#colored pencils terrify me
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numberonestuckyshipper · 1 year ago
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random percy headcanons:
wants to be the photographer friend SO bad and he technically is but like 70% of the pics come out blurry or weird bc there was a monster attack in the middle of them. his instagram is truly so chaotic looking.
literally always has seashells on him someone will ask him for a pencil or spare change and he has to empty all his pockets of shells to find it. drops his backpack and a bunch of shells fall out. kicks his shoes off and sand and shells fly out and his mortal friends are like percy What the Fuck
his eyes glow underwater!! bioluminescent king. no one told him though and he didn't find out until he joined his school's swim team and terrified everyone (he managed to convince them his contacts were having a weird reaction to chlorine lmao)
he really likes art!! he doesn't just pretend to for rachel's sake he genuinely enjoys painting with her. he likes splatter paint, collages and pop art styles the best. one day after splitting some edibles they realized percy could manipulate water colors and went CRAZY with it
will ask to be excused during class and comes back like an hour later with scorch marks all over his face bleeding from one of his ears covered in dust missing three fingernails rips in his jeans and a fat lip and the teacher is like percy what the actual hell were you doing in the bathroom all this time and he's just like uhhhhhh I have ibs
the brand from camp jupiter did unfortunately (for sally) Unlock something in him lmfao he keeps getting shitty little tattoos. usually stick-n-poke but someone's friends cousin's girlfriend's brother has a gun that gets brought to parties every now and then. most of them are sloppy but you can tell what they are HOWEVER he has one that was supposed to be a seal that came out looking like one of those shitty ms paint crying memes. annabeth laughed at him for ten minutes straight when she saw it.
he wanted to dye his hair blue but he was too chicken to bleach his entire head so he just did the tips. his hair is curly though so it looks absolutely ridiculous but he loves it
percy and annabeth get a crusty little yappy white dog in college and he carries it around like a baby lmao
back to his chaotic instagram, he's got so many pics of him like, relaxing at the bottom of the mariana trench or hugging a giant squid or riding on a whale shark and his mortal friends all think he's just really good at photoshop and this is a very specific bit he decided to commit to. they're always like lol percy where do you even FIND these pictures are you subscribed to like scientific journals for the laughs? but no he just took them all on his shell phone
has an ongoing prank war with annabeth's little brothers bobby and matthew but like it's Unhinged. they're playing 5D chess and she has no idea whats going on
weird tshirts!!! he loves them! like
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shit like this or those 'women want me fish fear me' shirts, anything with a funny or incomprehensible slogan is going in his closet right along with his band tees lmfao
bought estelle a panda pillow pet when she was born 🥺
can NOT bring himself to eat seafood no matter how many times poseidon has told him its fine. he's like NO these are my FRIENDS JONATHAN WAS TELLING ME ABOUT HIS GRANDDAUGHTERS WEDDING LITERALLY YESTERDAY WHY IS HE ON A PLATTER DAD. they had to give up and just start eating normal land food at the palace every time he comes to visit lmfao
gets into horsegirl antics with hazel she NEEDS to know everything the horses have to say. they spend hours gossiping in the stables.
movie nights in the poseidon cabin were 10000% a thing and when he was missing annabeth and thalia and grover (and a few others) would still sleep in there every now and then and talk about how much they miss him :(
percy and beckendorf had the worlds most elaborate handshake
he DOES impulse buy stuff just because they're ocean-themed. stuffed animals, home decor, school supplies, clothes, you name it he bought it if theres like a fish on it
has more scars from crashing off his skateboard than he does from monster attacks
grover is somehow the only person who's ever noticed percy is severely claustrophobic
has a deep passion for adele. I can't explain this one I just feel and know it to be true.
he and annabeth both proposed to each other at the same time and they were SO mad about it they kept yelling over each other's speeches lmao
he can SING but he doesn't know it. sally keeps trying to record him singing to himself but something always happens to the camera and she loses the evidence
called chiron a brony one time and mr d thought it was so funny he was nice to percy for an entire week
the camp keeps trying to convince him to teach sword fighting lessons to the younger kids but he can NOT bring himself to swing a sword at a 9 year old so he keeps getting injured
has the most complicated iced coffee order in the world his go-to local coffee shop finally just put the damn drink on the menu and named it after him
he IS the quiet kid in the back of your math class that always has his hood up to try and hide his headphones and eats increasingly elaborate meals out of his backpack when the teacher isn't looking. one time someone caught him with a rotisserie chicken in the middle of a geometry final.
he argued that he DID have enough to share with the class
currently obsessed with the image of him knocking back a container of sea salt as if it was a shot and his mortal friends being like hey! what the actual fuck! and he's just like uhhhhh anemia kills!
its his birthday<3
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naffeclipse · 7 months ago
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Paper Burn
Animator!Reader x Ink Form!Sun and Moon
Commission Info
I'm not normal about @pure-plum requesting a little hurt/comfort moment from my BATDR DCA AU called The Jester and the Tagalong! I also have to thank Plum immensely for teaching me about animating and what a character like the reader in this instance would do with their work! It was a great help and made the fic so much better for it! Enjoy an inky world that you and the jester are determined to endure <3
Content Warning for self-neglect, pain, and angst.
———
Your inky hands twitch after you jot a number down in the corner of the animation page. A cramp shoots a spasm of pain through your drawing hand and you’re forced to lay down your pencil, then catch it again before it can roll off the uneven table—the muscles at the base of your thumb ache. Sucking a breath between your teeth, you slide the pencil into the front pocket of your jumper.
It’s not enough. The sprawling stack of thin paper lies empty and the few pages you dare to spare for a rushed storyboard are almost crumpled in your offhand. You force your fingers to unfurl and slowly, methodically, fold the storyboards into your front jumper pocket. At least you can take a moment to flip what you do have. Inwardly, you cringe at the inconsistencies you’re sure to find among the pages, spurred on by attacks and sudden escapes to another workstation.
This is the roughest you’ve ever done storyboards and animating with pencils. You have no x-sheet, no light disk, and no peg bar. Inking will be an entirely different hill to climb, but you’ve done it before. Ink the lines and paint the colors, and then you’ll need to find cels. This is stepping farther and farther out of your realm of skills, but the robotic jester promises you that you both will find a way.
Desperation and urgency drip into you until panic overflows into your veins. Just the same, weariness fills your bones after animating for the better half of a day—if such a place as this possesses hours and minutes. The sepia and shadowy colors of Fazbear Studios stain every wall and crevice. You’ve memorized the routes through the sprawling building, each department a massive expansion to work and craft a proper cartoon.
There’s another part of this world you and the robotic jester avoid as much as possible. The Mega Pizzaplex. A living realm for the inky form of cartoon characters to stalk through, beings which you vaguely recall, mostly in keynote frames and final animation sequences.
No place is safe. Only safer. 
A heavy pounding steadily expands behind your eyes as taut muscles in your neck protest the improper angle at which you work. Moon had found an animator’s desk for you to work at, but the inky monsters that sprawl over every inch of this world with gaping, multiple mouths sliding around their glutinous forms, and violet, piercing eyes with vague shadows of bunny ears destroyed it.
This table shoved into a far, forgotten corner of the studio with cobwebs and spilled ink is as precious as each animation paper you’ve collected in runs for supplies. You need it. You need it as much as you and him need your happy ending.
Exhaustion creeps up your back. You close your eyes, rubbing along your temple once to coax away the pain. You cannot stop. There is no luxury for a break. You aren’t certain when more dark, tacky creatures will spill into your hiding hole and sweep away all your hard work in one breath. Worse yet, you must be vigilant for Vanny and Inktrap. 
The former is a dark disciple of the rabbit demon, and she works tirelessly to hunt you and the robotic jester down with the intent to offer sacrifices to Inktrap. The dreaded being also prowls the halls in search of you and your companion. 
Nothing terrifies you more than hiding, caught tight in Sun’s arms as he presses you deeper against the shadows of a wall, shielding your body with his as you both hold your breath. The trembling presence of Inktrap stalking near. You fear if he can’t hear your breath, he will sense the drum-like beat of your heart. 
But he has yet to catch you and the jester. Both of you will get out of here. The cycle will end.
There will be a happy ending for you both.
Don’t stop, you tell yourself. Keep going. Staring down at the current page, there are three figures scribbled in pencil. Two men and what you think—hope is you. The two men are vague recollections from your dreams, possibly memories. One wears a flat cap hat and the other has wild, unruly hair. You press your tongue to the inside of your teeth, overwhelmed by the many more frames you must capture of their figures. It has to be right. You straddle the line between quality and speed, and you just might fail both.
You want to remember more. Vague visions touch you as if you walked through strings of spider webs, invisible, but there, ghosting over your skin. You can feel it, but you can’t find it.
Tears threatening to push past your eyelashes. No. You swallow down the tightening in your throat and slide your pencil out of your pocket.
The first few lines are smooth, practiced, and settled into your muscle memory, but then the cramp returns with a vengeance. You bite your bottom lip and keep drawing. Another line. Pain spasming through muscle, turning to wobbling waves. Your hand closes in the ache. The pencil almost falls from your fingers.
A creak of hinges announces the door opening to your hideyhole. Your head snaps to the entrance. A tall shadow falls inside. Your hands immediately fly to the stack of animating paper, prepared to stuff them into your jumper and then free the gent pipe from where it hooks onto your waist, but the shadow becomes a sharp-tooth grin. Half dripping in black and stained in sepia, Sun strides into the room. He swiftly swings the door shut without taking his glowing yellow eyes off of you.
“There you are, calico," he says as if he didn’t leave you with strict instructions to remain here until he returns. The sound of his voice calms your nerves. His cords are familiar and strong. He possesses such life and heart to his tenor, and you’ve found he can only manage a stage whisper when he desires to be quiet while speaking. You like that. You like a lot about him.
Sun. One half of the robotic jester who stays by your side, surviving with you.
“Hi, Sunny.” You slowly sink back onto the stool which is a touch too high to sit properly with the table you’re bent over. Setting the stack of animating paper back down, you regard him with a smile that takes far too much energy to summon than you like. “Did you find anything?”
He strides inside, moving one crook of his arm and shifting whatever was stuck underneath his armpit into his two clawed hands. The ink of his mouth is dark and lined with sharp incisors curved into a constant grin. Half of his face drips dark ink. His long, lithe body reaches you in moments.
“Yes, and you won’t believe what I have for you,” he grins, bolstered, even in the depths of this sepia-colored purgatory. “I present dinner!”
Your mouth gapes open at the box, realizing the markings upon it are designated for such an entree. When he lifts the lid, you never thought the constant yellow-ting and black colors would ever look appetizing on food, but the full diameter of the pizza, uncrushed and toppings spared of smearing, triggers salivation to flood your mouth.
“Oh my goodness.” You want to touch it, to hold a slice in your hand, but a cramp returns, and your fingers cringe. Sun’s eyes dart sharply to the motion. Quickly, you lower your hand, “Can you feed me while I work? I don’t want to get grease on the papers.”
Sun’s eyes shift, narrowing before he closes the pizza box and carefully sets it on the table, away from your supplies.
“I have a better idea,” he says cheerfully. He takes your wrist and slips his other arm around you, sliding you gently off of the stool and onto your feet.
“Sun, I can eat and work,” you protest. Vague recollections float in the back of your mind through a fog of memories of late hours and coffee cups. Crunch time. “What are you doing?”
“Come here, sweetheart.” He eases you further away from the table. The room is long and narrow, but there’s enough light from overhead to cast your shadow alongside Sun’s. “You’ve been working really hard and we admire your dedication to the perfect sequence, but you need a break.”
“No, there’s no time.” You try to tug on your wrist but he doesn’t budge. 
You watch as Sun takes you by the hand. Gently, he spreads open your fingers as you try to hide the slight ache in the movement. He sets his yellow digit into your palm and begins massaging the pinched muscle. Your eyelids flutter underneath the sweet, almost painful relief from the cramp.
“We will make time,” he declares robustly. His gaze falls over you, softly glowing. “You’re going to save us. The least I’m going to do is take care of you before you run yourself into the ground.”
His fingers begin working over the rest of your drawing hand. His metallic fingertips knead gently into your inky skin, caressing softly over your joints and along the bones of your wrist. The ache calms under the gentle workings of the jester.
Though you long to stay very still and soak it in, you can’t.
“Sunny,” you protest softly. “Please. Let me do this.”
“After some rest,” he says gently but firmly. He boops your nose and then twirls his finger. “Turn around for me, calico. There, that’s it.”
He guides you by the shoulders, softly turning you in place. You do so reluctantly, and with your back to the jester, your eyes fall upon the pages and pages of animation you must fulfill. You must make it perfect. You must make it soon. Your breath picks up in the slightest, anxious, before Sun’s large hands fall upon your shoulders. 
