#have to give a shoutout to the story of the guy who picked 'the most expensive steak in town' and then once they got it he refused it

[bumpscosity]

earlier i went down a rabbit hole and ended up reading the wikipedia page of death row last meals and im kinda shocked there isn't a single caniac combo no slaw extra toast

[maurofonseca]

Also out recently was Sonic the Hedgehog #64, where I drew the backup story. I've been seeing people be very happy about it, and I'm glad! It was a more challenging story than usual for me lol. I've not really attempted regularly to draw Silver, and I'm generally uninterested in him and Blaze as a character duo, so when I was asked if I was interested in this story I took it as a challenge. And the fans enjoyed this story, so I hope I met said challenge.

This was the story I got most notes on so far in terms of art corrections- my brain struggled to understand how to draw Silver. The reason I bring this up is, I didn't get corrections on Blaze! This means I know how to draw her lol. After all this wouldn't mind drawing more stories with them, though hopefully not too many- they're both characters that to me are best done fairly stoically, which is part of their appeal, but can also feel stifling to draw to me. I'm from a much cartoonier background lol.

Although! I got to do a very vague pose reference to an old cartoon! It's a bit uncharacteristic of Blaze I think, but that was the point- that Silver's joke broke through her posture for a moment.

I also had fun with picking BG characters from previous stories and bringing them back. Glad everyone's enjoying Pink Big here, first brought to us by Aaron in issue 48- even if I did accidentally make him more Big-like than Aaron had lol. I'll keep it in mind next time!

As before, shoutouts to Rik for being a wonderful inker who puts up with my nonsense, and Reggie for the wonderful colours that really got the sunset mood I felt the script called for.

Here's the thumbnails for the bit you guys have been enjoying a lot! You can see from this how the Silver I'm used to drawing is a fan design based on his concept art, hence the "palm" leaning back in a streamlined shape lol. Had to shake that off.

(Quick last note I probably shouldn't do- I saw some people lament that a nominally "Silvaze" story was assigned to someone who isn't into that pairing. Guys, I promise shipping isn't so important to me that I'd give it a warning to editors like "don't give me this ship story!". I got offered a job to do because I was available for it, I took it, and did my best of it)

[mysterycitrus]

top 5 dc writers & top 5 dick grayson writers pretty plssss

i feel like this q has to come with a big * beside each name because most of these writers have written twice as many terrible comics as they have good. like chuck dixon is a foundational writer for dick (and tim and connor) and he’s also a violent turbo-fascist who’s made the industry indescribably more toxic. devin grayson’s run on nightwing 1996 is an exercise in her weird racist fetish, but she also wrote for titans 1999, one of the better fab 5 comics. grant morrison wrote batman and robin 2009, and irreversibly butchered the popular interpretation of talia al ghul, etc.

so take these with a grain of salt —

1. mark waid — this should be obvious imo. there’s really no competition. the writing (for dick in specific) in worlds finest blows everything else out of the water rn. he can balance large casts well, his version of the titans was fun, he has an obvious knowledge of comic canon. i wish he’d pick up the ongoing nightwing solo and give back dick’s personality.

2. kelley puckett - unironically wrote the best run of all time. no one has done it like him before or since. i need him to come back and write for cass again (or damian). would love to see him write the dick + damian + talia dynamic.

3. scott snyder — this man wrote black mirror (the best dickbats story) and court of owls (which ruined everything). he's three dimensional. he is my enemy. he is not allowed to worldbuild unsupervised.

4. greg rucka — i met him at a con once and he was a very chill dude. he's an ally. he's always wearing a hat. no man's land, u will always be famous.

5. judd winick — this man either writes something that changes the status quo (utrh) or one of the worst books ever (titans 2008). no inbetween. he's a freak. he wants tim drake and kon-el to kiss. honorary ment for being another guy that ruined talia. he does get points for writing outsiders (2003).

also a shoutout to jeff lemire and amy wolfram

[fulgurbugs]

Headcanon ask (I'm sorry the Pokemon SwSh thing made me think of this all of a sudden): Octopath / Pokemon -- gym leaders! Who would be a gym leader and what Pokemon type would they specialise in? (Alternatively if the main antagonist of each Octopath character's story was a gym leader what Pokemon type would each specialise in... you know for the characters who actually have a human antagonist for their story... I feel like Redeye would just be a corrupted legendary or something I don't know?)

alright, had another big brainstorm sesh with the bestie @snailcruncher for this one so here it goes

Here’s what we’re going with: everyone gets one type, 4 pokemon. we’re going to get everyone fully evolved versions of their team as if they’re like, the 8th gym leader, mostly so we had more to work with but also didn’t have to give a fuck about nfe mons

as for choosing the types, we basically went by choosing some who felt obvious first, then filling in with what we had left so nobody repeated a type. maybe some don’t fit perfect but yk. also shoutout to inherent class magic types for giving us some pokemon types to fall back on

also, i’m imagining in this scenario it’s probably like. the only example i can think of is cheren (i don’t watch the anime) where gym leaders clearly have gym teams that vary depending on challenge level, and personal teams for outside of the league, so that’s how we’re rationalizing this

anyways

Up first

Ophilia - Ice

Ace: Lapras

there’s not really a good equivalent to “light” in pokemon types, so we decided to go with the frostlands special on this one.

Abomasnow is here to set hail/snow. if any character has a team that benefits from a weather being set, we’ve usually included a setter in their team. so that’s what abomasnow does

ninetales is for aurora veil, which i think is a pretty good equivalent to the sheltering abilities of cleric

frosmoth was on her original team so decided to carry it over. same with lapras, which i think has a fun connection with guiding/carrying travelers on its back, which makes it a good ace for her.

Cyrus - Psychic

Ace: Alakazam

since scholar covers 3 types of magic, pigeonholing it into one is a little difficult. decided to go with psychic, since it is pretty magic-y and most of its mons are known for being very specially focused rather than physically

alakazam gets to be ace because, let’s face it, none of these other guys are sweeping. alakazam is known for being mega smart and also laser beam crater blasting everything, so i think it’s a pretty safe cyrus pick.

claydol is just something i think is pretty fun for vibes. what with its mysterious origins… feels very cyrus ch4 mural a la runerigus he has in his other team

Swoobat. with the ability. unaware.

Oranguru cuz it’s the instructor pokemon ^_^

Tressa - Water

Ace: Gyarados

Since tressa’s from a seaside town, she felt like the best pick for water types.

Gyarados is her ace because, well… magikarp starts out kind of wimpy but turns out it had the best potential of them all (tho tressa herself certainly has a less rocky start) anyways this thing is a dragon dance sweeper and will kill you.

Pelliper rain setter. plus, gulls feel on brand for her. Gastrodon (east) so that she has an electric immunity that this team sorely needs

Palafin for another zero to hero because tressa would not let you get off easy even if you get past one of her hard hitters. she’d have this thing in the back after flip turning it out of there.

Olberic - Steel

Ace: Aegislash

notable “unbending blade” of hornburg olberic gets steel types, clap if you are surprised. no one?

anyways, Aegislash for the ace. i’m sure it’s pretty self explanatory.

Aggron and steelix are pretty much in for the same reason. they’re big. they have high defense. and they’re steel types. escavalier just goes more in on the knight motif while bringing another dual type to the team

Primrose - Flying

Ace: Oricorio

there’s definitely a good argument to be made for something like dark primrose, but to be honest… i like flying for her, because i feel like it works with her kind of caged-bird motif. in addition, flying types cover a lot of dual types, which means i can pick pokemon that can use dance setups or support.

Oricorio is the picture perfect flying/dancer ace. obviously it gets top spot

Altaria as a dragon dance setup sweeper

Vivillion is a shitmon, admittedly, but it was that or butterfree for a quiver dancer, so i went with vivillion because honestly it doesn’t fucking matter they have the same shit basically. i guess this thing can also use sleep powder (and so can butterfree) but it comes in more pretty colorsssss

Swanna gets featherdance, just to cover one more dance. and you know. swans are like pretty and elegant or whatever. allegedly. anyways something something primrose is a beautiful swan.

Alfyn - Grass

Ace: Leavanny

Alfyn greengrass has grass types? this is shocking to nobody. anways, deciding between leavanny or meganium for the ace i eventually decided on leavanny because i say so. but they could both work

vileplume so that he has at least one grass/poison rep. i so rarely use the apothecary poisoning skills in OT but he can like. do that, so….

Sunflora is here because it would use sunny day and do fuck all except be a shitmon, because it is, but personally i think Alfyn wouldn’t gaf because it’s cute and he likes it, and it supports solarbeam/Clorophll for its team which is enough of a job to put it on here

Therion - Fire

Ace: Houndoom

the inherent fire magic of the thief class is here to bail me out in giving therion a gym type. thanks.

Anyways, i’m going with Houndoom as the Ace because he does have an image to uphold. it can’t all be fluffy arcanines or whatever.

ceruldege is here bc A) swords and B) it’s a little hater of a pokemon so it stays. centiskorch is here because it’s one of MY favs and i think it’s fun to put more interesting dual types into these teams, and as much as i love volcarona (my all time fave) it’s not really a therion mon… but i do think he’d be on board with a centiskorch.

then for a sun setter… it kind of had to be ninetales, tbh. i cannot really justify giving mr fastest speed stat in orsterra a turtle. so ninetales it is.

H’aanit - Electric

Ace: Luxray

another one where the inherent class magic gets to bail us out. if i’m being honestly, H’aanit is not much giving electric trainer, but we did our best.

Kilowatrells reasoning here is the same as it was in her original team. it’s a literal thunderbird. (also, no legends here but she deserves a zapdos)

Galvantula is a webs setter. holy shit guys, leghold trap reference.

and then Manectric and Linde are of course, dollar store Hägen and Linde. definitely an intimidate luxray, too.

next we can move onto the OT2 ones!

