#i hope you liked it idk lmfao

[transmascaraa]

Reader has a subject topic that brings them anxiety anytime it comes up (example - genitalia on biology, a math topic they were never able to grasp and feel like an awful awful idiot who can't learn anything whenever it comes up, etc)

And the sillies notice the readers expression changing to one that isn't so much relaxed anymore

[by sillies I mean characters btw 🫶 I'm just dum and think it's cute]

multiple characters headcannons!

you hate those words...

characters: gaming, xiao, tighnari x gn!reader

author's note: idk i js felt like adding xiao ANYWAYS so basically the reader has some trauma with a specific sentence/some specific words and whenever they hear them, either directed at them or not, they get reminded of that trauma, AND THE SILLIES KNOW YOU WELL ENOUGH. so have fun reading<3

✷ Gaming

-he would notice it IMMEDIATELY.

-to him, he would notice it after the next breath you took after hearing those words.

-some random strangers on the street were arguing and that specific traumatic sentence was mentioned.

-your mood and facial expression just drastically changed.

-and cuz he's the good bf he is, he took you to stand by the side with him.

-he comforted you and reassured you that it's in the past now, that it doesn't matter anymore. and ofc that they're just some words, not even directed at you.

-you're getting lots of hugs and kisses afterwards dw

-overall, he'll be willing to help you in any way.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

✿ Tighnari

-also notices it pretty quickly.

-you're just so different.

-and he knows that the sentence is himself, so he knows when to look at you and make sure that you're okay.

-again, walking on the street and hearing some strangers arguing and that reminded you of your trauma.

-he notices it fast and discreetly takes your hand in his, whispering you that it's okay and for you to breathe.

-he lets you know that it can't hurt you anymore, it's in the past and won't happen again, because you have him with you.

-the sentence is just some words, some words are just some letters, some letters are just some sounds, and some sounds should be ignored and not paid attention to if they make you uncomfortable.

-that's at least his opinion.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

☆ Xiao

-not an expert at noticing it, but he does after like talking to you directly or just let some 5mins pass.

-this time, you were watching a movie and the characters were fighting.

-that sentence.

-you maybe tell him you're going to the bathroom, or to get yourself something like water, he will notice that SOMETHING is wrong.

-he'll be patient with you to tell him what's bothering you.

-and after you do...

-first of all, he doesn't get it why the fuck some words would make you feel anxious.

-but after you explain to him that it's trauma-related, he's willing to help you.

-his way of comfort is just some hugs and cuddles, with "it's okay" here and there.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

tbh really nice

i love how i did tighnari for some reason

it's cute

| @keeyisbored | @mariaace <3

[choccy-milky]

@foundthatoldzeppelinshirt what did u do to me...what in the wattpad is this... i only planned to do a few doodles but then i kept getting more brainrotted and things got out of hand LMAOO (and ofc i HAD to draw hockey player seb at SOME POINT bc its my duty as a canadian citizen🫡🍁🍁 O CANADA!!!)

[theythemmer]

phinktober day 11: ur fav AU

i dont rlly do AUs so i just drew them how i wish they would dress xo

(dan’s tats r carnations and snowdrops and phil’s r roses and honeysuckle. for no reason 🤗)

ALSO bonus version w makeup bc i couldn’t pick <3

[thou-babbling-brook]

Smth smth endless cycle of war for a purpose that exceeds your understanding smth smth

[essektheylyss]

Honestly, I'm very excited to find out what happened to Caleb and Beau, but specifically because Ludinus's current status is WILD for Caleb's epilogue in particular. It means his boyfriend is basically free and clear of everyone who has explicit material knowledge of the deal he made. It means the goal he planned to dedicate his life to is basically complete within six years. It means that virtually no one left on the Assembly cares much what kinds of changes he makes to Soltryce from here on out.

Ludinus is on the moon and probably not coming back, given the general expectations of the heroic fantasy genre, and the rest of it is a whole lot of "not Caleb's problem".

What does this man even do with the rest of his life?

[very-poorly-drawn-tgcf]

Go work off that debt Xie Lian! ....with an extra babysitting job.

Meme template for y'all under the cut + examples I made.

