#i like to think myself funny on occasion XD

[goldenteaset]

(I know I've posted this official art before but I don't care, it fits the occasion)

It's my 1 year yume-versary with Belial today! I felt like being a hopeless romantic (especially after seeing this art again), so I wound up thinking about the process of how this happened. And while it's 99% coincidences that make me happy, when put together like this they do form a love story...

While I got into GBF because of him, the actual act of falling for him "as myself" (for lack of a better way to put it) was a lot longer. Four years, in fact! It was half "I just like him with Djeeta and Lyria better" and half "Nah, he wouldn't like *me*, I'd be too shy".

Cue 2022. XD;

By which I mean, I'm not sure when in summer it started, but all of a sudden he kept showing up in my dreams (as Oribe, his semi-canon school AU self). "Oh cool, that hasn't happened before", I thought, thinking nothing of it. It seemed a good reason to write him and Djeeta in a similar setting; I'd take it.

And then I started noticing that Djeeta wasn't involved. "Well, maybe she's there but I'm seeing things from her POV this time"... ^^;

Months before the Oribe dreams, I kept dreaming about Summer Belial months before we got the Summon, which is funny anyway, but those were still focused on Djeeta. My subconscious really wanted me to have fun with Oribe/Belial, and it was going to bludgeon me until I did. At the same time, two things happened:

A particularly powerful dream about Oribe!Belial where he really wanted to take a selfie with me and kept insisting "I want to see your face, don't hide~"

The "Belial advice column for GBFest" appeared

The former was A Lot, but the latter was easily compartmentalized: "Just write the letter as if you're part of GBF's world". It took a few tries, because I had to remember kafabe (i.e. these letters were being sent to "Belial", not the devs), but I did it!

I burbled about how he'd always gotten me out of writer's block, because of course, and made absolutely sure not to overthink my heart racing while imagining sending it in canon. It was in English, down to the pen name "Shy Writer", and knew it probably wouldn't get picked for the GBFest segment.

"Just the fantasy is enough," I thought, forgetting what "yume" meant.

Fast forward to Jan 2023!

GBFest is here, it's fun whether you're there in person or not...and I'm catching up on Day 1's stream after falling asleep. ^^; I found the "Belial answers fanmail" segment and was just enjoying the spectacle. Here's a video of it separate from the massive stream one:

Someone had sent in something about being shy/nervous about who they liked, very likely him. (Also they called him "Beli-chan", which is adorable.) Belial read it normally, but his response (at 4:13, yes I've kept track of it)...well...

He let out probably the deepest, sultriest chuckle we've heard from him yet, which is saying a lot, and then added "'Shy'? How cute (kawaii ne)~."

Again: it's all coincidence, of course. Just a lot of convenient circumstances that eventually lined up into a fantasy narrative that makes me happy.

But boy did it not matter in that moment, when I felt like a tsundere who'd been found out after a whole season of UST. XD

It felt like there wasn't any need to deny it anymore. Nor to make excuses that were never going to hold up, as long as I kept denying that sense of fun to my own detriment. Or, to be extra sappy about it--it was as if Belial had been seducing me throughout '22 to the beginning of '23 and had now finally gotten the point across to my very dense self-insert/OC.

I've been enjoying myself a lot since then--going out more, trying new hobbies, just being happier in general. Could that have happened without this as a push? Maybe. But it didn't happen until I "had food at home", so to speak, which feels telling.

I think we as a species need space in our heads for imagination and play, and that varies from person to person. Along with writing, mine just happens to be (day)dreaming about the Primarch of Cunning acting like a bird of paradise and/or seducing me and my self-insert OC into semi-reasonable sleep schedules.

So, yeah. Happy anniversary, Belial. May there be many more!

[asknarashikari]

When I discovered this tiktok https://www.tiktok.com/@superherotime_tvasahi/video/7231018667918626049 was using Yuna Hoshino’s song, I immediately thought up with this scenario.

Neon: So how about it, Ace? Want to try?

Ace: I don’t know…

Keiwa: Learning a the movements couldn’t be that hard, right?

Ace: Why don’t you do it then?

Keiwa: Sure, if Neon-chan would let me.

Neon: Honestly, the more the merrier.

----

Comment a: Another Neon-chan and Ace-sama collab? I’m eating?!

Comment b: shipping two real people, that’s gross.

Ca: I do not ship them, ew, I’m just a big fan of the both of them.

Ca: And I love me when artists collab with each other.

Cc: Is Ace-sama a very bad dancer?

Cd: He couldn’t be, right, I mean he danced in the BL in “Win his Heart”

Ce: Dance doubles are thing tho.

Cf: Honestly, fair.

Cf: From what I heard, Ace-sama is also good at cooking and drawing.

Cf: There should be something he’s bad at.

Cg: All of you are fixated on Ace-sama’s bad dancing, who’s the cute guy they’re with?

Ch: probably a mutual friend? I’ve seen him with Neon-chan and Ace-sama on separate occasions  for some time.

Ca: Oh, it’s the guy that works in a small soba shop!

Cb: Right! I saw the Neon-chan and Ace-sama with him and his sister eating at the soba shop he works now.

Cc: His sister is a huge fan of the both them.

Cd: Lucky!

Cf: I don’t know. I feel like having a sister that’s a big fan of my friends would be asking for trouble.

Ce: Eh, we don’t know the guy, let’s leave him be.

Cg: He is cute tho.

----

Neon: The comments are funny.

Neon: *reads the comments*

Ace: *pouts*

Keiwa: Maybe you should attend dance classes.

Neon: Did you really have a dance double in that BL?

Ace: No, I had to learn the steps for a very long time.

Keiwa: Fair, I was a bit lost myself there.

Keiwa: But with enough practice, we can learn it XD Neon: That’s the spirit.

Lmao Yuna was making them work for it XD The boys looked so lost

But yeah if they can fight a raging bull on the reg they can figure out a few hand movements... Surely the Star of the Star of the Stars would have a few tricks up his sleeve to learn the steps... or at least fool everyone into thinking he did :p

[tarnishedxknight]

Happy New Year!

{out of dalmasca} Happy 2024, everyone! I just wanted to thank some folks, while I'm here, so excuse me while I get mushy for a second.

@illbringthechaosmagic - I have so enjoyed writing with you, it's not even funny. You are an amazing writer, and the life your pour into your muses makes every story we write better than the last. I'm so happy we have become good friends in addition to being writing partners, and whether its screaming about our muses in messages, writing threads, or having fun with asks, I've truly enjoyed every moment. You're not only an awesome writer, you're a sweet and wonderful person too. My rp experience just wouldn't be the same without you and your muses. Here's to another year of writing and gabbing together! <3

@starcchild/@disillusionedjudge - You are a very gifted writer, and I have always been so incredibly impressed with the level of thought and detail you pour into your OCs. You make them seem so alive, and whatever canon they're meant to fit into, they always do so seamlessly, to the point of me forgetting they're not really part of the canon. Carter is absolutely canon for me for the MCU! Each of your OCs is so engaging and three-dimensional that from writer to writer, I'm very impressed with what you've been able to do with them! I've enjoyed writing many of my muses with many of yours, and I've definitely enjoyed our OOC conversations too. I'm happy to call you my friend, and I hope we can continue writing together for a long time to come. =)

@tarnishedxjudgement - I'm so glad to have found a kindred spirit who loves FFXII as much as I do! It has been wonderful screaming about all things FFXII with you, and I will forever be impressed with your deep understanding of Noah/Gabranth. You write him in a way I can only aspire to, and it has been so much fun writing my other FFXII muses with your Noah. You capture his motivations, his personality, his emotions, his mannerisms, everything perfectly. And developing our more realistic, more detailed Dark!Ivalice AU together has been so rewarding, breathing new life into a game I already loved so dearly. =)

Mantis-mun - Okay, so I know you're the only Mantis-mun I write with, but even if you weren't, I'd still say you were the best. From the little I've seen of Mantis, you write her so well, not just her dialogue and personality, but the whole feelings she gives as a character. You make her seem like she truly is one of a kind, or the last of her kind, with such a unique perspective on life, the universe, and those around her. It's been so interesting and fun to write some of my muses with your Mantis, and I feel privileged that you take the time to do so, even if you don't always have a ton of love for this hellsite! XD

Thor-mun - I admire your ability to come up with so many different AUs, worlds, times, and scenarios for your muses! Thank you for all the interesting interactions on this blog and others, and for putting up with how badly I keep up with all your ideas sometimes. Even if I'm ridiculously slow to answer them all, I read every single one, and your creativity is always inspiring. You've caused me on several occasions to really think outside the box with my muses and stretch my own skills a bit as a writer, and for that I'm truly grateful. It's always wonderful to not only find great writers to write with on here, but to also grow as a writer myself because of the interactions I have, so thank you for helping me to do that! =)

I hope all of you have a wonderful 2024, and I look forward to writing more with all of you! <3

[greengrungeemo]

Random Blog Survey!

I grabbed a random set of questions online just for fun. Feel free to take and answer for yourself too! :)

------------------------------------------------------------

When was the last time you wore a full face of makeup? Today! If full face means primer, foundation, eyeliner, and eyeshadow! Do you own an iPad? No. Who was the last non-relative woman you spoke to in person? Weird question, 3 of my friends just today! What’s the most hours you’ve worked in a week? 50 Do you believe in karma? Yes. Definitely does feel like there's a karmic justice with cause and effect. Actions have consequences. What temperature is your thermostat currently set to? 68 What’s a topic you’ve drastically changed your opinion on? EVERYTHING. I used to be soooo, sooooo way too overbearing on every topic! Now I learned to just live and let live, let people enjoy things! If people are happy, I'm happy. :3 Are you a kind, thoughtful person? I do my very best every day, but I have no right to answer whether I am or not. Do you know anyone who has a PhD? Yes. Who were you dating in July 2010? Or were you single? I was single yeah, I was literally just 13 back then! Those were good times actually. x3 How do you feel when you’re the center of attention? I prefer not to be. I want to make others happy instead! Would you rather be a nurse or a mechanical engineer? A nurse actually. Do you like Starbucks chai lattes, or do you think they’re too sweet? I do! I'm more of a mocha person myself tho. Are you and your SO facebook official? FB? I haven't posted in that in YEARSSSS. Do you know how to set a formal table setting for a 3+ course dinner? I do! Funny enough, in elementary school, there was a funny VHS we sat through for an entire class, teaching us how to set a table for such an occasion. Are you in a good mood today? I am! It's been up and down, but I'm in a happy mood rn! Do you know anyone who works as a lawyer? Yes. Which would bother you more: being told you’re not likable or being told you’re not sensible? Being told I'm not sensible. Do you have a difficult time relating to other’s emotions? Never. I'm overly sensitive to other's emotions around me. I feel so much of people's energy and it affects me greatly. :T How many bedrooms does your house have? 4 What was the last electronic item you bought? I believe it was an iPhone XR for streaming! Have you ever experienced sleep paralysis? YES. Way too many times. When you were 15, what did you want to grow up to be? A police officer! I wanted to do good for others and keep everyone safe. Did you ever achieve that? Nope, I couldn't get into the college course and instead opted for psychiatry! Have you ever had a dream in which you died? Most of the time, though 95% of my nightmares now are about abandonment.

Have you bought a bag of potato chips in the past week? Yessss, Doritos Sweet Chilli Heat! NOM.

