#im kinda going back to how i drew a while ago and starting back from there

[kawareo]

If Cult of Bhaal was a fraternity

At this point he is the only thing i can still draw, i fear

[barbiiecams]

Can you write about Drew with his little family visiting him for his days off from filming? 🩷

Also I love that you write about black oc readers!! It’s rare in this fandom to find that.

vacay

dad!drew starkey x mom!reader, not proof read, & yes more black representation for the obx fandom pls! also this is kinda long soo enjoy 😖

drew had been gone filming for about a month now.

for you, it was easy not to get so hung up over the fact he was gone for such a long time.

when you first started dating, it was definitely a tragedy. and it pained you everytime that you couldn’t just go with him.

and even now, of course you missed him like crazy. but after all these years of being together, you’ve learned how to deal with it and it got easier.

but for his baby aaliyah who’s never been separated from her daddy? oh this was hell.

she couldn’t even stand the sight of him walking out the door for 10 minutes, so now that he’s walked out the door, and hasn’t come back for weeks?

she definitely was not having it.

you knew how she was going to react as well, so for weeks you prepared yourself for the endless tears and tantrums.

“you know she’s going to be a pain when i’m gone, right?” drew reminds you while you guys get ready for bed.

“trust me, i know. im getting myself ready for it as we speak.” you reply as you start to wrap your hair up for bed.

he chuckles. “you guys can always come with, though. that’d be a good idea especially for her.”

“maybe like a visit for a few days, but i don’t think her being out of the country for that long is a good idea.” you said as you laid down in the bed. drew agreed with that statement and you both moved on to the next topic.

that was weeks ago. but now? you were starting to consider whether or not you should’ve just taken drew’s idea.

you tried so many resolutions with liyah, and nothing seemed to work.

the girl never seemed to tire herself out either. she just recently turned one, yet you were already seeing the tunnel to the terrible 2’s somehow.

to be fair, she was an angel. but once she got started, you didn’t know if and when she was going to stop.

currently you were trying to feed her. you had ms rachel on your phone in front of her because that seemed to calm her down in the tiniest bit when she would get upset.

it was going good, until drew had started to call you.

and as soon as she saw the picture of you and him pop on the screen, waterworks flooded all over again.

“i just calmed this baby down and now he wanna call me.” you mutter to yourself, partially annoyed even though he couldn’t control it.

facetimes never seemed to make her feel better and it actually quite made her even more upset, but maybe hearing his voice at the very beginning of a breakdown could ease her, so you went ahead and picked up.

“hello?” you propped the phone up on the table then picked her up and tried shushing her.

he didn’t even need to ask ‘how are my girls?’ because he could clearly tell.

“awe, i miss my baby too.” he pouts.

you picked up the phone and put it in her face so she could see him. “talk to her, your voice might help.”

“hi my love. shh, it’s okay daddy’s right here.” he says through the phone.

she stops wailing, but she’s still making whining and crying noises.

“she’s taking this even worse than i thought,” you say. “i knew it was going to be bad, but not this terrible.”

“she’s just a true daddy’s girl. what can i say?” drew smirks through the phone.

“you might find this funny but i have real life headaches from her, joseph.” he laughs at the use of his real name.

“i bet you do, im sorry baby.” he says, “why don’t you guys come and visit for a little bit?”

this time, you were quick to actually be on board.

“i think that’s a good idea too.” you started bouncing aaliyah up and down and gave her kisses. she wasn’t as loud with her whining, but she was still continuing. “i think it’s time we go see daddy.”

drew smiles, “i can’t wait. i’m gonna take some time off and buy your tickets. when do you wanna come out?”

“shit, tomorrow.” you sigh.

he laughs again at your comments but knows you’re being completely serious at the same time. “get to packing then baby.”

that’s all he had to say for you to pick the phone up and make your way upstairs with liyah.

first you started in liyah’s room. drew was still on the phone with you, talking way more than you were because she seemed to be getting quieter and quieter. it bothered her that she couldn’t feel him, but right now she’s was taking whatever she could take.

you showed him outfits, he decided whatever or not he liked him. you made sure to pack a whole separate bag for all of her baby necessities as well.

because you were connecting with drew in some way, it felt like an easy task you were able to accomplish. you knew for a fact if he wasn’t on the phone it would’ve taken you the rest of the day with her wailing and screaming.

when you were done packing her bag, you tried putting her to sleep. of course it took about an hour, but eventually she was soundly asleep. all you could do was thank heavens.

placing her in her crib, you had to really tiptoe out the door. if she woke up while you were in the middle of trying to walk out and leave, that would be another meltdown waiting to happen.

you and drew stayed on the phone even after she was liyah was put to sleep, but you made sure to keep the volume of the phone down so that his voice didn’t travel to her. now it was time to pack your clothes. he helped you pick out your outfits, and you did a mini fashion show for him with your outfits.

he loved them all, and occasionally gave a ‘do a little spin for me.’

every moment with him, or even just talking to him was great. no matter if you were actually next to him, or through the phone.

but unfortunately, you guys couldn’t stay on the phone forever. it was soon time for him to start filming again.

“i gotta go baby, but i love you so much, and i’ll see you two soon.” he said while walking back to his set. “kiss my baby for me.”

“i will. i love you too.” you smile then hang up the phone. you sighed and rubbed your face, thinking about how quick this was happening, but how ready you were at the same time. if it was going to get her to stop crying so much and was also going to get you to see your man again, a win is a win!

after everything, it was about 5 pm. this was a late nap for liyah and she would be up end up being bouncing up off the walls, but maybe that was good cus then she would sleep on the plane ride tomorrow.

heading back downstairs, you made dinner for yourself & made sure to leave a little for liyah cus she’ll get hungry out of nowhere.

you also made it a chore to clean the entire downstairs of your house, because coming back to a clean house after a few days on vacay is always a nice thing.

surprisingly, liyah didn’t wake up once. you weren’t too loud, but loud enough for her to start yelling, waiting for mommy or daddy to pick her up.

you love that girl to death, but her tantrums are for the birds.

after you were done, you went to check on her. she was still soundly asleep, most likely for once tired herself out with all the noises. soon, you were going to have to wake her up so she could take a bath. but you weren’t worried about that at the moment. you were finally able to pamper yourself for the evening, then deal with her later.

your phone dinged, and knowing what the message was you opened it right away.

2 attachments from drew, and they were your tickets to morocco for 10 days at 6 am.

hearting both of the attachments, you started to get excited.

one month wasn’t too much of a long period of time, but it was always enough for you and your baby to miss him more and more each day.

you could finally see him again, and you’d be reunited as a family.

—

the night went smoothly. she only woke up once, and that was to bathe and eat a bit of what you had made. she was easy to put back to sleep, and that’s what matter the most. you could’ve had more sleep for yourself, but the hours were efficient enough.

sooner than later your alarm rang for 4:30. you weren’t a morning person whatsoever, but you definitely did not have a problem waking up right now since you knew what was to come in only a matter of time.

it was going to be a real long ride of 11 hours, but the outcome would be worth it.

getting up out of bed, you brushed your teeth and washed your face with your products, then put those into your suitcase.

you let liyah sleep for a few more minutes, then woke her up knowing you were just going to put her in her mini uggs and throw a coat over her pajamas.

and as for you, you were keeping your hair the way it was and throwing on a hoodie and sweatpants.

you took this time to order the uber to the airport, and bring both of your suitcases and her baby bag downstairs.

walking back up to her room, you picked her up from the crib and started to pat her back while bouncing her. the movement would keep her asleep and peaceful instead of awake and cranky.

“we’ll see daddy sooner than you know it, mama.” you whispered to her.

not even bothering to make breakfast since it was too early for the both of you to be eating, you turned off everything in the house and waited for the car. it was now 5:15 and the car was going to pull up any minute.

liyah woke up for just two seconds, “mama?”

“yes baby?”

“where dada?”

“we’re gonna see him in a few hours, don’t worry.” you softly laid her head back down so she could close her eyes again. as she was falling asleep, the car pulled up and it was time to go.

stepping outside with a baby and one hand and dragging suitcases in the other, the driver stepped out to help you load up, and you placed aaliyah in the car seat you had requested the driver to have.

he closed the trunk and hopped right back into the car. he pulled out from your driveway and made small talk with you. you tried your best to keep up, but it was just too damn early.

after a 10 minute ride to the airport, he unloaded your things for you and helped you bring them inside while you carried liyah. you thanked him, then did all the stuff you needed to do before waiting to board the plane.

aaliyah was still asleep, clearly all the tantrums finally caught up with her.

you texted drew a few times, even though he was most likely resting.

but about 30 minutes later, it was time to board the plane. you had all your luggage ready, and you guys were finally able to start the real travel.

—

the plane ride was long, but it wasn’t bad.

you kept liyah busy with movies, coloring, and eating a few things.

she didn’t eat everything since plane food isn’t the greatest, but she ate some and so did you.

you had boarded the plane around 6 in the morning, well now it was 4:30 and you had just landed.

aaliyah had a burst of energy, and you knew she was ready to just play and be carefree again.

thankfully, the passengers were nice enough to help you walk off the plane and help with your luggage when they saw you with a baby, so the plane experience overall was definitely a 10/10.

you had called drew on the plane, and he let you know he’d been waiting with open arms. you were overjoyed, practically jumping with excitement on the inside and out.

but if you think you were over the top happy, seeing the look on aaliyah’s face while you walked to find drew waiting at the morocco airport had you all the way beat.

“DADDY!!!” she screamed in your arms once you started to make it towards him.

you giggled at her her volume, and was also just happy enough yourself to laugh at anything knowing you were finally with drew again.

he walked towards the two of you and met you halfway, “is that my baby girl?” he smiled and took her from you. their bond was something so special to you, and you were so grateful for how strong their relationship was.

he gave her many kisses and tickles, which made her laugh. this was the first time you saw her so excited in a while.

“and my other baby girl.” he turned to you, pulling you in and giving you a passionate kiss. you weren’t holding back either, you hadn’t seen your man for far too long now. because of this, you covered liyah’s eyes which made drew laugh.

finally pulling away, he kisses your forehead. “i got our whole week planned out.”

this made you smile. “and what will we be doing?”

“there’s restaurants i want you guys to try, there’s a really nice beach, and i got us a really nice hotel. i promise you these 10 days are gonna make up for the month i left you with this little drama queen,” he started liyah a bit at the last part which made her laugh again. her laughs were always so contagious and it made the two of you laugh as well.

