#i dont have any references yet i have to get in touch with my old boss and tutors

[sammyloomis]

developing what seems to be a cold at the same time as this tooth thing is Just what i needed, very cool very dope

[xx-psych0-rabbit-xx]

I would like you to info dump about the kirby gijinkas 👀

AVA I LOVE YOU UM UM SO!!!

kirby:just kid stuff like rain boots, hair accessories n overalls, they also have two designs-one for older games n one for newer games!! n a scrapped off old one cuz it looked too fancy </3 also the bag is angel themed bc i thought thatd just look cute ngl

bandana dee:as i said on another post i got inspired by smash dedede having a shirt that rly looks like the beginning of a yukata or a kimono!! also he doesnt have a mouth, design on the right was an early concept lol (by "isn't allowed" on the sheet i mean im not sure if having it over the haori could straight be an insulting mistake or if its just something most people would not think of doing bc why would you) i bullshitted an eye design but my best friend rly liked them so i never changed them lol

marx: i literally finished his final design yesterday.even tho nothing changed i just gave him elf ears bc he looks silly w them lol.anyways its just a jester design tbh? since his hat has two differing patterns i thought itd be neat to add both the sun and the moon from his little villain plan to his outfit (i miss his fluffy hat balls a little though </3) also he has no arms tho his wings can work as them sometimes.bc im a firm believer in always having characters who lack limbs in their original design either not have them or have a fun replacement

elfilin:theyre themed around a more cutesy aesthetic for angels n space! contrasting forgo and elfilis more dark theme of those, also w an inspiration of retro futurism! and yes their outfit is completely stupid and overly complicated thats part of the charm <3 theyre like a scene kid to me.also a little star bc all of kirbys friends get one.fun fact they had 4 beta designs bc nothing looked good

fecto forgo:(sorry for bad pic i need to redo its entire reference sheet) just an hospital gown w medical tomes that werent removed from them (my best friend gave me that idea n what to add lol), i think theyre best described as a blob of weird elfilis slime that can take a humanesque form rather than a human form that can blob, theyre constantly melting n all its veins are visible, theyre v cold to touch n in the tube their body flows in a way that gives them cherub imagery similar to what was intended w canon forgo, also its legs are useless, theyre very weak and unstable and not naturally formed (also since i picture the elfilis split as some uh.physical form?? of disassociative trauma random trivia when they front post game elfilins eyes get replaced w theirs, just for the aesthetic)(credits to my bestie for coming up w that interpretation lol)

shadow kirby:they get two designs like kirby, both inspired off theirs but just like.emo lol.dont ask why their hair started doing that its whatever reason they became purple in canon.they have overalls beneath that coat btw

and miscellaneous designs i havent given a final sheet to yet!! taranza and dark taranza r based off more fantasy victorian (? medieval???) clothing, susie is holographic bc i didnt want to give her gray shading n her limbs r all floaty (i imagine shes always making some weird electric noise due to that), gooey is just like cute tbh? their cape is based off their mock matter form, chuchus hair is based off the shape the octopus species she apparently is has, i dont have any notable commentary for drawcia or claycia (was that her name) other than drawcia is like a paint blob.also claycias supposed to be way chubbier but i underestimated how huge her coat would look.gotta fix that

thats all the ones i have!! GOD it feels good to finally share them lol

[pankomako]

ya lost? yeah me too

while you're here, why don't i introduce myself? you can call me panko or sharky, either's fine. im a transmasc gay dude whose gender is best described as a png of a shark - my preferred pronouns are he/they. also im 17 years old.

one of my big goals in life is to tell silly stories in cartoon format. for now, i just have these 3 oc worlds i play around with like plushies on my bed:

Boardwalk of Beasts - the big one which i want to turn into a tv show. i unfortunately haven't touched it in a while haha

Gang's Bay - SUPER self-indulgent, basically a weird sitcom in my head. you can read about it here

Give Me Vertigo - a fun genre-hopping story i plan to tell sooner rather than later. story is VERY much a WIP but it might be an interactive blog thing idk yet

you can find my posts about them in their respective tags; it's just their titles so it's easy (the gang's bay tag excludes the apostrophe)

stuff i post

fair warning, some of the things i post aren't very kid-friendly. if my blog were a tv show, i'd rate it TV-14 for strong language, sexual references, and depictions of drugs and alcohol. if you're not into that stuff, or under 14-16, i'd advise you to keep your distance.

i do indeed post a lot of art, though mostly just rough doodles or joke drawings. i make both oc art and fanart, and the occasional animatic.

i LOVE sharks, and marine bio in general, and just about anything to do with the water. definitely a huge non-media side interest of mine

also i will never be normal about the music i listen to. im an alt-rock junkie and my favorite bands as of now are incubus and pearl jam (i listen to one band's music exclusively for months at a time.)

some past fixations of mine are invader zim, corner gas and milo murphy's law. not in that order. im highly likely to post about those as well as splatoon. feel like i might be forgetting something but idk

you may find me hanging out in the live chat of failboat's streams as one of his chat mods. i've been in the community for about 6 years running (6 years too long if you ask anyone normal). i also draw him SO much in my funny cartoony way that looks a lot like him but also not at all.

when im not posting about any of the stuff listed above, i just ramble. it's probably annoying but hey if you're following me that's what you get lol

well this got long. i really cant make just a normal bullet list can i. well hey, if you like what you see, consider dropping a follow! feel free to interact with me too, i may be a shark guy but i dont bite :P

if you're not lookin' to follow just yet, go ahead and dive into the rest of my blog! yeah that one was forced. whatever you decide to do, i'll catch ya later :D

[frostyreturns]

Frosty Ruins "The Blackening"

At what point does the obsession with identity politics and 'representation but only for specific groups' thing become another era of exploitation films? Are we there already? It's one thing to prioritize movies with black people in them…it's one thing to create a movie for black audiences…but where it gets into blacksploitation territory is when the only thing you are trying to achieve is to make a black movie for blacks and your barometer for a job accomplished is that the people are black. When you call your movie the blackening it already communicates that this is going to be yet another movie that thinks being black is a genre of movie and a personality trait. I'm starting to wonder if they make movies like this bad on purpose because they have some kind of tax scam going…like they write off the losses…they generate buzz from how bad it is and can blame all of this on "racism". Dump a bunch of dirty money into the film...the film bombs so the studio claims the losses. And with AI they don't even need to put that much work into writing these awful movies. Ai shits out a script put a bunch of desperate nobodies you dont have to pay much in it...it makes way too much sense.

My other issue with the film beyond this is it's a horror parody movie…they are like 25 years too late to that party. We've moved beyond parody the writers and creators of today are not capable of understanding the concepts they aim to criticize enough to create parody. We also don't have a shared cultural experience anymore enough to be able to parody anything. It was different back when we all watched the same shows/movies and they were memorable and worth seeing. What's to parody now? Everything sucks…everything is its own parody. It's so rare that the people I know have watched the same things as me anymore. Meaning the references and parody will be lost on me…or it will be horribly outdated and stale. This is an ill advised movie right from the start. Imagine scary movie but horribly racist and not anywhere near as good and you see how low the bar is. And of course its going to be stale the central premise is horror movies where the black person dies first…the tagline is we can't all die first…so it's addressing a trope that's been done to death. The old stale references and tropes are also more ammo in my argument that its ai driven...rather than drawing from current experiences of the world...which a text generator doesn't have it instead pulls from all the stuff that exists already. You get a black reimagining of scary movie with references to blade and jumanji.

Whether I'm right or not it's yet another movie that has me questioning if any human beings actually made it. Which means either I'm right or it's gotten so bad that writers don't pass the turing test anymore. The dialogue is awful, the jokes are barely jokes…it really does sound like somebody put "scary movie but for blacks, and combine it with jumanji" into some chatgpt thing and this is what it turned out. Lines don't seem to follow from the line before it. Like the guy will say "You're asking too much." and she replies "I'll touch your penis later" it lacks the flow or rythm of human speech and lacks the cadence, timing or delivery of a joke. Plot blends with sentence the same way backgrounds blur together in ai produced art. It has the basic shape, you recognize it…but its off. You see what they were going for…but the shape of it is hazy.

It has hilarious jokes like "this looks like blades house…I want to talk to Wesley" get it thats a movie with a black person as the lead…it's a reference…but black.

It's also amazing how things that would normally be seen as horribly racist against black people are allowed because of the context. When the office has blackface in it as a joke…where the entire point of the joke is that it is offensive…its not allowed and must be censored and apologized for. However in a self appointed woke movie they can have slurs and blackface in a board game called the blackening. And of course if they have license to make fun of themselves…sort of…then of course they also have license to be horribly racist to the only group it's acceptable for every other race to be racist to. Every joke that wasn't about white people or race was some other obvious low hanging fruit joke.

Now I looked up the reviews for this movie because I saw a lot of people claiming to like it and could not believe it…and I call shenanigans. I think the reason this movie isn't getting ratioed like it should is for two reasons…#1 fake bot reviews inflating the numbers…anytime you see a lot of 1 star and a lot of 5 star reviews and not much in between it reeks of bots. The one star reviews were all clearly people explaining why the movie sucked…while the 5 star reviews were all generic…many were in spanish for some reason…they had weird grammatical errors and lots of 5 star reviews that say things like "I will want to watch movie." And the other thing saving it from being rated like it deserves is a little bit of the black panther effect where people who didn't see it sing its praises because its a black movie…and people see it as a kind of anti-white activism to defend the movie. I see a lot of comments defending it but most of them are accusing everyone who didn't like it of being white and racist. They may as well have called this one racebait the movie.

Ultimately I would say its "bottoms" for black people instead of for gays. Unfunny pointless movie that exists only for identity politics reasons. It's not as bad as bottoms which I still maintain is far and away the worst movie ever made. The movies and genres it pulls from appeal to the lowest common denominator so I can see some stupid people with gutter palates still enjoying it. It's an hour and a half of black people standing around going look at us we are black. Avoid at all costs.

Not sure what number or star rating to give it…I know

Tax scam/10 money laundering scheme/100 woke/woke

happy last day of black history month everyone.

[hyhunter7]

Erebusmon, my oc digimon

Ok so I have been working on this digimon for the past week or so, and I have no idea what to make for it to communicate it to peeps, so here's my literary analysis of my own oc digimon who barely has a design bc i dont have the storywriting abilities to make a story.

Premise: the premise of Erebusmon in the canon is a bit confusing, but it is a fusion of Eosmon(mega), Chaosdramon, Chaosmon: Valdur Arm(which I will refer to as ValdurChaosmon), Rapidmon(gold), and MetalPhantomon, it is pure power and can rival beings such as Omnimon X and even Odugomon (not X lol). Erebusmon’s premise thematically is the relationship of chaos and control, how they are the same and conflicting, and each of it’s components represents an element/ aspect of control.

The story: Erebusmon’s story is the story of it’s components, only appearing at the end of a story for a final battle.

For Eosmon, the story is very similar to Kizuna’s, about someone who emotionally abandoned their Digimon to “grow up” and follow the expectations/ social contract, however, realizing what she missed, created Neverland to prevent children around the world from having the same “growing up” as she did, almost engaging in a sort of self-infantilization. Eosmon’s element of control is control over the past and present, in hopes the future will continue to be that past/ present. This Tumblr post and this Elliot Sang yt vid go more in depth about it, even tho the vid isn’t necessarily about Kizuna. 

For Chaosdramon, it’s about a Vemmon who evolves (to Snatchmon) because it gains a sense of self (opposed to the other Vemmons, who don’t), and used the other Vemmons, terraformed the world around it and got a sense of superiority, thinking itself to be the highest on the hierarchy, thinking itself to be a type of god, a false god. It then digivolved to Machinedramon as the manifestation of that, but then again to Chaosdramon as an extreme version, becoming a chaotic beast overruling (some of) the Digital World. It’s element of control is about the relationship between identity, machines, and nature. A good explanation about that is this 10 min yt vid. 

For ValdurChaosmon, it’s even split more, with ValdurChaosmon being a fusion itself, of BanchoLeomon, and of Varodurumon. BanchoLeomon is a Leomon who gained it’s title by having it’s spirit tested, but never broken, thus strengthening it’s ideas of Justice, and any who do not follow that Justice, are Evil and BanchoLeomon will hunt Evil down. Varodurumon is a Digimon who evolved from Hououmon X, an extreme Holy symbol, presiding over the skies, any touch of evil will be eradicated with Varodurumon. This fusion to ValdurChaosmon represents the control over the self inherent in ideas of good and evil, especially in executing said ideas on others. 

