#i wish there was a neater way to wrap this up but that isn’t how life works!

[vamptittiez]

shadows got me through the literal darkest part of my life, a part i hope to never ever experience again, and it was all because of some folks who wanted to create something genuine and heartfelt and stupid.

watching shadows was the first time i had genuinely laughed in months. it helped my partner and i reconnect and get through that difficult time. it provided me with a community and helped me form some incredible relationships. it reignited my creativity. it gave me the courage to embrace my freaky silly self. i grew through this show and through this community.

it isn’t just a show. media isn’t just content to consume. it has the power to shape our lives and connect us to something bigger. it’s comfort, routine, stability, safety, creativity, joy, seeing yourself on screen, and shadows gave me all of that and so much more.

was it perfect? never. and it shouldn’t be. i love it for all its flaws. as a trans masculine, nonbinary, big ol’ fucking queer i felt so SEEN by this show. i felt held.

closing this chapter is bittersweet because it started in darkness, but ended on the other side in an incredible place i never thought would be possible. i’ll miss it so much.

you can feel free to disagree with me! ain’t that what life is all about anyways? humans huddled together on a rock floating through space, being imperfect, and trying to create something we want to see?

i’ll miss shadows SO SO SO MUCH. i love it, i love the actors, i love the writers, i love the crew, and i love you.

[feanorianethicsdepartment]

heeey! so back when @eirianerisdar posted chapter 12 of their fic the ransom of the house of fëanor - that’s the one where they finally let the brothers hellspawn and their idiot dad out of the void, but they have to throw elrond in, all very sad - i thought up my own somewhat fluffier vastly dumber au for the end of that chapter. in honour of the fic being finished, i’ve decided to write up the various scattershot ideas i’ve had for it, with the caveat that i’ll be working off my own slightly different background headcanons

the divergence point is roughly when elrond announces that he’s totally going into the void now, for realsies, the local ainur are nodding solemnly, and the fëanorians are running preliminary can-we-take-them calculations. except for maedhros, who’s very sad to hear that they must sacrifice his nephew to the eternal dark for their freedom, ‘tis truly a shame, they will honour his memory and GET THE BOAT, BOYS

or, the original elf mad scientist, his murderous blood-hungry spawn, a guy who’s extremely grouchy about not getting to do his dramatic self-sacrifice, and their somewhat-less-reluctant-than-he-should-be getaway driver go on the lam

how they got away from the valar:

námo: already knew this was going to happen, but it’s not like anyone ever listens to him, is it? in the moment, was a little more concerned with how morgoth had started belly-crawling towards the doors of night

manwë: never wanted to throw elrond into the void in the first place, and has been silently hoping elrond would call his bluff for the past week. the children are all safe and inside like they should be, and isn’t that what really matters?

eönwë: no it isn’t boss the fëanorians are a completely unpredictable wildcard we cannot afford to let them run around unsupervised!!! would probably have at least delayed the family hellspawn until backup could arrive, except

olórin: realised what maedhros was planning almost immediately and had to consciously force down a shit-eating grin. as soon as the brothers started moving, divetackled eönwë

-

[from a note attached to a harpoon lodged outside the highest window on the white tower of the isle of seabirds]

elwing - it went better than i expected, honestly. the sons of fëanor took about as much offense to elrond’s plan as everyone else has, except when words didn’t work they resorted to action. they dragged him onto vingilot and i followed them, and then we cast off together. we’ve set sail for as far away from the doors of night as we can get. i’m coming with them, of course, i’m not letting these lunatics crash my baby

i’m not entirely certain when we’ll be back? the fëanorians seem worried the valar might come after us, which wouldn’t surprise me, really. i’m taking us out towards middle-earth, we’ll see where we go after that. they’re all screaming at each other and running across the deck, i’m not convinced they have much of a plan. elrond is yelling too, he’s arguing with either caranthir or curufin, can’t tell which. the one i suspect is maglor has wrapped himself around his neck and refuses to let go. our son is alive and healthy and not in the eternal darkness, and for that, at least, i am grateful

the redhead who’s co-opted the harpoons says we’re coming up on your tower. no one’s done anything to threaten me or elrond, or even looked at the silmaril. there’s something nice about sailing with a crew again, no matter who it is. i love you, and i’ll be back as soon as i can - eärendil

[from a note attached to a harpoon found among the ruins of a house in the tirion stonecarvers’ district]

you were right, nerdanel. you were right about everything, and i was wrong. i’m sorry. the boys and i are going on another adventure right now, but we’ll come back to you someday, i promise

[from the same note, in much neater handwriting]

tell tyelpë i love him, and also that the coordinates are [rest torn off]

-

the first sign of this mess that reaches arda is the morning and evening star disappearing from the sky. gondorian astronomers, haradren scholars, avarin priests all stare flummoxed as the star of high hope simply fails to appear before the sun. no matter how unsuperstitous they are everyone agrees this is a really bad omen, and all across the globe the high halls of power tremble in fear over the new horror this must portend

the first sign of this mess that reaches the shire (except for that one took who’s really into astrology) is when eight-year-old elanor gardner rushes into bag end the next day, all ‘dad! dad! there are elves in the woods!’

sam is pretty chuffed to hear this. the fair folk don’t pass through the shire half as often as they used to, and it’s been some years since he heard their song. if they’re in the neighbourhood, why, it’d only be polite to say hello, wish them luck on their journey, hand them a letter. he packs up a nice tuck-box full of goodies to share, and then sam and elanor (and frodo, who’s going through a following-his-big-sister-around-and-copying-everything-she-does phase) set out to meet the elves

first they hear the shouting. then they see the smoke

at the end of the path his daughter leads him down, sam finds the wreckage of what looks like a crashed boat strewn across the forest, still faintly smouldering. at least a dozen elves are rushing between and up the trees, yelling at each other in the angriest quenya he’s ever heard. in the middle of the impact crater stands a blonde elf carrying a stone that shines like the phial of galadriel, wailing something sam knows just enough sindarin to recognise as ‘MY SHIIIIIIIIIP’

as sam’s gaze pans over the unfolding catastrophe, his eyes land on one of the last elves he’d expected to see, master elrond. elrond is rubbing his temple, groaning like someone who knows he’s the most responsible person around and really wishes he wasn’t. a vaguely familiar sketchy-as-fuck elf is clinging onto his shoulders, in a not-dissimilar way to how frodo-lad is currently riding on sam. elrond catches sam’s gaze

‘greetings, master samwise,’ says the wisest elf-lord of the west, ignoring the scuffle that’s breaking out behind him. ‘i must apologise for my relations’

(fëanor and elanor become fast friends, teaching each other their languages and exploring the shire together. absolutely no one else is okay with this)

-

fëanor, dragging an incredibly-put-upon elrond around the citadel of minas tirith: grandbabies!

fëanor, marvelling over the embroidery arwen is showing him: great-grandbabies!

fëanor, carrying a tiny giggling eldarion all the way up the tower of gondor: great-great-grandbabies!

fëanor, staring fixedly at an increasingly apprehensive aragorn: great-great-great...

celegorm, on dad-watching duty: actually if you lay the maths out it’s very likely every human in middle-earth is descended... from... elros... fuck

fëanor: has gone completely still

fëanor: massive grin spreading across his face, eyes sparkling like the two trees brought back to life

fëanor: eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

[whalesfallmoved]

hand over wound (1/??)

half an excuse to play around with form, style, and the second person pov. this isn’t what I typically write, so I’m ahhhhh about it all around. alas, FHR lives rent free in my head right now. only read over it a few times for mistakes, so apologies for any typos.

pairing: ricardo ortega/f!sidestep, pre-heartbreak rating: t word count: 2175 warnings: mentions of blood, injury. typical canon content. 

[read on AO3.]

--

You’re in an apartment that isn’t yours with a man you shouldn’t trust and a gut bleeding out over his nice, expensive bathroom, and that doesn’t sound like the start of a bad joke so much as the start of the end of your life. 

(If you could call it a life, if you could call it anything more than all your stolen seconds ticking down to this moment. Torn stitches— fucking stupid, stupid mistake, this is how they’re going to get you—)

(He’ll take you to a hospital and they’ll look and they’ll know and he’ll know and and and)

Fuck.

Two choices:

One. You can suck it up, ask for a first aid kit—he’ll have one, twice as nice as the one you’ve got and he doesn’t even need it—all those Ranger benefits he keeps trying to entice you with, go team! Maybe even some halfway decent painkillers.

You lock yourself in the bathroom, stitch yourself up clean enough to get out of here without bleeding on his floor, too. You can meet his questions with a hard laugh and a fuck off I’m fine go finish making the food I’m starving.

(and why the fuck did you come here why did you let yourself get swayed by his fast grins and his bright eyes? He isn’t your friend, he isn’t, even if he thinks he is.)

Fuck.

Two. You make a run for it. More questions. Potential for passing out in a dark alley. Vulnerable and wounded until you can get back to your own shitty place and hope to god Ortega doesn’t think to follow you. Which he will, you know he will, and you’re fast but he’s always been faster, just as quick on the draw with a mind of static to take your edge. 

You pull the tight undershirt up higher, flinching at the sight of your own skin, focus on the blood rolling sluggish and hot instead of the flinty orange patterns. The wound’s deep and fresh and curled like a crooked smile. 

Black clothes help. Red splatters vibrantly on the white marble counter, onto the floor, sticks to the soles of your feet (bare, shoes kicked off at the door.) You’ll have to clean that up. How the hell will you do that? With his goddamn bleach white towels? 

God— fucking— fuck.

Okay. You can do this. You just ask. Ask for the first aid kit. Slam the door in his face. Or run. 

You want to run. Feel that rabbit-heart drive bursting up under the skin to book it and maybe that’s what you need to do. Yes. That’s what you need to do. Leave Ortega the mess—you’ve saved his ass enough times you won’t feel bad about it, or at least not so bad you’ll apologize for it later (you never apologize, even when you maybe should) and—

A knock, and you jump, gasp. “Still alive in there?” He asks, that same smile-lilt to his voice. He’s teasing you, a little, but there’s an edge of concern too. 

(shitshitshitshitshitshitfuck)

“Just give me a second.” You bite out, trying to sound put upon rather than panicked. 

Shirt tugged down—fuck, that hurts—and your teeth sink into soft cheeks, hard enough to sting.  

A pause. You wait for the sound of footsteps to move away from the door. Silence, instead.

Exhale. 

“—Hey, are you alright?”

Goddamnit.

“I’m fine,” you drop to your knees and your side screams and the blood gets stickier, you can feel the fabric dragging with every move. Throw open the cabinets. Maybe he was organized for once in his life and put the first aid kit in here (fat chance) and nothing, nothing, just bare bones cleaning supplies. 

Frustration and pain build up, you slam the cabinet with a teeth-clenched groan and the knock comes again, more insistent this time, hard knuckles on hard wood— can’t you just fuck off can’t you leave me alone why did i come here—

“Noa. What’s going on?”

“Nothing. God, what do you want?” You snarl, voice raising to a pitch.

“Are you hurt?”

“No.” Your hand clutches at your side and comes away red, smeary. You have to do something, you have to move. Think. You can’t stay here. 

He’s not going to let you go. You should’ve just run while you had the chance, now he’s just outside the door waiting, on alert, knows you better than anyone (which isn’t saying much but it’s saying enough) and knows enough to not let you just snarl your way out of this. 

Shaky inhale. “Maybe.”

“Okay,” he breathes—relief? you don’t know and it chafes, what’s there to be relieved about?—gives a softer laugh, “no big deal. Just open the door.” 

You don’t want to do that. You really, really don’t want to do that. He’s going to want to help, he’s going to want to see, the way you’ve helped him before.

(warm brown skin interrupted by mods and scar tissue and the expanse of his back, defined muscle rippling under your fingertips— stay still, you snap, smacking his shoulder, and he laughs— ouch, watch it, I’m wounded��� and that’s your own fault you idiot, needle/thread, and you lay his stitches so much neater than your own.)

“I… can’t.”

“...You can’t?”

“No.”

“Is it that bad?” His voice takes on a new edge, sharper now, the kind of break down the door, get the job done edge that comes with being a Ranger, you suppose. Not quite hard, still light enough to pass for his brand of charm-sly soothing, but you know better than to fall for that.

“I’m fine. Can you just…” you push up onto your feet, choking down another groan, pain splitting through your side like a disc-saw, “can you just get the first aid kit?” 

You think you hear a faint curse, and then: “yeah, be right back.”

In the space between, panic sets in.

Panic’s a cold emotion, and it’s a sick kind of luxury. You never got to panic before, riding it out out out all silent scream while everyone else’s thoughts and feelings stuck to your teeth, wormed down to the base of your spine. With Ortega you’re alone in your head and the only thing left to do is wait. Fists clench, ease the shaking. 

A few minutes pass, tick-tick-tick, and he’s at the door again, knock softer this time, and please, please, please leave me alone you want to say but you don’t, you just press your palm (red-stark) to your side, and maybe— maybe if you slam it open, it’ll knock him back long enough to give you a head start. You just have to get out—

“Noa.” He knocks again, and you think you hear his breath hitch, maybe, and you want to know what he’s thinking, you want to know so badly but it’s just deafening silence outside the door.

“Yeah… yeah.” 

One hand to your pulsing gut, one hand shaking, the knob unlocks with a soft click, and you’re stumbling back into the bathroom, and he’s there, filling the doorway, eyes soft-hard and brow furrowed. His eyes flick over the counter, the floor (blood splatters, streaks of it) and he lets out another quiet string of curses, “what the hell happened—?” 

He’s moving forward, and you stumble back till your knees hit the toilet.

You both still. Freeze. He’s got you cornered, and he knows it, he must know it, fuckfuckfuck— breathe, you have to breathe.

“You didn’t tell me you were hurt.” He murmurs, softer than before, one hand curled around the green-white first aid kit. Bandages. Stitches. Alcohol.

Maybe you could grab it. Run? No, that’s stupid— he’ll just grab you, shove you back, ask for answers you can’t and won’t give.

Fuck.

Again, you say: “I’m fine,” and feel your lips curl back, a snarl fit for a dog in a ring.

“Yeah, you look it,” he shakes his head, tries to smile, like he isn’t surprised but he wishes it were different, and he’s not going to get mad at you, not yet, we all get hurt in this business but it still can’t be different, it can’t be, asshole, so stop asking, “c’mon, let’s… go in the living room, and I’ll—”

“No,” you snap hard, working around the toilet toward the counter. A little more room that way, and you won’t sit, even though you’re starting to feel it, the shakes and the dizziness. Drip, drip, drip, and your hand curls tighter over your stomach.

“No?” He blinks, more confused than offended.

(you have such a delicate touch, he scoffs as you wrap pristine white bandages over the stitched gash, rough but slow, and you roll your eyes don’t get fucking shanked next time then, and he gasps, mock-offense, brown eyes sparkling, searching your mask for expression he won’t find but you’re smiling, you’re smiling because he’s beautiful.)

“Just give it to me. I can deal with it myself.” 

“Excuse me?”

“It’s not as bad as it looks.” It is.

“Sure it isn’t.”

“It’s just a flesh wound, alright? Someone got a lucky scratch in that last fight. Didn’t think it’d open again. But it’s not that bad.”

“Well, I’m still not going to leave you here to stitch yourself up.”

Fucking— always so stubborn, why won’t he quit? 

“Either give it or I leave. Take your pick.” 

He stills, watching you, and you wonder how you look to him.

Like a scared animal? Wounded little monster he found and picked up for some fucking reason? What does he want with you? What is he thinking? 

His eyes trail over you, clothes all black and layered, baggy enough to hide everything, 

“You’re kidding.” He wants you to be kidding.

“Do I look like it?” You tilt your head back, challenging, stilling up—shoulders stiffen, legs numb, prepared to run or to fight. Like he’s not blocking the only exit, like he’s not the one person in the world you can’t outmaneuver—Sidestep brought down by a head full of silence and a pretty fucking face.

They would laugh at you. They will if this escalates, if he sees. He’s got all his good intentions, it’ll be the death of you. He’ll be the death of you.

“So what’s it gonna be?” It’s supposed to sound like a sneer-snarl but it comes out weak, the razor edge of fear sliding just under your tongue.

But he must miss it. Or chalk it up to something else. “You’re being ridiculous,” he shakes his head, “it’s really not an issue.”

Ortega, always believing the best of you. That you don’t want to inconvenience him. 

He wants to stay.

(you’ve never had anyone who wants to stay before.)

“I just wanna do it myself, fucks sake.” You burst, cutting him off at the finish line, and now you’re up on your feet, reaching with your free hand for the kit, ripping it from his hand.

“Just...” what was the line? “Just go finish making the food, alright? I’m starving.” and he lets you take it, lets you slam it down on the counter. You drop your blood-wet palm and clench it, as if to say see I’m fine it’s not that bad and his eyes drift over you again, harder than before, and he’s annoyed, well that’s too bad.

“Can I at least…”

“No.” 

Jaw clenches. Works. Ortega never knows when to not push, when to not be that wonder boy so full of heart, head first into the action, and you’re small potatoes so what the fuck is he doing here, really, with you? There’s a dozen other vigilantes in Los Diablos that would probably work with him, that would fall for his knockout smile twice as fast and twice as hard.

(oh, you’ve fallen alright, but he doesn’t need to know that.)

But he knows you. He does. More and less than he thinks he does. And he knows you’re not bluffing. You’ll leave. 

Shoulders still raised, jaw still stubborn, he slowly nods and steps back. You feel relief unshutter in your chest. “Alright,” he sighs, slumps.

Does he want you to stay? Or does he just want to make sure you don’t pass out in some grimy back alley to get picked over?

It doesn’t really matter.

(why is he letting this go that easily?)

