the handle holding it and lied diagonal inside the case.

Thinking nothing of it, Asha touched the edge of the glass, searching for a handle or anything that could open the case so she could fix it.

The design on the glass glowed and the bugs emerged, immediately swarming Asha. She held her arms to shield her face but stayed still. Dragonflies were harmless and should leave you alone if you're still, right? Then Asha felt sharp, stinging pain biting at her body.

Those weren't Dragonflies!

Asha began screaming and waving her arms as the hornets continued to relentlessly attack her. She reached into bag and pulled out a thick book, trying to whack the devil bugs away but to no avail. There was a shifting sound behind her as the mirrored wall opened like a sliding door. From this doorway, emerged the King of Legend, Magnifico. "Is someone in here- oh my goodness!" Magnifico was puzzled at the sound of screaming in the room until seeing his Assistant being bombarded by the protection spell for his staff. He couldn't have been at her side in less time

"Oh shoot, Asha! Wait! Hold still. Hold still!" Magnifico stammered, ducking to avoid the flying boot that was launched at the hornets. "I got it!"

He gathered the light blue bugs in his hands and sent them back into the glass. Asha stood panting while holding her book. "Thank you, sir." She said. "You're welcome. Are you okay?" He asked.

Asha examined her skin to see red spots where she was stung. "Well, nothing I can't fix." Magnifico chimed. With a snap of his fingers, something blue wrapped around her arms. It disappeared and the red spots were gone. "Thank you, sir." She said again, going to take her boot from the floor.

"Huh. Was it always like that?" Magnifico pondered as he looked at the fallen staff. He waved his hand, the glass door opened and the staff floated out into his palm. He closed the case and turned to the tea on the desk. He smiled at her constant consideration.

"So, did anybody see you on your way here?" He asked, pouring another cup of tea.

"A hunter but they couldn't catch up with me." She replied. "The cloak and mask are working but they're catching onto me."

"Again!" He handed her a cup of tea on a saucer. "I swear. This is an arms race between predator and prey."

Asha just looked down at her tea. Too hot to drink but keeps her thoughts in order. He sat down on the floor. Asha followed suit.

Asha thought back to the heckler that was outside the castle exit waiting for her, and 3 days before that, she had a run in with a crowd asking her to convince the King to take their extra wishes. She had made a list of names and their extra wishes to tell the King about. It is 43 pages long.

"And how are your trips home?" He took a sip of tea.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"...okay." He whispered empathetically. He stood up and took Asha's empty cup of tea. "You know what? Meet me in the Grand Hall after the Ceremony. I know someone who can help you get home." He set the cups down on the tray. "It's almost noon. Do you want to test the spells now? I have the vials and spellbooks in the hollow."

Asha stood up. "Certainly."

Waving his free hand, a circle in the floor opened up. Revealing a spiraling staircase made from cobblestone, alight with torches of blue fire. "Shall we?"

Asha nodded and the two made their way down below.

A/N: This was the most fun chapter I've written so far. I don't why my brain decided Dario should be the Shaggy of the group but it suits him.

I decided to keep repurpose the evil lair but I don't know how to make an evil lair less evil. This is getting fun but Tumblr needs to stop posting my chapters without its final edits when it fails to save!

@annymation @signed-sapphire @wings-of-sapphire @mythartist21 @oh-shtars @kstarsarts @uva124 @chillwildwave @queenamayasimp-deactivated20240 @ahomeinthestars-wishrewrite @rascalentertainments

[quartzhearted]

great tree moon, year xx.

[ SECOND CORRESPONDENCE W. KINGDOM OF BRODIA. ]

Hi, honey,

It's been a little bit since my last letter---and let me tell you, there sure have been some new things here at the monastery. I swear it wasn't that long since I last talked to you, but maybe it has been? Time's a hell of a thing, ain't it.

A handful of moons ago, it was almost like some kind of mass exodus; a bunch of people disappeared, then came back after some time passed. Apparently it's a normal thing, but... it's really strange? I remember seeing something-or-other around the monastery asking for participants, I think... I don't know. It's all a little hazy. Apparently I could have gone, but there was too much to do and I decided against it. Lots of people came back with real bad sunburns.

I've got a pal, Lambert---he's the guy that consensually punched me, remember him?---and he'd gone off to wherever it was. He came back a completely different person. I'm talking new look, new attitude, new lease on life. I really wonder what happened to him over there, but I haven't had the chance to ask him yet. Baby, if you met Lambert, I know the two of you would catch on like a wildfire. He's fantastic!

Speaking of pals, I've made a few more since I last talked to you. One of my favorites is this guy named Matthias---I mean, guy's like an alternate me! He's huge, got short, orange hair, axe guy, and he's a mean fighter. When we first met, we did it the warrior's way. Ended in a tie, and that's while he had a problem with his leg! He's a lot more deadpan-looking than Lambert is, but he's his own brand of feisty. I hope I get to talk to him more; I think we've got some things in common.

There's a new wind blowing at the monastery right about now, and lots of people are getting involved. Heading out on missions, picking up odd jobs, or getting hired for real jobs, and that's just a few things off the top of my head. Hell, I wanted to see what all the fuss was about, so I picked up a job. It was... well, there'll be some instant portraits in here. You can figure it out from those. Damn near gave Diamant a heart attack.

