#at least get everything done except trim

[cowboybutchboots]

back at the renovation grind ✌️😔

working on the guest room, had to replace more subfloor and i have to primer it bc we raised some kittens in here and they (and their mom who was semi-feral) were not too great at using the litter boxes. plus MORE drywall work

[andyoullhearitagain]

Every Starfleet Uniform Ranked By How Annoying The Sleeve Is To Sew, Part 2

Part 1

6. TOS Men's Uniform:

Here we have 1. Quite a severe curve 2. with a zipper in it 3. an invisible zipper at that 4. with pattern matching through the zipper at the collar

5. in velour (slippery). Woof.

7. Disco:

OK we've got two points of pattern matching, but they don't have to be too precise because they've got this round shiny striped piece between them. Of course that piecing means we're basically setting a sleeve in twice, but I will concede that the stretch will be more forgiving than a woven would be. Add in the piecing on the bicep and two different sticky rubber-y fabrics for further difficulty. 

8. TNG Version 2B and Voyager:

All the work of a tailored sleeve with an added inverse corner in an intersection of four seams.

PLUS two points of pattern matching, which is very tricky in an armsyce because you're trying to get the pitch right. You can see in TNG they often have trouble with it and have either a jog in the pattern matching

or too much ease in the wrong place to force the pattern to match.

They seem to have figured it out by Voyager though. I'm also fairly certain they have raglan shoulder pads in them instead of regular ones, which isn't really harder I guess but is a bit odd (no shade, they're incredibly flattering).

9. DS9/ TNG Movies:

All the difficulties of the TNG armscye and now we've added trim, meaning we really have four points of pattern matching instead of two. I could be persuaded that the contrast pieces are applied over the upper sleeve piece instead of pieced, which is easier than what TNG is doing.

10. Enterprise:

I think this is regular raglan sleeve and not some kind of half raglan/half set in sleeve like we see in TNG. Either way it's a bit easier than the TNG sleeve because the trim and yoke are applied on top and top stitched. But we've still got that mitered corner in our bias trim and our four points of pattern matching on the shoulder seam. And then we've also added like four zippers!!!

11. Picard:

What did the stitchers do to this designer? FOUR inverse corners (I guess at least it doesn't intersect a seam this time) PLUS the piecing at the cuff, PLUS all the pattern matching at the armscye, and all in stretch (I think). The only reason it's not the most difficult sleeve is because it looks fairly flat and I bet if you do a nice tight hand baste you can get everything lined up on the first try. Also this is not strictly speaking part of the sleeve but those little corners in the yoke? Good grief.

12. TNG Version 2A:

Never in my life have I seen an armscye like this. What is this even called? How do you construct it? I suppose I would sew the sleeve pieces together, set them in the armscye, then sew the raglan/yoke pieces together at the shoulder seam and then stitch them all the way across the front and then all the way across the back. But good grief. The ONLY other sleeve I could find remotely like this is this 1940s Simplicity pattern (it's on ebay if you want it).

With a few added seams you can imagine what these pattern pieces must look like.

13. TNG Version 1:

All the malarkey of 2A except you've got to do it in spandex. I'd pick wool any day. We also have a second yoke (?!) so now we have to do that little inverse corner TWICE and also add piping. Never in my life have I done an intersection of piping correctly the first time.

And then on top of all that it's ugly. Terrible sewing experience. Worst sleeve in Star Trek *bangs gavel*.

[zephyrchama]

Quick Leviathan fluff that got out of control (1.4k words). SFW with suggestive aspects, MC's gender isn't mentioned.

---🧵🪡---

Ever since the release of the new Hana Ruri: Transparent Tarot Arc promotional video, Leviathan had make himself scarce. He'd erratically come out for food once in a while or grab an Akuzon package within minutes of it being delivered, but you hadn't received so much as a text from him in a week.

A mechanical whirring sometimes emanated from his room - the sound of a sewing machine at work. The occasional Sucre Frenzy song would accompany it. Nobody was worried, but it at least let everyone know the Avatar of Envy was still alive. Sometimes you'd peek in to make sure he was okay and leave a sandwich at the door. It gets lonely without him though, and eventually you went to talk with him.

The room was chilly, with the AC cranked up high. Leviathan was sitting on the ground, facing the door but blind to everything except the materials in front of him. Rolls of lace and ribbon, jars of sparkling cabochons, cases full of colorful thread and assorted sewing needles. With an impressed "woah!" you moved some empty boxes aside and sat down across from him to get a better look.

He jumped. "Gah! Don't sneak up on me like that!"

"I knocked."

"I'm busy right now. I have to finish this, it's almost ready." Leviathan glanced at his desk.

A nearly exact replica of Ruri's new PV outfit was laid out next to his PC setup. It was gorgeous. Each piece had been painstakingly recreated and carefully set out over the empty flat surfaces in his room. Fully lined with a glittering beaded trim. The base fabric had a high quality sheen even in the dim light of Levi's room, with satin stitched silk applique petals accenting the skirt.

You admired the handiwork. Then, you admired its maker. Leviathan was carefully stitching fabric flowers to a hat with intense focus. He relied on holding in small, shallow breaths to prevent his hands from shaking. He was blinking more than usual, fighting off the accumulated sleep deprivation. It marred his handsome face with dark eye bags.

You sat next to him for a while and stared. The usually shy Leviathan was too engrossed in his crafting to pay any mind. The more focused he got, the more he frowned, accentuating the wrinkles around his mouth.

"Yeah... you need a break."

"Not now." He picked up a thin awl and poked some holes where the seam was particularly thick.

Talking was futile, you quickly noted that nothing you said would make a difference, so you watched. Every few minutes, a portion of Leviathan's long bangs fell in front of his eyes and he'd blow them out of the way. He flinched when you gently swept them out of the way, as though he forgot you were there.

He huffed. "Like I said! I just have to finish this, so leave me alone. I'm almost done."

The exhaustion was clearly taking over. You hated seeing Leviathan like this, a cold grumpy shell of his normally warm and passionate self.

You intercepted his hand when he reached for another bushel of flowers. His fingertips were calloused and dotted with red indents from hand sewing thousands of stitches without a thimble. It looked painful. No wonder he was working so slowly.

"Levi..."

You lightly traced over his damaged fingertips before weaving your fingers together. You gave his hand a squeeze and his expression slightly eased.

"You're so soft," he grumbled, then fiercely shook his head. "I have to keep working, let go."

That was out of the question. You were determined to break him and force him to rest. You held on and rubbed your thumb on his.

"Ghh, stop!"

Leviathan could easily push you away, but he didn't. Instead, he raised your entwined hands to his face and pressed them against his cheek. "I'm so tired."

"I know."

"You smell so good. It's distracting."

"Thanks. Your dress is pretty."

"It's not... it's... not enough..." Tears appeared in the corners of his eyes. "I can't find the right iridescent fabric so the colors will look off in the sunlight, and my shoulders are too broad so the silhouette of the top looks weird. So to compensate I made the sleeves bigger with more poof but I had to add more darts and you can see there are more seam lines here than in the reference image. And the buttons would look better with a wooden texture but all I had on me to make them was resin, which bubbled on the back, so what if their structural integrity is weake--"

Levi eeped, stiffening as you leaned into a tight hug. You were glad he was talking to you. But he was overthinking, and frustrated. Stressed, and more than anything he needed to take a break.

You expressed as much, scooting back while holding his shoulders at arm's length. "You might think it sucks, but this costume is all you've been doing. You haven't looked at anything else in a week so you've got nothing to compare it to. It's so gorgeous, Levi. Every stitch. Take a break with me and I'll help you finish it in the morning. You'll see how amazing it really is. Okay?"

A tear drop slid down his face, he quickly wiped it away. Leviathan avoided your gaze by staring at his creation, unwilling to walk away while it remained unfinished. "I'm so tired," he repeated.

"Hana Ruri-tan would want you to take a nap. And I want you to take a nap."

Leviathan frowned again, having no logical way to refute that statement. You let him tidy up a few final things as you inspected his bed-tub.

Scraps of spare fabric dangled over the sides. You picked up his sheets to brush off loose threads, plucking out a few loose pins in the process. Pillows were fluffed. Extra fabric was put on a hanger and moved elsewhere. Rolls of ribbon were wound back up. It was kind of relaxing.

Leviathan was rushing to glue a rhinestone when you called him over, his last-ditch attempt to get one more thing finished. You let him spend another couple of minutes waiting for the paste to get tacky. Once it was finally secured in place on the hat brim, he thankfully didn't object any further. After wiping his hands clean he flopped magnificently into bed.

Not even five seconds passed by before he griped, "I can't fall asleep. I can't stop thinking about the costume. I should finish it now."

"Nooo, no, no. No. Move over, you're not getting up. I'm getting in." You slipped into the tub before he could pick himself up, draping your legs over his. "The hat can wait until morning. Then we can get pics of everything, too."

Leviathan sighed in stubborn agreement. His orange eyes, puffy and a little irritated, were looking right at you for the first time that evening.

"You'll let me think about you then, right?" he asked quietly. He wrapped his arms around you, one hand bunching up the fabric on the back of your shirt while the other grazed against your bare skin. His rough fingers traced along your spine. You made a mental note to help him bandage them later.

Pulling you flush against his upper body, he nudged his face into the side of your neck and slid his lips up your shoulder. You hooked an arm under his to gently comb through his hair, resting your chin against his head. It tickled a little, but you felt each passing breath get heavier and slower as your comforting scent lulled Leviathan into much-needed sleep. You soon followed his lead.

Come morning, Leviathan had you in a tight grip while you blearily woke up on top of him. His wandering hands had found their way up your shirt during the night and one of his legs was thrown over yours. You had planned the surprise of getting up early to finish his hat for him, but at this point a surprise morning snuggle was all you could manage.

