#i dont know where this came from but here it is

[daisymbin]

Hey can i request one where the reader sends Joshua flowers every week when he’s having practice/rehearsals and he asks her

37. "you brought me flowers? just because?" 🥹

omg this is so cute 🥺

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fluff prompt #37: "you brought me flowers? just because?"

the flowers always came at the same time every week for the past 4 months. like clockwork, they arrived at 11am, brightening the practice room with their soft colors and subtle fragrances.

and every week, joshua’s face lit up as he accepted the bouquet, placing it gently on the counter. he never questioned who sent them—he didn’t want to ruin the magic of it. all he knew was that those flowers had become a highlight of his week, a small moment of beauty in the chaos of rehearsals.

but today, there was no delivery.

the clock ticked past 11, and no knock came at the door.

joshua tried not to show his disappointment, but jeonghan noticed immediately.

“no flowers today?” jeonghan asked, his tone half-teasing, half-curious.

joshua shrugged, fiddling with his water bottle. “i guess not.”

jeonghan smirked. “don’t look so sad, shua. maybe your admirer finally gave up.”

“they’re not my admirer,” joshua muttered, though his chest tightened at the thought.

by 12:30pm, he’d resigned himself to the fact that the flowers weren’t coming. maybe this little tradition had ended without warning. maybe he’d never know why it had started in the first place, or who sent them.

but then the door creaked open timidly at 12:42pm,

you stepped inside, a bouquet of daisies and lavender in your hands as well as some take out bags and joshua freezes.

“y/n?” he said, blinking in disbelief. “what are you doing here?”

“sorry i’m late,” you said, offering an apologetic smile. “the florist didn’t have any delivery slots this week, so… i figured i’d bring them myself. oh! and lunch! you guys haven't eaten right?"

jeonghan raised an eyebrow, watching the scene unfold like it was his favorite drama. he notes the way you're nervous, your hands slightly trembling. the mask of nonchalance on your face did little to hide it all.

joshua stood up, slowly making his way toward you. “you’re the one who’s been sending me flowers?”

you nodded, holding out the bouquet. “guilty.”

he took them from you carefully, as if they might disappear if he wasn’t gentle enough. “you’ve been doing this every week?”

“yeah,” you said, shifting on your feet. “i thought you might like them.”

he stared at you, his expression unreadable. “but… why?”

you hesitated, suddenly feeling very self-conscious under his gaze. “just because.”

his lips parted slightly, his eyes searching yours. “you brought me flowers? just because?”

“yeah,” you said quietly, your cheeks warming. “just because. and… because they make you happy.”

for a moment, the room was completely silent.

then jeonghan let out a low whistle, breaking the spell. “wow. who would've thought…”

joshua barely heard him. he was too busy staring at you, his heart racing in a way he couldn’t quite explain.

“thank you,” he said softly, his voice almost trembling.

you smiled, trying to play it off like your heart wasn’t doing flips in your chest. “it’s no big deal.”

“it is to me,” he said, his gaze never leaving yours.

jeonghan cleared his throat loudly, "so... lunch you said?" and you took that as your cue to leave.

“oh! yes, lunch. here," you laid the take out bags down, "well, i should go, dont wanna intrude,” you said, stepping back toward the door. “i’ll see you later, joshua.”

he watched you leave, the bouquet still clutched in his hands, as if he wasn’t sure what to do with himself.

as soon as the door closed behind you, jeonghan turned to him with a raised eyebrow. “so… are the flowers enough confirmation for you to finally confess, or do you need her to spell it out in neon lights?”

joshua blinked, his mind still replaying your shy smile and the way your voice softened when you said, “just because.”

“she doesn’t…” he started, then trailed off.

jeonghan rolled his eyes. “oh, please. she sends you flowers every week, and today she personally brought them because she wanted to make sure you still got them. & LUNCH! if that’s not a big neon sign saying ‘i like you,’ i don’t know what is.”

“but what if—”

“nope,” jeonghan cut him off. “no what-ifs. no overthinking. she likes you, shua. it’s obvious.”

joshua glanced down at the bouquet in his hands, his heart swelling with something warm and hopeful.

maybe… maybe jeonghan was right.

maybe it was time to stop waiting.

[coriphallus]

DA: The Veilguard Spoiler Review pt3 - Politiks

oh my little void in this world wide web, we are really in it now.

a little PSA before you read this word vomit, i am from westernmost middle east, and that will inform much of what i know about the topics i discuss. i wont know about race politics of america or the intricacies of it beyond what i can see online but as an immigrant i do have some perspective on western experience. so when i talk about heavy topics it will come from a foreign place. i do understand and admit that i cannot ignore that BW is a north american studio and that colours every theme they touch.

so there are two angles to approach this, 1st is to assess DAV on its own and 2nd is to assess it as a part of a whole and continuation of a franchise.

lets get 1st out of the way, its safely uncontroversial beyond taash's story. and eff-plays voiced my feeling verbatim on that subject more succinctly than anything i can possibly write.

2nd is very, very grim.

every DA game that came before had been interlaced with politics of its world so severely that its absence is disorienting. every game you were given the choice to change the political landscape of the countries youre playing in, for better or for worse. even the 2nd game with its vastly smaller scale sees hawke trying to navigate through their life as an immigrant, even at the games climax you are given a choice to drastically alter how this uprising will be remembered and it tells hawke that there are no half measures, they need to pick a side.