Does the thought of having wrinkles when you’re older upset you? YES. How often do you buy a new phone? I still have my Samsung Galaxy S20 and that was pretty much my first phone aside from flip phones soooo... pretty much never. xD Would you rather live in an apartment in the city, or a cabin in the woods? Apartment in the city would be fun! I'd love to explore and visit all kinds of places. :3 Do you use Snapchat? Just for its filters, I don't talk to anyone on it tho. Have you ever driven or ridden on a motorcycle? Yess, my parents' friend let me drive his motorcycle once down the street, it was really fun and cool! Do you know anyone who’s struggling with addiction? Yes. Smoking addiction sadly. I won't ever smoke/do drugs. x . x Are any other members of your household home right now? Yes. What was your first job? And how long did you work there? Working at a boat store, and it gave me waaaay too much anxiety, retail? Never. Again. What was your favorite school subject when you were in middle school? Psychology!

When’s your next vacation and where are you going? To the U.S. in Summer and I'll be going to a Paramore concert with someone AWESOME. HYPE! :D

What’s something that you wish you could do one more time? Spend more time with my cousin Matthew, he passed away from cancer at 24 when I was around 14, so I never got to really be with him. He was really into PCs back in the 2000s and built a custom Windows VISTA PC, yeeeeeeeeeah! xD I miss him a whole lot.

If you weren’t in your current job, what would you want to be doing? I would absolutely be doing a career in psychiatry right now! I'd love to help others when it comes to mental health, because the industry really needs to do better. Either that, or I'd love to be a community manager of some kind for a game or something!

What’s the biggest project on your to-do list right now? Right now, I'm focusing massively on charity work (raised over $5,700 so far! Woowoo!). I educated myself in animal rescues and sponsoring animals in animal sanctuaries, and I really want to apply myself into that. Raising funds for all kinds of great causes! Aside from charity stuff, I've been taking great strides in getting the help I need and figuring myself out. Better diet, exercise, looking into cool stuff like piercings, epic fashion, it really has been doing wonders in becoming who I want to be! :)

What’s one hobby that you’d like to take up? Art, and actually developing my own unique art style! That would be so cool, but right now I'm focusing on instrument playing and creative writing. Electric guitar, piano, and poetry. <3

If you had to pick only one, what's the best Youtube video? Easy, Solence - Animal in Me. Best song, best music vid. If music vids don't count, probably a Stimpee video? Like Rust Has a New DLC where he messes around with tape recorders in Rust. xD Ooooh or a murder mystery vid or criminal documentary!

Creepypastas or AMVs? That's a tough one RAAAAAAA it's gotta be creepypastas, it has to. Those are just too classic. Even though AMVs also are like a fine wine. xD

Did you drink an energy drink in the past 48 hours? Yep, classic green Monster, THOOOO I recently fell in love with the green Ultra Paradise Monster too!

Vine or Tiktok? Vine

[practically-an-x-man]

Flower asks

crocus , tigerlily , cherry blossom , sunflower

thank you!!! you're the best as always <3

crocus— do you have any significant dreams that you remember? what were they about?

This might sound strange, but I've largely trained myself to control or guide my dreams as a tactic to help with my insomnia. Aside from that, I had a recurring dream in childhood where I was in this really old manor, and I got all the way up to the top floor and had to climb through this super tight tunnel (like, squeeze-your-ribs tight) in order to get to the attic, and then there was a hidden alcove up in the attic. I probably got that dream half a dozen distinct times as a kid? but not since then.

tigerlily— do you have any favorite quotes from any movies, tv shows, books, or poetry? (or from people in real life)

I mean, I want to get a tattoo incorporating "Intelligence is not a privilege, it's a gift, and you use it for the good of mankind" from Spider-Man 2 someday, and another tattoo with Annie Wilkes' monologue from Misery (though that one's more of a joke, less that I like the quote itself and more that it's one of my favorite books)

I also want a tattoo of "By flash and thunder fire, I'll survive" from the lyrics of Seven Seas of Rhye, that's probably my favorite overall quote from anything. Honestly got me through a lot of rough times.

In terms of favorite non-impactful quotes (like just funny ones), I find it hilarious when in movies/tv they reference the actors' other roles, either intentionally or unintentionally. Like for example, there's a scene in MacGyver where they're near Chernobyl, and Jack is cracking jokes about how the radiation will give them all superpowers.... and the quote is "Mac, you'll develop telekinesis, you're practically Professor X as it is." - makes me crack up every time.

cherry blossom— how do you feel about perfume or cologne? do you personally wear it or do you prefer not to?

I think there are some very nice scents out there, and it can be a great thing for a formal occasion (or even just when you want to feel nice). I can't stand when people wear too much, it gives me a headache, but in moderation it can be very nice. I don't usually wear either, though I do have a thing of hard cologne in a scent I like that I'll wear once in a while.

sunflower— in your opinion, what is the best photo on your phone of? (serious or non-serious answers)

Serious: I don't know? I don't take that many pictures, except for my SFX makeup and photos of my pets. I guess I'd say some of the pictures from theatre - there are some that are really artistic, some that just bring back memories, and some that remind me of my friends, so any way you slice it it's nice.

Funny: a video of my dog trying to lick the last vestiges of ice cream from her pup cup XD

[havethetouch]

Do you have an OC with a funny/weird/unusual creation story? (not the story of the character itself, but the way the character happened / you suddenly got attached; any character you didnt plan on keeping around, but then kinda did?) Tell the story!

[FINALLY - I tried to answer this ask for days now but always had an error I thought it was just my ask in general but made a test and that worked but this ask would not so i had to edit my full answer in piece by piece and for some reason that worked but not posting the whole thing as is. XD But I am dedicated to answer so here we go.] Oh that one is easy.... tho I must say the one OC kicked off the creation of many more but let me explain...

So... the character we gonna talk about is Taivo.

Oldschoolers might still remember her from the Animexx days and the one wolf comic I had, which only exists because of her. So it goes like this I'm what... 16 years old, I'm not doing so great because the times were rough and i happened to be in therapy at the time, group therapy to be exact with one dude and one girl who were in similar boats as me as for the reason we were there. There was a fourth too for a while but she wasn't ready and went back to solo sessions. Anyway, our lil group decided we hang out outside of sessions, try to support each other in our daily life and at some point after each session (which was in the evening) we went out together to a pub/bar that was in the area and kinda had some metal/goth/punk/scene aesthetics and clientele going on. There we enjoyed some companionship and mead and absinth and other stuff and tried to function like normal youths that weren't spiraling. (mind back then in my days the drinking age was down at 16, smoking age too) I was known for doodling random stuff to manage myself especially when I got sensory overloads and my companions understood and thankfully did not think hat I was ignoring them - sometimes when I was a bit tipsy they used to ask me about my art and stories bc sober you could not ask me to share such things without shying away thinking it was not interesting and/or would be torn down by negative reactions etc. etc. it was hard, mind you I was not well at the time, far from it actually and would be for a while. and on one such occasions when we were all drunk I was going back to my drawing pad and my male companion pointed out that there is no way i can draw or shit as drunk as I am and I took it as a challenge and drew the first sketch of Taivo, bent over the body of a dead pup. It looked great if I might say so, at least for my level at the time. And thus I had proven that even drunk I can fucking create. But then they were like "so is that one of your OCs or like.. random? New? Whats her deal? Why is there a dead puppy? What is going on?" And that was the point were I grabbed my notebook, held up a finger and said "give me a sec" And then i wrote down half of the plot of my wolf comic Eternal Winter which happens to revolve about Taivo and her whole story bc she is the protagonist and once I got going I made even more notes and started thinking about the cast and secondary characters and I was in a creation frenzy on steroids and I mean I had Absinthe that evening so maybe the green fairy suckerpunched me in the creative zone who the fuck knows? Either way the comic is on hiatus these days because given how old the story is it naturally evolved and changed and imma wait until I have everything back in order and maybe continue or write it out because the comic is really old and doing comics is hard and i like it but there are so many stories I wanna tell and things I wanna draw and short comics I wanna do that might be just some scenes I illustrate but that also takes time and idk if I can commit myself to Eternal Winter right now or the near future because.. even if I made a comic page each week which is absolutely doable it will still result in "only" 52 pages a year and given how the story grew and evolved and how much time I already "lost" in all the year is laid dormant I kinda feel like idk I don't want to right now? XD Going back to it and sticking to it would be some years of commitment and nah... my hyperfixations take me through my stories and it's hard to stay instead of stray ya know?

But yeah this is how Taivo got made! In some bar, upon a dare that wasn't even a dare but I took it that way and it took me to that wicked bitch and her origin / anti-hero story that resulted in a Comic and a shitton of wolf characters and kinda also lowkey inspired a Prequel story from characters that existed prior to Taivo that play a bigger role in Eternal Winter and were i was like "oh yeah origin story time lets make that a comic too" So... yeah, while almost each of my characters came about under different circumstances, Taivo came up bc I was hella drunk and nobody believed I was still coherent enough to do most things.

Also was not believed I could walk in a straight line, which I could, and I did, and my companions were loosing their mind bc apparently i was magic and actually despite all the shit it was a pretty good night :)

[omaano]

Another fill for the @witcher-rarepair-summer-bingo yay! (Mostly thanks to @traumschwinge without whom I'd still be pondering on what the hell I could do for this prompt <3)

Prompt: Flagrant PDA Relationship:  Geralt/Emhyr/Pavetta

Excerpt from the fic that Traum promised to post soon:

"Emhyr wasn’t quite sure when or why his torment started, exactly. It had been about three weeks into the semester, during lunch. He’d been very much minding his own business when two people had sat down right next to him, chatting about the likely origins of drowner myths. (...) They both had gotten it into their heads that they wanted to befriend him.

The biggest problem, not that he’d admit it to himself, was that he actually liked the pair. Sure, they were both dorky in a way, but also smart and funny and, to his shocked realization, very attractive to him. The last bit was definitely awkward. He wasn’t used to being attracted to people. Especially not to people with no respect for his personal space."

[bleachbleachbleach]

Y’all.

I had vague memory that Matsumoto batch-cooking was a thing that happened, but I did not realize the specific context of this scene. This is BANANAS.

Okay, I need to back up. At this point in the story, 3/4 Bount and Ichinose have been neutralized as threats. There are a lot of injuries and Ishida is chomping at the bit to finish his Oedipal narrative arc, and Matsumoto wisely points out that everyone has been running around for over 24 hours and rest and food are IMPORTANT. Which is thoughtful and lovely, except... when she said that I thought they were just going to have some niblets and get four hours of sleep or something, because there is a highly dangerous, vengeful murderman roaming the streets of the Seireitei right now. He already blew up a building and took out a Gate Guardian, held his own against Byakuya, and has the ability to regenerate himself by taking bites out of Seireitei Shingles. 

But instead they have a whole-ass block party!!! WHAT IS HAPPENING. 

This is especially funny because in the next episode Ishida shows up to fight Kariya alone, and where is Ichigo? where is everyone else? STILL AT THE 10TH DIVISION SLUMBER PARTY THAT’S WHERE. Ishida got up early for his regular morning insanity and everyone else nearly slept through the thrilling conclusion to this arc.

Even more bananas is the fact that Kariya... I don’t actually know, I wasn’t paying attention, but I guess he absorbed a power thingy and was waiting to get maximally powerful. My man got his COVID booster and is waiting for peak immunity. So literally time is of the essence!! And this is what they do!!!

(In fairness, it doesn’t seem anyone at this block party knows about the power thingy during that scene. But the next morning Rantao tells them all about what they missed while they were asleep and Hitsugaya is like, ‘Yeah, we heard about the power thingy. Time is of the essence!’ so clearly at some point they got this information and then proceeded to just keep doing whatever they were already doing.)

I am just so conflicted because I love a morale party but OH MY GOD WHAT. WHAT ARE YOU PEOPLE DOING. Idk this just feels like just sitting down to KBBQ two hours before an international flight, and you’re not even at the airport yet. It gives me ANXIETY.

On the other hand, it is a lovely spread:

I laughed out loud at myself the other day when I was pulling these caps, because my first thought was, “Oh, interesting! Vegetarian!”

And my second was, LOL. HOW CAN YOU TELL. EVERYTHING IS POLYGONS.

