#it all just feels so purposeful which in some ways is not very sunny usually

[boyfailurecharliekelly]

screaming into the void about the “I am him” from Frank vs Russia…..like, yes I feel physically sick whenever I think about it, but I can’t get over the whole way that interaction is written and performed like it’s insane and I wish I was awake enough to properly formulate what I mean but I’m not so ahhhhh

[benedictscanvas]

pretty boy, pretty girl - jamie tartt x reader

pairing: jamie tartt x fem!reader

word count: 2.1k

a/n: okay yes. it has been six months. which is actually mad to me, but there we are - whoops! i've been off following my dream and wrote this while procrastinating an assignment, so this is by no means a return!! honestly i was just itching to write it, but i don't know how much time i have for more - enjoy nevertheless <3

warnings: just a little bit of suggestion towards the end, reader is referred to as 'pretty girl' as the title implies amongst other pet names, quite a lot of swearing (some things don't change)

---

“Hi love.”

Jamie barely murmurs it as he walks past you, can’t help himself but to drag a palm along your back, one shoulder blade to the other, as he goes. 

He knows he’s bold sometimes, but he swears it’s instinct. He glances back to see whether your expression holds any discomfort, but all he finds is your grin, a tiny wave. He continues on his path towards the canteen, knowing that your corridor conversation with Rebecca is probably important.

Somewhere between here and there, he decides to get your lunch, your usual, and sits alone on a table until you appear.

You do, three and a half minutes later. As soon as he sees you, the irrepressible urge to make you grin again is back with a vengeance. He waves you over to his table with a gesture to the food he’s got for you and- there it is again.

If he was a slightly smarter man, maybe he’d consider why all it took was the sight of him to draw your lips upwards, set your eyes alight.

“Thought I’d save y’ from the queue,” he speaks, still soft, in a tone he feels he only uses with you. You match his unnecessary low volume.

“Thanks, angel,” you say easily, and you must not see his stomach doing flips, “Too good to me, you are.”

“Shut up,” he deflects, wonders if you can see him fluster at your nickname for him, “Are you still coming tonight?”

You groan. He frowns, and you quickly correct.

“Sorry. It’ll be fun.”

“Yeah, you sound proper convinced, an’ all.”

You chuckle, taking a bite out of your sandwich and taking a pause to chew. Jamie eats too, content to let you think before you speak. It was slowly teaching him to do the same.

“I’m just boring, Jamie. My favourite people are all under this roof, but usually they’re sober, you know?”

He often forgets you don’t really drink. Your friendship (however sour that word feels in relation to you) usually confined to these halls, to the pitch, to various football stadiums up and down the country. When they all get a chance to let loose, you’re very quick with the excuses, but he’s believed them blindly until this moment.

“Shit, y’ don’t drink, right? I can’t imagine that’s much fun in a club. I won’t tell anyone if you happen to come down with an illness or somethin’ this afternoon.”

You’re grinning at him again, all bright and sunny. It’s downright infectious, so Jamie nudges your foot with his on purpose and then apologises like it’s an accident.

“You’re alright,” you reassure, “I will join tonight. Even if it just proves to myself I’m not missing out on anything. Maybe Colin’s not as bad a drunk as I’ve been led to believe.”

Jamie winces.

“No, he is pretty bad,” he admits and then finally comes up with something to make you more comfortable, “Hey, what about this? I won’t drink either and we can spend the evening laughin’ at everyone else.”

You poke his hand and he tries not to drop his crisp packet.

“It’s everyone’s ‘relax and recharge’ night, Ted said. We both know you relax much easier with a few drinks in you. And I’d never judge anyone for that, I really hope it doesn’t come across like I’m judging any-“

“It doesn’t, sweetness,” he cuts in, “But actually, I’ll relax better if I’m one hundred percent positive that you’re relaxing too. What better way than judgin’ everyone else, together like?”

You purse your lips thoughtfully, mid-chew. He feels like he’s holding his breath, like he’s underwater and you’re in charge of the oxygen tank.

“Well, see how you feel when we’re there. It sounds lovely but only if you’re still up for it when we’re right next to a bar,” you say, still unconvinced. He wants to convince you fully, but he can’t decide if he should argue with you or kiss you silly before you speak again, “Hey, if not, I’ll buy you a drink?”

“Pretty sure that’s my line, love.”

“I said it, I meant it. Girls can buy drinks for pretty boys, you know.”

He thinks you might have removed his oxygen tank now. There’s some cruelty in that sentence but you don’t know you’re wielding it. He wills himself to flirt back even though it’ll only make him feel sick.

“Okay, pretty girl. One passionfruit J2O, please.”

Another grin. He’s so fucking fucked.

---

He’s been waiting for you for around forty minutes. He doesn’t know if that’s the normal amount of time you take to get ready, even if he wishes he knew, so he just waits, leaning against his car.

After fifty, he decides there’s no harm in just checking you’re alright and haven’t slipped on a sparkly floor that an evening cleaner has done a number on.

You mentioned going to the kit room to get changed, and he meets Will on his way there.

“Hey mate, you seen Y/N?”

Will looks paler than he’s ever been. Guilty. Jamie narrows his eyes and waits.

“Kit room.”

It’s all that Will says. When Jamie doesn’t walk off immediately, still waiting for an explanation for Will’s strange demeanour, Will turns around and legs it all the way down the corridor, turns left at the end and never returns.

Jamie shakes his head and continues in the direction of the kit room. The closer he gets, the more he hears. Muffled banging, shouting. He picks up the pace.

“Y/N? Love?”

“Jamie! Jamie, in here!”

Your voice floats out from the kit room and he hurries over. Still very confused, Jamie turns the door handle and finds the door won’t budge, however hard he shoves his shoulder against it.

“It’s locked, babe. Did you lock it?”

He hears your exasperated sigh and feels a little embarrassed.

“No I didn’t bleeding lock it! Well, I did, when I was getting changed, but then when I unlocked it my side it had been locked from the outside.”

Jamie struggled to put the dots together. Had Will locked you in? Judging by the running, he had… and he’d done it on purpose. A spark of anger shot down Jamie’s spine but he tried to convince himself there must be a reason.

Before he could, there was a hand on his on the door, pulling him away. It was being unlocked by another hand and then he was being shoved inside, hard enough to stumble against one of the benches. A piece of paper was thrown at his face and Jamie groaned as he heard the lock click back in place.

“What the fuck?” he muttered as he stood up fully, more dazed than angry now as he stared at the locked door.

“Jesus, Jamie, are you alright? Who the fuck was that?”

“I dunno,” he says, staring at the door as if it might have answers. Your hand on his face wakes him up, his eyes shifting to yours where you look him over with concern.

“You’re alright, though?”

You ask it like you need the answer, and Jamie needs you to stop trailing a finger along his hairline either way.

“Fine, love,” he assures you, patting the juncture between your shoulder and neck gently until your hands drop to your sides. Then he raises his voice, and he’s not really talking to you anymore, “Whoever’s locked us in here as some kind of joke won’t be fuckin’ alright though!”

No answer. He picks up the small piece of paper from the floor and reads it in his head.

Tell her, you prick.

He’s actually going to hit Roy with his car. Lightly, definitely not enough to damage him, but enough to really, really piss him off.

This was all some ridiculous attempt to make him tell you how he felt about you? Absolutely not. Never. He wouldn’t be coerced into something so delicate, so important.

“What’s it say?”

You’re peering over the top of the paper, but he folds it in two before you can read anything. His chuckle comes out strained.

“It says: Get fucking pranked. Must be Roy, he’s probably scared Will into helpin’ him, the fucker. I’m afraid it’s payback for putting all his socks on the ceiling last week, babe, an’ you’ve been caught in the middle.”

You pause, staring at your shoes. For some reason, you look far more forlorn than the situation calls for, but it’s gone before he can think about it further.

“On the ceiling?”

He nods and you giggle. It’s only as you step away from him in your laughter that he realises how close you had been. He should’ve savoured it.

It’s also only as you step away that Jamie finally gets a glimpse of your outfit and nearly reaches out to the nearby bench for strength. He’s never seen you in a v-neck anything before, let alone a dress, and he thinks it might do him in.

“You look good,” he says lamely, then tries again, “Great. Fan-fuckin’-tastic, I mean.”

“I like that last one,” you smile, ducking your head. He thinks, or rather hopes, you’re a little flustered, “Fan-fuckin’-tastic happens to be what I was going for.”

“Yeah,” he breathes, words gone as soon as he’d found them. And now he was staring. Shit.

“I like your suit,” you say, maybe breathless yourself. It must be his ears. You reach up as if you might fiddle with his lapel but just point towards it before your hand drops again. You practically fall down onto the bench you’re both stood beside and he follows, ever obedient, “Shame no one else will ever see it. How long do you think we’ll be stuck here?”

The suit isn’t for anyone except you. That’s what he’d say if he had any stupid bravery. He’s an awful coward, he thinks.

“Until Roy gets bored or Keeley finds out I reckon,” Jamie guesses, “Y’ wanna play I-spy?”

You sigh, but when he peeks at you out of the corner of his eye, you’re grinning your silly, lovely grin again.

“I spy with my little eye…”

---

It is around 11pm, when Jamie has not long fallen asleep against the jacket he had scrunched behind his head, that he feels your hand on his ankle. He can tell, as he wakes without opening his eyes, that you’re not trying to rouse him. The touch is light, feathery. Maybe an accident.

No, not an accident. It wouldn’t have lasted this long, and your thumb is drawing absentminded circles into his ankle bone. You think he’s asleep and you’ve reached out to hold him anyway.

He opens his eyes but doesn’t move. His legs are stretched out on the bench in front of him and you sit upright next his sock-clad feet, one hand on his bare ankle. You’re staring at a piece of paper so intently he wonders what could possibly be so interesting.

“This doesn’t say get fucking pranked, Jamie,” you murmur, and his hand flies to his jacket pocket. It must have fallen out when he slumped into a slumber. He’s sat up in a blink, watching the hand that had been so soothing, fall back at your side suddenly.

“I’m sorry. Shit. I’m so sorry, Y/N.”

“No, don’t,” you insist, still staring at the piece of paper. Instead of whirling on him for answers, you reach calmly into one of the boot cubbies beside your head and pull out a piece of paper from one of the boots. You chuck it at him without looking.

He unfolds it with careful, if shaky, hands.

Tell him, you silly shit.

It takes him an absurdly long time to understand what the hell this second piece of paper means. Later, when the two of you look back on this moment (and you do so often), you’ll wonder how he could have been so dense and he’ll spin you a line about how too good to be true it all felt. But in the moment, he has no lines and no words, until your hand lands heavy on his knee this time.

“Jamie,” you say softly, through a grin that is so different from your usual that he could pass out. It’s so beautiful and so strikingly lovesick that he thinks he might actually be sick, “What do you have to tell me?”

“What?”

He feels dumber than he’s ever felt. But your hand is still on his knee and now you’re shuffling closer to him on the bench.

“What do you have to tell me?” you repeat, then you poke his chest playfully as you add, “You prick.”

He still looks confused, so you clearly decide the best way to catch him up is to kiss him.

You pull away after a moment, a moment of pure heaven, because clearly you don't want to kiss him fully until he's all clued in.

"Come on, pretty boy," you say, teasing, "Figure it out. I was going to buy you a passionfruit J2O. It's the sign of all signs."

He should be laughing at your joke, but all he really wants to do is kiss you again. And again.

Maybe again.

"Oh pretty girl," he says, and he feels the rumble of his low tone in his chest. He places a hand on your face, fingers itching at your hairline, "I'll tell you anything ya wanna hear, I swear. Anythin'."

He hears your breath hitch, but he feels it too, where the meat of his palm is covering your neck.

"Anything?" you answer back, "I could have a lot of fun with this."

You scrunch up your brow like you're thinking and he's so stupidly in love with you that he just tells you. Too-soon be damned.

"Smooth talker," you laugh, giddy, and you kiss him again. And it's so good that he doesn't even remember you didn't say it back until hours later.

