#but again we'll see. just feel free to express interest if you have any

[the-kipsabian]

okay i will brainstorm this and probably come back to it after next week. but feel free to express interest and maybe i'll set something up?

..this is maybe a stupid question, but if i did offer to make socks, would anyone consider buying them? idk premade or pick a color or whatever, tho i cant make more than basic socks (tho i do know how to make ones with patterns? if i have instructions) but. yeah??

[looooochie]

𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗶𝘀𝗲𝘀 | marc guiu

summary: marc promised to be her friend forever.

year: 2017

you were playing with your dolls when you hear your mom call you. "Y/N! come down please, my friend and her son is coming over." she says.

you feel a jolt of excitement when you hear that your mom's friend has a son. you put down down the doll and go down the stairs.

"so, when is this boy gonna get here, mama?" you ask her, with excitement.

"they're going to be here right... now." she responded, then you hear a car parking.at the moment, your excitement is through the roof. as the door opens, you see a boy who's around your age and your mother's friend.

she and her hug and you smile.

then you turn your attention towards the boy.

"okay. Marc, go up to y/n's room and maybe you can even be friends!" the boy's mom says.

you look at the boy again and next thing, you two were sitting on your bed.

"uhm.. so my name is y/n, I like f/c (fav color), and.. that's it." you weren't used to this feeling.

"cool. I'm Marc. Marc Guiu. I like football.. and uhh, I like blue.." he was awkward as you were.

the atmosphere was.. filled with  awkwardness.

"so, do you like football?" Marc asks.

"yes. I play it in my free time." you reply.

marc began to smile.

"that's very cool. so, do you like messi?" you ask him.

"yeah! he's my idol." Marc replied.

next thing you found yourself having a 20 minute conversation between you and Marc.

"no way! you know how to board?" Marc asks excited.

"yep!" you reply.

then an idea perked up in your head.

"wait Marc, I have a suprise for you!" you tell him.

Marc was very interested now.

"but you have to close your eyes!"

"why?" Marc asks.

"because it's a suprise, silly!"

Marc did what you told him to and you looked around and about in your drawer. you take out a sun and moon friendship bracelet and keep it I your hands.

"ok, you can open them now!" you say.

Marc opens his eyes and looks happily at the bracelets.

"woah y/n.. did you make these?"

"yep! and this one's for you." you squeal, giving him the sun bracelet.

marc puts it on and admires it.

"ok Marc. no matter what happens, you have to promise that we'll be friends forever, to infinity and beyond." you sigh, seriously.

"I promise y/n. friends, forever." Marc looks up at you, and you two pinky promise on it.

⋆𐙚₊˚⊹ ᡣ𐭩

year: 2022

marc: 16

y/n: 15

you and Marc have been friends for about 3 years now. you got a text from Marc saying he wanted to meet with you.

and of course you couldn't say no so, you went to him and your's favorite spot.

you find Marc sitting on a bench, looking at his phone. in a rush, you speed towards that bench and look at your friend, who stared up at you.

"you wanted to talk?" you ask him.

Marc had a serious expression.

"y/n we need to talk." Marc says, standing up.

"what's up I'm listening." you reply, putting your hand on you hip.

Marc takes a deep breath before continuing.

"you know my girlfriend, Ona?" he asks.

"yeah. what about her?"

"she.. doesn't want me to be friends with you anymore." he says, a lot of guilt and sadness.

"huh?? I'm not understanding you??" you reply shocked.

"ona doesn't want me to see you again. she's afraid that I'll cheat on her and.. vice versa.."

you felt the need to cry right now. when you thought it could not get any worse, Marc took off the friendship bracelet you gave him in 2017.

he takes your hand, puts in the bracelet, and shoves your hand to your chest. Marc had tears in his eyes.

as much as he didn't want to, he had to.

"im sorry." he finished, before walking off.

when Marc was out of sight, you fell to the ground, crying.

your friend of 3 years had just unfriended you, just like that.

⋆𐙚₊˚⊹ ᡣ𐭩

year: 2024

marc: 18

y/n: 18

you were walking back home, happily as Barça won the match. you then hear someone calling your name.

he sounded familiar.

a boy with fluffy, brunette hair and piercings runs up to you.

wait a second, fluffy hair?

that reminded you of someone, but you don't know who. he caught up to you, huffing and puffing.

"uhm.. do I know you?" you ask hastily.

"yeah, it's me." the boy stands up, and he looked familiar.

"hold the fuck up.. Marc? Is that you..?" you ask, shocked.

"yep."

you two stare at eachother's before Marc speaks again.

"look y/n, I'm sorry about what happened 2 years ago. I know I broke our promise, and I felt like a dick after that. I should have never broke ties with you and just didn't listen to Ona. The point is, I missed you." Marc says.

you begin to tear up and you hug him.

the hug was a bit long, but you didn't care, all you wanted was Marc. and what Marc didn't know is that, you liked him.

you two pull apart, then begin to blush.

"I missed you too." you say, before leaning in slowly, and placed you lips on his.

you had finally shown your feelings after 2 years of not talking.

Marc ran his fingers through your hair and you did the same with him.

you two pull apart, blushing.

you then get a jolt of anxiety.

"wait.. what about Ona?" you ask him.

"dont worry. I broke up with Ona last year. So it's really no trouble at all." Marc laughs.

and you laugh along with him.

"good. never even liked Ona to begin with. so good riddance." you smirk at him.

"neither did I y/n. neither, did, I." he replies, and you two kiss yet again.

[arcanesea]

cat cafe | lee minho x reader | 721 w.

Co-owning a cat cafe has been a successful attempt to make a side income for Minho. Plus point because he gets to see them more frequently than his actual cats.

Another plus point because you're his co-owner.

"We really need to talk about the interior design. I feel like it's too dull and need more color or something," you said on the phone. You admit the location of this cafe is a bit... secluded. But with the power of social media, you believe this place can thrive.

On the other line, Minho was looking through his laptop screen. Scrolling through countless pictures about "Cat cafe interior designs." He knows absolutely nothing about interior design, but if you say so, he'll find a way to make it work. You talk more about changing this and that, what's the most important thing to do according to you and the internet.

"I hope you're actually listening," you said quietly. You realize that he hasn't spoken any words since he picked up the phone 5 minutes ago.

"I am!" Minho assured. He had already texted his friends for recommendations.

"M'kay, well, let's talk about this more when you have free time," you proposed.

"How about tomorrow?" he asks. "I'll make appointments with an interior designer so we can talk about it."

You open your mouth to protest, Minho is a responsible co-owner. Sometimes too responsible that he immediately agrees to everything you say. Of course, you're not complaining, but it never failed to fluster you.

"Are you free around lunch?" Minho asks again. You confirmed your free schedule for tomorrow before writing down some of your ideas.

"How did you even find an interior designer that quick?" you asked Minho when he walked into the cafe the next morning. He decided that it would be best if both of you talked first and sort out some things.

"Let's say I have... friends... who have connections..." he drawled. Your eyes widen at the confession. "It'll be great, trust me," Minho adds.

Around lunch, a middle-aged woman walked inside the cafe, looking around the place. You quickly notice this and nudge Minho's elbow. He stood up instantly, approaching the woman before guiding her to where you were sitting.

After exchanging names, she took out a catalog. Colors drained from Minho's face, a grave mistake that prompted you to look at him in confusion.

"Sorry," you said softly, "uh... I think there's a misunderstanding here." You smiled thinly. The words on the cover of the catalog look both funny and scary at the same time.

"Newlyweds Home: Interior Strategies"

Minho gulps down, mentally cursing himself.

"Oh?" the designer questioned. Looking as confused as you are. "Well, yesterday Minho said he and his partner need a consultation for a co-owned space, wouldn't that be your new home?" she continues.

"It's the cafe," Minho answered. Although his hands are itchy to snatch the catalog and look at the details of each page. He's looking at your expression, wondering if you're interested. Like he is.

"Oh!" she exclaims. Laughing awkwardly. "Well, you see, I'm actually specialized in residential interior design, not commercial ones, though I can do it as well, but I'd rather refer you to someone I know if that's okay..."

Minho inhales sharply, a smile formed on his lips. "That would be amazing, thanks!"

And just like that, the woman quickly put back the catalog in her bag, took out a name card, and slid it over to Minho. All three of you talk for a moment before Minho escorts her out.

For a split second, you were actually thinking about what it's like to actually have your own home. Build your own family. With Minho.

"Well that was awkward," Minho said when he came back in. You punched his shoulder playfully. Unable to get over the silliness. "How would I know if residential and commercial interior design is different?" he tried to defend himself. Following you to the back room.

"Well, maybe next time we'll do the research together, dummy," you said, taking a glass of water. Your cheeks feel hot for no particular reason.

"Agree," Minho answered.

Maybe next time, both of you will still consider the residential interior design too. Maybe when both of you had the courage to actually let the heart lead for once.

a/n. minho is such a "whatever you say, beautiful" typa person i just know it in my heart. also mutual pining!! isn't it frustrating to read? ((bcs it is frustrating to write...)) my reader self was like "kiss already!" but no... for this one you get to decide what happens next ((or should i make a second installation? lmk heheh<3))

[cr4sh3d-zine-yyj]

We are CR4SH3D!

£u¢k M€ta and €l0n Mu5k

Anti-©, do not use nor sell for money, feel free to copy around as long as Twitter and Meta don't get their disgusting hands on it. 

Nazi punks fuck off

No fascism or genocide tolerated

Credit the artists! 

Physical copies found in the wild are printed and distributed on the stolen, unceded lands of the lək̓ʷəŋən and W̱SÁNEĆ nations. 

We are CR4SH3D! ( Crashed )

our goal is to spread around poetry, short stories, and collage to our small town and the internet! 

Will this be long-term? Will it have more that 2 issues? Who knows, as long as we had fun!

P0€TRY ( poetry )

We want submissions of your poetry! Maybe you've got some at the bottom of your collection you think would never see the light of day? Well we want 'em, anonymously, credited or otherwise! 

Bad poetry or mediocre poetry encouraged! Truly good poetry is the exception not the rule. Sometimes you just gotta express yourself!

Word count should be about 300 words give or take. If you go over by a line or two, that's okay!

FL4$H $T0RY TIM€ ( flash story time )

Got a quick 2 or 3 paged story? Share it with us and we could add it to our Flash Story segment of the zine! Word count should be about 1000 give or take. Again, if you go over by a few words, that's okay, we'll find a way to fit it in!

Put your writing out there to be seen, and plug your credits if you want to be found!

#D€4R AO3 ( #dear AO3 )

We also accept any fanfiction blurbs you want to plug too! Just tell us where to find it and we'll put in if we like it!

We might even put in some recs of our own. 

C0LL4G€ ( Collage )

Finally, we are all about collage! If you got some sick work you want to share, we'd love to feature it! 

Otherwise we will be making plenty to fill the space!

OUR TERMS

Submissions can be sent in through PM - All Submissions must have content warnings if they apply (if none are provided we will add them ourselves, it just saves us work) - NO promotion of fascism, oppression, or tanky ideologies; We are punk, and anti-oppression is punk - NO AI generated work - YES you can share, print, and distribute any part of the zine but do not post it to any Meta product or to twitter

Our zines will be printed out and distributed in our little city on the edge of the water, but we also post full-colour versions on Newgrounds and Itch.io when we are done printing and scanning the final drafts. We make no profit nor sell our work.

If all this interests you, drop us a line! We are currently working on our second issue and could use some submissions to plot out the shape of it. Our first issue is available on our profile if you want to sift through and see what to expect!

Until then, CR4SH3D out!

[melit0n]

EUCLID ANALYSIS.

Told you guys it was coming, didn't I? I apologise that this has taken a bit longer than expected, my mental health hit me like a bullet train, but I do hope it's sufficient.

Part one -> You're already here!

Part two -> Line by line analysis part 1

Part three -> Line by line analysis part 2

Part four -> Musical/intrumental notes

Part five -> The Night in Sleep Token

Part six -> Conclusion

Please note this is a general analysis. Although I do go into theories, both my own and others, this is just general thoughts. Also note when I speak of Vessel, I mean Vessel as a character, not the person, unless I specifically state so.

Tagline: @rilllvri @a-s-levynn @fivewholeminutes @euclidsvessel @tonguetyd @moonchild-in-blue @kkarmatic @branches-in-a-flood

+ Some people were worried about spam liking/reblogging the last time I did one of these big analysis posts, and I want to say please don't worry about that! I get happy when I see the same users pop up liking and reblogging my work, because it means you're interested in this enough to go through the whole thing. Feel completely free to add your own thoughts, correct any errors I've made etc. As per usual, my DMs are completely open to anybody wanting to discuss ST <3

Let's start off with the basics. ‘Euclid’ is the anglicised version of the Greek name Eukleídes (Εὐκλείδης), mainly known via the ancient Greek mathematician Euclid of Alexandria, who is seen as the ‘father of geometry’, and most famous for his work on symmetry. Its general definition is something or someone who is renowned and or glorious (A) and the lesser known definition is something that is a copy of the same (B) (taken from Euclid’s ideas on symmetry), which we’ll come back to in a bit.

However, there is another Euclid in history that we’ll be referencing; Euclid of Megara. This Euclid, similar to our mathematician, was an ancient Greek Socratic (having been a pupil of Socrates) philosopher. I’ll be taking part of a text out of his Wikipedia article since his ideas have been explained thoroughly there.

