#i swear these are getting longer

[indigo-ghost-girl]

Spoilers for parts of Sonic Frontiers...

Part 1

Part 5

Soft chirping crickets hopped around among the lush grass of Ouranos island. Moonbeams brilliantly flowed down to the surface of the planet, illuminating and lining everything in sight with a silver shine. Seagulls slept soundly in their nests along the cliffside, tucked into their feathers.

Near the giant, looming stone structure at the islands center, a group of 5 people a small circle.

No one spoke.

Sage had just concluded her revelation. The small Ai girl looked from one member of the group to the next. Their reactions had been mostly what she had expected.

Tails was silent, staring pointedly into the horizon at the vast dark sea in the distance, the knuckle of his right index finger pressing firmly into his chin. His brow was furrowed, the short marigold furs above his eyes spiking outwards. The fox was blinking hard, the light of the moon glimmering off the watery sheen coating his eyes. He swallowed, throat dry and itchy.

Amy’s mouth had been periodically opening and closing, her actions and facial expression similar to that of a mortified fish staring up helplessly at the cleaver about to slice its head off. Her mouth had dried, shriveling up the words she was searching for. “He… lost?” Amy eventually whispered; its hushed tone came out horse. Her green eyes peered skyward, searching the stars for any glimpse of a golden streak of light. “And he…” Amy’s words faded into silence. The hedgehog took a few stumbling steps backwards.

Knuckles was stiff. His eyes seemed dazed, somehow duller than normal. His breaths were tight, stifled, every breath in was constrictive, a battle to inhale oxygen into his lungs. A losing battle. The muscles in his hands were starting to strain under the tight grip he had been clenching them in. His shoulders knotted together behind him, his tense shoulder blades held end to end like a vice. His mouth was twitching, the corners of his mouth twitching into and out of a snarl.

Eggman had returned to his eggmobile long ago, his pompous posterior perched at the edge of his padded seat. Two fingers pushed up the glasses into his face as he squinted into the holographic screen beaming up from his console. The rest of fingers still tapping away at the compact keypad below as the others had their moments.

“No.” Knuckles spoke up, his voice was low, echoing across the quiet whispers of the night. The red echidna shook his head stiffly.

”No!” he repeated, head snapping up. The human jumped at the outburst, left hand shifting to hover over a red button on his console. Knuckles’ eyes zeroed in on the doctor.

“You are not tricking me this time Eggman! I’ve had enough of your tricks and deceit.” Knuckles barked. The echidna scowled at “Sage” redirecting his fiery glare onto her. He could not believe this girl for a second, if she was that deceiver’s daughter, he didn’t trust her either.

Eggman’s lips curled up into an annoyed snarl, “Echidna, get this through your thick skull. Sages programming dictates that she must protect me from any threat to my life. And unfortunately, despite my near infinite genius, I can’t stop that thing from destroying this universe,”

Eggman turned away, “Not alone at least,” he hissed through gritted teeth “and if I die,” his head swiveled back, “You die and your precious angel island goes down with you. I trust my dau- uh,” he stuttered before clearing his throat with a short cough, “CReation, and unless you want to see this planet blow up, you will have to as well.”

Tails eyes unlocked from the horizon, having quietly listened in to the conversation with his finger slipping off his chin. “Knuckles perhaps…” Tails spoke up quietly.

“Well, I trust Sonic!” Knuckles shouted, missing the fox’s comment completely, “He’s had to clean up your messes for years and I refuse to believe he failed. All you have ever done is lie and cheat! I refuse to believe Sonic lost!” the echidna stomped up to Eggman angrily, only stopping when Sage floated between the two heated characters.

Sage interjected herself into their argument, “Your faith is admirable, guardian of the master emerald, your words are close enough to the truth, he almost did win-“

“No!” Knuckles growled, “The last time I saw you, you opened fire on him! How am I meant to believe you?!”

Amy took a step forward reaching out for the echidna’s arm, “Knuckles,” She spoke tugging him away from Eggman.

Knuckles shrugging Amys hand from his arm. “No Amy!” He said, not looking at her. “How do I know you didn’t take advantage of Sonic’s lowered guard? How do I know you didn’t launch him halfway across the galaxy after stealing the emeralds from him?”

