#astraea is literally the best

[dusollstdiesirae]

tagging my partners major accounts in my pin bc i love them so much

[munamarvel14]

Okay, so first time making a tag game. Hopefully it goes well 🤞

EVERYONE, POST A PIC OF TWO OF YOUR CONTRASTING INTERESTS!!!

It can be anything from a fandom to a hyper fixation. Maybe you like Hazbin Hotel and cute snuggly stuffed animals. Or you like Amphibia and have a gruesome interest in serial killers. Literally anything as long as they are polar opposites.

Here's mine:

As much as I love all things superhero and scifi, fantasy will always hold a special place in my heart. Whether it be high or low, urban or medieval, dark or lighthearted, this broad genre has always intrigued me in the best ways possible.

And for Spider-Man...that's retry much self-explanatory lol.

@elronthemage @vixxy-izzy @izzyssurfcheese @floralifetime @stargazingdustbunny @whump-since-2010 @elizabeth-astraea @jadetheblueartist @jkl-fff

[astarionbraiinrot]

Last Call

Chapter 8: Will You Bite the Hand that Feeds? (Astraea)

(Eleasis 12, 1493 - 5 Months Old)

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Will you bite the hand that feeds?

Will you chew until it bleeds?

 - Nine Inch Nails, The Hand That Feeds

A single beam of the rising sun was breaking through the bedroom window curtains that they’d forgotten to fully close last night, slowly inching its way across the wall in the direction of the bathroom doorway, where Astarion stood in front of the vanity. He had yet to notice, though. He was too busy squinting his sleep-hazed eyes at his feet, brain still fogged from having just rolled out of bed, and wondering why, despite the fact that he was not barefoot, he could very clearly see the end of the second toe on his left foot. A digit that should be covered up by the slippers he was wearing.

Hands in the pockets of his dressing gown, he wiggles his toes, and frowns as he watches the hole in his slipper widen, allowing more of his toe to peek through.

Godsdamnit. This was the third pair of slippers he was going to have to throw out. He’d really liked these ones.

He was running out of socks, too.

He kicks the slippers off with a weary sigh, hissing as his feet meet the cold bathroom tile, and begins his morning routine, washing his face and brushing his teeth as he wracks his brain in search of an answer to the mystery that had been plaguing their home for the last tenday and a half.

Something, or someone, was quite literally eating them out of house and home.

First it was his slippers, his big toe going right out the end as he’d slid them on one morning.

Then, one after the other, most of his socks had spontaneously developed holes along the ankles for no discernible reason.

A few days later, Tav put on her favorite calfskin gardening gloves, only to find them littered with small tears.

He found teeth marks in the sofa leg later that evening.

The day after that, he’d discovered that his second pair of slippers had gone much the same way as the first.

The edge of one corner of the living room rug fell victim next, now frayed as if someone had worried at it with a very sharp fork.

Finally, while retrieving a toy Astraea had somehow managed to toss under the couch, he’d found one of his good boots resting under there instead of next to the fireplace where he’d left it with its mate to dry after he’d cleaned them the night prior. One of the straps had been nearly chewed off and was hanging by just a few threads, the buckle jingling sadly as it flopped around.

He’d decided then that he needed to get to the bottom of whatever this was, starting with ruling out the most obvious suspects. Downing a Potion of Animal Speaking, he’d questioned first Scratch, then Sabre.

Scratch was adamant that he would never even consider chewing any of Astarion’s or Tav’s things, seeming almost offended at the very notion, and Astarion couldn’t bring himself to doubt him. Scratch was a good boy, dependable and loyal, and far too smart to do such a thing. He’d given the dog a pat on the head and one of the soup bones from the icebox as an apology before moving on to the next suspect.

Interrogating Sabre was an altogether more difficult task. At just three months old, the kitten was still a baby, so his vocabulary was limited at best, Potion of Animal Speaking or no. He had held Sabre out at arm’s length with his hands under the cat’s front legs, causing the limbs to stick out as the rest of his fluffy body relaxed and dangled beneath him. Astarion arranged his face in a stern scowl, the picture of discipline and authority as he questioned Sabre on the whereabouts of his teeth the last few days. The cat had had no answer for him, of course, merely giving a soft mew and blinking sweetly up at him with wide green eyes as he purred thunderously. When Astarion brought Sabre’s face close to his, staring at him intimidatingly in an effort to coerce a confession, the cat had just placed one of his ridiculously huge paws on Astarion’s chin and started licking the vampire’s nose, ratcheting up his purring as his black bottlebrush tail flicked back and forth with joy at the attention he was receiving.

Astarion concluded that neither of the animals was the source of the chaos in his home.

He’d dismissed questioning Tav outright. While his love didn’t always have the strongest grasp on impulse control, and had been known on more than one occasion to put things in her mouth that she really shouldn’t (unknown species of Underdark mushrooms, mystery potions from a Hag’s den, that dead spider in the Gauntlet of Shar…), most of the unfortunate victims of their mystery assailant were socks, and he knew she’d rather chew her own hand off than put anything that had touched a foot near her mouth. Besides, what would she gain out of chewing her own gardening gloves just to be upset about it later?

Similarly, he’d also skipped questioning Astraea. Partly because she’d only just recently gained the ability to scoot herself very slowly around the floor, and thus was rarely out of their sight when awake, and partly because she was about as likely to actually answer his questions as Sabre had been.

No, something else was going on here. And he was going to get to the bottom of it, come hells or high water, or the last of his rapidly dwindling hosiery.

He’d expanded his search then, seeking out expert opinions.

First, the most likely answer: household pests.

Tav hadn’t wanted him to hire an exterminator, though. “I just think it’s cruel, poisoning them like that,” said the woman who, ankle-deep in foam-mouthed corpses, had praised him and kissed his cheek in reward when he’d all but cleared the courtyard of the Goblin Camp by pouring Wyvern Toxin in the booze and inciting a toast.

(That was the only time he’d ever been grateful that starvation had emptied all the blood in his body. Karlach and Wyll would have poked fun at him for days if it had been possible to see the blush that he’d been surprised to feel burning his ears.)

Instead, he’d ended up borrowing Myshka from Derryth. Sabre’s father was an excellent mouser, and had an affinity for catching moths as well, so they’d let him roam the house for a few days in search of any vermin that might be lurking. After three days, though, Myshka had turned up not a whisker nor a wing of anything that could be blamed for the crimes committed, so they’d given him a small fish as payment for his services and returned him to Bonecloak’s with their thanks.

The very next morning, he found another nibbled sock.

His next idea had been a little less likely, but still plausible: some sort of haunting.

They’d called on their moderately-friendly not-quite-in-the-neighborhood cleric and asked her opinion. Shadowheart had deemed it very unlikely, but supposed that it was possible they could have a ghost, poltergeist, or something of that ilk and agreed to perform a cleansing on the house just in case.

Unfortunately for him, Shadowheart hadn’t had to use any of her divine magic around him since they’d evicted their wormy brain occupants, and so they’d all forgotten that he was no longer protected from the effects of spells like Turn Undead. And because he never could catch a break, she’d been standing right next to him when she cast the spell. Luckily for him, they’d done it at night, because immediate terror had flooded his body, its teeth biting deep into his mind, and he’d shot out the back door in a panicked dash to get away flee run now go hide awayawayaway. He’d practically clawed his way over their fence as he’d sprinted for the tree line like the Hells themselves were nipping at his heels.

Tav and Scratch had finally found him half an hour later, crouched in the branches of a large oak and trying to catch his breath. It had taken her another couple minutes to help him come back to himself and coax him down out of the tree before they could make their way back home.

To her credit, Shadowheart had given him a rare genuine apology the moment he walked back through the door, though she’d followed it by shrugging and saying, “Well, at least we know for sure that, if anything was here before, it isn’t now,” which he felt detracted from it somewhat. Paragon of kindness and hospitality that he was, though, he’d still been magnanimous enough to make up the bed in the spare room with their nicest guest linens for her so she could rest before returning home in the morning.

That was two days ago, and he’d really thought they’d solved whatever this was, until he’d discovered the casualty of his slippers this morning.

Time to call in the big guns.

He invited Jaheira over for dinner.

This, of course, meant he would have to cook. Thus, in order to successfully demonstrate that he actually had been paying attention to the druid’s lessons when she’d stayed with them, thank you very much, and could now fix a meal without setting fire to the house or himself, he shooed Tav and Astraea from the kitchen and spent the entire afternoon preparing dinner. This paid off quite nicely when he presented Jaheira and Tav with a roasted chicken and vegetables that they both assured him was quite good, if slightly overcooked. When the remnants of dinner had been cleared away, they’d moved to the living room, and he’d left for a moment, returning shortly with a basket of items, dumping them on the coffee table with no regard for the drinks already placed there.

“And what is this, cub? Do you intend to ply a favor from me by paying with unmatched socks?” Jaheira says, an eyebrow arched as she moves her glass away from the pile and surveys the hodgepodge of items in front of her.

“This,” he replied, gesturing at the items, “is all the evidence I have to figure out who or what is destroying our stuff.”

“I see. And you are showing these to me why?”

“So you can hopefully tell us what sort of creature made the bite marks, because we’re out of ideas,” Tav says, wincing as she adjusts her hold on Astraea to something more comfortable while she feeds. “We’ve checked the house for pests, had Shadowheart cleanse it of anything Fae, Fiend, or Undead that isn’t supposed to be here, but it keeps happening.” She flinches again, releasing a small hiss through her teeth. “Hey, you, knock it off,” she scolds, addressing the child in her arms and poking her cheek, “the bar’s not going anywhere, you’ll get your fill.” She huffs and blows a piece of hair out of her eyes, turning to Astarion, “This is your influence, you know. I swear, she’s worse than you were the first few times I let you bite me.”

“Excuse me for being a little eager,” he scoffs, crossing his arms, “I’d only been starved for two centuries.” He points at Astraea, “She, on the other hand, eats six times a day at least, and has no excuse. I think she just likes biting.”

“And who did she get that from, I wonder?”

“Well, considering the many nights you tried your best to take a chunk out of me, darling, I’d say both of us.”

Jaheira chuckles at the exchange. “She is teething, then?”

“I think so,” Tav says with a frustrated sigh, “she’s been fussy, and we haven’t seen any teeth come through yet, but she’s playing at biting anyway, so I don’t think she’s too far off. I can’t say I’m looking forward to it though, it hurts enough without her having any teeth.”

Jaheira hums noncommittally as she begins investigating the damage done to the items in front of her. “You can try putting ice in a cloth and tying it shut so she can chew on it,” she turns one of the gloves over in her hand, inspecting the myriad little holes inflicted on the material, “not all of my children were babies when they came to me, but the ones that were found it soothing for teething pain. Well, except for Jord, but I do not expect that Astraea will be growing tusks, so she should not have the same issue.”

“I should certainly hope not,” he replies, “otherwise I’m going to have a whole host of new questions about the unknowns of my family tree.”

Jaheira gives a hum of agreement, trading the glove in her hand for one of the socks, “Speaking of your family tree, cub, have you given any more thought to my offer?”

He watches Tav settle Astraea, now done with her meal, on the floor with a few of her toys. “I… have. I’m not entirely sure what I want to do about it though.”

He’d been quite torn on the topic, actually. Three months ago, he and Tav had managed to get their hands on some old records from when he’d first become a magistrate, including a file that held his application, letters of recommendation, and death certificate. With those, he’d learned several things about himself, including that his birthday was Flamerule 27th, he’d moved to Baldur’s Gate from the Elven city of Evereska just three years before he’d been killed, he’d arrived well-off enough to purchase a modest home in a nicer part of the Lower City, and most interesting, that his grave had been paid for, not by any relatives, but by “the charity of an unnamed benefactor,” which he could only assume was Cazador’s doing.

What the records couldn’t tell him were the names of his parents, if he had any siblings, if any of them were still alive, if they’d even known or cared that he’d died.