I think it’s because immediately prior, I’d been meal planning, and I was trying to decide whether I felt autumnal enough to make this, so I had it on the brain, but I’m willing to hold to my original impression of this meal and say that it is, indeed, vegetarian. There’s mushrooms and pickles happening in the side dishes and the soup looks like carrots and at least two different kinds of starchy vegetable. And there’s a basket of raw vegetables.

This is interesting to me because I am always interested in what they eat in Soul Society (and what the supply chain is), and I feel like this meal being vegetarian tracks. Given that the population of entities who need to eat is the minority, I imagine agricultural practice has remained pretty small-scale. We see fields sometimes, but domestic animals don’t seem like a huge thing. There’s one (1) boar biker gang and given how proud they are of this, that’s probably not the norm.

I’m not saying Soul Society is vegetarian--plenty of proof against this--but if meat is prepared in Soul Society I’m guessing more often than not it’s wild game (and even this feels very mysterious to me, XD); but anyway, that’s hard to do on an industrial scale, particularly on short notice, so if you’re a normal shinigami eating a normal meal, it’s probably rice and vegetables. They only whip out the fancy food for fancy occasions like Byakuya’s hanami, the installation of the New Third Captain, and Jump Festa. If you’re a noble, well, that’s different. And even if you’re a VC-level officer and above--it’s probably a little different, since there do appear to be exclusive dining establishments that cater to VCs and their corporealized zanpakutou that one time. Or if you’re with Unohana and she treats you to a fancy pork dish (meat provenance: undisclosed). But normie shinigami? No wonder Rin was so excited about cake, and Hanatarou got so distracted by the Miraculous Living World Combini!

My main point: Hitsugaya let them have a block party mid murderman-invasion, but they did not go to McDonald’s--even with their esteemed guests Kurosaki Ichigo And Friends in attendance--because they had tubers at home.

Secondary point: Tongs Renji was excited af for that Living World barbecue during the Reigai arc, and for good reason!!

[teawiththegods]

oh oh what nicknames/pet names do your deities have for you (if any) and! what ones do you have for them?

for me it’d be:

ares calls me kiddo, little one, and little warrior (both make me all <33) and i call him by his name (haven’t thought of a nickname for him just yet)

apollo calls me idiot and dumbass (both affectionately or when he’s especially tired of me, the variety is incredibly funny to one of us). in retaliation, i call him mathlete, sunshine, and (on rarer occasions) choir boy (all affectionate, of course)

hermes calls me kid/kiddo and i’ll usually just refer to him by name or with “dude”, “dork”, or “bestie” (when i decide to be extra annoying)

hestia will call me little one sometimes, as well as sweetheart, i call her by her name (also haven’t thought of a nickname for her yet)

dionysus calls me kid (or my name) and i usually call him dio

hades calls me young one/little one as well as child (usually with a my in front of it, “my child”) and i call him by his name (gotta think of a cool nickname for him)

hypnos calls me young one/little one and child, and i’ll often call him by his name (i’ve called him songbird once or twice because of his correlation but i usually refer to him by name)

anon from just now with the nicknames and i don’t think i ever realized how many of my deities start with the letter “h” until i typed out that list lmao

I have the same problem except for me its the letter "A" xDDD

You know its funny bc I have nicknames for them but they don't really have them for me except for Zeus, Hermes, and Aphrodite who call me an abundance of names! Its like when you have a pet and you call them every name except their actual name! lol!

Apollo tends to save the pet names for when I'm having an anxiety attack because the shock of him calling me a cute name helps me focus on something other then my spiraling thoughts.

So here are my nick names for them!

Zeus is obviously Big Poppa

Apollo is Golden Prince, Lolo, Mr. Wonderful

Aphrodite is Dite, Ditekins

Hermes is Herms, Baby Boy, Bestie, Sexy Boy, and a bunch of other flirtatious names because we flirt a lot lol!

I can see myself calling Demeter "Mom" one day

Persephone is Sephie

Sometimes I call Athena, Thena. I think she tolerates it bc she knows im attempting to bond with her xD

Artemis refuses to have a nickname unless its something she thinks is cool and I tried to explain to her thats not how nicknames work but you know...its Artemis.

And Eris is just Eris because well...shes Eris! Doesn't really need a nickname.

[secretlyblue12]

Day 2: Truth or dare

Bench trio my beloved XD And so day two begins! This one is actually going to come back in a different day to be finished,,, but you’ll have to see which prompt it’s for. hehehe Again, the only warnings I can think of are teasing and this one in my mind is irl. 

“Truth or dare”

Tubbo debated the question for a moment. He was playing with Tommy and Ranboo, so no matter which he chose there was bound to be trouble, he was just doing damage control at this point. “Um,” He wondered out loud, the two boys beaming at him while they waited for his answer. 

He tried to think about it logically, Tommy had been the one to ask and so far he’d given out the worst dares, plus he was already looking for revenge from where Tubbo made him drink a little bit of every drink they had all put into one glass. It hadn’t been pretty, but he and Ranboo thought it was funny. So not dare then, “I’ll choose truth.”

Tommy deflated a little at that, though Ranboo still waited excitedly to see how things would turn out. “Alright,” the youngest of the trio whined, “I want you to tell me your biggest weakness then.”

“What, like a fatal flaw or some shit?” That wasn’t that bad, Tubbo thought. He could just say something along the lines of impulse buying or overthinking and be on with it. Would that count as ego, or be different. People always said they were vain, but what all did that mean?

Tommy shifted to sit up properly, hands flying while he talked. “No! Like, like your biggest weakness man. How can I take you down in a fight, because I can guarantee we are going to fight before this night is over Big Man. I want to know what strats to use.” 

Tubbo quirked an eyebrow at the declaration, and off to the side, Ranboo snorted into his hand. “I am pretty sure I could take you in a fight, Tommy.” He said though Tommy wasn’t looking at him anymore. Instead, he was squinting at Ranboo with a decidedly suspicious look. 

“What, have you got something you want to say then Boo Boy?”

Ranboo shook his head, smiling against himself. “No, I was just thinking about a, um, a tactic to take Tubbo down.”

That right there was when Tubbo should have known things weren’t going to go his way, but he didn’t make the connection to what exactly Ranboo was thinking of yet. Tommy rounded on him, holding him by the shoulders as he interrogated him. “How? You have to let me know, Ranboo. Have you seen him? He’s jacked, but I have to fight him, it’s the only way. Did you see the Buffbo pictures on Twitter, I don’t stand a chance. Please, please, please, tell me! I don’t want to have my ass beat Ranboo, I’m too pretty and funny for that.”

Ranboo laughed along with his ramblings, but in the end, agreed to lean down and share his secrets. If Tubbo didn’t think things were about to take a turn before then, seeing how Tommy’s smile lit up and his eyes went wide would have clued him in. 

“Oh ho ho, Tubso, is that true?” Tommy asked in his ‘All-knowing big man’ voice. 

Tubbo knew he was probably screwed, and started to inch away from the duo, but he didn’t know what exactly they were planning. “Is what true?”

“It’s okay, actually. I want to test it out myself.”

Tubbo tried to stand up, but Tommy collided with him before he could even make it off the couch. Immediately Tommy’s hand found his side and started squeezing. 

Tubbo kicked out and shoved at Tommy, but couldn’t manage to force him away. Ranboo was a traitor he decided! “No! Tohommy! I whihill kihill you.”

“Ohho! You were right Ranboo, this is perfect.” Tommy cooed, “Is Tubbo a little bit ticklish then? I am so going to take advantage of this information.”

Tubbo grabbed at Tommy’s wrist and shook his head. “Youhu’re twice as bahad.” he called out. He’d seen Wilbur absolutely destroy Tommy on more than one occasion, it was pretty funny if he said so himself. 

Tommy’s cheeks tinted pink and Ranboo laughed at him in the background. “Oi! Shut it, no I’m not. I just need to find your spots first.”

Tommy shifted around with a renewed interest, moving on to squeeze at Tubbo’s hip, and smiling evilly when the older teen kicked out. “Hey, don’t kick me Bitch! Does that mean this is a bad spot? Ranboo, Ran-boo, tell me what his worst spots are.”

Tubbo whipped his head around to glare at Ranboo, though it didn’t look quite as deadly as he wanted with his bubbly laughter. “Naha, he-he’s nehext,” he threatened. If Ranboo thought he could spill Tubbo’s secrets without getting it back at him then he was mistaken. It seemed to have landed because Ranboo visibly weighed his options.

“He’s probably going to get it next no matter what, now tell me, or else I won’t go easy when it’s your turn.”

Ranboo curled in on himself a little already, but it wasn’t much of a decision anymore. “That’s- okay. I won’t tell his worst-worst spot, but you should try going a little lighter at first, it makes him melt and relax more, then come in with harder ones later.”

“Trahatoir! TOhohmy No!”

And suddenly Tommy’s fingers were fluttering around his waist and Tubbo was lost in a sea of giggles. His eyes squinted with how much he was smiling, which only made it worse because he couldn’t see what was happening. “Tohohmmehey!” He squealed, still trying to kick at the boy and push him away. “Rahanboho why!”

“Oh that’s good,” Tommy says, looking over to Ranboo as if he didn’t have Tubbo starting to fall apart under his fingers. “I can already tell this works a lot better. Are you sure you don’t want to tell me what the best spot is? It might make things better for you when it’s your turn.”

Ranboo wrapped his arms around himself and shook his head, “I’m already going to get it bad from Tubbo, I don’t want to make it any worse.” he said with a tiny laugh.  

Tommy grunted, clearly not pleased with Ranboo’s self-preservation. “Okay then, your funeral. I’ll just have to find it on my own then unless you want to let me know Tubbo?”

Tubbo shook his head, like hell he was doing that. “I’m nohot going to hehelp yohou!” 

“Fine! How about here then?” Tommy huffed in half-hearted frustration, it was obvious he was still having fun with this. “What’s your Tub-belly like?” He slowly moved his hands closer and closer to Tubbo’s stomach, watching how he grew more and more giggly and squirmy the closer he got. 

Tubbo couldn’t form words even if he wanted to, they came out much more like babbles than anything else. His hands found Tommy’s wrists and clung loosely. “Awee, look at him Ranboo! Isn’t he so cute, this must be a good spot then. Tub’s got a ticklish tummy? You’re so giggly and shit, how did I not know about this before?”

His cheeks flushed bright pink at the comments, they really weren’t necessary, he thought. Tommy seemed content to just stay there though and piled on the taunts. If there was one thing he had learned from Wilbur, it was that sometimes words are more efficient than anything else.

By the time Tubbo had completely melted into the couch cushions Tommy was exploring again, though his attack seemed to be tapering off. He gave a quick flutter up at Tubbo’s neck, not bothering to try to hold his head in one place. He could just flutter his fingers under his chin or on one side of his neck to get him to move how he wanted him to. He didn’t fully stop until after he had hit a spot behind Tubbo’s ears that made him start shaking his head again trying to get away, a shift from the lazy head turns and scrunches.

“Okay, okay. That’s enough for now. Count yourself as lucky that we still have to get Ranboo tonight too so I can’t have you too tired. Hey Ran- Ranboo?”

Tubbo peeked through tired eyes and looked over to where the other boy had been perched on the couch the entire night only to find him missing. 

“Ranboo? Oh, that bitch! Come on Tubbo, get up, up, up! He’s escaped. Oh ho ho, he’s so in for it now. Oh Ran-boo, we’re coming for you!”

[kitkatopinions]

You know I don't like Miles often and criticize him for a lot of things, but him saying that Yang and Whitley would get along really well if they got the chance to talk is very valid and I agree.

Imagine Yang getting Whitley to start going to the gym with her and getting him buff

I know that I mentioned how Yang could be a mothering but disaster big sister to Oscar, but I also think that her and Whitley could have a similar dynamic to that lol.