(at which point, you say it back so many times and in so many ways, Jamie is certain that he's the luckiest man in the world. he might not hit Roy with his car after all)

[pomefioredove]

OH MY SEVEN! PLEASE I NEED A PART 2 OF MC GETTING BOUGHT BY NBC (or maybe they get bought by rsa? By like Chenya or Neige?)

part two of the NBC ending is here! very intrigued by the idea of an RSA ending, especially since our knowledge is limited. I also kin snow white so maybe I have a little soft spot for neige.

bonus: I had to stop writing this to save another animal that got inside. second time this week.

parts 1 | 2 | 3 | kalim | 'bad' ending

summary: yuu transfers to RSA type of post: short fic characters: neige, chenya additional info: yuu is gender neutral, pretty platonic

This entire ordeal had been nothing if not shady.

From the purpose, to the "donations", to the absence of the prefect themselves...

...And now, the grand announcement- that of which Crowley had been hyping up for days- was cancelled.

"I don't get it," Epel murmurs, walking on a sideways footpath back to the hall of mirrors. "You really think he just took all the money and ran?"

Vil huffs, the disappointment heavy in his voice. "Well, it certainly seems that way. No one's seen him all day,"

Despite the sour mood over the trio of Pomefiore students, the day is bright and sunny. Birds sang, the sun shone, even the wind carried a suspiciously merry tune with it.

"We should not give up hope so soon. Anything could happen," Rook ponders. "Who knows? The day is not over yet."

"I'm starting to wish it was," Vil says. "It's far too jovial for such an underwhelming afternoon. And the whole purpose of this walk was to clear our minds... hmph."

Epel squints ahead, taking in the way beams of sunlight seem to shine through the foliage, casting rays of gold over the usually darker campus.

"Y'know, I betcha- I-I mean, I think you might be onto something. It is unusually cheery today, isn't it?"

Vil huffs. "Wonderful. Nature itself mocks me,"

"Non, it's not the climate which has changed... it's more of a presence. Monsieur Pommette is correct," Rook says. "Something has shifted here."

Vil rolls his eyes, not exactly in the mood to be playing word games with Rook again. He shoots a glare to Epel, warning the boy not to encourage him, and a silence falls over the three.

Though... he still cannot deny that something feels aloof. Something that isn't sitting right with him...

He sighs. "Perhaps we should check on the prefect. Just in case,"

And so the three stop in their tracks and awkwardly, though hurriedly, walk to Ramshackle.

Nothing is quite amiss about the building itself, though, still, there's something hazy and dreamlike about it. A warm, golden glow that turns the rough and brittle exterior into a quaint and charming home, full of light.

"I don't like this," Epel murmurs. Vil does not respond, but he understands. He's having similar thoughts.

Just as they're about to enter, someone tall and dark steps outside.

"Crowley!" all three snap, in varying tones of voice.

The man goes stiff and, for a moment, looks as if he's about to make a run for it- though he thankfully holds his ground. "Ah- good afternoon, dear pupils. Having a... studiful day?"

"That's not a word," Vil crosses his arms and glares. "Why are you here?"

"I was... well... just discussing some things... with... the prefect..."

He sounds utterly nervous.

Vil's eyes narrow. "What are you hiding?"

Before he can answer, the door behind him opens again, and you peer outside, giving Crowley a chance to escape. "Guys?"

"Trickster! We are relieved to see you in good health!"

"Hm? Why wouldn't I be?"

Epel shakes his head. "W-well, you just haven't been around much, and we saw Crowley- hey, where'd he go?"

Vil grumbles something indistinct, massaging his temples. "That man..." he sighs. "But back to business. Are you well? What's happened?"

You look away. "Well-"

Thankfully, before you have to explain it yourself, the door opens wider, leaving the Pomefiore trio face-to-face with the one person they least expected to see.

Neige beams. "Oh, my... hello, Vil! I didn't think I'd run into you here!"

The housewarden's eyes immediately narrow, and it takes him a moment to respond. "Yes, well, as you know, I go to school here. Would anyone care to explain this?"

A voice from behind the trio echoes. "Oh, I volunteer!"

Epel squeaks and jumps (much to his embarrassment) and the other two whirl around to an ever-smiling face they can't quite recall...

"See, we're on the moving squad," Che'nya giggles, slinking back to the front door of Ramshackle. "You wanna know why? I'm sure you're just dying with curiosity, aren't you?"

"I can put the pieces together myself, thank you," Vil murmurs. "But I do have a few questions."

Che'nya opens his mouth wide again-

"-Not for you," he turns to you. "How? And why, exactly?"

You shrug, looking to Neige for help.

Which he gladly provides, of course. "Well... it was more of a school decision. We heard what was happening, and held a vote," he says, speaking tentatively while under Vil's astute gaze. "We've heard lots about how much your prefect has helped here, and how unfortunate their circumstances are, and... well..."

"A person like that just doesn't go to NRC," Che'nya snickers.

Vil glares for a moment longer, and then sighs. "Well... this is certainly a turn of bad luck for the lot of us,"

"But I can visit!" you insist.

Neige and Che'nya both nod in agreement, though the latter's placid smile makes his approval seem less genuine.

"Well," Vil says, turning to the boys beside him. "Don't you two have anything to say?"

Epel clears his throat, trying his best to sound light and formal. "I think it's... it's... I'll miss you," he sulks.

"A magnifique opportunity! Think how much you will learn, how many new people you will meet- oh, you must allow me to visit often! I could not bear to let you make all these beautiful discoveries on your own!" Rook says, dabbing the corner of his eyes with a handkerchief.

"Why am I not surprised?" Vil sighs. "Well... I suppose I have a duty to inform the others. And, perhaps..."

He pauses, his watchful gaze fixed on you.

"...We might hold a vote of our own."

[suzukiblu]

WIP guessing game: "Robin"

Superboy has existed for about six months at best (five months, two weeks, and six days, but who's creepily spying on their fellow heroes and vigilantes? not Tim, for sure) and was created in a lab full of extremely niche genetic experiments whose creators very rarely bothered making look human, which is probably why he has some weird ideas about certain social norms.

Tim assumes that's why the guy just decided to drop a very annoyed Catwoman on him out of nowhere, anyway.

"The fuck?" he says, though through his vocoder it comes out more like the incoherent screeching of the damned. That being, well, the whole purpose of the vocoder and all. Superboy grins down at him from the nighttime sky all bright and sunny and weirdly adorable, for being a lab-grown weapon and a guy who is technically capable of disassembling Tim down to his individual atoms with, like, a touch and about two seconds' worth of thought.

Not that Tim has been creepily spying on anyone or said anyone's Cadmus files, again.

Also Superboy might not even know he can do that yet, so it's really not a smart thing to mention right now.

"Hey, man!" Superboy greets cheerfully. "She was breaking into that big museum a couple blocks over, figured you'd care about that. As opposed to, like, breaking into some rich asshole with insurance's penthouse. Figured you would not have cared about that."

"The museum also has insurance, for the record," Selina informs him sourly as she makes an art of getting off her unceremoniously roof-dumped ass while looking like being on this roof was her idea to begin with. Because, like: Selina. "And has not properly sourced the artifacts in their new Bast exhibit."

I know, that's why I was on my way to the museum to keep an eye out for you, is what Tim does not say, since Robin is supposed to be a splintered aspect of a mysterious all-knowing city spirit given human form and not just, like, a really dedicated teenager surviving on semi-legal energy drinks and conspiracy-board detective work and the occasional occult ritual to summon the Batman.

What he does do is jerkily cock his head and say, "Preyyyyy?", and let his vocoder horribly mangle the word into a sound usually best described as "unholy avian screeching". Superboy beams, which is not a normal reaction to hearing Robin's voice. Selina just rolls her eyes, but Selina of course knows about the whole "really dedicated teenager surviving on semi-legal energy drinks and conspiracy-board detective work and the occasional occult ritual to summon the Batman" thing.

Like she's never summoned the Batman for anything, geez. Or "Bruce", as an eight year-old Dick Grayson had once upon a time decided to randomly dub him. Tim still can't call the eternal and unsleeping eldritch protector of their city that without feeling like he's going to spontaneously combust, but it is in fact a thing that the Batman will answer to.

Might as well call Pennyworth "Alfie", though.

Jason was even worse at names than Dick, Tim is pretty sure.

"Yeah!" Superboy says, sounding still more cheerful and floating down the rest of the way to the roof to land lightly in front of Tim. Selina eyes him in a way that would end very badly for anyone who was not functionally invulnerable. "I mean, she seems cool and all but I dunno, figured the Bat wasn't big on Cats in his territory. And also the criming. Definitely also the criming."

"How . . . find Robin?" Tim asks. Superboy doesn't have enhanced senses, as far as he knows, so . . .

"Oh, I've been stalking you," Superboy explains. Tim blinks behind his unblinking mask and feels several ways about that statement. "That's what you Bats all do when you're interested in somebody, right? So I figured you'd like it if I did it back."

. . . Tim feels several ways about that statement.

[drewsbuzzcut]

Vogue Beauty Secrets With Lyla Blair & Mystery Man

(aka Jeremy Swayman)

Jeremy Swayman x Lyla Blair

A ‘The Masterminds’ Fic

Warnings: none that I can think of (let me know if I missed any)

Takes place late April 2024

“Hi, I’m Lyla Blair and this is my guide to glowy skin and the perfect date night look!” Lyla introduces herself to the camera.

Her eyes flit to everything laid out on Jeremy’s ensuite countertop, patting herself on the back for not forgetting her skincare and makeup when she was hurriedly packing a bag for the weekend. She accidentally forgot that she had to film a beauty secrets video for Vogue, so she took the opportunity to film it before her date with Jeremy.

“I have fairly good skin. I mean don’t get me wrong, I get the sparse breakout every now and then- usually during my period, but I’d say my skin is pretty clear. My first step in my skincare routine is this Vanicream cleanser,” she showcases the bottle and pumps some of the liquid in her hand.

“It’s very light and when you lather it, it gets slightly foamy. I love it because my skin can be sensitive. I think it’s important to remember to treat your face delicately, so don’t harshly rub your face when you wash it.” The girl says, demonstrating her words.

“Babe, which watch should I wear?” Jeremy’s voice can be heard in the background, making Lyla hesitantly turn toward where he walks in. Her face is covered in suds and water drips down her arms. She tries to remain stoic to the camera, but on the inside she’s freaking out a little bit. Her relationship with Jeremy isn’t public, but this could very well launch them in the public eye.

“The silver one. It pairs well with the blue,” she says, turning back around as if she never looked away.

“Next up is a light serum! I like to use something with vitamin C to brighten up my skin, and basically even out my tone.”

She pats a small amount of the serum around her eyes, a small giggle bubbles up her throat at Jeremy purposely singing obnoxiously to one of her songs.

“Next up is moisturizer and sunscreen. I love sunscreen, especially as someone who grew up in Houston, Texas. Everyone knows it’s very hot and sunny down there. For moisturizer I use the vanicream brand, because it’s not too light nor too heavy and it’s not greasy at all,” Lyla explains, continuing working the products into her skin.

“Here you go, Ly,” Jeremy places a glass of ice water next to her, a glimpse of his arm being caught on camera.

Lyla can’t contain her emotions, not when her eyes soften and cheeks grow a light shade of red. Jeremy knows that she loves to have a glass of water while getting ready. It can be getting ready for the day, an outing, or to go to sleep.

“Thank you, baby,” she says in awe, her eyes fixated on him and his dazzling smile.

“I love a good glass of cold water while getting ready. Also putting on lip balm before I start any makeup,” Lyla says to the camera, still feeling awfully giddy by her boyfriend’s sweet gesture.

It’s the little things!

“Do you guys have a small skincare routine or a long one? I’m always so curious because I’ve met many people who do simple routines since their skin is acne prone, but I’ve also met people who have a long routine with many products but it just works so well for them. I love the versatility,” she talks animatedly while going on a tangent about skincare.

“So, we’re done with our skin and now we move onto makeup. As I said in the beginning, this is my favorite look for date nights.”

“She doesn’t need any makeup whatsoever,” Jeremy inputs, coming closer to Lyla. Only the bottom half of his face (starting at his bottom lip) and down is captured by the lens.

Lyla looks up at him, cheeks continuously burning and eyelashes batting at him.