Anyway hopefully next episodes won't take too long. The thing is. The Ghost Groom arc is a lot longer than I remember. I'm still racking my brain over how the hell I'm gonna summarize it because I am not going every single instance

[aegagrusscholarship]

familiarity, the lack thereof, and the only way it could have ended.

the thing is, ultrakill is a very diegetic game. near everything, from the style meter to the bottomless arsenal to the shitass graphics themselves, are explained in some way by some in-universe fact.

so, what with violence and the implication that V1 was designed to counter earthmovers

what with 7-4 and the fact that it is a culmination of this implication

i wonder. when V1 looked up at that earthmover, did it know, with whatever passes for instinct in a machine, exactly what to do? and if it did, then, how is this conveyed to the player?

diegetic as the game is, how does it engineer a situation in which the player, themselves, knows exactly what they have to do?

the biggest factor, i think, is the fact that the earthmover's health bar appears the moment you lay eyes (or camera, or whatever) on it, and it does not leave until you have finally killed this colossus.

but this factor is much more subtle than it appears at first glance. yes, big honkin' boss healthbar on screen for the entire level, what more to it. there's a good deal more, it turns out.

first off- this is the shortest leadup by far to any bossfight in the game. you slide through a single vent, and you are greeted with benjamin right out in the open. even P-1, devoid of any other hazards as it is, gives you a long trek down the spinal staircase before you reach the flesh prison. 7-4 has none of it. you enter the level, you enter the stage, and there you have it. you know exactly what you are up against right from the outset, and it's not quite a feeling of familiarity but it tells you exactly what you have to do. which is the point of this all, isn't it?

7-4 is also... not a bossfight! it is a full level! it is a full level framed as a bossfight. the health bar frames this full complete level as a bossfight.

and on one hand, this is not new news. on the other hand, i think this is the crux of it. the thing is, most bossfights are near-to-entirely new. you do not know how the boss acts. you do not know their attack patterns. you do not know their capabilities. you are learning something new. levels, though, you have done a thousand times over and so the player knows how they need to play through this bossfight in a way that is not quite present with any other boss in the game.

the content of the level is new, of course, because that's how it goes. but you know the motions. you have done this for two acts prior, you know the motions. you know exactly what to do.

also! this level does not exist in a vacuum. what i am saying is this: the rest of violence layer shifts its storytelling and its tone and even its graphics. it is something completely new in contrast to the rest of the game. 7-4, though, returns to environments and graphics more akin to what you have experienced before, bringing you back to familiarity and again knowing what to do here in a way the rest of violence hasn't let the player experience.

one more thing about this level: it plays directly into expectations. which is something that the rest of the game actually does not tend to do.

the game, at base, is just not a typical FPS. it gives you movement like a roguelite or a platformer, it takes guns you expect to know the mechanics of and goes utterly wild with how far the archetype can be changed.

in a smaller scope, here is a comparison of the earthmover and the corpse of king minos as two separate colossal bosses foreshadowed in similar ways. and i mean, minos's bossfight isn't unprecedented in other works. but i think the thing that matters here is that you are not, in fact, the underdog as is the case with so many other bosses of its ilk. riven of many voices, destiny 2, similar bossfight similar scale. you are hiding from her you are a fireteam of many you are triumphing over a dragon larger than life. project gestalt, madness project nexus, you are pulling out every stop you can to take down something so far over your head (both literally and metaphorically). corpse of king minos- V1 looks up, stands its ground, and parries his god damn fist.

and the thing is, the earthmover plays into a different expectation, but it's playing into an expectation nonetheless. you look at this thing and you climb it and you dismantle it from within, like you have done in many games prior. you know what your goal is from the moment you see that healthbar and you hook onto the conspicuously placed hookpoints that tell you- you will climb this machine; you will fight your way up to whatever its core is and you will kill it. you play through the entire level with this expectation and you get exactly this expectation. you destroy its core and it begins a countdown, and so very many games have countdowns before the collapse of whatever level you have just beaten, and you know exactly what you have to do.

i don't know. i love diegetic storytelling. i love this level.

it's just familiarity, i think. this level runs off familiarity. it gives you, the player, things and tropes and designs you are familiar with. it signals to you that you should know what to do, and it lets you do exactly what you expect to do.