"Hmmh? What... oh!" Levi woke quickly, with the intense determination of someone ready to finish the cosplay they've been crunching for a week straight. He looked so much better with color returned to his face. Too much color, perhaps, as the more he let go of you the redder his blush became.

"I'll be... uh... bathroom." He dragged himself out of the tub and quickly walked towards the hall, failing miserably to cover his blatant embarrassment.

"Wait! Can I start working on some things while you're gone?" you asked, motioning towards the nearly-finished costume.

Leviathan nodded. "Uh, yeah...? Go ahead."

"And you'll try it all on for me when you get back, right?"

With a full night's rest behind him and the finish line in clear sight, the giddiness of an exciting new cosplay was returning and Leviathan gave a cheerful "yeah... Ok, yeah! I'll be right back, so don't go anywhere!"

[dontneedhair]

From The Neck Down

This was when I was still in the process of doing a first full scalp epilation, which explains the unregular shadow.

While epilating my scalp was, at that point, still something very new to me, I had already been a long-time user of epilators everywhere else on my body. With the exception of my scalp and brows, there is no body part I haven't epilated for at least ten years.

The first area where I tried not to shave and instead to remove the hair by ripping it out, was my pubic hair. I started with tweezers though (and I would still recommend at least thinning them out this way). My pubes were shaved most of the time already, and at some point, instead of taking the shaver, I ended up tweezing them one by one. Starting from the happy trail and then going down further and further; however, not everything in one session, that would have taken too long. When everything was gone, I kept it up with regular plucking sessions.

While that was really exciting, it took a lot of time, which is why I ended up buying an epilator and trying my luck with that (I had found some information that others had used one on their pubic hair). And it worked pretty well, especially since the hair had been pulled out repeatedly already. I didn't use the epilator on my penis and scrotum, except for very small patches and carefully stretching the skin to avoid any accidents. For beginners, there I'd recommend to take only tweezers.

From there on, it didn't take long for me to try the epilator everywhere below the neck. I'd say I had a normal body hair coverage, maybe just slightly on the sparse side, but the individual hairs were relatively thin, which helped in the process, I believe.

More or less in that order, after the pubic hair, I epilated:

My butt - surprisingly easy, if my memory serves me well, even the crack wasn't very painful (and yes, it is possible to epilate there). From my experience and as a general rule, the more muscle/tissue there is under the skin, the less it should hurt.

The rest of my stomach and my chest - the stomach hurt a little more, but all in all, that was rather uneventful.

(I love having smooth legs)

My thighs and knees - already more painful, the pain varying depending on the side; inner thighs and knees could have hurt most, but it was a long time ago, and compared to the scalp, everything I'm talking about here is pretty harmless anyhow. If my memory serves me well, I also used the tweezers on the knees to get some of the hairs the epilator couldn't.

My calves - don't remember any specific problems there.

My feet - done rather quickly, not that much hair anyway.

(I wouldn't want to miss the skin-on-skin feeling under my arms)

My underarms - I think the pain was bearable under there.

My arms - some problems with the elbows, tweezers needed, just like in the case of the knees.

My hands - mostly ok, except for the upper outer sides that I remember being painful; that's also where most the hair was, and not that much tissue underneath.

(unlike my legs, the arms will be seen by others a lot during summer)

A couple of things that go for all of these places:

Trim before epilating: I sometimes see videos of guys who try out epilating on full length body hair, almost inevitably ending with them giving up after seconds (and screaming). Not a good idea. Instead, I'd trim everything to half a centimetre, sometimes even less, depending on the epilator. That way, the affected area of the skin is a lot smaller, the hairs will all be pulled in a similar direction, and the epilator is less likely to jam.

Find an epilator that works on very short stubble, even 1mm or less: This might depend on what your hair is like, in my case this one worked like a charm:

Later, for maintenance purposes, I added another one that rotates a lot faster. However, the slower speed is much better in the beginning.

And I've always preferred models that use a cord as power supply. No reason to worry that the epilator could run out of battery in the middle of a session.

Ingrown hairs: For me, that was only a problem where my pubes used to be (but not on my genitals). They didn't cause any major infection requiring to see a doctor, and at some point they just disappeared. Lots of people say using some kind of peeling product helps, I mainly just ignored those pimples. After some years, it simply stopped happening, which is probably caused by a lot less hair growing back. I read somewhere that it's precisely the ingrown hairs that are more likely not to grow back, if that's any consolation.

These days, I use three different epilators on my body - my fast one which works very efficiently nearly everywhere for maintenance purposes, the above mentioned model exclusively for my butt crack, and a gentler, curved one for parts of my penis/scrotum. The bits where I don't take the epilator are still cleared up with a pair of tweezers.

Ripping out the entire hairs means that you don't get *stubble*. Instead, the hair that reappears is thinner at first and will only get thicker if you let it grow further. If you don't wait too long with the maintenance, over time maintenance will become a lot faster and almost painless.

I prefer to go over each area twice a week, simply because I want the smooth feel. But even if I waited for a week or more, the regrowth would be so fine that it would be invisible for everyone not specifically looking for it.

[sea-lanterns]

The horns got me curious about how one would manage them, so I looked some stuff up and I got bad news (don’t look any further unless you’re willing to accept your dreams of adorable part-goat children with pool noodles on their horns being destroyed, and also some vague descriptions of the potential side-effects of having horns. Theresa a TL;DR at the end if you want to skip the very unwholesome details, while also leaving you on a far more wholesome note):

As it turns out, unless they’re using their horns for self-defense (not very useful if you already have opposable thumbs) or heat regulation (which wouldn’t be necessary in this case, as the kid’s part-human nature means she probably already regulates temperature very efficiently via sweating, and even most actual goats don’t have dense enough fur for overheating to be an issue outside of environments that even normal humans would consider worryingly hot) there is literally no good reason for a goat to have horns. Because as it turns out, while incidents such as accidentally breaking your own neck after getting your horns stuck in a fence aren’t much of an issue for something with human intelligence, unless trimmed regularly (which can be incredibly painful unless done very carefully and skillfully) horns can still grow around and eventually circle back into the animal’s own skull!

The humane thing to do is to burn to death the tissue that would otherwise eventually grow into the horn. It’s fairly painful for the kid, since it’s usually done as soon as kid has developed enough for one to tell where the tissue is so as to be sure the tissue is killed before the horn can start to grow, meaning that the kid is usually too young to safely take very strong anesthetics (AFAIK, at least—I’m neither a veterinarian nor a farmer).

However, although ‘disbudding’ (as the process is called) can be quite painful, ‘dehorning’ (which is required if the horn has already formed), while more likely to occur at an age when the kid can safely take very strong anesthetics, is also far more risky. This is because dehorning both requires a specially trained veterinarian and is far less reliable than disbudding even when done by such a professional, as there’s always the risk that the horn will just grow back anyways—except now they’re deformed and far more immediately threatening.

TL;DR: On the human body (or even on most domesticated goats) horns lose all the advantages they give to wild goats while still retaining some major risks, so you want to do everything you can to keep the horns from developing in the first place—otherwise they’ll end up having to deal with the risky and nail-biting process of carefully shaving down those horns down to just before the horn’s very sensitive bony core every few months, like Ganyu presumably has had to do hundreds of times throughout her very long life. On the upside, at least horn shaving is a good bonding experience with Ganyu, kinda like how getting a shave means trusting somebody enough to let them put an extremely sharp blade directly against your throat without fear of harm, accidental or not.

Well, as terrifying as this all seems, horns growing close to the goat’s eyes can be fixed by the occasional trimming with a saw wire. When the horn grows too close to the eye, I believe people use a saw wire to cut off the tip, but not deep enough where it would hit a nerve/blood vessel. I don’t think it hurts when you trim it just at the tip, but the goats do feel a big vibration through their horns :0

I’m no sheep/goat expert though, just a city girl who watched a few goat trimming videos before lol. Either way, I don’t think Ganyu’s baby would have their horns grow too close to their face. Ganyu is more than capable of taking care of their horns (this includes shaving it when needed) and making sure they don’t grow too long in the first place :)

[grumpy-zane]

[takes place after this]

The route from the monastery to Dareth's was burned into memory. He had followed it a hundred times, most without difficulty or obstruction. A memory snagged of the last time they saw each other, it was at the funeral where Dareth gave him a spare key to his apartment. 'Stop by if you need to get away,' Dareth had told him, and yet he denied that offer completely.

Now here he was, sticking that very key into the door and pushing his way in. As usual, the room was a half disaster, but at least this time it was mostly books on law.

How odd, did he switch jobs again? What happened to Laffys?

"Hello?" Kai hoarsed.

"Huh?" Dareth looked up from the TV and jumped, "Kai! Quiet as always with your footsteps, heh."

The two stared at each other. Kai shifted uncomfortably as he realized that a hug wasn't coming.

clearing his throat, he gave a half smile, "I guess so. It's been awhile."

"I'd say, your hair is a disaster," he half joked, "want it cut? Where have you been- er, how have you been?"

-

Everything felt familiar, unchanged and yet distant. Of course Dareth, the ever optimistic, would offer anything at the drop of a hat, but why did it feel so fake? Perhaps it always was, and only now did he notice.

He was set back in the chair and under the faucet, gentle hands combing through the mop of wet hair. He said nothing, instead honing in on the question of minor details. "So, did you sell your bar?"

"Nah, I still own it, I just needed a change of pace. You know me, can never stay in one place too long," he chuckled.

The more personal question slipped out, "have you always had grey hairs?"

The hands clamped down as Dareth leaned over to meet his eyes. "Have you always had a dozen freckles?" His tone was light, but his eyes said otherwise. He grabbed the soap, "Well, you tend to get them in my line of work. It doesn't look bad does it?"