"Slavery or no, flesh is always for sale."

in my very first DAV playthrough i picked a shadow dragon elf, i didnt give her any backstory as i though being an elf in minrathous would shape her world view regardless.

first scene i got when organising my room rook pulls out the SHACKLES of a slave shes freed as she reminisces about how much good shes done, and puts them on her bedside. then proceeds to talk to a book and say "everybody looks down on elves but we were here first >:c"

(at this point i rerolled my character so i dont yet know how shadow dragon background plays out.)

at the very beginning of the game we see similar shackles and varric informs us that solas hates slavery, hes been freeing them.

when we make it to minrathous we learn that these people in neves circle have been freeing slaves.

alright so, the heavy handed deliveries aside, what purpose do all these scenes/expositions serve?

well, it makes these people look good. we know theres slavery in this part of thedas and these people are fighting against it not by any elaborate means but dont worry kitten <3.

[i had to look up the english for some of these terms so feel free to correct me if im wrong] patterson describes slavery as "one of the most extreme forms of the relation of domination, approaching the limits of total power from the viewpoint of the master, and of total powerlessness from the viewpoint of the slave". death of the soul, death of what makes one human -and for the purposes of this section- death in the eyes of state. slavery has such a long history that predates early modern colonization of africa by thousands of years. it is a staple of human history and where we have come from shapes what we are now. we can shun it, call it abhorrent but we cant pretend it never happened. theres always been people dead in the eyes of state.

heres the uncomfortable truth, there aint never been enough steel in the world to hold every hittite or mittani slave. to assume slavery is people getting abducted and put to irons is as naïve as human trafficking being a rando ruffying you and hauling you across the sea in a crate. yea, it could happen but 99% of the time its just a waste of time to physically hold someone against their will by force. and this idea makes us think its this far off thing that happened thousands of years ago by bad individuals doing very comically bad things, which is a very deliberate choice, because to depict period accurate slavery would be to portray social and economical classes, and that would be confronting how little we've changed in certain aspects.

people were born into that caste, shaped by it, worn down by it, and abused by it systematically.

in DAI Dorian says something -apparently- very controversial that i dont think this fandom has fully unpacked, and i aint gonna do that here either because im not remotely qualified. he likens the working class of south to slavery of north, theres no way to engage with this argument in any meaningful way, even as an elf, and in general people brush it off as dorians pro-slavery rhetorics.

try as DAV might to disregard, we actually did meet an ex-slave and trafficking victims on three separate occasions, and the games have set a premise already. we got to talk about their unique circumstances, and they were handled with some measure of dept. maybe you liked them, maybe you didnt, but you knew them and that makes a difference. they had agency in their own stories. a far cry from DAVs nameless faceless props for righteous gentiles to circle jerk about.

but, sure, lets tell ourselves showing them would be too gratuitous.

can you imagine how batshit insane it would look if zevran kept the belt her husband used to beat isabela with as a trinket, to display in his tent? that scene with rook disturbed me more than most anything in this entire franchise and coming from an anders supporter, thats saying something.

this is how little the writers were willing to engage with their source material. this is how little they are willing to engage with the world around them.

which makes the next blunder inevitable.

alot has been said about the absurdity of elves feeling responsible for the events of DAV, but maybe this hasnt been said enough; this is a blatant fascist rhetoric.

i will spell it out though, even though i never thought it needed to be said, the social performance of accountability indicates that the party who has done harm has benefited and continues to benefit from that harm, this is why reparations are paid, and thats what "check your priviledge" means. elves in DA have never benefited in any way from the warmongering of evanuris, they were enslaved by them.

to say that these people should feel some sort of responsibility towards what befell dwarves is a fascist rhetoric used irl to offload responsibility and divide and alienate the opposition further from eachother.

i cant tell you if this mouth piece is same everywhere but i know a few people who have clocked it immediately so im gonna assume it was obvious. and truthfully, i wouldnt even be annoyed if i thought it was intentional. genuinely, one of my favourite games is an unapologetic military propaganda whos protagonist would make ayn rand write sonnets about, and the game knows what it is. but no, i fully believe the studio tried to address the criticism they got about their lackluster handling of elves and either completely misunderstood or willfully disregarded the experiences of marginalised peoples that the games drew inspiration from.

the writing is so hollow beyond horrible dialogue that when writing an enby character whos also multicultural they didnt even notice the parallel theyve created. i know this because after an entire plotline about their struggle with binaries their story concludes with a binary decision on their culture. this just confirms to me that any dept this game has is completely accidental.

imma level with yall i dont subscribe to the belief that you need to have some type of experiences to write some type of characters and i find that "ofc a white person wrote it so..." response very tired because yea we should be allowed to expect more from white people. i too had OCs of different cultures that i wasnt very familiar with and handled poorly, but unlike me, a company can afford a consultant.

i played greedfall recently, and sure the maori tattoos were a shit decision, and im disappointed that after all the criticism they still stuck with it, and yes maybe its story was not sensitive enough but you know what? as the person whos recommended it to me said, i rather have a story who boldly engages with its own themes than one whos terrified of them. say what you will about its shortcomings but at least at the end of that game you can have an ending where the colonizers leave for good, and yes their plague is not healed but the narrative doesnt punish the natives for their isolationism. i am glad that the game allows that catharsis to its players.

DAV could have had 300 well thought-out endings and still not please everyone, but the endings they chose to include directly implicates the group theyre trying to appease and its literally just people who either want to punch or kiss solas, thats how fucking deep they think their fanbase it. not the people who wanted to end slavery, or achieve equilibrium with beings no matter how alien they are. or people who wanted to see a culture connect with its roots etc etc.

and maybe they were right, many people have been enjoying this game immensely and i am just, so fucking jealous. i wish i liked this game and enjoyed it and didnt want to tear out my hair every second i spent in treviso. i wish i wasnt seething white knuckling my sink like an insane person when a little kid wrote to crow rook that hes recruiting orphans now. i wish i had any belief in this game to read that as satire.

at least i wish i felt any form of vindication when i immediately realised this game was going to be a soulless cashgrab that unashamedly uses the name of a popular IP to push a sub-par product earlier this year, i just spend 80+ hours watching a company parade the carcass of a franchise i loved and beat it like a pinata as it continuously slapped me on the face with a botched wax figure of it.

i just feel this profound sense of sadness. i wish this game didnt exist. and no i dont feel any kind of brand loyalty, even when i actively enjoyed their work i didnt but i definitely dont now, not after 3 consecutive games that theyve delivered with more or less the same problems. as the company is today, i dont care whether bw survives or not, its been made clear time and again that the bw i liked is long gone and bw today is clearly not interested in making games for me.

even as i write this i dont feel fuelled by my anger for DAV but by the love a have for what came before. i still think the story deserved better, the fans deserved better, the people who contributed into making DA universe what it was before DAV deserved better. and, as rook told harding, our anger is justified.

but, hey. hair looks really good.