if i were any more cheesy i could absolutely end this by restating something about the only way it could've ended, but uh. i am not that cheesy. this time.

aw crud now i don't know how to end this oh well goodbye then

[kindaorangey]

recently i've been thinking about rowan omondi in terms of the "supportive black best friend" trope. i've had this idea for a while that it would be interesting to see a story that deals specifically with the psychological effects of being the designated "support friend", especially in cases where that character addressing/expressing their own emotions and advocating for themself would be stigmatised because of their race... and obviously, rowan fits into this neatly, actively repressing and refusing to talk about his feelings because he isn't usually given this sort of support by his friends, it's usually him who's supporting them. and i guess on a metatextual level, once he begins to address his own emotional repression and step down from that support role, you could view it as him becoming cognisant of his own role as the "supportive black best friend".

[philtatosbuck]

not to descendants post but it's crazy to me people are still looking at the core four like "you should have saved and liberated the entire isle within a month of being in auradon" girl what. how much power do people realistically think they had over auradon for them to do this without being evil about it (which y'all also hate)

[sketchy-mf]

How dare he randomely change his hairstyle out of nowhere? I'm the only one allowed to do that

(Writing it here too just in case, I'M JOKING)

Yes I'm a few days late, I forgot to post these 💀

📸 Mikke on ig (ofc)

[gomzdrawfr]

okay voice reveal (ftr my friend, Goggles, he's a gem ty again bud)

(sorry for the bad English and a gazillion mistake on the subtitle- which isn't a subtitle but more like correcting what I say so it makes sense, also the video had to be cropped cuz i forgot tumblr video limit is 10 mins and my final product was 13min so yeah-) extra notes from the video:

i swear i dont sound this bad with words when Im speaking casually KJSHAFKGDJ ((i was hella nervous and was on 4 hours of sleep))

the sped up part: Raven developed a fear of flowers due to her captivity in one of her missions back then, this is because during her time trapped in a room from an abandoned kindergarten all she sees was old wallpapers of Sunflowers, which felt mocking because yk how sunflowers all bright and mean happiness? yeah she was feeling far from it. The experience went beyond just sunflowers over the years and she sort of developed a fear to all kinds of flowers since she never really quite healed this part of her

the last main canon doodle I did for them

the audio that I referenced in the video about "nothing"

also, my profile is from this wip shared by Alec on twt (I've been using it since then cuz it's so goofy)

I overlay my discord voice call recording on the drawing images and mask the images, hence the effect of the decorations pulsing around my profile as we speak

there was more to this video (me talking about AUs) but my laptop's gonna explode if im gonna continue editing so this is it LOL

the "G Podcast" was a joke made before the actual recording because both me and my friend's name starts with "G", and since we're only recording the call it felt like a podcast

[ishikawayukis]

obviously they won't say anything about it because they only comment on things that are nonsensical, but even kcarats are mad about this collab so i do wonder if they'll end up saying anything or will just act stupid lmfao

[fatty4cid]

I WANNA WATCH THE WORLD BUUUUURNNN I BROUGHT THE GÆSOLINEEEEE 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

[crybaby-bkg]

sadly and soggily thinking about dating gojo and being so deep in the relationship, that you think you two were made for each other. two peas in a pod, two halves of a whole, two severed souls connecting once more. so perfect for each other that you don’t even think about mentioning marriage and kids, convinced that you guys are already on the same page.

all until it comes up in conversation and things aren’t as perfect as you thought they were. marriage—yes, absolutely, gojo is ecstatic about tying the knot, giving you the wedding of your dreams, calling you his for the rest of you guys’ lives.

but….kids? he’s thought about it and the answer has always been a clear no in his mind. he couldn’t even dream of bringing another him into the universe, fears that it might throw off the balance of the world. that he can’t exist if his child does, but why exist at all if his child’s lesser abilities will only result in them being shunned? of being told how much of a disappointment they are? of being isolated?

and sadly, it’s a breaking point for you. you just wanted one, at least, with your forever partner. and if he can’t give it to you, then he must not be the one for you. you didn’t wanna trap gojo or coerce or manipulate him into giving you the baby you always so selfishly desired, so you leave him.

and how broken does it make him. makes him resent a baby never even conceived or planted, makes him hate what used to be and would have never been.

but…it also makes him think. if his fears would come true, if his hesitance is justified. would he be able to go long lengths to protect his baby? to protect you? would that target his whole family having a weak spot? and is it…is it even worth it at all?