“i know they will, you never disappoint.” you kissed his cheek.

he gets close to your ear and whispers so liyah doesn’t hear, “and i promise once we wrap filming, i’ll make you finish everynight, baby.”

this gets your cheeks hot. you can’t lie at all, you really did miss being tossed and turned by him once she was asleep at night.

“be careful with what you say,” you point a finger at him, “i’ll make you a daddy for the second time.”

he laughs, “please do.”

you roll your eyes at him, then start walking out to where his car is.

drew spent the wholeeee time talking to liyah, even though she mostly still speaks in her baby language.

he was having so much fun too, constantly giving an occasional ‘oh really’ and ‘what happened after that?’

it kept him entertained and so did you. you stayed recording the entire thing and could barely hold in your laughter.

you made finally made it to the hotel (not before stopping for some real food though of course.) and he was definitely not lying when he said it was really nice.

nice wasn’t even a good word, it was gorgeous.

“wow,” the three of you walked in. your hands dealing with the cart of luggage while his carried aaliyah. “this really is beautiful.”

“i know,” he looks like he’s in awe himself while he takes in the hotel. “only the best for my girls.”

you smile at him and he wraps an arm around you, the three of you making your way to the hotel room.

you were very happy you took this vacation.

[cardicoven]

hi!! could you share any of your experiences interacting with persephone? or how has it felt to communicate with her? or even just fun anecdotes. ive given her an offering and im so happy to worship her... but god theres so little info or people talking about her!!!

Hey! So thanks for the lovely question, its great to hear that your reaching out to Persephone and are looking into worshipping her. I've been working with Persephone for around 3 years, giving weekly (often daily) offering and have maintained an altar space for her throughout that time. I say this not to boast or seem all knowing on the topic but to give some small context on my practice with her. Like many others my practice and worship of Persephone varies with the seasons, I feel her most strongly in Spring and Summer. During this time when light her candle I feel her presence, almost in that way when a Parent/Mentor/Guardian looks in your direction and you feel their eyes on you. When I leave offering during these months, I often experience feedback sometimes emotional, rarely I'll hear an affirmation, 'Thank you' or 'how thoughtful' kinda thing. When I call for her assistance in ritual I feel her behind me, sometimes guiding my hand, or I'll smell/taste something she advises for the ritual, only for the feeling to pass when I lay my hands on the herb/oil/item suggested. When it comes to divination she a dedicated card in my Tarot the 10 of Pentacles (which in my deck is the Pomegranate 10 of Crops, I use the Bottanical Deck link) and in my experience she's always happy to make it appear when she has something to say during Divination. In Autumn and Winter my experiences with her is very different, she feels distant, less patient, she's in the Underworld and has stuff to do. I don't feel her when I light my candles or leave small offerings. Only when I Invoke her and ask for her help in ritual do I feel her presence, its powerful, not stern per se but business esc, she's there to help and her time is not to be wasted. During this time I only invoke her when I really need her, most often in death work, or partially important banishings/protections and I always have a sizable offering at this time. That's not to say Persephone is not comforting or compassionate towards me in the colder months, her attention is elsewhere, and her responsibilities are with the dead.

That's all little heavy so here's a fun Anecdote. A few Years ago, myself and some witchy friends had a Party, there was plenty of drinking and debauchery (we were celebrating a friends bad break up). During a lull in the evening we pulled some cards and did some Tarot, nothing serious just good fun freaking out a few non-witchy friends, nevertheless Persephone had a word or two to share on the breakup, and while I don't remember much of it, it consisted of pointing out the Guys flaws and highlighting my friends strengths. After we put the cards away my friend asked how she should thank Persephone for her insight, I said leave her a wee offering, pour a shot out for her outside. My friend did so and said the following 'Thank for your wisdom Lady Pomegranate', before going back inside and passing out. I guess it's the thought that's counts.

Just gonna finish this off with a small list of recommended Reading since Anon is just starting out, and hopefully it might be useful. I'll link to Goodreads, but you should be able to find copies of these online somewhere if you try to. o Persephone's Pathway by Jennifer Heather: link : a wonderful exploration of Persephone from a modern pagan perspective but not without flaw. (my review) o Greek Religion by Walter Burkert: link : Currently making my way through this, it's academic and a heavy read but so far enlightening. o Old Stones, New Temples by Drew Campbell: link : an older book about Hellenic reconstructionism, reading it atm, so far its heavy but good. o Underworld Gods in Ancient Greek Religion by Ellie Mackin Roberts: link : On my reading list, 'This volume presents a case for how and why people in archaic and classical Greece worshipped Underworld gods.' o Hellenic Polytheism: Household Worship by LABRYS: link : I haven't got around to this yet but it's comes highly recommended. Hope this helps, and thanks again for the ask.

[thedogslegart]

Talking about art under cut

Im trying to see how to draw real people and within that how to go about fuigering that out. Also how there are some people that are reall easy to draw simplified and other so easy to draw complicated and others still who i can only just manage almsot realistically (not all examples here obvs lol)

I think ive just never bothered to draw older people so im stumbling that hurdle now. But its getting easier. As always the solution seems to be to loosen up and remember my pen is a pen and the permanance is not scary its a plus.

I didnt draw people at all for a while while doing uni work so i defaulted back to drawing OCs that have a clear and strickt stialization already but that presents a problem when my brain wants to draw real people lol

All of these pragraphs are arting with "I" lol. Its also kinda tricky to hm. Not find a style, i kind of hate that. But to find a consistency. When i was drawing people from rawhide i kinds had that no lower eye line thing but this doesnt even work for clitn east wood in other things hes acted in. I think maybe its the B&W flattens out that area under eye or something but it seems less distinct either way and my brain scans it as something not worth putting on paper

The oposit was true when i was trying to draw chrcaters from Sabata. It was digitally so not in this post but lee van cleef and whoever played Spengel (spengle? Spengal?) In that movie have such distict eyes that require alot of attention. Hm.

Reminds me how i drew Franca, an OC ive made up (visually) in the last month or so, next to Birdie, an OC i drew ALOT about two years ago now, and how i kinda see them both as lines/ruel to follow. I know Birdie is constructed of XYZ and Franca is ABC. The problemncomes from the fact that two years ago i was VERY focus on EXTRAMLY simple looking chrcaters but now the faces are more complicated and they stick out when next to each other.

I suppose its not relevent. Franca and Birdie are from two compelate different story lines and time period, but its indicative of a larger issue. My brain almost defaults tona slightly different "stlye" (almost) for different movies/shows/stories. The way id draw Bloodties chrcaters feels distinct (to me at least) to drawings of Office Party chracters even if theyre both from VTM stories by the same guy. Maybe that last one once again is just a difference in the time i started to draw these chrcaters.

Im going much off track. I like the sound of my own.......typing.

Oh! And Gino and Javier r there ^^

[autistic-ranpo]

RANPOE WATCHER AU??? PLEASE TELL ME ABOUT IT OMG

HIHIHIHI

so it started a while ago as a bfu au, and then when they started watcher my brain just kinda filed (FILED???) the au away (no reason, just kinda ran its course). the when ghost files s1 dropped, it immediately rebooted my entire brain lmao.

poe is ryan, but less confident overall, and way more anxious. hes still incredibly scared of ghosts/haunted buildings, which is why he brings karl in with him

ranpo is shane, and they act exactly the same. ranpo walks into haunted locations and starts pulling backstories out of his ass, but they turn out to always be right. hes solved so many cold cases and he is developing an ego. its his goal to make up the weirdest ones and its so funny to him when theyre right. literally such an ass i love him

their dynamic stays mostly the same except they are actually dating. its a running bit with them to pretend they have partners outside of work tho (dazai comes in once, kisses ranpo, hands him lunch then leaves).

louisa, yosano, and tanizaki work at watcher as well, with musitarou as the company’s third co-founder (steven but more unhinged. of course he does the bartending segment on too many spirits. come on now)

the others pop in as guests on their shows (atsushi is a regular on puppet history, and akutagawa has had his fair share of cameos on ghost files)

mystery files is pretty much the same, but poe chooses really morbid and deeply intriguing cases, and ranpo just chooses batshit bananas cases. anytime im feeling sad i imagine ranpoe as the airshock scene. because its amazingly funny.

i drew some art for it a while back (its probably in my art tag somewhere) but it was a while ago and not that good, i really need to draw more lmao

poe is a firm believer in aliens having visited earth, and eventually he just brings them up in however many cases he can just to piss off ranpo.

mushitarou also runs dish granted, except he doesnt know how to cook (he has a 13 hour panic then pulls something out of his ass, 50/50 chance its edible)

yosano runs pretty historic fight me

they run top five beatdown pretty much the same, except its just the same people (mostly chuuya and dazai) over and over again in increasingly ridiculous costumes (they also have insanely strong opinions and chuuya has had to be escorted out for almost throwing hands w ranpo (ranpo deserved it tho))

puppet history started off as a joke idea from poe but ranpo got super invested and poe decided to go along w it bc ranpo was having so much fun

i feel like theres more but this is probably longer than u wanted it to be already

anyways. THEM!

[everybodyloveshippos]

What has been your favorite moment of your current dnd campaign?

Ahhh okay this is def very hard to answer since this campaign started like,,, march 2020 (in person for a bit, then online, thankfully back to in person now) SO....LONG WINDED POST AHEAD,,,

So we’ve been at it for a while! And things get pushed to the back of my mind or are in my notebook somewhere-BUT we did start a discord channel called ‘that one time when’ where we put memorable moments. So I will do my best to list my top three since i could never sift thru this entire crazy adventure and pick just one <3

The first time Valentine cast revivify! We had just levelled up, I had just learned the spell, and I had just bought diamonds prior to us going to the Cassalanter ball (kinda spoilers for dragonheist ahead). So some cult nonsense starts goin down in the basement, we jump in (to the soundtrack of ballroom blitz) and we’re holding our own, kicking ass, but then victorio casts power word kill to instantly kill Hawkwood (artificer half-elf) and it was our first PC death and we were kinda freaking out.

It was a big character moment for a lot of our party bcus it was one of the highest stake things that had happened thus far. Lucien ripped out victorios throat (lucien is a drow werewolf) despite his hesitation over it (past trauma with being used as a weapon and monster) and valentine realized that ‘holy shit. I care about these people more than I care to admit. What a scary thought.” and then flew over to revive him. The imagery was just very cool and pretty to imagine, with high arches and valentine’s aasimar wings and eyes glowing white gold, holding hawkwood to them as the diamond shatters and the pieces rise in the air and he wakes up! I actually drew this a long time ago here

Another moment that had us losing our MINDS (one of us literally) was we were facing down Yandathul, a mindflayer (i think he’s an Ulitharid) who 3 party members have personal beef with (he experimented on our drow twins, disguised as a drow himself) (he ate nick’s uncle’s brain in front of him. Nick is a Githyanki. He has beef w mindflayers on sight anyways) Also we’d just found the corpse of a Draegloth, another experiment and our ally at the time that he had killed.