[huriita]

Hiii I don't know if anyone has asked you this yet but what app do you use to draw and what brushes do you use??? If you don't mind me asking...

I use Clip Studio Paint for mostly everything!

I use only two brushes, the basic pen brush for drawing cookies (with high stabilization so my lines dont come out wobbly)

and then the "pixel" pen. I really like the imperfections (just zoom in any of my drawings and you'll see)

and then i use this watercolor one for sketching. I have no idea where it came from but it makes me draw lines super fast

I wish i could link them here but 1.i've modified them 2. I have downloaded so many materials i have no idea which is which 😭 hopefully this is at least a bit interesting

[awsugar]

That post about an apparent social transition in college is just in absolute bad faith. To claim that Gerard lived as a woman in college but only had to stop because ‘she’ had to get a job completely distorts the facts that us mcr fans know. All Gerard said was this: ‘Really, I would do what I did when I dressed in drag this one time before. I went to school in drag, in art school and my day was completely different because everybody thought I was a chick’. Long time mcr fans like us know the facts, but new fans don’t, and girlgerard is quite literally lying to new fans because constructing Gerard as a trans woman gives them some weird pleasure. Mobilising accusations of transphobia towards anyone who doesn’t agree is also in such bad faith. It’s just completely moving the goal posts - people criticise them for being insensitive to trans people and intrusive towards gerard, they throw out the transphobe accusations. That way they can deflect from their own transphobia that manifests in transvestigating and fetishising trans women and gnc men. And most fundamentally of all - most people are not denying that gerard may be trans feminine. Girlgerard sees challenges to their transvestigating as trying to make Gerard cis in a transphobic way. But the actual fact of the matter is we respect Gerard. If Gerard came out as trans tomorrow we’d love and support them. Girlgerard on the other hand has no respect for Gerard. Rant over

AMEN!!!! literally when i read that tweet i was like...where did you come up with this information. bc yes i KNOW the interview in question, we all do. to construct your own truth that gerard lived as a woman in college for an 'undisclosed period of time' like. thats fake 😭 but of course its something that people who do not know all the lore will just eat right up as fact.

also them saying that he/they are not real pronouns that real people use and continue to use is craaaazy and yes literally transphobic.

also i like really can relate to gerard and the things hes said about not really subscribing or relating to masculinity in the same way that i feel about femininity. i keep my hair buzzed and i dont wear skirts or dresses but i still wear makeup and that like. is just who i am. the same way gerard can wear skirts and dresses and makeup and also like suits or jeans and his fucking green jackets. i will not attempt to label him because thats LITERALLY the problem here but like. idk it just overall gives off the vibe that they dont see nuance in gender...if gerard is not a man then he must be a woman?? its like were going back in time here.

and also btw yes of course. if gerard ever came out i would be so supportive and loving as always. if people close to gerard started using different pronouns we would follow suit. its just that simple. if those things never happen please just leave gerard alone and let them do whatever they want!

[firadessa]

Mark Cote Info Reveal- Silvermist's Quest

(Long Post Warning)

Me and a few friends are doing our own searches for information on the elusive Tinker Bell draft. We were able to secure an interview with Mark Cote, who was on the film for both a 2d and 3d version. Unfortunately, we were not able to save many recordings in good quality and mine has no audio. I also failed to transcribe our meeting, but hopefully this will not be our only meeting.

Before the original movie was put into 3D, it had several character quests all linked to the narrative to save Neverland. I thought it would be like Disneytoon's failed Enchanted Tales series, but unlike Enchanted Tales or Cinderella 2 the segments wouldn't be so self contained. It was like the movie Fantasia, but connected through a larger plot. There would also be a ticking time bomb in the form of the worlds of the mainland and Neverland combining due to the theft of pixie dust by Tinker Bell and friends before they earned it messing up the natural order. He told us that all 5 character quests would have to be approved by management, so he experienced delays in production. Several quests were greenlit but they had a hard time when they got to Silvermist and Iridessa.

We asked in a riddle, what brings water life? It took a while to get an answer, but @princessquinnella was reminded of water fairies in the books. The thing is though, Silvermist was conceived pretty differently from Rani. Despite being a water fairy, she was a repressive and pragmatic character. If you had a Disney Fairies DVD that came with the toys, you might remember the line "Still waters run deep" in reference to Silvermist. The pond and lotus where she lived, is implied to be "Stillwater Springs" or Lilypad Pond from what we know. x Here is the description from the illusive "pitch book"

Firstly, Mark told us for this "epic story" Silvermist's quest would be next to last. None of the fairies can fly because of the magic has dissipated. The story starts in her home of Stillwater Springs/Lilypad Pond, she creates a magical cloud named Tempest to fly. Tempest is an opposite to SIlvermist, he's a joyful and free spirited cloud like a impish child. Like in the final cut, there are 4 seasonal areas? There would be 5 themed areas in Pixie Hollow where each fairy lived. Many inanimate things live here in this word inspired by Art Nouveau.

