#but i figured i'd start with something simpler for now

[ash-elizabeth-art]

Personalized initial necklaces are now available in my shop! Please do check them out if you're interested! ^^

[sysig]

Coding woes (Patreon)

[mayordea]

Happy birthday to the number one princess in the world!! 💖

~from her biggest fans :)

ramble of my scattered thoughts on the piece under cut as usual cuz i love talking 😋

This has been an idea I've been cookin for a while, and it was so cluttered and unlike any other ensemble piece I've made... and I decided I oughta do it anyway. I love Miku, I love Vocaloid, and I wanted to do something really ambitious and crazy for her anniversary. Crazy that she's turning her "canon" age this year TwT

I had the idea floating around since like, May...? And then finally started acting on it around June 18. I'm terrible with deadlines, obvious with how I can never make a silly birthday post in time, so I started wayyyy ahead to make sure I have some room to be lazy lol, especially with an idea as ambitious as this.

This was finished on July 12! So I had to sit on this for an annoying amount of time. Very difficult for someone like me who just wants to talk about everything I'm working on to the masses. But at the very least, that gave me the time to work on the draft for this post.

~~~

Here's some ~behind the scenes~ scribbles leading up to the finished piece!

Left is the chicken scratch plan i made in my handy dandy notebook (whenever things are getting real and ambitious, i always made a rough ROUGH plan in there. Usually I'd do a rough pass of the full thing, but this was too complicated for me to do traditionally. I majorly benefited from digital tools to make this possible). CyberDiva and CyberSongman were considered, but I ended up cutting them cuz I just didn't feel like drawing them sorry-- (just pretend they're off to the side. They gave Ruby and Clara the pizza lol). Right is the "final" completed sketch (before I decided to include Chika mid-way through coloring and VY1 and VY2 near the finish line). I started by drawing the main "groups" separated on a different canvas so I can plop them into the main canvas for easy rearranging and transforming. However I got lazy and ended up drawing everyone in the bottom right corner directly on the canvas since I liked seeing the big picture of everyone's positions. Y'know.

Almost excluded Chika! But I like her design so much that I just felt like including her last-minute. You win this time, Chika fans. VY1 and VY2 were very close to being cut! I added them when I began doing the banner and thought "eh why not". I figured their non-human designs would be pretty easy to include pushed back in the bg. Ik VY1 is more commonly associated with the fan design, but I referenced the hairpin cuz it was simpler and the fan looked very annoying to draw 😭

Sorry to the fans of many Vocaloids I had to cut because this composition was insane enough as is. I promise I wanted to include fellas like CUL, LUMi and Sachiko 😭 I will admit I was a little biased on who I wanted to include over others. Like, I don't normally care for Bruno and Clara, but I wanted to get some more international 'loids in the mix. Also wanted to stick in the realm of official designs and not fan-designs since, as much as I can appreciate those, are just a whole "wait who is that guy supposed to be" situation I didn't wanna deal with. I also did wanna include even more character references through the balloons, but they ended up being kind of ugly and overcomplicated the BG :,) (Oh, and while this was originally planned to be a Vocaloid-only piece, I did end up including Teto, Neru, and Haku 'cuz those are Miku's besties dude!!! They may not be Officially in the club but they're her girls and it would be criminal to not invite them to her birthday).

Anyway, this project marks the first time I've drawn a lot of Vocaloids. Lily, Piko, Rana, Yuki, Yukari, Miki, Maika, and many more lol. All of 'em I've heard or seen in passing, but now I actually drew them, and some have really cool and fun designs!! I got into a habit of drawing Merli after this since I just love her design for example. And I'll probably be drawing more lol!!

Oh and the last thing I'll add for now!! The cake is indeed made up of various song references!! I wanted to reference the "big four" producers, just absolute icons in Vocaloid history. The pink/black checkerboard is "World is Mine" (Ryo), the crescents on the side is "Rolling Girl" (Wowaka), the smiley faces is "Matryoshka" (Hachi), and the three hearts on the side is "The Vampire" (DECO*27, which is sort of a symbol of his whole Mannequin album tbh). I know "The Vampire" is a bit modern but I couldn't think of anything else off the top of my head. I'm a fake DECO fan I know 😔 "Matryoshka" was originally going to be referenced in the colors of the candles but believe me it looked like shit so I just went for something else last minute 😭

That's all I have to say!!! Hope you didn't mind the text wall if you made it here. I hope you like it as much as I do!!!! Happy freakin' birthday Miku!!!!

I have to deal with tagging all these characters now for my page,,, in the drafts my tags got cut off after a certain point so I think I'm massively breaching the tag limit 😭 um... I'll figure that out later...

not losing sleep that i can't tag everyone, even for page organization purposes because some characters have pretty generic names and some are a little hard to see in full yknow. If you're one of those people who tag every character in the art piece you reblog... I am very sorry.

[cripplecharacters]

I have a character who is nonverbal, intellectually disabled, and uses an AAC device. I'm wondering how I would write down her inner thoughts and monologue? Would she think in full English sentences, in AAC symbols, or something else?

Hi asker,

I will start off by letting you know that there is no single definitive answer for this, but I still have thoughts and ideas.

So, as for the question of would she think in AAC symbols or English sentences, that really depends on your character. It could be either.

Some nonverbal people, but not all, don't think in words at all, but more in images or associations, so this could be the case of your character and might even be part of why they are nonverbal and need AAC. (Some people who aren't nonverbal also don't think in words either, but your character is, so that's what I'll focus on here!)

Your character could also think in words. They might think entirely in words, or partly. They might think in what you would think of as more 'standard' English sentences, or maybe more simplified sentences.

For example, it's common for people with ID to use simpler syntax and/or less abstract language. But language abilities are a wide range, and this can extend to AAC usage. Some people might use more complex sentences, while some might might only be able to use two words in a sentence. Some people might get the hang of pronouns, and some might not. Some people might get the hang of conjugating verbs, some might not. Some people speak more slowly or with more pauses. You have a lot of leeway in how to conceptualize your character's thoughts.

I want to add one thing: a lot of ways that people with ID people can speak are used to make fun of people. Slower speech, simple sentences, not conjugating some words, stuff like that. If you include this, you have to take care to make sure that the message you’re sending by including them is “some people just talk like this” and not “isn’t it so funny/weird/gross/weird that some people talk this way? Let’s make fun of it/focus on how weird and different (derogatory) it is”.

However, the limitations of a written medium is that at the end of the day you will in fact have to use words to write what is going on in her brain, even if she doesn't think in words.

So I would say: focus on figuring out how your character manages language, since there’s many different ways they can, and then once you decide that it might be easier to figure out exactly how to write them. Mod sasza has even more points below!

Hope this helps,

mod sparrow

Hey, I'd consider how your character learned language. If her first exposure was a symbol-based AAC device, there's a higher chance she'd think in AAC symbols than if she first communicated via sign language or anything else that's not a symbol-based AAC device.

I'm fully verbal and actually mostly think in associations and other non-language ways like pictures (though when I'm imagining things like an actual conversation, I do use language). That's why for me and a lot of other people with ID (verbal or not) it can take longer to think of what to say; you need to translate your thoughts to language first.