I hope my birthday wasn't too quiet. I assume it'd have turned into a day of mourning, given how things went with Alexand... but I'd much rather people drink and be merry like they always did. I was finally able to take Alcryst out to drink, and Diamant took me out to drink. And that's not even mentioning all of the neat gifts I got; this dragon squirt Nils gave me a dragon warrior charm! And Lambert gave me a sword. A really nice sword! I think I'll hang the charm off of it... but then it might break. So what should I do? You were always good about practical customization, so do you have any ideas?

A girl I've never seen before gave me a stone for my birthday. It was pyrite, so she has to be from Brodia, right? Because why else would she give something like that to me...?

Also, Lapis said something interesting to me when she gave me her present. Something about being newly-included in people that are worried about my health and somesuch. Very weird.

That's probably enough yapping from me for one letter. Like I mentioned, I've put in some instant portraits again---me in uniform, me working at my other job, Diamant is there in one of them, and a few random ones of people I've met. Being here has really helped me talk to people my age and people not my age. It's a real blessing.

I think about you every morning, afternoon, and night, my dearest. Even if you still don't believe this is real... that's all right with me. All I worry about is if you're healthy and happy. Hopefully Diamant and Alcryst have been writing you as well, but if they haven't, I swear that I've never seen them shining brighter or living healthier. They're doing just fine, and so am I.

Write me soon, sapphire. Even if it's just one word, it's one word from my loveliest gemstone.

Signed,

Morion, Professor of Axe, Sword, and Authority at the Officers Academy

[maddie-grove]

The Top Twenty Books I Read in 2023

Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell (1949): I thought somebody would make me read this book in school, but no one ever did. Now that I've read it, let me just say...mark me down as horny and scared! No, I will not explain what I mean by that.

Prairie Fires by Caroline Fraser (2017): In this examination of Laura Ingalls Wilder's life and work, Fraser skillfully weaves a portrait of two complicated women (Wilder and her daughter/editor Rose Wilder Lane) with an overview of large swathes of American history. The examination of how Wilder and Lane adapted Wilder's life experiences into autobiographical fiction and why they made those choices is particularly interesting.

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver (2022): This is a retelling of David Copperfield by Charles Dickens, transplanted to Appalachia in the 1990s-2000s. Kingsolver retains the warmth and the pathos of the original, and the narrative voice is great.

Song of the Magdalene by Donna Jo Napoli (1996): Miriam, a Jewish girl in first-century Magdala, finds her life altered by unexplained seizures, which she must keep secret, and a first love that ends in tragedy. Napoli often brings it when it comes to thoughtful portrayals of disability and unexpectedly weird sensuality, and this novel is one of her best.

My Sweet Audrina by V.C. Andrews (1982): Audrina Adare, a young girl with severe memory problems, lives in an isolated Virginia mansion with her domineering father and various deranged female relatives...and it gets worse. This is V.C. Andrews at her most deliciously perverse and lurid, and I was definitely rooting for Audrina to close the portal.

I Never Asked You to Understand Me by Barthe DeClements (1986): Faced with her mother's terminal cancer diagnosis and the unhelpfulness of most adults in her life, fifteen-year-old Didi ends up at an alternative school for truancy and finds a friend in Stacy, a would-be runaway whose home life is even more dire. This 1980s YA problem novel always gets me, thanks to the author's gentle, empathetic treatment of her messy teenage characters.

Black Swan Green by David Mitchell (2006): Jasons, a thirteen-year-old boy in early-1980s Worchestershire, copes with brutal grade-school politics, a tense home life, various small losses of innocence, and the odd supernatural event over the span of a year. My favorite stretch of the novel was where half a dozen scary/weird/sexually confusing things happen in the course of Jason taking one meandering walk through the countryside.

Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut (1963): I'd been intending to read a Kurt Vonnegut novel since he died in 2007, so don't say I never follow through on anything. This book is extraordinarily fun and absurd, which just enhances the horror of the eventual climax.

The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton (1905): Cash-strapped socialite Lily Bart struggles in turn-of-the-century New York society, mainly because she can neither fully commit to gold-digging nor figure out a viable alternative. Her crumbling state, both social and psychological, is horrifying yet fascinating to witness.

The Fell by Sarah Moss (2021): In November 2020, English waitress and single mother Kate breaks quarantine to take a walk through the countryside, with disastrous results. This short novel is lyrical, compassionate, and impressively stressful.

Old Babes in the Woods by Margaret Atwood (2023): This short story collection is split between vignettes featuring elderly couple Nell and Tig, and several standalones that vary wildly in tone and form. All are well-written, but I generally enjoyed the standalones best, especially the poignant "My Evil Mother," the chilling "Freeforall," and the thought-provoking "Metempsychosis."

Beware the Woman by Megan Abbott (2023): Pregnant Jacy goes with her new husband to visit his widowed father in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, but a pleasant vacation soon turns into a paranoid nightmare. Abbott's lush descriptions--kind of sexy and kind of gross, as always--enhance a truly disturbing thriller.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1925): This is another book I assumed someone would make me read in school, but I think all my teachers and professors were like "yeah, yeah, The Great Gatsby, we all know what that is." What you don't get from the Baz Luhrmann movie and pop-cultural osmosis, though, is the exquisite secondhand embarrassment of watching Gatsby pursue a married woman who is actually more into her husband, or just how fucking bizarre that husband is.

How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix (2023): Single mother Louise is pulled from San Francisco to her hometown of Charleston by the sudden death of her parents and has to coordinate funeral arrangements with her ne'er-do-well brother Mark...and it gets worse. This isn't the best or the scariest Grady Hendrix novel, but the sibling relationship is compelling and it features the incomparable Pupkin. I love that fucked-up lil hand-puppet.

