#mmm to kiss like this��…

[whaliiwatching]

my brother in CHRIST i am rubbing my eyes all over your art like that one spongebob episode with the got damn treasure map

hope this is soft enough to clean ur eyes with <3

[bonefall]

while i do agree with the sentiment that bloodclan should be more nuanced as an entity i still believe it is wrong to portray them as the necessary "response" to clan injustice (haven't read the books in years but i am pretty sure that bloodclan started with no connection to the clans) / an opposition to the clan's flaws. some of the thing scourge did was out of selfishness and bloodclan isn't the other colour of the black and white debacle with the clans. the clans are heavily flawed yes, but it isn't realistic to completely say that their structure had no redeeming qualities altogether and that all outsider groups is fundamentally better than the clans.

all clans and groups are flawed in their own way and i believe we shouldnt brush past the things that other groups (the sisters and what they do with their toms *cough cough*) did solely to be able to degrade the clans and their culture.

Buddy, you're setting up a strawman. I promise you that if you look into the reduxes I've made of BloodClan, Guardians, The Sisters, and the Tribe, you will see that I don't make any of them a "flawless" alternative to Clan life.

Nor do I say that the Clans have no redeeming qualities. In fact, you can browse the "Clan Culture" tag to see the various expansions I've made to show how these traditions, values, and technological advances make Clan life so alluring.

The overarching theme of BB is that the nature of culture is change. For better AND for worse.

With respect, I think there's something insidious in the wording of "the things the other groups did." We're talking about fan responses to a work that consistently demonizes and degrades foreigners to make the Clans look like the "best way to live," justifying xenophobia. These are not real groups, they are writing choices.

In the franchise with some pretty extreme examples of misogyny, the authors said "What if bizarro world where women rule and have no men... woag..." and only includes a single Clan-alligned member of this culture, with a BAD opinion of them, who can't even do his diplomatic job because he HATES them so much.

In the same franchise that shows Fireheart getting bullied, facing prejudice, and fighting a murderous tyrant who publically executes a mixed-race character, their endgame villain is an outsider, like him, but this one IS a godless heathen who HATES love and friendship and banned families.

In the VERY same franchise which made its first non-malicious group barely able to get through an arc without needing to be saved by Clan cats, totally unable to defend themselves, framed as "whiny" for not wanting their clearly 'inferior' culture to be forcefully changed.

And I'm re-stating all this because, again, no offense to you in particular Anon, but I've been seeing a few people with a sentiment like yours lately. Complaints into a vacuum that don't make targeted critique of anyone's fanworks, gesturing at this broad "woobification" which is apparently out there somewhere over the rainbow, saying things like "well Scourge is selfish" or "well Moonlight abandoned her 13 year old" as if we haven't BEEN knew.

As if we're not all directly responding to these choices. As if I haven't written ESSAYS on this topic.

Since this was about BloodClan in particular though, and you admit you haven't read the books in years, please go back and actually read Rise of Scourge before trying to make critique of the ways fanon rewrites its origin. It's EXPLICITLY a response to the Clans, in the text, that the Erins wrote, it is canon that fanon is working with.

And you want people to take that out and approach it a different way... why? Because it's so incredulous to you that a nation forms in response to a threatening neighbor? That a common enemy through invasions is a way that people might choose to unite, and encourage their new culture to value brutality? Because you don't like the idea of Clan Culture's XENOPHOBIC BATTLE CULTURE affecting surrounding communities??

Could YOU, maybe, be doing this "woobification" thing I keep hearing about? Can I play this stupid game too? What's our stupid prize? Can it be a lollipop? Do we get stickers

TL;DR, ok.