“If you say it’s not that bad, I’ll believe you,” he nods, and it feels like a lie, sticks around in your skin the way lying does when someone lies with their mouth but not with their thoughts. “Just let me know if I can do anything, alright?” Smile, again, he’s always smiling except when he isn’t, effortlessly charming. 

“...Okay.” You mutter. There isn’t anything he can do, and you both know you won’t ask.

You stand off, not flinching and not moving as he steps back, hands twitching at his sides—to raise them in surrender or grab you, you don’t know, so as soon as he’s through the door you grab it, slam it closed, lock it fast.

Safe. Or as safe as you can be.

Fuck.

[ghostboy-gamedev]

Learn Log #4 - Grassy Grove

On week 4 of my pixel art journey, I learned how to make objects of nature including grass, bushes and trees. Unfortunately, I had to postpone this to this week when the learning and blog post was set for last week as I was just preparing for a return to university (it’s all online – social distancing dw). Anyway, I ended up making the forest scene you see above, and it was a lot of fun. I think that the GUI elements last week had a focus on technicality and exactness. Letters are very rigid, and we have somewhat set ideas about what each character should look like. However, nature is more flexible and therefore logic isn’t as heavily involved.

Tile Sets

Before jumping into the actual elements of this week’s piece I want to talk about making pixel art tiles. You will have probably noticed that the nature scene is quite rigid like each element is set into a box. This is because I’m learning pixel art to make games and games often use tile sprites to build their environment.

Tile sprites are the floors and sometimes walls of the environment. They often loop or repeat to cover the environment, however, some engines have tools allowing game designers to build environments tile by tile.

In the first case, the tile sprite will have to be created with its looping in mind and details may be added to provide variation in the environment. However, these added details may highlight the repeating the pattern and the more a detail sticks out the obvious the repetition becomes. Additionally, smaller tiles will repeat more frequently, and this also shows repeating textures.

The second scenario requires variation to be created from the creation of multiple tiles. This is great for creating variation; however, the tiles will also have to line up with each other which may be trickier for more rigid surfaces like rocks or bricks.

Since Unity has a tile builder tool and I was creating a natural environment where tiles wouldn’t need to line up so clearly – I decided to go with the second option.

The size of the tiles may also dictate the size of the rest of the game. For example, a bush may be 1 tile large in terms of level design, so the size of that bush is determined by the size of the tile. This also goes for the player whose sprite will typically range from 1 tile to 2x2 tiles. I decided to just make my tiles 16x16 as I enjoy learning within that space.

Grass

A grass tile is typically made of a green background with blades of grass texturing the surface. Many people may open up a couple of green canvases and start texturing them with green lines, however, there’s a much better way to do things I think. Since we’re working with 16x16 tiles there’s a limited number of shapes that look like grass and are small enough to fit within the tile. So, if we make a bunch of lines in green then we have blades of grass that we can copy and paste into each tile (the blades should typically be a lighter green as light will be hitting them).

However, having blades of grass like this make tiles look flat. Adding shading will fix this issue by giving the grass depth, however, more complicated shading will obviously make the background more complicated which can affect the readability of your game.

Each blade of grass can now be copied into a 16x16 canvas to make grass tiles. I made 4 grass tiles shown below putting approximately 10 blades into each tile. I made each tile with different elements of the environment in mind such as short grass, long grass, bushy grass and leafy grass.

With these tiles, I created a larger image to test the repetition of the tiles. The repetition wasn’t a big issue; however, I didn’t think the leafy grass fit with the rest of the grass, so I decided to leave it behind for the next stage.

Next, I was going to add an extra tile for each of the current textures to reduce repetition as well as two flower variants for each tile type to add some colours into the textures. I did another test of the tiles’ repetition and overall look and it looked good but somewhat cluttered though I figured that this wouldn’t be an issue when I deliberately place the tiles rather than randomly scatter them.

I had in my mind the type of scene I wanted to make for this week, but it required dirt paths. Luckily this wasn’t an issue to make. I made two variations of the straight, one-way paths as they would be tiling and altered one of these tiles slightly to make the curve and intersection tiles.

I then assembled these 15 tiles into the image below.

Trees

Next, I wanted to add some plant life which would involve trees and bushes. I decided to do trees first as they would be larger than the bushes. First, I started with the shape of the tree which would be fairly basic. I made a rough tree trunk shape to start with and topped it with a circle that was a little squished before refining the shape a little more to get what’s shown below.

I then added colour into the tree. A simple brown for the bark and 4 shades of green for the leaves. These greens were made by colour picking the base green background and hue-shifting it towards yellow so the tree would stand out more from the background.

The colours are organised into ovals to help give the tree a sense of depth. The dark shades wrap around the edges of the tree to show the tree’s roundness. The colour thins out as it goes around because you’re viewing the shaded leaves from a side-on perspective.

Next, I blurred the lines between these circles by mixing the colours slightly. This was the start of adding leaves onto the tree. Quickly after that, I added more detail to the leaves by spotting the head of the tree with lighter greens. The details added were in ‘leaf-like’ shapes like hearts, single lines, and arrows. They don’t look like leaves individually and can’t receive much detail themselves (such as a stem) but together they make the tree look nice and bushy. I also added some detail to the tree trunk including shading.

The tree trunk seemed a little off when I checked it out with the image I had so far, unfortunately. So, I added some extra trunk at the bottom along with a nice shadow. This shadow was the colour black at a transparency of 127 (or half transparency). This works really well as a quick and easy shadow on detailed background, but it does, unfortunately, mean the shaded area is not hue-shifted as typically preferred. The final product is below.

Looking at this sprite you may think it would be difficult to construct a game environment due to the leaves, trunk shape and shadow involved. However, we can place each section down as a separate 16x16 tile with the main trunk tile being a collider and other tiles not having a collision box (like decoration tiles – we don’t want players to run into tree leaves). This works out really well, and I focused on the main trunk tile when positioning the sprite in the piece. Which is shown below.

However, the scene below is bit lonely so I thought I’d add some pine trees as a level border. The process of the pine tree is similar so I won’t describe each step but will show the images. This time around I did shape the tree a bit more wildly with branches and leaves sticking out from the tree. I also hue shifted towards bluer colours rather than the more yellow colours I used in the round tree.

Next, it was time to add more trees into the scene and add some grass beneath them. I made the grass beneath them short grass simply because it looks a bit neater than the other grass types.

I think it looks pretty neat! I made a pine tree variant by swapping the colours with that of the round tree for some variation which worked as a nice, easy trick. But it would look livelier with some bushes.

Bushes

You might have looked at the trees just before and thought, ‘That kind of looks like a bush on a stump.’ That’s because the techniques used to make bushes and trees are typically very similar depending on the style of the game. Since we’re using a 16x16 size which is somewhat limited they will likely turn out in roughly the same way.

I started with a circle shape that was modified at the bottom to be a bit flatter. This will hopefully give the impression that the bush is touching the ground and rounds out on the top

I did a similar process in colouring the bush as I did with the tree, however, I used fewer colours as I didn’t have as much room for highlights with the bush. The colours used are actually the same as those in the pine tree.

I then adjusted the outline to give the bush a wilder feel as well as texturing the inside of the bush to create the appearance of leaves.

The bush still felt a little flat, so I added highlights to the top of it to add a greater sense of depth. The highlight was rounded towards its end at the bottom to enforce the rounded nature of the bush. This required me to add another outline tone for highlights which I might apply to other elements of the picture. I was pretty happy with the bush, so I made another for variation and added them into the picture with some shadows.

The picture looked pretty good, but I thought some touch-ups might make it just that little bit better.

Touch-Ups/Conclusion

To touch up the piece I added some more trees for denser looking forest, added the lighter outline colour to the tress and expanded shadows around some of the pine trees. I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. I think the shadows could use some refinement at the top border of trees. I also think that top border highlights the repeating pine tree trunk which could also be changed to tile better. I do wish my bushes were a bit leafier than shrub-like, however, I think my ability to make leaves on both bushes and trees will improve as I practice. I also think a 32x32 base picture would allow me to make some more defined leaves. The lighting on the pine trees also uses a different technique to the round tree so next time I’ll try to be more consistent with that. Overall though I’m happy and I quite like the outline highlights as they make the image a bit softer.

That concludes week 4 of learning how to make pixel art. Next week I’ll be looking at sand, water and rocks to make a top-down beach scene.

My learning and this blog post wouldn’t have been made possible without these fantastic resources. Go check them out if you wanna learn some stuff about pixel art!

How to Draw Tiled Pixel Art by TipTut

Creating Variation in Pixel Art TutsByKai

Pixel Art 101: Grass by Pixel Pete

How to Make Pixel Grass Tiles by TutsByKai

RPG Grass Background Tiles by HeartBeast

Pixel Art 101: Trees by Pixel Pete

[Let’s Pixel] Tree by HeartBeast

[Let’s Pixel] Spruce Tree by HeartBeast

Pixel Art 101: Bush by Pixel Pete

[ashes-and-ashes]

18-I can’t breathe please, btw your fanfics are amazing.

Thanks anon! I’ve had a pretty stressful week, so this is totally not based off of my horrendous study experiences at all.

I just wish I had an amazing person like Sirius who could actually help me understand math...

Stressed Out

~

Remus stares down at his parchment. The words swim together, a formless mass of darkness and he curses under his breath.

It’s quiet, the only sound being his quill against the paper, the soft rustling of pages as he stretched his legs out. Everyone was studying frantically- Exams were 2 days away after all, and no one felt prepared.

Remus takes a deep breath as he goes back to his notes. He flips through the pages - he still can’t figure out how to calculate magical energy and the effects on spell work. He prays he’s written it down somewhere - he can’t ever remember learning it. With a sigh he starts sorting through the pages, wishing not for the first time that he had neater writing.

He can’t stop himself from smiling, though, as he turns the pages. He can recognize his own writing well enough - thin and looping, though every now and then he’d find pages written in a different hand; James’ scratchy shorthand, Peter’s even print, Lily’s cursive.

And Sirius. His writing was everywhere, that elegant, bold scrawl, covering the tops of Remus’ notes and curling around to the other sides. Remus chuckles as he holds a sheet up to the light.

How to recognize Bowtruckles, it read. Underneath it was a few lines of scribbled text. If it tries to bite you as you’re shoving it up your boyfriend’s beautful arse then it’s a bowtruckle. If nothing happens, it’s a dildo.

Remus laughs to himself, then sets the page aside. He glances at the grandfather clock in the corner - it’s almost 2 in the morning and he’s exhausted. Gritting his teeth, he sorts through the rest of the notes, finally pulling out a sheaf of paper. How to calculate magical bullshit, it reads, and he smiles, recognizing Peter’s writing.

An hour later, Remus wants to stab something. His fingers are covered in black from the ink leaking out of his crappy quill. Crumpled bits of parchment litter the ground around him - he still has no fucking idea how to do the stupid formula, and he has less then a day to learn it.

With a groan, Remus stares back down at the paper, scratches at his arm. There are still scabs there - the full moon was only 5 days ago, and he scratches even harder as he reads Peter’s notes.

Enter in the exact positioning of the planet. If an even month, calculate Venus and Uranus. If an odd month, calculate Saturn and Pluto. If a leap year, factorize Mercury and divide by hours lost.

Carefully, Remus writes down the question, puts in each number, each letter so carefully that the ink bleeds through the paper. With a sigh, he checks his answer.

Remus hisses through clenched teeth, his fingers pressing down into his arm as he stares down at his page. “How the hell is it less then 2739?” He goes through the problem again - he gets a different answer, but is still no closer to being right.

He scratches harder, until he’s torn off some of the scabs, fingers digging into skin. He wants to scream, wants to hurl his books out of the window, wants to find a broom and go flying off into the night. He tightens his grip on his quill; there’s a snap and he realizes that he’s torn the feather in half.

“Fuck,” Remus says again, burying his head in his hands. He feels almost nauseous, everything whirling together and he wants to sleep but he knows he can’t -

Someone’s fingers wrap around his wrist; dimly, Remus is aware that he was scratching his arm again, blood running down from the half-healed cuts. He looks up - Sirius gaze was gentle, though his grip was tight. “Hey. You good?”

Remus shakes his head, huffs a laugh. His arm starts to sting; he swears as he sees his hands, the fingernails red from ripping the scabs off. “No. I’m going to fucking fail this exam.”

Sirius slides into his seat, halfway on his lap. He leans forwards; his hair is wet, tied up in a messy bun and Remus can smell his shampoo. He takes a deep breath, burying his face into Sirius, the junction where his neck meets his shoulders, breathes him in. Sirius makes a soft, pleased noise - his hand reaches down to brush Remus’ as he turns the page of notes.

“Okay,” he says. “Well, first of all this isn’t a great way to apply Morgana’s theory. You can do it, but it’s just not going to work out. Plus, it’s fucking confusing.”

“Everything’s fucking confusing,” Remus mumbles, his face still pressed against Sirius’ neck, lips against his skin. Sirius ignores him.

“Okay, well this is how you do it.” He shows Remus, all the diagrams and calculations and carry overs then flips the quill around in his hand and presses it into Remus’ palm. “Your turn.”

Remus stares down at the paper. The words all blur together, his eyes sliding out of focus. With a groan, he shakes his head, letting it drop into his hands. “I can’t.”

There’s a shifting sound beside him; he’s aware of Sirius, on his knees, his fingers dancing across Remus’ aching back. Remus lets out a quiet noise as Sirius presses his finger into an aching spot, right along his shoulder blades.

“Sorry,” he whispers, unwilling to look Sirius in the eyes. “I just...I can’t. I’m going to fail this fucking exam. I’m going to fail it, and that will be that I guess. No one’s going to hire me anyways, because I happen to be a fucking monster. The most I can do is probably lift boxes in some warehouse somewhere - even if I get all ‘Outstandings’ on my NEWTS because who else would hire me? My life is going down the fucking drain, and I can’t - I can’t - “

He chokes back a sob. Sirius’ fingers are still steady against his shoulders, the warmth from his palm leaking through Remus’ shirt and into his skin. “I’m falling apart and...God. I can’t breath. I can’t fucking breath.”

He feels Sirius’s arm, snaking around his waist, feels his lips on the back of his neck. Sirius’ breath is warm against his skin, sending shivers down his spine as he whispers, “You can, Re. You’re going to ace this test. You’re the best student I know - “

“Bullshit,” Remus says. “Sure - I’m not horrible, but I’m not like you.”

He can feel Sirius’ frown against his skin. “Like me?”

“All you need to do is flip through the textbook a few times and you’ve got it,” Remus says bitterly. “You can learn what takes me the entire year to master by going through your notes once.”

Sirius lets out a shaky breath. “Yeah,” he says. “Though I’m not sure if that’s natural. Mother had a nasty habit of carving lines into you if you forgot something.”

“Shit,” Remus says; his guy twists painfully, heart aching for all of Sirius’ trauma. “God, I’m sorry.”

Sirius gives him a small smile. “It’s fine.”

“I just...” Remus trails off. “I feel like I’m representing them. You know? I’m the first werewolf at Hogwarts, and it’s just...if I fuck up, that’s a reflection on all werewolves. I could be damning students, just by doing one stupid, idiotic - “

“Hey.” Sirius’ eyes are firm. “You are you, Remus. You’re not a - a representative of werewolves or some shit. You’re you. That’s all you can really ask for, anyways.”

Remus lets out a shaking breath. “I guess so.”

Sirius smiles. “Now stop whining and let me help you do this.”

Remus rolls his eyes, but bends down over his work.

[ivyveil]

Only Angel

the one where Harry believes in an angel, and she'll be his ruining

OR:

prompt: Please put your penis away, dear, it’s morning.

At the end of the week, he regularly met up with her for confession. It felt dirty, it always did, when he opened the hotel door and she was chewing on her thumb nail, flashing a nervous smile before darting under his arm. The art of being unseen in his life was a miracle in itself, yet she had managed to fly under the radar for this long.

And in a dress like that - he thought as he closed the door - it was definitely a fucking mystery.

She held onto his closest secrets, onto the parts of his life unveiled in mumbles between bitten lips, onto his hair as he devotedly finished praying. She consistently tried to claim that she would behave, did every time, but somehow she never resisted his eyes when they gleamed like a madman, when his low, rumbling voice felt like rough velvet across her chest. When it felt like the Devil himself was dressed impeccably by her feet, working his jaw to carefully bite her underwear and drag it down her thighs, before showing just how wonderful of a vice ‘greed’ could be.

“Fuck...” It was quiet, an afterthought in the exposition of his thumbs pressing into her hips and the obscene growling coming from his lips against her.

“Wha’ was that, love?” he removed away, placing his cheek gently on her inner thigh as he looked at her expectantly. His eyes flashed with curiosity, lips swollen and moist, parted with wonder, never quite getting used to her unraveling for him. Shame he couldn’t properly get in, how he liked to, and watch her at the same time.

“Fuck, I said fuck, now please, please go back-fuck.”

“Tell me you need me,” he blinked, shifting his arm up to fold his fingers around her hand, lodging it firmly against the roots of his scalp. Her fingers, not grasping the concept, swirled against the locks before understanding he wanted her to pull.

“Oh my G-, need you, need you, need you closer-” she rambled, pulling and moaning, clenching and sighing, trying to get him to move.

“Name’s Harry, love,” he mumbled, before getting back to reciting the only verses he knew (they may not be any John 3:16s, but she seemed pretty pleased with them, so he didn’t give a damn).

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

His eyes opened slowly, fatigue wrestling with his body until it came to terms with the daylight. His muscles still groaned as he began shifting, attempting to find a comfortable position on the large bed so he could get in a few more minutes of sleep – but his arms were a bit preoccupied to be bothered with moving.

It took him a genuine moment to register how his arms were wrapped, that they were around a body. He hadn’t slept with anyone in a while, and in his foggy state of mind he briefly panicked at whose back was resting against his chest, whose toes were tucked between his legs. One glimpse of her hair, though, and he realized he recognized the warmth coming from your body as a sensual home for his weary soul.