"N-no of course not, I was just." Kai sighed, "I was just noticing. It's been awhile."

"About a year," the slightest hint of annoyance cupped the words, "you left me worried you know? Just falling off like that, I'm sure I'm not the only one."

"Yeahh..." Lloyd had said something similar. Kai was sat up and spun around to face the mirror, "I just miss her so much... I've known her all my life, she was everything to me for so long, and now..." he paused and felt the metal shears glide around the nape of his neck. "I don't know what to do without her."

A chunk of hair fell to the floor, followed by another and another. He worked silently, his own thoughts swirling. "I don't think anyone ever knows what to do when they lose someone close to them, except to live on."

"Easier said than done," Kai mumbled. "Cole wanted me to be a ninja again, to get everyone together to do whats right, but I don't know if I can. Nya would want me to, but..."

"It's not what you want to do. But you do want to do something."

"I want to do what's right."

He gently ran the electric razor up and down, "no one is saying you have to be a ninja all the time, Kai. Look at me, I'm a ninja when it's needed, but it's not my main gig. Just help where you can- you're really good at that."

"But is it enough?"

Dareth spun him around, smiling as he cupped his shoulders, "Of course. Why wouldn't it be?"

Soon he was spun back around, his hair trimmed back to the way he had it before: shorter in the back, longer in the front. His eyes landed on the small horn stubs, and then down to the redder patch across his nose.

"It's not a bad look," Dareth chimed.

"Just will take some getting used to," Kai smirked. "Thanks, Dareth. I owe you."

"It's on the house."

[konan720]

-Logs from Sapphire-

(Log 1: New Crew)

"Is this thing working?" A rattling, mic-popping noise could be heard as the device was shifted "I think so… if that red blinking light means anything…" a woman sat in front of it, an old relic from a time long past. "Hello! My name is Sapphire! I work for… the 'Company'."

Her work suit color had been customized, whether it was against company policy or not was a guess in the dark. It is two shades of blue (light and dark) with yellow and white trims, the oxygen tanks she carries off on mission are also two shades of teal (light and dark). She had a few decals here and there, but she was mostly proud of the three-leaf clover on her chest.

"I wish I could tell you more, but even I don't know… maybe I did at some point?" She scratched at her cover head, teal visor glistening in the ship light.

The lady sighed.

"My crew…" you could hear clicking in the background, then scuttling, then buzzing with the side of even more annoyed clicking. "Hey- hey! No fighting in the ship!" The lady gave off a few annoyed clicks of her own as she stood up. The noise had quieted down as she walked back.

"My previous crew didn't… survive…" she leaned back and stretched her legs, "I don't know how I'm alive, or why they left me to live…" Sapphire put tired hands down after holding them up like she was explaining a theory board. "Maybe they pitied me, maybe they cared about me… it's hard to be sure with anyone at all nowadays."

"I've asked for a transfer! Or at least new crewmen to join! No one came!" She raised her voice, "Not an answer at all!" The insect-like chatter came back, though it only responded to her loud voice. After that it was quite "now-, and don't ask me how! I'm not even sure! I don't think it's even heard off!" She shifted the camera over to the left "My new 'crew' is a bunch of bugs that followed me back to my ship!"

"They wouldn't leave!?" She gestured to them "But they brought me stuff!?" Saying Sapphire was confused was an understatement. She was probably breaking company rules by doing this as well, but the little guys work hard and she's pretty sure they don't understand her. "Four hoarding bugs! There was… five? But the little pest with wing started attacking me, and I had to defend myself."

The group of bugs looked up at her, then at the thing pointed at them. They carefully walked up to her and politely reached for the old camera "After that, they all started following me." She handed one of them the camera as it was shifted around being inspected "I thought they attacked as a pack once threatened, but I guess they hated that guy too."

There was fighting again, over the camera this time. Sapphire quickly snatched it away before they got too rough.

"They do a good job finding scrap, especially since more of the hostile entities don't bother with the bugs." She placed it back on the command console "Except for bunkers spiders, they can't deal with those. So I take care of them, the bugs take care of me. I find the big stuff, they run off for the little things."

"I think they see the ship as their new nest. A magical box that changes the outside." She chuckled at that. "I hadn't run into much trouble, yet. And I'm thankful for these little suckers… I probably couldn't have made it this far without them."

She didn't want to think about what would happen if she didn't make the quota.

"The job is hard, the company is ignoring me, my crew are a bunch of hoarding bugs; I have to survive somehow." She sighed again, tired about everything "I can still request rations and water, I can still work and move; I guess that's all the company cares about."

"It's not about how it gets done; it's if it gets done, now." She had thoughts about leaving the company, but… she'd heard some rumors, and to be fair she didn't want to test them. If she died a horrible death, it might as well look like she died a good employee. Maybe then the company will notice her again.

But in the end, she's just tired, and this is all she can do. Pass the time before her untimely end.

"End of log one…"

[gargoyleandgremlinpress]

(I have so much help with all of this. SO MUCH.)

I knew last week would get busy with other commitments! I printed two more typesets, trimmed three more text blocks, and failed at making a tiny book during Six’s tiny book speedrun workshop! (I think I’ve figured out where I failed in the page-folding, it’s fine, and I’m going to give it another shot. (TINY BOOKS SO SMOL AND CUTE! I just might have trawled through my bookmarks looking for 3-5K book to go into tiny books.)

I’m doing hand-sewn headbands, because I find it relaxing, except for one book that’s skinny enough to just be too fiddly.

There has been some cloth and paper selection.

I made wheat paste! And book covers!

And assembled books, and stencilled the covers and spines!

Two books done, twelve more in progress. I'll share final pictures of everything once the month is up. I need to print at least one more to hit my goal of fifteen case-bound for the month.

The weekend brought a marbling demo to follow up on last weekend’s Q&A with @aetherseer and co-conspirator. Not as many threats to eat the marbling supplies this time, @renegadepublishing peeps, you must have had more snacks in advance.

[arcplaysgames]

lmao okay akechi i fucking dare you to go to the police with that. i dare you. here is my weird iphone panorama photo except someone moved and fucked up the image.

but no he has video too so FIIIINE I GUEEEEEESS that's decent blackmail material.

YOU LIE LIKE A BEIGE RUG

allegedly when Akechi was following the Thieves around, he ran into Black Mask, who shot at him, and the confrontation awakened Akechi to his persona.

Did I not say that we wouldn't see his awakening? Because he's deffo had his persona for longer than a month.

All of Akechi's testimony is contrived as fuck and has nothing to back it up, but because the Thieves are panicking (and are kinda dumb) they don't question any of it. Instead, Akechi just lays out his ultimatum: either they help him uncover the true identity of the "real" killer, or he turns them over to the police.

i wanna crack open his skull and read it like tasseomancy, what the fuck is even going through his head, what is his morality, what are his goals. I have no fucking idea.

I KNOW HE'S THE KILLER. Like, the thing about Persona games (or at least 4 and 5) is that you reach a point in the story where the story narrows things down until there is only one option left. As with Adachi, Akechi has been suspect for a long fucking time, but eventually the branches of the story get trimmed until there is only one option remaining. And it is Akechi.

.... Hm. And like with Adachi, I have no idea what his motivations are. Funny, that.

hang on, after the meeting, everyone leaves except Reverie and Morgana, and things go hazy and weird for a sec before the scene abruptly ends. And Morgana's little icon there is the "talking" icon, not the "surprise" or "confusion" icon.

What is happening? Is something important occurring that the story is obfuscating or is Reverie-In-The-Framing-Device getting woozy?

The School Festival is over, Akechi bails on the rest of the interview without answering who the Thieves are.

There's an extended animated cutscene where Kasumi dances at the post-festival dance? But uh. I don't.... care. Sorry, Kasumi, you are suffering from how tacked on you feel to the story.

Like, Kasumi's bit is so OBVIOUSLY shoehorned in, it's coinciding with the exact same place where Reverie is supposed to have a mandatory hangout with Haru?

Like, Kasumi and Reverie leave, the game says the dance is over....

THEN HARU TEXTS AND IS LIKE "HEY THE DANCE IS STARTING, WANNA HANG" AND REVERIE TURNS AROUND AND GOES BACK IN

l m a o Persona 5 Royal, you are KILLIN me here. this is worse than that time Mishima said "kek" out loud, goddammit.

Haru is much more likeable. She gets called up to do an impromptu interview and the emcee is an asshole and starts asking about how she feels about the Phantom Thieves killing her fucking dad

so Reverie stands up and causes a commotion

Reverie is the best protagonist yet.

AND

THEN

OH SHIT WE'RE FUCKIN RUMBLED, DAD KNOWS

Sojiro obviously noticed his daughter has gone through a significant change in the past few months but has chalked it up to her finally finding friends her age who support her. But finding the calling card seems to confirm his worst fears.

FUTABA'S VA IN THIS IS AMAZING BTW she is palpably trying to explain something very emotional while staving off a fucking meltdown and the way she struggles to control her words is like-- I HAVE BEEN HERE. I HAVE DONE THIS EXACT STACCATO SPEECH PATTERN.

It's fabulous.

I was straight up ready to fess up but Sojiro doesn't Get It and seems to think Reverie is just linked to the Thieves somehow

i wanna crush Futaba against my chest and hug her for about an hour

YOU ARE MY DAD, YOU'RE MY DAD, BOOGIE WOOGIE WOOGIE

gurrrrrrl, same tho

The Thieves meet up the next day to go over everything they know before giving Akechi an answer. Makoto lays out that all of this, the hacking, the manipulation of the media, the way Okumura was placed in their path, the hype cycle around the Thieves, it was all a huge set-up and set-ups like that take money and resources to happen. Ergo, the person they're up against is no Republic serial villain, they're either an extremely powerful individual or a whole organization.