With your character having much more severe language disability than me, I'd guess that she either used very simple sentence construction or that you'd have to describe her thoughts in a less direct manner (associations or visuals), which will be more time-consuming to write and more cryptic to readers (which makes it realistic, communication with people with significant language problems takes longer, if mind reading was real it would apply to it too).

You should definitely consider the things mentioned by Sparrow; whether she understands pronouns, conjugation, can she differentiate similar words correctly (e.g., love/like, handsome/pretty), etc.

Depending on her level of ID, she might think "I'm hungry" as anything between "Damn, I wish I was eating a burger right now" (complete English sentence) through "Yes food" (in which "yes" means positive rather than agreeing with someone) or "Images of her home kitchen flashed through her head" (simply associating kitchen with the feeling of hunger), to "Two symbols from her board; one meaning 'me' with the second showing an empty plate, went through her mind over and over". There is a big difference between a person with mild ID who might be unable to speak because they can't coordinate their mouth to make actual words but don't struggle with grammar at all, and a person with a profound ID whose entire AAC board is "yes" and "no" (or not even that, but I wanted an example to show what could be someone's existing-but-very-limited language ability).

Obviously some of these are more clunky, some are less so. But the way a lot of nonverbal ID people communicate isn't perfectly clear and direct, and there is a lot of variety in the manner that it shows.

I also wrote this post about speech in intellectual disability that you might find useful. I hope this helps,

mod Sasza

[airybcby]

in regards to spotify wrapped, my top artist this year is hoyo-mix 😭😭😭 red velvet is a close second 👀.

may i inquire thy wisdom on which of the lads from blue lock shall you pair me with, and the scenario that shall accompany us, my good sovereign?

ask and ye shall receive!!!

if your top artist was hoyo-mix i'd pair you with...

rin itoshi

જ⁀♡⊹｡° rage beneath the mountains

♡ a/n — for my spotify wrapped event♡ - this one was hard! i don't really listen to this stuff much, but i hope it's good!

♡ content — rin itoshi x gn! reader, childhood friends, insecure rin, i think that's all!

♡ synopsis — you'd watched rin itoshi grow up in the shadow of his brother

the screen flickers as you watch the game unfold before you. the stadium roars, the ball moves faster than your eyes can follow, but none of that really matters right now. it’s rin you’re watching, his figure standing out on the field like it always has, even when you and sae were kids.

you didn’t always know rin like this. you weren’t always watching him dominate on the world stage.

you knew him as the quiet younger brother, the one who watched from the sidelines while sae took center stage. rin always seemed happy to stay in the background, his frustrations and insecurities buried beneath layers of silent rage.

you, on the other hand, had always seen the cracks in rather perfect mask.

you’d been a friend of sae’s long before rin started to draw attention.

as time passed, things changed. you and rin grew closer after sae left, and the more you got to know him, the more you saw him change from a kind and happy child to a man with a cold exterior.

one night, long before blue lock, rin had let his guard down for a moment. the two of you sat on the roof of his house, the silence comfortable, as if you both belonged there.

it was then, in a rare moment of honesty, you told him something you knew he needed to hear.

“your brother will never be you, rin,” you’d said softly, your voice almost a whisper.

sae itoshi was your friend, yes, but with rin, everything felt simpler and easier. sae was amazing, but in your eyes he'd never have the sincerity that rin harbored.

at the time, you didn’t think much of it. it was a truth you could see clearly, even if no one else around him ever said it. rin had always lived in sae’s shadow.

his entire existence seemed like it was about proving that he was more than just the younger itoshi.

but rin, being rin, never responded.

he didn’t need to. you could see it in his eyes—the quiet relief, like he had never heard that before. like he needed to hear that more than anything.

now, as you watch him on the screen, scoring goal after perfect goal, that old feeling stirs in your chest.

you’ve spent years pretending to forget, pretending you’ve moved on from everything—everything—but watching rin play, watching him stand apart the way only he can, makes that old ache resurface.

there’s a part of you that wonders if he remembers those words. wonders if they still linger in his mind, especially now.

but as you watch him from afar, part of you wonders if he has truly moved on. the man on the field now is not the boy you knew. the boy who once confided in you, the boy who was still figuring himself out, who had doubts and dreams that didn’t involve his brother’s shadow.

that boy is buried beneath this polished, calculated version that has perfected the art of winning. but you still see it...the rage under the surface that only shows itself when he’s cornered.

the camera zooms in on his face after another flawless goal, his expression blank, calm and collected. but you see the flicker.

the tiny crack in his mask.

the man who no longer lets anyone close enough to see it.

you never wanted to be like the rest. you never wanted to stand on the sidelines, applauding the man he’s become when the boy you knew still aches inside him.

as you sit there, watching him achieve everything he set out to do, you realize something.

rin doesn’t need your encouragement anymore. he’s become something entirely different—something unstoppable.

and as the game rages on, so does the storm beneath the public facade. you wish you could tell him that you still see him.

but he’s long past needing you for that now.

to the world, he may have been the younger itoshi, but to you...he was just rin.

i wrote this at like midnight last night after a full day of school, so i hope it's okayish.

i hope you like it!

likes, comments, and reblogs are appreciated!

[vexedallay]

Sure had this done like a week and half ago but never posted it lol-

The start of me drawing and entire tarot deck based around the Fable SMP! Starting with one of the Major Arcana cards, The World, reimagined as Quixis!

I will post more as I finish them! :D

Edit 6-24: adding my thoughts bc I wanted to. Continues under cut!

So this card was decided back before the finale before we knew Quixis was a title, and I was like "quixis as the world card lol" but then the finale happened and suddenly Midas very much didn't fit the bill for The World card so I moved them elsewhere. But I still couldn't figure out who to tag as The World in Midas' place, esp since I'd already tagged the Worldport elsewhere.

According to here, The World tarot card means "completion, achievement, fulfilment, sense of belonging, wholeness, harmony" when upright and "lack of closure, lack of achievement, feeling incomplete, emptiness" when reversed, which actually does still fit Quixis, even if it's just a title. So...Quixis actually got to stay as The World.

That being said, I had to figure out how the hell to convey the power/title of Quixis as a tarot card. Just sticking the symbol in there looked ugly, so I decided to add the little beams of light around the edges. All of these beams are symmetrical, matching on both sides, and the only two to cross the center line are Icarus' and Midas'. There is one for every single Sherbert we met, as well as one in white for the Worldport/the power of Quixis.

One thing I did contemplate doing is messing with each of the beams to show little details about the sherbversion they represent, but as of right now it's something I haven't done to keep the design simpler. Maybe in future?

[littlesparklight]

Okay, actually, let me do a quick, basic primer for Mycenaean fashion, if anyone would want to try this aesthetic for their Greek myth art since Mycenaean era Greece (1400-1200 is when the majority of the myths happen, and especially the Trojan war). Not claiming to be an expert at all, here, as I've mostly googled shit and screencapped images to use as ref and then read some articles, but, I figure, it might be somewhere to start!