For Rapidmon(gold), you might be thinking it’s a strange choice, but just hang tight. Rapidmon evolved from Shoutmon, through Shoutmon’s regular evo line with Rapidmon being the Mega form. Shoutmon, similar to in Xros Wars/ Fusion, wants a single thing, and that’s to be the Digimon King, and so through the Evo Line he gets more and more power, enough power to influence and control, and becomes Rapidmon(gold) like Destiny. Rapidmon’s element of control is how interrelated the idea of control is to the idea of destiny, this yt vid is great at explaining it. 

Last, and maybe least, is MetalPhantomon, who, similar to Rapidmon, explores ideas of destiny, but in the context of death, the fact that theres an end to this life at all, and understanding that, makes all the other’s relevant and may be the most important thing to understand. 

This all culminates to a fractured, powerful digimon, Erebusmon, who’s only motivation is to control. Erebus, in Greek Mythology, is the son of Chaos, yet the father of Fate, the Three Fates, Old Age, Darkness, Dreams and more. Erebusmon, in the story, is fractured, split, and fused between multiple components, however, it seeks to control and be one being. It brings in the ideas of the Absurd, the conflict between the chaos, absurdity, of life, and our inherent drive to find meaning, lucidity, and thus control, in it. It also brings in the idea of the Split Subject, which is a conscious being, who is split, but really more accurately represents this quote "[you are not a Split Subject] you are only a Subject because you are Split... when you are truly yourself is when you understand yourself the least" by Clark Elieson, but is also the antithesis to it by always seeking out control, to be one, however he’s still the thesis as he only exists because he is split, he is Absurd.

Erebusmon also has 2 crests of Destiny on his chest, and a fractured digicore, which is the blue orbs on his shoulders and in the center of his chest, and 4 holy rings on it's ankles and calves.

And if Erebusmon is in a game, I think it would be good if in the moments of death, Erebusmon realizes true power comes not in the form of control over self or others, but instead from acceptance of the chaos.

Oh yeah here’s the evo line in an image top

[finitevoid]

LOL yes stefans bangs are also unintentional it just grows like that. he has particularly hard to manage hair as a lion branded on a budget. and he wants his hair guy long and loose so

soren is less resentful against micaiah than he is against most people and generally understands. he only gets frustrated when its at the forefront when micaiahs like Oh no what if they find out about my secret :(. Have some tact you war criminal (shes a little out of touch all her friends are beorc,)

side note micaiahs yet another person for stefan to lose his shit at for dating beorc

as for stefans hair soren actually laughs at stefans suffering. at the end of the day stefan makes no effort to hide so whats it matter to soren that his hair grows like that its just another cruel irony for them both to laugh at like the insane people they are. stefan is not beating the beorc passing allegations. he probably goes around finding any excuse to lift his hair

sorens intersex but they cut th- afab. i think itd be funny for soren to deny being almedhas kid off his agab like I am not your lost son i was actually born a fucked up female. and almedhas like Yes i saw you when you were born and your case worker told me about your... situation. he is not on hormone blockers nor t because HOw and also he doesnt want to. he is one of those trans children who started presenting as male at like 6. after a while greil was like Are you sure buddy and soren went Shut the fuck up and greil was like Alright im not going to discuss this ever again and pretend this isnt real. And it was never discussed again in their household. if he respects sorens autonomy more than mists then ... not transphobic?? maybe if mist transitioned. greil kind of just wants to forget this is a thing about soren. in the end hes half housing a branded kid so hes progressive enough for soren

he looks like a girl but his voice is deep so passing wise he could go either way. which is believable enough for him to not be perceived as a queer girl but is instead seen as a very queer fairy boy after he insists hes a guy. people have trouble believing hes a guy until an adult refers to him as one. he is frequently called a faggot and not always for ike lover reasons. his passing is also kind of carried by ike calling him a guy. he is marked as a guy in the school system but not for other legal documentation. his foster parents were you know. his temporary parents and knew everything but once in the group home his case worker carefully introduced him as a guy to staff

I forgot pelleas. i dont feel like getting creative with how almedha couldve mistaken him for her son in the age of documentation and dna testing so hes just an 18 year old orphan trans guy out of hs she projected onto before finding soren (this way she can see him as her little girl). she was very weird with him. they were coworkers at chipotle. almedha fucked off to pittsburgh as soon as she found her little soren though rip pelleas he was kind of into having a mom

THERE IS A REYSON. HES THERE... ITS HIS MODEL

There is no reyson did I post reyson model in reply to one of your asks or something?? Certainly not recently

I’m so glad soren is chill and they are all chill with each other and they laugh about the irony. Soren can’t get mad at her for dating a beorc but stefan is like COME ON. BOTH OF YOU???? and that’s awesome

As far as anyone knows soren is just a guy who kind of looks like a girl and that’s why he gets called slurs see that’s so deep. Also ike says he’s a guy. Jokes on them he’s a guy And he’s gay. Sad

almedha chose pelleas as her surrogate son based entirely upon his hair and eye color looking like ashnard and then when she met Soren was like :0 because he looks like her (except white)

[oetscop]

so i didnt post abt it when it happened bc i just felt like dumb and complainy (which i am! but moreso than usual) but like. coworker is making me uncomfy as fuck and im just gonna call him s. hes the older trans man i mentioned.

hes like...REALLY condescending? like he talks to me like im a kid. and he always says like "i have kids your age everyones a kid to me haha" as if my moms bf doesnt have a 25 year old daughter like...that doesnt have Shit to do with it. first thing he said to me he was like giving me tips about binding???? like. brother i have been out of the closet for over a decade now lmao

hes well aware im not a binary man, but will still get weird about customers "misgendering" me as if i dont go by any pronouns. if i really cared about how strangers refer to me i wouldnt have this haircut or dress the way i dress. like when we had that dipshit losing it over us not being able to do a propane exchange (and he stole shit) s will KEEP BRINGING UP THE FACT THEY KEPT CALLING ME SHE. AT LEAST TWICE A WEEK.

stranger yet last week this couple was like arguing in the lane across from me and i was like. listening in like what else am i gonna do when we closed and im waiting for someone to take my till. they were talking abt how dumb NH is with food stamps (rightfully so its a nightmare) and were bitching about moving back to NY. next day s tries to convince me they were saying that because they saw my they/them pin like. what 💀

anyway. hes been very annoyingly touchy lately. i found out last night that im not the only one! and he got im trouble for it! but he WONT STOP!!! i hate being touched by anyone who isnt like. my dad or violet. and he was talking abt my van gogh sweater. and he thought some anime character was on the sleeve (its like. paintings lmao) AND TOUCHED MT SLEEVE BOTH TIMES HE BROUGHT IT UP. worse yet, he was getting an energy drink right before close. larry brought up that yknow. hes drinking nos at 11pm. and his response was "i dont normally but im planning on" and then like. pelvic thrusted. like my other coworker and i were disgusted and nobody else gave a fuck???

he keeps joking about how hes not allowed to "be friendly" with most of us anymore. like yeah i fucking wonder why its almost like youre being a creep or sumn

[binnniebee]

Here are my interests if any of you are interested :)

I like kpop(skz, txt, ateez, enha, crvty, bts, exo, tbz, svt, idle, b999, itzy, twice and many many others)

I play tons of intsruments(electric bass, guitar, drums, flute, piano, and hopefully violin soon)

I am under the age of 18

I don't care what you refer to me as(all pronouns, king, queen, royalty, man, woman, bro literally anything is fine)

I like writing fan fiction but i'm not that great yet(better when I started)

I have a really close friend that I am often shipped with and I lowkey wouldn't mind dating him... his code name on the internet is Teddy

I like the rain, cities, woods, ocean(the coast), the sun, and when its 68 degrees Fahrenheit partly cloudy with a wind speed of 2mph.

I live in the midwest of the US and have a slight Wisconsin accent(ik fun.)

I hate snow, cold, chewing loud, loud noises, people touching me without warning and when people have an opinion they no reason for.

I'm super enclusive. Idc what you identify as, what you listen to, what you look like. Idc.

My favorite artists(jpop, kpop, western) are Nicki Minaj, Stray Kids, and Fujii Kaze

I like organizing and clothes design and crocheting

I've been a Stay(skz) for a little more than a year and have been into kpop since December 21, 2021.

I used to hate kpop and anime(I love both sm)

I dye my hair a whole(I started again in November by dying my hair orange. Its purple now and soon blue)

I stay up late into the night(EST)

I get attached easily and fall in love even easier

I collect charms and put it on my bracelet that my grandpa gave to me 3 years ago(a little while later, he died :( )

I'm introverted whos self concious(i dont text unless the other texts me first)

I tease a lot (i call myself and others losers bc I love them and slightly myself)

If Fujii Kaze wasn't my favorite jpop artist then I would probably choose Yoasobi

My wall is full of posters

I have horrible circulation with low blood pressure(This is genetic I hate it sm. stupid stars.)

If you have the time(i'm not at all forcing you), please check out my blog thingy. I spent like an hour on it and Im super proud of it.

I want to go to University of Washington(Seattle) but my grades suck. I'm trying my hardest to study.

I severly miss my old best friend that moved away sm that I text him every day. He never responds.

I'm pretty optimistic for a pessimist

I usually keep my twitter nice and happy but here is where the real shit goes down. if anyone wants me to stop, I will

I'm very much awkwad

My biases are Han Jisung(skz/main), Hongjoong(ateez), Woobin(cravity), Gyu(txt), Enhypen(Niki), Soyeon and Minnie(idle), Hobi(bts), Kai(exo), Vernon(svt), Ryujin(Itzy), Jihyo and Mina(Twice), Ollie and Jay(bp999)

I am a proud supporter of Ollie from Bp999 (VOTE FOR HIM PLSSSSS)

I read in my past times

I play some genshin

I'm a drummer in my school jazz band(I auditioned :D)

This is as much as I can think of rn... I hope you welcome me here! Today(04/03/23) is my first day on here and will never be close to last.

(why am i wording this so weirdly...)

[wonwoonlight]

overgrown | xu minghao

➝ word count: 6.3k words

➝ florist!Minghao x demigod!reader

➝ demigod!au // florist!au // fluff // slice of life // angst if u squint // nonidol!au

➝ warning: not edited nor proofread kjsdfnjkdsngf, not fantasy au tho hoho

➝ A/N: happy birthday, hao! if you're wondering about how demigods are percieved in this universe, please refer to percy jackson and how the mist make ppl see things they dont wish to understand lol thats basically it. enjoy!!

moving from one place to another has always been easy, but perhaps it's about time you stay.

Being a descendant of Persephone is an experience itself. You have no idea how it happened, but that’s always the case with demigod children, so you don’t really care to understand either. What matters is you’re happy living with your dad in a small apartment downtown big enough just for the two of you.

You’ve just recently moved to Seoul with him; it’s probably only been three months at most and you’re still getting used to the new environment around you. You’re not exactly nomads, but you and him enjoy moving around from one place to another, learning about cultures around the world.

You spent your childhood mostly in Europe, or at least that’s what your dad said because you’re not old enough to remember details. But the first country that your consciousness manages to register is Japan because you lived there until you finished elementary school--the longest you’ve stayed in one country. But even then, you moved from one city to another at least three times throughout the years.

And then you spent junior high school in Singapore before eventually moving to the US once you’re sixteen. Before you came to South Korea, you spent a good four years in Australia for university.

And here you are now, only two months after graduating, already settled in yet another country.

“Are you going to go up again?” your dad asks as he sees you putting on your shoes.

“Yup, gotta take care of my children,” you grin at him.

He rolls his eyes at this, shaking his head in amusement. “As if you can’t grow them back right away if they withered.”

“You’re just jealous I have the power to do that,” you stick out your tongue at him. “And it’s different with planting them from seeds, you know!”

The sound of his laughter is cut off once you shut the door behind you, giddy steps making their way to the elevator almost immediately. One of the main reasons you’ve both chosen this particular complex is because they have a community garden on the rooftop; you’ve fallen in love with the sight of it in an instant the moment they show you the tidy garden that you’ll be free to access because, as far as the management knows, only so few cares about the community garden.

You cringe at the sun the moment you step into the rooftop, the brightness of it blinding your eyes. At least it’s not that hot considering how blinding it is.

“Oh, you poor thing,” you frown when you see a dying flower on one of the pots. You’ve noticed this particular flower since you began tending the garden; a peculiar purple flower that you’ve never seen before. But you quickly dispel any interest towards it because it obviously belongs to someone.

Its pot is beautifully decorated with paints and there’s a big X.M.H. written across the body. You didn’t touch it because you thought the owner must be taking care of it; much like how you don’t dare to tend the few other plants that have names written on the pot.