Also there is a 30 million yen reward for details about them now.

Yes I know I'm a huge bitch and I loudly dislike Ryuji and I have been screaming for tens of hours now what he and Mishima are broadly to blame for all of this shit happening.

It's deeply satisfying to see the rubber band finally snap back as the weight of his actions falls on him. Yeah, he's like 16, 17, but he's been toying with people's hearts and minds like it's a game to win. It's turned him into a kinda terrible dude, so the clarity hitting him this hard is actually reassuring. Somewhere in that brain, he knows the gravity of this fuck up, he knows he's gone astray. Not even led astray, he was hyped for fame all the way back before Madarame. First a desire for recognition, sure, but it grew into a ravenous monster appetite for infamy and all the perks that come with it.

I'm just relieved that the fucking hours upon hours of dealing with his horseshit was actually building to something. That doesn't make me like him, but it makes me feel satisfied that all of that was intentional.

Now if we can just get Mishima in on this shit.

Good for you, realization of the self is the first step to changing the self. Now please: grow as a fucking person, i'm begging you.

Also he apologizes for his outburst scaring Ann and Haru.

Still nothing for Morgana, so that ship has sunk.

oh btw in case you don't believe me, here is Mishima literally saying "kek".

we should have stolen his fucking heart when we had the chance, jesus fuck

[luckyshotwrites]

Ch. 85 // Idiocy // Day 59

Contents (Warnings): Lynette starts her training (slight angst, vore mentions, character and monster info as always). Read full chapter on A03

Wordcount: 2,138 (Sorry, I've been busy with some irl problems and new puppy!)

Song I correlate to this Chapter: Not found yet!

-------------------------------------------------------------------

(Nov. 25th, Friday)

Lynette

We were still off for Thanksgiving 'weekend'. Work resumed tomorrow, Saturday. So, Wicks took it upon himself to stage our training today.

That's why I was a bouncy, nervous wreck. I never used a weapon to fight someone before. 

I also wasn't thrilled to see Garter coming along. Not because I disliked him, I liked Garter, but I didn't want more people to witness my incompetence.

I don't want them laughing at me later. 

Knife? Wicks hadn't mentioned what the weapon was until now. I can't imagine a stab wound would do anything against them. They could use reversal magic and then crush me into dust.

A hand gently caressed my back, rubbing it firm and reassuringly. It jostled my sweater. "It'll be fine. We are going over the basics today. You need to learn how to handle a knife."

I didn't like the idea of being made into a tub of protein powder.

Lev. My mind whirled back to the blender incident. I knew I'd be fine, physically, yet it was an experience I never wanted again.

The umber-skinned male popped up to meet us. He always wore a cheery smile, "If you do good today, we can get ice cream too."

It's a very tempting incentive. I had to act like it wasn't—Wicks remained on standby. He waited to joke with me about being excited for some ice cream. 

I held it back. "That sounds lovely."

"You're trying too hard, Lentils." Wicks whispered to me.

"I don't know what you're talking about." I raised my chin and crossed my arms. 

"And if you fail today, no ice cream," Garter said. 

"What!"

Wicks pulled his arm back, "Yep. You even have to watch us eat it."

Garter pulled back when the elevator dinged for our floor. "Good idea, Boss. We get ice cream regardless. I like it."

"That's not fair," I whimpered. How can they be so cruel? 

Wicks stepped out first. The elevator itself already looked to be of a higher class with the mirrors behind us and the sheer size, capacity, and trim. However, the inside of the building itself felt eerily imposing. Everything looked to be made from wood, polished and gleaming with an invitation I didn't ask for.

The space felt so vast I imagined it'd fit at least two Naga's comfortably, plus I could see there were several halls that looked to branch in different directions as if they were at the center of a maze.

And worst of all, it was quiet. I didn't hear much coming from any direction, except a light tapping that I couldn't see the owner of.

Another subject that made little sense, despite the ornate details done to the walls and grand arches above, there are no chairs, tables or artwork. Nothing.

I barely took a few steps outside, before Garter threw his head in front of me. "Don't worry, I can sneak you some ice cream if you do badly."

He's sweet. 

"Thanks," I whispered back. 

The mystery behind the tapping was solved.

Garter and I moved out of the way for the thin, stalky male, much like Garter, to scramble forward. He went straight for the elevator. I ducked under the long rolls of papers.

They look like building schematics. Is this place new?

"Oh, sorry!" Their voice left in a timid croak. He flipped back to face us—he huffed, and his short chestnut locks spurred out as rushed as he was. 

"You okay, Zetsu?" Wicks put a hand on my arm and pulled me closer, unconsciously. 

He nodded, then heard the elevator door closing, and blocked it with his foot and body. It made his papers fall from his arms and onto the ground. "Ah!" Garter got the door for him while Wicks and I helped clean up. 

"I'm sorry my head has been spinning lately." I piled a few scrolls into his arms.

Wicks loaded the last scroll, "I also thought you were leading us to our block today?"

His loose smile dropped, "Yes! Good thing you caught me, ha, ha..." he let his head fall to the side. He muttered more apologies under his breath. "You're in block D, and the training weapons are out. I just got called upstairs." He bowed his head, "Thank you, Wicks, and..."

He stopped his bow. His vibrant violet eyes, which reminded me of Zilla and Zane's, inspected every inch of me. I felt like they picked at every detail of me. 

"I don't think we've met?"

"She's a new recruit," Wicks said. 

I was told to pretend Wicks and I didn't know each other and I was a rank, classless.

"Well, hello, I'm Zetsûboooooooo," he attempted to put his hand out to me and almost dropped them all again. I threw my hands against him to help keep them in place. He fixed his grip. "Thank you, and call me Zetsu for short."

"I'm Lynette, nice to meet you, Zetsu." I shared a smile, "No handshakes are necessary. You worry about getting to where you got to go with all of those intact."

As I said that, the elevator door Garter was holding open beeped. 

Zetsu threw himself back into it so it could close. "Okay! Thank you, and nice to meet you too, Lynette!" The door closed after.

"Is he a friend of yours too?" I asked Wicks.

"Kinda..." Wicks shifted his gaze. Garter pulled back from the elevator in toe. 

"Did something happen?" I asked, absentmindedly tugging at his hoodie. Is he dangerous? He seemed fine? I'm not the best judge of character, am I? My head scrolled back to Claudia. I would have never known...

Wicks peered down and gently put his hand on mine. "I'll tell you later." 

Garter walked ahead of us, leading. I released his hoodie. Should I be worried? Did I meet some kind of terrible beast? Why would Wicks not want to talk about it now? Were they something to him before.

My eyes widened, and I gasped, "was that the person you were dating? IT wasn't a LIE!"

Wicks stopped in his tracks. He flicked his head to me immediately, utterly confused.

Garter quickly got to us. He used my head as an armrest and encroached upon Wicks's face. "YOU WERE DATING SOMEONE?!" 

The anxious befuddlement grew on my brother's face. "What are you..." he trailed off. Put his lips together to keep his mouth shut and backed up. 

"You were lying to me!" I exclaimed. Garter was still using my head as a rest. 

He yelled out, putting his hands over his face. "I'M SORRY! I couldn't think of anything else to say that might sound plausible! I couldn't tell you the truth yet."

The fingers he tangled with his hair pulled more strands out, and it fell over his face.

His best friend finally let me move freely. "You shouldn't lie about a bond mate if you're embarrassed. I'm without one, but I carry it with pride." 

"It wasn't for that, Garter!" Wicks pushed himself ahead. "No more talking about this, especially not in the halls. Let's get your training started." 

...

Wicks

I can't hurt her. He didn't realize how hard it would be to simply grab Lynette out of things. 

He constantly hesitated and retreated from any slash she did.

Thus, he called a break so she could keep going over the feel, weight, and motions he taught her. 

"What's the matter, Boss?" Garter questioned. His friend loved getting up close and personal with people and to make himself their "height". Every time you do that, I feel smaller...

"What did I say about-" Wicks cut himself off and exhaled. He wouldn't argue about the 'boss' nickname today. He pressed his back further into the wall. "I'm so afraid I might hurt her."

Garter looked over at Lynette, who had her back to them. She was determined, to say the least, even though her form was subpar at best. Especially when she stood before Wicks or Garter with the training weapon. Her hands shook like a chihuahua outside in a thunderstorm. 

"You put a cloak on her; she'll be fine." Garter gave two thumbs up as reassurance. 

"yeah." Wicks bit the bottom of his lip. I would never go that hard on her, but I don't know why I keep imagining it. "I don't know."

Garter stood up straight. He tilted his head to stare at the high ceiling. Then, a bright grin peeled open his lips, his very subtle incisors were shown. "Let me take over. I'll gladly train her!"

What?! "Garter-"

He didn't even let Wicks rebuttal. 

The tall lad made his way across the grounds and to Lynette. "Hey Lynette, I will be your training partner today instead of Wicks!"

Wicks glanced back and forth between her and Garter. She looks tiny. 

The Oni of the mountains waved both of his hands at him when he saw Wicks's concern. "It'll be fine, boss—I'll go super easy on her! Trust me!"

Lynette peered at her big brother. He wouldn't dare... Garter had a track record of hunting smaller prey. They got most of those urges out with training, yet he still falls victim to it occasionally.

The only reason I even brought Garter was because I promised him we'd get some training in today. "Sounds good." Wicks shouted back. He said it for Lynette's nerves and gave the go ahead to Garter. I'll trust him.

Wicks thought, though he intently watched every motion Garter made. 

So far, his best friend didn't purposefully try to break the cloak; instead, Garter never gave her a chance to strike him. He'd quickly grab her out of a strike, pin her down, disarm her, or hold her arms up so she couldn't attack him.

He's just bullying her. 