Ochette - Dragon

Ace: Noivern

ochette… she’s giving 8th gym dragon gym leader. i think her emphasis on finding legends basically tailors her to the dragon trainer for me. as for her mons, i’ve given her three dragons whose secondary types match up with Acta, Terra, and Glacis, while noivern is… honestly it’s just vibes i think noivern is cool and she would like it.

i didn’t really wanna make one of the three legends her ace over the other, so i’ll just say noivern is the ace.

Castti - Poison

Ace: Roserade

now, for Castti, we decided to bend the gym leader rules a bit, so she doesn’t have all poison types, though she does have an entirely poison-based team still. Breloom has poison heal, so we’ve elected to give it a spot, considering it also gets spore and is a fighting type that can throw THESE HANDS.

Zangoose is here for a similar reason, posssing the ability toxic boost, upping its damage when poisoned.

Glimmora of course has two poison based abilities in corrosion and toxic debris, though i’d say castti’d do toxic debris/venoshock shenanigans.

For the mandatory Apothecary Grass/Poison type, i’ve given her roserade. it’s like uh. the flower malaya gave her.

Throné - Dark

Ace: Bisharp

tho throné herself maybe wouldn’t like to be the dark type leader, or at least would wish she wouldn’t get a bad rap for using them, they still fit her (and OT2’s theif inherent magic), so that’s what we’re going with.

Absol: maybe this one is on loan from temenos lol.

liepard is a very evil team-grunt pokemon so i’m giving it to her also it’s purple.

weavile is a little less of a shitmon and also gets the ability pickpocket, plus brings some dual typing to this team. tho she would get her shit so rocked by a fighting type let’s be real

Bisharp: ok so… what if… the blacksnakes… are like a bunch of pawniards. and only the best ones can be bisharps. that’s throne. or something. also, it’s kind of referencing that she’s distantly related to notable kingambit haver hikari. bonus!

Osvald - Normal

Ace: Drampa

hear me out… Osvald normal type trainer. but he uses only dual types, and he also likes to play a lot less straightforward than your average trainer. Ursaluna (for the teddiursa in his original team) makes an appearance, while Farigaraf can set trick room and other fun psychic pokemon shenanigans. Hisui-Zoroark is here to throw another wrench in the mix, being able to throw off incoming fighting type attacks and hit back while making you readjust your strategy. the whole time, the threat of this thing makes you always have to consider if you know what you’re fighting first.

and drampa. this thing is just such an osvald pokemon to me. thank god it’s half normal. he should have it. make it the ace too.

Partitio - Rock

Ace: Coalossal

partitio was a bit of an odd one to pick a type for, but we settled on rock for a few reasons. honestly…. started with the ace and worked backwards, and therion’s already hogging the fire slot. besides, even though he’s looking towards the future, partitio’s definitely a little behind the times initially, so some good old fashioned rock types seem like a good fit.

anyways the coalossal is the ace because he’s ability is. steam engine. lol

lycanroc because. i think partitio would like a awesome doggy and then we went dusk form bc i don’t think he would have the evil one and dusk sucks less than the midday one lol.

gigalith sand setter

and then crustle is cuz we wanted to give him it as a shell smash sweeper. and i dunno they probably have dwebbles around oresrush.

Agnea - Fairy

Ace: Togekiss

Agnea feels like a pretty good fit for the fairy type, tho she does get less dancer-move user options than primrose does using flying types.

Togekiss i feel like is a shoe-in for her ace. it’s a pokemon associated with peace and kindness… i feel like agnea is definitely the kind of person to be able to actually acquire a togepi. also, it gets serene grace, which is a very agnea-ability title. i think she should get to paraflinch people too.

Ribombee is a much better quiver dance user than vivillion, and it’s half fairy, so agnea gets it. i love this thing. it can be so scary if it gets set up.

gardevoir: in our original teams, hikari had this due to its association with loyalty to its trainer/friends. so i think agnea also fits it very well too! since hikari (⬇️down there later ) has been swapped to a gallade to fit his type i’ve given it to her. awesome matching time.

whimsicott is here because she is fun and whimsical. this thing would set tailwinds probably.

Temenos - Ghost

Ace: Houndstone

i’m so sorry temenos but i think it’s really really funny to make you a ghost trainer. like really super funny.

anyways, yamask was on his original team, so we’ve upgraded to cofagrigus here. chandelure is vaguely sacred flame-esque while also being ghost type, tho it’s kind of. ominous but whatever. Sableye is a silly little guy who kind of vaguely references the mirror shard crossed paths. i guess if he mega evolved it i could do that even more with magic bounce but we didn’t really work w megas or regional gimmicks or whatever

and then houndstone comes out last to spam last respects after you’ve killed all this other pokemon just like all the EVERYONE HE KNEW IN REAL LIFE died too you monster.

like i said i think ghost trainer temenos is really funny

Hikari - Fighting

Ace: Gallade

Hikari nabbed fighting type right out of the gate. as compared to olberic who is very definsive brick wall of a guy, hikari feels more versatile in a way that fits fighting types to a T.

I’ve given him heracross because the heracross i caught in my nuzlocke is named after him so i think he should have one.

Lucario is here for a fun friendship evo, while scrafty is here to rep a more “dirty fighter” type of pokemon on the team being fighting/dark.

then gallade gets to be the ace because i feel like it’s the most ace material tbh.

as for your second part we did pick villian types (but not teams), here’s that much more briefly

Mattias: Dark (i feel like this is self explanatory. maybe malamar ace?)

Lucia: Psychic (this seems to must be the type we’re going with for most scholars)

Esmerelda: Poison (because the wound may prove fatal)

Werner: Fighting (idrgaf but i guess he used to run a merc company so i guess or whatever)

Simeon: Normal (hes the least normal guy you’ll ever meet but you’d never guess it from his pokemon team)

Ogre eagle: Iron valiant. 6 iron valiant.

Darius: Ground

i’m just. uh.

Redeye: Iron valiant. also entire team of 6 iron valiants (lore accurate)

Darkling: you never guess this but 6 Iron Valiants

Trousseau: Poison but for real this time

Claude: Dark (feel like that’s also self explanatory)

Harvey: Psychic (specifically, this guy has a hypno.)

Roque: Steel ⬇️

Dolcinea: Fairy mirror match/Tiernos Dancer only team she’s based like that. either or

Kaldena: Ghost (another mirror match)

Mugen: typeless but every one of his mons knows swords dance

ok that’s basically it hope that’s enough of an answer ok byeeee

[morbethgames]

February 14th, 2024 Update!

Hey all, I'm gonna be trying to do this weekly now. So, quick update on things, first and foremost the book as that's what most of you come here for! I am 11k words in and about a little halfway done with the path that lets you participate in the next part with Lance and Alvarez. There is going to be quite a bit of variation in how a PC can choose to approach this scene; those Combat Stats exist for a reason!

As for things going on with Patreon, I have decided on a schedule!

Patreon content will release on Tuesdays and Thursdays!

I am going to attempt to stick to that schedule as consistently as possible, and I'm off to a good start on that! Part 1 of The Bureau Audiobook went up today and part 2 is going up on Thursday. Not to mention the small short story introducing the character Buck Marcellis went up last Thursday! The story is around 2.5k words long, if I remember correctly. An extra little thing going up today as well is the Poll to see what Interactive Fiction I will be reading as an audiobook next. That's right:

You will get to pick the next audiobook reading!

I've gotten a bunch of different author's consent to make audiobooks of their work, so anyone who is a subscriber to the Patreon, you will have a direct say in what Audiobook goes up alongside the one for The Bureau! Options include things like:

Kingdoms and Empires

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - An affair of the heart

When Life Gives You Lemons

Honor Amongst Thieves

The Operative: Fires of Revolution

Defiled Hearts: The Barbarian

Along with a couple of others that are on the list for possibilities!

Over the next few months, I will be more active for sure, and you can expect the update for The Bureau to come out before the end of March (I hope). Thank you all so much for sticking with me, and I hope to see you over on the Patreon, which, thanks to hyperlinks, you can conveniently find

RIGHT HERE! <-

The Forum Page for "The Bureau"

The demo for the game itself!

Thank you all so much for reading this update and for sticking with me and continuing to do so for the future! You are all awesome! Also big shoutouts to @when-life-gives-you-lemonssss, @kingdoms-and-empires, @theoperativeif, @leoneliterary, @doriana-gray-games, @defiledheartsblog for giving me permission to read their work on my silly little attempt at Patreon content; you guys are awesome!

Stay Brilliant,

-Vi

[weekend-whip]

Ninjago Fic Rec Week (2024): Day 4

Prompts: AU/Movieverse/OCs! (Catching Up! I uh skipped Day 3 oop but I've got plenty to offer for this day! Which is...also late...don't look at meeee)

Aus WITH OCs (or as I like to call this list, my own personal indulgence corner. All the AUs/Movieverse stories I've read are ones that get recc'ed a lot already + I myself have already recc'ed them at one point or another, soooo let's throw some pure spotlight onto some OC stories! Even if a lot of it is connected to me to some degree that's irrelevant):

As The Years Pass By: A fic currently in the process of being rewritten/reworked but still chock full of next-gen Dragons Rising goodness! And it stars the one, the only, Jenna and Ethan from @rainofthetwilight!!!! This fic made me fall in love with her characters and I've loved reading/seeing/drawing these two adorable kids ever since!!!!

Dad!Jay AU by @taddymason: An AU so good I'm still catching up on reading it bit by bit to savor it for longer *-*)9 All the stories in this series are worth the read alone for the accumulation of taddy's character Kaida (a girl who needs no introduction–she's that awesome guys, trust me) but also the eventual father-daughter bond with amnesiac!Jay that is gripping and engaging aaaaall the wall through!!

I Carve This Poem From the Harshest of Storms: Another I'm not caught up with YET (a running theme for this Fic Week, it seems hgfhgfdfgds i'm sorry I'm slow and have a short-attention span). It follow two fascinating peeps in The Administration following The Merge, and without giving too much away, @theartsyswissapple ‘s voices for the characters just POP and make them feel SO real and it's been intriguing to read so far so yeah others should give it a try too!!!

