#but alas i am just starting out in that area of the art world and this it takes me a very long time to do anything

[rainbowbarnacle]

So I finished playing Pentiment

and I am lying here face down weeping into a pillow. It broke my heart and then it mended it again. Definitely up there as one of the best stories I've ever wandered through in a videogame.

You start out as an artist in the 1500s trying to finish your masterpiece while doing illustration work for the local abbey to make money, and when a sudden murder occurs you're left to try and solve it, but this is just Act 1. There is so much to see and do and read about in this game, it stretches onto this unspeakably detailed journey centered around this town and its people and its history.

I went in without knowing a thing about it other than what I saw in the trailer, and I. had. a. blast. Along with getting to explore various settings in this town, there are a sprinkling of fun mini games that shake things up just enough to keep you from feeling like you're doing nothing but roaming from place to place and reading all the dialogue and flavor text.

The plot goes places you would never guess in a million years, and every new twist and turn just reveals EVEN MORE INCREDIBLE THINGS. There are dialogue lines that will stick in your brain and parts that will make you laugh and parts that will make you cry and parts that will just wrap you up in everything it is to live in this town--its people, its culture, its holidays, its food, its art, its landmarks, how things change, how things stay the same, you will love it all so much as the game goes on. All that aside, the entire concept of a game being a story in a manuscript and all the gameplay occurring inside the little illustrations? That was such a visual stroke of genius, just seeing that drew me in right away. The art style is lovely and the music is lovely and the background noises are wonderful and immersive and I feel like you could spend hours just looking and listening to all of it.

And there's enough of the "book" in there that you don't forget it's a book. When you enter different areas, it interprets this through page turnings. Instead of the usual "bidibidibidibi" sounds you get with videogame dialogue, it's scribbly pen noises or print machine clunking. Characters have different fonts and sometimes the font changes in mid-sentence, and sometimes for violent emphasis there's a SCRAWLING sound like the writer is carving the words into the page with the pen. Sometimes in even worse situations there's even ink splattered among the words.

There is an option to see the text instantly, (as well as a nice accessibility option where the fonts are easier to read if it's too detailed to make out) but I found myself liking seeing the words written out for me with an invisible pen, especially since there are little moments where stuff gets crossed out and rewritten or the writer corrects little spelling mistakes. There's also a ton of replay value--you decide things like what topics your character studied in school, what personality they have, what languages they know, what types of books your character reads, and what skills they have--and throughout the game you can make choices and have special skills depending on what you pick. (Alas, this is not a game that lets you create your own character entirely like you would in, say, FFXIV or Baldur's Gate 3; I'm being a little vague for spoilery purposes, but you'll have fun figuring out what you want to do. I'm already looking forward to seeing what happens in Playthrough 2 when I do things way differently. :D)

It's been an hour since I wrapped up my first playthrough and I'm still reeling at everything. What an incredible, incredible game.

So in short: thank you so, so much @mercurialmalcontent for getting me this for Christmas. <3<3<3

[aryan-sachdeva]

EPISODE 15- THE URBAN OASIS OF LODHI GARDEN

Thank you for your extensive adoration and support towards the last blog, you people are legends! So after a long time, I am back with another one of my escapades in this city replenished with purposes. So let's start, with the full moon smiling in the open sky and the air filled with dreams, I started my journey towards the Lodhi Garden when I took the turn towards the Lodhi art district I saw this charmer:

I couldn't comprehend the beauty of the graffiti. It was so beautiful and out of the world! I stood there for a gleam to believe that the art was not real. I feared that it might jump on me at any moment. I somehow bought my mind out of the portrait and moved towards the gate of Lodhi garden. As I moved inside I was greeted with these gorgeous flowers.

Ohh, the stunning beauty of the pink Bougainvillea was remarking the commencement of summer. Thrilled by this site I moved forward just to catch a glimpse of one of the best animal interactions of my life.

I met my friend Donald Duck! out exploring Lodhi garden with his friends and family! I followed them for a moment and they left me at a big stone house as I veered around I read the board which said The Tomb of Sikandar Lodi. I got thrilled by this sign and proceeded inside just to enter a different world. As I entered the main chamber a hoard of bats chased me out of the place and I ran for my life. Fighting the bats I ended up clicking this picture from the top of the tomb.

After this strange interaction, I moved forward to exploring the loveliness of the garden where many of the most powerful people in the country come for a walk as it was very near to the ministry. After passing through a scenic lake I saw one of the most captivating monuments at the center of the garden.

The vibe of the place was so vibrant and beautiful that I began wondering what the place might have been at the time it was built. I moved forward and looked at the broken blue marble which was attached to the ends of the monuments I was pretty sure that these were imported from some other country. I hauled and saw one of the most carved mosques I had ever seen.

I can tell that the mosque was one of a kind and aesthetically pleasing. I questioned whether the site I was seeing was real or a work of my fantasies. To make myself believe I moved forward.

Oh my, the Arabic carvings were telling a new tale about the environment. I wondered how precise one might have to be to do such a kind of work. Sadly I wasn't able to find any translation of the texts :(

(the inside beauty of the mosque)

Half-heartedly I returned to my home still thinking about the glamour of the place I researched about the place. Here are some of my findings. Lodhi Gardens trace their history back to 1444 when the tomb of Mohammed Shah, a Sayyid Dynasty ruler of the Delhi Sultanate, was erected here by his son and the last ruler of the dynasty, Ala-ud-din Alam Shah. Another significant tomb located in the area is that of Sikander Lodi from the Lodi Dynasty, which was built in 1517 by his son Ibrahim Lodi.

It covers an area of over 90 acres and houses many 15th-century structures that display spectacular architectural beauty. The mausoleum of Mohammed Shah features Islamic and Hindu architectural styles. Designed with eight small domed structures or chattris, each adorned with a lotus finial, ornate pinnacles at the corners, a huge central dome, and an octagonal chamber, the tomb is a sight to behold.

Here is a small video about my journey exploring the urban oasis of the lodhi garden.

With this, we come to the end of this blog hope you liked it. Would love to here your views and thought about it in the comments

Until next time

With love

Aryan Sachdeva

[dashawfrostart]

This... Month? In "Time & Again" #20: Die Herausforderungen des Schreibens 📚 - und mehr

Here, I thought I'm finally coming back with some truly awesome news quite shortly - but alas, it turns out it's been roughly a month. Sounds like the frequency of my overly giant posts is rigorously dropping... But I intend to let it simply flow, following its own pace, so I write whenever. I have probably already mentioned that writing doesn't always go buttery smooth for me (and I'm pretty sure I said that somewhere before; it's not just the title of this post signifies that). If the posts do not form in my head - then I simply don't write, and I don't force the process either. The spark is very, very important when creating.

But enough of digression, let's get straight to the business! First things first!!! And the news is truly fab!!!

Chapters 1, 2 and 3.1. of "Time & Again" now exist in the physical world!!! 🥳🥂

This is so cool, I cannot contain myself!!! 🤪 This is a very odd and somewhat awkward feeling, to hold your own book in your hands. Back in the day, I started working on it as an exclusively digital release - and yet, I designed it (just in case!) as a book almost right away, with the covers, inner artworks, and the proper page count that was suitable for physical printing, if need be, although without the bleed areas.

Well, turned out the "if need be" situation happened in the end. And after all, it's just very nice to have a physical copy of your own work on hand... Well, because I'm an old-school person and I love paper books. Once the entire story is done, I will definitely prepare and order a hardcover copy just for myself. And if the local (and beyond local) readers so desire, I'll print some for them, too. But that is just a potential plan for the future consideration 😁 Right now, the succulently depressing Chapter 6 is waiting for me.

Preparing it for the physical printing was a bit of a struggle - the topic I already mentioned in one of the previous posts. I have spent a month working on all of that, plus refining some little things and adding "Notes, Commentaries & Hints" section to each one of the chapters. Ordering prints, unfortunately, was also a struggle, in an odd way.

But I succeeded. And now I am very happy.

Please note that I also added a QR code that leads to the landing page with all my art links and socials for everybody to explore. That was also yet another one little thing I've worked hard on for a while last month. It even has a link to my Doomworld profile 😁 *a happy smiling and spinning cacodemon smiley should go here*

Now, I am ready for yet another one juicy announcement on today's agenda:

The script for Chapter 6 is finally done!!! Yaaaaaay!!!11!!1!1!!! 🥳🥂

Revisiting the fruits of my labour yesterday, I can say I did good. It made me happy. And that's saying something. Chapter 6 is going to be very, very wordy (thank you Lothar for thinking non-stop). 19 pages with approximately 12500 words sure will make a big impression on some readers, I'm certain... However, a large part of that whooping page number is actually commentary only. But there's still a little more reading than in any average previous chapter. Now, off it goes directly to my editor-in-chef for the proofread. Which means that incredibly soon I will finally be able to start working on the page templates for the actual release. Excited. Chapter 6 is going to be highly experimental and daring. ... and unbearably dark, too. Darker than Chapter 5.

Returning back to our aforementioned topic of the writings, as well as the ultimate torments and tortures of the process, I must share something that you might find interesting to clarify the situation - or at least entertaining to some extent. Yet again: writing does not always go smooth for me. In the previous post I have shared my fears and concerns in regard to Chapter 6 in general, particularly the writing. Well, here's the full story for a disclosure: back in the day, approximately around the time I created Lothar (and shortly Jeanny), sometime in 2015, I attempted to write a large novel about the catpeople named Freia and Fjolvarr. That story has never been finished, and the problem with it happened to be, as I ponder now, the lack of self-organization of the author. Meaning, I could write separate notes for the story in multiple notebooks, because a lot of different ideas and thoughts would swirl in my imagination, so, like fools, I would try to save them all. Which was a good tactic - and I still think it is!.. The real problem, however, emerges from the depths of creative process later on, when it's time to stitch everything together into a logical and consecutive narration. I ended up with a lot of parts that were very difficult to tie together. Usually, when I used to write my text-only stories, I went with the flow and let the logic of the characters' conversations circulate naturally - and in most cases, it yielded great result. But with the things written split in parts right from the start, finding the right chain link to link them all together into a naturally flowing conversation was... a nightmare to say the least. Perhaps I was not persistent enough, or maybe the amount of work was a little too much, for that story was supposed to be, well, at least 200 pages in total (I approximate), therefore there as a lot of unrefined material to work with. As for "Time & Again", I definitely didn't want it to die in a swamp of creation that went awry. "Time & Again" bears ENORMOUS importance to me. I could not simply let it disappear into nothingness, because that would've been easily the most disappointing thing in my life. By the time I sat down to get to finishing up and polishing the script in July, there were indeed parts of the dialogues and Lothar's delirious monologues that required connection links. I cannot really say that I dreaded working on it. But I had fear that it might end up being as unfinished as the aforementioned catpeople story. This time I was aware of the weaknesses and failings of my previous, almost 10-year-old outdated approach. So I was ready to embrace a potentially tremendous amount of works that was waiting for me.

And I did really good this time!

Have I ever told you that narratology interest me very much? Narratology classes were something I've never taken. The same with psycholinguistics and the its lesser known, more targeted subdivision called ethnopsycholinguistics. And now I feel like I have missed out on INCREDIBLY MUCH. For a language nerd such as myself, it's shameful. But nothing's impossible (am I, like, in the mood for Depeche Mode quotes today or what?..), and there are lots of books available on the above mentioned topics, so I am not sad one bit. I love sciences 🤓 And I am always up for self-education (basically almost everything I've learnt very willingly was thanks to self-education alone).

I thought I wanted to mention some other fun topic, but I no longer remember what it was. That's alright; chances are by the time I decide to return to make another post, it will shape itself a tad better anyway. So I'll save my currently improperly shaped thought for later.

See you soon! 👋 I really gotta pick up the slack and start posting more frequently 😅

[crispyfryenperu]

Cusco Tips and Art History

A trip to Cusco is so chaotic. You must fly in (or bus 20 hours) from Lima, landing in Cusco. But from Cusco you have to take a 4-5 hour drive to the town of Ollantaytambo. Ollantaytambo has some beautiful Inca ruins - some you can pay for, and some you can freely wander and hike around. In fact, the houses and restaurants in this small town are built upon ancient inca ruins. You can see where the Inca rocks end and the more modern Peruvian walls begin. They also still use the canal and aqueduct system that the inca built. If you do the Inca Trail hike to Machu Picchu, this is where you’d begin. It was a lovely place to spend the night, because afterwards, you need to take a 2 hour $80 train ride to “Machu Picchu Town” also known as Aguascalientes. Aguascalientes is the squished, pricy, seedy, tourist town of your nightmares! It’s just the basecamp for Machu Picchu.  From here - you are finally just a thirty minute bus ride away from Machu Picchu! Trust me, the travel is exhausting.

Ollantaytambo Încă ruins

With my parents we took advantage to do the Wayna Picchu (big mountain) hike. First you enter the citadel doing a tour of 1 of the 4 routes. Then you sign off your name and your life in a tracking notebook, and begin your hike in the highland jungle. This was a hike with many downhills and uphills, areas where you had to grab onto ropes or poles to keep your balance. We weren’t sure if we’d make it all the way up, but in the end we did! 10 minutes after sitting nearly at the top, a park ranger came by guiding the last people off the mountain. We quickly scrambled up the last 10 minutes to take more pictures. Then the park ranger followed us all the way down the mountain. This gave me anxiety but we were proud to be the last ones on Wayna Picchu that day. 

From this view, Machu Picchu is supposed to appear to be the shape of a condor.

We made it down!

Of course, we weren’t going to leave town without doing the most famous Machu Picchu route, and getting our llama picture. So the next day we did the Llaqta Machu Picchu route in the citadel. It started to rain, and when we got to the best picture point, the clouds covered the entire view of the citadel. Alas, a benevolent wind brushed away the clouds and we were able to get some rainy pictures in our pink and green ponchos. The guide told us about how carbon-dating the rocks showed the Incas ate a diet of corn, chicha, potatoes, yams, avocado, beans, coca leaves and other fruits, grains, vegetables, and nuts. The Incas maintained an essentially vegan diet, punctualized by a fried guinea pig or duck meat on special occasions. Machu Picchu has extensive planting terraces complete with irrigation and drainage systems.  Now llamas, wild chinchillas, and spectacled bears enjoy the landscape.  There are also Andean pumas, condors, and snakes, known as the Inca Trilogy. It was said that the snake guarded the underworld, the condor the spirit world, and the puma the earthly world. Machu Picchu was beautiful, and it was worth all the hassle! But they really make you work for it. 

After that we went back to the city of Cusco. We toured a Catholic convent that was built on top of Inca ruins with no second thoughts. Today it is just a tourist attraction. We observed some lively Cusqueño dances. I tried to convince my parents to go see more ruins, but they were all ruined-out, and even museumed-out! I never thought I’d see the day I’d be forcing my parents to go to a museum.  Even more remarkably, I had to convince them to go to mass.  The Cusco Cathedral charges like 50 soles per person to tour it, but if you go to 7,8, or 10 am mass, you can enter for free. My dad takes after my sleeping-in tendencies, so 10 am is early for us. I rushed my parents through their breakfast (there were some delicious olives and we ate like 40).

The Cathedral was large and beautiful, with a huge old wooden organ in the center, and dozens of paintings from the famous Cusco School of Art. This art school was a movement of guilds, artists, and workshops, in which Spaniards and other European artists trained indigenous artists in order to help Peruvians convert to Catholicism. The art school/movement started from the Spanish conquest in the 1530s and lasted through the 1800s. Many of these trained artists maintained their Inca heritage, so they took these European painting styles and religious subjects and changed them to better fit their beliefs. They painted God and the saints in a  triangular form with rivers running around their ankles and golden crowns with rays of sun on their heads. This is because the Incas worshipped mountains, rivers, and the sun, believing these to be their gods. The triangle shape of the Catholic subjects suggested a mountain, and embedded gold paint or gold threads were a representation of the sun. (Even priestcloths were often woven with gold or silver threads). We saw many of these features within the Cathedral, including the very famous Peruvian last supper painting, which includes Peruvian foods like stuffed red spicy peppers, corn, chicha, and a special main course. While one man tried to flush us out of the Cathedral after mass, another man very graciously pointed us to the Peruvian Last Supper, painted by Marcos Zapata in 1753- a highlight of my trip. 

Do you see the special main dish? it’s a guinea pig

Tragically, most of the indigenous painters in the School of Art were forbidden from signing their own paintings, and most of the art from this period is unidentifiable. And like many other buildings in Cusco, the Cathedral was built directly on top of an Inca buildings - a palace known as Kiswarkancha.

Since we were tired of everything, we wined and dined around Cusco, and enjoyed the ever-changing weather. Sunny, warm, rainy, windy, cold. Cusco also has some of the best deals for souvenirs - do your shopping nearby the famous 12-angled stone for the best prices. 