Seventeen and In-Between by Barthe Declements (1984): High-school senior Elsie Edwards is beautiful, brilliant, and talented, but she's still plagued by the lingering trauma of childhood bullying, her terrible parents, and her complicated feelings for her long-term boyfriend (slightly older and jonesing to Go All the Way) and her male best friend (also trying to figure things out, albeit through working in the lumber industry in Forks, Washington). The Elsie Edwards trilogy is great overall, and Elsie's struggle to figure out how to move beyond her unhappy past is especially moving.

Don't Look and It Won't Hurt by Richard Peck (1972): Carol, the sixteen-year-old middle daughter of a poor divorced waitress, gets a front seat to her older sister's disastrous relationship with a scumbag, experiences her own first romance, and sorts through her feelings about her strained family and stultifying small prairie town. This is a sweet, understated early YA novel that offers a look into the last few years before Roe v. Wade.

I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy (2022): In this memoir, McCurdy recounts her relationship with her controlling, abusive late mother and her dispiriting time as a child star on Nickelodeon. I really enjoyed her writing style--clear, conversational, and bracingly pissed off--and she offers some good insight into the acting industry.

Just Like You by Nick Hornby (2020): Joseph, a twentysomething black working-class Londoner balancing his musical aspirations with babysitting gigs and a job at a butcher's shop, stars a romance with Lucy, a fortysomething upper-middle-class white single mom and schoolteacher. This is a pleasant, easygoing love story with some insightful commentary on how ordinary people form political opinions.

The Fourth Grade Wizards by Barthe DeClements (1988): Fourth grader Marianne is distracted in class and adrift at home after her mother's sudden death, but she has a good friend in Jack, who struggles in class because he's hyperactive. You might ask why this list is so dominated by one 1980s middle-grade/YA author, and the answer is that I love her. Also, I did not read all that many new-to-me books last year.

How Do You Lose Those Ninth Grade Blues? by Barthe DeClements (1983): Elsie Edwards, no longer the emotionally battered class pariah she was in Nothing's Fair in Fifth Grade but not yet the maturing young woman she'll become in Seventeen and In-Between, starts high school with everything going for her...except her horribly low self-esteem and her still-terrible home life. This is definitely the slightest installment of the trilogy, but it still makes an impact.

[artzychic27]

Alright, you've heard of "Royal Boyfriends", which I am glad to see people like, but may I propose a sequel. "Evil Girlfriends?"

Once again from your Disney AU, but this time with Juleka as Malificent and Rose as Queen Candy?

Got any headcanons and story?

Juleka was never really “evil,” just a girl who put her trust in the wrong people

Some jackass, (Canon Gabriel) befriended her, acted as a father figure, only to cut off her beautiful purple wings just so he could become king

It also stung that she wasn’t invited to his son’s Christening. Now that’s a bull move! Everyone was invited!

So, of course, she cursed the baby with eternal sleep if he pricked his finger on the needle of a spinning wheel when he turned sixteen

Because that’s how pissed she was at the king, don’t judge her

It doesn’t help Juleka feel justified when the baby is just so damn cute! He doesn’t even cry when she shows him her fangs

After the three good fairies brought Adrien to safety, Juleka had her brother Luka, a shapeshifter follow them in the form of a crow

He’s bitter about Gabriel, too

So now, they watch over Adrien when the fairies aren’t around. Then Adrien turns sixteen and it’s time to meet his fate

Figuring out a way to piss off Gabriel ever further, Juleka has Luka pose as the Princess fated to wake Adrien up with a kiss… And then shift back to himself right in front of Gabriel

So now, unfortunately for Gabriel, he’s in-laws with Juleka, and Adrien and Luka have biological kids because shapeshifters are intersex

Meanwhile in the future

Rose is the greatest racers of all time… In a video game.

She loves winning, beating the CPUs, and life couldn’t get any better… Until the dreaded year, 1985

New games came along, her console remained untouched, and she became insanely bitter, so much that she glitched into some modern games just to get noticed, breaking many video game laws and getting games unplugged

Soon, she found the most popular game to inhabit, Miraculous Rush, a racing game. She hacked the game’s system and took on a new identity as Princess Pigella (Alliteration)

No one remembers the game prior to her hacking it

She spends the rest of her days winning every single game using her own sequence of cheat codes

And, as a result of her hacking the system, she turned a previous character into a glitching outcast, Zoé

Anyway, a video game character (Ivan) travels into Miraculous Rush, meets Zoé, blah blah blah, helps her compete in a race, and she would’ve won if not for Princess Pigella sabotaging her with each lap, becoming more deranged as Zoé bests her

Oh, and earlier, Ivan accidentally led a parasitic antagonist from another game into Miraculous Rush, it laid eggs, merged their code with some of the code in Miraculous Rush, and now they’re running all over the game

Back to the present- One of the Parasites attacks Princess Pigella while she’s racing, and merges with her code while also exposing herself as Rose

Now, she would’ve taken over the entire gaming worked, killed Ivan, and destroyed Zoé’s code if not for some weird purple light pulling her and the rest of her minions into some weird technology-barren world

There, she meets the new Queen of what was once Gabriel’s kingdom, Juleka

Apparently, Juleka messed up a spell, and summoned Rose, so… Now she’s stuck there. Now that she minds since Juleka is pretty

Rose tells her everything there is to know about the future and Juleka’s excited to try out soda

Occasionally, they play darts using some of Gabriel’s portraits as target practice

Rose’s parasite minions listen to Juleka as much as they do to her, so she has the target Gabriel

Rose likes to decorate Juleka’a horns with any jewelry she can find

[excellentfishtacos]

introducing the Deaton family!! thru their family photos + a pic of the baby bc i can't take any on the tripod LMFAOOOO. also Ricky II's portrait is outdated but fuck it

sims will be introduced from left to right. all their relationships are in relation to the head of the household!