What it Takes for You to See Me: A Spinjitzu bros story with added FSM and Mystake goodness too!!! This is one I've just started reading myself, but you know I love some throwbacks to Wu and Garmadon's past! And the OC here, @marhan-writes-n-draws's Amka, fits into the setting like a glove!!

Honeycomb: Gotta give a shoutout to @miqotepotatoe's Lucy while I'm here too!! Some short, sweet snippets of the Ninja Team's best (and most yellow) cheerleader!! I love her dynamic with everyone, and especially Cole <3

The Space Between Us: A very deep and heart-wrenching introspective into @k1ngtok's characters Lynda and Jamie, Master(s) of Space. It's story about siblings and bonds at its core, but also be mindful of tag of you're looking to dig deeper! (it also takes place in legacyverse technically but that's neither here or there I promise)

Flowery Language Another super funny and endearing story by King following Jesse (hey it's my boy!!) and Antonia on the case to discover who's been leaving flowers in Jesse's locker (spoiler: it's not Cole lmao). It's actually a semi-sequel to this old thing *I* wrote however long ago, but thaaaat's not required reading (though it does help). If you want more of a fix for the Jesse-Antonia duo + more of Jamie, this is the story to read!

Learning to Love (Again): Yet another King fic based in legacyverse (a coincidence), this one kiiiind of takes place during Season 2/Book 3 and follows Jamie on his quest to truly show his friends (Nya, Antonia, Harumi, Jesse, and...Olivia?!) just how much he cares about them through the power of love languages over the course of a week and it is AWESOOOOOOOOME!! Soooo many touching and feel-good moments, mostly soft slice-of-life with teenagers being teenagers, and is a great pick-me up when your soul is feeling sad ;w;)/ I advocate for this one just for the warm soft friendshippy-feelings it gives me alone!!! AAAAAA—

Something About Morning Glories: Jesse (oop there he is again) takes it upon to himself to comfort Jay after the latter finds himself concerned about something following obtaining his True Potential. A duo I desperately want to write more about but can't yet, so this little bit of foundation for their relationship will have to suffice for now ;w;)/

(and if you're still clamoring for more of a certain magic pink fool, there's plenty more where that came from; perhaps there may be a Jesse-Antonia friendship origin story on deck soon, along with maybe some DR stuff~! ...listen there will never be a good chance to self-advertise like this again!! BE YOUR BIGGEST FAN!!! SELF-LOVE BABY!!!! *-*)9 )

In the Company of the Stars: A tale as old as time—a Royal!AU where the fair groundskeeper of a palace's garden (that's the OC) falls head over heels for the prince far out of his league (that's Cole)—except, the prince absolutely likes him back...albeit only as his secret, suave alter-ego. But is that really true—and, more importantly, is there bigger problems to deal with right now???? There's romance, mystery, good food, royal drama, angst, fluff, sabotage, magic, a whole bunch of flowers, Harumi causing chaos on purpose, Skylor throws Chad across a room, Jay goes on a rampage a some point, Kai can't flirt to save his life—the author just needs some fresh motivation to post the darn next chapter already because the ending's gonna be really really good ;V

[a-gay-little-cat]

(This drawing got way out of hand but. I'm attaching it to the OC interview anyways!!!! Thank you for tagging me @mail-me-a-snail!!!!) OC interview thingy under the read more :]

Name?

“Vito.” Nothing special or out of the ordinary here really. Though he doesn’t like giving people his surname. Scan him for it if you are so nosy.

Nickname?

“The Red Scorpion.” "...." “That’s a joke, it’s V.” His name is short enough to not warrant a nickname really but V is what he likes to use for business related stuff, keep it formal, keep it anonymous. Though I do think Red Scorpion is the name for his bike. And also the symbol he wears on his vest. He just really likes scorpions and any other desert critter.

Gender?

“Male.”

Vito is trans, has been for a good chunk of his life and he couldn’t be happier with it.

Star sign?

“Scorpio, much to my delight. No idea what it means though. Don’t really care for that kind of stuff.” Fun fact I was so close to making the joke of having Vito be born on the day the Arasaka Towers got blown up but then his age wouldn’t have aligned quite right. He’d have to be 53 during the main story but… still a joke in the back of my mind, might adjust it JUST to be funny, maybe not.

Height?

“Last I checked it was 5’8.”

It’s a pretty good height all things considered. He might appear a bit taller though thanks to the bit of heel on his boots as well as his hat he wears most of the time. He has no complaints about his height though.

Orientation?

“Whoever strikes my fancy.”

Vito is bi and doesn’t really have a preference. Just kinda lets himself be taken wherever his heart desires. (Sometimes that can be horrible ex-corpo men who have something really wrong with them. Shoutout to Lucian. What is wrong with him.) Though he usually doesn’t look for more than a fling. Not actively looking to date or find anything long term. (Lucian was kind of an unexpected case.)

Nationality/ethnicity?

“Born and raised in Mexico. Lived there a good while too.”

His parents likely still live there, he wouldn’t really know. Cut ties a long time ago and has kinda moved from city to city looking to follow his ambitions.

Favorite fruit?

“Hm… don’t have fruit a lot these days but peaches have always been my favorite.”

I can only imagine fruit is just kind of rare to come by, if not expensive. Vito’s never had a lot of money to his name all things considered.

Favorite season?

“Fall. It’s just right.”

Listen he may be used to hot climates but all that leather is probably a nightmare during the summer. And no he will not sacrifice his looks.

Favorite flower?

“Flowers? In this year and age?” He doesn’t know shit about flowers. He might like ones that bloom on cacti but… it’s not really his scene.

Coffee, tea, or hot chocolate?

“You can’t go wrong with a nice tea.” He’ll always pick tea over anything else. Coffee is… okay. But he doesn’t get the appeal. Vito especially likes any sort of red/fruity tea but he’ll give anything a try at least once.

Average hours of sleep?

“4…. 5… depends.”

And that’s on a good day. Especially in the height of everything with the relic he is lucky to get one or two hours of sleep. Pain is one hell of a bitch keeping him up. Very hard to get comfortable at all. But once that’s all over and he’s settled down it’ll probably end up closer to an average of 8 hours, at least.

Dog or cat person?

“Reptiles.” “...” “But if I have to pick? Cats.”

Vito isn’t one to really care for pets. He doesn’t hate them and will pet a dog or a cat if someone he knows owns one but that's about it. Doesn’t really need a pet of his own.

Dream trip?

“Not really looking to travel.”

As a guy who has moved from place to place, Vito doesn’t really… plan for trips. Most of his traveling was out of necessity and not because he was looking for a vacation spot. Somewhere outside of NC could be nice but he just doesn’t really think about it. Busy with other stuff. Also he would want to travel with Lucian and well……. who knows how that would go down.

Favorite fictional character?

“Pardon?”

Vito reads a lot but he’s not like… crazy about the characters or even really involved, it's just to pass time and relax.

Number of blankets you sleep with?

“.....2.”

He gets cold in his sleep and it's a nice weight. One hell of a fight to get out of bed in the morning though.

Random fact?

Vito loves putting together little models of things if possible. Doesn’t always have the time for it but… it’s fun and relaxing :)

Don't really know who to tag but hey whoever wants to do this with their guys feel free to go ahead!

[fullscoreshenanigans]

HI bestie happy pride !!!!!!! one quastion do you have any lgbt hcs for tpn that you're particularly fond of? whether they were hard hcs from the beginning or picked up from others,, give me yuor thoughts <3

ℍ𝔸ℙℙ𝕐 ℙℝ𝕀𝔻𝔼 𝔹𝔼𝕊𝕋𝕀𝔼!!! 🌈❤️🧡💛💚💙💜✨

My favorite hard headcanons that will come as a surprise to no one who has spent some time browsing this blog are endgame Norrayemma/REN/NER and Gildayshe, the former of which I'm very fortunate with when it comes to finding art and fic, and the latter not so much because I've never seen it anywhere besides this site. </3 (Thanks for prompting me to finally put together my past!Gildemma → endgame!Gildemma ramble I mentioned months ago. 🧡💚💛) Special shoutout to @frozentothetouch whose art converted me back in 2021 before I made this blog.

I don't have hard gender or sexuality headcanons for the trio for reasons @hanz-xd perfectly articulated here:

i think they'd have a hard time understanding the human world's perception of relationships and their hyper focus on labels. it's not like they really had those things at grace field, or at least, it wasn't important enough for them to care about. no one really called themselves straight, gay, bi, etc. so it's a little confusing for them in the real world. not the concept of these identities, just the need for labels in the first place. emma is kinda like "well i love every body?? why do i need to label that??" i think emma also struggles to understand the pressure of monogamy because again, her heart is so big and so full, she can't possibly imagine containing that love to one single person. especially when she thinks about ray and norman. she doesn't love one of them more than the other, she loves both of them so much. why would she want to force herself to choose when she could just love both of them? [...] but yeah, to summarize, the three of them would be together, but they'd never put labels on their identities, aside from calling each other their boyfriend/girlfriend. that's all it needs to be for them. the most they’ll do is confirm with a simple “yeah i guess” when people ask if they’re polyamorous. like yeah, they are by definition, but they don’t really care about labels. they just love each other in a way that feels right and authentic to them

The trio of my heart 🤍🧡🖤 though if I had to pick some, I'd default to the ones @officersnickers uses in this piece.

Likewise I don't have firm gender headcanons for Gildayshe, but I'm very big on lesbian Gilda, once again thanks to Rain and also to @just-like-playing-tag. I would also say I'm 95% committed to lesbian Ayshe, with the last 5% being my soft spot for Rayshe, though even then she's wlw + Ray doesn't necessarily have to be cis for it to work.