[croziers-compass]

For the end of the year ask game, 25, 23, 21, 20, 18, 12, and 9, if you'd like

End Of Year Asks:

Did you create any characters (in games, art, or writing) this year? Describe one. - I created Elias Lumenarius - my arcane build in Bloodborne who uses the Kos Parasite. I have a deep love for the body horror of the Kos Parasite in Bloodborne. The Ethereal nature of it and how it's not just really a parasite but seems to behave with a sort of symbiosis to the host of the parasite does ... something... for me. (If you were curious about Ere/Wilbur and Heinrich, they are old news.)

If you could send a message to yourself back on the first day of the year, what would it be? - The deer will go into rut early this year. This is important for the end of August going into September.

What’s something new about your place of residence (room, home, or general location) now vs the start of the year? - We rearranged our entire sitting room, actually. I also tossed out my old area rug. It's a tad barren now, there, but alas, it will have to do until I can find something I like that is also affordable. Oh! And the hole in our roof got fixed. Pleasant news. It had not started to leak quite yet so I am glad it got repaired sooner rather than later.

What’s something you learned this year? - The men in Shackleton's expedition traded one another the shiniest and prettiest stones and gifted them to one another. This healed me for an additional one hundred and fifty health points.

A memorable meal this year? - I perfected Cawl. It turned out so brilliantly that I cannot help but fondly recall it and how well I had done. I almost cried.

Talk about a new friend you made this year - I have made several new friends this year. I struggle in community. I am a bit shy. But reaching out through the community of the Terror and other Polar Exploration enthusiasts has brought many incredible individuals to my humble space. I have gotten to connect with so many wonderful people that I am in awe. I admire so many of them so deeply. I adore them. To think that others admire me as well is laughable. It's a strange and surreal experience. Everyone has been so lovely and so kind and brilliant. The minds of the Terror and our fellow "Discovery Service" sailors are enough to really move me. I have grown so much in a short amount of time and been given a truly precious gift amongst these incredible individuals. Those that have connected with me through DMs or reached out to me are just incredible. The way that we stitch and weave together this unique and amazing relationship is simply most unexpected. I am truly grateful and I could not feel so close to so many people that live so far away if it were not for what you all bring to these Ships. It is an honour to Sail with you all.

Best month for you this year? I found a lot of respite in May this year. I experienced some rather disconcerting life events that shook me and troubled me deeply. I spent much of my free time isolated in state parks, having hiked hundreds of metres above sea level to simply feel isolated and away from everything whilst finding a connection to my place in the world. I spent much time writing, reading, and absorbing myself in my hobby studies while I found wisdom in my other works. I had a wonderful amount of support from other good friends and kin that I share sacred spaces with and this was very supportive in my task to heal some wounds wrought upon me by my own family. It was painful but good. And I value that and am grateful for it.

[lancermylove]

In Need of Hugs (Oneshot)

Fandom: Obey Me

Pairing: Mammon x gn!Reader

Warning: Mild angst but overall fluff.

Commissioned by: @lann-de-lei​

Prompt: [Paraphrased] You know how Mammon in the game is not usually very honest with MC about his wishes and feelings (I think it would change if they start dating and he feels more confident and secure). So I imaging he wouldn't tell them directly when he wants/needs hugs and comfort. And I thought about MC who is not good in reading non-verbal signs, and who relays mostly on people's words. So, I imagined MC would give Mammon something (like a plushy) to be a sign that he needs them, and he has this toy with him all the time and brings it when he wants MC's hugs. Something like this.. if it makes any sense ^_^" Anyway, I just wanna give this sweet boi a hug, he deserves it! Thank you!

A/N: This request was super sweet, but I added a hint of angst at the beginning. Hehe, Mammon really does deserve all the hugs in the world. Thank you for your commission! You really are the best. 😁💖

Word Count: 2557

Mammon art inspired by this oneshot.

———————————————

This feeling was nothing new, but like always, Mammon's chest felt weighted down. He sat at the edge of his mattress, slumped over, with his arms loosely crossed and resting on his knees. Mammon's eyes were closed, and his head hung low, his chin almost touching his chest.

The Avatar of Greed wanted you to figure out what was going on with him - figure out all the hidden feelings he suppressed deep inside. If only you could hear how his heart screamed in pain and know how tormented he felt, but alas, Mammon couldn't express his emotions honestly. It was not like he didn't trust you - if he didn't, he would not be dating you - but for reasons, Mammon felt like sharing his feelings with you would be bothersome. How he wished you could read his mind, but then again, if you did, you would be sad all the time, and Mammon didn't want to put you through that.

The demon removed his sunglasses and tilted his head up to force the tears back into his eyes. Pressing his right index finger and thumb on his closed eyes, he let out a self-deprecating laugh, "Why am I thinkin' about this? It ain't like anyone is goin' to listen to me. Maybe, (y/n)'ll listen, but what if they think I'm bein' needy or am weak-minded? Man, I could use a hug right now, but Mammon the Great can't walk up to (y/n) and say that to their face. Stupid mind. Stupid thoughts. Stupid Mammon..."

----

As you made your way up the RAD staircase, you heard familiar voices coming from the top of the stairwell. "Hey, Asmo, Levi, and Beel. What are you guys laughing about? Did I miss something?"

The Avatar of Lust nodded and chuckled, partially covering his mouth with the fingertips of his right hand, "Mammon made a complete fool of himself today. He stole a rare statue from the RAD common room but got caught."

"He is stupid for thinking he could get away with it," Levi happily chimed in.

Their words made your lips fall flat, and though you knew it was wrong for Mammon to steal, you didn't like the way his brothers were making fun of him. How could Asmo and Levi not understand that greed was his sin, just like lust and envy were their sins? Out of the corner of your eyes, you saw Beel shifting his weight from one leg to another as his eyes wandered around the area as if he was trying to find a way to escape this conversation.

"Oh, it's almost time for our next class," Asmo said while motioning Levi to follow him. "We should get going. Talk to you later, (y/n)."

Even as they walked away, you could hear the third and fifth brothers talking poorly about your boyfriend. Once their voices disappeared in the distance, Beel shifted his gaze to you with a bit of fire in his eyes, "Mammon was not the one who stole the statue. Someone else took it, and the blame ended up on Mammon because...it's Mammon."

Your frown only grew deeper, and you curled your fists tightly - how dare they use him as a soft target. "Thanks for telling me the truth. Oh, and Beel, thanks for not joining your brothers to make fun of Mammon. You care about him and respect him more than the others, so thank you."

"You should go find Mammon," the Avatar of Gluttony smiled. "He might need a hug from you."

Knowing Beel's words were true, you set out to find your boyfriend, and after an hour of looking for him, you found Mammon sitting on the sofa in his bedroom. He sat with his lower back pressed against the backrest of the couch, his upper body hunched over. Mammon's elbows were resting on his knees, and his face was buried in the palms of his hands. Your heart twisted inside your chest after seeing the state he was in.

Slowly making your way down the staircase, you tiptoed behind the sofa and slid your arms around his shoulders, catching him by surprise, but your warmth was what he needed the most right now. Mammon sat up straight, a small smile appearing on his lips, "Whatcha doin' here? You're supposed to be in class." You tightened your arms around his shoulders and pulled him back until the back of his head was resting against your chest. Right now, all you wanted to do was to envelop him in your warmth and hide him from the world, but you needed to ask him about the false accusation. "Why didn't you tell me about the rare statue incident?"

"So you think I stole it just like everyone else?" His tone was sharp, but Mammon quickly regretted using that tone with you and bit his lower lip.

"No, I don't think you stole it. Also, you are wrong about the everyone part," you chuckled, maintaining your calm. "Beel believes you didn't steal the statue, and I have a feeling that Lucifer also thinks you are innocent. But all that aside, Mammon, why didn't you tell me?"

"I...well...um..."

While he struggled to form a response, you noticed him repeatedly tapping his foot, almost like he was having a muscle spasm. Tilting your head to get a better view of his face, you saw his eyes shifting restlessly through the items on the glass center table. At that moment, a realization hit you, Mammon was never good with words and never honest about his feelings.

'Why didn't I notice this before? Why did it take me so long?' You silently sighed, not taking your eyes off his face. 'Even when he's in pain, he keeps saying he's okay or makes a joke or says something stupid. Is that his way of diverting everyone's attention away from his true feelings? How long has he been like this? What...can I do to help him?'

You never got an answer from Mammon, but you didn't mind as you were too busy trying to figure out a way to help him - a way in which he could share his pain with you or seek comfort from you without actually having to use words.

----

"Yo, did somethin' happen?" Mammon asked as he lazily walked into your bedroom, looking like you woke him up from a nap. "Why didja want to see me so urgently?"

"Don't ask any questions and close your eyes. No peeking!" After Mammon closed his eyes, you skipped to your bed and pulled out a gift from under the covers.

"Hey, hurry up, will ya? Don't keep me waitin'." Usually, at times like these, his mind would be racing a thousand miles per hour trying to figure out what you were going to show him, but today, his mind was too tired.

"Open your eyes!" At your command, Mammon revealed his sapphire eyes to find you holding a custom-made gold-colored plush bat with horns and wings similar to his demon form. "You are givin' me a toy?"

"You don't like it?" You teasingly pouted.

"Huh? No...it's cute an' all, but...why are you givin' me a stuffed toy?" He averted his eyes while scratching the back of his head, trying to make sense of your gift.

"Mammon, I am sorry," you dropped your playful front and stared down at your hands. "I not really sharp when it comes to picking up non-verbal hints. Whatever people feel, I prefer they say it using words, and I know not all people like sharing their feelings. I want to give you this toy as a sorry gift."

Even after your explanation, your boyfriend still looked lost. Smiling widely, you stretched out your arms to him, "That's not the only reason I'm giving you this bat. Whenever you show me this plush, I will take it as Mammon the Great wants a hug from his human."

His cheeks turned red at hearing your adorable statement, and a genuine smile danced on his lips as he gently took the plushie from you. Realizing he was openly blushing, Mammon cleared his throat and mumbled, "It's not like Mammon the Great needs a hug, but if I see my human lookin' like they need a hug, I'll show 'em this toy."

----

After a long day at RAD, you kicked off your shoes and jumped on your bed, letting your body sink into the cloud-like mattress. You couldn't stop yourself from smiling like a goof at how well your plan worked out. Mammon brought the bat plush with him everywhere he went, and you could not have been happier. What made it a lot cuter was that he tried to keep the toy hidden in his backpack, but it was difficult to miss seeing the bright gold bat sparkling in the depths of his bag. Of course, you didn't say anything since you didn't want to embarrass him, but his actions made you giggle every time.

The best part was Mammon used the toy whenever he needed a hug, especially after a long day, losing bets, getting insulted by his brothers, or having to put up with punishments he didn't deserve. You opened your eyes and stared at the tree above your bed as you felt your gears riling at the unfair punishments. "Seriously, what did Mammon do to deserve it? He always looks out for others, but why does he have to put up with things he didn't do? I wish I could hold him in my arms and hide him from the world and the unjust things they do to him."

Rolling over on your stomach, you folded your arms and rested your chin on them. "Mammon has changed in the past few days, though. Before, he would use the toy to ask for hugs when he was sad, but now...he's using them to get normal hugs. Like the type of hugs, couples give each other."

You weren't complaining, no, far from it, but you wondered what brought about this change in him. Was he getting more comfortable around you? A giggle escaped your lips, "It would be nice if he was more comfortable around me, but I have to say, he has also gotten bolder. He even uses the bat when he's jealous."

Whenever you had conversations with his brothers, the angels, or Solomon for more than needed, Mammon would show up out of nowhere and secretly hold up the toy. He made it obvious that he didn't like you showering other men with attention, and the most impressive part was that Mammon even did this when you were talking to Lucifer. "Talk about being brave. He looks so cute when he's jealous, though."

You couldn't get over everything he had been doing for the past few weeks, but the one action of his you couldn't resist was Mammon showing you the plushie and saying in the sweetest voice with a blush, "I thought my human could use a hug." He liked getting attention from you, but Mammon also enjoyed showering you with affection. He really was too pure.

While you were reminiscing over the events that transpired, you failed to realize that the toy had helped you learn a lot about Mammon, including the meaning behind his expressions, his body language, and to a certain extent, reading his thoughts.

----

A couple of days later, you walked into Mammon's room to hear him frantically saying, "Where's it? Where's it? Where's it?"

Stepping closer to the stairwell railing, you looked around his room to find countless items littering his floor while Mammon was carelessly tossing the pillow from the sofa and pulling the seat cushions out, not caring if they ripped in the process. What was he looking for that he needed to tear his entire room apart? A thought crossed your mind, but you shook your head and dismissed it.

"Mammon, what's wrong?" You questioned as you slowly made your way to the halfway point of the staircase. When he turned to you, the demon looked like he was about to break into tears at any moment.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. I'm going to find it! Dontcha worry."

"Mammon, hold on a minute." You held your right hand up in front of your chest with the flat of your palm facing him. "First, take a deep breath and tell me what's wrong. Why are you tearing your room apart?"

"I...lost the toy. I don't know how I dropped it, but I'm gonna find it."

Your mind froze at hearing his reply, but you were not shocked about Mammon losing the toy; rather, you were surprised by your thought, the same thought you silenced earlier. When you walked into his room and heard him panicking, your immediate thought was, 'Is Mammon looking for the toy? Why else would he be messing up his room?'

Did this mean you no longer needed the toy to know what Mammon was feeling and thinking? You hid your smile under your hand as you watched Mammon getting down on his knees and looking under the couch. Uncovering your lips, you called out to him, "Hey, Mammon. It's okay. You don't need to look for the toy."

Your boyfriend turned his head to you, still on his knees, giving you a puzzled look. Revealing your smile to him, you leaned against the railing, "Mammon, I don't need the toy anymore to know when you need a hug. I don't know how or why, but I think I can understand your feelings..."

A variety of expressions appeared on his face one after another; first, his eyebrows furrowed, then they arched upwards on his forehead, and his lips parted slightly; after that, his eyes grew large, and his jaw dropped; finally, a wide smile tugged on his lips. "You...can...read my heart? I don't need to use words?"

"No, you don't."

Mammon's tense shoulders relaxed as he felt the knot in his chest gradually loosen. "I'm still sorry for bein' careless."

"My dear demon," you called to him in a sweet voice, and when he shifted his gaze to you, you brought your left hand from behind your back and revealed a bat plushie. It was similar to the gift you gave to your boyfriend, but the color was different.

"Didja get a backup toy in case I lost mine?" He asked, tilting his head slightly to one side.

"No, this is my toy. Now, whenever Mammon's human needs a hug from him, they will show this toy to him. AND Mammon will have to drop everything and come straight into his human's arms - no exceptions," you exclaimed and stuck the tip of your tongue out at him.

The Avatar of Greed hopped to his feet, chaotically jumped over all the objects in his path, and ran up the staircase. He tightly coiled his arms around your waist and buried his face in your chest as you wrapped one around his shoulder and rested the other on the back of his head. For a while, the two of you softly laughed until he lifted his head and met your gaze.

"No matter where I'm and what I'm doin', whenever my human needs me, I'll be there for 'em. Now and forever."

———————————————

➣  Obey Me Masterlist: [1][2] ➣ Main Masterlist

➣ Buy me a Ko-fi? ➣ Commission: Open || Requests: Closed

[riacte]

Hermitcraft on r/place - And The Blocks Need Placing (3/4/2022) Day 3 Part 2

Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Part 1 Day 4 Part 1

Greetings cyberdogs and citizens of the interdubs, welcome back to another episode of "What Is Going On At r/place?", here is your morning (afternoon? nighttime?) newspaper. I am still losing my mind, exhausted but enthralled. For an introduction or explanation to what r/place is please read the first two instalments. This is Part 2 of Day 3, Part 1 has been summed up with relative Hermitcraft stability and helping allies far away.

For how to help, please refer to Day 3 Part 1.

1. Allies from Far

Now that main HC area was chill, forces turned to helping others. The 3L area was being watched over, but the WSB people appeared to be less organsied than 3L so 3L could maintain its area. Portugal thought 3L was cringe (lmao) but accepted our existence. Hong Kong had a second mural to the right which was being taken over, they asked for help but alas, they died.

Someone from farmcarrots popped by and asked for help against good ole Macedonia. In return, they would build a golden carrot to honour us. Later, Macedonia made an agreement with the carrots.

2. Civil Conflicts Just Don't Stop, Do They?

So the diplomats had just been WRANGLING people to STOP EXPANDING, whether towards Brazil or Love Live or even MCC. A small EvilX was built between LL and HC. Brazil decided to do some pixel art on their left corner aka. the HC-Brazil border. HC liked the bird and the tree a lot (they were Brazil's design, actually), so after a bit of communication they kept the tree in the background <3

People were also screaming about the finer details on the HC heads. We sought to maintain and defend, not to expand.

We started anticipating the expansion of the canvas at the same time they expanded yesterday, but nothing happened. Perhaps one expansion was enough... or perhaps Reddit wanted to surprise us. No one knew.

