#me flipping between my creature si’s and my human si’s for the same universe be like

[wired-heartbeats]

Catch me cycling through all my self inserts like they’re in the Ben10 Omnitrix whenever my brain changes topics

[kinsbin]

Title: Midnight snack Word Count: 2011 Pairing: Alexys/Lobo [SI/Canon]

Summary: Alexys can’t sleep, so Lobo takes it upon himself to make her night at least a little entertaining. 

A/N: Commission for @space-sweetheart! Always a delight to write for ;u;

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Alexys tried to ignore the gentle poke of Lobo’s finger to her cheek as she stared down at her phone, the illuminating light of the video she had opened up in an effort to sleep slowly dwindling in a background tense as her lover’s distractions grew. A gentle prod to her side morphed into a harsh jab to her cheek. Then his fingers reached out and squeezed the soft meat of the same cheek he had been poking at with merciless abandone. It was on his third squeeze that Alexys yelped in surprise and flipped herself around, hand jutting out to whap softly at the massive man’s biceps with a pout to her lips. Lobo feigned a dramatic ‘owwww’ before losing his composure and laughing heartily at the face his lover made at his side.

“Aw did I wake you?” His voice was teasing and held no real echo of true apology in it, not that Alexys had expected it to. He was well aware that she was unable to sleep at times and, rather than encourage her to try and get some rest outside of when it hit a few days at a time, he was in the habit of bothering her at any given moment. Boredom often did things to the powerful being in his moments of thought that, for all of her human life, she would never be able to quite figure it out.

“What do you waaaant.” Alexys bemoaned as she rolled further onto her lover, continuing until she was all but sprawled across his broad chest. Beneath her she could feel the movement of his inhales and exhales even as they shook in a deep chuckle of amusement. One hand reached up to touch at Alexy’s hair, making her hum and snuggle herself further against Lobo as he smirked and continued to twirl strands idly between his fingertips.

“I was simply admiring the view.”

“Please, there was no view,” Alexys argued as she gazed up at him. Lobo frowned and gave a teasing tug to one strand of Alexys’ hair, making her startled not in pain but in surprise as she shooed his hand away from the tresses with a blush to her cheeks.

“Please,” Lobo purred, “You’re a fine thing to view. The drool on your lips when you finally do fall asleep and start snoring? Beautiful~.”

“Okay now you’re just asking to sleep on the floor.” Alexys threatened as she reached up to attack his hair with her own fingertips, running them through the thick locks atop his head and making Lobo laugh in earnest this time as he accepted her advances with a tilt of his own head and a thoughtful hum.

“Comfier than some of the other shit places I’ve slept in before. Trust me. Ever spend the night in an intergalactic prison? Ain’t go NO decent toilet paper anywhere. Not even for shittin, just for making a bed out of!”

Alexys wrinkled her nose at the mere image of the concept, “That’s disgusting.”

“That’s space politics!”

Alexys couldn’t help but laugh at the simplicity of her lover’s statement, her lips curling into that perfect smile that Lobo seemed to get lost in for one reason or another. His chaotic nature always reigned supreme in his behavior, certainly, but even an entity of trans dimensional space bounty hunting could appreciate the sight of a cute girl on top of him, laughing at his jokes as he wraps his arms around her waist and tugs her sharply into a playfully rough hug.

“Seriously though,” Alexys pinched his arm with a smile, “I can’t get back to sleep… I was really hoping to fix my sleep schedule too.”

“Well, why do you think you can’t get to sleep?”

“I don’t know,” Alexys shrugged indesiviley as she sat up so that she was straddling his torso, her hair falling over her shoulder and along the edges of her tank top in a beautiful way, “I feel like there’s always something on my mind, so I keep thinking and it just… doesn’t stop. Sometimes I just think my body makes up excuses for it not to fall into a REM cycle, I swear to fucking-”

At that moment her stomach let off a soft growl, causing a shade of pink to rise against Alexy’s cheek as she reached out to cover her stomach with both arms, hiding it from the raised eyebrow gaze of Lobo beneath her.

His laugh soon boomed around the rest of the room, sitting up so that Alexys had to balance by placing her arms around his shoulders and holding herself close to him with a pouty huff. Of course he would drag her even more close when she did something embarrassing. It was like he loved to revel in the mistakes she made. In a way he sort of did. It reminded Lobo how… human she was among the entirety of the world. How simply her existence handled itself against the weight of the universe he’s known for so, so long. Spending time with her, even just like this, made him feel more alive than any aspect of his bounty hunting career that he could recall. Not more alive than dolphins, though. Nothing could oust those majestic creatures.