The tension in your neck compounds until the pads of his thumbs, careful with his claws, begin digging into the taut cords of muscle bunching along the top of your spine. A soft groan leaves your lips against your will. 
“Sounds like I found a tender spot,” Sun chuckles softly, but there’s an edge of concern cutting underneath his tone. “We should have made you stop a few hours ago.”
“I’m fine,” you swear but it comes out tired. You would have lost so much time and there’s no telling when another wave of monsters will slip under the door and attack with yellow fangs and inky claws. Even now, you worry about precious seconds. You can lose all your progress in the blink of an eye. Sun and Moon would have to wait even longer for their happy ending. 
But Sun continues unraveling your soreness with rhythmic presses and releases, up and down your neck and over your shoulders. Gently, he turns you back to face him. Your heart beats heavy within you as he takes your hand.
“Sweetheart, if you burn yourself out, you won’t be able to animate, and you won’t be able to make our happy ending.” He lifts one hand to cup your chin. Lifting your head slightly to study you, his glowing eyes miss nothing. He brushes a thumb along the bottom of your lip. You want to sink deeper into his palm until you no longer hold yourself up, but you have to resist. You have to keep going.
“Now, how about some pizza?” He asks in a way that’s not asking as he guides you to the floor. “Come sit on my lap.”
There’s little arguing when he’s made up his mind. You want to fight but the thought of working up all your energy to take on an uphill battle when you’re hungry and exhausted and even the pounding behind your eyes is begging for relief is too much. It’s as if the entire world is against you.
No, not Sun. Never him and Moon. They are always with you.
“You can feed me while I work,” you give but it comes out weakly as Sun’s long arm slides the box off of the table. Settling you into the comfortable fabric of his striped pants, he balances you on his legs and the pizza in the other hand.
“How about I feed you and let you rest?” His voice calmly darkness into something rumbling and sinister. The yellow glow within his gaze vanishes for a brief moment. 
“Sun,” you say softly, but watch him go.
Your heart used to clench at such a sight. A constant fear of being left here alone in the never-ending cycle has never quite fled from the depths of your core, but you’ve learned to wait as Sun’s face begins to bubble with thick inky blots. His entire face darkens like a new lunar cycle until out of the melting dark ink manifests a crescent moon face. His pants shift from stripes to stars, and his claws slip lower, wrapping around your hip to hook you in place. A nightcap sits on his head. The end of it drips with ink.
“Hi, Moon,” you say softly.
A low rasp, sinister and dramatically enchanted as if to be upon a stage, drops from the new jester. “Eat. Before the pizza gets cold.”
His voice might scare children, or maybe just enhance how villainous he could be, but to you, his voice is comforting. You feel safe.
“It’s already cold,” you point out. There is hardly any temperature in the food here. Everything edible has sat and turned stale long before either you or the jester can scoop them up for a meager meal later. You’d rather not think about the number of lukewarm Fizzy Fazs you’ve drunk.
Even the prize of a full, un-squished pizza is still little. All the more reason to escape the cycle.
You wonder if Sun and Moon like hot pizza.
Moon uses his thumb to flip open the box and reveal the greasy sliced food. Even at room temperature, the pizza makes your mouth water.
“It’s good for you,” he grumbles gently like you’re a naughty child. His grip on your hip holds tight as he sets the pizza down and tears off a slice. The cheese thickly tears and you spy glistening, wet sauce underneath. A treasure, truly, no matter how old.
Your heart, however, squeezes tight. Emotion cakes your throat and you try to find the right words.
“Moon,” you say, “Let me up. I need to keep animating.”
“No.” He holds up the slice. His head, sharp teeth grinning, dripping ink down faces you. “You will only work yourself to the bone, doll. Eat.”
You push his arm away but you feel the tension underneath his metallic limb, how he only falls back because he lets you push him, not because you truly have the strength to stop him. His eyes narrow further. You hold his gaze, bottom lip trembling.
“You and Sun protect me while I work. You get hurt. You risk your own lives. This is too important,” you whisper. You clench him tighter in your grasp. “I can’t stop until it’s done.”
Moon slowly lowers the pizza back into the box. His hand, slick with ink, cups your chin. You find your hands falling onto him, holding on as if you might fall. The pressure behind your eyes becomes explosive. The few wet drops upon your eyelashes turn everything blurry save for the piercing glow of his yellow eyes.
“Listen to me.” His voice lowers, intimate and sharp, all at once. “It is not more important than you. You are ours. You are what gets us through this. We won’t let you burn yourself out because you want to keep us safe.”
There’s something there, on the tip of Moon’s tongue. You wait for more but instead, he leans back slightly, as if he already said too much.
“We will take care of you,” he says instead.
“But,” your voice cracks, “but it’s not fair.”
“None of this is,” Moon’s voice softens. His thumb softly slips along your cheek and swipes away an inky tear. Even your weeping is stained by this world. “Please. Eat then rest, doll.”
Another protest is on your lips, but the sob filling your throat cuts it off. Moon caresses your cheek. Weakness overtakes you, the threat of becoming extinguished before you can finish all the pages. Before you can animate yours and his happy ending. 
You’re so scared and exhausted. It spills out of you in dark streaks that stain your sepia-colored cheeks until Moon wipes them away. He starts humming, softly, sweetly, and you lay your head on his shoulder. He pulls you closer until he cradles you in his arms. A hundred things long to fly from your lips. A promise that you’ll do it. You won’t let yourself fail, and the desire for reassurance. That it is okay to rest, just for a moment.
“It’s okay, doll.” Moon murmurs as you weep into his ruffled collar. “I’m not letting you go.”
“Oh, Moon,” you wail, and it sounds so pathetic. You are wasting time. Yet, you have no strength to pry yourself from his embrace—as if he would let you.
“Shush,” he murmurs and kisses your jet-dark, shiny hair. “Calm down. Breathe. When you’re ready, the pizza will be here.”
You hiccup once. You nod, still hiding against him like a child. He doesn’t seem to mind.
“Will you sing me to sleep?” you ask, soft and breathy.
He pauses once. The tapered yet careful points of his claw stroke down your hair, and he breathes a heavy breath. You think he finds it hard to tell you no, at least when it concerns matters such as these.
“I’ll sing,” he decides, “After you eat.”
You nearly wince, but it’s only fair. Slowly, you straighten, still sitting in his lap. Pushing your hair away from your eyes, you nod. Moon gently catches the remaining tears staining your cheeks. A murmur falls from his constant smile that he doesn’t like to see you sad. You tell him the same. 
With a gentle hum, he picks up the pizza slice he left and holds it up to your mouth. You let him feed you, taking a bite and chewing slowly. Moon turns the slice to his sharp-tooth mouth and bites off a chunk. In his harmonic quiet, the two of you slowly eat through the pizza, your energy returning and your mind softening with the comfort of a full belly. 
It’s the best pizza you’ve had in the cycle.
His fingertips slowly work against your hip, rubbing the bone softly through your jumper. Before you can consider asking him to let you return to work, your eyelids grow heavy. Moon’s voice lifts to a gentle bass.
He sings you to sleep.
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fluentmoviequoter · 2 months ago
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Perfect Moments
hot cocoa bar celebration🧤❄️🎄 | requested here
Pairing: Tim Bradford x fem!reader
Summary: While decorating the tree with Tim, you reminisce on perfect moments until you find yourself in another.
Warnings/Word Count: fluff, softie!Tim!! 0.8k+ words
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“Did you purposely pick the hardest tree to decorate?” Tim complains as Christmas music fills the room.
“You picked this tree,” you remind him with a smile and a well-intentioned hip check.
“Because you liked it!”
“You mean because you love me.”
“Some days I really regret it.”
You exhale in faux hurt, then step back from the tree. “Looks good,” you decide with your hands on your hips. “Ready for ornaments?”
Tim nods. As he passes you, he kisses your temple. The song changes to “Snow Angel” before he returns, and you hum while you survey the tree, symbolizing a great year and the little life you’ve built with Tim.
“Here,” Tim says as he sets the container of ornaments on the coffee table. “I think we should start with this one."
You take his offered Hallmark ornament and smile. “I was terrified you wouldn’t like this,” you admit as you place it on the front of the tree. “Our relationship was so new, and I wanted something to remember our first Christmas, but had so many doubts about how well I knew you or how serious you were.”
“Wanna know a secret?” Tim whispers against your ear.
“Always.”
“I left it on my nightstand until March.”
“Such a softie,” you muse under your breath. “I take it back,” you add as Tim’s hands move toward your waist. “You’re a strong police officer and definitely not a big teddy bear.”
Tim rolls his eyes, still smiling, as he retrieves an ornament.
“Speaking of teddy bears,” he says. “I’m pretty sure this ornament was purchased because it reminded you of someone.”
“It’s you in ornament form and I’m sticking to that. The little flannel and the button heart? Absolutely reminds me of you.”
“Just get another ornament,” Tim deflects.
You laugh as you open a box. “Remember this guy?” you inquire as Anson Seabra sings, You’re my snow angel. Don’t let me go, angel.
“Remind me?” Tim asks.
Smiling, you know Tim remembers the Dodgers bulldog ornament. He picked it out during a shopping trip last Christmas because the dog was colored like Kojo and repping his favorite baseball team. When you got home, Tim took it out of the box to hang on the tree, then pulled you close to ask your opinion on where it should go. Kojo took Tim’s affection as an invitation to join you and walked through a tangled string of lights to join your side. Before you could stop Kojo and free him, he circled your legs and pulled you against Tim, knocking the ornament out of his hands. It should have broken, but it didn’t. You took that as a good sign.
“I might have a better one,” Tim says.
You walk to his side and smile at the hand-painted ornament. The pencil line separating the even halves is barely visible past the paint. Your impromptu home date night earlier in the year involved working together to create something beautiful without being able to see what the other person painted. The resulting ornament is one of your favorites.
“This is yours,” you comment as you pass Tim an ornament from his sister. “And this is mine.”
Your ornaments have slowly made their way in together, and it no longer feels like your decorations or Tim’s, but your shared memories and an opportunity to reminisce together for many Christmases to come.
“I’ll grab another,” Tim offers as you search for the perfect branch.
You nod and continue looking, then place the painted ornament next to the Dodgers bat ornament. Tim offers his hand, and you take the ornament from him without looking. Immediately, you know the square velvet item in your hand is not an ornament, but you don’t expect to see a ring box when you turn toward Tim to ask what it is.
Tim smiles up at you from his one-kneed position. With the song, he says, “I won’t ask for anything. No shiny toys or fancy things. ‘Cause I got everything I need with you here next to me. We’ve spent Christmas together, bad days and good days and all the mundane days in between, but they’re all special with you. I don’t want to just reminisce at Christmas, I want to make every single day a memory with you by my side. Will you marry me?”
You nod, the ornaments reflecting the Christmas lights blurring as your eyes grow teary. “Yes, Tim!” you answer.
Tim stands and pulls you into a kiss, then steps back to slide the ring on your finger.
“I actually do have another ornament for you to put up,” Tim says as you admire the perfect ring.
He passes you a silver box, and you extract the personalized ornament. It’s made to look like you, Tim, and Kojo are snowmen, and it says, She Said Yes with the year engraved beneath.
“You really thought of everything,” you muse. “Where should we put it?”
“Front and center,” Tim answers.
“Isn’t that where the mistletoe goes?” you joke, hanging the ornament in plain view.
“Who needs mistletoe?”
You don’t answer before Tim – your fiancé – pulls you into a kiss that warms you from the inside out while twinkling lights and merry music surround yet another perfect moment.
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thisismeracing · 1 year ago
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Charlieverse | CL16
― Pairing: Charles Leclerc x fem!reader ― Word count: 2.1k ― Warnings: mentions of alcohol and Halloween costumes (clowns, werewolves, and others).  ― Summary: When Yn decided to go to a Halloween party with her best friend, Charles Leclerc, she did not consider that some of the fantasies would be so close to reality that they would terrify her. But one thing Yn had no idea about too, was Charles’ feelings for her. All Hallow’s Eve is not the most romantic scenario to confess your feelings, but it might be just the perfect one for them.
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There are many sayings about how sharing is caring, and how life feels bigger and better when you do so.
Charles knew this all too well.
He was used to sharing everything with you since he was a kid.
It all started after you forgot your snack at home. He was only five years old then, but he had two brothers so he knew exactly what to do. Little Charles offered to share his bag of colored goldfish and grapes with you. The next day you shared your coloring pencils with him. It started with simple things, and it grew as you both grew older. All through the school years, Charles and you were inseparable, even with his crazy racing schedule. You would take notes for him, he would bring you stories, and you would study together until late hours. You shared your fears, deepest feelings, and even the shame of being underdressed when invited to a party such as now.
“I had no idea people would go this hard,” you state, watching as the Taxi driver came to a halt in front of the big doors. Gathered in front of the mansion were people dressed as all kinds of gore Halloween beings, some of the makeup seeming too real to your liking.
