#it’s um. been a minute since then

[starstruckodysseys]

babe wake up new mentopolis oc just dropped

her name is adrian allen (aka adrenaline, she/they) !! still sort of workshopping her design but. this is it for now. i made the first picrew and then remembered mentopolis is like. 1920s so i frantically made the second one LMAO

[mykimouser]

There were angels dining at the Ritz And a nightingale sang in Berkeley Square...

[enhanced-operatives-division]

Let her grieve

[mtreebeardiles]

IDEK

So, okay, I decided I'd try my hand at some...well. Mshakarian, because the Shepard that came through was a dude, so. Yeah. Idk. For all I give Garrus crap I do like him as a character and figured, hey, why not write some of the dynamic I'd like to see?

And then this happened.

Note: i have never done the Garrus romance, so idk how it happens in canon.

“Like what you see, Vakarian?”

Garrus imagined the commander had meant the question to be sarcastic, but Shepard had never been very good at instilling much bite into his words, his tone. Vestiges of the golden boy he’d been and might be again, one day, when they were far away from this time, this place, from these cruel choices they had to make. From whatever it was Jack had found in those files that had caused such a stir of tension in the air, winding tighter and tighter that it was no wonder Shepard had started to break.

Still, the Turian considered an answer. 

He hadn’t seen him, before, not really: a realization that had crept up on him little by little, chipping away at the things he thought he knew about Commander Adrien Shepard. Classic good looks, as he understood it, thick dark hair and kind brown eyes set under heavy brows. Clean shaven, or at least that’s how he’d kept himself back on the SR-1, laugh lines starting to form around a mouth made for smiling. 

But now his cheeks and chin were shadowed by a patchwork of stubble, and his lips were bitten and chapped, and there was no hint of those lines — just the new ones, the too-straight surgical scars, glowing softly red against lightly brown skin, constant reminders of the sort of loss Garrus could only rudimentarily understand. 

But there was still that kindness in his eyes, somewhere beneath the exhaustion and the sleepless nights, and maybe there was a fair amount more despair in the set of the man’s shoulders, an air of desperation coiling muscles tense and tight, but at least Adrien kept his chin up. Watching, waiting, almost defiant, sensing, maybe, that Garrus was going to give an answer, but fuck he seemed so, so fragile all at once. 

Horizon had hurt him. The meeting with Anderson had hurt him. He’d watched as the commander had haltingly requested a reversal of his KIA status at the Citadel, a haunting quiet surrounding him, the sort befitting a man who seemed more than half ghost these days. 

He saw the cracks clearer now, the fault lines of history reaching deep, but even so…

Even so. 

The man Shepard was at his core was still there. 

He’d seen it when the man had intervened with the Quarian on the station, seen it in drawing firm lines with Zaeed on Zorya. Seen it with Jack after she hit the button on the bomb, with Tali when she’d learned of her father’s death. For all Adrien was torn to tatters, he always found more to give. 

And here, maybe, in some small way, maybe Garrus could give a little back. 

“Yeah,” he murmured, stepping into the other man’s space. He gently tugged the bottle of booze from his fingers and set it on the side table. “Yeah, Adri. I do.” 

Those fathomless eyes seemed to track from one to the other of Garrus’s, and Adrien’s exhale was shaky. 

“Yeah?”

He really has no idea, Garrus thought as he stepped closer, the effect he has. 

Or maybe he did, and that was part of the problem.

And maybe that problem was partially on Garrus, too — for always engaging with the hero and not the man beneath the armor. For resorting to platitudes of service, to denigrations of duty, for comparing and contrasting and building his admiration into a pedestal Adrien had never asked for. 

A pedestal, Garrus was rapidly understanding, that had isolated his friend rather than offering any real support. 

No more of that, Garrus thought, and his heart seemed to skip in his chest as he brought his hand up, cradling that scruffy cheek, watching as Adri’s eyes fluttered shut and the tension seemed to bleed from his shoulders. Felt it as he relaxed against him, his soft, smooth skin so wonderful and strange against Garrus’s mouth as he pressed a kiss to his forehead. 

“Yeah. I see you, Adri.” And maybe his own breath was a little shaky as he felt Adri’s arms slip around him. Welcoming him. 

“I see you,” he murmured. “And I promise I’ll always try to keep seeing you.” 

A shudder and the other man leaned into him, and Garrus drew his talons carefully through those thick curls as his free hand moved to the commander’s back. Bracing. Supporting. Being there. 

Always. 

And maybe it wasn't the same as Adrien's interference back on the Citadel, blocking Garrus from making another huge mistake. But maybe that wasn't the point -- maybe it wasn't the size of the gesture that mattered, but rather that the gesture be made at all. To show up, and listen, and see, just see the man before him for who he really was. Flawed, broken, but so, so fucking earnest, so stubborn and determined, so…

So wonderfully, painfully human. 

A strange expression, he'd always thought, whenever humans would say it -- 'I'm only human.' A redundancy, he'd thought, but now… now he thought maybe he understood. 

It was a matter of perspective, an acknowledgment of one's limits -- not an offering of excuses. An honesty, an admission to the truth that fit so well with another of those human idioms. 