“Sounds like your body knows what it wants to me!” Lobo declared with a ruffle of her hair and a grin on his lips, “You hungry, pipsqueak?”

“Yes but no-shut up!” Alexys huffed, “Its like 3 in the morning I SHOULDN’T be hungry.”

“The stomach wants what the stomach wants and all that shit,” Lobo declared with a dismissive wave of his hand, “Doesn’t matter the time, just matters the metabolism.”

“That’s not even how that saying goes.”

“No, I’m pretty positive that’s how the sayin goes. Now then!”

When Lobo stood up he took Alexys with him, scooping her in his arms bridal style and causing her to yell and cling even tighter to his neck as she gazed down at the floor below her in something half between frustration and amusement. Her complaints faded as she looked upwards in admiration of his face. From the edges of his jaw to the way he pulled his lips into a sharp grin of amusement, there was chaotic and handsome energy around him all at once. Did she really just think the words ‘handsome energy’? Alexys wanted to bury her face away so that he couldn’t somehow read her thoughts and make the situation even more ridiculous than it already was!

“Let’s get some grub!”

“We have nothing in the house,” Alexys bemoaned sadly, “We were supposed to go grocery shopping the other day and forgot to, remember?”

“I didn’t forget, I just didn’t want to.” Lobo declared with the confidence of a man who should not have been as proud of the statement as he was. Alexys couldn’t stop the laugh of moderate disbelief as she raised an eyebrow at him in wonder.

“You’re taking me out at 3am for food then?”

“There’s that 23-hour diner nearby that serves the best pancakes all night round.”

“You’ve never been to this diner nor have you had a pancake.”

“I’ve had pancakes! What the fuck do you think I am, a godless heathen?”

“Should I answer that?”

Lobo rolled his eyes (at least she was pretty sure he was rolling his eyes) and it made Alexys laugh all the brighter as she was continuously carried through the house, not bothering to be put back on the floor for as long as her boyfriend was willing to keep her in his strong, safe arms.

She wasn’t sure when they had left the apartment building they shared, nor when they had walked down the still streets of their neighborhood to the diner they both longed for, but there was no complaint from her as she was promptly dropped into one of the diner’s plush leather booths with an unceremonious ‘thud’.

The patrons of the diner watched in moderate terror as Lobo’s form took up the entirety of one side of a booth, his hulking appearance ever imposing as it always was. Alexys had long since learned to ignore the looks of others as they ogled her boyfriend in terror. Though the thought of their eyes was always still there in the back of her mind, dating Lobo was a wild mixture of constant stares and surprised yells as he got into something he probably should not have in one way or another.

The process of ordering their food wasn’t so much ‘ordering’ as it was the waiter tentatively coming up to them both, Alexys giving her request for some french toast and a cup of coffee, and then Lobo yelling sharply at the guy before thanking him with a roll of his eyes as he scampered away. Lobo mumbled something about ‘the service here’ that made Alexys bite her lip and smile through the giggles she choked out.

“Do you have to give every waiter a hard time?”

“It weeds out the weak ones, I do it for their growth, I swear!”

She simply kicked his leg under the table, laughing in unison with him as the two watched the outside world beyond the realm of their diner. As the foods arrived, piles of greasy diner foods and sweet milkshakes at either side of them, Alexys couldn’t help but feel… content in a strange way. Comfortable in the space she was in, even if that space was three in the morning in a diner she had never been to before. The world felt… so much bigger like this, though. As if so much more was bound to happen.

Was that just a side effect of living with Lobo, she wondered? He definitely made things interesting, that was for certain.

The thought passed just as Lobo took a bite of his hamburger that nearly made the entire thing disappear. She leaned on her hand as she chewed at a bite of her own food, hiding a smile behind her hand as she raised an eyebrow at Lobo, who gave her a thumbs up in return.

“It’s fucking good!”

Alexys swallowed her own bite and nodded, “Yeah, I’m surprised!”

Lobo laughed at her face and then reached out, brushing a strand of her hair behind her ear while reaching out to nab at once of her pieces of French Toast and return to his own space, admiring his handy work as a blush warmed Alexy’s cheeks.

“You’re insufferable.” Alexys declared as she watched him wolf down her additional french toast slice between hungry lips.

“Ah, but you love me!”

Alexys blushed as she looked away, cutting fiercely at the slice of food left among its syrupy remains and muttered the words despite herself:

“Yeah, I guess I do.”