[analogwriting]

Childhood Crush

Chapter 15: Bronze

Killer x gn!reader word count: 3.5k a/n: this part ended up being almost 7k words so i split it into two, so y'all getting a twofer (two for one - 241 - all that jazz) also relentlessly puts asking alexandria lyrics in it bc im still in mourning next

There wasn’t exactly a plan on dealing with Kese perse, but everyone agreed to let you take care of it for the most part. Everyone was going to act normal until you made your move. Follow your plays and whatnot. Though, Eustass just wanted to kill the fucker. He was beyond pissed - which was understandable. You’d also be so astronomically livid if someone lied to you about your brother dying only to find out he was alive the whole time. Even Killer seemed to be on the bandwagon for kill first, ask questions later for a little while. 

But, you wanted to get answers first. Maybe it was just morbid curiosity. Maybe it was because you wanted to take his life with your own hands. Or maybe it was just you wanted to put absolute fear into his being. You wanted to see him beg for his life. 

Shit, you didn’t know what you wanted. And there was no telling how you’d really react when you saw him either. You couldn’t help but feel a growing anxiety. Everything he said back then was hitting you right now. While you didn’t exactly believe them anymore, you remembered the pure devastation you had felt when he had said them. You couldn’t help but chuckle at the memory. 

“What’s so funny?” You were pulled out of your thoughts as Eustass spoke. You were still stitching him up as his injuries were a bit more on the serious side. It was just the two of you as the others gathered and prepared themselves for heading back to the ship. “Just thinking about what Kese said before I left.”

He stopped, looking at you. “Wait, he said something to you? What?”

Right. You never told him all that. You sighed, running a hand through your hair. “I feel dumb for falling for it now, but yeah. He said some shit that fucked up my psyche there for a while.”

“Is that why you had started to pull away from us? And you left?”

You were quiet, but your silence spoke volumes. You felt anger radiate from Eustass even more. “That mother fu-”

“Tungsten. I’m going to take care of it. Like I said, I need information and also this is the best way for me to get closure.” He looked at you for a long moment before groaning. “Ugh. Fine.”

“Thank you.” 

“What did he even say?” You were quiet for a moment, not wanting to admit it. It felt silly now. You know that your brother and crewmates would’ve never said the awful things he had referenced, but you were at such a low point that you would’ve believed anything.

“Bigs?” You looked up at him and sighed. Just as he couldn’t say no to you - you couldn’t say no to him. As you dabbed one of the cuts on his arm - his only arm, which you still couldn’t believe - you explained what happened that night. He was quiet, but you could feel him seething.

“You know none of it is true, right?” He waited until you were done before he had spoken, which wow. That’s growth. Him waiting to speak? Who taught him that? He was the king of interrupting people. You felt a moment of pride, but the somber mood was too heavy for you to really revel in it.

With a long sigh, you nodded. “I do now. It was stupid of me to believe him, I know. But…” Your face fell and he shook his head. “You were in a dark place, I know.”

“Let us not forget that I’m the one that forced you to go along with me,” he said with a smug smile. You mirrored his expression and laughed. “Not completely. I did end up deciding myself. You made yourself quite the compelling case.” 

“Only because Killer put the cherry on top.” He paused. “And because he was the cherry on top,” he mumbled, but you didn’t quite make it out. “Huh?”

“Nothing.”

“You-”

The both of you laughed before falling into a somber silence. “You did more than anyone on the ship when it boiled down to it,” he said. You looked at him for a moment. “Tungsten, you don’t have to lie to make me fee-”

“It’s not a lie though. You did so fucking much for us. You made all of us stronger and our lives easier. You strengthened Dive’s teeth, gave Heat the ability to fucking breathe fire, taught both Heat and Wire how to smith, made various different kinds of machines n’ shit to help make ship life even easier, not to me-”

“Okay, okay. I get it.”