3. Don't you love the smell of built bridges?

The threat of WSB eroded over time, and communication was set up between 3L Empires and Portugal. The banners and heads were agreed to have a bridge under them, and the space next to RK Ren would be used for their Portuguese streamer <3 People between 3L and HC were scurrying back and forth to tell HC not to worry about the 3L area. After a long and exhausting battle (particularly concerning Fwhip and Ren being drowned), 3L appeared to be secured, no more heads would drown, and Martyn added a blush pixel on RK (truly the highlight of that segment). All was good in the world. Portugal also planned to build a sick pixel art at their bottom right corner and asked us to help with them. Since we were now cool with each other, aka. 3L had been integrated with their canvas, we agreed. A Portuguese streamer was built to the right of Ren, and he was eventually blushified like everyone else.

Fwhip and Jimmy also started looking at each other, and Martyn started looking at Ren. To the great surprise of the active Treebark shippers, a pink heart was suddenly constructed between Ren and Martyn, causing a wave of ?!??!?!??!?!??!?!. (Background info: a community of Treebarkers basically quarantined themselves in a private discord server to stop spamming #treebark, only showing up to do stuff like Trafficpose, Maidtyn Monday, Treebark Week 2022, Space Opera AU etc etc. Nobody from the private discord was responsible for the heart.) Somebody in Martyn's discord also pointed out the heart and jokingly said "bring out the fanfics". This is very funny because the Treebarkers were putting their stuff where no CC could see it, only for others to slap Treebark on r/place and put it in Martyn's discord. Fishfucker flag was also added between Jimmy and Fwhip <3 So the 3L area ended up looking gay as fuck. This is what happens when tumblr gets involved <3

4. Movements in the Southwest

Nano, our neighbour-ish, got targeted by an anti-crypto streamer (asmongold). Love Live started eyeing the area with interest. Nano apparently asked LL for help, but the streamer would likely target everybody that helped Nano. HC would stay put and observe.

Around this time, a void started next to DSMP and we went to defend. People started joking the DSMP and HC communities have never been so cooperative before this.

EvilX was half-hidden by the LL girl and we would want to keep it that way to respect LL. Ah yes, the neverending battle of wrangling rogues.

5. Running Around

HC continued to do what they always did- fix rogue pixels, make contacts with allies, stop people from expanding, argue among themselves /lh, watch out for the void, etc etc. People were very anxious about attacks from streamers. We watched as the area below 2b2t was converted into a large pixel art based on orders from a streamer. A small HP (Harry Potter) mural asked for our help defending because they were invaded by bots for unknown reasons. HP lost, but apparently the public HP subreddit had their own secure thing elsewhere. Mindcrack also repeatedly asked for help with their logo.

Continued support was shown towards MCC's secondary area called MCC2 (which made me very excited because I thought someone was making a tribute to the actual 2nd MCC, and my pipe dream of [you guessed it] MCC9 Blue Bats mural could come true without me doing anything LOL). Noxite and Mysticat appeared under the team icons and were maintained. The team coin was also salvaged.

Brazil also occasionally popped by and asked for help with minor things, like their pixel art at their bottom left corner and when red hearts suddenly appeared next to the Pesky Bird of Peace (unofficial name by me, it's actually Brazil's blue macaw but everyone at HC had grown SO FOND of it).

Jellie also became bi (then mlm?) and Nugget became trans.

6. A New New World

More than 3 hours past the expected expansion time, the canvas suddenly doubled again, meaning it was 4x its original size. HC was way more excited about new colours than area because we finally had a decent skin colour instead of yellow for the hermits. 3L discord was burnt out and just focused on changing colours, maintaining, and giggling over Martyn's blush pixel. Hermitcraft Civil Conflicts were slightly starting again, but they were nowhere near the intensity of the Brazil-HC Crisis just yesterday (was it just yesterday? It felt like we were allies for days). HC argued over colours and tiny pixels and which hermit to start changing first. Also False's skin finally had better colours.

2b2t suffered another attack to the void, and while people were still distrusting of 2b2t due to their reputation, again we helped them out. It's actually really nice to see all of MC(YT) come together despite all the discourse and frustration. We know we're cut from the same cloth :) It's like when you have that one annoying kid from highschool and you two moved to another town and you only know them so you're forced to take care of each other? It's fun.

We watched in exasperation as the flags came to the New New World and started occupying again... what did we expect, lol. Cubfan also started being griefed for some reason, leading people to boom "KEEP CALM AND DEFEND CUB". Apparently they're targeting Cub because he said something anticrypto??? I have NO IDEA what went on, and HC discord didn't talk about it because it was a cause of stress, and I definitely respect that. Around this time, our old ally Skyrim asked for help for their new mural after they got destroyed, however HC forces were preoccupied right now.

HC was also collecting ideas to change the colour of half of the logo to (I think) potentially finally stop Kermitcrapt (which is seriously not funny anymore and a waste of pixels). The OG design also had two colours before the green bit got swallowed by mini Brazil (that conflicted seemed an era ago). Also, it looked nicer.

We also worked on maintaining our close allies, eg the SOR axolotl head, misc Brazil griefing. Then Jack Manifold came in to vandalise XQC and they thought it was the French...? Or something. "You've Been Etho'd" mural was also planned next to Green Lattice. Wynncraft was also relocating following the whiteout and request assistance. SOR also announced they would make a logo tomorrow. Whenever 3L asked for help, HC was eager to give it. As you can see, since HC was stable, we were extending our pixels to allies. Rogue GME continued the lime pixels into HC logo, we fixed them, blah blah blah.

7. Little Touches feat. the Knight

HC decided to move the Last Life (they share initials with Love Live, goodness gracious) hearts to the left to give space for Recap guys, which also required contact with MCC. HC was also very happy whenever Wels added a pixel <3 Ely was also VERY ACTIVE in chat :D The GME portals were refined a little to be more 3D. I'm very proud that we've come so far that we can care and negotiate on little aesthetic details <3 Last I heard, people were debating Gem's design, and the Hermit half of the logo was changed to purple!

Also, You've Been Etho'd was voided and needed rebuilding. MCSR also had their own mural (directed by Feinberg for a bit :D) and their heads :D It's so cool to see patches of Minecraft heads scattered around- if we all come together, we would be such a big target.

Also, little pics of DSMP and MCC2:

I have to sleep now, I seriously don't know how I long I can keep this up. I need my life back LMAO. Apologies in advance if I never make a Day 4 post.

o7 to everybody, good luck and take care! We got this!! :D

[sineala]

Tony Stark and Arthuriana

Coming to you by special request, a very long post about 616 Tony's interest in Arthuriana, with a focus on all of Tony's run-ins with Morgan le Fay!

I feel like I should disclaim the extent of my knowledge here, which is that I still haven't managed to read anywhere near every issue of Iron Man -- at least, not yet, anyway -- so I'm just going by the things I know I've read, and Morgan le Fay's Marvel wiki entry is frustratingly under-cited, so it's very possible I've missed something relevant, but I'm pretty sure I've got the big stuff down. My other disclaimer here is that I'm not as big an Arthurian nerd as Tony is, which is to say that most of my familiarity comes from modern retellings -- T. H. White's The Once and Future King, Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Mists of Avalon, Mary Stewart's The Crystal Cave, Rosemary Sutcliff's Sword at Sunset -- and not so much the usual classic sources on the Matter of Britain, though I've read bits and pieces of them.

(This is because I wanted to read versions of them that were as close to the original as possible but so far have not ended up finishing any of them because, well, that's hard. So I've never read the Mabinogion because I do not know Welsh. I've got the Norton Critical Edition of Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur, which is probably the best student edition if you're looking for something without modernized spellings, as I was. I've also got -- well, okay, it's my wife's but I'm borrowing it -- a relatively recent Boydell & Brewer edition (ed. Reeve, tr. Wright) of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae (History of the Kings of Britain), which is, you guessed it, in Latin with a facing English translation. I haven't gotten very far in it because, in case you didn't know this about Latin texts, the beginning is pretty much always the hardest, so I gave up and read some Plautus adaptations instead. Anyway, if for some reason you too want to read Geoffrey of Monmouth in the original Latin I'd recommend that one, but I can't recommend any particular English translations because I've never read one by itself. I bet you didn't think you'd be getting Latin prose recommendations in this post. I mean, maybe you did; it is me, after all.)

Okay. Right. King Arthur. Here we go.

We've got:

Flashbacks to Tony's childhood in late Iron Man volume 1

A brief discussion of Morgan's origin story and Avengers #187

Iron Man vol 1 #149-150: Doomquest

What If vol 1 #33: What if Iron Man was trapped in the time of King Arthur?

Iron Man vol 1 #249-250: Recurring Knightmare

Iron Man: Legacy of Doom #1-4

Avengers vol 3 #1-4: The Morgan Conquest

Civil War: The Confession

Mighty Avengers vol 1 #9-11: Time Is On No One's Side

In terms of universe-internal chronology, we know from Iron Man #287, from 1992, that Tony has been a fan of King Arthur since childhood. This is an issue of a fandom-favorite arc which features Tony having a lot of childhood flashbacks, including the famous "Stark men are made of iron" line (in #286) that for some reason MCU fandom decided it loved; I mean, seriously, I've seen that quoted in way more MCU fic than 616 fic. But slightly later, in #287, we get an entire page devoted to Tony's love of King Arthur.

The narration reads: "Over the next few years, I learned as my father intended. Discipline of body. Strength of character. But in what free time I was allowed, I worked my way through the school's library. At thirteen, I discovered Mallory [sic], who showed me a whole new world. A world of dedication to a cause greater than oneself. Of chivalry and honor. And the fantastic deeds -- of armored heroes."

The art shows Tony as a child sitting under a tree, reading a book labeled Mort D'Arthur by Mallory [sic] -- no, don't ask me why nobody at Marvel checked how to spell either the name of the book or its author -- and daydreaming of King Arthur, the Sword in the Stone, knights, et cetera. Just in case you somehow missed the extremely blatant hint that we are meant to understand that Tony's knight obsession heavily influenced him becoming Iron Man as an adult, we see one of his armors mixed in with all the drawings of knights. So, yes, canonically Tony is Iron Man at least partly because he's a giant King Arthur nerd, which I think is so very sweet. I love him. He's such a dork!

(This issue is currently in print in the Iron Man Epic Collection War Machine, should you need your own copy.)

This isn't actually the only reference to Tony as a King Arthur fanboy in this era of canon, either; a little later, in IM #298, we see that one of Tony's passwords is actually "Mallory." (Yeah, no, they still couldn't spell. But it's cute.)

But in terms of actual publication order, this is definitely not the first time we have seen in canon that Tony is into Arthuriana, as I'm sure you all know. I would assume, in fact, that giving Tony a childhood interest in Arthuriana is because Doomquest is one of the most beloved Iron Man story arcs of all time, and that all started at least a decade before IM #287 here was published.

The villain of Doomquest -- the one who isn't Doctor Doom, at least -- is Morgan le Fay. Yes, that Morgan le Fay. Yes, Arthur's evil half-sister Morgan le Fay. Yes, all of this King Arthur stuff is canonically real history on Earth-616. Morgan's first appearance in Marvel, per the wiki, was in Black Knight #1 (1955), which I have not read, and judging by the summary I feel like this is probably just supposed to be a straight-up comic retelling of Arthurian legends for kids; I don't think Marvel really had the whole Marvel Universe in mind as a concept in 1955, so I'm not sure this was meant to connect to anything else. I feel like this is another one of those instances of Marvel discovering that they can write comics about characters in the public domain for free -- like, I'm pretty sure that's how we also ended up with, like, Norse, Greek, and Roman mythology wedged into 616.

As far as I can tell from the wiki, the first time Morgan tangled with the Avengers (or indeed the larger 616 universe) in any way actually predated Doomquest -- it was in an early arc in Spider-Woman (#2-6) and then Avengers #187, which came out in 1979, actually right when Demon in a Bottle was happening over in Iron Man comics. If you read #187, Iron Man is not in it because he's off the team due to his drinking problem and also his accidentally murdering the Carnelian ambassador problem. So Wonder Man's filling in instead. This issue is part of Michelinie's rather sporadic Avengers run, which makes sense, I guess, considering where we see Morgan next.

Anyway, Avengers #187 is the classic issue where Wanda is possessed by Chthon, but what you may not remember from Chthon's backstory (I sure didn't!) is that he was summoned by Morgan le Fay because she was the first person who tried to wield the Darkhold to summon him. As you can imagine, this did not work out especially well for her and her followers and they had to seal Chthon away in Wundagore Mountain, which was where Wanda found him. (The Spider-Woman stuff is only slightly earlier and also appears to be about Morgan and the Darkhold; the Darkhold is not one of the areas of 616 canon I am especially conversant with, alas. It's on my to-read list.)

Doomquest, as you probably know, was a classic Iron Man two-parter in Layton & Michelinie's first Iron Man run that set up Tony and Doom as rivals; Doomquest itself was IM #149-150, in 1981, and then in their second IM run they came back and did a sequel in 1989, Recurring Knightmare (IM #249-250), and then the much later four-part sequel to that was the 2008 miniseries Iron Man: Legacy of Doom, which was also by Layton & Michelinie but generally does not seem to be as popular as the first two parts. They've all been reprinted, if you're looking for copies; I have a Doomquest hardcover that collects the first four issues and then a separate Legacy of Doom hardcover. Currently in the Iron Man Epic Collection line there's a volume called Doom, which confusingly only collects the 249-250 part of the storyline (as well as surrounding issues), because for some reason the first Layton & Michelinie run isn't in Epics yet but the second one is. So the beginning of Doomquest isn't currently in print, as far as I can tell. I'm sure you can find it anyway.

So what's Doomquest about? Okay, so you remember how Doctor Doom's mother's soul is stuck in hell for all eternity? Well, Doom's obviously interested in getting her back, and the strategy he has embarked on is to try to team up with other powerful magicians who can help him out, and he thinks Morgan le Fay would be a good choice, for, uh, his quest. Doom's quest. A Doomquest, if you will. (If you've ever read Doctor Strange & Doctor Doom: Triumph & Torment, you're familiar with the part where he later ends up waylaying Strange for this and they go to hell together. And if you haven't read Triumph & Torment, you really should, because it's amazing.)

So Doom is off to his time machine to go team up with Morgan le Fay and Tony thinks Doom is up to something -- Doom has been stealing components for his time machine from a lot of people, including Tony -- and he follows him and it turns out one of Doom's lackeys has a grudge and wants to trap Doom in the past forever, and Tony gets caught up in it. Now they're both in Camelot. Surprise! #149 is actually all setup; they don't get to Camelot until #150.

IM #150 begins with Doom and Tony thrown back into the past; there's a fandom-famous splash page of them locked in combat, only to realize that they have found themselves in Camelot.

They are then discovered by knights; Doom would very much like to attack them, but Tony, who naturally would be happy to LARP Camelot forever, persuades him to play nice. Also Doom thinks Iron Man is only Tony's bodyguard so he keeps referring to him as "lackey," much to Tony's annoyance. Somehow everyone thinks they're sorcerers. Can't imagine why. The knights take them to meet King Arthur himself, and Tony has clearly had his introduction all ready to go, as he introduces himself in a timeline-appropriate manner, says he's here to apprehend Doom, and demonstrates his "magic" by levitating Arthur's throne. Doom's response is essentially "I'm the king of Latveria," which is, y'know, also valid. So they're guests at Camelot for the night while Arthur figures out what to do with them.

We then have a page devoted to Tony alone in his room, musing sadly about how alien he feels, how he doesn't know if he'll ever get home, how he could never fit in here without his beloved technology. Then a Sexy Lady shows up to keep him company for the night, and he decides maybe it's not all bad. Thanks, Marvel. I guess they can't all be winners.

Doom is using his evening much more productively; he compels one of the servants to tell him where Morgan's castle is, because he's still interested in having that team-up. Then he jets off. Literally. He has a jetpack.

The next morning Arthur's like "one of you is still here and one of you has punched a hole through the castle wall and flown off to join Morgan so I guess I know which of you is more trustworthy." He then explains to Tony who Morgan is, because Tony professes ignorance, because clearly we had not yet retconned in Tony's love of Arthuriana. Tony offers to go fight Doom and Morgan with Arthur; meanwhile, Morgan and Doom have teamed up and Morgan has offered to help get Doom's mother out of hell if he commands her undead armies against Arthur because for Reasons she can't command them herself anymore. So that's a thing that happens.

So, yes, it's Tony and Arthur versus Doom and Morgan. Fight fight fight!

Tony tries Doom first but then decides to hunt Morgan down, and in the ensuing fight we get what I think is Tony's first ever "I hate magic," a complaint that we all know he still makes even to this day.

Anyway, Tony freezes a dragon with Freon (mmm, technology) and Morgan gets upset and disappears, so the battle comes to an end, and of course Doom is extremely mad at Tony because he blames Tony for Morgan not sticking around to save Doom's mom, because I guess Doom trusted her to keep her word? Weird. (Like I said, for the next chapter of Doom saving his mother, go read Triumph & Torment.)

