#dependent modifier
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Me when I remember that average height is determined by nutrition and medicine, so in a world like Erdas my 6'0 Abeke and 6'3 Shane would be pretty unlikely...
#all of the heights i've given them are unlikely. actually. (sounds of crying)#does this matter in the grand scheme of things? not really. will it bug me if i don't do something about it? YES#i will try to modify their heights in light of this fact#because by today's standards they would have all been short‚ average at best#it'll be a complicated process to figure out how tall they should be because each land would have a different average#for males and females#dependant on the resources they have at that specific time in history#but i'll see what i can do#text#a revised history of erdas#spirit animals#spirit animals books#spirit animals series#abeke#shane
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wait i read ur tag and i am so curious! u say “its like when u say ur eating tortillas but u dont mean just the bread” but i cant figure out what u mean, ive only ever seen tortilla = tortilla. do u use tortilla to refer to like quesadillas also? tortilla + cheese?
ahh this might be a finnish (+some other countries) thing. if you're, for example hanging out with friends, and you decide to "make tortillas" it doesnt mean making the bread from scratch, but getting those pre-made tortillas (the bread) and putting filling in them like this


the 2nd pic is a tortilla package and as you can see they do sell the bread with the name tortilla as they should, but people just refer to wraps made with tortillas as tortillas here. quesadillas are quesadillas though!
#also lots of americans and mexicans complain about not being able to get real tortillas in europe but i cant remember what#tortilla bread (let me call it that please i knoww. i also call chai chai tea sometimes bc it makes it clearer what im talking about etc.#)#actually is supposed to contain and what ours do#ok its not just americans and mexicans but that was leading to my 2nd interesting thing which is#foods often arent made in an authentic way in other countries. ofc there are authentic restaurants but most of them arent#ie. from what ive understood. italian restaurants in america serve italian-american food which. yeah makes sense!#and in here if there's a regular chinese restaurant - they have probably modified the dishes to be more in tune with finnish tastes#same with sushi and pizza and burgers and whatever. they out bananas on pizza in sweden.... anyways#and like yknow kebab places can have different options and flavors depending on what country they operate in#but the tortillas – those are like. someone got inspired by hearing about texmex cuisine probably and then we got what we have now#or something. idk. my point is that what they call texmex cuisine here is heavily influenced by finnish food habits and preferences#so it's far removed from the original and v mixed in with finnish stuff#idk if that makes any sense#im not saying there arent any ''authentic'' places to get stuff from btw#but thats not the norm#ahh i feel like i worded this very poorly but someone smarter than me can probably grasp what im trying to say#ask
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used the equilibrium deck to have an easier time drawing him. look at him yayyyyyy
#honestly for a really quick prototype he looks pretty good :D#i spent 90% of my time on the background and almost none on him KJHFKG#the background is final probably. sadly the eye will surely be hidden#but i'll know it's there#i gotta figure out how to mod this game (or just edit cryptid to do what i want) i wanna make him do something soooo bad#i know exactly what i want him to do. i have no idea how to make it work tho#actually i dont even know if the SPECIFIC thing i want to do will work at all. might have to modify it a bit#depends on if cards getting destroyed also tracks the method of destruction (hanging. death. immolate. grim. etc)#might just have to settle for ''when a card is destroyed'' instead of what i want to do. but that's fine too#and honestly i might be able to throw that together now bc surely that's just a copy/paste job from another card right...#there's a lot of cards that do similar things
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homoerotic fight scene, you say? Added tension of being engaged AND a possible traitor, you say? Even more tension over that being the person that you thought you knew better than anyone else in the world hiding things from you, you say?
YES EXACTLY. JAY IS SO MAD COLE IS SO MAD AND STRESSED JAY IS STRESSED NEITHER OF THEM IS HAVING A GOOD TIME IN THAT ARENA. I DON'T EVEN KNOW IF THEY'LL BE ABLE TO PROPERLY RECONCILE. CHEN IS GIGGLING IN HIS SEAT THINKING HE'S GOT THIS WHOLE "if my son-in-law (to be) won't turn against the other ninja i'll just turn the other ninja against him" THING. MAYBE EVEN COLE WINNING MAYBE EVEN SKYLOR USING BORROWED EARTH POWER TO MAKE COLE WIN WHILE APPEARING UNINVOLVED. IT'S GONNA BE SO SO FUN FOR ME FR FR
#ask zaz#betrothal au#they should get to reconcile regarding the love triangle at least#which also. is modified slightly for this au#originally i modified it so that jay's upset with cole for the perfect match thing and cole's upset jay seems to think so little of him#but i might modify it a bit more to try and be true to the characters???#either way cole's whole ''i am going to run away from my emotions'' thing comes to bite him hard there#depending on if what cole and jay say in the arena can be heard by anyone they MIGHT be able to reconcile fully/cole explain that he#and skylor have a Plan#or they might only be able to affirm that they want to be friends to themselves but be unable to express it to the other and jay goes into#that hole with so much emotional distress still between them#cole ninjago#jay walker#lego ninjago
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Like no-
Uh- I'm not charging 50 for days on days of work and gad to pay so much money to get the stuff
#Depending on the mask 300 is a but much#But only 50?! Fuck nah#If it's water proof#we'll made#lined#furred#modified#and looks good? That takes alot of time and stuff to do#(my second main mask is all those)#Like nuh uh man 50 bucks? Idc if somones broke they don't have to buy it#Sorry for my little asshole rant#Surprise I think ppl shouldn't only be paid 50 bucks for weeks of work
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at least out of experience, when it comes to diet stuff the issue never is an isolated "you are getting too many calories", it often is more "you are taking it a bit too much of this mineral and that's gonna fuck up your liver in the long run, stop", "your calorie intake is good for someone your age/size/other conditions but your body (including brain) doesn't use up enough of it, exercise more or think more or do something", "you are eating too little of this nutrient you need, go add more eggs to your diet", "see, the issue is that your body has an issue processing this particular kind of food due to this specific metabolic disorder that you have, have you considered trying to replace it with xyz?"