(we'll be coming back to him soon)

First off, this is an incredibly interesting choice of name for a song. Outside of someone's maths and philosophy class, this name doesn't exist to most, so the fact it's been chosen at all is intriguing.

Vessel has shown time and time again he enjoys sometimes elaborate references in his art, an example being chemistry and biology in TPWBYT (most notable would probably be ‘Telomeres’), so, I think it would be easy to say that, whether it be a reference to Euclid the Mathematician or Euclid the philosopher, that said reference is understood and intended by Vessel.

So, let's start with our mathematician, shall we?

What I find interesting about Euclid of Alexandria is that his life and existence outside of his work on geometry is almost completely unknown. There's almost nothing known of him, as a person, other than where he spent half of his career (Alexandria; Egypt, hence his title), where he may have studied (Platonic academy) and a general idea of when he lived (around 300BC). What is known about this insanely famous man who created the foundations of symmetry is incredibly barebones. People take Euclid at face value for his work, just like Vessel (both as an artist, and a character).

Further, we, as listeners, don't have much of an understanding of who Vessel is other than being a mouthpiece of a deity known as Sleep, someone once human now grasping at the threads of humanity and someone sharing some of his struggles in life (both with Sleep and unknown people). Like Euclid, he is barebones, we take him at face value; a vessel. He is both a mouthpiece for Sleep, a mouthpiece for his own emotions (obviously) and a mouthpiece for us. His experiences transcend being just his, due to his anonymity, therefore allowing us to connect and express our own experiences. It's music for the sake of music; expression.

Now, having talked through Euclid as a person, it's time to talk about Euclid and his symmetry. Symmetry in shapes is 'reflections, rotations, translations, and combinations of these basic operations. Under an isometric transformation, a geometric object is said to be symmetric if, after transformation, the object is indistinguishable from the object before the transformation- a copy of the same’. So, of course, this means shapes like squares, rectangles, parallelograms and circles. Circles are a representation of infinity, wholeness, unity and loops. What does Euclid do? Loop itself (starts and ends with B major, which also happens to be the same chord that TNDNBTG starts with), and loops the three albums together, musically and lyrically.

Now, onto Euclid of Megara.

Euclid was born in Megara, Athens and was a follower of Socrates (sneaking into Athens to hear him speak, and he was also present during his death). He is most known for his philosophy that good is the knowledge of simply being and that the opposite of good does not exist, aka evil. The Good is described to be a perfect, eternal, and changeless Form, existing outside space and time. A form of Heaven without a God.

This idea could be linked lore-wise with Sleep Token; Sleep could, in a way, be The Good literally. Bliss. Further, with the idea that there is no actual opposite of good, then how can anything be bad? How can Sleep, as a deity, have bad intentions if there is no actual evil?

So far, with these two notable figures in mind, we can perceive Euclid as one of two ways (and there are more ways to come). Euclid can be seen as quite literally being a form of symmetry; a parallel that Vessel lays his life on because it brings all of the produced albums, all of his stories, together. Or, we can think of Euclid as Vessel. This brings me to @euclidsvessel's post on their theory on Euclid; what if Euclid was Vessel’s name before he became a vessel?

The theory that Euclid could be Vessel’s old name is not only extremely insightful, but very plausible as well. They explained their points very well in their original post, and I don't want to repeat what they’ve already said, so I do implore you to go read that! It's not detrimental to needing to understand this post, but I highly recommend it. Despite this, I am here to both support their argument and bring my own comparison. Take a look at the cover art for Euclid:

Let me repeat the lesser-known definition of Euclid; a copy of the same. A clone. A replacement. Held in the right hand is the decapitated head of Vessel's old (2nd gen.) mask. Specifically, the one that covers his mouth; the version that relinquishes the most amount of humanity. The album art is a representation of change portrayed in a symbolically gory way. Beheading, depending on the era you’re working from, symbolises both vengeance as well as a form of purification. By cutting off the head, you remove any ‘unholy’ thoughts. It's also among one of the most horrific and humiliating ways of killing someone (since it was typically done publicly, and sometimes the heads were placed on spikes of battlements as a warning).

Furthermore, there's a theory that's popped up a couple of times, lore-wise, that Vessel is not the first person to be turned into a vessel of Sleep, and he certainly won't be the last. So, considering the literal album art illustrates a replacement of Vessel, I’d say that theory is pretty much confirmed. In conclusion, the album art can either be interpreted as how Vessel will eventually be discarded and replaced by another vessel, or how Vessel himself will change, for better or for worse; clawing out of his own skin to become “someone new”.

So, to compare the idea of Euclid being Vessel’s old name, and to create the third perception of what or rather, who, Euclid is, what if Euclid will be the eventual replacement for Vessel?

[longbobmckenzie]

Too Hot to Handle 3: Episodes 1-3 Thoughts

We're back, bitches.

And as always, I have thoughts.

First off, the customization. It was fine. I like the hair options and that there are additional prosthetics/CGMs, but the rest of it felt like the same thing all over again and it took me a good 10 minutes to come up with someone I was relatively happy with but not thrilled with. Also the smiles are still creepy but at least we get to preview them this time

I love being a bombshell as it adds something fresh and means I didn't have to sit through the opening where everyone comes in because that takes soooo long sometimes (maybe next time we're an OG we can be one of the last to arrive?)

FREE PASS!!! Buuut all we got was some kisses and making out? Like come on. They should've either said we get a free kiss on the date or at least let us be extra naughty

I also like that we got to customize the LI we took out on the date and the customizations were permanent instead of limited to during the date

I picked Taz. I gave him a beard and manbun, and now he looks like Marshall 🤣 I have a type, okay?

I typically like to whore around during my first playthrough but after picking Jirayu for the tour and Mattias for something else (clearly not memorable since I don't remember what it was), I just keep gravitating back to Taz. Him being stuck-up about the food on the date kinda sucked but then he said he liked that I wasn't just saying stuff based on what he likes and he relaxed and became a lot more fun and then we made out and I shared a bed with him and yeaaahhh I like him. So I've been picking him every option ever since

But that doesn't mean I'm not already dying to see who comes in as bombshells

As for the other LIs, the biggest disappointment to me is probably that... WHERE ARE THEY?!?! If you don't pick them for scenes, they're almost non-existent. I've seen Bear more than I've seen Carmen or Beatriz. I'd love for them to be more integrated into the storyline, which I think S2 did a great job of. That said, once we lock in to our LIs I'm sure we'll see more, but how am I supposed to get to know these people if I never see them and don't want to choose them over Taz?

That brings us to the non-romanceable (yet) characters. We know from the achievements that there are 3 achievements for a BFF-to-lovers route, so I guess 3 of them will be possible endgames (not sure if this also includes any future bombshells or if it's just from the 4 OGs). Anyway, so far... I'm not liking them. Victoria's a fugly bitch (spoiler: good riddance to her), Sean is cartoonishly annoying (he gives me Felix vibes but I also wonder if they're trying to make him like Hamish), and I'm just not vibing with Julian or Giselle as friends, let alone future love interests. And the problem with that is that they're the ones constantly being pushed in my face instead of the other LIs, which is just making me more annoyed with them. Again, I think S2 did really well with this, so hopefully it changes. But otherwise, ugh.

Back to Taz - I love that we have such amazing chemistry and he's willing to break rules with me, and it's all just purely physical at this point. Like yeah, we've talked a bit about ourselves too and expressed an interest in getting to know each other, but I don't feel like either of us are emotionally invested yet and I love that - because this is THTH, not Love Island. We're not here for love, we're here for sex. I don't wanna feel after a day that my LI is already half in love with me. There's plenty of time for that

Is it just me, or have there been a lot of potential rule breaks already? I've only been in there a couple days and I've already spent so much money - lots of heavy petting and manual gratification with Taz so far, plus kissing

I'm so getting kicked out 🤣

I'm intrigued to see more of Bad Lana and how that plays out - I've only seen the first episode of the new season of the show, so it'll be interesting to see how they do it in the game

another HUGE plus: less time in the beach hut!! They're not doing a full chapter of beach hut confessionals anymore, just tacking on a bit to the start of one of the chapters, and I LOVE that change. it also means we get more actual game time!

There's a threesome in the achievements. I'm ready.

Anyway, overall I think I preferred the start of S2 (I remember being pretty blown away by the potential and the branching), but this is still a good start and I'm excited for the season. I'm ready for bombshells, and I'm definitely gonna play a 2nd profile to see what Jirayu is all about because I'm intrigued by him. And I wanna be messy on one route and more loyal on another, because I love seeing all the branching when you play both ways!

[torchickentacos]

21 and 22 for drew? or may if you’ve already been asked those ones about him!

From this ask game! LONG, under cut. Various off-topic musings included.

21. If you're a fic writer and have written for this character, what's your favorite thing to do when you're writing for this character? What's something you don't like?

Ok so disclaimer for the few people who read what I write- this may or may not translate into my end product. I try to keep it in mind but ultimately my fics kind of write themselves and I have minimal input tbh. I'm not steering this car, I just put my foot on the pedal. I make it go but the characters are the ones driving with reckless abandon.

Also these are all just my opinions and if anyone hates them, please don't let me know.

Something that I like doing when writing Drew is leaning into how much he thinks. I enjoy leaning into his internal dialogue, his hang-ups on every little thing, his propensity to dwell (in my characterization of him, anyways, which is, ehhh, give or take maybe 85% taken from canon and 25% bullshitted. My math is wrong but I'm not changing it, there's just an extra 15% of my own bullshit and we'll pretend it was intentional).

When writing him, there tends to be a lot more going on internally than when I write, idk, May or Ash or whoever. Drew's always attuned to the situation, picking things up and filing them away. He's always formulating opinions and thoughts and emotions that rarely make it out of his head. He feels a lot of things but generally they stay inward, whereas when writing someone like May, if she's feeling it, she's probably also expressing it regardless of if she should or not. No filter vs too much of a filter for his own good.

I think that, in a related vein, he's always holding himself back. Both vocally and just... kind of in general? Maybe not career-wise, but emotionally, he'd rather get close and then dart away over and over again instead of making any leaps. He's careful. He'd rather balance on a tightrope than take the fall USUALLY *(this is how I write him, and other portrayals are ones that I love! this is just what I do, not what I'm saying is the right thing). We see it in canon- he gives May roses but hides behind excuses. He starts conversations but leaves just as quickly. He's mercurial and never builds up the bravery that he needs. He's careful to the point of cowardice- and not just ship-wise. This can be used for any number of things, which I find fun. He likes being in control, and if he doesn't feel like he has a steady grasp on a situation, he leaves. And you can't control people's emotions, so that's scary, so he dips out from emotional moments unless something stronger keeps him there. It's a constant push-and-pull between his own mind and emotions. One's always trying to rein the other in and break free of the other at the same time.

He likes certainty. This contrasts well with a certain someone whose entire battle style features assist and metronome, which is built in uncertainty. She challenges him. But that's for another post.

Something I dislike writing is leaning into how much of a jerk he actually is in canon sometimes tbh. Canon can keep that- I do enjoy it situationally but overall I leave that to writers who are better at showing that side of him without making him grating. I prefer watering it down some and making him be annoying in different ways lol, which admittedly does actually close off a few interesting avenues and facets of him. But I think given the tumultuous nature of rival ships and fandom's current... propensity for tossing out words like 'romanticizing' and 'idolizing' and whatever else, I'd rather just leave well enough alone with the worse aspects of him and avoid being called a verbal abuse apologist or whatever 😭 I don't want any avenues for some jackass to be like 'oh ew you write m/f relationships where the man is mean and dominant over the poor woman' or whateverthefuck. TLDR, I'm a people pleaser with worn-thin patience for rival ship discourse.

I also lean towards AU/slice-of-life stuff where his rival jerkassery is less applicable to begin with, anyways. I am FULLY guilty of watering him down and making him nicer, but I'm self-aware, so... there's that, I guess, lol. I also think he'd chill out as he gets older, anyways, leaning more towards 'vaguely prickly and sardonic' than anything else.

Anyways, it's kinda weird to answer these when I never actually share my writing on this blog, but oh well. That privilege got revoked after someone was mean about my writing around me without knowing that it was mine, lol. It wasn't even good criticism (which baffles me because god knows they had material to work with), it was just general bitching about ship fics that aren't as complex as War and Peace. God forbid some people enjoy fluff. Send me to the corner of shame along with the few dozen people who liked my writing and the people who left kind comments. Anyways, it's funny now, but I still won't share writing here. The best way to support me is to support writers in general.

So! General call to action. Go find a fic for your favorite ship (or just any fic in general but I'm being petty and saying 'ship' since the rude person seemed to take issue with shipping) and leave a (NICE. 🔪) comment. Just a heart emoji if you feel like it. Tell writers when you reread their work, just a 'Hey! rereading and remembering how much I liked this one :)' or something. It'll keep them going for a week, I'm telling you. I still think about and reread every single comment that I have ever received. I keep them all copy-pasted in a google doc. It's 24 pages long and 11.2k and it makes me cry (in a good way).

