#it’s not perfect but it’s something

[my-shields-are-down]

Friday Night’s S4 Fever Dream a/k/a “Chaos by the Frozen Peas”

+++++++++++

“Tim? Is that you?”

The once familiar voice snaps Tim out of his “what-the-hell-song-is-this-grocery-store-Muzak” reverie (it was Stairway to Heaven of all things) and brings him immediately back to the overcrowded, hipster-filled Erewhon store where he’d been lagging behind his girlfriend for the past 45 minutes bored out of his mind.

Smiling at the memories, Tim turns to see the familiar petite blonde - his ex-wife Isabel., who looks fantastic -eyes shining bright, rosy cheeks, happy and healthy. He scans her quickly noting the massive diamond wedding ring and baby belly. He leans forward instantly taking her in his arms while saying “congratulations” and meaning it. The momentary pang of jealousy hits with the possibility of babies, but he knows if she stays clean, Isabel will be a phenomenal mom.

He steps back as Ashley steps forward looking down at Isabel, and not liking what she sees, turns back to Tim. Simultaneously, Isabel had looked up at Ashley and mimicked her every action, before they both said in perfect unison,

“Tim? Who is this?” Voices full of instant disdain and dislike while pointing at the other.

“Why does she look like me?”

“Who is she to you?”

Turning towards each other, they continue speaking over each other..

“I’m his ex-wife.” “I’m his girlfriend.”

Isabel turns back to Tim, “wait, I thought you were with Lucy now. I like Lucy. Where’s Lucy?”

Ashley scoffs and also turns back to Tim, “Why am I not surprised your ex-WIFE knows and likes Lucy? While I didn’t even know you had an ex-wife.”

Tim’s eyes flit back and forth between the two blondes watching Isabel’s grin grow, while Ashley’s face contorts in resigned frustration - like the two opposite masks of drama.

Instead of figuring out how to extract himself unscathed from this conversation, he too wonders where Lucy currently is.

Like always, he’d so much rather be with Lucy.

———-

[starrysnowdrop]

FFXIVWrite 2023

#6: Ring

Noun: a typically circular band of metal or other durable material, especially one of gold or other precious metal, often set with gems, for wearing on the finger as an ornament, a token of betrothal or marriage, etc.

Set some time before the events of 7.0; Aymeric’s head butler Arnaud carries down a box from the Borel Manor’s attic that brings back precious memories, and conjures up dreams of the future.

As the elder elezen walked into his lord’s parlor, he saw the younger man sitting on the sofa in his blue silk robe, running his hand through his raven curls with a deep frown on his face and hunched over what looked to be a shopping catalog. He cleared his throat as he announced, “Dinner will be served within the hour, my lord.”

Aymeric glanced up at his head butler for a moment with a quick little smile before returning his attention back to the catalog in his hands. “Thank you, Arnaud.”

“If I may ask…?”

Looking up again, Aymeric replied, “Hmm? Of course, what is it?”

Arnaud tilted his head in curiosity as he noticed that the catalog in question was from the Ul’dahn Goldsmith’s Guild. “You seem troubled. Is something the matter?”

“Oh, ‘tis nothing to worry yourself over. I just have to make a decision, but I am not fond of any of these choices.”

Aymeric sat the catalog down on the table and Arnaud could finally see the items that his lord was referring to: a selection of what appeared to be engagement rings. A smirk crossed his lips. “Ohh, I see…”

Sighing, Aymeric crossed his arms and shook his head. “Hali deserves the best ring in all of the world, one that is as beautiful as she is, and one that she will adore for the rest of her life. And yet, none of these are right.”

“It is an important decision to be sure, though I am confident that Lady Hali will love anything you give her. For her, as long as it is from you, and comes straight from the heart, she will be over the moon with joy.”

“No, you are right. Still, I cannot help but want it to be perfect, and none of these are what I have envisioned.”

“What exactly do you have in mind?”

Aymeric closed his ice blue eyes momentarily before turning his attention back to Arnaud. “I picture a brilliant blue jewel with diamonds surrounding the center like stars in the night sky. With a crescent moon perhaps? Hmm…”

“A brilliant blue jewel, you say?” The elder man’s mind immediately recalled a ring that fit that description in part, but most importantly, the jewel that served as the ring’s centerpiece. Yes, it just might fit perfectly. “Well, I believe that I have a solution for you, my lord. Just wait here a moment.”

Before Aymeric could reply, Arnaud walked out of the room. A few minutes later, the butler returned with a small blue velvet box that was covered in a thin layer of dust. He brushed off the dust as Aymeric’s eyes widened and his jaw dropped in shock.

“Wait, you don’t mean…”

Arnaud nodded as he opened the little vintage box in his hand. “Yes, your late mother’s ring.”

As both elezen men turned their attention to the ring, of which had belonged to the late Lady Borel, Aymeric’s adoptive mother, a gleam of nostalgia and joy twinkled in Aymeric’s eyes as he admired the blue diamond encircled with tiny white diamonds on a band of gold. It was close to being a century old now, but it was still a sight to behold.