#personal#also if you want results you need to modify your diet gradually and slowly#going from eating twice what you need to your perfect balanced diet overnight will obviously fuck up your body#because your metabolism is already used to eating twice of what you need#and your body will freak out if you suddenly start giving it just half of it. even if it is what it needs#maybe ive just been lucky but when it comes to this kind of stuff. nutriologists have been the less judgemental doctors in the sense of#'youre fat try being less fat' and will give more solid advice than 'eat less lol'#for instance. a lot of the time the calories you need depend on how much you exercise. so you can eat a high calorie diet and just be activ#and its literally fine. most doctors have told me to have very small changes to my diet and just walk more
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Fantomette Bloodbornetober drawing list!
Saw
Sword
Chief
Powder
Spark
Cosmic
Wheel
Crow
Bloody Crow
Fire
Radiant
Love
Gilbert
Chapel Dweller
Gascoigne
Henryk
Imposter
Adella
Arianna
Antal
Valtr
The Madaras Twins
Yamamura
Gratia
Henriett
Yurie
Edgar
Forgotten madman & escort
Yharnam
Lost
Happy Halloween 🎃
Death
#my inktober#fantomette22art#i will update it with the links!#also it is not definitive I might still modified or change a few things#depending of the things I want to draw and ideas I have#i will see what I can do#inktober2023#inktober#prompts#bloodborne
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i think its kinda funny that ibis paint is regarded as the Broke Artist App or whatever (as opposed to more mainstream programs like csp or procreate) because its free and because of how popular it is with phone + finger artists while im jusg sitting here having used ibis for a cool eight years on purpose.
like i have an ipad and an apple pencil and all theyre very nice and i absolutely could move to a more powerful program i have the resources to do so but my change averse brain has decided they like it here a lot and im not leaving
#not talking smack on phone and finger artists btw. some of my mutuals use their fingers and their art goes crazy i respect that so much#even when i did use my phone (most of 14 crush was done on a phone!) i still had to use a cheap rubber stylus hahaha#anyway maybe ill try procreate someday but also i hate learning new programs and i like ibis's brushes too much#fingers crossed that they add fully custom brushes someday though#like id love to be one of those artists that makes really cool art with ridiculous shapes and nobody even knows until they tell you#younger artists might not know this but modern ibis is STACKED compared to how it was in 2015#like i remember when clipping layers were first implemented. and they sucked. like they didnt fully go over the lower layer#so it just left a gross tiny outline around the shape#and there wasnt any border or text tools either#and there was a hard cap on layer count depending on your device's storage and the canvas size#modifying brushes wasnt even a thing HAHAHAHAH you just used what you had#anyway okiku reference window unrelated shes just there for something else im working on<3#bri talks#for the record all this is to say i think the smack talk towards ibis is pretty unwarranted#like yeah maybe its not as powerful as a lot of these fancy paid apps but i honestly think its insanely good for being a free program#i think getting rid of the ads costs more now than it did when i paid to get rid of them but i mean#free with ads is still a lot more than csp's ever gonna give you!!!!#(psst. secret from me to you! you wont get any ads if you disable the app's data usage and turn off wifi when you use it)#(alternatively just use airplane mode but you can still get texts and stuff the first way)
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guys we're so back (crocheting some snails. of a certain variety.)
#depending on how cute they turn out ill post some pics#using a tutorial ofc but im modifying one of them so the neck is longer for gem#they call me the crochet master#moss chitchat
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at one point i considered trying lotd but recently on r/skyrimmods ppl have been coming forward with the mod author being really fucking rude and pretentious over ppl who don't want to update to latest version for various valid reasons. because the recent lotd update made the resourcespack.esl a master requirement of the mod and that file is from the most recent ae update. you know what it does? add fucking lily pads to the mod. that's it. i already have two whole ass water plants mods that add those. what is so special about these goddamn lily pads.
#they throw fits and delete any comments detailing how to get the file without updating#which is 100% legal via a steam function.#and if someone points out the mod works fine if you remove that dependency they're banned from the mod page#we have a new arthmoor i guess#they also have been extremely antagonistic to beloved authors like mihailmods too#tf is their problem leave mihail alone he's a national treasure#i also after finding out it went from being a museum mod to being a fucking TWO THOUSAND ITEM COLLECTATHON#i was turned off lol#i think there's a cool solitude museum mod ill try out eventually instead#just why are people so fucking bent over SKYRIM MODDING#are we not supposed to be a community helping each other modify a fucking fantasy game or
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"Got no diamond, got no pearl -- Still I think I'm a lucky girl."
x~x~x~x
HPHM Cardverse developed by @ariparri // Read about how Jacob and Duncan met
x~x~x~x
Duncan Ashe was an incredibly driven, ambitious person. It was part of the reason why he'd climbed the ladder at court so fast and earned the position of Jack of Spades while still only a university student of 21. That same year, he brought Jacob Cromwell on as an advisor and technology expert, and the following year, he brought his best friend Coby McQuaid into the fold as well. This second addition in particular had prompted a lot of waves, and before long, Coby had actually been named the new King of Spades himself.
All in all, Duncan was very pleased with how his life at court was shaping up. This was why he was perturbed to find his "right-hand man," Jacob, looking so tired and gloomy that autumn. And to make him all the more perturbed, when Duncan asked him about it, Jacob forced a painful-looking smile on and lied through his teeth.
"Gloomy?" he said. "Aw, nah, I'm fine, Ashe, just...just a little tired is all. But don't worry! I just have to finish this up, and then I can get right to the next prototype..."
Duncan's eyebrows furrowed. "Jacob, your shift's ending in an hour. If you're tired, then maybe you should go home and rest -- "
"Rest? When I'm on a roll?" laughed Jacob. "Nah, I've got to start experimenting on those soil samples tomorrow...and hey, this wind turbine isn't gonna fix itself..."
"Jacob," said Duncan, but Jacob cut him off with another forced smile.
