#not that i didn’t know about toh before but. it’s fun to draw

[braisedhoney]

WHAT DO YOU M E A N NOT SO FAST?! bear you work at breakneck speeds i honestly have no clue how you do it. this is gorgeous, you rendered him so well ;;

first leander, now COLONY! couldn’t let only leander get a voice claim right? ft. some of COL’s abilities o7

(i. i’ve been animating non-stop. jesus this one even has a rough background. what have i become OTL)

shorter one this time, so i only have a couple frames to share that don’t spoil the whole thing 👀 still hope you enjoy!

[sakarrie-creates]

It’s that time of year! Here’s my 2023 art summary! After two years of having to include non-colored pieces, I finally did enough ‘full’ pieces to fill my art summary template! I did have to get a bit creative with the months since I was able to draw a LOT more during the summer, but I’ll take it! Sorry it's a bit blurry. I'm not sure if that's just for the preview or not, but it was a smaller file than normal and since these reflections are 99% for my own interest, I decided it wasn't worth trying to change.

As usual, I got rambly so reflection questions are answered under the cut. The template I used is available here in case anyone else wants to make their own! My fic summary will be coming in a week or so, so stay tuned for the stats and round-up there. :)

What events did you participate in (with art)? Player Appreciation Week, Fandom Trumps Hate, Dear Fellow Traveler (Animatic), Weird People (Editing), SPN Comfortably Queer Zine (dropped), and lots of zine applications for page artist, merch artist, comic artist, and spot artist roles!

What was your biggest challenge this year? While time, like last year, was still a challenge, I think my biggest challenge was a mix of low motivation and an intense perfectionistic mindset. At the start of the year, I got super into TOH and was super hyped about all the zines with apps opening. I really REALLY wanted to get into them and figured I should apply for art too just cause it would increase my overall chances of getting in. After the finale, I did a screenshot redraw that ended up being absolutely fantastic for where my skill level is. I went deeper into rendering than ever before, and somehow it worked for me. 

That probably was the start of my unreasonably high expectations, and I got it into my head that maybe if I could make a whole portfolio of artwork at that quality level, I actually stood a chance at getting into a zine as an artist. From then on, I was hardcore crash-coursing perspective, rendering techniques, and generally trying to improve without allowing room for mistakes. While I do think it helped me grow a lot, it burnt me out so I struggled to work on stuff past summary (when all the zine apps were) and even dropped from the SPN Comfortably Queer Zine cause my imposter syndrome was so strong. (Though that was also partially because it was a ‘sign-up and you’re in’ zine, so they never saw my art during the application process and had no way of knowing if I was good enough.

What was something you were surprised by? I’m pretty sure I discovered the perspective tool is CSP this year! CSP has so many tools I’m not aware of (despite watching tons of tutorials and guides), so it wasn’t super surprising but it was nice. I have to say, they’re a serious hassle to work with and require a higher understanding of vanishing points and such than I currently have, but I could see it being very useful for future scene art pieces.

Did you try anything new this year?

Yes! This year I kicked down the door to the merch world and have been collecting and designing throughout the year. Though the designs have mostly just been for zine app portfolio’s, everything has worked out really well for me and I hope to produce charms for my collection as I improve my skills. Where do you think you most improved? Definitely my confidence in rendering! And probably my rendering itself too. I did a ton more pieces with it this year and it’s definitely a favorite part of the art process for me. I think I’ll have a lot more fun with it this year too, since I’m trying to keep it lower pressure, so I can experiment more to find out what brushes and styles I like most. What are you most proud of? I think I’m most proud of how ambitious I was with my zine apps. Though I didn’t get into any for art and it burned me out a fair bit, I did a lot of hard work and made pieces I can be mostly happy with. As for specific pieces, I’m very proud of my animatic clip for the Dear Fellow Traveler MAP (which is what the Belos art from the summary is from). My portion was about 5 seconds with 24 fully colored and shaded frames. A few of those were moving frames too, so the end result is the closest thing to actual animation I’ve done. I also really like the rendering on the Huntlow Epilogue art and generally how the Steve&Matt hug turned out.