Whether it was for the purpose of punishment or reward that at just thirty-six, still a child in the eyes of his people, he’d been sent out into the world with nought but the gold in his purse and a magistrate job waiting for him in a predominantly human city a four-month journey from his homeland.

“It’s just…” he hesitates, unsure how to voice his reservations, “it’s been two hundred years. I’ve been gone so long, maybe finding them would do more harm than good. For myself and them.” He drums his fingers on the table in agitation. “Assuming they’re alive, they might not even want to see me. Especially now that I’m, well,” he waves a hand to indicate his body, “this. Undead aren’t even allowed in Evereska, I’d probably be incinerated on sight.”

“All fair points,” Jaheira agrees, “if you would prefer, we could begin with a fact-finding mission only. They need not know anything unless you wanted them to.”

That… well that didn’t sound too bad. If he didn’t like the information he got back, then they need never know he’d even looked in the first place. “What do you think, love?” he asks Tav.

She thinks for a moment. “It’s your choice,” she says, reaching across the table to take his hand, “but I think it could be good for you, even if just to know more about your past. You can always change your mind later if you decide you want to maybe exchange letters or meet with them.”

That could be good. Just information, to start. No pressure, no commitment. “Alright,” he says, letting out a long breath, “just information, to start. I’ll decide what I want to do with it later. If there’s even anything to find, that is.”

“Then it is a plan, cub,” Jaheira says. “Harpers have an open invitation to Evereska, and I have a few who maintain homes within the city. I will send word for them to learn what information they can, discreetly, and will let you know what they find.” She tosses the sock she’d been examining to him, “In the meantime, I can tell you that whatever creature has been chewing your things, it is neither rodent nor ghost.” Pointing at the sock now in his hands, she continues, “Those holes were made by fangs, small ones. They are too evenly spaced to be anything else.” Her gaze drifts to the floor, and he sees the corner of her mouth turn up as she takes a sip from her drink, “I suspect the culprit is a sneaky little creature prone to lurking around your house.”

He furrows his brow, “Who, Sabre? I already questioned him, and I highly doubt he’s going to be any chattier than he was last time.”

“No,” she says, nodding toward something on the floor, “I would wager it is one who may have recently developed a… taste for putting their teeth where they do not belong.”

“What are you talking ab-” he stops talking as he turns his eyes to whatever is holding Jaheira’s attention, and sees his daughter, having scooted herself over to the coffee table, was merrily chomping away quite hard on one of the legs.

“Darling, no” he says, rushing to scoop her up, “we’ve talked about this, you can’t just go around putting things in your mouth.”

“Oh my gods, are you kidding me? Astarion, look,” Tav calls to him, and he looks to where she’s pointing at the bottom of the table leg. There are dozens of small scratches in the wood that hadn’t been there an hour ago, some of them gouged quite deep.

“What on Toril…?” He sighs, turning Astraea in his arms and uses his thumb to open her mouth, “You better not have broken off any pieces, you little termite.” As he sweeps his finger through her mouth to make sure she hasn’t picked up any splinters, he feels a sharp sting at his knuckle, and Astraea’s jaws clamp shut on his finger.

“Ow! Wha-?” he tries to pull his finger out, but she’s bitten him quite hard, and he doesn’t want to hurt her, but also there is something stabbing right into his knuckle like a little needle and it hurts quite badly actually. “Stop that! Let go!”

He hears muffled laughter from the couch behind him, and turns around to see both Tav and Jaheira apparently taking great amusement in the situation. “Yes, yes, this is all very hilarious, so glad I could serve as tonight’s entertainment. Now do you think you could control yourselves for a moment and help m-” His request is cut off by a yelp as Astraea puts more force into her bite, and lets loose a sound that’s far too close to a growl to be comfortable.

“Gods! Astraea, no, let go of Ada’s finger right now. We ask before we bite!”

Tav’s snort of laughter sounds off behind him, “You didn’t.”

“That was one time!” he yells, “and I apologized!”

He hears her set down her glass as she rises from her seat and crosses over to him. “Technically, you apologized for killing me,” she says, taking their daughter from his arms, his stuck hand following, “not for biting me.”

“Technically, that happened a year and a half ago! And it was a blanket apology!” He shakes his head to clear his thoughts, “look, could we possibly save arguing about the quality of my apologies for when our child is no longer using my hand as a prop for her new piranha impression?!” Astraea chooses that moment to punctuate his question by biting down harder and loosing another growl.

“I suppose,” Tav replies, the corner of her mouth twitching as she fights a smile. “Though, she’s having such a good time, it almost seems a shame to break it up…”

He narrows his eyes, “Well, if I lose a finger, I suppose I won’t be able to help you the next time you want a slug removed from one of your plants.” A dirty card to play, maybe, considering he knew just how much Tav loathed slugs and depended on him to remove them from the garden when she found them, but no one had ever accused him of playing fair.

Her eyes immediately go wide and wet, and her mouth turns down in a frown. “But my tomatoes…” Her bottom lip quivers just a little, “You’d leave me to fight the slugs alone?”

Oh, now that was a low blow. She knew damn well he couldn’t deny her anything when she made that face. He lets loose a longsuffering sigh, “No, of course not,” and his insides very much do not turn to jelly when her face lights up at that.

“My knight in leather armor” she coos, before addressing their daughter. “Alright, baby, time to give Ada his hand back.” She tickles a spot under Astraea’s chin that makes her hike her shoulders up as she gives a little giggle, which opens her mouth just enough for him to free his finger.

Assessing the damage, he sees that there’s the tiniest wound on his knuckle, a single drop of blood beading up to the surface. Carefully, he uses his thumb to lift Astraea’s upper lip, and his eyebrows shoot up. “Jaheira,” he calls out, “when babies are teething, I don’t suppose it’s common for the canines to come through first?”

She thinks for a moment. “Not that I have seen, no.”

“Right,” he says, staring at the two tiny, needle-sharp fangs starting to poke through his daughter’s top gumline in a reflection of his own smile, only barely visible. “I guess we should have expected this.”

Tav tilts her head to better see what he’s looking at. “Oh! Well that at least explains the chewing,” she furrows her brow, “how was she getting all those things though? The rug and the couch leg are self-explanatory, I guess, but everything else should have been out of her reach.”

A whine and a muffled thump-thump-thump suddenly sounds from the corner, where Scratch is laying in his bed, ears tucked back and tail wagging against the floor. The dog somehow manages to look sheepish, coming over to nose at Jaheira’s leg and whining some more. The druid listens carefully, then bursts into laughter as she ruffles his ears.

“What did he say?” Tav asks.

“He says that he has been bringing her things to chew whenever she looks like she will start crying, because the crying hurts his ears and chewing is good for a growing pup.”

Astarion’s jaw drops, “But-! But I asked him! He said he didn’t know anything about it!”

Scratch barks twice, tilting his head as he looks at Astarion. “He says that you did not ask if he knew what happened to the items,” Jaheira translates, “you only asked if he had been the one to chew them, and he had not.”

He scoffs, “That’s- It was implied!” he shouts, hands on his hips as he glares at the dog.

Scratch barks again, several more times, before jumping up onto the couch and curling up, head in Jaheira’s lap. “He does not know what ‘implied’ means,” she says as she pets him, “but suggests that you would not need to worry about Astraea chewing your things so much if you provided her with a proper chew toy.” She pauses, looking to Scratch as he gives a quiet woof and wags his tail. “He is willing to provide suggestions, if you would like.”

Now that’s an idea.

He turns to Tav, “Now hear me out-”

“No,” she says, looking deeply unamused.

“But darling-”

“Don’t you ‘but darling’ me,” she growls, “we are not giving our child a chew toy meant for dogs.”

He stares her down, spine straight, putting every ounce of vampiric intimidation into his gaze.

She stares back at him, one eyebrow raised, not moved in the slightest.

He breaks embarrassingly easy.

He throws his head back, because he’s earned a bit of dramatics. “Fiiiiiiine,” he sighs, and it’s maybe slightly closer to being a whine than he intended. “But,” he continues, pointing at Tav as he straightens up and puts his other hand on his hip, “if I lose another boot, I reserve the right to start giving her the soup bones to gnaw on, your broths be damned.”

Tav gives a hum as she rocks her head side to side in thought. “Fair and reasonable,” she concludes, quickly planting a kiss on his cheek as she goes back to sit on the couch. “But if she breaks a tooth,” she calls over her shoulder, “you get to explain it to the dentist.”

Next Chapter

[sorceryundone]

dike fact sheet

hello everyone! as im approaching beginning to work with lady dike, i of course have been doing research. the small catch though is the fact there's barely any information on her. however, here's my best attempt at collecting information!

most of this information will be greek in nature, however due to how limited it is, i do also pull from information on her roman counterpart justitia. i mainly want to specify this, as justitia is simultaneously the roman counterpart of themis. any information related specifically to justitia will be marked as such.

final disclaimer, make sure to do your own research as well. i am NOT a scholar, just a very determined person with internet access.

---

who is dike?

dike is the goddess and daimona (personified spirit) of justice, her name literally translating to it. she is the enemy of all falsehood, and the protectress of the wise administration of justice.

dike is an attendant of her father zeus, she watches over mankind and approaches his throne with lamentations when a judge has violated justice.

in the tragedians, she appears as a divinity who severely punishes all wrong, watches over the maintenance of justice, and pierces the hearts of the unjust with the sword made for her by aesa (one of the moirai/fates). along with punishing injustice, she is also shown to reward virtue.

dike is identified with dikaiosyne (righteousness) and astraea (the constellation virgo, lit. starry one), both can be considered alternate names or epithets of dike. dike's opposite is adikia (injustice), who she is depicted as beating with a staff.

---

family

dike is the child of zeus and themis, and has two sisters, eunomia (good order), and eirene (peace). her and her sisters are the three horai-- the goddesses of the seasons and the gatekeepers of heaven (olympos).

she also has one daughter, hesychia (tranquility of mind). it can be inferred that she had her daughter virginally, as dike is referred to as a virgin/maiden in several writings. however, there's no story to how her daughter was born.

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symbols and associations:

- the constellation virgo (as her epithet dike astraea, meaning dike the starry one)

- swords (in reference to the sword which she used to pierce the hearts of the unjust)

- staffs (in reference to dike using a staff to beat adikia)

- scales (roman-- the scales were originally a symbol of her mother, themis, but ancient rome syncretized dike and themis as the same deity, justitia)

- blindfolds (roman/contemporary-- in the 16th century justitia began to be depicted with a blindfold. this was originally satirical, depicting justitia as blind to the justice in front of her. it's now viewed as a representation of impartiality, "justice is blind.")

- frankincense (offering named in orphic hymns both to dike and dikaiosyne)

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final note

thank you for taking time to read about this amazing yet obscure goddess! if you're more knowledgeable than me, and i got something wrong or there is more information i can add, please tell me! and if you do, please provide a source :]

my main source for this fact sheet is the theoi page for dike, however if you want sources for any of the other information i'll try my best to provide it at request.