"It's okay, Ashe," he said as reassuringly as he could. "I don't mind staying late to finish...and well, the overtime pay here's great! So it all works out."
The sentiment was familiar enough to Duncan that, very reluctantly, he gave in and let Jacob be. The Jack would still watch Jacob from afar, noting the dark circles that were slowly forming under his blue eyes and the way all trace of a smile would disappear the moment he thought no one could see him, and he grew more concerned by the day.
That concern was sidetracked completely, though, by the very nasty surprise Duncan got, when he accidentally overheard some other courtiers talking.
" -- he's got a sweetheart!"
"Cromwell? No way!"
Duncan stopped mid-step down the hall. His head shot around and he stilled, trying hard to listen.
"It's true!" said the first female voice. "He's been receiving boxes of white flowers and chocolate every day for a week now!"
"From who?" asked the other.
"That's what's so mysterious! I saw one of the packages arrive in his office the other day -- it had no note, no return address...not even a name! Just 'Jacob Cromwell' and his office number, printed on the light blue paper."
Duncan's ears perked up at once. Light blue paper? Only one store he knew of wrapped their packages in that stuff...
Sure enough, the other courtier made the same connection.
"Light blue paper? Only Pique's General Store wraps their stuff up that way!"
"Right! I talked to the gent in the mail room, and he said that he's found one of those such packages on his desk for Jacob at 5:15 PM every day for the last week!"
"How quaint! Then maybe Cromwell really has got some kind of secret admirer..."
"A lady, undoubtedly -- I saw the handwriting on the package, and that kind of penmanship is most assuredly a woman's..."
As their voices came around the corner, Duncan quickly peeled himself back from the wall. Not wanting them to think he'd been eavesdropping, he quickly strolled past the two gossiping girls without even looking at them. Even so, Duncan couldn't ignore the stifled gasps they gave at the sight of him.
"You don't think the Jack heard you?" one asked the other, as Duncan walked that little bit faster down the hall, sliding his hand into his vest pocket at he went.
x~x~x~x
Now, at first, Duncan wanted to confront Jacob about the rumors. Very quickly, though, he decided against it. After all, however much Jacob saw him as a friend, Duncan was his employer, and truthfully, it wasn't Duncan's place to stick his nose into Jacob's personal life. He was perfectly within his rights to date, if he wanted, so long as it didn't interfere with his work...
But that was kind of the sticking thing.
Jacob was entitled to date. He was allowed to do anything he wanted romantically, really -- even if that idiot had somehow turned out to be some sort of Casanova with women on every block, that ultimately was his business and his alone. And yet the thought of Jacob having some squeeze on the side...it was disquieting to Duncan, way more than it should've been.
You hired Jacob to serve as one of your courtiers, Duncan had to remind himself. He's your subordinate. People already think you favor him as it is -- if they had any reason to think you were romantically involved...
Duncan wasn't a naive person. He knew full well how such a thing could be spun, in the public sphere. And with people like Patricia Rakepick looking for any kind of opening to "one up" him, Duncan couldn't risk that.
And so that next day, in the late afternoon, Duncan paid a visit to the mail room. Sure enough, when he arrived, the older gentleman working there had a light blue package set aside for Jacob, accompanied by a bouquet of white hydrangeas.
"Saw Pique's new little shopgirl drop them off, as I came in," said the mail clerk cheerfully. "Poor lass...asked her if she wanted a spot of tea before she left, but she looked to be in a dreadful hurry..."
Duncan cocked his eyebrows as he picked up the package. "Really?"
"Yeah, well, old Pique's always been stingy about how many people he hires," said the mail clerk. "And she was a tiny little thing -- no older than my granddaughter, I think, 13, maybe? I reckon Pique's probably running that girl all over town, dropping off stuff..."
Well, there goes the idea of that girl being Jacob's "secret admirer," thought Duncan. Sounds like she's barely old enough to even think about romance. Still...
"What did the girl look like?" Duncan asked.
"Ginger hair, red lips -- and small, of course. Very small. Probably only five feet or so."
Near Veruca's height, Duncan mentally filed away the information.
"Thank you."
With this, Duncan took the light blue package, placing it under his arm as he headed out.
x~x~x~x
When he brought the package around to Jacob's office, his subordinate's face lit up at the sight of it. He unwrapped the package, and sure enough, it was a box of artisan chocolate.
When Jacob noticed Duncan looking over his "gifts" so critically, though, his smile faded.
"It's not what it looks like," he said immediately, sounding incredibly defensive.
"Oh?" said Duncan, raising an eyebrow.
"I've needed to harvest the flowers' seeds for my experiments," said Jacob with a weak smile. "It's all about the pH of the soil, see -- the hydrangea is a very unique plant -- "
"And the chocolate?" asked Duncan.
Jacob brought a hand through his dark curls uncomfortably.
"...That's just...to try to cheer me up, that's all."
"Cheer you up about what?" Duncan pressed him.
Jacob avoided Duncan's eye. Duncan swept around, trying to force Jacob to look at him.
"Jacob," he said sharply, "if there's someone -- "
Someone else...
Duncan forced himself not to go there. He couldn't confront Jacob's romantic life straight-on: if he did, he was afraid he'd say too much...
"...If there's something going on, you can tell me. You know I can help -- "
"I can do it by myself!" Jacob said in an oddly harsh tone.
Duncan flinched. Something almost stricken seemed to run over Jacob's face -- it made him lose a lot of the color in his face.
"It's fine, Ashe," Jacob said very firmly, putting on that strained smile again. "I've got it under control. I do."
Duncan's eyebrows came together tightly. "Jacob -- "
Jacob seized Duncan's shoulder and squeezed.
"I've got it," he insisted as reassuringly as he could.
Despite saying this, his hand on Duncan's shoulder was shaking.
Duncan's dark eyes flitted down to Jacob's hand on his shoulder, before looking up. They ran over Jacob's strained, pale face critically, taking in how tired the wrinkles around his eyes were...and then narrowed.