How’d this year compare to your 2023 goals? I honestly couldn’t remember what my goals were, but all things considered, I didn’t do too bad! Thankfully past-Sakarrie was wise and made it a bullet list so I can just check things off. Met: -Player Appreciation Week -Add to zine portfolio -Apply to at least one zine as an artist (fine if don’t get accepted) -Keep experimenting with backgrounds and shading -Pull out some old WIPs -Build more consistency of style

The checked off ones I definitely met, so good for me! This was a very zine-focused year, so I way exceeded those goals. The last two I did do, but they’re a bit subjective. Specifically, I think the ‘WIPs’ I was referring to were old sketches, but most of the old WIPs I revisited were already colored and I was either adding rendered or cleaning them up for zine usage. As for style, I’m REALLY bad at telling haha. That said, my characters seem reasonably similar when I draw them, so I’m going to tentatively count it. Kinda: -One fully colored piece per month

I’m gonna give myself a half check on this one. I didn’t have a fully colored piece every month, but I did have over 12 fully rendered pieces in the end, several of which had backgrounds. So while I didn’t meet the letter of the goal, I feel like I met the spirit of it.

Did Not Meet: -Finish Huntlow comic -30 minutes animatic digitalize rough draft -Maybe make some fanart of my favorite fics

These don’t shock me. They’re all personal projects and this was a very external-goal-driven year for me. The Huntlow comic is a big love of mine but it’s definitely ambitious for where my skill is. I’ve got the whole thing messy-sketched and most of it has been clean sketched, but the jump from that to lineart is gonna be hard, and I have no idea what I’d be doing with color since the panels don’t have a background. That said, I do feel like it’s some solid work and I adore the angst vibe of it, so maybe I’ll get it done one day. I could also see myself posting it as a messy lineart comic so that others could enjoy the concept being executed in case it never gets finished.

As for the 30 Minutes animatic, I still 100% intend to complete it eventually. I love the way it fits to the music and I’m so proud of the thumbnails. Even if it never becomes a full animatic, I want to digitize the frames and line it up with music so I can share the concept I see in my mind with others. My brain was somewhat overtaken suddenly by TOH this year, so now that that’s settled and I’m hoping to follow my muse more this year, maybe this will be something I can get excited about again.

The fanart for favorite fics is no surprise since it’s kinda the tack on. With low motivation and projects with deadlines that needed my focus, personal art like this was buried way below other priorities. It’s a nice though for sure though.

Alrighty then, now it’s time for 2024 goals!! Oh goodness, I really don’t know what to expect of myself. I definitely am going to try to allow for more personal projects with lower pressure, but I do still have some goals. Hopefully most can be accomplished without applying big pressure though.

2024 Goals:

-Number One Priority: Create for my and don’t put myself in a place to get crazy burnt out and still have requirements. If I meet this goal, then it’s okay if I don’t meet any of the others. (It would be sad.... But I would still count it as meeting overall goals.) -Participate in Summergen and PAW Week (Art or Fic) -Design Handplates charm as anniversary gift (November) -Design CS Charm -Have a fully usable Zine Portfolio (Currently need more merch samples and rendered pieces with backgrounds) -Apply to new TOH Zines or other loved fandom zines. If I end up getting into any, I can pull back, but since that doesn’t seem likely, I want to get into the habit of always being ready to apply with what I have. -Make an ongoing project list to pin to my tumblr. This applies mostly for fics, but that way people coming to my page can see what fandoms I’m actively creating for and what they can look forward to (as well as have an opening to ask questions if they’re interested). -Post more (at least 10 times throughout the year) and add my best pieces to instagram (8+ pieces by end of year). -Do ONE of the following:     1. 30 minutes digitized so it can be shared with music      2. Open Up Your Eyes fully thumbnail      3. Fanworks for other people’s fics      4. Participate in an extra bang or exchange with art      5. Design and manufacture a pin -Play with different brushes and rendering styles -Draw something from scratch every month, no matter how small -Not exactly art, but I want to have a finalized long-term merch display plan for all my items Overall, how’d the year go? I think I did well! I didn’t meet all my goals and I pushed myself too far, but I learned and improved a LOT this year. All things considered, I made pieces that last year me would be blown away by, so I think that’s an automatic win. I’m pretty uncertain on how this next year will go (even more so than last year, which is surprising since I was changing schools last year), but I’m hoping to enjoy what I do and create art semi-regularly. Here’s to 2024!

[mossharpy]

Do u know any TOH fics where it focuses on human culture/Luz being different? I can't find any :(

i've got two! but then this prompt took me by the hands and i ended up writing my own little drabble.

from ao3:

crossing paths by Vikingfangirl23 | 2991 Words | One-Shot | Summary: Luz deals with bullies, Owlbert's been following her longer than she realizes.