[cadaverre]

⋆⁺｡˚⋆˙‧₊☾ welcome ☽₊‧˙⋆˚｡⁺⋆

about me

you can call me juno or astraea

im a cancer sun, libra moon and sagittarius rising

my pronouns are they/she (and my pronoun page is here)

i'm a proud bisexual (i am very sapphic lol)

im taken (you can hear about my love via the “them tag <33")

i am a minor (i won't immediately block people 18+ but if you're creepy i will <3)

australian!! also a bunch of different places, none really interesting

this blog is for me to dump thoughts, interact with people and just have a good time :)

i play the drums and im currently in two bands! i also love playing guitar and one of my 2024 goals is to get better at playing!!

currently listening -> 🍁☕️🎸 nyc

currently reading -> the odyssey translated by emily wilson

currently watching -> doctor who and rewatching gilmore girls

things i like

i love: literature, the arts, queer culture, astronomy, feminism (no terfs allowed!!!!), fruit flavoured drinks, flared pants, converse, dark red, nail polish, eyeliner, burgundy lipgloss, tank tops, tote bags, brie (always dreaming of cheese), pinterest, spotify, my headphones, the ocean, my grandparents house (im there rn i love it), spring+winter, very specific shades of pink and green, black <3, folklore and 1989 girl, fiddling around on the guitar, fantasising about being a famous musician, finding new music, snow, picking silly little outfits,

books: osemanverse, the hunger games, books by rhiannon wilde, tim te maro's subterranean heartsick blues, all the best liars, books by octavia butler (specifically parable of the sower and parable of the talents), the last true poets of the sea, acotar, the weight of the stars, the seven husbands of evelyn hugo, the picture of dorian grey, house of hollow, howls moving castle, harry potter (mainly marauders, FUCK JKR), i kissed shara wheeler, red white and royal blue, song of achilles

movies + tv shows: dont look up, little women (2019), scream (i like most of them but 1996 is my fav by far), ladybird, barbie (2023), some of the mcu (thor and guardians of the galaxy <33), spiderverse (itsv is my love), gilmore girls, stranger things, loki, heartstopper, arcane, scott pilgrim takes off, she ra

musicians/bands: boygenius, taylor swift, lovejoy, glaive, brakence, paramore, ricky jamaraz, melanie martinez, lana del rey, ashnikko, girl in red, billie eilish, doja cat, big thief, adrienne lenker, ethel cain, mitski, remi wolf, cigarettes after sex, ericdoa, tv girl, clairo, the neighbourhood, bon iver, deftones (getting into them just a little), maneskin, courtney barnett, poppy

my favourite colours are black, dark red, burgundy, denim blue, sage green, soft pink, glaucous blue, golden yellow (i love colour theory so all colours are beautiful in their own context but here are my favs to wear/see)

i really want to get into more poetry so if you have any recs lmk!!

i have recently begun practising some very simple witchcraft, so feel free to talk to me about that and i would love to learn more!!

i love learning about astrology and use my birth chart frequently

i write very, very infrequently and think of more stories than i even start to plot lmao.

i draw way more than i write and will occasionally post some!! its not good by any means but its fun ig

talk to me + dni

my asks and dms are open!! feel free to talk to me about anything and everything!! i love talking!!

i love my mutuals so much so if ur my mutual *looks you dead in your eyes* i love you

my discord is the same @ as here, i literally just got it today so idrk how it works but feel free to add me there <33 but please lmk if you do if your username is different

if we’re very close you can ask for my insta!!

i rarely follow people without an intro post/descriptive enough bio (with name, age group, pronouns) so if you want to be mutuals please have one!! if not just shoot me an ask about who you are and what you like so we can be friends <33

dni: rude, racist, homophobic, transphobic, zionist, terfs, sexist, ableist, antisemitic people

tags

#juno.txt -> ramblings, original posts

#asks -> asks ive answered

#ask bait -> hehehe send me asks <3

#tag games -> tag games ive participated in

#beautiful mutuals -> interactions with my beautiful mutuals!

#spotify -> my music obsession dw im fine fhdklfhdal

#them tag <33 -> posts that remind me of my wonderful bf <3

links + sideblogs

spotify

pinterest

@likeasugarcubeinateacup -> my notes app poetry

@slowrotburiedinthepark -> a random sideblog i post art and occasional web weaving on

@stabbingstarsthroughmyback -> my writing sideblog (ask me about my wip!!)

stunning dividers by @chachachannah :))

here is a totally beautiful and amazing moodboard by @svnflowermoon that always makes me so fhadkfhakd

last updated: jan 19th 2024

[bitchesofostwick]

7, 14, and 26 for Ellinor please!

yesss thank you astraea!

7. if they had to choose one person most important to them, who would that be? her twin brother, avery! sorry cullen, but avery is kind of her day one...literally... he's her brother and her best friend. she had to live for fourteen years without him in her life before they could be reunited. she never wants to lose him again. everything she's done was for him.

14. who are they closest to from their family? haha that has to be avery again. but i will say, she's grown so much closer to her sister lyssa over the course of the inquisition. she went from hating her guts for being a complicit bystander when avery was taken to the circle to forgiving her and treating her as a friend, sister, and confidante by the events of trespasser. it was an arc meant to reflect cullen's life experiences as well, albeit with different circumstances, but it's important to me and to the story. and also the rest of the trevelyans literally suck.

26. do they get a happy ending? me when someone asks if emilia gets a happy ending: idk! i hope so! lol! me when someone asks if ellinor gets a happy ending: if ellinor doesn't get a happy ending i will literally [redacted] [redacted] [redacted]. (the answer is yes, so help me god. but she has to go through some shit to get there. shameless plug for my trespasser fic lol.)

canon DA worldstate asks // ask box

[plaexus]

this is another anon!

i had this girl i really, really liked when i was in my junior year in high school. it started out as us being good friends, she was my seatmate. we didn't have a lot of things in common besides our humor. but it's what worked for us. eventually, i started developing feelings for her.

honestly, i had no plans to confess. it just happened when junior year was about to be over, through the phone while we were texting each other. she didn't reply until a day before the end of junior year. i got rejected, of course. i knew she didn't feel the same way. we tried to remain friends after, but since it was summer break, we just kind of drifted apart. i went to tokyo and got some insane amount of star wars collectibles because i knew she'd like them.

ff to senior year, we weren't in the same class anymore. so the stuff i got from tokyo, i asked our mutual friend to give it to her. i got a text from her saying thank you, and that was pretty much it for us.

months passed and i started liking another girl from my class. she liked me back, but it didn't really work out. which led me to reconnect with the girl from junior year. let's just call her astraea. her and i had the chance to reconnect because she was in the same class as my friend, we were kind of forced to hang out. we grew close again over time, until i found that she had feelings for me, through my friend. it was funny because at the back of my mind, i knew that i liked her still, it never went away. and the reason why i liked the other girl from my class was just me trying to fill the void that she left.

news flash: we didn't pursue anything other than friendship. we knew there was something between us, but we silently chose to stay friends and preserve the friendship. i almost lost her once, i can't handle that again.

our friendship was smooth sailing, or so i thought. college and covid happened. it was really hard to keep in touch with how busy we both were since i was in premed and she was studying business.

we haven't talked in 3 years. i've hung out with our mutual friend a couple of times but never with her. never tried reconnecting too. it's crazy thinking about how i gave my all to preserve our friendship by not pursuing her romantically, but still ended up losing her.

i still wonder, would things be different if we pursued something deeper. probably not. i still think about her every now and then. but i heard she's doing well, and that's what matters.

(sorry for this whole ass essay, i got a bit carried away lmao)

girl.... i'm screaming my lungs out. we have such similar experiences i'm literally unearthing my heartbreak and punching the wall as i'm reading your story.... my sharing and reactions below keep reading...

to just be straightforward about this, i knew i was in love with my best friend in high school by sophomore year. it's hard to explain the depth of our friendship but suffice to say even though we were friends for only like a year by that time, we were extremely close. i was fresh off two pretty messy relationships that spanned almost three years, and wasn't really in a good place, but that friend was like.. my sole reprieve, not to be cringe about it. this is so weird to say but i was pretty popular in high school and i was in circles with other popular students, but i would only want to spend time with my best friend. i think it was pretty obvious to anyone with eyes that i liked my best friend and treated her a whole lot differently than i did other people. our classmates would tease us about it, but she would shrug them off

anyway, at the time, i knew my friend was not gay. she was very nice and likable, but she always seemed uninterested in relationships as a whole. so i didn't pursue anything; i thought it was pointless and our friendship was very important to me. come mid-junior year, i was already with my current partner, and that was mostly it. my best friend and i were still close, but we talked much less since we weren't classmates anymore and we were mostly busy with our own thing. we graduated then moved onto different universities. our conversations grew even shorter and less frequent, that's just life

freshman year of college, i heard from one of my closest friends that my high school best friend was being courted by someone... a girl. i feel like people reading this would have seen this coming, but i surely didn't. so anyway, i opened up a conversation with her just to find out from her directly, if she would tell me. the convo took a while and it seemed like she wasn't going to tell me unless i brought it up, so i did, and she admitted that she had already agreed to exclusively date this girl who was courting her..... i couldn't hide my hurt (at her not telling me, mostly) and shock and my best friend could read all my signs anyway. so i told her that i didn't expect this. i'm not homophobic (duh), but i just didn't think my friend would date, all the more that she would date women. in hindsight, why did i assume that and did i really know my friend well enough? but anyway... long story short, i ultimately told her that i really... kind of wanted to be with her in a romantic way back then. and to my utter heartbreak, which until now i consider to be my greatest one, she admitted that she felt the same way... we kind of both confessed that there was still this love (?) we felt for each other, but since we were both with other people whom we were committed to, we had to leave things at that. it felt simultaneously like closure and not

for many reasons, our friendship eroded. we also stopped talking around 4 years ago? from what i know, she's been on-and-off with that girl (who's a prick and treats her poorly, if i might say) for a few years now, and of course i've been with my partner for 8 years. but sometimes, i still think of my (ex) best friend. she's my greatest what-if... and sometimes, she appears in my dreams lol maybe my memories with her and my repressed feelings still haunt my unconscious. but yeah LOL

i really feel for you, anon. i'm quite sad knowing that you both were aware of something between you two but chose not to explore it... but that's life, right? logic doesn't often apply readily in matters of the heart. you can hold onto something tightly to protect it, only for it to slip away just the same. again, it takes a lot of maturity to realise what you realised, be regretful over how things panned out, but still wish the best for the other...

[gn004nadleeh]

Finished the updated design for Jenni, btw :)

Jenni Pyxis is a woman in her 20s who joined Celestial Being ~one year after Setsuna. She pilots a support machine for Gundam Virtue in Season 1 (GN-005W GN Wings) and her own machine (Gundam Astraea III) in Season 2. She was part of an older, more experimental batch of super soldiers from the HRL's Super Human Research Institute. While she still possesses augmented physical strength, speed, and endurance, she doesn't possess Quantum Brainwaves. Her brain ultimately rejected the quantum brainwave implants. The internal trauma from the implant surgery caused her to develop a seizure disorder. She takes medication for this, but sometimes she forgets to take her pills on time and subsequently irritates Tieria. You get it.

Jenni is an introverted individual who tends to function best in highly structured environments. When she's not playing video games or watching anime in her room, she can be found working on creative projects on the observation deck. She enjoys knitting gifts for other people and likes to cook things from scratch when supplies are available. She likes to listen to music while she does maintenance work, which is why she completes her work in a separate hangar (Ian doesn't want to be subjected to SHINee. God forbid women do anything, etc.)

Because Jenni is autistic, she is excellent at focusing on one task for hours at a time and possesses a relatively flat affect. For better or for worse, she is relatively blunt and sometimes struggles with reading the room. More introverted members of Celestial Being find her easy to be around, while more extroverted members tend to find her rude or asocial. If she's having problems, she tends to keep them to herself while she resolves them on her own terms, but this tends to create issues in combat situations, especially when she is quite literally strapped to Tieria's back.

[katusjuice]

70 for all >:)

light work (lie)

70. What do you, the creator of this OC, like most about them?

Maxene Florakis

- Her insane backstory I took about two years to finalize

- The Unknown fire powers I gave her

- “Mother” Motif with her character

- Earthy Black Girl Aesthetic

- Her love for Floral life

- Her being a nerd about Floral Life

- Her being a Ghost/Living Dead Girl

- Her being 6ft

- The Ship with her and Tasha Livingston created by @claudia-nomusaabara

- Her not playing about her two babies

- Walk Of Astraea Lore

- Her being my first creation

- DRAWING HER DAMN HAIR

Anais Wartooth

- Her being my second creation in this fandom

- Her being a mean ass lesbian

- Like I said before, her being a SPACE FIEND!!