Maybe it's because I saw some of myself in Yang and I spent a lot of my life being a mothering disaster big sister type to younger kids I was trying to take care of, but I really just feel like having her be that kind of person who always wants to get close to and take care of people just fits with her character. And I can just see her looking at this mini-Weiss brat in his fancy clothes, complaining about his shoes being dirty and how he isn't built for hard labor, and that she'd just be like "okay, I can do 'annoying little siblings' any day of the week!"

I think that unlike how I imagine Yang's relationship with Oscar, her relationship with Whitley would result in a lot of arguing and sniping back and forth, Yang finding him super annoying at times while Whitley finds her very uncouth and would also try to act like he doesn't need or want her around, so they wouldn't exactly be functional. Plus, throwing in Weiss would just make that a little more explosive in a fun way. But also Yang would just find Whitley funny, and interesting, and kinda cute in a kid like way. She'd be generally bored with his interests and hobbies, but he'd be overwhelmed and annoyed with hers too, and they'd still sometimes wind up accompanying the other places or hanging around the other while they do what they like because... Hey, they get along most of the time and it's a good way to cure some shared loneliness even if they don't talk a lot.

Also, despite not being interested in a lot of Yang's hobbies, Whitley does take an interest in mechanics, often watching Yang work on her bike or cars or motors, until Yang starts teaching him how to help her and then how to do some of it himself. Like, just imagine Weiss's surprise coming into a garage space and seeing Yang and Whitley both with grease all over their hands and clothes, putting together a motorcycle for Whitley while Yang promises him she'll teach him how to drive it. And dude, you're so right that Yang would take him to gyms and try to coach him on fighting and 'getting buff,' although they both quickly realize that Whitley's strengths are in speed and agility, so Yang settles for getting him toned. XD

They could be a very cute and fun dynamic, especially throwing Weiss into the occasion. But I highly doubt they are ever going to interact in a significant way or even in a casual way. Miles Luna, if they could get along, then feature them talking to each other!

I swear, I'm going on vacation soon to see my family and I'm gonna have to try hard not to rant about my problems with RWBY, or my family is gonna be like

[wincore]

Ooh okay ai sounds cool. I'm into stem too !! I've chosen math, phy, chem and computer science but I only have a vague idea (?!) ab what I want in college and it's kinda freaking me out bc most of my friends are so clear ab what they want to do later on in life 😭 😭 For now I'm rewatching high school musical for the 7830487474th time just to de-stress myself from the whole 'think about the future thing' bc I'll be starting senior year after in 2 weeks (smth ab coming of age Disney movies are calming) OML MOON YOU LIKE OCHEM ?!?! JDKDN  I've been learning it for over a year now and still haven't gotten a hang of it 😩 I'd choose calc over ochem in a heartbeat bc calc doesn't suck the few braincells I have like a vacuum cleaner. So I'm gonna use the 2 week break I have from school to understand ochem once in for all 😤 Gintama sounds interesting <3 animes with comedy are literally the best thing ever. As for one piece I've always wanted to see it but I freak out when I see the number of episodes it has 🥴 to quote lana's i suddenly realize my archnemesis is hot (during a battle to the death) one piece is like the grey's anatomy of anime and YES I'VE READ THAT FIC ENOUGH NUMBER OF TIMES TO QUOTE IT AND HDJSKDK SHRUBCHENG READING ONE PIECE FOR YOU, MISS MOON, HAS GOT TO BE THE CUTEST THING EVER but !! I don't blame him for being whipped this is miss moon we're talking about 💞 nct finally did smth for ppl who can't keep up with them lol nct news is a v v v smart idea + the little spoiler news anchor!jeno gave for the dream comeback in March made the vid even better ksjdj. Also, we're getting a rv comeback this march so it's gonna be one crazy month <33 AND I FINALLY FINISHED READING CORDUROY ANDBFKKDNDMD OKAY I LOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT THE FIC 🤩 bff2l is one of my fav tropes <33 the fic made my yangyang brainrot phase even more intense. I'm in the process of binging all of your yangyang works <3 beginning from troublemaker bc it's such a classic (okay your whole 00line 'bad boy' series is a classic) to the wayv + Sci fi au. Now my brainrot has escalated to the alien!yangang state jdndi the tags made me cackle so loud XD 

p.s. header for corduroy is so cute why is it so yang2x of him to not figure out what playing ts' you belong with me means 😭 talk about hopelessly oblivious cutie idt even cupid can help him - 👻

honeypie, i am so so so sorry for the late response 😭 my life has been swamped and i've been feeling overwhelmed for a while now </3 

it’s alright to figure it out along the way!! that’s kind of what i’m doing too?? it’s a mix of ‘yeah, this is fun, this is what i want’ vs ‘life allows me only these few paths at the moment’. don’t stress too much and make decisions as best as you can 💕

honestly i binge disney to destress too hsdskh but sometimes i end up crying as the cherry on top 🤩 (cough cough encanto and turning red) but they are such a comfort spot for me !! i hope you’re doing better now though, sweetheart, and taking enough breaks like this!

SDDJDSJGJ it’s been a while since i’ve done ochem ngl but it was fun when i did it bc i actually used my brain back then 😩 the only thing i remember rn is grignard’s reagent ?? i got fun, sexy vibes from the reaction idk <3 and i absolutely ADORE calculus !!!!! it’s kind of the reason i love ai, because neural nets use a bunch of calc, even tho it drives me insane sometimes LOL and yes, on the occasion, i solve problems on differential equations just to feel something 😔 (like just 1 bc it drains me)

god, if a man reads one piece for me i will get on one knee so fast. lana knows my type too well 😩 and right???? i’ve read that fic so many times i could write my graduate thesis on it miss lana’s talent is unmatched 😤 pls do give gintama a try tho bc it’s so funny, it cheers me up every time ❣️ it’s more so for one piece, but it def looks a little daunting to newcomers 😭 1.5x is your friend if you ever wanna watch.

i can’t keep up with nct once again 💔 but omg the rv comeback!!!!! my queens never disappoint and my gf standards have once again been raised to miss kang seulgi and miss kim yerim 🥰

AAAA THANK YOU SO MUCH, LOVE !!! it’s been so long since i’ve written anything and this put back the will to write in me piece by piece ugh 💖 yangyang is lovable in a rat kind of way idk it’s so much fun to write him hshdk omg the scifi au brings back memories it was so FUN to write!!!!! god, i’m gonna do something like that again if i ever have the time hhh thank you so much for compliments on the header!!! i think i gave up when i was making it but i’m glad it gave off cute vibes 🥰

hope you’re doing well this week, love!!! have a good time and stay safe 🌙

[jenniferecand]

get to know me game~

Tagged by @fluttering-tbz (ur literally gonna be the only one who sees this and possibly interested in this but it's fun so why not XD)

when is ur birthday?

i’m a january aquarius cause apparently the month matters,,, but if ik u and u want the actual date then u can just ask lol

what is ur favorite color?

pink, black, and blue

what’s ur lucky number?

i don’t exactly have one but whenever people ask I just switch between 3 or 7 *shrug*

do u have any pets?

i have a pet turtle but it’s technically my older sisters lol

how tall are u?

i am 5′6, pretty satisfied with this height too~

how many shoes do u have?

a good couple. just different types of shoes for different uses or occasions but they’re all black 😀

favorite song?

i’m really indecisive lmao but the ones i’ve often played for a long period of time are

favorite movie?

i'm actually not crazy about movies but i watched sisterhood of the traveling pants when i was younger and when i rewatched it like a year or two ago it just really hit

what would be your ideal partner?

a guy who isn't too silent about his affection, funny, a bit of a flirt but just in a playful way, doesn't get mad too often and is usually very chill but still energetic in a way, has clear morals and follows them (,,,bonus if they're also asian and has a hobby in the performing arts 😗)

do u want children?

not exactly,,, like if my partner wants a child then i'll be fine with it but if not then i wouldn't have a child. i told my mom that her grandchild will be a dog and i'm not joking 😀

have u gotten in trouble with the law?

no... don't think so lol

what color socks are u wearing?

none rn but i usually wear black socks

both or shower?

shower~

favorite type of music?

kpop, r&b, and indie

how many pillows do u sleep with?

I sleep with 2 with my Ryan (kakao) plushy 😀

which position do u sleep in?

usually on my side but occasionally my back, whichever feels comfortable that night

what you don't like when ur sleeping?

feeling hot, it just makes me uncomfortable which usually leads to me being in a bad mood. also being woken up for no reason, like it's fine if there a reason but if it's just cause ur being loud then i get really annoyed

what do u have for breakfast?

usually just leftovers, if not then i make myself maybe 2 eggs or just one of my health/diet drinks

have u ever tried archery?

i... had a nerf bow and arrow when i was younger lmao, but i really. wanna try archery with my friends in the future

favorite fruit?

melons, especially cantaloupe and watermelon

favorite swear work?

fuck, easiest to use in any situation with any emotion loll

do u have any scars?

i have two and they're both from when i was a toddler. one on the right side of my nose, not really noticeable but i got it when i burned myself. also one on my left hand that i got from a bracelet that fell of my wrist when i was playing with my cousins, it's not that noticeable since a lot of my friends took a long time to notice it but it's definitely more noticeable than the one on my nose lol

are u a good liar?

yes 😀it's not that i lie often but when i do it for fun i do admit that i'm joking or that i lied after if it's just for fun everyone believes me so it's fun knowing that i can lie and get away with it easily

what's ur personality type?

i'm a infj-t and a hufflepuff

what's ur favorite type of girl?

one that's calm, is self-aware but also has awareness of other around her, considerate and humble, doesn't let others take advantage of her, is passionate about something, doesn't fight others but will stand up for their friends or for what's right

innie or outie?

innie....why is this question tho 😆

left or right-handed?

right

favorite food?

sushi~

clean or messy?

i'm usually very clean about things like my bag, locker, bed, and other things but if it's not something i use or am around constantly use then it could get a lil messy until i get the urge to suddenly clean...

favorite foreign food?