Harry paused.

Not really his home, but maybe a paradise from everything that stifled his breathing and kept him from living.

She was a proper treasure, if he ever knew one. Her curves were warm and sweet; gliding his palms along them felt like when he’s on a sandy beach, listening to the waves and feeling the beat of the sun.

Her eyes were inherently soft, a muted kindness and impermeable innocence planted in its aura. It refused to move an inch, no matter how hard he had tried to wreck her, ruin her dresses and makeup and hair, she would always look just as surprised when he began. Just as angelic when he finished.

Her halo was a facade of sorts, her lips tasted of berries but never spoke of their sweetness. Isn’t that how it went? He had thought her glow to be attributed to the same reason his heart beat faster when he opened the door, not that it was simply how she existed, somehow, in the world.

Harry hadn’t actually told her, how he felt, but he had suspicions she had read between the lines. How he found himself consistently wrapped in her threads of grace, how he would fight through hell to make it to her bedside. She had given in to his charm well enough, accepting the bundles of roses he would bring when he visited, and appreciating him asking about her family before they began undressing each other.

(He was trying to be a gentleman before ruining another pair of her sheets again, it was only the nice thing to do).

Knowing she would never love him was odd, when he could still taste her within the mouthy feel of Morning. There was nothing he could do, though, he was so engrossed by the Eve sprawled on his sheets to even be bothered about reciprocity.

Temptation couldn’t begin to describe how it felt when he saw her, out in public, longing to wrap his arm around her shoulders in a way that exceeded platonic by miles. How her core became his apple within the metaphor of sin, purple marks littering the expanse on her legs.

Harry successfully moved his arms from their clutch against her hips, managed to detangle his legs from hers. The kitchen was a short walk away from the hotel bed, a plastic tray set on the counter by the maid-service holding what he needed. As he started pouring water into the coffeepot, he sleepily realized he had automatically grabbed two cups, without much thought.

It felt nice, two cups.

Five minutes later, when he had the coffee set up and going, Harry went back towards the bedroom. She had spread her legs out in her sleep, as if searching for him in her dreams. A small frown lingered against her lips; it was one of the few times Harry could look without her blushing something rosy.

He knelt by her side of the mattress, brushing the backs of his fingers against her cheek. She grunted and tried to bat his hand away, her hand getting caught in the bundle of sheets she had clutched as his substitute.

“C’mon, angel, time to get up. Made coffee, yeah?” his voice was cracking, broken with sleep.

She woke up for that, only blearily remembering the night before (as he did, he could see it flash in her eyes and her cheeks, yeah, those started warming up). Pursing her lips, she nodded and reached up to pat down her bed-head, her arms stretching outwards.

Harry realized he was staring, carefully watching the corners of her mouth and the soft darkness under her eyes. There was a quality beneath her that defied the purity she exuded so well, an insanity that probably started wars in her past lives, one that kept him awake at night and wishing he could claw his way to wherever she had gone.

She caught him in the act, of course, glancing at him pleasantly but curious. Nothing had been explained, it was another meet-up in his hotel hallway that had started innocent but ended up with flames licking the soles of his feet, his back arched in pleasure, her giving him long-awaited salvation. He truly felt fucking saved when it came to her, his soul cleansed from the shadowy doubt and demons. Whether or not she loved him back seemed hazy in its importance, when she crawled up the bed with that look in her eyes.

Harry smiled gently at her, not particularly desiring to explain his thoughts. He stood up, giving her a pat on the shoulder, before turning his head towards the kitchen.

She finally spoke, although through a laugh, “Please put your penis away, dear, it’s morning.” A chastise of enormous irony, considering her absolute begging for it to come out only a few hours ago. Again, Harry didn’t voice his dissent and instead caught the blanket she threw at him from the bed. He wasn’t entirely sure if it was clean, the memories of who used what to clean up who missing from his memory, but he still wrapped it around his waist.

As he poured their coffees, he felt her presence nearby, as if the world centered around the soft padding against the cheap flooring. His shirt was loose around her shoulders; she took one of the cups and turned to the side counter, mixing together the creams and sugars she required to stand the bitterness.

“It’s been a while, since you’ve called,” she mumbled, stirring her coffee. One of her feet went on tip-toe, moving in circles casually as she took a sip, looking at him. “Thought you’d forgotten about me.”

“How could I ever forget about yeh?” he gave her a cheeky grin, washing clean the serious connotation with a sense of charm. Double meanings was a language he could quickly adopt, for fear of revealing just how in love he was with her eyelashes and freckles.

It seemed to work, she merely laughed and put her spoon in the sink.

“Did yeh want breakfast, too?” he offered, drinking from his own cup. The caffeine was doing wonders for his mind, his body finally catching up to speed with his thoughts.

“No, I’ve gotta get going,” she smiled apologetically, motioning to the bedroom to indicate that no, she wasn’t going to leave in Harry’s shirt (like he secretly wanted her to, just any sign that there was something he could work towards).

He nodded wordlessly, continuing to work on his coffee as he heard her shuffle around the room, locating her clothes at various and random spots along the furniture and behind the bed-frame. Harry didn’t want to help her out much, perhaps a passive way of disagreeing with her always-too-soon departures, so he stayed in the kitchen until she emerged with her night bag and much neater hair.

He walked her to the door just as silently, feeling words couldn’t cover the mess of intense lust and longing to hold her. She still radiated beauty, a bashful reproach in her voice as she told him to call again soon.

Before she could fly away though, Harry tapped her chin with his two forefingers, as they stood between the hotel door and the hallway. She was already standing outside, him leaning out the door without planting his bare feet beyond his room’s floor. A grin quickly appeared on his face before he leaned in to kiss her good-bye, cupping one of her cheeks. She obliged, pecking his lips and taking a step back to sling her bag around her shoulder.

Dissatisfaction. All he could feel, drenching his toes and clinging to his eyelids. There was an itch he couldn’t scratch, one only relieved by uncurling the streams of profanities and “Oh God”s from her lips. But she could never give him any more than that, how could an angel gift a man with her immortality forever? It could only be taken in snapshots of its glory, in Polaroids crumpled in the bottom of his suitcase for broken nights, when he needed to remember how to reconnect with life.

He was only a man, Harry remembered, closing the door and locking it. The sound echoed in his bones. He was only a man, in the presence of an angel. If he could only die basking in the after-glow of a night spent with her, he could possibly find peace.

He went back to bed, curling up against the sheets and ignoring how the stench of sin clung to his nostrils and begged to be acknowledged. He loved her, he loved how quickly she left and how hard he worked to get her back in his arms. He loved her.

And there was nothing he could do about it. It was truly going to be what damned him, in the end.

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

A/N: I hope you enjoyed! Let me know your thoughts here, and check out the rest of my works if you’d like!

[ahtohallan-calling]

chapter 18 of love is the only thing we can carry with us (kristanna slowburn/angsty but cute/no magic au, rated t) is up!

next chapter // all chapters

“And that way, you see, someone of your bloodline can still inherit Arendelle down the line. Things will work out so very nicely in both our favors. So much neater than the alternatives.”

“And those would be?”

He poured her a cup of coffee. “There’s just one, really, but so many ways we could get there. It’s inevitable that one way or another, Arendelle will pass from your family’s hands-- whether I take it by force or your sister runs it into the ground, no matter what, I’ll be there to pick up the pieces for my own.”

“And if Arendelle didn’t need you or your kingdom’s support?”

He laughed, stirring in a lump of sugar and handing the cup to her. “You are so funny, darling, I think I’ll never tire of hearing your silly little ideas. How lucky I am to have won your heart.”

chapter 18: sisters

Get up, Anna.

Blackness was creeping in at the edge of her vision, unconsciousness rolling in like a fog. It was tempting to lean in to it, to let it consume her entirely. 

Get UP.

Another wave of crushing pain rolled through her chest; she would have been sick if she had been able to stomach breakfast that morning. Maybe this really was it; maybe that was what Hans wanted.

If you die right now, then you left him for nothing.

Anna staggered to her feet, stumbled over to the wall. She leaned heavily against it, waiting for her knees to stop wobbling. Once she was steady, or at least close enough, she started walking, unsure of where to go at first. No one could know about what had happened, but if she collapsed again and was on her own…

She gritted her teeth. She knew where she had to go. 

Getting up the stairs was the hardest part; she had to stop every three or four steps to catch her breath, desperately grateful that no one passed her way. From there, it was easy; she’d walked this path so many times as a child, in the dead of night or on holiday mornings or just when she wanted to check if her parents were still there.

They weren’t her parents’ rooms anymore, but the only family she had left was inside, whether she liked it or not. She raised a shaking hand and knocked on the door, slumping against it as an aftershock of pain rolled through her. 

By some miracle, Elsa was there. She pulled the door open, frowning, and Anna fell into her. 

“What happened?” Elsa gasped, catching her just in time. 

Anna couldn’t respond, too focused on staying upright. Elsa kicked the door shut and helped her over to an armchair; she slumped into it, her vision going hazy again. Cool hands pressed against her face, giving her something to focus on, something to cling to while she found her way back to solid ground.

When the pain finally subsided to a dull ache, she blinked and realized Elsa was crying, silent tears rolling down her cheeks and dropping heavily to the floor. “Sorry,” Anna whispered, her voice tremulous as she, too, began to weep. “I didn’t know where else to go.”

Elsa leaned down then, wrapping her arms around her shoulders and pulling her close. Anna hesitantly hugged her back; she couldn’t remember the last time they had held each other like this. She closed her eyes, letting herself be comforted by it, even knowing that by the end of the day they’d likely be at an impasse once again. For the moment, at least, it was an anchor, something to help her keep her balance while she prepared to take her next step.

---

Eventually, Elsa had coaxed her sister into lying down in the four-poster bed. It hadn’t taken long for Anna to fall into a fitful sleep, but Elsa had no intention to leave her side. She rang a bell to summon a servant, instructing him to cancel all of her meetings for the rest of the day and send up a pot of tea.

It was lukewarm now, she was sure, but it was the closest thing she had to an idea of how to help her sister. Anna had always loved tea; even as a little girl, she had insisted on drinking some with the adults, though never with more than a pinch of sugar. “Just milk,” she would insist, put out when the grown-ups tittered about how funny she looked holding such a big mug in her tiny hands.

Elsa had brought her some every afternoon back when she had first gotten sick, carrying the pot and cups on a tray all by herself, all the way upstairs from the kitchens, holding her breath to keep it steadier every time she turned a corner. Growing up, they’d still kept up the tradition on occasion, but as they had grown apart, Elsa focusing on matters of state while Anna learned...what had she learned? How did she not even know that? How long had it been since she had really talked with her sister? 

She realized, suddenly, that the last time they had even had tea together like this had been the night their parents had died. Anna had brought the teapot then, hands tremulous as she poured, and Elsa had let her do it, knowing that finding some way to make herself useful was the way she showed her love.

It struck her then, the terrible weight of what Anna was doing for her and for Arendelle, and suddenly Elsa found herself clambering up onto the bed beside her sister as she had when they were children and one of them had a nightmare. Anna blinked blearily and rolled to face her. “What time is it?” she asked, her voice hoarse.

Elsa shrugged. “I-- I’m not sure.”

Anna started to sit up then, but Elsa reached out, putting a gentle hand on her shoulder. “You need to rest. Please.”

Her sister eyed her, clearly debating whether she had enough energy to start another argument; apparently, she didn’t, and instead sat up the rest of the way, swinging her legs to the side of the bed before freezing suddenly.

“You...made tea?”

“Well...I had it sent up. I thought maybe it would help.”

Anna bowed forward, burying her face in her hands. Frightened, Elsa leaned forward, pulling her into a hug as her sister burst into tears again.

“He knows,” she sobbed. “I think he’s known the whole time. I’m so sorry.”

Elsa’s heart dropped. “What happened?”

Anna told her everything, from the beginning, explaining how Hans had dragged her out for so many excursions, had insisted on all the dances, had made her dance today until she had collapsed on the floor and then left her there. Anger curled around Elsa’s heart like a snake poised to strike, fierce and deadly. “That monster. I’ll--”

Anna shook her head. “We can’t do anything. I’ve sat in enough meetings. I know how bad of a spot Arendelle’s in.”

She was right; Elsa hated to admit it, hated herself for not finding a better solution, hated her parents for leaving them in this mess. The Southern Isles had had its eyes on conquering Arendelle since even before their parents’ passing; a marriage tie might be the only option left protecting them from the larger kingdom’s ambitions, might buy them enough time to find a long term solution.

Still, she found herself stroking Anna’s hair, desperate to find some way to comfort her. “There might be another way,” she said. “Maybe-- maybe I can talk with some of the ambassadors of the other smaller kingdoms, or...we still have some money, if we put off a few projects, in case they tried an embargo…”

“It’s okay,” Anna murmured, looking drained. “I...know this isn’t your fault. Not really. But thank you for trying to fix it.”

“I should have been trying long ago. I should never have let the advisors even suggest this as an option. It’s not worth it, making you marry him, making you leave Kr--”

Anna let out another little sob. “Don’t-- please don’t say it. I can’t bear it.”

Elsa nodded, pulling her a little closer. “I mean it. I’ll do what I can to find another way.”

“There isn’t one. But...thank you, anyway, for trying.” Anna squeezed her hand then, turning and giving her a weak smile. “I miss you, Elsa.”

“I miss you, too. I’m sorry for...everything. I should have told you about your heart years ago. And I never should have pulled away like I have. I just...I didn’t know what to do, especially after Mama and Papa...oh, god, Anna, they left us in such a mess.”

Her sister nodded, resigned. “No use sitting and crying about it, though, is there? Time to start finding our way out of it.” 

---

He was waiting for her when she went downstairs the next morning for breakfast. She had been expecting it, though normally he only joined her for dinner. She was surprised, really, that he had even waited this long before pouncing, though she wished he’d waited a little longer; her throat was still sore from all the crying the previous night, which would make it much more difficult to tell him off if it came to that.

“Good morning, darling,” Hans purred, standing up from the table and pulling out a chair. “Do come and sit beside me, won’t you?”

Anna curtsied prettily, rising with a sweet smile. “Of course.”

She settled herself in the chair, folding her hands neatly in her lap to keep them from trembling as Hans piled toast and eggs and bacon onto her plate. She hated eggs.

“You know,” he said conversationally, “Some people would suggest I cancel our engagement, cut my losses and let the world know of this little game to marry you off to someone before you drop dead.”

“And what would you suggest?”

“That it doesn’t matter to me, really, how long you live, so long as the wedding happens. I hope, of course, that you’ll live long enough to give me an heir. Wouldn’t that be lovely? A little prince, with your lovely blue eyes.”

Anna simpered at him. “How sweet.”

“And that way, you see, someone of your bloodline can still inherit Arendelle down the line. Things will work out so very nicely in both our favors. So much neater than the alternatives.”

“And those would be?”

He poured her a cup of coffee. “There’s just one, really, but so many ways we could get there. It’s inevitable that one way or another, Arendelle will pass from your family’s hands-- whether I take it by force or your sister runs it into the ground, no matter what, I’ll be there to pick up the pieces for my own.”

“And if Arendelle didn’t need you or your kingdom’s support?”

He laughed, stirring in a lump of sugar and handing the cup to her. “You are so funny, darling, I think I’ll never tire of hearing your silly little ideas. How lucky I am to have won your heart.”

---

“How did the meeting go today?”

Elsa shrugged, glad Anna was turned away so she couldn’t see her expression. “Pretty well, all things considered,” she said, hoping she sounded lighthearted as she continued plaiting her sister’s hair.

Anna turned her head and was rewarded with a gentle tug on her half-finished braid. “Okay, okay, geez,” she said with a tired little laugh as she turned to face forward again. “But I can definitely tell you’re lying. Just so you know.”

Elsa sighed. “I tried talking with the Duke, really. But he’s happy with our current trade arrangement. If we raise import taxes on Weselton’s goods, that’s going to change, and we can’t afford to lose that income entirely. If you’d been there, though, maybe things would have gone better. You’re much better at diplomacy than me.”

“Maybe I should marry the Duke instead, then.”

“He’s even shorter than you.”

Anna shuddered theatrically. “You can have him, then.”

Elsa laughed and tied off the braid. “You’re all finished.”

Her sister didn’t move, content to be sitting at her feet and leaning back against her knee. “This is...nice. Getting along with you again.”

Elsa couldn’t help but agree. It was a small miracle, really, that her sister had forgiven her for her coldness and for her part in shutting down her relationship with Kristoff. It was plain to see that Anna still longed for him, if anything even more now than she had when she had first left, now that the wedding date was drawing nearer. Hans was planning on taking her back with him the morning after the ball, now only a week and a half away. A lump rose in Elsa’s throat; she had only just gotten her sister back and now was losing her once again, and as much as she had hoped that Anna’s recovery over the summer would stick…

She reached down and squeezed her little sister’s shoulder. “Dinner should be ready now. Will you come down with me?”

“I’m not really hungry, sorry. And my head still hurts.”

Elsa frowned. “Should I have them send some sandwiches up to your room?”

“I’m fine, really.”

She wasn’t; they both knew it. A pang of fear struck Elsa’s heart, not for the first time; she was starting to worry that before long she would be losing her sister to a place much farther away than the Southern Isles.

---

Hans still insisted on his walks, on introducing Anna to this diplomat or the other, on their 

little dance practices, though now, mercifully, he would let her take breaks when she started getting tired.

She questioned it one day as they were walking back to the castle, having just had a close call; they had only made it a few blocks into the town before she had suddenly felt faint, leaning heavily on Hans’s arm and despising herself for needing his support in yet another way. “Why did you want me to...you know...that one day in the ballroom?”

“I already had an inkling. But I needed to know for sure.”