Ricky Deaton II, Husband (Gen 6): The son of Ricky Jr. and Elizabeth Braun, he is related to one of the oldest lineages in my save. His mother encouraged hard work and taking risks, giving Ricky the strength and perseverance he needed to master piano and violin. Ricky II became a renowned musician and jazz pianist, known for hits such as "Aili's Song" and "Let's Get Squinky." Now retired, he prefers to spend his time with his family and raise them into musical prodigies.

Aili Deaton, Head of Household (Gen 8): Aili is the daughter of Daria and Wendy Szimmer. She was raised by artists and started painting as soon as her little hands could hold a brush. Her parents had humble jobs and the family seemed to be flying forward-- until her mother Daria died in a freak weather machine accident when she was just a Teen. She hit a rebellious streak after that, and started taking underground work doing forgeries and frauds for art heists. She is a master in her field and is currently teaching her daughter Messina the way of the brush.

Ricky Deaton III, Son (Gen 9): Ricky III could never decide what he wanted to do in his life. Should he follow his father's footsteps? Should he learn to paint and join the family business? Maybe he should do neither, and try to be an actor in Hollywood! It's going slow, but surely he will grow to be as famous as his great-great-great-grandmother. Maybe. Hopefully? While he tries to figure that out, he spends most of his time banging multiple women in town and accidentally having children with them because I forgot to turn that off in Neighborhood Stories.

Eliza Deaton, Heiress (Gen 9): Eliza is the very definition of a Daddy's Girl. She spent her whole life next to him on the piano bench, learning how to Jazz the Place Up and Concerto. Unknown to her family, however, she had a hidden hobby: DJ-ing! She would stay up in all hours of the night mixing songs on her DJ station. Eventually, she started sneaking out and DJ-ing at the Blue Velvet Nightclub. Nowadays, she works overtime as an onstage musician, a talented pianist dancing in the footsteps of her father. On her nights off, she still hits the stage as DJ Cool Cat, but all the work is taking her away from her duty as the heir. She needs to figure out what she's more passionate about before the household is solely in her hands.

Messina Deaton, Daughter (Gen 9): Messina Deaton is a lil miss smarty pants who graduated early and has recently been taken under her mother's wing as a fraudulent painter. However, she wants to be just a normal painter. Fraudulent painter is your dream, mom!

Wendy Deaton, Daughter (Gen 9): Wendy is a karaoke pop star and Jokester. She is destined for a life in Business so I can get the career achievement.

Maddison Deaton, Granddaughter & Next-in-Line (Gen 10): Maddison is Ricky III's daughter, her mother is the supermodel Brandy Saunders. However, Brandy's death made her incapable of being a mother, so Maddison came to stay with her father's family. The oldest of Gen 10, she is expected to take over and continue the household when she gets older.

Taylor Guo, Grandson (Gen 10): Taylor Guo is Ricky III's son and lives with his mother's family. He spends the week at the Deatons occasionally.

Ricky Deaton IV, Grandson (Gen 10): The son of Eliza Deaton! Who knows what the world has in store for him.

[chalkrevelations]

Tagged by @belladonna-and-the-sweetpeas, and this was a fantastically fun, low-pressure thing to spend a little bit of time doing, so thank you for the enrichment activity! I probably talked too much, but here we go. Song links are to YT.

Put my On Repeat playlist from Spotify on shuffle, and here are the first 10 songs that came up - and ... oh, lol. This is maybe not as cool and edgy as I’ve managed to look in similar memes in the past? otoh, I'm finding it kind of interesting how many of these have actual dance associations, this time around.

1. Rabbit Hole, Natalia Kills - I had to laugh when this one popped up first - this one's on my Only Friends playlist, although I had kind of forgotten quite what a banger it was, until I dug it out again. If only I knew how to vid, y'all would absolutely get a full-length OFTS vid to this.

2. Before He Cheats, Carrie Underwood - Ha! This one is ALSO off my Only Friends playlist. This was the first one that went on the playlist, in anticipation. I figured the unhinged energy would be appropriate before we were through.

3. Girls In Their Summer Clothes, Bruce Springsteen - I have loved Bruce Springsteen with my whole and entire heart ever since a friend’s older sister introduced us to his music when I was in middle school, and I knowingly and deliberately imported my own experience of discovering Springsteen into “In Ordinary Time” and imprinted it onto Ray Mukada with very few changes and without the least bit of shame. There are a handful of Springsteen albums that hold a particularly special place in my heart, and Magic is one of those. This song’s actually really light, comparatively, but it’s gorgeous and breezy while still being full and rich in that way the E Street Band can’t really miss, and it feels like summer. I’ve been enjoying it so much in the waning days of heat with that cooler air edging underneath the night breeze. It … makes me want to shag, even though it’s not beach music. It's clearly a creation of the boardwalk, even if its accent is Jersey, instead of Carolina.