....other than sushi, i honestly really like any dish i'm not a picky eater so i'm fine with anything. UNLESS IT HAS BELL PEPPERS i can't eat those lol

how long does it take for u to get ready?

only about 15 minutes on a regular day

most used phrase?

the only thing i can really think of is "oh my god" lol

are u a good singer?

i would like to think i am loll, obviously not the best but i was in a singing club in my school until i had to leave due to scheduling conflicts

do u sing urself?

yesss, it's fun

biggest fear?

being alone, like not having anyone to talk to and they'll never reply or acknowledge u again

do u like long or short hair?

i honestly love both but i'm had decently short hair for a while now and i've been wanting to grow it out again but so far i've always been impulsively cutting it short again and i hate this loop 😭

extrovert or introvert?

i'm introverted but since my whole friend group is introverted, i'll be the one to order or speak to other for us lol. so i'm introverted but also the extrovert of my group also depends on my mood tho cause sometimes i can just get really hyper or really quiet,,, like na jaemin lmao

are u into gossip?

no, never really cared for gossip but if u wanna tell me something then i can listen as long as i don't get dragged into anything

favorite school subject?

any class in the performing arts but if it's from the standard ones then math

what makes u nervous?

i'm usually really good about not being nervous about things unless it's like a rollercoaster but i always get nervous before a big performance and i usually need a moment of silence or a friend to tell me it's ok

who was ur first real crush?

i've never really had a real crush, i've only ever had those sudden but very short crushes like u sit next to a boy in elementary school and "......emotions??? crush??" but yeah other than that, never had a crush on anyone

how many piercings do u have?

one on each ear, regular earrings

how fast can u run?

what color are ur eyes?

average, not too fast but i'm also not that slow

what color is ur hair?

naturally black hair but some of my ends are green since i'm playing around with them before school starts again.

dark brown

what makes u angry?

when someone belittles another and actually mean it, being inconsiderate towards other around u, or when a person really doesn't listen or take time to understand something someone else is trying to tell them

do u like ur own name?

wasn't crazy about it when i was younger but i actually like it now with how my friends call me with my nickname

do u want a boy or a girl as a child?

i'd actually a boy human and dog wise lmaoo ,,,lowkey surprised myself with this answer lol

what are ur weaknesses?

i'm actually pretty sensitive and i cry easily but i don't want others to see that side of me often since it usually differs with their perspective of me

what are ur strengths?

i usually manage my emotions pretty well, i can care for others very well being a mom friend lol and i think of myself to be very well rounded in many things and aspects

what color is ur bedspread?

gray

color of ur room?

white with some parts of the wall being cover in my wall paintings

[shipmistress9]

FTLOAP: Chapter 48: Reminds Me Again It's Worth It All

For The Love Of A Princess Masterpost

Alpha/Co-author: @athingofvikings

Taglist: @drchee5e @hey-its-laura-again @thepixiedustfactory​ (If you want me to add you to this list, just say so. ^^)

* - . - * - . o O o . - * - . - *

If you want to support me you can buy me a coffee. I love coffee 😊 (Ko-Fi)

* - . - * - . o O o . - * - . - *

AN: How... how is it already almost three months later again? Time is a lie! xD But I won't apologise. Life is just absolutely crazy right now, and not just because of this virus. But I'm not abandoning this story, don't worry! :)

And I don't want to ramble here too much, but... I was worried how you all would take it that I implemented the canon events as legends. And I'm very happy and relieved to see that you guys generally seem to approve. ^^

This week's title comes, again, from Memories by Within Temptation. I've picked this title before I wrote the chapter and I have to admit that it fitted better to the original vision I had of this chapter than to the end result. But it still works and it's not that important anyway, right? ;P

. o O o .

“Do you think you can do it? Can you kill a dragon?”

Grimacing, Hiccup averted his face at that question. Killing a dragon… There once had been a time where this prospect had troubled him. It had been something he had to do, but not what he’d wanted to do.

But now, things were different. He'd already lost so much to a dragon’s attack once, and now could gain so much more if he did it… It wasn’t a question about whether he could do it anymore.

But… would he be able to do it?

“I get that it’s a lot to think about,” Eret said when he didn’t reply immediately. “Especially after what you just told us and in such a short time. The thing is just… You legally winning that title for yourself would be the easiest and cleanest solution. But we can prepare you as much as we want; if it’s more likely that you’re getting killed, it’s not worth it. Then we have to come up with something else. I’m sure there’s something we can do. There has to be.”

Hiccup pressed his lips together and lowered his head. Astrid was still sitting right next to him, her hand in his. So close. It could be so easy. All he had to do to be with her was kill a dragon. But after all his failures, he wasn't likely to be too optimistic.

“I don’t know,” he eventually said in a low voice. “I became a better fighter over the last years, I had to, and… and I have the best motivation imaginable.” Chuckling weakly, he lifted his hand to breathe a soft kiss onto Astrid’s knuckled. It made her smile, tentatively. “But I don’t know if I can do it. It would be difficult, nearly impossible . During raids and other occasions, we use special tools and weapons against dragons that make it easier to capture and kill them. If I had some of those, I think I could do it. But without them?” Gulping, he shook his head. “I’d need a lot of luck, and, well… given the past few years, luck is not something I would want to count on.”

Next to him, Astrid flinched. The fingers of her free hand painfully dug into his arm; she clearly didn’t like his answer. But as much as he wanted to give her another one – lying just to comfort her wasn’t an option.

“But you can build these weapons,” Eret objected. “I know you can, I’ve seen you work in Berk’s forge and you even managed to fix the music box. Just tell us what you need, and we get if for you.”

Hiccup’s gaze shifted back to Eret. He was grateful for his enthusiasm and optimism, that he wouldn’t give up. But in this case, just thinking positively wouldn't help much. With a tired sigh, he shook his head. “You’re right, I could build what I need. But not within only a couple of days. I’d need special moulds to forge the pieces, special tools I don’t have… It would take me weeks to build all that from scratch.”

“Can’t you get some of those things here?” Dagur threw in. “I mean, the markets here might not be as big as Southshore’s… but this is the capital. There’s a lot you can buy here.”

Hiccup grimaced, his free hand tightening into a fist. He gazed down at Astrid, tightly clinging to his arm and her face hidden against his side. He couldn’t give up now. Eret was right, winning that hunt would be the cleanest solution. And for Astrid, he was willing to try and risk everything. Whatever it would take.

With a heavy sigh, he turned back toward the others. “Maybe you’re right and we can find at least some things. So far, I haven’t seen anything of that sort though, and finding the tools I need, let alone the functioning weapons, might take just as long as trying to build them. But yeah, it’s at least a possibility.”

“All right, what should we look for?” Tuff asked.

He shared a look with his sister who added, “Tuff and I know the city pretty well. And we know some people… If the things you need exist somewhere in Volantis, then we’re your best option to find them.”

Frowning, Hiccup took a moment to think. “The most important thing,” he eventually replied, slowly, “would be a bola shooter. The best way – the only reasonable way, really – to fight any dragon is to first incapacitate their wings, if possible their legs too. If they can’t fly or move much at all, they’re relatively easy prey.”

“A…. what shooter?” The question came from Tuff, but except for Eret who’d seen a bola shooter in action before, everyone looked equally confused.

“A bola shooter.” He released Astrid’s hand to use both arms for his explanation. “A bola is a weapon made for hunting. It’s made of three – or more – strings of rope, all tied together at a centre point and each with some form of weight at the end, usually a rock of this size,” he held up his fist, “or bigger, depending on what kind of prey you’re after. If you fling it the right way, it wraps around the beast’s body, preferably around its legs or wings and renders it immobile.”

“Makes sense,” Dagur agreed, nodding. “But I don’t see your problem. Making such a bola doesn’t sound that complicated.”

Hiccup nodded. “It’s not. But using a bola just on its own, that’s not advisable if you’re out to hunt a dragon. Flinging a bola over your head is not exactly stealthy. If you’re in a raid where there’s chaos already, it doesn’t matter much. But if you try to sneak up on a dragon and want to capture it before it attacks or simply flies off? Not a good idea. So what I need is a shooter. It’s a device to launch such bolas without the eye-catching gaining of momentum.” His gaze wandered to Astrid’s servants. “What you would be looking for is–”

“Wait a moment,” Eret interrupted him. He got up from his chair and walked over to a desk, then returned with a sheet of paper and a pencil. “It’s not as if I have much need for letter paper anyway.”

Gratefully, Hiccup took the paper and pencil, and leaning over the low table in front of him, he made a quick sketch of what he needed.

“It’s a wooden or metallic tube,” he explained. “Wide enough for weights as such rocks and with a mechanism to launch them attached to it at one end.” He handed the sketch over to Astrid’s warder.

The man narrowed his eyes as he looked at the sketch then showed it to his sister next to him. She too narrowed her eyes, then the twins shared a knowing look and a nod.

“What?” Dagur asked, a little annoyed. “Have you seen anything like that before?”

“Maybe,” Ruff replied slowly. She inspected the sketch for a moment longer, then shared another strange nod with her brother before she left the room without another word.

Everyone gazed after her, perplexed, then threw Tuff a questioning look.

But Tuff’s answer wasn’t very enlightening. “She needs to check something,” he simply said.

Dagur snorted. “Don’t bother trying to make sense of their twintuition. It’s pointless.”

“I can hear you, you know?” Tuff muttered.

“So what?,” Dagur cackled. “Nothing I wouldn’t say to your face.”

Rolling his eyes at their bickering, Eret cleared his throat to draw Hiccup’s attention again. “Who knows how long Ruff will be gone. So let’s use the time to talk options. I agree, flinging a bola isn’t stealthy, but it would still be possible, wouldn’t it? Or how about a weighted net? I’ve seen you use those sometimes, too.”

With his lips pressed into a thin line, Hiccup nodded. “Possible, yes, but not advisable. A shooter would give me another advantage over simply flinging a bola or net myself. I wouldn’t need to get as close to the beast since a shooter can hurl them farther than I can throw them, and they could be bigger too as it can handle higher weights. And with a net, I’d need to be in a higher position to throw it on top of them. It can be done, obviously, but, yeah… It would require a lot of luck.”

Eret frowned but didn’t object and didn’t come up with some other option, either. Grateful for the break, Hiccup leaned against the cushioned backrest, relaxing a little when Astrid cuddled to his side without hesitation. She’d been surprisingly quiet throughout the whole conversation, and now he noticed just how tense she was; her shoulders, her expression, even her hands clenched into fists around his tunic. As if she was subconsciously holding on to something invisible.

It was strange in a way. But just like he'd drawn from her strength earlier when the memories of his dead family had threatened to overwhelm him, it now seemed as if she was relying on his strength in return. Even though he had no idea why she needed it.

He let his hand run up and down her back, slowly, comfortingly, and after a minute or two, she relaxed at least a little bit.

It didn't take long until Ruff returned. In her arms, she carried a large basket full of laundry which earned her confused looks from everyone waiting.

"You came to bring fresh clothes?" Dagur asked, a little incredulously. "Do you expect anyone to rip theirs off?" He threw an insinuating grin at Astrid and Hiccup, but nobody was really in the mood for joking.

"Haha, funny," Ruff deadpanned. She placed the basket on the ground and rummaged about for a few seconds until she found what she was looking for. With a satisfied grin, she glanced from one to the other. "No, the laundry was just for cover; I didn't want people to get suspicious if they saw me with this." She pulled an object out that had been hidden by layers of cloth, a smug smile on her face as she looked at Hiccup. "Is this what you were talking about? A bola shooter?"

Hiccup could only gape. Disbelievingly, he reached for the device when Ruff held it out to him, his fingers reverently gliding over the sturdy metal tube. It was dusty, the mechanism getting stuck when he tried to wind it up, but it was undeniably a bola shooter. It even was the same model they used on Berk, the size and length of the tube distinct. And the mechanism! It was just like–

Hiccup sucked in a sharp breath and turned the device around until his eyes found what he’d been looking for, a sign that was etched into the metal at the underside of the tube. A horizontal line crossed by three vertical ones. Or, the way he read it, ‘H H’.

"Where did you get this?" he asked, his eyes on the twins.

This couldn't be… It made no sense! How?

"What's wrong, Hiccup?" Eret asked, frowning, a note of worry in his voice.

Mutely and without looking, Hiccup handed the shooter over to his cousin. His eyes were still on Ruff, still waiting for her answer.

Ruff exchanged a frown with her brother, and they both shrugged. “It’s Astrid’s,” she replied.

Stunned, Hiccup turned toward Astrid, but she looked just as surprised as he was. “Excuse me?”

“It’s true,” Tuff said with another shrug. “It was in one of your birthday chests from three or four years ago.”

Still confused, Hiccup cocked his head. “Birthday chests?” he asked for clarification when even Dagur just nodded in understanding.

“Usually, there aren’t as many people here for my birthday as there were this year,” Astrid explained in a low voice. She sounded distracted, as if her mind was somewhere else entirely. “But since ignoring the Princess Royal’s birthday could be considered an insult, practically every noble family sends a gift every year. Nothing extravagant in most cases, just a sign that they remembered. Often, it’s some local speciality, food, clothes, or craftsmanship. I… some pieces I kept, and the food always gets eaten, of course, but the rest gets stored away, and…” She trailed off, shrugging.

“Exactly!” Tuff nodded. “There’s an entire room just filled with shelves and boxes full of stuff – for every member of the royal family. And there’s some weird stuff in there, that I can tell you.” He snickered.