Jacob was lying. He was lying right to his face. What Duncan didn't know is whether Jacob knew it as well as he did.
"Fine," said Duncan, more coldly than he meant to.
Sliding out of Jacob's grip, the Jack of Spades turned on his heel and left, his long coat sweeping behind him as he went.
x~x~x~x
The following day, in the midst of work, Duncan went on an unscheduled outing into the capitol. He'd taken off his usual purple and white sash, preferring to go a little bit more "incognito" for the moment, and even took the trolley rather than a private streetcar with a driver.
His destination -- Pique's General Store.
Duncan had only ever been to this store once or twice. It was a store that sold a little bit of everything, from food to flowers to household trinkets, but was best known for its wearable pieces. Many women bought dresses, shoes, and jewelry from Pique's -- even Duncan's father had stopped in here to buy himself a new pocketwatch once, when Duncan was young.
When Duncan entered the store, he found it incredibly busy. The line was nearly out the door, and several of the shoppers seemed rather impatient. This may have been, however, because there was only one person at the register -- a girl with a black ribbon in her ginger ponytail and an apron tied over her second-hand gray dress.
Duncan's eyes narrowed. So this was the shopgirl who'd dropped off that package from Jacob's "secret admirer."
The mail clerk was right -- she was small. Her young, make-upped face indicated she was a teenager -- fifteen or sixteen, perhaps, a few years older than Veruca? -- but her petite height definitely made her look younger. Despite this, though, she zipped around behind the counter, fetching various goods and ringing up what the customers brought to the register. At several points she had to dart up the ladder leaning against the back shelf to pick out specialty items for a customer, sweeping back down to the floor with the grace of a chubby little robin landing after a flight. And all the while, even as the whole shop rumbled with the mutters of grumpy customers, she kept on a pretty, lady-like expression: not smiling, exactly, but nonplussed and grounded. This affect didn't shift even when one customer started berating her for making her wait fifteen whole minutes for service: instead, the small girl faced her with astounding patience.
"I apologize for the wait, ma'am," she said.
"I'm sure you do," the older woman sneered sarcastically.
The shopgirl didn't rise to the taunt. Instead she rang up the woman's total.
"That'll be a hundred, altogether."
The woman reacted with anger. "A hundred? The sign on the window said 'sale!'"
"The 'sale' items are marked in that far corner, with blue marks on their tags," the shopgirl explained. "I'm afraid only two out of your ten items have those marks."
"That is not what it said on the sign!" the older woman shot back angrily.
"The 'sale' corner has the exact same sign as the window does," said the shopgirl calmly. "If you'd like, I can put what you don't want back where they belong. Or if you want them all, but can't afford them right now, I can always put some of them on layaway for you."
The older woman looked so affronted, she looked close to literally clutching the pearls around her neck.
"How dare -- this is outrageous! I demand to speak to Mr. Pique this instant!"
"I'm afraid Mr. Pique is on a coffee break," said the shopgirl, "but if you wish to speak to him, then you can come back in twenty minutes. He should be back by then."
"I'm not leaving until I see Mr. Pique!" the older woman shouted.
The shopgirl's pale face hardened.
"All right," she said lowly. "Then stand off to the side, while I help these people behind you."
She immediately turned her attention to the man waiting behind the woman in line.
"Bring your things here, sir," the girl said more gently.
The man, with a faintly stunned look at the woman in front of him, hesitantly approached the counter with the bottle of whiskey and bag of candy he'd purchased. The woman in front of him looked outraged.
"Excuse me!" she shrieked. "I am your customer -- "
"And so are they," the shopgirl cut her off.
The girl's voice was very quiet, but it sounded so authoritative that she suddenly sounded much older and stronger than she looked.
"You complained about waiting fifteen minutes for my assistance," the shopgirl said coldly. "I'm not going to have all these people wait longer, simply because you no longer want that assistance. If you want Mr. Pique to speak to you, then he can speak to you after he has had something to eat, as I'm sure you will, once you've finished your shopping for the day. And hopefully you'll treat him with more respect than you have me."
The older woman started to redden as red as a tomato, her whole face puffing up like an angry fish.
"You -- !" she spluttered furiously. "You -- low-class, uppity little tramp -- !"
"And now you're disrespecting my other customers, by making a scene," the shopgirl said in that very soft, but pointed voice. "Either wait for Mr. Pique outside, or have a lovely day elsewhere."
The older woman spluttered some more nastier swears under her breath. Then, whirling around to look at all of the other stunned customers, she pushed right through the crowd and out the door of the shop, leaving all of her things strewn about the counter.
"That's it!" she raged. "I'm done!" She paused in the doorframe just long enough to add, "You may tell Mr. Pique that he has just lost himself a loyal customer -- !"
"Thank you," the shopgirl cut her off with great finality.
This only seemed to make the woman even madder as she stormed out, slamming the door shut behind her.
"I have never been treated thusly in my entire life -- !" could just barely be heard through the closed door.
Duncan watched her go, his lips spreading into a broad smirk despite himself.
Not bad, he thought as he glanced back at the shopgirl as she addressed the man who'd been behind the difficult customer in line.
"I'm very sorry about that," she said kindly. "And about the wait..."
"Oh, no, it -- was no trouble," said the man. He cleared his throat, clearly still a bit uncomfortable about what he'd just witnessed. "Ahem...I'm just sorry a little thing like you had to deal with that all by yourself..."
"It's no trouble," said the shopgirl, her red lips forcing a smile. "I've got it."
Duncan stilled. His smirk faded from his face as he stared at the shopgirl with a clarity he hadn't had until just that moment.
That strained smile...that pale face, that modest height...those almond-shaped blue eyes...
Those eyes...were Jacob's eyes.
Duncan felt like his heart had leapt up into his throat.
Carewyn. The shopgirl who'd delivered all those anonymous packages was Carewyn Cromwell -- Jacob's little sister.
Since when did Jacob's little sister have a job? She had to be so young still -- right around Veruca's age, Duncan thought. That would be way too young to be working a job like this... Was Jacob's family really that bad off that Carewyn had had to drop out of school too, to support her family?