So basically we were fighting this guy, and he fuckin….Subdues nick and then eats gothi’s (our dwarf paladin, a newer addition to the party) brain in front of him. Then  he casts planeshift, and as we’re all about to get sent to fuckin WHO knows where, we could all land anywhere, not even together, nick-you know how you need to hit the right tune/frequency to travel to a different plane in dnd or something?-Well he screams for us all to grab his hands as planeshft is cast and he screams out the note that’s gonna make sure we all go TOGETHER AT LEAST to the astral sea, where he’s from It was just so intense and insane and emotional bcus nick was doing a scream of fury and grief and frustration but also doing bard stuff to keep us all safe. And it came after a PC death, and we rlly all almost got yeeted to separate corners of the universe. So we all just. Floated in the astral sea for a bit. With a corpse Valentine (my pc, cleric) couldnt revivify bcus his brain got eaten. I think it was our wildest moment. It stands out a lot because we lost. weirdly enough, the final countdown is a song that syncs up w this moment super well.

God anon im sorry to wax poetic theres soooo much more and obvi im biased to valentine’s moments but genuinely, i think my favourite moment was:

Nick slapping his abusive and terrible father on the deck of their warship in front of his crew. I gasped Out Loud in person it was So good i was shocked. It slapped. And so did nick. Lol

[kaytrawrites]

Observation Log #2 - August 2021

My source post, some context, more context (this account is my writing account. the one in the first linked post is my main) (latter two courtesy of Lem Demonadelem)

Transcription of my observation log so those whose mcyt Ranboos that are going through a similar thing don't feel so alone.

Table of Contents Log Below

1.8.21

Ok.

Ive had time to calm down and Observe. I’ve had cameras in the public areas of my home for a while. Especially in Ran’s space. Gotta get those cute moments when Im not there.

I reviewed the recordings.

I had some old tech in storage up on one of the shelves. They managed to get up there and pull it down.

How I didn’t notice that Ran had done that, idk…

They were messing around with the tape recorder two days ago.

I’ll need to grab that and see what they did.

–

Ive got the tape recorder. I grabbed it when they went down for a nap while they were watching Buzzfeed Unsolved.

Looks like they were playing about with some of the old music?

Music

Jesus Christ.

They hated distorted music before but now they are creating it!?

I need to review more of the recordings and see what else they’ve been up to…

–

Found more tapes from the 30th.

Let’s see what they’ve been up to…

Music More Music

I mean… They are kinda a jam. Just really creepy…

Back to reviewing the recordings…

–

Ok. Nothing else really happened on the 30th.

However.

On the 31st, after we got back from the doctor’s, they started messing about with the old camera.

I’ll see if I can grab it and see what he did.

–

He was just waking up when I went to grab it.

Got a bit distracted playing with him. He wanted to look at some pictures on the internet. We looked at pictures. He seemed enthralled by those ‘liminal space’ pictures.

Either way. I’ve got the camera now. 

Lets see what they did.

–

Jfc is that Rick Astley??

Did Ran just rick-roll me??

It was kinda difficult to tell who that was. Except the camera still had the undistorted picture.

Looks like he used the ‘Generation Loss’ effect on the picture?

He’s always been clever. Didn’t expect them to be this clever…

–

Oh yeah. They drew this weird 4-like symbol in their book in red ink.

2.8.21

Not much happened with Ran while I was around today.

They were messing with the tape recorder. When they doze off, I’ll grab the cassette and listen to what they’ve got on there

–

Got the cassette. Let’s see what he’s been up to.

Video

Ok. Not as creepy as a few days ago.

Still odd.

3.8.21

He was messing about with an old Sony TV today.

Put on the Walten Files for him.

He enjoyed.

4.8.21

Not much happened today.

He played around with the old Sony TV and a VCR. He recorded some text onto the tape. He scratched on the door trying to go out. I think he wanted to bury it cause he eventually gave up begging to go outside and just shoved the tape under a pile of my dirty laundry.

Yeah… I need to do a load.

I watched the tape when they fell asleep.

It’s just a bunch of names? And collections of letters?

5.8.21

Not much variance today.

I worked. Ran and I baked. I made them some new little outfits.

They seemed pretty pleased with the new outfits.

6.8.21

Again. Not much variance today.

7.8.21

I put on Buzzfeed Unsolved again for today.

Ran was enthralled.

8.8.21

Not much variance today.

A friend sent me the Trailer for Part 6 of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. Ran had enjoyed the other parts when they were released, so I showed them the trailer.

He seemed to particularly enjoy Jolyne’s Theme.

9.8.21

Ran has a bucket hat now.

10.8.21

Put on more Buzzfeed Unsolved for Ran.

He enjoyed.

11.8.21

Ran was scribbling stuff on some bits of paper.

He hid it from me.

If I want to find it, I’ll have to completely upturn his upright hutch.

And that’s a bad idea.

I’ll keep an eye on the cameras for where they hide the papers.

12.8.21

He was playing with the VCR again. He was trying to put some video onto a tape.

Something messed up and only like the bottom half of the video was put on the tape for like 5 seconds. The tape had a recording of some old party on it. So when the part Ran put on the tape ended, it cut back to the party recording.

The sudden change from silence to party music spooked him real bad.

Imma be honest, seeing them jump was pretty funny.

13.8.21

It’s Friday.

Put on more Buzzfeed Unsolved for Ran. He was right spooked by it.

14.8.21

Ran was begging to go outside again.

Tomorrow buddy. Tomorrow.

15.8.21

The quarantine period is over.

Let Ran out into his old outdoor mining run later in the afternoon.

He scratched in the dirt with sticks and stuff. Didn’t do much actual digging like before.

When they came in, they seemed a bit disappointed.

16.8.21

A friend brought their sbi Tommy and Philza over for a little playdate.

Ran seemed to perk up. Their Tommy seemed a little off-put, but warmed up pretty quick to Ran’s new state. Their Phil just kinda rolled with Tom and Ran’s chaos.

After they left, Ran did some painting.

I’m still keeping an eye on the cameras for those papers.

17.8.21

Not much variance today.

Maybe I shouldn’t note down when things don’t happen outside the usual.

19.8.21

Another playdate with the friend’s sbi Tommy. We went down to the beach for a few hours.

21.8.21

Watched a lot of game playthroughs today. Ran watched every second.

Job Simulator, Alien Isolation, Cooking Simulator, Gorn, Minecraft, and Oxenfree. Oh! Also tried to watch Sam and Colby’s video on The Conjuring House.

Ran started dozing off during Oxenfree.

Bed time.

22.8.21

Ran saw a video about someone playing an omnichord. He got all excited. I checked if anyone in the area had one.

Found one for pretty cheap on Ebay.

It’ll show up eventually.

23.8.21

Rewatched the Oxenfree playthough with Ran. He managed to stay up this time.

31.8.21

The friend with the sbi Tommy and Philza brought them over. Another friend with a dtqk George and Quackity also came over.

Nice little playdate.

[neelahind]

how does haüyne feel about knowing that their partner(?) has killed and eaten people

HI im gonna answer all ur asks in one post starting w the most shocking one to be at the top of a post. first of all partner is correct these bitches gay

but tbh haüyne doesn't think about it like that too often. like to them, what katya did was In The Past, y'know? it helps that originally they got the story that she'd told her crew back when it all went down, that she'd only killed one person in the end when she'd finally failed to suppress the need to feed (Not True, she had a body count of 2.5 and that last kill was EXTREMELY calculated). they were also told she was still dangerous and prone to lashing out at the crews sent to watch her and would probably have to be 'taken care of' but quickly found that to be less true than they'd been told, so even less reason to think of her as A Murderer

even after katya tells them the whole story haüyne still doesnt really... care. all that much. like, the person katya is when they know her feels leagues away from the person she describes herself as having been before. fundamentally, haüyne believes people can change, even if they killed 2.5 people

LMAO so i drew that like. 15 months ago according to the image file properties so it's been a minute but. i don't think that was my intention? it 100& kinda looks like that but i think i'd make it a little more obvious if i was going for that. do feel free to read it that way though because that is funny as hell

feet as in the body part ARE longer actually (/J!!!!!)

lmao debate of the century actually because at first i just went with Canon Compliant Crewmate Heights because like. despite the fact that i was going full serious storylines for the funny bean game i didnt wanna fully cut off all of the funny bean game quirks from it yknow? so i was just like yeah sure people are just shorter dw about it. it got slightly awkward when thinking about referencing real-world things and people but i figured i could just keep hand-waving and going yeah everything and everyone is just smaller

but then a friend (hi kas if ur reading this) pitched that the world just switched to a different measuring system and i was like FUCK that's actually funnier. so now truly idk

ftr i generally put characters' heights roughly between 3' and 4'. since i'm already talking about them in this answer,

haüyne is 3'5" while katya is 4'0"

[artistic-calathea]

DOODLE DUMP BECAUSE I HAVE NOT ACTUALLY DRAWN ANY ACTUAL ART PIECES IN A WHILE :D

These ⬇️ were over the span of about a week, and I finished it just a day or 2 ago !!

I drew these ⬇️ last month in aprilll?? I think?

I kinda just worked on it whenever I didn't have any other inspiration which is why there isn't too much

I also want to rant about these and the process n stuff a little bit so I am going to :)

Making the first one I started redrawing old stuff from a sketchbook (the person in the pretty dress, person in the sweater), and then I got distracted watching qsmp vods and drew Dapper and Juanaflipa!!

It was the first time I drew them not as eggs (so they might look totally different next time I draw them sorryyy) and it was super fun !!!! Im working on drawing all the qsmp eggs but it's not gonna be done for a bit since I am also not caught up on whats going on

the last stream I saw was a few days after the Brazilian members crashed and now I hear of France?? Idk but I'll prob try to catch up this week and finish the drawing soon :)

Also all the nature !!!! Literally my favorite thing to draw ever. I could just sit by a plant and draw it and never get bored

Sadly there are not many plants near my house so I might just have to go into the woods and look for cool plants to draw this summer heheheee oh nooo if it's the only way I guess... I just have no other option than going into the awesome woods with the nature and no other people and loud music in my headphones 😔 /sar Im so excited ajauvsv

THAT WASNT EVEN ABOUT THE PROJECT SORRY I always get distracted and ramble when talking about art (I am not going to stop doing this though its so fun!!)

