#i draw ocs and different fandoms often so i hope that is okay

[thelemonchild]

any fun art i make will be posted both here and on my twt, so if the watermark is a letter off its just bc i have a different handle over on twt unfortunately, but its close enough lmao

if i ever draw i always post it over there, but i will try to post other drawings on here too, art has been extremely slow as of late so i just cant promise art back to back, sorry sorry

i hope my art is enjoyed nonetheless!

[cloudcountry]

thank you to the three people that tagged me in the twst author spotlight ^^ irene, siren, and sapphy, thank you. i read what you said about me and i was very touched. i didnt think i would gain so many friends in such a short period of time, and you all deserve to be recognized for your contributions to the twst community!! :D

EVERYONE LOOK AT MY FRIENDS.

@tinyletterz, who has a beautiful soul and amazing writing. i've known her since my baby days on quotev writing for a fandom which shall not be named, and it's so such a pleasure being her friend. she writes twst x reader content and has a gorgeous series about flower languages that i think about a lot. thank you remy for helping me get accustomed to tumblr, you're the og!!

@shkrmpp, who was my first mutual that i'd never met before here. thank you for asking about jellyfish and being such a bubbly presence on my dash. shrimpy writes x reader content and creates adorable art!! their hair dye series with the leech twins is super cute and i find myself thinking about teh floyd part in particular very often ^^

@fukashiin, with the prettiest themes and the gorgeous art style. winou CONSISTENTLY writes absolute bangers that make me so giddy. this one in particular is one of my favorites, and her writing style reminds me of a soft summer breeze. she's such a bubbly person and its so fun talking to her, even if we don't talk often. ^^ she's one of the three people that keeps my deuce content afloat.

one could say many things about the beloved @hisui-dreamer!! from the way she adores her friends to teh way she writes, rinna is always soft and sweet. she radiates comfort and is such a soothing person, i feel so safe around her. she writes x reader content and every single piece is its own masterpiece. she's one of my closest friends on here and i wish nothing but the best for her every day.

@merotwst, who has a bucnh of adorable oc content (on @meromessy !!) and writes x readers!! ellie in on haitus right now takinga well deserved break. <3 but she writing is amazing and i am FLOORED whenever i see her art!!! it's literally so gorgeous and i don't understand how she does it. its crazy. how is so much talent in one person.

@siren-serenity is not only a lovely author of x reader content, but also a lovely friend. ^^ siren also has an oc named melody who is so cool!!!! she was the pastor at my wedding and fought TOOTH AND NAIL for that position LMAO love u renren!!! she really writes azul SUPER WELL and im so happy to have met someone so calm and soothing to talk to.

@officialdaydreamer00, aka nutmeg, is a rascal. an absolutely rascal but they're really the best. they have a yuusona with LORE and a bunch of really creative & cute events!! seriously nutmeg, nobody does it like you. if you want to see our favorite twst boys in strawberry dresses or recieve a pair of cute earrings, irene's blog is the place for you!!!

@the-v-lociraptor has STELLAR art. she was one of my firts mutuals on twst tumblr and i was terrified of talking to people but her vibes were very much "i am nice you dont need to be afraid" and sniffling scared me was like "OKAY I CAN TALK TO YOU" LMAO but yeah. she draws people so,,, full. thats the only word i can use to describe it. they just look s soft and alive and its really so amazing. i love her art so much!!

@siphoklansan is another artist!! i think about the art she drew from loona's heart attack with twst character weekly basically. it has been stuck in my brain since i started following her. sippy, its trully beautiful how you mix your culture and your art together. i remember you talking about it when you were drawing fairy gala stuff and it was just stunning. please keep doing what you're doing!! i hope your hiatus proves restful <3

@ceruleancattail is one of THE most creative writers i have ever met on this platform. every time i check out their account theyre talking about a new au or doing something different. they write x reader stuff and ar ethe biggest cater kisser ever (even if they wont admit it hehe!!) their writing is so refreshing, if that makes sense. their butler au is so goofy whaahwwahwah

@moonlit-midnight has the prettiest writing style :((( hannah is literally so sweet and it shows in everything you can find on this blog. THIS BLOG HAS PLATONIC FICS TOO!!!! DID YOU KNOW THAT?????? and even better, they're inspired by hannah's own friendships :((( literally the most wholesome thing. you can find x reader's here!!!

@iseethatimicy is an x reader writer and fellow azul kisser!!! she writes some really cute stuff for oour favorite silly little cephalopod AND AND AND AND HAS SOME OCS!!! THATA ARE SUPER COOL!!!!! shimiko and icy are both so cool and interesting 9EVEN THOUGH IM VERY SHIMIKO BIASED AAAAA I LOEV SIREN TROPES !!!!!)

@ryker-writes IS SO KIND. he gave me the sweetest set of flowers for his garden event :(( i still think about them and aaaaa i havent forgotten when he fought me over me being cool LMAO so goofy wahhwaawh!! HIS OC JAXON AND RIDDLE ARE LITERALLY SO CUTE :((( he writes x reader content & makes oc content!!!

@totallymem3 draws occasionally and omgggg meme's art is gorgeous. HAVE YOU SEEN HER DRAW AZUL. her art is so soft and its honestly adorable :(( meme is such a nice mutual too!!! like i met her on anon a while ago we've been besties ever since fr. HER ART REMINDS ME OF SPRING GO CHECK IT OUT PLEASE!!!!!

@z3llous is SO TALENTED!!!! another mutual that im liek WOW how do you exist??? he creates the most stunning twst fanart :((( THE OCTAVINELLE BIAS IIS SO REAL AND SO SO OBVIOUS BUT WOW.....WOW IS IT GOOD. zell is also a game developer and if you like cute little kitties and adventure games you should totally try it out here!!!

@cecilebutcher MAKES THE BEST OCS. creator of igor and saver of the universe. im not kidding igor saved the universe IDC WHAT YOU SAY ITS CANON TO ME. cece i sliterally the sweetest and soososososo creative i am eating up every crumb of igor content i get fed. OM NOM NOM. ofc junto is nice too and hes so sweet!!! GAHH you just put so much love and care into yoru ocs its so admirable :((((

@ang33333333l is another azul kisser that i became mutuals with a while ago!!! dolls love for sebek and azul is very sweet to see and her yuusona fauna is adorable too!! she also draws her yuu and characters sometimes!! :D she doesn't have a lot of oc content up on dolls blog yet but im looking forward to seeing more!! >:D

@leonistic deserves the most underrated writer of the year award. soru writes x reader content and is another super sweet mutual of mien (I KNOW IM SAYING THAT A LOT OKAY.) she writes aroace content and its literally feeds me. seriously. their aroace azul content makes me giggle and kick my feet and GAHHHHH !!! plus they have the patient to do matchups which is crazy and i love them for that ^^

@rains-asleep is the nickname master because he calls me straubs and thats such an adorable nickname :(((( HIS WRITING IS SUPER CUTE AND IT GIVE SME SO MUCH SEROTONIN (they write x readers btw!!!!!) they recently hit 500 followers (CONGRATS AGAIN!!!!!) and they also write for haikyuu, mha, genshin impact, and obey me!!!

@shinysparklesapphires is an artists that has a lot of cool ocs!! i believe navi was the first one i was introduced to and he's such an icon ^^ sapphy is also really into precure and produces a lot of content for the fandom!! i have yet to finish the precure series she recommended to me but its good so far and laura is the best so true!!

@datboredpencil has THE most STUNNING art. if you want idia x cater content this is DEFINITELY THE BLOG FOR YOU!!! each piece has so much love poured into it and i swear. YOURE ALWAYS LIEK "its a work in progress" BUT IT STILL LOTS SO LOVELY :((( YOUR USE OF COLOR IS JUST SO MUAH!!! CHEFS KISS!!!!!!! I ADORE IT

@twistwonderlanddevotee makes really pretty backgrounds!!! i actually used the isaac one she made for my private account AND ITS SO CUTE I LOVE IT I WANT TO EAT IT SWALLOW IT WHOLE MUNCH ON IT SHAKE IT AROUND LIEK A DOG TOY ANYWAYS. i am very normal about sofia's backgrounds. PLEASE GO CHECK THEM OUT its literally so unique?? like who else makes backgroudns liek sofia. Nobody.

@queen-shiba has an open inbox everyone!! you're welcome to send in requests!!! ^^ the queen of savanaclaw makes oc content for chuki, a really sweet kid taht deserves all the cookies in teh world :((( ALSO!!! she has an au for the tsavo man-eaters which is super cool!!! :O she passion for lions and tigers really is admirable and its nic eto see her talk about them :3

@beeirdos-buzzing-bogaloo has a gift when it comes to making ocs!! thule remains my favorite of the ones he has talked about because his design is just so neat!!! I LOVE THAT HIS NICKNAME FROM ROOK IS "MONSIEUR STARGAZER" :((( you have so many ocs that i havent even heard about yet...so im super curious to see what else you put out!!!

@dove-da-birb IS SUCH A GENIUS. they're one of my closests friends and their writing is SO BEAUTIFUL. they're also kidn of a little shit though so watch out /aff tehy write x reader content and draw sometimes, although i dont think theyve posted any of them. ^^ dove is SUCH a delight i promise you'll have fun every single time you talk to them. their energy is infectious and im genuinely really glad im the main target for their chaos. i would not have it any otehr way.

@ashipiko has such delicious art!!! the colors are always so vibrant and the way she draws is so unique. truly, a staple of both the twisted wonderland and as3! fandoms!! her energy is always upbeat and cheery, its hard not to smile when youre talking to her!! truly the biggest ace kisser on thsi platform (probably in the world too hehe)

@shyhaya writes for a myriad of fandoms!!!!!! hayami writes an azul thing for me that made me lose my mind IT WAS SO GOOD. PLEASE check out this blog. you wont regret it. requests are open!! ^^ even twst content aside, im sure you'll find something you like sich haya writes for so many fandoms!! talk about multitalented :3

@thehollowwriter has so many gems. quinn writes every character in twst so well, teh writing is so immersive and just ughhhh MUAH!!!!! every piece with azul in it is such a banger and it makes me giggle and kick my feet :3 LITERALLY THERE IS SO MUCH X READER FLUFF AND ITS ALL GOOD ITS A CRIME I DIDNT FIND THIS BLOG SOONER.

@cyath, who has some of the PRETTIEST art i have EVER seen. they draw stuff based on my fics all of the time and i adore it so much. examples of their art can be found here, here, here, and here. do you understand what i mean. do you get it. their art style is SUPERIOR and i ADORE IT!!!!!! they truly have so much talent like damn save some for the rest of us hello!!!!!

@crheativity writes twst x readers!! she's a beginner writer so PLEASE PELASE SHOW HER SOME LOVE!!! right nwo she has some heartslabyul content that i havent gotten around to reading yet but i am SUPER excited to go through them when i get the chance!!! rhea is super fun to talk to hehe <3

and lastly, @jade-s-nymph who organized this whole thing!!! rubia is on hiatus right now but i've seen some of her projects and a few of the things she's written and they're all really good!! there's a lot of x reader content on her writing blog and self indulgent nymphleech content on her personal blog :3

[akanothere]

About me

Part time fandom artist, full time clown.

20+, she/her.

DO NOT REPOST, EDIT, PRINT FOR COMMERCIAL USE OR BULK PRINTING

DO NOT FEED MY ART TO AI PLEASE

AI IMAGE GENERATOR USERS DO NOT INTERACT

TRACING& COPYING ARE FORBIDDEN AND BLOCKED. IF YOU ARE TOO AN ARTIST PLEASE RESPECT THIS UNIVERSAL RULE (UNLESS MEME/PARODY). “HIGHLY INSPIRED” WITHOUT CREDIT WILL BE BLOCKED AS WELL. MY HOURS OF HARDWORK AND BRAIN JUICE ARE NOT FOR YOU TO USE IN THIS WAY. I APPRECIATE THE LIKE BUT PLEASE DO NOT DO THIS

MINORS DO NOT INTERACT, DO NOT FOLLOW.

THIS IS A MATURE BLOG OFTEN ENGAGING WITH DARK CONTENT, HOWEVER I STILL HAVE DNIs.