4. Work Song, Hozier - The MV for this one - choreographed by Jillian Meyers - is fantastic, and my obsession with the song was really cemented after seeing Lex Ishimoto and Gaby Diaz dance to it for SYTYCD - a piece choreographed by Mandy Moore and clearly influenced by the MV. I must have watched that particular performance 100 times by now. The show used a cover by Luke Wade, but I do prefer Hozier’s original version. It will sometimes drop off the On Repeat playlist, but as soon as it turns up again in the shuffle, it ends up back on repeat.

5. lovely, Billie Eilish with Khalid - I have not been the same about this song since I somehow stumbled across Ten and Winwin's choreography to it on YT. I have no idea how I found it - I know literally nothing about WayV, NCT, Ten or Winwin except this choreographed piece (which you also have to see the live performance of, because while it's not as clean, it gives a better view of how Ten appears to be almost, kind of, puppetting Winwin in one section). I would poke someone’s grandma in the eye (ok, not really) for a chance to get my hands on the “ring and portrait” remix they use, but meanwhile, the original version will do.

6. Lyfjaberg, Wardruna - Healing Mountain. So, my morning routine, on the days I work, is to get to the hospital about 20 minutes ahead of when I actually need to be there, so I can sit in my car and breathe and meditate and do some self-reiki right before everything starts. I usually don't listen to anything on my way into work, but on the days I do, the days when things are going hard, like the past few weeks, with heavy patient loads and high acuity - this is the song I listen to on that drive in, on repeat. (The weeks I'm working with end of life patients, I tend to use Helvegen for this, instead, or alternate them.)

7. My Silver Lining, First Aid Kit - Thanks, The Umbrella Academy. I downloaded this one on Spotify about 12.6 seconds after hearing it on a S3 ep of the show, and I don't know that it's ever left the On Repeat playlist since then.

8. Letters From The Sky, Civil Twilight - Huh. A couple of weeks ago, about three bars from this song wisped through my mind, and I was haunted by them until I could finally manage to get my fingers in them and hold them down long enough to trace them to some lyrics in my memory, and then I had to google those couple of lines to finally pin down the actual song. And then I went and dl’d it and have listened to it A LOT, apparently. It was used for a fanvid that I watched obsessively a bajillion years ago – so long that I’m not entirely certain who it even featured, although I’m … pretty sure? … that it was Agron x Nasir from Starz’s Spartacus. I might have even first seen the vid back when I’d only watched a Nagron supercut, before I saw the full show. I can't for the life of me find it anymore - there's a Spartacus vid on YT now that uses it but it's a more general S1 vid, and that's absolutely not the one I remember, which included footage of the operation on Nasir in the abandoned temple.

9. Threat, WEARETHEGOOD/Frank Bentley/Skrxlla - Loooooool, THANK YOU, LITA. I picked this particular song up off of one of the eps of Love In The Air, one of the ones in the middle – this gets played over Payu and Pai having a practice race at the track. I was like, “waitaminit,” paused, went to google some lyrics so I could find the artist, and came back with this on dl’d on Spotify. It's another one that probably has not been off the On Repeat playlist since.

10. Sacrifice, The Weeknd - So, Vinh Nguyen choreographed a piece to this at Offstage Dance Studio that is totally and completely responsible for the way this song keeps popping up on my On Repeat playlist. I think I first ran across the choreo in a set with Baily Sok, Kinjaz's Jason Lin and Lex Ishimoto, but there's more than one version out there.

OK, if you've already been tagged or don't want to do this, don't worry, but tagging (hm, looks at recent notifications) @yagirlyacchan, @henpeckedho, @elementaldrop, @jill-question-mark, @liathebookwyrm. Go!

[1d1195]

Hiiiii!

It's been a while, I love the way you explain stuff😭 Ding is so freaking amazing.

So, oh, before I forget, I do study English literature and translation ( Arabic - English) btw you're a teacher? I saw some anon I think (💜 anon?) Wishing you a happy teacher's day idk about it cause we don't celebrate that here but yeah I didn't know that sounds fun! Let me guess (English teacher?)

So you know, yesterday I had a relaxing shower and afterward I wanted to style my curly/wavy hair naturally, so I think k it's a mix of 2a and 2b and that's funny cause I really tried like I saw some pics on pinterest and some videos on tiktok that motivated me but I kinda failed? 😭😭 I just rubbed the cream into my hair and pulled it back into 2 low buns but that's funny cause just before going to bed (I'm struggling with insomnia I've been staring at the ceiling since 1am and now it's 4am😭)anyway so I just fixed my hair to bed and it looked good! Like I had put effort into it, but I didn't! I think the curls aren't gonna make it till the morning🙈

Ehhh I dont know why in the freaking freak did I just say this whole story to you but I think you'll tolerate me right?

So back to classes and huffs and puffs, my finals start on the 20th. I'm not nervous, tbh I'm excited, I wanna get over with these freaking exams to read my books in peace.

So.. Love and Other Words and The Rose Code, huh? They really sound so interesting. I'm gonna need to read them. I'm also planning on reading the Twisted and King series, and do you mind if I tell you that you need to check Interlude right the tuck now? It's so freaking good you need to read it. You'll shed many tears, istg never have I ever cried this much in my whole life in "that" specific chapter, but I just love angst! But I promise it's not like that, okay? It's just amazing amazing I'm currently reading insurgence (the sequel) it's still on going bur I just love this book so much. I hope Mikii considers publishing it someday!