“How did you know? They kept it hidden for so long.”

He chucked her under the chin, smiling fondly at her as a group of noblewomen passed, eyeing her enviously. “That was exactly it. Who would hide such a lovely flower of a princess, and for what purpose? It’s been clear for years that something was wrong in your little kingdom. I’m just the only one smart enough to do something about it.”

It made her stomach turn to hear him talk so about Arendelle, not only because of his obvious disdain but also because she knew he was right. Her parents had been good people, but they had never been fit to rule; her father had come to the throne much too young, and her mother had been a commoner. She wondered what they would think of what their kingdom, what their daughters, had come to now.

She wondered if wherever they were, they were sorry.

---

Talking together had become something of a nightly ritual, so when Anna was nowhere to be found one evening, Elsa was more than a little worried. She had just spent the day having a final dress fitting with Hans; there were only a few more days to go before the engagement ball. Elsa was starting to worry that perhaps something had happened, that Hans had made some more daring move; desperate, she ran to Anna’s rooms and almost flung open the door before catching herself and pausing to knock.

“Come in,” came the weak reply, and she did, hurrying to where Anna was laying on the bed, curled up on top of the blankets and wearing a deep blue sweater that was far too big for her-- the same one, Elsa realized, that she had been wearing when she had left the mountain.

“Anna! What happened?”

She shook her head. “Nothing. Just...tired. Long day.”

Elsa placed the back of her hand against Anna’s cheek. “You’re burning up! How long have you felt like this?”

“I’m fine, I promise. Probably just the fire.”

“Let me call a doctor.”

Anna sat up. “No! I’m okay. Please.”

“But your h--”

“No.”

Anna’s eyes were bright, that spark of anger returning to them. Elsa tried again. “Anna, if you’re not--”

“I probably just have a cold.”

“But--”

“Whether I’m sick or not, it doesn’t matter,” Anna snapped. “The sooner I marry Hans, the sooner Arendelle is safe from the Southern Isles. There’s not any time to waste. And if I die before it happens--”

“Anna!”

She clutched Elsa’s wrist, silencing her. “Call a doctor. But I’m not staying in my sickbed. If I die before I marry that bastard, then I gave it all up for nothing.”

“There’s still time to see if there’s another way.”

Anna let go, sitting back as a cloud passed over her face. “I don’t think there is.”

Elsa didn’t dare to ask more; she didn’t think she could bear to hear Anna explain further. “I-- I’ll send someone up with something, at least, to see if we can break the fever.”

Anna nodded. “Okay.”

She flew from the room, asking a servant to call for a doctor as she passed by them in the hall, hardly stopping to explain where to send him. She kept going until she was outside, in the crisp, late-October air. She looked up at the gray clouds on the horizon; the first snows were supposed to fall in just a couple of days, maybe even before Anna left. Hans had been right; there was no time to waste before this wedding.

She took a deep breath, willing herself not to be sick in the middle of the garden. Anna had proven herself over the last few weeks to have a sharp political mind, to be a more skilled diplomat than she had ever realized, but she had refused to accept Elsa’s suggestion that she simply break the engagement and stay to help sort it out. “I don’t actually know what I’m doing,” she had insisted. “This way I’ll know for sure. We can’t risk it.”

Elsa had never been a risk-taker, but now, after the revelations of the last few weeks, she was ready to make a gamble, even if it meant the stakes were so high they raised the possibility of losing both her sister and her kingdom. It was a long shot, she knew, in more than one way, but she would take it, would take any chance that meant keeping Anna in Arendelle and Hans out. 

She turned and went back inside, heading straight for her writing desk. A regular letter wouldn’t do; she knew her correspondence was being watched carefully-- Hans had come with quite a few servants and fellow noblemen to keep him company, and though her parents had failed her in so many other ways, that had always made sure Elsa knew how to recognize a spy.

There were still a few invitations left for the ball, and one last batch going out in the next morning’s mail for the people who hadn’t made the first cut. She picked one up, flipping it over and writing carefully in the top corner, hoping no one would think to open the envelope and pull it out.

K,

She needs you. I’ll have someone meet you at the gates. Come ready to leave.

E

---

A knock came on the door. “Come in,” Anna called wearily, fumbling with her petticoat again. She’d sent her servants away, tired of their fretting; she was still running a fever thanks to this blasted cold, and her head had been pounding even before they had started trying to talk her into calling off the party. She was regretting it now that she was faced with the prospect of getting into this monstrosity of a ballgown alone.

To her surprise, it was Hans who slipped into the room, already dressed in his finery and carrying something in a black garment bag. “The night’s finally here, darling. Isn’t it exciting?”

“Very. Help me with my corset?”

He did, pulling the laces tight with practiced ease. “You’re lucky I have a couple of sisters, too.”

“I’ll have to thank them in person.”

“You’ll get a chance very soon. The first snowstorms are rolling in earlier than expected. We’ll leave tonight immediately after the ball.”

She whirled around. “Tonight? But I didn’t get a chance to--”

“I am sorry about that at least. I’ll make sure you get a chance to talk to your sister before you go.”

Anna squeezed her eyes shut tightly; at least it would mean getting it all over with sooner. She was suddenly so, so tired she didn’t even have the strength to argue. “Fine. Help me with...that?” she asked, gesturing weakly to the underskirt.

“No need. I had something else made for you so you won’t have to worry about changing after the party.”

He pulled a gown out of the bag; to Anna’s surprise, it was more to her taste than the massive ballgown had been. “It’s...nice.”

Hans chuckled, motioning for her to step into the gown. “I’m not a complete monster, dear, no matter what you may think. I can at least do this for you.”

She tried and failed not to shudder as he fastened the buttons up the back, imagining a lifetime of this, of being grateful for his small and unpredictable acts of mercy. You’re doing it for Arendelle, she reminded herself. It’s worth it.

Hans offered her his arm. “Are you ready?”

She wasn’t, but she never would be. She took it and let him lead her away.

[crossbows-and-moonshine]

Blood in the Water (Sequel to Such a Softer Sin) Chapter 10

(Chapter 1)

(Chapter 2)

(Chapter 3)

(Chapter 4)

(Chapter 5)

(Chapter 6)

(Chapter 7)

(Chapter 8)

(Chapter 9)

Things go from bad to worse for Lila.

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

A few days passed with Lila hearing nothing from the boys or Rocco. By the third day, her hope that they were coming back for her was fading away rapidly. She had called Aileen, telling her everything, and the woman was worried and angry for her, but it made Lila feel better to be able to talk to someone. By the fourth day, she couldn't stay there any longer, it felt weird to be at Rocco's mother's house when the man wasn't even there and the place only held bad memories for her. It seemed like the boys weren’t coming back here and she didn't know when Rocco's mother would be back, she didn't feel like sticking around and explaining where her son was or what he was doing. She decided to go back to the loft and there was still some fleeting hope that the boys maybe went there. When she got there though, the place was as she left it, and her heart sank. The place felt so empty, devoid of the life and love that once filled the space. This used to be a place where they were a family, and now there was nothing left. She had cried so much the last few days she wasn't sure she had anything in her left to cry.

She went over to the bed, curling up as she sobbed, clearly being wrong as more tears fell. The bed still smelt like them and it only made the ache in her chest grow, she missed them so fucking much, she needed to be close to them, to feel them. She moved a little and then her hand touched something under the pillow. She sat up, wiping her eyes and she pulled out an envelope with her name on it. Her heart was hammering away in her ribcage, she’d recognize that writing anywhere.

“Murphy.” She whispered forlornly, her chest constricting painfully. His writing was always neater than his brothers. They had been here then, they had to have come here to leave this for her and the fact she had missed them only served to upset her more. Maybe if she had come here sooner she would have found them. She opened the envelope with shaky hands and a photo fell out. It was the picture of the three of them when the timer had gone off too soon and the boys were bickering. Murphy's writing was on the back of it and her stomach clenched when she read it; MacManus family 1999.  It felt like her heart shattered right in her chest and a choked sob left her lips. There was a letter too, and she felt like she already knew what she was going to read as she opened it.

Lila,

Fuck, I don’t even have the words, there will never be any words. Sorry won’t ever be enough. I shouldn’t even be writing this, Connor doesn’t know and if he did he’d fucking kill me. But I couldn’t just leave you like that, without even a goodbye, without a reason.

You have no idea how hard this is for me, for us both, but we have no choice. What happened at the last hit, it proved to us you aren't safe with us. They know about you, you were seen with Rocco and you’re associated with us. Being with us means certain death and we can’t do that to you.

You being alive and away from us, no matter how painful it may be, is better than you being dead.

It was Connors plan, you’ve probably guessed that by now. I fought so hard to stay, I got into it with Connor and he had to knock me out so I wouldn’t come running to you. But he was right, I see that now.

We’re all fine, Rocco too, I know you’ll be worried, and I know you’ll be mad as hell at us for this. I just hope in time you understand.

I wish I could find the right words to tell you how much you mean to me. I’d need to fucking invent words to even come close. I never thought it would come to this, that we would willingly walk away from you like this. You’re our soul mate, we know in our hearts that to be true, and that's why I hope one day we can come back for you, and I hope you’ll still love us both then, despite what we’ve done.

Fuck, this is so hard. All I want to do is be there with you, have my arms around you and kiss you until you can’t breathe. I’ve lost part of my soul having to walk away from you, and it kills me to know how upset you’ll be when you read this. You’re everything to us, and I know it might not seem like it, but that’s exactly why we’re doing this.

You need to have a life, work and laugh and just be you. You’re a light in this dark world and I feel blessed to have ever met you. I have faith in God that this isn't over, it can’t be.

Please forgive me, I’ll be begging for forgiveness for this for the rest of my life. Please don’t be mad at Connor. It was hard for him too, it's why he was distant when you last saw him, he couldn't bear being around you knowing what we had to do. We both have nightmares, Connor cries out your name in the middle of the night. This is as hard for us as it is for you.

I love you Lila, more than I’ll ever be able to tell you or show you. Please don’t forget about us and please don't hate us.

Níor rith cúrsa an ghrá fhíor réidh riamh

(The course of true love never did run smooth)

Murphy

X

Lila sat there, her heart bleeding and spilling out everywhere as she read his words, letting them sink in her brain. They were gone, they had really left her. She knew their reasons now but it didn't hurt her any less. She was grateful for her darker sensitive twin though, the letter and picture, she needed them. It didn't surprise her that this was Connors grand plan and the thought of Murphy putting up such a fight he needed to be knocked out made her heart ache. She wasn't sure what to do with all this information. The quote at the end of the letter grabbed her attention, Shakespeare, it was like their thing between the three of them, she read Shakespeare to them every night. But Murphy didn't read himself, he only liked it when she read to him. It made her wonder if those words had been told to him by Connor, the true Shakespeare fan. Had the lighter twin told that to Murphy to try and comfort him? And now Murphy was passing those words of wisdom onto her?

She went to set the envelope down when she realised there was something else in it, she reached inside and pulled out a rosary. Her heart stopped as she glared at the offending object. It was wood like theirs, but the cross was much smaller. She felt a lump in her throat as she just looked at it for a moment. She was torn. She was mad at God for doing this to her, but the gesture by Murphy compelled her to put it on. She wasn't sure if this was his way of saying sorry and hoping she wouldn’t waver in her faith. It had been no secret she struggled with her faith, every time something hard came her way she cursed God for it. The brothers never judged her, they were just there for her until she was ready to once again return to the church with them. But now they weren't here to console her, to talk her into going. But the rosary in her hands felt like a plea from the darker boy. She swallowed thickly, putting it over her head with shaky hands and tucking it inside of her shirt. It almost made her feel closer to them, to have this gift from one of them, something to remember them by.

She sat there for hours just staring at the picture and she stuffed the letter into her pocket, leaving the loft and going to the pub for the first time since the bar fight. She was still crying, tears streaming down her face as she walked in. the bar went silent as all eyes turned to her, sympathy on their faces. She didn't want their sympathy though, she just wanted her boys back. Aileen saw her and her eyes widened, thinking the worst seeing the state of her. Lila just handed her the letter. Aileen read it, tearing up herself and she moved Lila inside the back of the pub for privacy. She sat her down at the small table that was there.

“I’m so sorry sweetheart.” Aileen soothed, wrapping her arms around the weeping girl. Aileen understood why the boys did what they did, but it was hard to see Lila in such a way.

Lila felt lightheaded again and she felt her stomach churn, she was getting sick of this bullshit. She dived up, running to the sink as she threw up once again. Aileen watched her concerned and rubbed her back.

“I’m getting fucking sick of throwing up.” She mumbled angrily, pissed off with her life, with everything. Nothing was going right.

“Lila...When was yer last period?” Aileen asked hesitantly. Lila looked to her, blinking slowly.

“I uh...I don't know. The day before St Patty's I took a test cause I missed it, but it was negative.” She shrugged, wiping her mouth on some tissue.

“Have ye been sick every day?” Aileen enquired curiously, making Lila nod. Suddenly Lila looked to the woman with wide eyes.

“I can’t be, I can't! It was negative and I've not had sex since, I swear!” She was panicking, life really couldn't hate her this much.

“Right, come on.” Aileen said firmly, taking her hand and leading her out of the back. She said something to Doc and the old man looked at her sadly, giving her a weak smile she tried to return.

Aileen wrapped an arm around her and lead her out of the pub. Before long they were back at the loft with a pregnancy test. Aileen looked around a little shocked. The toilet was gone, just gone. She had heard about Connors grand decent with the thing from the roof but seeing it gone was another thing entirely. Lila had to use the toilet next door and she came back into the loft with the test to wait for the results. She handed it to Aileen who was sat at the table and Lila paced, anxiously biting her thumb. Apparently, she’d picked up the nervous habit from Murphy, the thought made her feel sick. She’d never see him again. The timer went off and Lila stilled, her heart beating so fast she felt like she was about to keel over. Aileen looked at it before looking at her carefully.

“Positive.” She said softly. Lilas world tilted as everything went black and she hit the floor.

She woke up lay on the floor with Aileen fanning her face, what was it with her and fainting? Aileen helped her up and to sit on the bed. The older woman was watching her carefully like she was about to explode into a thousand pieces.

“What the fuck do I do?” Lila asked panicked, tears falling down her cheeks once again.

“Tomorrow, we get ye in te see a doctor, see how far along ye are. I’ll come with ye. I know it’s not great, the boys leavin’ at a time like this. But yer not alone, I’m here. Ye don't have te do this alone Lila.” Aileen said sincerely. It made Lila feel a little better but her heart ached for the boys. They wanted this so badly and now it was happening and they weren't even fucking here. She was getting mad now, how they would do this to her, no matter how noble their intentions were.

Aileen was kind enough to stay the night with her, seeing the girl was in a state and not fit to be on her own. Lila moved the trash can beside the bed, there was no toilet to throw up in and since vomiting was her new favourite thing to do, she guessed it was better to do it in the bin than the floor. When they woke the next morning, Aileen made her breakfast and insisted she ate it after learning how she hadn't been eating. Now she was pregnant, she had to look after herself. They went down to the clinic and Lila was thankful Aileen was taking charge, talking to the receptionist and insisting she be seen. They had to wait over an hour until she was called. Lila was distant again. She wasn't sure when her mind had developed this coping mechanism, maybe after her father died? But she always retreated into herself when things got too much, and once again, she was far away.

She lay on the bed waiting for the blood work before they would scan her, even within herself, she was still nervous. Aileen was right by her side, true to her word as she held her hand.

“Good morning Ms Kelly. I’m happy to say your blood work all looks good, so let's give you your scan.” The doctor smiled warmly. She squirted the cold jelly on Lilas' belly and the girl flinched, eyes locked on the monitor as the doctor pushed the wand onto her belly and moved it around. Lila was holding her breath, she wasn't sure what news she wanted to hear. It would be much easier for the doctor to tell her they had been mistaken and she wasn't pregnant, but her heart seemed to be yearning for the baby to appear on the screen. She saw a tiny blob and she tilted her head curiously.

“And there it is, there's your baby. The heartbeat looks good and I’d say you’re measuring around 7 weeks.” The doctor smiled. Lila blinked at the monitor before turning to the doctor.

“How is that possible? I took a home's test on the 16th and it came back negative.” She asked confused.

“Sometimes, it's too soon for home tests to pick up, it happens a lot. Some women never have home tests work on them no matter how far along there are.” She explained carefully, giving Lila a warm smile.

Lila just nodded dumbly, letting it all sink in, she had been pregnant this whole time. Was life against her? Why did this have to happen? Would things have been different if that test had been positive? Would the boys be out doing what they were doing? Would they have even got into the bar fight? Everything would be different and it left a bitter taste in Lilas' mouth how things had worked out. Once again she felt like God had screwed her over and she had no clue what the fuck she did to deserve this shitty hand she had been dealt. It almost felt like the rosary around her neck was burning into her skin.

The doctor printed off some pictures and Aileen took her home. She was silent, once again retreating into herself. She had no idea what the fuck to do now. She wished she had a way to reach out to the boys, to tell them the news. Maybe they would come back to her. She knew deep down they would if they knew, but she had no idea where the fuck they were or how to get a hold of them. Now she was just alone, alone and fucking pregnant and no clue where life was going. Everything was a mess.

Taglist; @risingphoenix761 @daryldixonandfrogs @arlaina28 @divadinag

[alkhale]

Pretty (Kirishima x Reader )

first of hopefully many ko-fi requests, this was super sweet and indulgent to write, I feel like I needed something salty to swallow it down because of the fluff

thank you all so much for the kind donations and the insane support, for the anon who requested some sweet goodness with the donation, I hope you like it!

Kirishima Eijirou’s always been the kinda guy who’d agree almost anything was pretty.