“I don’t?” She asks with a sly smile. She reaches out to his wrists and rolls up the sleeves of his button up. Butterflies flutter around her stomach at the way he looks at her.

“No, you’re perfect, baby,” he whispers, but it’s still caught by the mic of the camera.

She flashes him a toothy smile, biting on her bottom lip when he leans closer. His hand goes to her throat to tilt her head back and he slants his lips over hers. Lyla’s breath hitches and she can feel the want transferred from his saccharine kiss. When he pulls away, she has to shake off all her other thoughts and focus back on the video. A difficult task when she can still taste him on her tongue.

The camera lens only captures the sight of his hand on her throat and how his bearded jaw and lips encase hers. Little did they know that the familiar motion would spark up many comments later in the week.

“Sorry about that, guys. That was my boyfriend and we’re actually going on a date in like an hour. That means we have to do a speedy routine,” she says, trying to act unfazed even though she can still feel her lips tingling.

“The lineup for tonight's pretty small as I’m staying at my boyfriend’s house, so I don’t have all my makeup products,” Lyla explains as she gathers and organizes her makeup.

“Tonight we’re doing light concealer, a smokey, siren type of eye look, with some blush and a nude lip. It’s very simple!”

The singer shows each product she’ll be using before she starts with her eyeshadow.

“So… did y’all buy tickets for my tour? If you did, leave a comment stating what show you’re attending. I’m so excited! I think I saw that my Houston, Boston, and New York shows were sold out. Like you don’t understand how amazing that is. It makes me very happy! My music career has come a long way,” Lyla rambles, pausing her strokes on her eyelids in between each few words as the excitement takes over. There’s a noticeable shine glimmering in her eyes.

She catches a glimpse of Jeremy smiling proudly at her from the corner of her eye. It makes her blush even more than she already is.

“Okay! This is the eye look. The messier the better, especially bc J and I are going to a place with low lighting,” Lyla does a little pose, not realizing she said her little nickname for Jeremy.

As she puts on her eyeliner and mascara, she can feel Jeremy’s stare on her.

“I usually tend to start applying my mascara to the tips of my lashes just so that they stay curled,” she turns toward him, eyes playfully glaring at him before getting back to what she is doing.

The hair on her arms and the back of her neck still rise, the intensity of his stare is strong and lingering. She tries to not let her eyes slide back over to him, but she can’t help the way they move on their own accord. She also can’t help the infectious giggle that slips from her mouth when he smiles at her.

“Is it weird that I apply my winged eyeliner after mascara? I just find it easi-“ she also can’t help the way her words die on her tongue while she’s under his gaze.

“Sorry, easier,” she finishes her interrupted sentence, another giggle going past her lips.

“Baby, can I put on your blush?” Jeremy asks and Lyla immediately nods her head.

“I’m just going to let you do it and not instruct you,” she giggles and turns to face him.

Her eyes are level with his chest, so she uses his shoulders to help her stand on her tiptoes. A hand holds her blush brush while the other settles on her waist, making her feel light and on fire all at once.

“Ohhh the pressure is on. Okay! I got this. On the apples of the cheeks right?” He asks, poking one of her cheeks.

“I don’t know,” she teases, poking at his ribs.

Lyla giggles as he drags the brush along her cheeks. Her hands reach out to clutch onto his button up.

“So J decided to do my blush. Let’s see if he does a good job! I’m not a makeup artist at all, but I have learned a lot from previous concerts and shoots. I think I’m pretty decent at doing my own makeup now,” Lyla turns her head to the camera and talks, trying to distract herself from Jeremy’s attention and the way his slight touch on her skin makes her shiver.

“Okay, how does it look?” His voice is low and honeyed, it makes Lyla’s knees weak.

She walks closer to the large mirror, inspecting her boyfriend’s work. She hums and haws in a way to tease him while he waits patiently for an answer. Eyes crinkling up in a smile when Jeremy lets out a playfully, tortured laugh.

“What do you guys think? Did my boyfriend do a good job? I think he did pretty good,” she speaks to the camera, a twinkle in her eye because she’s actually impressed with how well her man did.

“Thank you, baby,” again, his hand comes up to her neck to keep her still while his lips encase hers. It’s a sucking kiss, almost too much to be filmed for many people to see, but they don’t care.

“Time for the lips,” Lyla giggles, eyes half lidded and lips red.

“Baby, what lip product should I use? Lipstick, so I don’t get glitter in your beard?” She asks, holding up different options for him to choose from.

“Ly, I don’t care if you get glitter in my beard. Really, baby,” Jeremy says, reassuring her when he catches her questioning gaze.

Lyla looks at the camera, a smile plastered all over her face and her eyes looking lovesick. Her shoulders rise and fall with the contented sigh she lets out.

“Okay! Lip gloss it is then,” she jumps in excitement and applies her lip gloss while dancing around.

“This is my date night makeup look. Now all I have to do is toss my hair around and put on an outfit and I’m set. This has been really fun, and I hope you all enjoy my beauty secrets. And I really hope to see all of you lovely people on tour. Love ya, bye!” Lyla blows kisses to the camera, smiling in genuine happiness.

“My girl is so beautiful,” Jeremy comes up behind her and encircles his arms around her neck, his chin resting on the top of her head.

“You’re so handsome. Let me get dressed and we can head out,” she presses a chaste kiss to his lips and walks over to her bag.

He slaps her ass, smirking at her when she turns around with a loud squeal. She sends him a half glare, half smile, but winks at him before she’s out of sight.

Later that week, both of their phones are blowing up with various notifications from different social media platforms. Every tweet and post is about the rumored man in Lyla’s Vogue video. Everyone is shocked to see that the newest pop sensation has a man, and one that they have no idea who it could be. But that’s the thing, many of Lyla’s fans also happen to be hockey fans who know that beard and voice anywhere.

a/n: Okay! I really enjoyed writing this one, so I hope you all love it!!

[wrencatte]

mini fic 9! Fallen Order - Post Bogano First Visit - Cal & Greez Cal admits he can't hear very well. Greez POV - 1.4k words

ao3 minific link - chapter 8 (nap)

They’re in hyperspace, cruising along into day three of no Imperial threats or Force shenanigans, when Greez decides enough is enough. He stands in the galley with Cal in perfect view, absolutely nothing blocking the way, and says, casually as can be, “Hey, kid.”

He doesn’t it say it quietly or softly or anything like that. His voice is loud enough to carry, his projection top notch, his enunciation perfect. And yet Cal, who is not wearing his headphones and blasting The Agasar or whatever noise he likes to listen to for once, doesn’t look up at him. What he does is suck obnoxiously on his straw for the last dregs of quinberry juice from the packet, focus fixated on the datapad in front of him. There’s this furrow between his eyebrows that tells Greez he’s thinking hard – or thinking dark. Sometimes they go hand in hand.

BD hears him though. So does Cere, and she’s in the cockpit listening intently for Imp chatter – it’s been peaceful for too long she won’t say – which means Cal should be looking at him. Greez said his name after all. But it’s only BD-1, his antennae twitching, little head cocked curiously. He looks from Greez to Cal and back to Greez again and seems to come to a decision because he doesn’t get Cal’s attention like he normally would. For once it feels like they’re on the same side.

Greez clears his throat and says even louder, “Hey, longbean, got a second?”

He waits and waits and despite the longer sentence and higher volume, still nothing. Yeah, he sighs, he figured.

The kid did real well hiding it for the first couple of months, but as time passed and Cal got more and more comfortable around them, the more obvious it got. He let his guard down, which makes Greez feel way too pleased with himself. A skittish tooka, Cere had described him as once. Fierce, fluffy, but oh-so-wary.

Instead of hiding in the engine room like he used to do when they were in hyperspace, for the past month or so, he’s been creeping out, all quiet and unobtrusive, to sprawl out on the couch, content with simply existing in another person’s space. All he needs is his music, his ‘pad, and his droid and he’s good. Greez has learned a lot about him in these peaceful moments. Like that he’ll eat whatever edible thing you hand him, usually without looking or questioning. Or that he has a tendency to not notice when his juice packet is empty, so he makes obnoxious slurping sounds for the last of it.

Greez marches over and shoves a hand between Cal and his datapad, interrupting his slurping. The kid jerks, blinking all wide-eyed and too young-looking up at Greez, straw pinched between his lips and face a little pale (-er than normal, they need to find some sunny planets after this whole holocron thing is over).

“Hey, I’ve been callin’ ya,” he says not unkindly. His tone is even a little soft despite his still higher volume. Cal’s expression shutters over either way. He tugs on his datapad and Greez lets up, watching as Cal hugs it to his chest almost protectively. “Did you hear me?”

Cal visibly hesitates. If he says yes, then that means he was purposely ignoring Greez and as much as Cal is a moody teenager, he’s not prone to straight up ignoring them – he’s not ignoring Cere’s advice or Greez’s pleas for him not to jump off the next cool yet alarmingly sheer cliff he sees. No, he hears it and just decides not to listen. Different from ignoring.

If he says no, then he has to finally admit the truth – and leave himself pretty vulnerable for it.

There’s a long second where Greez thinks Cal’s going to brush it off like he does way too often. (Hey, kid, you okay? Yeah, I’m fine – wakes up the next day well into a severe bout of pneumonia that could’ve been avoided three days ago. Cal, any injuries? No,  I’m fine – ends up passed out in the fresher with internal bleeding.). It’s an ongoing problem. One Greez could do without.

This is the moment. It’s one thing to hang out with them. Another to finally tell them when he’s injured.

But this? This is something else entirely.

BD-1 makes a quiet trilling sound, nudging Cal’s elbow. The kid looks down at the little droid to listen. Greez takes the break to glance at the cockpit where Cere’s abandoned the comms and is watching them, arms crossed as she leans against the doorway. She doesn’t look like she’s going to interrupt any time soon, knowing if they crowd Cal it’s just going to make him uncomfortable and even less likely to tell them.

Cal sighs gustily, head hanging. He tucks the datapad away and sits up straight. He’s silent for a long time, jaw working like he’s chewing on the inside of his cheek. Greez sighs back and gently pats his face. Cal stops, gives him a sheepish grin.

“How’d you figure it out?” Cal asks without admitting anything.

“You ask more questions when I’m on your right,” Greez tells him. Cal groans, slumping back. “It wasn’t obvious. Took me a while to put it together.”

Cal runs a hand through his hair. “I can hear, but both sides aren’t so great. My right is worse than my left.”

“For how long?” Cere asks as she finally steps out of the cockpit. Her voice is louder than Greez’s was, but Cal still cocks his head before twisting around to face her fully. She’d been too close to his right side it looks like. “How long?” she repeats at the same volume, enunciating carefully.

 “Since the Purge, but it got worse on Bracca.”

Greez supposes that makes sense. Cal hasn’t gone into much detail about what happened on his ship during the Purge and technically he hasn’t gone into much detail about his time as a scrapper either. Every time he tries to talk about Bracca in any depth he sounds so kriffin’ casual about the absolute hellhole that place is, it makes Greez feel sick to his stomach, and it must show on his face because Cal always lessens the details and hurries the story along after that. But explosions, injuries, infections – yeah, it makes sense to have already damaged hearing get worse.

Their silence stretches on for too long. Cal scowls and crosses his arms. “I’m fine. I’ve gotten through five years of this. I can keep going.”

“You can,” Cere agrees. She’s finally on the right side of the couch which means Cal only twitches his head in her direction. Greez has seen that little quirk before, the slight shift so his left ear is closest to whoever’s talking without making it look like that’s the case. Really, he did a great job of hiding it. But Greez has been trying to teach him how to cook and how to take care of the Mantis, you can’t use the Force to compensate for that and BD is a great droid but couldn’t help him cover it up as well. “But you don’t have to. There’s plenty of devices that could help you.”

Cal’s scowl deepens. Though, he doesn’t seem totally against the idea. BD hops up on his lap to grab his attention and beeps something that has Cere suppressing a smile. Cal sighs and wraps his arms around the droid to hug him to his chest. BD wiggles joyfully and beeps again.

“BD’s been helping me,” he says, but it’s halfhearted at best. “Listen, I’m getting by pretty okay on my own. Can we…can we talk about this later?” Ah, and there’s the skittish tooka coming out.