But this flower is obviously dying and you’ve always been bad at holding yourself back when you see plants about to wither. You wonder if it’s a trait that you inherit from Persephone along with your ability to grow flowers wherever you want. It’s a pretty useless power, if you think about it, and you didn’t even know Persephone has this ability to pass on (because isn’t it supposed to be Demeter’s specialty? Anyway, you’re still related to her one way or another and you’d rather just accept this unique ability than question it). Still, you’re happy with this power even though it doesn’t really help you in your daily lives.

You look around to make sure no one else is on the rooftop before you return to that particular flower; even though you’ve never seen this kind of flower before, you know for sure it hasn’t even bloomed to its best shape yet. Contemplating on what to do, you eventually decide to just go fuck it and resurrect the flower while there’s no one present.

Gently holding the pot with your palms, you focus on it until a soft green light emits around the flower; its stem slowly stands back in place and the vibrant color returns like it wasn’t pitifully dying on its own pot before. You don’t even notice it looks more alive than when you first saw it the day you moved into this place.

You exhale a deep breath after you’re done, the green light long gone after the process is done.

Nothing bad should come out of it… right?

Due to a training workshop you have to attend for your new job, you’ve asked your dad to tend your flowers while you go to Incheon for three days. You would’ve gone back and forth instead of sleeping over in a guest house if you could, but Incheon is way too far and training literally starts at seven thirty for each day.

Why couldn't Persephone just give you the gift of teleportation, really? But, then again, even Hermes’ children don’t have that kind of ability so you can’t really blame her for not blessing you with that.

Anyhow, now that you’re back in Seoul, the first thing you do after washing up is to go up the rooftop to see your children. You honestly doubt your dad actually does as you ask, and you simply hope you don’t have to use your power on them just in the worst case scenario that they all somehow die in the span of three days.

When you open the door, you find someone else busily moving through the garden instead of chilling on the benches for once. You blink at the sight of the lean, tall man, but quickly shrug to yourself and make your way to do your usual round.

You’re just minding your own business as you fill in your water spray on the sink nearby when someone carefully taps your shoulder. You’re not sure why you’re not surprised it’s the same man from earlier.

“Yes?” you smile politely at him.

“Hi,” he greets you with a hesitant smile. “Have you… been tending the garden these days?”

“Oh, right!” you exclaim before you put down the water spray and introduce yourself to him. “I’ve just moved in recently and, yes, I’ve been tending the garden since. I don’t touch plantings that have names on them though!”

The guy nods as he lets out a small ‘ah’ and then takes your hand to shake. “I’m Xu Minghao. You can call me Minghao though. I… usually tend them too, so it’s a surprise to see them so tidy after I’m away.”

You blink at the name. Oh. Xu Minghao. He’s the owner of that flower, isn’t he?

“Um, can I ask you something?” he asks again, his tall posture suddenly making you nervous from your awareness.

“Yeah, sure,” you fake a smile as you turn back to fill your water spray.

“Do you know that purple flower with my initials on the pot?” he shoots straight to it, and you’re glad your back is turned to him because else, he’d see how you close your eyes in contempt.

You hum as you pretend to think about the flower he’s referring to. But Minghao is not easily swayed and he tells you to follow him to see the flower yourself.

Your eyes widen in horror as you see the flower buds opening widely, a shape that you’re sure shouldn’t take place just yet because it hasn’t even been a week since you resurrect it. Did you accidentally grow it more than you should? This is why you should practice, really.

“Has… this been looking like this?” he brings you back to reality, his face confused and somewhat concerned. “I’ve just gone back from my hometown so I haven’t been here for three months and… I don’t think it… should be growing this fast? The buds were only half open when I left.”

“I’m… not sure,” you lie lamely, praying this Minghao guy would brush it off as you being awkward in front of a stranger. “Did you ask anyone to tend it for you? Maybe they give your flower a different fertilizer?”

Minghao shakes his head firmly, arms crossing in front of his chest. “No. I was actually wondering if this particular plant can withhold for months without any fertilizer. I did ask someone to water just once every three days and I told them not to give any kind of fertilizer.”

Oh shit, shit, shit. The one time you decide to mess around helping flowers, it just has to be in this kind of scenario with someone so observant.

“So, uhh, were you expecting it to die or…?” you ask again as you try to act like this has nothing to do with you.

“Wasn’t expecting anything in particular, really,” he sighs, observing you while wondering about the reason behind your fidgeting. Are you just nervous because you don’t know him? Or are you hiding something? “I was just experimenting. My friend tried to grow this flower by crossbreeding two different plants, he’s pretty much done with it so I asked if I can take it with me.”

You nod at the surge of information, unsure why he’s loading this to you. “Have you… always been interested in flowers?”

“I do have a flower shop, if that’s what you’re asking,” he chuckles at your amazed expression. “You should drop by sometimes. You look like you’d appreciate my flowers.”

“Sure,” you happily accept the invitation, lowkey excited to find someone who shares this interest towards plants despite your nervousness from earlier. “Not easy to find someone else that cares about plants other than myself.”

Minghao chuckles again as he agrees with you, and then gives you his business card so you can visit him sometime.

“Maybe my friend did something during the crossbreeding process,” he continues, still looking at the flower curiously.

“You should go ask your friend,” you reply a little too quickly, making Minghao turn to you as his eyes observe you with something that you can’t quite decipher. You’re not sure if the sudden rush in your heartbeat is because you’re scared he’ll somehow figure out what you’re hiding, or you’re simply nervous because his gaze seems to be fixated on you.

Xu Minghao is pretty pleasing to the eyes, if you may say it yourself, and pretty people always intimidate you. Not that you mind him though.

“Yeah, I should,” he quietly replies, wondering if he’s simply imagined the edge on your voice.

The next time you see Minghao, it’s only been a few days since then and it’s a complete accident even though it’s you who step into his shop yourself.

“Oh?” you blink at the familiar person behind the station. “Hi?”

Minghao looks up from the flower arrangement in his hands, not hearing the door opens and closes because he’s too focused on the task. “Hi?”

“Didn’t know this was your shop,” you smile a little as your eyes wander around the flower shop. It’s a pretty humble place, though it’s quite big for a shop run by (presumably) Minghao himself. You don’t see any other person in sight, but there are two closed doors you can see from where you’re at and who knows if there are other people there.

“Threw away my business card, did you?” he smiles playfully, walking around his table to walk closer to you.

“Nah, just have a very bad navigation skill,” you grin, telling him you’d have no idea where his store is even if you turn on your GPS. “And it’s only been a few days, wouldn’t it be weird if I immediately come here?”

“Why would it be weird?” he frowns a little, though his smile doesn’t falter. “I did invite you here.”

You simply shrug at that, telling him it just would feel so as your feet take you to explore.

Minghao lets the silence linger after that, observing the way you fit so well between the shelves of his flowers. He’s probably imagining it, but it almost feels like the flowers are closing in everytime you pass by, welcoming you like you’re one of their own.

It’s beautiful. And it’s weird--because as much as he loves his flower shop, he never thinks he’d see a scene so beautiful in this sense. He’s an artistic person and it’s both too often and rare that he deems something beautiful. He has a particular standard that he himself isn’t even sure of. But this? The sight of you walking around his flower shop, fingertips gently touching the soft buds of his flowers while you smile and curiously look at each and every one of them?

He can’t be more certain that it’s beautiful.

“When did you open this shop?” your voice jumps him back to reality, though he’s glad that you don’t seem like you notice he’s been staring at you.

“Just last year,” he nods to himself, the happiness of finally opening his own flower shop still clear in his mind.

“Do you manage this by yourself?” you ask again, more interested than you thought you were.

The guy hums at this, his gaze automatically follows you when you step to the buds section. “I have two part-timers. Don’t really need a full time helper just yet.”

He thinks he hears you say something about how lucky he is, but he doesn’t get any chance to reply yet when you ask him about the ‘baby flowers’--your words not his--section.

Minghao steps closer to you, telling you it’s there for him to grow if no one buys them.

“Mostly, people come here to buy bouquets. But I thought there’d be no loss in putting them there just in case there are people who want to grow their own flowers,” he smiles, more to himself than to you.

You can’t help the warm feeling that envelopes you; you’ve always had a soft spot for people who appreciate flowers. Maybe it’s the few things Persephone gifts you, maybe it comes with your power--anyhow, someone who seems to love them as much as you do is hard to come by, and Minghao is easily the first person who shares the amount of love you have for these little beings.

“What flowers are these?” you lean down to look at closed buds.

“It’s a surprise,” he shrugs. “Even I don’t remember which seeds I put inside the soils even though we should have an idea by the time it grows a little more. I want these people to appreciate flowers as they are, you know?”

“That’s weirdly philosophic,” you chuckle a little, taking one of the pots in your hands. Minghao laughs at that, turning back to his table because his phone is ringing.

Your eyes widen in shock as the light starts to emit around the buds, so you quickly put it back down where it belongs before you shove your palms to the pocket of your jeans. Thankfully, whoever’s at the phone is holding Minghao back just enough until the light fades away before he’s back on your side.

If he notices your sudden tense posture, he doesn’t say anything. But, by the way he’s frowning and the slight ‘hm?’, you’re sure he notices something different in one of the buds in front of him, so you quickly say you just remembered you have somewhere to be and it’s been a pleasure coming here.

“I’ll drop by again some time. See you around!” You hurriedly say with a smile and a wave of your hand. Minghao doesn’t even get the chance to wave back because you’re already out of the door.

He drops his hand back to his side, looking at the curious bud that’s weirdly more grown than the others. He’s pretty sure he puts them all at the same time, so how come it’s the only one with its buds half open?

It’s been some time since you get close to someone as easily as you do with Minghao. You’re pretty sure that your shared interest in plants makes up 70% of your conversation, but it’s still enough for you to consider Minghao a good friend now, and you usually either talk to him on the rooftop, or in his flower shop as you drop by after work.

Plus, he’s pretty easy in the eyes and seeing him after a long day at work definitely helps.

Today’s quite tiring though, because your meeting drags on to the point where you miss your usual bus and you have to wait for half an hour until the next one comes again.

You figure you should just go home and rest, because tomorrow you have to get to the office early and you can’t afford another sleepless night when you’re this burnt. But still, when you pass by Minghao’s shop only to see lights still on, you can’t help but knock and come in.

It’s almost six thirty now, doesn’t he usually close by five?

“Why are you still here?” you ask as you step into the store, greeting Chan and Chaeyoung, his part-timers, who are still struggling with the flowers on the floor. “It’s already dark outside.”

“Wedding later at 9,” he simply replies with a sigh. “We’ve just started an hour ago and we could’ve finished this by seven but... there’s a problem and we’re… still trying to figure it out.”

“What problems?”

“The bride wants white and pink roses only, everything rationed 1:1. But, turns out, some of our white roses aren’t as white as she wants and she insists that we somehow have to make it works and… well, we even tried ordering white roses from another vendor but some of them still aren’t as white when compared to the one she...approved of,” he rubs his temple, obviously frustrated.

You bite down your lip as you see them and the pile of flowers surrounding them. They would probably need to work for an hour or two more at this point, and it’s all just because of this one annoying client.

This is a problem that you can easily fix, you think as you contemplate on what to do. How can you convince these guys that you have a way to help them without them being suspicious?

“Have you guys eaten?” you ask instead. At Chan’s groan, you immediately tell them they should take a small break and rest while they’re at it.

“We can’t,” Chaeyoung sighs tiredly. “I’d be too anxious to take a break too. We have to send this before eight.”

“All because we’re missing 17 white roses,” Chan adds, cracking his neck from side to side.

“I can help,” you finally say, feeling bad at how tired they all sound. Minghao and the others turn to you, and you gulp hardly before you tell them you have a friend who would probably be able to help, but that you need to borrow one of the roses just to make sure the color won’t be wrong too.

Chan asks if your friend is far, because it’ll be no use if it’ll take long for the flower to arrive. What more lies can you sprout in this case, really?

“Just… trust me?” you try to negotiate. Chan and Chaeyoung seem too tired to argue anyway, but Minghao’s curious eyes piercing through yours isn’t something that you know how to handle. Still, despite the way your ears are getting red from his gaze, you do your best to hold his gaze. For once you can actually use your power to help someone in need and you can’t even do it openly.

Talk about useful.

“Okay,” Minghao finally says. “Should I come with you?”

“No!” you answer too quickly. “You should continue and take a little break. I promise I’ll come back with your roses.”