“We can go back home and change if you want,” there’s Charles' tranquil voice. He is always the one to keep his patience even if the world is ending, and you love that about him.
You shake your head, “We would never find something else in time, plus, we’re together, so… here’s to another good story,” you point to your matching costumes, and Charles smiles.
You’re both wearing Spiderman costumes. Though it felt like the best choice, the easiest one, you should have guessed it was too easy and, therefore, not ideal.
Charles gives you one last wink before putting on his mask. You do the same just as he opens the door for you, and hand in hand you walk through the crowd into the house. You cling to your best friend’s arm trying to stay as far away as possible from some of the costumes.
“You sure you’re ok over there?” Charles asks when you’re halfway to the kitchen, and you tighten your grip on his hand.
You nod, “Yeah, just.. That werewolf costume seems too realistic.” And there’s no need for you to explain to him. He knows you like he knows the back of his hand, his favorite track, his most played song. Charles knows that someone planted a seed of fear about some creatures when you were little, and some of the stories have stayed with you even after you grew. It is a bit curious how despite your fears, you still love Halloween, at least the kind of parties you go to where people will dress in a way that clearly shows that they are human beings and meant no harm.
Were you supposed to guess that a certain crazy clown costume was a mere costume after seeing people being killed by those?
You wouldn’t stay to answer that question.
When you finally reach the kitchen, both of you take off the mask to your friends, hugging and making your rounds. Charles grabs you two a drink and you choose to stay there instead of mingling and risking bumping into scary figures.
“Can you get me another of these?” You mouth to Charles pointing at your empty cup. From across the kitchen, he nods, and a few seconds later he’s in front of you with a full cup.
“They were out of ice, is it ok if we share this one?” he asks over the music and you nod. You’re sitting on the counter, and when Charles turns to your friends he stands right between your legs. One of your hands goes to his shoulders, and you keep talking about your costume as if your heart weren’t hammering inside your ribcage, almost coming out from your throat the second his hand finds your knee, holding it so your anxious bounce can cease.
You gulp trying to keep your attention on whatever your friend is talking about because all your mind can focus on is your best friend’s hand on you, his body radiating warmth into yours. And not that it is unusual for Charles to touch it, quite the opposite, he loves to hug and kiss those he cares about, but it’s just lately your heart seemed to wish for a different kind of sharing.
It wants to share the secret touches. It wants to claim hungry kisses, tears of happiness, loud silences, and whispered mysteries. It is as if your heart created a reality where you had all of this with Charles.
Your own Charlie-verse.
The party keeps going in full swing, and Charles never leaves your side for over thirty minutes. He comes and goes always checking if you’re ok and if you want to go with him, but you choose the safety of the counter and your crowd of friends. The conversation is good, and so is the booze, from the kitchen you can see a bit of the living room and the pool area through the glass doors.
And it’s only when part of the girls decide to go dancing that you hop off the counter, and grab Charles’ hands following him in the direction of another crowd of friends. You’re tipsy enough to lace your fingers with his and to tighten your grip when you pass people dressed as clowns, werewolves, and with fake open wounds.
You end up in the pool area in front of Charles, he holds your body protectively against his, while his other hand has a cup you’re still sharing. The conversation is between the group, but every once in a while something will catch his attention and he’ll whisper about it in your ear, to which you’ll slightly turn your head, chuckle, and then answer him.
Though you felt a bit out of place at first with how everyone’s costumes seemed so extra compared to yours, you and Charles have had a lot of fun. So much so that you have given up going back home and decided to share a cab to his apartment.
Half of the ride a tipsy Charles is lecturing you with his “I told you so” about how he suggested you slept at his place and you denied it before the party. You just rest your head on his shoulder and pretend you are listening to his non-stop rant.
As it happens, the driver seems a bit uninterested in Charles’ rant because he turns the music on, and the last song that starts playing when he makes the curve into Charles’ street is Michael Jackson. You shriek and start jumping on the car seat.
“Chérie, it’s late,” your best friend tries to reason, but you just giggle.
“You have soundproof walls.”
“But not windows,” he tries again, and you playfully roll your eyes before getting out of the car wishing the driver a good night.
“Annie, are you okay?” you start to sing as you reach the elevators, and Charles just fakes a sigh, holding you close by the waist.
“So, Annie, are you okay? Are you okay, Annie?” you sing loudly until you reach the penthouse.
“Love, that’s not Smooth Criminal’s dance, that’s Thriller…” Charles holds back his laughter when you start a made-up choreography in his living room. “Oh mon dieu, you’re so precious.”
You giggle, smacking a loud kiss on his warm cheeks. While you make your track to the bathroom Charles goes to the kitchen.
“I’m using the guest bathroom! Go shower on the main one, you stinky!” you scream from the corridors and you hear his scoff, almost able to picture his eye roll.
You go through your shower on autopilot, brushing your teeth, and reaching for one of Charles’ shirts that are on the guest bedroom bed. Your visits have been so frequent you have everything you need there, but tonight you didn’t want one of your pajamas, you want to indulge in the daydream that your mind is harnessing.
When you reach your favorite Monegasque bedroom you can hear the shower still running, so you settle in the middle of his bed, staring at the ceiling. Somewhere in your head, there’s still music playing and your body seems to have kept a bit of the buzzing from the party. The distant noises coming from the open windows, along with the wind hitting the curtains lull you into a soft slumber, that only goes away when a door closes, you guess it's his closet, you smell his body wash and shampoo before he steps close to you.
There’s too much happening inside your head, so you choose to stay in silence while your best friend watches you attentively, eyes finding yours in a beat.
Charles, on the other hand, doesn’t have much in his head. He only has you. Your smell, your laugh, your voice, your body on his bed wearing his shirt.
“You’re the prettiest person I’ve ever seen,” his mouth works faster than his brain does, and just like that you’re staring at him in confusion.
It’s like his brain is shortcircuited.
Charles gets up from the bed.
He walks to the door, then turns around and comes back to your side. There’s a crease between his brows and you have known him long enough to identify it as worry.
“Sharls, what’s going on?”
“I’m not drunk ok? Before you say anything, I’m not drunk, I’m just tipsy like you,” he starts and you nod from your spot on the bed. “I am so sorry, but I have to tell you this, and I’ll completely understand if you don’t feel the same, but I have to take this out of my chest, Yn.”
Sensing how serious the situation is you sit up, legs crossed one over the other, hands tucked under them.
“I- uhm… See- It’s like this, I-”
“Charles,” you call.
“I’m in love with you,” he spills in a single sentence, but then he keeps going. “I love you so fucking much it’s starting to hurt the fact that I’ve been keeping it from you. And I don’t even know when it started, but I’m so used to sharing everything with you, I just.. I wanted us to share more. I wanted to share my bed with you, and my clothes, and-” he points with his fingers before you could say something, “And I know we already share those things, but I want to do it differently. I want to share romantically. I want to share my heart with you, Chérie, all of it. But I’ll understand if you’re confused or overwhelmed by my outburst, in fact… shit… I should have waited in case you wanted to go home right? Please, tell me that if you don’t feel the same you’ll at least get the farthest guest bedroom, I promise I won’t bother you, we’ll pretend it didn’t happen in the morning and I-”
“No,” you interrupt.
“Pardon?”
“I said no, I won’t sleep in the farthest guest bedroom.”
“Oh- then let me drive you, just…– fuck I can’t I drank… uhm I’ll–”
“No, Charles, stop,” you get on your knees on the mattress and reach for his arm, bringing his body close to yours.
“No, I’m not sleeping in the guest bedroom because we’re sharing a bed tonight. No, I’m not mad about your admission, I’m sharing my heart with you too. Romantically,” you confess.
His shoulders drop in relief, and you giggle, threading your fingers on his soft strands. Charles mutters something you can’t understand because you’re too focused on how his face seems different from this angle, after all the confessed words. He’s still your Charles, but he’s also a new Charles, and this knowledge brings a new feeling to your heart and stomach.
When his lips find yours, soft and warm, a contrast with his cold hands on your jaw and waist, he presses your bodies closer and hums in pleasure. You smile, unable to contain your happiness. He kisses you like you’ve never been kissed before, and when the air has made itself scarce, you part the kiss, foreheads still touching.
“So, Charlie, are you okay? Are you okay, Charlie?”
Charles throws his head back and laughs.
He knows how insufferable you could get once a song gets stuck in your head.
“I was struck down. You’re such a smooth criminal, Chérie. Stealing hearts around so easily.”
It is your turn to laugh.
“That was cheesy, but I loved it,” you mumble before pressing a kiss to his jaw. “I love you.”
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────── ⋆🪩 VOICEMAIL: Hi, lovelies! I hope you liked the piece, I wanted to add a huge shout-out to Delia (@struggling-with-delia on Tumblr) for proof and beta-reading this <3.  Let me know your thoughts on this piece *mwah*.  
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adrealucia · 7 months ago
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hiiiiiiii
Can I pls request an art class Sean? Or maybe one night he can't stop drawing you? Super excited for pt 4 of New Beginnings btw!! (you inspired me to start a fic tooo hehe)
omg, I absolutely LOVED writing this, thank you so much for this req <33 and omg I am so happy to hear that I inspired you to write a fic as well! I hope I'll be able to read it hihi
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Sean's muse
Art class was Sean Diaz’s sanctuary. The scent of paint and the symphony of pencils scratching against paper were his escape from the tumultuous reality outside. Within these walls, creativity reigned supreme.
Sean sat in his usual spot in the corner of the art studio, where he could observe without being observed. Today, the model posed in the center of the room, perfectly poised, but Sean’s attention was elsewhere. His eyes kept drifting to you, sitting a few seats away, completely absorbed in your work. Your presence had become his new source of inspiration.
You had joined the class a few weeks ago, and Sean found himself captivated by you from the moment you walked in. There was something magnetic about the way you focused on your art, the way you held your pencil with such intent, the way you furrowed your brow in concentration. He couldn’t help but steal glances, his curiosity growing with each passing day.
Today, he couldn’t resist any longer. His sketch of the model was nearly complete, but it lacked the spark that your presence ignited within him. His hands moved almost of their own accord, tracing the lines of your face instead. He captured the way the light danced on your hair, the curve of your lips, and the intensity in your eyes. His gaze flicked up to you, hoping you wouldn’t notice his stolen glances, but you were lost in your own world.
The class ended, and as everyone packed up, Sean hurried to gather his things. He didn’t want you to see his drawing. He wasn’t ready for you to know. He barely knew you, but already, you had stirred something deep within him.
Walking home, Sean's mind was a whirlwind of thoughts.
He replayed the way you looked in his mind, trying to capture every detail. The way your eyes narrowed slightly when you concentrated, the delicate curve of your smile when you were pleased with your work. There was a serenity about you that he longed to understand, a depth he wanted to explore. He had never felt this way before, this pull towards someone he barely knew.
When he got home, he dropped his bag and immediately sat at his desk, surrounded by sketchbooks and pencils. He had to draw you again, to capture that feeling that you invoked within him. Each stroke of his pencil was a tribute to the fascination he felt. He drew you smiling, lost in thought, and even imagined the sound of your laughter. He wondered what your voice sounded like, what kind of things made you laugh.
Hours passed, and Sean lost himself in the process. His room became a gallery of your images, each sketch a testament to his growing obsession. He knew he had to talk to you, to see if you were as incredible as he imagined. The thought of it both excited and terrified him.
For the next art class, Sean arrived early, his heart pounding with anticipation.
He rehearsed his words over and over, imagining different scenarios in his mind. He feared rejection, but the thought of not knowing you at all was worse. When you walked in, you took your usual seat, completely unaware of the effect you had on him.
Sean took a deep breath and approached you, his heart racing. "Hey," he said, trying to sound casual, though his voice wavered slightly. "Can I see what you're working on?"
You looked up, surprised, but smiled warmly. "Sure," you said, moving aside to give him a better view.
Sean studied your drawing, impressed by the skill and emotion you put into it. "This is amazing," he said sincerely, feeling a pang of admiration.
"Thanks," you replied, a slight blush coloring your cheeks. "I've seen your work too. You're really talented."
Sean’s heart skipped a beat. "Thanks. Actually, I was wondering if you might want to... I don't know, maybe grab a coffee sometime? I'd love to talk about art and, you know, get to know you better."
Your smile widened, and it felt like the sun breaking through the clouds. "I'd like that," you said, your eyes sparkling with interest.
As you both returned to your seats, Sean couldn’t stop smiling. The rest of the class passed in a blur, but he didn’t mind. He had taken the first step, and that was enough for now.
That evening, Sean found himself drawing again, but this time, he was drawing from a place of hope. He sketched the way you smiled when he asked you out, the way your eyes lit up when you talked about art. Each drawing was more vibrant, more alive. He imagined conversations with you, learning about your passions, your dreams, and your fears. He wondered what it would be like to make you laugh, to see you happy.