And I've always wanted to ask! What is your favorite piece that you wrote? I read a couple of series that you wrote, but I just wanna know which one js your favorite 🎀

Thank you so much I think you're kinder and better thank you 🩷🩷🩷🩷

I'm gonna need to study 3 novels tmrw cause I promised myself to do so! (Pride and Prejudice, David Copperfield, and The Portrait of a Lady) we studied them for my finals, but i just want to start my revisions, so... to teach and please ig😭😭

Have a very wonderful day, Sam!!! (BTW, my childhood bff's nickname's Sam! We're still friends, and we still love each other the same but not bffs anymore)

Oh now I remembered that I wanted to rant about the future and how I'm afraid of it being a (soon to be 19) girl who is (soon to be a junior) trying to be independent but in reality she will cry if you dare give her a nasty look but I guess it'll have to wait for next time cause my eyes seem to be dropping finally😭😭 I'll tty lysm🩷🩷

-🎀anon

😭 idk what I explained, but I'm glad it came out well and that you liked it! 💕

I am a teacher! A math teacher actually if you can believe it. Writing is just a hobby of mine and I love it, but it's only for me. Teaching math is much more enjoyable than teaching English (at least I imagine so). In the US we have teacher appreciation week to recognize teachers' hard work. I had one of my current students write me a letter and one of my students last year messaged me to wish me well. But it's not that exciting tbh--well, I do get a lot of coupons emailed to me hehehe

I know NOTHING about hair. (Literally had to google what 2b meant) I make my sister figure out what I need to do and then I just do what she says. I think we might have the same hair type though based on the pictures I googled! I have one curl cream thing that I put in my hair and scrunch each morning and then hope for the best (and that there will be low humidity). It's cool to experiment with your hair, even if it doesn't turn out the way you want it to in the morning! Then you know for the next trial. Of course I tolerate you--even though that's not what I would call it, I love to hear what you're doing!

I bet you're going to crush your exams! It sounds like you're ready for it! Books in peace is a MOOD. I'm excited for you!

My favorite piece I've written oh boy. Umm...I think it would be Protection. Or maybe Zipper. Idk I feel guilty picking one over the other and I love writing them all. I will tell you I think I like Protection more than Traditional which is probs sacrilege to write on my own blog because I think everyone under the sun would choose Traditional over Protection hahahaha but I liked planning Protection more than Traditional. Although Dolcezza really took hold of my heart VERY hard. Especially lately. Probably one of the three: Zipper, Dolcezza, or Protection.

I hope studying has gone/went well and you got some sleep after being up so late! You're going to have a wonderful future, I'm sure of it, and don't worry about forgetting something. I'm not going anywhere! 💕

xoxo

[mozukumi]

glimpses of a life

10 drabbles about Rose Fryberg | ao3 link

1. Cupcake

Rose grew the wheat herself, in the field by the lake where she and Papa used to play. After the harvest, Uncle Basil helped her mill it into flour. Mona let her borrow the other ingredients she needed.

In the end, the cupcake was slightly misshapen and clumsily decorated. But when she presented it to her father, he looked as happy as could be.

“Happy birthday, Papa!”

(rest under the cut)

2. Discovery

When Rose was small, she dreamed of becoming an explorer. She would venture into the forest and find vast treasures and great adventure, she was sure of it.

At age 12, she discovered that reality was far less romantic. She thought she could be brave, just like Lebsa - but alone in the dark, all she could feel was fear.

3. Essence

“There’s something special about you, Rose,” Nina told her. “I can feel it.”

Rose smiled, always happy to be complimented by a friend. “Aww, thanks! You’re special too, Nina.”

Nina looked at her sadly, but Rose couldn’t understand why. What was she missing?

4. Luminary

Rose always gave it her all when it came to her studies. Papa had raised her that way - teaching through his own example, showing her day after day that persistence and hard work would be rewarded. If she didn’t understand something the first time, it just meant she would need to look at it again and figure out what was going wrong.

And so she kept working. In the Science classes which came naturally to her and in the Literature classes which frustrated her, she never ceased her efforts.

“You’re such a smart girl, Rose,” her Papa once said after seeing her course evaluation. “You’re an inspiration to me.”

She giggled. “But you’re my inspiration, Papa…!”

5. Pajamas

As the Winter year drew closer, the nights became colder and colder. The nightgown she typically wore to bed was proving to be far too thin - so Rose climbed up into the attic, seeking to find her old woolen pajamas.

It was only after she removed them from the chest that she realized how foolish of an idea this was. It had been over three years since the last time she needed these clothes - she had grown up since then, and could no longer fit.

For a moment, she felt melancholic. But she willed herself into cheer: this meant she could donate her old clothes and buy something new from Rebecca. This change didn't have to be sad.

6. Ambivalence

“What are you going to do after graduation, young lady?”

Rose hoped that the discomfort she felt wasn’t showing on her face. Really, it wasn’t Mary’s fault for asking the question. It was a perfectly reasonable one. It was just…

She wanted so many things, and yet she didn’t want any of them strongly enough. She felt like it was all happening too soon - was it really time for her to decide her future?

“I’m still figuring that out,” is how she decided to answer. If Mary picked up on any discord, she was nice enough not to comment on it.

“Well, I’ll always have a job for you at the bath house~!”