22. If you're a fic reader, what's something you like in fics when it comes to this character? Something you don't like?

This is going to sound so fucking backhanded but I LOOOOOVE reading fics where he has friends. I love reading him talking to Solidad or Gary or Ash or May as a friend or whoever else!!! Make him socialize!!!! it's fun! Lord knows that he doesn't do it enough and it shows. I like reading fics where he gets to interact with people that he doesn't talk to often in canon. So anyone but May pretty much. I love his horrendously down-bad tunnel vision where he only acknowledges May and literally nobody else, funny as hell, but also it'd have been so fun if he actually spoke to other people. I read a fic several years ago where he and Paul were sorta-work-friends, it was some 2014 assassin AU PS/CS/IS fic. but I remember that Drew would intentionally play coldplay songs around Paul to annoy him or something like that. They had a frenemies-bromance-coworkers thing going on and it was just DELIGHTFUL, if a little odd! That shit's hilarious! Let me see Drew bothering other people on purpose and joking with friends!

So. Things I don't like. I personally disagree with the early 2010s FFN portrayals of him as a casanova womanizer, BUT I also kind of love those portrayals for their sheer absurdity and the camp factor lmao. It's not even an ironic enjoyment, it's a genuine affection for that whole era of fics. It's the opposite of how I write him, but it's nostalgic to look back on old fanon. I also don't care for fics that break him and May up but that's obviously a personal bias that I've literally gone against myself on, lmao. It can be done well but sometimes it skirts into ship-bashing territory, usually at Drew's expense. Just because it's not a preference of mine doesn't mean that it's a bad thing to write! I'm just not the audience and that's okay, it's not a failing of the writer. I mentioned the person who disliked my fics and said so publicly, and that doesn't reflect on me. It reflects on their tastes. Same goes here. It's just not to my taste. It's subjective and not at all a statement on the quality or validity of a fic that includes those things.

[transentiencestudios]

School on Tuesday / changes to Patreon/Substar

Greetings, everyone.

I wanted to give you a (somewhat) brief update on our project and future plans moving forward. School begins again on Tuesday, and the next three months will be spent studying for an exam. We are quick learners, so it shouldn't be too tough, but depending on how obnoxious the professors become, content production may slow down slightly (but knowing myself, I work much more efficiently under pressure, lol). I'm currently finishing up concept art for the first comic chapters, and we wanted to begin working on it as soon as school started. We are fortunate to be able to use our iPads at school, allowing us to continue focusing on art and literature while away from home.

In any case, in order to avoid overloading myself with work, I will now only post to Patreon and SubscribeStar every two weeks. Throughout that time, we will continue to submit content to our Discord server. Upload schedules will become more frequent again if we can afford to freelance sooner rather than later.

Our Lore Wiki is still in the works. I'm putting together the site from scratch using a website builder, and we appreciate your patience for it a lot. <3 Our texts need a bunch of refinement, and we'd like to provide content when it's 99% ready.

We would be even more grateful for any kind of financial support, as this may effectively become our part-time or full-time work once we graduate in two years. There is a huge backlog of content on our Patreon and Substar, so feel free to check in whenever you like. For just 5€, you get access to pretty much everything we've done so far.

That being said (and it has to be said), we're taking a massive risk with all of this, as we cannot ensure if people will enjoy our project, but as the expression goes, "no risk, no fun," right? And this far it seems rather promising for how little we have to show currently... but there will be more substance to our universe once the website is up and running. We've gotten quite far within one year, and we both feel like we should've started way earlier than that, but it cannot be helped. It's both a kind of marathon and passion in one, which... don't always go hand in hand, but we're trying our best—as much as we hate coming across as pushy elaborating all of this.

Especially now, if you can support artists, please do. A lot of them will lose or have already lost their jobs to AI, and this scheme will only increase as time goes on. It's simply the reality of things. A lot of people don't realize that creatives are just like any other workers—but function a bit differently in their heads than, say, someone working on computers. It's two entirely different universes, and we frankly never see us working as anything else but creatives, as that would break us. It's simply what we were born to do. Autism and other mental hurdles also make working at a company much harder, and nobody there cares for your mental wellbeing, no matter if you're an artist, designer, coder, or builder. Without art, there wouldn't be humanity. As shrimple as that.

We'll probably need to look into some form of investor who can assist fund aspects of the project regardless if our tip jars don't work out, and we have like zero experience with it. At first, I'll try to keep us afloat through commissions, though, until we find better solutions. Every investor has some kind of catch, and we'd like to avoid that as much as possible, be it for copyright or repayment reasons. Being independent seems to be the only way to avoid going into any kind of trouble at all these days. All companies want to use people in one way or another. We're... quite scared of what the future will hold for us, and I'm sure the feeling is mutual with a lot of people.

In any case, here are the links if you're interested in either of them: https://www.patreon.com/c/transentience_studios https://subscribestar.adult/transentience https://discord.com/invite/U2UkUJ2YsN

That's all for now. Bit longer than expected- If you made it this far, thank you for reading and all the love. And as always, stay safe, everyone.

- Eight

[blueblood99-art]

"Flowers in spider webs" [1]

Harada x Burado (my OC, you can learn more about her here)

Summary: Burado-chan is a shinigami, who was destined to take Sanosuke's life. Unfortunate thing is that she fell in love with him.

Also a little disclaimer - English is not my native language, so if you find any mistakes in the text feel free to share, I always look forward to improve my writing skills ✨

____________________________

Summer 1856, Matsuyama.

"Hey, Harada, why are you hanging out? Is there no work at all?" shoved his comrade, who was dozing on the straw, into the back without malice, Shinichi laughed out loud.

He was older and taller than Sanosuke by almost a whole head, and had already killed his first man, which he constantly boasted about in the estate. Therefore, rubbing his bruised shoulder blade with displeasure, Harada cursed softly. If it were one of the younger guys, he would have expressed a couple of affectionate words a long time ago, or maybe he would have hit him. Everyone in the Matsuyama estate knew that he was a rare brawler and once again tried not to get into trouble. But Shinichi is quite another matter, all these dull years spent in the service of the Matsuyama family, he was almost like an older brother to him. The only one who could drive at least some common sense into Sanosuke's violent, adventurous head.

"Look, the hostess will see you and leave you without food again. You will ask, I will not give you a piece of my own!"

"Ah, let her find me first, and then we'll see," Sanosuke waved off, shamelessly yawning so that his mouth ached.

He dusts himself off and gets to his feet.

"A pity …" smiling conspiratorially, Shinichi plopped down in a pile of hay, crossing his legs. "They will punish you, then we will not go to the summer festival, you will clean the stables all day. And there are girls in colorful yukats, and there is a lot of food…

"What a fox you are!" Harada immediately started up, glaring angrily at his older comrade. "That's what you should have said right away!"

"Maybe. I was just waiting for you to open your eyes after sleeping", Shinichi laughed loudly, throwing up his chin and clutching his stomach.

______

The village, filled with laughter, the roar of ritual drums and the light of paper lanterns, met them in the midst of the festival. Impatiently following the smug Shinichi, who ostentatiously kept both hands on the hilt of a long sword, Sanosuke looked around with joyful anticipation. There were stalls with festive snacks like tricolor dango and takoyaki, festival masks and paper lanterns. Maybe it will even be possible to sit down with some already drunk company and drink plenty of sake at someone else's expense, as they sometimes did with comrades from the estate.

"This is Tamako," blushing embarrassedly, which suddenly made him look ridiculous, Shinichi nodded in the direction of the girl in pink yukata, who was waving at them from the stone bridge. " I'll be quick, just say hello. And you take a walk for now, see what interesting things there are here!"

"Pf, as if I didn't see something at these festivals," - Sano snorted, but immediately took pity on the would-be lover. This idiot hoped that now that he had begun to achieve any success in his military career, the girl's parents would allow her to become his wife. "I'll be nearby"

Slapping him on the shoulder one last time, Harada moved towards the kiosks with a wry smile. His friend's stupid desire to start a family seemed ridiculous to him. The girls really interested Harada a lot, with their thin, white hands, and what they had under the thick layers of kimonos was tempting for him, an unsolved mystery for the time being, but for some reason he was sure that it would not be for long.

Anticipating the summer fun, he did not notice how he knocked someone down. There was a soft groan in his ear. Staggering, Harada involuntarily put out his hand, grabbed the soft fabric. Looking up, he collided with someone else's eyes, amber-yellow, which sent a chill down his spine. In front of him stood a girl, very young, dressed in a black yukata and a simple festival mask with oni's face.

With a soft gasp, she looked at him for a while, glancing at the young man with unusual bright yellow eyes, and bent down, picking something up from the ground. Harada had just noticed the bright red festival umbrella with the face of a yokai made of oiled paper. As if not noticing him, the girl began to shake the umbrella from the dirt and stuck leaves of the yukata sleeves.

"I'm sorry…" she muttered to herself, either to Harada or to the umbrella.

The ugly face from the painted paper looked at him mockingly.

"Nothing, after all, I bumped into you"

"Yeah …" bowing, the girl moved on, as if looking for someone in the crowd.

For a while, as if fascinated, he watched the girl's slender figure disappear into the crowd. A white festival mask, worn over wild, curly hair, flashed between the tops of the heads. Like a dope, an unusual obsession in the form of a swarthy gaijin with unusual eyes. He had never met such a girl in his life, and even though she was different from everything that is considered beautiful, even from what he himself considered beautiful, the thought flashed through his head like lightning that he would never meet such a girl again. Aroused, Sanosuke did not come to himself immediately, finding that he was covered with goosebumps from head to toe. Wolfish yellow eyes frantically ran around the crowd, trying to make out a familiar silhouette. Without thinking for a second, he rushed headlong after her.

However, luck was not on his side. He managed to run around several blocks with endless kiosks and festive entertainment, even missed the launch of fireworks, but he could not find her. The mysterious girl seemed to disappear into thin air. Cursing, he clasped his hands in anger and plopped down on the wooden steps of the tea house. Covering his face with his hands, he could still see her mournful, swarthy face in small red freckles. Lost in time, Harada sat there for an eternity. Shinichi was probably already looking for him. Everything dissolved, it became so unimportant. He had never felt this way about a woman before.

"Are you going somewhere, beautiful?" A hoarse laugh from a dark alley caught his attention. Some already heavily drunk company of Ronins surrounded someone, not letting them pass.

"Why don't you have a drink with us, huh? We won't hurt you," another warrior, tall, as tall as Shinichi, guffawed.

They exchanged drunken, unkind glances. Sano visibly tensed. He was a scamp and a brawler himself, but he would never stoop to molesting women. It is the duty of any samurai to protect the weak.

"Take your hands off," an icy, insinuating voice coming from the gateway made him shudder. Everything inside turned cold. " I don't drink alcohol with strangers. Let me pass"

He didn't notice how he jumped to his feet. It was her, the girl.

"We'll just get to know each other better and you'll go about your business," the third ronin, who was already moving his tongue with difficulty, hooted. His big, swarthy hand clutched her sharp chin, forcing her to look into his drunken, glossy face.

"I said take your hands off," Gaijin growled through tightly clenched teeth, her fingers tightened on the handle of the umbrella, turning white. "Leave me alone if you don't want to regret it."

Two yellow eyes flashed unkindly, withstanding the evil, oblique gaze of the Ronins. She did not back away, did not ask for forgiveness in a frightened way and did not beg, recklessly straightening her back, as if she was ready to fight back.

"Gaijin arrogant bitch!" Before a huge, rough hand could hit her, Sanosuke rushed at ronin, grabbing him by the neck from behind. Without letting the drunk come to his senses, he kicked him under the knee.

The girl did not lose her head, snatched out an umbrella and loaded it on the head of another samurai, causing him to stagger with a loud cry and fall backwards to the ground. Throwing up an elegant thin leg, she kicked him on the back of the head, immediately knocking him out. Breathing heavily, Harada struggled with the savage ronin, hanging on his arm, preventing the warrior from drawing his sword. He didn't want him to stab the girl.

"On your right!" Gaijin shouted, warning Harada about the third drunkard's punch. "Look out!"

Swinging, she hit him between the eyes with the metal handle of the umbrella. Harada shoved his opponent in his direction, causing two drunken ronin to collide and to clumsily ploppe to the ground, preventing each other from getting up.

"Run," grabbing her by the hand, he rushed as fast as he could to the other end of the street, ignoring the loud, loud curses.

They ran forward, skirting narrow alleys and weaving between people until they were exhausted. Breathing heavily, Harada doubled over and put his hands on his knees. In the silence that followed, only his hoarse sighs could be heard.

"It seems they broke away from us," the girl, straightening the crumpled floors of the yukata, looked out of the dark alley into the noisy main street. The holiday was coming to an end, the merry crowd was already beginning to thin out, but there were no traces of drunken Ronins. She wasn't even sweating, she wasn't exhausted.

Sitting down next to him on the ground, Gaijin gently stroked the folded umbrella and said, "Are you okay, friend?"

"Ah, I-I 'm w-well, I wasn't even touched…" he broke off in embarrassment when he realized that she was saying this to the umbrella, and immediately blushed to the roots of his hair.

Smiling mockingly, the girl raised her head, measured him with a curious look.

"You didn't have to help me"

" Are you kidding? There were three of them!" Her emotionless reaction threw Harada into a real shock. Is that what she has instead of gratitude?

"So what?" She chuckled, putting her hands on her hips. At the same time, his eyes looked at him fervently, as if they were laughing. "You were in much greater danger"

"It would be polite just to say thank you," Sanosuke muttered, turning away. "By the way, my name is Harada. Harada Sanosuke, I serve the Matsuyama clan. And you?"

The simple polite question about the name seemed to upset her. Frowning, the girl abruptly got to her feet.

"A name has too much power to be called so recklessly. Besides, you have nothing to know it for, Harada Sanosuke," she said unexpectedly seriously, adjusting her festival mask. "We will never meet again"

She had already taken a step towards the main street, without even giving him time to recover.