“That’s why that things hand is missing isn’t it?” he accused, gesturing at the giant limp robot standing in the trees near them.

The AI brought her hands to her face, her red glitches shifting to blue for a moment, “No! Echidna you and your friends are in grave danger, we must to travel to angel island to-“

“So that it! You’re after master emerald!”

“Please, we don’t have time for this-” Sage begged, hovering down closer to his eye level.

The conversation was abruptly cut short when something large and bright lit up the sky. All attention was immediately turned upwards. A near blinding flash of red and white sparks illuminated the night sky. Tails quickly tucked his big ears under his hands.

Seconds later, a deafening bang reverberated down into the island. Knuckles and Amy were forced to clamp their hands over their ears as well. The ground shook violently beneath them, forcing all on the ground to stumble around to keep from losing balance. All the seagulls took off from their nests along the cliffside, turning the skies into a flurry of panic and white feathers.

What came next was a sharp and powerful wind. It tore through the air, pressing down mercilessly on all on them. A few of the thinner trees snapped under the force of the wind, some toppling to the ground, their new roots unearthed and bare.

Tails and Amy, who were already off balance, were knocked over by the blast. Even Eggmans eggmobile couldn’t handle the force, it tipped over sideways, throwing the man overboard. Sage immediately followed the path of his fall, at his side when he hit the ground.

“What was that?” Amy asked, voice trembling nervously. Her own comment barely made it to her ears over the loud ringing now bouncing around inside her earcannal’s.

“Oh no!” Sage whispered.

“Sage-” Eggman started, fearful but stern, scrabbling to his feet.

The AI turned to the only one in the group who had managed to stand their ground. “Knuckles-“

Before another word could be spoken, all five were blasted outwards. All went flying, even the Echidna. Something had launched itself into the centre of where the group had been recuperating.

The seagulls flooding the skies squawked louder as they were swept up in the sudden tidal wave of wind, creating a ripple of birds that squawked across the sky.

“…Sonic wind.” A calm voice spoke amongst the chaos, “That is what he calls it, how quaint.”

Knuckles groaned, snapping his head up to see what had blind sighted them.

The figure was red a hedgehog, quills upturned, red and white shoes hovering just above the tips of the grass. Knuckles eyes widened in recognition.

He would recognize those quills anywhere. It was Sonic… but… No! The aura around the hedgehog buzzed, humming akin to a large generator and Knuckles was sure his nose picked up a charring smell.

A calm, sort of amused smile was perched lightly on Sonic’s muzzle, like a small bird rustling its feathers. Nothing like Sonic’s signature warm and confident smirk.

This smile was cold: malevolent. Empty.

The hedgehog was staring at his glove, small chunks of the white cotton seemed missing, it watched, almost playfully, as the small red of gusts of glittering winds danced beautifully among his fingers.

Knuckles grit his teeth, hard. So; Sage had been telling the truth.

Eggman, who had landed closest to the echidna, cleared his throat. “Believe her now echidna? ”Eggman grumbled out the side of his mouth.

“Shut it, nosehair.” Knuckles growled, baring his gritted teeth at the human.

“S-sonic?” Amy spoke up, pushing herself to het feet.

The hedgehog spun his head to her gracefully. The smile grew wider.

Amy felt her shoulders tense. His eyes! The white of his eyes, infected with an inky black. His emerald eyes now tainted with a glowing neon purple that seemed to float lifelessly in the void. His eye lids drooped hallway down his face as he brought his attention to her, he seemed so calm, viciously so.

“Greetings, Amy Rose,” It spoke again, its layered voice dancing as delicately as the wind weaving about his fingers.

“Enlighten me,”

Amy felt the air around start her fizzle. It pricked lightly at her skin.

“How resilient are you?”

In a second, those burning purple eyes appeared before of her nose. Time warped to an unbearable crawl around her. All she could do was stare at the hedgehogs face, eyes wide and pupils two purple specks, as she felt something dig into her abdomen in painfully slow motion. She couldn’t feel the pain of the punch, she barley even noticed it was there, too taken off guard by how fast he had moved and how close Sonic’s face was to hers.