Here's one of the panels from the Hagia triada sarcophagus, from Crete during Mycenaean control/hegemony of the island. The women are painted white, the men dark; artistic aesthetic you see in other cultures for their visual arts of the time, like Ancient Egypt.

I think the fur(?) skirts might be religious wear, but aside from that, you have one woman and one man (specifically, the lyre player, which is probably indicative of some cultural attitudes; the lyre player in the fresco from Pylos is definitely wearing a fringed skirt of some sort, similar to what women wear) wearing a long robe/tunic, and the women are wearing some short jackets on top of that. The jackets might be Cretan or merely "early" style, because here's a fresco fragment from the Greek mainland where the woman appears to wear something similar:

It's probable (but basically impossible to know) that the thing underneath is a long robe/tunic like the women above are wearing, short or sleeve-less.

Another Mycenaean/mainland Greek fresco. In this one you'd have to decide if the top halves of the women's dress is a short (but not cut-away) jacket, plus wrap-around, tiered/fringed skirt, or a long robe/tunic with really deep neckline and, again, a wrap-around tiered/fringed skirt.

Now, you don't need to make things harder for yourself than you have to! Women can wear a simpler style of dress (like what the man in the first fresco panel is wearing), basically the same as the men's, probably just longer:

It's possible these two women are wearing wrap around skirts below the edge of the chariot, but I doubt it. As you can see, their style of dress is the same as the man's above, with a plain, straight collar.

The various lines you see plunging down the sides of both the longer robes/tunics and the shorter ones are down the sides (under the arms and down) and might also/either be down the front, at least on the long dresses with elaborate bottom rim; the woman in saffron above clearly has a decorated line going down her front.

I'll put the rest of this under the cut!

Some nice art with Mycenaean-era dress and armour for some of our Trojan war characters. (Aeneas and Hektor notably wearing Mycenaean wear even if they probably wouldn't be.)

I like this site http://www.salimbeti.com/micenei/index.htm for both art and a lot of pictures of artifacts when it comes to armour and weapons from the Mycenaean era.

The men don't just wear those tunics, though; you can get some (short) kilts or skirts;

(In my opinion, I'd say it's basically a given the one/two dudes painted in basically black are meant to be from further south compared to the Greek dude here. Probably not sub-Saharan Africa, however. North Africa/Egyptian might be more reasonable, despite the impossibly dark skin.)

Some examples of the clothes recreated!

This article https://www.jstor.org/stable/20627591 talks about a fresco and its possible reconstructions, and, more importantly, includes photos of some women's clothes, especially the fringed/tiered wrap-around skirts recreated, and some drawing diagrams of said skirts that might be helpful!

Hair-wise, the majority of the men have hair anywhere from around the ears down to the shoulders in mainland Greece. (The exception being, again, the Pylian lyre player.) Minoans, even mycenaean-era Minoans, might have longer hair; one of the panels on the Hagia triada fresco has a flute-player with hair down to his waist in braids (or something like that), for example.

All the women, no matter Cretan/Minoan or Mycenaean/Greek have very long hair, gathered in variously more or less elaborate hairstyles; make your best guess from looking at the frescos is my suggestion!

[ihavedonenothingright]

Captive Prince: Historical References and Naming Conventions

Hi all! I've had this idea in my head for a while now, and I finally had some time (and an Ancient Greek dictionary), so I figured I'd give it a shot. I've always been fascinated by Pacat's worldbuilding, particularly the naming conventions, and as a classicist myself, I wanted to dissect them. So that's what this is. My focus is mainly going to be on Akielos since I don't have as in-depth a knowledge of French, but I'll go through some Veretian names too (je n'ai pas étudié le français depuis deux années, mais Arles… je voudrais parler d'Arles…)

I'm not approaching this with any kind of formal, academic structure, so if something wonky gets through, please let me know! And lastly, I have no idea how many of these are intentional on Pacat's part. This analysis is less about authorial intent and more about how the associations inherent in these names can lend to our interpretation of the work. I'll also be doing this analysis over a few different posts since there is a lot I want to cover. For post #1:

Country Names

This post will solely feature Vere and Akielos since that's already a lot, but I will tackle Patras et. al. later on. There's some very interesting stuff there that I would be remiss not to look at. Of our subjects for today, Vere is the simpler, and the one I am absolutely certain Pacat intended, so I'll start with it.

Vere

Disclaimer: I am in love with this choice. The word itself is actually a Classical Latin adverb derived from the adjective "vērus," meaning "true," and in Latin it's spelled "vērē" (though you will not see those macrons in extant texts, those are a modern pronunciation and differentiation aid). Vērē can be translated a handful of ways; often it's used for emphasis, and in that case it's usually translated as "indeed," but "truly," "rightly," "exactly," and "truthfully" all work in different contexts. Extrapolate vērus and its derivatives for around a thousand years and you get the Old French word "verai" (ouah c'est vrai !) which means, well, "true."

It's also close in spelling and pronunciation to the modern French "verre," which means "glass," which isn't entirely relevant, but is cool. It makes me think of shiny, fragile displays of opulence like the Galerie des Glaces in Versailles. 

The first reason I really like this name is that it calls back to Artes, the Roman-inspired kingdom that we're told once encompassed all of Vere and Akielos, while still fitting current Veretian (aka half-old-half-modern French) grammar and pronunciation. The second is, naturally, that it fits so well into the series' themes of truth, deception, and verisimilitude. The second we're introduced to Vere, and by extension Laurent, there's a subtle hint there that both he and his country are, at their core, more real, genuine, and truthful than Damen and Akielos. We're already building towards Damen's Kings Rising line, "I have never known a truer man." Even if you don't recognize the Latin, your brain will make the connection between Vere and verisimilitude later. It's perfect, 10/10 Pacat, could not have done it better.

And just for fun: a Latin example!

Commentarii de Bello Civili, 2:27. Latin and English available here. 

Hi, sive vere quam habuerant opinionem ad eum perferunt, sive etiam auribus Vari serviunt…

Loeb Translation: "Whether they convey to him the opinion that they really held, or whether they only flatter his ears…" (165)

Slightly more literal translation (by me): "Whether these ones truly convey to him the opinion as they held it, or rather are subservient to Varius' ears…"

Akielos

The name "Akielos" is a lot more… nebulous. I don't know if there is a Greek print of Captive Prince, but my guess is it would be spelled Άκιελος (modern Greek speakers please weigh in, I'm only a year or so into Ancient Greek so I haven't really touched accent marks). That doesn't map neatly to any modern or ancient greek word—at least that I know of. What is does remind me of is Ἀχιλῆος (Achileos) from Ἀχιλλεύς (Achilleus), aka, Achilles. They're so close that I actually realized lately I had unconsciously been pronouncing Akielos as "Akileos" for a while; and in fact, this makes the Veretian spelling "Achelos" make a bit more sense. English and French both use a hard "ch" to represent χ in Greek words; so I imagine, in universe, that the word might actually be spelled Άχιελος. It wouldn't even surprise me if this was the way Pacat originally wanted to spell it, but had to change it for ease of comprehension.