When Kaminari would point out a girl walking down the streets and instantly calculate his chances with her, he’d laugh and nod with his boyish grin that yeah, she’s pretty cute. When Hagakure would come bounding up to him and talk about how pretty she made her hair look today he’d agree with a bright smile even if he couldn’t see it, Hagakure had a pretty personality so her hair was probably the same. When Mina showed him image after image of models and outfits she thought were pretty, he’d nod and look thoughtful and agree. When Todoroki would stop for a moment and glance up at the newly budding cherry blossoms trees outside and say, more to himself that they were pretty, Kirishima would grin with a wide smile and agree.

It’s true after all. There’s thousands of pretty and cute and beautiful things out there in the world. He’s always been more of the type to notice the more manly things, of course, but they’re out there. It’s more often that he’d agree things are pretty then not pretty--he’s just never had much of a heart for stuff like that anyway.

“Two pineapple pork buns please.”

You look like you’ve been through a bit of hell.

Kirishima Eijiro is frozen.

There’s a cushioned bandage plastered over your left cheek. The top of your right eye is a bit swollen from a cut and another bandaid is covered over the bridge of your nose. Your hair’s done up in a messy sort of bun with strands falling out this way and that. The top collar of your uniform is missing its necktie and your gray blazer is wrapped around your waist instead of over your shoulders despite the growing weather drop with the coming of the winter season.

One of Lunch Rush’s assistants is quick to handle your order, taking your ticket while you wait patiently. He’s not sure what the hell he’s doing, standing there like an idiot in the line right beside yours as he limply holds his own lunch ticket in his hand for a bowl of katsudon. You blow some air through your lips and tuck a loose strand of hair behind your ear. Something seems to rouse you and you turn your eyes his way, pausing for a brief moment.

Kirishima can hardly comprehend what’s happening around him. The ticket is still loose in his grip and Lunch Rush is trying to snatch it from his hands because he’s just a bit out of reach behind the countertop. He’s pretty sure his mouth might’ve fallen open and he’s just been caught openly staring because--

You raise a brow. Something like curious amusement flickers through your eyes--I didn’t know eyes could look so pretty in that shade--but then you frown for a second, touching your bandaged cheek and your eyes look back down and you turn away.

Something seizes his chest, fierce and quick and he only feels like this in the middle of training or a really good spar. Kirishima’s lips part and before he knows what he’s doing he shouts, “Y-Your eyes!”

A sweet, savory scent hits the air. Your tray is presented before you but you’re looking at him curiously and Kirishima eagerly gestures to his own. “They’re, uh, they’re really manly!”

A bout of silence. Confusion colors your face, comically scrunched up and Kaminari who’d been about to say something behind him about all his weird shit is now gaping at him in horror while Sero looks like he’s considering sneaking into the next lunchline over. You make a funny face before seemingly understanding and Kirishima straightens to attention when you face him once more and tap the corner of your eyes.

“It’s just my Quirk.”

You say nothing else. Nada. Nothing. Just shrug and grab your pineapple pork buns and go.

The reaction is slow--and then all at once. His ears flush a dark, deep apple red before his cheeks follow like the ends of his dyed hair. Kaminari is shaking him from behind trying to get him to explain himself for his weird attitude and Sero’s apologizing to the annoyed upperclassmen behind them but all Kirishima can bring himself to think is how stupid and unmanly he was because--

He’d wanted to say your eyes were pretty.

You’re part of the Support course.

It’s Kaminari who does him the favor of finding out. Apparently you’re fairly notorious amidst the batch of Support course first years. You hang out with the girl who’d gone against Iida in the sports festival--Mei Hatsume. Easy to spot because you’ve often got a bandage on your face or hands for some reason or another.

(F/n) (L/n). Even your name is pretty. Kaminari, for all his teasing and joshing is oddly curious and attentive as he helps Kirishima out. When Kirishima had tried to just shrug the whole thing off, Kaminari had shot him a finger gun accompanied with a little zap and said, “You don’t look at someone like that and just forget about it.”

Kirishima isn’t even sure what it is. All he knows is that he’s never seen anyone like you before and never felt this way before and yeah, he’s an aspiring pro hero with a lot on his plate and he knows you must be swamped with your own work and maybe he’ll feel this way looking at something else again but--

He’d be a complete loser if he didn’t even just tell you once, properly.

“I told you, didn’t I? The costume design needs to look like this.” The angry, harsh voice cuts like a knife through the hallway and Kirishima pauses, his grip on the class notebooks tightening as he peeks around the corner. Woah, bullying at a school like this? “You can’t just go and change shit because you feel like it!”

The sound of papers fluttering in the air fill the hallway before they settle onto the ground without much other fuss. There’s two students--upperclassmen from the Heroics department by the looks of it--blocking his view of the third party. Kirishima frowns, tightening his grip and squaring his shoulders. What the hell do they think they’re doing?

“And I told you,” your voice barely hits the other end of the hall but it floods Kirishima’s ears like the first tolls of a bell, “it’s not gonna work.”

He goes rigid, quickly sidestepping a few inches to the left so he can peer around the upperclassmen and sure enough--

Your hair’s in a neater bun today but stubborn strands still stick out. There’s a bit of grease on the corner of your chin and a new bandaid is plastered underneath your right eye. Why are you always getting hurt? Is it them? Accidents? How can I help you? You’re wearing comfortable working clothes, loose, rolled up pants and shirt stained with oil and other smears.

But your eyes are alight. They don’t shift or waver and they pin the two guys down in front of you. Kirishima sees their fists clenched tighter. “Your Quirk isn’t gonna cut it out for the costume. The designs were made by me but the touch-ups were recommended by your homeroom teacher. If you’ve got beef, take it up with him.”

“Don’t think you’re all that just because we need you for something like this,” one upperclassmen fists his hand into your shirt and tugs you forward. Kirishima feels his entire body go taut. “You’re just Support anyway--”

Your eyes narrow and your lips part, but before you can speak, Kirishima doesn’t even know when his feet had already carried him so close to the three of you and--

“Hey, let her go man!” Kirishima reaches forward with one hand, grabbing the back of the upperclassman’s shirt, but the weight in his arms suddenly slumps and he quickly remembers he was carrying the class notebooks. Pounds of paper come sliding from his arms and slam hard into the back of the two upperclassmen, toppling them down to the floor.

Kirishima gapes at the scene, a dribble of sweat trickling down the side of his face because wow, that was not how that was supposed to go. His cheeks flush a bright red and the upperclassmen groan, trying to shrug off the weight on top of them and he can’t help but think man, how uncool, they’re not that heavy.

It’s like a bell.

Kirishima feels his hands drop down to his sides as he stares. The soft sound starts to fill the hallway and then your hands are suddenly wrapped around your middle, lips parted and teeth shining as you laugh and laugh and laugh. His mouth has parted somewhere along the way, unable to speak as he wonders how he was suddenly blessed with the chance to hear this beautiful sound and you subside into stifled snickers before your eyes finally find his and they shine.

“C’mon,” you say quickly, grabbing his hand before he can say otherwise and tugging him along. His feet move before he even realizes and suddenly he’s running behind you, your bun bobbing and shifting and you tip your head back to laugh harder as you race down the hall, ignoring your screeching upperclassmen. “Pick up the pace, hero!”

Something spurs in the back of his mind. Kirishima quickly closes the distance between you two and now you’re running together, panting and laughing breathlessly and he keeps trying to sneak glances of your smiling face because he’s got to say it--

“Y-Your laugh!” Kirishima gets out in between breaths.

Your pretty eyes turn his way and he stutters, stumbling over his feet before he steels himself and snatches an ounce of Bakugou’s confidence and he shouts, “I-It’s, uh, it’s--”

Your watching him closely, curious and inviting and he spits out, “It’s such a manly laugh!”

Bro, what the hell?

Kirishima suddenly wishes he could drop your hand and slam himself into the nearest wall. But before he can consider it for another second, your laugh increases tenfold and then you’re nearly doubled over from running and laughing and you pat your chest, smiling so wide he thinks this is what the sun must look like. Kirishima’s cheeks flush and his hands tighten ever so slightly around yours and you shine, shine, shine.

“It’s my Quirk!”

Your smile’s absolutely beautiful.

It’s the third time he thinks it that he finally gets it right.

Chance encounters, waves in the hall, small chats in-between classes and during passings. He’s guarded them all as closely as he can, ignoring the teasing jeers from his classmates and the gushing advice and eagerness of the girls in his class as well. You work actively with him to help make improvements on his costume since he often needs them with his Quirk. It’s your ideas coupled with Hatsume’s hard work that help shape his new costume.

The thoughts never cease, the feelings continue to grow, and he’s pretty sure that if he doesn’t do something about it soon, Bakugou’s about to blow him to kingdom come from the growing annoyance with all his, “Fucking lovesick shit, do something about it Shitty Hair.”

Kirishima’s been mapping it all out. Mina’s offered mountains of advice and shoujo mangas for reference on how to say it and while Kirishima’s always been a simple guy, he’s got to say it.

But before any plans can be enacted and simulations done, it comes to him and to you as suddenly as a summer rain.

The rain comes down in a light shower. Nowhere on the broadcasts had said anything about it and he’d been currently mulling over asking Yaoyorozu to make him an umbrella just this once so he wouldn’t get wet on his way home. There’s barely any sunlight out with the gathered clouds and it’s when he rounds the corner, making up his mind that he sees you.

Your hair’s down this time. It curves around your shoulders and falls freely. Soft. It looks soft. Ends curl against your cheeks and sweep over your shoulder as you press your forehead to the glass. There’s no bandages on your face this time--you got hurt often with your line of work but you were working on it, apparently, and his recent, flustered warning has given you more reason to be careful.

There’s this look in your eyes. It’s soft and gentle but it devours all at once. You drink in the sight of the falling rain and your smile curves along your lips as though someone had merely swiped their finger through a swatch of sunlight and dragged it across a canvas. He’s never seen you with your hair down before. Never seen you look so serene and happy and beautiful all at once as you watch the rain fall and then he remembers in your hundreds of chats that you like the rain because it reminds you of new things.

“I love new things,” you’d said with a laugh. “It’s why I invent.”

“Don’t tell me you only like me because I’m new,” he’d joked, rubbing the back of his neck and glancing to you but then you’d smiled at him so wide and so soft he thought his heart had burst from his chest.

“Nah,” you’d said with a grin. “I like you because you always make me feel new too.”

Kirishima’s only a few feet from you. The clouds cast a kind of somber shadow but you shine against it like a sliver of moonlight. Your eyes are so, so warm and then they glance up, as if searching. You find him at the end of the hallway and the gaze in your eyes shifts, taking him in as though he were the rain and Kirishima wonders if this is what a time Quirk would feel like because suddenly nothing else is moving but the beat of his heart in his chest.

Your pretty eyes meet his and that pretty smile stretches so wide across your face.

“Hey.”

“You’re beautiful.”

His words hang in the air. His heart thuds wildly against his chest and he thinks of everything Mina has ever told him to do and it all goes flying out the window. You’re stuck there, frozen for a moment as you take in his words with wide, startled eyes. Your hand almost robotically reaches up to touch the side of your face and he knows the next words about to come from your lips so he cuts you off.

“Not your Quirk,” Kirishima says. “Just you.”

A moment.

Slowly, suddenly, your cheeks flush the darkest shade of red he’s ever seen on your visage. Your eyes grow round like saucers and you suddenly stare at him as though he’d pulled the moon from the sky and offered it to you as a gift. Your lips part, words stumbling and stuttering as you cup your cheek and then press the back of your hand to your mouth in embarrassment. Kirishima feels breathless and powerful all at once and then he goes carefully still when your eyes dart to him and then away.

“...you too.” You start softly, turning your head.

Kirishima blinks in clear confusion, drunk off you and this and everything and you swallow, rubbing the back of your head before you meet his eyes.

“I’ve always thought you were beautiful.”

Kirishima can’t help but wonder if that what the sound of his heart flying out of his chest and into your hands sounds like or if it’s just his imagination.

He thinks it’s pretty regardless.

[yeahgen]

兄弟

When the box with the bow appears on his nightstand that morning, the first thing Yagen does is check the date.

December 8th, 2018. 

Isn’t it too soon for...whatever holiday he’d hear the others talk about around the city? His next thought is that Fudou did it, but there’s no sign of the tantou’s name on the package, only his own name printed in far neater kanji than his partner can write. 

He pokes it a few time, then shakes it, but all he hears is the slight rustling of papers within. Finally, curiosity gets the better of him and he opens the lid to look inside.

‘...what?’

There’s a neat stack of papers at the bottom, horizontal strips all tied up with a ribbon. He recognizes the writing on the paper on top--Akita’s shaky scrawl, laboriously spelling out a message: I hope we can be together forever.

Yagen stares at it for awhile, then carefully sets it aside. Below that is a second message, this time in Maeda’s neat strokes. I want to be strong enough to protect the things I love.

After that is Hirano’s, then all of his brothers in succession: Hakata, Houchou, Midare, Mouri, Gokotai, Goutou, Atsushi, Shinano, Honebami, Namazuo, Nagikitsune, and...

－ I want to be with everyone.

...Ichigo Hitofuri. He holds onto that one the longest, fingers brushing over his older brother’s beautiful handwriting. There’s one last strip of paper in the box, but this one is blank. He checks again, and finds brush and ink tucked in a corner of the parcel. The city’s been known to give strange gifts, but Yagen doesn’t mind this one. He even indulges himself by wetting the brush and raising it over the paper, lips quirked in a smile.

‘My turn.’

Every slip of paper contained a single wish from each of the Toushirou. Then his own, of course, would be...

－ I want to see my brothers again.

The moment he finishes the last character on the sheet, a wind picks up in his room, scattering the papers into the air. Yagen looks up, alarmed, only to see the strips glow with light and burst into clouds of soft pink petals--cherry blossoms, falling upon him like soft rain. He almost thinks he can smell their scent, but then he’s distracted by the voices suddenly filling his ears.

“Ow, Midare, your elbow’s jabbing into my chest--”

“Can’t help it! Who told you to fall on top of me?!”

“This won’t do! All of you are pushing Nakigitsune and me into a corner!”

“Hey, where are we?”

“Don’t know. Wait, is it snowing outside?!”

“Oooh, snowball fight, snowball fight!”

“But it’ll be cold... So, Shinano! Lend me your scarf!”

“What? No, I’ll freeze! Get your own!”

“U-um, m-maybe we can borrow some jackets b-before we go out...?”

“I could make us some hot tea, too.”

Yagen blinks. His bedroom is suddenly filled to the brim with people, but all he can do is gape. This is...they’re all...

What are they doing here?

When a hand reaches out to touch his shoulder, he jerks back in response. But the familiar sight of blue hair and golden eyes causes him to freeze mid-action and trip over his feet. Luckily, the tachi grabs his arm in time to stop an embarrassing fall.

“Careful there.”

“Are you alright, Yagen?”

‘I...' He’s not.

He’s really not.

Words fail him, so he simply tugs the taller sword close and wraps his arms around his torso. 

Ichigo Hitofuri pauses at the sudden hug, then moves to stroke the tantou’s hair. “Yagen?”

‘I’m dreaming, aren’t I.’ His voice is muffled against his brother’s chest.

“No. This is real.” The fingers stroking his hair stop to rest against his back, solid and warm as their owner sighs. “I’m sorry we kept you waiting.”

‘Don’t lie.’

‘It’s too good to be true.’

He blinks, and in that moment the voices fade, leaving only the feeling of the tachi’s arms around his back. Yagen smiles wryly and nestles himself deeper in the embrace.

‘Yeah. Told you so.’

“I’m still here,” his older brother mutters.

“Us too, Yagen!” There’s a rustle of footsteps before Shinano throws open his arms and wraps them around Yagen too. “So don’t hog Ichinii all to yourself!”

“You say that, but you’re the one who wants him most of all, don’tcha?” Midare teases, but he joins their hug as well. “Houchou, come on!”

“Hmph! Make room for me, then!” their last brother demands, but Midare is already pulling him in, tigers and all. “H-hey!”

Amidst the growing chrous of voices, he’s soon buried beneath a gigantic group glomp. He’s almost forgotten how loud his brothers can be, and the uncanny speeds at which Toushirou teamwork move to shine.

‘.........’

“Yagen-nii, are you okay?”

“Did we squash him.”

“Who’re you calling heavy?!”

“Yeah, you and your big scarf probably weigh twice as much as Midare!”

“Hey!”

‘Hahah...’

“Yagen!”

“He’s aliveee~”

‘You guys,’ Yagen takes a deep breath and finally pushes himself upright. ‘Aren’t planning to leave anytime soon, huh.’

“Pfft, are you trying to chase us off?”

“Yeah, we just got here!”

‘Come on then,’ he makes his way out of the crowd of Toushirous and heads for the door. ‘Let’s not waste time. Someone said snowball fight?”

“How do five of us make two teams?” Shinano asks, already tightening his scarf as he prepares for battle. “Unless Ichinii sits out...but that’s no fun!”

“Well.” Yagen breathes. “I might know a guy.”

Wish granted.

[syncogon]

[QZGS Fic] 0529

I haven’t cross-posted my works in a while, but figure I’d make an exception here. Happy birthday to Ye Xiu!

AO3 

summary: Some of Ye Xiu’s birthdays, throughout the years.

“Surprise!!! Happy birthday!”

Ye Xiu yelps at the sudden blast of noise and confetti in his face. It takes him a few seconds to realize what’s going on, and to see the two figures standing before him, each wearing a little party hat and triumphantly waving something in their hands.

Su Muqiu grins and high-fives his little sister. “You like these? Homemade… whatever they’re called! Confetti-blaster-noise-maker things just for this special occasion. Mucheng was a big help with these so make sure to thank her!”

Ye Xiu rubs his head. “You could give me some warning next time, sheesh…”

“That defeats the point! You should’ve seen your face!”