Somewhere in the depth of Hiccup’s mind, a memory was rising, but he couldn’t grasp it yet.

“Very true!” Ruff said with a smirk. “Some of these things are great for pranks; it’s just a hassle to sort through them sometimes. Anyway, there are a few chests that are different… bigger. Sometimes, higher noble families don’t just send one gift but an entire chest full of various gifts. There is one in particular that contains a number of strange things I’ve never seen anywhere else. Clothes in an unfamiliar style, wooden carvings, instruments… and this weird fellow.” She pointed at the bola shooter in Eret’s hand. “We never knew what to make of it, but when you sketched your shooter just now…” She broke off, looking over at Eret as he grunted in surprise.

"Is… is that one of yours?" he asked, baffled.

Next to him, Astrid shuffled to sit up straighter. “Yeah, apparently it is. Even though I can’t–”

“He means me,” Hiccup interrupted her gently. He held his hand out for Eret to give him the shooter back, then turned it around to show her the symbol etched into the metal. “See this? That… well, you can call it my signature, I guess. I used to mark everything I made with this sign. H H. Hiccup of House Haddock.”

He shrugged, a little embarrassed. Putting that signature on his works had been an act of pride and rebellion, he knew that all too well. So many people had called him useless for not being a good fighter and not going after the dragons as he was supposed to. And yet, they’d been happy enough to use his weapons and devices.

Astrid traced the symbol with her fingers, her touch careful. “So… you made this?” she asked, visibly puzzled “But… how did it end up in that chest?”

Hiccup’s memories were all falling into place then. “I haven’t thought of this in a long time, didn’t even remember until just now,” he said slowly. “It was on the day the council had decided that I would have to prove myself in the arena, and I was… well, I was terrified, to be honest. Torn on whether I even wanted to kill a dragon and scared by having to do so in the arena, without support or the usual methods. I had just finished working on this shooter, but more felt like throwing it out of the window and into the ocean. What was the point of crafting all these weapons if I wasn’t allowed to use them? I think I was pretty lost, wallowing, and didn't pay much attention to my mother when she came into my workshop."

He had to pause and swallow at that memory. What would he give if he could go back to that moment, for the chance to talk to her again? To ask for her advice, or just to listen to what was on her mind. If only he hadn't wasted so much time only focused on his own problems...

"She tried to cheer me up and encourage me, said that she had faith in me. But I didn't want to hear that and in the end, it wasn't why she'd come looking for me anyway. She was about to send a chest of gifts to her friend, for her daughter's birthday, and wanted me to contribute something, too." His lips twitched into a rueful smile. "I remember how annoyed I was. What did the birthday of some stranger matter to me? I had more important things on my mind, like not losing my honour in front of the entire tribe, for example. Or my life. So I just gave her the shooter I'd just finished, unreasonably angry at the device itself for me not being allowed to use it in my fight against the dragon."

With slightly shaking hands, Astrid reached for the shooter to inspect it a little more closely. "Is it still working, though?" There was an odd tone in her voice, so quiet and almost trembling, something he couldn’t quite place. “I mean, it’s been lying around in that chest for three years now. Are you sure it’s not rusty? What if the mechanism jams when you need it?”

Hiccup took a moment to think, then nodded. “Yeah, it should still work. Maybe not right now, but it shouldn’t be a problem to get it to work on time. I just need to disassemble it, clean all parts, and put them back together.” He paused, trying to think it through. All parts were there, working and in his usual high quality. They shouldn’t have suffered much over time, and even if one or two parts were broken, it shouldn’t be that hard to replace only those.

He sucked in a deep breath, a confidant grin on his face. “So, going back to your question,” he said, looking at Eret. “Yes, with this baby here, I think I can do it. I can kill a dragon!”

. o O o .

Hiccup was itching to get started. Three days weren’t much time to prepare for the task that lay ahead of him, and he didn’t want to waste even one second. But no matter how eager he was to disappear into the royal armoury and work on the shooter, he grudgingly had to yield to Eret’s logic.

“You can’t go and spend all day locked up, working on some secret project. If you do, people will get suspicious, and we can’t have anyone pay overly attention to what either of us is doing.”

So he spent most of the day assisting Eret and Dagur during their training – which probably wasn’t that much of a waste of time, either. It was a little tricky as on the one hand, it couldn’t become obvious that Hiccup was training some techniques for real, while on the other hand, Eret and Dagur couldn’t put too much obvious effort into it. But all he could do was hope that the ruse worked.

Astrid was watching them from afar, but something was strange about her. Hiccup was ecstatic, even as his leg was acting up a little from the unusual workout. For the first time since Astrid’s birthday, he felt true confidence, for their future but also for himself. The plan Eret had come up with was good. It wouldn’t be easy by any means, but it could work. And even more importantly, it was something he could do.

But Hiccup noticed that Astrid wasn’t nearly in as good a mood as he was, even from a distance. She looked tense and anxious, even more so than this morning, almost constantly biting her lip. He wished he could go and talk to her, could ask her what was bothering her. But there were too many people around on the fighting ground; all conversations would have to wait until the night.

And until then, he had to use every bit of time he had. He didn’t join Eret and Dagur for their lunch break and instead spent the time at the armoury. And even though he only had about an hour, he made good progress with the shooter. It was years now since he last worked on a device like this, but it still felt natural, easy as breathing.

After a first inspection, he was relieved to see that nearly all pieces were still in working order. One rod was warped and needed to be pounded back into shape with some work on an anvil. Another was broken and he would need to replace it, same as a bolt or three. But all that was manageable, no reason to worry. If he used his free hours in the evening and on the next day without wasting time, then he should be done by tomorrow night, the morning after at the latest.

The good mood carried him through the day, even though it was a long and exhausting one. After his simple dinner in the servants’ kitchen, it was time to sneak into Astrid’s rooms again, and if it hadn’t been for this happy prospect, he would have just gone to bed directly. His leg hurt more with every step he made through the narrow tunnels as he followed Tuff, and it was only the thought of Astrid that kept him going. Of holding her, but also of the anxiety he’d noticed in her.

And when he entered her bedroom and Ruff closed the door behind him, it quickly became apparent that her mood hadn’t improved all day. She was still as tense as she’d been before if not more, sitting on the edge of her bed with her hands nervously fiddling with her nightgown.

"Hey," she greeted him. There was a smile on her lips but it felt off. It didn’t reach her eyes, even though the warmth and love in them were real.

"Hey," he replied. With a sigh, he sat down next to her, relieved when his weight was off his leg. Whatever it was that was bothering her, they surely could talk about it sitting, right? "Is everything okay?"

But Astrid didn't react. Instead, she frowned, her eyes not meeting his. "Your leg hurts."

It wasn't a question, but Hiccup nodded nonetheless. "A little, yes. With all the training today, that was to be expected. I should probably take it a little easier tomorrow,“ he added lightly.

She nodded, still not looking at him. Instead, her frown deepened and she chewed on her lower lip, thinking. "Do you want me to massage it?" she eventually offered.

Hiccup knew that he should decline. The pain wasn't that bad, nothing a good night's rest wouldn't heal, and letting her hands roam his skin wasn't necessarily advisable anyway. All too well, he remembered how that usually affected him.

But something was keeping him from turning her down. There was something in the way she avoided his gaze, how her hands trembled, that told him that, for some reason, Astrid needed this. He wasn't sure whether it was about having something to do in general or whether she craved contact just as much as he did, but it was there. And he didn't have it in him to deny her. Besides, a massage would definitely help, and coming from her would make it all the sweeter.

"Yeah, that would be great."

On her indication, he made himself comfortable in the middle of her bed, with his back resting against the headrest and the leg of his trousers rolled up as far as possible. Claiming that he didn't enjoy how her hands glided over his skin and worked the tissue and muscles beneath would have been a lie. It felt wonderful, both the relief it brought to his aching leg and the sensations her touch elicited in the rest of his body alike.

But as much as he enjoyed the massage, he also was aware of how anxious Astrid still was, of the wrinkles in her forehead, the tension around her mouth, and how her hands were trembling. She clearly was not okay. But since she’d evaded his question before, all he could do was wait for her to be ready to tell him what was bothering her.

"It makes sense now," she eventually murmured. She wasn't meeting his eyes, her gaze resting on his scarred leg, on her fingers tracing the ugly ragged lines.

"What do you mean?" he asked when she didn't continue.

Astrid swallowed. "Your leg. I... I've been wondering about these scars ever since you showed them to me. Not where they come from!" she quickly clarified, "But... It's just that I've seen the scars on your back. Those wounds there must have been so much worse than the one on your leg. And I always wondered why your back healed so well and your leg didn't. But now I know."

Hiccup sighed. "Yeah... my night in the forest really didn't do me any good. The infection–"

"It's not just that," she interrupted him. "A wound like this needs constant care to heal properly. Cleaning and treatment and fresh bandages and time. Bu-but if you got imprisoned and exiled, your leg got none of that, right?” Her voice was trembling now. “That's why it's still bothering you. Not because the wound was so severe or because it got dirty or even infected. It’s because it never got time to heal."

Hiccup closed his eyes and nodded. "You're right. I only got the barest minimum of treatment before they sent me away. And then, I had to leave quickly and couldn't risk resting for a week or even longer to let the wound heal. I was lucky I didn't lose the leg altogether…" He trailed off as the painful memories made a lump form in his throat; memories of cold nights in the northern forest, of hiding from thieving groups… and of being scared but at the same time not feeling worthy of even the care one of Freya’s temples would have offered.

Astrid shifted, finally looked at him as she reached for his hand. There was a shimmer in her eyes, as if she was close to tears. "Oh, Hiccup," she sniffed. "That... that must have been horrible!"

Swallowing, Hiccup lowered his head. She was right, it had been horrible. Not just because of what had happened, though, but mostly because he hadn't thought it possible that the Tribes' leaders, his own people, would be so callous and cruel. He'd always known that there were some who'd wanted House Haddock removed and even more had been in doubt about him. But he hadn't expected them to directly exile him without a proper trial. To all but execute him without solid evidence.

Astrid's hand was shaking around his, causing him to look up at her again. Her eyes were filled with sadness. "I-I'm so sorry for what you've been through. I wish there was a way to make it all undone. I wish I could spare you all the pain you've been through. And your family! I knew they were dead, but... but what happened to them – it wasn't fair!"

Again, Hiccup swallowed. "No, it wasn't fair," he murmured. He took a moment to take a deep breath and slowly let it out again. "But it's all in the past. What happened happened, and nobody can change it anymore."

Astrid nodded, weakly, her hand tightening around his. "And I'm sorry. For making you talk about them this morning. I can only imagine how much that must have cost you! If there's anything I can do to make it up to you or–"

Hiccup put a finger over her lips, effectively silencing her. "It's all right," he assured her. "You're already doing more than I can ever put into words, just by existing, by being here. Besides... I think it was actually good that I finally talked about it all, about them and what happened. I feel... lighter, somehow. I still miss them, of course, I do. But at the same time, I know that they will always be with me as long as I remember them. They are my past, and while I’ll never forget them… Thinking about them made me remember how happy I was. And it reminded me that it’s worth fighting for a happy life. For our future.”

Astrid sucked in a harsh breath. Again, she began to tremble, so much so that Hiccup pulled her into his arms to comfort her, grateful when she didn’t resist even though he didn't understand what troubled her.

“Hey, hey,” he mumbled into her hair, one hand soothingly rubbing her back. “What’s up? Why are you so upset?”

Sniffling, she burrowed deeper into his embrace. “I don’t like it.”

He frowned. “What do you mean?” There were many things not to like lately, and while he was reasonably sure that she wasn’t talking about their shared future, there were just too many options left.

“Eret’s plan. You having to hunt and fight a dragon. I don’t like it!”