Minghao doesn’t seem like he wants to agree, but he nods anyway and simply tells you to be careful on your way before he thanks you in advance. He’s a little doubtful, truly unsure how you can help with this. But you look so certain, and he knows you enough to know that you’re not the type to say things without meaning to.

And true to your words, not fifteen minutes later, you’ve come back with the exact white shade of roses that he needs. Chan hugs you in relief and Chaeyoug actually peppers you with kisses because you’ve apparently saved them from hell. You simply chuckle at that, though your eyes avoid his when he steps closer to thank you again.

“Eh, consider it your lucky day,” you scrunch your nose at him, telling him your friend has a bunch of them in his place. He wonders if he’s imagining the edge on your voice when he asks if your friend’s nearby because he doesn’t recall any other flower shop that would allow you to be back in less than fifteen minutes.

“Oh, umm… It’s not a flower shop,” you fidget from one foot to another. “He just grows them in his garden.”

“And he just lets you… take them?”

“I owe him a big favour of course. But it’s okay,” you laugh awkwardly. “He’s a very good friend and he understands.”

Minghao hums at this, a sound that makes you more nervous, if anything. He takes one of the flowers in his hand, observing them carefully as he wonders why these flowers feel different than any flower he’s seen. It does feel familiar though he can’t really tell either. Perhaps he’s just imagining things.

Simply said, it just doesn’t make sense to Minghao; none of these are. Anyone who might have grown this many roses wouldn’t give them so willingly unless the person is just that close to you, or they don’t grow them themselves and have no attachment whatsoever with the flowers.

Still, he’s in a hurry and he doesn’t have the time to ponder this just yet. So he simply squeezes your shoulder and thanks you once more then goes back to work. With your flowers, he should be able to finish this in 30 minutes or so and he’s going to do just that.

Almost exactly 30 minutes later, the guys actually finish the order on time. Chan and Chaeyoung quickly hop into the van with the flowers to go to the venue, giddy about the prospect of finishing this one hell of a job (though it’s only prompted by the client, to be honest). At least they just need to deliver this, it’s the wedding organizer’s job to place them accordingly.

So Minghao tells Chan to just bring the van home if he wants to, that he’ll close up for the day and the younger guy can just bring it back tomorrow. Chan happily agrees with the arrangement, then waves goodbye at you both before he takes off with Chaeyoung.

“I’ll help you close up,” you offer, not even waiting for his answer. Funny though, weren’t you tired from work? And now here you are, offering yourself for more work.

“It’s fine,” Minghao says once he catches up with you, gently circling his fingers around your wrist to stop you from cleaning up the table. “You must be tired from work and you’ve helped enough. If you want to help, just sit down and order food for me? Unless you’re going back home to eat with your dad.”

“Dad is out with his friends,” you tell him as you take out your phone. “I’d rather eat with you than by myself back home.”

The guy chuckles at this, the soft sound that you’re already used to and one that always manages to lift the corner of your lips. You don’t think anyone has ever had this effect on you before. But it’s Xu Minghao and you’ve learned that this guy is special in any possible way.

“What do you feel like eating?” you ask as you scroll through the delivery app. After contemplating for ten minutes, you eventually decide to just order from this Chinese takeout that Minghao often eats at.

“It’s pretty authentic,” he comments, telling you he orders from them every time he misses his hometown.

You nod as you listen to him talk about his hometown, how he moves to South Korea and why. So you tell him too about your story; the time you spend moving here and there, how it’s fun and it makes you all the more appreciative to the culture around you, but still a little lonely because you keep on changing friends and surroundings.

You can tell that Minghao is curious about your mom though he doesn’t say anything about it, but you can only hope that he has enough sense not to mention her--at least not now. You usually just say your mom has left a long time ago, which isn’t that far from reality if you think about it, but there’s something about Minghao that makes you feel like you don’t want to lie to him. Maybe it’s his scrutinizing eyes, maybe you’re just into him more than you think you are, but whatever it is, there’s this urge to always be honest with Minghao no matter what.

You throw your weight back to the wheeled chair on the back of the cashier, swaying yourself from side to side as Minghao tells you to wait here because he needs to do something in the back.

Now that everything’s practically done and you finally have the time to stop and unwind, you can feel the exhaustion settling inside your body. It has been a long day after all, but the thought of using your power to help someone--Minghao, on top of that--got you a little too giddy that you forgot about how tired you were even for a while. Plus, it’s been some time since you grow this many flowers at once that you’re exerting more energy than you usually would.

Oh well. You’re just happy you’re finally able to help someone with your power.

You glance at the potted plant next to the cashier machine, probably there for aesthetic reasons. It’s just a small, potted white orchid with pink accents adorning the flowers. You’re just about to reach out for it, your fingertips barely even touching it, when it’s suddenly surrounded by a soft pink glow.

You quickly sit up in panic, praying to everything out there that Minghao wouldn’t return now and--

“Hey, has the food arr--was the flower...glowing?” he blinks mid sentence, wondering if he sees wrong. He’s pretty sure he saw pink-ish light surrounding his orchid for a split second before it’s gone just like that. Is he more tired than he thinks he is?

Minghao isn’t sure what to make of your panicked look, but he’s even more confused with the way you look like you’ve been caught doing something you shouldn’t.

Fortunately for you, someone knocks on the glass door, announcing that the food you’ve ordered is here. Before you can offer, Minghao already goes to take the food, leaving you there to take a deep breath.

You’re so screwed, what do you even tell him?! Maybe you should try to convince him he’s seeing things even though the chance is pretty low. Xu Minghao is one of the most observant people you’ve ever seen in your life after all.

“Do you want to eat here or?” He asks, snapping you out of your thoughts.

“I don’t mind anywhere,” you shrug. So Minghao quietly drags another chair and sits across you, waiting for you to finish taking the containers out of the plastic bag.

He wonders if he should bring up the pink light from earlier, but the grumbling of his stomach tells him he should eat first and do it later.

“Oh!” You exclaim after your first bite, turning to Minghao. “This is very good? I don’t even usually like vegetables?”

Minghao laughs at your expression, something fond growing inside his chest as you keep on humming appreciatively everytime you take a bite. So far, a relationship has never been his priority, and it’s still not--but there are times when he’s started to wonder how it’ll be like to be involved romantically with you.

He’s lying if he says he considers you nothing but a friend; he doesn’t think about his friends like he does you, doesn’t smile at the thought of his friends right before he goes to bed, and he definitely doesn’t silently wish his friend would appear behind the closed rooftop door of his apartment when the day has been long and he wishes to unwind.

“What?” your voice brings him back to reality, and he calmly raises his eyebrow as if he hasn’t been boring holes into you.

“Nothing,” he says nonchalantly. “Just been some time since I eat dinner with someone else.”

“You don’t go out with your friends for dinner?” you ask, genuinely curious.

He nods, telling you his close friend works at the bar so it’s hard to find time to eat dinner together unless he goes there himself.

“You can join me and Dad some time,” you offer. “Dad always cooks so much so we end up eating the same thing for dinner and breakfast. Or maybe we can go try this restaurant in Hongdae next time, my coworker says it’s really pretty and it has an art studio at the back.”

Minghao holds back the urge to ask if you’re asking him on a date and settles for a smile and a nod, still not sure if you return the sentiments he's holding for you. As far as he knows, you just might be this warm and friendly to everyone you’re comfortable with. He cringes at how the thought stings a bit.

“This orchid is really pretty you know,” you say again, looking at the potted flower as if it didn’t freak you out just earlier. “How did you grow it this well? Aren’t orchids hard to take care of?”

He frowns and follows your line of sight, and then leans forward to take a careful look at the flower in surprise.

Minghao looks at it with a puzzled face, blinking continuously before he reaches forward to gently touch the flower buds. He doesn’t even answer when you ask if he’s okay, simply draws back his finger in surprise once it touches the orchid in question.

“Hao…?”

“Can you… touch it? And tell me how it feels?”

You comply, albeit confused at the request. “Okay…? It’s soft…?”

“It’s not stiff?”

“No…? Are they supposed to be stiff?”

His voice, purely laced with confusion, calls out your name, looking at you with a mix of bewilderment and pleasant surprise. “They’re supposed to be plastic.”

At the revelation, you stare at him in horror. That’s why it glowed pink. You had never encountered pink lights before; you know green appears when you resurrect or help plants grow, blue is for guarding fruits from insects, and yellow is to make sure the soil and the roots stay hydrated even if no one waters it. You don’t really like using your power unless you really need to, because there’s a different kind of satisfaction when you manage to grow them on your own without the help of, in a way, Persephone.

But pink? Even you thought you saw wrong.

In shock, you reach forward to touch the flower once more, only to have it glow green and rise a few centimeters from its original place.

You share a shocked look with Minghao, though he can tell there’s more than shock behind your eyes.

“I… um--I…” you stutter, feeling the need to defend yourself before Minghao gets the wrong idea.

No one but your dad knows about your power, not even Chaerin who you consider your closest friend. Once, you accidentally grew flowers in the playground in front of the other kids; you were only five and your power had only started to show. You can still remember the look of terror in their eyes, one of them cried so loud that their parents came to see what happened. They were unsure why the kid would cry when all she mentioned was you and flowers. Still, they figured you must’ve done something to the kid if she wouldn’t stop crying. You stopped coming to the playground shortly after that.

And then another case happened somewhere during junior high school. You had just gotten close to this girl and she told you about how much she wanted to see cherry blossom but couldn’t afford to go to Japan just to see them. So you thought you might as well make it happen, but when you gave her a cherry blossom bonsai that you made yourself, she told you you’re a fraud and there’s no way this could grow in a tropical country.

You figure your dad was right when he said not everyone would understand about your power even though flowers are harmless. Humans have the tendency to refuse to understand things that don’t make sense like your power.

Minghao looks around in surprise as he sees all of his flowers rowdily glowing different shades of lights. He doesn’t know for sure what on earth is happening, but if the fear in your eyes and some other things that have happened in your presence tell him anything, his flowers are probably resonating with the sudden wave of your emotion. You don’t seem to notice this though, fearful eyes only focused on him.

“Hey, it’s fine,” he says despite the loud ringing of his heartbeat. He slowly reaches for your hands, telling you to inhale and exhale at his cue to help you calm down. This seems to help, as the flowers have stopped glowing and the slight tremor in your hands has calmed too. “It’s fine, okay?”

You nod at this, hardly gulping as you ready yourself for what’s to come.

Minghao seems to notice this though, and then slowly stands up to kneel next to you, his long legs allowing him to still look at you comfortably.

“I promise you don’t need to be afraid,” he gently says as he takes your hands back in his, his soft tone soothing your heartbeat. “You don’t need to explain anything to me, but I’ll listen to anything you want to say, okay?”

You nod again before you squeeze his hands for comfort. You take a few more minutes to completely calm down, the warmth radiating from Minghao’s palms helping you in ways you don’t think possible. There’s a soft, patient smile on his face when you finally look back at him and tell him to take the seat next to you before you start explaining. So he does exactly that and doesn’t miss a second to hold your hands yet again once he’s settled next to you.

In a world this big, Minghao has always thought anything is possible. He doesn’t want to say he doesn’t believe in this and that, because who does he think he is to judge the existence of one thing and the other?

Still, it’s a lot to take in that a descendant of Persephone is in front of his very eyes. You even make a little daffodil appear out of nowhere on your palm, as if to prove you’re not messing around. He knows you’re not though, not because of your little showcase, but because the pure fear in your eyes can’t lie.

“It’s… freaky, right?” you laugh bitterly, looking down on the daffodil on your palm.

“I think you mean to say beautiful,” he says after a beat, not wanting to say the wrong thing. “You’re lucky to have the power to help these creatures grow, you know? They’re not like us humans, or even animals, that can defend themselves when it comes to it. You must be really special to be able to help them grow and protect them with your power.”

You look up in surprise at his words, and Minghao can’t help but smile wider in hope it’ll bring you comfort and convince you that he’s not just saying things.

“You know how much I love them, right? And I want you to know how envious I am of your gift,” he continues good-naturedly, telling you how he wishes he could’ve helped these plants like you can. “Like the way you helped my withered flower grow back, remember? You did that, didn’t you? I should thank you, really, you help me see what’s possibly the most beautiful flower I’ve ever seen in my life. My friend said he didn’t even know that flower could grow into that shape.”

“You’re not… afraid of me?” your small voice rings through the empty shop and his heart stings at how afraid you still sound even though he has never let go of your hands once.

“Why would I be?” he reassures you. “I just told you I’m envious of you, silly.”