Nowww about the project art,

Short version, these little sillies are being included because when I actually start the project in a few years I wanna look back on this and see how my art improved and how the story changed!

LONG VERSION...

"the project" as I've been calling it, is a goal of mine in life to create something emotional and meaningful that matters to people and can maybe help someone feel less alone :)

It is not that right now though ! At the moment it's just an idea since I don't really have the resources or skills to make it the way I would want to, but these sketches and stuff help me keep track of the idea while I get ready to make the thing

I have some papers with project stuff that I might post if anyone seems really interested in the project as it is right now (they are messy and hard to understand so I don't currently plan on uploading them anywhere)but if not I will likely just keep quietly working on it :3 and I'm definitely gonna change up a few things !! Some things on that page may not even make it into the actual project 👁️👁️

That's all I have until I draw more ! :P (also if you read all that you r automatically very cool and nice and you get 🪲 🐛🐜🐞 bugs :) /pos bug s good)

BYEEE :D

[sunnybubblezzz]

SUCH A GOOD WEEK

okay well first of all i’ll start with just how great this weekend was. like UGHHESAHDH and then im just gonna say how grateful i am to God because woah im soo happy.

okay well first of all, DUHHH BIRTHDAY WEEK. i genuinely forgot this week was my birthday and MANNASND IM SO HAPPY. like i didnt get to do ALL the things i wanted for my birthday and i didnt get everything i wanted ofcofc but woah this week was amazing.

I GOT TO SEE THE HUNGER GAMES. THAT MOVIE WAS INCREDIBLE and i got to go with two of my close friends. i was really really sad bc i thought we wouldnt be able to go and i DOOO wish more of my friends were able to come with me.

BUT LIKE IT WAS SOOO GOOD AND I LOVE THE FRIENDS WHO CAME WITH ME.

you guys are never gonna see this but i loved that day and it brought me sm joy you have no idea. PLUS I GOT TO SEE SNOW???

my birthday day was eh BUTBUT EVERYONE SENT THEIR BIRTHDAY TEXTS TO ME AND I NO LIE GOT SOO HAPPY. i didnt expect all my friends to remember idk but they did and i was OVERJOYED.

THEN I GOT TO GO ICE SKATING FOR A BIRTHDAY PARTY? it was SOOO nice and was SOO much fun plus that was an amazing time with my friends

and my friend gave me a birthday gift..

I LEGIT SHED TEARS (okay not in front of her but still) LIKE I CANNOT. it was only one person but man sometimes i forget how good it feels to get a gift from someone.

like… im always the one giving gifts but it really really touched my heart to get one from her and I LOVE HER SM AND I CANTTT IT MADE MY DAY.

i love you i really do.

then ofc i saw one of my closest(?) friends (and i lowkey felt we were drifting apart) like FOUR TIMES THIS WEEK BACK TO BACK. okay okay trust me thats a lot for us 💀.

we went to the mall together which was lowkey weird bc she never asks me to hang out like that. AND I GOT THE PERFECTT DRESS LIKE I LOVE IT SMM??

then WE WENT TO THE GENSHIN CONCERT

moment of silence for just how GRATEFUL I AMMM.

i love you SMMSMM for getting me tickets like the opportunity of a lifetime?? ngl i lowkey was kinda mad bc the friend we took wasnt as grateful as i felt she should have been… thats how grateful i was like “how can someone not thank this girlie with all her might”

it was a WONDERFUL EXPERIENCE and im only sad that one of out other friends couldnt go.

I WAS JUST

AHSDHASHDHSDHHS

IT WAS SO GOOOD

okay and now for one of my favorite moments..

okay so we were taking pics with some of the cosplayers and then this other cosplayer talks behind us… i look behind me, look at her cosplay and immediately say, “YING?” AND SHE SAYS YES???

like in the car we were looking at twitter for who’s going and was AMAZED that ying was and hoped we get to see her. I DID NOT EXPECT US TO?

LIKE I JUST RECOGNIZED HER FROM HER VOICE. the last time i listened to this girls voice was months ago but SHHH that’s unimportant.

what ISSS IMPORTANT IS THAT I SAW HER, FANGIRLED OVER HER, SHE CALLED ME PRETTY, THEN I WAS JUST OVERJOYED.

THENNN I WENT HOME, POSTED THE INTERACTION ON TWITTER, AND SHE SAID SHE REMMBERED ME.. HELLO??

LIKE WHY ARE SO MUCH GOOD STUFF HAPPENING TO ME ITS NOT ADDING UP.

i wouldnt call myself an unlucky person (luck isn’t real). but i will say that a lot of unfortunate things happen to me usually and ive just learned to go with the flow. but idk im just just so HAPPY and so GRATEFUL and and im scared that it’ll all get ruined when i wake up but man cant i live in this moment of happiness forever?

then today was just such an amazing day like such a great end to my birthday week i just. im just.

anyway to end it off, one of my friends from a while ago texted me asking if i ever drew this picture for this girl named sarah.. it took a sec, but i recognized the drawing and remembered.

I WAS IN SHOCK IT WAS A LITTLE BIRTHDAY DRAWING I DREW FOR THIS GIRL LIKE YEARSSSSSSS AGO?

she said she really loved it sm, kept it for years, and that i was super nice.

OKAY LIKE I CANT BELIEVE SHE KNOWS THAT ONE OF MY FRIENDS FIRSTLY. BUT SECONDLY WHAT?? LIKE IM JUST FROZEN WITH JOY SHE KEPT MY DRAWING FOR YEARS? not a rip in sight…

its just SO encouraging and so so idek im just so happy.

then to end it off, the artist WHO WAS MY MOST LISTENED TO ARTIST OF 2024 WITH 2,000+ MINUTES OF LISTENING??? SAID SHE WOULD POST MY SKETCHBOOK SPREAD (inspired by her music) ON HER STORY WHEN I FINISHED IT?

i

i love you God so much.

just i was feeling so down this past idek month or more because i just have such idek its just so much things happen to me and i just have to go along with it and not let it phase me. i feel so much emotions but none of them bring me down yknow? like i have to be happy and i dont FEEL happy…

but this.

this week makes me feel like God loves me and all of these things happened because of Him. I love him and I love all my friends, I really do love all of you guys.

some of you guys DOO get on my nerves, some of you guys ARE confusing, some of you guys are kinda weird, and i do feel like i love some of you more then you love me.. but in the end you guys are my friends. i love you guys.

and i love you God. I love you for everything you do and I dont know why you love me but I’m sososo happy you do. no one will ever love me like you do. thank you for always being there for me. i love you.

and so we end this. i KNOW that ill cry bc of sadness again (probably in the near future ngl) and I KNOWW that this happy feeling wont last. but for right now im gonna treasure it… please ANDDD thank you.

happy birthday to me.

[thewarriorkinyt]

(Updating soon!, the comic i'm making will be a tad different from what i wrote here since i may change some stuff! So once my comic is out ill update this post!)

I made my own oc named brokie sans cuz i was bored and randomly drew it, i havnt made anything like this in a long time, or writen a back story like this in a long time soooo srry if its kinda confuseing, hope u like it UwU, back story on bottom. Also might change a few things on his past life

(More info soon)

Details about past life:

brokie is from a glitched and destroyed au called broktale, how did it get glitched and destroyed u ask?

Well a long time ago when broktale was first created and now existing in the multiverse everything seemed fine, everything seemed peaceful and normal, they lived together with the humans and other kinds of creatures, untell a mysterious black mist like figure entered the broktale au, the black mist figure walked threw the town,

brokie noticed them an went up to them not getting too close an said "i havent seen u here before, wanna hear a joke i got plenty you wont 'mist' " the figure looks at him with a smiles the face is completly black but total white eyes and white smile can be seen it kinda looked like another sans? and in a deep voice they say "don't worry, im only looking around before i do what i was created for~" brokie looked confused on what the mist figure meant and asked what he meant. Suddenly the air grows colder,

mist figure say "u wanna know what im gonna do~ well since ur not strong enuf to stop me might as well tell you first im going to take ur brother. And send him to my endless black sky and red ground void that i lived in for years after losing my au, i used to be a sans just like you, i used to be happy, untell SOMEONE TOOK THAT AWAY FROM ME, they destroyed my au now im going to destroy yours as well after all ur never going to understand true happiness without experienceing true pure pain"

Brokie says to them "leave now. I don't want u to hurt anyone of us." Mist just laughs and says with a sarcasticaly tone "u really think i'm gonna stop after all these years of getting stronger!?~, oh my words! Your words hit me so hard i think i should stop!" Brokie says back "well if ur gonna stop then leave us alone" mist answers "well guess u don"t understand what sarcasm is now do you" brokie yells back and says "u wanna fight WELL LETS FIGHT! If i win u leave!" Mist says "and if i win ur au is forever gone and ur not allowed to stop me from getting rid of it~. Do we have a deal?~"

brokie... agrees on this deal and they start to fight.

Mist hits brokie and he goes flying and falls into a lake, brokie then jumps out of the water and uses bone knifes and shoots them at the mist figure and they go right through them... Brokie says "w-what... How..." Brokie has this scared, confused, worried look on his face. Mist says "wow, did u forget already?, i could've sworn i said i was stronger then you... Maybe i didn't but guess u really know now~" brokies look says everything, brokie knows he cant defeat the mist figure as brokie looks towards the ground. Mist says "well guess ill help u a bit" the mist figure punches brokie in the face and suddenly black goop like stuff starts forming out of his eye and he starts to turn to goop, and mist starts to destroy broktale, and brokie.. Suddenly started to fade away into dust while seeing everyone he loves and cares about DIE in brute force in the most messed up ways, after killing all his friends and taking brokies brother away into mists endless void, mist touches the ground and black goop starts to spread across the entire au glitching a bit as well, mist looks at brokie an says "guess this is it, well it was nice while it lasted now didn't it" brokie says to mist "I HATE YOU LOOK WHAT YOU DID" mist says "well, does it look like i really care if u hate me or not. I've gotten so much hate i don't really feel sadness at all when u said that, i didn't feel anything in fact" brokie for once is speechless while he's still fading away into dust. After all that mist leaves an brokie is just there in a glitched out au still being destroyed by what ever virus or whatever that's spreading throughout the au consumeing everything...

[youngbeezer]

hi!! can I please request something?

going to a lake house, maybe friends to lovers with bowen byram?

thank you! 💗.