Wicks sighed, he undid his ponytail entirely. He pet at his straighter hair. He gathered a few things so far. I should start training her in basic combat too. If she knows how to properly move and hit someone, she'd be more effect with a knife. She's relying on the strikes too much.

Garters tease echoed out in the empty, magic enfused steel room, "Do you like getting caught?"

"No!" Lynette whimpered with slight frustration. "I just never fought anyone before!"

Garter returned her knife after he poked her stomach with it, "Weird. Where I came from, you learn to fight as soon as you can walk." He waited for her to get back into a stance. He did the same. "How about I call you what we do to those who haven't learned to fight yet."

"An insult?"

He snickered, "a ginkoose, which translates to a child with newborn strength." 

Lynette shook her head in protest, "It's not my fault you guys are stronger than me—you guys are monsters."  

"In human cases, most monsters aren't much stronger or faster than humans." Garter laughed and pounced at Lynette, "So you're using excuses~!"

Lynette avoided him and continued to do so. Garter gave chase. It's going better than I thought it would. 

And, of course, as soon as Wicks thought that, he noticed Garter's black hair shifting white and flaring with volume.

Wicks pushed off the wall and ran at them, specifically for Garter. "HEY, GARTER, STOP, DON'T YOU DARE!" He couldn't let his friend try and eat Lynette.

Wicks got to Lynette, yanked her out of the way and took the force of Garter's hand as his case broke. He slammed back into the wall, it wasn't that hard, so at least Wicks knew Garter didn't lose all sense of, 'being gentle'.

Once the Oni realized his mistake, now standing at thirty or so feet tall, his four arms out and one pinning Wicks to the metal wall, he let out a nervous chuckle from between his giant fangs.

"I went a little overboard huh?"

"You think?" Wicks asked with an eyebrow raise.

"Are you okay?" Lynette got closer.

Wicks shot her a glare, warning her not too.

Garter didn't let his grip go, "does this technically mean I win since I trapped you?" His best friend said, "and if it does that mean I can eat you?"

A dastardly laugh broke out of Wicks vocal cords, he stared at Garter, "you're in direct contact with a magus, I'm not unconscious nor even trying to use any magic. Then, after trying to get my sister, you have the audacity to ask me if you can eat me?"

"Yes?" Garter said, plainly.

There was a long pause before Wicks noticed the seriousness on Garter's face, accompanied by the innocent puppy dog eyes. Wicks flailed his legs, "YOU AREN'T GOING TO CONVINCE ME, NOW PUT ME DOWN BEFORE I MAKE A SNACK OUT OF YOUR ENERGY!"

...

Hey, you, thank you so much for reading. I'm glad I put out a story that people can enjoy! I hope you continue to enjoy it as WE have a LOT more to go! YOU BETTER KEEP PROSPERING! (Nonnegotiable, as always~).

First Chapter Previous Chapter Next Chapter

Catch up, see some maps/art, or check the latest release dates down below  ↓ ↓ ↓ 

What I’d do for a Livable Income (Synopsis/Chapter - List)

[meekmedea]

conversations over tea (VIII)

previous part

~~~~

Clemensia falls in love when Pup returns to the Capitol a few months later with the dog in tow. His name is still up in the air and ‘dog’ has been its current placeholder these past months. 

Regardless, pictures hadn’t done ‘dog’ justice – he was far larger than she ever imagined. And ‘dog’ was due for a trim with how he resembles more so a gigantic ball of white fur than anything else.

`

A name is hastily chosen when they take him to the vet to make sure he’s in good health, gets his shots and everything. Well, technically ‘dog’ has final say on his name. 

Pup first suggests ‘Argos’ and the side-eye the dog gives him makes Clemensia laugh. They quickly run through a few more names before settling on ‘Sirius’.

The vet places Sirius at about a few years old and says he’s a Great Pyrenees. Which would explain his enormous size as the breed were once bred to guard livestock, being able to fight off wolves and supposedly scare off bears. 

`

Under the guise of courting –training Sirius – they try to get Sirius comfortable with Clemensia so that when Pup has to return to the ship, she won’t have much trouble on her hands. 

So far Sirius is wary of most, if not all people. Especially males. He’s also very active. At least more so than Clemensia. Twice a day – long walks. Her health has literally never been better. 

That and for such a large dog, he doesn’t seem to realize he’s not the size of a lapdog. Sirius will attempt everything a lapdog will do, but the outcomes are not quite the same. Quite a few of their cups have been shattered this way when he launches himself to lay on their lap. 

And he’s very, very strong. At a park, Sirius runs, chasing after something. Except she’s dragged along for the ride as she’d still been holding the leash. Pup attempts to catch them or at least one of them – they end up in a mud puddle sans the dog. To his credit though, Sirius returns once he realizes neither of them had followed and sits primly by the puddle, wagging his tail. 

`

“Maybe we should just get a place with a huge garden and set him loose,” says Pup with a groan as he got to his feet and offered out a hand to her. 

“Would our garden survive the day?”

“That can be the gardener’s problem.”

~~~~

Washing the dog is a veritable feat. It’s a group effort between the two of them and by the time the task is completed, she’s too exhausted to move. “Do we still have to meet your parents for tea?”

“M’afraid so,” he says, just as morosely. 

`

For all the mischief and stubbornness that Sirius is, Clemensia likes having him around. Having a 90 pound ball of fluff wait for you to come home is surprisingly a lot more heartwarming than she’d have imagined.

Also, their dog had great taste in people -  Pentheus could say whatever he wanted, but honestly, what did her cousin expect? That mocking Clemensia in front of Sirius wouldn't have any consequences? 

`

“Are you training Sirius to bark at my cousin?” 

Caught in the act, Pup looked conflicted on whether to lie or not. “No?”

“Pity.” Out of the corner of her eye, she swears she sees him slide Sirius a treat. 

~~~~~~

Held in one of the grand hotels within the Capitol, it seemed as if his and her families were determined to go all out for their engagement party. 

In her ear, Pup mumbled that if all this was for an engagement, then what would they be subjected to for a wedding? 

“This is our curse for being an only child,” she whispers back. 

`

And in a few days, they'll be due for yet another party - though this one is to celebrate his promotion to Captain. 

The captain of the ship Pup was serving was retiring soon, and it seemed the higher-ups had been pleased with his track record as of late, setting him up to take over that very ship. Although Pup's rank was higher now, his duties are more or less the same as the previous captain had usually let Pup call the shots anyway. 

`

Invidia is unofficially introduced to her as Coriolanus' girlfriend when he brings her along to Pup and her’s engagement party. 

Invidia seems alright, they don't talk much save for the compliment she gives Clemensia about the strand of pearls that she's threaded into her hairstyle tonight. 

She does privately note that Invidia is wearing the earrings that Coriolanus had custom ordered for her. They suit the socialite well, adding to her regal appearance tonight. 

`

“Have I ever told you that your cousin has a very punchable face?” asks Pup once he's returned from greeting some of her relatives. 

Clemensia stifles a laugh behind her hand. “You don't say?”

“With his personality, Pentheus would never last a day, much less an hour on my ship without the whole crew wanting to toss him overboard.”

`

And whatever frostiness Coriolanus has for Pup melts when Pup puts her boorish cousin in his place in front of him. 

“You know, it's a real pity that duels aren't legalized anymore…”

“A pity,” agreed Coriolanus. “Perhaps an exception should be made for the odd occasion or two.”

“Please don't fight him,” Clemensia interrupts with a sigh. “Besides, it wouldn't be a fair fight. We all know you'd lay him out on the ground in less than a minute.”

 ~~~~~

Pup doesn’t stay very long in the Capitol after he’s been officially promoted to the rank of Captain – and as promised, he brings her out on his ship for a few days. Sirius comes along as well as neither of them were quite comfortable with leaving the dog alone for a few days. 

The ship runs like a well-oiled machine – both the vessel itself and its crew. By now, he’s introduced her to some of his crew – they seem to like him and are loyal. Even comfortable enough to crack the occasional joke with Pup. 