You bite your lip at his words, unsure how to take this reaction. After hiding this for so long, you had never thought there would be anyone who understands--who will be holding your hands after seeing what happened earlier. But you’re not exactly surprised that Minghao will be the person to do this. If there’s anyone who would be willing to try to understand the unthinkable, it’s Xu Minghao. He doesn’t judge. He just listens and he accepts.

You squeeze his hands in gratitude, unable to say the words out loud at how overwhelming the whole thing is for you. Minghao seems to get it, though, as he always does. And when he takes one of your hands to drop a soft kiss on your knuckle, you know for sure that’s his way of telling you this is just the beginning of everything and more.

©wonwoonlight – all rights reserved.

very unimportant A/N: at some point i was so fascinated with ancient greek myth and i was basically obsessed w Persephone and I actually covered Circe for my thesis hoho

[taki118]

Go Watch the Venture Brothers

So just heard the complete and utter Bullshit news that Adult Swim has cancelled one of (if not the best shows) they have the Venture Bros. This series is one of those shows that for WHATEVER reason never got to the level of fandom Rick and Morty has even though they’ve been at the genre parody game longer and in my opinion better. 

The series is about Rusty Venture former boy adventurer and failing super scientist who in an attempt to keep his head above water in debt goes around with his two boys Hank and Dean, and bodyguard Brock on misadventues while various legal archnemisis go after him, such as the Monarch. 

So if you never watched or never heard of this 7 season series let me give you a break down on why you should, 

1) Art Style & Animation

Venture bros is one of those rare Adult aimed animated series that that really truly tries to utilize their medium to the best of their abilities. Season 1 had like such a small budget and corners had to be cut so it can be a little hard to watch at times. 

But with each passing season they get a little better, a little more fluid, go just a little harder and it truly feels rewarding to watch. Like seeing an artist you follow online improve over the years. Like they COULD have stayed with the choppy and stiff animation from season 1 it fit right in with its fellow adult animated shows but it didn’t. They strove for quality to have something that matched the story they were telling.

2) The Writing 

Venture Bros has some of the tightest and consistently great writing of ANY serialized show I’ve seen, adult, animated or other wise. Wanna know why? Cause it’s all done by TWO people (save for like one ep each season where one other person is allowed to touch their baby). Yeah TWO people and they work their asses off every season to interject, humor, refrences, parody, plot and character development in equal measure. 

3) Character Development

Um yes in case you were wondering that’s right an adult animated show has CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT  that holds as the series goes on. Not to give spoilers but characters will go through changes in alignment, relationships will develop and change, some characters will go through negative arcs where they are straight up unbareable for a season before coming out the other side even better than they were before. There is no end of epsiode or even end of season reset. Characters, settings, and dynamics all change over the course of the show and it feels just so god damn good.

4) Story Development 

Just like the characters the story of the Venture Bros grows and changes each season. Things that are set up even as early as season one are paid off as the series goes on. Like not to be that bitch but you know how RIck and Morty teases an overarching plot ALL THE TIME but like will often just spit in the face of fans hoping for more than like one episode a season addressing it? Yeahhhhhhh that doesnt happen here, fans are consistently rewarded for putting the time in to rewatch and really think about what happened in the series. Characters that are seen in the background or are just referenced by other characters will be brought in to be recurring characters, things that start off as a small detail or gag will be given larger relevance and each time they do this you get that “OH I remember that from last season! So thats what it was!” The writers WANT you to rewatch, they WANT you to analyze and they WANT you to theorize, and they give you a show that gives back the time you put in.

5) Parody & Reference 

This series does a great thing with parody. They make real characters  who are just as enjoyable as the characters they parody, they make story lines that both poke fun at the absurdity of the media but shows the writers love for it. So often parody and references are just used to mock the thing but with Venture Bros you feel the love and care so when you know the thing being parodied you can laugh but feel good about laughing cause they are never laughing at a thing maybe you cared for in your youth but rather laughing with it.

And it’s never just one thing. When they parody a thing its often layered with other things to make it even more unique. Scooby-Doo is overlayed with famous criminals, Laura Croft is mixed Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman, GI Joe is given the look of the Village People and so on. They never go for the easy joke or reference. Hell theres an episode that starts with them reciting the lyrics to David Bowies Space Oddity for really no reason other than they could. They weave these things in naturally with their setting and characters so nothing feels out of place. Like if you dont catch a reference or parody you dont feel like “I think this isa reference to something?” like a LOT of things do not just adult animated shows. You arent taken out of the moment cause it all feels so natural. 

6) The Characters 

God damn these characters, I could go on for hours about these characters. From main to one off these are some of the most likeable characters you can find. I mean it when I say I can’t think of a single character I wish they had cut cause they are all so well created. Even the ones I hate i have fun hating cause they were made to be that way. I’ll be good though I’ll only talk about my absolute top faves.

- The Monarchs

You ever sit and wish villain couples could have functional  healthy relationships? Well look no further than Malcom Fitzcarraldo aka The Monarch and Dr. Shelia Girlfriend (yes that is her last name). The Monarch is a high strung impulsive saturday morning cartoon villain whos tendency to over react is only matched by his unspecified hatred of Dr. Venture. And Dr. G is his nonsense partner in crime who will cut a bitch if they don’t play by their admittedly weird rules. Both characters are great on their own but are better together. Though that doesnt mean they always get along. Like a real couple they have their ups and downs they fight, break up, make-up and grow stronger in their relationship with each season. 

- Shore Leave

Ok ok so I want you to imagine James Bond, mixed with GI Joe simmering in a cocktail of the most flamboyant gay men you have ever seen and you have one of my favorite gay characters/characters in general. Shore Leave is a member of OSI (the shows SHEILD/GI Joe parody organization) he’s loud, brash, flippant, sassy and highly competent at his job loving every second of getting to beat bad guys down within an inch of their life. I love seeing him play off the stoic Brock and the two have this great brotherly dynamic that’s never called into question. He also gets to have a very cute romance with Al the Alchemist (who is also great). I could talk about this man all day.

- Dr. Rusty Venture

They did such a good job with this man. He’s a self serving, sexist, perverted, whinny, self important asshole and yet you feel pity and genuine sympathy for him and want him to succeed. You can see how Dr. V was given a raw deal by his father who seemed to care more about his adventures than his sons well being and how this molded him into the bitter man he is today, but on the flip side you can see where he chose to use that as a crutch for his worst behaviors and impulses. Seeing him slowly grow and change and be an actual good father to his boys while all the while still be a giant dick is actually really great. 

- Dr. Byron Orpheus 

Ahhhhh Dr. Orpheus part Dr. Strange Parody part busybody stay at home dad, he’s just such a delight. Dr. Orpheus is a divorcee, with an unfulfilling job of maintaining order to the cosmos (which isnt as hard as one might think), and uses his magical ablities in ways most of us would (ie menial tasks and home chores). Overly dramatic and affectionate Dr. O is a delight whenever he appears, but he’s at his best around his daughter and old friends The Order of the Triad. 

Again I can go on but all these characters ranging from main to recurring are crafted with the utmost care for you to want to see them succeed or fail, to see them again even if you know it’ll never happen, and want them to cross paths with other characters. 

The Venture Bros is one of those series that I will ALWAYS recommend even to the pickiest of humor tastes. But if you don’t believe its as good as I said or don’t think the concept is to your tastes I’ll recommend a few eps that I think best show off the base idea of the series without giving much away. In terms of plot and spoilers, though somethings wont make a lot of sense. 

- S1 ep10 "Tag Sale – You're It!" - Dr. V is having a yard sale so of course all manner of costumed weirdos show up.  - S2 ep5 "Twenty Years to Midnight" - basically a fetch quest around the world to save the planet with daddy issues - S3 ep2 "The Doctor Is Sin" - Again daddy issues but with one of the best recurring characters and a great showcase of the series deeper emotional plots - S4 ep6 "Self-Medication" - Really embraces the parody as Rusty goes to a former boy adventurer support group.  Anyway the show is 7 seasons with 80 episodes, please go watch it. I will never forgive @adultswim​ for cancelling what was to be their final season. And in closing GO TEAM VENTURE!

[hceinarchive]

4 & 24 for the artist asks :3

4. Favourite things to draw?

Faces.. I like drawing people it's a comfort zone. I also like drawing very lanky slightly limp-looking bodies which is noticeable in wilte and lichen. I also enjoy tasteful oc nudes, not in a horny way, i like drawing them all sensual yet gentle it's good for the soul

24. How do you deal with artblock?

There are a couple things i do

Picking an old wip might help, especially of it's done more than halfway through bcs u dont need to stare at a white canvas or come up with any ideas. Art equivalent of adding a couple new ingredients to leftovers. You get a nice meal with less effort than something new would require

Redrawing old art also does the trick. You've already done it once when you were slightly less skilled so u clearly can do it again AND feel better about your art seeing the improvements

Kind of counts as redrawing old art but when i feel very done about my art or don't feel like drawing anything yet want to I pick an old portrait (specifically) that kind of bugs me and either overpaint it and fix everything i'm unsatisfied with or paint it anew using the old one as reference and color palette. Which I was thinking about doing right before I got this ask lol

An unhealthy one but sometimes when im tipsy\drunk i get bored enough to draw and i guess having altered perception of reality eases me art-wise? and changes something in my performance. Ive many months-old wips I abandoned and didn't want to touch anymore due to loss of interest or having troubles with certain parts that I magically finished after an evening of drinks. Or I would just sit and doodle random stuff and enjoy the process

None of these are solid solutions tho but they do ease my artblocked phases

[lucifer-is-a-bag-of-dicks]

Oh my gosh so I also headcannon Jack as autistic! But im not comfortable with writing it yet because idk how. Im not autistic; my little sister is and i know a few things jack could have trouble with... but hes a grown ass man so i just dont know. Im definitely taking notes on what you write him as but could you give me some pointers?....maybe?

Im mostly referencing to Bitter with this

aaaa yeah it definitely presents differently in adults who've learned to mask, personally I don't plan to put certain things in specifically to talk about how he's autistic, I write with the background knowledge of what traits he displays, and then express them when relevant, it's relevant a lot with Jack simply due to how much it affects his life

now this is going to get long, so bare with me, because this is a whole lot more complicated than you might expect

there's really no one correct way to write Jack, since there's no one way that autism presents itself, the way I write him is based on a mix of myself and some people in my family, so I can give you a basic idea of what angle I personally come from

for one, I change the way I write about facial expressions and how emotions come across to Jack, in Jazz's chapters I'll write about the exact emotion she can see on their face, with Jack's I'll go with an obvious base emotion, but then if the person is expressing something more complicated, I'll describe their face in physical details

eg;

Jazz POV - Danny was upset, but his face was tight with frustration

Jack POV - Danny looked sad, but his eyebrows were furrowed and his mouth was set in a hard line

it's a subtle difference but it's one I try to maintain throughout Bitter, Jack's POV is based on how I have trouble reading non-obvious expressions, although in my case I also have trouble looking people in the face when I talk to them, that's harder to write in an emotion driven POV story, so I made Jack better at that than I am

his interest in machines is quite obvious, since he's an inventor, and he looooves infodumping on people, he gets very excited about his passions very quickly and his mouth runs off with him, something I also have trouble with, it hasn't been a prominent trait for Jack in Bitter, because he's so out of his element he's mostly confused and in a way, almost grieving his own death, so he's been far quieter than he usually is

his special interest is obviously ghosts and machinery, and in Bitter I cover that he's got a degree in engineering, physics and mathematics. He's good at them, I like to look at it as though Jack rolled high in intelligence and low in wisdom, he's book smart, he knows things that are straightforward and have firm rules, he's less comfortable in topics that are more wishy washy and vague, biology is complicated and has too many variables, he finds it difficult to grasp, there's no one standard rule that applies to every body

I also struggle with vague and unclear directions, I need a solid structure and clear instructions, my strength is in sorting, organising, alphabetising and colour coding, I like things to Look Right, I stick to a particular routine with very specific things, and it's viscerally uncomfortable and even distressing for me to have that order disturbed, I nearly had a meltdown at work because someone had done a part of my job incorrectly, and I had to fix it, it made me genuinely upset on a personal level, it was MY system, NOBODY should be touching it, NOBODY should be moving things around, they do anyway, and I spend a portion of my shifts just frustrated and on edge because of it

Jack also has issues socially, he often says or does things that other people find uncomfortable or embarrassing, I reference that in Bitter, where Jack assumes everyone is mad at him because he said or did something stupid, this I have much experience in, while in the middle of a social situation it's easy to just do what comes naturally to you and not realise it's off putting to other people, because people often play polite and you can't tell that they're uncomfortable, even though people around you find it painfully obvious

sometimes it's easy to see in hindsight after you've been told you made something awkward or uncomfortable, but in the moment if nobody says anything about it, you can remain either totally oblivious, or become anxious and second guess every interaction you have