A/N: HI IM SO SORRY THIS LITERALLY TOOK 4 EVER!!! i was having such bad writer's block with also zero motivation, but i eventually put a little something together and i hope whoever requested this first off actually sees this bc seriously its been a good month of this sitting in my inbox but also i hope you like it :)

Word Count: 2940

Warning(s): kinda angsty in beginning, curse words, ends fluffy !!!

masterlist || join my taglist

These next few days is either going to turn out to be the best week of the summer, or the most awkward week of the summer...

I’m currently stuck in a car surrounded by couples on our way to a lake house in Colorado. Somehow I ended up being lumped into this chaotic group of professional hockey players and their drop-dead gorgeous significant others.

About a year ago at my local salon, I just so happened to be seated right next to a woman named Grace, who I immediately hit it off with. We became fast friends and are now basically inseparable at this point. Her boyfriend just so happens to play hockey for the Colorado Avalanche, Cale Makar. Now I have also grown quite close with Cale as well, since I am always at their shared apartment for Grace. At this point Cale is basically third wheeling us, instead of it being the other way around. Therefore I was also always invited to team parties and get-togethers, which prompted more friendships with most of the guys on the team and their respective partners.

Someone I have surprisingly grown super close with is Bowen Byram. As soon as Cale introduced us two, his blue eyes and raspy voice immediately drew me in. Straight away we bonded over common interests and that night we talked for almost three hours. After that, we were thick as thieves. So thick that recently I have come to the realization that I have caught major feelings for him along the way.

It has only been a few weeks since I have come to this realization and it has already started to affect our relationship. I definitely started to ignore Bowen a little bit when I first figured out my feelings because I was scared he would somehow find out or I would just end up blurting it out at some point. And the last thing I want is for my silly feelings to ruin such a great friendship.

Thus why this week can either turn out to be the best or the worst.

I’ve decided that at some point during this trip I need to confess my feelings for Bowen. He’s also seemed to notice the shift in my attitude towards him. I have become more closed off and not as touchy as we used to be. Bowen and I are both very touchy/feely types of people. So what seemed like just some harmless cuddling and play wrestling with each other, to me did very little to quell down my feelings.

For example, this morning when we were packing up the cars for the trip a group of us are taking to Tyson Jost’s lakehouse, Bowen went to wrap his arms around my middle from the back and I subconsciously flinched away at his touch. I know he definitely noticed my mood shift from the defiant pout that was resting on his face. After that I did what I do best, and ran away to the other car that was driving up and basically begged Nate to switch seats with me.

Which now leads to my current thoughts. The entire car ride up I have been contemplating on ways I could tell him, but each scenario just ended up with him telling me that he doesn’t feel the same, and our friendship essentially being over. Obviously I was just overthinking just a little, but I’ve never been stuck in a situation like this before-- and now we are going to be stuck in a lake house together for an entire week, so I am going to be forced to face this situation whether I want to or not.

“Yo. Earth to y/n?” Tyson draws, trying to gain my attention. I snap out of my thoughts as soon as I hear my name, and bring my gaze to the rearview mirror to meet Tyson’s questioning look. “We’re here.” He announces.

Susanna, Mikko’s girlfriend, adds on, “You alright? You seemed kind of out of it the entire car ride.”

I shake my head to try and clear my thoughts and notice that we are indeed here at the lake house we will be staying at for the next week. I clear my dried up throat before croaking out a weak, “Yeah, I’m fine. Just don’t like long car rides.”

Both of them nod, content with my answer and exit the car to join Mikko in unloading all of the luggage from the trunk. I take a few more moments to fully get my head together after dealing with all my jumbled thoughts throughout the entire three hour car ride.

Jumping out of the car, the first thing I see is Bowen letting out a yawn and stretching out. As his arms raise over his head, some of his shirt rises up with it and immediately my eyes are drawn to the small portion of skin and v-line that is in front of me. Bowen then notices my presence and makes eye contact with me, giving me one of his adorable little smiles. I advert my gaze as quickly as I can so my obvious ogling isn’t as obvious and go to finally retrieve my luggage.

Yeah this was gonna be a long week.

…

After everyone got pretty much all settled into their rooms, we all ended up coming back together to sit around the firepit to chat and enjoy some drinks. For this trip that Tyson orchestrated there are in total ten people staying in the house. Me, Tyson, obviously since it’s his house; Bowen, Cale, Grace, Alex Newhook, Mikko and his girlfriend Susanna, and lastly Nate and his supposed new girl who will be joining us later on in the week.

Apparently a group of the guys and their partners have been taking trips together at the end of the hockey season for a while now, and since growing closer with the team this year, I graciously got an invite.

Since it was getting later and a little bit more chilly, I grabbed a random sweatshirt that I saw already laying around in the living room before making my way outside to join everyone by the firepit. Getting closer I noticed that the only seat available just so happened to be next to Bowen.

Cale and Grace give each other a not so inconspicuous knowing look when they see me approaching. As soon as I sit down, a question is being thrown at me.

“Whose sweatshirt is that y/n?” Cale brings everyone's attention to me with a growing smirk on his face.

“I don’t know, I just found it in the living room.” I give Cale a questioning glare, trying to figure what his endgame is right now.

“It’s mine.” I hear that same raspy voice that I love and know so well. I feel my face start heating up at the idea of wearing Bowen’s sweatshirt. Am I wearing his name on my back right now, and I just didn’t even think to check earlier?

“Oh, uh. Sorry, I can give it back to you, if you want it.” I stumble out, now feeling awkward and a little embarrassed about how flustered I am getting over a simple sweatshirt.

Bowen gives me a little smile before replying back, “Nah, it’s fine. It looks better on you anyway.”

I clear my throat and stumble out an awkward ‘thanks’ at Bowen and then turn my attention to Grace right next to me so I don’t embarrass myself even more. What I don’t see though is the way Bowen's face immediately falls when I turn my back on him.

…

Around midnight is when everyone started to make their way back inside the house to start getting ready for bed. I was mindlessly scrolling through my social media, so I didn’t notice that mostly everyone had already gone inside.

“Y/n.” I look up at the mention of my name to notice that Bowen and I are the only ones left outside.

Also noticing the intense gaze I am receiving from Bowen, I quickly gather my things and stumble out, “Oh my gosh I didn’t notice everyone left already. I should head inside as well.”

Bowen is quicker though because he grabs ahold of my wrist, halting me in place before I make my very obvious escape.

“Hold on, please. Can you please talk to me?” Bowen pleads out.

“What do you mean? We’ve been talking all night.” I countered, trying one last time to get out of this conversation.

“We’ve been talking as a group all night yeah, but you couldn’t even make eye contact with me. You know what I mean. What’s been going on? Did I do something?” Bowen frowned.

At that moment I felt so guilty. I’ve been so focused on trying to ignore my feelings that I have developed that I ended up pushing my best friend away and hurting him in the process. I close my eyes and let out a deep breath. I knew I would eventually have to have this talk with Bowen during this week, but I just didn’t expect it to be on the very first night.

“Okay. Yeah, let’s talk.”

I lead the way down to the dock overlooking the lake and sit down to dangle my feet into the water. I know for a fact that Grace and Cale realized that we both haven’t come in behind them, so they are most likely snooping by the backdoor wondering what we are doing.

Bowen joins me, after slipping his shoes off and dangling his feet in as well.

“What’s been going on y/n?” Bowen asks again.

“I-I think I’m in love with you.” I blurt out. I can feel my heartbeat pounding in my ears as I await any type of response from Bowen. Taking a peek over at him, I see the pure shock on his face. Probably wasn’t the best idea to start off the conversation with that.

Taking his silence as a bad sign, I start spewing out whatever I can to try and calm the anxiety coursing through my veins. “I-I think I have known for a while and I just tried to ignore it, I guess. But then I realized that I was just pushing you away, an-and I never wanted to do that. Our friendship means that absolute world to me, and I would hate myself if anything I did, or-or my stupid feelings jeaporized that.” At some point during my little rant, a few tears escaped. I turn my head away as I try to hold back on a full on sob breaking loose.

“You think?” He eventually breaks the silence.

Confusedly, I turned my head back around and let out a strangled, “Huh?” I see the corners of Bowen’s mouth start curving up into a tiny smile, confusing me even more.

“You said, you think you’re in love with me.” He pointed out.

My eyebrows raise in question and I give him a little shrug, prompting him to elaborate more.

“Well… I’m pretty damn sure I’m in love with you.” Bowen softly declared.

My breath catches in my throat and my mouth turns as dry as the Sahara Desert. Those were definitely not the words I was expecting to come out of his mouth. He chuckles at my surprised face and scooches a little closer to my body to wipe a stray tear on my cheek.

“Are you serious?” I whisper out.

“Of course.” He whispered just as softly back to me as his head inched closer to mine.

My heart pounds in my chest as Bowen’s hand comes up to cradle my cheek. All of our pent up feelings and emotions that we both have been too afraid to admit all come crashing together as our lips finally meet. He kissed me gently, almost carefully, but after all this time gentleness was not what I wanted right now. Bowen let out a low groan as I pulled him flush against my body, my fists bunching up the collar of his shirt.

Before this could go any further, we both pull away breathlessly, basking in what truly just happened-- just now realizing how much our relationship is about to change.

“Fuck.” Bowen breathed out, running his hands over his face. “If I knew that was what it was like to kiss you I would’ve blurted out my feelings the day I met you.”

My ears perk up at his last few words and it seems like he also realizes what he just admitted, as his cheeks immediately turn a rosy color.

“You’ve liked me for that long?” I bashfully question.

Bowen runs his fingers through his hair and blows out a breath of air before answering, “Yeah, I-I mean… yeah I have.” He stumbles out, awkwardly letting out a laugh.

I lean my head on his shoulder and connect our hands, feeling super content and never wanting this moment to end. We take a moment to just sit on the dock-- with our feet hanging in the water, hands intertwined; and bask in the feeling of finally letting our feelings out into the open.

“You know everyone in that house is going to have a field day when they find out.” Bowen mumbles against my shoulder, before leaving a lingering kiss on the exposed skin.

“Oh I wouldn’t be surprised if they all had a bet going or something.” I chimed. I raise my head that had previously been resting on Bowen’s shoulder back up to look at him, and see that he is already smiling at me. “What?” I drawled, feeling my cheeks heating up under his gaze.

“You wanna sleep in my bed tonight?” He asked hesitantly.

My cheeks now feel on fire as I ponder on how I want to go about this. I raise my eyebrows up at him in question as I ponder out, “Do you want me in your bed tonight?”

Bowen gives me an almost incredulous look as he voiced, “Of course I want you in my bed.”