I'm ever so slightly less big on Yuucas but still big on it and a firm believer in the bunkerdads. 🖤❤️ Like many people in the fandom, I also champion gay Lucas and bi Yuugo, though ngl I'm half convinced Shirai included Dina as an afterthought at the suggestion of higher-ups so people wouldn't suspect either was a mlm or "funny" with the kids given how inconsequential Yuuna is to the story. Do love a bi skunk king though. 💖💜💙👑🦨✨

I also love the idea of bi Nat with him leaning toward guys thanks to @puff-poff. Don is pan with a preference toward girls (though you have shown me the light of trans gay Don. 🙏💙💖🤍) I love the thought of him firmly believing in the idea of "finding a cute girl to date" like he talks about in episode 1, only to one day be hit with the mental equivalent of a sack of bricks upon falling hard for a guy. Not in like an angsty way because this is years down the line and he's able to handle his insecurities better, plus he has the support of a large family filled with members of the community and I'd like to think after another world war the human world as a whole is more accepting of this, so there's no shame attached to it. It's more like having it happen and then going in the group chat with something akin to "remember when I said I was a ladies' kind of guy?"

No one in the Goldy Pond crew or Lambda gang claims cishet, but my favorites for each:

Trans lesbian Violet. I cannot pass up Shirai canonically making her favorite food pickles (noted in the mystic code book). It writes itself.

Love the thought of Violet taking Gilda under her wing during their search for the Seven Walls when she finds out she had a crush on Emma. (something Violet can relate to lol)

Trans girl Gillian. Feel like this one is less common than trans Violet, but regardless, she's pan and Nigel's bi.

Vincent is gay. M'guy dapper af.

(Chapter 137)

Cislo is a mlm, though Snickers has kind of converted me to him being aroace.

Barbara is a lesbian. While I'm definitely not opposed to Cherry Bomb, I've recently taken a liking to her and Sonya being a couple. (Sonyara? Is this a thing that I've missed or am I the only potential shipper? I like the idea of Sonya approaching things in a more calm and levelheaded fashion and how that sometimes conflicts with Barbara's more chaotic one, but instead of it resulting in ire, they take it as a playful challenge. Plus I like how Sonya's blues pop next to Barbara's pinks and reds.)

(Bad mesh of their color pics in the art world book but I work with what I have. </3)

This is already hella long but there was definitely something between Leuvis and Bayon Sr. Also Geelan is a mlm.

[whumpbug]

1, 14, 15, 18, 23 for the ask game hiiiiii I am so glad you reblogged it!! as always /nf so do what's inspiring!! :D

YAYYY THANK YOU SETH THESE ARE GREAT!!!!!!!! ｡(^▽^)ゞ

1. the last sentence you wrote

this is from a WIP with gene and cassidy and oh god seth this is such a funny line for you to have landed on HELP

"Christ, he hated Montana." (from gene's POV)

me too gene.

14. where do you get your inspriation?

oooouh i get my inspiration from so so many places... a lot of character ideas come from existing media who's fandom i'm apart of and it usually stems from me wanting to make ocs in that universe or to steal some of the character dynamics/themes

when it comes to actual writing though, a lottt of my inspiration comes from fanfiction and oc works of friends (shoutout to u seth). and if i'm being completely honest, my ideas for specific stories comes from me just. pacing my room and talking to myself in the shower and thinking of interesting dialogue to form a story around

15. favorite weather for writing

okay so the obvious (and probably most popular) answer is rainy/gloomy weather. its just the thought of being able to be cozy on the couch or in bed without the obligation to be Out and Doing Stuff that gets the brain juices flowing, BONUS if its past midnight too

18. if you keep them, share a deleted sentence or paragraph from a published fic

okay so i don't have any specific lines for a fic BUT i will share an abandoned concept i had for archie and simon.

so originally, archie was going to have more powers than just the enhanced strength and senses he does now. he was going to have some kind of ice manipulation/cryokinesis as well because i thought it seemed cool and would allow for some Great Whump, but it sort of got too complicated and i scrapped the idea completely

23. pick three keywords that describe your writing

i am going to challenge myself to Not be self-depreciative because that is my default. BUT NOT TODAY.

my 3 words would have to be: descriptive, tense, fluffy (in the sense that i can't stop writing fluff. it's my weakness.)

AND SETH U GET SOME RAPID FIRE BONUS ONES bc this ask game is too fun

13. a fandom you’re thinking about writing for

dc. specifically for my silly gorgeous man dick grayson. but i am TERRIFIED. solely because compared to most dc fans, i am SO not well-versed in the lore and would probably say something completely incorrect and embarass myself.

11. a WIP you’d like to finish someday

theres 2 that are sitting in my doc that i havent touched in a bit BUT they are:

a fic of cassidy as a child getting absolutely chewed out and punished by montana and then it cutting to present day and showing how that Trauma manifests itself. and also a mildly concerned gene.

and one for the alternative prompt in WWE (hangover) where gene is stationed in the town jail as always but its after a LONGG night at the saloon. and cassidy is the only guy locked up and hes just totally messing with him while gene wants to be Anywhere but There.

AND LASTLY 4. a story idea you haven't written yet

cassidy and gene getting drunk together. also archie and simon getting drunk together but mostly gene and cassidy. i just need the filters to come DOWN for those guys

THANKS SO MUCH SETH AND THANK YOU FOR GIVING ME THE CHANCE TO RAMBLE ABOUT ONE OF MY FAVORITE HOBBIES!!!!!!!! ILY TOO /P U ARE SO COOL AND AWESOME

[firebirds-roost]

o/ have a fruit salad!

🍌Three headcanons about how magic works in your lore 🍊A dragon you like based on looks 🍇A dragon you like based on personality 🍑Show off an expensive regening project 🍐Feathers, fur/fluff, manes: your Opinion

YEAHH I ACTUALLY GOT ONE okay okay let's see

🍌: Three headcanons about how magic works in your lore

Items that magically change a dragon's appearance, like gene scrolls or eye vials, are actually very common and a popular form of self-expression. Switching up your patterns is no different from buying a new outfit or getting a tattoo to better suit your personality! Honestly, most dragons would be shocked to meet someone who hasn't used an enchanted scroll at some point.

All dragons have an internal wellspring of magic that gives them life and fuels their natural abilities, essentially acting as their soul. This is the most potent and powerful form of magic on Sornieth, but trying to harness it for spellcasting is EXTREMELY dangerous and usually results in the death of the caster. Soul-fed spells are only used as an absolute last resort.

Basic elemental moves like fireballs or lightning bolts can be thrown around without much effort, but more advanced spells usually require some kind of ritual component. Specialized runes, spoken enchantments, careful talon movements, things like that. Being able to perform these rituals correctly is what separates trained mages from common dragons.

🍊: A dragon you like based on looks

I'm a big fan of Maelstrom's design! I haven't quite figured out a story for him yet, but I love the black-and-red color scheme and the mix-and-matched apparel sets. Shoutout to the Bloodscale helmet layered over the Ghastcrown.

🍇: A dragon you like based on personality

It's hard to pick just one, so I guess I'll go with a dragon I haven't posted to Tumblr yet: Parmesan! He's a pampered, sensitive sort, accustomed to the finer things in life, and approaches every new experience with the attitude of someone disarming a bomb. What if it's dangerous? What if it hurts? What if it sets him on FIRE?

Still, he's a good guy at heart, and is more than willing to face his fears if it means doing the right thing. He just... might have to do it while crying.

🍑: Show off an expensive regening project

Oh, this one's easy.

Riptide was my birthday hatch a couple years ago, and I got INSANELY lucky with his colors - Jade/Robin/Aqua. I knew he deserved something special, so I saved up for months and months to get him a fancy new look (complete with Coatl breed change, Glimmer, and a couple of expensive apparel items). Totally worth it!

🍐: Feathers, fur/fluff, manes: your opinion

I like 'em! I think hair and feathers are great for conveying personality in a dragon, since there are so many ways to style them in artwork. Great way to switch up the silhouettes. There's a reason Fluffington is one of my favorite dragons to draw.

Absolutely hate the way Spines looks on maned breeds though. Why are Tundras and Imperials like that. Stop.

[fireemblems24]

Engage 12 - 14

Spoilers for FE Engage 12+ below the cut.

I'm betting I get Byleth, Ike, Erikia, Corrin, and whoever else I'm forgetting before getting the old rings back? I wish I still had Marth and Sigurd though. They had SSS Tier inheritance.

I love Kagetsu so far. But I'm a sucker for swordmasters in general. The crit animation they have is so fun. If the weapon triangle wasn't such a huge deal in this game, I'd make an entire army of swordmasters lol.

I like how Ivy actually has intel on the enemy and actually tells us. We need more recruited, reformed "villains" who do this.

Fogado is funny so far. If he and Kagetsu had a support, that would be gold. Because it would be non-stop flirting or competing at who can flirt better. I saw Fogado wins so far, because Katetsu is awkward as hell about it lamo.

So if all the NPCs are dark-skinned, they should've made more Solm retainers dark-skinned too (I know from pre-release that images they aren't). FE is getting better a variety, but still some way to go.

Veyle is being a bitch to Marth for no reason. Leave him alone. Still predicting that Mauvier is recruitable. And Griss is . . . eh . . . something. I love a good unhinged villain though.

One thing I DON'T like about this game is that they give you new units way too fast. Like, I just got Ivy and co and now I have Fogado and co. And they seem like a fun bunch, but like, I only have 7 deploy slots . . .

And then you get into a situation where if you want to try out the new units, you can't in a skirmish, because those are the HARDEST battles in this game because it scales with your characters. Which, in some way, I like, because then they're a good challenge but then you can make story levels easier by outclassing enemies, so then you're not "stuck" on a story and can pick and choose your challenging stuff, but it leaves other units behind. Which is typical FE I guess, but all the extra content seems like it encourages you to use new guys. Idk, there's low level Tempest Trials, but those take a long time and rewards are meh for how long it takes, esp for exp, which is why I don't think they really work for it either.

Ugh, Alcryst keeps getting shit level ups, but his supports and character is so interesting. And I just complained about limited deploy slots. I hope my boy can catch up, because he's, unfortunately, next on the benched list. Everyone else either dodges or tanks likes a pro. He's really my only liability on the battlefield right now.

Seforia is pretty cool. Glad to see more moms in this game. Really, almost everyone had a mom instead of a dad this time.