[1driedpersimmon]

More Sesame doodles!! Also. Can you guys tell when .. *that* happened.. yeah

[mad-hunts]

rent:     for our muses to rent a motel/hotel room together.

whenever it came to flirting with someone, barton always tended to take a very subtle approach to it. the phrase 'slow and steady wins the race' as they say was actually quite true. so, the only overt move barton had made that showed he was directly interested in kat for a little while? it was asking her whether he could buy her some food and then doing so upon receiving the 'okay' right after he sat next to her. though it seemed like she hadn't drank any liquor yet that night... barton had to admit that their food at that bar was rather underrated, which is what he told kat.

then, upon taking that first bite of his own burger, he remembered exactly why. that was how barton eventually proceeded into engaging in small-talk with kat throughout the night before they eventually seemed to 'click.' it was at that moment that he started to flirt with her and asked her whether she was doing anything after leaving the bar. and seeing as that was met with a resounding 'no,' barton proposed they spend some more time together. though somewhere private to quote unquote 'see where thing's took them.'

which brings us to now, as barton came to the front desk of the reception of a hotel to rent them both a room. he looked back over at kat whilst he paid for it in advance. giving her a smile that matched that of the 'cat who caught the canary' was barton's next move. now, if it wasn't entirely clear before, he laid out his intentions bare for kat to see as he gently rested a hand on the small of her back on the way there.

barton immediately tossed off his shoes and cupped the other's cheek once they were inside; the tension that came with being attracted to her finally reaching a peak, ❝ mm, you know, i'd normally take the initiative right away and start kissing you... but wow. that terrible lighting back in the bar didn't give your beauty even nearly enough justice, ❞ a light chuckle left his mouth, then before he could stop himself. though some may have accused him of trying to 'butter kat up,' from his tone of voice, barton truly meant that. he merely looked into her eyes for a few beats before his lips collided with hers in a fervor.

[wren-kitchens]

i could never let you know

1240 words

it takes a long moment for etho to realise that he’s awake, and longer still for him to notice that the ship is still far too dark for it to be morning. in all honesty, he just wants to close his eyes and go back to sleep, and he almost does until he notices some kind of noise from beside him- somewhat akin to whispering. is that joel? etho lays still for a moment, trying to listen to what the sound actually is before he moves—if it is joel, he doesn’t want to spook him or something. which- he’s not a horse or anything, but still. he can be jumpy. 

[part 1] [part 2] [part 3 - you are here!]

they mean so much to me

it takes a long moment for etho to realise that he’s awake, and longer still for him to notice that the ship is still far too dark for it to be morning. in all honesty, he just wants to close his eyes and go back to sleep, and he almost does until he notices some kind of noise from beside him- somewhat akin to whispering. is that joel? etho lays still for a moment, trying to listen to what the sound actually is before he moves—if it is joel, he doesn’t want to spook him or something. which- he’s not a horse or anything, but still. he can be jumpy. 

against the muffled pillager grunts and soft wind from outside, etho can just about make out joel's muttering- frantic and barely audible, "he’s still here- he’s not gone, he’s still- he’s still here-"

"joel?" etho mumbles, voice gravelly. the muttering stops at once, accompanied by a half-aborted gasp, and etho pushes himself up. "I- are you okay?"

joel is sat upright, knees pulled to his chest, staring at etho with a kind of intensity he would expect from a cornered prey animal. something aches in etho's chest to see him this way- that confident, smug bastard. this- this shouldn’t be possible, let alone allowed. "i’m- it's- i'm okay." he says, far too hurriedly. "don't- I just- nightmare. it's nothing, i’m-"

"i’m not gonna- I won't judge you, or anything." etho says, in some attempt to reassure him. it doesn't seem to work- not that he’s enormously surprised, but he can’t stand the way joel looks right now. he has to fix it somehow. 

joel begins to ramble some- obvious cover up, about how he was dreaming of being in a room with a bunch of chickens, and etho's mind races to find some kind of way to help. in a slightly desperate move, etho tentatively reaches a hand up with the intention of cupping joel's cheek. joel hesitates, stopping mid-sentence to eye etho's hand with a kind of nervousness that etho recognises all too well. something in etho's chest aches, and he realises that it's joel's pain. 