Her words were muffled and it took him a moment to fully understand them. Then he frowned. “Why? It’s the first time we actually have a plan. Finally, it’s something solid we can do, something I can do.”

She snorted against his chest, a humourless laugh. “You know that you don’t have to prove yourself, right?”

“I know,” he sighed. “Not to you. But… I know that it’s stupid, but I feel like I have to prove it to myself – that I’m worthy of you and our future. That I’m not a failure. And I need it to get closure. I couldn’t kill that dragon back then and it ruined my life. So if I now can ensure our life together by killing a dragon… It’s like settling old scores, you know? Besides, Eret is right. If I can earn this title, then we’re going to face far less resistance. It will be easier, all things considered.”

She was silent for a few heartbeats, not replying in any way. Then she seemed to burrow even deeper into his embrace, her mumbled words barely audible. “But only if it works.”

Hiccup grimaced, glad that she couldn’t see his face. “It will work,” he then replied with conviction. “It has to. Remember what the Goddess said? That I have to do what comes naturally? Well, this does. This is something I can do. Even more so, it’s like this is a task that’s made for me, just like Eret said. I have the training and knowledge needed for this Hunt. This has to be what the Goddess meant.”

But Astrid still wasn’t convinced. “I don’t know,” she whispered. “I see what you mean, but… I just have a bad feeling about all this! As if something will go terribly wrong...”

Sighing, he pulled her up until he could look at her. “It won’t go wrong, okay? I won’t let that happen! Not when I have you to come back to.”

“But what if you don’t?” She sounded desperate now. "What if that shooter doesn't work? Or someone attacks you? Or the dragon you find is stronger than you thought? What if you don’t come back?” She shook her head, a single tear running down her cheek.”I don’t want you to leave, don’t want to be apart from you. It feels wrong! I just have this weird feeling about it, as if something will happen when we’re not together, someth–”

He cut her off with a quick kiss. He could see what she was doing, spiralling down into worries and fears. He recognised it, had been there often enough in his life. But thinking like that wouldn’t do them any good. “It won’t go wrong! Do you hear me? For some reason, the Gods need us for their plans, so it won’t go wrong. You’ll see, I’ll be back here before you really notice I’m gone. That I promise you!”

With a pained expression on her face, she shook her head. Slowly, she crawled up the bed until she sat above him, straddling him. Her eyes were sad when they searched his, worried, her hands coming up to brush away strands of his hair. When she kissed him, it was hesitant, careful even, her fingers against his jaw and neck trembling. And yet, it was full of an urgency he didn't quite comprehend, lingering desperation thrumming beneath the surface. Without a doubt, it was fueled by her anxiety, but why she felt that way, he still didn't fully understand.

When she deepened the kiss, he didn't resist though. Her tongue was delving into his mouth, seeking closeness and reassurance, while her hand roamed to the back of his head to hold him close, fingers tugging at his hair. She was trembling, whimpering. Clinging to him as if to dear life. And he just didn’t have it in him to push her away at that moment.

His body liked her squirming in his lap more than it should, but he tried to ignore it, focused only on Astrid instead. For some reason, this was what she needed right now, just like he'd needed her support earlier when he’d talked about his family. So he didn't deny her and instead wound his arms around her lithe frame, holding her close, safe.

And who was he kidding? Kissing her and feeling her so close was a joy on its own. She was so warm, so soft, melting against his chest and into his embrace as if they were one. No matter how good this day had turned out to be, being here with her right now, tasting her kiss and hearing her little sighs, was better than everything else.

And even though he knew he should, he didn’t stop her when their kiss grew more passionate. Her fingertips scraped over his scalp and wandered down to caress his throat in a way that sent shivers all the way down his spine. It made his hands clutch her more firmly, hurl her closer still, made him groan into their kiss, and made heat pool low in his belly. She was all he wanted, all he needed, all that mattered. And, Gods , he wanted her so much.

Without his help, his hands wandered down her body, gliding along the curves of her waist, her hips, and her thighs. The thin fabric of her nightshift did little to cover her; he could feel everything, every muscle moving beneath hot skin. He eagerly swallowed the low moans his touch drew from her, luxuriating in the knowledge that it was he who made her feel like this. It was something he hoped to never lose, the simple joy of making her feel good.

However, when she broke free of their kiss to let out a louder groan and she ground herself down against him in that clear search for more stimulation, he remembered that there was a line they mustn't cross. As if he'd burned himself, he pulled his hands away from her thighs, though only to let them land on her hips instead, holding her still.

“Astrid!” he implored, pleading in a low and hoarse voice.

A low whimper escaped her, but she didn’t move and only let her forehead drop to his shoulder.

“I’m sorry. I… I got carried away.” She chuckled, embarrassed and a little breathless. Her hands tightened into fists around the fabric of his tunic. “But you better keep your promise, you hear me?”

Hiccup tilted his head to place a soft and relatively innocent kiss below her ear. “I will,” he vowed, his lips twitching. He knew that she was referring to what he'd said a few minutes before, but he couldn't resist teasing her a little, if only to lighten the mood. “I will come back to you. And don’t worry, I’m not going to scam you out of all the nights I’m going to make it up to you, either. You might even beg me for a break every now and then.”

His words had the desired effect as she was chuckling for real now. Her arms slid around his neck and she settled against his shoulder in a comfortable embrace. “Just promise me that you’ll be careful. Promise me that nothing will go wrong. That you won’t get overconfident, that you won't take unnecessary risks, and won’t do anything stupid.”

With his hands slowly caressing up and down her back, Hiccup smiled, hidden within her loose night braids. “All right. I promise not to do something stupid. And don’t worry, I know how dangerous dragons can be; I won’t get cocky. I have too much to lose.”

“Same here,” she mumbled before kissing him again, though sweeter and lighter this time.

After only a few seconds, she pulled back again and even slid off his lap to cuddle to his side instead. Hiccup missed her warmth right away but knew better than to protest. This was not the time for intimate closeness but it would come, soon.

“So, what about that shooter of yours?” Her voice was light, but a little strained. As if she was forcing herself to sound untroubled.

Hiccup grimaced. He didn't want her to pretend for his sake. He pulled her a little closer and brushed his lips against her forehead. "We don't have to talk about this," he mumbled against her skin. "Not if it makes you uncomfortable."

Astrid hesitated, then sighed. "It's… okay. And I think I do need to hear this. I need to know that everything will work out."

Hiccup chuckled. "That limits how I can reply to your question. You realise that, right?"

She snorted, and he could practically hear how she rolled her eyes. "Well, if you tell me now that the shooter won't work then you won't participate in this Hunt anyway."

His lips twitched at her adamant tone. "The shooter is in a good state. A little dusty so I need to clean it thoroughly, and I need to replace a couple of parts. But those are all manageable details. Don't worry, it will be in perfect shape for the Hunt."

"Okay." She nodded, the movement soothing against his arm, and sighed. "Maybe I'm just overreacting after all…"

Hiccup shrugged. "I wouldn't call it overreacting. To be honest, I'm a little nervous, too. But I refuse to let that deter me. You'll see, everything will go smoothly and next week by this time, we'll laugh about all this. And then you'll have to admit that I was right."

She snorted again and shook her head. "Is this a thing of yours? Do you always have to be right?"

Hiccup flinched as her words echoed in his mind but in another voice, a little deeper but with the same playful annoyance.

“What is it?” Astrid looked at him questioningly. She'd noticed his reaction, of course, she had...

“It’s… nothing. Just… Arndis used to say that, too. Complaining about how I’m usually right.” He chuckled, even as a fresh wave of sadness tainted his mood. “Wasn’t my fault she always tried to go straight through the wall instead of taking two steps to the side and around it.”

Astrid sat up until she knelt next to him, watching him carefully. “Would you… tell me more about her? About your family? Only if you feel like it, of course,” she added quickly.”But they meant so much to you, and I… Well, I wish I’d known them.”

Smiling sadly, Hiccup nodded. He leaned back, his eyes on the ceiling as his hand searched for hers.

“Arndis was… a little pigheaded,” he began, chuckling. Absentmindedly, he weaved his fingers through Astrid’s, her touch so soothing and comforting. “She wasn’t unreasonable, just… She had her own mind and wouldn’t let others tell her what to do. Or what she couldn’t do. I told you that women in the Tribes have more freedom than they have here. But Arndis still was the daughter of the High Chief and Grand Duke and was expected to enter a political marriage one day, possibly outside of the Tribes. Our parents tried to teach her certain manners so she wouldn’t be completely lost… but she barely listened. She refused to even learn how to ride on a side-saddle, for example, easily kept up with father’s guards when they got drunk in the Great Hall, and was far better at wielding a sword than her knitting needles. In fact, she was better at wielding a sword than most of Father’s soldiers, I included.”

He chuckled at the memory and marvelled at how easy it was to think about her now, with barely any pain.

"Sounds like my kind of person," Astrid replied, watching him with a smile.

Hiccup nodded. "Yeah, I think you two would have gotten along very well," he said wistfully. "You're a lot like her, in many ways. She never had the patience to master an art like archery, though that’s for the better, I think. She was very competitive – not unlike you, if I think back to our occasional horse races.” In general, those were happy memories but he flinched nonetheless, hadn’t meant to remind her of Markor again. But Astrid didn’t seem to mind.

“Mmh. I wish I'd known her. I met a lot of other highborn daughters over the years, but they were all so boring.” She chuckled, then grew quiet again. “And your brother? Teitr? How was he like?”

Hiccup swallowed, and his hand in Astrid’s twitched. “Teitr… he-he was…” He trailed off with a helpless shrug, then tried again. “He was a surprise, in every aspect. After Arndis and me, nobody expected our parents to have more children – not even them. When my mother became pregnant again and gave birth to another healthy boy, it was like a miracle. And that’s how he got treated, too; he got spoiled rotten by everyone.”

“And by you, too?”

Hiccup’s lips twitched into an involuntary smile at her guess. “Most of all by me. You should have seen him… He was so sweet. Brave and curious and always so full of energy, so eager to explore the world.”

Next to him, Astrid sat up, and only when her fingers brushed over his cheek did he notice the lonely tear there. “You loved him a lot, didn’t you?”

Swallowing past the lump in his throat, Hiccup nodded. “It was more than just that, though, he added, a little hesitantly. ”There were many quarrels among the Tribes over the last few years and Father was always busy mediating between the arguing parties. So I often took care of him when Mother had other duties to fulfil – Arndis rarely had the patience for that and I always felt responsible for him – until I kind of… became something of a replacement dad for him?”

Biting his lip, Hiccup dropped his gaze. It brought fresh pain to think of Teitr like this. He’d certainly looked up to Hiccup – and he hadn’t been able to save him.

“Sometimes, he even called me Dad, when he was just learning how to speak and didn’t know the difference mostly, but also a few times when he was older, too, distracted by whatever he wanted to show me.”

He’d never told anyone about this, hadn’t even acknowledged it to himself, but it had happened. Yes, Teitr had been more than just a little brother to him, in a way. Telling Astrid about him, the woman he wanted to start a family with someday, felt both incredibly awkward and absolutely right.

He wasn't sure how he'd expected her to react, but a part of him wasn’t even surprised at how she took it. She wasn’t angry, wasn’t jealous, wasn't rejecting the bond he'd shared with his baby brother as ridiculous. Instead, she offered comfort for his loss, kissing him with the salty taste of sadness on her lips before she straightened to hug him close to her chest. And he could feel it, the sorrow and understanding thrumming through their bond. It showed him again that she was worth it all.

He held her close, his arms wrapped around her waist, and listened to her steadily beating heart until the turmoil in his own chest had settled again. It took a long while, with her all but wrapped around him for comfort, her hands soothingly running through his hair. She seemed to sense when he’d calmed down – or maybe he’d made some noise or movement, Hiccup wasn’t sure – and pulled back to look at him again.