Duncan suddenly felt like his heart was being squeezed.
Was this why Jacob had been so depressed? Because his little sister had had to give up on her academic future, the way Jacob had his...?
"Is there anything I can help you with, sir?"
Duncan was startled by the sound of an older, portly gentleman coming in through the door, putting out a cigar on the door frame as he entered.
"Ah...yes," Duncan said after he'd recovered. "You'd be Mr. Pique, I suppose? I thought you were out for a coffee break."
"Oh, I am," said Pique gruffly. "My thirty minutes isn't up quite yet...but I thought I'd just check in on my new little lady -- wasn't sure how she'd do behind the desk all by herself..."
His rough face broke into a fonder smile when he saw Carewyn quickly ringing up one customer's totals while adding another's by hand on a spare piece of paper, so as to cut the line down faster.
"But it seems I needn't have worried," he said, his smile becoming a bit more crooked. "I knew she'd be good help, the moment I met her."
"She is a bit young to be working here, isn't she?" asked Duncan.
"A bit, yes -- lass isn't going to be fifteen until September," said Pique.
"Then she's fourteen?" recurred Duncan.
She really was right around Veruca's age. The thought of Coby's sister working a full-time customer service job with people yelling at her for nothing made Duncan feel nauseous.
"Yes, I usually don't hire until at least sixteen," Pique said with a shrug. "But she fought hard to get this job, even just part-time. Said she'd need to save up some money, if she was going to be able to attend university..."
Duncan's heart leapt. "University?"
Then Carewyn hadn't dropped out?
"Yeah!" said Pique with a barking laugh. "I gather her family's financial state isn't so great. Her brother works for the Jack of Spades, so I hear, so he earns good money...but I reckon my little lady doesn't want him spending his pay on her future, when he's had to work so hard as it is. And well, I'm sure that boy would want to move into his own place and settle down with someone nice, at some point, not just stay at home with his folks forever..."
Duncan found himself tuning out as Pique rambled on a bit longer, only because his brain and heart were both turning with this new information.
The Cromwells weren't in financial trouble. Carewyn hadn't had to get a job to save her family, like Jacob did. She'd done it to pay for her education, so that Jacob wouldn't have to. She'd decided to work part-time, while still going to school...
...Kind of like Duncan had...working under the previous Jack while he was at university...
Duncan looked back up at Carewyn behind the counter. Her line of customers was almost completely gone now, leaving only a young man with a very dorky bow tie fumbling through his wallet for exact change.
"I can count it out for you, if you'd like," Carewyn offered.
"Th-thank you," the young man said with an uncomfortable smile. "I-I guess I'm just a little frazzled..."
Carewyn very quickly counted out exact change on the counter. Then, after scooping up the rest of the coins and returning it to the man's wallet, she handed a rather pretty light blue-wrapped box with a white ribbon to him.
"Here," Carewyn said with an encouraging smile. "I hope she likes it."
The young man's face burst into a blush, but he nonetheless smiled, encouraged. "Thank you!"
With a little wave, the young man left the shop. Carewyn likewise waved as he left, before sighing heavily, clearly relieved that the long line was gone.
"Well done, Carewyn!" said Pique jovially as he strode up to the counter, clapping her hard enough on the back that the much smaller girl winced. "Quite well done, indeed! I knew I was right to take you on..."
Carewyn put on her best smile. "Thank you..."
Then she immediately frowned as she gathered up the hats and dresses the difficult customer had left strewn on the counter.
"...But sir, your break isn't over until 4:30 -- "
"I'm still on break, I'm just not 'breaking,'" Pique said brusquely.
"Put on the brakes now, or you might break down later," Carewyn warned the man concernedly as she put the hats back on the proper mannequins.
But Pique waved this off. "I'll brew up some coffee and drink a cup before ringing anyone else up. Why don't you go take your lunch break a little early? You've worked hard enough."
Carewyn hesitated. "Are you sure? I can work until your break is over -- "
"Nonsense!" said Pique. "I passed around some fliers advertising the sale during my walk, so we'll undoubtedly have another rush of shoppers this evening, after people get off work. You go on ahead for now and get something to eat -- I'll have plenty of work for you to do when you get back."
Not looking entirely convinced, Carewyn nonetheless did as her employer said, putting the rest of the dresses away before heading back to the counter. She took off her apron, hanging it up on a nail on the side, and then headed to the backroom. Duncan lingered in the store, watching, as a minute later, Carewyn came bustling back out, a light-blue package under her arm.
Duncan's eyes widened in realization. Then the packages weren't being delivered on behalf of some secret admirer -- they'd all been from Carewyn herself!
"I'll be right back!" Carewyn said, as she darted across the store to the door.
"Be back in thirty minutes on the dot!" Pique called after her.
Just as the door would've closed, though, Duncan grabbed it and left the shop after Carewyn.
x~x~x~x
The Jack followed Carewyn out of the general store and then to the trolley stop. He climbed onto it right after her, and upon catching sight of her moving toward the very back left corner of the car, he moved after her, taking a seat right beside her.
Duncan sneaked a covert glance at the girl out the side of his eye.
She really didn't resemble Jacob at all...did Carewyn take more after her mother, while Jacob took after their father, or vice-versa? If it weren't for their identical eyes, Duncan would've been tempted to think they didn't share blood.
"Why did you follow me?"
Duncan blinked. Carewyn hadn't even looked up, when she asked this. Instead she looked out the window on the other side of her.
"I saw you standing at the back of the general store," she said lowly. "You didn't browse through any of the inventory or even get in line. All you did was watch me work and then talk to Mr. Pique when he came in."
Her blue eyes narrowed upon Duncan's reflection.
"...What do you want?"
Her eyes may have been colored and shaped like Jacob's...but in that moment, so sharp and piercing and full of distrust, Duncan was almost reminded more of Patricia Rakepick's.
Duncan's surprise melted away into something more serious.
"I came to talk to you, actually," he said.