Doom says if he and Tony work together, the components in both of their armors can send them both home. So Tony has to trust Doom. Which he does, because he really has no other choice. They build a time machine and Tony makes Doom agree to a 24-hour truce when they get back, so they can both get home. So it all works out okay, and they end up in the present, and Doom tells him, ominously, that they will meet again. Okay, then. That concludes the original Doomquest. It's fun! You can see why fandom likes it.

So that's all well and good, but you might have noticed that Tony's ability to get home hinged on Doom actually being trustworthy. And Doom was. But what if Doom hadn't been? What if he'd just stranded Tony in Camelot forever As you may have surmised from the form of that question, that is in fact a question Marvel asked themselves, because, yes, there's a What If about this! What If v1 #33 is "What if Iron Man was trapped in the time of King Arthur?"

The divergence point from canon, as you can probably guess, is the very end of Doomquest. Instead of Doom bringing Tony home, he deceives him and leaves him in Camelot. And since Tony cannibalized a lot of the tech from his armor to make the time machine, he doesn't have a way to go home.

This is not a story where Tony comes up with a way to go home after all. He really doesn't get to go home. But instead of drowning his sorrows in mead -- because, remember, Demon in a Bottle has already happened and Tony is sober now -- he decides he might as well just play the hand he's dealt. So with what's left of his armor, he defeats some enemies that Morgan rounds up to send against Camelot. And for his services, he's knighted. He is now Sir Anthony.

Tony acknowledges that he is both living the dream and would also like very, very much to go home.

He does end up having some fun in Camelot; it's not all miserable. But he obviously doesn't want to be there.

So if you're at all familiar with King Arthur, you know how this goes, right? Arthur fights Mordred and Mordred kills him. And that does happen in this version. Except Tony is right there, and with his dying words, Arthur asks Tony to rule Camelot... and Tony agrees.

So, yes, Tony Stark becomes king of the Britons after Arthur's death and he never goes home again. The end. Man, I love What Ifs.

Heading back to main 616 continuity, there is still more of this arc to go. The original Doomquest was only two issues, yes, but it was popular enough that Layton & Michelinie did a sequel a hundred issues later, in their second run of Iron Man, and that's Iron Man #249-250, Recurring Knightmare. (In the intervening issues were Denny O'Neil's IM run, specifically the second drinking arc (#160-200), and then Layton & Michelinie came back and most famously gave us Armor Wars (#225-232). I would have to say that Armor Wars is definitely the standout fandom-favorite arc of their second IM run; for their first one, I think a lot of people would have a hard time choosing between Doomquest and Demon.) But anyway, yes. Recurring Knightmare.

Recurring Knightmare is... well, the best way I can describe it is "a trip." It is definitely a sequel to Doomquest, and it is also definitely not a sequel you  would ever have expected to see for Doomquest.

Much like #149, #249 is pretty much just setup. Fun setup, but the big action is in the next issue. We open with Doom in Latveria, on his throne, pondering which of his servants he should have disintegrated. Anyway, he's just hanging out there when a mysterious object appears. In California, Tony is suited up and entertaining the crowd at a mall opening when the same object also appears! He takes it to his lab. Please note that this is after the Kathy Dare incident, so Tony is still recovering and is walking with a cane. Doom sees on the news that Iron Man has found the same object, which cannot be carbon-dated, and he shows up at Tony's house. He criticizes Tony's taste in art.

Anyway, Doom basically orders Tony to work with him. Tony refuses, and then Doom sends some robots to attempt to steal Tony's version of the object because he thinks if he has them both he will be powerful. Doom manages to steal it, and when he puts the pieces together, both he and Tony disappear.

So where do they go, you might ask? Camelot?

Not exactly. The future! There is a great callback to the Doomquest splash page.

It turns out they are in London in 2093. Merlin brought them there. Tony still hates magic. And in the future, King Arthur is still there, except he is now a child, because he has been reborn. But he does remember Tony from Doomquest, at which point Tony kneels. Doom, of course, is not impressed. He asks why they have been brought to the future.

The answer is that things are going wrong in the future. If you do not personally remember United States politics in the 1980s, I need you to google the words "Strategic Defense Initiative" right now. I'll wait.

Back with me? Okay, so this is a future where Reagan's Star Wars program actually happened the way he wanted it to, and the satellites are still hanging around the Earth in the future and messing everything up, and Arthur and Merlin need Tony and Doom's help to stop them. Doom once again flies away with his jetpack, of course.

Tony is game to help, but he's not in an armor that can stay in space for long. This is when Merlin takes him and Arthur to the mall and Tony manages to get everything to upgrade his armor at Radio Shack. You see what I meant about this issue being weird.

Tony is out in space trying to disarm the SDI platform, which is where he runs into his future descendant, Andros Stark, who is in armor you will probably recognize from Iron Man 2020. He is referred to as "the resurrected spawn of Iron Man 2020" so I assume he's actually directly related to Arno rather than a direct descendant of Tony; Wiki confirms that Arno is his grandfather. This is all from way before Arno was contemporaneous with Tony in canon. Anyway, he's fighting Tony.

Oh, by the way, Future Doom exists. Future Doom would like to rule this future Earth and for some reason Andros would like to help him. Meanwhile, Present Doom finds out from Merlin that he can't leave except by magic and he can't leave without Tony, so he is reluctantly on Tony's side.

They need help from the Lady of the Lake, except the lake has been paved over and is now a parking lot. Merlin makes the lake come back and then of course they get Excalibur. Arthur is a kid, so he can't wield a longsword; Doom assumes he's going to take it because he is basically a king, and he's pretty grumpy when the sword picks Tony. Tony then uses Excalibur to destroy the space lasers, and I bet that is a sentence you never thought you would read. It's pretty cool. Tony concludes that magic has its good points. Tony stops Andros and Doom stops, uh, himself, and the world is saved and they get to go home. Also, Doom finds out Tony is Iron Man, but when Merlin sends them back he conveniently erases their memories, so neither of them remember anything about this and Tony's secret is still safe. And that's the sequel to Doomquest.

And if you think that's weird, wait until you see Legacy of Doom.

Iron Man: Legacy of Doom is a four-issue miniseries from 2008, also by Layton and Michelinie. Even though it's from 2008, it's set during a much more classic time in Iron Man, continuing on from where we left off in this Doomquest saga. We start with a framing story in 2008. Tony, who has Extremis now, is busy scrapping some of his older armors and reviewing his logs when he suddenly remembers that there was a whole thing with Doom that happened that he seems to have forgotten about until right now. So the whole thing is narrated by Tony in flashback.

Tony's in space fixing a satellite when a hologram of Doom shows up and summons him to Latveria. It's not really clear why Doom needs Tony's help in particular here, but Doom tells Tony that he's discovered that Mephisto would like to bring about the end of the world, which Doom finds, and I quote, "presumptive." So Doom has his Time Cube, and with it he takes Tony to hell.

(Yes, I promise this is relevant to Doomquest. There will be some Arthuriana shortly.)

Doom brings Tony to Mephisto, and it turns out it's a setup! Doom trades Tony for an item he wants from Mephisto, leaves, and Tony's going to be trapped in hell forever! Oh no! (I mean, he's not. But it's quite a cliffhanger.)

At the beginning of issue #2, we find out what the Arthurian connection is, which is that we learned that after the events of Doomquest, Morgan had been granted sanctuary by Mephisto in exchange for a shard of Excalibur that she had somehow stolen. Doom still wants Morgan's help with some magic -- he doesn't mention what it is here, but he says he needs someone of Pendragon blood, and that'd be her -- so he traded Tony to Mephisto in exchange for, I'm guessing, Morgan and the Excalibur shard.

I have probably mentioned this elsewhere, but Legacy of Doom #2 is one of my favorite issues of Iron Man ever, solely because of the next scene. We return to Tony in hell. Howard Stark is also in hell, and he is now a demon, and Tony has to fight him. Mephisto brings popcorn and watches. This is the one time in canon when Tony actually confronts his father, and okay, yes, it's a fistfight in hell and Howard is a demon, but that's comics for you. Howard spends several pages insulting Tony -- specifically insulting his masculinity, but that's a whole other essay -- until he finally insults Maria too, and that's when Tony fights back, because his mother taught him to be good. Honestly if you're a Tony fan I'd recommend this issue just for that scene.

Anyway, we go back to the Doom and Morgan plot, and Morgan casts the spell Doom wanted, which was fusing the Excalibur shard with Doom's armor. Then Doom sends her back to Camelot rather than hell, because he's still mad that she never helped him get his mom out of hell like she said she would.

Tony freezes Howard with Freon -- yes, the same trick he pulled on the dragon back in Doomquest -- and tells him, "You're no father of mine." It is immensely satisfying.

(I had been going to mention that I thought it was a shame that neither canon nor fandom seems to have really engaged with this confrontation, and I know canon never believes in narrative closure but fandom sure does -- and then, anyway, it occurred to me that since the framing story of Tony remembering this is set when Tony has Extremis, there's a very good chance that he no longer remembers remembering it. Goddammit, Marvel.)

(If I got to retcon one canon thing about Tony, I think "the entirety of World's Most Wanted" is up there. I mean, okay, a lot of things are up there, but WMW is definitely on the shortlist.)

Okay. Tony has now engineered his way out of hell, and he's back with Doom in Latveria. Doom has Excalibur. Doom would very much like to fight him. While wielding Excalibur. You get the sense that this is going to be bad. Another cliffhanger!

Legacy of Doom #3 opens with Tony destroying Doom's lab to buy time and running away from Doom and Excalibur. I should probably mention that Doom still doesn't know Tony is Iron Man (anymore), so he thinks he is dealing only with Iron Man, Tony Stark's lackey. Meanwhile, some scientists at SI think there's something weird going on with space. Meanwhile meanwhile, Tony is in a forest taking a breather when a mysterious old man walks up to him.

It's Merlin! Surprise! Merlin wants Tony's help to stop Doom from doing whatever he's doing with Excalibur. The sword makes you invincible and the scabbard makes you invulnerable, so Merlin sends Tony to Scotland on a fetch quest for the scabbard. Doom has now magically sent the sword in search of the scabbard, so the sword flies away to meet it and Doom follows. Turns out the thing that's wrong with space is a thing that's going to hit Earth at the exact place Tony and Doom are. What a coincidence! So Tony and Doom get trapped in a stone circle and fight some stone warriors and then Tony ends up with the scabbard. And by "ends up with," I mean it fuses to his armor. Next issue!

Legacy of Doom #4 is when things really, really get weird. A giant demon made of eyes (???) appears, and this demon is apparently what Doom had been preparing to fight (because it's mad that Doom stole one of its spellbooks), and now he can't, because the sword and the scabbard aren't together. Thanks, Shellhead.

That's when Merlin shows up and says all is not lost. They can defeat the demon... if they put the sword into the scabbard.

"But I'm the scabbard now!" Tony says, uncomprehending.

"Yes," Merlin says. "You are."

Then Tony gets it.

So, yes, Doom has to, um, penetrate Tony. With Excalibur. I love comics. I love comics so much.

So that's a thing that happens.

And then Tony flies off and, I guess, resolves to never, ever think about any of this again.

We head back to the framing story, in which Tony, now having remembered all of this, flies to Britain, buys the land the lake is on, and paves it over, presumably so it will be there for Merlin to bring back in Iron Man #250. The end.

Whew.

Okay, yeah, I know I didn't have to summarize the whole thing, but Legacy of Doom here really is one of my favorite Iron Man miniseries. And I just want to share the love. Please read it. It's great.

But the Arthuriana fun doesn't end there! In fact, now we get an Arthurian-themed arc that actually isn't in Iron Man comics. It's in Avengers! Iron Man is involved, though.

(There is also apparently a Morgan arc in Avengers #240. I actually haven't read it. It seems to be yet another Spider-Woman arc. I get the impression that this isn't really Arthuriana other than having Morgan in it fighting Jess, though, so it doesn't seem quite as relevant. Morgan also apparently has some appearances in FF, Journey into Mystery, and Marvel Team-Up, but those seem like more of just basic villainy. Also, probably not involving Tony.)

Kurt Busiek's 1998 Avengers run, volume 3, is in large part the kind of Avengers run that is a nostalgic love letter to older comics. Heroes are heroes and villains are villains and good triumphs over evil. The Avengers all live in the mansion and are BFFs. I love it. It does assume that you are already a fan of the Avengers, because it starts out by summoning pretty much everyone who has ever been an Avenger and is available to the mansion, and that is... a lot of people. Thirty-nine, by my count. Also, when the entire team is magically whisked away, we are treated to the following narration, as Steve disappears: "And Captain America's last thought, as the world goes white around him, and he with it -- is that Iron Man would hate this."

The narration doesn't tell you why Iron Man would hate this, or how Captain America would know that Iron Man hates this. This is not explained later on. But if you have read comics -- or if you have read the above summary of Doomquest -- you know that Tony is absolutely, one hundred percent, thinking, "I hate magic." And Steve knows it.

The reference is not relevant to the plot; if you don't get it, you'll be fine. But that's what I mean when I say this is a nostalgia run. There are definitely Easter eggs for people who have read a bunch of comics. Busiek does this a whole lot in his work -- there's a reason you can buy an annotated edition of Marvels -- and, yeah, it happens here too. Just know that there will be references you're not getting, if you're new to comics.

Anyway. So Busiek's run actually starts out with an Arthurian arc, #1-4, "The Morgan Conquest." The name is a dead giveaway. Yes, Morgan le Fay is back. Again. For once, Doom is not involved.

The Avengers are all back from their sojourn on Counter-Earth after fighting Onslaught -- don't worry about it -- and mysterious things are happening. There are a lot of monster attacks. So pretty much everyone who has ever been an Avenger is summoned to the mansion, at which point we learn from Thor about some mystical artifacts that are being stolen. (They are the Norn Stones and also the Twilight Sword. That sounds like something from a Zelda game, doesn't it?) The Avengers go to try to stop this, end up in Tintagel, and then they run into Mordred. He wants to capture Wanda, presumably for Magic Reasons. Morgan le Fay casts a spell on all of them, reshaping reality. Yes, all of them. Surprise!

So now all the Avengers are living in a medieval castle and/or town; Morgan is their queen, and thanks to the power of mind-control they are all basically living in Ye Olden Times. The Avengers are all some variety of knight, except for Wanda, who is chained up in the dungeon so Morgan can steal her magic and use it to fuel all this reality-warping.

Wanda calls for help, and that snaps Steve (Yeoman America!) out of the mind control (or altered reality or whatever you want to call it) pretty fast, because Steve's always been very good at resisting mind control, and then Steve promptly goes and snaps Clint out of it, because I guess Steve is also good at inspiring people to snap out of mind control. "Oh, man!" Clint says. "Not another alternate reality! Not again!" (I assume he's referring to Counter-Earth? Maybe?)

So Steve and Clint go around reassembling the Avengers and orienting them as to reality. They get Jan and Monica easily, but then Steve insists on trying to get Tony because, I guess, he likes Tony and would really like to hang around Tony, who is half-naked and asleep in his bedroom, and certainly I am reading nothing whatsoever into this. Clint tells Steve it's not going to work. Tony has historically been fairly susceptible to mind control; it was only pretty recently at this point that he'd been doing Kang's bidding in The Crossing. But the more serious impediment is that this is Tony Stark and he would obviously like to LARP being a knight forever and ever. Tony, therefore, does not believe Steve, and throws him and Clint out of his bedroom and into the barracks.

"Iron Man's a good guy, normally," Clint says. "But he's waaay too into his whole nobleman/lord of the manor trip. That spell musta hit him right where he lives!"

Clint speaks the truth, clearly.

Anyway, they go around and manage to make pretty much every Avenger in the room other than Tony snap out, and attempt to rebel against Morgan while Tony is stil fighting them because he is Still A Knight. There's a lot of punching, because some of the Avengers still aren't free; they weren't ones Steve found.

The day is saved when Wanda manages to channel Wonder Man and break free. This gives the Avengers a fighting chance against Morgan and the Avengers are all lending Wanda their power when Tony finally snaps out of it and is on the side of good. 

Then they take Morgan down, go home, and attempt to figure out which of these thirty-nine people should be on the active Avengers team. Hooray.

But that's not the end of Morgan le Fay showing up to screw around with Tony's life! There's more to come! Not much, but there is one that I know of, and at least one more memorable reference. 

(I haven't read all her appearances or anything, but one of them definitely involves Tony; I can't swear that he doesn't appear in any of the other books Morgan shows up in, but it'd be a cameo for him, because I only know of one more arc that she's in in a book that Tony stars in.)

In a few more years, we have now entered the part of Marvel Comics history where Brian Michael Bendis writes all the Avengers books at the same time for, like, seven years running. It was sure A Time. There were a lot of word bubbles.

And the thing about Bendis is, Bendis looooooves Doomquest. If you're familiar with the very end of his tenure at Marvel where he made Doom be Iron Man after Tony got knocked into a coma in Civil War II, you have probably figured out already that he likes Doom. But he also likes Doomquest, specifically.

I mean, if nothing else, the giant splash page in The Confession where Maleev redrew the climactic Doomquest fight while Bendis had Tony talk about how deeply meaningful to his understanding of the world this all was -- and how it allowed him to predict Civil War -- was probably a big clue, right?