Harada roused himself and grabbed her arm. Only now did he notice how cold the girl's small, calloused palm was. It was like an electric shock hit him. "I want to know who I saved. In… gratitude"

She seemed to be thinking for a couple of moments, which seemed like an eternity to Harada.

"Blood. My name is Katherine Blood"

"B… Burado?"

"Let it be Burado, if that's what you want. I have to go," pulling her hand out of his grasp, the girl who made such a strong impression on him left as if nothing had happened.

__________

"Ah, nasty mortal!" Tokabo Shigure cursed when they left the city. Covering her face with a bamboo hat, Burado remained unnoticed. Finally, once in the forest, she built a fire and warmed her chilled palms by the fire. Eternal cold was part of the curse that all souls who gave up their lives voluntarily were doomed to feel. "Stuck like a leaf. And you also charged me on the head!"

"Stop grumbling, you won't crumble from such nonsense," the girl chuckled and looked at the angry youkai. Stretching out his long black arms, her umbrella hovered over the fire.

"By the way, I'm almost five hundred years old!" Sigure shouted indignantly, his large pupil narrowed warily, and his ugly one-eyed muzzle became even scarier.

"We never found the soul, got into a fight, and I also crumpled!" youkai continued to spray. The less the hostess paid attention to him, the angrier he became. "At this rate, I will not work off my debt until the arrival of the Last Judgment! Emma-sama, give me strength with this girl!"

"Didn't you feel it, Sigure?" She grinned, twirling the oni mask in her hands. Swarthy fingers fingered the red ribbons. "This Sanosuke. He's on our list. In twelve years he will die"

"What's the use of that? Souls need to be collected now, fresh and warm!" He pulled out a long yellow tongue in anticipation. The girl just clicked irritably.

This mortal with his yellow wolf eyes did not leave her mind. He was… so alive. Young and full of energy, the gods alone know what lies ahead of him. Twelve years is a very short time by the standards of an ordinary person. He was so kind to her, and he looked at her like no one else before. Would she have to take his life, too?

_______________

"Everything will be fine, the pain will recede soon," she picked up the body of a tall young samurai, handsome and young. His chest was pierced by a quick, precise blow right to the heart, and bright red blood was oozing from his pale, bluish lips. The girl gently lowered him to the ground, not paying attention to the fact that blood soaked the floors of her yukata, soiled her hands. She stroked the young man's hair, conjuring up visions of his mother's warm hands at the last moment of his life. "You were a good man, Shinichi. I'll give you an easy death"

With trembling fingers, the girl pulled off the oni mask from the top of her head, covering her face. Her bright yellow eyes lit up in the heavy, night darkness of the city, and her hair turned white.

"Toukabo Shigure, come on," she held out her hand, summoning the damn umbrella.

He opened his wide mouth in anticipation. Waving an umbrella, Burado cut off Shinichi's soul from his body. Suddenly the wheezing stopped and his eyes closed. With a loud sigh of relief, Shinichi breathed his last.

"Done," Burado finished and got to her feet. Shinichi's blood dripped from the sleeves of her black yukata. "He has a long journey ahead of him. Emma-sama, be merciful!"

"You look upset, did you feel sorry for the little man?" Shigure chuckled, taking the form of an ordinary umbrella.

She sighed heavily, looking at the mask in her hands.

"I despise people", putting the mask on, the girl saw every corner of the mortal's soul, every minute of his life and sins. "But this one was a good man. Taking his life was not a pleasure for me"

"Shinichi! Where are you, Shinichi?"

A familiar voice made her freeze in place. It was the same man, Harada Sanosuke.

Emerging from the alley, he stared in shock at the blood-stained yukata, and then at the body of his friend at the girl's feet. The samurai himself was covered in blood. They got into a fight with hostile samurai and managed to split up. Burado looked at the young man a little wearily, wondering if he had heard her last words. The two were friends.

"Did you kill him?!" clenching his teeth, he gripped the spear shaft until his fingers turned white. "Do you work with them?!"

"I don't care what's going on here," she replied in a calm, sorrowful voice, but she didn't deny her guilt. "But I took your friend's life"

"W… why, Burado—chan?" What did he do to you? his voice trembled with ill—suppressed anger.

The girl shuddered at the mention of the ridiculous nickname in the Japanese manner that he had given her just a week ago. Wearing the mask, she saw Harada Sanosuke in the memories of his comrade. He was cheerful, reckless, full of life. And so kind. It is said that seeing a person off on his last journey, the reaper of death lives his life. Seeing Harada through Shinichi's eyes, she felt like she had known him for a long time. As if she valued him as much as his friend. That's why it was even more painful to see anger and disappointment on a beautiful young face.

"I'm sorry… Harada-kun," was all shinigami could say, swallowing a heavy lump. "Now go to sleep"

Suddenly she was behind the spearman, running icy fingers through the hair on the back of her head. As soon as she touched Sanosuke, he felt his head begin to feel heavy.

________________________

"What?! To return to Jigoku? And who will fulfill the debt?!" Sigure was indignant when the girl, white as a sheet, was walking along a forest path towards the mountains. After that encounter with a mortal, she seemed to be not herself, hardly spoke. "Stupid girl!!"

She just sighed heavily. Mr. Hozuki won't be thrilled when he sees her at the door of his office. In her head, she could hear a voice, joyful laughter, and before her eyes stood Harada's smiling, full of life and youth.

"Shinichi, well, you've aged! A couple more years, and I'll catch up with you! "

"Let's help, it's not for a samurai to watch others suffer"

" Yes, I can drink even more than you! "

Burado felt her head gradually splitting, as she felt sick. She needed a break.

[inkstainsxxonxxparchment]

Entry 1.

Sometimes as a writer there are manic moments where things just...make themselves known. This is one of them...so a journal entry from an iteration of Helsing resurrected and stuck in a castle with Dracula. I write things in fits in early morning hours and it's based loosely on an RP with my incredible partner @thatdoodlebug. Might do subsequent ones if my writing demons inflict more...we'll see...

The candlelight is flickering as I sit here. To be honest, I do not know if this will clear either my head or the conscience screaming at me but I could not just let my mind hold so much that it feels as if I am going to go stark raving mad or come down with a headache from which I may never recover.  Let no one but me see these words and know of my weaknesses herein. I cannot express nor do I think I can hide the darkness that festers in the darkest and deepest recesses of my soul. And I truly wonder if I am, myself, beyond forgiveness.  There is no easy way to admit or to even write this without wanting to throw myself from the topmost window of this cursed castle that I find myself in once again. The why is not important only the truth which shames me even now.  I want him. Desire him, even. The fiendish host in this castle. The devil that stalks at night. The known pestilence of this accursed country. Count Dracula. I cannot keep from tensing even writing this as if any mention of him will bring him to this room for another conversation that I want to avoid. We are stuck here in this castle, in this place and neither of us can escape but I do not need him to know these truths.  That I see him and wonder what it might be like to succumb to baser desires. He is interested only in my blood. Fleshly pleasures are nothing he’d want. But I do. And that’s so much worse that I am having a crisis over such a thing and with a vampire no less. Where have my scruples gone? Have I had any to truly speak of? I do not know but what I do know is that I must cleanse myself of these desires. And if this journal that I will never let another soul see is the only way then that is how it shall be. Mayhaps at the end of all of it, getting it out like poison from a wound will stop the dreams, the wants, the shame that fills me. And then I can be free of all of it. And in that moment I will lay these blasphemies to rest in the flames of a fire where they belong.  Someone look after me and my soul in this accursed place because I know that no one else is least of all the creeping lord of the manor who has all but assured me that he will finish what we started if it is the last thing he does. And perhaps he will. At the moment, I just want to be able to converse and even argue without getting distracted by his mouth or his sculpted cheeks or…  …you see  my predicament do you not? When all my focus is on his features and not the situation. And I wonder what he might look like splayed on silken sheets; black or red would frame his pale skin perfectly and…  No, no! I cannot have these sorts of thoughts. What sort of man am I to be feeling as I do?!  I wish I could lay the blame at his door and I could convince myself of it I am sure but it would not be the truth in the end. He is merely the most appealing to that part of me; the desires that burn in the dark of night would find a figure of focus in one as deviant as he. Sometimes I wonder if he wasn’t molded from my deepest desires. And that is a troubling thought but one that I cannot fully take responsibility for if he has been a blight for longer than my own life. But it does make me wonder… And it is that curiosity that is no doubt going to be my downfall…but no one but  me and these lines will ever know the truth of it…and that may be the only mercy allotted at this time.  I think I hear him…so for now I will go and try to make small talk and ignore all else afflicting me like the worst sort of fever. Hopefully, he takes it as me still being uncomfortable in his presence… If he only knew…

[white-queen-lacus]

Idk why Frederica,Kougami and Tenzing’s found family dynamic in SS case 3 was very interesting for me.Frede very much served as the matriarch of their own ragtag family.She has an extremely nunaced grip on Kougami’s personality as well(after all she’s the one who made him come back to Japan) and is very much capable of keeping up with him.Ever since the FI manga extra I feel like writers have an inclination to build up the relationship more(If you compare Frederica’s approach to Sugo and Kougami you can clearly tell she’s very much interested in Kougami).It wouldn’t need any buildup.Just a little confirmation and they can be a thing(unlike koukane who they have refused to lean into for years).Shiotani has already expressed his interest for a MOFA SAD spin off multiple times and it has a good chance of happening considering Kougami’s popularity.If that ends up happening I can easily see them working out.Like Japanese Batman and Catwoman hah!I used to have a diligent passion for koukane but I have made peace with the fact it has become stagnant and their ideologies would never converge.It would be great to let them both move on with their respective love interests and stop ship baiting.

Oooooooooooooook, I agree to an extent. I've previously and many times said that I Kourica? Fredegami? however we do want to name their "ship" is my guilty pleasure. The problem is that even if everybody on the high floors says that Shinkane is only platonic, senpai/kouhai, or whatever, the tension exists. Their bond exists. For the sake of uprightness, I must say that, or Shiotani-sensei is very bad at writing romance (and yet, we have Kunikara, Kei and Maiko, even the hints of Karina and Arata, Mao and Kei, and the more explicit Irie's feelings for Mao again, but I should add Sugo's friend and her husband from Case 2, just to say, and sorry if I'm forgetting other) or, simply, everything is in the realm of "better keeping the status quo because things should get worse next installment and we need the characters to be focused and not distracted by romance"... I'm more for the second, actually. Now, I agree with everything you say about Case 3, but even if Frederica's approach is definitely more personal regarding Kou than regarding Gino and Sugo... mhhhh... Kougami is the one: 1) totally oblivious to feelings (he wasn't even able to figure out why Akane wanted from him in PPP, nor, in Frederica's case, able to read her in Case 3 novel); 2) uninterested in love or romance (season 1: Kougami was revenge!driven; case 3: see above; season 3: brooding, constantly p*ssed off, his only goal was to free Akane from jail); 3) there's the possibility (but unless there is an official confirmation, I would take it with a grain of salt) that he's not attracted by women... That's why I think that everybody has the right to ship or to want the characters they love with everyone they want, as long as there is respect for the ones who think differently. Should Shinkane happen I'd be the happiest person in the world, but after all, all that they need is happiness and freedom before everything (also, considering what kind of existence they live), then we'll see. If Fredegami or Shizuaka tho should happen... well, to me, they're both quite a guilty pleasure, so I'm totally fine with it! 🤭

[photocut-ai]

Transform Your Black-and-White Photos with PhotoCut’s Free AI Colorizer

There's something special about old black-and-white photos, which may be able to preserve good memories, historical moments, or even significant milestones. But when the black-and-white photos come into colorful life, something magical occurs. Imagine being able to give some color to your old family portraits, childhood pictures, historical images, or even vintage celebrity pictures, bringing them into the present. PhotoCut makes it easy to add color to your black-and-white images through its AI-powered photo colorizer.

This post will show you just how to use PhotoCut's free AI colorizer in a few short steps to bring new life to your memories, colorize your black-and-white photos, and bring old photos back to life. Whether it's old family photos, historical images, or even photos from your early years, you'll learn how to colorize them like an expert. PhotoCut can retouch your photos with its Photo Retoucher.

What is PhotoCut's AI Colorizer?

An online program called PhotoCut's AI photo colorizer automatically adds colors to a black-and-white image through its usage of artificial intelligence. As such, you could rapidly bring out the colors of any image, be it of a historical setting, a family photo, or any famous headshots in the past with no hassle of complicated software like Photoshop. Your old grayscale images may be given new life with only a few clicks.

The best part is that the colorization tool is free, simple to apply, and amazingly fast. You do not have to be a graphic design expert; you simply need to upload an image, and the AI will perform the rest. We'll talk through how this works and why it's such a game-changer for anybody wanting to bring back into the world vintage black and white photos. PhotoCut also lets you overlay images.

Why Colorize Your Black-and-White Photos?

There are plenty of reasons why you'd want to colorize black-and-white photos. Here are a few of the most popular ones:

1. Reliving Family Memories

Many people have treasured the family photos as black and white. True, those may capture nice moments; the addition of color would only make these moments more revivable by making them closer to life and colorful moments. Imagine this, you look at your grandparents' wedding or your parent's childhood photo in color to experience the moments once again to feel close. You can also combine your family photos with PhotoCut’s Photo Combiner.