The wind whistling past her ears drowned out the screams of the others calling her name. At some point mid-air she got a grip on herself and managed to land on her feet. The dirt and grass piled up behind her boots as she slid backwards. Her back hit a tree with a thump, knocking the air from her lungs and jostling the leaves of the tree. Amy stumbled, falling onto her knees, gasping for breath and clutching at her abdomen.

“Sonic stop!” Tails cried. The fox began scrambling to his feet, quickly approaching the hedgehog.

“Tails Don’t!” Knuckles, bolted at the red hedgehog, fist pulled back. The purple eyes shifted slightly.

It was Knuckles turn to have the wind knocked out of him, tossed back by a massive blade of air that shrieked at him. It blasted him upwards at a sharp angle, flinging him far across the landscape.

Its eyelids fell, unamused, “Impatient guardian, you will have your fight, wait your turn,” it tutted.

“Knuckles!” Tails cried, reaching out a hand to his friend as he disappeared into the distance across the island.

“Miles, “Tails” per hour,” said a voice next to his ear. Tails filched, leaping away.

It walked at him slowly, hands casually clasped behind its back, the light of the morning sun seemed cold as it rose behind the hedgehog, shadowing his face and letting the purple eyes light up Sonic’s features.

The fox stumbled backwards, it continued to approach. Tails’ body was shaking, his arms and legs trembling but he clenched his fists, holding his ground. He gulped, pressing down his growing dread, “Sonic,” he started, voice as shakey as his limbs “You have to stop this… you can fight it…”

It titled its head at him, stopping right in front of his face.

“Sonic… can you hear me?” Tails squeaked.

A soft laugh, “Oh the mortal can hear you young kitsune,” it chuckled.

Tails took a step back.

Red eyelids concealed his pupils for a moment. His left eye opened again, unveiling a shaking green iris. It glanced around frantically for a moment, bouncing around the void until it settled on Tails. It shrank.

“S-s-sonic?” Tails stammered.

“He pleas for you to flee,” it informed, politely.

The green eye was quelled by the red eyelid once again and the purple eyes from before gleamed in its place.

“Although I am curious,” it pondered, smile widening into a great black smile, illumined by a neon purple tongue, “How do you flee from the fastest thing alive?”

Knuckles came flying from the trees at the hedgehog, hollering a rage fueled war cry, spines full of twigs and leaves, aiming a fist in its direction.

Another wave of wind was thrown his way, but this time Knuckles was prepared, he swerved out of the way. The aftereffects of the wind dragged him back but he stood firm, his shoes grinding away at the ground beneath him. The echidna blinked; the hedgehog had vanished. He saw Tails’ eyes widen at something behind him.

“Too slow,” Knuckles whipped his head around, it was right behind him smile gleefully wide. The echidna ducked just in time, missing the first punch the hedgehog had thrown. Knuckles landed and immediately rolled away from the second punch. When hedgehogs fist hit the earth, an explosion of mud and rocks shot up into the air.

The echidna caught some debris in his mouth and he spat it out as he jumped to his feet. The earth explosion fell, hitting the grass in many soft pattering sounds. Among the shower of soil stood the hedgehog.

It opened its mouth, its eyes open unnaturally wide, “Knuckles the Echidna, guardian of the master emerald, your skill is to be expected. Yet you are no match...”

The hedgehog was suddenly a spinning red ball. Knuckles had barely milliseconds to raise his fists in defense. He had expected Sonic to bounce off him. Instead, the ball of spikes tore through his defense. A horrible crunching sound met his ears as pain exploded into his right fist.

He stumbled away, lashing back with a blind punch.

Burning hot fingers wrapped around his wrist. His punch was brought to an abrupt stop. The echidna bit back a hiss as the red-hot fingers tightened.

It continued gently, “…For you have no notion of how greatly your friend restrains himself. I However-” It swiftly caught the other wrist as Knuckles threw his second punch. “-Have no qualms on the subject.”

The rage in Knuckles eyes deepened as he glared into the eyes of the other, cringing as the grip around his wrists got hotter. The hissing sound of Sonic’s cotton gloves ashing and melting, contaminated the air.