Carewyn raised her eyebrows.
"Recently my subordinate has been getting a lot of...mysterious packages, delivered by a shopgirl with ginger hair," said Duncan. His eyes flitted down to the light blue package in Carewyn's lap. "No name, no note -- no return address...but all in Pique's distinct light blue paper."
Carewyn's eyes grew a little bit smaller.
"...And this 'subordinate' of yours...?"
"Jacob Cromwell is his name," said Duncan. His lips curled up in a small smirk. "Your brother, if I'm not mistaken."
Carewyn turned around to look at Duncan properly, her eyes very wide. Then something in the back of them brightened.
"...Ashe," she breathed through a smile. "You're Duncan Ashe!"
Duncan's smirk broadened. "You've heard of me?"
"Of course!" said Carewyn. "Jacob's told Mum and me all about you."
Duncan's heart fluttered. Jacob had told his family about him...?
"...Has he?" he asked softly.
"Well, he talks about you a lot," said Carewyn, and she had to stifle a giggle behind her hand. "If either Mum or I ask after you, he'll ramble on and on until he's completely run out of breath."
Duncan gave a cynical laugh. "Well, give Jacob just about any subject, and I daresay he'll do the same thing..."
Despite saying this, though, Duncan couldn't mask the light, happy flush painting his face, nor could he deny how warm he felt, thinking of Jacob rambling on about him to someone. Did he talk about his intellect, his cleverness -- his ambition -- his looks, how well he dressed? Surely not -- Jacob was an absolute idiot when it came to picking clothes for himself, Duncan had had to pick out something proper for him to wear to court...but maybe Jacob appreciated how Duncan dressed, despite this? Duncan wished his mind wasn't dancing so giddily with such fancies.
Carewyn's eyes softened.
"Really, though," she said more gently, "Jacob is so grateful for everything you've done for him. And I am too."
Duncan avoided Carewyn's eye. "Well, it's...nothing Jacob didn't earn, really. He's got a brilliant mind -- someone else would've seen it, even if I hadn't..."
Rakepick would've snatched Jacob up in a second, if she could've, Duncan thought, a surge of dislike pulsing through him at the thought of the Ace keenly parsing over one of Jacob's blueprints.
Carewyn shook her head. "But that's just it. My brother is brilliant -- he's always been brilliant -- but so many people have never seen it."
Her gaze drifted back out the window.
"...I was too little to remember all of this, but...when Jacob was young, he was bullied, for being interested in things. Even sometimes for not being interested in other things, like sports, or clubs, or parties. He was beaten down and ignored...and whenever he'd lose his temper or try to fight back, he'd get in trouble for it. Soon the only thing anyone ever saw of Jacob was his misbehavior -- our dad, included."
Duncan stared at Carewyn's reflection in the glass. Her face looked almost heartbroken, thinking this -- as if just recounting what her brother went through physically injured her.
"Jacob tried really hard to be better after I came along, and especially after Dad left us," she said softly. "He had to help Mum look after me...so he worked really hard, for a really long time. He dropped out of school, gave up a lot of dreams...all to try to make sure we had a roof over our heads. And eventually...all anyone ever saw of Jacob was that he was useful. That he could do things they could use for their business -- that he could fix things, or cook things, or file things, and do it all perfectly. They weren't looking for him to talk, or explain, or share, or teach, or think -- they just wanted him to do."
Duncan found his own eyes drifting through the window now, barely seeing either Carewyn's or his reflections now. In his mind's eye, he could see Jacob fixing the trolley door through another window, on another trolley -- see the muscles in his arm flexing -- seeing him smile so brightly --
"Your brother likes being useful," Duncan said softly.
"Of course he does," said Carewyn. "He always has. But that doesn't mean that's all he is."
She turned to smile at Duncan. "That's why I'm grateful you brought him to court. I know Jacob feels useful to you, but not just because of what he can do. You value his ideas -- his hopes and dreams. His drive to challenge the status quo...to shake things up and do real good for people. His passion and his aspirations for a better future. His brain and his heart."
Her blue eyes sparkled as her smile softened.
"Jacob's happy there, with you," she murmured. "Happier than he ever was at those other jobs. He wasn't unhappy, exactly -- those bosses did appreciate what he gave them, and those jobs did help him support us...but, well..."
Her eyes fell down to her hands in her lap.
"...They only wanted one small piece of Jacob. You...want all of him."
Duncan felt his face darkening with a redder flush. He quickly looked away, trying to hide it by covering his mouth, cheek, and chin with his whole hand.
"Well...um..."
Duncan felt very flustered, and he really didn't like it. He shot a look at Carewyn -- fortunately she too still had her eyes averted to her hands in her lap.
He swallowed, trying to recollect himself. When he finally did, his voice came out a bit strained.
"...I...I do want Jacob here," he said lowly. "He's...very special."
To me.
Refusing to let those words leak out, Duncan forced himself to get back to business.
"...He...said that you sent those packages to cheer him up."
Carewyn smiled a bit uncomfortably, her eyes drifting back out the window.
"...Yeah...Jacob's been pretty upset that I took a job too, around my schooling. He said he didn't want me to have to work -- that he'd work twice as hard, so I wouldn't have to...but I can't do that to him. Jacob and Mum have provided for me my whole life...it's my turn to help them, now."
Duncan's eyes betrayed concern. "Is it still so difficult for you? I thought with Jacob's higher salary -- "
"We're not struggling," Carewyn said earnestly. "But well, Jacob and I have still had to share a room my entire life. Jacob needs space. We both do. He needs an office -- a place where he can work on projects outside of work. I need a real closet where I can organize my clothes properly, so I don't have Jacob pairing my socks with his by accident."
She actually pursed her lips a bit, giving off something of a haughty expression. It made Duncan bite back a snort of laughter.
"Jacob's good at earning money and doing without on things, but not budgeting."
"And there is a big difference," said Duncan.