I did have some other interpretations of the name, but I think this is the strongest. Because in addition to the obvious association, the name Ἀχιλλεύς is thought to be derived from the words ἄχος, "distress/grief" and λαός, "people," making it either "the grief" or "grief of/to the people" depending on who you ask (you rely on cases for that sort of distinction in Greek and they're not exactly present here. iykyk).

I really like the idea of Akielos being associated with grief; we're first introduced to it as a country in mourning, and then later on, as the cause of grief in Delfeur. And then you have the association with Achilles, himself a prolific brother killer, who Pacat references later in 'The Fall of Inachtos,' our in-universe Iliad. Insane levels of grief on grief on grief. Plus, because it looks closer to the genitive form, I automatically associate it with the opening line of the Iliad:

μῆνιν ἄειδε θεὰ Πηληϊάδεω Ἀχιλῆος

menin aeide thea Peleiadeo Achileos

Sing, goddess, the anger of Achilles, Peleus' son

So we can throw a little rage into the equation. As a treat. 

Also important to note that the -os there is a masculine ending. It doesn't have the most bearing, but it does mean that if we want to be strictly accurate to Ancient (and modern!) Greek grammar, I have to throw a quick article in front of it, making our final "how do the Akielons spell Akielos?" answer: ὁ Άχιελος ("ho Achielos"). The ὁ here is equivalent to le in French, with the major distinction being that in French, you don't typically need an article in front of a proper noun, whereas you do in Greek.

That's it for today's analysis! See you guys next time around for Patras, Artes, and (maybe) Arles, Ios, and Delfeur/Delpha.

Part 2 >>

[pigeonstab]

Hiiii! i recently (scandalous i tell you) discovered your blog and intently fell in love with your art style😭😭💜, do you have any art tips or the way you draw the skulls and body of the skeles or the lighting or just anything i would love to know. -anon 🪐💜

That's so sweet! ofc!

Well first off, I'm gonna say something no one likes, for skulls, practice is just the best thing to do.

Skulls (I'm talking specifically about Sans' skull not anatomically correct ones) were like the hardest thing to draw at first just because it's got weird proportions, I wanted to make sure the cheek bump out was the right shape and size both in width and heigh compared to the rest of the skull and honnestly it's just a mess, then you have to figure out where to put the features on top of that. So to me those are things to look out for, proportions and placement on the face also angles!!! drawing skulls from different angles is hard and you should use reference, either from real pictures or from different artists! (I often find myself trying to replicate skull angles by looking at Theskeletongames/Poetax's art who's like a god at making perspective work (though obviously if you do any sort of copy or tracing don't post it as your own, but that goes withot saying))

I think a circle is the best base, use the circle to draw forehead, then add the bump-out on the bottom half of the circle.

In terms of drawing the skeleton I'd say using reference is a good start but a few things to keep in mind is that the upper arm and the thigh are made up of one single bone, while the shin and forearm are both made up of two bones. also, Ribs go downwards from the spine

I also have a tutorial on how to draw sans (it is outdated now I think but it could still be useful)

Lighting!! Lighting is lovely, the way I learned is to pick somewhere from which the light is coming from, then have everything in shadow and carve out the light, think about the volumes you're working with, what will be hit by the light and what will stay in the dark, is there any object that's projecting a shadow on something else? etc

and general tips If you ever want to learn how to draw anyhting your way out will be volumes, break objects or anatomy down into simpler shapes, trace over something, from multiple angles, here's an example of me doing this.

for color one thing that helps me tons is figuring out values (this is mostly for digital art) value is the intensity of a color basically and you can check that by putting your colors in black and white, If in black and white your colors are too close together and you can't tell the difference between them it means there's no contrast and that can make a design hard to read, so use contrast to your advantage to lead the viewer's eye, make a more cohesive design and have an overall more appealing art peice

(everything I say here is to be taken with a grain of salt, these are basic rules that I feel are not only important but interesting, when you know the rules you know how to break them to make something new and creative)

thank you for letting me ramble about art lol <3

[glamorous-astrology]

So your a Witch and you have a problem with routines or suffer from chronic overthinking

Listen when I say my executive dysfunction and anxiety can be quite devastating to any form of action I mean it from the bottom of my ✨soul✨ but when it comes to a witchy routine... Oof. These are some tips and tricks I've learned and figured I'd share it with you. Remember this is based off of my personal experience, what works for one person does not automatically work for another!

So first piece of advice in the fight against these unfaltering foes!

Don't fight em.

WAIT!! Hear me out!

Somedays you just can't do ✨the thing✨ i promise you your spirit team loves you and understands and while procrastinating is the enemy of achievement taking breaks and rest are it's allies. Now don't put if off for too long, maybe set a specific date or time to do it and stick to your word. If you make a promise to yourself you must endeavor to keep it. Life happens, it's unfair but you must at least be fair to yourself and to quote Mister Meeseeks "Follow Through!!" This doesn't just apply to witchy based activities either. Sometimes the urge to just not, is your bodies request for something else.

I have so many unread books I don't even know where to start and depsite all the unfinished books on my shelf I want to have more and I really shouldn't be buying more but -

First step when things get overwhelming is to breath.

Secondly you don't have to read all those books today, tomorrow or ever.

It's also okay to just have books and not finish them. I love to collect books. They may call me a horder(they being the anxiety based court that constantly judges my actions) but you'd call me a librarian if I let the public read borrow em, sooooo. Some people collect teapots that aren't even useable but I don't judge them for it. (I kind of do but only a little bit! But that's because I like my teapots pretty yes but you see-)

Speaking of Libraries!

I love the library so much guys! Please please please support your local libraries! They have so many helpful resources, I honest to Gods could make a whole other post about why libraries are important but! ✨ Focus is a must ✨

Your local library may already have that book you wanna buy, if they don't libraries are connected to a network and depending on where you live your local library can actually get books from pretty far away, sometimes they can even go out of network and into another and the cool thing is in the bookstore I can check of my library has it and save my self a pretty penny.

✨ IMPORTANT! ✨

Maybe despite how well written it is, or how enjoyable you find it you find yourself stopping halfway through. Maybe the stopping point isn't the end of the book. The knowledge you'd sought and needed might have been found and who knows maybe later you will finish it but beating your own ass about it ain't going to help. Take your time, knowledge is power but unused knowledge is a precious waste of time and space for your beautiful brain.

I have this spell I wanna do but there's so much I need to do in order for it to-

Pause

Make the spell simpler.

Yep! Not every powerful spell needs to include sage and cinnamon in order to work. Sustainable witchcraft is important. If you don't have the energy, time or money to make your spell all fancy smansy then don't. You're creative and wise, the intent behind the spell is most important and creating your own method using what you have/can afford is not only creative it shows intent. Witchcraft is not there to stress you out or be judged. The only standard for witchcraft is intent. For example! My first spell changed my life and I made it all fancy smansy, I'm talking the full nine yards I had a special knife, fancy fruit, candles, chanting, moon water, I went big sense I refused to go home. My last life changing spell included my tarot deck and a piece of paper, while I drank my morning tea. It's not just the what you're doing when it comes to spells and rituals it's about mindset. Life's already hard enough, have fun with your spiritual practice!

