#me=dead

[c4p7ch4]

One-Shot: Basta (Inkheart) x OC

welp, reading the latest Basta content on here made my mind go down a spiral I couldn't escape and I had to write this idea down, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to find peace, enjoy!

Warning: might be out of character, it's the middle of the night and I can't think straight, also: English is not my first language

24th of December. It was Zeras first Christmas Eve in Capricorns Village. Not that it mattered, if she hadn't bribed one of the boys to bring her back a newspaper from the nearby village, she would have missed it's passing anyways. In Capricorns Village, the feeling of time got completely lost and neither capricorn nor his men ever celebrated any holidays.

Sometimes they celebrated for no reason at all, using the opportunity as an excuse to get drunk 'til unconciousness. Some blackjackets would celebrate their birthdays, but most times they partied to celebrate a triumph, like the subjugation of another village or the torching of the house of a rebellious farmer who didn't want to pay his tribute.

Zera hated these occasions, her position of the villages doctor obligated her to take care of any drunkards that were stupid and aggressive enough to start a fight with each other and get hurt.

But tonight promised to be calm. The days got dark early and made most of the men too tired and slothful to stay awake for too long.

Basta was the exception. Sometimes it seemed that he didn't sleep at all. Zera would see him aimlessly strolling in the streets at ungodly times, times when she would stare out of the window of her prison cell in the kitchen of Capricorns mansion, waiting for the night to pass or for sleep to take her.

In the end, Bastas restlessness got the best of him and he got the flu. Either his immune system was terribly weak or he was a terrible cry baby, but 2 days ago he showed up at Zeras doorstep and asked for medical advice.

He could barely stand (or maybe pretended to be this weak, but his red swollen eyes and runny nose and hoarse voice were proof enough for Zera not to send him away) and Zera put him to bed in one of the spare sleeping quarters next to the kitchen. She's been nursing him since then, bringing him his food and medicine to bed, sometimes a hot tea which he'd only drink with lots of sugar, otherwise he wouldn't be able to "gulp down this terrible potion of yours", other times she'd bring a wet cloth to clean himself- he sweated a lot because of the fever, but he refused to take off his shirt. Zera wouldn't argue, if he wanted to postpone his recovery this badly, so be it, she didn't have the time nor the energy to start a meaningless discussion.

Zera was shocked about herself when she realised that she liked seeing Basta suffer- it was only a portion of the suffering he put other people through. She was even more shocked when she realised, that she almost liked him for company in this state: too weak to seem a threat, too drought to be angry and irritable for too long. It was almost possible to have a somewhat normal conversation with him.

This night, they were talking about holidays. Or more: Zera was interrogating Basta about the holidays they'd celebrate in the inkworld. She hated that he came from such an interesting and enchanting world- it was too much fun, to have him talk about his fantastical home, to keep away from him and alienate him for the horrible person he is. It was such a welcome change to all the restless nights she spent alone, sitting in the dark shadows of her prison.

After sometime, Zera asked:

"What about birthdays? Do you celebrate the day you were born or the day you were christened?"

"The day we were what? No, those that do celebrate, celebrate on the day they were named by their parents." Basta said confused, then added after thinking for a moment: "Which happens for most people to be the day they were born."

Basta raised his cup of tea to his mouth, still full to the brim but no longer hot, when Zera asked another question and made him lower his cup again to answer.

"And when is your birthday? I've been here for a year now, but I've never seen you be celebrated. I imagined, Capricorns first in command would throw himself quite a feast, getting drunk with all his friends, beating each other up for fun and get even more drunk to make up for the bruises" Zera teased and expected a smug look to turn up on his face. His expression turned empty instead and he lowered his look to his cup.

"I never celebrated my birthday. I don't even know what day it is" he muttered.

"You don't know the day you were born?" Zera asked amused, but her smile vanished when she saw the grim look on Bastas face.

"Can't you shut up for a moment and let me drink this awful brew of yours in peace? It's not even warm anymore, that's how long you've been talking all over my ears!" he snapped at her.

Stunned, Zera watched him for a moment, not knowing what to say. 'Well, seems like he is healthy enough to be himself again.' She thought to herself.

Without another word she stood up from the chair, she was sitting on, next to Bastas bed, and left for the kitchen, closing the door behind her.

She wanted to be angry at Basta for being rude, but she couldn't help but think about what he just told her.

He never celebrated his birthday, and he doesn't even know the date. That means, no one ever celebrated with him. Not even his parents? Not even his friends?

Thinking about it, Zera wondered if he even had friends. She concluded, that he didn't have any. He was too much of an irritable person to be around and the men, even though they made fun of him behind his back, feared him and his knife and his uncontrollable anger and short temper.

Zera strolled through the empty kitchen, a ray of moonlight, that cut through the window, drew her attention to some abandoned cooking utensils.