"I- can I?" etho asks, barely a whisper. it's as if his heart has stopped beating. 

there's a stretch of silence in which etho begins to wonder if he’s ever going to live this down when joel is back to himself again. he almost backs down, but joel gives the most minute of nods, and etho feels his own breath stutter as joel leans against his palm, tearing up.

"why?" his voice is ragged, and etho is struck with a wave of protectiveness that he hasn't felt before. 

etho takes a breath, because he's pretty sure he’s on the verge of tears too right now. "I- I don't know." he says honestly.

joel blinks, and tears fall from his eyes. he sniffs, pulling back to wipe his face, and etho mourns the loss as he lets his hand fall back against the bed. "look, I- it's nothing. I didn’t- didn’t mean to wake you, I-"

without thinking, etho pushes himself forward on the bed and wraps his arms around joel, starting to believe that he truly will never get joel to shut up about this. maybe he doesn't care. in fact- he definitely doesn't care, because joel exhales shakily and sinks into etho, and there's no way he'd give this up for a stupid thing like his dignity. 

joel's shoulders still feel tense, even as he lets himself be hugged, and etho has the impulse to rub his back until he softens. he doesn't- he’s not sure if that'd be an awful idea or not. this is all so confusing- there's always been this kind of.. unspoken boundary between them, that they've undoubtedly just broken. etho isn’t quite sure why it means so much to see joel upset or why joel looked so- scared of letting etho touch him, when he so clearly appreciates it. he’s not sure where this leaves them. 

"this- this is stupid." joel mumbles, thick with emotion still, but he doesn’t make any moves to let go. 

"why's that?" etho says, and he’s surprised to hear how soft his voice has become. 

joel gives a little scoff, and etho can almost see the expression he has on his face right now—tearful but exasperated at nothing in particular. "I just- i’m not a child. I shouldn’t- this is all just-" he huffs, apparently not finding the right words. "it's stupid."

"I don't think it's stupid." is all etho can think to say, because- well, he doesn't. he rubs a thumb against joel's hoodie, who gives an almost inaudible sigh. 

"well. you’re stupid then." joel says, and there's a note of humour to it that etho can't help but relish. 

etho laughs quietly, and joel seems to relax a little more against him. "i’m- i’m okay with that."

there's a pause, and etho can feel joel beginning to relax ever so slightly into him, and- it- to be honest, etho kinda loves it. just- just because it means joel is feeling better, not- etho doesn’t necessarily wantjoel to hug him, it- it's just evidence that joel is opening up. yeah. 

"um. I might fall asleep on you." joel mumbles, and etho finds himself thinking that maybe that wouldn't be so bad before he can stop himself. 

"do you want to lie down?" etho says. joel doesn’t say anything for a longer moment than etho anticipated, and he wonders if he has somehow already dozed off. "I- joel?"

joel gives a quiet hum of acknowledgment. "I- yeah, I probably should." 

etho stifles a laugh as joel stays completely still. "you- are you gonna?" he grins. 

"probably not." joel says, and etho does laugh this time. he shifts slightly, and etho realises that he’s trying to get more comfortable whilst falling asleep upright and leaning against etho. 

"i'll- we can, y’know- we can do this and be lying down." etho tells him, suddenly a bit embarrassed now the situation is less dire. "probably more comfortable."

joel sighs, and pulls back a little. "fine." 

etho lays down and watches as joel makes a face like he’s trying to convince himself to do something- which is a little funny. after a moment, joel huffs, and settles against etho's chest, as if he were a pillow- which is.. not something etho can put into words, actually. etho puts his arms around joel almost hesitantly, mind reeling ever so slightly as the tension finally seeps from joel's shoulders.

"yeah, this is more comfortable." joel's voice is low and gravelly with tiredness, and it somehow feels more intimate to hear it than- whatever it is they’re doing right now. there's a kind of nervousness in etho's throat and he's going to pretend it's just joel's. "you’re.. a good pillow."

there's a bizarre impulse to press a kiss to the top of joel's head, and etho swallows it as he closes his eyes (not quite managing to suppress the smile that makes its way onto his face). "i’m gonna take that as a compliment."

joel hums sleepily, and within minutes, etho can hear his breath even out into the way it sounds when he’s asleep. with joel's warmth and the rhythmic way he breathes, it doesn’t take very long for etho to follow suit. 

and etho- he hopes this.. becomes a little more frequent. 