In his room, surrounded by his drawings of you, Sean felt a sense of contentment he had never known before.
You were his muse, and he was ready to explore whatever this new chapter might bring. He knew that these feelings were just the beginning, and he couldn’t wait to see where they would lead. With every sketch, every thought of you, he felt more connected to you, more inspired. He realized that art had brought him more than just a way to express himself—it had brought him to you.
authors note: this was just such a goood request!! I feel like Sean can get pretty obsessive when it comes to drawing or sketching so I hope I didn't write him too creepy. hope you liked it <33
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word-wytch · 2 years ago
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Don't Stand So Close To Me — Chapter 10
Eddie x Teacher!Reader
Chapter 10/? 4.6k. Series Masterlist
✏︎ Progress report — subtle strides in secret and deals not forgotten.
✏︎ Series Summary: Forced to move back home to Hawkins after your fiancé cheats on you, you begin to fall in love again with an audacious 20 year old metalhead, only there’s one problem — he’s still in high school and you’re his English teacher.
While you struggle starting over in a place you never thought you would return, Eddie struggles feeling stuck in a place he can’t manage to leave — until you offer to help him. Of all the lessons learned, the most important are the ones you teach each other.
✏︎ Series CW: forbidden romance, slow burn, true love, smut (18+ mdni), internal conflict, student-teacher relationship, 10 year age gap, mutual pining, sexual tension, emotions, drama, angst, character development, happy ending :)
Chapter warnings: flirting, rule breaking, mild exploration through touch, cheating mention
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Monday, November 11th 1985
The fog was lifting in you. 
You could tell when the laundry beckoned to be folded after weeks of neglect. When the act of folding it was something you wanted to do.
When the boxes that had become part of the scenery in your living room suddenly seemed like they didn’t belong there. When you wanted to cook more than just things you could put in a microwave. 
You would wake up on the weekend and ask yourself what you wanted to do with the little free time you had in the space between the chores, and the errands, and the papers you had to grade. You would ask yourself what records you wanted to listen to instead of just turning on the radio to fill the space with noise. Instead of exhausting them all without consideration.
You had been asking yourself a lot of questions over the last two weeks. The loudest of them all — What am I doing?
You would ask yourself this question every morning as you brushed on your makeup and felt more beautiful than you could remember, even since before your life came crashing down this summer. 
You would ask yourself again as you sifted through your closet, as the hangers screeched against the metal pole to dig out a dress from the back that you hadn’t worn in ages. Cream colored linen, tea length, with short puff sleeves, a square neckline, and buttons down the front. It tapered at the banded waist and flowed outward in an A line. 
The question would rattle like a pinball in your mind as you stamped your punch card in the main office. As the receptionist complimented the dress that you had on.
It would sit like a weight in your stomach as you made small talk with the other teachers. As you sat in one of the old scratchy chairs in the teachers’ lounge that suddenly bothered you less and opened the lunch you found the energy to pack again.
It would echo in your thoughts like the clicking of your footsteps down the hallway. 
What am I doing?
It was a question you didn’t know the answer to. 
All you knew was when the wind caught your dress from the haste you made toward your classroom, the smile you stole from him as you passed brought silence to it. That the way he looked at you made all noise, all else, cease. That it made you feel as timeless as he said you were. 
There was a change in him too. It was subtle, as all things were in your relationship with Eddie Munson, but ever since some force beyond yourself possessed you to utter even the barest inkling of your feelings, he was bolder.
He would sit very close to you, oftentimes with his shoulder angled behind you. An action equally as thrilling as it was terrifying. He had done this before on a few prior occasions but never like this. Never for this long. 
He always took his jacket off so you could feel his arm graze against yours as he reached to turn a page or grab a pencil. 
He would do these things so often that there was a quiet, secret part of you that wondered whether it was time to rearrange your classroom so that your desk was out of sight of the doorway. You shot the thought down the moment it intruded. As long as the desk was within eyeshot, you could ration that the possibility of being seen would hold you both accountable and encourage good behavior. That was what you told yourself anyway. 
The problem was that Eddie Munson wasn’t that concerned with good behavior.
Every time he sat beside you, your eyes, in the closeness of his proximity, would find another feature to admire. 
Today it was the rips in his jeans. The way you could see his skin straining against the slits in the fabric. How your eyes could gather the strong angles of his kneecaps and for some reason, this was doing things to you. You would steal glances at them, down and to your right, as he leaned forward in his seat next to you. 
It was always next to you. It had been for the past two weeks.
He pointed at a drawing of a humanoid demon looking creature with horns and a tail in the monster manual laid out in front of you on top of his history textbook. 
“So this is the tiefling race, which is what I played years ago before I took over as DM. I was a tiefling bard, which is like a sort of, uh, musician spellcaster.” 
That was another change — how frequently he would get off topic, and how often you would let him. 
“Very true to life then,” you said with a little chuckle.
His lips curled into a hardened smirk to smother a blinding grin. 
“You think so?” There was a whisper of pink in his cheeks. 
“Oh yeah, absolutely,” you said breathlessly.
Then he did something he hadn’t done before — he put his arm around the back of your chair.
The animal inside you preened. 
Heart racing, you turned your head ever so slightly, allowing your eyes to trace the barely there stubble that peppered his jaw before they wandered to his lips — soft, broad, and still smirking. You were close enough to feel the delicate hairs that strayed from his wild curls brush your cheek. Close enough to feel the warmth radiate from his arm against the linen of your back, like a bubble of protection, or some other magic found in the pages sprawled out before you.
It was hard to think of anything else but you managed. “What do you think I would play?”
“Mmm.” His hum was a warm vibration at your ear. It sent a ripple to your core. Ringed fingers drummed against the back of your seat. “Well, an elf, obviously,” he chuckled. “As for class, let’s see…” 
You could feel the weight of his eyes on you, scanning you as the gears turned in his head. It was quiet in the room, and in the hallway. Quiet enough to hear your heartbeat in your ears. You wondered if he could too.
“See I wanna say wizard because they get their magic from reading books, but…”
You raised your eyebrows playfully. “But?” 
“I think you’re more of a healing type."
“Oh yeah?” Your soft chuckle filled the silence and you allowed yourself, for just a moment, to relax a little bit. To lean into the warmth of his strong shoulder, enveloped in the safety of the secret you both shared. You could catch his scent from this position more than ever. The warm musk emanating from under his arm. The whisper of shampoo and cigarettes. That soft, indescribable scent of his skin. It almost made you dizzy. 
“Yeah, like a cleric, only they get their power from worshiping deities and… I don’t know if that’s really you either.”
You hummed. “Where do you think I get my power from then?”
His voice was soft but certain when he answered. “Within.”  
Flutters — straight to your core.
“Maybe that makes you more of a sorcerer then,” he pondered, tipping his head towards you. His breath feathered your cheeks, lids heavy over deep chocolate eyes. 
You met them with a breathy chuckle, feeling so girlish all of a sudden. As if suddenly you were not behind the big desk, but a much smaller one. 
The pads of his fingers brushed your arm. So delicately that at first you thought it was just a consequence of their proximity, but when they began to trace tentative, tickling circles, it was evidently intentional. 
You swallowed, your skin beneath his touch like a livewire. Every delicate hair on your arm picking up on the movements of his calloused pads, amplifying them like a radio signal straight to the animal part of you. 
He held you in his gaze, eyes wide like a question. But when the corners of your mouth gave way, gave their soft permission, the corners of his did as well. As did the corners of his eyes, crinkling in that way you loved so much. 
His fingers got braver. The circles widened into strokes. His thumb got involved. Still, you could feel his heart pounding into your shoulder. Feel the nerves emanating from under his touch. Feel the want, the care, the ache, the frustration. 
It might have been seconds. Minutes. A small, stolen eternity.
Until a voice echoed in the hallway. Suddenly there was that question again — triggered like a pinball machine, loud and intrusive as it rattled in your mind. Your eyes shot towards the door. His followed.
Eddie took his arm away, and you wondered if the strangled whine that left your chest was audible to him too.
Silence prickled the space between you, ears attuned to the noise coming closer. Eddie’s eyes were fixed on the door, his strong brows furrowed in what you could only interpret as annoyance. The voices grew louder, then passed, fading into distant echos.
The footsteps left behind an ache. Palpable, pervasive. Eddie sighed and looked at you, to which you could only respond with a resigned huff of your own. You must have looked as pitiful as you felt, because what he did next took you by surprise. It always did, even if this time it was something he had done before.
He reached under the desk and grabbed your hand.
It didn’t matter that he’d held your hand before. It didn’t matter even if he’d held it a hundred times. Your heart still leapt in your chest. The pinballs still fired off inside your head with lights and sound effects. 
But when his warm thumb rubbed circles over your icy knuckles, slow and deliberate, soothing and caring, the sounds got muffled. The flashing dimmed. Until there was nothing but a landscape of bones, and tendons, and the meat of his soft palm. Nothing but the valleys of the space between his fingers when they ventured further than they had ever gone before — in the spaces between yours.
Your back might have arched. Your eyes might have rolled back into your head if you hadn’t closed them so quickly. You wouldn’t know because the only thing you were aware of anymore was the velvet interior of the space between Eddie’s fingers. How they filled the space between yours in a warm, comfortable stretch. 
There was a line and both of you had crossed it. Held hands and jumped over it like a broom. You knew it, he knew it. There was no going back. And knowing this, there was another question you had been asking yourself for the past two weeks — how far would you go?
Would it stop at holding hands? Eddie wasn’t exactly the patient type. You’d spent enough time with him to know that much.  
You opened your eyes to the classroom. Your classroom. To the rows of desks lined up like soldiers. To the chalkboards, and bulletin boards, and concrete walls. To the big desk in front of you. To the open door.
Pinballs again. Ricocheting like thunder. Your pulse in your ears, your stomach in your seat.
You glanced down at your hands intertwined, hidden from sight in the shadow of the large, looming desk. You admired how the heel of his hand cradled yours. How perfectly they fit together. The way your forearm rested against his, warm and soft. How secure it made you feel. There was a tug in your heart, deep and thrumming. You squeezed his hand for one more precious second… and let it go.
“I— I think we should, um,” you swallowed and gingerly shut the monster manual. The ache was back, shooting through your chest like daggers. 
Eddie looked at you, the loss of your hand palpable in the subtle pain of his expression. “Right,” he said plainly. There was a knowing there too, an understanding that replaced it more quickly than you expected. 
He scratched behind his neck with the hand you could still feel the ghost of. “So it’s uh, progress report day.” You could tell by the look in his eyes that he was going somewhere with this.
You raised your eyebrows. “I’m well aware.”
He tipped his head towards you. “I believe we had an agreement.” 
“Oh?”
“You don’t remember?” 
“Remind me.”
Eddie reached into the pocket of the jacket that hung on his seat and procured a paper folded into thirds. “You told me that if I got a B in any of my classes that you would let me read one of your stories.”
Your eyes widened. “I did say that, didn’t I?”
He squinted smugly. “You did.”
You glanced toward your grading binder on the upper lefthand corner of the desk and grabbed it, “If I’m not mistaken though, you have B- in my class,” you said, thumbing through the pages to find fourth period. “Yeah, see?” you pointed to it. “Technically not a B, all those missed assignments from September still count I’m afraid,” your voice was playful.
Eddie’s mouth curled into mischievous little grin as he opened the paper in his hands, “Oh I’m not talking about your class. I believe the agreement was for one class. Any of my classes.” He pointed to a line on the page. “I got a B in shop class.” 
You leaned closer, honing in on the clearly printed B above his finger. “It’s — it’s still not the final report, just a progress report.”
“It’s still an official report,” he said smugly. 
It was almost as if he could see the gears turning in your head, the dread setting into your features.
“See, I’ve kept the promises I’ve made so far,” he brought a hand to his chest, “I think it’s only fair that you make good on yours,” he said, squinting again.
You sighed. “Fine. I’ll bring it in on Wednesday. But… it’s— it’s not totally finished. There’s still quite a bit of editing that needs to be done and—“
“I’m sure it’ll be fine. More than fine. Captivating, actually, if it’s anything like the author.” His smile was tinted with childish excitement. His eyes with a warmth made you shiver.
You tucked your hair behind your ear to distract from the heat creeping into your cheeks. “It’s been forever since I’ve even looked at it to be honest. Years actually.”
“Glad to give you an excuse then.”
______
It was a typical Tuesday night. 
A typical night of the flimsy windows in Gareth’s tidy garage trembling at the raw, unhinged, cranked-up-to-eleven power of Corroded Coffin.
“Hand of Doom” was cleaning up nicely. Dave’s bassline was solid. Gareth’s drums were neat and timely. Jeff was nailing the chord progression. Eddie’s vocals were well equipped to handle Ozzy’s range.