Greez rubs the back of his head. “I guess I did spring this on you pretty suddenly.”

Cal huffs out a quiet laugh before his expression turns considering. “Do either of you know a GBSL?”

“Huh what now?”

“Galactic Basic Sign Language,” Cere clarifies. “I know some.”

“I don’t know any,” Greez admits.

Cal shakes his head. “You know at least one,” he says with a grin that lights up his whole face. Greez is slightly ashamed to realize he hadn’t noticed how tense Cal had been this entire conversation. So much for noticing things. A blush forms on Cal’s cheeks as he rubs a closed fist in small circles on his chest. Greez has seen that movement before. Cal does it when he’s…apologizing.

“Sorry?”

He nods. “Sorry.”

“You do that one way too often, kid,” Greez points out. It just makes Cal laugh again, but this time bright and happy and, yeah, they’re going to be okay. “Show me another.”

Cal does so eagerly.

[schismusic]

SCHISMUSIC'S YEAR-END LIST OF BEST MUSIC 2024 NO CLICKBAIT NO VIRUS

This year was spent mostly on giving some time to stuff that I hadn't listened to on release, or that I'd actually listened to in the past but hadn't quite given my full attention. If I had to name names, I'd have to mention Drain Gang (specifically E by Ecco2k) for the first category, and Killing Joke or early Sunny Day Real Estate for the second one. It has still been a long year full of events and releases, some of which I have discussed in the past on this blog – you'll know them when you see them, or link to the main post for more in-depth opinions – and as such it feels appropriate, now more so than last year, to cook up a best-of year-end list.

I don't intend to exactly tie into any specific hype cycle, but neither will I be entirely out of hype in general. The idea is, these are records released in the year 2024 I've spent a lot of time with, usually not in a begrudging way for the most part. That is basically the sole principle by which a record gets picked for this list, because I don't really have the authority to evaluate records any other way. I just listen to a bunch of shit and if I like it, it's great for me and much less great for you, what can I say.

Pyrrhon - Exhaust

Nothing to do with the zeitgeist, nothing to do with good manners and common sense; it's death metal but played with as much boiling rage as any given band on AmRep in the '90s, entirely written and recorded live – which helps the single songs stay solid, consistent, eyes-on-the-prize, no-nonsense.

Tracks that hit like a jackhammer:

Out of Gas

Concrete Charlie

Not Going to Mars

Ulver - Liminal Animals

Third pop record (if we're only counting full lengths, which we shouldn't, since Sic Transit Gloria Mundi back in '17 was as much a certified banger as Assassination) by the Wolves of the North. This one benefits from a slightly less postmodern outlook and approach than the last two (or three), which makes it especially better than Flowers of Evil, and feels animated by a genuine sense of terror.

Tracks that spent a lot of time in my queue for a bunch of reasons:

The Red Light

Nocturne #1

Ghost Entry (honorable mention for the simple-yet-stunning Autechre remix)

Rude Cinno - Bassa qualità

This is, partially, shameless self-promotion, considering Rude Cinno have been more active as publicity agent for my own band than we ourselves were. This being said, the record is actually very good, sporting a very clear Sleaford Mods influence but playing the interesting card of Emilian folk music and dialect interspersed throughout the record. The result is a cute retrofuturist approach that makes it sound like William Gibson grew up in Castel Maggiore.

Tracks that made me laugh a bit, cry a lot, think very hard:

Curati

Titolo mancante

Miglior tempolinea

Sunrise Patriot Motion - My Father Took Me Hunting in the Snow

This record was already discussed in my worried music post, so that's a more in-depth treatment of it. For the purposes of this post, suffice it to say that this up-and-coming Noughties revival has, if anything, one good thing: the revelation that nu-metal in the right hands can be more of a toolbox than a music genre or a set of conventions. This and the sheer quality of the recorded performances (Andy Chugg on vocals especially shines with his anguished, horrified, eldritch yelling) simply tramples all criticisms.

Hard to pick any standout tracks, since this is a very short EP with two dungeon synth interludes out of four tracks. Works better in tandem with Sunrise Patriot Motion's first LP.

Resfeber - domani il sole

Deeper shade of shameless self-promotion here, in that Rebecca, singer for Resfeber, is also the singer for NUMBERS and the Operators, but the tracks featured here are more than competently written, arranged and played. Smooth jazz-funk that feels natural and lived in, elegant and direct. Short and sweet. (v)incenso, as a title, made me laugh quite a bit, and fortunately I do quite enjoy the track.

Shellac - To All Trains

Let's be real: this would have made this list even if it sucked royally. It does not suck royally, to no one's surprise. It sounds like a Shellac record (that is, it sounds great), it's played with consummate savoir-faire if not straight up somewhat bothered, it's got that ironic thing that Shellac as a band have been masters of since the very first seven-inch records. I don't think it would be warranted of anyone to ask anything more than this.

Tracks that made me realize these guys had still got it:

Scrappers

Chick New Wave

I Don't Fear Hell (RIP)

HONORABLE MENTION: Charli xcx - Brat

The entire media/publicity operation around this record has been played so much and for so long that it's impossible to cut it any slack at all by now (admittedly, not entirely through Charli or her own PR entourage's own faults). The remade record with the guests is impossibly bad and useless. The record's merch utilises the meme so much that it becomes absolutely tedious if not actively enraging if not shameful, plain and simple. The music takes the liberty to utilize a sound palette that's been pioneered by trans and nonbinary creatives – in Charli xcx's own music as well, sure – and then takes that sound palette to write a ballad about marrying a man and having children. The true miracle amidst all of this mess is that if you absolutely ignore all the noise around it and go back to the record, and by that I mean the actual recorded music, all of this ceases to be a problem when the record works as intended (usually during the noisiest, messiest bits of it all). RIP SOPHIE <3

AOTY: Ben Frost - Scope Neglect

On the nineteenth anniversary of his early breakthrough Theory of Machines, after A U R O R A yet again took the world by storm ten years ago and after 2017's The Centre Cannot Hold had some of the critics merrily proclaim that Ben Frost had "already given what he had to give", this guy comes out and at least tries to redefine his own main sound palette. I mean, realistically this all ties extremely well in his established MO so far – Steel Wound was heavily guitar based, Theory of Machines ostensibly and repeatedly sampled Swans, By the Throat translated black metal aesthetics into a heavily organic form of dark ambient that had more in common with John Carpenter's The Thing than it did with Transilvanian Hunger or any Burzum release, A U R O R A took that same sonic violence and applied it to the sounds of the hippest dancefloors on the Internet. This is really just the next logical step: Greg Kubacki's guitar work, on paper quite in line with what he usually does with Car Bomb, sears and maims throughout the whole forty-minute runtime and firebrands every second into the listener's brain. The electronic backdrop (as well as Liam Andrews from My Disco, offering his bass guitar for bludgeoning purposes) recontextualizes the whole affair from simple heavy onslaught into levels of aural violence that feel quite literally reality-bending while listening.

[glazedtrash721]

Beware, this is a LONG post!!

TW: a lil' scopophobia perhaps

So, you know how there's a boat load of Welcome Home AUs floating around?

Well, now there's one more!! (And even more given some time!)

Let me introduce you to my first Welcome Home AU:

Children's Hospital AU!!

In this AU, all of our lovely neighbors are staff at the town's local Children's Hospital, which is officially titled the "Healthy Home Children's Hospital", or HHCH for short! This AU doesn't really have any spooky or funky elements to it, as I was pretty desperate for ideas that haven't already been done when I thought of it. Although, this AU does serve its purpose in being very cute and wholesome, and I'm sure that it could make for some fun content!

Characters and more info can be found under the break!

By the way, these drawings are not to scale! I just made them so that they would fit on the page :/

Anyways...

Let us first start with the Doctors!

Doctors Darling, Joyful, and Frankly have bested too many years of medical school and are now here to take care of their young patients! Both Dr. Wally Darling and Dr. Julie Joyful are physicians, and they can be found buzzing around the hospital, tending to whoever needs it! Dr. Darling, with his calm and cool energy, is more often assigned to older and more anxious kids. Dr. Joyful, on the other hand, is often tasked with the care of younger children and babies with her more energetic and sweet personality. Dr. Frank Frankly is the surgeon of the group, and he excells with his steady hands and his thirst for knowledge and for solving problems! Dispite his grumpy appearance, the children find him a joy to see when he checks up on them before and after surgery!

Next, we have the Nurses!

Nurses Sally, Barnaby, and Howdy help make up the back bone of the hospital, and they are always on their toes helping those in need! Nurse Sally can typically be found in the ER, where her quick feet and her sunny disposition are a must have, though she can be found bouncing all over the hospital! Nurse Barnaby never fails to put a smile on a patient's face with his funny jokes, and he is a dream when someone needs a distraction from a needle or anything else that may be frightening them! Nurse Howdy is extremely handy with his four hands and arms, making him an amazing multi-tasker! He is also a master of hugs, and he is wonderful with calming down particularly upset patients. He and Barnaby are also often called on the occurrence where a patient (or even parent!) needs restrained, thanks to their size and even tempers!

Lastly, we have those with more miscellaneous jobs!

Mr. Eddie and Ms. Poppy also have important jobs that help the hospital and its patients! Eddie is the HHCH's trusty mailman! He takes gifts and letters from the mail room and gift shop and delivers them to their recipients. As he knows the hospital's layout like the back of his hand, he also often accompanys visitors and volunteers, such as those who bring therapy dogs and such! He also takes extra care to dress up on holidays and other occasions! Ms. Poppy is an Emotional Consultant, and she is there to help patients and their families make difficult decisions, usually regarding treatment. Still the nervous bird that she is, she still tries to put on a brave face and a warm smile to those who need a little extra guidance or reassurance.

They're all colorless now, but I'll probably add that soon lol.

Also, I haven't designed Home yet, but I imagine he'd be the Headmaster of the hospital or something similar? I may give him a design later on.

Anyways, that concludes my first Welcome Home AU! Feel free to ask for any specific info that you want me to elaborate on, and feel free to use these silly dudes in your own fan content, given that it's not sussy (NSFW in the sexual way), and that a lil' credit is given! Otherwise, go ham!

[avirael]

The Frozen Lake

It was the third day since he had stopped feeling like dying.

About a week ago he had woken up from his far too lifelike fever dream and a few days later the last spikes of the fever itself had been gone too just like the hallucinations it had brought in his sleep.

He still had been sick though and welcomed Rael telling him to stay in bed until he was perfectly healthy again all too eagerly.

While he still sneezed every now and then, it was at least tolerable now, still annoying but he didn’t feel incredibly uncomfortable anymore.

That day, just like the last and also the ones before that, he had awoken late. Against Rael’s order to stay in bed he had found the courage to get up and take a look out of the window. It was a sunny day, which in Coerthas still meant that it was bitterly cold though. But the sun was shining brightly and already high in the sky too which meant it had to be almost midday. He had slept way too long again, way to many hours for a surprisingly dreamless sleep. Or maybe it was exactly the lack of dreams that allowed him to finally rest, after all in the past there rarely had been good ones…

For a moment he considered to go downstairs and ask for a late breakfast if that wasn’t too insolent given the late hour but then a knock sounded from the door.

Quickly he hurried back to bed, just in case it was Rael, but the person who carefully peeked into the room a few seconds later wasn’t a viera.

“Ah, you are awake! That’s good!”, Haurchefant exclaimed happily and brought a small tray with hot soup and also something warm to drink. “It is so late already, you must be horribly hungry. Alphinaud checked in on you earlier but you were still fast asleep and he didn’t have the heart to wake you.”

A little uncertain on how to answer to that, A’viloh just nodded. Haurchefant grinned, put down a mug on the bedside table and handed A���viloh a comfortingly warm bowl filled with some rather delicious smelling stew.

Instead of fetching the chair from the small desk by the window, Haurchefant sat down at the lower end of the bed balancing the tray with his own lunch on his knees. Rael once told him that ishgardian society had an absurd amount of strict and antiquated rules and so A’viloh couldn’t help but wonder, that although it seemed like a very appropriate distance to him, in Haurchefant’s hometown the fact alone that he dared to sit on someone else’s bed was probably scandalous.