“I’m so sorry. I can’t imagine how that must have been for you. I mean… I lost my baby brother, too. But even though I mourn him that obviously wasn’t the same. I never got the chance to know him. So…” She paused, biting her lip. She averted her eyes and looked a little embarrassed, a slight blush on her cheeks. “I don’t know, I don’t want to come across as presumptuous. But I was thinking… Maybe, if that’s okay with you, then we could name our son Teitr. As a memento?”

Hiccup was momentarily stunned. All too well, he remembered the vision they’d shared, remembered the little boy Astrid had held in her arms there. But now, his mind made up details he wasn’t sure had truly been there before; an open but cheeky smile and a pair of green eyes brimming with life and curiosity.

He had to swallow against the lump in his throat but at the same time, he felt warmth spreading from his chest and through his entire body, not erasing the sorrow and pain but making it easier to bear.

“I… Yes, I think I’d like that,” he mumbled with something of a smile creeping onto his face.

When her eyes met his again, there was a deep understanding in them, a reassuring warmth, and just so much love. It made something melt inside him, and with a sigh, a tension he hadn’t known he’d held left his body. He leaned his forehead against Astrid’s, drawing upon her strength. If that was still possible, he loved her even more now.

“Thank you.”

These two words were too weak to express what he felt, but he hoped that she could feel it, his love and gratitude.

Astrid just hummed in response, tilted her head to kiss him lightly, and then leaned against his chest again.

They stayed silent for a long while after that and just basked in each other’s closeness. Hiccup kept caressing her back and shoulders until her breathing became calm and even, her warm weight against his chest telling him that she was falling asleep. Gently, he guided her to lie down, undressed toward a comfortable state, and slipped beneath the sheets next to her. Astrid only woke up for long enough to cuddle into his arms before her consciousness slipped away again.

Hiccup stayed awake for a little while longer, though. He wasn’t tired, despite the long day, and instead was content with watching her in her sleep. There was something of a tentative smile playing around her lips, but some of the tension from before was still there, her worries and fears creeping back into her now unguarded mind.

With a sigh, he leaned down to brush a butterfly kiss to her brow, then whispered, “Don’t worry, Milady. I’ll do better this time. This time, I won’t fail. I will kill a dragon! I’ll do whatever it takes, for our future. For you. I promise– no, I vow to you. This time, I won't mess it up!"

. o O o .

Uh oh...

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In good news, the next update shouldn't take that long. It's going to be another interlude and it's already completely written out. And also... it comes with a "Minor Character Death" warning...

Next Chapter

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If you want to support me you can buy me a coffee. I love coffee 😊 (Ko-Fi)

[gilded-green]

In celebration of the 10th anniversary, I’ll probably reread GG and send updates/highlight areas and as for commentary. Probably XD

But first. What aspect of Gilded Green was your favorite? What was something you put in a lot of world building for but never got to show either in fic or on tumblr. Who is your favorite character and why, what makes them special in your eyes? Which character has turned into a completely different one as soon as you started writing them? Which part of the fic did you like most when you finished it, do you still like it? Similarly, which part do you dislike most?

Lasty, anything about gg2’s story you want to share/talk about/rant?

-love, the dai li fangirl

Haha, no pressure! But at the same time yes if you do feel free to send me passages for commentary here! <3

What aspect was my favorite? Hmmm. *thinking face* I think, when I first came up with it, I was just thrilled to have these two small things - minor character Lu Ten, overlooked villain organization Dai Li - that I was able to combine into something so big. That was pretty nifty!

As I started developing the story, I think what really caught my attention was the fact that “Wow, all these characters are awful people!” Like. The Dai Li aren’t good.The Fire Nation aren’t good. Lu Ten is a victim but also an oppressor. All off these people have extremely different beliefs and worldviews - Fire supremacist, police state enforcers, classist academic gatekeepers - and all of them think THEY’RE in the right here and none of them are. I think Tien and Hoang might be the only people with a decent, non-oppressive worldview in the story so far. XD I was growing out of the storytelling trope of black-and-white morality at the time, so it was really fun to start experimenting with writing awful people as enjoyable, sympathetic characters.

World building? Hmm. I was just learning how to use my worldbuilding muscles back then. I seem to remember reading up a lot on how brainwashing actually works in the real world and going “I don’t think this is compatible with what we have in ATLA” and just kinda tossing that whole thing out. XD I also recall looking up a lot of stuff for the bits about Jouin, some of which - kalua pig! - has since shown up again in WFFD. I also recall someone on FFdotnet at the time saying “All this chapter did was tell us more about a dead character than the living one” and I was just kinda like -_- yes because he is DEAD and this is your chance to feel sorry about that, we’ll get plenty more of the living one later on account of him still being, y’know, alive. XD

Oh, and Shirong’s personal side projects. I finally got into that a bit in A Meeting of Minds, but the dude DOES have his own stuff going on, which Delun so rudely interrupted to drag him off to see Long Feng about brainwashing a Firebender.

I also did a bunch of research for the birthday party interlude, I think. Mostly appropriate alcohol for such an occasion? And....okay, this’ll sound funny, but.....food containers. I wanted Fen to pack up leftovers for Suyin and Shirong. That’s what my Italian family does after get-togethers, and I assumed that a Chinese family/friend group would do the same! But I also had, like, zero exposure to everyday Chinese life, let alone everyday Chinese life in the 1800s, and I just didn’t have the...idk, cultural osmosis? to figure it out. Like, if you asked me how Victorians would transfer food I’d probably come up with “Idk, wrap it in cloth and stuff it in a basket?” and I assumed people living in modern China would also be able to explain what their people did for food storage/transport 150 years ago but I didn’t have that cultural background, now, did I??? Also this was 10-12 years ago I was looking this up, mind you, the internet was still very different, there was plenty of information on Chinese historical events but not on everyday life objects, CDramas weren’t easy to find if they were translated at all and I certainly didn’t know they existed, and no one was posting beautiful aesthetic videos of life in a rural Chinese mountain village to youtube yet. Eventually I learned that bamboo baskets were a thing, but there wasn’t much info on THOSE either and I wasn’t sure how to describe them, so I just tentatively typed “basket” and called it a day. XD

YOU CANNOT ASK ME TO CHOOSE MY FAVORITE CHARACTER THAT’S LIKE ASKING ME TO CHOOSE BETWEEN MY CHILDREN!!! *shoves Yong off a cliff*

I’m very fond of the Dai family, along with the Trungs and Sais. I’m very proud of how Tuan turned out. I adore Yuan, who you’ve barely met, and Xun, who you haven’t. Huang and Wu Sheng are also definite faves and I can’t wait for y’all to get to know them better.

Characters do usually behave for me in terms of personality development. They surprise me, but they never really turn out to be the complete OPPOSITE of what I was expecting? They just kinda develop organically. Huang and Wu Sheng surprised me, tho, those boys got deep. I knew they had the potential, but developing their backstory actually caused Stingrae and I to develop Ba Sing Se’s socio-political backstory and Long Feng’s rise to power, all because of an inkling I had. That was a very satisfying few years of worldbuilding and story development.

Um, favorite part of the fic....idk, I’m very fond of the final scene, with Azula and her wall chunk from Lu Ten. I’m doubly fond of it because of how it always resonates with readers. Heck, during Azula week last year, I used that chunk of rock as an ongoing theme in Sandstone, and someone commented like “I DIDN’T REALIZE YOU’RE THE ONE WHO WROTE GILDED GREEN” and that made me really happy!

Lu Ten’s time stuck underground - I used the seven stages of grief to get through that one and it was very helpful in structuring that part of the story, and I figured it was deep or something because PSYCHOLOGY.

I’m also proud of myself for getting through the dark brainwashing scenes. So, like, FYI, fanfiction could get...very dark, back in the 00s. People love to play purity police these days and complain about how nasty people get can, but listen. Listen. Do you have any idea how dark FFdotnet got back in the day? Legolas And Aragorn Get Captured By Orcs And Brutally Tortured was an entire genre. I feel like torture fic was actually a lot more common back then, and darkfic in general - I’m sure someone could write a whole thesis on why it’s not so prevalent anymore, I’m gonna guess the fact that fandom is less-insulated and more public now could be part of it, maybe also the fact that the internet is more social media/influencer culture based so people care about their image, and also the purity police which is its own kettle of worms, but I also think that the Bush Administration had something to do with it? You have all these kids who were pre-teens when 9/11 happened, growing up during the Iraq War with an awful presidential administration while everyone was scared and conservative Christianity started to realize that their control over the nation’s “morality” might be slipping and reacted accordingly......yeah there was a lot of darkfic back then.

And I read a lot of darkfic too, but, uh....well, statistically speaking, a lot of writing is bad, okay? A lot of those fics were just weird; you could see where the writer had this idea, and also where they failed to execute it in a way that resonated or made sense. And whatever, writers were young and just wanted to pound out some catharsis, it’s cool, but it still just felt narratively awkward when you could tell how the writer was more focused on LET’S MAKE THIS AS DARK AS POSSIBLE instead of “Let’s tell this as well as possible.”

So the first several attempts at writing the brainwashing scenes, I was nervous because I didn’t want to get TOO dark, and when I finally decided “eff it” and said to Stingrae “I think I need to let this be as dark as it needs to be” I was still nervous because I didn’t want it to end up WEIRD. Idk if that makes sense, but anyway I seem to have done a decent job at it!

As for parts I dislike the most, uhhhhh Iroh’s retreat (I didn’t care, I just wanted to get it over with), Enlai might’ve been promoted too fast? idk, the fact that I came up with Nanyue AFTER I finished publishing GG so I couldn’t work that into the Quy bits, the fact that I was young and innocent and didn’t understand sexual slang or innuendo and randomly chose Dong as the name of the court physician which could lead to some awful puns except no one ever seemed to pick up on that and maybe I’ll regret pointing it out but the man IS going to appear again so I might as well get the first shot in myself. XD

I might have GG2 stuff to talk about but not sure, if I do I’ll make another post on that!

<3

[atrixfromice]

Goodness Gaia Indeed! *chuckles*

This is what happens when you’re at work and your wife sends you a “hi” message with a video to keep the romance after 7 years of marriage!

A drawing I did with a idea I had cos I thought it was going to be so cute and funny at the same time, and it was! ^^

This was an sketch I did on Feb, 3 of this year, but left aside because I was working on comissions, until now that finished it yesterday. I have to say, this is the kind of drawings I usually keep for myself XD. But I’m so happy and excited about this cute and funny drawing I can’t help sharing it!

So for this occasion I’ll make an exception. Cos honest to God I loved my blue alien surprised expression and his pose on this sketch, it makes me smile and warms up my heart! And makes me laugh a lot too! 😆 Honestly, I just wanted an excuse to make him say “goodness gaia”, because he looks too cute when he does that! 😍

For the panel with Atrix, this is the first time I make this kind of perspective from above, and I think is not bad for my first try. She’s supposed to lift up the smartphone with a hand. Probably he’s got a selfie stick to put her smartphone in or something XD

And talking about smartphone, these are stickers are from my new smartphone, my default photo editor has them. It's a shame I didn’t feel inspired to do a drawing like this before the thumrl purge, but well, c’est la vie! I had to censor it anyways, so I told to myself “why not making it fun?“, and I thought stickers were a fun way to do it.  I liked that “wow” one and the flower and leaves one, I had fun with these stickers heheh.

Oh! And for the ones who don’t know the lore of these characters: At some point on the story the guy works at giving classes to prepare space patrol cadets so they can get the basics to help and rescue others in distress. And She works as a linguist but not on the same days. So this happens on this part of the story’s time line. I feel bad because I have no scanner and I couldn’t be able to go to a ciber cafe today. But I did my best taking a good photo.

Probably I'll go to scan it tomorrow. But today is Sunday! Is my day of rest ^^