- Being a personification of Death

- Her and Death being two different personalities in one person

- ANAIS BEING A FUCKING HATER

- HER STARTING HUMAN ANARCHY!!!

- Her and Toki’s relationship being complicated asf!!

- SPACERAPTOR 🚀🦖

Harley The Bassist

- Her literally being one of the coolest OCs I have

- Her being the personification of Pestilence

- THAT DAMN DINO HAT!!

- Her being obsessed wirh the 80s

- HER BEING A GARFIELD TRUTHER!!!

- Her being Ana’s rock. I ate making them a fucking couple so bad

- Once again, SPACERAPTOR!!!

- Her love for Dinosaurs because of her dad

- Anything related wirh Harley and her father (i love angst and tragedy)

- The Hat and the Gloves representing something in Pestilence’s design (Same goes with Anais and the rest of the Horsemen)

Reggie LaMorte

- His Rabbit symbolism

- HIM BEING CALLED RABBIT BY HIS FAMILY-

- Him and his sister being two sides of the same coin

- The way Matteo influences EVERY SINGLE THING he does

- His insane crush on Jasmine

- Him being Deimos (Dread)

- Him being FILTHY FUCKING RICH and has the audacity to dress like he lives in his dad’s basement.

- Him being the first LaMorte I ever made. There are a lot of these fucks. Family’s huge

- Him being apart of the Family Business (can’t you believe I almosg made him NOT being apart of it?)

- His Skeleton fit!!!

- His purple eyes (which are staple in the LaMorte Family!!

CJ LaMorte

- Her aesthetic

- 2nd mean girl I’ve ever made

- The second LaMorte

- HER FIT, THE RED BOTTOMS, THE FUR COAT

- Her name ngl. I love abbreviated names!!

- Her design being the EASIEST OMG-

- Her being Phobos (Fear)

Jasmine Fauxx

- I love this girl in general

- HER AESTHETIC!! THE PRETTY PINK PRINCESS!!

- How long it took me to make her a ballerina-

- Her relationship with Amy

- The ship between her and @claudia-nomusaabara’s Gunnar (THEY MAKE ME INSANE)

- A good tragic backstory that’s totally not inspired by Hawks from MHA

- Her being the strongest in Human Anarchy. She a Princess but NAWT a damsel in distress

- Her being Famine

- Even as Famine, she is compassionate to all-

- She’s a cutie ans I love Jasmine-

Amy Taley

- BEST MANAGER IN THE WORLD WHO CARES (enough) FOR HER BAND!!!

- 3rd meanest woman I have made (i love a mean bitch apparently-)

- Her relationship with Jasmine. Mother and Daughter duo-

- An excuse for me to draw curly hair-

- I ATE DOWNNN WITH THE BOOTS AND THE SUIT!! A WAY TO SHOW HER REBELLIOUS NATURE

- Her being an ex-Sukeban (She still has her rebellious nature that shit never left)

- COLORING HER HAIR!!

- Her being War

- The small ships i have wirh her i suppose (canonically, she doesn’t get into a relationship but it’s sweet to think of her being in a relationship)

- HER BEING A SINGLE MAMA ACTUALLY

- STRONG WOMAN MMMMHHHAAAA

Terio Florakis

- My little Kendrick Lamar & Tyler, The Creator outlet!!

- HIM BEING LIFE

- The many MANY contrasts between him and his sister.

- Terio, GG, and Ana being the BEST TRIOOOOO

- Him having Creativity as his passion and that ACTUALLY BEING IMPORTANT TO HIS STORY ARC

- Sk8er , Graffiti kid

- Him being a fucking NER about TMNT. He loves the turtles

- The Iron Head Merch he has. If you pay attention to both designs I always add it-

Matteo LaMorte

- DON’T GET ME STARTED ON THIS MFFFF

- Possibly a favorite

- THAT FUCKASS JACKET

- him being what i sadly find attractive in a man

- me making his backstory and it being so important to me-

- The small ships with him (chris & jay)

- BryTeo and Sade x Matteo

- Another LaMorte. The beginning of me extending the twins family.

- Ø!ZONE ŁAYER!!!

- STRONG MAN

Jia “Lai” LaMorte

- Best sibling in the world

- Another LaMorte (adopted into the family)

- Her design being simple too!!

- STRONG WOMEN WOWWWWOAOOA

- Gym Rat.

Bryant Allistair

- The ship between him and Matteo

- Got a better understanding of Narcolepsy with him!!

- Simple design!!

- Loved drawing his hair!

Sade Graves

- tiddies

- goth girlie

- Actually had fun putting her design together!! Was adding shit along the way!!

- her being the only OC i have with no trauma and a good home life with people who love her and have a room for her at home

- Her name. I love it.

- Still on her design. Playing around how to make trad Goth makeup

Vinz LaMorte

- Another LaMorte-

- Still developing him but his relationship with Amy

- HE DON’T PLAY ABOUT HIS BABIES (Reggie and CJ)

- His HAIR WAS A PAIN BUT I LOVE IT!!!

Eve Lamarnière (667)

- her HATRED FOR TOKI WARTOOTH

Spider The Cat

- HATRED FOR TOKI WARTOOTH

- Him and Ana’s relationship. It’s so funny to me

- making this kitty boujee as FUCK

[mysterybooks-world]

Say hello to Vox's friend

I settled on this idea instead of My original idea

When I was thinking about Vox's friend OC I was thinking of making a young man with a Venetian Mask

Like a mix between Joker and Kaitou Kid

Joker from: (Persona Records) and Kaitou Kid from (Detective Conan)

a True gentleman More than Alastor and Valentino

And he sang a song Did I Mention (From "Descendants") Dove Cameron - Boyfriend

But I changed my mind or I can put him in another au

I was thinking about her appearance As you can see she is between stars and plants witch.

Because Sinners have their own appearance in different shapes and sizes And a different design

As for her store or Shop is (Antique store) aka (MystiKraft) Not only Antique store It is the place of everything, without Anything related to sex and drugs.

From the outside it is like a small store but from the inside it is big

she is like wandering merchant, She sells things and items

What is special about her store?

Her store Like pocket dimensions can go anywhere to other Rings of Hell & heaven & earth

You could say something similar to (Howl's Moving Castle)

No one can enter the store without her permission.

Anything that happens inside the store, no one can use magic to see it inside Or use magic to enter. Even Lucifer and Seven Deadly Sins & Angels, they magic doesn't work in a store.

(My mind whispering: A perfect place for someone to hide If you get my meaning)

Her powers are like a witch's -she can mess with reality -has the power to mess with time Like stopping time or turning it back

-her tail is like fire, but it does not sting If she want to, Sometimes, her tail becomes like a street lamp

Back story: She was there from the beginning, anomaly, She's just there seeing it all, She saw everything The fight God & angels and Roo aka ROOT OF ALL EVIL. And you know the rest of the story.

She was interested in humanity But she did not interfere in many people's lives, only telling them her advice and wisdom. and She listens to their stories. She loved playing the role wandering merchant.

she appeared in front of humans At different ages Sometimes she is an adult, a teenager, an old woman or a child,

And one day, years ago, When she was child, she met child Vox, They became friends, They began to grow together from children to teenagers then Adults,

when Vox died and fell into hell, His friend was already there, she Guide him to her store and she offered him sweet tea, After he calmed his nerves and realized that he was dead and in hell, After she told him everything About hell, and she Give him some stuff and money, Both of them went their separate ways, Sometimes Vox would visit her,

My OC: Wait a minute I think I forgot to tell him I'm not human and She smiles OH well I'll let him figure this out for himself, Plus His reaction will be funny

And here the story begins Like I mentioned in my poster before

was returning from his back from his supposed date with Valentino But Valentino didn't show up and forgot about their date, He is busy with Angel Dust.

When Vox was passing by a store. He stopped where he was and stepped back, This store wasn't here when he walked in this morning, But when he read the shop sign (MystiKraft) Vox realized who the shop owner was And he entered the place, Vox meets his best friend again

I feel like this is a song for them

she sing (Flying Solo) from Julie and the Phantoms

So Vox spends time with her again.

now the important thing What name should I choose for her? There are four names with their meaning of Flowers and stars

First name: Aster: Greek in origin, this uncommon name's literal meaning is 'star.' Aster flowers, which bear brightly-colored, star-shaped blooms, are the official flower of September and according to myth, are the tears of the Goddess Astraea, also known as Virgo — September's ruling constellation.

Second name Calla: comes from Greek roots, is a type of lily, and means “beautiful.” With Latin origins, this name means “starflower.” This name is inspired by the relaxing flowering herb commonly found in teas

Third name Calytrix. 'Calytrix' has a Latin origin and the meaning of the name is 'star flower'

Fourth name Ahana. This pretty Japanese name means “sky flower.” Anan. This one has Hebrew roots, too, and means “cloud” or “vapor.

I was thinking about choosing Aster or Calytrix.

What do you guys think? Which one of names suits her the most?

[mizutoyama]

My first official encounter with Gaunt was him getting hella mad about Astraea coming from the Undercroft (understandable) and then threatening her with how his dad is close to the headmaster and will use that against her if need be (he malfoyed before Malfoy 😆 (and yes, I know he doesn’t even like his family)). Not the best first official impression. I understand where he’s coming from, but he’s literally using that weak-ass threat on someone who has defeated a full troll (and more, but he’s not aware of the other stuff she survived which excludes falling from platforms… platforms are dangerous. Astraea beat Sebastian in their first duel by bombarding him with the basic spell until he fell off the duelling platform. Platforms: Sebastian & Astraea’s worst enemy 🥰).

[taomyou]

The Romance of Reimbursements - Chapter 19

Pairing: Levi Ackerman x Reader Status: COMPLETED Summary: There’s a guy you see every Friday on bus 143, and you think he’s pretty hot. It wouldn’t hurt to tell your best friend about him, would it? or, you and Levi take the same bus home from work every Friday, and you fall in love slowly, clumsily, and with all the time in the world to fold as many paper stars as your heart desires. Word Count: 7.4k Tags: slow burn, friends to lovers, modern au, office au, fluff, romance, meet-cute, matchmaking (A/N: this fic is entirely available on ao3 here if you would like to read it there instead!) Chapter Navigation Accompanying Playlist

the end of spring

“I’m literally sitting right here, at least wait until you actually meet them to look them up!”

Hange groans next to you, taking their phone and smacking your shoulder with it. “You’re no fun! You told me their names, so I’m entitled to stalking them online and learning everything about them.”

You sigh, looking out towards the empty chairs, lined up neatly at the front of the room. “I told you their names so you could help me make their posters.”

“And that was your mistake! But okay, I’ll wait ‘til after I meet them,” they concede, leaning back into their seat.

Today, you and Hange are seated in one of Sina University’s many ceremonial halls for the interns’ graduation ceremony.

Actually, you’re “at home” with “a cold,” but nobody from work has to know that isn’t where you really are.

Originally, you were planning to go alone, but you had an extra ticket and decided that cheering for the unsuspecting trio of Mikasa, Eren, and Armin would be too fun to do alone, so you asked Hange to come with you, as well as help with making posters and money leis earlier in the week.

After yesterday’s successful office party (which you painstakingly had to interact with Erwin to plan for), you got a good night’s rest, got breakfast with Hange at the ripe time of 8 in the morning, and the two of you were off to go scream in the ears of the poor souls who’d be sitting near you. 

Speaking of Erwin, after your, for lack of a better word, “conversation” with him last Monday, you’ve steered clear of the man.

Thankfully, he doesn’t make it that difficult. He comes over to your office occasionally to ask about the parties, but he doesn’t dare talk about anything else. Other than that, he’s been gone from the office almost entirely, apparently on the finance floor handling business up there.

Things are a bit different when it comes to avoiding him while you’re out with your friends, though. You sincerely don’t want to think about work drama when you’re spending time with everyone, but seeing Erwin makes it that much harder to have fun.