“I hope you don’t mind me having lunch with you.”, the Elezen asked as he noticed A‘viloh staring.

Quickly the Miqo’te lowered his gaze to his bowl of soup. “Not at all.”, he muttered and tried a spoonful of the food just to change the topic. “Mhh, this is very good!”, he mumbled, still chewing, surprised by how good this really was compared to the bland food and bitter teas Rael had usually brought him these last few days. It must have been the Viera’s way of punishing him for running away.

Haurchefant laughed and then for a while they ate in silence.

“You look a lot healthier already.”, the Elezen stated after a while with an amiable smile on his face before taking a sip from his mug.

A‘viloh shrugged a little embarrassed, since it had been his own fault that he hadn’t been well in the first place. “Only because all of you took so good care of me.”

Haurchefant nodded. “You know, you had us all horribly worried right?”

“Sorry about that.”, he said and guitily looked into his mug.

Curiously Haurchefant eyed him for a moment. “Why did you do that anyway? Run out into the storm.”

A bit surprised A’viloh looked up. Had they all thought he had done this on purpose? “There wasn’t a storm when I left! What do I know about weather? I didn’t expect it to start snowing, let alone that much!”

That made the Elezen chuckle again but he still looked at him expecting an answer.

“Still… why did you leave?”

“I assumed Rael told you…”, A’viloh replied not sure what Haurchefant wanted to hear exactly. He nodded. “Rael did. But maybe I want to hear it from you…”

A’viloh sighed. His plan hadn’t been very smart and he felt a little uncomfortable having to explain his reasons to someone else, when in retrospect it didn’t make much sense even to his own ears.

“You know the… circumstances under which we fled Ul’dah… I couldn’t… um… the fact that we didn’t even know what happened to our friends… I wanted to find out, because it doesn’t seem fair to me that we escaped while all of them didn’t…”

“Mhh…”, Haurchefant nodded thoughtfully but let go off the topic for now. Instead he asked, „And how are you feeling today?”

Somehow that question confused A’viloh even more.

“What do you mean?”

“It’s a simple question, isn’t it?”, he said still smiling politely.

Of course it was a simple question. Just the answer felt unreasonable complicated to him. To make things even more difficult people who asked such a question usually wanted to hear “I‘m fine, and you?” or “Very good, thank you.” for an answer and rarely the truth. They certainly didn’t want to hear “A few days ago I was convinced I was going to die and honestly it wasn’t that bad, so now I‘m still not sure wether I am happy to still be alive or not”.

“Alright… I guess.”, he mumbled instead. He had never been a good liar and could only hope that this fact wasn’t too obvious for the Elezen.

“You know what?”, Haurchefant proclaimed after watching him thoughtfully for a second. “Today is a wonderful day. We should go for a walk.”

“A walk?!”, A’viloh exclaimed wide-eyed, as if he had just asked something unreasonable of him.

“Why not?”

A’viloh couldn’t think of a good reason why not, other than that he was supposed to stay in bed, so he shrugged.

“Where’s Rael?”, he asked instead.

Haurchefant smirked. “Do you need Rael’s permission to go outside?”

“Of course not.”, the Miqo’te protested. “But Rael will be mad if I run off again, especially against their orders to stay in bed.”

“Rael and Alphinaud went to the observatory earlier.”, Haurchefant explained. “We’ll be back before they are, I promise.”

What was A’viloh supposed to say against that and also against the expectant look on the Elezen’s face. He took another glimpse towards the window and decided that it looked nice enough to go outside.

“Fine.”

“Good!”, Haurchefant exclaimed happily and collected their empty bowls and mugs. “There should be warm clothes for you in the wardrobe. If you need anything else just ask someone. I’ll wait for you by the northern gate.”

After Haurchefant had left, A’viloh remained sitting in his bed for a moment longer contemplating on the Elezen’s question. Yes, he felt better again. But better in what comparison? Better than a few days ago when he had felt and also been half-dead? Though he didn’t feel sick anymore now, there still was a weigh on his heart. From his plan that had failed so spectacularly and even more so from the dreams he wouldn’t have minded to keep on dreaming forever.

Vehemently he shook his head and decided not to think about that now or he would just crawl back under the blanket of his comfortably warm bed again. Instead he got up and took a look into the wardrobe. Almost none of these were his own clothes of course since all he possessed were the ones he had worn on his body that day they fled Ul’dah. Very unsuitable for this climate. But neither did he see the borrowed clothes he had worn that night when he had tried to run away. Everything in here looked even softer and warmer like someone had wanted to make sure he was feeling comfortable. To his surprise the things didn’t look that much too big for him either, unlike his last set of clothes. Besides a few Hyur most people here at Camp Dragonhead were grown up Elezen but these clothes looked like they belonged to neither. Maybe it were clothes for Elezen children, he wondered and also thought that in that case someone must have brought them here just for him.

Grateful for so much effort he picked a few pieces and got dressed. Lazily he ran his fingers through his hair to get rid of the worst knots but the look into the small mirror at the washbasin, where his tired face stared back at him reproachfully, just made him sigh. Once he was ready he took the warm coat out of the wardrobe too and went out to look for Haurchefant. Just as he had said, the Elezen was standing by the gate that led to the north-east, towards the ruins of the Steel Vigil.

From afar Haurchefant already recognised the Miqo’te, his bright red hair a singularity among all the people living here. Pleasantly smiling as always he waved at him and A’viloh couldn’t help but smile a little too and wave back as he hurriedly walked towards him.

“There you are! I see the clothes fit you nicely.”

A’viloh nodded.

“They do. Thank you very much for these.”

Haurchefant dismissively waved with one hand. “It’s the least I could do…”

But he had done a lot more than that, A’viloh thought. “I think there’s more I need to thank you for. Rael told me it was you who saved my life.”

“Mhhh…”, Haurchefant tilted his head as if he wasn’t sure if this statement was entirely the truth. “Rael is too humble. They played a bit of a role in that too. After all it was Rael who noticed you were gone. And it was also Rael who didn’t leave your bedside and tried their best to heal you.”

A’viloh remembered waking up and finding the usually quite touch-averse viera cuddled up to him with a look on their face so horribly sad like he had never seen on them before. Rael had pretended it was nothing but it had been a very unconvincing performance. Asked about it Alphinaud had only offered a few sentences about how worried Rael had looked and how they had used all kinds of spells he himself had never seen or heard of before, all of it to try and save him. It had made him feel even more guilty for his stupidity.

So maybe Haurchefant was right. But still it had been him who had risked going out into the storm to find him.

“Anyway. I still want to thank you! Honestly.”, he insisted. But how honestly was it really?

Sure, he was glad to still be alive. After all his plan hadn’t been to run out into a blizzard and freeze to death, although some of them seemed to think that was the case. But once he found himself in this situation he had to admit that he had welcomed his fate rather willingly. A fact that shocked even himself a little looking back at it now.

“You’re welcome. After all you wouldn’t be any help to your friends frozen to death out there.”, Haurchefant joked with a wry smile on his lips.

“I guess not...”, A’viloh muttered, the topic of his friends making his mood visibly sink again.

Of course the Elezen noticed and his smile turned into a playful grin. “But I acted a little selfish too, you know? I think Camp Dragonhead is a lot friendlier with your company and I would like to have you and your pretty smile around a little longer.”

For a moment A’viloh’s eyes shot up to look at the others face before he quickly pretended that something somewhere a little bit to his left was a lot more interesting. Sometimes Haurchefant randomly said things, A’viloh hadn’t had the slightest idea how to react to. Not because he was that oblivious but simply because it puzzled him. Nonetheless the air suddenly didn’t feel that cold anymore on his face.

Haurchefant was always very kind to him. Well, he mostly was kind to everybody but sometimes he seemed to admire him especially. Him of all people, although there was nothing special about him. Haurchefant sometimes spoke of him like he was one of the greatest heroes of all time and it felt so ridiculous to him. He was just silly, cowardly A‘viloh! What had he ever achieved in his miserable life to justify such admiration? The people called him a Warrior of Light but wasn’t that some grand overstatement? Some days he thought all of this had been a horrible mistake. A great misunderstanding! Then he wondered how he had ever gotten entangled in this madness in the first place and also if he ever would get out of it again. But what else should he do with his life anyway...

While A’viloh’s brain still screeched in desperate search for a proper response, Haurchefant seemed to realise he had flustered him and glossed it over by gesturing to the gate.

“How about we walk a few yalms? There’s something you need to see!”

Still too dumbstruck to speak or to even wonder what the Elezen was talking about, A’viloh nodded and then proceeded to follow him out into the snowy landscape.

After a few minutes Haurchefant paused and took a deep breath. “Isn’t the air wonderful today?”

A’viloh followed his example, breathed deeply and let his gaze wander over the snow covered landscape with a few pines here and there and the mountains and ruins of the Steel Vigil in the distance. The air was cool and fresh, still cold enough that the warm sun couldn’t melt the snow. Instead the rays of sunshine made the scenery shine and sparkle as if everything was covered not in ice but in millions over millions of tiny diamonds.

“It is.”, he answered and smiled, surprised how beautiful this inhospitable landscape could be, before with a sudden spark of curiosity he finally asked. “Where are we going?”

“It’s not far anymore.”, Haurchefant said with a grin on his face and pointed into another direction. Shortly after and only a bit further ahead they reached a small lake.

As they got closer A‘viloh noticed that it not only was covered in a layer of snow and ice but also that quite a few off-duty soldiers, given the proximity to the camp he assumed they had to be, were standing right on top of the frozen lake. No, they were not quite standing. It looked more like they were dancing or flying maybe. More or less gracefully they moved over the lake‘s surface in fluid swift strides, some just moving in wide circles and other swirling around this way or that. A’viloh had never seen something like this and it looked strange and impossible but at the same time very beautiful to him.

The two of them had almost reached the lake by then, A’viloh a few steps ahead to get a better look at the wondrous people on the ice and he already wanted to ask how they did that, when his attention was drawn elsewhere by a curious squawking sound.

“Oh! Look at them!”, the Miqo’te exclaimed, his fascinated smile still turning a little brighter, as he gestured to a small flock of wild geese resting at the shore of the lake. With ruffled feathers they sat closely huddled together at the edge of the ice and suddenly A‘viloh couldn’t help but worry about them. They looked so unbothered by his presence, sleeping through the day and all the hubbub around them, looking all exhausted and frozen with their puffed up feathers. Like anything could happen to them and they wouldn’t even mind.

Strangely he wondered what he himself had looked like when Haurchefant had found him unconscious in the snow. He must have been a pitiful sight. Had the Elezen thought him beyond saving too, just like he himself had. What if he had found him a little later or not at all? Maybe that would have been better, a voice murmured to him just like it had so many times before and for a moment, tempted by the grief heavy on his heart once again, he almost believed it.

But no, he would be dead then and while he would have liked to imagine that this would mean he could be with his loved ones again, it was not exactly what either of the tribes he had lived with believed.

Vaguely he remembered his father working for hours, digging a grave at what used to be Wellwick Wood. An elderly woman too exhausted by their long journey, his grandmother if he remembered correctly, had died shortly after they had arrived there. With a sad smile on his face his father had explained to his children, who had stared down into the hole in the ground with confusion in their eyes, how by returning her body to the earth there could still grow new life from this death.

Or the drake tribe of the Sagolii Desert, who always burned their dead and left the ashes to be carried away by the desert wind, believing that it would make it easier for the deceased‘s aether to return to the Aetheric Sea and create something new elsewhere.

With a sudden sharp pain in his heart A’viloh realised that neither of the people he loved had gotten the burial they would have wanted for themselves. And neither had A‘viloh himself wanted to die in the coldness of Coerthas and be forever forgotten under a thick layer of snow and ice. He had thought about dying before but never had he been this close to it. For a second he wondered if this was something worth speaking to Rael about, but he wasn’t sure they wouldn’t misunderstand and get mad at him again.

“Why do you make such a sad face now?”, Haurchefant asked having noticed the smile slip from the Miqo’te’s face. But A’viloh just vehemently shook his head and focused on the geese again.