It smiled back at him, that deceivingly soft smile. Its eyebrows raised and its gaze turned to his right fist. Knuckles eyes flickered to his claws. Only to see two cracked stumps. His gut clenched painfully.

A mighty thwack brought his attention back to the fight his wrists released. Knuckles pulled away. A blur of yellow and white. Tails had hit the hedgehog back with his tails. He felt a hand grab his arm, yanking him away from another punch.

The echidna was deposited at the foot of the tall stoney cliff. The fox landed next to Knuckles with a huff. “It’s toying with us,” he exhaled. “Knuckles, we… have to try the plan.”

The red hedgehog tilted its head curiously, peering down at the two below it.

“You can’t handle that thing by yourself!” Knuckles insisted, eyes still locked on to the smiling hedgehog. He flexed his right hand into a fist, parts of his crumpled claws flaking into small bits that fell to the ground.

“Good thing he’s not alone then,” Came Amy’s voice from behind him. Amy waltzed into his field of vision, a slight limp to her step and a massive hammer resting against her right shoulder. She wiped off a smudge of dirt from her muzzle with her thumb. “Go! We’ll cover you.”

[bunnyheritageposts]

the qualities of Bunny are

-Two Long Ears (or anything resembling ears such as horns/antennae)

-Fluffy

-Round Shape (some nuance here esp for hares)

with secondary characteristics being

-Long Feets

-Mischievous little guys

with this philosophy much more can be Bunny than just rabbits. You Too can be Bunny . open your eyes and hearts

[hinamie]

someone asked if i had ever drawn gojo with his scars, now i have :>

[lynxgriffin]

Eldritchrune - Attack of the Killer Queen

1 | 2

Story Setup Eldritchrune Masterpost

The Fun Gang finally arrive in Queen's lair, and attempt to take her on! But it's far from easy to battle an ancient, dark god...especially one so steeped in acid!

PHEW dang this part took me WAY longer to finish than I was expecting, but finally, as many have asked, we have the Queen boss battle! Next part will be up tomorrow!

[mirensiart]

a small silly comic for the pain sharing curse au before I throw the really painful comics at y’all

(I also didn’t feel like coloring this one)

also can confirm, my baby cousin once said I was super cringe and I haven’t recovered since :(

(wind apologizes later though since his grandma raised him right)

[tubbytarchia]

Hey guys I think The Last Unicorn is such a Scott book

[cosmicwhoreo]

.... Okay, so I might have made a ahit oc during my downtime. Based on the idea of "yeah the idea of hat kid being a little space orphan doing a job is sad.... But what if they were separated from their family and needed to get back home instead?"

And what if their worried mother came to the planet they were on, looking for them after they'd JUST LEFT like a month ago?

SOOOOOO HERE'S SUMMER!

I may have gotten carried away with myself on this idea-

[tordoise-x3]

Just my drawigs from today cuz I haven’t been finishing anything 😞

[hello-from-nrc-infirmary]

Vern's Hometown: Centennial Celebration

Book 4: Rhapsody of Seasons

Chapter 2: Countdown

The town square has been converted since earlier. Heat from a large bonfire fights back the night air. Long benches and tables are now organized, bread and hor dourves lining their centers. Vern shifts nervously as he glances around the area. His gaze hovers on the main table, counting the seats carefully.

"Don't worry, we get that table this year," Folia points to a table just to the side of the main.

"Yup! We said we needed room for your guests," Shirley chimes in.

Vern glances away and struggles to pull out a handkerchief. He quickly dabs around his eyes. "I-I umm... th-thank you..."

"It's nothing. We got it set up so you won't be next to Victor."

"I could kiss you," Vern mutters under his breath.

"You're welcome," Folia lightly chuckles, "shall we?"

Vern can only manage a nod. The crowd easily parts for them to reach their seats. Familiar snowy hair gives him pause. A chill crawls over his skin as an unwelcome spell spirals around him. The cool night breeze across his thighs is a warning. The skirt is too short, the bodice is too tight.

"Hey, sweetheart," the winter sprite grins, "you looked a bit ruffled."

Vern's fingers twitch, "how... generous. Unfortunately, white doesn't suit me."

Ooc// when Vern says: "I could kiss you"... it's a figure of speech. It's a way to express extreme gratitude.. Do you guys like having me post the song(s) I write these to?