She needs to fly on Tempest to reach the "water of life", and she travels to Pixie Hollow in a harsh desert area. She has a small glass vile to collect the "water of life" and flies over the stretch of desert looking everywhere. There's a color script of this segment somewhere on AODF (dont know where to link), where it is blurry and you can see the desert.

Silvermist and Tempest even meet other clouds on their journey, but they are grumpy and stern adult clouds.

Here, on the color guide- we see things a bit different. There seems to be some sort of snowdrop-esque flower in place of Tempest- but also some clouds, so I'm not sure what it could be.

Silvermist has been in the sky for a while now in this desert, but cannot find the water of life. Suddenly! Tempest, the child cloud starts to die. Silvermist is scared, because her friend is dying and she hasn't found the water of life. She sits down defeated... and starts to cry.

He showed us a piece I am very familiar with:

It is then, when she is at her lowest- when she cries... Tempest is resurected, and she is able to save her friend and collect the Water of Life, the quest item she needs to save Pixie Hollow.

Lastly, I should say the desert like areas in Pixie Hollow remind me of the elusive art from the mysterious artbook "The Art of Judith Holmes Clarke" (excuse quality, its a short frame in an IG video)

Now it's time for the next quest to reveal information about, there should be 2 left with more info to share with you...

This one shall be fill in the blank:

"------ is the key that opens every door."

Fly with you later!

[sugahbunni]

jake as your bfs best friend except jake reallly likes you.

jake knows its just so wrong of him as heeseungs best friend, to have a crush on his gf. but how could he not? your blushing red cheeks, pouty lips and shiny eyes and perfect hair. its been months and he cant seem to get over you. he wonders how your hair feels, how your skin feels and how your lips would feel against his. when heeseung introduced you to jake, jake swears his heart flips. your puffy cheeks painted in a faint red from the cold weather. your innocent eyes flickering everywhere, and your delicate hand shaking his hand. and your voice seemed to be laced with honey. "i'm yn, nice to meet you!". jake nervously smiles, your hair distracting him. its so shiny and soft, he wonders how it must feel to tou- "right jake, ill see you around" heeseung pats jake on the shoulder, walking off with you holding his hand. "r-right" jake stutters, watching you stride away. "shes perfect".

you and jake had one class together, to his surprise you came up to him and asked if you could sit with him. "you're heeseungs friend, right?! oh my gosh im so glad i know someone here, can i sit here?". to which jake gladly says yes to. a few days in and jake realizes how this is a very distracting situation. your knee often scratches against jakes, a soft "sorry" coming from you. he can't help but feel butterflies when your elbow brushes against his. he seriosly cannot focus on anything but how close you are to him. god, this isnt helping his small crush on you.

you and jake have gotten closer over the last few weeks, cracking jokes and hanging around campus. heeseung doesnt mind, in his words "yn is completely tied to me" which jake hated to hear but what could he do?. jake often brings your favorite snacks, he loves how your face brightens up when he gives them to you. "thanks jakey" you smile at him softly. jake feels his cheeks heat up a bit, holding back a huge smile. "y-you're welcome".

jake cant seem to get over you, he managed to get a picture of you (dont ask how hes already creeped out by himself). in the picture, you're wearing a white babydoll sweater and a matching skirt. with your glittery makeup again. "fuck" jake mutters, staring at your picture and running his hand through his hair. "be mine" he groans out of frustration, placing his hands in his hands. he then goes on insta and goes to your profile, tapping through your highlight named "me!!:3". he scans your selfies throughly, a grin plastered across his face. "yns so pretty, shit" he curses. hes examining your outfits, he really likes how you wear skirts even in this cold weather. he sets his phone down and picks up the picture of you. "can't get over you".

during the end of the class, jake is distracted once again by your overall appearance. he notices you're wearing glitter in the corner of your eyes. "nice shimmer" jake comments, and you immediately reply with a thank you. "oh thank you! haha not even heeseung noticed when i wore it yesterday..". jake scrunches his nose up, he knows his best friend is not exactly the best guy to commit yourself to. he wonders if you know heeseungs long history of dating girls. how could a sweet girl like you become one of them? "i'll see you tonight? dont forget you invited me to pizza!" you pout jokingly, patting jakes shoulder. "right! tonight" he replies, watching you walk off. "tonight ..".

jake knows heeseung is not exactly the best bf. so now that you're both close, you're often calling up jake. asking where heeseung is, why heeseung isnt answering your calls and why heeseung seems distant. taking advantage of this everytime, jake invites you to his place where you ramble with snot coming out of your nose. "i swear he has something to do with this girl named karina, he said they're just friends but.." you sniffle, jake placing a napkin under your runny nose. "its ok yn, maybe you should find someone who could you treat better". he knows hes throwing heeseung under the bus for saying this but honestly? he doesnt care. he hates how heeseung treats you as an afterthought. you spend the night at jakes. and once you knocked out, jake couldn't help but stare at you in your sleeping state. your small breaths, your twitching lips and your messy hair. you looked perfect. jake carefully brushes the hair out of your face. "please be mine, yn".

you, heeseung, and jake decided to go to a cafe. you and heeseung got there before jake. so when jake came into the cafe and saw you giggling uncontrollably at whatever heeseung said, he sighed in defeat. you were leaning against heeseung, your hand intertwined with his. jake sighs again, watching you both from afar.

"i just cant come between them" jake thinks to himself. "yn is completely in love with him".

he quite literally feels nervous, he decides to just go home. he often gets stomachaches from thinking about how you're his best friends gf. and how he cant have you. it gets so had that he gets anxious from thinking about it too much. is it that serious ? yes, yes it is. like sometimes when jake passes by the libeary, he sees you and heeseung. jakes heart flushes down to his stomach when he sees you smiling brightly at heeseung. he quite literally feels sick to his stomach knowing you'll never be his.

jake lays out in his bed, staring up at the ceiling. he has your picture in his hand, rubbing his finger against your face. he gives it a soft kiss, cringing at himself for doing so but thats what you do when you like someone. jake thinks he likes you a little bit too much now, your personality is absolutely electric in his eyes. its been five months since he met you, and five months since you and heeseung have been dating.

will jake ever get over you? as long as you and heeseung are dating, he dont think he ever will.

like ever.