7. Cushion

After an exhausting day, Rose could only truly relax once she had retreated to the comfort of her bed. With Craig's fluffy pillow underneath her and Papa’s pumpkin quilt surrounding her, all of her troubles seemed to disappear.

8. Reflection

“Why are you staring, Papa?”

“I’m sorry, Rose, it’s just… you look more and more like your mother, each passing day.”

9. Sunrise

Rose thought the world was at its most beautiful in the early morning. The chirping of the birds meant that the eerie silence of night was no longer - their song signaled that a new day had begun. And with it, endless possibilities.

She could paint a portrait, she could perform in a play, she could race her horse - she could do anything she pleased. She had her whole day ahead of her.

10. Lucky

Rose stored her most precious belongings on a bookshelf near her bed. The number of mementos seemed to grow exponentially - what was at first a collection of gifts from her Papa now featured items from all of her friends.

As she placed the Bishop’s wooden statues among her possessions, she realized that she was starting to run out of space.

How lucky she was, to have that problem.

[mariapaulajournal]

Virtual Sketchbook 1

1.Writing and Research

Hello Everyone, my name is Maria Ballesteros and a fun fact about me is I have always enjoyed reading. Usually in my free time I like to read romance novels.

5 Facts about “Tweeter’s Recovery” by Don Ed Hardy:

-The crown seen in this painting is inspired by the roof of the Denver International Airport after the artist flew in this airport. -This painted was made in 1992 inspired by the L.A riots -The bird in this painting has a blind fold which according to the artist represents trust and instinct and intuition -The halo over the bird's wing is a diamond Sutra and representation of a Buddhist reference of mental clarity -According to the artist, the man’s hand shining rays on the heart is “a reminder of evolutionary roots”

My opinion on this painting has not changed after finding out more information. This painting is very aesthetically pleasing and appealing to the eye. When I first saw this painting I felt like the message the artist was trying to portray was trusting yourself to go into the right direction in life. In the painting the bird was blindfolded and flying towards a crown figure. But, as I researched the artist mentioned “the bird is flying on pure instinct but knows he belongs to the winning club” which relates to the topic of trusting yourself and having a strong intuition in life which many people can relate to.

Art And Writing

The work of art that I chose in my house is a replica of the painting “Creation of Adam” by Michelangelo. Although this is not the whole painting this piece is a closer look of both hands reaching towards one another. This painting is stunning to look at and is very detailed. The painting was created with oil, acrylic, etc to create such a beautiful finish. Whenever I look at this painting it makes me feel like I am in a museum looking at such a historical piece. I think the beauty of this painting is the meaning of it because it represents humanity.

3.Writing A Self-Portrait

I am 18 year old girl and I was born in Bogota, Colombia. Although I was born in Colombia I have been living here in Florida for most of my life and I find it very beautiful to live. I am Hispanic and I am proud to be because it helps me connect with other people who are Hispanic who have common interests. For fun, I like to sing, take pictures, spend time with family, exercise, and paint. Right now I am not in any organization or group but I am hoping to join one soon to find people with common interests since it is my first year here at SCF. At the moment I work as a cosmetologist and a model and I enjoy the team of people I work with. Something that makes me unique is how deep I feel my emotions. I consider myself to be an empath but, I find it to be a good thing because I understand people on a deep level and I am a good listener.

Art Project

[logically-asexual]

more

i want them to argue for a bit more after this and the tension to grow because adrien is shocked and doesn’t want to believe what he’s hearing. but it’s not like nathalie to lie or joke so he is talking in circles trying to process it all while she tries to patiently (as patiently as she can under the circumstances) wait until he’s done with the denial.

at one point adrien is like “wait. how did you know that?” and nathalie just sighs because she was dreading that question. she’s just like “your father.. entrusted me with his secret.. so i could cover for him as he.. worked on this project.”

“you mean you knew this whole time?? why did you tell me?” and we’re back again with the same argument as before with her insisting that she was trying to protect him and also that it was gabriel’s secret to tell, not hers, but it still is hard for adrien to accept.

eventually he is finally convinced that it kind of makes sense that nathalie hadn’t told him before. and nathalie tries to take this momentary pause in the arguing to escape, saying that she has to go check on gabriel. but adrien is like “what?? after all this you’re still going with him? are you crazy!? did you forget what just happened? he hurt you!” and so on.

but nathalie argues that she has to know what he’s doing and also she has to try to convince him to not hurt or use adrien and she has to show up because he will start looking for them soon.

she doesn’t know if she can trust ladybug with adrien’s well-being but she knows that at least as cat noir the girl did protect him at all costs, so maybe she’ll do the same even if she knows his real identity. but nathalie assumes the worst and warns adrien that he shouldn’t tell her about his father if he doesn’t want to get used by her, too. or at least he should think carefully about telling her, be sure that he can trust her. of course adrien trusts ladybug but he humors nathalie and says he’ll consider it.

so nathalie will leave him with ladybug so he’s safe while she figures things out with gabriel.

he is in his office staring at the portrait and calls her as soon as she hears her arrive. she stands next to him, both facing the same direction and the first thing he says is “how long have you know” “2 months, sir”

“why didnt you tell me.”

she pauses for a moment thinking of a million excuses, lies she even believed herself at some point, about how she knew she could think of a way for both to compromise and for gabriel to get what he wants without anyone fighting anymore, or that she would tell gabriel when it was the right moment, or that they would probably figure things out soon and it wouldn’t be necessary for her to say anything… but there’s no point. “i was afraid that you would hurt him”

gabriel stays quiet at that but it’s that quiet disappointment where you are desperate for them to at least scold you because some clear sign of anger would be better than the coldness of their silence.

he only glances at her “you should have trusted me”

“do i need to remind you what you did to me today?”

now he finally turns towards her “because you we’re getting in my way!”