2. Revitalizing Historical Images

Historical photos, particularly those that capture significant events or famous figures, are usually in black and white due to the technology used during that period. However, through colorization, you can provide an audience with a more contemporary and interesting way of seeing history. It makes history more alive, thus bringing out the relatability of those historical moments for the modern audience.

3. Enhancing Your Artistic Projects

Colorizing black and white photos is a useful tool for artistic expression among photographers, designers, and creators of content. It makes it possible to create that unique portfolio, provide interesting content on social networks, or add colors to images for creative purposes using PhotoCut's AI colorizer in minutes.

4. Personalizing Old Photos

Sometimes, old photos might not capture the exact colors of a particular moment. Perhaps the photograph is faded, or the colors weren’t captured accurately at the time. Using an AI colorizer like PhotoCut, you can add your interpretation of the colors based on what you remember or imagine. It’s a creative way to personalize vintage photographs and make them feel more accurate to your memories.

5. Preservation and Restoration

Over time, black-and-white photos can deteriorate. They may become damaged by scratches, noise, or fading. Beyond just adding color, PhotoCut's AI colorizer improves and repairs your images by assisting in the removal of noise and flaws. People who wish to preserve historical photos for future generations while giving them a contemporary and fresh look will find this option especially helpful.

How to Use PhotoCut’s AI Colorizer

The process of using PhotoCut's AI-powered photo colorizer is quite simple and can be done within a few steps. A first-time user, as well as someone seeking a speedy solution to colorize numerous photos, should find this process friendly and efficient. Here's the step-by-step guide on how to do it:

Step 1: Upload Your Photo

The first step of colorization is uploading your black-and-white photo to PhotoCut's online platform. It accepts any JPG or PNG file without size restrictions, so high-resolution images will not have a size restriction. Therefore, make sure that you upload a good-quality picture for the best results.

Now, with PhotoCut uploaded pictures on their application, the AI colorizer will start processing your photograph. The AI scans through it and processes to know how colors should be added where necessary. The process of colorizing is very fast and could take just a few seconds depending on the complexity of the image or the size of the picture.

Step 2: Automated Colorization

After uploading your picture, AI will automatically add colors to your black-and-white picture. The entire process happens in real time because the algorithms work to give each part of the image a natural, real hue. Everything, from skin tone and clothes to backgrounds and other minute details, the AI takes care to make colorization realistic and consistent with light and shadows present in the original picture.

This colorizer uses sophisticated technology so that it replicates the real-life effects of how colors should come when photographed. The more detailed and complex pictures may become easy to colorize which the old family portrait photographs, scenic landscape photography, and even historical images were achieved with high accuracy.

Step 3: Review and Adjust

Immediately, after the AI processes your image and adds color to it, you will have access to the colorized photo, where you may start fine-tuning your results. You can play around by changing saturation, adding a little brightness, or using some filters to perfect your final look for your colored photograph through PhotoCut's interactive interface.

But if you don't like the colors, you can manually adjust them to suit your preferences. You can change the sky's tone from a landscape in the olden days or the color and shades of a person's clothes in a family picture. Such would make such photos extremely customizable, where you would be able to make it suitable for you.

Step 4: Download or Save Your Colorized Photo

Once you are satisfied with the colorized image, it's time to download and save your photo. You can save the colorized image created by PhotoCut at high resolution to print, share on social media, or preserve for later generations. The whole process is fast, easy, and trouble-free as you can start using your image within minutes.

Special Features of PhotoCut’s AI Colorizer

PhotoCut’s AI colorizer offers more than just basic colorization. Here are some additional features that make it stand out:

1. Family Photo Colorizer

You can bring your family memories back to life by colorizing old family photographs. Whether it is a photo of a wedding, some childhood picture, or that holiday snapshot, the colorizer brings a new-looking vibrant feel to cherished family memories. It's such a great gift idea and a way to celebrate with your family history.

2. Celebrity Photo Colorization

Ever wondered what your favorite historical celebrities or public figures would look like in color? Now you can with PhotoCut's AI colorizer and give a new life to vintage celebrity photos by adding realistic colors to them. From the most iconic movie stars to the greatest musicians, see these personalities in ways you have never seen before.

3. Childhood Photo Colorizer

Relive all the fun you had during childhood in full color. The AI colorizer at PhotoCut will transform precious black-and-white photos from your past into bright, real, colorful images. It would be awesome to see how things were when you were so young.

4. Historical Photo Colorization

Experience history in a new way as old historical photographs are colored. It can be of famous political figures, an important event, or even a historic time, and the AI colorizer brings it to life. Imagine seeing the moon landing, a civil rights march, or images from World War II in color; this feature is yet another way to look at history.

5. Noise and Scratch Removal

Besides colorizing, PhotoCut's AI colorizer restores and enhances the pictures. It smooths out flaws, lowers noise, and helps eliminate scratches, giving the impression that these vintage photos were taken with contemporary equipment. PhotoCut also has a video background remover.

Conclusion

PhotoCut's AI colorizer is a very innovative tool to transform your old black-and-white photographs into vibrant, full-color images. Whether you want to revive the memories of your family, highlight historical images, or infuse life into your creativity, PhotoCut provides fast, easy, and free colorization of pictures. With its cutting-edge AI technology, you have realistic colorization results after a few minutes, which makes it a wonderful tool for those looking forward to reviving their photographs. So why wait? Start colorizing your black-and-white photos today and see the magic unfold! PhotoCut also lets you create avatars with its AI Avatar Generator.

FAQs

Q1. How does the online photo colorizer work?

Ans. PhotoCut's AI colorizer uses advanced AI to automatically add natural colors to black and white photos. The AI analyzes the features of the photograph and accordingly applies accurate colors based on the original lighting and shadow.

Q2. Do uploads have a size limit?

Ans. No, PhotoCut lets upload any JPG or PNG file size. So, you may upload high-quality, high-resolution images without worry.

Q3. Can I colorize photos on mobile?

Ans. Yes! Get PhotoCut's AI Colorizer as an app for iOS or Android and share the bliss of coloring any photo you want at any time and from anywhere to give your images a renewed life directly from the palm of your hand.

Q4. Without Photoshop, how can I colorize a photo?

Ans. You can easily colorize photos without the usage of Photoshop, all that you need to do is upload your black-and-white picture to PhotoCut; the AI will handle all the rest, adding colors to your picture within seconds automatically.

Q5. How much does it cost to colorize a photo?

Ans. The usage of photoCut AI Colorizer does not have hidden fees attached to it or extra charging. The services offered, including colorization, can be accessed anytime without charging extra fees.

[lovelyknives18]

Tragedy (or how to stop the apocalypse)

Word count: 2,350

Chapter 3/?

Title: What is this feeling?

One hour later...

April wasn't sure how much time had passed, after she finally got past when they lost their jobs at the university, and decided to buy the firehouse. And had their first catch, by the time Peter got to where they crossed the streams. Sent Gozer back to their dimension, Blew melted, and burned chucks of marshmallow below the crowd and were able to free the two people who were possessed by the terror dogs. It felt like she was there for longer "And that's how we saved New York."

"... Did that really have to start at the very beginning? I don't think I really needed to know about your childhood." Peter chuckled wryly at April's question, a smirk playing on his lips. "Hey, kid, you wanted to know the whole story, right? Gotta give you the full picture."

Meanwhile, Egon adjusted his glasses, his expression contemplative, while Ray offered a friendly smile. "So what you're saying is, that the same god and... I guess her's? His? Minions are trying to find another set of people so it can be summoned again?" April looks between them, for any kind of answer at this point.

Peter rubs his chin, his expression growing serious as he considers April's question.

"Yeah, that's the gist of it. Gozer, or more specifically, Gozer the Gozerian, is an unbelievably powerful entity. When we trapped it, we essentially sent it back to its realm, but it might be trying to find a loophole to come back and complete the summoning ritual it started years ago. But hey, I guess we'll just have to put in some overtime."

"Okay, so just let me get this summoning part straight. Gozer's minions, Gatekeeper and Keymaster need a male and female host to be able to walk the human plain enough to get where they will summon Gozer." April leans forward, with her hands resting against her face. "How do they summon it?" She asks, leaving an awkward air of silence.

The three Ghostbusters exchange glances, their expressions shifting to varying degrees of discomfort. They obviously understand the mechanics of the summoning process, but explaining this part to a younger person doesn't exactly fit comfortably in their wheelhouse.

Eventually, Egon decides to take the lead, adjusting his glasses and clearing his throat.

"The Gatekeeper and the KeyMaster are vessels to Gozer... but they have to perform a specific act together before fully summoning it. An act that involves... intimate connection, shall we say." Peter chimes in once again, a hint of a smirk on his lips. "Ah yes, the whole 'physical union' thing. I remember that bit, quite clearly actually. Mostly cause it does cause some interesting side effects like I don't know, hovering over beds and being a 'little' clingy."

Ray shakes his head, trying to suppress a smirk himself.

"Yeah, it's not something we could forget easily, considering the circumstances."

Egon, ever pragmatic, clarifies the situation further.

"Physical union, as Peter so eloquently put it, is essential for the summoning to take place. It allows the vessels to become a conduit for Gozer to fully manifest."

"You mean...?" April's mind works overtime, as the gears in her brain put together the pieces of the puzzle. Before realizing what it actually was and figuratively, throwing the puzzle across the table. "Oh my God." The three Ghostbusters exchange knowing grins and chuckles, seeing the light bulb going off in April's head.

Peter speaks up, his smirk still present.

"Yep, you've got it now, kiddo. The act of union between the Gatekeeper and KeyMaster isn't exactly a simple handshake, if you catch my drift." April stares back, flabbergasted by what she caught on to. "That's messed up. like beyond messed up."

Peter chimes in with a slightly sarcastic tone.

"You could say it was quite a 'hot' situation."Egon, always the serious one, doesn't share in his friend's' amusement.

"It's not a matter to be joked about, Venkman. Gozer is a powerful entity, and its minions are willing to do whatever it takes to bring it into this realm. It's a matter of great consequence."

Peter shoots him a look, rolling his eyes dramatically.

"So, who's going to be next for doing... you know?" April asked. Ray looks contemplative, a hint of concern on his face.

"That's the million-dollar question. We don't know who the next Gatekeeper and KeyMaster candidates are."

Peter chimes in once more, his usual smirk returning.

"Yeah, it could be anyone. A pair of lovebirds caught up in something they don't understand, doomed to bring about the apocalypse. Somehow worse than what Romeo and Juliet dealt with." Egon thinks for a moment before answering.

"The relationship between the Gatekeeper and the KeyMaster does not necessarily have to be romantic or intimate. They could be complete strangers, or they could know each other. The only requirement is that they perform the necessary act to become vessels for Gozer. Zuul and Vinz Clortho, are likely guiding the chosen vessels."

Ray nods in agreement, adding his own bit of insight.

"Yeah, they're the ones calling the shots here. They'll find whoever they need to initiate the summoning ritual, and won't care about whether the human vessels involved know each other or not." April nods trying to not let her emotions show too much, or at least tried to at first. "I was afraid of that,"

Peter notices her discomfort and decides to chime in with his usual sarcastic quip.

"Yeah, it's definitely not a Kodak moment for the couples. But hey, at least they're making history, right..."

Ray shoots him an annoyed glance, while Egon adjusts his glasses, shaking his head slightly. "So what?" April speaks up, bringing the attention back to her. "Do I just avoid going to school or...?" Peter leans back in his chair, looking her up and down.

"Well, considering you're a high school student, you have a good cover for being at school while keeping an eye on your principal. Just act like a regular teenager and observe for any suspicious behavior."

Ray nods in agreement.

"Yeah, you have access to the school, which gives you an advantage. Keep your eyes peeled and report anything strange." Peter cuts in again. "like the little aspiring journalist you are~" Peter, unapologetic as always, shrugs with a smirk.

"Gotta keep track of the facts, kiddo. Call it a little pre-investigation."

Ray and Egon exchange glances, with Egon shaking his head slightly at Peter's antics, while Ray just chuckles.

"Gimme that," She snatched her bag back. "Come on, you seriously ate my sandwich." April yanks the sandwich out of Peter's grasp, grimacing at the bites taken out. "Alright, I'm really trying to be as patient as I can. You guys, men, manly men? Of science, seem to know what's up, and I'm willing to trust you since uh, the fate of the world might be at stake?" April said, hoping she came off more confident than awkward. The attempt wasn't well executed.

"You know, I'm starting to like you." Peter smirked, while saying something to Egon about keeping her around. Ray, being the supportive one, gives her an encouraging smile.

"You're doing great, don't worry. And we appreciate the trust, it means a lot." Peter, unable to resist making a joke, speaks up.

"Hey, we're more than just 'manly men'. We're also very handsome and charismatic."

April looks Peter up and down, but refrains from saying what's on her mind and simply replying. "Uh-huh." Ray stifles a laugh, as Egon lets out a small chuckle, both amused by her response. Peter, for his part, looks slightly wounded, trying to maintain his usual confidence.

"Hey, I'll have you know that plenty of women find me attractive. I'm a catch, kiddo. Not that you'd know. You're like, what, fourteen?" Before April can answer, Peter leans his arm on the top of her head as his arm slowly flattens her hair.

"Seventeen, I don't think that's really important."

Egon, noticing her obvious irritation, steps in, gently pushing Peter's arm away from her head.

"Peter, could you please not treat her like a prop? She's a person."

Ray shakes his head at Peter's antics, giving him a disapproving look.