Damn you Basta, I'm not gonna celebrate my christmas sad and hungry.

After scavenging the kitchen, Zera decided to make herself something sweet, a little treat to have a small portion of her freedom back. While preparing the oven and mixing together a dough of flour and cocoa, her thoughts wandered back to Basta.

She wanted to be angry at him, but Christmas wasn't the time to be angry, was it?

An awful, awful idea crept up in Zeras mind. She tried to surpress it, but after she finished mixing the dough, she thought to herself 'Screw it' and went ahead with her plan.

When she was finished, she hesitated, waiting in front of the door to the room Basta was in, wondering if she should screw this plan after all.

Maybe he was already asleep anyways. And heaven only knows what happens, if I wake him up for something as stupid as this-

Before Zera could finish her train of thought, the door before her fell open and Basta crashed into her, not expecting for her to stand right outside the door.

The little candle, that sticked out of the small chocolate cake she held in hands, almost caught onto Bastas shirt. He took a few steps back and frantically searched his sleeves for any signs of catching fire.

"The hell?! What were you doing?"

Zera didn't know what to answer.

'Oh, I don't know, I just felt sympathy for your sad backstory of never having a birthday celebrated in your life and thought, honoring the spirit of christmas, we could celebrate it now to make up for all those lost years'

Instead of answering verbally, she held up the cake to Bastas face.

He took a step back with a fearful expression. Fear turned to irritation and he asked:

"What's that?"

"A cake"

"Yeah, no shit? I meant, what's it for? And why did you put a candle in it?"

"It's your birthdaycake. Birthdaycakes have candles for you to blow out and make a wish."

Basta looked confused, then irritated again.

"But, it's not even my birthday"

"We don't know. You said you didn't know when your birthday is. Maybe it is today"

Basta still looked suspicious and confused. And Zera grew more and more embarassed. She couldn't look him im the eyes and after a while of both of them just standing in the doorway, she asked irritated:

"Well, you want it or what? I don't plan on standing here all night! Now go and get a fork- if you make a mess, I'm not gonna clean it up!"

Zera regrettet her words as soon as they left her mouth. Did she really just give Basta a command? Basta doesn't take commands!

She braced herself for his wrath, but it didn't come. Instead, he strolled past her to the kitchen and did as she bid. Now he was the one who was too stunned to speak.

Zera breathed heavily and went back to her chair. Basta came back, settled down on the bed and hesitated to take the cake from her.

"What about you?" he asked.

"I don't want any, it's yours."

He eyed her suspiciously.

"Are you trying to poison me?"

"I wouldn't waste the cocoa. Now take it, it's chocolate"

Basta took the plate, wary of the burning candle, and set it down in his lap, looking down at it, contemplating for a moment. Then he went on to take the still burning candle out. Zera held him back before he took it out.

"Don't! You have to make a wish and blow it out first!"

He looked at her confused, not at her face but on the small hand that held down his.

"Why?" he asked.

"Well...because it's tradition" she said and drew back her hand.

Basta sighed annoyed, but raised the plate to his mouth.

"If you insist..." he mumbled and thought for a moment, then went on "I wish for-"

"Stop!" Zera interrupted again and Basta looked up at her, more stunned than annoyed.

''You mustn't say your wish out loud! Otherwise it won't work!"

Zera has never been superstitious and thought it childish herself to insist on these vanities, but if this was Bastas first birthday-celebration, it was to be done properly.

"Any other instructions you have for me or can we get this over with?" Basta asked, Zera noticed that his face was flushed, but blamed it on the fever.

"You have to close your eyes when you make your wish"

Basta rolled his eyes, annoyed, but went ahead with it and for a moment, his face was fully relaxed.

It was almost mesmerizing to see him like this- at peace, almost a dreamy expression.

Then he blew out the candle, Zera took the candle and gestured Basta to start eating while she went to put the candle away. It took her a while to get back to him, she needed some time to calm down from a weird stomach ache that suddenly occured. Maybe she was getting sick too.

By the time she came back, he had fully finished his plate. She took it away and without another word spoken, they both got ready for bed.

When they both settled down for the night- Basta in bed and Zera slouched over the chair, feet leaning on the feets end of Bastas bed, just like the previous nights, Zera asked him:

"What did you wish for?"

"I thought, I wasn't supposed to tell. You said it wouldn't work if I did"

"Screw that, it doesn't work anyways. Now tell me."

"Why?"

"Because I want to know"

"I'm not going to tell you"

"Well, then I'm just gonna mess with you until you do"

Zera kicked Bastas feet.

"Come on, tell me"

She kicked again.

"What did you wish for?"

"Would you please let me sleep?" Basta snapped.

"Let me think... no. First you have to tell me what you wished for."