“It was great,” Su Mucheng giggles, eyes sparkling. Ye Xiu can’t get mad at her like this, so he just sighs and ruffles her hair.

“Anyway, happy 16th! This is a big year, you know why?” Su Muqiu doesn’t wait for an answer. “You’re two-thirds of the way to becoming the king’s avatar!”

“…What?”

“You know! Since there are 24 classes in Glory!” Su Muqiu throws an arm around Ye Xiu’s shoulders and gestures grandly before them. “So when you’re 24, you’ll be the master of all classes! The textbook of Glory! They’ll write novels about you!”

“Please.” Ye Xiu rolls his eyes. “Maybe you need a whole year to master a class, but I can do it much faster.”

“Oh yeah? Wanna go?” Su Muqiu gives him a light shove.

Ye Xiu grins. “You’re on.”

But Su Mucheng breaks in before they can rush off to the computers like they always do. “At least have some cake first! You have to make a wish, it’s your birthday!” She points to the table, where Ye Xiu finally sees the cupcake sitting peacefully, vanilla with orange-colored icing, a single candle stuck straight into the air.

“Oh right, almost forgot!” Su Muqiu slaps a hand to his forehead. “We got you a cupcake too, Mucheng picked it out just for you, so eat up! Enjoy! Make a wish to beat me, because we both know that’s the only way you’d win.”

“Whatever you need to tell yourself to sleep better at night,” Ye Xiu laughs. They sit down at the small table, and Su Muqiu strikes a match, lights the candle, and pushes the cupcake in front of him.

It’s really a lovely looking cupcake, the icing perfectly swirled atop the cake and dotted with colorful sprinkles. The sort of thing that they’d stare at through a display window, but never shell out the money to buy. But this is a special treat for a special occasion, and it warms Ye Xiu’s heart.

I wish… I wish that we can stay together like this, for a long time to come.

Ye Xiu closes his eyes and blows out the candle.

“I cannot believe,” sighs Wu Xuefeng, “that I’ve known you for this many years now, and I only just found out when your birthday was. And not even from you, but from Little Mucheng! You can tell me these sort of things, you know?”

“Sorry?” Ye Xiu offers a sheepish grin. “It just… never came up?”

Wu Xuefeng shakes his head. “You’re hopeless,” he says, but there’s a smile tugging at his lips nonetheless. “Anyway, now that I actually know, happy birthday! Got you something, not much since it was such short notice…”

“No, this is good.” Ye Xiu takes the profferred gift bag and, after a pause, reaches forward and pulls Wu Xuefeng into a hug. “Thanks, Brother Feng,” he says. “For saving my butt during matches, and covering for me outside of them.”

“That’s what I’m here for, right?” Wu Xuefeng laughs and pats him on the back. “I’ve always got your back, you know that.”

“I couldn’t ask for a better partner,” Ye Xiu smiles. “Ready to create a dynasty?”

“Always.”

Poor young defenseless Ye Xiu is on his way back to his room along the player passageways when suddenly out of the blue he is accosted by a terrifying mafia boss demanding his money or else suffer the consequences-

“What the fuck are you talking about.”

Ye Xiu smiles sweetly at said mafia boss. “Nothing, Old Han. What’s up?”

Han Wenqing gives him a dark look, but instead of saying more, just tosses him something. Ye Xiu fumbles a bit, but doesn’t drop it, which he considers a success. “Huh? What’s this?” he asks.

“I heard it was your birthday soon, Ye Qiu,” says Han Wenqing. “So, happy early birthday.”

“You got me a present?” There’s only the barest hint of incredulity in his voice, but Ye Xiu, behind his careless demeanor, is actually rather shocked. Is this a thing rivals do? Or… since when did Han Wenqing consider him a friend?

“Yes. Is there a problem?”

“…No,” says Ye Xiu. “That’s really nice of you, actually, I never thought you were such a softie behind that scary face of yours. Really,” he pretends to wipe away a tear, “it’s a present enough just to have someone like you as my rival.”

Han Wenqing glares.

“But also,” Ye Xiu waves the rather wallet-shaped wrapped gift around, “if this is a wallet, Old Han, I will laugh.”

Han Wenqing glares some more, and Ye Xiu smirks.

“Ye Qiu Ye Qiu Ye Qiu Ye Qiu Ye Qiu Ye Qiu!!!”

The voice echoes down the passageway, compounding the noisiness, and Ye Xiu can already feel the headache forming. Resigned, he turns around. “What do you want?”

Huang Shaotian bounces up to him, Yu Wenzhou following sedately behind. “Hello, Senior,” the latter politely greets him.

“Hello, Captain Yu.”

“Ye Qiu you bastard stop ignoring me!” The mess of blond energy plants himself firmly in front of Ye Xiu’s view.

“Don’t worry, you’ve made that thoroughly impossible, unfortunately. What do you want?”

“So goddamn ungrateful. Here, happy birthday! Take this, it’s from me and Captain. And come on, let’s go PKPKPK everyone knows that’s the best way to celebrate a birthday!”

Yu Wenzhou continues to smile calmly. “Happy birthday, Senior. I wish you the best in the year to come.”

Ye Xiu takes the gift and snorts. “The best birthday gift you could have gotten me was shutting him up, you know?”

“I know, but it was unfortunately impossible. Perhaps he’d quiet down if you played a match with him?”

“Nice try,” laughs Ye Xiu.

“Oi I’m right here you know! Ye Qiu I’m going to drag your ass to the Arena right now right this instant-”

“Oh would you look at the time, I have to go feed my dog. See you guys around, and thanks for the birthday wishes!”

“YE QIU GET BACK HERE-!”

“Ye… Xiu.”

“Hm? Oh hey, Big-Eye, how’s it going? Raising your team well? Your successor get any braver?”

Wang Jiexi nods curtly. “We’re doing well, thanks. I don’t know when I’ll see you next, so I wanted to give you this now.”

“This is…?” The box that Wang Jiexi gives him is cubical, heavier than it appears. Wang Jiexi had been carrying it rather carefully, so Ye Xiu does the same.

“Just a gift. It’s a little fragile, so be careful. Happy early birthday, Senior. I…” Wang Jiexi hesitates, then continues, “You were never gone for long, and I know we still had contact during the period of your retirement. But regardless, it’s good to have you back. I’ve enjoyed seeing the growth of your team and its players… Yours is an unconventional team, but one to look up to.”

“I…” What to say to that? Ye Xiu isn’t the type to get embarrassed, but after something like that? In the end, although it’s nowhere near what he’d like to express, he can only say, “Thanks, Captain Wang.”

“Though I hope you haven’t been working yourself too hard? Building a new team from scratch, and with so many rookies…”

Wang Jiexi would know, probably better than almost anyone, how difficult it can be. Ye Xiu smiles ruefully. “It’s been alright. Maybe… maybe if I’d been able to transfer to an already existing team, I’d be in good enough condition to play for several years longer.

“But… I wouldn’t trade Team Happy for anything. I’m sure you can understand, no?”

“Here!” Sun Xiang thrusts a wrapped box at him out of nowhere. This catches Ye Xiu off guard, to say the least.

“Uh…” Ye Xiu takes it, of course, but handles it rather gingerly. This kid doesn’t hate him enough to give him a bomb or something, right? “Thanks…?”

“Congrats on being a year closer to your death, old man,” grumbles Sun Xiang, stuffing his hands in his pockets and looking away. “I won’t go easy on you because you’re old though! I’m still gonna kick your ass onstage!”

Ye Xiu snorts. “In your dreams, Little Xiang.” He absently inspects the…birthday gift?… which is wrapped in a cheery yellow paper patterned with little white sheep. “Did you wrap this? I like the paper, it suits you. Though it’s a neater job than I expected, I’m impressed.”

The trashtalk is automatic and natural, but his brain is elsewhere. Honestly, he’s more impressed that Sun Xiang – Sun Xiang! – is giving him anything at all. Since when did this kid not-hate him enough to make such a gesture? It’s… kind of touching, actually?

“Fuck off,” replies Sun Xiang with an angry scowl, which only makes Ye Xiu’s grin widen.

“Um…” It’s at this moment that Sun Xiang’s companion speaks up, hesitantly extending another wrapped box to Ye Xiu. “Happy birthday… Senior…”

Ye Xiu accepts the present from Zhou Zekai as well, with less trepidation. “Thank you, Little Zhou.”

“Senior is… really… amazing,” says Zhou Zekai, ducking his head, and Ye Xiu’s smile softens at the sight.

“So are you,” he replies, “you’ve both played very well this season, especially with your coordination. I look forward to seeing you onstage.” And he means it, really. It would be Happy’s most difficult battle yet, but a good one no matter what.

“We don’t need your stupid comments!” Sun Xiang humphs, but Ye Xiu sees that the tips of his ears have gone pink. “I already know my One Autumn Leaf is better than yours! Let’s head back, Captain, we gotta train and annilhate this guy once and for all.”

Zhou Zekai opens his mouth, as though about to say something more, but he shakes his head. He offers Ye Xiu a shy smile, and turns to follow his teammate.

Ye Xiu watches the two of them depart, and then he glances at Jiang Botao, who’s casually standing to the side, feigning disinterest in the whole scene.

“So,” says Ye Xiu, walking over, “what did you say to convince them to do that? Are you trying to bribe me to go easy on you guys or something? Your heart’s really as black as a Master Tactician’s…” Because although the two were very different in personality and disposition, neither Zhou Zekai nor Sun Xiang were exactly the types to just…

Jiang Botao only smiles. “They themselves wanted to give you presents, they just needed a push to actually go through with it. Someone on Samsara has to be the socially competent one, after all. Happy birthday, Senior.”

That earns a chuckle from Ye Xiu. “Thanks. Hope we have a good fight.”

“And the same to you.”

“Okay everyone!” Chen Guo claps her hands together to get everyone’s attention. “It’s almost Ye Xiu’s birthday! We need to get him something.”

“Boss Lady, that’s what you called us all here for?” Wei Chen drawls, leaning back on his chair and puffing a cigarette at the corner of the room. “I thought this was some important strategy meeting or something…”

“Shut your mouth, this is important,” says Chen Guo. “He’s done so much for us, literally none of us would be here if not for him, so this is the least we can do. Any ideas?”

Su Mucheng is currently out with Ye Xiu, distracting him so that they could have this secret planning meeting right now. Aside from those two, everyone on Team Happy is here.

“The only thing Captain really cares about is Glory, and winning the championship,” An Wenyi points out. “And we’re all already putting in our full effort on that end.”

“But I’m sure we can still think of something nice to do for him outside of that,” says Tang Rou. “He would still appreciate it.”

“He’s a Gemini!” says Steamed Bun excitedly. “So we can get him a twin-”

“He already has a twin,” Luo Ji deadpans.

“-oh great even better, we can find his twin and-”

“Anyone have any other ideas?” Chen Guo firmly cuts off Steamed Bun before he can continue on his strange paths of thought.

“A mug that says #1 Dad on it,” says Fang Rui. “Appeals to both his ego and his role in this team.” At the looks he gets, he raises his hands defensively. “What? It’s totally accurate. He took in all you rookies and raised you into an actual fighting force. Look into my honest eyes, and see the truth of this statement.”

“Yifan did call him Dad once,” Steamed Bun pipes up. Qiao Yifan flushes, but he can’t deny the truth.

“See, exactly!”

“Get him a fancy ashtray or lighter or something,” suggests Wei Chen.

“We’re not going to encourage his unhealthy habits!”

“A whole pack of instant ramen.”

“Or McDonalds, doesn’t he really like their fries?”

“What kind of gift is that?”

An Wenyi wasn’t entirely wrong when he said that all Ye Xiu cared about was Glory. If they excluded the Glory-related accomplishments that they would strive to achieve anyway, then what else was there? What would Ye Xiu like? Something he could use, something that would mean something to him?

As a result, the ideas steadily become more and more outlandish.

“A body pillow of himself.”

“Buy an ad on the Citibank tower and slap his face on it.”

“Oh oh, Tang Rou can buy out the company that makes Glory and give it to him!”

“We get him a concentrated vial of liquid shamelessness.”

Suddenly, there’s a quiet cough. Normally, such a quiet noise would never catch any attention, but given the source of the cough, the room suddenly goes quiet as though a switch were pulled.

Mo Fan looks alarmed at suddenly having a dozen pairs of eyes upon him. His gaze darts around the room, and the others wonder if he’s just going to swallow his words back down again.

But in the end, the words do come out. Quiet, as per usual, but perfectly understandable. “What about a model Myriad Manifestation Umbrella?”

Such a simple idea. Chen Guo opens her mouth to shoot it down like all the others, but then stops, and thinks.

A simple idea, but a good one. And, unbidden, she remembers flowers on a gravestone, and a quiet voice, and a story. Even if it were just a model, even if it didn’t have practical use… it had significance. He would like it.

“There are some good ones that have been made,” Tang Rou says. “I remember seeing some that even had shapeshifting capabilities.”

“…Okay,” says Chen Guo, nodding slowly. “We can definitely look into that. We have time, we could do this. Make a nice card, too…” Murmurs and nods of agreement from all around the table.

“But also I still think we should throw in the mug,” grins Fang Rui. “He’d love it, I’m telling you.”

Ye Xiu V

29 May 2025 22:03

[photo] [photo] [photo] [photo] [photo] [photo]

Team Happy - team of champions, master of kings, the best goddamn team in the entire universe.

Glory isn’t a single-player game - thank you all <3 :)

[hfgujgu]

5 Steps To Build a Dog Run [2021]

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No longer some other destroyed pillow! Oh no the lawn is ruined! My canine had somewhere to run loose and burn off this bad electricity. I desire i could leave but make sure my canine is safe and comfortable. I need a dog run! Dog smash door

the list goes on and on. If you have a yard and feature stated any of the following to your self, you may need a canine run:

you’re having a bbq and you don’t need your canine stealing meals

you need your pet to be secure without you there

you want your canine to run loose to burn off energy

save your landscaping from harm

your canine isn't wonderful round human beings and wishes to be separated. Regardless of the purpose, a canine run is a realistic, customizable manner to preserve your canine confined when essential. It’s a far nicer alternative than a cage, as your pooch will have doggie play dates in his own personal little dog park without tearing up your garden. Plus, it lets in you to create a pleasing space that your canine may definitely experience. Desk of contents

what is a dog run? Why do you need a canine run? Diy canine run steps

2 – prepare the land

three – lay the ground cowl

four – installation fencing or barrier

five – add roofing or cover

canine run options

How to Build a Dog Run? Dog run

really positioned, a dog run is a safe, fenced and gated location the use of something like chain hyperlink fencing or wire mesh to hold your dog in a secure vicinity while you could’t always watch them. Why do you want a canine run? A dog run is a manner to provide your canine a area to be unfastened out of doors with out being supervised. More exercising

your dog could have greater space to run around. With the stimulation to explore with it’s nose, eyes, and sounds will hold your dog up and about. Clean air

it’s a remarkable way to allow your dog experience being outside. Being outside shall we your dog experience the thrill of different points of interest and scents of the outside. Puppies have a completely sensitive odor and explore the arena this manner. Socialization

if a neighbor has a dog it can be a brilliant manner to your canine to socialise. Dogs additionally socialize with any dogs that take place to shut sufficient. Diy dog run steps

with the aid of building your own canine run, you have got all of the manage. You may make it as large as you want and upload as many services as you need. It may even be a area that your canine enjoys. Upload a dog house, a padded location to lie down, and built-in food and water bowls, in addition to a bunch of toys. There are so many easy diy outside canine run blueprints to be had on-line. Strive searching for styles and thoughts online to peer what type of dog run will match your outside the first-rate. Pinterest has many diy dog run thoughts to get you started out. In this submit we can speak everlasting dog runs for yards. 1 – making plans

as part of the planning you'll want to determine region and size of the canine run a well as materials wished. Recall the subsequent earlier than designing your canine run:

how tall is my canine? Tall puppies tend to jump higher. If your canine is tall and agile you would possibly want a taller fence! For most huge and extra big sized puppies a 6ft or 1. 5 to 2 m tall fence is usually recommended. Does my canine want to dig? Golden retriever digging

you'll need to bury your fence deeper in the floor in case your dog likes to dig. There are numerous approaches to cope with this. You can do one of the following:

bury the fence beneath ground

add a barrier like chicken wire into the floor to prevent digging

make a canine run with a concrete ground

how long will my canine be outdoor? If your dog can be out of doors for lengthy periods of time you would possibly take into account constructing something where your canine can pass in case of climate to live safe and heat. Additionally ensure now not to depart them out of doors inside the sun for too long. Puppies can also overheat! They will want lots of water and meals if overlooked long sufficient. A safe haven is probably needed. Do you want you run to hook up with your private home? Every other alternative with dog runs is you can build them off of a puppy door from your private home. This offers your dog the final freedom to roam whilst it chooses! Canine runs may be constructed around doorways with domestic dog doors on them or pup doorways built into walls. How massive must my canine run be? The primary component to do whilst you make a decision to make your personal canine run is to devise according to your dog. What size is your dog? What does he like to play with? Large dogs would require extra room to run. Look a piece deeper into the kind of breed your canine is to see what precise desires he may have and how much room he desires to run round, etc. Once you've got an excellent idea of the dimensions canine run you’re building. Now consider the weather you’re in. What publicity will my canine have? If it’s warm and sunny maximum of the time, make certain you region your dog run someplace within the color or plan to build a roof on it to guard your dog from the solar’s rays. If you stay in a weather that’s wet a variety of the time, you’ll also need to don't forget a roof and in all likelihood even guttering if rainfall is going to be an excessive amount of for the shape to address. Fenced canine run

substances

there are a few fundamental components to every canine run. You could lead them to as easy or as complicated as you want as long as it’s secure and strong. The first element you’ll need to do not forget is the frame. Pre made dog runs or permanent

it should be durable and robust—it’s usually made from metal pipes or bars or thick timber fencing. There are some of dog runs you may purchase online. These generally do not comprise a floor. In case your dog is a digger you may need to do not forget creating a more permanent shape and dig proofing your canine run. Fencing

canine run fencing is available in quite a few variations. A few humans use preferred skinny wire fencing but you may additionally use thick cord fencing or even rods. If you need to offer your canine some privateness, you can even use metal sheets. It’s up to you to determine what cloth to use for your diy dog run fence. Roofs are elective but advocated with the intention to guard your dog from rain and the sun. You don’t have to cowl the whole thing, however it’s an amazing Dog Run Ideas to have at least a small section wherein your canine is blanketed from the factors. Substances