THIS BLOG CONTAINS NSFW, BLOOD AND GORE DRAWINGS, TONS OF TOXIC RELATIONSHIP AND OTHER TW (ALL PROPERLY TAGGED UNLESS I FORGOT ONE OR TWO. IF I DO PLEASE TELL ME!!!)

FULL DNI, DOS AND DON’T, FANDOM CONTENT WARNINGS BELOW. I AM BAD AT EXPRESSING SO IT GETS LENGTHY BUT UM HOPE IT CLEARS UP EVERYTHING

THIS USER DOES NOT ACCEPT INSULTS, VIOLENCE, ABUSE, SLURS, AND DEATH THREATS TOWARDS HUMAN IN REAL LIFE.

What to expect or not here:

⚠️VERY IMPORTANT

I can tolerate/will create darker themed content when it comes to slashers or mature fandoms and villains. I would say this is NOT a safe blog (I mean come on those are bad guys what do you expect! Don’t be too delulu to a point you gonna make them a good guy). However I do not tolerate any form of violence, abuse and discrimination in real life. Seriously, get help if you come across to any of these.

All my darker artworks are NOT for you to follow irl (can’t believe I still have to say this in 2020s do people use their brains nowadays)— It is for me to explore darker concepts, trying to figure out how, for example, how people attracted by psycho criminals, WITHOUT using an existing criminal and hurting anyone irl. Bc everyone is FAKE, they don’t exist, it’s FICTIONAL. Also, to explore my own/seen traumas. I turn personal issues into NSFW kinks or simply dark shit etc, and cope with it as a fictional content. Not exactly the best idea I know but this keeps me sane and overthinking about the past irl. I do not tolerate death/abuse threats and insults towards human in real life, it’s stupid. And all of you should also keep every dark shit fictional content in fictional world. We do not need anymore crime irl thank you very much. Think before you act or talk. Fandom is not that serious to a point you wish death and suggesting violence upon someone.

For my Haikyuu or Naruto art those are mostly safe as hell (my opinion) just loving caring and tons of smooch smooch!😭💖 OMFG I MEAN BOKUAKA HOW YOU GONNA LOOK AT THEM AND THINK OF ANYTHING DARK HELLO EXCUSE ME

Generally I’m open-minded to all ships and kinks (even with complicated relationships where abuse are mentioned for plot reasons, or larger age difference), I’ll simply not interact with contents I’m not interested with… so it would be nice to not recommend any ships or contents through ask, because I mayyyyyyyy ignore it if I don’t like it lmao.

⚠️I draw fictional slashers/villains, g0re and blo0d and other dead dove/ abusive relationships shit, you are warned again!!! However irl crimes/ criminals supporters please do us all a favour go fuck yourself. People who can’t distinguish fictions from real life are not welcomed here.

I DO NOT accept any NSFW commission. Also again and again, MINORS DO NOT INTERACT. This is NOT a minors safe space.

I create art for my inner peace and needs. I cannot babysit and accommodate everyone, so, if you don’t like, don’t engage. The definition of “problematic ships” differs from person to person coz fk me people nowadays overuse this too much to a point idk what is & what is not…

-

Fandoms and ships

Dead by Daylight

Ghostface centric, Ghostface x OC/ x reader, sometimes GhostFrank, GhostMeg and GhostFrankMeg-the-daddy-issue-trio-poly

⚠️IMPORTANT: It’s totally okay to consume my version of Jed Olsen X OC content and imagining in your brain it’s you or whoever his S/O is, but I block people who draw my version of Jed with themselves/self-inserts/OCs, or generally drawing him. It’s a culture here: impolite to draw someone’s design without permission😭💦 So please don’t take it personally, it’s just me not comfortable with sharing my design of Jed with other people’s self insert/OC. Also I have many plans for him so when people draws him (even not a ship art), it might actually interfere with my WIP sketches and ideas which makes me so awkward like “should I continue when someone drew it already???” However I am glad many people like him! Thank you for giving him love he really doesn’t deserve it he belongs in the trash💥

PS. There are some designs out here alike which of course is fine, I do not own the character himself, but I‘ll stay away or block if it’s too alike/ overly referenced. I stay quiet about things I don’t like so unless shoving it in my face, I will just walk away🧍‍♀️💦Need not worry!

Haikyuu!!

BokuAka, sometimes Tsukishima centric and SunaKita

Harry Potter (Wizarding World)

Tom Riddle centric, Tomione. Casual: Tomarry, Drarry/Harco, Voldantonin, Antonmione, GGAD, SebOmi/OmiSeb, Sebastian Sallow x MC, Ominis Gaunt x MC, Seb+Omi+MC trio friendship.

⚠️I DO NOT SUPPORT JK ROWLING’S TRANSPHOBIC SPEECH. TRANS WOMEN ARE WOMEN. IF YOU CAN’T ACCEPT OTHERS HAPPINESS AND RIGHTS, THIS IS NOT A PLACE FOR YOU. FK OFF.

ALSO THAT ONE TOMIONE ANON WHO KEEPS ANNOYING WRITERS WHEN THEY WRITE FOR OTHER PAIR— DO NOT INTERACT.

Don’t follow me for ships. See me as a cheap ass £10 all you can eat cushion buffet please. No quality of art here. Just pure delulu and bad drawing skills.

Naruto

KakaSaku, ObiRin, ObiKaka and InoSaku.

⚠️Note that my main ship in this fandom is KakaSaku, but only when Sakura is of age and usually I ship them in same age/ sort of colleague AU

Other games, films and anime

Who’s Lila?, Cube Escape & Rusty Lake series, Year Walk, Disco Elysiumc, Good Omens, Hotline Miami, Chainsaw Man, Golden Kamuy, Dorohedoro, any Kon Satoshi/ Ito Junji/ Wong Ka Wai’s creations, Horror and thrillers, Sci-fics

Fic recommendation lists

(Most of them are dark, dead doves and NSFW. Some are light and cracks! Read TW and tags. Read at your own risk.)

Danny x You/OC/SO

Tomione

[damnfandomproblems]

Posting one compilation of replies in regards to Fandom Problem 5203, and ensuing replies.

Anon:

Re: 5203 some of you are have quite the “piss on the poor” moment. That anon was literally harassed, a commissioner asks for their oc to be drawn, anon said no, commissioner proceeds to tell everyone anon is fucking fatphobic. Learn to read. Also dying at 30-40 when you’re like 500 lbs is just unfortunate reality.

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Anon: (in response to this ask)

No it doesnt but do you wanna count how many fat positivity activists have died around that age because they've convinced themselves its okay to be obese and that they shouldn't try to be healthy or lose weight, or should i? And I don't feel entitled to peoples money. I was confused as to why they commissioned me of all people in the first place. Go ahead and give someone else your money. You cant guilt trip me into drawing fat characters with the "they exist and people draw them" argument. I am very well aware of that fact due to the fact that i have been fat before. Not just chubby, but literally over obese. You don't get to make me feel guilty for not wanting to draw something i view as harmful, something IVE LIVED THROUGH, just because you want to feel justified in harming yourself. I hope you get better and treat yourself better instead of giving up and allowing yourself to wallow in misery.🫰

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Anon: (in response to this ask)

No ones saying you can't have an unhealthy lifestyle when you are skinny, being under weight and not taking care of your body's needs is not healthy . Most of your weight is probably muscle. Not all fat is bad and if your are doing sports you need a bit of fat or else its gonna eat at your muscles. The human body cannot live without fat. But only having fat? Being a hundred pounds over? two hundred pounds over? And its aaall fat? Look I don't agree with a lot of weight loss culture. It's greedy and predatory and often has unrealistic expectations. But just watching your portion sizes, cutting down on fatty meat, eating more veggies, and filler if your body can handle it, cut down on sodas and candy and just taking a 3 mile walk every day you can, fix your sleep schedual, will do so much to improve your health. You may not lose all your weight and it will be hard at first, but you will feel a difference. You just feel better as a human being when you are taking care of yourself. The biggest reason people give up on weight loss is because they want instant and lasting changes. And you cant have both without keeping up with the effort. You didnt gain all your weight in a few months, so you cant expect to lose it in a few months. You have to put in the effort to find a lifestyle that works for you and that you can keep up with. It takes years and patience and self control. And its hard work. A lot of people arent used to living like that. Its legitimately life changing. You have to change, you have to change your life in order to lose weight and keep it up. Its the same for underweight people too. Its hard on them too.

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Anon: (in response to this ask)

I am the one that said im skinny now. Skinny does not mean unhealthily underweight. I'm not skin and bones but I don't have much belly chub now(some people can't help that though due to genetics). I walk a lot so my thighs have a lot more weight to them. I can move around freely and have more strength and stamina and honestly feel better than even when i was a child. I'm not starving myself to the point i can barely keep myself alive okay.

Anon:

"Lack of attraction towards fat people stems from nazi Germany" Just gonna point out that it's not a good look to say this, then have a post on your blog (among other things) that say "Turks deserve to be called donkeys." I dunno. I just see a bit of hypocrisy there. If you're not trolling and you legit think all this stuff, pleeease get offline and find a means to scrub it from your brain.

[archersxartxblog]

I saw your input to the discourse and I wholeheartedly agree with your view.

The Antis in the fandom are the most disgusting crybullies I've ever come across in any fandom... and I have been in a lot of them for a long time... What's also disgusting is that these same people turn around and claim how open, friendly and positive this fandom is...

Well turns out it's only that way if you stick to what is considered the norm by anti's...

I really don't like the ship at all... but I can make a difference between fiction and reality and treat people the same. Heck, I have a sibling that has been into "proship" and I never made a big deal out of it... It's still my sibling at the end of the day. And they also can seperate fiction from reality. Something that has become rare nowadays... but people desperately need

They claim they are the good ones but do bully and harrass anyone with a different opinion to the point of them deleting their accounts or stepping away from fandom (lets hope nothing worse) (also seen this happen several times on dead-bird-site with japanese fans) smh

sorry to go into this little rant... you don't have to publish this. You're even free to delete and block me. I just need that out of my system without them witchhunting me off the web....

(also love your content. You have a cute and wholesome artstyle! Keep up the good work!)

It's insane, honestly.

I've seen people getting harassed, doxed, death threats, people have had to get staff involved in some cases. People have been called blankshippers because of commissions they've done (fun fact if a blankshipper threw a bunch of cash at me I'd draw something too). Heck, just today it's been proven that these antis sit in the blankshipping tag looking for styles of creatators they can call out. Iike really.

And this is just the stuff I've seen on my dash.

And this isn't just a shipping problem, any miss step can get people to come at you, it seems. Remember that drawing challenges that happened around September/October, that person just wanted to do something fun, and a single prompt got them harassed and allegedly doxed.

I've really wanted to interact more with this Fandom, I wanted to join a discord and maybe make some friends, but the fear of some miss step I might make, someone not liking me and looking for a reason to chase me away keeps me from really interacting.

I've actually only had one bad interaction with one blankshippers, and from what I've seen, that person is just a giant dick. Otherwise, they have been quite respectful.

This is honestly the less friendly Fandom I've been in. There are some great people here, some really great artist. But there are also a lot of people looking for a reason to tear down anyone for whatever reason.

Don't worry about the rant, I totally get it. I'm hoping I'm too small to get a mob coming after me. Might loose a bunch of followers, but it is what it is. I will be turning off anon after this, just to discourage anyone coming at me even more.

But for the record, I'm not a blankshipper, I do not like or engage in the ship, I don't like it, but that's okay because I don't look at that blankshipping tag (cause I am not a weirdo looking at stuff I don't like)

I would prefer blankshippers interact with my work respectfully, to not ship ingo and Emmet in regards to my Warden’s Twins fic due to the underage nature of the twins in that setting.

But I would expect this from anyone.

(And thank you, it makes me really happy to hear you like my style. I'm probably going to be posting more oc stuff for a bit, I just kind of want to step away from the submas Fandom for a bit, I'll still be posting Caleb and Fjord stuff, bit I'll still post ingo and Emmet every so often, maybe even some dojoshipping stuff when the mood strikes me.)