I just give him a simple nod and push my body up in a standing position, reaching out my hand to prompt Bowen to join me. “Okay, let’s go.”

Bowen immediately shoots up from his sitting position, clinging onto my hand as we make our way back up the yard to the sliding glass doors of the lake house. Just as I predicted earlier, Cale and Grace were totally snooping. Actually, the entire house was snooping. Everyone was gathered in the kitchen trying to act casual as we walked in, but as soon as they noticed our conjoined hands, all hell broke loose.

“I fucking knew it!”

“Aw you guys look so cute.”

“Bout time.”

“Ha! Nate, you owe me fifty bucks.”

I looked over at Bowen with an unimpressed look, “Told you they probably had a bet going on.” Meanwhile Bowen has an incredulous look coating his face watching his friends freak out over his newfound relationship. Instead of questioning our oddball friends, Bowen just simply shakes his head, letting out a little chuckle.

“Alright I’m heading up, I can’t deal with these idiots right now.” Bowen gives me a quick peck on the lips before announcing his departure for the night. Most of the others also start making their way up to their respective rooms for bed, the guys putting on a show of making kissy noises and making a few chirps as they follow Bowen up the stairs.

Grace joins me by the counter, making a show of wiggling her eyebrows at me. I’m smiling like an idiot as Cale also joins us, chuckling at my lovesick expression.

“You’re welcome.” Cale smirked.

I scrunch my face up in confusion as I question him back, “For what?”

“For introducing you two, duh.” Cale teased. Grace smacks him on the arm with a tut, making a show of rolling her eyes at her boyfriend. “Alright, seriously I am happy for you guys though.” He eventually relents.

My cheeks heat up from the attention but also from the thought of Bowen and I’s new relationship. Grace grabs me by the shoulders and starts pushing me in the direction of the staircase.

“Obviously I’m happy for you too. All I’ve wanted is the best for you and I think Bowen is just that. And with that being said, go get your mans!” She sends me off with a quick smack on my ass. I giggle the whole way up the stairs on the way into Bowen’s [now our] room feeling extremely giddy and content.

When I enter the room, all the lights except for the bathroom are already off, and it looks like Bowen is already settled into bed. So, I quickly do my night time routine and change into my pajamas before making my way over to the bed I will now be sharing for the week.

Bowen is awaiting me with his arms wide open, which I happily cuddle into the second I am under the covers. He buries his head into my neck, leaving featherlight kisses here and there.

“I love you.” Bowen mumbles into my neck. I card my fingers through his hair and kiss the top of his head as I mumble back those same words, in complete awe over how fast my life has changed in one night. We both knew that we would eventually be together, it just took a little time and a trip to Tyson Jost’s lakehouse for us to figure it out. This week will definitely be one for the books.

Taglist: @barzysandmarnersbitch @handwrittenheroes @hockeyplayerstories @barzy-xoxo @gnemgn @joelsfarabees

Tagging some mutuals as well so this doesnt flop,,,

@2manytabsopen @bb-nhlqueen7 @frederikanderson @simon-edvinsson @coltonndach @carepriceisgoodathockey @lovereadinghockeyy @pettypeteys @kentjohnsons @joekellys @mattybenierss

[butgilinsky]

im a dummy and did this shit wrong. but if you're still taking requests can you do 5 from the insult list with tk?

5- “you are the human equivalent of a participation award.”

a/n: im sorry it took so long hun, i got kinda carried away. not proofread and im not even entirely sure it makes sense but here ya go(:

after spending a week convincing you to come to the team cook out, your best friend just had to fuck you over, resulting in you telling him this is exactly why you didn’t want to come in the first place. 

it wasn’t that you didn’t like the team, because you did, but nolan had a habit of coaxing you into things you knew you wouldn’t enjoy, and this was one of them. it didn’t matter that you were competitive and would’ve done whatever it took for you to win, despite who your partner was. 

that didn’t meant that you wanted to be paired up with travis for the entire afternoon. 

you glared at nolan when he “drew your names out of a hat” and stuck the two of you together. you knew this was one of the, if not the only, reason that he coaxed you into showing up today. you thought it was because of your cookies but now you’re sure it was because of the moment of satisfaction he got from seeing your eyes blow wide open at the sound of your name next to tk’s. 

“you know, if you gave me a shot you’d be happy to know that i’m pretty good at these things.” you narrowed your eyes at travis, the one that could barely hold two beers in his hands without spilling them all over your shoes (yes, that’s happened. more than once). 

“you are the human equivalent of a participation award, tk.” he scoffed but didn’t respond, opting to try to put your differences behind him unlike what you were doing. 

you were surprised when the two of you didn’t come in last place in the egg toss, nor the relay race. you did come in place in the potato sack race but you were to blame for that. you were more surprised about the fact that tk didn’t drill into you for it rather than your last placement. 

you somehow made it all the way to the end of the day without killing tk, allowing your walls to crumble a little more with each event the two of you won. a few events were easy for the two of you to connect, like playing chicken and knocking ryanne off of claude’s shoulders. 

the big surprise came when the two of you were tied with nolan and kevin, being forced into a tie breaker that you were sure you’d fail without even trying. 

trivia wasn’t your strong suit and you knew it wasn’t travis’s either but personal trivia? with the person you couldn’t stand to be around for longer then ten minutes before today? paired up against roommates? you thought were going to tank this for sure.

“who’s up first?” joel wore a smile all too cocky for someone who lost the corn hole match not too long ago. he had his phone in his hand and scrolled through questions to dig for good ones while the four of you decided who was answering questions first.

nolan sits down for his team and travis suddenly decides he’d rather go first than second, which you weren’t complaining about entirely. it only takes twenty seconds for the game to get flipped on its head and for you to realize that you might’ve been wrong in thinking that you and travis were destined for failure. 

“where’s your partner from originally?” you’re shocked to see travis raise his hand before nolan does, but you’re floored when he answers the question right. 

“how the hell do you know that?” you whispered into his ear when he flashed you a cocky smile. 

“believe it or not, i listen to you.” you’re thrown off, but you don’t have time to question it before joel was asking another question. 

your shock faded a little with every right answer travis provided. you didn’t think he knew that much about you, nor did you think he cared enough to remember things that he’s heard maybe once. it was shocking, but not as shocking as it was when you started giving up right answers about travis in front of an entire backyard of people who thought you hated him. 

nobody expects the two of you to win. they didn’t even expect you to make it past the first few challenges, but joel tells you that you’ve answered your last question right and watches you jump out of your chair and into travis’s arms that are wide open for you. 

he spins you in a circle while the two of you shout out in victory. you’re both smiling like crazy and it takes a second for you to catch your breath after he sets you back onto your feet. you almost forget how close you are to each other when you pull back from the hug, noses almost bumping against one another while you try to catch your breath. 

his smile settles into a comfortable one that’s absent of arrogance and for once you find yourself admiring the look on him. you’re smiling up at him the exact same way, and he can’t help but tuck a strand of hair behind your ear. 

you’re almost tempted to lean into him, to savor the closeness for what its worth at the moment, but nolan decides it’s a good time to fuck you over all over again. 

“well that was a great game guys, how’d you do it?” you roll your eyes at your best friend, but before you can tell him to leave you alone, travis is actually answering. 

“you’re either born with excellence, or you’re not.” travis clicks his tongue gently as he sends you a sly wink, just before walking away from the two of you. 

nolan looks at you, a smile creeping up his lips as he takes in the flustered expression you’re wearing. 

“not a word.” you hiss softly but he’s already shaking his head and spilling out his thoughts. 

“you’ve got it bad.” 

“shut up.”

[franeridart]

Anon said: Would you draw SukuFushi? (Sukuna x Fushiguro)

maybe? *thinking face* if I ever got an idea for it, why not. I find sukuna’s obsession with fushiguro entertaining so I don’t count fanarts for it as impossible haha

Anon said: I looked and I couldn't find if you've answered this already, so apologies if you did, but how do you draw your faces? I always struggle with face shape and yours are always super good with really expressive features! Anyway, thanks so much I love your art <3

HMMMMMMMM how do I do that indeed, the basics are honestly what you’d find on any basic tutorial about drawing a face (circle, cross in the middle of it, build the face around that - I really still can’t avoid that step and probably never will). As for the expressions, to be honest with you my way of going about them is thinking them up in emoji/kaomoji form first and then go from there. Emojis and kaomojis have to simplify expressions to the max since it’s such a simple format, right? But they’re still super expressive and convey exactly what they’re trying to say with one single glance, so using them as some kind of reference sheet has helped me a lot in figuring out what’s essential to express what I’m trying to say - still working on it though! I’m rarely satisfied with my expressions, they really do make or break a drawing don’t they............ you never stop learning, I guess!

Anon said:  Ahhhhhhh I just spent like hrs scrolling thru ur oc tag and they’re all amazing I love them so much but I keep confusing the everloving SHIT out of myself cuz I too have a child who is Leo and he’s literally so different from ur Leo lol. Anyway tho ur art is amazing and it honestly just makes me so happy so ty and hope have a good day!!

OHHHHHHHHHHHH MY LEO! It’d been forever since I’ve last drawn him, I kind of miss him............... glad you like my stuff, by the way! Especially about you liking my ocs, that means the world to me!

Anon said: hi there !!! i was wondering if i had ur permission to ur ur itafushi art in one of my edits ! i wanted to be sure before using it <3 total respect if its a no !! thankyouuuu

Sorry but I’d prefer if you didn’t do that!

Anon said:THERES A OCTOPATH TRAVELER LIGHT NOVEL AND ITS SO COOL BUT ITS ONLY IN JAPANEESE ! ;^;There's four stories with centered around pairs of characters and alfion is one of them !Idk if itll be transleted but i hope itll be cuz it sound awesome

OH I KNOW!!!!!!! I saw the art for the alfion one a while back, it looks so soft!!!! ;;;;; 8path is kinda niche as a game though, so who knows.............. let’s cross our fingers!!

Anon said:  hello, i am here to recc Skeletons by New Years Day because i think it might fit a few of your ships<3

Thanks anon now I’m emo ;;;;;

Anon said: bakubro gives the best hugs. kirishima is the only one who knows this. everyone is absolutely incredulous when the question "who gives the best hugs" goes around and kirishima answers bakugo. (bakugo thinks kirishima is the best but he benefits from kirishima bodily hugging him and he's biased)

Definitely!! He’s strong and warm after all, bet hugging him would feel the best.... the only one who shall ever know is kiri though, as I bet his hugs are only that nice when he really likes the person he’s hugging hahaha

Anon said: Hi! Just wanted to say that I absolutely love your JJK art! The colors and style are absolutely stunning.