You’re cordial enough, but he gets the message that you’re not open to talking to him, and he engineers conversation so that you don’t have to. On that front, you’re glad he’s socially capable of making that happen.

It’s not necessarily anger that you harbor towards him right now—just disappointment. Perhaps there’s a sense of betrayal as well, considering you’ve really started to think of him as a good friend, but you suppose you can’t really fault him for doing his job.

You’ll forgive him eventually, but for right now, you just need time to cool off and forget that conversation ever happened in the first place.

Suddenly, a voice shatters through your looming thoughts of Erwin and work.

“Astraea?”

You look around frantically to find who the voice belongs to, but Hange seems to find them first and points in their direction.

“Oh, hi Sasha! Did you want to sit with us?”

“Fuck yeah I do!”

You move aside the tote bag full of gifts and posters that you have on the seat next to you to let Sasha sit down next to you. She does and sets down the large tote bag she has, and Hange shoots her a wave from where they are.

“Nice to meet ya, I’m Hange!”

Sasha returns the gesture with a smile. “Nice meeting you, too! Name’s Sasha!”

“Are you here for Mikasa and the others?” You ask.

She nods exuberantly. “Yep! Our other friends couldn’t make it, so I’m here on behalf of all of us,” she beams. “Are those for them?” Sasha asks, pointing at the large bag you just moved.

“Yeah, just a little something for each of them. I assume you brought stuff for them too?”

She grins and goes to grab a candy lei from her tote bag, handing it to you and Hange so you can get a closer look at it.

“One of my coworkers at the bakery taught me how to make them with the supplies we had in storage,” she says. “I made a bunch, you guys can have that one.”

“Really?” Hange asks. “Thanks!”

Sasha nods. “Sure!” She moves to take out another one for herself. “I was actually going to just eat them all myself, but sharing one won’t hurt.”

You and Hange laugh before thanking Sasha again, and the three of you get to untying the ribbons on the lei, getting to the candy inside.

You sit back and let Hange and Sasha get acquainted for a while (which apparently entails oversharing embarrassing details about themselves and the graduating trio), and after a good hour, the hall fills itself up with other guests for the ceremony. The two silence themselves when the ceremonial music comes in through the speakers, and you all prepare yourselves for the boring speeches that come before the actual cheering.

✰

“Eren! It’s rude to count money right after you get it!” His mom scolds him, coming up next to him to hold onto his arm for the photo.

“It’s okay, I really don’t mind,” you laugh. “Okay, smile!”

After giving them their gifts, you, Hange, and Sasha have been tasked with taking pictures for each of them and their families. Hange, ever the energetic, opts to take photos for Armin because they “want the challenge” of getting to learn about the most introverted-looking third of the trio, and Sasha takes care of Mikasa’s.

Which then leaves you with Eren, and as much as the little shit annoys you at work, he’s a good kid, so you’re happy to be capturing the moment for him.

After taking a few more pictures of him and the rest of his family, his mom forces you to swap and takes the camera from you.

When you go to stand next to him, he drapes an arm over your shoulder. “So, how much is on it?” Eren asks quietly.

You snort. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

You both shut up when Eren’s mom shushes you for the picture, and eventually Mikasa and Armin migrate over to the two of you for a group photo.

After a bit more back-and-forth where everyone gets caught up on the plans for the rest of the day, everyone seems good to go.

By now, the families have left to go back to their cars and make their way over to the restaurants where each person is meant to have lunch. You’re tasked with dropping off Mikasa, Eren, and Armin after they’ve picked up their diplomas, and Sasha decides to tag along to keep talking to Hange.

The group of you six head over to the hall distributing the certificates, and after a surprisingly short wait, the three come back to the main hallway, their diplomas in large manila envelopes.

“Alright, are we ready to head out?”

“One of our friends has his art up at a showcase on the undergrad campus right now, so we were thinking about stopping by before leaving,” says Mikasa. “Is that okay?”

“Sure, I don’t mind,” you shrug.

“Oh, is he a student there?” Hange asks.

Armin nods. “We’re all the same age, but he and his boyfriend took a few gap years to travel so they’re still doing undergrad.”

“Ooh, sounds fun! I took a gap year to travel too,” they reminisce. “Do you guys wanna hear about it?”

The group of them all nod (with varying levels of enthusiasm), and having heard the stories already, you linger on the side, watching as Hange animatedly begins their story.

Then, from seemingly out of nowhere, you feel a tap at your shoulder.

When you turn around, you see Levi.

“Levi? What’re you doing here?”

He deadpans. “I work here.”

“In the law department?” You tease. “What a multifaceted man you are.”

“No, idiot,” he groans. “You mentioned not taking the bus this week to watch your coworkers graduate here, and I thought I’d stop by to give you your tea.”

Eren clears his throat behind you, and you turn to look at him now.

“Hey, we’re gonna go ahead without you,” he says.

You blink. “Am I not allowed to come with you guys?”

Eren looks back to the group, all of whom look back and forth between you and him, and then he looks back at you.

“Hange said you parked in the parking garage here, and we don’t want to have to walk all the way back.”

“We could just drive over to the undergrad campus from here, I don’t mind—”

“There’s no parking next to the exhibit,” Armin cuts in. “Don’t worry, we’ll find a way back to the car eventually. Our relatives are probably waiting on us anyway, so we’ll be quick.”

“You sure you don’t want me to go with you?”

Hange pushes Eren aside and stands proudly in his place. “Worry not, dear friend! I will watch over them!”

“That’s even worse than leaving them unattended,” Levi says plainly.

Hange sticks out their tongue at him before turning on their heels, draping their arms over the two nearest people (who happen to be Eren and Armin), and walking off in an unknown direction. Sasha follows them closely behind, but Mikasa lingers behind a bit.

“Don’t worry about us, I’ll text you when we’re done,” she says. Before she leaves, she gives you a quick hug and brings up her hand to cover the space where her mouth meets your ear. “Have fun with your boyfriend.”

And then she’s off, running after the group in heels and leaving you a flustered mess.

Of course that’s what’s going on. Leave Hange unattended for three fucking seconds, and suddenly everyone has a master’s degree in matchmaking.

You clear your throat, trying to hide your embarrassment behind your hand, and turn back to look at Levi.

He unloops one of his backpack straps to get the small tin out, and he hands it to you.

“That was fucking weird, but here.”

You awkwardly laugh, taking it from him. “Thank you, Levi, but you could’ve waited until next week. It wouldn’t have made a difference.”

He huffs, shrugging his backpack back on. “I’ve already gotten the date wrong before, I’m not fucking up our schedule again.”

“It wasn’t even your turn when you forgot,” you remind him. “Even if it was, I wasn’t going to be mad or anything.”

“Yeah, right,” he scoffs. “How was the ceremony? I never thought watching paint dry would be fun until I went to Erwin’s graduation.”

“It wasn’t so bad,” you chuckle, readjusting the tote bag on your shoulder. “It definitely helps when you know what the speakers are talking about, but Sasha and Hange managed to stay awake.”

He rolls his eyes. “That’s because they ate all the fucking candy in their leis, they were practically just wearing plastics sheets around their necks.”

“I probably would’ve too,” you muse. Looking past him and down the hallway, you think back to what the group said.

Even if most of it was a farce, you’d still have to go get them.

“Well, I better get to my car. Only a matter of time before they spam call me to come get them.”

Levi nods, reorienting himself to face the same direction as you. “Where’d you park?”

“At the lot next to the stadium.”

“Want some company?”

You raise a brow. “I didn’t know there was a bus stop near the law school?”

“There isn’t.”

“Then wouldn’t it be inconvenient for you to walk me?”

He turns back to you and deadpans. “No.”

It definitely does sound very inconvenient, but… you can’t find it in yourself to reject the offer.

If you did like him, your heart would probably be doing somersaults right now.

But you don’t like him, so you feel that warm fuzzy feeling at the pit of your stomach instead.

“I wouldn’t mind the company, then.”

He tilts his head towards the lot. “Lead the way.”

You smile at him before walking ahead, and once you’re out the doors and making your route clear enough, your paces sync up with one another and you’re walking side-by-side.

“So, how was work this week?” You ask, seeing as you won’t be taking the bus with him.

“It was fine, nothing happened,” he answers. “The students are too checked-out to bother me with any questions, and it’s the same for my coworkers. I finished presenting the coursework already, so it’s just been review during lecture. I didn’t have to meet any clients this week either, so nothing there.”

You smile, happy to hear there was nothing for him to feel bad about. “That’s good, then. Doesn’t sound too exhausting.”

“Yeah, it’s a nice break,” he says. There’s an upcoming crosswalk, so he pushes the button and you both wait until it signals for you to go.

“If I get run over, do you think the university would pay off the rest of my student debt?” You joke.

He groans, and you both step back onto the sidewalk. “You don’t even go here.”

“Oh c’mon, that was funny.”

“You are so painfully unfunny,” he says. “Hit me with the ‘shrimp fried rice’ joke, will you?”

You laugh, covering your smile with your hand. “Don’t worry, I have it on standby for when I need it.”

“Of course you do,” he sighs. “How was your week?”

“It was fun, we had a party yesterday to celebrate our interns getting return offers,” you reply. “There was a lady who came in to get her fifth divorce settled with us, too.”

Levi cringes. “Fifth?”

You nod. “Each time she comes back, she brings gifts for us. I think she gave me a watch last time. She’s nice, though, so we don’t really know why she’s been through so many marriages.”

“What’d she get you this time?”

“A snow globe. Apparently she got it from her latest ex-husband on their honeymoon.”

You and him both start to climb the stairs of the parking garage, having just gotten there.

“What a joy,” he grimaces. “Anything else?”

“Nope.”

You hold off on bringing up that whole “Erwin putting you through hell for the sake of the office” thing because you’re sure that Levi would beat him to a pulp, but you appreciate the sentiment behind that, even if it’ll never actually happen.

“Did you not have work today? I heard from my coworkers that the ceremony started at 11.”

You smile, tipping your head back. “I called out ‘sick.’ I should be okay, my friend texted me earlier and said I didn’t have that much to do today anyway.”

“How irresponsible,” he teases.

You find your car after a bit of searching the lanes, and you dig your keys out of your bag. You hear your phone ring, and you pick it up without checking who it is.

“Hi! Can you come get us?” Hange.

“Yeah, I just got to my car. Where are you?”

“Hey guys, where are we?” A pause. “Mitras Hall!”

“I have no idea where that is, but sure,” you laugh, clicking your car open. Levi opens the trunks for you and takes the tote bag off your hands, and you thank him with a nod.

“Aren’t you still with Levi? He probably knows where it is.”

You tap his shoulder after he’s closed your trunk. “Do you know where Mitras Hall is?” He nods. “Okay, I’m on my way.”

“Thanks! See you soon!” Hange says before hanging up.

You put your hands together in a prayer position and smile apologetically at Levi. “I’m so sorry, but could you help me find where that is?”

He rolls his eyes but starts to head over to open your passenger-side door. “I wasn’t going to just let you get lost, idiot.”

You grin and hop in quickly into the driver’s seat, putting your keys into the ignition. “Thank you, Levi.”

Thankfully, the drive isn’t too far, and it works out that Mitras Hall is right next to where the bus station is. When you get there, the group seems well acquainted with Hange, laughing and talking loudly. Sasha’s absent from the group, but you assume she’s gone back to her car already.

You apologize to Levi and tell him that there’s no space for him to fit in your car when you have to take everyone else back to their families, but he tells you that it’s no problem before flicking your forehead and heading out for the bus stop.

When your friends slide into your car, they’re all stuck in a fit of giggles. Even Armin, who’s usually the most reserved of the trio, seems ready to piss his pants from the laughter that bubbles from his throat.

“What’s so funny?”

Hange’s in your passenger seat, and they pat your shoulder reassuringly through their laughter. “Oh, man, you’ll never get to know!”

You groan and put your car into drive. “I hate all of you.”