[miss-choco-chips]

Kyou Kara Maou but Yuuri is the one who introduces people to a tradition for once. It goes a little like this -

There's a rumor in court that the King doesn't really love his fiance, and sees him as a friend or brother in arms. They got engaged for political reasons, you see. Or by mistake. There's no intent there. A few dream of proposing to the king, and have him maybe accept, but most know that's a moot point- he's always with Lord Weller, his bodyguard. No one can get past that man, less of all close enough to the king to actually strike him. So, the smart ones decide a better way to get into the king's good graces and into his inner circle would be by proposing to his fiance. Free him of an unwanted arrangement, become something like a sibling in law by marrying his long time companion, AND get a drop -dead gorgeous husband?? Its too good of a deal to pass up.

And so it starts, one night during a ball at the castle. Yuuri is dancing with Greta, while Wolfram smiles tenderly from the side, and the way the gesture lights up his entire face and turns his stern demeanour angelic gives the last push of bravery a tipsy noble needed. The slap is heard throughout the hall, and everything, music included, quietens at the sound. Wolfram is frozen in place, cheek stinging. Conrad and Gwendal approach, storms in their eyes. Yuuri, confused and a little annoyed as he starts to understand what's going on, follows suit.

He has to duel the noble, of course. As the one of higher standing between him and his friend, it's either he fights the dude for Wolfram or 'gives him up'.

'You can get rid of the engagement like this', Murata points out.

'Wolf isn't an object to be passed around,' Yuuri replies, getting ready for the fight. 'And he doesn't want to marry the guy- I won't free myself by trapping him somewhere else'

He doesn't go too hard on the noble. Poor guy was kinda drunk, he probably didn't mean anything by it, and he doesn't deserve to have his shit rocked because he made an impulsive decision while deep in his glass. Yuuri can also empathize, as he, too, has felt the need to hit Wolfram in the past (and he understands his beauty is the type that makes people do dangerous things).

They think the matter is settled. That it's a one off, weird but whatever.

Then, it happens again, when Wolfram is taking a stroll through the gardens with Greta. The noble lady responsible had thought the last attempt made had failed because the man decided to slap Lord Von Bielefeld in front of the Maou. Of course, even without an emotional connection, the gesture was too disrespectful to go unpunished. She grins as her hand makes contact, uncaring about the young princess bursting into tears and running off. Wolfram, this time, gathers himself fast enough to feel pissed. If not for the guards holding him off, weary of how tradition dictates the only retribution given might come from Yuuri, he'd have cooked the woman alive.

By the time Yuuri gets there, hand in hand with a still weepy Greta, he's mad enough by the fact someone dared make his daughter cry that he duels the woman right there in the gardens. After it's done, Wolfram huffs, still indignant, and marches his king and princess back inside, leaving the guards to deal with the waterlogged lady.

Okay, the nobles think. So maybe the Maou has to save face, and feels forced to accept any challenge thrown in his own home. No big deal! Lord Von Bielefeld is escorting the King on a diplomatic meeting when a dignatary from the neighboring country, the one they are visiting, goes up to him and strikes.

Conrad is the one holding Wolfram back this time, while Yuuri, angry after a full day of negotiations going nowhere, takes the chance to work off some nervous energy and dons his sword for the duel. Murata, again, points out Yuuri could use this as a chance to end the engagement. Yuuri, who's heard Wolfram ask late at night, on a very quiet voice, 'they think me so easy to steal? Am I worth so little to them?', shuts him up with a glare. It was never funny to begin with, but now it's really, really not funny.

The general consensus is, then, that it shouldn't be done while the Maou is nearby at all, or in his castle. Pursuers gain confidence then, attacking again and again when the young lord is on patrols, back on his uncle's lands, or simply out and about. Wolfram's guards become twitchy, trying their best to stop this from happening but not having much success, dreading the moment they are sent to call for the Maou so he might fight for his fiance.

Yuuri fights no less than 15 duels, having to cut meetings short, postpone his trips to earth and cancel baseball practice to do so. He's getting angrier and angrier, frustrated and... Something else he has no name of, at how many people are apparently wanting to take his place on Wolfram's life.

He still entertains the entire thing because that's tradition, apparently, and it has to stop eventually, right?

Until one night, when they are alone in their room, Wolfram turns away from him in the bed and whispers how maybe they should end the engagement. If people think him so easily stolen, his image must be pretty bad, not at all like how a future king consort should be; and he's seen how tired Yuuri is of having to defend him. His pride and feelings are hurt, and for the first time in his life, Wolfram is contemplating giving up instead of fighting, his usual fire dimming with every careless duel.

That's when Yuuri gets up from bed, terrified and furious at the notion, and storms into the treasure room to look for the thing he needs. And during the next big feast at the castle, like the one that started this madness, he calls for attention and explains to everyone how proposals are done in Earth. How one gets down on one knee, begging their partner to accept a ring in exchange for the rest of their life together. How no one can take that ring off, except the one that put it there or the one who wears it, and even then it's by their choice alone. How it's a promise and a vow and something unbreakable, forever.

And as he says this, he kneels in front of Wolfram and presents a precious ring of emeralds and onix, and once again binds Wolfram to him.

No one else proposes to either of them, after that night, even though Wolfram's smile had shone so bright it put all the jewels in the room to shame.

Gunter doesn't stop crying for a week, while Gwendal is busy planning the wedding.