As far as I am aware, Morgan le Fay makes exactly one more appearance in Tony's life. And that's in Mighty Avengers vol 1 #9-11. Only one of those issues is named, so I'm going to assume the arc is named after it: Time Is On No One's Side.

You remember Mighty Avengers, right? The deal with the Avengers books at the time was that after Bendis exploded the mansion and made the team disband in Avengers Disassembled, the main Avengers book was no longer called just Avengers. Instead, the main Avengers book was New Avengers, and that was the only Avengers book. Then Civil War happened, Steve got killed, and New Avengers became the book about what was left of the SHRA resistance (i.e., Steve's side) after the war. So about halfway through New Avengers, Mighty Avengers starts up, and Mighty Avengers is about an extremely fucked-up and grief-stricken Tony Stark trying to run the official government-sanctioned Avengers team, with Carol's help. This is the comic with the arc where Tony turned into naked girl Ultron. You remember.

So, anyway, there's this Mighty Avengers arc where Doom is Up To Something (there are symbiotes and a satellite involved) and somehow Tony and the Avengers end up in Latveria, punching Doom. Also, by the way, Doom is visiting Morgan in the past because he likes her. The Avengers attacking his castle made him have to come back to the present, so he's kind of cranky. And he fights Tony, and in the course of the fight, his time platform explodes and sends Doom and Tony and also the Sentry to... the past.

This is one of those times where you should definitely look up the comics if possible because the way the past is visually indicated here is that it's colored with halftone dots the way you would expect old comics to be colored, although they have modern shading and color palettes. It's very charmingly retro.

So the three of them are stuck in New York in the past, and naturally they would like to leave. There's one person in this time who has a time machine and it is, of course, Reed Richards. Doom and Tony have a lot of banter in this arc; I think it's entertaining.

Sentry has to be the one to break them all into the Baxter Building because of that power he has where no one will remember him. So they do that, travel forward in time, and end up in Latveria in the present again except Doom is gone and also things are currently exploding where they are.

Doom, of course, has made a side trip to visit Morgan again and he asks her to help him build an army, because I guess this is what their relationship is like. So the rest of the Avengers are captured by what look to me like Mindless Ones and are in a cave in magic bondage, because comics. Jess comments that at least they aren't naked, because she too is remembering that memorable New Avengers trip to the Savage Land. Doom threatens Carol in some creepy sexist ways and eventually it turns out that Tony and the Sentry are fine and everyone kicks Doom's ass. Business as usual.

And the last page of the arc is Morgan alone, wondering where Doom is. So technically Morgan and Tony don't come face to face here, but I think she counts as being at least partially responsible for ruining Tony's day here. And then Secret Invasion happens and Tony has a very, very bad day.

There are a few more Morgan appearances after this, but, as I said, I don't think any of them involve Tony. She shows up in Dark Avengers, apparently, which was one of the post-Civil War Avengers titles I didn't read, and I know that recently, on the X-Men side of things, she's been in Tini Howard's Excalibur one, which I have only read a little of. No Tony there. Just a lot of Morgan and Betsy Braddock and Brian Braddock and the Otherworld.

If you are interested in Morgan's other appearances, you might like this Marvel listicle that is Morgan le Fay's six most malicious acts. I pulled some of the Darkhold backstory from their discussion, but it's not really focused on Morgan and Tony.

So there you have it! That's everything I know about Tony's love for King Arthur and every run-in I know about that he's had with Morgan le Fay! One of two terrible people in Tony's life named Morgan! Actually, I don't think we've seen Morgan Stark in a while. I wonder if he's alive. There should be a Morgan & Morgan team-up. I should probably stop typing and post this.

The tl;dr point is that you should all read Doomquest and its sequels, especially Legacy of Doom. They're great!

[marblesphere]

Xiao x reader

!Angst Warning!

Slowly and gently, I can see how he tucks the loose lock of her hair to her ear. I can also see how she blushes at his gentle gesture. A small barely noticeable smile on his lips. I clench my fist tightly, I feel the Qingxin flower's stem crushed in my palm. I want to walk away from the irritating scene, but my feet are rooted on the ground. As if some force prevented me too.

It took all my willpower to tear my sight from them. "Xiao…" I whispered to the wind, hoping he would notice. But alas, the harsh reality proved otherwise.

10 years. It took me ten years to befriend the so-called vigilant yaksha. The only remaining yaksha. The yaksha which is said to be the coldest amongst all of the adepti in Liyue.

I met Xiao when I was 6 years old. I was lost in a forest near Liyue harbor. I remember Granny Ping said to call Adeptus Xiao if I ever had any trouble. So with a snotty nose, I wail out his name. A gust of gentle breeze blows before a tall big brother (at that time) in teal arrived. He frowns at me. I still remember my hand, which was full of snot and tears, grabbed his long sleeves and cried to it, effectively soiling the pristine cloth.

He almost flung me instinctively, but I know how hard I grabbed it and I am still a Liyue citizen. Xiao kneeled and with an awkward pat on my head, he lifted me up easily. Without a word, he jumps high. I can still vividly remember the breeze blowing my face. I stopped crying immediately and realized how high we were.

Tears were replaced with small giggles. From the position we were, I found my parents shouting my name. "Papa and mama." I leaned my body, wriggling out of his arms.

"Don't move." That was the first time I heard his voice. It's so beautiful that I shut up immediately. Xiao maneuvered and landed near to my worried parents.

"Mama, Papa!" I rushed to them right after Xiao put me down. My mother quickly hugs me tight, afraid if I were to disappear again.

"Where were you?! Do you know how worried we were?!" Papa scolded.

"But Papa, Adeptus Xiao took me home." I wriggled out from my mother's embrace and looked behind me, only to find empty space.

"Adeptus Xiao was with you?" Papa asked bewildered.

"Yep. Granny Ping told me to call for Adeptus Xiao if I had trouble. I did and he came. He jumped so high and I could see you." I excitedly told them my tale.

Not long after, I finally found out not many people can meet the elusive Adeptus. But I was determined to meet him again. To thank him and befriend him.

So, I ask the most knowledgeable person in this world, Granny Ping. Granny Ping told me that Qingxin is his flower. I want to pick one, but it only blooms in high peaks which is impossible for me. So, the next best thing is buying from a florist. Granny Ping also told me where to give the flower. Wangshu inn. Thus, I made it my mission to go there everyday to give him a Qingxin flower.

In Wangshu inn. As expected, I couldn't meet Xiao, instead I met the owner. Verr Goldet. After hearing my reasoning to visit the elusive Adeptus. She told me to put the flower on the balcony on the highest floor. I will stay there for hours without meeting him. And I do this everyday for almost a month.

Maybe Verr was taking pity on me. She told me to help her deliver a plate of Almond tofu to Xiao. And thus, our second meeting. I was so excited that I almost fell flat smashing the tofu to the floor if not for his fast reflex.

Xiao frowns when he sees me. "Adeptus Xiao, thank you." I smiled as I gave him the flower.

"Don't come close to me." He frowned.

"But, I want to." I shook my head. "Granny Ping told me you have protected us. I want to thank you." I pouted.

"...I am just doing my job according to the contract. I don't need any thanks." He said.

"Even so, I want to thank you." I said persistently.

I think that was the time he gave up explaining to a small naive kid. From that day on, I meet him everyday with a Qingxin flower and a plate of almond tofu. Of course, I still have to call him or else he won't show up even with almond tofu.

After a year, he softened up a bit. At least, I don't need to wait for him on the balcony. He will always be there by the time I reach the balcony with a flower and a plate of almond tofu. Another year and I can even manage to slip a Qingxin flower to his hair. And the second year of our meeting is truly the start of my happiness. Xiao gave me a small trinket made from sage technique to ward off evil. Every year following that on my birthday the small trinket will increase, a crystalfly, a leaf butterfly, you name it. And last year, he gave me an amulet. The amulet I have never taken it off since I wore it on my birthday.

In exchange I too, so persistently celebrate his birthday, since he won't tell me when is his birthday, I just mark the date we met is his birthday, not until a few years later he finally grumpily told me his real birthday.

I started learning martial arts and cooking courtesy from Xiao for the former and Smiley Yan for the latter.

10 years of hardwork, 9 years of nurturing feelings, all of them have gone to the drain. With just one appearance of this girl. No, she is not a traveller with a fairy. She is just someone from Qingce village. Xiao met her when he was patrolling around the area. Just in a month she undone all my hardwork. Now they are a step away from being lovers.

I made my way back home. For the first time in 10 years, I didn't go to Wangshu inn, no I didn't go to meet him. A fresh Qingxin I have picked and a plate of almond tofu are laid forgotten on the table. Fresh tears finally flowed down from my eyes. It hurts. It hurts so much looking at them. It hurts so much seeing him smile at them. The smile that I thought only I could see.

'It's not yours anymore.' A sickly sweet voice whispered

'He is finally happy. He finally rid himself of you. You are just a worthless girl. You don't deserve him.'

'The love of his life is not you. It will never be you.' The sickly sweet voice cackled gleefully.

That night I succumbed to the negative emotion of mine.

The next day, I resolved to investigate that girl. I have realized I am not good enough for him. That's why I want to make sure she is good enough for him.

'You just want to make yourself better if you find a flaw in her. What a liar.' The voice back in my mind echoed.

I shake myself, trying to get rid of those voices. First, I will obviously start from Liyue. I heard her parents are doing business in Liyue and she sometimes tags along. And today, she didn't come. Perfect. I have double checked in her parents' shop.

But every answer I get from them lowers my spirit. In the end, I can only summarize her in one word. Perfect. She is so perfect. All of the people I ask from will sing a praise to her. It's almost impossible for a perfect human like her to exist. But she is, and now she could even open the vigilant yaksha's heart in the span of a month.

To clear my head and the annoying voices in my head, I make my way to the secret place I have found a few years back. Inside the forest where I first met Xiao, there is a small patch of Qingxin flower field deep inside the forest. Qingxin flower, which is said to only bloom in the highest peak, somehow can grow in that patch and only that patch. The area around it is also safe from hillicurls or slime. Xiao said he never detected any malicious intent around the small field. Thus, that area became our secret spot.

Either Celestia likes to mess with me or I am just that unlucky, I met the perfect girl. She is surrounded by hillicurls. I frowned, I materialized my weapon and took a step.

'Why don't you just leave her alone. She is powerless. If the Hillicurls get her killed, then no one will be with your precious Xiao again. You can have him all by yourself.' The sickly sweet voice is tempting me with that.

I stop dead in my tracks. Indeed, If she is dead, then Xiao will have no one but me. It will be just the two of us again. I take a step back and turn myself.

'Good. This is what you should do.' The voice cooed.

"Kyaaa!!"

I grit my teeth and spring back to act. I rush to the group of hillicurls, which fortunately just 3 of them. I swipe their feet using my polearm. "Run!" I barked at her. She flinches at my harsh glare and voice, but finally starts running.

I quickly engaged with 3 hillicurls. I am not a pro, but Xiao taught me enough to defend myself. I panted after I finished the last hillicurls. I am just glad I didn't get any deep injury. "Kikiki!" A small fireball flew past me.

I cursed my luck. A pyro abyss mage is waving his staff and 3 small monster heads are firing flamethrowers at me. I barely dodge it. "Kikiki!" Then another cyro abyss mage comes out.

I gulp. This place might be my grave after all.

*3rd POV*

Yue Mei is just picking herbs by herself. She giggles at the thought of the famous vigilant yaksha literally swept by her feet in their first meeting. She fell in love at the first sight. She glanced at a charm on her neck. She is really grateful for this charm. She made a wish a year ago in an adepti abode. And that adeptus gave her this charm. She is told to wear this everyday, everywhere she goes. This charm will help her.

True to his word, after she had worn this charm. Everyone has become nicer. They gave her a lot of free stuff and some even started to court her. She was shy at first, the attention she got was really overwhelming. But, she already has an ideal man. A man who is strong and handsome. And her ideal man turned out to be Adeptus Xiao.

She blushes again remembering him. Their last meeting ends up with Adeptus Xiao tucked her hair back to her ear. This intimate gesture is really making her happy. Soon, she will confess to him soon. And they will become a couple.

But, her daydream is short lived. A group of hillicurls suddenly appear and surround her. Fear gripped her entire being. "A...ade...adept…" She is too afraid to even call the yaksha. One of the hillucurls raises its club high. "Don….'t… Kyaaaa!!!!" She let out a blood curdling scream as she closed her eyes.

But the pain didn't come. When she opened her eyes she saw the hillicurls on the ground and a girl wielding a polearm glared at her with such hostility. "Run!" She barked at her. Yue Mei flinches at her harsh tone. But her feet finally gained their freedom as she ran away to the direction of Wangshu inn.

Her feet are tired and trembling. She collapses on her knees. "Adeptus Xiao." She whimpered. A familiar breeze whirled, and Xiao came. Looking at the trembling form, Xiao frowns, "What happened?" He kneeled in front of her.

"Hi...Hillicurls…" She managed to stutter.

He hisses, knowing those monsters targeted someone under his protection. "Where are they?"

"There…" She pointed to a direction. "A girl...wielding...polearm...is...holding them...off…" She said shakily. The entire time she clutched her charm.

"A girl… wielding polearm…" His eyes widened. A girl wielding a polearm. The only one that comes to his mind is "[Your Name]..." He whispered. Somehow his mind becomes clear, as if the fog in his mind has been blown away. Xiao quickly summons his own spear.

"Don't!!!" Yue Mei quickly grabbed his hand. "Don't...leave...me alone." Tears streamed down her eyes, making her look so pitiful. This usually invokes some kind of protective instinct from the opposite gender. But, unfortunately for her. She is dealing with this the one and only Conqueror of Demons. Now the spell has been broken, he is not as nice as previous him except to a certain mortal.

"Release me!" He growled as he glared at her, more specifically at her charm.

She flinches at his harsh tone and glare. She stares at him wide eyed. He never used this kind of tone with her, not even on their first meeting. Her hands loosen up. And Xiao quickly disappears from her, leaving her all alone.

Xiao rushes to the direction that the girl pointed to. His mind is racing with what ifs. He finally arrived, but [Your Name] is not on sight. There are only 3 dead bodies of Hillicurls. He calms down a bit. She can handle herself just fine if it's only 3 Hillicurls. But, when he observed more carefully once again, his blood ran cold. Not far from him, a puddle of red blood is spotted, along with two dead abyss mages.

His heart thumped loudly, looking at the trail of blood moving to a certain direction. To the direction he is so familiar. His mind starts racing with a really unpleasant outcome.

"~~~♪ ~~~ ♪" The wind brought a familiar tune.

"...Xiao...where are you…?" He heard it. Her voice. But her voice is so weak, like she will disappear forever. Xiao has never rushed this fast. Right now in his mind, there's only she has to be alright.

*1st Pov*

"Hah...haah…" I panted as I stabbed my polearm to the ground, using it to stabilize my body. The puddle of blood on the ground beneath me is proof it's too late for me. 'If I were to die… At least let me choose the place.' With that in mind, I dragged my feet to our secret spot no, my grave. The small patch of Qingxin flowers.

I drop my body in the middle of the patch, hissing from the pain. But the smell of Qingxin is calming me down. It feels like Xiao is with me.

"~~~♪ ~~~ ♪" with my shaky voice, I started humming a tune. This song is passed down from generation to generation in our house. Apparently this song is some kind of a prayer back in the ancient times. My eyes are blurry now being soaked by blood. "...Xiao...where are you…?" I couldn't see anymore. I reach out my hand, hoping he will grab it. Then a miracle happened. I can see Xiao grabs my hand and pulls me up. I can feel the pain has started to dull and then disappeared, I feel so light, so free. I can see him clearly. Hand in hand the two of us wander to wherever we desire.

"Thank you for coming." I smiled.