“You definitely don’t, but sure,” Eren stutters out, the shit-eating grin on his face taunting you in the car’s mirror.

You roll your eyes. “Yeah, yeah. We’re dropping off Armin first, right?”

“Yes, please,” he says, having calmed down now.

“Will you tell me what’s going on?”

He smiles timidly. “I’m sorry, but I can’t.”

✰

In the end, you never did get to learn what was so funny.

After dropping everyone off, you and Hange went back to your apartment for a nap before going out for dinner. You spent the weekend doing the paperwork you missed on Friday, and the following workweek is still busy.

Obviously less-so than in the last couple of months, but it’s still a lot.

Your only reprieve from the high-speed is on Wednesday when you take the hour-long drive over to a luxury tea store to get Levi’s blend for the week. You already know he likes it anyway, so there won’t be any wasted effort.

You figured that him walking you back to your car after graduation was worth the little extra bit of thought, so when you get on the bus on the 16th of June, you hand him the canister proudly.

“Thank you, but I’ve already tried this.”

“I know,” you smile fondly, taking the seat next to him. “It’s been a while, though, and I never got an actual ranking for it.”

He tilts the ever-familiar canister and glances at the labels before putting it in the front zip of his backpack. “You could’ve just asked. It’s a 10.”

Your eyes light up. “Really?”

He looks away and out the window, towards the new foliage that lines the route for bus 143. “This and that first earl grey blend you gave me are the only 10s.”

You smile fondly at him, letting the warmth from your heart reach your face.

If you did like him, you imagine that you’d lean over and give him a kiss on the cheek.

Thank goodness you don’t, because just the thought of that ever happening would’ve sent you into a coma.

“I’m glad you like them.”

He nods, bringing up his hand to clear his throat. “So, how was your week?”

You settle further into your seat and join him in looking out to the passing landscape before answering. You retell the events to him, again omitting your aversion to Erwin.

When you mention that you had to make the drive to get the same brand of dandelion root tea from when you first met, he taps his shoulder against yours in silent thanks, and you’re glad he does that instead of scolding you for the extra sentiment.

He answers the question when you bounce it back to him, and before you know it, you have to wave him goodbye when the bus reaches Rose.

Even when you get off the bus two stops later, there’s still a stupid smile that won’t leave your face.

After setting down your briefcase at your dining table, you feel a buzz in your pocket, so you pull your phone out and check the caller ID before swiping to answer.

“Hey Isabel, what’s up?”

“Hi Astraea!” She greets. “Are you busy tomorrow, by any chance?”

“No, I don’t think so.”

“This is kind of embarrassing, but do you think you could come over and help me with my makeup? I’m going out with some friends to celebrate the end of the semester, and I think the way you do yours is super cute, so I wanted to ask.”

You smile, humming happily. The last time you got ready with someone was on Valentine’s Day when Mikasa came over, which was quite some time ago, but it was really fun, all things considered.

“Of course I can! What time do you need me over?”

“We meet up at 7, how long do you think it’d take?”

“Only an hour or so, but we’ll say two so you aren’t late,” you tell her. “Does 5 work?”

“Yup!” She beams. “Thank you so much! Really, I appreciate you.”

“Don’t worry about it at all, I’m happy to help,” you wave her off. “Do you already have makeup, or did you want me to bring some of mine?”

“I have some, but I, uh, don’t really know how to use it.”

You hum to yourself. “That’s alright, we can figure it out.

“Thank you! You’re a lifesaver!”

You shake your head fondly. “You’re welcome, Isabel. See you tomorrow, then?”

“See you soon! Bye-bye!”

“Wait!”

“Yes?”

“Do you think that L—”

Catching yourself, you bite at the inside of your cheek.

Fuck, were you just about to ask if Levi was going to be home?

“Are you good?”

You fiddle with the collar of your shirt. “Yeah, nevermind. I’ll see you later.”

“...Alright!”

You hang up, and you pat your cheeks with the palms of your hands.

What the hell is happening to you?

✰

The next day, you find yourself at Isabel’s front door, purse slung over your shoulder.

Your little slip-up yesterday didn’t bother you for much longer after it happened, having thrown yourself into the particularly taxing process of making cheese danishes to bring over for the house.

You’ll ignore the fact that you feel a bit disappointed when you don’t see Levi’s car parked in their driveway.

When you ring the doorbell, Isabel welcomes you in immediately, giving you a quick hug.

“Hi! Come in, come in!” Isabel ushers.

You take off your shoes while she closes the door behind you. You lift the bag you brought with you. “I brought snacks.”

She lights up and gives you another hug, rocking you back and forth. “Thank you, you didn’t have to!”

She takes them from you and drops them off in the fridge before leading you to her bedroom, which conveniently has a bathroom attached to it, and you go to wash your hands while Isabel looks for something.

When you come back, she’s still looking, but she tips her head towards her bed. “We can sit there!”

“Are you sure? I wouldn’t want to get it dirty.”

She waves you off. “It’s okay, I’m doing laundry later.”

You nod and sit down, getting your makeup bag out of your purse after you’ve found a comfortable position for yourself.

Isabel brings over her backpack, and she puts it on her lap as she goes through with looking for her makeup bag. You recognize it instantly—the bird keychain that hangs off the front pocket.

“Is that the same keychain Levi has?”

She pauses to glance at it before nodding. “I got matching ones for us and Furlan when I was in high school. Cute, huh?”

You think back to when you first “met” Levi and thought the keychain was part of a matching set and smile fondly. You guess, in at least the literal sense of the word, you were right in that assumption.

“Yeah, it’s cute,” you muse.

Isabel finds her makeup bag after a few more moments of searching, and she unzips it proudly. “Alright! What do you need first?”

“Primer, if you have it.”

She pulls out a small tube and brush and holds it out to you. “Does this work?”

You nod and take it from her. “Yeah.”

She smiles and reorients herself so that her face is in better view for you to work with. You’re quick with applying it on her skin, and you twist the lid back on.

“Foundation?”

She hands you a small cushion foundation, and you open the little compartment, bringing up the cushion pad to start applying the product on her face.

“Is it okay if I talk, or does my mouth need to stay shut for this to work?”

You hum, brushing away the hair that’s blocking her face. “It’s okay, just don’t move too much.”

“Yes, ma’am!” She beams. “So, how are you?”

“I’m alright, I don’t have much going on,” you answer. “You?”

“I’m great! I'm just ready to be done with undergrad,” she gushes. “I wish I could invite you, but the stupid school won’t give me more tickets.”

You shake your head, putting the cushion back into its container. “Don’t worry about it, I’ll still be sure to get you a present. Concealer?”

She hands you a small tube and a brush, and you take them before getting to work applying that.

“You don’t have to get me anything!” She whines.

“Of course I do, graduating is a huge milestone,” you gently scold.

“Is it really?” She asks. “I mean, of course it is. I don’t know, maybe it doesn’t feel like it because I took two extra years to get my degree.”

“You did?” Come to think of it, you don’t even know how old she is, but you always figured she was just a couple years younger than you.

She nods. “I could only handle studying part time in the beginning.”

You hum absentmindedly as you apply the product under her eyes. “That doesn’t make it any less of an achievement. You should still be proud of yourself.”

“I am, but it sometimes feels like other people aren’t.”

“Then fuck them, who are they to make you think that way?”

Her smile comes back to her face, and she nods. “Yeah, I guess so. Still, I wish you could come. Levi’s gonna be so grumpy during the ceremony, and having you there would at least buffer that.”

“You think so?”

She nods when you pull away. “Yeah! He’s always in a better mood when you’re around. He likes you a lot.”

Ah, there it is again—that feeling.

“W-well, that’s good to hear,” you stutter out, twisting the cap back onto the concealer. “What color do you want your makeup to be?”

She rubs the back of her neck nervously. “I have no idea, what do you think would look nice?”

You lean back to get a better look at her face. “I think purple would look cute on you, would you be okay with that?”

“Yeah! I don’t have any purple makeup, though.”

You smile, already reaching into your bag. “It’s okay, I brought some.”

She’s quiet for the rest of the time that you do her makeup, probably just relaxing while you lightly apply the products on her skin.

You start putting away all your products, and she opens her eyes when she realizes you’re doing that.

“Are you done?”

“Almost. Do you have any setting spray?”

“What’s that?” She asks sheepishly. “Sorry.”

You wave her off with a smile. “No need to be sorry. You just use it to make sure your makeup stays in place. I brought some with me.”

“Oh, that sounds like it’s useful.”

You go through your makeup bag again to look for it, and then you remember that you put it in your glovebox earlier because it didn’t fit. “I left it in my car, I’ll go get it,” you tell her, stretching before you get up and off the bed. "Want to come with?"

“I can wait!” She hums.

You navigate yourself through the house and to the front door to get your shoes on, and you unlock your car to get the small bottle.

“Astraea? What’re you doing here?”

Turning around to the voice, you see Levi, his arms full with groceries.

“Oh, hi Levi!” You greet. “Isabel asked me to come over and help with her makeup.”

He tips his head towards your car. “Are you leaving?”

“What, that excited to get rid of me?” You tease. “Not yet, I was just getting something from my car.”

“I see.”

You put the small bottle into your pocket and lock your car, and you open the door to the house for Levi.

“Welcome home!” Isabel greets him, taking a bag of groceries and helping him get them in the kitchen.

You try to do the same, but they both give unrelenting protest to the gesture, citing the fact that you’re a guest in their house.

You watch from the countertop while they get the haul into the fridge, humming to yourself as you wait. Your eyes drift to look at the area where Levi keeps his tea, neatly lined up against the wall, where you notice that there’s two canisters of the dandelion root tea.

That’s weird.

If he liked it enough to consider it a 10, then why didn’t he finish the first one you got him?

Maybe he liked it so much that he wanted to save it for special occasions?

Actually, he said he didn’t have anything that wasn’t caffeine-free in the last couple of times you’ve come over, so maybe he just held onto the container so he wouldn’t forget what brand it was?

Who knows?

Isabel waves her hand out in front of you, effectively snapping you out of your thoughts.

“Hello?”

You blink. “Hi, sorry.”

“No problem! Do you have the spray thingy?”

You nod, reaching into your pocket for it. “Yes, yes, it’s right here.”

“Do you need a brush or anything?”

“Nah, just close your eyes.”

She gives you a cheerful thumbs-up and does exactly that. “Yes, ma’am!”

You pop the cap off. “It might feel a bit cold,” you warn her.

You push down on the nozzle, spritzing a small mist onto her face, and you watch as she reflexively cringes.

“Okay, you’re all done,” you tell her, putting the cap back on. “You can go look now.”

“I’m on it!” She beams, and then rushes off to her bathroom.

Levi comes up next to you and leans back on the countertop space. “She looks happy.”

You smile affectionately in the direction she bolted off to. “Yeah." Looking back over at where the teas are, you ask. "How come you still have the other canister of dandelion? I thought you'd have finished it by now."

He follows your gaze, and he looks like a deer caught in headlights.

Before he can answer, Isabel comes back to the kitchen, practically bouncing off the walls, and she rushes over to hug you. You’re a bit knocked off balance, but Levi steadies you before you can fall.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you! I look so cute!”

You hug her back and smile, patting her hair. “You already look cute, but you’re welcome.”

She pulls away to get a look at your face before hugging you again, somehow even tighter this time. 

“Can you teach me how to do it next time?”

You chuckle, trying to reorient yourself so that you can breathe a bit easier. “Of course.”

“Isabel, you’re holding on too tight,” Levi scolds.

“Sorry, sorry,” Isabel sighs happily before letting you go. Levi rolls his eyes, and Isabel skips over to the fridge.

“Do you want one, Levi?” She asks.

“One what?”

You nervously laugh and tap your cheek with your pointer finger. “I brought sweets.”

“Of course you did,” he shakes his head. “Yeah, I’ll have one.”