Thank you so much!!!!!!! I feel like I’m mostly drawing for myself lately ngl hahaha so knowing you like it means a lot!!

Anon said: Hi!! This isn't a request I just really like your art! I found you from Pinterest on a kiribaku thing you drew! Your art is so cool! I wish I could draw like that!!! I'll keep looking for new art you've made :D

Aw pinterest.......................... glad you could find your way back here though!! And thank you!!

Anon said: This happened a while ago, but i wanted to say it anyway. I remember when I started watching jujutsu kaisen and I was looking for content arter finishing the first 10 episodes in less than a day and I found your first jujutsu kaisen post (it was posted that dame day) and i was like ???? One of my favorite artists got into jk at the same time than me!!! I just thought it was a neat coincedence to share! I really love your art too, you're amazing!! Happy New Year!!

It’s!!!!!!!!!!!! a pretty dang neat coincidence for me too, since it’s always nice to know at least some of my followers are still into the stuff I make hahahaha

Anon said: i think a lot abt ur art and how ive been seeing u since middle school and now im graduating highschool and we're still in the same fandoms, i hope this doesnt make u feel old but rather VERY cherished qwq

No anon this makes me feel amazing you’ve been around so long!!!!!!! I can’t believe you’re still here with my thank you so much for that!!!!!! I think I’m gonna cry a little here.......... ;;;

Anon said: Hi! I love your art so much!! 🥰 Have you read a KiriBaku fic called The Pit??

Probably not, haven’t been reading krbk fics in a while by now! I’ll add it to my for-later list, thank you so much for the rec!!

Anon said: can u believe that (sans sero) the entire bakusquad can be put into some form of punk/goth fashion? the realization was a galaxy brain moment for me. also realizing that tokoyami, kirishima, and tamaki are all varying levels of goth/emo (some more concerning than others)

Sero’s the hippie friend every punk friend group needs, he balances things out and that’s why he’s very cherished and necessary!!!!

Anon said: your bakugo drawings convinced me to finally start stretching my ears and tbh i'm extremely excited (i've had off and on thoughts of stretching my ears (again) before this so it's not as impulsive as it sounds haha)

Anon that’s so cool!!!!!!! I love gauges so much.....................glad I could give you the last push for it!!

Anon said: uhhhh, i love the style of that top left goge drawing dude!!

THANK YOU I LOVE DRAWING IN THAT STYLE THIS ASK MEANS THE UNIVERSE TO ME

Anon said: i sent the dragon!kiri and bakugo tug-of-waring over a piece of meat and honestly your response is exactly what i thought

Great minds!!!!!!! hahaha

[zuffer-weird-girl]

hiii im not sure if i requested this or just thought about it- but reader having a bad day so dabi takes them to an abandoned building to just wreck shit? he finds it intimate <3

"FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT!" he heard your shouts from the distance of the apartment and soon the sound of the door slamming shut as he sighed while rolling his turquoise eyes.

He did told you that visiting your parents wasn't a good idea. He warned your thick skull. But did you listened to him?? Nooo...

"Stupid bastard that says I should be-! uGH!" he watched as you kicked your shoes off angrily in amusement before you simply just plopped down on top of his chest groaning.

"Not wanting to say I told you so but I told you-" he inhaled sharply when you pinched his arm with a grunt letting out a monotonous 'ouch' afterwards.

Despite the aloof attitude of his, Dabi could see how stressed and tense you was. Still, preffering to not say a thing to him because in your silly head you always said it to him that you didn't want it him to worry about some other thing.

His hand slowly drew random shapes in your back as his other one patted your head in hopes you would calm down... he isn't good with comforting words...

Yet he could still see how you breathed hard against his chest and how tense your shoulders were beneath his fingers tips...

Sighing, he tapped on your shoulder to get up, seeing how you reluctantly agreed only to make a confused sound at him pulling you along with as he grabbed both your coat and his.

"Put your shoes on doll, we are going somewhere."

.

.

.

"Ok, Dabi. I know we dont usually have normal dates and all.. but-" you pointed at the whole abandoned building you two were with an arched eyebrow "This?"

"You had a shit day, didn't you?" He asked while searching through some old stuff as the only thing that gave you light was the far away signs of citylights and the nightsky.

"Shitty is only a nickname..." you mumbled before he handed you a old baseball bat, grabbing your shoulders and turning you around to point at a few moviles, mirrors and candlesticks.

"Discount your anger on these things doll." He mumbled nonchantly as you gave him a look like he had grew three heads. "Is all abandoned here sweetcheeks, really. I lost count on how many times I came in here to wreck shit or burn them up."

"So this is what you done all these months ago?" You asked him with a unumused face as he smirked.

"Cmon." He grabbed a broken bar of metal and went towards a mirror "Learn with me princess." He raised the bar above his head to just hit with all his force on the poor mirror that shattered to pieces making you flinch out of instinct.

"I-I dont think is-"

"Think that that glassy fancy table has the face of someone you hate and then-" he gesture to the now broken mirror witha smirk "Bam."

You raised a eyebrow, reluctantly raising the baseball bat and going toward the said table. He watched as you squinted your eyes at the thing before raising your weapind and shouting before hitting the mobile with all your force that was enough to break it.

Your wide eyes was a eveident sign your adrenaline kicked in as he chuckled lowly and clapped his hands sarcastically.

"Think of it like a themed park to discount your anger." He showed with his palm all the mobile present as he kinda got a bit turned on by the maniac yet childlike exciment smile that grew on your face as you started to destroy things.

A sense of guilt washed over him since he knew that discounting your anger on objects wasn't the best way to cope... yet he wanted you to calm down first and discount all that pent up anger you held.

The pacience you held tpwards most everyone was huge, yet the cup was getting filled and almost dripping... so the best way he found was this.

He watched as you tiredly made your way over to him and dropped yourself on his body as he chuckled at your behaviour.

"Already tired?"

"Leave me aloneee..." you whined on him as he chuckled, giving his back go to you before crouching down. You get the message almost immediatly and got in as he got up with a huff.

"Such a brat making me carry you home after helping you out." He mumbled as you drolled on his jacket.

Lookinh over at you from the corner of his eyes a tiny smile appeared as he sighed in relief before continuing carrying you back to your apartment.

He swore he would make things better for you. He would be better if it meant you would be happier.

[thiswasinevitableid]

For mermay, could you do 11 for sternclay? sfw please :) I love your prompt fills!

Thank you so much! Here you go. The prompt was “royalty” and I based Barclay on a basking shark and Joseph on a mimic octopus.

For the last two weeks, Joseph has been hearing what a difficult assignment he’s taken, and how most bodyguards wouldn’t take it even with the handsome pay. That the princes of Sylvain are impossible to guard, that they’ve gone through more security staff than sharks go through teeth (this part he knows to be true from the records he’s found). 

Two days in, he’s starting to wonder if there’s been some sort of mistake. 

Now, had he received Duck’s assignment, he’d understand the warnings. Prince Indrid, seer to the court of Sylvain, has already shown himself to be a strange mixture of aloof, demanding, and spoiled.

But Prince Barclay?

When Joseph was shown into his chambers and introduced, the instant the servants left Barclay swam over to him with a nervous smile. He asked if there was anything he could get him, was he hungry, would he like something to drink? Joseph accepted that last offer, curious to see how the prince would react if called upon to perform hospitality rather than simply offer it. 

What happened was Barclay swam into an anteroom and came back with a carved coral platter with mother of pearl pitcher and goblets, pouring Joseph’s first before taking a glass for himself. 

That set the tone for his behavior, and it hasn’t changed in the week since he’s arrived. The prince, charcoal tailed and a little shy, seems to view Joseph as just another mer to talk to. When in the castle, Barclay will ask him his thoughts on the historical and political scrolls his tutors assign him as part of his preparation to one day inherit the kingdom. Out in public, Joseph shifts into the background, watches everything with care while the prince swims behind his parents or, more often, their advisors. 

“Do you think there was some kind of misunderstanding with his previous guard?” Joseph asks Duck over a late night dinner in the hall, which allows them to keep their eyes on their charges rooms. 

“I mean, he seems like a nice enough fella to me. But nice fellas can still be sneaky; from what Ned told me, Barclay’s an escape artist. Think he might be lurin you into a false sense of security.”

“And I think trusting what Ned Chicane tells you is a terrible way to gather intel.”

Movement from Indrid’s room and Duck stiffens, listening, then relaxes.

“Shouldn’t you go check on that?”

“Nah, he’s just pacin, does that a lot, especially at night.”

“He really should get some sleep.”

Duck shrugs, “He should. But treatin him like a child is the wrong way to go. He knows he oughta rest, my remindin him will just annoy him. Besides,” Duck raises an eyebrow, “maybe you better be more focused on your prince.”

“He turned in an hour ago.”

“You sure?”

Something in Duck’s voice sends worry bubbling through his guts, “I’ll check now, just to be positive.”

The bed is empty, the prince nowhere to be found. 

“Shit!” He darts back into the dim hallway, “he’s gone, I’ve got to find him and fast. How, how in name of the deep did you know?”

“Call it a hunch. Indrid likes to play the ‘I know somethin you don’t’ game, but if I let ‘im play it long enough, he let’s somethin important slip out.”

“Shit” Joseph says again, “I, if anyone asks-” 

“I’ll say I ain’t seen you or Barclay since dinner. Ain’t a lie.” Duck winks and Joseph flashes him a quick smile before swimming back into the prince’s rooms. There’s only one door and no secret passageways, (he checked for those himself), so the windows it is. His tentacles can sense Barclay’s trail, faint but unmistakable, and he follows it until he’s almost at the shore. Then it’s gone. 

He spends the next three hours feverishly tracing and retracing his path and keeping his panic to a minimum. When he spies a figure swimming towards him, he backs against a rock, planning to hide until they pass. 

This plan changes the instant he registers who it is. 

“Gaahfuck” Barclay catches his yell quickly and muffles it down to a hiss, “what the hell Joseph, you scared me.”

“And you just made me spend three hours swimming around and wondering if my charge had been abducted. I’d say that makes us even.”

“Didn’t make you do anything.” Barclay grumbles as Joseph turns them towards the palace. 

He sighs, “No, I guess technically you didn’t. But I take my job very, very seriously. If this past week hasn’t demonstrated that sufficiently, maybe tonight has. When you disappear into the night, it’s my duty to follow.” He catches brown eyes studying him warily and adds, “I’m not doing it to be punitive or steal your freedom, or even because their majesties told me to; I’m doing it because you’re under my protection.”