You’re having a good time baby
But that won’t last
Your mind’s all full of things
You’re living too fast
Go out and enjoy yourself
Don’t bottle it in
You need someone to help you
Stick the needle in
There was a perfect balance of space for his vocals to breathe over the walking bassline, then crescendo into pure instrumental power. 
A power he could feel as he attacked the strings. An agency at his fingertips as they tapped out a howling melody over the chugging chords laid out for him by Jeff and Dave, over Gareth’s thundering kick drum. 
A power that could sweep him up and away, carry him far from the crushing weight of the stares of his classmates, far from the looks of disappointment on the faces of the other teachers, far from the heaviness of his feelings.
Swept away in a wave of sound, there was only space in his hindbrain for the patterns his fingers made on the fretboard. For his breath to leave his chest in wailing song. 
The last chord of rung out through Gareth’s garage with a thunderous rattle. 
All four of them looked at each other with smiles and nods. Gareth banged out an extra drum fill. Jeff chugged out approving strums. 
They were ready to take it to the Hideout.
“Nice work, gentleman,” Eddie shouted into the mic, met with whoops and hollers. “I think we’re ready for another, whaddya say, boys?”
More hollers and drum fills.
“How ‘bout Ace of Spades?” offered Jeff.
“No, Symphony of Destruction,” countered Gareth.
Eddie noodled out a mindless melody. “I dunno I’m thinking War Pigs.”
Dave rolled his eyes. “We just did Sabbath, dude.”
“Yeah, we just did Sabbath well,” Eddie pressed.
“Why don’t we do something different, like a Rush song or something?” suggested Dave.
Gareth snorted. “Rush isn’t metal. We’re a metal band, dude.”
Dave rolled his eyes. “Whatever, you couldn’t handle a Rush song anyway.”
“Could too, asswipe. You know what, yeah, let’s do Rush. I wanna see those fat fingers of yours fingers of yours find their way around the bassline,” Gareth laughed.
“Shut up!” Eddie hollered. “Everyone just think about it and we can vote on Saturday. We’ve got like half an hour before we’ve gotta leave anyway.”
“I can’t Saturday, remember? Me and Cindy are going to a movie.”
A low ooh emanated from the guys. 
“What ‘cha end up picking?” asked Jeff.
“Back to the Future. Cindy still hasn’t seen it.” 
Dave balked. “Seriously? Does she live under a rock? It’s been out since like, July, dude.” 
Gareth rolled his eyes. “Yeah, seriously. Cindy doesn’t go to a lot of movies, she’s into like… books and stuff,” he said, a touch of pride colored his voice.
“Ooh so cultured,” Dave taunted.  
“Dude shut up, you’re just jealous ‘cause I have a date. I feel like that’s a good one though, right? I mean it’s got action and a sorta romance but it’s not too serious?”
Jeff shrugged, “Yeah I dunno, do girls like those kinds of movies?”
Gareth gave a puff of air through his nose. “Depends on the girl, they don’t have a hivemind, Jeff.”
Dave snorted. “Like you know anything about girls.”
“More than you!”
Dave rolled his eyes. “You got one date you haven’t even been on yet — doesn’t make you an expert.”
That’s when three of them turned to look at Eddie.
Eddie glanced around nervously, “What?”
“You’ve like… been with girls before, right?” asked Jeff.
Eddie scratched the back of his neck, “Uh, yeah.”
Truthfully, Eddie would hardly consider himself an expert on women. But in a garage full of virgins, his few summer flings would render him one by default.
“Yeah, haven’t you like,” Dave raised his eyebrows suggestively, “Done it?” He gestured with his hands, his index finger moving in and out of the circle he made with his other.
The boys erupted in wheezing cackles.
Eddie snorted. “Yeah I’ve done it,” he said, heat creeping up his neck. 
“Ok then, so like, what should Gareth do on his date?” asked Jeff.
“Yeah what should Gareth do to… you know,” Dave chuckled lewdly.
Gareth scoffed. “Dude I’m not trying to score on the first date. Cindy’s not like that. Besides, I’m not a total sleazeball.”
By Gareth’s definition, Eddie certainly would be. He could count the number of actual dates he’d had on less than one hand. The number of girls he’d slept with on about the same. Actually, it was rare that a date coincided. There was the girl he met at a carnival the summer he turned 17. That was short-lived. Then there was another girl who spent July with her grandma at the trailer park. He was 19 then. They would fool around in the woods outside of Forest Hills before she moved on too. That winter he would meet another at the Hideout, just passing though. She never even called him back. Could he really consider any of them dates?
The boys quarreled amongst themselves and Eddie found his thoughts drifting as they always did — to you. The truth was he had no idea what he was doing. What he did know was how good it felt to be next to you. To touch you. To hear your thoughts on anything at all. To lace his fingers between yours and watch the sigh as it left your body. To pretend that you were his for one stolen moment.
What he did know was that he wanted to take you on a date. Like a real, proper date. He wanted to buy you flowers and open doors for you. He wanted to sit down across from you over dinner, to see your smile in a candlelit glow, to pay for it at the end. 
What he did know was that he’d never felt this way about anyone before. What he also knew was that he could do absolutely none of these things with you in public. 
But he did know what he wanted.
“I dunno, man. Just like, buy her a ticket, get her some popcorn, be a real person,” Eddie offered finally.
“And get a spot in the back of the theater so you can —” Dave turned around, moving his hands up and down his body like he was making out with his bass.
Gareth threw a drumstick at him.
______
It was a typical Tuesday night. 
A typical night of coming home later than you wanted after a pointless faculty meeting.
The breath you took in the crisp air outside the door to your apartment was deep and ragged as you turned the key. You could still feel the tacky chalk on your fingers as you pressed open the door. The echos of the questions you would answer over and over to raised hands still ringing in your mind. The adrenaline still coursing through your chest, tight and constricting. The mask that still weighed heavy on your face.
You shut the door behind you and removed your boots, and the mask.
The sun was going down already. Dim and quiet. Not a single sound for your tired voice to fight anymore.
It was nothing like your house in Indianapolis, the old craftsman bungalow that you had loved so dearly. A real house with character and charm. A kitchen with a big gas stove, and a dishwasher, and  actual counter space. A dining room with a table big enough to host Thanksgiving. 
It was a place would never have been able to afford on your own. Not on your meager teaching salary. Not in a city like that. 
You might have been able to afford something small here in Hawkins, if you’d saved for it long enough. One of those little one-story shoebox homes built in the 50s near the neighborhood you grew up in. But buying a house just felt so permanent. 
You hung your keys on the hook by the door. There was no character in the plain white walls of the entryway. None you could gather in the hall leading past the nook of your kitchen into the wood paneled confines of your living room. No space for a dining room table. 
But the carpet still cradled your aching feet. There were still your records, and posters, and television exactly where you left them. There were still your books overflowing on the meager shelves you were able to squeeze into your bedroom. You couldn’t take the built-in craftsman cabinets with you when you moved. There was a lot you couldn’t take with you, and other things you wished you could have left.
There was one box you hadn’t unpacked yet. It was sitting in your closet, pushed back into the corner under summer dresses and winter coats. It was a box you hadn’t even unpacked at your old place in Indianapolis. One of those boxes that traveled with you from place to place ever since you packed your dorm room up for the final time your senior year. 
Sliding open the slatted wood door, you reached under the clothing and dragged it out into your bedroom. It was not that big, but it was heavy.
You sat cross-legged on the carpet and hooked your fingers under the cardboard, folded in on itself to keep it shut without tape. It took a good tug to untuck one of the panels. Dust powdered the air as it sprung open. 
It was hard to remember the last time you’d opened it, let alone everything that was inside. You sifted through the contents as the memories returned to you.
There were a few notebooks, an old journal, a few Polaroid photos you had forgotten about. Just you and your roommate doing stupid poses, hanging off of the bunk bed you shared like children.
There were many things that were more or less junk. Things that at the time of packing you just couldn’t seem to part with, like an old party hat from your roommate’s 21st birthday — crumpled and creased under the weight of time. You remembered decorating it with her and your other friends at the table in the common room. You all looked ridiculous wearing them on the town, going from bar to bar, your bright colored hats standing out like beacons against the backdrop of the January snow. 
There were other things — a few postcards from friends brave enough to study abroad. A folded world map that once hung in the living room of your first apartment, the one you scrounged for with your best friend. In hindsight it was even smaller than the one you had now, and it had two bedrooms. It felt big to you then. 
That was before you met Dan. 
Before you settled into the craftsman he’d purchased in the historic part of town. Settled into routines and scheduled fancy date nights. Settled into planned family outings and weekends home in Hawkins where he would surprise your mother with news of his promotion at the law firm over dinner. News of the computer he’d purchased for you. News of your engagement.
Before you added more things to the box. Things that didn’t fit into you schedule anymore. Before you’d moved it here.
Before he left behind an ice in you.
There was one thing in the box that you expected to find. It was a black three-ring binder. Unassuming, but most important. 
You cracked it open and stared down at the first page of your novel, quietly bracing yourself for the contents. It had been ages since you’d looked at it. You wondered if the years of separation between the you of the present and the you who wrote it would determine whether it was actually any good or not. In your memory it was. 
You thumbed through the pages, silently critiquing your choice of verbs, your lack of variety in the dialogue tags, how tangibly painful it was for you to set scenes. 
The story was there though. That was the thing that mattered most. The verbs could be changed, better tags could be added, the scenes could be more fleshed out. But the story held water.
Most distinctly of all, you remembered the thrill of writing it. The rush of being flooded with ideas. The hours you would spend in the car that flew by in a vivid daydream on the weekends you visited Hawkins. How every song on the radio seemed to fit the telling of your story. 
There was a dreaming taking root in you again. Yesterday. Now. For the past two weeks. You felt it like the rush of wind that caught your dress as you glided down the hallway. The airy softness that pervaded your thoughts and made you want to dance.
You thought about the last time you felt this way.
The last time you did something for you and only you.
The last time you pursued what it was you really wanted.
______
A/N: You didn’t think I was going to leave Chekov’s unfinished novel sitting on the mantle did you?? ;)
A technical note — the tiefling race wasn’t introduced to the game until 1994 but we’re going to ignore that because I think it’s really fitting for Eddie. :)
As always, I deeply appreciate any and all comments -- keyboard smashing, theories, small novels, all of it. Hearing your reactions to my story fuels me in ways that I can only begin to tell you.
Please reblog and help others to find my precious creation! ✨
Taglist: @mermaidsandcats29 @toxicjayhoo @ooo-protean-ooo @jadequeen88 @wroteclassicaly @kissmyacdc @mantorokk-writes @loveshotzz @newlips @kasbite @trashmouth-richie @carolmunson @wordscomehither @munson-blurbs @blue-mossbird @alottanothing @bebe0701 @latenighttalkingwithgrapejuice @bibieddiesgf @alizztor @godcreatoreli @shotgunhallelujah @ethereal27cereal @munsonsgirl71 @luna-munson83 @eddiemunsonsbitcch @tlclick73 @emxxblog @siriusmuggle @sidthedollface2 @dollalicia @lma1986 @catherinnn @eddiemunson4life420 @readsalot73 @big-ope-vibes @ruby-dragon @ladylilylost @3rriberri @princess-eddie @nightless @eddieswifu @thew0rldsastage @quinnsfineline @chaoticgood-munson @hanahkatexo @eddiemunsonsbedroom @beep-beep-sherlock @emily-roberts @averagemisfit03
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thecommunityfridge · 5 months ago
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A Masterpiece Part 2: The Wrath of Dom
By Sunset Ursule Bassette @pinkducttape
CW: diapers, spanking, mouthsoaping, extreme punishments, unsanitary play
Special thanks to @mommyvalfie for giving me good (and terrifying) suggestions for punishments!
Sobbing echoed through the house as you sat, fighting to keep a stern look on your face as you watched your Little struggle to clean the unspeakable mess they had made. It was hard to believe they had actually done something so childishly naughty, but you weren't really upset. How could you be, when this was exactly the behavior you'd be trying to encourage for so long?
Now, yes, when you'd gotten home from a long day of work to discover your precious baby had coated the wall of your office in a rainbow of muck and crayons, you'd been mad.
Furious, actually. They had broken so many rules in pursuit of their "art" beyond just making a mess: entering your office, not having a diaper on, unsupervised art supplies, and you're sure you could come up with more if you wanted.
But as you tired out your hand paddling them, you calmed down pretty quick. They had been left unsupervised, and had gotten so adorably regressed as they tried to make you a surprise, it was hard to stay mad.
Plus, it had given you an excuse to exercise your sadism a bit, you smile to yourself, remembering the last hour or so...
The first order of business was to clean up the puddle your distracted diaper-dumper left. You made them watch as you wiped it up with a clean diaper, then you assembled their markers and crayons and colored pencils on the floor, and made them kneel, holding the now soggy diaper to the wall with their nose.
"Bu-but Mommy, w-what if I peepee agai-i-innn?" They whimper, sobs making them hiccup through the question.