Carewyn nodded. "So Mum and I have been looking at the long-term...and what's holding us back from buying a bigger place is saving up enough for me to afford books and tuition. Jacob wants to just stay where we are and pay for me to go to university...but I don't want that for him. I don't want him to have to do without anymore, when I can help him now. And I wish he wouldn't work so much overtime to try to persuade me otherwise!"
This came out a bit frustrated, despite Carewyn's seemingly best efforts. She looked almost guilty, expressing such emotion in front of Duncan.
"...I'm sorry," she said lowly. "I...know you're Jacob's friend, so I thought I should explain."
"You don't need to apologize," Duncan said at once.
Carewyn still looked a bit uncomfortable.
"Please don't tell Jacob I told you all this," she said quietly. "I know Jacob esteems you...he wouldn't want you to see him as unable to do something."
Something stirred in Duncan's memory.
"I can do it by myself!"
"It's fine, Ashe. I've got it under control. I do."
Then that was it. Jacob hadn't just been lying to Duncan -- he'd been too proud to even accept things as they were himself...too proud to acknowledge he couldn't carry the world all by himself...
Duncan's brows and lips both knit together tightly.
"What I see him as is a complete idiot," he said dryly.
The Jack pulled down on the trolley string to make it stop outside the Palace of Spades. As he got up, Duncan extended a hand to Carewyn as if to help her up.
"Now, then -- Jacob's lab is on the far end, so we'll have to walk briskly, if we're going to deliver your care package to him. I'll need to drive you back in my personal car afterward, if you're going to have any decent time to eat before returning to work..."
Carewyn flushed. "That's all right -- I don't need anyth -- "
"Let me guess -- you've been skipping out on meals, just to bring these packages to your brother on your breaks," Duncan cut her off.
Carewyn shot him a glare through her blush. "There's always something to eat quickly at home -- I can more than manage until then..."
Duncan brought a hand up to his face and shook his head.
"Well, now I see sacrificing for your loved ones is something of a family trait, for you Cromwells. Ugh -- come on, then -- we're picking up your brother, dropping off his chocolates in the lab, and then driving somewhere for a proper meal. Shut your mouth right now and don't bother taking out any money, I won't hear any arguments from you or your brother about it."
x~x~x~x
Despite the sourness he'd spoken with, Duncan still kept his eye trained behind him to make sure Carewyn was keeping up with his longer strides, as he strolled quickly down the hall. And when Jacob looked up to find Carewyn in his lab and practically leapt out of his seat, throwing his arms around her and squeezing her tight as he beamed so happily over her shoulder at Duncan, the Jack of Spades couldn't have possibly obscured the soft, contented rosiness of his face as he watched them.
Jacob did in fact try to argue with Duncan about paying for their supper in full -- and Duncan scolded him just as much as he had Carewyn.
"Don't argue with me, I'm your boss. And no more of these little package deliveries, to cheer you up -- the next time Carewyn wants to bring you something, I intend for her to bring it to you when she's off from work and school, on formal visits..."
Jacob's eyes widened.
"Formal visits?" he repeated, disbelieving. "You mean...Wyn can come see me here, at the Palace?"
Carewyn looked just as stunned herself. "Duncan, you -- you don't have to do that -- "
"I know I don't," Duncan said, averting his eyes uncomfortably, "but I'm doing it. I give my permission -- Carewyn can come whenever she wants."
Jacob and Carewyn both stared. It made Duncan's flush creep up his neck all the more.
"Just as long as you don't get distracted, Jacob," Duncan added, his voice becoming a bit more strained in its defensiveness. "After all, you'll still be at work and earning pay -- it's just easier than making Carewyn use up her break times. And Carewyn seems responsible enough that she won't keep you from your work. Plus it'll quiet a lot of the unnecessary gossip around court about you having a sweetheart sending you packages..."
Jacob's mouth fell open. "What? Oh, come on, Ashe, I told you it wasn't like that -- !"
But Carewyn disregarded this completely. Instead she got up and, opening her arms, gave Duncan a hug.
The gesture made Duncan stiffen, taken aback, and she immediately withdrew, looking a bit guilty.
"I'm sorry," she said quickly, even though she couldn't keep the smile off her face. "It's just...thank you, Duncan. I've never been inside the Palace before, aside from the mail room, and seeing where Jacob's working..."
Her eyes sparkled like gems.
"... Your invitation...it's very generous," she whispered. "Thank you."
Duncan hadn't thought he could go any redder, but somehow he was. Coby would probably be comparing him to a tomato by now.
"Ahem," he cleared his throat awkwardly as he looked away. "...You're welcome."
He glanced at Carewyn out the side of his eye, to see her smiling sympathetically. Maybe she sensed his discomfort -- or maybe, being far more insightful about people than Jacob, she sensed what really fueled it: that stifled, hidden desire to make her brother happy.
Either way, Duncan found himself smiling a bit too, as he looked back at her.
Maybe Carewyn wasn't Jacob's sweetheart...but she did have a very sweet heart, all the same.
#hphm cardverse#cardverse au#hphm#my writing#fanfiction#duncan ashe#jacob cromwell#carewyn cromwell#aesthetic#moodboard#lane cromwell#patricia rakepick#coby mcquaid#veruca mcquaid#hydrangeas change color depending on the soil they're grown in!#jacob's testing which plants grow best in soils with different pH balances#so as to experiment with ways to modify those pH levels and make more usable farm land#carewyn didn't have access to seeds so she did the next best thing she could#which was buy hydrangeas with some of her own salary for her brother to use in his experiments#jacob adores his little wyn to pieces but damn it he has trouble accepting that she doesn't need him as much#hey he was her only real father figure her entire life so there you go
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*talking about a character who lives in a world where prosthetics very much exist* "he's never going to be able to [do thing that you can very much do with prosthetics]!!! 🥺🥺🥺"
#😬😬😬😬😬#can you guys maybe calm down and think about what you're saying. please#like whether this is permanent or not depending on where hori wants to get at with the modified quirk. can you please think for a second#there is a line between being sad and sympathising with deku and saying straight up ableist things. lol#bnha#animanga#mytext#midoriya izuku#🧂
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So the anthropologist nerd/loser in me wondered what kind of folklore and mythology various alien cultures in the Ben 10 universe might have (creation myths, folk heroes, ways of explaining natural phenomena that aren’t science-based, etc.) and caused me to come up with possibly the dumbest idea for a Ben 10 OC yet: an alien bard who travels across the galaxy not just to perform but also to collect stories and ballads of great events and heroes from different planets to add to their collection and form new ballads based off of them.