“They must be horribly cold.”, he wondered in a voice that suggested he already planned to take all of them to the safety of his comfortably warm room.

Haurchefant chuckled. “Don’t worry, they survived the storm out here after all. They keep each other warm, that’s why you‘ll rarely see one of them alone. A bit like you and your friends.”

“Maybe…”, A’viloh answered thinking about this comparison for a moment. “I just wish it wouldn’t always be me who needs to be taken care of. But as proven in Ul’dah and now once again I am simply too weak and useless to keep myself alive, not to mention anyone else.”

The Elezen’s face got a little stern as he folded his arms in front of his chest. “Don’t say that, I am sure it’s not true! This was just bad luck! You are neither weak nor useless!”

A’viloh shrugged. “But that’s how I feel right now...”

Slowly Haurchefant nodded before speaking again with a silent but determined voice. “Listen. I‘ll never forget how bravely you fought for Francel although you barely knew him. You could have gotten yourself in trouble with that and you helped him anyway.”

“It’s not like I did that on my own -”, A’viloh tried to protest but was immediately interrupted. “But you still helped! And I’m sure even without Rael you would have done so!”

Another shrug was all Haurchefant got in response, so the Elezen thought for a second before making an offer. “You want to make yourself useful, right? Get stronger? I could teach you how to fight like a real ishgardian knight, with sword and shield. Or we have some dragoons at Camp Dragonhead too! I’m sure there’s a lot you could learn from them.”

A‘viloh‘s face turned to disbelief. “I really don’t think I could fight with armor and weapons this heavy…”

“You can’t say so if you don’t try! And I have you know that dragoon armors are surprisingly light. How do you think they could still be this agile otherwise? Promise me to at least try training with them a little!”

He didn’t really want to agree to that. He knew he would make a fool of himself. But how could he say no with Haurchefant trying everything in his power to cheer him up. Weakly he shook his head and muttered: “Fine…”

“Perfect!”, Haurchefant exclaimed with a bright smile on his face. “I think an early reward for your efforts is appropriate then!”

Confused A’viloh watched him take a small bag off of his shoulders, which he hadn’t even noticed until now. For a moment the Elezen was busy undoing a knot before he opened the bag and presented to A‘viloh a set of two weirdly shaped blades attached to pieces of wood with leather straps. He had no idea what these constructs were meant to do and that was plainly visible on his face. “What’s that?”

“Ice skates of course!”, Haurchefant said as if that would explain it all but the Miqo’te‘s face remained clueless, so Haurchefant gestured to the lake behind them. “You attach them to your boots so you can walk on the ice like this!”

“Oh!”, A’viloh exclaimed as he understood what Haurchefant was planning. “I don’t think-… I mean I‘ve never-… You don’t really want me to step on that lake do you?” The idea somehow scared him.

“Why not?”, Haurchefant asked for the second time today with this smile that made the question sound like a challenge.

“It’s just a bit of ice!”, A‘vi objected. “What if it breaks?”

The Elezen shook his head and proceeded to fasten the metal blades beneath his boots. “Ah, don’t worry. The ice is thick enough, it will take at least a few more days to melt.”

“I don’t know…”, was all A’viloh replied as Haurchefant pressed another pair of skates into his hands. But the Elezen remained determined and took a few wobbly steps through the snow and onto the ice. “See! I can stand on it and it doesn’t break! You are a lot lighter than me, so why wouldn’t you be able to?”

Oh, you don’t know my bad luck!, A‘viloh thought but Haurchefant didn’t look like he would take that for an excuse. Instead he stretched out a hand towards the Miqo’te. “Come one! Believe me, this is going to be funny!”

For a second A‘viloh pondered his options. The idea of nothing but a little bit of ice between him and the water still terrified him but Haurchefant seemed so excited about this and the other people actually seemed to have fun too. Maybe he should at least pretend to try... Reluctantly he sat down on a rock and tried to put on the skates just like Haurchefant had done a moment ago.

“The clasp on the back too. Make sure none of them are loose… Yes, that looks fine!”, Haurchefant helpfully explained. As A’viloh got up, he almost flopped right back down into the snow. It was a weird feeling to balance his whole weight on only two thin pieces of metal. As he carefully took the first few steps towards the lake Haurchefant reached out for him once more. “Here! Take my hand! I don’t want you to fall…”

Hesitantly A‘vi stepped onto the ice and immediately felt like the ground was being pulled away beneath his feet. He struggled for balance, feeling himself falling backwards, so Haurchefants arm was a very welcome thing to hold on to.

With a chuckle the Elezen tried to loosen A‘vi‘s desperate grip on his arm and instead took each of his hand in one of his own before carefully making slow steps backwards pulling A‘viloh over the ice, which A’vi could swear was making suspicious crackling sounds below them. There was no way to tell the blades beneath his feet not to move, so all A’viloh could do was try not to fall and plead to Haurchefant with ears flat on his head and panic in his eyes, as he slowly was pulled further onto the lake. “No, no, no. Take me back, that’s a horrible idea!”

“Calm down. There’s nothing to be afraid of. I promise.”, Haurchefant said soothingly and continued to explain to him how to move on the ice skates. And in fact the Elezen’s calm voice slowly made A’viloh feel less anxious. His hands, frantically clasping at Haurchefant’s, relaxed along with his legs. It was still a weird feeling to be standing on the ice but now it felt a lot easier to remain balanced. He glanced at the people around them while remaining as still as possible, studied their movements for a moment and then tentatively tried to mimic the way they slowly pushed their feet above the slippery surface. To his surprise he really moved forward without much effort and also without feeling the sensation of falling again, closer to Haurchefant who had steadied him with his outstretched arms so far.

“See! It’s not that difficult.”, he said while making another step backwards so A’viloh had to follow with another step forward. The Miqo’te, strangely excited about the fact that he was actually moving on these weird ice-blades, laughed happily. “You are even going backwards!”

Haurchefants laughed. “One step after the other. Let’s teach you how to go forward first, hm? I‘ll let go off one of your hands but don’t worry, I still got you. One feet after the other just like you did before…”

In fact it almost felt easier now that he could use one of his arms to balance himself. Very slowly at first they floated above the icy surface of the lake but soon A‘viloh got braver. Once he almost lost his balance but for a comparably tall and strong person like Haurchefant it seemed like a very easy task to keep a small Miqo’te on his feet. Almost falling had felt like a shock for a second but only moments later they were laughing about it and in the end A’viloh was surprised and also a little proud how quickly he had learned and how much fun this was.

He wasn’t sure how much time they spent there on the frozen lake but at some point a bell sounded from the nearby Camp. Startled A’viloh looked up (and almost lost his balance again). “How late is it? I’m sure you have more important things to do than this! I’m sorry if I’m keeping you from doing your work.”

But Haurchefant just laughed and teased, “What could be more important than prove to you that not all of Coerthas is a deadly wasteland trying to kill you? But I think we really should return soon. I don’t want you to get cold again and after all we also don’t want Rael to find out about this little excursion, do we?”

For a second A’viloh wished the viera could see him now and wondered what their reaction would be like. The thought made him chuckle.

And as they floated, one last circle around the lake, A’viloh couldn’t help but wonder that maybe it was happy moments like this. The reason he was still here. Moments that made his life worth living.

---

inspired by the poem The Reversal by Leila Chatti

[alovelessmelancholy]

Hey All! If you want something all lovey-dovey and Regency to read for Valentine's Day 💚, I posted my first attempt at a Polin fanfic on AO3. Here's a short plot description:

Colin returns from his summer travels to find Pen is missing. He decides to go his own way trying to find her, hiding from the Ton and the rest of his family in the process.

It's funny, a little risque', and full of sibling angst! If that appeals to you, go check it out!

💛💙💚💛💙💚💛💙💚💛💙💚💛💙💚💛💙💚

Here is a little excerpt from Chapter 1:

A Purpose Found

by ALoveLessMelancholy 

“Thank you for being so kind as to request my presence for tea today Lady Bridgerton,”said Penelope.

 “You are quite welcome my dear,” Violet said with genuine warmth. “As you know, I am no longer the lady of the house, but my successor was fully amenable to the suggestion that a request for your presence be extended. We have missed seeing your lovely face for all these long months. I can speak for us all when I say that we are so pleased to see you and Eloise reconcile after your unfortunate falling out.” 

     “Yes, we are certainly happy to see you back at our table where you belong,” chirped Benedict with his usual cheer and good humour.

    Penelope had missed his smile. If she'd had a brother of her own, she would have wanted one much like him. Always quick with a witty observation or remark, she could always depend upon Ben for some much needed levity. 

        “Quite happy indeed,” said Anthony with a sunny smile that could be considered disconcerting if one did not have any context with which to explain its appearance on a once sullen countenance. Penelope beamed brightly at this praise, something that had been sorely missing from the relationships she endured with both her own mother and sisters. 

   “I am sure Eloise has been doing quite well in the world without my presence, but I am certainly happy to return to her side as co-conspirator.” 

  Eloise, who had been watching this scene of reconciliation unfold, turned to her friend at this.

   ”As am I,” she said. 

    Gesturing toward Benedict and Anthony, she elaborated, “Attempts to have any sort of worthwhile discussion regarding the plight of women in our society with either of these two would be rather distressing if not impossible in its difficulty.”

    Benedict protested,” I am quite convinced that you feel that men in general may be the villains who plague all of society with their, and if I may quote you, ’inane ideas and endless self-indulgent blathering’, so what beliefs of my own invention could possibly be suitable for conversation which meets your ridiculously high standards?”

  “Exactly right!” 

    Eloise shot Ben a smug smile just as Anthony, unphased by his sister’s commentary, extended his own sentiments for her evaluation.

    “My wife keeps me well-informed on all matters regarding feminist ideals, so I am confident that you would find conversation with me on such topics to be most vigorous indeed.” 

 Penelope, having been watching and listening intently to this most beloved family’s bantering after being deprived of it for so very long, had as of yet failed to make note of the intent, unwavering gaze directed at her from the man sitting at the far end of the table. 

    Once their eyes locked, Penelope immediately turned a shade of crimson unlike any other she had experienced, the feeling, she imagined, not unlike a molten wave which enveloped first her cheeks, then made its way down the curve of her neck and beyond, down further still to her bosom. 

     Colin followed the path of this exquisite change with his eyes, unrelenting in his observation and admiration of her now blooming femininity. 

   “Colin!” Violet admonished. 

    She had seen Penelope’s deep blush when Colin’s eyes bore into hers and it was blatantly apparent that his mind had turned to thoughts other than family and friendship, most of which she feared were not only inappropriate, but very likely scandalous.

     “Haven’t you anything to say to our guest this afternoon? It has been an age since you last saw one another, so there has to be some catching up that you must feel compelled to do.”

Colin, having been pulled so abruptly from his waking dream by his mother’s baleful shouting, continued gaping momentarily until a glance at his brothers, unabashedly snickering as they were, snapped him awake. What they were carrying on about he could not begin to guess, but he knew that they were most certainly up to no good. He could not be bothered with their insolence when he had so much on his mind. 

    “Yes, of course Mother. I intend to have a chat with Miss Featherington at her discretion. I did not wish to monopolise her attentions with so many of the family in attendance for tea today.”

     Colin trained his eyes upon Penelope once more, momentarily undeterred by what his brothers, mother and sister might think, his mind overtaken with what had transpired between them yesterday evening.  

Wanna read more? You can find it here :

[the-travelling-witch]

I just realized I haven't sent one to you! orz

I wanna know about 💫💐 please!! 💚

💫: Are either of you ticklish? If so, where?

I feel like Childe is less ticklish and more so sensitive; I like running my long nails down his arms, sides or back just to see him squirm a bit. He’s teasing me all the time so it’s only fair, right? But most of the time, it’s a double-edged sword because I know once he’s wriggled around a bit and giggled, it’s time for me to run and run fast…

“Still thinking you’re not a tease, running your nails over my skin like that? I might do more than tickle you when I catch you~”

“Don’t you mean if you catch me?”

“No, when.”