“I’m so serious, Bigs. And that’s not just the ship. The four of us definitely wouldn’t have lived without you growing up. I’m serious.” You looked at him, your eyes slightly widening as the playful mood was turning more sincere by the second and you felt your cheeks heat up. You didn’t know where all this sentiment was coming from and you didn’t know how to handle it.

“You’re a ray of fucking sunshine on our goddamn ship and I’ll be damned if I let someone take that away again,” he grumbled, looking away from you. “Everyone was super upset when you left - so don’t do that shit again.” You felt so many different waves of emotion right now. Eustass was never one to convey his actual feelings. You weren’t either. The both of you had your own way of expressing your love for each other, just as all siblings did.

But, hearing it was a lot different and you didn’t know how to react. You felt your brain doing a hard reboot.

“I didn’t…” No words were coming from you. 

“Don’t get sappy, you know I hate that shit.” He didn’t look at you, keeping his head turned from you, clearly embarrassed from his own outburst. You couldn’t help but let out a small smile, moving on and finishing up dressing his wounds.

“Didn’t stop you though, huh?”

“What did you say?” He turned his eyes towards you, narrowing his eyes.

“You heard me, Tungsten. I think you’re the sappy one of the two of us.”

“Fuck you.”

“Fuck you.” The two of you glared at each other for a moment before bursting into laughter. You really missed Eustass. Well, of course you did - he was your brother.

You finished up, standing and dusting yourself off, Eustass following suit. “Alright, everyone! Let’s head out!”

--

Once more, you felt anxiety creeping back in. You weren’t sure how you wanted to handle the situation. You weren’t good with emotions. You weren’t good at verbally conveying them. Hell, at this point, your own anger probably would take over and you’d kill Kese for all you knew. But, you knew you needed answers first. You’d just have to remember that.

You were somewhat falling behind the group, thinking. A million scenarios ran through your head, but none of them seemed to be the way you wanted to go. The way you needed it to go. Though, what way did it even need to go? You weren’t sure. Ugh, thinking about it was hurting your head.

Finally, the ship came into view and honestly you couldn’t have been happier. This place had become your home. It felt more like home than your dingy home back on the island ever did. And now you were back, just as you needed to be. Everything felt right again.

“Ready?” You looked over, seeing that Killer had joined you. You sighed, shaking your head. “No, but I don’t have a choice, do I?” That laugh rang through, making you jump slightly. It was mostly just startling at this point because it was so loud and sudden. You smiled at him, trying not to show that it had startled you. You already knew he was sensitive about it, you didn’t want to add to it.

“I just don’t even know what I want to do. Or how I’ll react.”

“I mean, the captain and I can just take him out.”

“Okay, but that wouldn’t solve anything.”

“One less bastard to hurt you in the world - I’d say it’s worth it.” You paused for a moment. Did he just say to hurt ‘you’. Surely it was just a slip of the tongue, right? Yeah. He probably just meant in general. Just as there was a royal ‘we’, perhaps it was a royal ‘you.’

Before you could say anything, however, a voice rang through the night.

“You guys are back! How did it - oh shit.” You looked up, seeing the very bastard that brought so much pain and misery to your life without even trying. Fuck, you felt so stupid for letting him get to you in the way that he did. He was staring at you with wide eyes, obviously surprised to see you. You saw the fear plastered all over his face.

Something in the back of your brain snapped. “‘Oh shit’ is right motherfucker.” In moments you were on the ship and he was running, obviously trying to escape your wrath. You threw your dagger, catching him in the shoulder and sending him to the ground. 

You were standing over him, seething. “What the fuck is your issue with me? What the fuck did I do to you?” 

He was groaning and rolling around, clutching his shoulder. “Oh shove a pipe in it and answer me.” All it took was a dagger to the shoulder to take him down? You expected more from someone in your brother’s crew. Especially with the way he had been acting before - all high and mighty.

“Y/n, you’re not dead!” He looked at you, feigning surprise. “This is wonderful, but can I ask why you’re coming straight after me? What did I do?” He looked over as your brother was boarding the ship. “Captain! I think they’ve lost it!”