I feel so weighed down, and tired and I just can't find the energy to do a daily ritual but I really want to start one!

That's okay!

I'm exhausted too and also wish to have more routines but you gotta start.

My ideal routine is morning tarot, cup of tea, and meditation. Some weeks I'm up every morning, drinking tea, doing a quick tarot reading, going on walks, just taking in the day before getting started.

Some weeks I sleep through all 6 of my alarms, don't have time to pack a lunch let alone do some tarot and go on a walk!

Routines are there to help build structure in your life, not rigid cages you must appease.

Some weeks, some days, some times you honestly can't be bothered. That's okay but that just means when you can be bothered you do. My tarot decks are sassy as hell to me about it tbh. I'll do my morning tarot or I won't but they understand. But if I have the time and energy later on in the week and just don't? That quick three card reading I was gonna do with my coven mates just become 26 cards plus two Oracle decks (I'm exaggerating a teenie bit but it feels like a lot sometimes) and you know what, that's okay. Your deck is just catching you up on all the knowledge you've missed! You'll make time for tarot, it's not a scheduled appointment, it's supposed to be a meeting between equals.

I'm pretty sure I've gotten off track but to show you the sum my knowledge or TLDR as you young whippersnappers are saying these days.

Basically, be kind and patient with yourself as you establish your routines and find what works for you. Remember your best today might not ne your best tomorrow. Some days the best I can do is drink my cup of tea as I drive down the highway, other times its that nice meditatve walk.

Find what works for you, day to day, hour to hour and remember be kind yourself. You're not just a meat suit who needs to accomplish everything and anything right here right now, your stardust that deserves to enjoy and cherish those happy experiences that can find you if you step out of judgement and into self love.

Remember this is just my personal experience, and you can take it with a grain of salt, a speck of sugar or just toss it over your shoulder.

I'm exhausted since sleep is a elusive mistress that likes to come and go but I hope this makes sense and maybe helps you enjoy your day a little bit more.

~Admin Cryptid

[film-in-my-soul]

thankfully, not dead yet | 1,002 | andthentheybow / @andthentheybow

Summary: Maverick has decided that he absolutely hates bird strikes- this is the first one he’s been caught in, out doing a routine training exercise with Iceman, and now he’s pretty sure he’s going to die.

Put Me Down! | 1,266 | coriosnow

Summary: Goose picks up Maverick because he remembers he can. He also kinda started a trend for everyone to pick up Mav whenever they have a chance.

A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You | 1,376 | boobooblue / @letsboo-boo

Summary: "Isn't that a little tight on you?" Pete manages to choke out when Tom is close enough to hear him. Tom shrugs, a smirk on his face. "It was getting chilly. Figured you didn't need it with baby Goose plastered to you."

Nosedive | 1,503 | Charlotte_Lancer / @charlotte-lancer

Summary: A simple hike takes a turn for the worst.

i'd be home with you | 1,529 | davidbyrne / @katiesharms

Summary: “Promise me something,” Tom rasps after a few minutes, getting Pete’s attention. He looks up and signs, “what?” in response, trying to make sure Tom doesn’t use any of his energy on something like talking to him. Tom raises his hands and starts signing. “Promise me that you won’t try to follow me.”

Mom Said It's My Turn with the Maverick | 1,568 | aelibia / @topgunreacts

Summary: Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world…

Please see below for more recommendations!

The Window | 1,591 | aelibia / @topgunreacts

Summary: The rain fell. Ice and Maverick slept.

who cannot go | 1,621 | susiecarter / @susiecarter

Summary: Maverick felt fine. Completely fine.

there's something 'bout the way (the street looks when it's just rained) | 1,708 | hangsters (alittlebitoftheuniverse) / @hangsters

Summary: Neither of them are ever really sure how this became a thing for them.

What's the Problem? | 1,986 | thecarlysutra / @icemankazansky

Summary: “Please, don’t leave.”

that hunted so to see (the heart that wanted me) | 2,205 | susiecarter / @susiecarter

Summary: Ice used to think he had a pretty good handle on Maverick.

Miles to Go | 2,294 | dalearden / @dale-arden

Summary: Maverick has never had to act on being Ice’s emergency contact before. Not even with Ice spending most of his time in danger as he works, traveling the world and serving his country. Somehow, every time he goes away Ice always makes it home. Like it’s a promise Ice made and is determined to keep. It’s Maverick who is always in trouble, getting into ridiculous accidents and having things go crazy because he’s a hopeless adrenalin junkie who doesn’t know when or how to quit.

i would love you 'til it hurt | 3,012 | stardustsunflower

Summary: Ice looks at Maverick like something he can’t have. He knows Maverick won’t ever look at him back. Or at least, so he thinks.

steal me all the way from myself | 3,094 | StoriesofmyLife

Summary: His whole life, all he’d wanted to do was fly. His dad used to say that being up in the sky was closest thing they had to Heaven and the plane was closest thing to wings that he’d ever have. Maverick had never been afraid of flying. Until today.

doppio espresso (over ice) | 3,224 | seventeensteps

Summary: The bell jingles, and in walks the most gorgeous man Pete’s ever seen in his entire life. “What can I get for you today, sir?” Pete says cheerily, putting on his best customer service smile, offering everything and more. “Double espresso-” “On it,” says Pete’s unfiltered mouth, his hands already moving, before it belatedly occurs to him that he’s just cut a customer off. “Sorry, you were saying?” The man’s stony expression doesn’t change but Pete feels like he’s being scolded anyway. “Double espresso over ice,” he says. And boy, doesn’t that just absolutely obliterate the moment.

Destination Unknown | 3,255 | boasamishipper / @boasamishipper

Summary: He remembers his life twenty-five years ago, when everything was simpler and he and Ice used to fall into bed together, smiling, laughing, the day’s work behind them and the future ahead. How Ice would hold him close, how they’d wake up tangled in each other’s arms, complaining about each other’s snoring, each trying to bait the other into a good morning kiss. And now Maverick’s a captain and Ice is an admiral, and they’re both pushing sixty, and the future they might have had together is out of reach, like a distant star or a long gone dream.

between the lines of fear and blame | 3,606 | boasamishipper / @boasamishipper

Summary: Out of all the things Maverick had expected to eventually kill him — getting caught in someone’s jetwash, being shot out of the sky, his plane’s engine exploding — getting shot by one of his students in a civilian bar didn’t even make the top ten. He never expected Ice to take a bullet for him, either. There's a first time for everything.

let’s talk about sex, baby (let’s talk about you and me) | 3,730 | boasamishipper / @boasamishipper

Summary: I keep coming in to take condoms from the health services desk because I think you’re cute and I’m pretty sure you must think my sex life is wild.

It Was Aliens All Along | 4,031 | Alexis_Tenshi / @tentacletenshi / @slimysuckers

Summary: Maverick had been waiting for Bradley to ask the question for months. He'd rehearsed his answer countless times. That didn't mean it was easy to explain. There was just no good way to say that their enemies had been space aliens all along.