Oh, God, I'm so happy to get Ike. 😭😭😭😭😭 Radiant Dawn was my first Fire Emblem game, and still probably the one I've replayed the most. OMG this makes me so happy 😭😭😭😭

Timerra and co seem fun, but again, I'm sick of new characters. I still have a few open slots (pending you take 12-14 ish in final chapters), but 1 is reserved for the dancer, because, dancer. It's just a bonus he's gorgeous this time.

Ok, also, you have no idea how happy the bosses of these chapters makes me. It's a shoutout to other twin bandits with goofy names that used to show up n all the past GBA games.

Iyv's reaction to hearing that Hortensia has attacked was hilarious. A+ to the voice actress selling that.

I like how the three heirs on this post-level map are all talking to the locals. It's a nice detail. They're being diplomatic.

Also, another small bonus to this game. The bald eagle actually sounds like a bald eagle. All that majestic yelling you hear in movies is fake. That's a different bird. Eagles sound like squeaky toys, lamo.

Ivy teasing Alcryst in their B support is great lol. She tweaked him big time. She's a much more engaging character than she seemed like she would be initially.

So I just saw Alfred and Ivy's C Support, and this is the 2nd time someone told Alfred he's naïve for trusting people and he's just like "yep!" I love him so much, you don't even know.

Kagetsu is a fucking badass. Dude doesn't even have a special ring and makes mincemeat of enemy units. No way I could've beat the skirmish I just did without him. It was fog of war, everyone was separated, and like 99% of the units were fliers, but I really want to adopt a deer, so . . . Thanks, Kagetsu. He's going to get a pebble when I get back to Somniel. There wasn't even any deer. 😭 Why did I suffer? Got an owl and a rabbit at least though.

Case in point about Kagetsu. Turns out, he was the first enemy in the arena and defeated: Merrin, Ivy, Celine, and Chloe before Alfred finally took that menace down.

Lyn mentioned Eliwood and Hector in her paralogue 😭😭

Just saw Alfred and Alear's A Support. I think they're cute together. He's one of the few people who was casual with her right away, which is what Alear really wants. And the first one who offered friendship too. Still picking him as my S Support.

I still can't get over Hortensia's design.

Kind of glad that Hortensia is angry with Ivy. It makes sense she'd feel hurt and betrayed by Ivy, esp since she just lost her father too. Conflict also makes for a better story so . . .

Oh, wow, another cool moment for Alear. Hortensia is holding the Solm queen captive and threatens to kill her if Alear won't hand over the rings. But Alear refuses. So does Timerra, good on her.

Hortensia's VA is really selling her breakdown. Makes me feel bad and realize she's just a little girl. Then thong lady shows up and ruins it.

Is it bad I'm relieved Goldmary and Rosado aren't around? Because I'm tired of getting 3 new units every round. Even though I want Rosado so badly.

Oh, good grief. Hortensia is under some kind of mind control. How original, Fire Emblem. Betting that other little girl is too.

Ivy and Hortensia got pretty cool story arcs. Pretty sure I get Hortensia and Byleth now. Man, it's cool to get Byleth.

And, hey, another parent gets to live!

Solm gave me more money 😭😭😭😭

[your-local-uwu-artist]

a continuation of this

character devolopment rambels under the cut

was able to further develop their characters a LOT with this!! Sunny is a very carefree guy, unlike his inspiration (me lol) he’s extroverted cause I thought that fit their dynamic better and made his character match better with the sorta tropes I want them to fit

plus I find that I prefer my “self inserts” as not actually being self inserts but more like, “semi-self inserts” cause more often than not its what fits better for the kinda story I’m trying to tell : like I see a selfinsert as being a caricature of ones self, like your selfinsert acts just as you would if you were placed in x setting, but I would see a “semi self insert” (for lack of better term) as being a character that’s design is a sona but writing wise doesn’t function like a sona, like their core character traits are taken from my own personality, but isnt a direct representation of me, sense I cherry picked the traits and amplified them or adjusted them to make the kinda character I wanted: 

idk I know most people probably still call that a self insert but I tend to like being very specefic with my laungauge as my brain takes things very literally and at face value (plus I only want to give the very special self insert title to a character that feels like a complete self insert to me) 

anyhow SUNNY! he’s a sweetheart and has that classic headstrong shonen protag kinda personality, he wishes he could be a flirt but hes way to much of a simp for that lmao, their sorta a ditz but manages to have a high enough “charisma stat” to survive without a trainer, very much a classic “>:)” kinda ghost type. probably has some kind of internalized toxic masculinity thing going on, he has a hard time with emotionally vulnerability. He feels he can trust Daisy and he also admires how she can be so strong despite being more timid and emotional, so she very muched helped them with expressing himself emotionally. He’s never had a trainer and previously resided in the ghost type trial site (abondoned thrifty megamart) and now scurries around on akala island where he met Daisy. As a shiny he knows he’s of high value to trainers, which is why he doesn’t want to get a trainer, because he would want a trainer to admire him for him and not his shiny status. plus he find it MUCH more entertaining to watch trainers panic over having lost a chance to catch a shiny. He loves listening to Daisy’s stories about her trainer and the trainers she’s met tho, really he just loves listening to Daisy in general. sense me making more content for this is lowkey just all as a shoutout to younger me who would very much love this kind of misfits mimikyus love at first sight friends to lovers sappy romantic kinda story: I VERY much want to make his general character be the kinda character that younger me would adore~ just less angsty and with the “badboy” underdog gig being more performative. Like I need to combine the nick wildes and discords and misunderstood villains with the oopsie bears and spikes and sidekicks. also making em’ queer and autistic af. Not just cause I’m queer and autistic, but cause I think a lot of the characters I adored as a kid was for sure because of gender envy or a subtextual queer and autistic coding kinda thing that resignated with me tho i couldnt yet understand. so I think it’s fitting for that part to be important with the “shout out to younger me’s tastes in fiction” theme: He likes Daisy for her sincerity, calming aura, intelligence, perseverance, and her rebellious streak/ rarer moments of self confidence

DAISY! she’s shy and timid, but stronger than you’d think. She DID have a trainer and lived in the kanto region before being gifted down to her trainers younger sister, who moved to alola with their father, where they got lost from each other, Daisy is under the impression she was abandoned. She’s more of the mysterious ghost girl kinda ghost type but has a small mischievious streak. she’s been on her own before plenty but she’s never really been alone in human inhabited areas, so being trainerless in the shopping center streets of akala is very much a new experience for her. She tends to be reserved and while she would like to assume the best in others she generally assumes others to be “mediorce” at best until proven otherwise (in contrast to Sunny where someone can be a fucking bitch and unless if they were being a bitch about a manga he likes he will forgive them immediately, if it’s the later he deep down deos forgive them but will hold that grudge against them f o r e v e r) keeping up with the shout outs to past me Shes def inspired by like, raven queen, fluttershy, cerise hood, fucking elsa and other characters from my child hood that come up when I try ot think of the vibe I want her to have. also yall can hc her sexuality and gender as whatever you want, sense Sunny’s (trans masc) nonbinary she doesnt just like guys at least. if I give her a canon sexuality it will probably be polysexual or smth: Sunnys already pan cuz I’m pan but Idk if she has bi wife energy or not. While she’s stubborn and headstrong in her own way, (she does battle afterall) she genuinly tries to stay out of trouble. she’s a very gentle person. She struggles with making friends sense shes quieter and she also jsut finds it hard to click with someone conversation flow wise. Sunny likely encourages her to talk more but doesnt force her too, so their conversation flow clicked properly for Daisy. She likes Sunny for his chaotic neutrual vibes, energetic passion, and his softer caring side

[catboy-cyrus]

OOH OK FOR THE CHARACTER THING!!! a few options, feel free to just choose one or all of them: Cyrus, Cilan, and/or Iris!

fuck it, I'll do all of em.

Cyrus (for the purposes of this game cyrus since anime cyrus is so different):

-First impression

I didn't like him. I thought he sucked. I didn't get what he was trying to do and thought it was kind of a stupid thing to do/want. I definitley thought that he had potential though. But mostly in the context of being banished to the distortion world.

-Impression now

my blorbo. my pathetic meow meow. I want to pick him up and smack him against the wall. I think about him so much. I wanna put him under a microscope. I think he's so goddamn interesting, just a fascinating horrible little man. I want to put him in situations and by god do I.

-Favourite moment

In terms of cool points.... well being trapped in the distortion world was pretty cool. But I'll say actually his usum rr apperance. I watched a playthrough and him there is what made me realise that hey, there's far more to this guy than a thematically inappropriate retro space theme. Changed my brain chemistry. I would not be tumblr user catboy-cyrus without it. Also shoutout to him in masters accidentally becoming buddies with Sophocles.

-Idea for a story

I am 100k words into a Cyrus in Hisui fic. this one answers itself sdlkjds

-Unpopular Opinion

I'm not really sure I have one? I know plenty of people dont like him (but also that plenty of people do. hello cyrus mutuals).

-Favourite relationship

God how do I pick. Him and his commanders is great even if he doesn't really like them. I am biassed to Masters though. Him being nice to Sophocles (and Sophocles really wanting him to be nice) is super heartwarming to me.

-Favourite headcannon

Uh. well I guess just my Entire Personal Interpretation of him. Depressed, autistic, aroace, all of that kinda thing. More specifically, I am certain that if literally ANY of his circumstances differed, he wouldn't have done it. If he was like 2% happier, he would not try and end the world about it.

Cilan (anime cilan because he is my original blorbo):

-First impression

I honestly don't remember, but in his first episode I am certain him leading ash to the gym, knowing he's a challenger, and then acting as if he were just a guest at a resturaunt would not set me off on a good foot. I also think i found Detective Time cringe as shit dsjlkdslk

-Impression now

My original blorbo. He just makes me happy. I see Cilan and my mood improves it is that simple. He's just great.

-Favourite moment

MAN how do I pick??? Him getting on with N is always great. I love him getting super excited about trains/acting/etc. But honestly the moment that stuck with me the most is that time he gets possessed and attempts to kill Ash and Iris. that was fucked up. Formative moment as a kid dslkjdslkj

-Idea for a story

man... I've never really thought it through. This isn't really anime focused but I personally find the theory that the triplets are the Shadow Triad really really funny so probably something stupid about that. One of them fucks up by using a cooking mataphor or something.