One of their original stories tells the tale of an alien from a far-off planet who attempted to take control of the space-time continuum and was cursed by the gods of his planet for his hubris by being scattered across time and space and sent back to the beginning of the universe, forced to live through its entire history in an endless cycle all while never being able to experience the sweet release of death, only for him to learn how to bend time and space to his will and ascend to godhood himself, leading to an epic battle between him and the gods who had cursed him in the first place. Though they are required by the man who served as the inspiration behind the story to put a disclaimer at the beginning that the story is merely a dramatization and doesn't 100% line up with what actually happened before they can tell it.
Oh totally! With the advent of space travel, especially among the species that have had such for a LONG while, there would most certainly be folktales and mythology abound for newer space travelers to pick up. Like, even with a significant scientific understanding of the happenings of the universe, older facts translate into newer fiction as stories develop by word of mouth (or the equivalent depending on species physiology) by the more bardic types of intergalactic individuals.
Of course, you'd probably have the more librarian types who not only record all these tales but also all the fact that it was inspired by through vigorous fact checking. Me making Sugilite a mutant with a more unique planetary psychometry (accessing the 'memories' of the entire planet) lends to me also making him this librarian of Petropian history, and considering the state of Petropia (aka not revived) he can't particularly afford to spin a few myths of his own. Instead Sugilite would totally have some bardic stories ABOUT him and his 'Library of Alexandria' mutant power, especially with Mor'Otesi being as barren of cystalsapiens as it is.
#ask#anoymous#technically this wasn't about him but i brought it up#sugilite#sugilite ben 10#ben 10#even tho galapagus said that his folks sung songs about ben 10's accomplishments i think he's lying#schmooze up to the guy that's CLEARLY important in order to get ben to actually help him and the others#but it's not entirely out of the picture lmao#the entire reason why rook was so excited to meet ben was because of the extranet#heck- ben rook listens to that tokusatsu about ben 10 (if i got that right)#i mean deefus veeblepister is like the most blatant example of 'turning heroes into myth'#even if he was just the main actor of a ben 10 tokusatsu that simian ran#it makes complete sense if there were intergalactic myths that started out as stories based on true events#though it's not quite the same i'm aware that a lot of chinese myths used real people#like the ever famous journey to the west; inspired by the monk Xuanzang's pilgrimage to india#considering that tortugans are advanced enough in space tech to have family species on at least 2 different planets#(that being the pelarotas and the VULPINIC tortugans)#some of the intergalactic myths are modified stories of tortugan historical events#probably to the point that depending on what myth you hear it actually might be tortugan-centric#as opposed to the fault we fall into as human-centric#you might be able to tell when the myth talks about how life on other planets are described tortugan-esque#ben having run into many people try and rip off his story for commercial gain doesn't like it when his story is mythologised#so bards would probably go out of their way to add way too many of their own details so that it doesn't sound the same#which has a problem of being THEIR species-centric take on the hero#it's really fun to imagine
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i don't know how to draw it out but nicola constantly modifies his body for other people, not even out of like kink-related reasons, he's just a people pleaser. as in, he went to remy's farm just to get bigger tits cause whitney told him he liked it. he then used pills to shrink them down to nothing cause he suddenly lost interest in looking like a girl. he got back with whitney again and now he has c-cups. he sticks to diets he can't manage. his purple hair was a choice so he wouldn't look so boring next to whitney. his ideal body would be something he can swap body parts on. I'm making him a robot if i ever use him outside of dol.
#“fix your body issues” ❌❌❌ “modify your body for your boyfriends until it eventually stops being able to take it” ✔️✔️✔️#he's scared of not being able to control how his body looks so he depends on what other people like#reasons why nicola and sydney don't work part 176543412. nicola would try to be perfect for sydney all the time and be miserable.#sydney would get tired of it. two church boys kind of relationship#that's why nicola's the lovesick his life goal is just to get a boyfriend who's as obsessed as him (kylar is excluded cause nicola treats#him like a pet. a really really affectionate dog)#nicola the lovesick
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im GLAD i got to play ai dungeon since. milk biggie smalls. since early on because it made me understand how ai works and thats important so i can be pedantic about everyone else who doesnt get this is the machine that says what you teach it to say.
#luly talks#does character.ai not let you modify ais anymore? like you can literally go in the settings#but also seeing ai dungeon become more and less smart depending on the day and like#reeling it to the kind of responses i wanted#it teaches you a lot
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Just thinking about the fact that if Allen is going to remember things from his previous life, it is quite likely (as in, at least 90% likely) that he will remember who the earl is... Forget about potentielly dying from the poison, that is more likely to destroy him.
#mind you it depends of how he learns about it#because if it's a situation where he sees Mana struggle with the earl's memories just like Allen himself does with Nea#it could help him swallow that pill pretty easily#especially if he sees all the memories without really getting the time to react#and has so much stuff to process that that particular information slips past him for a while#but if it's a play by play like with Kanda ?#oh boy#at the same time#it's not impossible that the poison will only make him remember things concerning the past Bookman Junior#since it was the main intent behind the poison#(even is Allen's motivation was getting all that has been stolen from him)#Kinda wished Allen has been confronted with the truth head on because I was looking froward to that mental breackdown#But it would allow Allen to learn some stuff AND get the time to process it#so...#On another side note I'm pretty sure Allen's recollection of Mana's passing was modified by Apocryphos so that's another can of worms#he'll have to deal with#dgm#d. gray man#d gray man#Allen walker#Mana d Campbell
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