Like Coriolanus had mentioned – the smell of the sea was strong, but it wasn’t something she couldn’t grow accustomed to. However, Clemensia would never admit that she’d been seasick for the first day or so. Coriolanus would only make fun of her for that tidbit. So this, she swears Pup to secrecy, a vow that he laughingly agrees to keep. 

~~~~

first part

next part

[sheliesshattered]

It's been about two and a half weeks since I posted my update about our trip to Batuu -- and it has been a weird two and half weeks. Shortly after I finished that post, Jack and I found out that our work contract was ending abruptly, effective March 1st. We always knew that was a possibility, and we're difficult to scare at this point, especially when it comes to work stuff, so where that might have filled some people with quite a lot of dread, Jack and I were both just like 'welp, I guess this is happening.'

We knew about a couple of possibilities for new work, but we figured we'd have at least two weeks off in between, just while we got everything lined up. Besides chasing down those potentials for a new contract, we also used the free time to get a bunch of household chores out of the way, things like taxes and taking the car into the shop and then getting it smog tested, going in for eye exams, all the sort of things that are easy to put off during the work week and then not want to do on the weekend.

And in between all that I actually got some sewing done too, lol. Whenever I first wear something that I sewed, I take notes on anything that needs to be fixed or adjusted or changed, and while I was generally happy with my outfit for our Batuu Bounding day, there were a few small things I wanted to fix about it -- both in the hopes of wearing it to Batuu again at some point, and so that the pieces can be worn on their own with other clothing.

For the sweatshirt I sewed to go underneath the blue linen vest, I actually knew what I wanted to change before we went to Batuu, but specifically put off making those changes until after our big Disney day. It was fine under the vest, but without the vest it fit a bit awkwardly: the edge finishing on the collar gaped open and didn't want to lay right, and the side seams flared out too much over the hips.

I ended up trimming the collar edging down to a much narrower width, like I said I might back near the beginning of February. I played around with adding another detail there, maybe a stand up collar just in the back, but in the end decided it looks fine with just that narrow trim.

To fix the flare over the hips, I ended up needing to take out the cool detail on the side seam. Sewing that up as a regular seam allowed me to fiddle with the fit much easier, and it also removed a lot of bulk from those multi-layered exposed seams. It fits under the vest even better now than it did before, and I can wear it without the vest, just with jeans or leggings or whatever.

For the vest, I was generally happy with the fit, but wearing it around all day made it clear just how much I actually needed hooks and eyes to keep the flap over the zipper closed. I went back and forth on how to do the hooks and eyes, contemplated putting them on the outside of the flap before deciding to hide them under the flap instead. I hand sewed several of them down, but then when it was just creating weird bumps and ripples in the center front, I took all of them off except the one right at the underbust.

That one hidden hook and eye was only just barely enough to keep the flap over the zipper from swinging open, so this last week I took off that one hook and eye pair, then started hand sewing them to the outside instead. I placed the one at the underbust first, since that's the most fitted point, then spaced the hooks out along the outside of the overlap at even spacing so that the top one ended up right at the very top corner of the flap.

My first round of sewing on a bunch of these taught me not to try to match up the eyes with the hooks by measurement or by what lays flat on my table, but rather to actually put the vest on and thread an eye through each hook and use tailor's chalk to mark where each eye needed to go. Like the rest of the vest, it absolutely will not lie flat on the table, but it fits me wonderfully, with no ripples or weird bumps along that center front edge.

I ended up really liking the way the exposed clasped looked, and I think it adds a really subtle Star Wars-y type detail. The black hooks and eyes nearly disappear on the dark blue linen (far more than in these well-lit photos), so they end up being just a bit of texture and visual interest rather than yelling about their claspiness.

Most of the time I'll wear it as in the photo above, with the top two clasps undone. The weight of the large metal hooks helps the triangular edge of the undone flap hang properly, which was another problem I had with it during our Batuu visit.

But the design really felt like it demanded a fully functional closure, so I added two more hooks up past the point where they're needed to actually cover the zipper. Leaving just one clasp undone results in a cool, slightly more asymmetric neckline:

And closing it all the way to the top creates a very sleek, buttoned-up kind of look.

I have some ideas about other pieces of clothing that I might be able to pair this vest with, and hopefully an excuse to wear my whole Batuu Bound outfit again in the near-ish future. Either way, I'll get some pictures of the updated vest on me sometime soon.

And since the new contract situation has worked itself out -- Jack and I will officially be back at it with a new client starting this week -- we're contemplating going to one of the Star Wars After Dark dates at Disneyland in April or May. I'll definitely wear the vest then, and possibly the sweatshirt too, depending on the night time temperatures predicted for whenever we end up going.

With that in mind, there's a new stash-busting sewing project I've started as well, but it really deserves its own post. Watch this space.

[endlessrise]

Scales on an Evoline are used as both a way to protect their body in combat and as a way to look pretty due to how shiny they are. They are able to control how much of their body is covered in scales meaning full body coverage is all the way up to their neck. Now, now race with scales like it when their scales are dirty and Evoline are no exception as they take pride in making sure their scales are extra shiny and pretty.

Every so often Evoline shed their scales, a process that forces them into their scaled form otherwise their excruciatingly itchy, they often take it into their own hands to remove the old scales. When their shedding it's because new scales have formed under the old ones so the old ones need to come off as there is no use for them anymore. However, the shedding of scales is more frequent for Evoline who are infants to teens as their growing, infants shedding more since their constantly getting bigger.

However, since infant and child Evoline aren't capable of properly taking removing the scales on their own they tend to pull them off which causes small abrasions om their delicate skin. This means that a parent or older sibling has to step in and help, this is also a good way to bond with the little warrior's. In a way it's relaxing for the little ones when this is done, it is also a good way to do a complete overhaul and do things like manicure their little claws and trim their wild hair.

The first step is to make a nice warm bath. Evoling's love them as they are nice and warm. This softens any connective tissue that still attaching the old scales to the hatchlings body, wings, and tail, this makes it easier to remove with less damage.

After the removal of all the scales that are loose it is best to search for any old scales that are still somewhat rooted to their body, these will require some work to remove and a little bit of pain but it's still best to remove them otherwise the new one taking its place could be weak and brittle. While looking for those scales make sure to keep an eye open for scales that have formed under the skin, these can cause irritation and possibly infections if left undelt with so it's best to open up the skin a bit and remove it. Don't worry, a new one will form in no time.

During the removal process rember to be careful of their wings as they are delicate still, not to mention the scales on them are smaller. Also be careful about removing the scales around their private areas as that will cause discomfort for them of their sore.

Once all is done make sure they are properly dried and do whatever else you think is necessary and the results should be a happy and very cuddly hatchling.

-From the book on Evoline and how to raise them.

Lucy, the tiny Evoling that has been adopted by the demonic saiyan known as Kefla sees him as her father, has definitely grown exponentially from the healthy diet of meats, the occasional bottle of klutz and blood mix, and whatever else has been introduced into her palet of food. Nearing the size of a baby saiyan after a recent growth spurt, though she is now eating as much as one at least.

Lucy was being quite quiet as she wasn't having good time right now, scales shedding a making her unbelievable itchy. There were little black and purple scales littering the floor every so often, sometimes in little clumps and will small droplets of blood from little abrasions as she works at removing the old scales.

"Everything's so itchy..."

The small girl says to herself, her draconic features visible as being in her non-draconic form made the itch worse. She was working on one if her arms and there is a complete lack of finesse for what she's doing, she was just pulling them off without knowing why it hurt every so often. She didn't know if she should go to her papa or not to help with this, she didn't want to bother him as it seemed like he was busy.

But this itchiness was getting unbearable and she eventually stopped pulling off the scales as the little bites of pain where making her eyes water. With a little intake of breath she would go and find her papa to ask for help. Surely he would know what to do right? After all, he is her papa so he must have to deal with the same thing. At least that's what her mind thinks. Once she finds him she finde a little tug on his pant leg to get his attention.

"Papa, I need help with something."

While she was walking to find him, some of the loose scales had clattered to the ground with a little click sound, there was a small trail of them from the direction she came from.

So, they are sturdy enough to protect the body of an evoline, but it's also something they can use to seduce the other Evoline? The ability to control how much of their bodies is covered in scales is a strange ability in itself. If they exist to protect their owner, there is no need for them to be able to control such. They seem to be fond of the idea of having their scales clean and shiny. Such a strange race that makes him happy he is not from the old generation of saiyan who had scales all over their bodies.

It's not a surprise that the next part is about Evoline shedding the scales which makes them itchy. It is apparently something they can do on their own. But, he is surprised about it being more frequent for infant Evoline. From infants to teens. If only there was a specific day, it would have been of great help. Well, at least, he knows that they happen, and he should be able to tell when Lucy is in need of shedding her scales.

It seems like the infant and child Evoline are unable to properly remove the scales, which means that they need outside help from someone who knows how to do so. Apparently, it's a good way to bond with them and relax them. Happens to be the right time to manicure their claws and cut their hair as well.

An enjoyable warm bath since they seem to love it. Though, it also softens the old scales and makes it easier to remove them without hurting the infants. Whoever has taken the time to write this book must have raised a few Evoline. He would like to meet him or her, and thanks, them for making it.