Jack is the oblivious type, he's fortunate to live in a family that is fairly understanding, they might get frustrated with him, or embarrassed by him, but they don't really take it personally, they KNOW he means well, they know he cares, and Jack does care, he cares a lot, he feels things a lot, he's incredibly empathetic

this is a trait that a lot of media likes to ignore in depictions of autism, because I guess it makes people with autism seem 'too normal', when tv shows always want to be like 'hey wow look at this clever asshole! isn't he clever, but also an asshole! but you can't hate him because he's ✨autistic✨ and he can't help it'

that bothers me a lot, I mean some people with autism do have trouble relating and empathising with people, my brother is one of them, but some people with autism really empathise a lot, some of us feel things very strongly, I'm highly empathetic and it's a real struggle to cope with

so yeah, it is a very complicated thing, so you need to go in with an idea of what their character struggles with, how it affects them, and when it's relevant in the story, also autism falls on a very wide spectrum, some people, like myself, are able to mask well, but that creates a big issue with identity, when you start to wonder how much of you is real and how much of you is mask, then you have to decide if you want to lower that mask and accept the social consequences of expressing yourself naturally

I have a friend who presents a little more obviously, he's very rigid in his ways and he talks like he's reading from a script, I have another friend who can socialise just fine, but will go into a total meltdown when a plan gets derailed and she doesn't know what to do next

another friend I have is highly social and incredibly boisterous, she stims with her whole body, dances around a lot, she's chaotic and that can be off-putting to people, she's had to spend a lot of her life holding that back, she's only recently started learning how to be herself shamelessly

my brother was incredibly social when he was younger, and people always really loved him, but most of that is mask, he's socially anxious and just wants to be alone most of the time, and he's a total prick to his immediate family, I don't take that personally any more, since now I understand that he's so blunt and brutally honest because he isn't masking with us, but also he still needs to be called out when he oversteps, autism might be why he has difficulty empathising, but it's not an excuse to be a complete asshole, even people with autism need to be called out on shitty behaviour, it isn't a get out of jail free card, our self expression shouldn't come at the cost of hurting other people, most of us are more than capable of learning to not be an asshole

I know this is like, A LOT, but these are the things that need to be considered when writing about autism, it is an all encompassing thing that permeates your entire life experience, I absolutely welcome people like you to try to write about it! Because I think it shouldn't be a taboo subject, and I appreciate that you asked for advice and that you want to do it respectfully, you've probably seen first hand how difficult living with autism can be, having a family member on the spectrum, so you already have some experience to draw from, I don't know your relationship with your sister or how old she is, or where on the spectrum she falls, but if possible you can ask her about her experiences in particular situations that you're having trouble writing, if that's something you and she are comfortable with

I hope this helps, just remember to keep an open mind and listen to any feedback you might get, it is very VERY easy to misrepresent autism so don't be too hard on yourself if you don't quite get it right, if someone gives you a critique, take it in stride and use it to become better ~ you can even express that in an authors note, that you want to write it accurately and invite anyone with experience to share their opinion, because like I said, it is different for everyone and my experiences are not universal, and you're welcome to run something by me every once in a while if you aren't sure about it ❤️

[weasleypogues]

written in the starts (f.w. soulmate au) pt. 1

hii this is a fred soulmate au and in this cedric didnt die lol hope u enjoy. i also dont think i got the ages right with any of this but play along hehe

masterlist. part 2. part 3.

you sat in the hufflepuff common room as you had finished settling into your dorm and wanted to give your roommates space to do the same. cedric was to your right and you were catching up on each other’s summers. the ending summer and upcoming fall sun was shining through the large windows and cast in the lightly colored and calming room. your fingers fiddled with the soft white blanket you sat with as you listened to cedric’s summer and laughed at the jokes he told in between. he was a year older than you and felt like an older brother as well. 

“it’s crazy that this is your last year, right?” you asked, and let your head settle on your closed fist as your eyes felt dreamy. you gave cedric a sympathetic smile which he returned with a bigger one.

“no no no, you don’t get to get all sentimental on me just yet. i still have a year.” cedric responded, slightly chuckling. “i should be the one getting sentimental. you’ll finally get your pen tomorrow!” 

you laughed and blushed at the topic of conversation. cedric was referring to the pen you get when you turn seventeen which you can use to communicate with your soulmate. it was sort of a disappearing ink that if you wrote on any surface, it would disappear as it waited for your soulmate with the same connecting pen to respond. you could write on skin, table tops, papers, and really anything. in order for the pen to be activated, both sides of the soulmates have to be seventeen. that meant, if you turned seventeen first, you would have to wait for however long for their birthday to start communicating.

“gotta say, i’m a little nervous. i really hope im the younger one. i don’t know what i’ll do if i have the pen but can’t even use it for a good amount of time.” you said, overwhelmingly, but in a good way. cedric jokingly slapped you on the arm with a pretend insulted face.

“not cool! you know i had to wait seven months until malia got hers!” cedric said, looking back at the struggling months of the useless pen and waiting for answers. you laughed and rubbed the spot where he hit you.

“yeah yeah yeah, whatever.” you answered, blushing madly and failing to hide the widest smile ever. 

“cedric!” you heard someone call from behind you. you investigated to see who it was, realizing it could virtually be anyone in the house. cedric was pretty popular in your hufflepuff house as all the girls thought he was a dreamy looking guy but also had no bad blood with the guys as well. your eyes followed the source of the noise and saw malia, his soulmate, happily walking towards cedric. cedric got up instantly and wrapped his arms around her.

“sorry i haven’t been around too much. julia is getting a little freaked out and wants to know exactly where her classes are so she isn’t late. my little ravenclaw, aw.” malia spoke with her hand on her chest, referring to her eleven year old sister that was just sorted into ravenclaw last night. you got up and peered behind cedric with a giant smile on your face. malia caught your eye instantly and pulled away from her boyfriend and embraced you.

“(y/n)! ugh, i missed you so so much! how was your summer?” she asked. she sat down on the third cushion on the sofa and joined the conversation you and cedric were having, happily.

next day.

you woke up to the sun shining in through your window and the smell of breakast filled your room. a subtle smile ran across your face and your eyes fluttered open, revealing one of your best friends jada just waking up as well in the bed over from yours. you and the rest of your roommmates had stayed up to see past midnight to wish you a happy birthday. a minute after the clock had struck 12 an envelope slid under the door which had your name printed on the front in cursive. 

(y/f/n) (y/l/n) professor sprout’s office. ten in the morning. happy birthday.

you checked your watch on the nightstand next to you and read the time. it was 9:32 am. you and jada didn’t even have to speak before giving each other beaming smiles and you basically sprinted out of bed to head for the bathroom  to get ready. 

you styled your hair, put on sublte makeup, and dressed in an outfit you had planned for your birthday, seeing as you didn’t have to wear your school uniforms just yet. all you needed was shoes now. you ran back to your nightstand to check the watch again, 9:54. 

“good luck.” jada said, smiling, clearly vibrating with as much excitement as you were. “happy birthday, (y/n/n)!” 

you sent her a thank you, hugged her, and tugged on your shoes before practically booking it out the door, trying not to be too loud in consideration of your other roommates. you were basically skipping to professor sprouts office who’s room was not too far from the hufflepuff common room. 

you gave a quiet knock to professor sprout’s door and heard a faint “come in” from the inside. you opened the door politely and slowly, showing your face to her before walking in completely and shutting the door behind you. you were faced with professor sprout, professor mcgonagall, and professor dumbledore having an innocent morning conversation. 

“ah, ms. (y/l/n). happy birthday! i see you must have gotten professor sprout’s letter!” dumbledore spoke in his deeper but oddly soothing voice.

“thank you so much, professor. and yes, i did.” you responded with a slightly giggle. nothing was holding back the giant smile that was etched across your face. 

“i remember when i got my pen on my birthday. i ran right outside professor beery’s office and wrote on the wall, itching to see if there would be a response. oh to be young.” professor sprout said dreamily, opening a chest under a table of green plants. you blushed.

“professor, you don’t look a day over twenty five.” you responded, jokingly but not in a malicious way. this earned a chorus of laughs from the three professors.

“always so charming, you. here you are.” professor sprout said, handing you and box that was a few inches long, and silver with a sage green bow on the top. “they don’t usually come with bows, but i wanted to add a sweet little touch for a student like you.”

before even opening the box, you smiled at her greatly and gave her a quick hug which she didn’t oblige. you took a deep breath before opening up the box, your heart racing at the speed of light. there, sat a marble white pen that glittered in the sunlight from the office. it was not too heavy and you picked it up slowly, admiring it.

“happy birthday, ms. (y/l/n).” professor mcgonagall said sweetly, failing to hide her own small smile while watching your life basically change for the better. 

“thank you, professor mcgonagall! and thank you again professor sprout and professor dumbledore! i gotta go.” you responded, your cheeks hurting and your fingers itching to write something down. all the teachers shared your happiness as you practically ran out of the room and towards the kitchen. 

you grabbed the closest napkin, right after saying a good morning to the kitchen elves, and clicked the pen, nervously. 

before you could write anything down, your forearm felt tickled and you glanced down to see writing that left a glittery after effect before the black words became clear.

balderdash.

[omegawolverine]

Braid Me a Home

summary:

"Braid my fucking hair, Theseus. Braid it.”

It had sounded like a plea falling from Techno’s chapped lips, blood caked under his nails as he sat in front of Tommy on a tree stump, slowly itching at his wrists.

“Wilbur told me to stop you if you ever started doing that-”

“Wilbur isn’t fucking here. Just...braid, Toms. Braid.” 

or

A story about the Sleepy Bois being family, told through braids.

word count: 2.5k

warnings: child neglect, hurt/no comfort, canonical character death, implied/referenced mental health issues (like it’s obvious but there isn’t much detail to it), brief blood mentions (ik this fic sounds kinda angsty as hell but its not? imo its light angst)

a/n: first dream smp fic and im ALREADY projecting? christ. anyways. go easy on me pls this is far from my best work i just havent written a fic in like 5 months (more if you dont count the fucking chat fics) mm also i may have posted this like a week ago on ao3 just to test the waters and its already gotten way more comments and kudos than any fic of mine usually gets this early on so hopefully tumblr enjoys it too :]

—

When Wilbur Soot was born, he came out crying, as most babies do. Covered in vernix and blood, he weighed just barely above the seven-pound mark, gasping out sharp cries that only a parent could truly stand, or worse—love. Though he was the second baby born into the family that day, he was fussed over far more than he would ever be again.

Technoblade, on the other hand, had barely made a sound when he came out, a trail of blood smeared across his forehead, almost as if it was meant to be there. He made small noises that were more akin to confused mumbles, weakly grasping at his father’s hair when he was eventually passed on for the second child to be welcomed into the world.

Only when both boys were held in their father’s grasp did Wilbur quiet down, his soft head leaning into his father’s beard as he stared wide eyed at the boy across from him. Though they looked similar enough, Technoblade’s nose was squished further back into his face, appearing almost snout-like to Philza. Of course Wilbur noted this, wiggling until their father somehow managed to get them pressed right up against each other with minimal damage done. Though Techno never stopped squinting like an annoyed old man at Wilbur, he allowed the other to press a fist against his nose, his eyebrows unfurrowing just the slightest bit at the touch.

From that day on, Philza was the father of two twin boys—a loud boy who cried easily, but always calmed down for his older brother, and a rather monotone one, who’s face seemed to be permanently stuck in a scowl, unless said face was being smushed around by the younger. And things worked like that for a while. Not forever, but...a while.

—

Philza taught Wilbur to braid on a hot Monday afternoon.

It had been a rough day for the boy, though Phil hadn’t a clue why. Maybe he had just woken up on the wrong side of the bed? Or maybe he hadn’t slept enough between bedtime and the time Tommy had started crying again, the youngest boy’s crib being right beside his head and all. Though it might’ve seemed cruel from an outsider’s perspective, Wilbur had been the one to ask for it. Something about Tommy being his little brother and how he needed to teach the boy the ways of the world in the same way Techno had taught him—because apparently that was all Techno’s doing now, not Phil’s.

Regardless, Wilbur had been a bit too snippy for Phil’s liking that day, complaining about every little thing they did until finally, the day was over.

Well, as over as it could be with Techno leaving mid foam sword fight, an annoyed shout of ‘I quit!’ leaving his mouth before he snatched up Tommy’s carrier and brought him inside for god knows what reason.