[emry-stars-art]

i am FERAL for the royal au and i am curious, what is neil and andrew's first kiss like in this au? all the art you drew is giving me thinky thoughts

[The thinky thoughts art in question] and THANK YOU for this ask!! (sorry about making u feral pls take care 🙏)

I don’t even remember how the scene idea came to me but I do remember thinking that royal au andreil first kiss would in fact be pretty different than canon only because Andrew, knowing Abram’s had bad experiences with touch beyond violence (I believe unlike canon), would somehow be even more careful about how he approached it (coming from the one “I want to see you lose control” is directed at. Impressive)

And also we’re in the middle of these two’s fun game of “is he trying to court me or am I making inappropriate assumptions” so that’s super cool and fun TT

Anyway read it here and have a little taster (but first go look at @astridsbirdskulls drawing of their kiss bc it’s SO sweet omg)

Find the royal au masterpost here 💕

[bat-p0sting]

thinking about the epic: the musical animatic compilation i watched. during wouldn't you like, the specific animatic i was watching made odysseus and hermes seem like best friends who got separated. i was texting my friends the whole time, i remember saying "this animatic makes me want to want them to kiss".

then hermes did in fact kiss odysseus on the cheek

and i flipped

i think about this a lot lately

i need to find this animatic once again..

[jasonsbruce]

PROMPT: Dick or any of the other Batfam members see bruises on Jason and think he's in an abusive relationship. Jason shuts any and all conversation on the topic down. They bring their concerns to Bruce, who sort of just...blue screens (those are HIS handprints on Jason's hips, after all) and then seems to brush it off. They're not happy with this response, so naturally a family full of detectives will want to investigate...until they wish they hadn't.

dick is the first one to notice the bruises. they're faint, but unmistakable. a handprint on jason's hip. he doesn't say anything at first, but he holds jason's gaze, making it obvious that he's seen it, silently asking for an explanation, if things are okay. but jason doesn't offer any. he just glares back.

"what happened?" dick then asks.

"none of your damn business," jason sneers, then turns to leave.

tim notices it next—the red marks around jason's wrists.

"what is that?" he frowns.

"you've never seen a bruise before? that happens in our line of work. sounds like you've been slacking off," jason says, shrugging it off before exiting the room.

the family discusses it among themselves. they've seen the signs before, they know what they're looking at. jason's unwillingness to talk about it speaks volumes. those are not some incidents that occurred during a mission. so they're determined to help, whether he wants them to or not.

they decide to go to bruce, to see if he knows something—because nothing goes on without bruce knowing about it.

but when they tell him, something strange happens. bruce freezes. and for a moment, he doesn't move, doesn't speak. it's almost like watching a machine short-circuit, something behind his eyes going blank.

when he finally speaks, it's dismissive. "jason's fine. leave it."

they don't. of course they don't. they're a family full of detectives, they can't just let something like this go.

so they do what they do best instead. they investigate.

they start by tracking jason's movements, try to figure out who he's been seeing. it's a breach of privacy, they know this, but they tell themselves it's for jason's well-being.

but the more they dig, the more confused they become. because nothing adds up. there's no one suspicious in jason's life, no new relationships. none of his enemies would leave marks like that. none of it makes sense.

then they notice something odd.

jason's occasional training sessions happen more frequently, stretching far longer than necessary. and they always happen late at night, when no one else is around.

suspicious, tim pulls up the surveillance footage from the batcave, expecting catch something. but after a few nights of reviewing, he notices something strange—the footage is incomplete. the cameras are turned off for a few hours, right around the time jason shows up.

it's strange, to say the least. they're detectives, and speculation isn't enough. they need hard proof.