Song: Counting Stars OneRepublic

@castaway-achlys @nightonthemountain @nrcbookclub

Book 1: [1] [2] [3]

Book 2: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5A] [5B] [6] [7]

Book 3: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]

Book 4: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]

[ggenggar-draws]

they tried to put me on the cover of vogue, but my legs were tooooo looooong

part1 / part2 / part3 / part4

[daydreamerwonderkid]

Praying for Tim or Duke in Sanrio themed clothes

Fucking loved this prompt. Thank you so much, anon!

[balsee]

(For @starlightbelle, I tried my best with this, and while I'm not totally satisfied with it, I hope you enjoy it! 💗)

Never Too Much; you spend a late night in the kitchen with Sanji.

When you walk into the kitchen in the middle of the night, the first thing you’re greeted with is Sanji’s boyish, brilliant smile. 

“You’re here!”

“I said I would be,” you reply softly, despite the fact that nobody is awake. It’s just the two of you under a waxy moon and a million stars. “You know, you don’t have to cook something every time we meet up like this. I’d be fine with just a glass of water or some tea.” 

“I know,” Sanji says, a tray balanced in one hand as he brings it to the table. “But I can’t help myself, a beautiful lady like yourself deserves a good late night snack.” he places the tray down and hurries to pull out your seat despite your protests. You couldn’t help the way your heart began to thrum every time Sanji rushed to accommodate or dote on you, and since he was always going out of his way to cater to your every need, you were in a constant state of near cardiac arrest. Without skipping a beat, Sanji placed a dessert in front of you, a chocolate souffle topped with whipped cream, and a china cup of fragrant smelling tea. 

Of all the things in the world he could’ve made, he makes you a souffle. A souffle. Granted, it wasn’t a complicated dessert by any means for a chef of his skill, but still. You felt a little undeserving of something like this, but Sanji is looking at you so expectantly that you don’t have the heart to comment. 

Plus, it smelled amazing. 

“Thank you,” you smile at him, and you can actually see his face physically morph into something lovestricken. He’s practically glowing. 

“Of course, dearest, of course.” he replies, his voice soft and low; intimate in a way you’ve never heard before. It’s as if a thousand flowers have suddenly taken bloom inside your stomach, and you long to hear him sound like that again. But any attempt to prolong the conversation is stuck inside your throat, you don’t know what else to say. Instead, you pick up your spoon and dig in, hoping that he doesn’t notice the brilliant heat that’s creeping up your neck. 

The souffle is rich and warm, and you hum in delight. 

“Good?” Sanji asks, using his spoon to cut into his own dessert. 

“Wonderful.” you reply sincerely, and he laughs. “Like you didn’t know!” 

“Ah, well, compliments always mean something more coming from you.” 

You huff, fighting down a blush, and continue to eat without a word. A few moments of peaceful silence goes by between the two of you, and you relish the opportunity to just sit and exist with Sanji; with nothing but the ticking of the kitchen clock to interrupt you two. Your little late night get-togethers with Sanji happened exactly one week prior, when he caught you rifling through the cabinets for some chocolate covered pretzels you kept carefully hidden behind an assortment of jars and cans. He had flung the door open, thinking it was Luffy trying to sneak food from the fridge like usual, causing you to jump nearly a foot in the air. He apologized for scaring you, and to make up for it, had diced up some fruit and suggested you eat together (the pretzels, unfortunately, were nowhere to be found). And that's how it started. 

Each night brought a different dessert. A different story, and a new revelation that allowed you to see different facets of Sanji previously unknown. You found out that he sampled cigarettes from each new island they came across one night over chocolate chip cookies. You also discovered that he still cooks dishes from Alabasta while sharing a slice of leftover carrot cake. The thrill never fully went away, and you ate as slowly as possible, wanting to savor every moment you could with him.

“I haven’t made souffle since my time on the Baratie.” Sanji remarks, pouring himself a cup of tea.

“Really?”

“Yeah, I was twelve the first time I tried it, and I somehow managed to burn and undercook it. The old man gave me shit for years until I was able to perfect it.” he grins around his cigarette, pausing briefly to flick ash into a nearby ashtray. “He’ll be happy to know that I still use his chocolate souffle recipe, and that it satisfies a pretty lady such as yourself.” 