"Yeah, we need to work on that sense of tact, buddy." April moves her hair back into its shape. Also taking the opportunity to get a quick passing glance at Egon. For completely normal teenage reasons obviously. Egon catches her glance, sensing he's being looked over, though he remains his usual stoical self. Peter, still trying to play it cool, holds his hands up apologetically.

"Sorry, kiddo. Force of habit, you know. I can't resist being the charming one."

Ray just snorted, clearly not buying it.

"Also, since this is a matter of well making sure humanity doesn't end, we won't bother you with any payments. Unless you put us out of business with your clumsiness."

"So what you're basically saying is that you guys are going to fix this?" April tilted her head to the side, hoping that at least Peter was being serious. Ray nods his head in affirmation.

"Yeah, we've got this. We've faced Gozer before, and we'll do it again if we need to. It's our job to protect New York from supernatural threats."

Peter chimes in, a confident smirk on his face.

"You've got the best ghost-fighting team on the job. Relax, kiddo." April smiled, feeling a sense of relief falling on her shoulders. "Okay, thank you." They lead her back upstairs to the lobby, April stops ahead of her departure. "Uh, quick question. In the ad I saw there were four of you, where's the other guy?" Ray looks mildly uncomfortable, as Peter's smirk fades just a bit.

"Winston. A friend and fellow teammate."

Egon, always the one to give straight answers, speaks up.

"He chose to leave the team a while back. Personal reasons, if I recall correctly."

The realization on her face was evident, as April let out a sound of surprise. "Oh my god, for a second I thought you were gonna say he was dead."

Ray chuckles nervously at her statement, while Egon shrugs it off.

Peter, in his own fashion, tries to reassure her.

"Nah, Winston's alive and kicking. He moved out to the suburbs and is a dad I think?"

"Peter, we've met his daughters before." Ray pointed out. "Okay... Uh, I guess I'll see you guys around." April said, giving a wave goodbye as she leaves.The three Ghostbusters wave back, each having their own farewell message. Ray gives her a warm smile and a nod.

"Take care, kiddo."

Peter added with a small chuckle. "Try not to get into any trouble."

Egon, ever the stoic, simply offers a small wave. "Be careful."

"... I will." April can't help but let a crooked grin fall on her face at Egon's words, stumbling a bit before regaining her footing.

"Oh no, why of all times why?" April thought to herself as she laid face down in her bed, but at least it was a distraction from what she discovered and the possibility of the end of the world. And her close encounter with Zuul. "This is the worst." April complained to nobody besides herself, and maybe her cat. She couldn't shake off the thoughts of Egon, despite knowing how silly it seemed. The way he adjusted his glasses, the way his intense gaze would focus on anything. God damnit, why couldn't it have been someone she goes to school with?

As she laid there, lost in her thoughts about the world and a certain scientist, April's rotary suddenly rang, bringing her back to reality. "Hello, this is April Morris speaking." On the other end of the line was Peter. His voice was casual and a bit sarcastic, as if he enjoyed interrupting her inner turmoils. "Hey kid, it's me. Got a minute?"

With a nod, April responded. "Yeah, sure I'm just-" She pauses once hearing the familiar voice. "Hold up," April sat up, bringing the phone closer resting snoopy at her side "How did you get my number?" Peter chuckled on the other end, enjoying her confusion.

"Come on, kiddo, it's not that hard to get someone's number these days. I have my ways."

In the background, Ray could be heard saying "He just called every number in the phone book."

"I didn't call 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 number, just the ones who happened to share the same name as hers. Until I bugged it out of Janine."

April groaned, rubbing the side of her head. "Why exactly did you find, and call my number?"

"Oh, no reason... Except that you left a little something here." Peter smirked, holding up a small booklet. The book that April puts all her pictures in, that just so happened to have been left behind after she had shown the one she caught of the beast.

"You know she can't see what you're holding right?" Egon said in the background.

"Details, details. I was just telling our client that we got her little book and will keep an eye on it till either of us return it or she comes back. Anyway, just letting you know it's in safe hands, oh and we'll be over at the school some time this week depending on any pre- scheduled busting, bye-bye." April just stared down at her legs, thrown off by the sudden realization of what she forgot and the abrupt hang-up. "What?" April spoke to no one, placing her phone back on the table. Still having those red eyes stare back at her. "Why do I feel like this is gonna be a long week?" Even as she tried to relax, April's mind kept wandering back to the tall, dark haired scientist. But still felt as if she was being watched in someway...

Somewhere, in the depths of the netherworld. Laid a being who watched over April. Its smirk, full of malice and contempt. "You know what to do, my loyal one. Find them." It commands, as an otherworldly roar echoed through and began its chase.

The KeyMaster is coming...

[alice--pallas]

Alice laughed at the idea of pulling out her old fishnets to essentially go 'undercover'--she certainly wasn't against the idea when it came to an undercover situation but she wasn't sure she'd like to go back to that style on the regular. Chuckling, she said "Eh, I don't know if I really want to dig out my fishnets and my combat boots again--but maybe. I suppose you're right, it could give me some mystique, that's for sure." These days, she preferred her sharp suits and high heels but maybe she could walk on the wild side once more, maybe just for fun. Playfully rolling her eyes, she said "Yes, of course you're all of those things because of more than just stars--but I'm just saying that maybe the stars had a point, you know? Maybe they were right."

That means I'll continue to be, y'know, annoyin' 'cause nobody's gonna be good enough for you when Alec already fucked that up sky high. Cy's next words garnered a genuine laugh from Alice--she really did appreciate how protective her brother was of her. It made her feel cared for, appreciative of the fact that he was still looking out for her, even after all this time. She was already certain that whenever she did tell Cyrek about Abra that he was sure to scowl at her--he may even call her foolish, which she could deal with. She knew that it came from a place of love. "You're not annoying. It makes me happy to know you care so much." She was just thankful that Cyrek was so much better at picking people than she was--because she did approve of Stella and she thought that the spitfire was quite good for her brother. She was positive that she'd also feel some vitriol if Cy had an ex that was an equivalent to Alec.

She could already feel the heat radiating from her scalp and she resisted the urge to itch the top of her head. Overall, her head didn't have an actual issue with bleach but was bleaching ever truly pain free? She thought not. "How long do we leave the bleach on again?..." she asked. She laughed when he stuck his tongue out at her. He was bound to find out sooner or later--besides, it was fun to have a little secret for once. Honestly, it was nice to have fun in general. It felt so rare these days. S'kind of ironic we're all flipped now. Didn't really have no plans of bein' in any kind of relationship like this when you were gettin' hitched. She nodded in agreement and said "I know, we've both done a one-eighty. But I think when it's right, it's right--and this is just my two cents, but... I think you two are right." It was kind of funny that in less than a month, Cy and Stella were going to be engaged--Alice had always been the one to want a picket fence and happily ever after. Even now, though she was cozying up to Abraxis, she was almost positive that she had no interest in getting married ever again. Even if she did agree to get married again someday, it would be small and lowkey--nothing like her first great white big wedding.

Sounds excitin'. She smiled when she saw the glimmer in Cyrek's eyes. He'd always pushed her to get out there and date--she figured that he was worried about her being alone and spending too much time in solitude, which she supposed was a fair fear to have. Besides, both siblings wanted the other to be happy. Giving a nonchalant shrug, she said "We'll see."

Alice listened intently as Cyrek began to get into the details about him and Stella, trying to remind herself to act as if she'd never even thought about them getting married before, all the while picturing the gorgeous ring that Stella had purchased for him in her head. I get that she doesn't...want that kind of commitment. Stella most certainly did want that commitment--but it seemed like she'd had a difficult time expressing that and Alice couldn't really blame her for that. After all, there was a reason that she had almost written it off entirely unless the right person came along--marriage was serious. It was a big deal and it shouldn't be taken lightly. It sounded like, at one time, Stella had been vehemently against it but now, it seemed as if the brunette knew exactly what she wanted.

As Cy finished the last bit of hair and propped himself up on the bathroom sink, her eyes followed him, giving him a moment of processing time when he mentioned the miscarriage that they'd suffered through. She nodded as he spoke, remembering how Stella had phrased it when she was seeking Alice's advice. It was difficult to come right out and say what one was thinking, especially about such a vulnerable topic as marriage. "Well..." the journalist finally started. "It sounds like Stella's thoughts on marriage and commitment changed--and it sounds like she didn't even really realize that they were changing at first. I know it's difficult for her to...say how she's really feeling but it sounds like she's trying. Maybe she just needs...a little practice." And Alice wouldn't be surprised if she was practicing her speech, given how nervous she'd seemed at the jewelry store. "I would say... Maybe give her a few weeks to let the argument die down and find a better way to say how she's feeling. Honestly, I think it just might be unchartered territory for her, being so open about expressing her emotions. And then maybe you two can revisit the idea. But... For the record, I think you two are gonna' make it." Though Alice was trying to steer her brother away from popping the question in the next few weeks and unknowingly ruin Stella's own proposal, she was also being genuine. She'd always thought that Cy and Stella made a good team. "You two will find your way, I know it."

An eyebrow arched, lips quirking in vague amusement. "Okay, fuckin' Galileo in my bathroom. Personally, think you'd be more incognito as a journalist if you whipped out the fishnets again. I'd say you can borrow some of Stell's, but I still owe her a pair 'cause I ripped 'em a while back." Everyone was already more or less filled in on the gory details in his girlfriend's circle, he'd hazard to guess, but he wasn't about to hash into that with his sister. Looking down, he continued to apply the bleach to the ends of her hair in sections. "And I think I'm all that 'cause of more than the stars said I was gonna be. You've persuaded me to think about how to upgrade the cool look, though." He wouldn't call himself much of a fashionista — his half of the wardrobe consisted of clothes that were unideal for the Alaskan weather because they were see-through, ripped, or otherwise, plus a wealth of suspenders over belts. Perhaps the only area he excelled in was the wealth of jewelry and accessories that the coupling had found an arrangement for, picking and choosing from each other's things at leisure.

It's because I value your opinion, Cy. "That means I'll continue to be, y'know, annoyin' 'cause nobody's gonna be good enough for you when Alec already fucked that up sky high." Okay, maybe he was holding onto a grudge after all that time — ironically, he couldn't recall many times he'd actually spoken to or mingled with Alec, so his perspective was already biased. It was Cyrek's phone number she had dialed when she got wasted and he just so happened to be in the big city, after all. Folding up the aluminum strips, he moved on to the middle sections of her hair, glancing at her in the reflection of the mirror, sticking his pierced tongue out at her petulantly. "Yeah, whatever." Then, after a moment, he looked away and said thoughtfully, "S'kind of ironic we're all flipped now. Didn't really have no plans of bein' in any kind of relationship like this when you were gettin' hitched."

Lost in thought as he dipped the brush back into the cup of bleach, and he clucked his tongue in agreement with the outfit choice. It would be a fan favorite among his daughters, if nothing else. Alice's vague word choice steered him clear of being nosy about her plans, a knowing smirk wandering across his lips. "Sounds excitin'," he jested, his tongue rolling playful.

You're thinking about proposing? "Um." Unusual silence washed over them, as he considered his words and how to frame them into his third language. "Let's... not go that far. I mean," he sighed as he tried a third time, moving on to coating her roots, "She's got this thing about marriage, so I knew when we started datin', she didn't wanna get married, still, and that was okay. I wasn't sure I ever did, neither. She just thinks that... 'cause all the other chicas in her family got up and left when they got pregnant, she'd get up and left if she got married. I get that she doesn't..." Didn't? "Want that kind of commitment, but..." Trailing off, he hesitated, glancing at her. "Don't tell her. But when we found out we were havin' a baby girl, I bought a ring, 'cause I... wanted to really show her I wasn't gonna up and leave her, y'know, with the baby. Then we lost Twyla a couple weeks later and..." A heaviness settled over his chest, dropping the brush back into the bucket. Restlessly, he hoisted himself to sit on the bathroom sink while their hair marinated, studying the arrangement of bracelets decorating his wrists, lifting his shoulders. "I thought about proposin' on our first anniversary and it didn't seem like the right time. Then the other day, we got into this big fight —" A phrase he used far more when they were allegedly just friends than once the dust had settled in their relationship. They bickered, certainly, and it was scarcely serious. They'd probably had three actual fights over the course of their romance, and he was honestly frozen in a state of shock when he reflected that maybe, he hadn't been so hard to love, after all. Significant others had merely never loved him right. "She's mad 'cause she said she's been droppin' hints and waitin' for me to propose all year. Either I'm a big fuckin' idiot," not impossible, "Or... she's the worst at charades ever, and we're never gonna play that game together. But it pissed me off she wouldn't come right out and say it, so I said she should propose, and —" A breathy laugh escaped him, banding his fingers together. "I dunno. Maybe that means she won't. I always thought if I pulled out a ring, she was gonna flip out and dump me, 'cause it's like, that promise to herself was... the most important thing to her."