they debate it briefly, knowing they're about to cross a line, but eventually they decide that there's no other way. they have to actually spy on jason.

so they do.

they carefully set up their own hidden cameras and microphones in the batcave. they justify it by telling themselves it's for his own good—they're only trying to protect him.

a few days pass until they decide it's time to look at what they've caught. they fast forward through a lot of the footage until something catches their attention. jason is there, late at night, just like before. but he's not alone.

he's sparring with bruce.

they watch, not really alarmed at first—it's normal for everyone to spar with each other. but then the session takes a turn. bruce's hands starts to linger a little too long on jason's body. each hold, each grip seems deliberate.

jason's back hits the wall, hard. bruce steps in close, his hand finding jason's hip, fingers digging in. the bruise that had been there before suddenly makes sense. jason doesn't pull away, doesn't really resist, but something in his expression shifts. there's almost a defiance in his eyes, as his hand shoots up as if to strike.

bruce is faster, or maybe jason didn't even try. but his grip locks around jason's wrists in one smooth motion, pinning them above his head, trapping him against the wall. for a long moment, neither of them moves. their breathing is labored, heavy in the silence, and they just stare at each other.

bruce's hold tightens, his thumb pressing against the pulse on jason's wrist. jason doesn't even flinch. a wicked smirk tugs at the corner of his lips. the hand on jason's hip travels up, fingers trailing along the line of his body. it moves with purpose, until bruce's fingers splays across his throat, settling there with a grip that's perfectly balanced—tight enough to thrill, not enough to really hurt.

bruce tilts jason's head, angling him exactly the way he wants him, and then he leans in. the kiss is slow, sensual, bruce's lips claims jason's like it's the most natural thing in the world.

like it has been going on for god knows how long, right under their noses.

the room is silent, the footage still playing, but no one moves to stop it. both of them are frozen. tim feels his stomach twist as he tries to process what he's seeing. dick looks like he's stopped breathing, eyes locked on the screen.

they should have seen it earlier, should have put the pieces together before it got this far.

tim shuts off the footage in a sudden, quick motion. the screen goes dark, but the image of bruce and jason stays burned into their minds.

they got what they came for. they uncovered the truth, just like they set out to do.

but now, they wished they hadn't.

[thirdiife]

treebark doodle dump cause theyre the only thing i can process

[tepli-mravenci]

My friends can't show me movies anymore because I spent too much time in the arospec and polyam communities so if there's a romantic subplot that's not particularly well developed I'll complain about how it's completely pointless and forced and better yet if there's a love triangle I'll just repeat "your honor they have two hands" the entire time

[pinkmirth]

i just love him so much that i can’t even explain it

[angelbambisworld]

I once saw in a comments section of a KISS video(Can't remember what one)and someone said that Gene's hair looks like black cotton candy. I know they probably meant that as an insult but ngl he do be looking hella chewy sometimes

[gio-cosmo]

He looks like he’d post thirst traps every five seconds

[jesuistrestriste]

DID ANYONE ELSE SEE THE NEW CHALLENGERS CLIP THAT GOT RELEASED ????

ART DONALDSON SMOKING N FLIRTING ???? HELPPPPPP !!!!!!!

and OHH? That clip when art and patrick r kissing tashi takes place in one of their hotel rooms ???? oh?? OH? someone’s getting their back blown out fs

[tojiscrack]

HELLO!! LIAR LIAR LOOKS SO INTERESTING IS THERE A TAGLIST? also ur name is SO cute omg

hiiiii!

there is a taglist, i’ll add ur user to my notes rn 😋 we have a new liar in our small community, everyone welcome her rn 😤

(stop it i’m blushing in public rn and i have a reputation to hold up and you’re ruining it 🙄🩷)

i try to keep my notes in order cuz i’m a weirdo who obsesses more over my readers than my readers obsess over my writing 🙂‍↕️

[nadilu]

You are the most beautiful thing i keep in my heart~ ❤️😘🥹