Rhinestone Cowboy | 4,260 | omnidirectional

Summary: Maverick bangs himself up and gets rescued by someone he didn’t expect. A Missing Scene featuring contrived situations, questionable life choices, gratuitous product placement, and shirtlessness.

i am writing graffiti on your body | 4,796 | thecarlysutra / @icemankazansky

Summary: Pete Mitchell tells everyone he doesn’t like how bureaucratic and impersonal this soulmark business is, how there’s no surprise or spontaneity to it, but he’s lying. He likes knowing there’s someone out there who will love him no matter what, and he loves Iceman Kazansky a long time before he meets him. A Top Gun soulmate AU.

bring me back to you | 5,094 | qin_ling / @qin-ling

Summary: In which Maverick and Rooster take a little bit longer to find and steal that F-14. Meanwhile, their loved ones cope.

Mutual Admiration Society | 5,128 | omnidirectional

Summary: Maverick’s back at TOPGUN as an instructor, but it’s not the dream job he imagined. He’s in danger of flaming out... unless he can find a reason to stay.

As My Memory Rests | 5,978 | boasamishipper / @boasamishipper

Summary: In which a motorcycle accident has more consequences than just physical.

I check it, I wreck it (I turn it around) | 6,103 | judep

Summary: Ice is Maverick's wingman and he will be Maverick's wingman as long as Pete "Maverick" Mitchell is up there. Ice is a fucking firestorm and Maverick just can't seem to fight him because He is a maverick but Ice belong with him. To him.

It's (Not) Okay (But It Will Be) | 6,293 | StreetSweeperShenanigans / @streetsweepershenanigans

Summary: The mission was a success. Everyone was alive. Everyone was safe. Everyone was intact and well. Until it wasn't. The world around Ice and Maverick falls apart and upside down around them after Maverick suffers an unforeseen injury resulting from the mission.

Sailor's Delight | 6,374 | saurora_borealis / @tommyjop

Summary: Out in the desert, there’s nothing but land. Land and sky and that single stretch of road, and Maverick is usually the one who owns it. It’s all jutting, rusty red rocks over sprawling plains, and Maverick loves it a little, the way he feels like he’s flying even though he’s not off the ground. There's also not another soul for miles, which proves problematic when one crashes their motorcycle.

you're trying hard not to show it, but baby, i know it | 7,268 | StoriesofmyLife

Summary: Ice wants to know who Maverick was before he became Maverick. He wants to know Pete Mitchell, too, because they’re two parts of the same whole and Ice wants to love that part, too. Because Pete Mitchell was worth loving just as much Maverick Mitchell was worth loving. And God, does Ice love him.

the house that built me | 7,784 | boasamishipper / @boasamishipper

Summary: Maverick goes home.

Melting Point | 12,293 | b777_36n

Summary: A collection of scenes throughout their relationship in which Maverick touches Iceman and he completely freezes up.

Take the Long Way | 13,781 | kerbyfullyloaded / @kerbyfullyloaded

Summary: Five times Iceman tried to get Maverick to come home and the one time he finally did.

baby, baby, i'd get down on my knees for you | 18,090 | boasamishipper / @boasamishipper & simplecoffee / @academicgangster

Summary: Or, the Wooing of Iceman Kazansky by a Very Smol Mr. Darcy

Make A Wrong One Right | 18,803 | boasamishipper / @boasamishipper

Summary: Terrified, Maverick grabs the newspaper off the doorstop and tears the thread off, tearing it open. There’s a story about the nuclear reactor that exploded in Ukraine in April, and another about the death of Ted Lyons. Ronald Reagan is the president of the United States, the Cubs beat the Dodgers last night 9-4, and Aliens is the number one movie in America. The newspaper is the San Diego Union. The date is July 26, 1986. Maverick clamps a hand over his mouth and barely makes it back in the house in time to fall to his knees and vomit into the toilet.

Master Reclist · Personal Masterlist · Blog Nav.

[starflungwaddledee]

clearing my inbox of a variety of asks with text replies, or ones that will get art answers later but that i still figured i could get back to now with simpler responses in the interim.

lots of anons, but i'll ping anyone who i can!

topics include: general nice words + people's theories (thank you!!), dededesign, daroach (sorry), sentient ancient artifacts, magolor (sorry...), whispy woods (SORRY...). there's also a decent scattering of awtdy and clockwork heart tidbits but they're all over the place, and a small collection of increasingly desperate asks hoping bandee will be released from morpho dee 😂

oohh this one is actually super old, sorry that i never got back to it! i get a little overwhelmed by the Nice Words ones sometimes and i'm not sure what to say besides 'thank you!!' because it means a lot to me and 'thank you!' just sometimes feels like it doesn't cut it...?

anyway, i'm very grateful!! i'm thrilled if i could inspire you to try out any constructed-language work of your own!! i'd love to see more of that going on in the kirbyverse so if you ever give it a crack feel free to lmk!

i'm glad you like the full penguin dededesign; quite a few folks seemed to enjoy that actually and i was pleasantly surprised! i haven't drawn that much of most characters besides bandee, to be fair, but the next comic will be about dedede and should answer some of the other questions i've been getting about him too!

i should say that it's likely the totally full penguin design won't make it for the comic, because it's hard to draw the sheer length of their bills from many angles or having the expressiveness i need for dedede, and i really only did that one for funsies. but i'll hopefully find a nice compromise!

aaaa the joy of being mentally unwell about The Characters and The Story. thank you, glad i can be of service! 👍

this is quite perceptive of you to notice and it's definitely something that occurs in the timeline. due to galacta knight's influence (and kirby's altered reputation) visitors and threats- both international and intergalactic- start to think twice before risking an approach.

alas, because daroach appears in the timeline before galacta knight's switch-in occurs, he would already be in contact and friendship with kirby. that unfortunately means he'd meet the same fate as the rest of kirby's existing allies.

@i-only-created-this-to-read a little similar to the above ask, yes, the intergalactic picture of popstar is definitely changed by the presence of a violent, otherworldly warrior and a ruthless hero. i also answered your questions about necrodeus previously and am not sure what else to say about him.

i have confirmed before that dedede is not dead, and more about his scenario and overall role in the plot will be revealed in comics. but i will say that he's a smart guy, despite his silliness, and a loving king. he absolutely came to the same conclusion about the frequency of his own possessions as well, through no small amount of heartbreak.

i definitely headcanon the Lor as sentient; in the light novels, bandee also speaks to her fairly directly. i actually headcanon all the Ancient artifacts as having an amount of sentience (this seem in line with what we've seen in canon, so i don't think it's a reach) and the lor herself seems especially benevolent to me.

our headcanons for the novas are different to yours, though that plays more of a role in the clockwork heart au. i quite enjoy your theories about how the ending might go and you've definitely picked up some details!! i won't confirm or deny anything, but i will say the lor is present in the AU, and that magolor has enough knowledge of artifacts to know that a wish on a wishing star could be a viable solution.

it took a while for folks to start asking me about magolor actually, which i found kind of amusing because he's the deuteragonist (second protagonist, after bandee) of the au!