Eustass was on the ship now, folding his arms as he watched the scene before him. “You brought this upon yourself. And if I were you, I’d answer their fucking questions.” He shrugged, an amused, shiteating grin on his face. “It’s in your best interest.” He sat on a crate, giving himself a front row seat to whatever the fuck was about to unfold.

“You’re only still alive right now because of their mercy,” Killer chimed in, standing next to your brother.

You looked from them back down to Kese, who was looking up at you with wide eyes. “I-I swear I didn’t know you were alive!” 

You knelt down, ripping your dagger out of his shoulder and he cried out. “You and I both know that’s a load of horseshit.” You slammed the dagger into the wood next to his head. “Now fucking answer me,” you spat. 

“Please! I just wanted to be a part of the Kid Pirates and Myra-”

Your heart almost stopped. Why the hell was he mentioning her? Did he do something to her? Was she okay? Was Lily okay? “What?” You ripped the dagger out of the deck and pressed it to his throat. “What the fuck does Myra have to do with this? What did you do to her?” You were drawing blood at this point and he was terrified. His voice was shaking and he was blubbering like a baby. Man, you felt like a fucking fool for ever having feared him.

“I-I didn’t do anything! I was just doing what she told me to do! I wanted to be a pirate on this ship and she wanted you!” 

You stopped. What? What the hell was he talking about? Wanted you? What the hell did he mean by that? Every answer he gave was raising another in its place. You looked at your brother who shook his head. “Do you have that letter?” you asked. He nodded, pulling it out of his person. “You fucking keep it on you?” He didn’t answer you, just handed it to you. “Shut it,” he grumbled.

You couldn’t even begin to imagine how Eustass had really been fairing this whole time, but it wasn’t well. You could tell that much. You could only imagine how you would react if someone told you your little brother died. Shit, he was the only reason you kept going when the both of you were younger. Just as he said he and his friends wouldn’t have been here without you, you wouldn’t have been here without him.

You opened it up, reading it over. You blinked as the words sank in. You looked at the picture that accompanied it. You knew this picture. You had been on a ladder to get some paints and on your way climbing down, you spilled all the paints and fell in the process. The photo was black and white, so you wouldn’t even be able to tell the colors of the paint. And you had been dazed at the time of the picture.

You remember moments after this picture, you sat up laughing. The whole lab was. But, with the way she had taken the picture along with the lack of color, it really did look like some kind of lab accident. You really did look dead. It was real uncanny valley.

Was Myra behind all of this? 

“Bigs?”

You looked at your brother. “I know this picture. I had a stumble with some paints. That’s all it is. Paint.” You looked back down at it, paling. Was it all just a cover up? Why did she want your brother to think you were dead? Did it have to do with Kese saying she wanted you?

You knelt back down, glaring at Kese who yelped and backed away from you as he still clutched his shoulder. “Fucking spill, you incompetent son of a bitch.” You pointed the knife at his throat.

He stared at you with wide eyes. “She’ll kill me!”

“Keeping your tongue tight? I’ll kill you first if you don’t.” You pressed the knife into his throat, once again drawing blood. He yelped, sobbing. Fuck, he was pathetic. “O-Okay! Okay…” 

“I-I’m from the island. The one where Myra’s from. I was one of her students and I always dreamt of bein-”

“Fucking-” You slammed the knife, the one Myra had specifically given to you, into his leg. He screamed, clutching it and sobbing. “You fucking stabbed me!” You glared at him.

 “Cut your losses, you’re on thin ice, tread light,” you ground out. “I don’t fucking care about all that, get to the fucking important parts - you’re testing my fucking patience,” you spat, glaring at him, making him squeak. Fuck. Was he always like this? Why did Eustass keep him around?

Kese, despite his current wound that you’d given him, took a deep breath and started once more. “The c-captain was gaining notoriety and honestly, so were you. But, in the scientific community. Since you always visited the labs and tended to help out there, talk of you spread.” You blinked. You didn’t realize that you had your own reputation. Eustass and Killer were the ones with the large bounty - you didn’t even have one. At least, not at that time. You weren’t doing any fighting. You were just…researching and building. Doing what you did best. 