Still, having to search for more old scales that are within their bodies sounds like an annoying task since it seems to take more to remove one and pain. It is apparently necessary to remove them anyway, so, he concludes he does not have a choice in the matter. One has to be careful of their wings because they are delicate, and the scales are smaller. The last part makes him cringe, though. He prefers never having to deal with this, but he has Lucy, and he feels like he is going to have to do that for her soon.

He turns to the next page and puts a small piece of cardboard to pick up where he left. He closes the book and puts it away next to some books he has already finished reading. But, when he feels the little tug on his pants, he fears the worst. He looks in her direction and takes notice of all the loose scales on the floor behind her and the blood on her little body. She has been scratching herself because of how itchy she feels. He lets out a long sighs and decides to just do it and get it over with.

He picks her up and heads to the bathroom.

— I guess this is my life now.

This is what he gets for taking a baby that is not his to begin with. Though, Lucy is adorable, so her cuteness makes it worth all the trouble she happens to be. Her existence in his life has made him encounter Kolra, and he is grateful for such. He supposes he can, at least, do that much for her.

[truearchangel]

@diistortion are you okay? you look very flustered. "SOOOOO... WHAT IF WE KISSED...?" PROMPTS

   This teaching thing wasn’t supposed to get so out of control. Alastor had made it very clear that they would set boundaries and that he would teach him verbally as much as he would physically. The things that have advanced to being well past what they once were, what was considered normal, what he had missed avoiding being around other people. Except, the verbal part didn’t seem to be happening merely as much as the physical part. 

   To be honest, he isn’t even entirely sure what happened. 

   Alstor has some incredible sweaters in his closet, for a man who doesn’t appear to wear them often. Or at least not that Michael had seen yet, despite having a good selection to choose from. They’re quite big, if he puts them on, seeing how the Radio Demon towers over him. Michael very rarely dresses down, but with sharing a room he finds himself retreating to the sanctuary of their shared space more often than not. And sometimes, he does just want to be comfortable rather than in the suit he always wore. 

   So he snagged a sweater. He knew that Alastor wouldn’t mind, and his were far more comfortable than Michael’s own. Just because they were big on him. All of them seemed to be some shade of red, a deer or radio pattern befitting them, and the one he pulled down had what looked like reindeer on them and little intense Christmas designs. It was rather horrifying in his opinion, and trimmed perfectly to fit Alastor’s size. Which meant it would of course hang off of Michael. Sweater acquired, ugly or not, he set it on the edge of the bed to change.

   With his vest and button down shirt removed, it left him in just the black undershirt he wore beneath everything and then tugged the fluffy sweater on. That was when Alastor came back. 

   Between him seeing him in his sweater and being picked up–Michael somehow found himself in the bed in only the sweater. He doesn’t entirely remember what happened in between, where his shoes or pants went, but he was certainly aware that they were gone. They’d ended up in the bed, perched in Alastor’s lap, his arms wrapped tightly around the Radio Demon’s neck. He’s had Alastor’s lips just about everywhere and there was a small impression of teeth marks in the side of his neck. 

   The sweater that he had picked out was ridden up, pushed high along his mid section by the arm wrapped around his waist, the claws that were pressed against his hip. Threatening to sink in yet not quite breaking the skin. He could, Michael would let him, and that was a thought he’s had many times that was a bit terrifying. Why would he let this man do whatever he wanted to him? 

   He could rip him apart and Michael would just remind himself he regenerates. 

   The claws had dragged down his spine, had grazed along his lower back, had scrapped and nearly split his skin. Never quite, wanting to it felt like, and all it had done was make his body tremble and his heart beat faster. Craving more of the touch that Alastor was giving him without asking for it. His tongue stuck in his throat, his body entirely at the demon’s mercy. 

   He’s slipped his own hands into Alastor’s hair, has tugged and tried to keep his attention purely on him, his lips sealed against the Archangel’s own. The sounds that have slipped from his throat he’d tried to swallow back up in the kiss were undoubtedly heard. 

   And then he has to tease him. Michael had very much pathetically whimpered when Alastor pulled away to speak, the space between them slim and nothing more than a small breath. 

   ❛ are you okay? you look very flustered. ❜

   Another breath is taken, stuttering in his chest, and Michael actually digs his own nails into the  back of Alastor’s neck. Like he was attempting to anchor himself to keep from making another humiliating sound. He wants, very badly, to continue what they were doing. He hadn’t needed words before. “You’re teasing me again.” A complaint and a fact. Michael blinked and leaned back slightly, his gaze darting between Alastor’s face and his back.

   There was… something there. 

   Black crawling shadows actually, that looked very solid. 

   “Your… strange shadow appendages slipped out. What are you doing with them?”

[pixelcurious]

My dreams were a mix of my classic anxiety themes and some new ones.

First I was trying to find my way back to my apartment through labyrinthine halls and stairs made up of many different buildings. At one point I was looking down into someone else's living room, which was open to the sky and visible from various halls and ledges around. The only way I could figure out how to get on the right track for my own apartment was to go through theirs. I climbed down to the top edge of their wall, but then I saw that the people were home, and they saw me too. They were like a 1950s straight white couple and they were very angry. I tried to retreat, but lost my footing and accidentally slipped down into their house. I managed to get out the door, with them yelling and screaming at me.

After many twists and turns I found familiar halls, and was near my own door when I saw my landlady. She told me I couldn't go in because there was a flood and the structure was unstable. All my stuff had been ruined, she said, and regardless, I couldn't go in to get anything. I shouldered past her and opened the door anyway. It was disastrous, everything wet and crumbling, but I was trying to figure out how to save what I could (at least some clothes) and think about where I could go. But the people from before showed up, still mad that I'd fallen into their house, and I had to run away with only a small backpack of my stuff.

My pursuers were relentless and I knew they wanted to hurt or kill me. I realized I had to change my appearance. I ducked into a barbershop and asked for a haircut. They started doing something with clippers but then stopped and switched to scissors. I couldn't see what they were doing till they were done and handed me a mirror. I looked like Lazlo Curious, with his green tinted glasses and purple shirt, and longish black hair. Which they had barely trimmed, except for a place on top where they'd buzzed it almost to the scalp, like an off-center tonsure. Sorry, the barber shrugged, that was an accident but the rest of it looks good, right?

So now I had pretty much the same hair, no good for disguising my appearance, and also a stupid looking bald spot.

And I could hear my pursuers getting closer, screaming.

I left the barbershop and kept running. The disguise idea still seemed smart. I turned down random alleys and streets to confuse them, then I saw a small door to a hair salon, and slipped inside unseen. It was dark inside, lit only in pink, blue and purple light, like the bisexual pride colors. I knew the stylists would be trustworthy and would fix my disaster hair and help me. Sure enough, they sat me down and performed a transformation. My hair was still black, but buzzed down all over except for a spiky quiff in front. They traded me a black tee for my conspicuous purple one and gave me a tote bag to hide my backpack. They did my makeup, including lush full eyelashes. I looked like a completely different person, like a punky queer pixie in big boots. I still didn't dare to go back home, and I didn't know where to go next, but at least I was safe from the people who wanted to hurt me.

[onegianthotmess]

CHAPTER I - The Pink Palace

🕷️🕷️🕷️🕷️🕷️🕷️🕷️🕷️🕷️🕷️🕷️🕷️

Eurydice’s stomach filled with even more dread, feeling the weight of what was happening as the car pulled to a stop, a moving van behind them, in front of her new home. A large pink house, promptly named “The Pink Palace Apartments”, that was divided up into four parts; the basement flat, the attic flat, and the two ground floor flats. Eurydice and her family were taking up the bigger of the two ground floor flats due to having three kids and two adult siblings to take care of.

“It’s so big and pretty!” Eri smiled brightly.

“We’re only taking up one of the ground floor flats, though,” Hitoshi reminded, unbuckling his adoptive sister from her car seat. “But at least there’s a big garden to play in.”

“We have to get moved in first,” Shouta sighed as he got out of the car to talk with the movers who were bringing in the heavier boxes and larger pieces of furniture.

Eurydice watched as her mother smiled from her spot in the driver’s seat before she got out of the car herself, followed by Hitoshi who helped Eri out of the small vehicle. The ravenette was alone in the vehicle as she sighed and looked down at her phone, reading the texts she’d had in the group chat with all of her old friends, talking about anything and everything, but mostly anime and mangas that they’d all read and watched together and the games they loved to play with one another. Not even a day, and she already longed to be back home, back in her real home where she could take the bus to the park and meet with all of her friends.

After a moment, Eurydice sighed and got out of the car. No point in staying inside of a vehicle that wouldn’t take her back home away from this new house.

The raven haired girl looked around as she shut the car door. The sky and practically everything surrounding the Pink Palace was gray and bleak, save for the early-falling autumn leaves. The large house was the only true colorful thing in the area, except even it had touches of bleakness and boringness. The pink paint was peeling and chipping off of the siding in some areas, the once white colored trims were all washed away of almost all of the paint that once made them look clean and perfect, and all of the metal, mostly the metal stairs leading to the attic flat, was rusted and old, looking like it was about to crumble even if just a butterfly landed on it.

“Makes sense,” Eurydice thought to herself as she pocketed her phone. “Momma did say that this house is about a hundred years old or something like that.”

Sighing, the lilac eyed girl just grabbed her own suitcase from the car and maneuvered around the larger pieces of furniture on the porch with her luggage in tow. Moving carefully around the boxes, movers, and members of her family, Eurydice hauled her suitcase upstairs to where her mother said her room would be. Being the only teenage girl in the house and with Hitoshi having no qualms about sharing a room with Eri, Eurydice got a room to herself. It was slightly smaller than her cousins’ shared room, but she’d rather have her own room than share with Eri or Hitoshi. While she loved her cousins, she didn’t really want to share a living space with them as personal as a bedroom.

Once she’d set her suitcase down next to the box where her bed frame was in and where her mattress was, Eurydice made her way back downstairs and towards the kitchen to help with the unpacking. She saw her mother and uncle both handling the dishes and silverware, and she passed Hitoshi and Eri making their way up the stairs with their suitcases to set up their room. It appeared that most of the unpacking that required much help had been done, save for the larger pieces of furniture on the porch.