"Well pissy-pants, you've already gotten in a lot of trouble for going potties all over the floor, if you don't want to be in even bigger trouble, you'd better do your best to pretend to be a big kid and not get all the nice art supplies Mommy got you all soaky-woaky, shouldn't you?"
Leaving them to the time-out, you quickly got to work cleaning up the most egregious and disgusting parts of your Little's art project, making sure to document the process thoroughly so you could show it off to your friends and their subscribers.
With all the most toxic things scrubbed off your once-pristine wall, you grabbed your baby and laid them down, taping them into the cold, soggy diaper they'd been holding up. They, of course, tried to protest, but a few spanks to their rapidly bruising thighs quieted them.
It took more than a few spanks to keep your beloved stuffie-humper under control when they realized the next stage of their punishment, but they could hardly refuse you, so in went the soap, and the scrubbing began, bringing you back to the present as you lost the fight against a smile.
Your sub was just so adorable, hands planted firmly on top of their head, bruises on knees, bottom, and thighs combining with abject humiliation to leave them weeping as they tried desperately to use their soapy tongue to lick the wall clean.
As you watched them, ready to reapply the soap as soon as they flagged, debating if the rest of the evening should start with an enema, you felt your heart fill with love.
They really were your masterpiece.
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rintaroll · 2 years ago
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❝ INSIDE THE LINES. ❞
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— during matsukawa's time babysitting your niece, more than a couple realizations occur to you.
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⊱┊pairing. matsukawa issei x gn!reader ⊱┊tags. fluff, established relationship, reader has a 6 year old niece and works at the bakery, food mention, mattsun has a sleeve tattoo :], unedited ⊱┊wc. 1.3k ⊱┊note. cleaning out my drafts hehe this was back when i had my mattsun brain rot (OH btw while writing this he works as a tattoo artist in my mind but i didnt mention it anywhere)
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© RINTAROLL
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"issei, i'm so sorry-"
"it's fine," matsukawa waves his hand dismissively. his eyes flicker to the clock on the wall. "when are you coming home?"
"soon. i just have to frost the cupcakes and wait for the customer to pick them up." you pan your phone to the chocolate cupcakes, fresh out of the oven and still steaming hot.
"those look really good, babe." matsukawa muses.
you hear a small voice squealing from behind the camera. "i wanna see!"
your boyfriend chuckles, eyes trained on your niece, himeko, whose ears have perked up at the word 'cupcakes'. the six-year-old scrambles onto the sofa, comfortably nestling herself into matsukawa's side. her eyes widen when she finally sees the cupcakes in all their chocolatey goodness. "yummy..." she says, eyes boring into matsukawa's phone screen, unblinking and shiny.
you pan your phone back to your face. "they're not for you!" you remind her.
"i know!" himeko sighs dramatically, strands of hair falling onto her face. mattsun effortlessly brushes it back. "i have to wait for tomorrow so we can make them together."
"yes, that's right." you nod in approval.
"why can't it be tomorrow already?" she pouts. mattsun doesn't realize, but your eyes are trained on him while he stares at your niece while adorning an amused smile.
"hm," you ponder. "maybe if you sleep early tonight, then tomorrow will come earlier?" a sly grin forms on your lips.
himeko narrows her eyes at you. "that's not gonna work on me!"
you shrug. "worth a try."
matsukawa snickers at your failed attempt to trick her. "smart girl," he praises her before raising one of his hands, which is met with a high five from himeko. your niece then proceeds to stick her tongue out at you.
you shake your head, but there's a smile on your lips despite you doing so. she might as well steal your boyfriend at this point, you think to yourself.
you can almost remember the good times—when himeko was four and hiding behind your legs, while matsukawa was crouching in front of you. she was terrified, little hands gripping onto your pants. she told you he looked like a gangster, with all the tattoos covering the entirety of his right arm. "what if he kidnaps me?" she wailed once he leaves, to which you comfort her by saying that he won't. from her skeptic expression and her glassy eyes, it was safe to say that she was far from convinced.
and yet now here you are. with your boyfriend and your niece in cahoots, conspiring together to overthrow you someday.
"anyways, i was calling because she wanted me to tell you she finished her coloring book, isn't that right, hime?"
halfway through his words, himeko lets out an 'oh!' and jumps up from the couch. she picks up her coloring book off the floor, where it was surrounded by an assortment of colored pencils and markers in disarray. flipping to the last page, she proudly shows off her latest piece of work. "look!"
you gasp, genuinely admiring the effort she's put into coloring in the drawing of a fish. considering how she's just turned six, she's done a wonderful job in coloring inside the lines. "that looks so nice! did you do that all by yourself?"
"yep!" she chirps, nodding excitedly before stopping to ponder for a moment. "hm... i guess, uncle mattsun did help me color the amenomies..."
"anemones," matsukawa stage whispers.
"right, amenemones."
you and matsukawa bite back your laughs. "it looks really good, himeko," you comment, still smiling.
himeko nods absentmindedly. it becomes obvious to both you and matsukawa that her attention is not on either of you anymore. she goes out of frame as she continues to flip through her coloring book and zeroes in on her work, leaving matsukawa the only one left in view of the camera.
your eyes flit to the top of your phone screen, clicking your tongue when you read the time. "alright, i better go and start frosting. the customer will be here soon. bye, himeko! bye, baby."
matsukawa's heart flutters helplessly. he will never get tired of you calling him that. "see you," your boyfriend beams. although still engrossed by her coloring book, you hear your niece mumble a soft 'bye' right before the call ends.
pocketing his phone, matsukawa turns his focus back on himeko only to find her tiny lips curled into a frown. "something wrong, sweets?"
she looks up, with her brows all scrunched up. matsukawa feels his heart melt at the sight. "i'm out of pages. what will i color now?"
"i'll buy you another one tomorrow, okay?" he pokes her nose.
with a giggle, she scrunches her nose in effect. "okay."
an idea spontaneously strikes matsukawa. it might be one of the best ideas he's had in a while—the realization that himeko brings out his creative side more often than not quickly becomes an afterthought.
"actually, hime..."
her ears perk up, big eyes staring up at him. those big, doe eyes he has not learned how to say no to.
"i know something else you can color."
matsukawa was sure he saw himeko visibly light up when he offers his tattooed arm. he doesn't need to tell her twice. she expeditiously collects her markers off the ground—she's big enough to know that pencil colors won't be able to color in your skin!—and spreads them out on the sofa next to where both of them sit.
snuggled into his side, matsukawa has his tattooed arm around her as himeko starts to color in the tattoos from the ones on his forearm. "i'll make sure your arm looks extra pretty!" she exclaims excitedly.
"can you make it look as pretty as you are?"
himeko tilts her head to the side as she thinks of an answer. "hm... maybe. i'll try." the earnestness in her answer makes matsukawa chuckle.
as himeko continues, her inquiries about his sleeve don't stop. did it hurt? (just a little bit.) what's the meaning behind this one? (there's no meaning to that one. this one, however...) are you gonna get a tattoo of y/n? (i already did.) can i get one too? (matsukawa laughs awkwardly when he hears the last question, immediately changing the topic by asking her what her favorite color is. he doesn't want to get into trouble.)
the conversations tone down when himeko makes it halfway through matsukawa's forearm. he knows himeko turns quiet once she's focused. it's only when matsukawa feels her marker slip that he realizes that she has nodded off. making as little movement as possible, he closes the cap on the red marker that she was holding and puts it aside.
half an hour later, you tip-toe into your living room with the intention to surprise your boyfriend and your niece at heart. as you get closer, suspicions start to arise when you realize that it's awfully quiet.
wait, are they-
oh.
they are.
your heart blooms at the precious sight of matsukawa and himeko fast asleep on the couch. matsukawa's head is lolled back on the back of the sofa, his arms around himeko as she is curled up into his side. they look so comfortable and peaceful, soft snores coming out of the both of them with hideko's head rising up and down along with matsukawa's chest with every breath that he takes.
you just finished snapping a quick picture when realization sets in.
and no, it's not about how matsukawa has successfully won her over for good—that realization has set in a long time ago.
but it's realizing that you want to spend the rest of your life coming home to this sight. him dozing off on the sofa, waiting for you to come home, and maybe a child, or two, of your own curled up next to him.
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vocabulary !
himeko is written like so: 姫子 in kanji. 姫 (hime) means princess, while 子 (ko) means child. mattsun's nickname for her is hime, which essentially means he calls her 'princess'.
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dontmindme-imjustfangirlin · 11 months ago
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it's MY turn to share my ratgrinders theory
this has been stewing in my head for weeks and it has little to no support from what we've seen thus far but it speaks to me and may not be coherent but here it is. this got suuuper long so everything is under the cut.
what if the ratgrinders aren't evil or manipulative, what if they're just traumatized and in way over their heads and scared?
i just keep picturing them running in parallel to the bad kids' freshman year. just another group of six kids with powers and abilities they can't wait to learn to harness, to use; to make the world better and to help. arthur aguefort stands in front of them on the first day and tells them an adventurer is a violent wanderer. he romanticizes the adventure, the glory, the prestige. they go to their first classes, and kipperlilly sits two seats behind a goblin her height with a briefcase trying to hand out business cards with his phone number on them; hakinvar, oisin sits a row away from abernant, adaine in material components; ruben ducks his chin down to avoid his brotherdaduncle? henry and completely misses the tiefling girl stomping past the bard class door; mary ann boredly watches on as a half-orc three times her size sings at her barbarian instructor; ivy rolling her eyes when a braggart of a child cold-cocks a fellow freshman; lucy sits beside a redheaded girl who, in the rush of first-day jitters and habitually shielding her little brothers from her parents' vitriol, forgot to bring a pencil to class. of course lucy has one to spare.
i wonder how they met. who found whom first. if kipperlily, type-a and organized, presented everyone she met with a perfect four-year plan. day one to graduation laid out in color-coded sections, the school years broken down by quarter. maybe she found mary ann first, and mary ann went along with her because no one else had bothered to approach. ruben was two feet tall at best and could barely see over the crowd; he kept getting his feet stepped on until a frost genasi gently caught his wrist and healed his bruises with a soft burst of chilly, bracing wind. oisin's horns caught on ivy's bow as they passed by, and he apologized so profusely and earnestly she could only laugh. maybe kipperlily and ivy went to the same middle school, and kipperlily was so excited to see a familiar face she marched right up to her and oisin. maybe lucy noticed the strawberry plush keychain swinging from mary ann's backpack and approached to tell her how much she loved it. she had a matching watermelon, you see. they laughed, hopeful, right there on the sunny turf of the bloodrush field. they decided to call themselves the high-five heroes.
they were so excited to take on the world. they thought they were ready. and then the screaming started.
they'd been at school for less than a day, and the cafeteria was destroyed. the half-orc mary ann watched disinterestedly had been killed. the redheaded cleric lucy gave that pencil had died, too, blood staining the wood of the no.2. the lunch lady who smiled at ivy despite the grimace on her face had been killed. the counselor who said "welcome to aguefort" to oisin with a calming smile had been killed - murdered - by their principal, who immediately took his own life as well in order to bring the two students back.
an adventurer is a violent wanderer. but death and violence found them without warning, and without much wandering at all. the world was a vast and dangerous place. kids died on the tiled floor where they ate lunch. girls were going missing; the most recent one to go missing, penny luckstone, bore a terrifying resemblance to kipperlily.
the far haven woods were not very far at all, but they were safe. they were close to home. they stomped on rats and small elementals and this was not the glory they dreamed of, the rush of adventure or the thrill of wandering this vast world. this was not making the world better. but then even home was not safe anymore. the coach of the bloodrush team pulled half his athletes into a cult and tried to kill their fellow classmates. their assistant principal ended up being an evil dragon and defeated by the aptly named bad kids.
the bad kids, who for their part spent their freshman year murdering people in car chases, doing sick kickflips in abandoned mithral mines, releasing devils from gemstones, tearing up arcades, getting themselves arrested, and saving the missing girls and the world. as sophomore year rolled around, maybe the high-five heroes looked at each other and thought, surely we can do that. they thought they were ready.
their path hadn't been a glorious one, but they grew stronger nevertheless. mary ann never grew taller, but whenever she flew into a rage, she was scrappy and fierce and relentless. ivy's arrows always flew true. oisin bolstered their numbers with fey, elementals, constructs, once even the faded visage of one of his draconic ancestors. kipperlily ducked and wove between rats and put them down with quick slices, so rapid and humane they never felt them. ruben tuned his guitar to folksy ballads and inspired them to imagine they could be more than rat exterminators in the forest behind the school. and dear, sweet lucy, their glue, who kept them safe and healed their wounds.