The elder smiled as he offered up his thoughts. “For over a decade, it has been collecting dust in a box in the attic. Why not take the ring and commission a goldsmith to create a new setting for the blue diamond, and make the perfect ring for your beloved? I dare say that Lady Borel would have been the first to approve, and she likely would have put forth the suggestion herself.”

Arnaud sat the opened ring box down on the table in front of Aymeric, who then picked it up and looked it over more closely. With a nod and a grin, Aymeric replied, “You are not wrong about that, Arnaud. Yes, I think that is exactly what I should do. Thank you, my friend.”

“Anytime, my lord.”

[mumumumuch]

today I finally got a real job after 5+ years of being an intern 😭

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Expertise can't help you here.

[millificent]

Every Nico Di Angelo fan focusing more on the background of the episode than the actual plot

[demaparbat-hp]

The Perfect Prince

[chloesimaginationthings]

Man this scene in FNAF 2 movie is gonna be wild-

[katsinspats]

Thematically appropriate comic for Make a Terrible Comic Day!!

I saw the original post this morning and it made me get out of bed to make something, so thank u Pseudonym Jones mission accomplished

[stemmmm]

more people gotta try this shit where bill has not improved and will not change but he's just chilling so its fine probably. its great

[jztr-77]

Before they became a couple

My input on the earlier stage of their relationship based on @honeqq 's married billford au!!

[buggachat]

something so fucked up about Chat Noir’s whole deal is that he is in a lot of ways Adrien playing a character. Like Adrien picked up his miraculous and was told he’d be a superhero so he was like “ok, time to act like a superhero!” and he lets himself have fun w it and play up the role and let loose and kind of just allow himself to be silly and goofy and have fun and for once in his life not care about performing Perfection™.

But. But none of the other characters KNOW THAT. So everyone just sees Chat Noir and is like “look at this guy’s ego. He’s so full of himself. Surely it’d be fair to knock him down a few pegs” without being aware of how few pegs he actually HAS. He’s like the “insecure character who overcompensates in ego” trope except he’s really not doing it unironically, he’s just having a fun LARP pretending to have self worth in his off-hours but nobody else is on the same page about it being a game and he refuses to tell them. He just dramatically pouts about it and lets them laugh and pretends like he’s not internalizing it and it is almost 3 am and my brain forced me to write this instead of sleeping I’m gonna take a melatonin

[ministarfruit]

"...why would I become a monster?"

[kathaynesart]

REPLICA PLAYLIST

MUSIC UNDER CUT

I have been receiving requests for any songs that inspired Replica, so here, have my personal playlist. Sorry it’s not Spotify/Soundcloud but they don’t have some of these songs available so uh… guess you’re stuck with YouTube vids. For fun I'll include my personal titles for them (which might give a few hints of what to expect in the future/end).

Replica Main Theme - “Die for You” by Grabbitz Like Father Like Son Like Brother (Omega and Shelldon) - "As Above So Below" by Alistair Lindsay Mikey's Theme / The 1st Vision - "Suzume no Tojimari" by Nanoka Hara Military (Mad) Dogs / Central Park Colony - "Imperium" by Madeon Shanghai - "Icarus" by Madeon Boom Goes the Donnie-mite (Mikey/Donnie vs the Sweeper) - "The Red Zone" by Mitsuoto Suzuki The Day the Sky Bled Red - "7 Seconds Till the End" by Nobuo Uematsu Going Out Like a Boss (Raph and Leo) - "Agape" by Nicholas Britell Remembering the Right Way (Mikey and Leo) - "The Souls of Many" - by Alistair Lindsay Mystic Hands / The 2nd Vision - "Am I Dreaming" by Metro Boomin x A$AP Book 2 Trailer - "Sea Dragon" by Covet 7 Years Later - "Iron" by Woodkid Leo's Theme / Attack on the Labor Camp - "Ego Death" by Polyphia Omega's Theme - "Touch" by Daft Punk Flat Lines (Omega Alone) - "Die Toteninsel Emptiness" by 1000 Eyes Spear - "Monsters" by Tommee Profitt Final Protocol - "The Kraken" by Katie Dey Rise / Epilogue - "Close in the Distance" by Masayoshi Soken & Tom Mills

I will admit, it's a little embarrassing since you can easily see the patterns of what I've been listening to for the past year or two. I swear I listen to more than just videogame OSTs, these songs just jive well with the story and I often find lyrics distracting when brainstorming scenes. Regardless, the music I listen to is such an important part of my creative process and some of these songs really defined the scenes I now have locked in my head. So I figured it was only fair to give them the credit they're due.

I will continue to add to this playlist, and will note in comic updates when one of these songs is applicable!

[umblrspectrum]

friendly pal buddy copy of mine told me uzi would legally need a booster seat so i imagine the bus is like this

[saradiation]

Aradia 🖤 

[sgt-tombstone]

hc that Simon always talks a little too loud without his mask because he spent so long with the fabric slightly muffling his already-deep voice and he had to compensate by forcing his words to be that much louder

when he starts taking his mask off around the 141, he notices all of them* wince a little at his volume and he has to make a conscious effort to relearn volume control

*all of them except Johnny, he actually loves how loud Simon is because his hearing is permanently fucked from demolitions so Simon is pretty much the only person he can hear clearly