It had only been around four P.M. by that time—too early for dinner, yet too late for Phil to really demand the boy stay outside and continue to entertain himself with a brother who was clearly not entertained himself.

Details aside, Phil isn’t really sure how they got to braiding. He just knows at some point they did and by the end of their outside time, just before the clock struck six, Wilbur had made two thick, messy braids in his hair. They stuck out awkwardly, looking all too similar to Pippi Longstocking’s iconic hairdo for his comfort, but he’d be damned if he took out the braids his son had so happily rushed inside to show his older brother before demanding to do his hair as well. After all, Wilbur didn’t have long enough hair for braids, but Technoblade sure as hell did. It was only at his shoulder blades back then, brunette curls wrapping around his narrow shoulders and thin arms like thick vines.

Wilbur had always enjoyed brushing it out with his fingers and putting cute, handmade clips or flowers in it at random, decorating the waves for his brother who was more than happy to let the boy do as he pleased. Though he would never admit it, Technoblade liked how it felt when Will played with his hair. He was always careful not to tug too hard, prioritizing the comfort of his other half more than the beauty of his work, as he so often referred to it.

So when Will had presented him with the mess that was his first two braids, he wasn’t hesitant at all to let the boy practice on him. Instead, he walked to the couch with a small smile, removing his glasses gently and getting comfortable before his brother plopped down into the space behind him. Long legs draped over long legs with no warning, thighs pressed together as if they were meant to be like that all along—and they might as well have been, for how often they did this.

Phil had watched them from the doorway in content silence, Tommy sitting behind him in a wooden high chair looking bored, but not making a fuss for once. And as he left that doorway to begin dinner, he listened to their muffled conversation and soft bursts of laughter with a small smile on his lips, for he knew things wouldn’t always be this way. They would have to grow up eventually, and when they did, things would change. Phil could only hope it was for the better.

—

When Tommy turns nine, Wilbur teaches him to braid under circumstances not too different from the ones he had learned under himself.

Well. Not too too different.

Philza and Technoblade had been...busy as of late. In the house for three days, out for a week, in for a week, out for three more, over and over and over again. Wilbur had become more like a father to Tommy in recent months than he should’ve been, his fourteenth birthday fast approaching as their father took Techno out for yet another job, one that Wilbur couldn’t come on because he was too fucking weak to do anything Techno could do, too fucking stupid to learn all the techniques Techno did, lacking all the strength and agility his older sibling possessed, like the useless prick he was-

Right. This is about Tommy.

When Tommy was nine, his hair rested gently against his collarbones in the exact same cut and color as their father wore. If Wilbur was a lesser man, he would’ve hated the kid for it, but it wasn’t his fault that he couldn’t see what a selfish git their father truly was yet. All he knew was that their dad was busy a lot and that, for some reason, Techno needed to go with him. Apparently, that was enough for him to keep holding onto the idea that one day, the man would stay longer and maybe, just maybe, show him some of the same care that his older brother did.

If Wilbur was a better man, he would tell Tommy the truth. He would tell him all about the way Philza had called him useless in a fight, forcing him to instead stay home and care for a child while still being one himself. He would mention how Philza had given him no instructions on how to care for a developing child, how he left out key details to parenting on his own as a goddamn thirteen-year-old, yet remembered to tell him things would be better this way because god forbid he does his fucking job as a father for anyone but Technoblade—

Who he missed. He missed Technoblade, his other half, so fucking bad it hurt sometimes—so bad it left him gasping for breath at two A.M., his head pounding in tandem with his uneven heartbeat, lungs burning as his snot and tears soaked into his brother’s cold, cold sheets. And it made him feel fucking pathetic because the truth of the matter was that...Techno had left him behind too. Still, he couldn’t bring himself to hate the older boy, no matter how hard he tried. Couldn’t hate Philza either, if he were to be honest with himself, but it was a lot easier to pretend he did when his father was the one putting them all in this position to begin with.

So, Tommy was nine when he learned how to braid.

Phil had promised him and Techno would be back Tuesday morning.

It was Wednesday afternoon.

Tommy didn’t fucking understand, and as frustrating as it was that the prick decided to take it out on Wilbur, he couldn’t blame him. Who else was he supposed to take this shit out on? Certainly not the man who had yet to return.

Wilbur had started the braid as a way to distract him. It was simple, really—tell him you know something he doesn’t and that he won’t get to know if he doesn’t sit the fuck down and listen.

When he had started tugging the boy’s hair back from his face, his immediate reaction was to jerk away, swatting at the hands that hovered over his shoulders. This only happened once or twice more before he let it happen naturally, his posture stiff as Wilbur ran his fingers through the boy’s hair with practiced ease.

Though it may not have seemed like it, Tommy was significantly more averse to touch than Techno had ever been. The only reason Techno even seemed averse to it was because of his hesitance to initiate, something he and Wilbur had discussed in depth. Rejection was one of the few fears Technoblade truly had and Wilbur held that fact close to his heart, ready to die with it if need be. Tommy, on the other hand? He was very particular about where and when and why someone was touching him, and it had taken Wilbur a long time to get used to that fact. But, he wasn’t about to make his little brother uncomfortable just so he could be happy and, eventually, he learned the ins and outs of how to touch TommyInnit without causing issue.

Pulling a few of the shorter strands towards the front of Tommy’s face loose, Will separated the blonde’s hair into three sections. They were rather small, what with how thin and short his hair was, it just barely being long enough to even have a proper braid in it, but Wilbur knew he could make it work.

“Now, Toms, you gotta listen to me here, because I can’t show you this bit, yeah? Phil and Tech aren’t here, and my hair is too short, so you’ll just have to feel it out for now, but...this is how you braid hair-” Wilbur had said in a soft voice, brushing the pad of his thumb over the boys neck slowly to ease the tension out of his shoulders. The effect was immediate, the boy slouching forward as if he had just noticed he was holding himself so sternly. Smiling softly, Wilbur instructed him on how to weave the strands together, answering questions and pulling lightly at Tommy’s hair so he could feel exactly where everything went. After he was done, Tommy had reached back to feel the bumps in his hair, all his earlier anger seemingly gone as he gave a small smile. And then he tried it himself.

Of course he got a bit of help at first, Wilbur’s larger hands guiding his own with gentle corrections, but after that Tommy worked on it alone, his older brother watching in silence from a patch of grass beside the porch step.

That night, Tommy and Wilbur slept in Techno’s bed, a soft, blue blanket wrapped tightly around them. And if another body woke them up at some point that night, shoving its way into the mess of limbs, their chest pressed right up against the youngest boy’s back, then that was only for them to know.

—

At eleven years old, Tommy takes a pair of scissors to his hair. With flushed cheeks and salty lips, his hands shaking and his eyes foggy, he cuts, cuts, cuts, until he can no longer braid his hair—until he can no longer look like fucking Phil.

Even though Wilbur had once said he hated Tommy’s long hair—hated how similar he and their dad looked—he felt like crying as he ran his fingers through the uneven strands. He didn’t tell his brother this though, instead grabbing his face and planting a wet kiss on his freckled forehead. In a fierce whisper, Wilbur had said, “I’m so fucking proud of you, Tommy. So fucking proud.”

Tommy never forgets the way he felt that day. He doesn’t forget Wilbur’s words either.

—

When Wilbur loses his last life, Technoblade tells Tommy to braid his hair.

It wasn’t a question either, but a demand forced out between gritted teeth, his face red, his nose stuffy and his lashes wet with unshed tears. Still, his words were clear as day.

“Braid my fucking hair, Theseus. Braid it.”

It had sounded like a plea falling from Techno’s chapped lips, blood caked under his nails as he sat in front of Tommy on a tree stump, slowly itching at his wrists.

“Wilbur told me to stop you if you ever started doing that-”

“Wilbur isn’t fucking here. Just...braid, Toms. Braid.”

Tommy sniffled, but did as he was told.

Maybe it was because he was too tired to argue with the only person he even had left. Maybe it was because he could tell Technoblade was mad at their father for the first time in his life, and he knew how bad his first time had felt. Or, maybe, it was just because he knew Techno fucking cared. Nobody else seemed to, but he knew Techno did and...that was enough for him.

As long as someone else cared—as long as it was fucking Technoblade—that was enough for him.

Just as Tommy had finished the braid, curling his finger around the light pink tail that tied the whole thing off, Techno yanked it forward. Before he could even register that the hair had left his hand, the older boy had taken an axe to the top of it, letting the rest of his hair fall around his face in uneven curls. Though it was a good ten minutes of work wasted, Tommy couldn’t say a damn thing as he watched Techno pocket the braid, muttering a thank you and heading in the direction of Wilbur’s unofficial grave.

In that moment, he felt relief for the first time in a long while.

—

Wilbur Soot was born covered in vernix and blood, weighing just barely above the seven-pound mark, and he came into the world much like he left it. Everyone had heard his cries—even if they weren’t there, even if they didn’t know him well—they had saw the way he spiraled, desperate and afraid and paranoid, searching for help, but never receiving enough.

And though he was the second child born, he left the world first, returning in a yellow sweater with a small braid tucked behind his ear. He didn’t really know why he had one, but he remembered braiding Techno’s hair and he remembered teaching Tommy how to do his own and he remembered, he remembered, he remembered the braids.

[inosukeslefttoe]

SO i just finished wonder egg priority and i think that with confidence i can say it has been one of my favorite animes like... ever ?? and not even from hyperfixation or obsession over it just... its so fucking real yet so simple in a way that i havent rlly seen shown in any other shows you feel ??

but first i wanna talk about how sexy the art and animation is real quick... HOMIE ITS SO GOOD LIKE EVERYTHING ABOUT IT JUST... serotonin... the characters are all so unique and iconic and fun but not over the top in their designs yknow ??? they seem like regular every day girls but they stand out and theyre all sO CUTE !!!! also i love how the style is like this soft bubbly slice of life lookin stuff with bright happy colors and the most beautiful scenes you could find but they also have the SICKEST fight scenes complete with whimsical animal helpers and terrifying villains and crazy weapons unique to each character. and the animation. god DAMN shawty i am obsessed with everything in this show. i might make a post solely about the art later lol bc i wanna get into the other stuff.

so the themes in the show right ?? it starts just as this cute lil magical girl kinda deal but within the first episode we see that like.. oh damn... thats kinda heavy... tbh i was a little shocked and thought about stopping bc yknow bad mental health BUT i was so intrigued that i had to keep going and i am SO GLAD that i did. because this show just so beautifully discusses all these heavy topics in such an eloquent and artistically expressive way. and also like, , the juxtaposition of the charming childlike vibe with bright colors and 14 yr old girl protagonists against the dark themes of suicide and so much else,, i think is just perfect. bc a lot of heavy animes are more of the seinen genre and have some middle aged dude as a protag or make the entire color palette dim or offer little relief to the pain of these heavy themes right ?? but NO not wonder egg bitches B) because these problems arent just things that ppl face later in life or just problems that need to be talked about among adults or the edgy seinen watching squad,, these are REAL problems that face people of every age, gender etc and i think its awesome that wonder egg addresses that. some may cringe at the thought of their high schooler watching animes that discuss sexual harassment, suicide, abuse, self harm, eating disorders etc,, but in reality it is the most comforting thing i have ever come across and is basically jsut free anime therapy. because not only does wonder egg present these themes to the viewers as something real that happens to all kinds of people (making said people feel heard in a way that maybe they hadnt before), but it also makes sure to vanquish all of these forms of trauma. and the way the trauma is vanquished isnt always beautiful and it isnt always just magically gone with a poof. the struggles of overcoming or living with that sort of thing are shown in such a real and relatable way that addresses every hardship trauma survivors have to go through. and i just. god i cry bro. 