[pcr-alice]

DPxDC - Missing Persons

also on AO3

It started so quietly no one really noticed.

People were disappearing. A veteran from the mountains, a firefighter from the city, a surfer from the coast, and on and on. All gone without a trace. The local authorities investigated, of course, but they never found any leads. After some time, the people were simply written off as missing, and their communities moved on. They remained forgotten until the Justice League got involved. Their systems flagged the uptick in disappearances, and once a Bat took a look, they were immediately suspicious. It took another Bat before the link was finally found. And it took Red Hood disappearing to confirm it. The missing people all had previous close calls with death. And so the League followed protocol – they announced an investigation.

The disappearances stopped.

It was a relief at first. There were far too many people who fit the profile, and none of their analysis could discern a usable pattern from the previous disappearances. But as time stretched on, they got nervous. Surely whatever this was wouldn’t just stop once noticed? What was going to happen next, and when? Justice League Dark got involved. Only once John Constantine started poking around did they find a lead, and even then only thanks to dumb luck.

When Constantine was finally dragged to the town where one of the early disappearances occurred, he zeroed in on an old woman living in a care home. As it turned out, she was mildly magically sensitive. Apparently her grandmother was a witch or something of that sort. But crucially, she had suffered a nearly fatal heart attack almost a decade ago. And she was all too happy to talk about the ‘nice young man’ from her dream who offered to take her away.

She granted Constantine permission to dive into her memory to learn more. Whatever he learned did not make him happy. He said he’d be back after a quick trip to Hell and disappeared, much to Batman’s irritation. But true to his word, surprising some, he returned with slightly singed clothes and a book.

So here he was, chalking sigils onto the floor. Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and Green Lantern watched him work in silence, likely trying to wrap their minds around the fact that there was a so-called Ghost King who they were about to request an audience with. Constantine finished up his work and stood at what they all assumed was the front of the circle he had just drawn.

“I do all the talking, yeah? These ones can be tricky.”

Without waiting for a response, he waved his hand, magic glowing at his palm. The circle responded in kind, pulsing white then fading into a harsh, vibrant green. A large black, green, and red elaborately-decorated sarcophagus rose inside the circle, appearing to phase straight through the floor.

“Dramatic fuckers, eh?” Constantine muttered.

A thick fog billowed out alongside it, quickly surging out past the boundary of the circle. It spread upward, threatening to fill the entire room. Constantine cursed to himself and waved an arm, clearing out the fog around them even as it thickened throughout the rest of the room, obscuring the view of the ceiling and walls save for the door directly behind them.

A deep voice echoed through the room with no discernible source. Everyone tensed.

“Who would dare wake the sleeping tyrant?”

A pair of bright green slits appeared from the depths of the fog and widened into eyes.

“Eugh, it’s you.”

The voice lost its echo. It sounded annoyed but entirely human and...young? That didn’t stop Constantine from clenching a hand into a fist, charging magic and preparing for an attack. The eyes moved closer, revealing a pale face and snow-white hair that floated in an unfelt breeze.

“Peace, Hellblazer.”

A lanky figure stepped forward onto the sarcophagus from where they were floating. They wore all black save for their white gloves, white boots, and previously visible head. With an audible thunk they plopped down on the foot of the sarcophagus, one leg bent upward to rest their chin on and wrap their arms around.

“I mean you no harm.”

There was a pause as the others waited to see how Constantine would respond.

“We met?”

���No, but I know of you. And I must admit, I’m disappointed to see you working with the likes of them.”

They gestured to the others in the room.

“Yeah, well,” Constantine relaxed his fist but lost none of his tension, “Don’t meet your heroes.”

The stranger scoffed.

“Don’t flatter yourself. I just enjoy seeing demons annoyed.”

There was another tense pause as the stranger lazily looked over all those present. Constantine broke the silence again.

“Who might you be, then?”

The stranger slowly dragged their gaze away from Wonder Woman and back to the magician. After a pause they spoke.

“You may call me Ambassador.”

“Ambassador to ghosts?”

“If you’d like to think of it that way.”

Constantine straightened his posture.

“We would like to formally request an audience with His Majesty The King to discuss what we suspect is ghost activity in our world.”

The ambassador stared back in silence with squinted eyes before sighing and thumping their forehead to their knee.

“Where to even begin…” they whispered to themselves.

“Okay, let’s start with this.” They slapped the side of the sarcophagus and looked up. “What part of ‘sleeping tyrant’ wasn’t clear?”

“I was under the impression His Majesty was recently crowned and well-respected?”

The ambassador pinched the bridge of their nose and groaned.

“Ancients...”

They hopped to the ground without warning, causing everyone to flinch into defensive stances. If the ambassador noticed, they gave no indication.

“The king is a tyrant, he is trapped in forever sleep again, and I’d like to keep it that way this time.”

Constantine opened his mouth to respond, but was interrupted before he got a chance.

“Speaking of which, how’d you even summon him?”

“Summon?” Constantine choked out, clearly surprised.

The ambassador walked toward Constantine, making everyone save for him slide backwards a step. They looked down at the chalk marks on the floor.

“Ancients, this is archaic. Where’d you find it?”

After a few seconds of silence, the ambassador looked up at Constantine.

“Well?”

“Ah...Merlin.”

The ambassador raised an eyebrow.

“What? It’s bloody true!”

The ambassador huffed out a laugh and walked back to lean against the sarcophagus and cross their arms.

“Can’t fault his demonology, but this circle is Bad. I suggest you lose it.”

Constantine opened his mouth to speak, but was once again interrupted, this time from an unfamiliar voice echoing through the room.

“Lord Phantom.”

Everyone flinched as a set of black armor coated in purple flames stepped into view from the fog.

“’Sup Frighty?”

“The dark one is marked.”