📷

in case you stay in a region that gets storms frequently or if you have a particularly big dog, it would likely be fine to construct a dog run with a frame that’s cemented or otherwise anchored into the ground. The posts should be as a minimum 18 inches deep and encased in cement. The main cause of the posts is to preserve the fence. You may pick out any sort of fencing as long as it’s long lasting and secure on your dog. Don't forget, the point is to preserve your dog in and everyone else out. It’s additionally critical to make sure your canine can’t jump over it. What's the satisfactory floor for a canine run? As a ways because the floor goes, you've got a few options. Pouring concrete will hold matters a bit neater as it receives less messy when it rains. You could also use a mattress of mulch, pea gravel, or cedar chips. You don’t need to use the identical cloth for the whole vicinity. For instance, you could use 1/2 concrete and half of mulch so your dog has a few options as to where to play and wherein to relax. Stage canine run

2 – put together the land

use a rake or other garden device to get rid of the grass and loosen the topsoil inside the region. You will also need to prepare the land for whatever your floor cowl you will be growing. Lay out the border

step one to preparing the land is laying out the boarder. For this step you could mark your boarder with stakes and string. Area steaks at the corners of the areas where your dog run will reside. Wood steaks can be used and driven into the floor with a hammer. Then string can be used by wrapping the string several times round each stake around the parameter of the dog run. Dispose of the turf

dig out the marked location to a intensity of about 2 to three inches for low-visitors feature regions which include mulching around pots, flower borders and regions used for display handiest. Eliminate the turf in sections approximately the dimensions of a shovel. A appropriate intensity of gravel for large areas and pathways is 4 to 6 inches clip and get rid of all plant life with loppers and choose out rocks that would tear via the landscaping material. You can follow an herbicide to the vicinity at this factor if you wish. Area the border

use metallic or vinyl edging cloth to immobilize the border. Vinyl edging is typically held in location by way of the weight of the pea gravel. Outline the complete area with edging, making the edging flush with the encompassing floor. Power in the stakes if required for the edging cloth. 3 – lay the ground cowl

there are many specific styles of ground cover you may use in a canine run. A softer floor cover is more ergonomic on your dog. But a concrete floor remains easy. You may need to determine what your needs are. Bare dirt or grass

canine in a dog run with grass

using naked dirt or grass can be the very best answer. But there also are a few drawbacks to a dog run like this. Examine greater under. Blessings

grass and dirt may be an easy flooring. No longer plenty of guidance is vital. Dirt and grass are clean to your puppies paws. However there are some draw backs. Risks

grass turns to mud and can and up being messy. It isn't as alluring to the eye

after some time puppies can easily trample the grass until all that’s left is mud. Therefore maximum dog run proprietors pick a cleaner surface to keep their dogs from monitoring in mud and dirt. Large breed dogs play combating in a fenced in park; a golden and a husky. Two large dog breeds play fighting in a fenced in dog run. If you do choose a dust and grass canine run, you can upload a hose close to the doorway to rinse your puppies off before letting them inside the house. Concrete

concrete canine run

until you've got enjoy pouring concrete, we endorse getting a expert to carry out venture. However in case you want to do it your self here's a excellent resource for pouring concrete. Benefits

it’s low upkeep

concrete flooring lasts for a long time

hazards

not as clean on dogs joints and paws as other flooring. It’s highly-priced

dogs don’t like to “do their business” on concrete

negative aspects of concrete are dogs don’t want to poo on concrete as an awful lot as grass for example. Also it’s more difficult on their paws and joints. Gravel

dog status on gravel canine run

gravel can be a very good alternative for dog runs. When deciding on gravel do not forget what length you will need. Pea size gravel is a superb all around alternative. Its now not sharp which is right for paws, and it’s small sufficient it offers a smooth surface even as strolling on. Benefits

puppies gained’t track in dust with gravel floors

it’s additionally clean to smooth up messes

this floor is also very easy to your dogs paws and joints

pea length gravel can be a great choice due to how clean it's far to your dogs paws. It’s additionally easy to make a gravel mattress. Dangers

it needs periodically replenished

dogs can song the gravel in

gravel can get caught in your puppies paws

with all of the blessings and drawbacks we assume gravel is a superb choice. A few different options you could recall could be cedar or wooden chips. 4 – installation fencing or barrier

husky farm. Canine sitting on the fence. Finland

the barrier to include your dog is an essential a part of your dog run. You need to keep in mind how tall the barrier will want to be to include your canine. A chain hyperlink fence may be an easy alternative but maximum medium and large puppies can jump over your common fence. 6 feet tall or extra is a great top for a fence. A few puppies may additionally even need a taller fence. A few puppies can’t be contained! I have seen german shepherds easily clear a 6 feet fence with enough momentum. For smaller puppies round 1 toes tall or so, a shorter fence is sufficient to keep them contained. As an instance bulldogs can weigh 150 lbs however can they leap a 6 feet fence? Now not possibly. Fencing

as soon as you understand the height of your fence you may choose materials. The most not unusual sorts are chain hyperlink and wood. There are numerous other varieties of fences as well if you want some thing decorative. Just ensure whatever you use it’s strong and tall enough to hold a dog. All fence posts ought to be cemented in if you want them to final. Posts now not cemented in will in the end begin to shift. Typically after most effective three hundred and sixty five days! Does your dog like to have a look at the sector? That can be difficult while you don’t need an competitive dog to scare human beings strolling via. If that’s the case perhaps a wood fence could better fit your needs. Chain link

chain hyperlink fence

if a sequence hyperlink fence works for you that may be an amazing inexpensive choice. Chain hyperlink fences are much less pricey than wood fences depending on where you live. There are also many extraordinary styles to pick out from. All fences have posts c

wooden

6 foot privacy fence

there are many specific forms of fences to pick out from. There also are timber, metallic mesh fences, vinyl fences, and plenty of different versions like brick and cement. Limitations for digging

now which you have your fence picked out you'll need to consider how so keep your dog from digging. Depending on how agile your dog is, you can need to bury your digging barrier up to 2 toes down! It’s recommended to bury your fence 1 to two ft down. Make certain the barrier is hooked up for your fence properly. For extra data on canine proofing your fence click right here. There are numerous one-of-a-kind examples of fences and barriers in that link. 5 – add roofing or cover

cover is crucial to permit your canine an area to break out the heat, rain, snow, or different elements. It’s accurate to preserve cover in mind at the same time as building your dog run. There are numerous options available to maintain your puppy secure and secure. A few roofs are designed to be effortlessly connected to chain hyperlink fences. In case you are constructing a roof make sure to stick to the neighborhood codes. An clean option for canopy may be adding a small canine residence on your canine run. Safety and enjoyment! In case you construct the right form of dog run to your bushy pal, the time you spend on it to make it as secure and fun as feasible for him while making sure entire canine protection could be nicely worth it! Building your very own canine run gives you a risk to create a space to run, sleep, and play in which your dog could be safe and actually revel in himself. Each dog run design relies upon in your space. Dog run options

there are some options to building a dog run. A few options might be to certainly chain your canine. However if you will opt for to buy some thing premade there are numerous picks. There also are other alternatives which include cable runs which can also be an effective manner to hold your dog secure and secure. Premade dog runs

there are a whole lot of precise premade canine runs. No longer all will accommodate large puppies however for smaller dogs they may be an amazing alternative. Cable run

if you don’t just like the DIY Dog Run Ideas of having your canine in an enclosed location, then perhaps a cable run is a higher match for you and your pup. Just like a diy outdoor canine run, it is straightforward to set-up your personal diy canine cable run. But, take observe that during a cable run, your canine might be on a jogging leash for a cable run. Cable run photo

one object to caution while the use of a cable run. Dogs have a tendency to wrap themselves round cable run poles. You could address this through including barriers big sufficient at the end of the cable run so the canine can’t wrap it’s leash around the pole and get stuck. A few also come with stoppers to hold the canine from getting near enough to the posts to wrap themselves around.

[mdconfessions]

I told my boyfriend that I have madd and he doesn't believe me at all. I have had them since I can remember and they never had a name for it back when I was younger, just called it a vivid imagination but now I know about it and it all makes sense..I tried to open up to him about it, he thinks its just my depression. Anyone I try to tell that I have this just thinks I'm crazy or as my boyfriend said I need to grow up. I don't know if talking about it is a good idea with anyone. Any advice?

Hi, anon! I’m so sorry to hear about the difficulty you’ve had with opening up about your MD/MaDD. I can completely relate and I’m sure other MDers can too. It took me a long time to work up the courage to tell someone, and when I finally did, I was sort of brushed off. It was very disappointing, especially since I told someone I thought I could really trust.

I’m going to list a few tips that I hope might help you with this situation and help others with similar difficulties when it comes to sharing MD. I am, by no means, an expert so all this advice is just from my own experience.

1. Get some evidence. I think that part of the reason so many people have a hard time wrapping their head around MD is because they really don’t know or understand what it is. Try grabbing some articles from the internet to show them. This might help them gain a better understanding of MD if they read an article on it. @madd-information has a lot of great articles on their page and if you search up ‘maladaptive daydreaming disorder’ you can find a lot of great resources on the web too.

2. Explain the difference. A huge misconception about MD is that it is a “made up disorder”. Daydreaming is a completely normal thing for people to do and, because of this, a lot of people will argue that MD isn’t really a disorder at all. However, most non-MDers don’t understand just how different MD is from regular daydreaming. Try to explain to whoever you are opening up to how MD differs from regular daydreaming. Maybe talk about how addictive MD is, how emotionally attached you are to your paras, etc. Help them understand what sets MD apart from regular daydreaming.

3. Get it down on paper. When I first opened up about my MD it was through a personal memoir essay I had to write for my grade 12 English class. I decided to write my memoir about my paras and daydreams and how MD affected my life. Because I had the time to organize my thoughts in an understandable essay, everything I wanted to say came out in a much neater way. I didn’t have to worry about getting interrupted in a conversation or jumbling up my words. Rather, I had all my thoughts displayed in written format. If you are trying to open up about your MD, chances are there is a lot you want to say. Take some time and write it all out. You can do it like a letter if you want. Organize it so that it makes sense and let the person read it before you have a conversation with them. This way, they have some time to think it over, digest, and understand it better before they jump to conclusions or shoot you down.

Also, when it comes to the writing process, don’t rush yourself! I took over 2 months to write the letter I plan to give to my parents and I still don’t think it’s good enough. There might be a lot you want to tell whoever you are sharing your MD with and it’s ok if it takes you awhile to figure out how to say it all. Give yourself time and be gentle with yourself if it doesn’t come out how you want at first.

4. Tell them about your journey. Most people’s MD started out when they were very young. If this is you, then you’ve most likely been able to pick out how MD has affected your childhood now that you are older and have a better understanding of it. Try telling the person about the ways MD has affected your life all the way up to where you are now. If the person you are opening up to has known you for a long time, this might even offer them an explanation for certain behaviour they’ve received from you that they never understood before. For example, they might finally understand why you spend a lot of time alone in your room or why you have a difficult time focusing, etc.

5. Tell someone else first. Take this example: If I told my mom that I saw a purple frog, she probably wouldn’t believe me. However, if me and all my friends told my mom that we saw a purple frog then it might make my story more convincing and believable. In the same way, if you have the support and understanding from someone else you trust then it might help you explain your MD to the person you originally intended to tell in the first place. Having someone to back you up can be super helpful and also boosts your confidence when sharing it with someone really important.

Sooo… those are my tips! I really REALLY hope that at least one of them will help you. Sharing your MD with someone can be a really difficult thing to do and personally, there are a lot of people I wish I could share it with but probably never will. Now, this isn’t to say you shouldn’t try. I think it is very important to talk about your MD with people you love and trust, especially people you are in a close relationship with (such as a boyfriend). But until MD is recognized under the DSM, I think it is going to be a struggle for MDers to share their disorder with other people for fear of being shot down or brushed off. Just remember, even though this might happen, there will always be supportive communities online for you!

[michaelandy101-blog]

Find out how to Give a Persuasive Presentation [+ Examples]

New Post has been published on http://tiptopreview.com/how-to-give-a-persuasive-presentation-examples/

Find out how to Give a Persuasive Presentation [+ Examples]

A presentation geared toward persuading an viewers to take a selected motion will be essentially the most tough kind to ship, even for those who’re not shy of public talking.

Making a presentation that successfully achieves your goal requires time, a lot of follow, and most significantly, a centered message.

With the best method, you possibly can create a presentation that leaves a skeptical viewers enthusiastic to get on board along with your venture.

On this publish, we’ll cowl the fundamentals of constructing a persuasive presentation. Let’s dive in.

What’s a persuasive presentation?

In its most simple kind, a persuasive presentation encompasses a speaker who tries to affect an viewers to simply accept sure positions and interact in actions in assist of them. A superb persuasive presentation makes use of a combination of details, logic, and empathy to assist an viewers see a difficulty from a perspective they beforehand discounted or hadn’t thought of.

Find out how to Plan a Persuasive Presentation

Wish to make a persuasive presentation that connects along with your viewers? Comply with these steps to win buddies and affect individuals inside your viewers.

1. Determine on a single ask.

The important thing to convincing your viewers is to first determine the singular level you need to make. A superb persuasive presentation will give attention to one particular and easy-to-understand proposition. Even when that time is a part of a broader initiative, it ideally must be introduced as one thing your viewers can say “yes” or “no” to simply.

A message that isn’t well-defined or which covers an excessive amount of may cause the viewers to lose curiosity or reject it outright. A extra centered subject also can assist your supply sound extra assured, which (for higher or worse) is a crucial consider convincing individuals.

2. Concentrate on fewer (however extra related) details.

Bear in mind: You are (within the overwhelming majority of circumstances) not the target market in your presentation. To make your presentation a hit, you’ll have to know who your viewers is so you possibly can form your message to resonate with them.

When crafting your messaging, put your self in your viewers’s headspace and try to deeply perceive their place, wants, and considerations. Concentrate on arguments and details that talk particularly to your viewers’s distinctive place.

As we wrote in our publish on Find out how to Current a Compelling Argument When You are Not Naturally Persuasive, “simply because a reality technically lends assist to your declare does not imply it is going to sway your viewers. One of the best proof must not solely assist your declare but in addition have a connection to your viewers.”

What are the target market’s ache factors that you should use to make a connection between their wants and your targets? Concentrate on these features, and minimize any extra data. Fewer related details are at all times extra impactful than an abundance of unfocused items of proof.

three. Construct a story round your proof.

If you wish to persuade somebody of one thing, it’s not sufficient to win their mind — you want their coronary heart in it, too. Attempt to make an emotional connection along with your viewers all through your presentation to raised promote them on the details you’re presenting. Your viewers is human, in spite of everything, so some emotional tug will go a protracted option to shaking up how they view the difficulty you’re speaking about. Slightly little bit of emotion might be simply what your viewers must make your details “click.”

The simplest option to incorporate an emotional pull into your presentation is thru the usage of narrative components. As we wrote in our information to crafting pitch decks, “When our brains are given a story instead of a list of information, things change — big time. Stories engage more parts of our brains, including our sensory cortex, which is responsible for processing visual, auditory, and tactile stimuli. If you want to keep people engaged during a presentation, tell them a story.”

four. Confidence issues.

Apply makes excellent (it is a cliche as a result of it is true, sorry!), and that is very true for presentation supply. Rehearse your presentation a number of instances earlier than you give it to your viewers so you possibly can develop a pure circulation and transfer from every part with out stopping.

Bear in mind, you are not giving a speech right here, so you don’t need your supply to return throughout such as you’re studying totally off of cue playing cards. Use instruments like notes and cue playing cards as methods to maintain you on observe, not as scripts.

Lastly, for those who can, attempt to follow your presentation in entrance of one other human. Getting a trusted co-worker to offer you suggestions upfront may help strengthen your supply and determine areas you would possibly want to vary or bulk up.

5. Put together for widespread objections.

The very last thing you need to say when somebody in your viewers expresses a priority or an outright objection throughout your presentation’s query part is “umm, let me get back to you on that.”

Rigorously analysis the topic of your presentation to make one of the best case attainable for it — but in addition put together upfront for widespread objections or questions you understand your stakeholders are going to ask. The stronger your command of the details — and the extra ready you might be to proactively deal with considerations — the extra convincing your presentation might be. Once you seem assured fielding any rebuttals throughout a query and reply session after your presentation, it may possibly go a good distance in direction of making your case appear extra convincing.

Persuasive Presentation Define

Like every writing venture, you’ll need to create a top level view in your presentation, which might act as each a immediate and a framework. With a top level view, you’ll have a neater time organizing your ideas and creating the precise content material you’ll current. When you can modify the define to your wants, your presentation will most probably observe this primary framework.

I. Introduction

Each persuasive presentation wants an introduction that will get the listener’s consideration, identifies an issue, and relates it to them.

The Hook: Identical to a catchy tune, your presentation wants hook to attract the listener in. Consider an uncommon reality, anecdote, or framing that may seize the listener’s consideration. Select one thing that additionally establishes your credibility on the difficulty.

The Tie: Tie your hook again to your viewers to garner buy-in out of your viewers, as this difficulty impacts them personally.