[someheroescarryfloss]

for the fic writer ask: 🥺, 🤡, ✨, 💖 andddd 👀

🥺 Is there a certain type of moment or common interaction between your characters that never fails to put you in your feels?

Hurt/comfort for sure. I don't know why, but I seem to be obsessed with it! That and fluff of any kind. It doesn't have to be romantic, it can just be two friends hanging out making cookies or something. Especially if it degenerates into a food fight. You know, where one 'accidentally' throws flour on the other, and oops, now they're throwing bits of cookie dough at each other.

🤡 What's a line, scene, or exchange you've written that made you laugh?

Well, this one's kind of dirty, and it's not in this fandom, but I have an unfinished LONG fic involving Dr. Jaming from Dark Cloud 2, and there's this scene I wrote on a dare. He and his (my OC) girlfriend are sick with the flu, and she's visiting his house since she's got the bug too. They're sitting on his bed making pukka shell necklaces, and their conversation is overheard by another character who decided to eavesdrop. It's an innocent exchange, but taken out of context it sounded like they were 'doing things'. Turns out she just got stuck with the needle. It went something like this.

Her: Ouch!

Him: Are you okay?

Her: Sure, it's just a little prick.

And you know me and puns. So...yeah. I don't usually write that kind of story, but I was laughing to myself the whole time imagining the darer's reaction!

✨ Give you and your writing a compliment. Go on now. You know you deserve it. 😉

Ooh, I'm not good at giving myself compliments. But here goes! I'm good at writing emotional stories. I'm partly drawing on my own past experiences (not literally, but similar situations) and partly putting myself in the character's position and asking myself how would I react if I were them. Not so easy to do when the character's personality is really different from mine. Hopefully I pull it off!

💖 What made you start writing?

My fifth grade teacher said I had a talent for it. Thinking back, I was a jittery kid with ADHD who couldn't sit still, so maybe she told me that hoping to get me to focus. Like some sort of self-fulfilling prophecy. Well, I never became a published author like I wanted to be when I was younger, but I do still enjoy writing.

👀 Tell me about an up and coming wip please!

I don't have any new stories in the works, but I do have something planned for ASB and IAB. I just don't know how or where I'll have it! So, here's a BIG spoiler.

I mean a BIG one.

Not kidding.

You ready?

Okay.

Brandel was NOT Fergus's biological father, and he realized this as Fergus got older and didn't look like him...but looked an awful lot like another Fairy who isn't in town very often.

Roy's biological grandfather is completely unknown to him so far. Not only that, but he's a member of a small subsection of Fairies who aren't pleased with the caste system in their town. Things happen, Alpha is banned from the Fairy Town, and TF basically says, "Fine. I'm going with her." TF's grandfather eventually introduces himself, tells him "You and Alpha have more friends than you think", and that's as much as I'm going to say for now. ;)

Except I've sort of written myself into a few corners, so I have to pull something out of my butt at some point to fix it!

[pinkomalin]

Hello all you beautiful people!

Hello! The name’s Pink and I enjoy making art, it’s usually fandom stuff and ocs I make. I love lots of different media, so maybe stick around and maybe (just maybe) I’ll often post things that you (yes you!) enjoy too! Or if you feel so inclined drop a drawing request in my ask box and I’ll draw it (within reason.)!

Intrests include but are not limited to: Batman, Postal, Tf2, Yakuza, Mob psycho 100, Splatoon, Detroit Become Human, Tetris, Hi-Fi Rush (and by proxy Nine Inch Nails) , Resident Evil/ Biohazard

Special Pink Branded Tags

I have a couple tags that I frequently (or hope to frequently) use! Quick little thing. About those.

‘​Pinks fun game glitch corner’ - I love playing video games! Sometimes they bug out and I happen to catch on camera!

‘Pinks OC’s’ - Things relating to my own very silly fun special OC’s! Usually artworks!

‘Lemchai’ - My OC x Canon thing with Chai from Hi-Fi RUSH. I… post about that. A lot. 👍

‘Pinks Artworks’ - My art that I draw! All of it! Hooray!

Okay wrap it up already.

And that should conclude the introductions! Hooray! Hope that something I’ve posted has caught your attention and you’ll stick around but if not thank you for stopping by all the same (it means a lot!), I’m a stupid dumb idiot who loves doing what I’m doing and I hope that doesn’t change! I’m not too good at interacting with people but love you all. Muah!

[plagueislost]

Hii, for the artist ask game: number 4 and 10 is something I'd love to know :3

i wrote A LOT for this ask, sorry! i wanted to do the questions justice, yknow how it is.

4. piece you wish got more love?

Ive found from experience that original art tends to not do very well on social media, which kind of makes me sad. It's not much of a problem for me (because most of the stuff i post is fanart anyways) but i can't help but think that part of the reason i rarely ever draw original pieces or make OCs is because of the lack of feedback i get on social media. I know tumblr is supposed to be the fandom website, and maybe id have a different experience on another site, but it is disappointing when i post something original that I'm very proud of and it barely manages to get more than 20 notes, whereas something i like less easily surpasses 100 just because of the tags i put on it. i think the most recent example of this is this piece, which admittedly did get quite a few notes for an original piece, but definitely would have gotten more had it been fanart of the same caliber. this is also not to blame anyone or make anyone feel bad about not reblogging original art (god knows im guilty of that too, and art piggybacking off the popularity of other works of art are of course gonna get more notes), its just something ive noticed from my time on social media.

10. how do you deal with artblock?

i dont get art block very often, but when i do, its ANNOYING. it mostly manifests in me having a bunch of motivation for a part of my process that i cant get to without doing the stuff i have no desire to do (does that make any sense?). like, ill have a strong urge to render an artwork, but no ongoing WIPs that are at that stage, meaning i would have to sketch and color and shade a whole new piece before i could satiate that urge, or do the steps out of order which could mess up the flow and end look of a project. when i get like this, i find its best to try and translate those desires into different activities and take a step away from art. for example:

if i want to sketch, but nothing comes out right digitally, ill find a scrap piece of paper and a crappy pen and make thumbnails until i cant think of any other iterations of the ideas in my head. if one of them turns out good, ill take a picture and transfer it into my software, but only go over it a day or so later so i can have fresh eyes.

if i want to color, but i have no sketches currently ready for coloring, ill go into my photo editing program, find some random old photos that i never edited, and post-process them until i get something im happy with.

if i want to shade, but have no colored artworks ready for that, ill usually do a study of a photo ive taken, because most of the time me shading is really me wanting to see how light and shadow interact in certain scenarios. i actually did a whole AP portfolio on that because i liked shading and lighting so much!

if i want to render, but ive got no pieces ready for rendering, i find its easiest just to find a tedious activity where i can be a perfectionist but also feel like im the smartest person in the world. this generally turns into me cooking some big meal because its constantly engaging but also not that difficult. i know its probably weird for it to not have anything to do with art but this is just what works best for me, and i get the bonus of a nice meal at the end of it!

if i get the more classic kind of art block where everything sucks and nothing i make is good, i find its best to go back to the media that inspires me to make art, and not worry too much about having made something by the end of it. generally the media that inspires me ends up, well, inspiring me, and i can remind myself that art is a voluntary practice that i do because its fun, not because i want something out of it. if it doesnt manage to inspire me, thats okay, i can just tell myself im taking a break and live life for a bit.

i hope that was helpful, and i really enjoyed answering these questions! if anyone else wants to ask a question, the artist ask game is here.

[kellystar321]

here we go again~!

[letoscrawls]

Hiiiii

I hope you're doing well!

I would like to ask if u have and advise about starting and art account on insta. I have a small one here on tumblr but people say insta is better for art accs. So I just create an account and start posting? Or do I promote myself in some way, maybe taking dtiys and other challenges?

Thanks in advance:D

Hi! thank you so much for checking on me! :) 

okay, i get this question quite often and i wish i could give you solid advice, but the problem with instagram right now is its algorithm. when i started my account it wasn’t that fucked up, so i don’t really know how it is for new artists who have just started their accounts now! but i can tell you that it really affected every artist, even the bigger ones, so please keep that in mind. if you “fail” to reach your audience it’s not your fault, instagram is literally sabotaging artists and i don’t know for how long it’ll be “the best platform for art”. so just to warn all of you, i don’t want you to compromise your mental health for a social platform that makes money out of our stress and insecurities, i’ll try to share what i think could work because sharing art can be really rewarding and shouldn’t be an ordeal so i’d be happy to help somehow!!!!!

so this is the “algorithm tricks” part: 

when i first opened ig, i remember my stories were viewed by at least 100 people for the first two days even though i had less than 10 followers, so i think that’s instagram way to encourage you to keep posting, so my first advice would be to post your art in the stories too, at least for the first week or something?? now, i know the algorithm is currently promoting reels, so if you’re skilled with those go for it! make videos of your creating process and stuff like that. it’s important to inform your followers when you make a new post bc the chances of it being noticed are higher, you have to do the work bc ig won’t show that post to most of your audience (did i mention that i hate whoever made this algorithm?? yes??) i’m not really sure about this but i think ig prefers the reels you make with their set of editing tools instead of just uploading a pre saved video (i think it’s their way to sabotage those who post their tiktoks), i’ve never tried them so i don’t really know what they’re like, but i’m pretty sure tiktok is way better. i read somewhere that IGTV aren’t ig big thing anymore, so i don’t think you’d get much engagement from them. in general i’d say to always promote your posts in your stories and to wait at least an hour before editing a post bc i think you’ll lose engagement if you edit it right after posting (i know, it’s so stupid).

the use of hashtags is the only thing that i approve, because it’s an helpful tool made by social media before it got so bad and they really help you to reach more people (that’s like their purpose, i just wish there weren’t dozens of other stupid rules to follow in order to be noticed besides hashtags). so using tags like “art”, “artists on instagram” and “daily art” along with tags related to the pic you posted (like the name of the character or the fandom etc) is really helpful, just don’t use unrelated tags bc it’s annoying and idk how convenient it is :P the last thing is promoting your posts by using the sponsored feature; i never used that because i’d rather eat a slug than give money to instagram, but if you have the possibility and you are okay with that then you could try!

now for the “artsy” part

artists have found many ways to bypass the algorithm and keep the community alive over the years, challenges are probably the best way to do so! dtiys are awesome, not only they help you get more recognition, but they also make artists incredibly happy! i should host one very soon myself, i’m looking for a pose and an outfit to draw one of my ocs in, hopefully you’ll see it soon! i cannot explain how happy it makes me to see people draw a character of mine, and it’s great to see them in so many different styles, so i highly recommend dtiys! usually the artists who host them post the entries in their stories too, so yeah, you should definitely try those! there are other challenges like art vs artist, memes etc, it’s incredible how creative the community is despite all! and lastly, draw fan art! contributing to a fandom with your art is so cool, personally i prefer it over original content most of the time, i feel the need to share my point of view and to let out all the idiotic thoughts i have when i consume some kind of media so i’m really biased, but every artist is different, so don’t force yourself to do something if you don’t feel like doing it! drawing something you don’t particularly enjoy because you want to get recognition is gonna make you burnout REALLY BAD, trust me, i personally think that passion>effort, so never forget to put your enjoyment first!!!! 

okay this took me a while and i hope it was helpful! good luck!!! i definitely forgot something dskfjhis

[nocturnaldivinationsfallingstars]

A Stray Bullet Part 1

Fandom: Gotham Characters: Victor Zsasz, female!reader, James Gordon, and an OC called Grace Warnings: None Summary: The reader is James Gordon’s sister and works for the GCPD and is dating Victor Zsasz. The reader has kept it a secret from her brother, until one day when she takes a bullet that was meant for him. Victor then shows up at James’ place to see the reader. Word count: 3,407 A/N: This is a reupload. Something’s are going to be different from the original one of this.

Sinister, dark, grey clouds rolled in over the gloomy and grungy city of Gotham as they so often did on a near daily basis as of late. The clouds barely allowed any soft golden rays of sunshine to seep through its thick layer above. As if hinting towards darker and more menacing days approaching, the once glorious city now in mourning for a much beloved family. You allowed yourself a sparing glance to the ever darkening sky for a very brief moment. A scowl creased your brow as you and your partner, Detective Grace Allen, walked up the steps of the GCPD, kicking beads of water up from the various sized puddles that formed on the worn concrete steps leading towards the tall wooden doors from the previous night.