The prince nods but says nothing else until they return to his rooms. 

“Joseph? I’m uh, I’m sorry. For scaring you. You got farther than anyone else did, none of them ever tracked me that well, if they noticed I was gone at all. I figured you wouldn’t notice, so you wouldn’t worry. So, yeah. I’m sorry.” 

Joseph knows a false apology when he hears it, and this is as far from one as a desert is from the deep sea. 

“Apology accepted, my prince. But Barclay” he levels the other mer with a stern gaze, tries not to notice his cheeks tinging pink the longer he holds it, “don’t do it again.”

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

“Are you certain we cannot trade?” Indrid’s fin ripples with agitation as he draws. 

“Nope, Joseph is a good bodyguard.”

“And your crush on him is not governing your answer in the slightest?” Indrid smirks but doesn’t look up. 

“No idea what you’re talking about. Besides, Duck seems nice.” Barclay stretches his other arm, then pauses, “wait, fuck, is he hurting you or something?”

“No. On the contrary, he is annoyingly concerned with my wellbeing.”

“That’s his job.”

“It was the job of all his predecessors as well, but all it took was ordering them around or demanding things in the right tone before they were letting me do as I pleased. I wanted to go to that bar on the edge of town last night and do you know what he did? He told me no, because word had gotten around that it was a spot I frequented and someone there might try to take me hostage.”

“...And?”

“And, and then when I tried to leave anyway he blocked the door with that blasted muscular tail and obnoxiously charming face and wouldn’t move! Then he told me he would if I looked at the future told him we’d both be safe if we went. It turns out he was right, the chances of violence were high.”

“I mean, you don’t like places that loud anyway-”

“It’s the principle of the thing.” Indrid sighs, “so we stayed in and I made him read to me as penance but he was very good at it and I fell asleep within a half hour.”

Barclay is trying hard not to laugh, only because he knows how hard it is for his brother to admit such things. And because, given what else he knows of Duck, the mer might be exactly what his brother needs. If nothing else, Barclay hopes Duck might be observant enough to notice what’s there, not just what his brother tries to toss up like so much sand in hopes of obscuring the truth. 

Indrid goes back to his drawings. Barclay can remember the first time their ministers caught Indrid capturing the futures this way and scolded him, saying the futures to look at were only those the court asked him to, nothing else. Indrid had explained, in a number of different ways, that this was how he could keep the images from overwhelming him, but still they insisted he stop. It wasn’t until he drew on his status and threw a near fit that they relented. That was a lesson he never forgot. 

Barclay hopes todays lessons will be more enjoyable. One of the jobs of a royal bodyguard is to train the princes in self-defense. When Joseph and Duck enter the gym through kelp curtains, Barclay can’t help but be mesmerized by the poise with which his tentacles move across the ground. 

“Good morning, your highness. And to you as well, your highness.” Joseph bows to them each in turn, “Barclay, today you and I will be working with swords while Duck and Prince Indrid work on hand to hand combat.”

“What?” Indrid looks up, red eyes wide, “Barclay is the one who trains hand to hand, not me.”

“Which is exactly why we gotta mix things up. You need all the modes of defense you can get. Unless of course you’re, uh, afraid you can’t take me.” Duck raises an eyebrow at Indrid. 

His brother says nothing, simply grabs his bodyguard and pulls him towards the designated room, calling, “I’ll see you after lunch!”

He and Joseph trade an amused look, then swim to the shelf of blunted training weapons. They’re still bone or sharks tooth, but they’ve been sanded down so no one can get hurt. 

“Now, you mentioned you’ve done some sword work, so am I right that you know how to hold this safely?”

“Yep.” Barclay takes the sword, swimming over to one of the Xs on the floor. 

“Good. To keep things fair for now, I won’t use my tentacles for anything other than swimming.” Joseph takes his position on the opposite X and lifts his sword, “ready?”

Barclay nods and then immediately parries as Joseph lunges with a burst of speed. He recovers quickly, and they begin an elegant back and forth, bubbles and stray sand swirling through the air as they spin and dodge around one another. Joseph keeps up a steady stream of commentary, either positive or instructive, and Barclay is having a hard time ignoring the the thrill he gets every time Joseph pulls off a graceful maneuver. 

When they break, both a little winded, there’s a crash from the next room. 

“Fuck! You okay, your highness?” Duck sounds concerned. 

“Yes, now try that again, I am going to get this right.” 

Joseph glances at him, “Should we-”

“Nah. He kinda sounds like he’s enjoying himself.”

The other mer studies him, “Are you?”

“Yeah, of course.”

“Then I’m going to ask you to stop holding back. I can’t train you effectively if I don’t know what your skill level actually is.”

He’s learned not to insist Joseph is mis-observing things when he’s actually observing them perfectly; the other mer is too sharp for that. 

“I...I just don’t want to hurt you.”

Joseph swims close, sets a hand on his shoulder, “For starters, these are fake swords, and I’m not a bad fighter. But more than that, I suspect there’s a very impressive swordsman under those scales.”

They take their positions and when Joseph gives the signal Barclay attacks with all the force his tail can muster. Joseph dodges easily but makes an approving noise. Then he grins, the expression downright rakish, and attacks with such precision and speed that Barclay barely manages to counter him. 

His focus narrows down to the fight, to watching Joseph’s body for every sign of movement, every twitch of muscle and tentacle. Finally, he sees his opening and drives the other mer backwards until he’s trapped, back to the rocky grey wall. 

“Well” Barclay pants, images of finishing the fight with a kiss banging about his mind, “what do you think of that, Joseph?”

Two tentacles rise, plucking both swords from their fighters hands as his bodyguard murmurs, “I’m impressed.”

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

It’s been a month and a half since Barclay slipped out of his room, and while he’s tried twice more, Joseph has been ready each time. Tonight, however, he’s opting for a new strategy.

He bids the prince goodnight, well aware he’ll swim out the window around moonrise. Then he waits just across from the window, skin and tentacles camouflaged with the rocks. Right on time, Barclay emerges, swimming quickly and quietly towards the shore. Joseph follows at a safe distance, forces himself to focus on the prince’s likely path rather than on how handsome he looks in the moonlight. 

When they reach the shallows Barclay pauses, slips a woven bracelet onto his wrist, and kicks towards the surface. 

Who in the name of the wide ocean gave him legs?

Joseph’s physiology allows him to crawl across the tidepools, keeping his eyes on Barclay as the prince retrieves a set of clothes hidden behind a rock and walks into the small town of Kepler, turning towards a restaurant on the pier. 

Someone had to enchant that bracelet for him, has to know where he’s going while using it. And that someone has to be a mer he trusts. 

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

“Yes. I made him the bracelet. What of it?” Indrid says coolly. 

“Indrid, do you have any idea how dangerous that is?” Joseph throws his arms and several tentacles in the air. 

“Hold up” Duck turns to his prince, “Indrid, I’m guessin Barclay probably asked for a reason, right?”

“Indeed, but if I say what it was, you will reveal it to our parents and ministers and take it away from him.”

“I won’t. I promise. I, I just want to help.”

Indrid narrows his eyes. Then, remarkably, he turns to Duck and cocks his head. Duck nods. 

“Very well. And yes, I will grant you that favor you’re about to ask for…”

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

How do humans manage with these things? His tentacles tell him so much more than these useless feet do. 

Joseph makes his wobbly way into Kepler, following Barclay’s trail down the pier, the one he’s walked the last two weeks while Joseph intermittently clung to the nearby wooden supports or fencing to make sure his prince wasn’t in danger. 

Even with Indrid’s explanation, the room he enters is a surprise. Several counters with what he knows humans call “stoves” sitting on them, each manned by one or two people. 

“Hello there” An affable older man in a multi-colored shirt approaches him, “you here for the class?”

“Yes.”

“Great! Hmmm, since you’re new, better pair you with someone, just to be safe. Follow me.”

Joseph isn’t afraid of much. But when he sees who the man intends to pair him with, he almost jumps out the window and flees back to the sea.

“You’re in luck, gonna pair you with my best student. Barclay, this is…”

“Joseph”

“Joseph’s first class with us, so I’m handin him over to you. Make me proud.”

Barclay isn’t blinking, but he manages to say, “sure thing, Thacker.” 

The older man nods, pleased, and makes his way towards the kitchen set-up at the front of the room, greeting people as he goes. 

“What the fuck, Joseph?” Barclay keeps his voice low, “did Janelle give you legs just so you could come drag me out of class?”

“No, no not at all. Indrid did this.”

“What?”

Joseph takes a deep breath, “Barclay, I told you that first week that I’m here to protect you. The way I see it, I’ll do a much better job if I come with you to something that clearly matters to you, rather than force you to hide it from me. No one knows about this but Indrid and Duck.”

Barclay seems stunned, doesn’t say anything as Thacker opens the class and instructs them on how to make something called “marinara” to go on “pasta.” The prince stays silent until they’re working on the cookies the human is also having them make.

“Here, it’s easier to cut them out like this.” He sets his hand atop Joseph’s, pressing and shaking it so the dough comes away from the stone slab in the shape of a heart. 

“Thank you.”

Barclay smiles at him, and the kitchen grows hotter. 

When everything is done cooking, they sit on stools at their station, eating the fruits of their labor. Barclay is animatedly describing the pie they made last week, occasionally stopping to chat with some of the other students. He looks so happy, and Joseph decides he will not tell their majesties about this even if they torture him. Or fire him. 

As they walk back along the beach, Barclay explaining all the things he’s learned about cooking and how much he wishes they’d let him cook at the palace rather than insist it’s beneath his station, the prince takes his hand.

“Humans do this when they’re waling on the beach together. I think it’s to keep them from getting separated if they get hit by a wave.

Joseph is pretty sure that’s not the reason, but he’s not about to say so now. 

They dive back under the waves, removing their charms and swimming side by side in the dark water. Once they’re safely inside, Barclay turns to him, beaming, “Thank you so much for coming.”

“Even if I wasn’t invited?”

“Yeah. It, uh, it means a lot to me that you wanna learn about the stuff that matters to me. That you wanna know the real me.”

“Of course I do.”

Barclay swims dangerously close, “You, uh, do you wanna know another part?”

He nods. Barclay leans in and presses their lips together. Joseph manages to keep his hands himself, but his tentacles have other ideas, curling protectively around the prince’s tail and waist. The instant Barclay pulls back with the most adorable sigh in the sea, Joseph forces them to return to their normal position. 

The prince gives him a final, shy smile and whispers, “‘Night, Joseph. And thanks for everything.”