(o///o " )

Don’t tell him I told you this but… Xiao is very ticklish hehe. Whether it’s his sides, the back of his knees or, my favourite, his back, he’ll jump like a cat if you get the drop on him. I mean, c’mon, his usual attire basically invites me to trail my nails down his spine, how could I resist~ But as cute as it is, I don’t know if him being cross with me is worth it (I only do it in private though, I know he has an image to uphold)

“You really don’t have any respect for the adepti.”

“I do! Please come back to cuddle, I promise I won’t do it again!!”

Albedo is no fun aka he just isn’t ticklish at all! Childe tried getting him to sneeze with a feather on several occasions but there’s no reaction. Though, Bedo seems the most upset about it; he’s desperately been trying to recreate the sensation.

“It is frustrating to know there is something I cannot experience for myself. I guess I’ll have to keep studying your reactions for now.”

“Don’t you dare—“

As for myself, yes I am ticklish; for self-preservation purposes I will not be revealing where though…

“Guess there’s only one way to find out~”

“Don’t take a single step closer, I’m warning you!”

💐: How did you two meet?

That is a good question indeed…

I ran into Childe at Liyue Harbour when I visited friends there. It was very sunny all day and I had been perusing the different stalls on the side of the street when it suddenly started pouring down like crazy. When I started frantically looking around for somewhere to seek shelter, I suddenly heard a sharp whistle and looked up to see a handsome stranger hold open the door to a fancy restaurant.

Without a second thought, I sprinted there and, luckily, he was there to catch me as I rushed through the door onto the polished floors. The wait staff did cast me some weird glances but he just waved them off with a charming smile before slinging his arm around my waist, telling them I was with him, before leading me to a secluded table in a more private area of the restaurant. Not knowing what to do, I just stood around, awkwardly fidgeting with my rings.

“Please do have a seat. I didn’t invite you just to let you starve, you know.”

“Thank you, that’s very kind of you. You didn’t have to do all of that for someone you don’t know.”

“Kind, huh? I thought it’s rather self-serving, getting to dine with a pretty girl like you. But you’re right, I don’t know you, so let’s change that. You can call me Childe, what’s your name~”

Xiao, on the other hand, I met while exploring the planes and mountains of Liyue. While searching for new potion ingredients, I ran into a group of unnatural- looking monsters, which I took care of quickly. As I dispelled the weird aura surrounding them, I didn’t notice someone watching the scene unfold from higher up.

Just when I turned to leave, I heard light feet drop to the ground behind me. Whirling around, I got ready to face another group of monster but met piercing amber eyes instead. Physically, the guy looked pretty young but there was something off about him. Just as I was about to ask who he was, he spoke up first.

“So there are mortals who can dispel karma as well.”

“Karma? Is that what that was just now? Also I’m not really mortal”

“Yes. Make sure not to get ambushed on your way.”

He disappeared just like that. Still, throughout my journey, I never met any possessed monsters again…

(“Pfft what a romantic first meeting~”

“Because a stranger inviting someone for dinner is that much better?”

“At least I told her my name”

“I made sure she’s safe-“

Ahem, moving on…)

I actually met Albedo back in Mondstadt. While doing some research, I asked for permission to use the Knights of Favonius’ library. So after walking there with Kaeya and having a quick chat with Lisa, I surrounded myself with the pleasant silence of books.

When rounding a corner though, I collided with someone and while I was fine, there was a loud crash as a colourful phial burst on the floor. Looking up from the mess to the person I ran into, my eyes caught mesmerising blue ones.

“Oh my archons, I’m so sorry! I should’ve been looking where I go.”

“Please don’t worry. I wasn’t paying attention either.”

“But your phial—“

“It’s not that tragic, I can easily produce another one. Say, are you interested in alchemy?”

“I can’t say I’m all that knowledgeable on it but it’s very fascinating.”

“Then, would you like to watch as I recreate the formular? It is a rather visual reaction, too. Oh right, I should introduce myself first, I presume. I’m Albedo, Chief Alchemist of the Knights of Favonius, pleased to make your acquaintance.”

(“That’s so cliché.”

“Yet, while I hate to admit it—“

“Yeah, yeah, very cute, very proper, don’t remind me.”

*smug*

“You’re all impossible, do you know that”)

[self-ship ask game]

[evelhak]

KnB 30-day challenge

13. Favourite Member of Seirin

Well, it has to be Kagami since he's competing with Kuroko for the favourite character spot anyway.

Not really though since I don't care about who is my favourite for purposes other than this challenge.

I'm so glad that I started to write my fics in both Kuroko's and Kagami's POVs because I would have thought that Kagami would be a hard character to write, because he seems so different from my comfort zone (which is introverted nerds and cheerful sunny characters, basically). But he never was difficult. The moment I began writing Kagami I was just so comfortable with him, even though I was still a pretty immature writer. I always kinda figured that writing characters who are too close to my viewpoint are difficult but so are characters who are too far from my own viewpoint. Funnily enough, Kuroko proved me wrong on the former and Kagami proved me wrong on the latter.

Aside from how much I love Kagami as a character I love how much he has made me grow as a writer. Because to write him, I routinely have to go to places that I am emotionally uncomfortable with. Even though it's not technically difficult for me to write him, it's emotionally taxing, because you always have to go mentally where the characters go (and I have no chill about going deep when I write), you have to do that with your emotional imagination, and Kagami is such an emotional character... He just feels so much of everything all at once that it's always pushing my comfort zone a little since I tend to have stable and slow moving emotional states myself, inner peace is very important to me and I don't like to have it disturbed. But oh boy has writing Kagami made me deal with some difficult emotions I also had to recognize in myself to some extent while I was writing him through some difficult things.

I was originally kind of focused on how different Kagami is from me, so it took about two long fics to realize there actually are a couple big things that do make me relate to him (I mean things that are not something he also shares with Kuroko, who I originally related to on a profound level, but things that are specific to Kagami). Of course they were uncomfortable things, otherwise it probably wouldn't have taken so long, but that was a really interesting journey. Writing Kuroko is easy for me because whatever his emotional landscape is in the story I've already been through it, usually years ago, it's all stuff I've processed myself long ago, whether his conclusions are similar or different to mine it's still stuff that is familiar to me. But with Kagami it's so often like... yikes. Didn't especially want to go there, haven't processed this, but alas, here we are. It's almost like I'm walking Kuroko through his difficult emotions because been there done that, but with Kagami it's like he's walking me through my difficult emotions. Again, my conclusions might be different from his, but it's stuff that he has way more tolerance for so it's like he's therapeutic to me in a cathartic way, I guess.

Kagami continues to make me a better writer and apparently a better person too, so... don't underestimate the impact of fictional characters. If someone says "it's not that deep" don't listen because it absolutely is exactly as deep as it is for you. I have no intention of stopping to discover new depths through these characters and Kagami is definitely often the driving force.

I can always hope that some of his awesomeness will rub off on me while I write.

[l-in-the-light]

It's on purpose, Law has a lot of points in common with many other Strawhats too. Try Chopper and Law, Nami and Law, and of course the most obvious one - Robin and Law. Why is it on purpose though? Well... I'm always down for some Law for a Strawhat propaganda lol.

But he did... He did have a Corazon attack with Sanji.

Just look how uncharacteristically shaken he is here (yeah yeah I know, it's not an objectively shaken up face expression, but this is usually as good as you get it with Law. And if you want Law to react like he reacts to Luffy's shanenigans to feel satisfied about it, then welp, do you want him to have only one emotion? He's already way too often reacting with anger on his first instinct anyway and it often becomes the only reaction he ever has, because it's the only one that is obvious. Here we have something completely different).

You can also argue the reason why Law shambled himself so fast to Sunny is to save immobilized Sanji (who reminds him of Cora) from Doflamingo. He simply couldn't stand the sight exactly because of all of Sanji-Cora similarities. Maybe it's a bit like watching Mingo shooting Cora all over again?

And of course the infamous onigiri scene. Law stayed on the deck of Sunny for the night, be it either he wanted to keep guard (though so many others were keeping guard that night, he really didn't have to) or because he didn't feel comfortable to stay close with the Strawhats while being defenseless. Dressrosa takes place in span of one day. After the battle Law has no problem with sleeping openly and unguarded with the rest of the Strawhats anymore. It took him just two nights and a heat of shared battle. The most impactful thing was probably the onigiri breakfast. Sanji prepared riceballs just for him, for a stranger who probably had very sus intentions (from their pov!), but Law instead of showing gratitude got into an angry quarrel with Sanji over an umeboshi filling. That same guarded and stoic Law, who kept almost all of his reactions to himself in Punk Hazard, and didn't feel comfortable sleeping close to the rest on his first night on the Sunny, got into an open fight with Sanji the very next morning (this follow up is sadly only described in SBS).

I will post this image till everyone knows it by heart, I guess, lol. When Law is emotionally attached to people, he shouts at them (be it to cover up his embarrassment or worry, but sometimes it's just a sign that he is openly showing his emotions and not guarding himself so much anymore). First time he shouted at Luffy was when Luffy charged openly at the front of PH lab (Luffy didn't hear that, was too far away, but is still counts), first time he shouted at Zoro was in Wano... but first time he shouted at Sanji was at the onigiri breakfast. He didn't know almost anything about Sanji at this point, because Sanji wasn't part of the group Law was captured with, and later on Law moved on with his plan alone as one-person-army. He simply had no interactions with Sanji before, but he lashed out at him like he knows him for ages already. Like he used to with Cora-san.

So yes, Law had a Corazon (heart)attack with Sanji, and it caught him completely off-guard too. Now imagine how much more it had to get to him when he saw the same Sanji in Germa's suit (please-someone-anyone-draw-Corazon-in-Germa's-suit!). Or when he rescued Law from badly done shambles in Onigashima's raid. Uhum, so many Corazon feels, I bet.

3. Ah, yes, Sabo. Not pushing my siblings dynamics propaganda for Lawlu, I would never. Not with all those Ace-Law parallels freefloating around in the story.

I know it's hard to read through Law's face expressions and body language. He often keeps his emotions to himself and his first instinct with strangers is to either show an intimidating smile or very guarded and closed off resting bitch face. He dropped the smiles super quickly with the Strawhats. And the only emotion Law seems to openly show is anger, which is sadly very typical for a person suffering from PTSD. If we want to see any other of his reactions, we really need to dig deeper, focus on micro-expressions and try to find patterns in his behaviour. Because on the surface, he has only three expressions: threatening (often comes together with a smile; two for one bargain), angry (if he feels close enough to show it to you), calm/stoic/withdrawn/detached (whichever way you prefer to define his usual resting bitch face).

Veterans are the most researched group when it comes to PTSD, btw (Law also qualifies for that, because cough cough Flevance? Genocide? War? Should ring all the bells). So yeah, it's no wonder that Law's expressions and emotional reactions are so hard to notice and interpret correctly. That's one of the many PTSD symptoms he has. Many people unaware about symptoms of PTSD will see Law as "detached", "emotionless", "uncaring", simply because his range of face expressions is very limited. It might be easier for me to make this connection, because I can somewhat relate to that. I might be internally going coockoo with stress and anxiety, and people around me will tell me I'm lying because they can't see it on my face. It's not only a PTSD symptom (many other mental conditions share this, even severe depression), but in Law's case PTSD clearly is the reason behind his flat affect. (Also I have to say it, great job at portraying it so accurately, Oda!)

It's also probably one of the main reasons why Law in the novels might feel slightly OOC to the readers: it's the first time we're allowed to see his thoughts, which gives us insight into his emotions (Oda has a rule not to show thoughts of characters if he can help it. I count it for his "show, not tell" approach actually). But if you pay attention, even in the novels Law still acts pretty detached and rarely shares his insights with people around him. Pair it together with his flat affect and you will realize there's a huge gap between Law's inner life and what is seen on the outside, and that gap, is in fact, very canon to his character.

Also there's something going on with his smiles too, I swear. But I really love his smiles. He rocks them so well!

All that I can say......

[tenpintsof-sundrop]

Hi Anon. You also get an "essay style" response from yours truly. (The other one is sitting in the inbox somewhere, along with other things).

if you don't write for readers or socialization through interests.