You can’t fight a good-natured groan. “Sanji…”

He laughs, not unkindly, and you blush all the harder. He knows exactly what he’s doing to you.

“...looking back on it now, she was kind of a snob,” Sanji says. Twenty minutes have gone by. The souffle is gone, and your cups hold the dregs of a now cold tea. Sanji is on his second cigarette, regaling you with a story about his first crush, and he takes one last pull of his cigarette before stubbing it into his ashtray. “But I was fifteen at the time and totally in love. Her father was involved with the Marines, so they’d come for dinner often, and I always insisted on making her any dish she asked for; even if I didn’t have a clue about what I was doing yet. She had this thick black hair in these big curls, and she always wore a white ribbon in her hair and smelled like jasmine. Tulips were her favorite, so I tried to give her one each time she left the restaurant.”

You picture a fifteen year old Sanji, long-legged and awkward but with his same kind smile and you can’t help but coo.

“Aw, Sanji, that’s adorable!”

“Yeah, I guess.” He leans back in his chair. “Patti and the other cooks made fun of me, but they must’ve known that she wasn’t very nice from the beginning, because when she rejected me in public, they got me piss drunk to try and forget about it.”

You can’t stop your mouth from falling open. “Sanji, that’s terrible! They gave you alcohol when you were that young?!”

“Yup, Zeff was furious when he found out, and he spent the next day trying to nurse my hangover, I swear I thought I was going to die. I never felt so shitty.” At your wide-eyed expression, Sanji smiles, a little flimsy. “Trust me, sweetheart, I’ve gone through worse at a much younger age.”

***

When the dishes are cleared, cleaned and put away, Sanji insists on walking you back to your room. You both creep quietly out of the kitchen, and when you’re both standing outside the bedroom you share with Nami and Robin, you gather up the last of your courage to face him. 

“Thank you for tonight,” you say, keeping your voice low. Robin was a light sleeper, and you didn’t want to wake her. “I appreciate you doing this.”

“Of course! I like this time with just the two of us, it’s nice.” A small lantern illuminated the hallway, and there was just enough light to see Sanji run a hand through his hair. “Next time I’ll make cinnamon rolls, or something, or mini cheesecakes! With strawberries and whipped cream…”

“Sanji,” you interrupt him gently, and take a step forward. “I don’t need any special desserts to spend time with you. You don’t have to go to so much trouble, just being around you is more than enough for me.”

Even in the dour lighting, you catch a glimpse of Sanji’s flustered look and you grin triumphantly; satisfied at having been the one to ruffle him for once. He manages to compose himself, however, and takes your hand. 

“Well, in that case…” he trails off and places a kiss on your knuckles, delicate and sweet and holding your gaze the entire time. Your heart jackhammers when he gently turns your hand over and places an open-mouthed kiss on your wrist, directly on your pulse point. His gaze is smoldering, and after tonight, you’re sure you’ll never sleep again. “I can’t promise I’ll stop. I adore cooking for you, dearest, it’s never trouble when it comes to you, but I’ll take what you said into consideration.” he lets go of your hand and suddenly you wish he’d never let go of you. “Goodnight, love.”

Sanji gives you one last fond smile before he retreats to his own room, and you watch as the darkness swallows him up, at last finding your voice when he is no longer present to hear it. 

“Goodnight.”

[galacticlamps]

ok I have A Lot of thoughts about the staircase confession (well really about Edwin's whole character arc, but all roads lead to rome) but for now I just wanna say that, yes, I was bracing myself for something to go terribly wrong when I first watched it, and yes, part of me was initially worried its placement might be an uncharacteristically foolish choice made in the name of Drama or Pacing or Making a Compelling Episode of Television but at the expense of narrative sense--

But I wanna say that having taken all that into account, and watched it play out, and sat with it - and honestly become rather transfixed by it - I really think it's a beautifully crafted moment and truly the only way that arc could've arrived at such a satisfying conclusion.

And if I had to pinpoint why I not only buy it but also have come to really treasure it, I'd have to put it down to the fact that it genuinely is a confession, and nothing else.