“because you were going to hurt him! you’re losing your mind, gabriel. i wanted to help you but you’re in over your head. you’re leaving me no choice-“ nathalie says as she begins walking away, but he stops her grabbing her by her arm.

he tells her to stop, which she does, and he breaks his stiff posture and softens his expression and says that he knows he was wrong, that what she’s saying is true even though he doesn’t want to admit it. but they need that wish, both of them as well as adrien if they don’t want to leave him all alone. they have no choice, and he needs her. as he says “i need you” he pulls her closer and strokes her face with one hand, which takes her by surprise, but she doesn’t pull away.

he promises that he will stop, but she has to stay and help him figure out another way to succeed, she's the only one that he can trust to find a solution.

there’s like a 75% chance that he’s lying. but nathalie chooses to give him one more chance anyway.

a pitch for a nathalie-centric fanfic (written in bullet points, bc im lazy) about cat noir's and hawk moth's identity being revealed. because i see some potential...

so first of all nathalie figures out adrien is cat noir at a moment when she is still loyal to gabriel but is now aware that gabriel is losing touch with reality so he could hurt adrien or take advantage of him if he found out. she probably hears him transform one day when she was about to go into his room or maybe she hears him speak with plagg or whatever. she decides not to say anything and analyze by herself what could be done. because she doesn't want to betray gabriel yet but she also doesn't want adrien to get hurt.

but she now struggles to watch the fights between the heroes and villains because it hurts her to see adrien being punched and thrown around. but she stays quiet.

one day. she was out with adrien and stuff happens and she ends up in the middle of a fight between hawk moth (or monarch or whatever his name is at this point) and cat noir. and it's just.. horrible.. to see them hitting each other knowing who they are. she knows that gabriel has been losing control of his anger and she sees that he's using way too much force.

(cat noir is alone because the plan involved having ladybug and cat noir separated since they've realized it would be easier that way)

nathalie stays quiet and hidden at first, but then she starts trying to tell hawk moth to stop, telling him he's overdoing it, but he just won't listen. she even tries to get in the middle of the fight but he just slams her towards the opposite wall without issue. before he lands one more punch she screams "it's adrien!"

this makes them both freeze. hawk moth first confused, thinking adrien is somewhere in the room, until cat noir is like "adrien? who's this adrien? i don't know what you're talking about!" and he understands what nathalie is saying. and cat noir is shocked that nathalie knew about him and that she exposed him. sadly, the part in hawk moth's brain that is focused on his goal above all else allows him to recover faster and he grabs cat noir by the wrist and snatches the ring. he watches him detransform and he has another short moment of shock before he drops him to the ground and turns to walk away. before leaving he just whispers to nathalie that they'll "talk later".

adrien runs to nathalie who is still on the ground, too wounded and tired to get up. then ladybug arrives and explains how she was held up somewhere else, but that her lucky charm led her to this place. adrien tells her about hawk moth taking the miraculous, his miraculous, but doesn't give her time to process the new information because his priority is to help nathalie. he begs for ladybug to use her power to heal her, since hawk moth is already gone and there's nothing they can do about that now, and nathalie needs urgent help. so ladybug does it and they manage to get nathalie up.

then adrien wants to go back to his house but nathalie protests. she doesn't want for either of them to have to face gabriel yet, but she just tells the kids that they have to hide somewhere else since adrien is in danger now that his identity is revealed. adrien dismisses that thinking that since hawk moth already has the ring then he's no longer important, but ladybug agrees that they should hide because maybe he will want to use adrien to get to the earrings.

so the go hide somewhere, where once they've calmed down (and marinette has had a chance to detransform and transform again) adrien explains everything to ladybug, who tries to take in the news as calmly as she can. nathalie tells adrien that she has known for a while but didn't want to put him in danger by saying something. but adrien goes like ?? but then you literally went and revealed my identity to like the main super villain? (but he says it in a polite, more adrien way). nathalie is like "i couldn't keep watching you getting hurt" and says that she knew that the only way to get hawk moth distracted was by yelling that.

and adrien is like? how would she know that? but he sees that she's distressed so he doesn't question her. she is good at hiding how she feels and all this time she has just been showing physical weakness, but adrien notices small signs of emotional turmoil as well, in how her hands are shaking and her eyes are just a little too wet. he tries to reassure her saying that the costume makes him nearly invulnerable but that only makes nathalie feel worse. she's like "i've ruined everything and for nothing then. again. i failed you. i failed your father." and that's when a single tear drops.

and adrien is like oh shit my father we gotta let him know that we're alright! but nathalie stops him and struggles to come up with an excuse not to call gabriel. she say's that she already did or something.

she has a bunch of mixed feelings because she doesn't want to betray either of their trust and doesn't want this fight to keep going but she doesn't know how to go about it without ruining the lives of all three of them. also she just doesn't trust ladybug.

she tells adrien that she wants to speak to him alone and ladybug is like ? why! i want to help! to which nathalie responds by giving her a death glare that has ladybug jumping and rushing to leave the room in a milisecond.

and now she takes both of adrien's hands and looks him in the eyes and says. "your father,, he's hawk moth"

and., the end. for now.