-Unpopular opinion

I AM MORE EXCITED FOR CILAN IN ANIME AGAIN THAN SUBMAS. GIVE ME MY GREEN GUY!!!!!!!!

-Favourite relationship

Bit of a cop out but him, ash, and iris' friendship is super special to me. his friendship with the subway bosses is very sweet too though and I enjoy how well he gets on with N.

-Favourite headcanon

Okay this is an elaborate in-joke between me and my brother but that through declaring himself a connoisseur of something, he gains arcane power and knowledge about is and is functionally omnipotent. It's so fuckign stupid but funny to us.

Iris (uhh fuck i love both game and anime iris so I'll just alternate)

First impression-

Again, I don't remember but I think I liked her? I first saw her in the anime and something about being a weird little guy who hung out in trees definitey appealed to me as a child.

Impression now-

Still like her!! Both characterisations, although I really don't get her thing about calling Ash and Cilan a kid in the anime. Iris you are a kid also?? In the games i think she's great. I am a big fan of very nice little guy who WILL kick your ass so so hard.

Favourite moment-

Honestly? Her re-apperance in the anime was pretty fucking good. I am so glad she evolved Axew and became champion, and her battle was fucking COOL.

Idea for a story-

Hmm.... this one's difficult. I'd just kind of want to write her kicking team plasma ass honestly. She is cool and deserves to be written being cool.

Unpopular opinion-

Again, I really don't think I have any about her. She's a guy I like but I don't feel super strongly about her besides that.

Favourite relationship-

Going to the games here, her relationship with Drayden is super sweet and compelling to me. Her cool dragon grandpa!!!!!!

Favourite headcanon-

I think her 'knowing the hearts of dragons' thing isn't super literal. She's not like N in that she can talk to them, I think its more she's super good at reading them and their body language. Nothing supernatural or unusual, she's just unusually good with dragons. That might be the canon thing but I've not really seen any consensus on it.

[pinkrose05]

Oh this sounds fun, count me in!

Warning: Long Post.

(Oops.)

1- I went with Stelle because I like the deadpan menace vibe. Caelus is pretty neat in his own right, but Stelle... my beloved gremlin...

2- Yanqing! He's my son and I love and cherish him with all my heart. Go kick ass, subway surfer boi!

3- My pfp would have you think it's Argenti, but I actually have a terminal case of Ren hyperfixation. He's got sooo many different personality facets and involvement in several story branches that is just so neat to think about!

...as I do 24/7. Please send help.

4- Also Ren lol, he checks off all the right boxes (buffs his own crit rate, scales off HP, runs on basic attacks, has the single most satisfying followup attack in the game. Oh did I mention the sfx? I think I should mention the sfx. It's great.)

5- I wasn't too big on Guinaifen initially, but playing Aetherium Wars and Foxian Tale practically 180'd my view. She's so lively and charming, and her backstory makes her current persona all the more interesting, too. Ily xiao-Gui... please come home already....

6- This is probably a tie between Qingque and Hanya. QQ's RNG within RNG is hilarious when it goes off, but man, Hanya has some of the best animations in the game, period. Her SP recovery is also very comfy (<- Ren main who dies inside whenever the SP count falls below 2 in any team ever).

7- Silver Wolf.... I'm so sorry queen, you keep running next to guys I'm saving for. Next time. Next time for sure.

8- Belobog, hands down. The scenery is cool, the vibes are cool (or warm, if you're in the Underworld), and OST is some of my all-time favorite; I love those strings so much!

9- The Luofu had a pretty strong start, even with all the fetch quests. I may be in the minority here, but I really enjoyed Dan Shu's quest chain, and was very excited to see how they'd handle the moral dilemma thereof in future updates. Oh, to go back to these better times... *weary sigh of ancient soul*

10- Argenti's story quest may not have been lore-heavy, but boy, it definitely was one of the weirder ones- and that was fun! I won't go into detail here, but it changes... quite a few things. And that last cutscene... beautiful.

(Shoutout to the Serval + Gepard quest pair though; that one was great closure for the former, and a nice show of her dynamic with the latter too.)

11- Had he not been an established recurring presence (that already stole the thunder of another's quest), I would've nominated Ren for this one. However, my actual pick is Jing Yuan. I'd love to see centric content for the cat dad sometime... regardless of what it tackles, I'm fairly certain it'll be a good time.

12- Foxian Tale of The Haunted is the peak of events in hoyoverse games. 20/10, please keep up the quality in the next lore-heavy main event. Shoutout to Critter Pick for the babies, though!

13- Remembrance! Why wait for the enemy to take action when you can make them dissociate their way to death?

(Of course, the agony of running into freeze-immune enemies is unmatchable, but I still think it's worth. Elation is a solid second though, that Aftertaste explosion is just delectable.)

14- Kafka's a pretty fun bossfight, in that she's the most straightforward of the bunch. Just cleanse the effects, keep trading blows, and you'll get there if you believe hard enough. Also this fight gives you the Go, Bladie achievement, and few references in this game have made me laugh so hard.

15- Ahahahahahahaha... figured it out yet? Aha is a menace in all the best and worst ways, and I'm afraid they had me hooked to their shenanigans alll the way back from the start. Live, laugh, love, never gonna give you up-

16- Giovanni Di Giorgio Da Epsilon, the man of all time!

(....can you tell I'm an Elation folk enjoyer?)

17- Sometimes family is a pint-sized gamer, a coat afficionado, an occasionally feral but mostly just tired wet kitten, a gundam proxy constantly doing their best, and the cat that brings them all together like some sort of clairvoyant glue. We praise the Stellaron Hunter family in this household.

18- I'm not much for shipping, honestly, but kafblade reads romantically as well as it does platonically, so that's nice. I'll take any and all ship content if I like it enough, though.

19- Jingliu and Luocha's plan is vaguely intriguing, in that it ties the Luofu's story to several ships we might visit in the future. I wonder what the Marshal's take on this is, and what exactly goes on in the Xuling...

Honkai Star Rail questions

I spent all night last night catching up on events in Honkai Star Rail, and somehow I ended up thinking about whether I'd seen any posts like this one. I couldn't remember any, so I decided to make my own. Hopefully it will be fun for someone as we now test out our free Dr. Ratios and wait for 2.0 to arrive!

This is not a tagging sort of meme - if you play HSR and are in the mood, answer these! Feel free to explain or not explain as you see fit. Bonus points for including screenshots/pictures/art/whatever - not required, but no one ever argued with some pretty.

Note that I'm keeping this one positive, because my mood is "yay this is a fun game I'm happy it's here" and that's the general vibe I want to put out into the world!

*

Stelle or Caelus? (i.e., which default do you use, regardless of what you named them?): 

First 5* Character:

Favorite 5* Character (Story/General Characterization):

Favorite 5* Character (Combat/Play Style):

Favorite 4* Character (Story/General Characterization):

Favorite 4* Character (Combat/Play Style):

Existing character you haven't pulled yet but want:

Favorite 1.0 Zone (Location) - Herta Space Station, Belobog, or Xianzhou Luofu: 

Favorite 1.0 Zone (Story):

Favorite Character-Specific Quest:

Character who doesn't have a quest yet, but should:

Favorite Event:

Favorite path to choose in Simulated Universe: 

Favorite boss fight (design, combat, story relevance, whatever strikes you most): 

Favorite Aeon:

Favorite non-playable NPC:

Favorite non-romantic relationship (friends, enemies, complicated, whatever):

Favorite ship (if any - canon is irrelevant here, btw, this is all vibes): 

Plot thread you're most looking forward to seeing in the future: 

Bonus question: any other (generally positive) thought, theory, or headcanon that you've been dying to talk about, but haven't had the excuse to mention before:

[rosella35]

G/T Stories Appreciation

For everyone who’s followed my stories over the years, you may already know that I’m a pretty inconsistent contributor to the G/T community, but this year has been by far the most challenging! As much as I’ve wanted to keep writing Borrowed Courage and post more art (and fanart) on here, I’ve been struggling through the final year of my psychology degree at university, and while it’s almost over, it’s taken up a lot of the time that I used to spend engaging with the amazing creators here on this platform.

So basically, I’m writing this post to give all of my favourite giant-tiny stories (and their authors) a well-deserved shoutout! There have been a few series that I’ve binged while stressed from thesis-writing this year, and a heap more that got me through high school and plenty of other stressful times in life, so without further ado, have some recommendations!

A Tall and Small Collection by @narrans - Definitely one of my staple reads this year! For anyone wanting a wholesome yet angsty story about a borrower family and their resident human, this one is a must! Narrans is an incredibly talented writer, and I can’t wait for the much-anticipated paperback of ATaSC coming out soon! 

Watch Your Step by @not-a-space-alien - Hands down one of the most creative takes on the ‘human catches fairy’ trope. Thistle is such a well-developed character, and the interactions he has with his human roommates are so entertaining (and have literally made me laugh out loud at times!). If you’re after a slow burn trust-building story, then I couldn’t recommend this one more! 

Nobody’s Fool by @ratcatcher0325 - I binged this whole story the other night after submitting an essay and it was incredible! I usually don’t read too many pet trope works anymore, but this one warmed my heart for a good reason. I loved the journeys each character went on throughout the story; especially Penn’s. It's always so empowering to read about a character overcoming prejudices and using their story to inspire others!

A Fraction of Justice - another one by @ratcatcher0325 which deserves just as much praise as Nobody’s Fool! Alexander is such a strong yet vulnerable character, and I am loving he and Natalie’s story so far. Seriously amazing writing, especially during the emotional scenes! 

Online Dating Can Be Hard by @duckit7 - Seriously such a sweet story about two people developing feelings for each other in a mixed-size world. I love the world-building in this one, and how realistic the characters and their struggles are. Definitely worth a read if you like slow burn romance with a sprinkle of angst!