“Myra wanted you to join her research team. Said she could use a sharp mind like yours. She also knew how I wanted to join the captain’s crew. So, she sent me to drive a wedge between you and the captain.” You felt like you were going to be sick. Your body went rigid with the pure, unbridled rage you were feeling. Myra seemed like she genuinely cared about you the entire time you were on the island. You couldn’t imagine her going through such lengths.

Fuck, you felt like a fool.

“I don’t fucking understand…then why would she send me here?”

Kese shook his head. “I-I don’t know.” You shot him a glare and he started crying all over again. “I swear, I don’t! She was supposed to just keep you at the island! I had no idea she was sending you here!” 

This must’ve been what she meant by she had people here. Kese had been a mole this entire time and you were none the wiser. You played right into her hands. She had gotten exactly what she wanted. You stood up, swaying a bit from the headache you were developing. You didn��t know what to think about everything.

The woman you had just spent two years with…essentially playing house with as well. It was all a lie. Was Lily in on it too? No, that was impossible. She was too young to understand things like this, right? 

You felt a hand to your back and you stiffened for a moment before you calmed. “Are you okay?” you heard Killer’s voice, but it sounded…so far away, despite him standing so close.

You looked at him for a moment before looking back down at Kese. You didn’t know. You didn’t know how you felt about any of this. Why the sudden change of heart in sending you straight to your brother? Did she feel guilty? You stared at the dagger next to Kese’s head, staring at the logo of the lab etched into it.

Numbness washed over you and you didn’t feel like you were in your body anymore. You couldn’t stand this, it was never meant to end up being this hard to process. “Do whatever the fuck you want to him. I’m over it.” Your voice was hollow, strained. You just wanted to go to bed at this point. You were…so tired. Nothing was processing. Your brain was trying to wrap around it all, but it was too much.

“W-What? N-No! Please!”

“Killer, you pick ‘em up with-” As your brother and his vice captain planned on whatever fate they had for Kese, you sauntered off. It wasn’t long before the traitor’s screams tore through the night.

“Y/n?” You looked up, seeing Dive prancing over to you. “Are you going to bed already?” she asked, putting her hands on her hips. “We still need to celebrate the victory!” She huffed, shaking her head. 

“Besides, we haven’t had your cooking in forever! Would you make something for us? Pleeeease?” 

“Now, now, Dive. You should let them rest. They’ve been through a lot. We’re not celebrating until tomorrow anyway.” You looked up, seeing Wire standing there. You nodded in agreement with him, a tired smile spreading across your features. “I’ll make sure to cook everyone’s favorites tomorrow, okay?” You ruffled her hair.

“I want to sleep too!” You blinked, looking at her. “You wanna have a sleepover?” You grinned at her. You did this a few times before. Sometimes, when she first joined, she had nightmares of some kind and would be up a lot. So, she’d come hang out with you in the lab, sometimes you both would end up falling asleep curled up on the futon in the lab. Most of the time you didn’t remember falling asleep with a blanket on, but there always ended up being one. Even when Dive wouldn’t sleep with you now that you thought about it.

You shook your thoughts away as Dive spoke with excitement. “Yeah! Sleepover!” You smiled, turning to head towards your lab. “Keep an eye on them, yeah?” You heard Wire say to Dive. Ah, she wanted to make sure you were okay. You appreciated it, honestly. None of anything felt real right now. You were on the verge of a mental break, you could feel it. Someone to ground you would be good right now.

Part of you felt like if you woke up tomorrow, you’d end up back at the lab and this was all a dream.

You opened the door to your lab, blinking. Everything was exactly how you had left it. “The captain didn’t let anyone touch it after you left. Especially after…” Dive joined you once more and you looked over at her. You nodded, looking back. Everything had a fine layer of dust on it. You were going to need to do some serious cleaning, but you were too tired to do that right now.

“We can sleep in my bed,” Dive offered. Exhaustion was eating away at you and you nodded. You didn’t have any energy to argue or clean your own area. That was tomorrow’s problem. “That sounds lovely,” you mumbled with a yawn as he followed her to her room. She shared a room with Quincy, but you knew that the woman wouldn’t mind in the slightest if you stayed there for the night.