Levi gets up from the counter to go to get plates for the three of you, and soon, the three of you are eating quietly. Isabel’s extra careful not to smudge her lipstick so she doesn’t scarf it down as fast as she probably would’ve otherwise, but you can tell she still likes it.

Levi banishes you from washing the dishes once again, and you and Isabel go back to her room to pick out an outfit for her. She eventually settles on a cute purple dress to match her makeup, and you wait patiently on her bed as she goes to get changed in her bathroom. The door is thin enough for you to hold a conversation, though, so that’s no issue.

When she comes out, she’s practically light itself. Her smile seems brighter than you’ve ever seen it before, and she spins around in front of the full-length mirror that’s next to the door.

She thanks you again for helping her get ready, and you tell her again that it’s no problem, and that you look forward to when you can come back and teach her how to do her makeup for herself.

When you and her come back to the shared living space, you find Levi at the couch, scrolling on his phone.

“Don’t I look super cool, Levi?” Isabel asks.

He looks up from his phone. “You look like shit.”

She sticks out her tongue at him, but she smiles as she goes to put on her shoes. “You’re just jealous because Astraea spent more time with me today.”

You giggle from behind your hand as you watch their interaction, and Levi just sighs before going back on his phone.

Isabel’s friends come to pick her up shortly after, and she thanks you yet again before she leaves. You yawn and stretch before going over to get your things from Isabel’s room before you leave.

After you put on your shoes, Levi gets up and opens the door for you.

For whatever reason, you don’t want to yet, even though you know you should.

“Thank you for coming over to help her,” says Levi. "She really does look happy."

“It was a lot of fun, I’m glad to help,” you tell him in earnest. “It’s nice to see you, too.”

“I live here,” he says straight-faced.

You chuckle, shaking your head. “Yeah, I know that much.”

“Are you going to her graduation?”

“No, she said she doesn’t have any extra tickets,” you answer. “It’s okay, I’ll still get her a present.”

Levi looks down at the welcome mat you’re standing on, and he clears his throat after a short pause.

“Would you want to come with me to help get her something? I’m not the greatest with gifts.”

Your heart feels like it stops for just a second before it suddenly fills with that now-too-familiar feeling, forcing a shy smile onto your face.

If you liked him, you would've thought it was sweet that he wanted your help with something like that.

Scratch that, you do think it's sweet. That has nothing to do with whether or not you like him.

Now that you think about it, it seems like everything he does is sweet. Maybe not obviously so, but the care he puts behind everything is so endearing.

How ironic that he's the one everyone knows as bitter.

“Yeah, I’d love to.”

"Alright." He looks past you and at your car. "Get home safe, okay?"

"I will," you promise. "You too."

He sighs before shooing you back to your car, and you wave from him through the window before you pull out their driveway.

On your drive back home, you realize your forgot to ask him about what the deal was with the two dandelion canisters still left on his counter.

Oh well, you could just ask next Friday.

✰

Just as you’re packing up, someone knocks on your office door.

“It’s open!”

The door cracks open to reveal Petra, Oluo right behind her. “Erwin told me to come get you.”

You smile bitterly. “Alright, I’ll stop by his office before I leave.”

Petra seems to sense your apprehension well enough and offers you a comforting smile. “It can’t be that bad, right? It’s probably about the party.”

“Right, the party.”

To be honest, you haven’t put much thought towards it lately. Between now and Mikasa, Eren, and Armin’s party, Erwin hasn’t really talked to you about it.

He asks for your opinion every now and again, but there’s no further discussion of what to do or what’s going on. You doubt that him asking if you like one color theme over another is productive in any sort of way, but maybe he’s just that inept at choosing decorations.

You lock up for the day, making sure that you have everything you need for the evening in your briefcase, and start heading over to Erwin’s office. The door is already open, so you go inside and sit down.

Unsurprisingly, it looks quite empty. The only remnant of his presence in the space is the jar of paper stars he’s collected from you over the years. Everything else is what came with the office.

Erwin comes in shortly after you’ve settled in, and he sits at his chair across from where you are. “Thanks for coming in.”

“No problem. Was there something you needed?”

“Do you know what day it is?”

“It’s Wednesday.”

He chuckles. “Sorry, I meant in the calendar year.”

“June 21st,” you tell him. “I’m sorry, how is this important? Surely you didn’t tell me to stop by just to ask me for the date.”

“You’d be correct in that assumption,” he says. He then puts his briefcase on the table, and from it, he pulls out an envelope to slide across the table to you. “I wanted to give you this.”

You take the envelope cautiously. “What is it?”

“See for yourself.”

You shake the contents over to one side of the envelope to avoid damaging it, and you tear on the seam. You pull out a folded piece of paper, and after you unfold it, you see, at the very top in bold letters, Payment Confirmation.

Skimming through the text, you freeze when you see the words Paradis Law Finance Office.

“Erwin, what did you do?”

“I said I’d make it up to you, didn’t I?” You look up to see him smiling softly at you. “It’s not the trillion dollar bonus you asked for, but—”

“Is this a prank? You’re fucking pranking me.”

He laughs. “I assure you I am not.”

“I don’t even know what to say. I know you feel bad, Erwin, but you didn’t have to do this to get me to forgive you. We’re friends, I would’ve forgiven you eventually.”

“What can I do about it now? Ask them for the money back?” He jokes. “I’ve been trying to get the firm to pay it off for a while now, but I figured it was about time I just did it myself.”

“So you paid off… all of it?”

“Part of it. Nile actually offered to help me with some of it, and I took care of the rest.”

You raise a brow. “Nile offered?”

“Why wouldn’t he? You’re his star employee."

You bite back a frown. “Wouldn't that be you? Besides, I’ve only spoken to him maybe 10 times in my entire time working here.”

“Well, I suppose us being friends helps, but no.” He smiles while shaking his head. “He isn’t ignorant to what goes on in the office, he knows you’re good at your job.”

“Right.”

There’s an awkward silence where you both wait for the other to speak, but you don’t want to be here any longer than you have to.

“Well, thank you for this,” you tell him earnestly, raising the form. “Send Nile my thanks as well.”

“He’ll be at the party on Saturday, you can give him your thanks there. That is, if you’re coming?”

“I wasn’t aware it was an optional event.”

“Well, I do hope you come,” Erwin confesses. “Would be a shame if a party you helped organize didn’t have you in attendance.”

You wince. “About that, I really haven’t been as involved in the planning. Sorry.”

“Oh, it’s not a problem. Your input so far has been more than enough, don’t worry about it.”

“If you say so,” you mutter. “Why did you ask me today’s date, anyway?”

He smiles at you, gesturing towards the envelope in your hands. “There’s something else in there.”

There is?

You look inside the envelope again, and inside, there’s a small slip of paper. It seems stuck in the folds of the envelope, so you have to tear a larger rip into it to get it out, but when you get it out, you’re confused.

“‘Cancellation confirmation?’ What’s this for?”

There’s no other details on the slip besides a signature you recognize as Erwin’s, so there earnestly isn’t any assumption to be made about what it’s for.

“Do you know what June 21st is?”

You shake your head. "No."

“It’s the Summer Solstice,” he tells you. “I told you I’d have your parking spot back by the end of spring, and it’s the very last day.”

“But what’s this for?” You ask, referring to the slip from the envelope.

“The firm was paying for your bus fare, so we had to cancel your card now that you’ll be parking here. There's enough left for the rest of the week, but after that, it'll be empty.”

Your bus fare card is being cancelled?

Wait, but then that means that—

“Is there a problem?”

You wave your hands out in front of you, frantic to not raise any issue. “No, no, it’s all good.”

“You’re free to go,” he tells you. “Again, I am so sorry about everything that’s happened.”

Your way down the elevator is a blur. You tell the receptionist to have a good evening, you wait at the bus stop for a couple minutes, and you sit in your usual seat after scanning your fare card.

While you watch as the cityscape pass you by, your head spins, worry coursing through your veins.

You should be happy.

Losing your parking spot was what got you here in the first place—you didn't even want to lose it in the first place. Getting it back was all that you looked forward to for a long time, and you even resented not having it when you had to deal with your whirlwind of anxiety and nerves from seeing Levi every Friday, back before you knew him as you do now.

But instead, you think you want to cry.

Losing your parking spot was what got you here. In this exact seat, instead of your older one across the aisle. Where you spent countless Fridays with Levi, talking about anything and everything to unwind after the long weeks at work. Where you take turns bumping shoulders with each other as thanks. Where you got to know each other, outside of the gaze of everyone else.

Where he first forced you to accept that box citrus blend tea—the first of many teas that would be exchanged between the two of you.

If you don't take the bus anymore, you won't be able to have that anymore—those short thirty minutes of quiet, where it seems like the world only exists to pass you by through the window.

Sure, you could keep funding the fare yourself, but after all the trouble Erwin had to go through to get the spot back for you, you'd be ungrateful not to take it.

And sure, you could still see Levi whenever you wanted. It's not like you need the bus to keep seeing him. Hange will definitely still drag you and him out to events together, and you'll still be “forced” to sit next to him.

But... that wouldn't be the same.

It's routine at this point for you to see each other every Friday. He said it himself—that he didn't want to lose this either.

God, what kind of idiot gets emotional over a fucking parking space?

When you get home, you're surprised to see a text from Levi.

You click on it immediately, and this time, you know you want to cry.

Maybe you actually will.

Levi - 6:37 PM

I'm not taking the bus on Friday, no need to wait up for me

God fucking dammit.

If you did like him, then your heart would feel heavier than the weight of the world.

And that’s exactly how it feels.

✰

Next Chapter

[estrellasxxminis]

Meet VISHA !

Full name: Astrium "Visha" ataegina

Nicknames: Visha, Rockstar, airhead, David Bowie wannabe, aster, The Chosen One™, astraea

Title: Most Likely To Use Gen Alpha Slang

Gender: a ginger? What do I need a ginger for? Is this a thing that humans- I mean magical people do? (Genderfluid)

Pronouns: any/all

Species: 100% Human!!! Ehehe... (Neutron star)

Height: slightly taller than average

Age: eleven!!!!!!!! (—Hundred)

Text colour: Purple!

Playlist:

Powers/abilities: I... Practice.... Magic! At a school! And I'm... Very good at it.... Because im The Chosen One™! (Shapeshifting, Flying, Really Freaking Heavy, super speed, Teleportation, invulnerable to mostly EVERYTHING on earth, Literally Unkillable, Telekinesis, has a particle in dead center (inner core) of the body which you Can Not access, can Warp People, Really Very Sparkly, radiation manipulation, electricity manipulation, asterokinesis, lung adaption, glow in the dark, night vision, omnilingualism, can kinda heal people, can make plants grow just by being around them (science stuff), star and galaxy magic)

(hey, but I'm not THAT overpowered, right?)

Weapon + fighting style: a Really Big chakram (refer to the video)

Handedness: ambidextrous

Religion: are you SURE these Guardians Of Hope And Peace™ are any... Hopeful or Peaceful?

Moodboard: TBA

Stimboard: link

Fashionboard: TBA

Voice claims:

Female voice: frosta from she-ra and the princesses of power

Male voice claim: MK from lego monkie kid

Fun fact: astrium's favorite superhero is Superman

Relationships:

Verita R. Theirenmana — close friend (i am not your "close friend", I am inspecting you for research. Interesting way to say you're my best friend, verita! I'm serious. There's no way a regular human or a so-called "chosen one" can do whatever it is you're doing. Uh- I told you verita, i-i'm just really good at magic! That's all! Huh.)

Marcel M. Cassidy — friend (visha, how did you survive that explosion during biology? I told you, Marcel, I'm the super awesome chosen one and the prophecy gave me cool powers! But it doesn't explain how once, during class I saw you speak to the tiny creature and— you were asking about "how their brother was doing"- Uhh- YOU MUST BE SEEING THINGS!!!)