I feel like it has been made abundantly clear that is actually why Nisha/Sunny writes and shares fics. Those two things are in fact intertwined too. The point is to talk and have conversations. Except people don't comment so that's very limited.

do not expect notoriety and admiration for this anymore

What? Now correct me if I'm wrong, but that's what being asked for. At all. In fact, I believe Nisha doesn't like notoriety at all. Fics getting popular are anxiety inducing for her. She's asking for camaraderie, not notoriety.

if you can’t complete something you’ve committed to already to a multitude of people, don’t do it? don’t say you will with schedules and promises just to fall short?

I don't know if you know this but a lot of things happen. Especially when you have chronic illnesses/disorders. Even without that lots of things happen and writers don't update or write for various reasons.

you cannot demand every reader and follower to comment on your eloquent authoring, reblogging every thing you write when it’s your interest, and interacting with you.

Yeah. But the ratio from likes to reblogs, even blank reblogs is astounding, and it's not just on this blog. And reminder, every time Nisha brings this up it's about all writers because she's noticed it happen to others too. So yeah, not everyone has to, but more people should.

not when you don’t respect the people who have given you a platform and the opportunity to spout ignorance.

I also feel like it's been made abundantly clear that Nisha does respect and love the people who interact with her. Do I agree with every single thing she says ever? No. And that's great. I don't need to be in an echo chamber. And for the record I don't really think any of it is ignorance.

don’t expect more than what you give.

I don't even think you realize what is being given. I'm a writer. I'm a slow writer. Because it's so hard. Nisha writes long, beautiful fics. And even the ones that aren't that long have so much in them. There's so much work into saying what's needs to be said through the chosen way.

maybe ask for critique and commentary AFTER you COMPLETE something and not with a bunch of unfinished work and not fall short on promises. AFTER you have respectful conversations. we’re done lol.

Commentary can happen during something. It's called a reaction. And some things are completed. Is the entire fic finished? No. But that chapter is. Critique and commentate on that chapter. That's actually how you get more sometimes! Also I don't get why you need to be respectful after something is done? That should usually be the default. And not being respectful about this, in these settings, won't really get you a conversation. That'll just be an argument, which isn't really the thing that should be happening.

-Rotten Anon

waking up to what that anon said literally turned my brain into (mentally ill) mush for the day, so you have responded to this really well.

like - one of the biggest reasons I write primarily oneshots instead of having active multichapter series is because people love to act as if I am unreliable and flaking out on a promise when I don't finish a series. people act like I'm villainous and doing it on purpose to hold their favourite story hostage? when there is so much more going on in my life that means I don't have the time or energy to write that story

and that person was talking about me not responding to asks or comments - over the past few days, I haven't been responding to asks or comments about Careful, because I am so emotionally exhausted when it comes to that fic, and I don't want to come off as rude when responding to people who are very enthusiastic about the fic when I am not feeling enthusiastic about it right now. I am upset about it - I am worn out and frustrated. so I would rather leave those comments unanswered instead of making rude, short comments just to say something to people

I responded to that anon in a sarcastic way, but they managed to summarize all of my insecurities about my writing in one post, and tbh, now that I have posted the last chapter of Careful, I may take a hiatus. because I can't stand it anymore

(I am probably never gonna write for CM ever again because the fandom reception is like this.)

anyway - thank you Rotten Anon. you are eloquent and smart as always

[butchwaifu]

I really like your style and think u have alot of potential and i thought to give some pointers for if u plan to do commissions,

Try makeing your work in higher resolution so that your work is nice and crispy instead of crunchy (crunchy is not bad if pixelation is done in a purposeful way) try 300dpi

Messing around with poses and proportions is fun! But make sure your character feels balanced. Try flipping your canvas while u work or makeing the pose yourself, you yourself are always the most available pose model after all!

Backgrounds are hard and not necessary unless the commission asks for one, but avoid leaving characters floating in a void, add a drop shadow and maybe make the background a colour or shape. Simple and doesn't take away from the character/focal point are the main background rules!

Make sure that you have a contract for commission, while most ppl are cool there are always those who take advantage of artists. Have them sign an agreement to make sure u are paid for your time! That and haveing this will make the scamers think twice before doing anything.

Have fun and i wish u luck with your commissions!

So! This is just in case my friendly anon you ever see me answer this!

I'm actually an artist of 10+ years I just admittedly with my Very cartoony and simple style and especially the stuff I've been uploaded recently makes it look so, so the potential bit I get I'm sure as I draw more and more I'll get even better but unfortunately I've been at this so long this Is my potential after 10 years of serious practice and the whole blood sweat and tears bit it took me so long to get Here and it'll take me so much longer to get even further but I'll never stop trucking!

As for quality I actually draw the lineart traditionally and use an online app to erase the background color!

Before -> After

When I do this is SIGNIFICANTLY shrinks the image which I can't control and haven't figured out just yet how to fix But! I'll figure it out some day, as for now it's gonna be pixely.

As for posing and such I'm sure this is about drawing my oc Sunny crooked the intention was she was standing upright and leaning back (with a lot of responses I've gotten I realize this wasn't as obvious as I thought it'd be) otherwise all my art is Very ancient centeted and I do do dynamic poses and stuff!

(Sunny) / (Dynamic funsie doodles)

While this is not the BEST of my abilities it's only because I'm practicing digitally coloring basically doodles rn!

As for the background coloring or shadows I take that in deep consideration! I just like transparent images (: they remind me of stickers ☆

Contracts are definitely something I'll have to consider! Usually something written out and agreed upon in text is a binding contract and usually how I work when I commission other artists!

Thank you for your time, compliments and hopes in me anon! Ever since I posted my poll I've been getting a good vibe from a small but noteworthy amount of people thay make me feel good about my art!

I hope you see this!

[kenovele]

Bogs Blog 34

As the days get slightly longer we find ourselves with a few more daylight minutes every week, and how they are cherished. We have now fully settled into our life in the tiny house, we are enjoying living together, be able to have our little corner of paradise that we built for ourselves by ourselves. It is such a fulfilling feeling to be able to come home to our cocoon.  Although as we have finished building we have filled up our week nights with climbing, social visits and tennis as well as our nights away from the Tiny in Te Aroha. Although sometimes life feels busy, I am grateful to have started climbing again, having our regular dinners with Cathy and getting in a quick game of tennis before we usually make a big dinner to last us a few nights, which makes dinner after our climbing sessions a lot easier. So yes, life has settled into a routine and there is not much to report in terms of our general weekly activities. All a bit same same to be honest, so this blog I will focus on our weekend away in Wellington!

But first. New in – Benoit has started applying for jobs! He is very close to submitting his physio application and so the job hunt has begun. I can admit that although I will be sad to lose my companion, driver and toasted sandwich maker in Te Aroha, I am proud that he is on his way to settling further into his life in NZ. There is a definite amount of uncertainty when you are still floating around, and now that the Tiny house and the application are done, I think it will be an important step for him in feeling settled in New Zealand will be to have a job. Although I can understand that it will not be a job that he will stay in for long, I think he is looking forward to having the enforced purpose, the organisation and to feel a bit more independent. He has applied for a lot of jobs and has gone to an interview that seemed pretty promising. I am not yet sure how we are going to manage with the car sharing, especially when I travel to Te Aroha two days a week, but I am sure it is something that we will figure out. I think for Benoit, it will help him feel more permanently attached to New Zealand if he has a job, he will feel like he has put his roots down and we can start looking towards and planning for the future. Not that we aren't enjoying the here and now, but knowing where Benoits career path will take him will help us make some big future decisions.

While we are settling down, we are also continuing to explore New Zealand where we can, this weekend we headed down to Wellington for a weekend away. Jamie was supposed to be housesitting at a friends place there and invited us to join him for the weekend, however plans were changed just after Benoit and I bought the plane tickets to head down there. Jamie decided that he still wanted to meet us in Wellington, which is a very long drive so very nice of him. So after our flight, on Friday night we were picked up by the Travelling Wood turner and we started out city trip. We were so blessed with the weather and there is nothing better than a beautiful blue skied day to convince Benoit that being in the city isn’t too bad. Well in all honesty, he probably would have preferred a blue sky day whilst outdoors rockclimbing, but a sunny day to see the city in its best light rather than rainy and grey is much better for arguments sake. I for one, was so happy to spend the weekend together with my favourite humans, it was relaxing and easy and I didn't once have to convince myself that I was having a good time (like I often have to remind myself when we are out freezing our toes off surfing or combatting my fear of falling while climbing) - because it was a good time, risk free, fear free, rather relaxing actually.

Because Jamie drove down to see us, we decided to make it easy for him and book into a campsite. Benoit and I were in the tent while Jamie was in his van, although we are used to camping in the mountains and in cold conditions, it was next level cold in Wellington. Benoit and I we not prepared for it. At 3am, we were both past the point of cold and we weren’t able to warm up as much as we tried. We got up early, despite our lack of sleep just to stop the frost bite from setting in. On Saturday morning we had hot showers to warm up followed by multiple cups of coffee to sooth ourselves and ward of the sleep that was knocking at our doors. We left the camp fortified though and ready for our day. Our first stop was at the botanical gardens of Wellington which were all pretty in bloom, the New Zealand flora and fauna is really something we enjoy exploring and drawing inspiration from. After we had tired out Jamies legs and all his bolts we got back into the van and headed further into the city centre. If it was just Benoit and I, I am sure we would have ended up walking everywhere, we tend to enjoy walking from destination to destination, and although you can travel less distance, we appreciate the walk, the time to talk and to discover things we may have missed, but with Jamies operations in his femur and ankle, we did our best to try not to wear him out. We had a picnic lunch at the waterfront of Wellington, which was stunning. Jamie got out his skateboard and was scaring me with jumps (while eating his lunch) that anyone with the number of injuries that he has really should avoid. Wellington is known as the windy city, and to walk in the sunshine without the wind was blissful. It truly is a neat place, full of arty alternative people, cool hidden nooks and crannies of art and funky shops. We went to visit the Wellington Museum, Te Papa, which has very impressive exhibits. After stooging around for a while, learning about our country, and its origins, we started to get this nagging envy for a refreshing beverage. After hunting around for a while, we found a neat roof top bar that charged exorbitant prices for local craft beers, but as they say, when in Rome, do as the romans do, so we grabbed ourselves a pint and toasted to the city adventure. After much deliberation we found a nice little restaurant for dinner where of course, we had burgers and chips, plus a fortune cookie (I told you wellington was a bit alternative!). We then headed back to the campsite where we found the tv room and settled in for a dinner with the All Blacks. We were playing Australia, and although we didn’t play very well in my opinion, we met a great character who was watching the game with us, he knew all the rules and kept us entertained with his running commentary of the match. We left the room with happy smiles and we snuck into our little tent for the evening with a few extra blankets this time around!

Sunday was another blissful day in the city, where we tested Benoit’s patience by going to try lots of different bougie cafes, we had Wellington made chocolate, salted caramel hot chocolates and fancy bagels. Around midday Jamie hit the road and left us to our own devices while we waited for our outgoing flight which was a late night one. The airport is on the waterfront about 7kms from the city centre. No surprise we decided to walk to the airport, enjoy the sun and views of the harbour. It was a lovely walk, and although we did keep up a constant pace, we didn’t feel as if we were rushing it. We enjoyed the time to discuss our next steps, how we think we are going to get there, what we can realistically imagine for the next three-five years in New Zealand. The best resolution we came to, in my opinion, was that we are not going to wait until we are settled and ready to start our NZ little family, we are already pretty settled and now is as good of a time as any, so we decided on getting ourselves a kitten! Although we love dogs, we feel it isnt fair on the dog when we both will have full time jobs, since cats are so much more independent, that was our decision. We are hoping to make our cat and adventure cat and bring him/her with us wherever we go, I haven't really seen a traveling adventure cat before, but we are going to give it a go. So rather exciting! We made it to the airport before nightfall and settled in to wait for our flight. Unfortunately for us, our flight was delayed so we didn’t get home until well after midnight, but we did watch the NZ girls football team play Switzerland and the time seemed to pass by quickly which was nice. Tired but with hearts full, at 1am Sunday night/Monday morning, we were finally back in our tinyhouse and in bed, ready to do it all again. Lucky for those who don’t have jobs and got to sleep in on Monday morning, not so lucky to those who had to get up and go to work!

Love Kate xxx