“Looks like it’s going to rain,” you muttered out to your “close” friend.

You couldn’t help the disappointment in your voice at the lack of sunny days in the city. Grace simply grunted in return, taking a sip from the to go cup of coffee in her hand. You wouldn’t go as far as calling Grace your best-friend, after all you didn’t have that close-knit friendship that your brother and his partner have. Where they can talk to each other about their problems and such. It wasn’t that you didn’t want to have that kind of closeness with her. It more had to do with the fact that you felt as if you couldn’t; Considering how Grace would reply to your questions, or her lack of a reply, sometimes being the prime reason. 

A part of you had to admit that it had been that way since the days after your police academy training. Since the day you had been placed in the Gotham City Police Department, along with your brother James, as a detective. If you had to be honest with yourself, you hadn't expected to be placed there. In fact, there had been a part of yourself that thought you would leave Gotham for good; leave the crime and dreary atmosphere behind. To leave your brother to clear up the mess of criminals that roamed rampant through the streets of your home like a deadly disease. A disease that left nothing but chaos, pain, and death in its wake. So you can move on with your life somewhere else, somewhere less toxic.

However, you also couldn't deny the part of you somewhere deep down inside that knew you wouldn't leave. No, you couldn't leave the crime riddled streets. To some degree, that nagging part of yourself had been correct. You're still here; fighting for your city, just as much as your brother.

“Oh, you mean it is like every other typical day here in Gotham?” Grace asked bitterly, you barely heard the words escape her mouth. You were so focused on your thoughts that her voice seemed muffled. When you didn't respond as a frown came across her features, “hello?” Grace suddenly asked, drawing the word quickly waving a hand in front of your face trying to gain your attention. “Earth to [Y/N]!” she exclaimed with irritation present in her voice.

Your brows shot up in surprise and settled back into place. “Sorry, what?” you asked her, blinking your eyes a couple of times to allow your vision to clear and turning your head towards her. Grace rolled her eyes at you, shaking her head. The two of you came to a stop in front of the double doors belonging to your workplace. You grasped the long slender brass handle with your hand.

"Forget it," she replied as you wrenched the door open wide enough for Grace to slip through. You made a motion with your free hand for her to proceed into the bullpen. Grace gave a simple nod of her head as a thank-you. "You're in your own world as it is." She brushed it off.

The look that you shot her made it extremely clear to your partner that you were absolutely not in a good mood today. Not that she could blame you for being in such a terrible mood, especially with how your current investigation was going at the moment.

Grace had received a call from someone at the GCPD who had been working the night shift in the early hours of the morning on her work phone. Telling her something about a brand-new lead on your case, and that someone may be able to identify who the prime suspect could be. However, as the two of you investigated the person who had called in the lead, someone back in the office got a call about a body being found in an old run down alleyway besides an equally dilapidated club somewhere in the Narrows. 

This call had been placed about an hour or two after you and Grace had gone to check out the lead. Rendering all the questioning prior to getting the news useless and placing the case back at square one. Meaning you were, once more, looking for a new lead and another new suspect. One that hopefully wouldn’t end up dead like the other. Naturally this had put you in a bitter mood. It would have done that to anyone. You felt as if you had finally made some headway with it, only to be let down. Even Grace seemed to be angry about it. At the very least, the two of you had to wait for the autopsy results on the new body that surfaced.

You weren’t sure if you were hoping the person's death would be connected to your case or if it was just a coincidence. Knowing Gotham however, it certainly wasn’t a simple coincidence. But one could hope.

"So much for my day off." You muttered to yourself with a quick shake of your head, your hair brushing against your neck sending a tickle through you. Truthfully, it was not unusual for you to always be working when you had an open case that piqued your interest and got you overly invested in it. You amended your shift and made it so that your day off was the following week. However, with the way that the case has been progressing so far your day off may as well be postponed until a much later date. A habit that you have seemed to develop rather early on in your career at the GCPD.

"I guess we'll have to keep working," the voice of your partner sounded out, "extra hard." She added on, jerking you from your thoughts of the case and your day off being postponed once again. You sighed once again, following her into the police department. The sound of chatter and phones ringing filled the air in the bullpen. The distinct smell of coffee and smoke, from those that did smoke, bombarded your senses.

"I suppose," you huffed out in defeat, making a face at the cigarette smell. You had thought that you'd have unravelled the mysteries of the case by now; that the investigation would be over with, as you didn't want it to roll over to next week. Dropping your hand from the brass door handle down to your side, you let the door swing closed with a groan.

The inside of the police department looked just as dismal as the unpleasant weather outside. The fluorescent lights above the grey metal desks did absolutely nothing to brighten the already slightly depressing workplace up. "Look, I know this isn't what you had planned today since it is Sunday," Grace started as she pulled the uncomfortable wooden chair from under her cluttered and unorganised desk, plopping herself down with a long, deep sigh. A mischievous smile stretched its way across her pink lips. "You most likely wanted to spend the day with your boyfriend. Hell, you probably already had plans with him that you had to move to another day." She told you, as if she was trying to persuade you to confess to having a boyfriend. Her dark blue eyes followed your every move, watching as you shrugged off your copper-red leather jacket.

"Okay, I don't have a boyfriend." you countered with a snort, rolling your eyes at her and threw your jacket over the back of your chair hauling it out from under your clean, tidy and organised desk - a complete opposite to Grace's one.

"Okay, sure," Grace snickered as she pushed herself forwards in the chair, her elbows going to the desk in front of her. You couldn't help but notice the disbelief that shadowed her features.

Linking your fingers together you leaned forwards, mimicking your friend. "If I had a boyfriend, don't you think I would have told you?" You asked and offered a small sweet and slightly irritated smile, placing your chin on top of your fingers. 

"No," she answered far too quickly for your taste. "No,  you wouldn't."

She got you there. It was, to you, too private to say to anyone. Puffing your cheeks out, your eyes darted down to the case file on your desk. "Well, I don't have a boyfriend." You told her once more, this time your voice holding conviction in hopes that she would stop bringing it up and believe you for once.

Your hopes soon shattered when it didn't make her stop. In fact, if anything, it merely served to make her talk about it all the more. Her attempts at convincing you to confess to your secret boyfriend becoming all the more clear now.

Grace snickered, shifting in the chair and lowering the hand that had been propping her chin up on the table. She reached a manicured hand towards the never-ending tower of paperwork piled high on her desk. "Says the person who takes private calls and checks her phone every few hours during a work day," she teased, grabbing the first file on the messy pile.

You squeezed your eyes together tightly, sucking in a deep breath of stale air and released it. You had to admit you really hated the fact that she took notes on literally everything that you did when she was around.

With a gentle shake of your head, you opened your eyes to find her grinning at you. "It's called having other friends. Some of which want to talk to me privately," you stated matter-of-factly. This caused Grace's top lip to twist upwards at your words.

“I loathe you,” you grumbled out, pushing yourself away from your desk with ease. Firmly planting your hands flat on the cool surface of your desk, on either side of the case file in front of you. Your chest heaved as you breathed out a couple of deep breaths. Your eyes scanned the buzzing police department. A few criminals sat in the cramped jail cells in the corner beside one set of stairs leading to your brother’s and his partner’s desk. A couple of criminals sat in handcuffs at some desks run by other officers. Nothing too out of the ordinary there. But it seemed to be a tad quieter today than it typically would be.

“You don’t loathe me,” your friend replied in a sing-song voice. “If you just admit to having a boyfriend that you don’t want anyone knowing about, then I can drop this whole conversation.” Your fingers pressed against the desk, turning the tips of your fingers white.

"Who has a boyfriend?" James asked absently as he came to a stop beside your desk, letting his heavy hand fall to your shoulder and gave a gentle squeeze. His eyes darting towards the wide-open door of the captain's office. You looked up at your brother and tilted your head to the side as your eyes followed his gaze and stayed fixated on the door. After a long time, you averted your gaze towards James, quirking a brow at him questioningly. 

Evidently your brother hadn't paid attention to who had spoken just a couple of minutes ago. He gave a slight wave of his hand, like he was waving off your unspoken question. "[Y/N] has a boyfriend, but she won't admit it," Grace responded, sending a wink your way.

Reaching up you slapped the palm of your hand against your face, a growl of frustration escaping you. "For the last time, I do not have a boyfriend." You protested with a loud groan.

James chuckled half-heartedly at your misfortune, shifting his hand from your shoulder and up to your head, giving you a pat on the head as he so habitually did. "I highly doubt she does," he spoke up, directing his attention to your partner. "I would have known if she did have a boyfriend. We tell each other many things after all." You smiled triumphantly as James confirmed your point-blank lie.

For a moment you allowed yourself to wonder if he completely believed you didn't have one. It would be ignorant of you to assume he didn't think otherwise, you hadn't mentioned anything to him. Therefore, in a way it would be extremely unlikely if he didn't believe it. You almost felt terrible for not coming clean to your brother. He's usually so sweet, lovely, and supportive of all your boyfriends when you tell him you're seeing someone. But this is considerably different to the previous ones because the man that you're dating is an extremely dangerous hitman, the best there is in Gotham. A hitman that works for none other than Don Carmine Falcone himself. The kingpin's personal hitman that he calls upon whenever he has some 'business' to take care of, which is almost daily. The name that belonged to the hitman that you're dating is Victor Zsasz. 

You weren’t entirely certain if Victor and your brother met in the past. But you knew for a fact that if James had encountered him before, then he wouldn’t be too thrilled about your current choice in men. James would presumably try his best to convince you to stop seeing Victor, or even get involved himself. For now, however, you wanted to keep it a secret from both James and Grace. 

"I have got to go, okay?" James asked you, not that he needed permission to go. It was more to let you know he's done with the conversation. You gave a soft hum and gentle nod of your head in response. James pat your head once again before walking away from you and by Grace. He nudged her arm on his way by, "don't tease her too much, or she'll never open up to you." He told her and Grace hummed in acknowledgement to his piece of advice.

"Hey, it's rude to call me out like that!" you called after him, only to get a wave of his hand in response.

Grace snorted out a laugh of amusement at your expense. "Don't say a word," you exhaled as a warning and pulled yourself closer to your desk. You pressed your lips together as you scanned the small pile of files and paperwork to your right and then down to the file that sat in front of you begging to be opened. **At least my pile is smaller than Grace's** you thought to yourself.

"I wasn't going to say anything." she hummed out, the corner of her lips curling up into a barely noticeable smirk, her eyes more focused on the pieces of paper she had in her hands. 

"No, but you were thinking about it." Grumbling, you flipped the file in front of yourself open, grabbing one of the two pens from the pen holder on your desk swiftly. Slowly and quietly you sifted through the pages of paper while anxiously awaiting the results from the medical examiner.

"[Y/N], you do realise I just want us to have a similar kind of friendship and closeness that Jim and Harvey have right?" Grace suddenly inquired out of nowhere. Your eyes snapped up from the papers and over to Grace hesitantly. 

Leaning back you carefully placed the pen on the desk next to the now scattered papers. 

"I understand that," you nodded, your tongue daring out between your lips to moisten them since they suddenly felt dry. Your brows shot up in surprise at the sudden change of conversation. The fact that Grace had actually told you that she wanted the same kind of friendship as Harvey and James was surprising. "I do understand that, but I don't want to tell you everything right away. I will in time though, just give it... well, time." Grace nodded along, listening to you explain.

"Things right now, for me at least, are a bit... all over the place."

"That's fine and all, but don't make it seem as if you don't trust me. That you don't want anything to do with me." The tone of her voice changed in a matter of seconds. Annoyance, hurt and anger dripped from her words. You knew you were acting a bit cold and stiff towards her. You never meant to make her feel as if you didn't trust her or that you didn't want to be friends with her. 

Reclining back in the chair which creaked under the shift of your weight. "I didn't mean to make you feel like that," you started to tell her, hoping you could tell her about the fact that her lack of replies made it seem as if she wasn’t exactly welcoming the idea of being friends. Without a word she stood up from her chair and turned to walk away.