“Do you need any help, Momma?” Eurydice asked, causing her mother to turn and look at her.

Lilith simply smiled at her daughter and gently waved her hand. “No, love, we’ll be fine for now. Why don’t you go and explore the area a bit if you’re looking for something to do?”

Eurydice just nodded and have her mother a wave before returning to her bedroom, figuring that she could try and find the well she’d read up about when her mother had first told her about them moving to the Pink Palace. She quickly pulled on her pale lavender colored raincoat and swapped her regular shoes for her black rubber boots before she made her way downstairs and outside of the large house and towards the garden. She pushed open the rusty gate that creaked loudly, like a witch’s shrieking voice before being burned alive like in the story of Hansel and Gretel she’d been so terrified of as a small child.

Peering around the garden, Eurydice spotted a bush with leaves colored orange and yellow, one of the only colored things around, perfect for what she needed. The girl reached into the plant and moved her hand around until her hand wrapped around a suitable branch. She snapped the branch off of its original place from the bush and took it out to get a proper look at it. Brushing off the leaves, Eurydice was met by a branch in the perfect shape of the letter “Y” that would make a perfect dowsing rod for her to use.

Taking hold of the two shorter ends and letting the longer end stick out in front of her, Eurydice closed her eyes and held her dowsing rod out in front of her. She moved it around some, sort of lightly jabbing at the air, before the rod tugged her body in the direction to make a U-turn, going through a gate that led out of the garden and away from the Pink Palace.

Through a small orchard of peach trees and along a muddy path up on a hill that looked over the Pink Palace, Eurydice let her body be tugged forward as her mind was completely calm, thinking only of her end goal. As she walked along, she heard some rocks falling. Opening her eyes, the ravenette stopped and turned to look at some large rocks planted in the mud on the slope of the hill above her.

“Hello?” Eurydice asked. “Is anyone up there?” There was nothing but silence in the air as the girl peered at the rocks. Sighing and rolling her eyes out of annoyance, the ravenette picked up a small stone from the ground and threw it at the large rocks. It landed behind them, causing a loud sound, the mix of a shriek and a moan, to be heard.

Eurydice gasped and darted off in the direction she was originally being pulled towards, scared of what had made that noise. Running around bends and turns up the path, the ravenette eventually found herself on a different hill, with an old, oddly smooth, tree stump and a sort of fairy circle of little mushrooms next to it. Panting from the physical exertion of running so far in such a short amount of time, the girl bent over put her hands on her knees, her dowsing rod clutched in a white-knuckle grip in one of her hands.

“Mew.”

“EEEP!” Eurydice squealed in fear, whipping around to look behind her. Sitting on the old, smooth tree stump was a cat, with black fur and black eyes. The feline blinked up at Eurydice as she groaned and glared at it. “You scared me! Bad kitty!” the ravenette huffed. While she loved cats just about as much as Shouta and Hitoshi, she didn’t like being scared my them. “I’m just looking for an old well that’s supposed to be around here. You know where I could find it?”

The cat just blinked again, not moving except for its tail swishing elegantly back and forth. “Mew.”

“Silent treatment, huh? Not very nice,” Eurydice said, looking at the cat with a slight pout. The cat just sat down on the stump silently, watching the pale girl. With a sigh, Eurydice turned away from the cat, closed her eyes, and held the two shorter ends of the dowsing rod, the longer end pointing out in front of her as she began to calm herself and only focus on the well. “Magic dowser, show me to the well,” she murmured, hoping that her mind clearing would lead her to what she’d been looking for. Her body stayed still, not moving an inch, as her mind focused solely on the well she sought out.

“The fuck are you doing?”

“EEEEEP!” Eurydice squealed, whipping her head around to see who the unfamiliar voice she’d heard belonged to.

It was a boy, around her age, standing beside the tree stump with a bike next to him that Eurydice had somehow not heard. The boy had fair skin, sharp eyes the color of rubies, and a mop of spikey, yet fluffy and soft looking, sandy blonde hair on his head that sort of made him look like a Pomeranian dog.

“The fuck are you doing?” the boy asked again, enunciating each word with more and more force as he spoke.

“That’s none of your business, especially since you just scared me half to death, dummy!” Eurydice huffed, glaring at the boy.

“Please, you’re just a space cadet who doesn’t pay attention to her surroundings,” the blonde boy scoffed, rolling his eyes. “And I’m not the dumbass who’s waving a stick around and whispering to it.”

“It wouldn’t kill you to be nice.”

Eurydice whipped her head to her side to see two other boys around her age standing next to her. One boy, the shortest of the bunch, had dark green hair and eyes with freckles on his cheeks and was looking at Eurydice apologetically, seemingly for the blonde boy’s words. The other one, who was taller than the other two, had strange two toned hair, the left half red and the right half white, and two different colored eyes, the left one a bright turquoise and the right one a grayish-brown color. He also had what looked to be a large scar around his eye on the left side of his face. He was looking at the blonde boy with a blank expression on his face, which made the blonde boy growl.

“Oh, fuck off, Half-and-Half,” the blonde scoffed, rolling his eyes.

“Wow, how original,” the tall boy said flatly. “Nice to see you don’t tire of classic material.”

“THE FUCK DID YOU SAY?!” the blonde yelled.

While the blonde boy yelled and the tall boy calmly replied back, the green haired boy turned to Eurydice.

“I’m sorry about my friend, he has a bit of a temper,” he sighed, an apologetic smile on his lips.

“I can see that,” Eurydice huffed, glaring at the blonde.

“Yeah, I know. But he’s pretty nice when you get to know him!” the boy smiled.

“Yeah, sure,” Eurydice scoffed sarcastically.

“Well, uhm, I’m Izuku Midoriya, but my friends call me Deku,” the green haired boy smiled. “The tall boy with heterochromia is Shouto Todoroki.” Izuku pointed to the tall boy before he pointed over to the blonde. “And you’ve already met Kacchan.”

“Kacchan?” Eurydice asked.

“Well, I’ve called him that since we were kids, but his given name is Katsuki Bakugou,” Izuku clarified.

“And he has serious anger issues,” Shouto stated calmly.

“FUCK YOU, YOU HALF-THOUGHT HOTPOCKET BITCH!” Katsuki yelled.

“You know what? Nevermind my confusion, the name ‘Kacchan’ suits him much better,” Eurydice smiled.

“You’re the most annoying space cadet I’ve ever met!” Katsuki growled.

“I’m not a space cadet, you dumb kitty!” Eurydice retorted.

“Then how about an airhead?” Katsuki asked. “Or a dumbass, a brainless dope, a space case? And I’m not a fucking cat!”

“Could’ve fooled me with your serious attitude problem! The cat sitting on that stump has a better personality than you!” Eurydice shot back, now getting annoyed herself.

“She has a point,” Shouto commented, earning a scoff and an eye roll from the blonde.

“NO ONE FUCKING ASKED YOU!” Katsuki shouted, glaring at the taller boy.

“We didn’t ask you for your name, did we?” Shouto asked Eurydice, ignoring the blonde’s yelling.

“It’s Eurydice,” Eurydice replied. “Eurydice Allsberry.”

“The fuck kind of name is that?” Katsuki asked.

“Kacchan, be nice!” Izuku interjected, hoping to stop a potential argument.

“My name is Greek, and I didn’t choose my last name, dumb Kacchan!” Eurydice hissed.

“I was just asking, you space cadet,” Katsuki scoffed, rolling his eyes. “I’m surprised you were even allowed to move into that place.”

“Why wouldn’t I be allowed to move in with my family?” Eurydice asked, now curious.

“His mother owns The Pink Palace,” Shouto commented, petting the black cat on the smooth stump. “She usually won’t rent to people with kids.”

“Why? Does your mom hate kids who aren’t you for some reason?” Eurydice asked.

“No, she actually fucking loves them for some reason,” Katsuki replied. “She doesn’t like to talk about it and I’m not supposed to talk about it either.”

“Unless he wants his ass handed to him,” Izuku muttered, making Eurydice laugh.

“The fuck did you say, Deku?” Katsuki growled.

“He said unless you want your ass handed to you,” Shouto said. “You know, because you’re scared shitless of your mother.”

“The fuck I am!” Katsuki scoffed. “I ain’t scared of that old hag.”

“KATSUKI!”

“OH, JESUS FUCK!” Katsuki shouted as he jumped at the sound of a woman’s voice.

“Ha! Not scared my ass!” Eurydice laughed.

“Fuck off, airhead!” Katsuki growled.

“KATSUKI! GET YOUR SORRY ASS HOME RIGHT NOW!”

“You might want to get home Kacchan, before you get your ass kicked,” Eurydice laughed.

“At least I’m not pretending to be a water witch with a branch of poison oak!” Katsuki shouted as he got on his bike and rode off.

Eurydice yelped and threw her branch off to the side, rubbing her hands off on her rain coat.

“Damn it,” she mumbled, huffing at the thought of a poison oak rash.

“I’m sorry about Kacchan,” Izuku sighed.

“It’s fine,” Eurydice replied. “But if he called me a water witch, then where’s the old well?”

“You might want to move before you fall in it,” Shouto said, pointing to the ring of mushrooms the raven haired girl was standing in.

“Oh!” Eurydice yelped, quickly jumping backwards and out of the sort of fairy circle.

Izuku came over and dig up the mud within the fairy circle to reveal an old wooden lid covering up the opening of the well. The green haired boy then used a stick to prop it open for a second to get the rest of the mud off.

“You know, it’s supposed to be so deep that if you fell to the bottom and looked up, you’d see a sky full of stars no matter what time, even in the middle of the day,” Izuku sighed.

“Mew.”

The black cat meowed at the sight of the well from its place in Shouto’s lap.

“Why do you like the well so much, Momo?” Shouto asked, looking down at the cat.

“Momo?” Eurydice wondered. “Is she your cat?”

“Oh, no, she’s a stray,” Shouto replied. “I’m the one that feeds her every night and she’ll go to my, Izuku’s, and Bakugou’s windows and drop off little dead things sometimes. But, other than that, she’s sort of feral and wild, on her own.”

“So you guys named her?” Eurydice asked.

“One of Bakugou’s neighbors called her ‘Yaomomo’ on a whim and she’s been responding to that ever since, but she also responds to just ‘Momo’ too,” Shouto clarified, looking down at the cat as she purred.

“Huh,” Eurydice murmured.

“I should probably get home, my mom’s going to get worried about me,” Izuku sighed, walking over to Eurydice and Shouto.

“I should go, too, before that old geezer of mine starts yelling,” Shouto said, setting Momo down on the stump before he stood up.

“It was nice to meet you, Eurydice,” Izuku smiled.

Eurydice smiled back at the boy. “Oh, you guys can call me ‘Cece’, it saves on time.”

“Okay, Cece,” Izuku replied. “I’ll see you around?”

Eurydice nodded and waved as Izuku walked off before she turned to Shouto.

“Have a nice day, Shouto,” the ravenette smiled.

“You, too,” Shouto replied, giving a small wave before he walked off.

It wasn’t too long before Eurydice was alone, aside from Momo sitting on the smooth stump next to the well. The pale girl looked down at the black cat who blinked up at her.

“I guess I’ll see you later,” Eurydice mumbled, waving a bit at Momo before she turned around.

Before she walked away, the ravenette looked at the lid of the well and knocked on it a bit with her foot, earning a deep, hollow thumping sound. Eurydice gazed at the well for a little while longer before she made her way back down the path to the Pink Palace. Her mother was probably worried.

Most likely about moving in, but maybe she was worried about Eurydice, too.

“I can only hope,” Eurydice thought with a sigh as she made her way down the bleak, gray, muddied path.