[hannigrahambimbo]

" Won't you have me for dinner? "

Hannibal x fem!reader CW: NSFW 18+, consumption of alcohol, smut (male/female), light BDSM, sexual praise, soft choking, descriptions of food and eating, word count: (4,808)

Summary: { Eager to find out what goes on at Hannibal's infamous dinners, you finally receive an invite from the man himself ! To your surprise, Pork Chop Au Poivre isn't the only thing that's on the menu tonight }

Almost everyone at the bureau had been treated to a dinner at Hannibal's house. Almost everyone, because you still had yet to be invited... Any time Jack or Will brought it up at work, you felt a pit in your stomach. You seethed with jealousy pumping through your blood. Maybe Dr. Lecter just doesn't find you interesting enough to keep as company over dinner. This thought stung, as you would often spend afternoons daydreaming about what the inside of Dr. Lecter's house looked like. You worried you may never get the chance to view the walls that have the honor of watching his every move. What does he look like cooking? Does he ever take off that three piece suit? What's his favorite dish to indulge in? You could spend hours thinking of anything to do with the man. You of course would never admit to it, as your intense admiration could easily be viewed as "obsessive" to others. Not a great look for you at your place of work. With the rumors you've heard floating around lately, you might think he's just saving you for dessert. Maybe that wouldn't be such a bad thing...

One evening at work, you see Hannibal walking alongside Will. With his jacket folded and hung over his right arm, Lecter speaks softly to Will but he doesn't seem to be very interested in whatever he's saying, you're too far away to make out any words. Clenching your fist you begin to approach the two men, the sound of your heels clicking closer alerts them, "Hey! Dr. Lecter I wa-", "Ah," He interrupts your speech and politely smiles toward you as you get within an arms reach, his expression makes you loosen your grip, "Hello, I was just asking Will if he knew where you might be, but it appears that you've found us." He looks at Will, "A moment. Please?" Graham raises his eyebrow at Lecter for a moment, only to quickly drop it as his eyes dart between the two of you, "Hm? Oh, yeah of course, I guess we'll catch up later Dr." You and Hannibal watch him as he briskly walks away, you lock eyes once Will is out of view.

The way Hannibal takes control of social interactions like this intimidates you, but you can't help but find the adrenaline a bit arousing. "I wanted to invite you over for dinner at my home. That is, if you're not busy tonight?" Your cheeks flush with red after hearing these words from his mouth, your body frozen in shock. Hannibal gazes down from your eyes to explore your lips, but only for a moment. He softly places his knuckle under your chin to gently raise it and gaze into your eyes again, "You're not busy are you?" his words pull you out of your trance like state. Swallowing hard as he removes his flesh from yours, "N-no, I'm free tonight, I'd love to have dinner with you Dr. Lecter. I've heard nothing but good things about the meals you've cooked for everyone at the bureau." Your excitement shows itself with a smile as you talk. He caresses your shoulder, His cold skin almost makes you jump, it feels like an ice cube dancing on a hot skillet. "Alright, Dinner is at 7:00-," He takes his hand off your scorching skin to raise a finger, playfully squinting, "-don't be late." This gesture makes you grin wider and let out a sharp exhale from your nose, composing yourself you let him know you, "Wouldn't miss it for the world."

Later that evening, at home you're trying to figure out what to wear. You've got all your best dressings sprawled out on the foot of your bed, cycling through them in your hands as you look at yourself in your full body mirror. Sultry or professional? no, no that would be too obvious. Ugh I hate this color on my skin-tone, why do I even still have this dress?? By the time you reach a decision half of your closet has been thrown around your bedroom. You ended up choosing a red wrap skirt with a tucked in silk black button up, printed on the shirt is a delicate red floral motif. To complete the look, you slip into your favorite velvet black kitten heels. Looking in the mirror you worry Dr. Lecter will notice the worn heel strap from their repeated use but decide to wear them anyway. Reaching for a dark wool overcoat, you glance over to your nightstand. FUCK! Your alarm clock reads " 6:30 " In a panic not to be late, you rush to the bathroom to hastily apply some mascara and dark eyeshadow, along with a little concealer. Nothing too serious for tonight, right? Before leaving the room, you generously apply your favorite fragrance "Ombre Leather" by Tom Ford. Palming your favorite lipstick as you exit, you rush out the door and put it on in between red lights while driving.

Upon arriving, you frantically look in the rear-view mirror of your car scanning your face for any imperfections. After taking a few quick deep breaths you decide it's now or never. The clock in your vehicle reads " 6:59 " shit.. shit,, SHIT ! Jumping out of the car like its on fire, you make your way on a stone path toward the front door of the handsome house. The exterior is made from cream bricks and it stands like a towering ghost amongst the carefully manicured shrubbery surrounding it. There is light emanating from the windows with a soft glow that feels warm and welcoming through the closed curtains. Now, just feet from the door you tread carefully up three shallow steps just before the entrance.

Sconces hang on either side of the door. Scanning the perimeter of the door for a doorbell you realize there isn't one. Instead, there is a door knocker cast in iron in the shape of a stags head. Before reaching for it, your thoughts race. Just be calm... be cool... remember he invited you here tonight... he wanted you here tonight. In between thoughts you grab the knocker and thump it three times on the solid door. but why? why did he invite ME? More importantly, why did he wait so long? Oh god I hope I don't look nervous,, did I even lock my ca- Your thought is interrupted by the door swinging inward to reveal the man himself, "Ah, you made it ! just in time too. 7:00 exactly, good timing." He's wearing a white linen dress shirt with thin pale blue pinstripes trailing down it, his sleeves rolled up just before his elbows. He looks like he's been working hard in the kitchen, as his skin is damp. Tied around his waist and over his slacks is a white apron with a small red stain on it, no larger than an apricot. Catching you scanning his body, he looks down at the stain, his hair brushes past his cheekbones and a few strands hang in front of him now while he speaks, "Pardon me, I must have spilt that on myself while preparing the sauce for this evening." Untying the soiled apron, he glances up to you before throwing it over his shoulder. "Come in, dinner is waiting."

He opens the door wider now to allow you in. As you cross the threshold you look around the foyer to hear faint music playing throughout the home, 2 Arabesques by Claude Debussy to be exact. The air has a delicious smell to it. "Thank you for having me Dr. It truly is an honor." As the door shuts behind your bodies, he approaches you to rest his hands on your shoulders, the gesture surprises you, "May I?" "Oh, yes, thank you." Lecter tenderly removes your overcoat as if you're made of porcelain. Your eyes continue exploring the foyer. The walls are adorned with beautifully framed paintings that are accompanied by a small but impressive assortment of mounted birds. Looking to your feet you see an intricate mosaic depicting native flora and fauna sprawling across the ground, your heels clicking on it as you step further into the home, "You have some exquisite taste in décor Dr." He laughs and takes in a deep breath while hanging up your coat on the nearest coat rack, "Yes, I guess you could say that. I suppose I choose to indulge in my aesthetics more than most." He pauses to look at you, "And please, we're not at work, you can call me Hannibal. No need for formalities here." Now slightly embarrassed, you hold onto your left wrist and allow your eyes to wander through the tiles at your feet before engaging in eye contact again with Dr. Le- I mean, Hannibal.

First he invites me to dinner, now he wants to be on a first name basis with me? what is going on? I don't mean to complain but? wow. "Don't go quiet on me now. Come on, let me show you to the kitchen, I'll let you choose the wine for this evening." He takes a moment and waits for you to release the grip you had on yourself, "After all, you are my guest of honor tonight." Weather it was intentional or not, he winks on the word 'tonight'. You find it charming and proceed to follow him through the short hallway, past the dining room and into the kitchen, the two of you walking side by side. You're almost giddy by this fact, and steal a few glances at Hannibal while you walk together. Entering the kitchen filled with some of the best stainless steel appliances money can buy, Hannibal points you toward the walk in wine closet. "All of my wines are stored in here, I've gathered quite the collection over the years." The closet is packed with the finest chardonnay, champagne, red and white wines, really any wine you could ever think or dream of. "I'm going to go clean up quickly while you make your selection, then we can sit down and eat." Although his speech is calm, you've never seen him this excited before and aren't sure weather to feel flattered or frightened. "Alright, don't take too long, I'm eager to eat what you've prepared."

A few moments pass while you browse the selection presented to you. Scanning each bottle you're overwhelmed by choice, No the champagne is too celebratory... hm.. I'm not really a fan of white wine.. Rosé? am I having dinner with my grandmother?? mmm he'll be back any minute now comE ON THINK.. AH okay this one looks good! As you get on the tips of your toes to reach for a red wine, you hear Hannibal walking back into the kitchen. "Have you made your choice?" Rocking back onto your heels with the bottle in your hand, you look over your shoulder, "Yep! This one sounds great!" Hannibal has changed into a silky Black button-up, almost as if to mirror what you've worn this evening. The top two buttons are undone to reveal the slightest bit of skin and his sleeves are again rolled to expose his forearms. Walking over to him now you stretch your arm out, offering the bottle. The closer you get, the more you breathe in the intoxicating cologne he's generously applied. "Let me see..." As he grabs the bottle to inspect its label, you admire his manicured hands. "Mm, A Spanish red Grenache wine, delightful choice! One of my favorites actually. Seems that you may have superb taste as well. Come, lets go to the dining room. I've already set the table." Satisfied with yourself for making a choice he enjoys, you join Hannibal in making your way to your seats.

Hannibal has already set the table and begins to uncork the wine as you pull out your chair. You watch intently as he drives the screw into the supple cork, the muscles in his arm flexing as he twists and pulls it out from the neck of the bottle. The pop of the seal breaking is satisfying and as you sit Hannibal looks to you, bottle in hand and a twinkle in his eye, "Voilà!" Pouring the wine into your glass, he hovers over you and inhales, "By the way, the fragrance you have on tonight is incredible. Tom Ford is it?" Shifting over to pour his own glass now you answer him, "Oh? thank you, yes, it's Ombre Leather. Glad you enjoy it, I save it for special occasions, it's my favorite." He grins and takes his seat at the head of the table, with you seated to the right of him. This feels intimate. "Speaking of special occasions, what do I have the pleasure of eating tonight with you?" You expose your neck while asking him this. His face lights up as he speaks, "Well, we're having Pork Chop Au Poivre with an English Cumberland sauce. I've also prepared a Gorgonzola-Pear Mesculn salad on the off chance you may be partial to meat." You smirk as you allow yourself to trace his handsome features, "Very thoughtful of you Hannibal. Luckily for the both of us, I don't have any aversions when it comes to food." "Good then, well.. shall we?"

Hannibal stands up to grab the silver gravy boat holding the Cumberland sauce and pours it over the cut of meat on his plate, before glancing at you to suggest you may want some as well, "Yes, please." He nods before before streaming it over your plate. The rich red sauce cascades over the pork and smells heavenly with an aroma of red currant and citrus. You thank him as he finishes pouring it and watch him as he sits down. You hold each others gaze for a moment, before picking up your silverware to begin to indulge in the wonderful meal presented in front of you. Cautiously, you sink your teeth into your first bite. The flavors dancing on your tongue are more or less euphoric, you'd never had anything quite this good. The meat is incredibly tender and succulent, some pieces nearly melt in your mouth and the sauce perfectly balances the savory with a sweet note. Looking over to Hannibal occasionally, he appears to be having the time of his life. He savors every bite like it's his last. "Wow, I don't think I've ever had a meal this flavorful before." "Thank you... I have a local butcher who allows me to pick the finest and freshest cuts of meat. I believe it's crucial to know where your meat is sourced from."

Making small talk in between bites and sips, this afternoon comes up. "So-", he pauses for a second with his fork in hand, "-Flattery aside, I'm curious to know what you wanted to so urgently talk to me about this evening. You seemed upset while approaching Will and I. I hope I haven't been rude in any way toward you." You take a gulp of wine before responding, "Oh-" Holding back a laugh, "-Well you see, it's funny now actually. I was going to ask you why you hadn't invited me to dinner yet." Hannibal, snickers at this comment as he looks into your eyes before taking a swig from his glass. Continuing your thought, "You know, for a while I began to think to myself, maybe you just didn't find me all that interesting or fit enough to have over for dinner. Silly now seeing where we are tonight." You now feel Hannibal's free hand reaching for your thigh from under the table as he begins to speak, "Trust me, I find you interesting. To be honest I thought you stayed distant from me in distaste, that's why I waited so long to invite you. I thought you hated me!" He laughs gently now while caressing your thigh, "Will was trying to tell me otherwise but I didn't believe him. I Guess I should have."

Feeling vaguely buzzed after two generous glasses of wine, the room around you is becoming fuzzy and you feel warm from his touch. This newfound feeling makes you want to open up a little more than if you had been sober, "You know Hannibal," You pause to take a shallow breath, "To tell you the truth. I've always sort of had this thing for you. I think it's because you're something like an elusive creature. I've always been too afraid to approach you in case curiosity kills the cat, so to speak." Your face flushes realizing what you've just confessed. "Elusive creature, huh? Isn't that funny?" He squeezes you in his hand, making you let out an airy gasp, "We often crave to know what lurks in the shadows, out of curiosity of what we may find." His voice seems to echo in your head for a moment and his presence swallows the room, almost as if the room has turned into a black hole holding nothing but you and him in it. Hannibal places down his fork now, "Tell me..." His voice is soft and low as he begins to lean closer to you. "Do you know the rest of that phrase? 'curiosity killed the cat' ?" Hannibal's hand inches further up your thigh now, under your skirt. Licking your lips before answering, you tell him, "I'm afraid I don't. care to educate me?"