[ivyaugustetc]

the dead poets at hogwarts: a headcanon from hell

@aedan-mills @charlie-dalton-simp @pretentious-strikes YOU ENCOURAGED THIS BEHAVIOR SO YOU'RE GONNA HAVE TO LIVE WITH THE CONSEQUENCES. also i love you a lot but THAT'S BESIDE THE POINT.

also @aedan-mills i found out that some of the wand stuff is related to their birthdays and i am much too lazy to look all that up and figure it all out, but anyone else is welcome to lmao. sorry to disappoint but alas it's summer and i don't want to research that much. but other than that, please listen to me flex my extensive knowledge on harry potter :)

neil (half blood): i'm sorry,,,, can you say gryffindor? this boy would get up there and in a second the sorting hat would have him all figured out: big dreams with the will to pursue them, but not ambitious enough to step over others to achieve said dreams? sounds like a gryffindor to me. i just know he'd thrive at hogwarts, probably going on to play quidditch (def a chaser) and would excel in charms class. as far as pets go, i feel like he'd stay simple and classy with a chill barn owl he'd name after a famous broadway actor. he would kind of be a mix of james and remus, in which he's wild and crazy but still manages to get good grades. the teachers love him simply because they don't know much about him outside of class. he would absolutely LOVE going to hogsmeade and going batshit crazy at zonko's and honeydukes. he'd have a whole phase where he gets addicted to licorice wands and everyone else thinks they're disgusting but he simply cannot buy enough of them. he'd play a bunch of zonko tricks on the rest of the poets, saving the most harsh for charlie and the most wholesome for todd <3

todd (muggle born): ugh see i can see him being both a hufflepuff and a ravenclaw, but my heart says hufflepuff so i'm gonna go with that. he would absolutely HATE the sorting ceremony with a burning passion. getting up in front of everybody only to have a hat judge u??? no thanks. HAHAHA CAN YOU IMAGINE HIM ON A BROOM. i can't either because he would simply never get on one, probably referring to them as "flying death traps" more often than not. "hey todd, you think about joining quidditch?" "no thanks, i'd rather keep my limbs intact ;)". but he would love muggle studies a lot, even if the teacher was boring as hell. snape would scare the hell out of him for sure, resulting in his lowest class being potions. he would excel in classes that are more learning out of the book rather than in practice. for a pet, he'd want something that could not possibly turn on him and would just be sweet and loving, so ima give him a toad :) he'd name it something fancy and british, like nigel or sumn. and because of nigel, he'd love chocolate frogs because hey they're twins!!

fanon knox (pure blood): hogwarts fuck boy. okay well maybe not f boy but like...his favorite part is the fact that this is a co-ed school rather than an all-boys school so he can spy on both genders equally yknow. hmm i get hufflepuff vibes from him because he's a big romantic, sucker for cute relationships, etc. he would enjoy whichever class his current crush is in, although I feel like he'd do well with classes that involved spells and wand work mostly lmao. he'd want a really fucking cute pet, so i'd give him a kneazle (it's like a cat but a bit more lion like). he'd give it a strong sounding name, something german idk. but he'd love the shit out of that kneazle, i can tell you that much. i feel like he'd try out for quidditch his first few years, not make it on, and then make it on to the team around fourth year and somehow end up team captain in seventh (and that proves kids, that you too can have a redemption arc in sports). as far as candy goes, ima say he likes the super sour candy like acid pops n shit. like i feel like the others would dare him to each as much sour candy as he can and then he wouldn't be able to taste for a week. but he'd think it was worth it :)

cameron (muggle born): good god this boy just wants to learn. magic just fascinates him, what with growing up in a big muggle family (bestie he is the weasleys if they were all type a). he's a ravenclaw, no questions asked. he would love classes involving preciseness and attention, things like potions and transfiguration. i feel like he'd have a cute, stable relationship along the way ofc because he deserves so much love and happiness and UGH he's a baby. he'd stick with a lil ginger cat, naming it after one of the famous wizards he's read about. he would love spending christmas at the school and going places when the ground are nearly empty, enjoying the scenery. for candy, he'd go plain and simple with chocolate frogs. can't go wrong with those. he'd still have fun with his friends, but he'd skip a lot of parties for some studying (don't judge, i do it too lmao). would not play quidditch but would enjoy it, end of story.

charlie (pure blood): slytherin. don't dispute it. think the weasley twins but even more flirtatious. he would be a regular at every single party that happened, flirting with the guys and gals shamelessly and drinking butterbeer like it was water. look me in the eye and tell me he would not absolutely fucking HATE GILDEROY LOCKHART WITH EVER FIBER OF HIS BEING. he'd do spot-on impersonations of him though. teacher's worst enemy. like when he walks into class on the first day, every teacher collectively mutters "bloody hell not this kid again". asks the most incredibly stupid questions ("okay but is there a spell to turn my eyebrows green? just the eyebrows though, not my hair"). he would be the most aggressive beater on the slytherin team, though he would never deliberately try to hit someone, just distract the shit out of them ("put the fear of god in them and fate will do the rest"). he'd want a loud, aggressive pet but he'd probably end up with a mean cat that hisses at everyone. he'd give it the most adorable name that just. does not fit the personality. something like priscilla. for candy, he'd take his chance with bertie botts' every flavour beans and just roll with the punches. he's chaotic like that.

pitts (half blood): ASTRONOMY IS HIS JAM. he fucking loves that class. he tutors the entire ravenclaw house in that class. he's the guy that little first years who are terrified of the class go to when they're completely lost and don't understand what's going on. besides that, i feel like he'd just be everyone's cool older brother yknow? like he'd be in charge of helping all the first years figure out where stuff is and giving them advice to help them and stuff. he would be a die-hard quidditch fan although he would not play the sport (maybe recreationally on the weekends and holidays and stuff, but the fact that it's so fucking dangerous just does not appeal to him). he'd like the candy that does tricks and stuff, like fizzing whizbees and stuff. he gives me charlie weasley vibes, where he's hardcore in certain areas (in his case, astronomy) and just flipping chill in anything else. cool older brother vibes, man. it fits.

meeks (half blood): i've said it once and i'll say it again: nonproblematic ginger dumbledore. also a hufflepuff <3 this dude just wants to fucking coast along, getting good grades and not participating in the dumb shit that could probably get him killed (even though he would in a heartbeat if his friends were in danger. duh). he'd be a teacher's favorite, probably having conversations with his favorite teachers during free time. okay ik this isn't technically at school, but i swear to god he would be dumbledore one day. like he would be the chill ass headmaster who gets shit done while also being very la di da life is nice flowers are pretty type of person. that being said, his favorite candy is and has been lemon drops ever since dumbledore got him addicted to them. his favorite classes would be potions (he'd surprisingly get along well with snape) and he'd just be great and mixing shit right and just knowing how much of stuff to add in ("how much powdered root do i add?" "about three and a half shakes." "that's not a measurement, meeks." "*shrug* it works"). he'd stick with his small friend group and love them to death, but he'd be a friend to all really. he'll help anyone that comes to him asking for help with homework (and though he won't admit it, he gets super prideful when it's someone a few years ahead of him).

stick (muggle born): harry potter if harry potter could've been more harry potter. like he would just be a part of everything and end up being part of some prophecy that demands he'd save the world and at first he'd be like HEY i'm just a small boy but then he'd grit his teeth and finesse the shit out of this preventing the end of days stuff. he'd definitely be a gryffindor, and fucking proud of it. he'd be the seeker on the quidditch team because he is so short and small and yeah he'd fucking kill it there. he'd kind of be the shy one no one expected much from, but once he starts absolutely wrecking the shit out of the other houses' quidditch teams, he'd become sorta popular? like people would invite him to parties and stuff and he's too nice to say no, but he'd mostly just hang around the outskirts, saying hi to the other poets if he saw them and mostly talking to chris and ginny (danburry, not weasley). he'd like defense against the dark arts and minerva mcgongiall would become his literal mother i can't explain it. he'd have an owl as a pet and treat it like it was his own child, telling it thank you every time it brought his mail or took his mail. as for candy, he'd like drooble's bubble gum because the bubbles are all magic and shit and i just feel like that would make him so happy <3

chris (pure blood): the older sister lesbian <3 she'd be a sweet hufflepuff who would be friends with everyone while also being the greatest socialite the school has ever seen. you know that party that practically the entire school attended and talked about for months on end? she planned that shit. she'd be like pitts in the respect that she'd help all the first years find their way in the school and in life in general. she's just such a warm and kind person that everyone would love her. she's have a little pink pygmy puff to match ginny's purple one, and she'd give it such a perfect, human name like lila or something. she'd be great at muggle studies and all the teachers would love her. also every one is so invested in her relationship with ginny it's adorable. he favorite candy is acid pops even though they make her eyes water like crazy. she'd make pretty good grades, every once in a while getting one slightly lower than she'd expected, but she always manages to bring them up to her satisfactory level :) she would not play quidditch, but she would go all out to support ginny, even though they're in different houses. that's what i call love, baby.

ginny (half blood): the mom lesbian <3 she's a ravenclaw and also one of the sweetest people in the whole school. while chris helps other with the social aspect, ginny will help anyone in any subject they need help with (she and meeks are a help duo on this). she's quieter and less social than chris, but she's one of the best chasers the ravenclaw quidditch team has ever seen. she'd end up team captain by fifth of sixth year. she'd be like oliver wood in that she is sO invested in the team's success that at sometimes she'll go a bit crazy, but chris is always there to help her put things back into perspective <3. she'd make stellar grades of course, being good friends with all of her teachers. her favorite candy would be the sweetest things like fairy floss. as previously stated, she'd have a purple pygmy puff to match chris's pink one, and she'd also give it an adorable human name like lisa or something. ginny's just sweet to everyone, especially neil and his friends.

I DID IT. IT TOOK FOREVER AND A FEW HAIL MARYS BUT I DID IT. enjoy besties <3 love u all

[carmenxjulia]

Another Duane interview transcript, coming at you! This one was from a smaller Carmen Sandiego chatroom. There were several interviewers, so that’s why the name of the question asker changes. Get the details below the break! Stay tuned, more interview transcripts coming soon.

Duane Capizzi:

HI EVERYONE! I'M IN!

Sorry I'm late, I got lost on the way haha. Then got lost trying to change my PFP

Thanks for gathering! Shall we get started? Let's do some Q&A!

(as long as they are not geography questions haha)

Fuel:

What characters or plot points were cut from the final product?

Duane Capizzi:

Ooo, starting with a right hook to the jaw!

Let me think about that for a moment: I'm hesitant to give too much away because I'm really hoping we can tell more stories in this world at some point

Which is to say, we tend not to waste anything: if we don't use it when we originally planned, we usually find a way to use something later - and there's usually a "karmic" reason that we waited.

I'll also preface by saying this: I know season 3 was more of a mini-drop and some felt season 4 was rushed. But I wish EVERY season were longer. Season 1: ideally, i wanted the Pilot to be its own event and 10 more episodes after that (but we had to tell the post-Pilot story in 7. At the end of the day, that had its benefits: we got to the Shadowsan turn earlier and I think that's when a lot of viewers realized the ride they were truly in for). Season 2: we initially figured we'd need 5 episodes to have Carmen doing the ACME dance with Chief, and wound up doing it in 3 - mostly because it quickly became clear that Rio needed to be a 2 parter, and the Zack and Ivy backstory a rough 2 parter. So we squeezed 3 episodes worth of plot into 209. It was exhilarating!

So, we had hoped to have more episodes for Season 4 of course. We had a ton of ideas and had to compress things a bit. But honestly in many ways it was for the better. I know we all wanted to live in this world longer, but I think sometimes the flip side is true - when you have big ongoing storylines, it can get frustrating when some things drag out too long. But, we got all the "story" we wanted to tell in Season 4 - we just lost some "incident" if that makes sense. We would have taken longer to get there.

So, all that preface to answer the question: we wanted to do more musical numbers! We had a Bollywood dance sequence in a return to India caper with Paperstar. We wanted to do a famous Elvis suit theft in Las Vegas during an Elvis impersonator convention (Shadowsan's an early elvis guy; Brunt likes the Vegas "jumpsuit" era). We also wanted to do a thread where Gunnar gets captured by ACME so that Julia could interrogate him and he could play mind games with her a la Hannibal Lector and Clarice. CAVEAT TO ALL THIS: these were some ideas that were bouncing around, that may not have seen the light of day if we couldn't get them to work. But they were on our wish list.

re: "other stories" - I could live with these characters for another 32 episodes easily and there have of course been discussions. But alas, that is up to the powers that be. Let's keep fingers crossed - and keep the Carmen love alive online so that someone up there takes note

There is more of course, but those are some things that spring to mind.

Fuel:

Were there any scenes cut for time that were your favorite?

Duane Capizzi:

Not much springs to mind: our directors were amazing at getting everything in the scripts to fit naturally (and in fact, I was the one who was usually suggesting trims to let other things breathe, etc). We were limited to 22 minutes of episode time, NOT counting front and end credits so a little longer than the average show. We have a pretty good idea when the SCRIPT is too long, so the cutting usually happens at script stage before it gets to the board crew so that they don't waste efforts over-boarding material that won't be used.

We had hoped to build out Chase and Carmen teaming up for the first time, meeting at Carmen's hotel lobby etc for more scenes of them together; but had to reduce that to get that all to fit in the VERY packed episode 406. But again, tighter was fine considering. That's one area that leaps to mind. (note that when I say packed, I don't mean that in a bad way: we spend a lot of time pouring over details in editing to make sure everything gets its due).

If I think of anything, I'll circle back at a later point. But the simple answer is that scenes were usually trimmed or compressed at script rather than board or animatic. So nothing comes to mind. I know it's hard to believe, but "shorter is usually better."

except for my answers to fan questions of course

Fuel:

We saw that in s4 episode 6 that Julia's mother(?) is wearing a necklace remarkably similar to the one Julia wears all the time. Is this the same necklace and if so, why was it given to Julia?

Duane Capizzi:

Just when I thought I was detail oriented! Wow! You guys blow me away

I can't take credit for that: it was either the board artist or director who added that. They do slip things in! As I've said before, EVERYONE on the crew really brought their A-game and were as deep thinking and as passionate as I was/am about the show.

It's a nice detail and I would say your interpretation works!

It took me three or four reviews before noticing that the team had slipped in baby Carmen near the play set in Mom's front yard at the end of 408. When I caught it, I was like: bravo!

Fuel:

When they first met, Zack and Ivy said to Carmen that they were the only family they had, do you know what happened to the rest of Zack and Ivy's family?

Duane Capizzi:

I don't. At least, I don't yet until such a time that I might have the opportunity to explore that. It was important to their relationship with Carmen that they be orphans, so they had that common bond (aside from being "thieves who steal from bad guys" - even if it was only gonna be one time for Zack and Ivy).

I know there are writers out there who like to do entire bio's for characters up front but i'm not one of them. It could be a trap in many ways. I like to have a general idea but be open to the demands of the ongoing storyline. You discover things along the way - it's like you're taking a journey with the characters by writing them, and the longer you spend, the better you get to know them (that was not a prepared statement by the way - I just made that up but I'll have to use it again :). So in Z/I's case it wasn't important to the story or Carmen's relationship, we felt. Conversely, we STARTED with Shadowsan's family backstory with 203, but more important to me was that we use it as a platform to explain why he stays with Carmen and crew. He really has no home at that point, so it was relevant to the present ongoing story. Which is what made that especially powerful to me.

Also, there's always a push-pull between telling character back stories while balancing them with ongoing episodic plots. You have to service both. If you just tell back story, then you're writing a biography

Arden:

What was the biggest challenge when designing these characters, especially the pre-existing characters from the series in the 90's?

Duane Capizzi:

This is probably more of a question for Chromosphere, re: challenges. But from my standpoint overseeing that process, the first thing I'll say is that we weren't necessarily trying to be "true" to those characters since we reinvented nearly every one from the ground up. (with the exception of Carmen of course - her trademark red hat/coat weren't going anywhere! But mostly the update with Carmen was in the styling of her "outerwear"

ALTHOUGH: I will admit that I was pushing for Carmen to have shorter hair as Carmen. I thought it would be a cool update. Chromosphere were really passionate about giving her long full hair and I have to see that they were right. The short tomboy cut worked so well for Black Sheep anyway. We had a different hair style for each of her ages.

So about the reinventions: Gunnar is in spirit a similar character to the original (old colleague in Vile and an early mentor if I remember), but his presentation completely different. We weren't trying to be "in canon" with the original. The beauty of CSD is that every incarnation has been its own entity so that freed us to reimagine the characters. THE CLEANERS, for instance: gimme some Cleaner love! There were a pair of janitors from the original game named RICK AND NICK ICK. They were literally janitors, it was too silly for our purposes. But, it's one small step to make them "Cleaners" (in the sinister hit men sense) - and lo, our reinvention.

So to summarize the answer to your question, they weren't really challenges to me so much as FUN to creatively reinvent the original characters (many of which were from the game, so not really "characters" per se with dialogue and inner lives). Whenever we could, we tried to use character names from the originals and update their looks and personalities. Where we couldn't find an equivalent for what we needed, we created characters from whole cloth. For instance, it seemed a miss to do a heist show without a tunnel guy and a high rise climber guy. Hence, LC & ET, everyone's favorite taco truck vendors!

(yes, i've seen some short hair carmen fan art on Twitter - someone did a great one recently!)

Arden:

Are there plans to give us more of the characters in, say, novel/graphic novel form?

Duane Capizzi:

I know HMH has done a bunch and no doubt have more in works. There's currently a novelization of the Pilot with some additional material if anyone's interested. I consulted on the second one, Clue for Clue, because it falls in the timeline while Chase was still Interpol/pre-Acme so was tricky.

And depending on whether another series in this canon makes it to air, I may just approach them about writing one or two myself to get some "further adventures" our there. Anything is possible!

Arden:

If you could go back and change anything about the series, what would it be?

Duane Capizzi:

File under anecdote, but there was what I felt was an important expression on Gray that kept me awake at nights, from his graduation ceremony at Vile. When we revisited those flashbacks in the Gray arc in Season 4, I had them change his expression there (to be more evil less innocent). We had it corrected in 404 so was able to get permission to have Netflix "fix" the Pilot by adding that shot in. I am tenacious!

