"are you crying?" + blade + platonic/familial (found family father figure blade with teen!reader) please :3
"Are you crying?"
Oh no.
Blade's question - if you can even call it that, considering he says everything in that deadpan tone of his - hangs in the air for a stagnant minute and then some.
Maybe if you don't make a peep, don't move a muscle, he'll give up and go back to minding his own business. It's not too far-fetched! Despite how savage and brutal he is in combat, he's surprisingly calm (and daresay gentle at times). Maybe he'll read the room, absorbing your aura wordlessly like Kafka can.
He grunts your name, an edge present that wasn't there before.
...or maybe not.
You break your silence, whirling around to face him, plastering the hugest, most saccharine smile on your face. It doesn't matter if there are tears rolling down your cheeks and a bit of snot sticking to your upper lip (ew). You have to try to get him off your back before something worse happens.
"Crying? I'm not doing that, no, never. You see, Firefly was in here chopping onions earlier," you chirp, rattling off lies like it's your second nature. Well, it is, that's why you got roped into joining this questionable team in the first place - but that's neither here nor there!
Blade looks at you.
You look at Blade.
Deflating and dropping the act, you swallow, trying to retain some of your cheery tone while you sniffle. "Okay, you win. I just... it's been a rough day, I'm sure you know how it is."
If there's one thing you know about your ancient colleague, it's that he can't make small talk for the life of him. You don't think it's his fault, really. Silver Wolf let it slip that he's lost pieces of himself to mara over the years - some days he can't hold functionality beyond a weapon without Kafka's pacifying mind tricks.
So, trying to keep up casual conversation with Blade is akin to yapping at a brick wall. You've gotten used to it, sure, but the way he's looking at you right now - with a pinched brow and somewhat of a snarl - is starting to unnerve you.
Does crying piss him off? You understand it's not a pleasant thing to deal with (not that you expect him to). But seeing him this angry outside of battle makes you want to run and drop off the grid for the rest of your life, abandoning your very important Stellaron Hunter duties and Blade in the process.
You swallow, wiping your face with your sleeve. You can't seem to stop miffing him, because he stalks over to you completely in two strides while you freeze up in muted terror.
Is he going to execute you?! Has he decided to circumvent Elio's rules just to shut you up? Is your pathetic sniveling really going to be your undoing? Will the others have to scrape your remains off the walls and floor, your life forever immortalized as a reminder to keep the waterworks under contro--
He all but shoves something into your limp hand, closing your fingers around it a little too tenderly before sidestepping you like he's been scalded by boiling hot water.
It's soft, and you eventually realize it's a handkerchief. It's the darkest navy can pass without actually being black, embroidered with neat red stitching and obviously made with love. You don't know why he even has something like this - it's not like he ever cries - but you let the train of thought go in favor of soothing your frayed nerves.
You don't think twice before bringing the cloth to your face and wiping the remnants of your sadness away, trying to find your words in the process. Your coworker is now standing shoulder-to-shoulder with you, all traces of perceived anger gone. The foot or so between you and Blade isn't a wide berth, but it's still too far.
"Oh," you manage dumbly, now sporting a considerably drier nose.
Unimpressed, he replies. "I know."
"What?"
Okay, you sense his frustration this time. Blade sighs and wrenches his head in your direction for just a moment, exasperated and tense. "I know... how it is. Like you said."
You tighten your grip on the handkerchief wadded up in your hand. It's strange to hear him converse with you willingly, let alone try to comfort you (at least, you think that's what he's doing). Even so, his admission strikes a certain chord in your heart that's dusty from neglect. You sneak a glance at his figure, and when you meet eyes of burning coal, he returns to glowering at the wall.
Everyone on this ship has been through so much, especially him. You're certain that Blade does know what it's like to have some shitty days; he's probably had thousands of them.
You shrug. "Yeah... um, I figured. Nothing much I can do about it though. Bad stuff happens to everybody."
A lengthy pause stretches on until Blade takes up the mantle.
"You can't do anything about it," he repeats, statement curtailing into a dangerous drawl, "...but what about someone like me?"
Someone like him. Dread and something like fondness washes over you at the implication. The type of person he is - an eponymous sword and scabbard that slaughters on command - cannot fix the type of anguish you're dealing with. He's offering to help in the best way he knows how, you realize slowly.
The fact that he's even offering to shed blood in your name is a bit scary - not just because murder is wrong or whatever, but because he's actively trying to care about you.
No one's ever done that before.
"Alright, who are you and what have you done with Blade?" you joke, grinning genuinely this time, even if lingering moisture clings to your lashes. "Kidding. As nice as the offer is, I don't think your, um, solution... will help either."
You don't think it matters anymore - you're already starting to forget what got you so down in the first place. Perhaps you haven't given him enough credit, because by the way Blade's posture relaxes, he also notices this. No murder necessary tonight.
"Stand tall," he commands, pointedly not meeting your eyes as he pats your head. Before you have any time to process that, he disappears quickly down the adjoining hallway, likely slinking off to shred some training dummies.
You fly into a double-take, jaw practically on the floor.
Seems like you'll have to interrogate the old man whenever you get a chance to wash and return his handkerchief.