As an answer, Basta threw a pillow at her, throwing her off balance and knocking her off the chair. Zera fell to the ground with a loud thud.

"Ow! What the hell?"

"Serves you right" Basta growled and turned his back to her.

"Fine, then don't tell me" Zera said defeated and sat back on her unconfortable chair.

"A kiss" Basta said after a while into the dark, he wasn't even sure, if Zera was still awake.

"What?" she asked fully awake.

"My wish. I wished for a kiss"

"That's it? Pretty basic, why wish for a kiss?" Zera dared to ask.

"I don't know." Basta replied.

After a while he added: "I want to know what it feels like"

Zera didn't reply. It sounded like she was asleep.

She wasn't.

She waited a while, maybe an hour or two, and when it sounded like Basta was asleep, she quietly got up, searched for his face in the dark and lighlty pressed her lips to his. Then she settled back down on her chair and went back to sleep.

Basta did not.

[gorgo4ne]

"Useless ray of goddamn sunshine. You could have taught an old fool like me a lot."

Referenced Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan (1885)

[riacte]

not romantic not platonic but a secret third thing [what would happen between earth and the moon if the earth stopped spinning as illustrated by xkcd randall munroe]

[clairenatural]

there's a cherry blossom tree in DC that keeps blooming every year even though it shouldn't and the park service keeps thinking it's dead and then it keeps blooming! well they're removing a lot of trees to rehabilitate the area and they've said it's finally time for stumpy to go and they're going to mulch it and use the mulch to enrich all the other trees so it can help everything else keep going. and they're also going to plant spliced little pieces of it all over so that stumpy can live forever and this is genuinely sending me into a spiral

[starridge]

also deciding to make stuff that 12 year old me would have wanted to draw

[sycamorality]

moodboard for when you are fatigued, tired, sick or not doing well and you are dead

[stil-lindigo]

lead balloon (the tumblr post that saved me)

if this comic resonated with you, it would mean the world to me if you donated to this palestinian family's escape fund.

--

no creative notes because this isn't that kind of comic.

I know I don’t owe any of you anything but I still felt compelled to write about my long term absence. And I feel far enough away from the dangerous spot I was in to be able to make this comic. I have a therapist now, and she agreed that making this could be a very cathartic gesture, and the start of properly leaving these thoughts behind me. I am still, at seemingly random times, blindsided by fleeting desires to kill myself. They’re always passing urges, but it’s disarming, and uncomfortable. I worry sometimes that my brain’s spent so long thinking only about suicide that it’s forgotten how to think about anything else. Like, now that I've opened that door for myself, I'll never be able to fully shut it again. But I’m trying my best to encourage my mind in other directions. We'll see how that goes.

I am still donating all proceeds from my store to Palestinian causes. So far, I've donated over $15K, not including donations coming from my own pocket or the fundraising streams which jointly raised around $10K. In the time since I made my initial post about where this money would be going, the focus has shifted from aid organisations to directly donating to escape funds.

If you'd like to do the same, you can look at Operation Olive Branch, which hosts hundreds of Palestinian escape funds or donate to Safebow, which has helped facilitate the safe crossing and securing of important medical procedures for over 150 at-risk palestinians since the beginning of the genocide.

[hinamie]

to moving forward

[everwalldigan]

My favourite thing ever is when Jason is drawn to resemble Bruce because I KNOWW his ass would HATE it😭😭

Dick: hey Jason you haven’t forgotten our meet u— oh my god are you ok?? What happened?

Jason *rocking back and forth on the floor with a traumatised look in his eyes, whispering in horror* someone mistook me for Bruce in the grocery store today.

Random kid at a charity event pointing at Jason standing grumpily in a corner: who’s that?

Bruce (smiling fondly): that’s my son Jason!

Random kid: he looks like you! :D

Jason: *leaves the room*

Bruce (running after him): jason, Jason they didn’t mean anything by it, Jason, you’re going to jump off a balcony just because of a child’s observation Jason?

[soft-october-night]

[hansoeii]

Ohh look, it's the dead boy detectives!

[sivsii]

also we fucked up as a society the moment we started telling teens and aspiring artists to conflate being an artist with building a brand as if the two things are inextricable. the name of the game if you want to share your art is to work a job and sell yourself as aesthetizied content. back in my day we could just POST SHIT. to deviantart! what the fuck!

[drizzledrawings]

There’s a good man within you Arthur, but he is wrestling with a giant

[treibholz-des-universums]

NIKO SASAKI AND EDWIN PAYNE Dead Boy Detectives (2024-)

[cheezy-whizz]

[prodigal-sunlight]

I know the popular theory is that Caine’s line about struggling to keep track of who’s real and who’s an NPC is foreshadowing that one of the cast is secretly an NPC

But consider the alternative