You crawled into bed, the smaller woman jumping into the bed with you with a laugh. She started prattling on about something or another, probably knowing that you just needed to not be alone with your own thoughts.

Which didn’t even end up mattering as you were asleep within moments.

[skitskatdacat63]

Prince Jenson of Somerset

+ process & lore

Yayyyyy omg finally have drawn portraits of the four main characters!!!! I'll show the process of Jenson's first and then them all four together. Though it's a shame the Seb/Fernando ones are older, I think it's hopefully obvious how much I've improved since November?

Look at him in all his handsome, princely glory 🥹 It's funny, I'm always happy with the second sketch and initial lineart, and then I start coloring it and I absolutely hate it, and it takes a significant amount of time into the painting for me to like it again. And then I reach a certain point and I'm in love with it again. Ugh though I gotta say, I love drawing the curls, it's just so 18th century, but at the same point, man I always will love my original lineart for the hair the best ah. Also yes I absolutely had to give him a big ass hat with feathers, he really is that kinda guy to me. I originally drew a bicorne and then realized that those don't really exist until basically almost a century later oops, so tricorne it is!!

Okay now omg look at them all together 🥹

Haha wow I have improved a lot! Just like the Seb/Fernando ones, Mark and Jense's were meant to be put together. I think there's a lot of inherent characterization in their poses that highlight the difference between them. Mark is looking up, very wistful, looking up to greater people, greater things. Jenson's head is tilted down, almost looking at the viewer, he is very satisfied with his role and revels in it, he's here to slay!

Okay, yes, lore, characterization, sorry that it is so far down on the post!!

Jense would probably be the fan favorite if this AU was an actual book or show or something. He's the guy you randomly find while browsing Wikipedia and you're like, woah this guy is so cool??? Unlike Sebmarknando, he doesn't really have the same level of angst, he's kinda just chilling. He's a bit harder to write a lore post about, because he's basically that character who is always magically around the corner, ready to witness some crazy thing and just breeze past it.

He is less linked to Seb than people like Mark and Fernando, because he's basically just his personal minister of transportation(read: horse fucker), so he avoids a lot of the relationship complications and drama, but that isn't to say he's completely uninvolved. He really likes Seb, and loves to hang around with him and serve him, but he's not as beholden to him. He's who everyone goes to air their grievances or to get away from the others, and he's very happy with this role. He's generally willing to play any side in an argument, but does tend to have a pretty big soft spot for Seb overall(Seb also gives him cuteness aggression, and he wants to bite him. Especially when Seb puffs himself up and acts super bratty when he gets offended at not being seen as a proper ruler.)

He's royalty from other kingdom, but pledged his loyalty to Seb's kingdom when he was quite young and has served him(his father first) ever since. He started off somewhat low in the military, rose to a pretty high rank, was a renowed war hero, and then ended up retiring pretty early to tend to Seb's horses. That's an oversimplification, but yeah. He liked the military life, was very good at it, but decided he had done enough, and wanted to be involved in more direct service, albeit more laid back. As I mentioned in Mark's post, Mark *really* doesn't understand his choice to do this, because if Mark had been in Jense's position, he can't ever imagine being able to let all that go and living the quiet life.

He is the palace whore, everyone has been with him honestly. It'll be like, some man walks into his bedroom, only to see Jenson in bed with his wife, but instead of being angry, he's like "wow you couldn't even wait for me??" He's just very carefree, and happy to just slut around and tend to Seb's horses.

I think he definitely still advises Seb, and would go to battle if truly need be, but generally seems to be living in a different world than the weird psychosexual homoerotic political drama that the others seem to be living in. But as I said, it's not like he doesn't contribute to it! He loves to goad Fernando, and constantly plays devil's advocate in "debates" between Fernando and Seb. He's also obviously the one that keep "accidentally" locking them in rooms and forgetting where the key is.

Sorry if this isn't very explanatory, I hope it gives a general idea to the type of character he is???? As always, let me know if you have any questions! I kinda struggled on what to write here because I'm finishing this at almost 8 am 😭 so I'm not sure if it's great or not. But basically you need to know: horse fucker who is generally breezy and carefree but also can be a bit of a menace to society every once in a while.