sophomore year included a project worth a whopping sixty percent of their grade. this did not surprised the high-five heroes like it did the bad kids. preparations for this were baked into kipperlily's plans from the first day of school. ideas for projects were tacked up on her bulletin board and home and in sticky notes in all her binders. i wonder if the high-five heroes really cared what they did, just so long as it was something more that indiscriminately killing rats in the woods. lucy was a cleric; surely she heard whispers of the forgotten one, the god of giants whose name was stricken from the giants' records. maybe the name was hidden so well she had no idea why this god was one best left forgotten. maybe she thought even gods of rage deserved redemption, kindness, a second chance.
sophomore year flew by in a blaze of research and magic. oisin and kipperlily spent long nights in the library and on a rotating series of floors reading tomes of religious history. lucy prayed and communed with her goddess for information, snuck ancient giant texts out of the library and translated them for all to read. ivy and ruben weren't scholars, but their suggestions were occam's razor slicing through thousands of dusty pages of arcane theory and religious treatise. the simplest explanation is likely the right one. mary ann was as quiet as ever, but after long nights of reading, the high-five heroes would awake under soft, fluffy blankets, a plush nestled right up beside them.
when did things start to go wrong? when did ruben's lyrics take a turn to the dark and angry, the romanticizing of self-harm? when did kipperlily go cold and controlling, her thin-lipped smile an iron veneer over anything beneath? when did ivy's attitude turn disinterested and condescending? when did mary ann go into a rage and sneer, all teeth and claws? when did lucy realize they had passed a point of no return and return to the woods to revive the rats they killed, a small penance only she could offer?
what happened that night in the forest? the night lucy died? was it a ritual gone wrong, the culmination of a year of research trying to contact a dead god? was it a channeling or communion turned possession? something dark and evil came to the far haven woods that night. it took their dearest friend from them. was it a rage, this god possessing lucy and forcing the rest of the high-five heroes' hands? was it a gambit, the giant god of rage returning to snatch lucy's soul from her body as collateral?
learn my name, the god whispered that dark night. bring me back, and i will bring her back. you need my name to get her back.
they thought they were ready. they were so, so wrong.
what else could they do? where could they go? they could hardly tell anyone they killed their cleric trying to contact a dead god. arthur aguefort may have helped, but he is gone, running amok across time with his daughter. principal grix would disintegrate them all if he knew what they were doing.
maybe this, too, is where the ratgrinders' (or at least kipperlily's) disdain for the bad kids comes from. when two of their number died, arthur aguefort killed both a teacher and himself to bring them back. he stopped time for half a day to let them rest and defeat the dragon kalvaxus. he smoothed everything over after the bad kids broke out of jail. he risked war with a neighboring country - the second in as many years - because one of his students was detained illegally. the ratgrinders had none of the bad kids' chances or resources or connections. for the long, dark summer of no sun, that resentment festered. they needed a plan to get her back. kipperlily likes to make plans, and she has friends - angry, traumatized, terrified friends - ready to do whatever it took to get lucy back.
maybe the ratgrinders weren't ready before, but for lucy, they would do anything.
i just. do you see my vision?
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eldritch-spouse · 2 years ago
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I don't know why, but the idea that little mimics may puff up to appear bigger and more intimidating, like a chameleon, popped in my head and made me laugh historically. Just the image that someone may have found a mimic (intentionally or intentionally) and the mimic will unveil itself just to puff up and hiss 😂
{sorry I hope this made sense 😔}
Oh yeah, if they're threatened they'll definitely do that.
Oh you thought that was your pencil case? Wrong. It's standing on its hind legs and flashing rainbow colors at you while it jumps around and screeches.
Adult mimics do this too. Sybastian hardly ever feels threatened enough to have to resort to such instinctual shenanigans, but he might unfurl into a truly terrifying mass of melding shapes and swirling colors, all teeth and claws and thorns as he brays and roars.
Needless to say, it's a lot more terrifying than a tiny little plastic cup squealing like a startled chipmunk and turning bright red in your kitchen, trying to T-pose at you.
When you become Sybastian's mate, some of his mimiclings may try to practice these displays on you. Syb pretends to be horrified, and he nudges you to do the same while a tiny cow bell hisses and pounces on your leg.
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insane4fandoms · 3 months ago
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As thanks for our little chat earlier, here are some random headcanons on my EgoPats! Talking with friends always seems to get my creative juices flowing.
Caliban doesn’t have quite as big of a sweet tooth as irl Matt does, but he still appreciates some sugary stuff along with savory stuff (i.e. his and Murdock’s hit-targets). His favorite treats (aside from Diet Coke, because duh. He’s an Egopat, lol) are typically gummy alligators or gummy sharks. Yes, he always makes sure to start by biting the gummy’s head off, because that’s just how you eat gummies, okay? (This was actually inspired by that Gummy Food vs. Real Food Challenge on GTLive; it’s one of my favorite episodes, so many hilarious moments.) 
Penn is pretty interested in Vulture Culture. Yeah, his fossil-hunting already plays a huge part in that, but he’s just sort of fascinated by the skulls/bones of modern animals as well as those of prehistoric creatures. (Bonus points if the bones happen to have been painted for whatever reason.) Granted, they’d have to be ethically sourced for him to collect them, because he’s nice and conscious like that. 
Some of LeviathanPat’s traits/abilities are more instinctual than “at-will.” The biggest example of this: an extra eye that can sprout on his forehead, larger and darker than his primaries. While he can choose to grow and retract extra eyes (just like he can with extra mouths, limbs, etc.), this particular forehead eye only opens up when his emotions are running high, or when he’s in a serious situation. I guess you could say that the forehead eye is, in itself, a type of Sixth Sense. (Though, as a cosmic abomination, L.P. definitely has way more than six senses, lol. Also, this was inspired by one of the ways you’ve drawn him in the past, so…thanks!)
Penn loves gemstones and minerals just as much as fossils. Sure, his career is paleontology, but he just really likes shiny/colorful things on the side. He’ll occasionally keep pieces of fossil for his personal collection, but only on occasion, since, y’know, museums need fossils for their exhibits. So, gemstones are a little easy for that kinda stuff. (And, with that first headcanon in mind: have you ever seen that art trend where crystals are attached to or even grown on cleaned animal skulls? If not, they’re all over Etsy, so, you’re welcome, lol. But yeah, Penn would LOVE to get one of those.)
Along with helping Yancy out with musical stuff, Ozzie has a love for drawing. It’s just something he’s been doing since he was little, though he’s currently much better at pencil-work than painting. 
Patty does a variety of things in his off-time from dancing, but one of his favorites is sculpting. He’s had quite a lot of practice, but he usually tends to just make small pieces for decoration. This includes little clay charms for necklaces (yeah, he definitely made one as a present for Delux one time, lol. I’m thinking maybe…a little black fox? Obviously Delux can’t wear it when he’s working for fear of losing it on the streets or at a client’s place, but we both know he’d still appreciate it.) 
Despite being a terrifying outer monstrosity, LeviathanPat is sort of claustrophobic. This is due to all the time he was trapped in the underground tomb that Penn and Illinois accidentally freed him from. He usually spends a lot of time hunting outside at night (because of his whole window schtick), but if he ever finds an opportunity to actually go inside a place, then it’ll have to be good and spacious for him to be comfortable. (Along with his shapeshifting skills, LeviathanPat is also capable of sizeshifting, which he can use in a pinch. Though, due to his pride, he’d never even consider turning smaller than a human, lol). 
Ahhhh all of these are great!
Some of these headcanons are not much different than mine, you also definitely got me to rewatch the gummy vs real video, always makes me laugh to see Matt and Steph freak out over the gummy spider lmao
Here’s some small headcanons I had because why not
Penn would absolutely be a skull collector, but most importantly he would be a cat. Illinois would be chilling on the couch one day and Penn would jump on him and ominously hand him a deer skull and smile before walking away, leaving Illinois to sit there dumbfounded and a little scared of where the hell Penn got that.
I’d imagine Patty sleeping in the most pretzel like positions ever to be seen from humanity lol. Imagine being his roommate and walking into the room to see him sleep in a way like he’s posing for a renaissance painting.
Patty would also be a god at drag makeup. Like give this man a makeup palette and he’ll go face your face the vision of god.
I think Ozzy would be (and forced to be) Yancy’s costume designer when he wants to do a musical number. I like the idea of a brute muscle having the most patient hobby like art. I also think painting is much harder personally, but with a bit of good behavior, he’ll probably learn to paint watercolor.
Caliban, my man, would 100 percent horde all of the Diet Coke from others. Bro does NOT like to share when it comes to his treats. Even R.D. would make Caliban hesitate to give up his precious soda, but one look from her and he’ll melt and gladly hand one over. Azalea and Murdock on the other hand they’ll fight like cats for one. (Mad would get his head chopped off before he could even ask)
Now LeviathanPat, I got plans for him, but one funny headcanon is that while his shapeshifting is effective and sometimes in his advantage, he definitely got ran over one too many times by a random car. Not in his eldritch form, but maybe around like a bear size or deer when he wanders.
He also hates hunting season as he was also mistaken for a deer one too many times, and it was getting tiring or either killing or scaring off the hunters. I would also agree on LeviathanPat being claustrophobic due to him being trapped in the tomb, but one thing he may not find unnerving?
Possession, he’ll just have to find the perfect host to leech on…
And he had already laid his eyes upon him the moment the tomb was opened.
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prism-empurress · 9 months ago
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Siffrin goes to Day Treatment
Hey! Here's some writing drabble where Siffrin...goes to a mental health group like I do! This takes place sorta in an AU? Modern day + colors. Enjoy and give me your thoughts on it, and I might continue!
Siffrin was not permitted to take his dagger with him. Or any wood carving tools. Or the safety pins on his cloak. So, he decided to wear something casual; a black turtleneck with a red and black plaid coat, ripped black jeans, simple socks, simple black gloves and checkered slip ons, as well as his eyepatch. Not wanting to be without a hat, he pulled a red beanie out from his closet and put it on.
They looked at themself in the mirror. They looked relatively like a normal human, they thought. Just a casual, run of the mill…person.
Deep breath in….deep breath out…
It was going to suck to be without his cloak. It wasn't a security blanket, but he found comfort in the weight it had on his form. Being without it…he felt strange. But the plaid coat would suffice. They enjoyed running their fingers across the woolen inside.
This was stupid. He was going somewhere to be social and learn people skills for a few hours. Didn't he do enough of that while on his big adventure?
But…Odile did mention a few concerns she and the others had for him. Like how meek he was when ordering food at a restaurant. He was perfectly fine killing monsters, but when it came to interacting with beings of the same species, he just…froze.
They acted in a few theatre plays, having enjoyed them for as long as they could remember, but that was different than interacting casually. With their fellow family members, they were just fine…
So why is he TERRIFIED when it comes to strangers?
"It's just a few hours, monday through friday." Mirabelle told him, once he got accepted into the day treatment program. "And when you come home, you'll have accomplished something HUGE."
"What." Siffrin retorted.
"You'll have stepped out of your comfort zone into entirely new territory! And when you come home, you'll get to relax!" Mirabelle beamed at them.
"Can't I just be a city protector by killing monsters?" Siffrin groaned.
"Well…there AREN'T any monsters. Not here anyway. Besides, isn't facing your fears the same?"
"With monsters, you protect people from them." Siffrin rolled his eye.
"Siffrin. Just give it a chance." Mirabelle begged.
Groaning loudly, Siffrin shook that past conversation out of his head, and sat outside, waiting for a bus to arrive. He didn't want to do this at all. But he knew it was good for him. His past few jobs ended in disaster, which he blamed himself for. So, it was Mirabelle's idea that he enrolled into a day treatment program for his mental health.
And they weren't going to be in one place all the time. This day treatment program had outings all the time! They went shopping, they went to scenic areas, they engaged in various other activities. And in the building, there was a craft room. Siffrin only got a small peek inside of it, but he saw all sorts of art supplies. Paper, pencils, markers, paints, he could draw to his hearts content in there.
But there was one problem, besides the socializing aspect.
Lunch.
Lunch would be prepared each day, for all the clients to eat.
For as long as Siffrin could remember…he struggled eating most foods. They were able to choke down a majority of it. But it required a lot of effort to get it down and keep it down. Siffrin strongly preferred Bonnie's meals, but as Bonnie was resuming education back in Bambouche, they were unable to cook meals for him that he'd be able to bring with him to group.
Isabeau came up with the idea to bring simple, easy to prepare meals with him. Stuff like 3 minute mac and cheese in a cup, ramen, oatmeal, a sandwich…stuff that didn't require a lot of fuss or preparation to make. But Siffrin said it wouldn't be a big deal, he can eat meals like everybody else, he doesn't want any special treatment.
If they could just get through lunch, then the rest of the day… they could either be outside and birdwatch, or head to the craft room and draw, or participate in the day's outing once everybody had finished their lunch and cleaned up. The outings seemed exciting, but those were rarely in the mornings.