Pressing your index and middle finger to your temple, you exhaled sharply. That wasn't how you were expecting things to go today with Grace. Usually she would try to get you to joke about something. Every so often it worked and other times it didn't work out that way. 

“Great going there,” you muttered to yourself in a hushed voice, shifting in the chair again to get comfortable. Gradually you lowered your hand back to the cold metal desk, deciding it may be better for you if you got on with your work. Talking to Grace about it could wait for another time. You went to pick up the pen and to sort through the pages, when the sound of three sets of foot falls caught your attention. Now, this wasn’t an unusual thing to hear in a police department, plenty of people walked in and out of the department on a daily basis. However, these foot falls sounded familiar to your ears.

When a loud knocking sound of knuckles hitting one of the many metal desks came from behind you, you and everyone else on the first floor of the department turned around quickly to see who it was that demanded the attention of the entire GCPD. Your eyes landed upon two women. One was dressed in a leather skirt, a bra looking corset and black combat boots. The other woman looked as if she was wearing a netted dress with an under bust leather corset and black combat boots.

A look of confusion and recognition passed over your features, replacing the frown that had formed from the previous with Grace. You recognised the two women from when you had first met Victor; he had just finished a job, and the three of them exited the alleyway. You had walked into Victor by accident, too busy arguing with your brother over the phone. You and Victor introduced yourselves before going your separate ways. If your memory was serving you correctly, Victor referred to the women as the Zsaszettes.

“Oh fuck,” you muttered out breathlessly, saying this more to yourself than anyone else in the bullpen with you. Your eyes landed upon your very own secret boyfriend. Victor stood in the middle of the room, his hands balled into fists by his side as he looked around the dull room. A couple of workmates close to you spared a sideways glance once they heard you speak, questioning and puzzled looks on their faces. It wasn’t long before their attention went back to the tall, pale man in front of them. Victor looked satisfied with the attention he had gained.

You did have to admit, Victor dressed up in his black suit, with his braces hanging loosely behind him looked hot as all hell. And ever so slightly intimidating. You couldn’t take your eyes off of him, an effect he seemed to have on you from the very start.

[a-big-apple]

8 Favorite Works of the Year

Tagged by @mimik-u! Go check out her favorite works of the year, and read the rest of her stuff too because it’s fantastic!

Rules: It’s time to love yourselves! Choose your 8 (ish) favorite works you created in the past year (fics, art, edits, etc.) and link them below to reflect on the amazing things you brought into the world in 2020. Tag as many writers/artists/etc. as you want (fan or original) so we can spread the love and link each other to awesome work! 

I’ve been insanely productive this year, for a lot of connected reasons. The pandemic gave me many lonely hours to fill, which I might have just stuffed with tv binges and depression naps if not for fandom. Nothing wrong with tv and naps, but for me personally, that’s a slippery and unhealthy slope. The intensity of interest in my previous fandom was starting to fade, and I was emotionally ready for something different when Steven Universe came smashing back into my life and reminded me how much I’d loved it all along. Isolation led me to reach out online, get more involved, and the loving, supportive, and most of all creative community I found really made it possible for me to process this hateful year through writing and art and music. I’m so grateful to them for helping to keep me afloat at a time when any other productivity has often felt impossible. So, in no particular order except possibly chronological:

Conversations With Living People - Though not my first dip into Steven Universe writing, I think this was when I realized I had a LOT of stories I wanted to tell in this universe. This one skims the surface of some of the dynamics I was thinking the most about, before I quite understood which of my personal pains and joys I was drawing from. I can see in here the me of 2018, who was hit hard by ASPR and didn’t examine why, and it makes me feel like I’ve progressed as a human in the time since!

Secret, self-contained, solitary as an oyster - So much of this story came out of the utter joy of having people to talk to about SU! It’s been so validating to have friends who are just as excited and obsessed as I have been, and rereading this always brings me back to that joy of discovery, finding a new place to fit myself and my interests into.

What you’re capable of - This fic was pure indulgence for me. I loved outlining it, I loved writing it, I cried a bunch because I got to create something in which terrible things happened, but it was all okay in the end. The feelings of physical and emotional danger, of worldwide catastrophe, of helplessness and personal loss, all had a home in here where I could safely explore tragedy and end with comforting safety.

Pearl in a suit - Fic writing is an old friend, but art was harder to get back into. This was the first thing I drew this year that I felt really happy with, like I’d captured what I intended to capture, and like the last 15ish years with zero practice hadn’t completely erased any skill I once had. So, so rewarding, and also soothing, meditative, a really excellent break when my brain was too scrambled to write.

VolleyPearl wedding dresses and MegaPearl wedding suit - It’s cheating a little, but these two artworks go together inextricably. I was feeling melancholy, I needed a little softness, and I’m so pleased with what came out of it.

Hundreds of Pearls Zine - Cheating again, but this entire effort felt like one thing to me. I wrote a fic about friends’ delightful OCs, I made art of more delightful OCs, I helped to bring a huge collaborative project to life, and I got a taste for zine-making that I suspect will carry over into 2021. An incredible experience!

Decision 2040 - Absolutely the most I-have-to-write-or-I’ll-explode fic I have written, completely motivated by anxiety and hope and dread following the US Presidential election. By this point I’d learned, through talking to friends and talking to my therapist, that writing and narrativizing whatever’s pressing on me is a really good way for me to process. This was an attempt to stave off panic, and it worked, and I really love how it turned out and what it means as a snapshot of that particular moment in my life.

For this reason the sadness too passes - Again, using writing to process everything weighing on me, and I’m very very fond of the finished fic. The most recent thing I’ve written is often my temporary favorite, but I feel particularly proud of this as an exercise. It helped me, it’s a bit outside my comfort zone stylistically, and it’s a project with a deadline that I actually finished ahead of time!!

Tagging: @jeejyboard @coffee-b @redrockbluerock @gyros-zeppelis @pearldefiance @outerspace-iiinnerspace @grey-pearls-reef @dyescreaming @enbeebo , anybody in the Reef whose tungle name my bad brain has deleted, and @enemytosleep @terezis @raychleadele because even after moving fandoms I fucking love seeing what folks are doing popping up on my dash

[lalahbug]

False Ring - Levi x Reader

Fandom: Attack on Titan Word Count: 2,296 My Masterlist Warnings/disclaim: general Modern Office AU Author’s Note: Continued under story Originally posted on DeviantArt, under the same username, on 12/25/2016. Revamped/edited in 2020. ___ is a blank for your name/oc/whatever you prefer Written in 3rd person Line/header is to separate paragraphs to indicate time skips, as Tumblr hates my formatting.  Story under cut

          “Hanji! Take down that mistletoe, now!” ___ barked at her while walking up to her.

          “But it’s Christmas!”

          “There will be no kissing in the office!”

          Hanji kept complaining and trying to defend the decoration.

          “Hanji. I let you get away with going overboard on the decor for Christmas, decorating everyone’s desk, the lobby, the breakroom. I am drawing the line at the mistletoe!” ___ was lecturing Hanji basically in front of the entire advertising and marketing team. Hanji was one of the top managers, behind Erwin and Levi, of course.

          ___ is the CEO but always has a degree in advertising, so a lot of her free time was spent there. Being hands-on and knowing about every campaign and making sure they all appealed to a wide audience.

          “But, ___-”

          “Hanji, you can put it up at home and the Christmas party tonight. But please just, not in the office.” ___ sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.

          “___!” Hanji whined.

          “Oi! Shitty Glasses, ___ said no, so get away with that shit.” Levi stood next to ___.

          “Come on, Hanji. I’ll help you with decor for the party, okay?” Erwin wrapped an arm around Hanji, dragging her away.

          ___ took a deep breath. “Thank you, Levi.”

          “Tch, whatever.”

          “Will you be at the party, tonight?”

          “No.”

          “What, why not?” ___ tried to not let the disappointment show in her voice.

          “I don’t like Christmas, it’s over-done and all about presents, nowadays.”

          “That’s why I am holding the party without presents, though. So we can all get to know each other better and spend time with each other and our families.”

          “I have no reason to go, nor do I want to be around all of the brats and lovey-dovey couples.”

          “Oh, okay. I’m sure you’d rather just spend time alone with your girlfriend anyways.” She gave him a sweet smile. Levi just glared at her, making her sigh and look away. “I know, I know, you won’t talk about your life outside of the office.” An awkward air settled between them. “Well, I hope I get to know your personality better in the new year. I’ll see you after News Year’s, I need to tell everyone to go home now.”

          ___ gave a quick surprise to all of her employees, telling them the only reason for them to come into work on Christmas was to clock in and get their bonus check. Telling everyone Merry Christmas, go home and she was looking forward to seeing them and their families at the party.

          About an hour after everyone had left, ___ was sitting at her desk, finishing some paperwork.

          “What are you still doing here?” ___ jumped a bit, at hearing Levi’s voice, which made him click his tongue at her. “Go home to your family.”

          “Oh, there’s no one waiting for me at home. And this paperwork needs to be finished.” ___ gave him a small smile before looking back down to the papers and filling them out.

          “Isn’t this supposed to be mine?” Levi had walked over to her desk, taking the paper from her.

          “Hey, put that back.”

          “Why are you doing my work?” He glared at her.

          “I’ve been taking half of your’s, Hanji’s and Erwin’s work lately. We got a new client and I know you guys are already overworked. Since it’s Christmas, I wanted you all to be happy and not too stressed out. I prefer being at the office, so I always find where I can lighten the load of others.”

          “You do this often? My work?”

          “Yeah, not just yours, though. It’s not like it’s too hard to do or anything.” She shrugged and opened her hand to Levi. “Come on, give it back. Go home, have a goodnight.”

          Levi sat down across from her. “When are you going home?”

          She stared at him for a moment, confused. “About 3 hours before the party, so I can get ready and get there before everyone. To make sure Hanji didn’t go overboard. But I’ll be back here tomorrow.”

          “Are you going to be there all night?”

          “Yes, of course. I am the main host after all.”

          “What time do you think you’ll go home?”

          “Um, I don’t know. Probably sometime tomorrow. Why are you asking so many questions? This isn’t like you, you normally don’t care.”

          “Do you ever go home?” Levi glanced around, avoiding her question, his voice was getting harsher and judgmental.

          “Sometimes. I usually just go home to shower and get a bit of sleep. But I have a bed in my side office for days where I just would rather get more work done. I have a week’s worth of clothes here. So I guess I mainly just go home to get clean.”

          “Wait, you sleep here? How often?” Now, his voice was belittling and demanding.

          “I don’t know, like 4 times a week maybe.”

          “Tch.” He seemed truly annoying with her.

          “Don’t you click your tongue at me, boy. You’re acting hostile and demanding. I don’t need this from my employee, go home.” She snapped at him. Levi stared at her for a moment.

          “Did you just call me, boy?” He almost growled at her.

          “Ackerman. Go. Home. Now.” ___ let authority coat her every word. It was rare she used his last name or ever had to use an authoritative tone on him. He stared at her for a moment, before clicking his tongue again and leaving her office without another word.

          “Hanji, thank you for not going too overboard.”

          “Erwin reeled me in.”

          “Then I guess I should be thanking him.”

          “Nah. You both look beautiful by the way. I didn’t know you had tattoos, ___.”

          “Thanks, but yeah, I’ve had them for a while, sometimes I forget about them.”

          “It’s awesome to see so much for your skin, it looks so soft!” Hanji rubbed ___’s shoulders, making her smile then push her away. 

          “Stop it.”

          “Where did you get your dress?” Hanji was feeling the soft material. ___ just smirked at her and looked down at her red strapless dress.

          “Um, I think my mom got this for me last year. So I’m not sure.”

          “How are your parents?”

          “Oh, they’re good. They couldn’t make it over to me this year and I have too much work, so I couldn’t go to them, but I’ll be seeing them for New Year’s, I should be done with all of my work by then.”

          “Why do you have so much work? Hanji and I finished everything the other day.”

          “Oh don’t worry about it.” She gave them a heartwarming smile.