That moment is an announcement of what Edwin has come to understand about himself, but because it takes the form of a character admitting romantic feelings for such a close friend, I think it can be very easy, when writing that kind of thing, to imbue it with other elements like a plea or a request or even the start of a new relationship that, intentionally or not, would change the shape of the moment and can quickly overshadow what a huge deal the telling is all on its own. But that's not the case here. Since it is only a confession, unaccompanied by anything else, and since we see afterward how it was enough, evidently, to fix the strangeness that had grown between him & Charles, we're forced to understand that it was never Edwin's feelings that were actually making things difficult for him - it was not being able to tell Charles about them. 'Terrified' as he's been of this, Edwin learns that his feelings don't need to either disappear completely or be totally reciprocated in order for him to be able to return to the peace, stability, and security of the relationship with which he defines his existence - and the scale of that relief a) tells us a hell of a lot about Edwin as a character and b) totally justifies the way his declaration just bursts out of him at what would otherwise be such a poorly chosen moment, in my opinion.

Whether or not they are or ever could be reciprocated, Edwin's feelings are definitively proven not to be the problem here - only his potential choice to bottle it up - his repression - is. And where that repression had once been mainly involuntary, a product of what he'd been through, now that he's got this new awareness of himself, if he still fails to admit what he's found either to himself or to the one person he's so unambiguously close with, then that repression will be by his own choice and actions.

And he won't do that. Among other things, he's coming into this scene having just (unknowingly) absolved the soul of his own school bully and accidental killer by pointing out a fact that is every bit as central to his self-discovery as anything about his sexuality or his attraction to Charles is: the idea that "If you punish yourself, everywhere becomes Hell"

So narratively speaking, of course it makes sense that Edwin literally cannot get out of Hell until he stops punishing himself - and right now, the thing that's torturing him is something he has control over. It's not who he is or what he feels, but what he chooses to do with those feelings that's hurting him, and he's even already made the conscious choice to tell Charles about them, he was just interrupted. But now that they're back together and he's literally in the middle of an attempt to escape Hell, there is absolutely no way he can so much as stop for breath without telling Charles the truth. Even the stopping for breath is so loaded - because they're ghosts, they don't need to breathe, but also they're in Hell, so the one thing they can feel is pain, however nonsensical. And Edwin certainly is in pain. But whether he knows what he's about to do or not when he says he 'just needs a tick,' a breather is absolutely not what's gonna give him enough relief to keep climbing - it's fixing that other hurt, though, that will.

Like everything else in that scene, there's a lot of layers to him promising Charles "You don't have to feel the same way, I just needed you to know" - but I don't think that means it isn't also true on a surface level. It's the act of telling Charles that matters so much more than whatever follows it, and while that might have gone unnoticed if anything else major had happened in the same conversation, now we're forced to acknowledge its staggering and singular importance for what it is. The moment is well-earned and properly built up to, but until we see it happen in all its wonderful simplicity, and we see the aftermath (or lack thereof, even), we couldn't properly anticipate how much of a weight off Edwin's shoulders merely getting to share the truth with Charles was going to be, why he couldn't wait for a better, safer opportunity before giving in to that desire, or how badly he needed to say it and nothing else - and I really, really love the weight that act of just being honest, seen, and known is given in their story/relationship.

[drawnandredrawn]

According to the preview I posted in discord, I actually did START this one on time for the StaticMoth Revival event, but my filing system is so bad I lost track of it for like, a month.

Anyway day 7 is a Free Day and this post is for that, since I'm stuck on the other uhhhhh four prompts. Expect them At Some Point but not with any kind of speed or consistency probably.

[printchar]

concept: vox's memory used to be stored on tapes. pretty much all of the good times he and alastor shared were exclusively on these tapes. now. given his obsession with alastor he probably went through these tapes often. maybe originally he would go through them right after, like freshly baked bread, savoring the moments with his best friend. and maybe he wore them out, a little. okay, maybe more than a little. maybe he wore them out so much that one day, the tapes became unplayable. maybe the photograph is all he really does have left. maybe him allowing the old store to stay around was him trying to "preserve" the memory. maybe. he can't remember.

[ratdadsnest]

I want them to interact SO BAD