A bus pulled up, the one Siffrin had been expecting. The door opened noisily, making him grimace, but he stepped up to it and got inside, sitting near the front. Nobody else was on the bus, just him and the driver.
The driver smiled warmly at Siffrin, as the door closed.
"Hello, Siffrin. I'm Josephine."
"Hey." Siffrin spat out clumsily, adjusting his hat.
"First day at group, right? I know you're probably nervous, but it'll be a good time, I promise."
Siffrin smiled sheepishly, as the bus began to move.
"There's five other clients you can talk to if you want. Most of them are older, but I think a couple of them are around your age."
"That's nice." Siffrin said quietly.
"In the mornings we talk about various subjects. Coping mechanisms, for example."
"Well uhm…I usually wear a cloak, but…" Siffrin held out part of his jacket, "This is the next best thing. It's soft."
Silence. Siffrin breathed a little easier… but there was a knot in his stomach for what was to come…
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banannabethchase · 2 months ago
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Finals and Snowflakes - also on AO3
~
Adaine is panicking about whether or not she passed her finals for the fall semester, and Kristen has an idea.
~
For Damn It December days 19, and 20: 19) Completing paperwork before school gets out (I Schrodingered this a little) and 20) Making new ornaments or decorations.
~
“Okay, put it away.”
Adaine jumps about half a foot in the air. “What the hell?!”
“Put it,” Kristen says again, “away. We’re done with finals. I have no idea what you’re doing.”
“I’m studying in case I have to do the retest,” Adaine says, reaching up for the book and study guide Kristen whipped out of her hands. Kristen leans back. It’s only an inch and a half of height she has on Adaine, but she uses it when she needs to.
“You set the damn curve, Adaine. Put it away. Actually…” Kristen looks up into Adaine’s bunk bed. “Better idea.” She chucks Adaine’s study book up on the top bunk. “There.”
“This is my bedroom, Kristen.” Adaine says. “I can go up and get that book back.”
“Sure you can.” Kristen says, and it’s mellow enough that Adaine’s first response is pure concern.
She was right to worry. She barely has time to shriek before Kristen has hauled her up in a fireman’s hold over her shoulder. “Come on, you big baby,” she says. She really is absurdly strong. It’s almost as impressive as it is annoying. “Let’s get downstairs. We’re going to make doorway ornaments.”
“I don’t want to make doorway ornaments!” Adaine says. “I suck at drawing!”
“Ah, see, that’s the thing,” Kristen says, making her way down the stairs. It’s terrifying, but also weirdly soothing. Adaine can’t remember the last time she was carried outside of a battle or something. “The point of the Greeting Ornaments is they aren’t perfect, but they’re here to welcome to Moonar Yulenear into our homes.”
“We didn’t celebrate like that,” Adaine says, voice is a bit strained. “Ours was a, like, thirty minute reading from my father about the importance of new beginnings and starting over with pointed looks toward me.”
“My mom did that to me too,” Kristin says. She puts Adaine down in front of the kitchen table. “But it was more ‘this is the year to finally commit to Helio fully’ as opposed to whatever the hell I was doing as, like, a middle schooler. But now we get to decide how to celebrate.”
“With what?” Adaine asks.
“I don’t know. Snowflakes? We’ll make snowflakes.”
It takes some digging, but the two of them find some old colored pencils and a bunch of paper. They steal a pair of scissors from Jawbone’s office and another from the kitchen that they wash up, and get to work. Adaine finds herself drawing swirling patterns on the snowflakes, a little disconcerted by the fact that no one is directly telling her what to draw or what her goals for the new year should be. The swirls never take a true shape, but they are pretty colors and Adaine is having fun. Kristen is chatting along the whole time, about nothing in particular, but the conversation is comforting.
There’s a bleep of a crystal that Adaine barely notices as she’s working on a blue and purple themed snowflake she plans to give to Kristen in honor of Cassandra. It’s her tenth one and she’s really gotten the hang of these spiral designs, and she doesn’t even look up until she hears Kristen says, “Oh, shit.”
“Hmm?” Adaine asks.
“Uh, check your school email,” Kristen says. “Final grades are posted.”
“In a minute,” Adaine decides. “I’m almost done.”
It’s weirdly silent while Adaine finishes her drawing, and all she hears is scrolling from Kristen and tiny little clicks.
“There,” Adaine says. “This one is for you. And Cassandra, if you think she’d like it.”
“Aw, Adaine, that’s really pretty,” Kristen says. She reaches out and carefully takes the snowflake. “I think Cassandra will love it.” She clears her throat. “I, uh. I passed. Pretty well, actually. I aced my Theory of Clerical Methodology class, which is kind of cool.”
Adaine puts her pencil down. “I knew it! You’re so good at understanding so many gods and you have so much practical knowledge. Well done.”
Kristen nods toward Adaine’s phone. “Are you gonna check yours?”
Adaine is shocked to realize she doesn’t feel any of the anxiety she’d been suffering from before. All the paperwork she’d filled out preemptively requesting the retake, scheduling the test, making and taking practice tests now feels a little excessive. “Yes,” she decides. “Yes, I’ll check.”
She opens her phone. She logs in to her email. She opens the document.
“Oh my gosh,” she murmurs.
“What?” Kristen asks. She gets up and peers over Adaine’s shoulder. “Holy shit!”
“I aced all of my classes,” Adaine says. “I – I could graduate right now, if I needed to, from the scores I received on my Wizardry Qualification Exam.”
“Is that a perfect score on the WQE?” Kristen says. “How did you even take it so soon?”
“I thought – I figured I’d fail it miserably, so taking it last week was sort of a practice? But now…” She trails off, and Kristen’s face is carefully blank. “Oh, I don’t plan on graduating now, of course. I will be graduating with the Bad Kids. But now all my courses can be elective. If I want to change them for next semester, I can.” She smiles. “Maybe I can pull a Fig and multiclass into something else. Become a Bard in her honor.”
“You’d have to be able to sing to do that.”
“Oh, be nice.” She reaches out and pinches Kristen on the ribs, like she used to do to Aelwyn. But Aelwyn’s never had the muscles that Kristen has, so it doesn’t really work. “What the – do you have, like, forty abs or something?!”
Kristen grins and flexes. “Been cutting, just to see what the definition looks like. What do you think?”
“I think you’re insane, and I love you for it,” Adaine says. She gestures to the table. “This really helped. Thank you.”
“Now to hang them up!” Kristen says. “Come on. We can steal tape from Jawbone and put them all around the house before they get back from their date.”
They move as fast as they can, and every doorway in the house is decorated with the snowflakes they’ve made, including the passage to Ayda’s and the weird portal to hell Fig uses to get from place to place more quickly.
“I’ll bring Cassandra hers later,” Kristen says, as they admire the three snowflakes adorning the front door. “These look great.”
Adaine scoots over to Kristen and nudges her until she moves her arm. Kristen laughs a little, pulls Adaine in, and squishes her tight.
“Don’t tell Aelwyn,” Adaine says. “But you guys are tied for favorite sister.”
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mozartbachtoven · 3 months ago
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MOZART & HIS COUSIN " MARIANNE " / " BASLE "
( An Enthralling Tale by WA Mozart )
* Maria Anna Thekla Mozart ( 1758 - 1841 ) - photo 2: self-portrait in pencil from 1777 or 1778/ Mozart Museum, Salzburg - called " Marianne " known as " Basle " ( " little cousin " ) was the cousin of WA Mozart.
* Photo 1: Mozart gave the portrait to his 18-year-old cousin Maria Anna Thekla Mozart, with whom he had a fleeting affair, probably his first. Thought to be worn as a locket, the 4cm image was painted by an anonymous artist in 1777 and is referred to a number of times in a series of nine letters written by the composer to his cousin during their short attachment – displaying his usual ‘scatological humour’.
( click image/s to see total )
( Between 11 Oct. and 26 Oct. 1777, 19-year-old Marianne met the 21-year-old Wolfgang in Augsburg. The young people developed a close, probably intimate relationship ).
* This story was originally told by Mozart in a letter to his cousin, Maria Anna Thekla Mozart, on 28th February 1778. She is the very same cousin who was the recipient of the infamous Bäsle-Briefe, letters hidden and censored for their scandalous content.
“Now I must tell you something before I close because I have to stop soon, for I am in a hurry, as I have absolutely nothing to do right now; and then, too, because I have no more space left, as you can see, I am just about out of paper; besides I’m tired, my fingers are aching from writing so much, and, finally, I wouldn’t know, even if I had more room to write, what else I could tell you? except perhaps the story that I’m going to tell. So listen!
It didn’t happen so very long ago, and it happened here somewhere out in the country; it created a big stir because it’s almost unbelievable. Nobody knows, just between you and me, how this thing will end. So then, to make a long story short, it happened about 4 hours from here, I don’t remember the name of the place–it was a village or something like that; at any rate, it doesn’t really matter whether it was Tribsterill, where the shit runs into the sea, or Burmesquick, where they make the crooked assholes; in other words, it was some kind of a place.
Well, then, there was once a herdsman or shepherd who was already quite old but looked still rugged and strong; he was unmarried and well off, and he enjoyed life. Oh yes, there’s one more thing I must tell you before I go on with my story: the sound of his voice was terrifying, people always got scared when they heard him speak. Well now, to be brief, you should know further that he had a dog called Bellot; it was a very beautiful, big dog, white with black spots. So, one day, the man came wandering along with his sheep, he had about 11 thousand, and he was carrying in his hand a stick that was decorated with a beautiful rose-colored ribbon. He never went anywhere without his stick; it had become a habit with him; but let’s continue: after he had walked a good hour, he got tired and sat down by a river. At last, he fell asleep, and he dreamed he had lost his sheep; in his fright he woke up and to his great joy he saw that his sheep were all there; finally, he got up and went on his way, but he didn’t get very far, for scarcely half an hour and gone by when he came to a bridge that was very long and had railings on both sides, so no one would fall off; well now, he looked at his flock and because he had to cross over, he began to usher his 11 thousand sheep across the bridge.
Now will you please be so kind and wait until the 11 thousand sheep are on the other side, then I will finish my story. I told you beforehand that no one knows how this thing will end. I do hope, however, before I write again, the sheep will all have crossed the bridge; if not, it really doesn’t matter much; as far as I am concerned, they could have all stayed on this side; at any rate, you’ll have to be satisfied with what I know and what I told you; it’s better I stop here rather than add to the story by making things up. In that case you might doubt the whole shistory as it is now–you probably don’t believe half of it, anyway.”
Thank you FB @ Lisa Mirren
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ezrazone · 5 months ago
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Hi, I'm a fan from way back (2014-15 way back) writing to let you know that A Terrified Child... is one of the best pieces of writing I have ever encountered in comics or otherwise. I have noticed a return to your looser drawing styles (that meet the present moment better?), so I was wondering what plans for ATC are. Will part 2 be drawn differently, or will there be a part 2 at all? Wishing you all the best.
this is such a nice message and well-observed!!! i love to hear when people from The Ole Tumblr Days have re-discovered my work :-) this is certainly a moment that has not felt compatible with the drawing style that makes jeremy comic recognizable. i experimented a bit with adapting it differently or collaborating with different friends to try and keep the process flexible, but the project is just not feeling as urgent as it did a year ago. i might return to writing about my childhood in different ways -- and may ultimately decide to pick up jeremy comic again later -- but i am someone with a tendency to bristle against art made out of obligation, esp in this situation where it's my own self-directed project and not a monetary responsibility like a commissioned work. i had initially published part one as a standalone for career and financial reasons, just needing a bit of traction and money to hopefully fund the rest of it. once it was released, though, esp as my health was declining during production and disintegrated almost entirely after release, i realized what a tall order publishing eight parts in that colored pencil style that takes 6-9hrs/drawing would actually look like. that amount of behind-the-scenes labor paired with a waning interest in succession (the comic is not about succession but that is the source from which i became attached to jeremy's face) and changing personal feelings around forgiveness and what "moving on" from the abuse i experienced as a child might be like, the project has had a slowed to (perhaps lol) a long-coming stop. nothing i put down ceases to be a part of me, though, and there's lots about jeremy comic that remains generative. the square format, for instance, and the one-drawing-per-page style is very enjoyable for me to work with. the project also encouraged me to lean into my penchant for portraiture, and the work still expands my field of vision when it comes to comics possibilities in all directions. there are also live performances with music by may klug still scheduled if you happen to be in the twin cities or passing through at the right time! i will post as it nears but we are in talks to bring jeremy comic to weird stuff only this winter. our last show at the southern theater at the end of august was the one of the most enjoyable live shows i've been a part of thus far. i'm looking forward to sharing the existing jeremy comic that way and perhaps in new ways in the future! i'm also just really keen on leaning into doing more multi-media collaborations in that vein generally, since it turns out i really enjoy yapping onstage lol. so tl;dr kinda not really, but also Jeremy Lives Forever. thank you my friend for being a part of the ride
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