          “It’s because she’s doing some of our work.”

          ___ turned on her heel, to see Levi standing right behind her.

          “You what?!” Hanji screamed, gripping ___ and shaking her by her shoulders. “You’ll never get babies if you keep overworking yourself! You’re going to end up in the hospital again for overworking yourself!”

          “Hanji! Stop!” 

          The brunette stopped shaking her boss. 

          “I love my job. I’m not worried about having children. I won’t overwork myself, again, that’s why I put that bed in my side office.”

          Erwin groaned and Levi stared at all of them.

          “Wait, that’s why you were hospitalized for a few weeks a couple of months ago?” Levi wanted confirmation.

          “Yeah, I came to her for some signatures and she was unconscious at her desk,” Erwin stated.

          “Why didn’t anyone tell me?”

          “You didn’t ask and we didn’t want to tell too many people.” ___ shrugged.

          Erwin and Hanji then continued to bug ___ about giving them their work back so she could go see her parents sooner. Eventually, she caved in and told them she would give them their work back tomorrow.

               “I can’t believe you showed up, just to tattle on me about helping out with work.” ___ grumbled as she and Levi leaned against a wall, drinking some wine.

          “I showed up because Erwin told me to. Ratting you out, after calling me boy, was a bonus.”

          “You were mad at me for calling you, boy? But you’re younger than me by a few years.”

          “I’m not a boy.” He growled.

          “Uh, huh. Sure," she giggled at his anger.

          Levi moved so he was blocking her path and his hands on either side of her head, making her blush.

          “I’m not a boy. I am a man.” 

          “Oh, okay.” She was too shocked to say anything else. Levi moved back a bit to look at her.

          “You’re blushing.” He smirked at this, which only made the crimson dusting her cheeks grow darker; because she had never seen him smirk before. “You’re blushing more now.”

          “Shut up. Why are you teasing me?”

          “Because I didn’t know you were single before.”

          “What?”

          “The whole office believes you’re married.” This made ___ burst out.

          “No! Oh, that is funny.” She kept giggling. “No, no. I don’t have a partner, I mean I have some people I have crushes on. But I have no interest in letting them know that.”

          “Why is that?”

          “I like how things are now.”

          Levi and ___ hung out together most of the party, well, he hung around her while she talked with many different employees and told stories.

          “So, ___. Tell me,” Jean piped up. He was a new customer service employee. “Is the rumor true that you and Levi are married?”

          ___ almost spit out her drink. “What? So not only was the rumor that I am married is going around, but to Levi?”

          “So I take it’s not true?” Jean chuckled. “Then how would you like to get dinner sometime?”

          “Just because she’s not married doesn’t mean she’s desperate enough to go out on a date with you, horse-face,” Eren sneered as Mikasa glared at Jean before he could retort.

          “If anyone takes her to dinner, it’ll be me,” Levi grumbled, making everyone quiet.

          “So you’re dating?” Jean was the only one stupid enough to ask.

          “None of your business.” Levi glared at him. “Come on, ___.” Levi turned on his heel.

          “Oh, um. I’ll see you guys after the new year. Have a wonderful holiday!” ___ chased after Levi. “Levi, what was that all about? Why did you confuse them like that?”

          Levi scoffed. “Because I meant it. It’s none of their business, but if anyone is to take you out anytime soon, it’ll be me.”

          “What are you talking about?”

          “Oi, you’re stupid for being smart. I like you, clearly. That’s why I got mad anytime you asked about my nonexistent girlfriend or offered to have me come to dinner with you. I thought you were married. Anyone would with that ring on your finger.”

          “Oh.” ___ was blushing and looking down at the ring on her finger, she had stopped walking.

          Levi turned to face her, standing in front of her. “Why do you wear a wedding ring?”

          “It was my grandmother’s, she didn’t have much, but being her only granddaughter. It was the only thing she left me. I just wear it because she was like a mom to me. Plus, it kept away creeps. I didn’t mean to confuse everyone, though, or push anyone away, especially you.”

          “You’ve been visited by the Mistletoe Fairy!” Hanji giggled while holding a stick with mistletoe hanging from it.

          “Hanji, no!” ___ scolded her, pointing a finger at her. Levi glanced up at the small green branch. Levi clicked his tongue before grabbing the back of ___’s neck, pulling her in for a kiss.

          ___ squeaked while Levi pulled her to him, but she quickly let her body relax against his.

          Levi smirked as the tension in her body disappeared, he kissed her gently again, before pulling away, letting his grin slowly fade away.

          “Can I expect Levi babies soon then?” Hanji squealed.

          “You’re just being stupid now,” ___ giggled. Erwin had popped up and dragged away Hanji so Levi and ___ could be alone. “Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday, Levi.” She beamed at him.

          He froze for a second before pulling her into a hug. “Thanks.”

          She pushed back a little. “What for?”

          “You’re the first person to say that today, a lot of people seem to forget my birthday because of Christmas.”

          “Oh, I even got you a gift. I was just going to give it to you next year, but since you’re here.” She smiled and pulled away from him, grabbing his wrist and dragging him over to the coat station. She asked for her purse and pulled out a small box.

          “I got it last week. So, happy birthday, Levi.” She offered it to him, he cautiously took it. “Well, open it.” So he did.

          He pulled out a couple of sturdy tins. “Is this really Jungpana and Glendale loose tea? This is expensive shit.”

          “Is it? I just went to a tea shop with great reviews and told them you really love tea, that you like to be clean and your birthday was soon. They recommended these.”

          “They are really good, they have good taste, but pay attention to pricing brat.”

          “You like your gift right?”

          “Of course.” He pulled her close to him. “I can’t wait to see more of you, you’re the best gift.”

          “That’s not what I meant!”

          “Well, you being single, is the best news I learned today, so that’s the best gift. But you won’t be single, much longer.” He rested his forehead against hers.

          “Well, if that’s the case, I think you should invite me to test that tea out with you.”

          “Tch, don’t tell me what to do. But you should come over soon.”

          “It’s a date.”

          “Damn right it is.” He pulled her close, keeping an arm around her most of the night, showing no signs of leaving her side anytime soon.

Author's Note: Continued As far as I know, Levi’s b-day is Christmas, so this fic was written for his b-day.

[ozymandiascezn]

ocean eyes

chapter one | chapter two

fandom peaky blinders

paring thomas shelby x oc

rating teen

warnings cursing, angst, potential ooc thomas

-

"You didn't have to do that, Tommy. I could've found a place of my own."

Millie walked alongside Thomas, feet shuffling against the ground as she struggled to meet his gaze. How many times had he stood there for her, protected her? She could handle herself now, after all, she was the one who had tricked the Lee family even if it didn't end as well as she had wanted it to. She could've found herself a place to stay, one that wouldn't impede on him.

"I know." He responded, lighting a cigarette.

  "I can handle myself, you know! I'm practically a Shelby with how often I'm helping out. I'm not a baby anymore, you don't have to worry about that promise. Just give me a gun and I can protect myself." She looked at him, studying his expression to see if he would even entertain the idea of giving her a gun, or letting her handle things on her own.  "I'm a burden enough with that promise you insist on keeping, let me protect myself so you won't have to."

He sighed, taking a long drag of his cigarette. "Do you not want to stay with me, then?"

"That's not -! Tommy!" She huffed lightly, turning her gaze elsewhere. "It's nice to know you haven't changed much. You've always been there for me, and I know you don't particularly like talking  about business, but I need to know... what do you plan on doing about the Lee family? I know you, better than you think, and I know you are going to do something about it. You won't let me take part in it, I'm not foolish enough to hope you will, but I'd like to know what you had in mind."

"They can't know we suspect them, last thing we need is for a bigger mess." He exhaled the smoke, offering the rest of the cigarette to Millie. "Don't. Don't go off getting revenge, I will handle that. You've been through enough tonight."

"I ought to be sobbing, inconsolable even. I've lost everything I love, but I don't even have it in me to cry. Am I broken, Tommy? Is there something wrong with me?" She looked up at him, stopping on the sidewalk. 

Thomas returned her gaze, expression softening as he dropped the cigarette on the ground. "We're all broken, Mil. Now, come on, you've had a rough night." 

That didn't necessarily make her feel any better, but she knew Thomas had a point. After the war, everyone was broken. Danny had gotten the worst of it, but you could tell that the ones who came back, even if they seemed okay, were far more broken than anyone could imagine.  Thomas was no different. He had his own problems that he would never talk about, but he never had to. Millie had known him since she was seven and he was ten. She knew the things he never talked about, only because his eyes told her what she needed to know. 

They walked in silence until the had approached his home, of course it was something discrete and not easily noticeable. It was like any other place on the inside, scarce of most decorations and held enough to comfortably fit two people, although, something told Millie it would just be her living in the home for the most part. Thomas had more important things to do that weren't staying at home with her - that was fine, of course, she'd rather not know of the things he would get into. She'd worry too much that it'd make her sick. 

"Room's upstairs, second door on the right." Thomas gestured upstairs before turning to, most likely, return to the Shelby House to carry on with the bets. "Don't break anything."

"There's hardly anything here to break, Tommy. There's hardly anything here!" She sighed heavily, crossing her arms over her chest, ignoring the fact that whining probably wasn't the best thing to do considering his act of kindness. "Can I at least decorate a little?"

He paused, hand floating above the doorknob. "There's a sketchbook if you want to draw."

Millie was thankful he remembered she adored drawing, but that did little to help to answer her question. She had watched him quickly leave, preventing her from asking any further questions. It was always like Thomas to leave so quickly like that, but it would've been nice to have gotten a less cryptic response. 

Now alone, she decided to just head upstairs, shoulders heavy from the weight of it all. He was right though, the moment she had entered the room, she had noticed a sketchbook on the bed. Did he know she would have to stay here, or was that just an unusual coincidence that was a little creepy? She couldn't decide, but she couldn't care more than the small amount she already did so she simply fell onto the bed,  dozing off shortly after. 

-

Morning came with ease, and the deafening silence of being alone, but she was safe. She was safe and even if she had nothing, she still had her life which was a lot more important than most would give credit for. Her head, however, was in a disagreement with the rest of her and throbbed like a steady beat of a drum. Even her body felt heavy and icky in the gross, sick way.  

She slipped from the bed, moving to look at the sketchbook Thomas had left for her. It was empty, but it wouldn't remain so for long - if she could get her mind to focus enough on the paper. She already had an idea of what to draw, but her mind argued - no - begged for darkness and soft comforts. Agonizing pain throbbed in her mind the longer she tried to think about art, so she didn't try it. She moved it aside  left it as was, maybe she'd get to it later if she was feeling  better. Despite the pain, there was not much else she could do other than return to The Garrison or to the Shelby household. Either one of those seemed to be a gamble considering important things occurred at each. She'd rather not get caught up in whatever Thomas consumed himself with this time, but she had a guess it had something to do with Billy Kimber when it came down to it. 

She stayed. Even if the boredom ate at her very being, she refused to move too far from the bed. At one point she had woken up without even realizing she had fallen asleep, yet even then there was no one to keep her company. Thomas probably wouldn't be home until late, if at all, and the others would not be there if it meant risking her safety. The Shelby's had eyes everywhere, but so did the Lee clan and Billy Kimber.  It wasn't too far to assume they would have jumped at the opportunity to attack if they knew she was here, and unguarded. She was still, in every sense of the word, alone. 

It was another few hours of aimlessly wandering about the home, and sketching, until she felt better to at least go out and stop by Shelby home. No one stopped in the streets to look at her like they had the night before, but she chalked that up to not being half naked. She would have to get more clothes, though. 

Thomas spent most of his time here, as did the others, but they each had little areas of their own, homes away from home. It was still a bit odd entering the Shelby home, knowing that this was the true place of the brains and the brawn. Little Finn was out on the couch in front of the curtain protected doors that led to the betting shop, but he didn't seem all that concerned to see her. 

"Tommy isn't here if that's who you came to see." He stood, moving to stand with Millie as she wandered into the ever bustling betting shop. "But Aunt Polly and my brothers are! They're working on bets for Monaghan Boy!"