Reva Theirenmana — friend/acquaintance (HIII!!! I heard you were FRIENDS with my BESTEST SISTER IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD VERITA!?!?!??!?! 🎉🎉🎉 Uh- Yeah! We're pretty close, actually! Ohh, I remember now! You were the not-really-a-human guy she was making elaborate theories in her room about!!!!!! 🤩🤩🤩 Uhh- *nervous laugh* don't take her seriously about the human stuff! I-it's totally some crazy inside joke that she's not planning to tell anyone else!! Hahaha...)

Dorothy E. Theirenmana — friend/acquaintance (Miss chosen one, are you interested in the stars? U-uhmm, you can just call me visha or astrium... plus, what makes you ask THAT question??! I sorta got the impression she might be a little stuck on you, y'know? She always reads about the hobbies someone has when she fancies them. And also- I-i'm sure it's juuust... A new interest she has picked up!! ehehe...)

Sayaka Kurayami — Friend (your dreams aren't prophetic, right? Heh, I'd expect the "chosen one's" dreams to be full of scaaaaary visions where you'd see people in MyStErIoUs black robes cackling over an Eeeevil plan. Uhh, yeah, but if they WERE prophetic it'd be a repeat of the camp myenethían fiasco except *I* was the person accidentally holding the murderous dream orb- the WHAT dream orb?! Y-you definitely heard nothing!)

Valerie Rosewood — friend (so, how are you using the power of friendship to get outta this one? Power of friendship? Uhhmm... I'm just going to vaporize them, I guess... YOU'RE GOING TO VAPORIZE THE BAD GUYS?! (Wait- that wasn't normal?) i-it's uh- it's just my gift for magic!!! I'm the chosen one, they can't kill me YET! Man, This "chosen one" stuff is making you really OP...)

Hesperia — technically cousin and sworn rival (okay so- LISTEN HERE. I. AM. NOT. JOINING. YOUR SILLY ADVENTURES! But couldn't it be possible if you could travel a FEW inches out of bounds??!)

Melian Cassidy — Enemy (soo, we're just like, the coolest kids here aren't we? Uh- yeah! We have sooooo many things in common, like being... *short like really really short pause you wouldn't even notice it's one* ...being very fast and agile, obviously! Yeah! YOU get me. We're even sooo incredibly powerful, right? Exactly, and we're gonna use this power for— (said at the same time) saving the world with the power of friendship! / Beating up people who are out of our league! Yeah! Wait, WHAT? / Yeah! Wait, WHAT?)

Personality: if rainbow dash discovered David Bowie and the rest of classic rock, then this is probably what you'd get: Confident, dense, and extremely reckless; Visha is perhaps the bravest student in the Magic Academy™— if not for the fact that he's immortal, and is often dare-devil-ish with revealing her identity.

Despite his confident and flashy nature, (which is how she gets into trouble if not for the fact that I cover for him wh- verita, this is MY personality description! Get back to your own character card! *Sigh* whatever.) he still cares for her friends.

Backstory:

(I'm too lazy to put an ACTUALLY good explanation here so I'll just explain the gist ps remember some stuff are still wip)

(Astraea dies, Astrium is born from her dead core)

(Astrium doesn't understand why everyone is "so sad all the time" and CLEARLY not calling her by his actual name)

(other stars try their very best (keyword: try) to not have astrium turn out like astraea cuz astraea was "defective")

(astrium turns out like astraea anyway after learning more about humans)

(astrium develops an interest in humans and other alien species, much to the dismay of the other stars)

(and did I mention the other stars in astrium's constellation (constellations basically like family) are royalty? Astrium sneaks out and makes friends and goes on adventures when her family goes for meetings on other planets)

(one day, when astrium is preparing to go to star school equivalent he goes outside of his room with all his stuff...)

(...but instead of walking out into the hallway, everything BUT her room was bathed in pure white light, nearly blinding...)

(...curious, if this was some revenge prank trick, she walks out of the room expecting everything to be normal, for the light to fade away...)

(...and fell! Turns out the more mischievous stars in the constellation sent him out in the middle of nowhere galaxy to fall directly into earth because "if he liked them so much why doesn't he just join them?")

(so anyways astrium falls straight into earth and sneaks into a nearby town, and makes a disguise)

(Astrium meets marcel, a son of a farmer that gets pushed around by his horrible brother, melian, in said town and gives herself a cool nickname, visha, after figuring out the meaning because he wanted to look more cool)

(said town gets invaded by Evil Shadow Creatures Of Darkness™ and visha defeats them with his star powers and saves 3 magical children, Verita, Dorothy, and Reva)

(astrium, marcel, and melian gets found by Witches And Wizards who tell them visha is The Chosen Hero Of The Prophecy™, what a surprisee, visha goes along with it until...)

(...the magical person tells them that The Prophecy states that the Chosen One™ must be a human, from a seemingly poor town. According to what the magical people know, visha apparently fits all the criteria. She doesn't, but can't tell the magical people they were wrong yet because he had only been here for like, an hour or so)

(according to the magical people, marcel and melian are wizards too, and they have to attend the Magic School™ so they can fight the Dark Lord™-)

(but wait, visha remembered that from the human studies books, humans live for about 90+ years and more... And 11 year olds are children, immature children,)

(so that means they were forcing ELEVEN YEAR OLDS to defeat dark lords? Isn't that too young? Visha is technically somewhat young in star years, but what would a powerless eleven year old do against like, a really powerful Dark Lord™?)

(so visha continues the "totally human hahaha" act with his limited knowledge of the human world...)

(after a few days, visha goes on the Magic Train™ to go to magic school and meets one of the children he saved earlier, verita. He also gets along with another girl named sayaka which the older magical people they met earlier told them not to befriend with someone like sayaka BUT VISHA BEFRIENDED HER ANYWAY)

(visha and her new friends arrive at Magic School™, visha remembers to carry his old stuff which includes astraea's journal with her)

(visha learns about the 7 Guardians Of Hope And Peace™ who were the ones that chose the Chosen One™)

(these Creatures Of Darkness™ seem strangely familiar...)

(visha puts two and two together and realises OH SHIT THERE AREN'T JUST CREATURES OF DARKNESS THEY'RE TALKING ABOUT STARS)

(whoops so now there's ANOTHER reason visha has to hide his identity from the others)

(and if you compare astraea's journal to the history of the 7 Guardians Of Hope And Peace™... YIKES.)

(also the magical system in general is really weird and messed up from what it was before and they're teaching kids some Really Bad Lessons so now we have to defeat the 7 Guardians Of Hope And Peace™ which are actually embodiments for the 7 deadly sins and capitalism oops)

(HOW IS VISHA GOING TO GET OUT OF THIS ONE? FIND OUT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!)

[ripgray-moved]

killjoy :') i truly think you deserve a world of positive energy every single day, but since the dash is full of sweet things today i figured i could throw some extra love at you.

where do i even start with you ?? we joke about having the same brain all the time, but i'm starting to think it may be true ( jeremy kyle, wya i need a dna test ?? ) LMAO. i can't claim to know exactly why we became such fast friends, but i do know that i am and will always be so glad that we did. you're a real treasure.

and don't even get me started on our boys. daryl and peter are something unlike anything else, you know ?? their relationship is so unique and special in ways that no human language can truly explain. we've said it before— it's cosmic. astronomical. i get so excited about replying to our thread every single time because the story that we're crafting together is unlike anything and i love it so much.

and that reminds me. your peter ?? wow. just WOW, killjoy. i can't even express to you how much i adore your portrayal of peter. it's so in depth, and raw, and incredible. i could read / listen to your headcanons and analyses all day long.

i'll pack it in before this gets any longer, but i just wanted you to know how much i love your presence on my dash and in my life.

love, astraea ;') <3

DID Y'ALL KNOW I FUCKING LOVE THIS MOFO?

i'm not good at receiving compliments at all. like seriously, the worst. but i'm truly oh so grateful we met. you've become such a fast friend and yet you feel so fucking normal when it comes to my daily routine, which is incredibly rare for me? ( also wrote 'faily routine' first, which yeah. yeah )

daryl and peter have truly become so special to me? like fr, one of the best ships— of any variety— i've ever had the pleasure of writing while i've been roleplaying? like i'm not exaggerating. how EASY it was to smoosh these two together and have them become a duo and build off of one another? i'm sick. sick and feeble and weepy. i hold them gently in my old woman hand. i bake them into a casserole for my neighbours. i keep them in a little terrarium, like those cool pokemon figures from rement. they literally TRANSCEND romance? friendship? HUMAN CONNECTION? like how am i ever gonna write anything again?

[equinoxiansystem]

i understand that younger people can get swept up in discourse about not wanting to step on the toes of disabled people (DID, UDD, OSDD etc systems), but back in the day in the early 90s, the people paving the way and pioneering inclusive plural safe spaces were almost entirely endo systems. every single site about multiplicity from the 90s and 2000s focused very heavily on healthy and non disordered multiplicity and how DID (known as MPD back then) was valid and also a form of multiplicity... just not the ONLY one. they also helped dispell myths about DID, and gave links to accurate information about disordered plurality as well

there were people identifying as naturally and spiritually plural way, way before DID even got the name it has now, it's such a normal phenomenon that has numerous causes. sites like kinhost.org and Astraea's Web were all about discussing plurality without mentioning disorders, without passing judgment.

even so, the spiritual and natural multiplicity communities literally helped me realize i had DID. they gave me access to information about real people with DID like Truddi Chase and The Troops, and helped me research actual medical papers and documents. though a hard read, When Rabbit Howls helped me confirm that I also have DID... and I have only ever seen this book mentioned on sites run by non disordered systems. (lots of TWs for the book BTW please ask me or research before reading.)

we work best together. all system types make a great team. let's keep working together.

[pruesgaultier]

started writing a clarissa x fem oc story because there’s a severe shortage of them and i really wanna post about it but i’m trying to finish at LEAST the first 3 parts before i post but i’m literally soooo excited about it therefore i’m still going to tell you all about it and hopefully i post sometime this month !

i headcanon clarissa as a lesbian so keep that in mind

also, it needs to be known that i know absolutely nothing about the books. i tried to read them but sophie is soooo fucking insufferable i don’t even think i made it to chapter 3, so anything i know is from the wikia page or whatever i remember about once upon a time…

her name is astraea vivienne ryder (more specifically, dovey-ryder or ryder-dovey bc they’re married but i can’t decide which one i like).

she’s black, — darkskin — tall about 5’10, 5’11. she has long black braids with curly ends and she wears white and orange. she also wears thick gold arm bands (as a nod to dovey) and other gold jewelry.

shes a lesbian. she’s occasionally wears suits. her favorite flower is the orange lily. her nails are sharp, but not long, and usually painted white or gold. she doesn’t wear white to balls because it feels to wedding like.

— clarissa’s nicknames for her are my star and vivi. her nicknames for clarissa are mon coeur (my heart in french) and mon âme (my soul in french)

— astraea and clarissa are about a year apart in age but graduated (they graduate in sge right?! i mean it is school…) at the same time.

— clarissa fell first; astraea fell harder. clarissa confessed first. astraea proposed first. in the school, they were roommates and of course roommates !

— i wrote her as a fairy godmother cause i think clarissa being with another fairy godmother is cute plus, i needed a reason for her to be gone and then come back and her being away in a story made sense.

— i haven’t decided if i have want to keep her as one. kinda wanted her to be a witch, but the name astraea comes from a greek goddess and im like “hm…maybe?” so yea kinda stuck on what she is exactly.

— she mainly teaches history however, she’s knowledgeable in many subjects and occasionally teaches different classes

— her other nicknames are rae (by emma and lesso) and lady a (by students she likes). everyone else calls her professor ryder.

— astraea and lesso are best friends... surprisingly. their friendship started because of a prank war between the two (lesso was pleasantly surprised that an ever was capable of such things). they then decided to help each other prank the others’ school. so astraea pranked the nevers and lesso pranked the evers…

— astraea and emma are really close friends. emma was often subjected to astraea’s many, many rants about how much she was in love with clarissa.