We really poured over everything, it's the series that I have virtually zero complaints with the end product to be honest. But the simple answer is: I would have gone back to 106 and "un-greek'd" Gray's nametag. It's sort of a rule for international that we scramble signage (which is weird for a show that takes place in many countries/languages, I know I know). It's mostly for localization/translation reasons. And I'm sure there are some countries where Gray's name might be spoken differently. But as a proper name, I think we could have made an exception and seen "Gray" on his name tag. See? Details! But that's about the worst of it

there's also like one small line from Chief in 208 where she indicates she knows Carmen is a good guy (something to that effect) which I felt was too absolute and would have tweaked the line to temper it a bit. It's tiny, but looking back it sort of bugs me and I kick myself for not catching it. But this is absolutely the series I wanted and couldn't be happier.

Carmen:

How did Carmen know she could trust Julia? As far as we know, she has not seen or heard Julia defending her, and in the Fashionista Caper, Julia even held up her gas gun to her, saying she was under arrest. Do you have any opinions on this? Was it just intuition?

Duane Capizzi:

I'm gonna go with intuition

Carmen was raised on an island with some hardened criminal types. I think she's a pretty good judge of character. Poor Julia, trying to be tough with Carmen didn't suit her.

But, great observation! I'd have to mentally step through everything to see if Carmen had any earlier indication but i think you're right there.

Yes, sometimes you just gotta follow your heart

Carmen:

Are there any characters that didn't actually interact that you think would get along well?

Duane Capizzi:

Amazing question! First, I'd have to think more about who DIDN'T meet - you're asking the hard questions haha. But "get along well" is very specific! Hmmm, care to volley anyone?

I'll also add that so many smaller moments get lost in the "binge" of it all, but I am surprised how few fans have noted the first meeting between Player and Julia. THAT was a good one IMO! Very sweet!

Before getting back to your question, I also want to add that we were originally going to find a way for Carmen to lose her earring in Stockholm so that Julia could pick it up and be communicating with Player. BUT, I cut it at treatment stage because I knew we didn't have room in that episode to service it. Circling back to questions 1 & 2, another case where it turned out better saved for later IMO (saving Player meeting Julia, not to mention the earring business in 402 with Ivy).

Oh of course, Julia and any of the other Vile members. It would have been Gunnar for my vote, as mentioned earlier. We probably would not have had Julia meet anyone else and mixed it up more. I like that Cleo sort of became J's personal nemesis.

YES, SONIA & XIFENG (and LUPE PELIGRO, if I can add). The intent was (and is, if we ever get to revisit) to see them again in Carmen's travels. We started to expand Carmen's world but when we finally learned the finite number of episodes we had to finish the story, we drilled back down into the essentials. Would love to see them some day!

I'm hesitant to share too many things I have in mind in this forum for hope that they will see the light of day one day. You know, "spoilers"

Julia:

Do you have any opinions on Zari? Just in general? Some thoughts on her backstory would be nice if possible

Duane Capizzi:

I love Zari! I really don't have any back story on her at this point. She was originally just "Agent B" but when the need arose to give story points to another agent, we chose her because she looked so awesome! And Sharon Muthu gave voice to her so wonderfully.

I love when we finally teamed her with Chase. Hopefully the anticipation was that she would give him a hard time. I love that we defied expectation (organically, of course) and had her respect him by the end of that episode (for believing that he foiled Carmen!)

Julia:

Do you have any thoughts on small facts about any character, major or minor, that you think are fun/interesting to think about, but don't necessarily add to the plot itself?

Duane Capizzi:

Bellum, like myself, likes cats. But you knew that!

I try to put everything pertinent on screen, doing double duty to service any given episode's story but also the overarching story. That "journey" thing I mentioned earlier - we had no idea Chase falling on his own car would be a thing when I first came up with it. But as other characters refer to the incident, it took on a life of its own and made the characters feel more real.

Sorta kinda related to this question and some earlier ones, I will say that I DO think there's more to learn about Shadowsan's past vis a vis Lady Dokuso: it's clear to me that they have a history together, and it's something I hope to explore someday soon (maybe in a book if not another series

Julia:

Are the Carmen Sandiego books a part of canon?

Duane Capizzi:

I only consulted on the first two or three (too busy with series!) and have not read them, so hard for me to answer in a definite way. They are definitely in the universe we've created, but not in the timeline that I know of (which would have been too hard to pull off with our script development running concurrently). But do know that the book team at HMH pays close attention to the series and world so they should be perfectly compatible. Look no further to their clever social media on the series for example.

Kenz:

We saw in season 4 that Julia and Carmen helped each other mid to long term; would there ever be a possibility that Julia would permanently or semi-permanently join team Red?

Duane Capizzi:

Of course there's a possibility. But in a sense, with ACME now finally on Carmen's side, in a sense if Carmen were back in the game Julia, Chase, Zack and Ivy would ALL be an extension of Carmen's crew. But, would J remain with ACME or literally come to Carmen's team at her HQ? As they said in an old radio show: "Only The Duane Capizzi knows ..."

Kenz:

Where do you see Carmen in her retirement (if she retires)? Do you think she would still travel the world or settle down somewhere? Similarly, do you have any thoughts on what some other characters could be doing years down the line?

Duane Capizzi:

That is a big question, and one difficult to answer without some potential future spoilers (and yes, I really want to tell more Carmen stories if you can't tell But I'll answer by giving you one "read" on our open-ended ending as seen in 408 (read no further if you haven't seen it - yeah, right haha). The ending suggests to me that Carmen settled down for a spell to forge that relationship with her mother, to make up for lost time. But, if that is indeed Carmen that we see on the rooftop, I think the ending suggests that Carmen doesn't stay still for very long. If Vile is back, there is work to be done! Carmen has a life mission - she's one determined lady.

But of course, it's deliberately ambiguous: "anyone with your heart, wisdom and courage can be Carmen Sandiego." Is it Carmen? Sonia? Someone we haven't met? I think both endings resonate: Caroline and I always said "Carmen is bigger than a person, Carmen is a movement" would be a great message to end the series on. And I think our ending resolves this chapter of Carmen's journey as a person, but also elevates her to mythic status. Which is why I love it!

And, that seems to me a pretty perfect question and answer to end our chat on. Thanks everyone! Again, I cannot tell you how moved I am to see that we have such a passionate, intelligent and talented fan base. THANK YOU.

Take care guys, thanks again for having me! 'night!

[b-lessings]

@ to my beautiful anon sister in Islam 🌺🌺

و عليكم السلام و رحمة الله و بركاته 🤍

First of all, I opted to make a separate post and not share your ask for I didn't want to disclose your story or details and put them out there.

Secondly, THANK YOU FOR TRUSTING IN ME WITH THIS 🥺 Mashaa'Allah, Allahuma barik laha.

And jazaki Allahu kulla khayr for saying that my posts make you feel safe, it gave me goosebumps SubhanAllah because that's the ultimate goal, May Allah swt show his mercy and let his mercy and gentleness reach his servants via the channel of my words, ameen. Me and this blog are only a means and a reflection, may Allah swt increase our understanding and our hidaya (guidance). Ameen.

With that being said, I want to start by congratulating you and saying how proud of you I am for trying to commit to your prayers. I know " theoretically " that's a given and people take praying for granted but reality is different from one muslim to the other. We are human beings and every single one of us is experiencing their journey differently, one person's experience and struggles should not let them make judgements or assumptions about the rest of the Ummah. And for most of us, especially the newbies and the ones who just started their journey on the straight path, even committing to your five prayers is such a big deal, Alhamdulillah, so good job on that, may Allah swt keep you steadfast and help you improve in that area. There is so much more you can still accomplish regarding your prayers, so keep being excited and open, focus on improving yourself and your deeds and try to switch every negative thought or doubt you might have (for example of not being good enough) with a positive thought to always keep your spirit up and not to get bored or tired and end up giving up, AstaghfiruAllah. The journey to Allah swt is a long difficult path, and the beginnings are always beautiful and exciting, it's amazing when you find Allah swt and you decide okay I am going to start now, I am going to try and do good, and please Allah swt. But, you know what? it's that perseverance that's more important, the patience, the " trying and failing but still getting up and trying again and never giving up " that's more rewarding. So, my biggest tip for you would be to give credit to yourself, be proud of yourself, and always make duaa that Allah swt guides you, keeps you closer to Him, gives you the strength and patience to keep going thru this journey on His path. One of my favorite duaas to make is " Allahuma asleh lee qalbi : اللهم أصلح لي قلبي " as in My Lord fix my heart for me. I recite almost in every sujood and it's a reminder that our hearts are in the hands of Allah swt and that even if we think that we have become good Muslims now and we are on the right path, anything can change in a matter of seconds, and also, that we are not as good or fixed or healed as we think we are, that is why, even on our good days I think we still need to ask Allah swt to fix our hearts.

Another IMPORTANT duaa is from surat Al Imraan (3:8)

رَبَّنَا لَا تُزِغْ قُلُوبَنَا بَعْدَ إِذْ هَدَيْتَنَا وَهَبْ لَنَا مِنْ لَدُنْكَ رَحْمَةً ۚ إِنَّكَ أَنْتَ الْوَهَّابُ

Rabbana la tuzigh quloobana baAAda ith hadaytana wahab lana min ladunka rahmatan innaka anta alwahhabu

Our Lord! make not our hearts to deviate after You have guided us aright, and grant us from Your mercy; surely You art the most liberal Giver.

This is important because there is a common belief in our religion that after one has turned to Allah swt and declared that they have repented or accepted the teachings of this religion, they will be tested, they need to prove their sincerity and if they really meant it. That's for one. And for two, also shaytan will try to trick the believer and distract and deviate them from the straight path ( I haven't recently made a post about this ). So try to incorporate those two duaas in your daily routine and Allahu almusta'aan my dear, may He swt bless every step you take and accept it from you 🤍🤍

Now, about the last part of your ask and your question: Ehem, ARE YOU SERIOUS? 😅 Bless your pure heart and innocent soul !!!!!. I know you don't need me to copy paste all the verse in the Quran talking about Allah's mercy and forgiveness because you already know THAT and you don't need me posting links of Shuyoukh and Muftis listing examples of how Allah swt accepted people's repentance and forgave them etc, you can do that yourself and I don't wanna make this post any longer. But let me just tell you one thing, wa Allahu a3lam. Had Allah swt not seen you worthy of His mercy and forgiveness, Had He not thought you deserved it, He would have never guided you to this state and to His straight path in the first place. In fact, He is the one who guided you because we don't guide whom we want but Allah swt does the guiding. And He guides whom He wants. So, why would He show you the way if He didn't want to forgive you? He already has forgiven you and He already has accepted your repentance and your deeds, in Shaa Allah 🥺🤍🤍 Look how many people around you, and elsewhere, everywhere in the world are still living astray, still living in Jahiliya AstaghfiruAllah, but He, in all his mercy chose YOU, guided YOU, because He swt LOVES YOU. And that's more that enough I'd say. ALHAMDULILLAH 🤍🤍

Update: After every prayer, recite this duaa: Allahuma a'ennee 'ala thikrika wa shukrika wa husni 'ibadatika

اللهم أعني على ذكرك و شُكرك و حسن عبادتك

My Lord help me to remember you, thank you, and worship you in the best way.

I will make duaa that Allah swt ease your affairs and take away all your worries, and fixes your heart. Allahuma ameen.

و السلام عليكم و رحمة الله و بركاته 🌼

في أمان الله و رعايته و حفظه 🤍

P.s. I hope in this post I didn't " transpass " and I didn't say anything that is not up for me to say. I am no scholar, and so far away from claiming myself to be " pious ". I am just a servant of Allah swt with some background. We are all struggling and learning and striving in our journey towards Allah swt. I am only giving my personal thoughts to a sister who asked for help, Alhamdulillah that I could and I hope I was able to. In Shaa Allah kheir.

[pradaxstyles]

Sunrise Encounters

*not my photo*

hi everyone!!! i’m very excited to share with you my submission for @helladirections Summer Feeling Fic Challenge! my prompt was sunrise! this is my first ever fic challenge and i’m very happy with how this turned out. the masterlist for everyone’s work is here. check them out and send them some love!! i hope you enjoy! also a big thank you to @chxrrylove for helping me out and just being an amazing person. don’t forget to reblog! feedback is always welcome and appreciated 🥰

disclaimer - i don’t know anything about perth, australia. so if it’s not accurate or anything just roll with it, it’s fiction

song i listened to while writing (in case you wanna listen to it) - 5am amber run

word count - 2.7k

warnings - small mentions of being alone and uncertainty about life plans. other than that, nothing major. 

━◦○◦━◦○◦━◦○◦━◦○◦━◦○◦━◦○◦━

The cool breeze of the summer air ran through her hair, almost as if it were playing with it. She was sitting in a clearing above Perth. The Australian city was brightly lit, creating little shadows on her cheeks. A million things were running through her mind. She knew it was late, but she enjoyed being out during the early morning hours. There was something about the city during 4 am that she loved. Maybe it was the stillness of it. How the usual bustling city sat quiet and dormant. Or maybe it was the vibrancy of the buildings among the horizon. It showed that even though the city lay still, the beauty of it was everlasting. 

The beach was one of her favorite spots in the city. The openness gave her a sense of peace and calmness. It allowed her to process the thoughts that ran through her mind and just let go for a little while. 

Having just moved to Perth, she wasn’t familiar with many places or people. The one place she felt most at home was the beach, watching the stars. It was something she did back home when the clouds didn’t crowd the dark sky. On the rare nights she couldn’t see the stars, she’d turn to her notebook full of poems. Y/N didn’t dabble in poetry often, but when she did, it acted as a release. It was a release of the emotions she couldn’t get rid of. 

Tonight in particular, there were no clouds in sight to cover the universe’s beauty. Her fingers dragged through the smooth sand as she traced random shapes. A sigh left her lips as she wished she could be back home. Y/N had left behind family, friends, and everything she knew to move to Perth for a “new beginning”. Before the move, she was excited. Y/N was excited to see the world and meet new people. But once she arrived, second thoughts riddled her brain. She wasn’t familiar with the area and didn’t know anyone which put a damper on her mood. 

She came upon the small beach when she first moved. Needing to find an escape from a reality for a bit, she ventured to the streets, looking for a place she could call a home away from home. 

This brings her to today, 4:30 am, sitting on the beach overlooking the city. The colorful beach towel lay underneath her, shielding her body from the sticky grains of sand. Y/N leaned back just enough so she could watch the stars while she was lost in her ocean of thoughts. 

━◦○◦━◦○◦━◦○◦━◦○◦━◦○◦━◦○◦━

The beach was also Harry’s favorite place. He had a small house in Perth. He’d come when he needed a break, or simply when he needed a vacation. Harry had stumbled upon the clearing purely by accident. During some nights when he couldn’t sleep, he would go for runs and end up watching the sunrise.

On this specific night, he was wide awake. After a night out with friends to celebrate a win for their favorite sports team, he figured he would sleep nicely. Alas, he laid wide awake in bed staring at the ceiling. Sighing, he yanked the duvet off of his body and sat up. The lights strung along the walls lit up the room just enough so Harry could see the clock across from the bed. He closed his eyes in frustration as the numbers read 4:30 am. 

Figuring he’d start his day, he stood from the warm bed and shuffled over to the closet and slipped on some shorts and a tee shirt. Making his way into the bathroom, he flickered the light on. He reached for his toothbrush, turned the water on and began brushing his teeth. 

He sat on the bed and leaned down to tie his shoes. Moving towards his nightstand, Harry reached for a clip and twisted his curls into place so they wouldn’t fall to his face as he ran. 

Waltzing into the kitchen, he munched on a granola bar and sipped some water before making his way outside. The clearing wasn’t far from his house, he estimated about a mile. Taking a deep breath, he picked up his pace until he was jogging. The air whooshing around him filled his ears as he looked around to take in his surroundings. He was used to jogging this late, but it never hurt to observe the nature around him. 

The thoughts of his life consumed his mind. Harry was unsure of what he wanted to do with his life. His parents were both doctors and his sister went on to be a lawyer. There was always a pressure on him to follow in their footsteps, but he knew deep down that he wanted to do something else. He wanted to do something that inspired people. 

Wherever he was in the world, he often found himself watching the sunrise. Harry realized that wherever he went, the sunrise always looked different. When he was visiting Greece, he found the highest point in Mykonos to watch the sunrise. The sun rose above the water and a beautiful array of colors were put on display. Different shades of purple and pink littered the sky as the sun was saying good morning. Or when he was in Colorado visiting some friends at their mountain house, he was blown away at the beauty the sunrise held. Hues of pink and orange illuminated the skies as the snow on top of the mountains seemed to reflect the colors, it was truly one of his favorite sights. 

It was during his escapades around the world that he discovered his love for the beauty of the world. He enjoyed making art ever since he was younger and it’s something that’s stayed with him as he grew up. Sketching people in the park, or painting the sunrises, he came to the realization that he wanted to paint the world in a way people didn’t often look at it. 