"Well, curiosity may have killed the cat, however, satisfaction is what brought it back." Before proceeding, he scans your face. His eyes trail up and down from your pupils to your lips, now red with excitement. "Did you agree to come to dinner at my home tonight in the hopes that I would satisfy you in some way?" Squeezing you again in his palm on the word 'satisfy'. Taking a moment to process what he's just implied to you, you timidly speak, "I uhm, I suppose I may have thought about you in that way...I'm sorry if I've offended you in any way Hannibal, I don't mean to." Releasing his grip on you, he sits back in his chair and takes one last bite of his food, then raises the cloth napkin that rested on his lap onto the table. Carefully, he folds the napkin into a long rectangular strip in silence before looking to you, asking, "Would you care for desert?" Secretly, you hope that you know what he means by this. You're hesitant to answer him and let a moment pass before replying, "What do you have in mind?" He scrunches his nose before smiling, "...You." Standing up with napkin in hand, Hannibal takes his position behind you. You swallow hard and place your hands in your lap as he begins to gently drape the cloth over your eyes. Before it touches your skin he asks, "Would you be interested in that?" without a second thought you breathlessly reply, "Yes, please.." With your response he ties the make-shift blind fold around your head, then pulls your chair away from the table, "Stand up for me." Reaching out to hold his hand, you find your footing and face the direction of his voice. "Good girl." He caresses your face and raises your hand to feel his chest. You can feel his heart beating under the muscle. Feeling Hannibal's breath this close to you was exhilarating and the loss of sight had only heightened your senses. Leaning in to your ear he whispers, "Do you trust me?" you nod twice, "mhm." Hovering over your shoulder now, "I need you to tell me." Your mouth agape with anticipation, you mirror his volume, "I trust you, Hannibal." Exhaling, he lets out a low hum and you can hear a grin through his tone. Slowly meeting his lips to your neck, he tastes your skin, making you grip his shirt while drawing in a shaky breath. Before pulling away, he runs his tongue over the blushing skin he's just made contact with. The heat between your legs is growing hotter. Hannibal grunts as he suddenly and swiftly lifts you up, holding you from under your thighs while you straddle his waist. Shocked by the unexpected movement, you instinctively wrap your arms around his shoulders, clutching onto him for stability. You can feel the muscles in his arms and back flexing as he holds your weight and begins to walk toward the stairs.

You grin ear to ear while he effortlessly carries you up the staircase. Chests touching now, you can feel each others hearts flutter in tandem while making your way to the bedroom. Hannibal pants as you arrive at his bedroom and lets out a satisfactory, "Ah," before letting you down onto silken sheets. Taking a moment to catch his breath, he unties your blindfold. Once the blindfold leaves your face, you reach out and touch his. He runs his strong hands along the sides of your body while admiring it with his eyes, before lustfully kissing your lips. Melding together, you moan into one another as your hands wander. In a breathy, raspy voice between kisses, Hannibal asks that you undress yourself. Only unlocking your lips to take the occasional breath, you begin to unbutton your blouse, revealing the lace undergarment your wore in the anticipation of this happening tonight. As you undo the last button, Hannibal helps remove the fabric from your torso and throws it across the room. He breaks the passionate kiss to get on his knees and grasp your ankles, "Let me take your skirt off." "Ah, okay." Leaning back with your palms behind you, he takes his time tracing up your legs, covering your body with goosebumps before meeting your waist. The wrap skirt is tied in a pretty little bow that Hannibal smiles at before slowly untying. You giggle at the sight of him unwrapping you like a present. Once the skirt is off he stands up to grab your waist and forcibly pulls you to the edge of the bed, you're still amazed by his strength. Placing your hands on his chest again, you gently trace down his anatomy with your fingers, stopping at his waist band. Looking up to him you taste your bottom lip, "May I?", You ask him and he nods, giving you permission to unbutton his slacks.

He breathes heavily now, watching you undo his trousers, and begins to eagerly unbutton his silk shirt. Hannibal becomes impatient and pulls the shirt off of himself before all of the buttons are undone. Free from the fabric, he lunges at you with force to interlock his lips with yours, making your back bounce on the bed. As you kiss, he maneuvers his knee to tease your core with pressure, making you buck and grind into him. Letting pleasure slip from your lips, "Mhnm,, fuck,," He grabs onto your wrists and pins them down to the bed on either side of you while you whimper. "I need you inside me." Hovering over you he teases, "Only if you ask nicely, dear." The knot in your lower stomach ached, "mm,, pretty please," He praises you again, "Thank you, darling. Good girl." Hannibal releases his grip on your wrists so that he can support his weight on the mattress. He plants slow kisses trailing down your body, from your chest down to your stomach, stopping at your hip. Rising from the bed now, he slips out of his slacks and shoes. You can see the excitement in his brief's before he exposes himself. Standing up in front of him to remove your heels, Hannibal hooks his thumbs under the corners of your lace panties and begins to shimmy them down. Once removed, he inspects the soiled garment and touches the slick you've left behind. "I've wanted to fuck you all night,,, please Hannibal." He has a sinister look in his eye, "Is that so? You must be so desperate for me, by now." The sound of his voice makes the blood in your body flood to your sensitive areas, "Yes,, please, satisfy me."

"Give me your wrists." You hold them together in front of you as he reaches for them. Using your underwear, he ties your wrists together to limit your movement. He kisses your hands as if to thank you for your good behavior. He tugs you in closely by the fabric he's just tied, leaving no space between your warm bodies. You can feel him hard against your body now. Hannibal then raises a hand to your throat. With you in his hand, he lightly squeezes the sides of your neck in his grip. The sensation gives you a rush as you gasp in his hold. As he whispers, he tightens his grip, "Tell me you're mine." Your eyes roll back for a second with pleasure before he loosens his hold, "I'm yours, now please," you pause has he drops his hand and position your head over his shoulder, "fuck me." Hannibal pushes you back onto the bed and snarls before mounting you, his hands worshipping your body. He kneels over you with his legs on either side of your hips. Holding himself in his hands, he pants while massaging himself in front of your entrance. Eager for his touch, you reach for him, only for him to pin your arms to the sheets over your head. Whining now, you arch your back in an attempt to touch his skin. Hannibal begins to position himself for entry and teases your bud by rubbing the head of his cock over it. Releasing your wrists, he places his free hand just under your bra, cupping your breast. Gently now, he uses his other hand to slip himself inside you. Both of you let out a soft moan as he plunges into your warming flesh. Hannibal begins to thrust into you at a slow rhythm, trying his best to control himself, he leans over and kisses your moaning mouth. You feel a drop of sweat fall from his brow onto you as he works at pleasing you. "Harder,, mm, ah please." He Grabs your hips to pull himself in deeper and picks up the pace at your plea. Getting carried away, he bottoms out on one of his strokes, making you let out a pleasurable cry. In between airy breaths he looks into your eyes, "Does this satisfy you?" He bottoms out again to hear your cry, "fffucK,,, yes, mmpf." Thrusting harder, he pumps into you a few times before pulling out and dismounting you and the bed. Standing bedside, he motions for your to join him, "Come here, darling." Sliding off the sheets now, you stand before him, admiring his physique.

Hannibal caresses' your body and un-hooks your bra before turning you around to bend you over the side of the bed. Turning your face to the side, you watch as he approaches you from behind, this time entering your center with force. The coil in your abdomen is growing tighter and tighter as you feel him throbbing inside of you. With your hands tied in front of you, you grip onto the sheets and groan. His thighs smack into yours, enhancing the pleasure. "H-Hannibal I-im,, mm." You can feel yourself about to be pushed over the edge. Hunching over your back, he supports himself with his arms on the mattress on either side of you and slows his rhythm, "Shhhhh shh hold it for me." You groan as he speeds up again, "mmm please?" You can feel him getting closer as you hold back the wave of pleasure he's given you. Hannibal reaches again for your neck with one hand, pulling your head off of the bed. Gently squeezing, his thrusts are stronger and deeper than ever as he begins to slow down. Finally, he speaks again, nearly whimpering, "Mmm, come for me,, ah." With him Lightly choking you, you get a head rush before an enormous wave of pleasure washes over your body. He releases his grip to clutch onto your hips for stability as he approaches his peak. Your knees buckle and shake as he empties himself into you and finishes alongside your climax. The room is filled with a symphony moans as you ride out the euphoric bliss you've given each other. Pulling out of your dripping area, he turns you to face him for one last passionate kiss. "Did you enjoy your desert?" He asks. "More than anything." He smiles before you ask him, "Did you?" He exhales in response, "Absolutely." Looking down, He realizes you're still bound at the wrists and unties you before silently laughing, "I'll be keeping these." You laugh with him, "If it means I can come over for dinner again, they're all yours." He kisses you again, "I'd be delighted. You've been a very generous guest this evening."

[echonidae]

a buncha headshot portraits! three out of five portraits, i'm finishing up the last two c: the sketches here are from way back in august/september, and i fiddled with them for some weeks on end trying to make Something out of them, then proceeded to frustratedly shelf the lot of them away. so it's nice to see at least these three all finished up now :') and they were really nice to work on too ;v;

but ohoho okay, this is a lot of announcements in one single post, so bear with me a moment :3c here's a tl;dr first: 1) headshot portraits as a new commission option maybe? :0ccc 2) commissions are opening again on monday, jan. 23rd! 3) separate commission info webpage for reading convenience (particularly for folks on mobile) 4) commission rules changes: payment in full & upfront, rather than half-and-half 5) two-slots-per-person rule will be no more and folks are free to send as many orders as they want, but any ones after the second will go into the queue instead 6) also a small change with unoccupied queue slots

the rest is under the readmore :')

so, i've been thinking about adding this sort of portrait as a commission option!! fairly simple compositions but fully rendered (because i darn love painting so much; cellshading is nice and all, but coloring it all in one layer is just... heart-eyes), on the big 2600px to 3800px canvases as well c: and i'm thinking of pricing commissions like these at 28 USD (feels like a good price but i'm accepting feedback on that — the point was to add something that's just straight up fully-rendered, but for the lower end of the pricetable, and the limitations of a headshot portrait feel fitting enough on both sides ;v; )

also portraits like these are fairly quick to draw, so the turnaround time would be fairly short! add to it that 1) these are fun, 2) i could use focusing on just the face and expressions rather than elaborate poses and all, 3) portraiture lighting my beloved, and 4) these are painted, and don't take forever to figure out or paint. :D but yeah, let me know what you think of the headshot portrait option!! would you folks be interested in something like this? :0c

and now hold on a moment, i have more things to say!! xD

commissions are reopening monday, jan. 23rd, at the usual 5pm BRT (UTC -3:00)!

6 active slots (previously known as regular slots; can't believe it's taken me years to figure out a better way of calling these orz), as well as another 24 slots on queue. these will remain open until further notice; money's tight right now, hence the lack of closing date :')

there should be plenty of slots either way tho, so no rush at all! but i apologize for the super short notice orz

also, i went and got all the commission info on a separate webpage on wix instead. here you go!

should be easier to access and read through stuff, particularly on mobile — or at least i sincerely hope it is, please leave me feedback if you can!!! let me know if you encounter Problems, i've looked and combed through every bit of these four (4) pages but i might have missed stuff still, pretty please let me know if you run into any Issues! ;-;

but yeah, the website has all the rules and info and all the different options as well, with extra examples and all. on monday, you'll also be able place orders directly through there, i made a little form and all c': technically the form is already there but pls don't send requests yet, i can't reserve slots ahead of time!

also also, and these are the last things i've got to say, i promise (and thank you if you've read this far!),

a couple commission rules are changing!

1) from this new batch onwards, i'll be charging commissions in full & upfront instead of the half-half system i'd been doing up until this point. the exception is if an order exceeds $80 USD; for those ones we'll return to the half-before-sketch + half-once-finished situation instead!

but how's that? :0c i hope this is alright, but please let me know if this would make commissions just... unaffordable ;o; i do really like the half-half system, and i'd rather keep it, but it's either this or raising prices, and i don't think i can do that yet :T either way, please let me know your thoughts on the matter!!

2) the only-two-slots-per-person rule will no longer be in effect, so go ham with multiple orders if you wish on monday — the caveat is that i'll still be working only on two orders at a time per person, so if you order three things, the third one will be placed at the end of the queue c:

looking back i could've... done this from the beginning. orz it should be more convenient to send multiple orders if you have 'em!

and finally, 3) if the queue list hits its closing date with slots still available, folks who have already ordered and would like to get in the queue again can go on and grab those empty queue slots if they want, instead of being limited to two slots per person per batch, and then having to wait for an entire new batch.

i opened this exception for the last round of commissions (thank you once again to the folks who wanted repeats ;-; ) so i thought i should just make it into a proper thing instead, since it does make sense to do it anyway — the queue list is purposefully filled with a ton of slots, then left open for weeks on end to make sure everyone interested can get their orders in, so letting folks claim those remaining slots after the deadline sounds fine ;v;

that being said, there won't be a deadline for this monday's batch, so this bit technically doesn't change anything xD but i thought i should mention the New Thing #6!

and that's it! that's all!

while i'm pretty set on most of these (specially the full-upfront-payment bit — again, money's tight orz), i'm still definitely open to feedback, and to change things if something doesn't work for you folks!! please do share your thoughts on it, or send a note if you'd rather!! and let me know if you have any questions too ;v; 

i apologize for the super short notice again (and for cramming all of this into a single post) orz i'll be sorting things out until 5pm on monday, and getting these last commissions posted as well c:

thank you again for reading all of this orz and please don't feel obligated to reply to all the points if you have thoughts on only a specific one, i'd rather hear a little feedback than none at all ;o;

all in all, hope at least these portraits look nice, they were fun to work on :') Oliver, Owen and Steffan (previously known as the Swordsman/the Warlock — yup he's got a name now!); i'll get the other two of Matthew and Coriander done and posted!

thanks again folks, have a nice friday! ;w;