Gulliver’s Children by @rosabea6 - This one’s a webtoon about a teenager with a size-shifting disease. Once again, some crazy world-building, and scarily realistic scenes. Also, the art is absolutely incredible! I’ll flag that this one is for mature audiences since there are some violent scenes, but overall hands down the most amazing G/T themed comic I’ve read!

Perspectives Series by @hiddendreamer67 and @arc852 - I'm not part of the Sanders Sides fandom, but this series was wild! I can’t believe how many different scenes and tropes you guys managed to write over such a short period; it’s beyond impressive. If I had to pick a favourite, it would have to be ‘Switched Perspectives’, since I’m a sucker for size switching shenanigans (and in this case angst)!

Borrowtober Series by @Nicole08196 over on deviantart - This one doesn’t get old! A super cute story about a family of borrowers and their two resident humans, with a really fresh perspective on the lives of borrowers. Nicholas and Darius would have to be my favourite pair; their guitar practicing bonding sessions are so wholesome!

Trust Series by @creatorofuniverses and @neonthewrite over on deviantart - As if I would forget mentioning the trust boys. This one has a special place in my heart, since I basically went through high school following along with the series (and now here I am at 23)! For those who haven’t read it yet, Trust follows the lives of two viri (who pretty much live like borrowers) and their human counterparts, and has four main AUs so far. Definitely worth checking it out!

Spirit of Adventure - also by @creatorofuniverses , with a supernatural twist! Basically a viri who can see ghosts, his ghostly friend and a team of human detectives out fighting crime. What could go wrong?

The Prince and the Faeling - another amazing series by @creatorofuniverses​ which you can find at @askthefaeling​ . It’s an angsty story about a spoiled prince and his snarky fae companion.  

Brothers Apart by @nightmares06 - This series definitely takes the throne for most prolific! Even if you’ve never watched Supernatural, Brothers Apart and its many AUs explore just about every G/T theme under the sun, and with incredible writing to boot! If I were to pick a favourite, it’d have to be a tie between ‘Brothers Adopted’ and ‘Brothers Lost’, but all of the AUs are amazing in their own right ^_^

I also want to give a special mention to @neonthewrite ’s Bowman of Wellwood, @keydekyie ’s The Moth and the Bear, and @bittykimmy13  ’s Christian and Gloria stories for being my G/T nostalgia bombs, the first two of which are now published! If you haven’t already, go check them out! 

I’m sure there are many more writers who I’ve missed, so please add them in if you’d like! Huge thank you to you all for doing what you do! ^_^ 

[ilooklikeaburntchickenugget]

Written in the Stars

A/N: Okay so I’m trying to kind of advance my writing style, so there’s more poetic elements to this piece than to possibly any of my other one’s. I hope you guys will notice little elements here and there that tie the story together even better in my opinion :). Also, just in general, I wanted to write a more universal story about being vulnerable with someone for the first time, because that’s super hard and I don’t think we give ourselves enough credit sometimes for doing that. So shoutout to you if you’ve ever had to be vulnerable and emotional with someone for the first time, it’s a very fearless thing to do. Pairing: Gerard Way x F!Reader Word count: 3,981 words Warning: Some swearing, mentions of depression and mental problems

For the first time in years Gerard had managed to find some form of consistency in his life.

Everyday he would go to the studio in the morning, record some with the guys, get a text from you halfway through the day requesting he pick up some ingredient for dinner you had run out of, he would smile a bit, go back to working, leave, stop by the grocery store, pick up that ingredient, go to your apartment complex, struggle to find parking for about five minutes, and head up to your apartment on the eighth floor where you were in the kitchen starting to cook. He would walk in with a big smile, kiss you on the top of the head, hand you the bag as you would swell a big “I love you so much” up and he would always respond, “I love you too”, he would choose a record, and you would cook together.

He began actually looking forward to it, oddly enough. Being domestic and all. The whole stupid settling down thing seemed to be wistfully trotting onto the horizon of his next chapter, and despite closing the book like he always thought he would, only to stow it back away on the dusty shelf of other books in his life he opened only to end too soon, he actually kept reading.

Today was another one of those days, except the fact he never got a text from you. But hey, maybe for once you were going simple. He had always tried to pressure you with light kisses and growing smiles to go easier on yourself, not cook as difficult meals to actually have time to sit on the couch and do nothing. You never listened, of course. But maybe that made him love you even more.

He actually had the opportunity to skip the grocery store, and get a decent parking spot before all the other residents got home from their own jobs. But who’s kidding? By now he practically was a resident here with the amount of times his barren feet had touched your hardwood floors.

He made his usual walk through the first doors, holding them open for a young mom and her child who frantically and graciously thanked him as she muttered something about dirty shoes to the young boy who’s eyes seemed to be lost in a little world of their own. He softly smiled at the naivety.

Then to the elevator, hitting the same button he did most days. The little number 8 illuminated and he softly smiled again, leaning against the side of the box, satchel on the other side which would soon be hung on the coat rack you had in the front since you were so mature. He caught a laugh in his throat and let it go under his breath as he thought about the first time he was invited into your apartment, looking a bit surprised that a 25 year old had a coat rag.

“It’s all a facade to make me look more mature than I actually am. To make people think I have my shit together.” You argued.

The elevator came to a stop with a small ‘ding’ as every elevator did. He could never wait for the doors to open, these ones seemed oddly slow to him. He always stood right there in the front of them, the reflection showing off his black coat, jeans, and boots, a drastic contrast to his short and pitch white hair. So as soon as there was enough space for him to escape, he did. It was a simple right, then a left and then another right. Six doors on the left from his last turn and he was in front of 817.

He slid the key you had gotten him in, twisting to the left before he heard it pop open, and twisted, walking in. He always closed it shut behind him and locked it, but he was too stunned not to see you in the kitchen working on something. His eyebrows furrowed a bit as he looked around for any sign of life only to find none.

He pulled out his phone sloppily and checked through his calls, texts, voicemail, making sure you weren’t gone and had sent him a message he had forgotten about. But there was absolutely nothing.

He continued through the usual routine, just slightly more on guard. He hung his satchel slowly, removing his shoes, and walked towards the open living room. He could already see in it since the kitchen that was immediately off of the door looked into the living room, and you weren’t there.

He finally took a deep breath, acknowledging that maybe you just had to stay late at work and were too busy to text him, maybe a friend needed you, hell maybe you just decided to go out for drinks with co-workers. It wasn’t like you owed anything to him. You were a mid-20 something, you had every right to drop plans with your almost 30-year-old boyfriend to go and get overpriced drinks at one of those stupidly hipster bars.

But in all that silence he heard it. A faint, very muffled sniffle-like sound. His head darted to where your bedroom door was, realizing it was closed and you had to be in there. He slowly walked over, hoping if you were in there you already knew of his presence, but stopped right in front of it and leaned his head so the edge of his ear was just brushing the white wood. Another sniffle, and it sounded like your bed shifting slightly.

He took his fist up to knock, softly doing it twice, “Y/N?” He called, before slightly opening the door.

His face froze as he saw you. In sweatpants and an old t-shirt, hidden under the covers, only your face showing. Your slightly tan skin was now swollen and red, your eyes puffy as you let out a bit of a whimper, turning away in embarrassment. But it was way too late for him.

“Hey, sweetheart.” He softly came in, sitting next to you carefully and cautiously on the bed, leaning over your torso as he softly kissed the top of your head like he always greeted you. But this was less passionate and more caring, the type of kiss that feels almost like nothing, but it lingers long enough to feel like something. “What’s the matter?” You sniffled again, your big eyes now looking up at him under the puffy nature of them.

“I-” You stopped, staring into his comforting eyes at the moment as the warmth from his body seemed to engulf you. Before you could say anything you broke out into sobs and more tears.

Gerard’s face froze again in some form of fear and chaos. He had never seen you like this before.

In your eight months of dating, you had never cried or been vulnerable. You were always so confident. No matter what you just never seemed to crack, you always seemed to smile and keep your head up high, you always made such self-assuring comments about yourself. You were by no means stuck-up or full of yourself, just confident to a level that sometimes he wished he could be.

But now, you seemed like an open chest of pouring and pounding emotions.

All he could do was quickly run to the other side of the bed, and sink on it right next to you, wrapping his arms around your body so his hands met on your lower stomach, his legs pressed against the back of yours, and his face now tucked in your shoulder as he just held you until you gave him any sign you didn’t want to be held anymore, which he hoped you never did.

He let you cry and sob for a good five minutes as your hands clung to his, opening them up so you could wrap them together, fingers entwined in a desperate knot of comfort. He didn’t dare speak, far too afraid to break this moment as fragile as glass and as rich as ivory, so there he laid next to you as the only anchor you had at the moment.

“So much is happening all at once.” You finally admitted not moving a bit, your breath shaking as tears began to slow their pace, “Everything bad has just happened today.” “Hm?” He merely hummed, asking you to continue as he lightly kissed your cheek, still tasting the salt from your tears.

“Just,” You sighed, “Work is stressful and there’s so much shit happening there, and then fucking family bullshit that is still around and- I moved out here so none of this would happen? Ya know? So I could get away from everything and from being unhappy. And then it just sneaks up on me again with no warning.”

He scanned your face, your eyes still staring forward and towards your wall. You genuinely seemed desperate, exhausted. This was clearly a product of you going through hell on earth.

“Alright, honey.” He softly said, sitting up a bit to kiss around your neck and face. “Why don’t I make you some tea, hm? And then we’ll get take out from wherever you want, and catch up on a TV show?”

“But don’t you have more work-” “Nope, not tonight I don’t.” He stated with a smile, “Work can wait.”

He carefully climbed out of your bed, and silently walked to the kitchen where he grabbed a mug and scrolled through your teas. You had plenty, but you always loved cinnamon. He picked that one out, prepping the water in the kettle and walking back to your room where you were now out of bed. He looked around for a brief moment before noticing your bathroom door was closed, so you must’ve been in there.