He sighed at the memory, a smile creeping its way onto his lips. He felt at peace with the path ahead of him in life. 

A thin sheet of sweat laid against his tanned skin as he glanced down at the watch on his wrist, 4:40 am. The sun was just starting to peak above the earth as he came up to the beach. Slowing his pace, his gaze fell upon a girl who was sitting on the sand. She looked to be his age, but he couldn’t get a clear look at her face. Harry wondered why she was here so late, there was usually no one at the beach this early. Shrugging it off, he decided to just come back on his way home and not bother the girl. 

━◦○◦━◦○◦━◦○◦━◦○◦━◦○◦━◦○◦━

Y/N’s eyes squinted ever so slightly, trying to see the stars as the sun was beginning to rise. Laying down against the towel, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She wondered if she’d ever find her place in the world. Y/N wanted to live dangerously. She wanted to go on adventures around the world and immerse herself in different cultures, soaking up all that she could. 

Tapping her phone screen on, the clock on her phone read 4:45 am. Glancing at the sky, she took note of how the stars began to fade as the sun began peeking through the buildings. Along with the stars, she adored watching sunrises. The way the sun brought so much light and warmth as it rose made her feel small in the world, content in a way. 

The sky that was once dark had begun to erupt in hues of pinks and oranges. She sat up, bringing her knees to her chest as she rested her head on them. The sand beneath her was cool, making her shiver slightly.

Above her head, birds soared high and the sounds of their chirps could be heard. Cicadas buzzed and hummed around her. The scene was serene, as if it was something out of a movie. 

Y/N took a deep breath as she admired the changing sky. 

Unbeknownst to her, Harry had come back to the beach. He was contemplating going up and seeing if she was okay or just heading home. He racked his brain, trying to remember if he had seen her before. But he had no idea who she was. Harry wondered how she’d found the beach since it was pretty well hidden from the public. He knew he couldn’t just leave her be without knowing if she was okay or not, so he moved towards the girl. 

“Hey, are you okay?” Harry questioned softly. 

Y/N jumped slightly, unaware there was someone on the beach with her. A hand lay on her chest as she mumbled, “Jesus, you scared me.”

Harry chuckled quietly and moved to sit next to her. He put some distance between himself and the girl, not wanting to make her uncomfortable. Stretching his legs out to sit comfortably, he cringed slightly as the sand clung to his exposed legs. “Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you. Just wanted to make sure you were okay.” 

She glanced at him and noticed his hair was pulled up into a clip and how his forehead glistened with sweat. “What are you doing here so late?” 

“I could ask you the same question. What’s your name?” 

Her lips curved into a small smile, “Y/N, and you are?” 

“Harry.” 

“Well-” she broke her stare from the sky and met his gaze, “it’s nice to meet you, Harry.” 

He smiled slightly and she returned it. A comfortable silence fell over them as they both turned their heads back to the city in front of them. More cars were seen driving down the streets and people walking around. Harry’s watch read 4:55 am, which is the time the sun officially began rising. 

“I’m okay. I just come here some nights to watch the stars and sunrise.” Y/N whispered, breaking the silence. She kept her eyes on the rising sun that had peaked through the tall buildings, casting shadows everywhere. 

Harry’s face softened at her words. After all, he does the same thing when he can’t sleep. “I do, too. I’m surprised we haven’t run into each other more.” His head tilted upwards as he took in the colors that painted the sky. Different shades of pink, purple, and blue covered the sky. Some clouds had rolled in and they reflected the colors beautifully. 

She nodded slightly at his words, before she spoke. “I just moved her from Tennessee. I found the beach while looking for a place to clear my mind. Its been my favorite place ever since, plus you can see the stars beautifully from here.” 

He hummed in agreement. There had been numerous nights when he ended up on the beach stargazing. It was far enough from the city lights that you could still see everything. “That’s cool, I’ve never been to Tennessee before. I’m originally from England.” 

Y/N giggled softly, “I figured, I could tell from your accent.” She glanced at him just as his cheeks started to heat up. The tinge of red could be seen and Harry knew it, his cheeks were on fire. He laughed along with her and sighed.

“What are you doing in Australia?” 

“I’m here for a new beginning, I guess.” 

Harry’s eyebrows furrowed slightly, “You guess?” 

He turned his body so that he was facing her now. Her head turned towards him as she observed him with curiosity. Realizing what he was doing, she did the same. The beach towel that was underneath her body was long forgotten as the sand also clung to her legs. The pair was now facing each other and Harry finally got a clear look at Y/N’s face. Her delicate features fit her perfectly. 

“Yeah, I guess. I mean, I’m not too thrilled about being here since I have no friends at the moment. I don’t even know what I wanna do with my life.” She spoke lowly while laying her head against her propped up knee. 

“You’ve got a friend, you have me.” 

A smile made its way to Y/N lips and she glanced at Harry, who was already looking at her. He thought she was so beautiful. In his eyes, he felt like she represented the sunrise. A new side of her was always on display, and there was so much more for him to learn, so much he wanted to learn. 

“Well, thank you for being my first friend.” Her gaze lingered a bit longer on Harry’s soft features before she turned back to look at the sky. “Thank you for watching the sunrise with me.” 

Harry could have melted on the spot from her words. He just met Y/N but he was prepared to watch every sunrise with her. “No need to thank me, but you’re very welcome.” 

Y/N scooted closer to Harry and he opened an arm to her. His breath hitched as she laid her head against his chest. She didn’t know why or how she felt so comfortable around someone she had just met, but she felt like she’d known him her entire life. Inhaling deeply, Harry moved his arm to her waist and held her tightly. He loved the feeling of her body pressed against his. It felt familiar, it made him feel warm. 

“So..” Y/N began.

“So…” Harry continued 

“Wanna get breakfast?” Y/N twisted herself slightly so that she could look up at Harry. He glanced down at her and his tummy erupted with butterflies. 

“Of course we can get breakfast. Anywhere specific you would like to go?” 

She shook her head, “I don’t know any good places around here. You seem like you’ve got good taste, you choose where we go.” 

He chuckled at her statement, “Hm, well what are you in the mood for?” 

Y/N thought about it. Back in Tennessee, there was an amazing crepe place by her house. Her and some friends would get breakfast there every Friday before school. She smiled fondly at the memory and made her decision. 

“Are there any crepe places around here?” 

Harry thought for a moment, “Yeah there is. Do you wanna get some crepes?” 

Crepes were Harry’s favorite breakfast, but he wouldn’t admit it out loud. 

“I do, only if you like crepes though. We could always go somewhere else.” 

“No no, we’re going to get crepes. Don’t worry your pretty little head over it.” Harry moved to stand. Dusting off his pants, he reached a hand down for Y/N. 

Y/N was too distracted by his comment to realize his outstretched hand. Harry noticed her red cheeks and smiled to himself. 

“Come on, we can walk back to mine and I’ll drive.” Harry said. 

She placed her smaller hand in his and felt sparks fly through her body. He pulled her up and she grabbed her towel that was left in the sand. “Sounds like a plan.” 

Harry smiled sweetly and Y/N shot him a toothy grin. 

Y/N was thankful she found herself at the beach. If she didn’t feel the need for an escape, she would’ve never met Harry. She could already tell they were going to be best friends. Who knows, maybe she’ll bring him back to Tennessee. 

For once, Harry was happy he couldn’t sleep. He was also happy he knew of the beach. Y/N was like a breath of fresh air. She felt real, like she didn’t care about what anyone had to say. She was the friend he was looking for, someone who he could feel free with. 

The pair walked together, hand in hand, back to Harry’s house. The sun was a bit higher in the sky now, but the remnants of orange and pink could still be seen. Birds were busy chirping high in the trees and people were on their way to work. 

With the promise to watch the sunrise together the next morning, Harry and Y/N both felt giddy about the day to come.

[drabblemesilly]

Colton Parayko #6

Requested by Anon:  Could you write one with Colton Parayko about a death in the family and he’s there by your side when the reader finds out? Thank you!

*I couldn’t bear killing a family member because that’s just so sad so I did it this way. I hope you still like it though. Enjoy! :)*

Word count: 822

One look at Colton and you knew. Heck, you knew before he even opened the bedroom door. You knew even before he stepped inside your room, one hand clutching his phone, lips pursed, eyes unsure. You felt it, deep inside, you felt a part of you leave.

Lifting your head a little, you just had to ask, “the vet called?”

He nodded, slowly walking towards you. Colton sat on the edge of the bed, resting his hand on your throw-covered leg.

“They put her down without calling us?” you sniffed, still not believing that your dog is gone now. Fuck, she was not just a dog. She was your best friend growing up. Twelve years and she’s just… gone. No ceremony or art to it. One day she’s there, jumping on your lap, and the next she’s just not there anymore.

Colton looked glum, “she didn’t wake up, babe,” he reached out to wipe a tear from your cheek, “she was too weak.”

You didn’t know what to say to that so you just lay there, tears slowly dripping on the pillow, Colton stroking your hair. You’re waiting for the screams of disbelief and the angry sobs but you don’t have the energy to do any of that right now. Everything feels so surreal, like you’re in a dream waiting to wake up.

“Do you want some tea? Let me get you some tea,” Colton offered.

If you weren’t crippled by sadness, you would have laughed at the frantic look he’s wearing.

Alas, all you can manage is a weak smile, “no, thank you,” you breathed, “can you stay here with me?”

“I’d love that,” he whispered, moving to the floor.

Colton shifted a little until he was leaning against the bed, his chin resting on your pillow, one hand stroking your hair, “do you want me to fix you a bath?”

You shook your head, still silently crying, “are you sure the vets didn’t make a mistake?”

“I’m sure,” he whispered, hand still massaging your head, keeping you calm, “I’m really sorry.”

“I just don’t like her thinking that I wasn’t there for her,” you cried a little harder. That’s the worst part, eh? Dying alone.

“I’m sure she knows you loved her the most,” he smiled, “you always gave her the last piece of pizza,” he joked.

You snorted, snot probably flying all over the place, “she loved it.”

Colton agreed, “she did.”

Not knowing what to add to that, you just let the silence envelop the both of you. The apartment seems a little more empty now that you know she’s never coming back. Weird thinking you won’t be able to hear her hangnail click clacking over the wooden tiled floor. You’re gonna miss the scratches on the door that she makes every time she wants to go for a walk.

“Gosh, we probably have to contact the cremation people, do we?”

When she started getting weaker, you knew this day would come. You talked about getting her cremated and even went on to call some of the services around the St. Louis area. You’re nothing if not proactive. It’s just that, this took you by surprise, is all. It’s seven in the morning. This was not supposed to happen today, especially not this early. You were even supposed to visit her at the vet later this afternoon.

Colton squinted, “we don’t have to do that right away,” he massaged your nape, “but we do have to go to the vet soon.”

That made you tear up a little more, “I don’t want to see her just lying there, lifeless.”

“I’ll be there, okay?” he reminded, “I’ll be with you the whole time,” he gave you that sad smile again, “we gotta say goodbye, somehow.”

“She was my best friend.”

“I know.”

“She never left me,” you cried, “never.”

“I know.”

“Even when I was on my goth, I-hate-the-world phase.”

He chuckled at that, “I know.”

“What am I supposed to do now?” you asked your boyfriend, feeling a little more lost now than a couple of minutes ago.

He shrugged, “we’ll figure it out,” he started, leaning over to kiss the tip of your nose, “together.”

Colton straightened before pulling you up. He crawled onto the bed until he was sitting and you’re sitting on his lap, your back against his chest, his chin on your shoulder.

“She hated seeing you cry,” he reminded you, wiping the tears from your cheeks, “remember when you cried because of that tv show and she thought I was the one who made you sad?”

You laughed, “she almost bit you.”

He nodded, “she almost bit me.”

“She loved you, though,” you said wistfully. Sometimes, you forget that she’s even your dog in the first place, with how she cuddled with Colton on the bed.

“She did,” he agreed, kissing the side of your neck, “but she loved you most of all.”

[strawberry-salsa]

im (relatively) new to your blog and i dont think i’ve heard much about your ocs!!! ik i’ve seen some art here and there but nothing super substantial :o would you introduce them? or if you wanted to go a but more in depth hmmm what are your most/least favorite thing(s) about each of them? c:

that is true, I havent posted abt them themselfs a lot! im still writing(something im not good at thats why its taking too long hsajhskaj) their personalities and adjusting their backstories here and there, i hope to post their full references soon :’) but yeah i can give some snipets!

UNDER THE CUT BECAUSE I RAMBLED TOO MUCH

Salsa(Whiskers): call me self indulgent but yeah i made myself into a transformer and yeah i am writing stories and comics abt them, and is probably my most fleshed out oc. Salsa was always lost throught his life, having a small altmode with not many functionalities he always landed in jobs he wasnt happy with, when the decepticons started spreading their word around cybertron, salsa was interested and considered joining them! but as the conflict started to become more and more violent, he left the planet in the event called the Exodus lead by Dai Atlas and Tyrest. He couldnt handle the weight of the situation and had a breakdown, stole a small ship with all of he had left and launched himself into the vast expanses of space, adrift.

Cathexis: He was made as a MTO Decepticon soldier but his expertise in chemistry got him the attention of his superiors and he rose as a scientist specialized in explosives! Decepticon ideals were programmed in his brain module, but it started conflicting with his own ideals, something that led him to kill his supervisor and steal an important battle ship from the fleet. Cathexis was declared MIA, as the General didnt want to report such big losses to Megatron and covered any evidence left.

Flow: When he emerged in a Hotspot Near Ibex, he decided he wanted to be a famous racer when he watched Blurr for the first time. He believed Fame and Glory awaited for him and he wanted to get to the top as fast as he could. Alas he wasnt as skilled as he thought he was, that led him to cheating his way thought races, making the use of illegal upgrades and substances. But soon his world would fall around him, the races were canceled and he joined the Autobots. After he had a near death experience and the loss of a close friend in the hands of Turmoil he asked to leave the autobots. He was granted a ship and left with all of his posessions inside.

Salutem: She Emerged from a hotspot near Iacon with a wish to take care of others. She joined the Iaconian academy of science and technology and was dedicated to her studies, but among her classmates was a bot who had a rotten sense of empathy, who didnt care if their patients lived or died, as long as they got what interested them. After a bit of investigating salutem discovered that the bot was retrieving organs to sell to alien species and make a fortune. The deal wasnt theirs of course, they were but just a pawn. the one behind was a senator. Salutem tried to bring them to justice, but as the senator was a powerful figure she was blamed instead of the other bot, and suffered empurata. Shortly after she was expelled from the academy as now she was considered a criminal, after wondering for a few weeks she ended up in the Dead End where she met a kind doctor who had a clinic there. The doctor took her in and believed in her desire to take care and heal others. after the clininc was closed down and the doctor vanished, she joined the autobots in hopes of finding him again. A few years later she had her own unit, a team to call her family and a quiet place, as the outpost she was in was far from the current big conflict... or she thought. The Planet was targeted by the decepticons and salutem and her entire team were declared dead.

Geode: He used to work as a contruction bot back in old cybertron and lived peacefully with his conjux. he enjoyed his work and as a hobby he liked to map out the areas he was sent to. Geode heard about these decepticon guys here and there but didnt mind much, until things started heating up. he didnt like it at all. the decepticons were ruining his beloved planet, the things he built, the natural landscapes, his life, it was all starting to become more and more like a hell. He joined the autobots believing he would end with the menace that were the decepticons, and his size and sheer strenght helped him a lot. After suffering an injure that almost took his life, he was asked to step down. Geode agreed reluctantly, working as a cartographer and geologist to find and help strategize the best places for new bases. Now he was away from the war, it was peaceful, but it never left his mind that also meant the bot he cared for the most would now be far away from him at all times.

Snowtread: “The single most passionate and fiery bot I ever knew” are the words Geode uses to descibe him. Snowtread has a love for good cy-gars and making his conjux smile. He worked alongside Geode as a contruction worker, but unlike his lover, he was unhappy with how monotonous his life was. It wasnt really his given function that bothered him, but the lack of excitement it had. When he heard of the rising decepticons he was curious of what they were planning and kept a close eye on the news. When the senate was taken down and decepticon attacks were rising, he enlisted in the autobots with Geode. Finally he found his calling him in life, the excitmentof shooting enemies down, the thrill of battle! it was just what he desired his whole life! But during one of the cartoons against a decepticon base Geode was shot down and almost lost his life. Snowtread has never felt so desperate in his whole life ... Geode recovered, but he had a lasting injury. Geode wanted to keep going but snowtread begged him to step down, he would never forgive himself if anything like that happened to him again, because if it did ... Geode wouldnt make it. He knows how worried his conjux is of how careless he is, but now he isnt just fighting for the sake of fighting, he is fighting so that Geode can live peacefully.

this might not be their final backstories tho! things may change because im not entirely sure abt some things dsghjhaj

OH WOW I THINK I GOT CARRIED AWAY SORRYY