oh m y GOD and the lgbtq+ rep in this show ?? like shawty... as soon as i saw episode one i was picking up on some gay/lesbian themes but then again im sapphic and project that a lot so i tend to see that sort of stuff like... everywhere... but NE WAYS... episode ten made me FUKCING CRY BRO LIke i cant believe there was a whole trans character with a whole trans pride hoodie like LKGHKDGH my heart is just so.. so fucking full thinking about him. bc like yeah i know there are trans characters in anime but i feel like theyre always very ambiguous about actually being trans or not or erased or portrayed as a harmful stereotype or theyre constantly misgendered and still refered to as their assigned gender at birth and i hate it. HOWEVEr... Kaoru.. *chefs kiss* it was so amazing to see a character straight up say “yeah im trans” in such a casual yet powerful way bc i personally have never seen that before. and i love love loved how he went into his backstory and talked to momoe about gender bc i think thats what she rlly needed and that it helped her find herself and it makes me so happy oh my god,, and the way they talked about it never seemed forced or like it was the focal point of his existence yknow ?? like yeah he existed to help momoe overcome some of her trauma but he also just existed to be HIM yknow ?? also... personally, i headcanon momoe as a trans girl even though i dont remember it being explicitly stated plus the school scenes of her and stuff would seem like they suggest otherwise ??but,,, SHAWTY THE AMOUNT OF SUBTEXT and her complicated relationship w gender is... something i feel like a cis girl would not go through so harshly yknow ?? with all of the questioning and feeling detached from femininity or feeling like ppl dont see her as an actual girl and only like her as a guy or for her masculine traits,,, but dont take my word on this bc i myself am a cis girl but that was just my take on it as someone in the lgbtq+ community trying to educate myself on the transgender community :) either way,, wonder eggs portrayal of momoe and kaoru and the way that momoe becomes so passionate about expressing herself the way she wants to as a girl is just... good lord im gonna cry its so perfect,,,.so ... i just love this show way too much. i also am honestly super lost about the relationship btwn acca and ura-acca ?? bc i was gonna mention ura-acca as a canonically gay guy bc when i was watching i interpreted ep 11 as him being in love with acca and being jealous of Azusa (bc i mean,, they lived together (i swear to god there was only one bed in that apartment) and had a daughter together and def loved each other and also when Frill said they were husbands and then when ura-acca said he wasnt attracted to azusa but he was def jealous of their relationship ??) but then i saw somewhere that theyre brothers ?? which would make sense ig since they look kinda similar and accas daughter called ura-acca “uncle”.. but at the same time its ANIME SO THEY ALL LOOK SIMILAR and referring to gay couples as siblings is an EXTREMELY common euphemism soooo... IM JUST LOST HERE... but yeah i tried doing research and found different things so i cant say anything for sure >:( however,,, if they are canonically a lil fruity for each other... when frill refered to acca as ura-accas husband i imploded dude you never hear that sort of wording in anime.. but if theyre related i am so sorry. 

god this is so much longer than i planned it to be oops but i also love the theme about like.. relying on friends to help carry your weight but at the same time not becoming completely dependent on those friends and using their support to learn how to love yourself and rely on yourself yknow ?? bc that is exactly what healthy friendships look like. bc i think ai sort of had a codependency thing goin on with koito maybe ?? but now she has a whole squad of funky friends that are so so different but all struggle with different kinds of trauma and although they fight over it, they always get through it with each other together. and they push each other no matter what to be the best versions of themselves and they teach other that getting hurt is okay because theyre always gonna be there to pick up the pieces no matter what happens. they can give each other space when they need and adapt to meet each others needs but theyre always able to balance it out with their own needs and thats such a beautiful thing in friendships especially at their age like damn i wish i had that maturity when i was 14 but no all i had was depression. another thing is that through these friendships you get to see all the different sides of each girl; you get to see them being strong or a shining light to their friends when theyre hurting but you also get to see them being hurt and weak and allowing themselves to be on the receiving end of the comfort. their friendships allows them to have weaknesses but it also allows them to highlight their strengths and thrive off of each others. I LOVE FRIENDSHIP DUDE

next i wanna briefly mention some of the themes connected to suicide that ive noticed. a big one is the survivors guilt that ai feels once koito is dead. several times she screams that she wishes she couldve gone with koito and she dreams of a “perfect world” where they committed a double suicide. one of the main reasons for her troubles is that she blames herself for koitos death and feels like it should be her thats dead... but at the same time she feels like too much of a coward to do anything now that koito is gone. she just has all these complex and contradicting feelings that wear away at her in ways that ppl that havent gone through the suicide of a loved one could never imagine. a lot of the times when things like this are portrayed in media i feel like its more in a way thats meant to guilt trip those that have taken their own lives and paint suicide as this selfish sin thats unforgivable but... not only does wonder egg reject that idea and instead portray it as a heartbreaking tragedy with,,, so so many terrible reasons, but it focuses on the feelings of ai separate from koito without blaming her in any way. not once did i feel like the show antagonized koito or that ai blamed koito for doing any of this, but they simply mourned her loss and touched on ais reaction towards the event but separate from koito herself if that makes sense. and i think that discussing survivors guilt without painting koito as the bad guy is something so beautifully done in wonder egg that can really resonate with those that have lost a loved one to suicide and have struggled with these same things.

okay i think this is the last thing ill mention,,, but HOMIE THE PARALLEL UNIVERSE BIT AT THE END. I AM. OBSESSED. i am such a whore for anything about the multiverse okay n e ways...,, not only did this make a super epic trippy ending of season one and add a little bit more magical girl whimsy to the show,, but it had such a powerful message. from the perspective of og ai,, finding out that you killed yourself in another world is... i mean its definitely not a surprise but at the same time it rlly makes you think how close og ai herself couldve been to that point and what decisions led her out of that dark place in her life. if i were in her shoes i would be terrified and id cry bc the thought of going back to such a dark place and actually going through with something like that is my worst fear and probably something that ai fears too. but at the same time,,, think from the perspective of ai two !!! like yeah its true that theres this awful terrible version of ai that dies but theres also a whole version of ai that is a superhero magical girl fighting off monsters to save countless ppls lives !! and she has a badass lizard and a gang of awesome friends !!! at first i was worried that ai two would be jealous of og ai and compare herself to her and feel inferior but like.. THEYRE LITERALLY THE SAME PERSON AND CAPABLE OF THE SAME THINGS !!! and ai two realized that !! just within the span of one episode, she went from the version of ai who took her life,, to the version of ai jumping in front of a friend to take a bullet for them and save their life. and that just inspired THE SHIT OUT OF ME. i think that ai was sent another version of herself to sort of beat her own worst enemy yknow ?? those doubts and fears that shes no good or that shes that same bystander from episode one and that she hasnt changed at all. but getting to interact with her parallel self and see her grow was just what she needed to realize that while yeah sometimes the worst thing can happen and things can be terrible but on the other hand sometimes the most wonderful thing imaginable can happen because she has the power to do either. 

so im gonna go ahead and stop rambling bc i got all my thoughts out that i wanted to for this post :D but yeah lol i might make another if i feel like it sometime. long story short: this show is perfect and it is going on my favorite of all times.

[zenyukifanficblogs]

Jennifer’s Adventures; Edging On Romance Waters Chapter 35: Helping My Brother’s Groupmate Credits: @Aesthetics__

Junghwa’s POV

I look up as I hear the front door open. I freeze as the person walks in looks like Chanyi’s step dad. I make sure to double check the picture.

‘This picture…why does it look so much like him?’ I think to myself. I then prepare my pepper spray putting it in the pocket.

“Don’t call the police yet until I say so.” I whispered to Bora and Inhye as the guy comes over

“Can I please just have a hot chocolate?” He asks. “Sure but can I have your IC? I just need to take down your particulars for any future references.” I said nodding my head suspiciously

He goes through his wallet, pulls it out.

송수간

′Song Sooga is the guys’s name’ i remember Jungkook telling me. “Are you okay?” The guy asks me

I look at him, “Yes, sorry, i’m fine.” I tell him. “Good” He nods his head and takes his seat.

‘How should I confront him? I need a plan now!’ I think to myself nervously. I just go and make his drink. As i finish he pays for it. I see he pulls out his phone.

‘Uh oh I need to think something quick!’ I think to myself before he just appears in front of me asking

“This is embarrassing but do you know where the hybe building is?” He asks me. “Yes. I can take you there if you want.” I suggest to him.

“Only if it isnt too much trouble.” He tells me. I then walked out of the cafe with him, leaving a note for Bora and Inhye to tell my brother to stay calm if he can’t find me

Its a walk but its okay. This Soogan was trying to start up a conversation with me.

“How old are you?” He asks me. “Turning 21 this year” I answered trying not to freak out. “So young.” He says. “A little younger than my nephew.” He adds on.

I just smile slightly as a way to mislead him thinking I’m listening

“How old is he?” I ask him. “22” He says with a chuckle. “Amazing.” He says.

‘Is he really sooga? Would an abuser talk like this?’

I think to myself, finding something is just off with this guy. “Do you have anybody here that you know of here?” I then asked him.

“My twin brother, but we dont get along.” He says.

‘Twin brother?! Okay! This is getting too weird! Is he really Song Sooga?’ I asked myself in my thoughts

I stop, so does him. “Are you okay?” He asks me. “Yes I am.” I nodded my head trying not to lose my composure.

“Are you sure?” He asks. I nodded my head. ‘Keep your instincts intact Jeon Junghwa’ I keep thinking to myself

“Sis?” I hear my brother say. I turned around to my brother pulling me towards and behind him

He looks at me and Soogan, he then glares at Soogan. “You have hurt Chanyi and his siblings enough. Now you want to hurt my sister?!” He growled at Soogan like a tiger.

“Calm down” I pulled him a few inches back, trying to calm him down

He is able to push me to the side. “Nononononono! Jungk-” Chanyi tries to push jungkook back.

Chanyi then looks at Soogan and stares in a way that makes me really convince that it is not fear but some sort of unexplainable shock. “Chanyi he i-” jungkook is cut off by chanyi.

“He is my uncle! He is Soogan, he is the twin brother to sooga I was talking about!” He tells jungkook.

“Ah wha-“ My brother before he could say anything else, I immediately take the chance and push him to the side, far away from Soogan.

“The one that died?” He asks. Chanyi nods. “I can’t really blame you guys thinking I’m my evil twin brother.” Soogan speaks up.

“We were told you passed in 2006.” Chanyi tells Soogan. “That was what he told you guys and tell everybody around.” Soogan then gives us from his wallet a photo of him and his twin brother

“Really are twins.” I say amazed. “That’s real twins.” My brother looks at the photo dumbfounded.

I nod, agreeing. “I…I’m sorry Sir…” My brother apologised to Soogan frightened

“No. I do understand.” He tells my brother. “How have you been Chanyi? Is everything okay now?” He asks Chanyi with a touching smile

Chanyi nods. “Yeah. Mostly now that i’m back with my members and that your now back.” Chanyi tells him.

“Great to hear.” He nods his head smiling. “I’m so sorry about what happened to your family especially how Sooga has behaved.” He then apologised to Chanyi.

“Don’t apologise. You didnt do anything wrong.” Chanyi tells him.

“I’m here actually just to check you doing well. Seeing you gaining some colour and doing well, makes me really happy.” Soogan smiles to Chanyi looking at him, ruffling his head.

Chanyi smiles, Jin fixes his hair, or tries to. “Have you checked in on mum and my sisters? And meet my members.” He tells Soogan.

“I have went to check them all. They are doing good.” Soogan says as Jin is the first to introduce himself.

“Kim Seokjin. Oldest of the group.” He says to Soogan. “Nice name.” Soogan says impressed.

“Min Yoongi.” Suga greets Soogan. Everyone greeted him and then it was me.

“I’m Jungkook’s sister, Junghwa. You can just call me Jen. I was a former FBI informant.” I shyly introduce myself

“That explains your actions towards me.” Soogan says, he noticed my actions?

“You seems very suspicious and wary of me, you must be very experienced in your former field.” Soogan explains with a chuckle.

“I was an informant for the FBI for 3-4 years.” I nodded my head before Bora and Inhye runs over. “Are you alright Jen?!” Bora runs to me worried

“Yeah. I’m fine. This person can be trusted.” I tell the two.

“Hahahaha! I like how united you are!” Soogan then laughs. BoHye look at him confused but also worried. “He can be trusted.” Chanyi pulls them over before introducing them to Soogan.

“They are Jen’s coworkers, Bora and Inhye.” Chanyi then introduces BoHye to Soogan.

They both shyly bow. “Today is surely the unforgettable yet exciting experience. Meeting such lovely people.” He then smiles.

“D-Do you still need your hot chocolate?” Inhye out of the blue asks Soogan softly. “Oh yes! I’m so sorry that i forgot about it.” He apologises.

“It’s alright. We will make you a fresh one and all you have today under our cafe will be ON. THE. HOUSE.” I then decided telling him with a smile

“Are you sure?” He asks me. I nodded my head. “I’m sure of it as the owner of my own cafe.” I said with a smile.

“Thank you.” They all say. “Not to worry.” I said as they all raced in the cafe like little rats except my brother whose is apologising to Chanyi repeatedly

“Son. Please stop apologising. You were only protecting your sister and friend. I’m not mad.” Soogan tells him.

My brother just can’t stop apologising that I can’t help thinking of a really not great idea of approaching him and tickling him to stop apologising.