The ambassador flicked their eyes to Batman and stared for several tense seconds.

“So he is. Just like the other one, but actually concealed. Must be barely contaminated.”

The ambassador squinted and tilted their head.

“Sure enough. It’s weak, but there’s a family bond there.”

Batman clenched his fist.

“Where is Red Hood?”

The ambassador straightened their head, unflinching and unblinking.

“Safe. And being cared for.”

Before Batman could respond, yet another voice echoed from the fog.

“These are the ones?”

The ambassador turned their back to Batman and groaned.

“Is anyone not coming?”

A giant, four-armed, blue-skinned, armor-clad woman stepped out of the fog with two sets of crossed arms. She had the smallest smirk on her face.

“Apologies. I wished to see those who would obstruct our evacuation.”

Superman and Green Lantern perked up and shared a short look of confusion. The woman turned her head to Wonder Woman, her smirk replaced with a grimace.

“I am disappointed to see one of my kin among them.”

“I thought she might be, but I wasn’t sure.”

Wonder Woman stepped forward.

“My Lady, I –”

“You were not asked to speak, Child.” The woman snapped.

Her voice shook the floor underneath them. Wonder Woman flinched and stared up at her with wide eyes. The heroes tensed for a fight. But to their shock, Wonder Woman slowly raised her arm to press a fist over her heart and bowed her head in deference.

“I will make my displeasure known,” the woman growled, voice still angry but no longer violently.

“Take Dora with you.”

“Do you think me unable to fend for myself, Little One?” Her mouth curved up into a fond smirk again.

“I know better than to doubt you,” they briefly smirked back, “but given my limited experience, I don’t hold them in high regard.”

After a pause they tacked on a “no offense”.

“None taken.”

The woman stepped backwards and faded into the fog. Superman took a step forward, eyeing the armor cautiously.

“Ambassador, my apologies for our unpleasant first meeting.”

He waited until the ambassador gave him a slight nod.

“May I inquire what your companion meant by ‘evacuation’?”

“Exactly what she said. Our kind are being hunted, and we are trying to save them.”

“In that case I must apologize again. We were not aware of this unfortunate situation. Had we been provided an explanation, we would –”

“Typical,” the ambassador scoffed, “your primary patron government is committing a genocide, and yet we’re at fault for not properly informing you.”

Superman was smart enough to bite back his standard “we’re independent” retort. Green Lantern stepped forward instead.

“If I may, Ambassador, my name is Hal Jordan. I am a member of the Green Lantern Corps. We are a wholly independent organization dedicated to peacekeeping across the galaxy.”

The ambassador looked him up and down slowly before turning their head away dismissively.

“I don’t talk to cops.”

The heroes were stunned to silence. The ambassador turned to the floating armor.

“Prepare the Keep. I’ll ward against this circle once the sarcophagus is back in its place.”

“My Lord.”

The armor bowed its head then faded into the fog. Batman stepped forward.

“We have no involvement in the violence against you or your kind.”

The ambassador turned to stare at Batman for several seconds, squinted eyes glowing brightly.

“You’re an excellent liar, Batman.” The fog crept forward and wrapped around their legs. “Unfortunately, I know you’re full of shit.”

“What points you to that conclusion?” Batman kept his voice neutral and steady.

The fog had risen to the ambassador’s chest. They scoffed.

“There are photos of you with Amanda Waller.”

Batman’s fist clenched harder.

The ambassador turned to look at Constantine as the fog enveloped them, leaving two glowing green spots.

“I suggest you not push this any further, Laughing Magician. There are some things in this universe that trump even your luck.”

The glowing green eyes closed, and the fog faded away, leaving an empty summoning circle and untouched room. After several seconds of silence, Wonder Woman finally raised her head and spoke.

“I must return to Themyscira, perhaps for some time. If that was who I believe it to be...something has gone very wrong.”

Superman glanced over the others, who were all still silently processing the encounter. He turned back to Wonder Woman to give her a nod, and she quickly walked out of the room.

Constantine reached into his coat and pulled out his flask. He unscrewed the cap with a heavy sigh and downed whatever was left. He looked tired and annoyed, same as he always did. But Batman could tell he was shaken.

He looked away from Constantine and back to the empty circle again. There was a lot of concerning information to process, but one key thing did slip through. The knight had called the stranger ‘Phantom’. He had come across that name once before. One of three legible words on a burnt piece of paper in an abandoned and destroyed facility. A facility that stank of a classified government cover-up. A facility Waller had sworn up and down she knew nothing about. But he had a lead. The other two words. Amity Park. A small town that only existed if you looked at paper maps printed several years ago.

He had to act quickly.

[petrii-dish]

Snapped back to reality after 10 hours in a cold sweat. Mal Du Pays Banette

[saintaviator]

oooo yeowch ouchie owch augh ough ow

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Wei Wuxian eats a watermelon. Yep!

[bardicblast]

[luck-of-the-drawings]

"I think this is the most inhuman; and human, that I've ever felt.." MUCH CAN HAPPEN IN A YEAR. IN FIVE YEARS. A DECADE. imagine how much can happen in a century. just ONE (1). How will you grow? what phases do you find? even in 5 years, you will find patterns.