Lobo paused mid-chug of his soda and raised his eyebrows in surprise, the statement never truly ceasing to amaze him as Alexys admitted her words with slight difficulty. She looked back at him and bit her cheek to contain her own insecure look as she fiddled with her fork and knife for a brief moment. Lobo’s grin was growing inch by inch the longer the two of them watched one another, as though he was revving himself up for something. Alexys felt her shoulders tense for a brief moment before she was lifted up and scooped into a rather obnoxious hug from the other sharing the booth.

“God, I just LOVE hearing you say those ridiculous words, baby!” Lobo laughed heartily as Alexys squirmed in surprise at the suddenness of his actions, her face reddening as she looked around at the other patrons now unashamedly eyeing her with something between awe and amusement.

“Lobo you’re making this embarrassing!” Alexys declared as she struggled more.

“Shut up, I gotta ENJOY this moment. This sweet confession!”

“I changed my mind, I hate you, now let me go!”

Alexys found herself laughing as well though, her lips curling into a smile of delight as she soon found herself hugging Lobo back. Indeed, sometimes the nights were just better with him at her side. No matter where they went, they were there for one another that was for certain. Even in diners at 3am.

[silviascorcella]

Artist Interview: CHICO BALDINI

La sua è un’arte che incanta. È una storia che si dipana tra grovigli vibranti di tratti grafici, colori soffici che sussurrano e tinte tropicali che avvolgono e rallegrano: un racconto che ha la sostanza delle emozioni condivise, un dialogo di pura empatia. 

Chico Baldini è un artista: da sempre. Il disegno gli appartiene per natura: l’illustrazione è il suo strumento di comunicazione d’elezione. Nasce in Brasile, ma parla la lingua dei sogni.

[ENGL.]

His art is a truly mesmerizing one. It’s a story that unravels among incisive tangles of graphic strokes, soft colors whispering and tropical hues that wrap and rejoice: a tale that has the same substance as the shared feelings, a dialogue of pure empathy. Chico Baldini is an artist: since ever. Drawing belongs to him by nature: illustration is his communication instrument of choice. He was born in Brazil, but he speaks the language of dreams.

Aware of how wide and multitasking the experience of wearing the label “Artist” is supposed to be: what’s your artistic identity? But first and foremost, what’s your real identity behind the artist?

I am a dreamer. A day and night dreamer, and I’m also a very curious person. I have an almost scientific way of looking at things: I try to observe in my own way in order to make new discoveries, to find the reasons for things and facts, to feed on information and beauty. I like to hear what people have to say. So, my artistic identity is a mix of this visionary curiosity with a tropical color palette.

Tell us something about your background: when and how did you feel that art would have been your expressive way? What was your personal and educational path to achieve it?

I’ve been drawing since I was born. I can't remember my life without drawing. I try to experiment with colors and media, but drawing and paper are my native environment.

What kind of imagery and experiences do you draw the inspiration for your artworks from? Is there a boundary line between life and work, or it is so faint that you become part of your works too?

I think that a bit of my answer is in your question. Yes, my life is part of my work too. Today it happens within my sketchbooks: they work as my diaries, so that they’re neither written nor linear. My drawings reflect my feelings and what I am living in the moment. It is interesting to notice that when someone flips the pages of my sketchbooks, feels the mood of the situation I was going through. My imagery comes from my childhood interests. My mom was a history teacher, so I grew up in a house full of mythology and art history books: I used to read and flip the colorful pages of those books, that triggered my imagination and took me to an ageless time. I’ve read all the myths of ancient cultures and bios of artists that I could access: all this knowledge has been printed in my subconscious.

In your artworks I saw human figures, beautiful female creatures sketched by a vibrant gesture, blended with animals and often immersed in bold colors: who are these protagonists, how do they come to life? What visions and tales are held into your artworks?

As I’ve already said, they come from my unconscious. I try to translate the mood I want to express into a universal mythology: most of the animals can be found into the major ancient mythologies and work as symbols within the collective subconscious, while men and women are represented naked most of the times. It also helps to create the timeless feeling characteristic of my pictures: I use all these elements as a symbolic alphabet to write my messages in my dreamlike language.

Living, observing and narrating reality armed with the twisting filter of imagination: how is the world watched by Chico Baldini?

Sometimes magical and always dramatic.

If I say “imitation of life” (the theme of this Hachi Mag issue n.d.r.): what comes into your mind? Our interpretation of life. Each one has his own versions of life: the ones processed by our experiences, the ones we express to the others, the ones kept within our subconscious. Life itself is the imitation of life.

Silvia Scorcella

[Published on Hachi Magazine issue n°4]