As you open up your messages app to text Silver Wolf all the details (with a concerning amount of stickers), your day doesn't seem so rough anymore.
"Thanks, Bladie," you whisper secretly to no one but yourself.
🏷️: @akutasoda, @aviiarie, @lowkeyren, @https-sourlimes
a/n: i finally got it done! so psyched to work on another platonic/familial prompt and it's BLADE i'm so sick. thank you for this request! :D
event post here
94 notes
·
View notes
Beauty and the Beast but the Beast doesn't return to full human when the curse is broken, because it was almost too late to break it when it happens
So instead of seemlessly regaining the throne and getting married with Beauty, the people of the town are still uneasy, even though they remember him now, and don't understand why Beauty stays by his side when they're free to return to the village
Likewise some of the humans-turned-objects-turned-humans still have characteristics of their former objects, like the candlestick's hair will sometimes catch fire when they're upset (harmless to them but still scary), or the alarm clock will get ringing migraines in a more literal way
I just think it could be a really neat story, fluff or smut or whathaveyou
I know that this is an o bylder ask but I have been thinking about it for awhile. I might do another part if y'all like it but I had a hard time narrowing it down to which characters to focus on.
Belle was surprised when Beast, Adam?, didn't return to fully human. Though to say that she was displeased wouldn't be true either. Her smile was always warm and genuine when she looked at him. He would smile back at her with his teeth that were a little too long, set on a face that almost, if you squinted, still looked like he was a beast. His horns had nearly disappeared, but when Belle would run her fingers through his thick, luscious hair, she could still feel just a prick of them.
Of course the town people remembered him, though they struggled with the fact that they too had been cursed. How could they have possibly been cursed for so long and no one had been the wiser? Belle tried to get more people to come to the palace to meet him, to participate in his welcome back ball, but very few came back.
"Maybe you should go home," one day Adam sighed, putting his head in her lap.
"I am home," Belle insisted, once again running her fingers through his hair.
"You know that's not what I meant. The townspeople... they are afraid of me. Your father still is cross with me, and how could I blame him? I kidnapped him and then you. I'm sorry," he muttered, nuzzling her leg and grabbing her thighs with his paw like hands, his long nails lightly scrapping her delicate skin there.
"Wherever you are is home to me," she purred, kissing the top of his head.
In the next room, Cogsworth was getting annoyed with Lumiere for once again flirting with the maids. It always caused such a mess. The large man grabbed Lumiere by the tie, tugging him closer to him.
"If you don't stop with this nonsense at once, I'm going to have to insist to the Master that you have a leave of absence, and where would you go if not here?" Cogsworth hisses, his mustache twitching as if they were hands on a clock ticking.
"Oh Cogsworth, my dear friend, are you jealous, mm? Do you miss us being, how would you say, stored together?" Lumiere smirked, looking up at the little man with a twinkle in his eyes.
Cogsworth blushed, letting go of the former candle. "I have no idea what you're talking about!"
"Mm, don't be so quick to sweep, my dear friend. We could be stored together tonight if you like," he continued to smirk, the start of a flame sparking off the tip of a lock of hair, dying as the ember wafered between them.
Like this story? Support me on Ko-fi ☕❤️
70 notes
·
View notes
I read "Star Wars Jedi: The Dark Side", which is the 5-part comic depicting Qui-Gon Jinn and Xanatos's breakup as a Master-Padawan pair, and the art was... fine? It wasn't good. Every time they drew the female Jedi Master Tahl in an overly sexualized pose like she didn't have any internal organs, I wanted to bite someone, but they did some kind of neat things with color / lighting sometimes? Eh. It was competent enough. It worked.
I didn't really like their composition or posing most of the time, because the camera kept swinging around 180 degrees a lot, trucking in and out, which made it hard to keep track of who was where sometimes. Especially when the character design wasn't... uh... great at differentiating between the characters sometimes? I didn't really like any of the character designs in this comic. They could have been way more distinct. It took me a "wait a fucking second" to realize that Qui-Gon was sparring against both Xanatos and Feemor at the start, because the boys looked so, SO similar, with mostly just a palette swap between them. The character faces could also shift a lot from page to page, issue to issue.
Given how Qui-Gon Jinn looks here, if you had taken this character design for Xanatos and told me it was supposed to be Obi-Wan Kenobi, I would have 100% believed you.
Which is disappointing? Xanatos looks way, WAY too much like Obi-Wan or Anakin for me. He's like a fusion. And this is a really boring character design compared to some of the other Jedi character designs in "The Clone Wars". It's also hilarious, because I was browsing some books and honestly thinking to myself just last night: "They have GOT to stop making skinny, white brunette girl protagonists in Star Wars, if only because I can't easily tell them all apart with the way they get drawn most of the time."
What I was ABSOLUTELY NOT expecting: Xanatos's dad looks like a buff Lex Luthor and Xanatos's sister, Nason, looks like SPACE OPERA PRINCESS BARBIE. It cracked me up a little. Look!