i do definitely think that canonically magolor lives on the lor starcutter; though he does say he wants to buy a holiday home on popstar! however in awtdy, unlike the dream land four three, magolor's entire timeline is trashed from the get-go by galacta knight's arrival

some of these answers will take me longer to get to as i'll provide them in comics (it should be a fun reveal at least), but i will say: he hates popstar. he hates it there. he'd give just about anything to be anywhere else.

until he meets bandee, of course.

the rest of popstar fare a little better or a little worse at various points in the au, kind of like in the mainline canon timeline. for the most part, galacta knight isn't that interested in most of popstar. he enjoys living there, it's peaceful and undeniably pleasant, and frankly he'd like to continue doing so!

he can be convinced (by kirby, and the maintenance of the lie) to perform care to some of its citizens when necessary- such as rebuilding after a crisis. but in general he minds his business in dream land, and occasionally off-world or interdimensionally with kirby and bandee on missions.

whispy, who also keeps to his own in the woods and is just a cantankerous old tree, is probably fine. at least up until star allies, when he, you know. gets possessed.

@pumpkinnkidd oh absolutely.

@torrentialchaos2 that would be a different story to chrysalis au, i think! one i could write, but haven't. chrysalis au is specifically about bandee, you can't really extract him from it? 😭 but if morpho possessed magolor it would depend on a lot of things: like what is everyone's relationship to him when it happens? i think even when he comes back from his redemption arc, magolor and the gang are friends, but it's not the same as bandee, who is a core member of their unit.

we've already seen what happens when magolor gets possessed and kirby has to Beat His Ass to get him back to normal. and we've seen that when morpho possesses others who are capable fighters, kirby doesn't hold back. so maybe that? magolor is a magical little guy; he's got a better chance of getting spat back out unscathed.

i could however probably write a version of this for magicapple if i wanted, which would be much more emotionally pulverising lmao

@trainerbob23 thank you!! this one took me a bit to respond to sorry, but i'm grateful for the warm welcome! the AUs are definitely my primary investment and i'm glad that folks are enjoying seeing them develop! some of them are connected to each other (awtdy + it's various endings/alts) but others are separate.

i also do have some backstory/lore for starstruck dee, which i'll hopefully get to soon as well. i would say that she is... very much related to stars and the cosmos, yes.

@eliastheownerof0axolotls this one was part of a longer ask (that i've answered part of, and still have another part of in my queue... sorry;; ) but i think this part- especially in terms of kirby- has probably been mostly answered by now! both kirby and dedede have significant roles!

i view dedede as having a mentor-like dynamic with bandee as well as with kirby, and they all care about each other very much! but (especially because they are all adults in my hc) he also absolutely trusts them to handle themselves.

referring to this post and the (cw angst) art at the end. i will hopefully answer some other asks about the clockwork heart au which will satisfy more of its overall premise and timeline and all, but in regards to the peculiar image...

why that picture is completely normal!! bandee is super fine and normal in it and everything is great and good and fine and fine and fine and fine!!! hhahaha!!!

(something very bad is happening, lmao. entirely doomed by the narrative.)

speaking of bandee being doomed by the narrative:

some tags here as well, but i just love the frequency of these...

bandee gets possessed one time and everybody loses it... quick!! when will he get unpossessed!!! save that little guy!!! he's sad so we're sad!! (relatable. everyone is so valid.)

the tags on the main posts about morpho dee are just full of people screaming and crying and being like "NOOO I HATE THIS SM I'M IN PAIN /pos" and it's so good hahahaha

sorry to the folks who hate to see him going through the blender, he's being spun in the microwave at like 90mph on my blog. but don't worry, chrysalis au does have a predictably good ending; though obviously bandee has some capital S Stuff to unpack afterwards!!

🌟⭐✨

aaand i think that's all for now! hopefully if you've been hanging out for an ask for a while you're answer is here, and if not (and possibly even if it is), it's most likely taking me so long because i want to do an answer with art.

i'll try not to let these build up again like this, thank you for your patience!

[sock-devdiary]

Hi! Mind my asking but how did you start making a video game? I'm thinking of making something but I don't know where to start. Sorry if this is asking a lot but I really like what your trying to do.

Hello! I don't mind the question, I'd love to answer.

There wasn't really a lot to it- I'd really been wanting to start some sort of small RPGMaker project to see what I could pull off on my own for awhile now but couldn't settle on anything. It wasn't until after I finished playing In Stars And Time that I was given a bit more motivation and inspiration.

I thought of the concept for this game while I was on a walk and quickly got attached to it. I wasn't sure if the motivation would stick but I knew the scope of the game was something I'd be able to handle. I started making sprites, started testing some things in RPGMaker, and that's when it started. :]

I started with the concept of the story, I brainstormed on it, I drew the characters and figured out what they're like, I brainstormed some more, then I made Red a sprite sheet so she could walk around, set up essential plugins and UI design, and started chipping away at the script!

Start by knowing what you want to do and designing characters you're happy with. Test things out in RPGMaker, then make sure to start writing your script FIRST AND FOREMOST. Don't put it off, make an outline of the plot and start writing it. Once this is done it makes everything a little simpler to figure out.

Hope this helps somehow, I literally just woke up HAHA

[koolades-world]

alright so, quick idea regarding reopening requests! please read more if you're interested in making a requests :) yapping and some probably scuffed math ahead just fyi lol. if you've made one while requests have been closed, please read this too!

i've been thinking about it, and as soon as I get down to a manageable amount, i'd implement this system. right now, i have 77? i think which is a lot but much better than it was before. i believe i started with about 120 something. considering that, i don't think it would go into action until november. if i reopen them in november, if i make a request post everyday and am keeping up with spellbound secrets, i would have 12 requests left, which seems like a good number to reopen on. that's only if i don't go on a reduced posting schedule, and if i solely make posts based on requests. fall term begins in about a week for me, so i'll be getting busier with schoolwork and may not have as much time as i do now. i also love to write things that make me happy, and as well as making posts for holidays, which would mean more requests gone unwritten.

so i'm thinking for the first week of every month, they'll be open. they wouldn't close until midnight of the seventh day or until i hit 30. i hope it never gets to that point, but i figured it would be good to add a cap. this number may change either if i feel like it needs to be raised or lowered. then i'd shut them, work on what i received. rinse and repeat for the next month. it ensure my inbox isn't too full, and that you get your request done in about a month! of course, when we get closer to reopening them, i'll make another post and update my pinned :)

i'm not sure how many other people have been having this problem, but i've been noticing that things i know have been in my inbox aren't there when i haven't touched them, requests will duplicate themselves, or they'll be in an order that they definitely weren't in before. i think it had to do with the fact that i have so many items in my inbox. of course, these issues resolve themselves, but there's no set time for when they'll return to normal. i don't think anything has vanished for good, but i have no way of knowing. i don't want any requests to slip through the cracks. if i accidently do one that was duplicated, it just further delays requests that actually need to be done.