"What's that your people say again?" Garrus asked, brushing a kiss to Adri's hair this time. Despite the alcohol on his breath, his hair still smelled of citrus. "'No man is alone on an island?'"

"'No man is an island,'" Adrien murmured, and Garrus thought he could feel the smile starting to form on the commander's face, pressed as it was against the softer skin of Garrus's neck. 

"Yeah," he hummed in agreement, giving him a little squeeze. "That one. We're all an island, uh… together. So more of a continent, really." A huff of laughter, and Garrus's mandibles twitched in approval. "Listen, the point is there's a beach there somewhere, and what better place to sit and rest for a little while?"

"Are you saying you're the beach in this metaphor?" And it was such a relief to hear that hint of teasing back in the commander's voice. 

"Palm trees and all," he replied solemnly. He cocked his head, considering. "Grunt's the volcano."

"I'd've thought Jack was the volcano. Or Zaeed."

"Zaeed is also a volcano, but like, a dormant one."

"Definitely wasn't very dormant back on Zorya," Adrien muttered. 

"But he did wait a good twenty years for that revenge, so, I mean, I'm still correct." 

Adrien was laughing against him at this point, and Garrus wrapped both arms firmly around him. 

"The point is," he went on after a moment. "I'm here for you, Adri."

"I know," Adrien whispered softly, pulling back to look up at him. And he knew it was just a reprieve, a moment to catch their breath, and that the shitstorm that was their collective lives still raged on outside this slice of time and space. 

But maybe the moment mattered anyway. 

[automatonknight]

id: a photo of a miniature figurine repainted to look like Q from star trek in his judge outfit. he is standing up, holding a golden scepter in his left hand. there is nothing in his right hand but he's raising it up as well. he's smiling and looking to the right. the background is grey and black. end id

[wellthatschaotic]

neurotypicals are so frustrating,, i keep forgetting that "can you do x" means "go do x"

[neallo]

wedding doves & leather gloves

for @dnkinktober day 17 (brat taming) <3

category: F/F | rating: explicit | word count: 1,000

pairing: mello/near

tags: brat taming, punishment, pain play, dom/sub, dirty talk, mild possessiveness

summary:

“Don’t tell me,” Near says, derisive tone tainted by her words wavering. “You want to hear that I’m yours.” Exquisite pain blossoms across her scalp as Mello yanks on her hair. “Don’t be a fucking brat,” Mello hisses. “Answer me. What are you, Near?” “I’m a detective,” she replies flatly. “Just like you are.”

[pine-needle-scuffle]

Spring is finally here

[tearfest]

mini life update in the tags bc i need somewhere 2 rant < 3

[hyperfixation-tangentopia]

Hey just occurred to me I've been showing a couple people my collection of like 8 or 10 turtle sketches but I've been forgetting to put them here lol

Guess I'll do that ummm

Cut because there's a few and I like to ramble a bit

(Text: I didn't want to put like 15 extra files 😅)

I just mashed together a bunch of saved sketches I did on different canvas thingies to make it easier to send here lol so that's why the formatting's all weird

This one was me screwing around with something closer to my own style because. I haven't drawn anything not-lego in a bit lol. I've only done my own style on cats recently lol

I like the smile but eh, I think I prefer trying to screw around with Rise's style

Dysphoria hoodie Leo (inspired by my Vaporeon jacket I was using as a substitute until I got an actual hoodie lol, Leo's fave is Pikachu now because. No good reason. Because I decided lol. Leo's also trans now because why the heck not.)

That one is a W.I.P. I do intend to finish lol hence why Donnie is weird. Also bonus Leo without the hoodie. Was just doing comfort with these ones so.

[lavellane]

ELSPETH COUSLAND, WARDEN COMMANDER OF THE GREY

There is no Ferelden son or daughter alive who does not know the name Elspeth Cousland. Though still walking amongst us in the world today, feat after impossible feat has elevated the Warden Commander's name to the heights of near myth. Like the Dwarven Paragons, Ser Aveline the chevalier, Dane and the werewolves and beloved heroes of old, the Highever woman known simply as Ella to her friends is regaled by taverkeep and teryn alike for her legendary exploits during the Fifth Blight. [template]

[Except from ‘Faces of the Dragon: Figures of Fame and Notoriety Throughout the Dragon Age’ by Brother Genitivi]  

[paintedvanilla]

I hate this job I hope I die in this office (<- me every time something embarrassing happens)

[fantoccia]

I don’t care where we go or what we do Cause I just wanna be blonde with u

[silverselfshippingchaos]

oh. men are handsome.

[an-absolute-trainwreck]

Who else havin a meltdown tonight 😍

[inkteresting-art]

Well it official, my work place sucks and has favorites, my work just gave out Christmas bonus to management andand not any other staff members. I work in a hotel and work very hard as a janitor to keep this place looking good inside and out for almost 8 years AND doing extra by cleaning rooms, and that's what they do... give the management who sits on their asses all day 400$ for "great work"

How about the cleaners that keep this business going?! we got coffee thermos with the company's logo.. I'd quit if there was a better placement in this stupid town right now I swear. I'm grateful for at least getting something but that just pisses me off learning this.