"I can tell. Shouldn't you be helping, Finn?" She raised an eyebrow, staring down at him with a small smile. "Mind telling me where Polly is? I've got something I want to ask her."

"She's talking with Arthur in his office!" With that, he stumbled off to help sort and collect the money for the bets. 

Polly and Arthur were busy discussing separate matters, but quieted when Millie had entered. It wasn't the words that made Millie uncomfortable, but it was the mere fact that they looked at her with such pity, such sadness, as if they understood exactly what it meant to lose everything . Arthur may have gone to war, but he still had his family. He had Thomas, Finn, John... He had so much more and she had nothing. She had nothing but the clothes on her back, and if anyone wanted to suggest it, she had Thomas too.

"Ah, Mildred. How are things settling with Tommy? I hope it hasn't been too troublesome for you." Polly led Millie from Arthur's office, guiding her towards the parlor of the home, away from the betting room. "We would've offered for you to stay here, but I fear it was for the best that you stay somewhere safer, and Tommy - you know how he is - insisted."

"Please, Millie is fine, but Tommy... He was quick to leave, gone before I had woken up." She shrugged lightly, looking down as if to hide the hurt feelings it brought. "Can't say I'm surprised, he was never one to stick  around for long, even before the war. I'm sure he's got other things to occupy his time that don't consist in babysitting me. That's actually what I came here to talk about."

"Oh? Well, I suppose any reasonable person would be wanting to get to doing things, but are you sure? You look a bit pale. Tommy would never forgive himself if you got hurt while he was off and about." She waved her hand dismissively, smiling. "But you know he'd never allow you to put yourself in danger, not after last night."

"There has to be something I can do, Polly. You and Tommy have done so much for me, more than I need, more than I deserve. I have to repay your kindness, Polly. Somehow." Millie shook her head, hands middling nervously with the cloth of her skirt. "I could've gone back home to America, but you... you and Tommy helped me. I can't just sit here and feel utterly useless while Tommy keeps a promise he never should have made in the first place."

Poly was silent for a while before, with eyes as kind as a mother's, she sighed. "Why do you say he shouldn't have made that promise? You know he adores you, more than he lets on, especially after the war.... Point is, he'd always look out for you. To him, you're a Shelby, and to us, you are family. You are always welcome here, Millie, remember that."

"He only adores me because I know him better than anyone else, even him. I listen to him, I give him what many cannot, but he doesn't come around anymore. Before, he spent quite a bit of time with me at the tracks, at least just for tea and small talk.  I feel as if he is only here out of obligation for that promise. It feels as if he doesn't really care for me much anymore, just that ridiculous promise." She looked down, inhaling sharply. "It's not just the war, but his eyes are so sad when they look at me. I can't help but think I am keeping him from something more."

Polly smiled sadly but turned when the door opened, she kept herself quiet to greet who had entered. "Oh, Tommy! We were just talking about you. I believe our little Millie has something she'd like to say to you."

"What? No I don't. I have nothing to say to anyone, I was just leaving to go, uh, somewhere else? Preferably for more clothes, that don't smell like sadness." She was about to turn tail and leave when Polly closed the door behind her, barring her from going elsewhere. 

Thomas was quiet as he watched Polly leave, turning to face Millie with a small sigh. "You're pale as fucking hell, you should be resting right now. I'll send Ada out to get you some more things to wear. How are you feeling?"

"Like a baby, Tommy. I can do things on my own, I can just get some clothes myself. I know what I like." She retorted, crossing her arms. "Did you come back home last night, or did you stay out doing whatever it is you do? You've been so distant with me lately, I never know what you're thinking anymore. It's like you shut me out, and for what? Do I need to prove to you that I don't need your protection? What happened, Thomas?"

"You know what happened." He responded, shaking his head lightly as he pulled out a cigarette to smoke before her hand stopped him. "What?"

"The war didn't stop you from visiting. You always visited. Always." She looked up at him, a small frown on her face. "Suppose now I gotta ask if there's someone else you're going to these days, someone else who's replaced me as your confidante and friend. But I know you and you won't say a damn thing, even if it's the best thing."

"It doesn't fucking concern you." He snapped, pulling his hand away from hers as he lit the cigarette. "Go home, Mil. Ada will bring more clothes for you."

She paused, sucking in a breath at his response. Things really had changed, hadn't they? She didn't say anything more as she turned and left, returning to the home Thomas had given her, but it might as well have just been her own home.

[johaerys-writes]

Playground Love, Chapter 10: Wilted Wildflowers

Fandom: Dragon Age

Pairing: Aran Trevelyan/Tristan Trevelyan

Summary:

Aran and Tristan are childhood friends. Best friends. Brothers, almost. They’ve been inseparable since the moment they met, one rainy autumn day underneath the maple tree in the school playground.

Best friends don’t fall in love with each other. Surely not.

The new chapter of mine and @oftachancer​’s collaborative fic, featuring her OC Aran and my OC Tristan is up! Where being in love with your best friend turns out to be more complicated than initially thought, and Tristan would very much like to make sense of it all now, please.

Read more on AO3!

****

The wind whipped through Tristan’s hair as his bike rushed down the steep slope. The warmth of summer was waning, but a sweet, mellow breeze still lingered. It smelt of salt and sea.

The polo coach had let them go an hour earlier than expected- Tristan hadn’t even stopped to change out of his riding clothes before setting off for Aran’s house. He hadn’t seen Aran since the day before and he already missed him. Which was to be expected, he supposed. With every day that passed, he missed him more and more, wanted to see more of him, hear more. Touch more. Ever since that time Aran had stayed at his for the night…

Tristan felt his cheeks warming. They hadn’t talked much, since that day. It was more so because they’d both been busy, he told himself; Tristan’s first polo match of the season was coming up, and Aran had more than enough assignments to occupy him. Yet, the fact that Tristan’s last few texts had gone unanswered, and that the only response he’d received from Aran to the poem he'd sent him the previous night was a meme of a dog rolling on its back did not help very much. Tristan had spent the better part of an hour combing through his books to find that poem, and he’d picked it just for him. Aran could have at least chosen a better meme to send him. At least.

He frowned, squinting against the bright sunlight when the wooden fence that circled the ranch came into view. The outer gate was ajar, Max’s truck stopped right before it. Aran’s eldest brother was tall and broad of shoulder, the skin of his forehead bronzed from the sun, his golden hair cropped short. He smiled brightly at him when he saw him getting off his bike.

“Tristan!” he greeted him cheerfully as he loaded a square bale of hay on the back of the truck. “Give me a hand with this, will you?”

Tristan returned his wide smile with a more reserved one of his own before inclining his head politely. He disliked touching the hay. It made his skin itch. Still, he set his bike against the fence and helped him haul the last of the bales, stacking them neatly against each other. He gingerly drew his kerchief from his back pocket to wipe his hands when he was done, watching as Max lifted and secured the truck’s tailgate.

“How’s Almond? Is she treating you well?”

“She’s doing great. Yes, she’s wonderful. A delight, really. She and I placed first in the show jumping trials two months ago, did Aran tell you?”

“That he did. I had no doubts. She’s a fine mare, one of the finest we’ve bred. We wouldn’t give you just anything, eh?” He laughed heartily and patted Tristan on the shoulder. “I’m off now. Your pal’s up at the house. Don’t keep him waiting.”

“Okay. Thanks, Max.” Tristan got on his bike, waving as the truck drove off. He pedalled leisurely down the long gravel drive, then brought the bike to a stop when he reached the flower garden before the house. It was Aran’s mom’s work, and the rose bushes were neatly trimmed and fragrant this time of year. Patrick was lounging on one of the floral padded armchairs on the front porch, his long legs sprawled on the low table. Tristan’s stomach tightened when Patrick lifted his gaze from his phone to look at him. His eyes were the same hue as Aran’s, summer sky blue, but they had none of the warmth, or the kindness.

“Trevelyan,” he said flatly, his expression wooden and thoroughly unimpressed.

“Patrick.” Tristan straightened his back, returning his look levelly. “Is Aran home?”

The older boy regarded him in silence for a few moments - moments that Tristan stood there awkwardly, trying his best to look as bored and mildly bothered as he- before standing up with a long suffering sigh and walking to the door. “Wait here,” he commanded, then disappeared inside the house.

Tristan itched his earlobe as he waited, released and re-gathered his hair, studied the red clapboard and the sloped black roof of the house. It wasn’t a large building, but it was homely. The warm scent of the roast they had for lunch reached him with the passing breeze. Tristan never spent too much time there, and neither did Aran, if he could help it. Still, he liked it when Aran’s mum came out and offered him a biscuit or something else she’d made whenever he came to pick Aran up. She wasn’t much of a baker or a cook, but she was always nice to him. He hadn’t seen her in a while.

Muffled talk from inside drew his attention. It sounded rough and agitated, but Tristan couldn’t discern who was talking, or what they were saying. A man’s low rumble, then a woman’s voice- was that Aran’s mum? The voices grew louder and sharper, but the steady buzz from the TV rendered it impossible to make out any words. Patrick’s voice knifed cleanly through it as he said something that sounded much like his usual insults, though Tristan couldn’t tell who it was directed at.

He thought he heard the shuffling of feet coming closer to the front door, then what definitely sounded like pushing and shoving. Tristan’s ears pricked up when he heard Aran’s telltale high pitched infuriated snarl, followed by Patrick’s mocking laugh. His temper flared by instinct; he set his bike down and took a decisive step forward, when the door was flung open and a red-faced Aran stormed out.

“Aran-”

“Let’s just go,” Aran snapped, grabbing his bike that was leaning against the steps of the porch and promptly taking off. Tristan followed him silently as he took off at dead speed. They didn’t exchange a word until they were well away, past the farm and the apple orchard beyond it, until the lake’s still waters were visible, glittering in the distance. It was more of a large pond than a lake, really, and he and Aran often went there when the weather was good. It was usually quiet and peaceful, and that day was no different. Only a paddling of brown backed mallards glided on the water, the iridescent green feathers on their long necks catching the light as they moved.

Aran tossed his bike aside as soon as he dismounted, letting it fall to the soft grass. Tristan set his own down beside it, then came to stand next to him at the pond’s bank. He was tense and wired, a string ready to snap. His hands were shoved deep into his pockets, his nostrils flaring with every panting breath he let out.

“Hi.”

Aran dropped to his knees and buried his head in the water, loosing a scream that echoed through the still surface and sent the ducks skittering into flight. He sat up, shoving his wet hair from his face and stared at the ripples as they receded. “Hi,” he panted in answer, scrubbing at the water dripping from his nose, leaving a smudge of mud in its place. “How was practice?”

Tristan shrugged, "Good. I stole the ball from Johnston and he chased me down the field while the others cheered. Coach didn't like that very much." He slid his hands in his pockets and rocked a little back and forth on his heels. "How's the water?"

“Warm. You want to swim?” The fresh mud in his hair made a handful of it stand out to the side. “I could swim.” He rubbed his nose on the back of his arm. “Something wrong? You usually don’t finish until later, right?”

"Coach said he had to pick up his daughter from the dentist's. Dunno. I think he was just sick of Jonhston and me taking the piss so he let us go early." There were fat drops of muddy water running down Aran's forehead and into his eyes, and he rubbed at them, sniffing and wrinkling his nose. Tristan smiled despite himself as he reached for his handkerchief. "Come over here," he said, drawing him close to wipe the mud from his cheeks, the side of his nose. Then he cupped his neck and leaned down to steal a kiss. "Missed you," he murmured against his lips.

“I missed you, too!” Aran wrapped his arms around him tight, “I hope your match is worth it. Endless bloody practices. Can’t you just win and be done with it?” He tugged him towards the tree. “Best two out of three for all the marbles. Kiss me again.”

The pond water had left a slightly bitter aftertaste on Aran's tongue, but Tristan kissed him eagerly as he let himself be drawn to him. "We will win. But then we'll just have to practice more to keep up, and then win more matches, and even more practice..." He closed his teeth over Aran's bottom lip, pressing him back against the tree trunk. "As if it would make a difference to you," he said sulkily. "You hardly ever respond to my texts anyway. If I hadn't come today, you would have forgotten all about me."