The Thesis: That is the place you state the place to which you are attempting to steer your viewers and kinds the focus in your presentation.

II. The Physique

The physique kinds the majority of your presentation and will be roughly divided into two components. Within the first half, you’ll construct your case, and within the second you’ll deal with potential rebuttals.

Your Case: That is the place you’ll current supporting factors in your argument and the proof you’ve gathered via analysis. It will seemingly have a number of completely different subsections by which you current the related proof for every supporting level.

Rebuttals: Think about potential rebuttals to your case and deal with them individually with supporting proof in your counterarguments.

Advantages: Define the advantages of the viewers adopting your place. Use easy, conversational transitions to get to those.

Drawbacks: Define what drawbacks of the viewers rejecting your place. Remember to stay conversational and keep away from alarmism.

III. Conclusion

In your conclusion, you’ll wrap up your argument, summarize your key factors, and relate them again to the choices your viewers makes.

Transition: Write a transition that emphasizes the important thing level you are attempting to make.

Abstract: Summarize your arguments, their advantages, and the important thing items of proof supporting your place.

Tie-back: Tie again your abstract to the actions of your viewers and the way their selections will impression the topic of your presentation.

Ultimate phrase: Attempt to finish on a final emotional thought that may encourage your viewers to undertake your place and act in assist of it.

IV. Citations

Embrace a piece on the finish of your presentation with citations in your sources. It will make impartial fact-checking simpler in your viewers and can make your total presentation extra persuasive.

Persuasive Presentation Examples

Take a look at a few of these examples of persuasive displays to get inspiration in your personal. Seeing how another person made their presentation may make it easier to create one which strikes house along with your viewers. Whereas the construction of your presentation is totally as much as you, listed below are some outlines which are usually used for various topics.

Introducing a Idea

One widespread kind of persuasive presentation is one which introduces a brand new idea to an viewers and tries to get them to simply accept it. This presentation introduces viewers members to the dangers of secondhand smoke and encourages them to take steps to keep away from it. Persuasive displays will also be format to introduce marco points, resembling this presentation on the benefits of renewable energy.

Altering Private Habits

Wish to change the non-public habits of your viewers? Take a look at this presentation on the way to adopt healthy eating habits. Or this presentation which inspires the viewers to get more exercise of their each day lives.

Making a Dedication to an Motion

Is your purpose to get your viewers to decide to a selected motion? This presentation encouraging viewers memes to become organ donors may present inspiration. Attempting to make a giant sale? Take a look at this presentation define that may encourage somebody to buy a home.

Bear in mind: You Can Do This

Anybody can craft a persuasive presentation as soon as they know the fundamental framework for creating one. When you get the method down, you’ll be in a greater place to usher in gross sales, appeal to donors or funding, and even advance your profession. The talents you study also can profit you in different areas of your private life as you understand how to make a case and affect individuals towards it.

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[crystaiskiess]

An Angel in Hell (or the front office)

Part of the Our Photo Album series - does not need to be read in order but is recommended Series Masterlist

AO3 Link 

Summary: “Dan?” Phil questioned and Dan’s snapped out of his fantasy, turning a deep shade of scarlet as he realised he had been caught staring. “P-pardon, sorry?” He stammered and Phil smirked slightly, cheeks still heavily flushed but more relaxed than before.

Also known as The teacher and receptionist au series that literally nobody wanted but I'm writing anyway

Author’s Notes: Welcome! To this crazy series that I basically started for self indulgent purposes (I wanted to write fluff damn it!) and decided to post it anyway. It's going to be completely out of order so welcome to the crazy journey of teacher dan, who literally just wants to kiss the cute receptionist (guess who) phil. So I hope you enjoy the first story in this series, please let me know what you think!

I would adore to receive requests for this series because seriously I'm not smart enough to come up with enough ideas on my own so if you have something you want to happen in this universe please please please please (I'm so annoying) PLEASE send in a request it would make my day!

The first day at a new school was always terrifying Dan decided, it was terrifying when he was a student and it was just as mind numbingly scary as a teacher. Even when you were working at the school students would stare at you as though you were an alien. He gently brushed aside his messy curls and inhaled deeply through his nose, stepping into the office building and naturally receiving a lot of weird looks. “Hello!” A bright voice echoed through the room and Dan started in shock, nearly elbowing a child in the head as he did so.

There sitting at the reception desk wearing a quirky smile was, what could only be described as, an angel, Dan felt his heart skip a couple of beats as the receptionist brushed his black hair out of his eyes. “You must be the new teacher?” The receptionist, Phil his name tag read, cocked his head to the side, it wasn’t patronising, but curious and it made Dan’s heart flip in a way he didn’t think was possible. Dan felt himself nod sharply as though on reflex, his brain muddled by the intense blue of the other boy’s eyes. “I’m Dan,” he managed to blabber.

Phil smiled and it made his whole face light up, Dan felt the same strange flutter in his chest, like a wild animal was trying to escape his insides but instead released a horde of butterflies. “Phil,” the receptionist said as he pointed to the name tag, displayed on his chest, “Do you need your timetable and classes?” He asked and Dan nodded awkwardly. He watched as Phil scooted himself closer to the computer, brilliant blue eyes dancing towards the computer, “And what’s your last name Dan?” The way Phil said his name made shivers run down Dan’s spine. “H-howell,” he spluttered and quickly chastised himself for being so awkward, but Phil merely grinned and nodded, pale lanky fingers skittering across the keyboard expertly.

With a few more clicks Dan heard the printer whirl to life, and suddenly those bright blue skies were focused back on him, “So what brings you to Lanbourne High?” Phil’s lilting voice asked and wow Dan didn’t know you could get a crush so quickly but here he was. It took him a few deep breaths to find his voice, and he could feel a blush colour his cheeks, Phil didn’t seem to mind, staring at Dan as though he had all the time in the world, “I love teaching,” Dan shrugged and Phil nodded as though this perfectly simple answer needed the ridiculous amount of time Dan had taken thinking of it. “I get that,” he replied with a beam that melted Dan’s insides and made his knees shake.

Before Dan could embarrass himself by collapsing he choked out, “What about you?” Phil’s eyes widened slightly, as though he wasn’t used to receiving attention back, only giving. Dan watched as his mouth opened and closed ever so slightly, only just enough that Dan could see it before he replied, “This isn’t exactly what I was dreaming for in life, but it’s nice to meet people…” he trailed off, and Dan was left wishing he could know what Phil had dreamt, once upon a time. Eventually Phil broke the comfortable silence between them, “You don’t have a photo in your file,” he said, colour brushing along his cheekbones, in an entirely too endearing way. “Oh,” Dan heard himself mumble and quickly added, “Do I need one?” Judging by the red that was creeping up Phil’s neck and the awkward cough he gave in response, the answer was yes, however Phil answered anyway, “Er yes. I need one so I can print your ID,” he explained. The blush had spread across Phil’s face now, making the incredibly light freckles stand out against his milk coloured skin. Dan watched as Phil threaded his fingers through his dark black fringe, gently pushing it back behind his ear so that it was neater. How did he achieve such a perfect fringe, in such little effort? It framed his face perfectly, making his blue eyes pop with colour.

“Dan?” Phil questioned and Dan’s snapped out of his fantasy, turning a deep shade of scarlet as he realised he had been caught staring. “P-pardon, sorry?” He stammered and Phil smirked slightly, cheeks still heavily flushed but more relaxed than before.

With a tap of Phil’s lanky fingers Dan realised he was holding a camera, if machines that old could really be known as cameras. It didn’t appear to even have a screen, so the idea of this ancient machine having the same name as the fancy Canon Dan had back home (it used to belong to his father but now it was Dan’s and he wasn’t sure what to do with it) seemed highly ridiculous. “Can I take one for your ID?” He asked and Dan’s face became impossibly hotter. With a nod Dan smiled sheepishly, Phil held up the camera to his eye, squinting slightly as he peeked through the viewfinder. Dan couldn’t help but feel that Phil was born to hold a camera, the way his hands shaped it comfortably, as though the machine was part of his body and not a separate entity, made Dan’s heart flutter once again. Seriously, how could anyone be so enamoured after only ten minutes of meeting someone?

There was a snap, followed by a flash of light, and Phil was peeking out from behind the camera, “Let’s hope that was good,” Phil shrugged as he plugged the prehistoric camera into the computer and slid the chair backwards towards the printer. Dan couldn’t help the giggle that escaped his lips as Phil rolled across the room, crashing the chair into the bench. He stood mesmerized as Phil gathered his documents and timetable into a manilla folder, his fingers gentle and experienced as he smoothed them out so they wouldn’t be crinkled.

Embarrassingly Phil seemed to notice him staring, as a gentle smile tugged at the corners of his lips, which Dan were definitely not staring at thank you very much! He was also definitely not thinking about how those soft, pink lips would feel pressed against his lips, absolutely not. “See something you like Howell?” Phil was smirking, and oh my god Dan had officially died and been sent to Heaven, because nobody could look that pure when they smirked! It’s impossible, and unnatural! “I-I I uh I’m,” Dan stammered awkwardly which just made Phil’s smirk widen because he wasn’t denying it, in fact Dan couldn’t even remember how to speak, let alone denying the truth.

As Dan continued to flounder awkwardly, Phil returned his attention to the computer again, a smirk still quirking at his lips, which admittedly gave Dan a higher chance of functioning, as those beautiful eyes weren’t focused on Dan and his every move. He attempted to gather his thoughts and calm his racing heart, to no avail. Out of nowhere Phil whistled at the screen, drawing Dan’s attention back to those beautiful lips that he definitely shouldn’t be looking at, “God Dan, how do you manage to make such a quick photo look so beautiful?” Phil gaped at the screen, bringing colour automatically back to Dan’s cheeks.

“It helps when you have a beautiful photographer,” he mumbled before the thought had fully registered, and when it did there was no way he could take it back. However, as Dan died internally, Phil smiled widely, a heavy flush adorning his cheeks and neck, “Jeez you’re one to talk,” He said in a hushed voice, as though it was a thought that wasn’t meant to exit his mouth. Judging by the look on his face it just mightn’t have been. Dan felt a strange bubble in his chest, it seemed to fill him with an obscure confidence he’d never felt before, “Maybe we could catch up sometime and debate over it?” He could barely believe that he had thought that with his own brain, let alone said it with casual confidence, but he did.

Phil’s mouth dropped open, and for a half second Dan felt his confidence wilt, until Phil beamed at him, wide and honest. “Sounds awesome,” he said with that smile that seemed to stab Dan in the chest while simultaneously wrapping him in a warm blanket, “Saturday work for you?” Dan nodded vigorously, his heart pounding at a million miles per hour, “Saturday’s great!” He squeaked, confident demeanour gone and returned to his usual awkward gay self. Phil didn’t seem to mind, he grinned once more, handing over the folder with a brush of their fingers and saying, “I’ll come drop off your ID at around midday.” Clutching the folder to his chest as though it could contain his rapidly beating heart Dan replied, “Can’t wait!” He scurried away with only one thought running through his mind,

I have a date!

Next Part

[theepolynesian]

Gift Giving

Summary: Kili gives you gifts and you make a decision to give him one in return.

Pairings: Kili x Reader

Word Count: 1,522

A/N: Like I said last night, I made a different drabble based on a request. 

Master Lists: Drabbles/Imagines, and Completed Series

The training room was hot for an empty room. You supposed it was a good thing because it would make the dwarf warriors more bearable to the outside weather.

You were currently in there for your sparring session with King Thorin. 

After the mountain was reclaimed, you and your father, one of the dwarf lords that was alive during the sack of Erebor, moved from the Iron Hills back to the Lonely Mountain and took up residence in your father's old childhood home.

You were happy that your father had finally got reunited with his old ancestral home but you knew deep down that he was disappointed with you.

You were the most un-dwarrowdam-like dam in the history of un-dwarrowdams-like dams. You were to put it shortly very Tom boy preferring trousers over dresses and sparring over men and your father had lost hope of ever having heirs until you met Kili.

You had found the training room one day and practiced using your bow and arrow, another disappointment to your father due to the fact that no dwarf used arrows, which you now know is not true.

Kili had found you that day and you almost shot him when he interrupted you. After him apologizing and you also apologizing, you two got on like a house on fire and started courting four months after your first meeting which is why you were currently in the training room with Thorin.

After 6 months of courting his nephew, he wanted to get to know you better and had asked Fili if he knew what you were interested in. Fili had suggested a spar session and he jumped at that opportunity. He had thought you were one of those dams that liked to gossip and shop. He didn't want to deal with that and was glad that he didn’t have to.

"Aren't you going to take breather?" Thorin asks as you go for your bow and arrows. "This is taking a breather, my lord," you tell him as you steady your breathing while loading your bow.

Thorin chuckles from his spot on the bench, taking a sip of water from his flask. You were an amazing fighter and he has wished that you had joined them on the journey, but being the only daughter of a very high dwarf lord does hinder things.

You aim for the target, closing one eye and bring the fletching level with your eye line. You steady your movements ready to let go.

"Y/N!" A voice shouts and that breaks your concentration and your grip. You wince as the arrow hits the stone behind, arrowhead breaking.

"For Mahal's sake," you groan as you turn to the door that had just slammed open. You ignore Thorin's snicker as Kili comes bounding up to you.

"Hello amralime," he says, wrapping his arms around your waist and pressing a kiss on your cheek earning a groan of disgust as you think about all the sweat on your body.

"Kee I'm in the sweatiest possible state right now. I don't think you want to kiss me," you grumble. "I'd love to kiss you when you're sweaty," he says lowly and you smile at him.

"Ahem," Thorin coughs from his spot on the bench. Kili looks at him then back at you.

"Right. So I have a surprise," he says, backing away and it's then that you realize he has something attached to his back. He removed it and it's a quiver full of arrows.

"I made these for you. They're not the best but-,”

"Oh Kili I love them," you say, grabbing them from his hand and pressing a kiss on his cheek. He smiles shyly down at you.

"Well I just wanted to stop by to give you that," he says, pressing a kiss to your lips and jogging out. You shake your head at him and turn to Thorin who has his arms crossed.

"I don't think I've ever wanted to throw up this much in my entire life," Thorin states and you stick your tongue out at the king.

"I bet you're happy that he's happy," you say, notching the new arrow Kili gifted you with.

"What else would I be?" Thorin asks, sneaking up behind you and moving your elbow so you don't quite hit the target. You glare at him.

"You are just like your nephews," you say and he shrugs not denying it. Soon, with your newly made arrows, the both of you are parting ways with you in dire need of a bath. When you get home, you find your father already making dinner, something that you typically did.

“Hello, adad,” you say, kissing him on his cheek. “Hello sweetheart. How was your day with the king?” He asks

“We just spent it sparring and I got a new gift from Kili,” you say, holding up the arrows that you wanted to show him.

He smiles and takes the arrows in his hand.

“Go and bathe. You look like you need it,” he says and you laugh, doing what he has told. When you get out of the bath, there is a new wrapped item on the dining room table.

“What is this?” you ask as you take a seat.

“No idea. Prince Fili came by to drop it off while you were in the bath,” your father says as he paces a plate of food in front of you.

You open up the card that was placed on the top and you laugh as you read the message.

“Kili wanted me to give this to you and I have to say you’re both so in love that it’s actually gross. Love your favorite Durin, -Fili.”

You open up the box and there are a new pair of daggers. You’ve been meaning to ask someone to craft you some but you had no time and now you didn’t need to.

Your father chuckles, shaking his head.

“You know, these weren’t the kinds of gifts I gave your mother while we were courting,” He says, taking a seat.

“Well, you know me and mother, we’re not the same person,” you say, planning on what to give Kili since he’s already gifted you with a lot. But what do you get a prince who has everything?

“Aye. You are not,” your father says and with that the both of you fall into a comfortable silence.

A few days later, you find Kili in the throne room with Fili and Thorin with a gift in hand

“Amralime. I wasn’t expecting you,” Kili says, pressing a kiss to your lips. That earns a groan from Fili and you flip him off, earning a grin from Thorin. Let’s just say he was excited to have you in the family.

“I just thought I’d stop by and give you these,” you say, handing him a small box while making his hair neater. You sometimes wondered if he even took care of his hair.

“You didn’t have to,” he says, giving you a small smile. “I just thought I’d give you something since you gave me such beautiful gifts,” you say, watching as he opens the box.

You watch nervously as he looks at the gifts. Maybe it was a bad decision? Maybe he wasn’t going to like it and now you were regretting it. The smile on his face grows wider as he looks at you with tears clouding his eyes.

“Is this real?” he asks, taking your hand in his. “Of course amralime, I want to spend my life with you,” you tell him as he takes out your courting beads.

It was a part of dwarven culture that while the male gives the female courting beads at the beginning of the courtship, it was up to the female to solidify the courtship by gifting the male with her own courting beads. (I just made this up. Its not canon or anything.)

“I do wish you had taken more care into your hair,” you grumble, trying to find a perfect place to braid your beads.

You had spent the last three days in the forge creating your own courting beads with the help of Bofur, the dwarf you met thanks to Kili.

“Oh. This is happening isn’t it? They’re finalizing it aren’t they?” Fili asks excitedly, bouncing on the balls of his feet. He already liked you as a sister and it hurt his heart that Kili had the doubt of you would turn him down and he was really excited for this moment.

“Quiet down and stop bouncing,” Thorin says, hitting his nephew to make him stop. Fili glares at him and his attention turns back to you two.

You had already braided one head into his hair and when you finish the second braid, you smile at him.

“It’s not the best, but it’ll do,” you say, flicking his hair. Kili smiles down at you. “Either way, I love it,” he says, wrapping his arms around your waist and lifting you above him and you smile before placing a kiss on his lips, ready to spend the rest of your life together.

Tags: @sdavid09 @jotink78