this is the reason i've been deleting requests that have been made while i've had them closed. i hate to sound rude, but it's not too hard to read my pinned post especially when the text for my inbox is "read pinned post" or something along those lines. i even made it simpler to see that requests were closed by not having it under a read more and bolding it. it hasn't been easy to just straight up delete them, but they're just further adding to the number of items in my inbox, which i'm trying to reduce and may be contributing to much earlier requests having issues that i talked about above. i also didn't want to go back on what i said. if i do it for one person, i have to do it for everyone which just isn't fair. if you're one of these people, hey! thanks for reading this. know i'm not mad or upset with you but just ask that you please check if requests are open or not next time :)

just wanted to give a heads up! sorry it's taking so long, but i'm sure you guys understand. if i'm in a good mood and have time, i might double up some days to help cut back on those leftover requests and get them done sooner. thanks for reading! this was way longer than i thought it was going to be haha

have a wonderful day <333

[greenapricot]

Hi! All the titles sound intriguing but I'd like to ask about the Shetland fic. Your Shetland x Lewis crossover is what got me hooked on that fandom in the first place! Thank you! =)

Funny you should mention Lead me wild to your dark roads, because The finish line (a good place to start) is actually the unintended second part of the now three part series. Part two is Jimmy and Duncan back at the house after driving back from the airport. Part three is James and Robbie (and Laura) in New Zealand (and James texting Duncan).

The James texting Duncan part is how this fic came about. I realized that I needed to know what happened between Jimmy and Duncan before I could have Duncan tell James about it, and while figuring that out I ended up writing 2/3 of a fic.

“Who was that?” Jimmy asks, when Cassie leaves the kitchen to put her things in her room.  “James?” Duncan asks. Jimmy isn’t fooled by Duncan’s playing dumb, he never is, but Duncan would like to put this conversation off as long as possible when Cassie could be back down any minute.  Jimmy nods, giving Duncan a look that’s more than halfway to not pleased. “Aye, James.”  Duncan shrugs. “He’s a friend.” “A friend like [ woman Jimmy caught Duncan having wine with ] is a friend?”  Jimmy may be accusing Duncan of something that he absolutely did do, but it still stings. He didn’t regret it when he woke up in James’ bed the next morning, that’s not why he left, he left to make things simpler. He doesn’t regret it now, but he does regret hugging James in the airport in front of Jimmy, giving himself away. DI James Hathaway thinks Jimmy is in love with Duncan, but the narrowed brows and pinched line of his mouth say something else entirely. “What’s that supposed to mean?”  “You said you and Mary were on the outs, but you were trying to sort things out. I’ve been letting you stay here so you could…” Jimmy sighs, long suffering, closes his eyes for a moment then opens them again, gaze accusing. “It’s men now as well?” “It’s always been men as well.” 

Ask me about my wips

[blue-slxt]

Best Part

A/N: I'm currently working on my first series. It's going to be 3 parts and I'm a little nervous about it. I want it to come out well so I'm going back and tweaking things. But in the meantime, I figured I'd give you guys another little quick fluff piece. It's inspired by the song Best Part by Daniel Caesar and H.E.R. so feel free to listen while you read.

Pairing: Neteyam x Fem!Avatar!Reader

Warnings: None, just fluff

Word Count: 909

Summary: You braid Neteyam's hair and he asks you to sing for him while you do.

You’re sitting on the floor of your home chopping vegetables for dinner. Life was so much simpler now. Looking back at your life, you never pictured yourself as the domestic type. You were a bit of a wild child growing up. You loved to get down and dirty, it was your way of life. You thought you would remain that way on Pandora. You pictured yourself becoming a hunter or a fierce warrior charging into battle. But you couldn’t have been more wrong. The one thing you didn’t account for was the possibility that you might fall in love.

The first time you laid eyes on Neteyam, your head just about spun all the way around. And the spark between the two of you was evident to everybody around you. Neteyam spent weeks courting you. He was a true gentleman, and he never missed an opportunity to let you know exactly how he felt about you.

After completing his Iknimaya, he immediately asked you to be his mate. You were more than happy to accept his offer.

That was 2 years ago now, but you can still feel your heart flutter the same exact way when you reminisce on it. You smile to yourself letting the memory replay in your mind.

Right on time, Neteyam comes home and the first thing he does is toss aside his bow and wraps his arms around you from behind. He rests his head on your shoulder and breathes deeply finding his ultimate comfort at your side.

Your smile deepens and you run your hand over one of his arms. “Welcome home ma love.”

After living with the na’vi for this long and learning their language, you had unwittingly picked up a bit of an accent that would slip from time to time. Neteyam thought it was adorable.

“I missed you.” He sighs with his head still on your shoulder.

You look over your shoulder and notice his hair is becoming messy and unruly. “I missed you too. Come, let me refresh your braids. You look like you’ve been wrestling with a palulukan.”

He chuckles and drops his grip on you. You turn around on the floor and start to undo his messy, lived-in braids.

Braiding someone’s hair was extremely personal and intimate to the na’vi. It was one of your most cherished times with your mate. Watching the tension leave his body with every unraveling strand and feeling the softness of his hair as it drags across your fingers. When his hair was undone, you could notice just how much longer it’s gotten. Loose waves fell around his face and neck and it made him look almost modelesque.

“Syulang?”

“Yes Ma’Teyam?”

“Will you sing for me?”

Neteyam would often ask you to sing something for him when you would do his hair. He loved hearing you sing. You never thought you were all that great, but you would do anything for him. “Of course.”

You rack your brain for a song that matches how you feel.

You don’t know babe

When you hold me

And kiss me slowly, it’s the sweetest thing

And it don’t change

If I had it my way

You would know that you are

You’re the coffee that I need in the morning

You’re my sunshine in the rain when it’s pouring

Won’t give yourself to me?

Give it all, oh

While the melody filled the still air around you, your fingers massaged his scalp. You rustled his hair around and caressed his head lovingly. You get lost in the moment and instead of braiding his hair, you found yourself just playing with it. Your head falls forward to let your forehead rest on his back. You inhale his scent and quietly wish for this moment of serenity to last for a lifetime. Just you and Neteyam in your own perfect moment.

I just wanna see

I just wanna see how beautiful you are

You know that I see it

I know you’re a star

He turns around to face you and he’s gazing at you the way people look at gods. He uses both of his hands to hold your face and your hands find his face too. God, how could one be so utterly breath taking? It truly wasn’t fair. Especially with his hair down and loose waves framing his face and his gorgeous golden eyes, your heart simply couldn’t take it.

Where you go, I’ll follow

No matter how far

If life is a movie

Oh, you’re the best part

You really couldn’t have picked a more perfect song for the moment. He kisses the top of your head and presses his forehead against yours. “Beautiful as always.”

Your face blushes a little and you look up at Neteyam and you can suddenly see your whole future together in his eyes. Leading the clan together, raising children, growing old, returning to Eywa together. You couldn’t imagine a more blissful outcome.

Your love for him was overwhelming. You felt as if you could actually be swallowed whole by your devotion, and you wouldn’t mind it one bit. And you could feel how his love for you was just as intense.

You want this feeling forever. You want the two of you to always stay just as strong in your love for each other as you are right now.

It’s the one thing you prayed to Eywa for every day. And she hadn’t let you down yet.