So, uh, look, I know that the Telosians characters in the background there are functionally wearing Jedi robes themselves in non-brown colors, but I think that's incredibly boring design again. So, I'm going to imagine that Nason's dressy outfit and hairstyle here is closer to what your average Telosian noble would wear. (Xanatos and Nason's hair colors here could both be natural, but maybe it's fashionable to dye it?) Now that Xanatos has left the Jedi, he's going to need a new fit! A new wardrobe! He can grow his hair out!
I presume that Xanatos is going to be wearing the villainous black robes later on in the "Jedi Apprentice" series, of course! It's classic like the little black dress! But I am nevertheless now not going to be able to shake the image of young Obi-Wan Kenobi being tormented by a Dark Jedi Xanatos, evil overlord of the Offworld Mining corporation, who looks and dresses like Space Opera Princess Barbie. Revenge can be achieved in hot pink.
18 notes
·
View notes
Only way to make Copia's 'stache and side burns even better is adding in grey and white hairs. Like 🥵😳
Thank you anon! Agree!
Shameless self-advertisement: click, if you want more grey and more beard on him
Also, the Cardinal masks (especially the OG, the first and last ones) did have grey hair in the mustache and sideburns, too! Let me hijack this ask for a grey whiskers appreciation minute:
Sources (there are some better pics but I don't know their source, so I won't post them) in order of appearance
Jeremy Saffer, 2018 (1,2,9)
Shawn Wiseman, Columbus 13.05.2018 | David Zeck, Port Chester 15.05.2018
Christophe Meng, Download Festival 15.06.2018
Hughes Vanhoucke, Graspop 21.06.2018 | Ralph Arvesen, Austin 20.11.2018
Damaris Navarro, Miami Beach 24.11.2018
John McMurtrie, Paris 07.02.2019
Gretchen Smither, Hershey 24.10.2019 | Mick Burges, Leeds 23.11.2019
112 notes
·
View notes
I’m rereading Po3 and despite its flaws I really enjoyed the introduction to the three. Jaykit isn’t mentioned to be blind in the first few chapters and instead they chose to show how much MORE capable he is compared to his littermates; until at the end of chapter 3, he brings up his blindness on his own. It makes forcing him to be a medicine cat SO much more frustrating because it really feels like they’re setting him up to be a warrior and choose his own fate (note i haven’t finished the reread this is just my first impression)
I like how you seem to take that path in BB regardless! It makes his arc so much more enjoyable
His arc in canon is super frustrating because he's such an independent character who clearly wants to make his own decisions in life, but then he just gets shoved into the medcat den. I LIKE that he ultimately goes there and that he enjoys it; but it was still really fucked up that they stripped away his autonomy in the process.
Re: they are not real, they are writing choices. Taking away the choices a disabled character can make over their own life, forcing them into a celibate nun role, and then going "awwwww dont worry see? he likes it! This was the best thing for him :)" was fucked up.
And imo it didn't have to be that way! You wouldn't have to go the FULL route I did with big changes, he could just be more involved in the descision to stop being a warrior apprentice and it would be fine. Minor change that would make a world of difference.
I do also have to interject to say though... blindness should really not be an extremely severe impairment for a ThunderClan cat.
I'm dead serious.
Whiskers are built-in sensors that tell you the exact position of everything within several inches of your head, ears swerve to pick up sound, and the jacobson's organ provides a sense of smell so keen that I have an entire Clanmew expansion draft because I needed to make WORDS describing the power of this sense that humans do not have. I cannot stress enough how delicate their other senses are, felines do not rely on their sight like primates do
ThunderClan lives in a mixed-oak woodland, where sight is already often obscured by foliage, objects are close together (for whiskers to feel), and nearly every movement makes noise against the leaf litter. RiverClan and (moor-running) WindClan cats would have a harder time with this disability than Thunder or Shadow.
Cat sight SUCKS to begin with. It sucks BADDD. They don't have color vision, they're significantly nearsighted, and they can't track up-and-down movements well. WC doesn't write realistic cats (more like small fuzzy people really) and I also work with more humanesque eyesight, but the only thing Jay should really lose is an ability to rapidly track a small animal swerving fast. Blind cats are often still excellent hunters in spite of that!
So it's an extra big waste that they railroaded him into a position he didn't choose, saying he couldn't be a warrior. This is the perfect disability to write, if you want to explore how ableism can impact the characters in this society who ARE legitimately still capable of nearly full independence, but still need to find accommodations for what they can't do.
In the same arc they're doing the dumb Cinder Reincarnation Plotline, no less!! Where SHE is also feeling like she has no choice over her "destiny," and gets a conflict over a potentially disabling injury
"Oh nooo if cinderpaw breaks her leg she wont be a warrior!"
"What the f-- Im Jaypaw and im reporting live from the scene where a Category 1 Idiot Moment is taking place. Woman breaks leg, suddenly everyone believes she is a horse, more at 11."
One of these days I should really make "herb guides" just covering how various sensory disabilities impact the lives of Clan cats and some tips for writing them as warriors, especially between Clans. Stuff you wouldn't usually consider, like how much noise deaf cats tend to make, how RiverClan would get a ton of sinus infections and lose their sense of smell, being blind in Sky vs Thunder, etc.
158 notes
·
View notes