“You’ve caught me,” he snorted. “I’m always forgetting you. Thank the Maker I see you all the time or I’d be lost.” His fingers were slick with mud and chilled from pond water when they slipped up beneath Tristan’s jersey. “Remind me, eh?”

"Yes, but-" Tristan shivered as the cool, pesky fingers travelled up his stomach, caressing his sides. He sighed, kissing Aran deeply, forgetting everything he'd been about to say. So what if Aran hadn't responded to a text or two, or if he replied to his poems with dog memes? He still wanted him. He'd still missed him. Every smile, every touch, every smooth glide of his tongue over his own pushed Tristan's thoughts and worries further and further back in his mind. It was good, what they had. No doubt about it. "Wait," he said, drawing back. He laughed at Aran's confused stare as he unslung his backpack. "I brought something." The small bouquet of wildflowers he had gathered on his way to Aran's house was slightly wilted, despite his best attempts to keep the blossoms from getting bruised during his bike ride. Even so, he held it proudly before Aran's face, beaming. "For you."

Aran leaned back against the trunk, blinking down at the flowers. “Okay.” He itched his nose with his knuckle. “...what am I supposed to do with this?”

Tristan's smile melted away. He stared at Aran, the warm fuzzy feeling he'd had only moments before turning sour in his stomach with every second that passed and Aran made no move to take the flowers. "You… you don't like it?"

“I mean-” He squinted, taking the flowers with a skeptical look. “Now what? What’s the game?”

"There is no game." Tristan frowned, "You're supposed to keep them. Or- I don't know, set them aside and take them with you before we leave, or-"

“Are they medicinal?” he asked, peering down at them with sudden curiosity. “Something you read about?” He plucked at a leaf and nibbled at it.

"No, they're not- I just passed them by and thought they were pretty, and-" He stopped abruptly when he felt his cheeks growing uncomfortably hot. "You don't have to keep them if you don't want them, of course," he said indignantly. "I simply thought- it doesn't matter what I thought." He crossed his arms before his chest, looking away.

“Sure it does.” Aran stuck his tongue out, spitting the nibbles of leaves out. “Thanks for showing me. They’re pretty. Could have just shown me where you found them.” He tilted the flowers to the side, peering at them. “You didn’t have to kill them.” He wiggled the flowers at Tristan, chuckling, “Too pretty to live!”

"I didn't kill them- Maker-" Tristan swatted the flowers away, scowling at him. "Just forget about it, alright? It was a stupid idea anyway." He turned around, pacing towards the pond. It had been a stupid, stupid idea. Whatever had he been thinking. It had seemed like a nice thing to do at the time, when he'd stopped to pick up the flowers and arrange the bouquet. A romantic gesture, something- something boyfriends did. Cardew gave Martina flowers all the time, and she always laughed and threw her arms around his neck, but Aran wasn't Martina. And Tristan wasn't Cardew, and what they had wasn't- He took a deep breath, chewing on the inside of his lip. "Just forget it."

“This one tastes pretty good.” A sprig of the white tufted flowers wiggled in front of his face. “Like almonds. You like almonds.”

"I don't like almonds," he mumbled petulantly. He glanced at Aran over his shoulder, "And you don't like these flowers."

“I do. I do like them.” He took a mouthful of the white flowers, crunching them, grinning like a goat. “See. Delicious. Now Tristan chaser.”

Tristan laughed, shaking his head. He hated that Aran could always make him laugh, even when he was mad. "I'm not kissing you with those things in your mouth." He took the flowers from Aran's hand, or whatever was left of them, anyway. "And you're not supposed to eat them, you know."

“I didn’t know that. I asked what I was supposed to do with them.” Bits of greenery and fluffy petals fell from his lips as he spoke. “Kisses. I like the flowers. Have some.”

Tristan scrunched his nose, brushing leaves and petals from Aran's mouth. "You're gross," he said before leaning in with a grin. "That tastes like shite, by the way," he mumbled against his lips, "not at all like almonds."

“You’re getting too many leaves. More flowers.” He wound his arms around Tristan’s neck, leaning against him. “You need more flowers. I like you.”

Tristan sighed, pressing his forehead against Aran's. "You do?" he asked quietly. "You mean it?"

“Why would I say it if I didn’t mean it?” Cornflower blue eyes like the reflection of the sky in a still pond peered up at him. “You after wanting to show me where you found them? We can go roll around there.”

"They were just… by the side of the road. Past the chemist's. A mile or so from here maybe. There's a few of them on the way to the pier, I think. But it doesn't really matter." He reached up to brush a spot of mud from Aran's temple. His coppery blonde curls were just starting to get dry, wisps that kissed his forehead. "Can I ask you something?"

“Hm?”

What are we? What are we doing? He stared at Aran for a long while, unable to ask the questions. Perhaps they didn't need any answers. Perhaps Aran didn't know them either, even if Tristan asked. They'd been friends since they were children, and now they were something else, and that something was new and bright and exciting in so many different ways- and Tristan felt completely out of his depth. He let out a soft sigh. "Nevermind." He opened his fingers to let the wilted stems fall to the ground. "Race you back to my place?"

The grin split Aran’s face, brightening his eyes, and a moment later, he was scrambling to his bike, wheels spinning in the mud as he took off.

[captainshyguy]

not to be a little melancholic but i've been thinking a bit about all the people that have come and gone in my general social circle like. not just irl, but online too. the close friends, who eventually left, and the ones on the outskirts, but were always there. at least, for a time. the people you never quite talked to, but were in your bubble, in your life, if just for a bit. the people who will only be icon, words on a screen to me. the people who will forever be 14 in my memories, because its all i have of them 

its just...its weird yknow? not even getting into social circles from school, friends you grew apart from, friends of friends of friends in your class that you had an odd connection with

but online its like. i’ve been in a few online communities in my time. the penguins of madagscar community on fanpop, one for the same fandom on deviantart, the agents of shield one here, then the maze runner, then star wars, then mario, then star wars again...i’d say ‘and hollow knight now’ but lets be honest, i haven’t made....many friends or even mutuals through it solely X]

i guess my point is like. all of these communities were different people. and over time, whilst i’ve generally stayed put (until i was physically the last one left, and jumped ship, like fanpop) people just. they left yknow? maybe it took a couple of months, maybe a couple of years, but they did, and its such an almost...odd thing to experience

im not saying people cant leave, not at all but it just made me think how many people i’ve known, how many i’ve been friends with, how many existed in my orbit. how many i only have pieces of. and i guess...how many people’s orbits i was in. the person i was in the past lives on through each and every one of then, and i have no idea what stuck. what’s their ‘luke’ memory, their takeway. heck, some of them wouldn't even have it by that name. 

one thing im glad about in a way is like. from each of the communities that like. meant something to me, i managed to grab a few people almost. a few that also dug their heels in, a few that are still in my orbit, however close or far, but they’re there. they’re posting actively or somewhat actively and i know where to find them. and thats nice 

it just makes me wonder sometimes yknow?? how many people currently in my circle, currently in my orbit, will eventually leave one day? who will stop posting, who’s icon i simply will never see again.

i do hope, with all my heart, that all the ones that i fell out of touch with are doing well 

(im musing about specific people under the read more, WILL get long kjdfhnd) 

from my primary/secondary school i dont have anyone exactly. the closest i have is one guy i was pretty fond of but not like. romantically. i follow his youtube and whilst i dont really watch the videos seeing his face pop up every now and again is nice. but man i do think back on those secondary school friends. funnily enough by the end whilst i liked my “official” best friends i honestly ended up more fond of others. sarah, priya, shriya, zarah, zi yu, kyle. danny, introducing me to treasure planet, hiding away with him and his friends to watch films in forgotten rooms when it was near the end of the year, then liam, of course, man..its weird he was my best friend in the first few years when i moved there, then we got put in different classes so we just didnt see eahc other much. but that fondness was always, always there. god, and jake....i wonder if he thinks back fondly to the two of us pretending to be transformers. i wonder if im still jazz to him. god, and then sophia, just, not even hanging out but having our little ‘hot buttered toast’ song. i hope thats the memory she has of me. (i haven’t even listed everyone from this part, and i couldnt! it was a 7-8 year period of my life! right during my brain developmental stages!!)

its weird i was in love with ryan for nearly three years. a lot of those memories are soured knowing one of my friends spread it around school and everyone secretly knew, (and looking back i was way out of his league like, morally lol) but still. maybe once or twice a year i’ll dream about him, and for a brief moment, im there, sitting with him in geography as he shows me magic tricks, during that period i do genuinely think he liked me too (before it wore off for him lol) and im still in love. 

from college, man....ewan was like. i have a feeling he was leading me on since he had a girlfriend lmao, and was just flirting for fun bc he saw i was shy and was trying to get me to react, but it never felt like bullying yknow? i dont think he was actively trying to make fun of me. so i dont know, it was nice, it felt nice and it still kinda does. 

khairun.....im so glad i still have her. i’m still a little gay for her. i remember sitting with her on the bus, riding for hours as we were on the geology trip, and she would ramble about the game of thrones video game and she’d squint so happily and her eyes would sparkle. she talks about dark souls now and i only see her messages, but i can still feel her enthusiasm. or tanisha and fatima, my other geology friends, my maze runner friends. seeing the scorch trials with fatima in the cinema. joking about newt and thomas with tanisha. sitting around the table with my actual friend group, in the big lounge chair reading the tolkien dictonary, joking about the flash with bindiya. sleeping around maddie’s house and playing would you rather. 

heck, i didnt even touch on teachers!!! teachers i connected with so much on a genuine level!!! mrs chambers, mr hauge, mr wrght, miss lloyd, mr hutchinson, miss petra, mrs young! mrs mohammed, mr santa maria, mr longdon, miss langley, mrs maize, miss davies. i know with teachers, the kids must start to blur together at a point. but i just....i hope, at least. with those first two, they’ll remember me, just a bit. i keep having dreams where im in my old school, and i try to find them., i’ve found mr hague a few times. but until about a month ago, whenever i got to geography, miss chambers was never there. im glad i finally found her. 

then fanpop...lexii, having the same birthday as me, talking with kait and roleyplaying as penguin ocs in high stakes situations. dating dylan fkjdngjdh, rigging the club’s presidential election. its weird, i dont have a lot of memories from this time. just....just people? people posting their ocs, people drawing ech others ocs. kaitlyn, anya, kait, dylan, lexii, imaneasel, mya, peacebaby, madascargirl, kate, starslight, imogen, tressa, sammi, crystal, cc, syliva, jasmine, hikari, amber,  yellow, steff, lilly, blue, richard, monique, sharpey, hannah, icicle, ratking, cian i- god, there was so many of us. theres more, i can think of more names. there was so many

anya did what i did pretty much and went to deviantart then kinda dug her heels in and didnt leave, though i don think she’s more active on toyhouse. and yet, i still see her art there, so its nice. having her throughout the years has been nice, watching as both of our art improves. she’s always been a bit ahead of me. then cian i’ve been talknig with pretty much every day for about 6 months now, thats been nice 

and then here, man! the agents of shield fandom! man! i dont remember a lot of names honestly besides the ones who stayed, and sam. i hope sam’s okay. y’all who stayed, who are still mutuals, the hm....five of us i think? though the one ofy’all i was closest to isnt around as often X[ but still. im happy y’all are here 

some of y’all that have been around long enoguh will know i was best friends with kacie for a while. from....i think that was my brief stint in the dan and phil fandom. she. well. she’s okay, the last i heard of her. but my overtalking screwed that up i think. my last message from her, a few years later, was amicable at least. i still feel awful about that if i think on it too hard

i think i only picked up ronan from the maze runner, at least, that i talk to, yeah, right, there’s two others that are still about but i dont think we’ve ever held a convo X] 

and u current peeps! from mario, star wars and.....im not quite sure where for some of you! i love u all! especially y’all that have been around forever, just, liking each others posts every now and again., i dont know how many people you all follow, but i follow less than a 100. i might only be a blip on your radar, but i like seeing y’all, genuinely. thank you for being in my orbit. i hope i’m a comforting or at least. nice reliable presence in yours, for as long as we all stick around.