[catfacedcat]

it feels like i havent drawn these skullship guys in forever

[piratadelamor]

skip and loafer ch. 53

shima seems to see romantic love as a combination of different attraction factors, where liking someone as a person (for their personality) can be compensated for other things, therefore your standarts are lower when you're romantically attracted to someone. the way he sees it, the highest form of steem you can have for someone is to like them as a person, where these other factors don't matter and what you truly value is solely their personality.

i think it's interesting how mukai introduces this conversation by building a hierarchy of feelings, where romantic love stands on top of the feelings of friendship and of liking someone as a person, because that's one concept i've been personally focusing on deconstructing in my life. it's precisely by differenciating these types of feelings and putting them on a hierarchy that so many people end up in romantic relationships with people they don't really like, or why so many people drift away from their friendships when they start dating someone.

through everyone else's eyes, shima's feelings are romantic, and he doesn't feel like they are, because romance to him means something else. the lines between liking someone as a person, as a friend and as a lover are blurred. and listen, that's how they're supposed be. to love someone as a lover is supposed to mean you love them as a friend and as a person as well. a friend and a lover shouldn't be too different, and liking them as a person is supposed to be the core of both feelings.

i don't think shima is being innocent, like i've seen so many people saying on twt since the chapter came out. i think he's touching something very deep about relationships in our society that so many stories that focus on romance fail to address. in most of these stories, romance is the final goal. that's where most of them end. that's not the case here. i was already surprised when mitsumi and shima started dating, and even more surprised when they went back to being friends. that's not the usual narrative for this kind of story. because here, it doesn't seem like this hierarchy matters. and i think it's beautiful and i think it's HUGE how both shima and mitsumi value their friendship above everything else. not only them, because friendship is one of the main themes of this story. both as a dynamic and as a type of love as well.

but people have different perspectives on love and how love feels for them. it's different for mitsumi, for shima, for mika, for fumi. the way you're taught about love in your family or as a child in general has a big role on shaping that. we saw the matter of mitsumi having received lots of love in her family and childhood friends being brought up before as an explanation for her confidence. then, on the other hand, that's why we see shima acklowledging this on the next panels:

we know a few things about shima's family and their complicated relationships. shima never realized his little brother liked him because he saw his behavior as coldness or indifference, when he was actually being considerate of the distance shima was putting between them himself. he felt the need to please his mother by acting in order for her to love him, or for him to be worthy of her love, because their relationship was too anchored on exploitation. his father was having an affair, which not only made shima watch the failure of his parents marriage but also perceive romantic love as something superficial (as in "people break up and move on to the next person") and possibily as something that pushes people away. then shima's first girlfriend only liked him because of his looks, and so many others confessed to him without barely even knowing him. how could shima trust his own feelings after all of that? if he spent most of his formative years in an environment of appearences where love was tied to selfishness, interest, volatility, coldness, pain? shima learned to supress all his feelings and be a people pleaser as a survival mechanism. don't get too attached, live up to others expectations, keep your distance, smile and wave, bottle it all up. he is a kid that doesn't know a single thing about love and is scared as hell of it. love feels as if something is about to break.

that's why liking someone as a person feels more important to him. and that's not only the highest feeling he can have for someone else, i think this is the highest form of feeling he thinks someone could have for him too. it's the kind of feeling he thinks his own mother couldn't have, because acting was more important to her than who he actually was. it's the feeling he unconciously doesn't allow others to feel for him, because he never shows people who he truly is. so shima understands mitsumi's words as a love confession back in chapter 41. she didn't say "i love you", she said "that's what i love about you". and he asks her out, not only because he already knows mitsumi is different, so it seems more reasonable to give it a try, but also because he thinks this is how it's supposed to go. this is what he thinks it's expected to give her in return.

when society puts romance on the top of the relationships/feelings hierarchy, it builds an insane amount of expectations around it. i think it's crazy how friendships feel so free while romantic relationships feel so enclosured. they have too many rules. you're supposed to do this, and that, and behave in certain ways. if you start dating a friend then suddenly your friendship dynamic changes. a boyfriend or a girlfriend have responsibilities that friends don't have. it's a weight. i can't imagine a person like shima feeling any other way about a romantic relationship. for him, this is a big, big weight. that's why he puts an emphasis when he says "i thought that i could be a 'boyfriend' too". a boyfriend is a social role. when he phrases it like that, he's using the word "boyfriend" as an outside concept: he doesn't know what it means to him, he only knows what it means for everyone else. and that's not something he can do.

mukai is absolutely right when he tells shima he shouldn't be going out with anyone. shima isn't ready to be that close to anyone, not even his closest friends. i can't even describe how sad i felt when mukai said this to him:

shima is just so, so lonely...

but this doesn't mean that shima's supposed to become ready to be a "boyfriend" on those terms. i just think he's still trying to figure out what all of these things mean to him. and the good thing is that mitsumi is also trying to figure out these things too. the difference between them is that mitsumi is a few steps ahead, because she already understands what friendship love feels like. and when it comes to that, she gave us one of the most special love confessions i've ever seen.

so many people talked about this scene already, but now, in the light of chapter 53, her saying "i really like this person" has a whole new meaning. this is the most honest love shima has ever received from anyone. no romantic confession could top that. no romantic feeling could heal his wounds the way these words from mitsumi can. this is a treasure shima can't afford to lose.

we're taught that romantic love will save us. that it will make us the happiest, that it completes us. we grow up believing that we can't survive without it. what we really can't survive without are our friends... skip and loafer is putting friendship above everything else, but more than that, it is questioning how romantic love is supposed to feel. some people feel it, some people don't. i think most of us don't really know what it is. we think we do because we read enough, we saw enough movies, we listened to enough love songs. i think i felt it a few number of times in my life but everytime i felt it for someone new i asked myself, was it really love before? what is it, really? if i never read those books or saw thoses movies or listened to those songs. would i recognize it? would i know it better? would it even exist?

aren't shima's feelings for mitsumi already valuable enough? big enough, true enough? would they change if he called them romantic? mitsumi has SO much to teach him about love, about himself, about others. their encounter is so beautiful and so rich. we see how much he's changing, how many new things he's finally starting to understand about himself, how many important steps he's taken since they met. is finding romance at the end really the most important thing for their story?

[xiiiwayfinders]

It breaks my heart that we never learned Wedge's backstory and now we probably never will