He sat on the foot of your bed and reminisced for a minute. You were being vulnerable, and it scared him a bit. A part of him liked it of course, just in the way that it was trust building and what not, but the other part of him wondered how the ever confident you could just fall so deep. He was sure it was a build up, but he wanted you to have come and talked to him before, expressed your feelings. Was that too mean or touchy to ask? It could easily be, but for the moment he was still stunned by such a change.

You came out a few minutes later, and as respectfully as he could put it in his mind, you looked terrible. Still beautiful, just in a more ‘I’ve been through shit’ way. He sighed at your puffy red cheeks, hating to see your once glowing skin now as bright as a fire hydrant, but knew it was all apart of the process. You sat down next to him, leaning your head on his shoulder as he wrapped his arms around you.

“What do you want for dinner, love?” He asked softly. You grumbled.

“I don’t know.” You sighed, “I need to think.” He nodded.

“Take your time,” He kissed the top of your head once more, “I’m gonna go check on your tea, okay?” You nodded into him.

He got up with reluctance, walking back to where he was just a few minutes prior. He could tell the kettle was only moments away from screeching, so he quickly grabbed it and poured the boiling hot water into the cup where the small bag already sat. He put the kettle back on the stove, turning off the burner, and leaned against the counter waiting for the leaves to steep.

It was grueling seeing you like this.

He knew that of course he would see you like this one day. You had gotten him through multiple depressive episodes at this point, and now it was his turn to return the favor. He hadn’t minded it so far, more felt bad and been slightly perplexed. Of course you worked your ass off, that explained the whole job thing, it was burnout. But the family element- he had met very limited amounts of your family, but they all seemed genuine and nice. Maybe he would ask about it later, but again was worried about the pushing of boundaries.

As the water grew more amber, he removed the tea bag and placed it into the trash, walking the mug radiating heat back to your room. He set it down on your nightstand, noticing you hadn’t really moved at all, and retook his prior position.

“What about a TV show, huh?” “Sure.” You shrugged. He got up, taking his hand to invite yours, and as you grabbed onto it he helped you up. The two of you walked hand in hand to the living room, what once was a sign of two lovers in public became a foundation of support in private.

You sat down next to each other as he promptly wrapped his arm around you, settling in and grabbing the remote while pulling a blanket over the two of you. He scrolled through the first few titles on Netflix before you saw something you wanted. “That one.” You simply said as he landed on it and hit play with a nod.

You knew he was trying. And right now you hated the fact that he was trying, because there was no way you could properly reciprocate that same love back. He was so perfect and, why? You were a crying, crumbling mess of a woman with tear stained cheeks and a completely crushed spirit. You wanted to open up so bad, tell him your deepest, darkest secrets, the same one’s that were causing you all this pain but you didn’t want to burden him with such a load. Maybe you just wanted to enjoy the brief moment.

“You gettin’ hungry, hon?” He asked as the first episode wrapped up.

“A bit.” You admitted, your head placed on his shoulder.

“What’re you feeling?” He moved his head to look down at you.

“Hm,” You shrugged, “I don’t care. What do you want?” He lightly smiled.

“It doesn’t matter what I want, you get to choose tonight.” You sighed at how nice he was being, but of course your indecisive nature didn’t make this any easier.

“I don’t know, Thai food kinda sounds good right now.”

“Then Thai food it is.” He smiled, placing a kiss on your head and grabbing his phone. “The place down the street, right?” He asked and you nodded. “The usual?” You nodded again and he smiled, “Alright, let me place this real quick and I’ll go pick it up.” “Take my card.” You stated, but before the thought could even be taken off your mind it was quickly interrupted.

“Nope, I’m paying tonight,” He gave you an almost offended look, “M’lady’s not feeling good, this is all on me.” You grumbled into his shoulder in defeat, yet couldn’t help but to let out a small chuckle along with it. “What?” He asked, almost confused.

“M’lady.” You snorted, “Sounds kinda stupid.” He rolled his eyes, getting up and grabbing his phone to go order.

You had to admit, your lucky star must have manifested some sort of pot of gold that you landed on to get a boyfriend like Gerard. He was oddly perfect while being so imperfect. He had his flaws, of course, like when he worked too much and you felt like he was completely ignoring you, or when he was watching his favorite show or movie and completely zoned out to the point that if you were having a heart attack you weren’t sure he would notice. But overall, he was an amazing guy who you, out of all people roaming earth, managed to land your hands on.

You went back to fiddling with your hands a bit, a nervous tick you developed when you were pretty young, just reflecting on how fucked your life seemed at the moment. Why did shit like this have to happen to you? You supposed these mental challenges were what was your trade off for having a relatively great life.

Gerard came back a moment later sitting on the couch next to you, the place where he sat before still had a small dent in it from how soon he was up and back. “They said 25 minutes.” He said and looked over with a sigh, his eyes squinting a bit. “What’re you thinking about?” “Nothing.” You lied.

“No, you have that thinking face where your eyes go all wide and your face freezes up. What’s on your mind?” You sighed. He knew you so well and right now you wanted to kick him for it. Yourself too for letting a man get so close to your heart.

“Everything.” You softly smiled, “Like, my entire fucking life and shit.” “Hm?” He asked, nudging you to continue.

“I mean, I have such a great life, right? But then sometimes I feel fucked in the head, and I wonder if it’s like a tradeoff, ya know? Whoever is out there decided it would be too easy to just let me happy for a longer period than a couple of months and bam! My life feels like it sucks again.” Gerard gave a sympathetic smile.

“Ya wanna hear a true story?” He asked.

“Sure.” You stated, half-heartedly.

“When we were recording the large majority of the new album, before I moved back here and, ya know, we met, all I could feel for a good couple of weeks was nothing.” He explained, his eyes staring down at the coffee table, somewhat in concentration and somewhat in not wanting you to see what he did. “And it sucked. A lot. I hadn’t felt that way since, well, ya know-” “Yeah, I do.” You replied having been briefed on his tedious history with substances, not wanting to push him into more detail.

“And at one point, when all of us were feeling that way, we kinda realized something. We became so infatuated, obsessed even, with everything that was wrong that we were’t focusing on what was right.” He looked up at you again, his eyes meeting yours in a lock. “When you begin to reflect on hard shit, like death and drugs and alcohol and the thought of just throwing your life away, you don’t realize all that’s in front of you. We focus on what’s so hard that we never realize the hardest parts of our existence is now. Living in the present, waking up every day, going back to sleep.” He took a brief pause as he let you process his words.

“I feel really lucky that I have someone like you, not only to have by my side, but also because I get to have someone that looks at the world in that way. You wake up everyday and kick absolute ass. I mean, you already wake up and get out of bed, then you have an amazing job, and you have friends who you care about so much, and you cook and you help others constantly- you’re overachieving at existing, and I feel like that deserves so much more credit than most of us ever will.”

You weren’t even sure how to respond, frozen in time for a few seconds before you quickly leaned over and gave him a light kiss on his lips. “That’s the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me.” You admitted, pulling away just a bit but your noses’ were still barely touching. He lightly smiled.

“It’s the truth.” You smiled a bit, backing up a bit to give him more space. The air was filled with a warm silence for a few seconds as the two of you just sat there, smiling at each other. “Is now a bad time to mention that I should probably go pick up food?” “Yes.” You replied with a light laugh, “It’s an awful time to do that.” He began laughing too, keeping it under his breath as you leaned back. “You want me to come with you?” “Nah, I’ll be fine.” He shrugged, getting up and walking over to the coat rack, picking up his coat. “I’ll see you in a bit.” He smiled, walking out of the door.

I need to get rid of that coat rack, it’s so fucking stupid.

As Gerard wandered back down the streets of LA, he couldn’t help but notice the sky. it was of course pretty diluted given the fact that light was everywhere and pollution was too, but he recalled you telling him of your teenage years, laying out in your backyard or fields late at night and staring at the stars. You had said how peaceful it was, because it always made you feel like you were the only one in the world, reminded you that there were greater things out there than yourself that were guiding you one way or another.

That’s how he got the idea.

Meanwhile, your phone pinged and you picked it up, seeing a message.

Gerard: Meet me on the roof in ten. I’ve got food. Grab blankets.

You quizzically read over it before following his directions, wondering what this man had up his sleeve next as you grabbed some soft blankets from the back of your closet that you rarely used. You shrugged with a hum, going with the flow. Everything Gerard had told you was fresh in your mind, why did it matter which way the world took you? At least you were alive and breathing.

You made it up stairs, also placing an old hoodie on given the fact that it was a chilly night, and set the blankets out on the concrete top, settling down on one of them and staring up at the night sky.

It brought you back to a moment when nothing mattered. It was just you and the universe, you acknowledging the stars out there that would never be touched by man and were preserved so well. They went through a brutal cycle, yet they were still beautiful.

“Hey.” You heard a voice behind you, turning around to see Gerard with a bag of food and a smile, jogging up and sitting down next to you. “Glad you followed the plan.”

“Mhm.” You nodded, still too busy looking at the stars.

“I uhm,” He began, “I remember you telling me how you loved looking at the stars when you were younger.” “Hm?” Your head shot over to him in shock, “Wasn’t that like, our second date?” You lightly laughed.

“I think so, yeah.” He replied, getting the food out of the bag.

“But that was- such a small detail.” He sheepishly smiled.

“I just, uh- it stuck out to me a bit. I think I really admired how romantic you were, just making everything so positive. Even stars.” You smiled and blushed a bit at his compliment, grabbing your food in the process.

You both sat there in silence, just eating, one of you occasionally reaching over to grab some of the others food. “Do you look out for any stars in particular?” He asked and you shrugged.

“The bright ones to be honest.” You said, pointing to one as his eyes followed. It was one of the brightest ones, a little round dot that seemed to make it’s presence known. “And it’s not just because they’re more noticeable. The brighter the star, the older it is, sometimes they may even be dying. Sometimes I like to look at those and imagine everything they’ve seen.” He smiled.

“That’s-” He began, “That’s one of the most beautiful and coolest things I’ve ever heard.” “Yeah, it’s a very over romanticized thought.” You chuckled, reflecting on what he had already said, “But sometimes that’s the best way to live.”