It's Just Hair by foolish_snail | 1889 Words | One-Shot | Summary: Luz is tired of getting bullied for her hair. May as well do something about it.

from me (under read more):

Willow and Gus were avoiding her. It was frustrating; all day they’d been skirting around her questions and attempts to confront them about their unusually skittish behavior. They told each other everything—why was this time different? Luz had briefly worried she’d done something to upset Willow, who tended to still be sore about how much time she was spending with Amity.

Luz understood where the witch was coming from, she’d be upset if her best friend started dating her ex-bully too. But, if that was the case, why was Gus avoiding her? Gus was brutally honest about his feelings; he wore his heart on his sleeve. Willow was more closed off, but Gus was always willing to play middleman if a miscommunication occurred. Even worse, when she’d asked them about wanting to sit together at lunch, the two came up with some on-the-spot excuse about having detention. Luz loved her friends, but they were terrible liars.

But she didn’t push. Luz let them go.

The human poked her PB&J, sighing. She didn’t like being ignored.

Fridays were usually her favorite day of the week. She loved Hexside—don’t get her wrong—more than she’d ever loved school, but on Fridays, as soon as school let out, Willow and Gus would follow her back to the Owl House. There, they’d begin their usual ritual of eating far too much junk food and watching crappy Boiling Isles reality TV. It was fun, it was their chance to put aside all their worries, about school, about magic, about getting home, and let loose.

Their distance made Luz think her friends weren’t willing to hang out that night.

A plastic tray gently found a place next to her, and Luz let her eyes wander upward to land on the face of her girlfriend. She smiled, worries abandoned, and focus turned toward Amity, who nervously pulled a string of lavender hair from her face, a pale blush creeping over her nose and tinging her face.

“Are Willow and Gus joining us?” She spoke formally, a trait the witch often defaulted to when trying to hide how flustered she was.

The question made Luz frown, and she let her head fall against the lunch table. “They’ve got better things to do.”

Amity nodded, taking Luz’s hand under the table, and hesitantly letting their fingers intertwine. “I guess they would be busy, what, with the party, they’re planning and all.”

“…Party?”

The purple-haired witch made a small face, “You didn’t know? Gus has been talking my ear off all day about it.” She conjured her scroll to show her girlfriend, gesturing to the dozens of unread penstagram messages she’d likely chosen to ignore.

“The two of them have been insufferable today, how am I supposed to know the difference between Pep Ph.D. and Dr Fizz? And what in Titan’s name is a clown.” She threw up her hands, irritated, before resigning to letting them sit crossed over her chest.

Luz shrugged, still staring at the number of messages, “Pep tastes kinda like barbecue sauce if it was carbonated, Dr Fizz is sweeter, bubblier, and by far the better soda. And clowns are a staple of every good party.”

Amity looked slightly baffled, like she wasn’t expecting Luz to have an opinion either, then gently took her scroll back to rapidly text a message to Gus.

“…What’s the party for?” The words came out muffled, and slightly anxious. She wanted to help, she was a great party planner—Willow knew that, Gus knew that, why were they leaving her out?

“Oh,” Amity was stilly texting, “I think Gus’s birthday is coming up.”

“WHAT?” Luz slammed her hands on the cafeteria table, startling Amity and bringing the attention of the rest of the lunchroom to both of them, various Hexside students glaring or staring, judgingly.

Amity gently brought her hands to Luz’s shoulders, pulling the human back into her seat and nervously laughing. Said human leaned in, close, raising a hand to her mouth to whisper.

“What do you mean Gus’s birthday is coming up?” She was his friend; she should be an expert in these kinds of things! No wonder he and Willow had been avoiding her, they probably didn’t want to break the news to her that she had forgotten one of her best friends’ birthday.

“The party is this weekend,” Amity supplied, mimicking her girlfriend’s hushed tone. “They’ve been sending out invitations on penstagram all day.”

She turned her scroll toward Luz again, this time, a fun-looking, brightly colored invitation with a doodle drawing of Gus throwing confetti, sprawled across her penstagram dashboard. The specific details were cut out, but she could see that Amity was right—the party was this Saturday.

A small knot formed in Luz’s stomach. She couldn’t get a scroll—they were too intertwined with witch magic, and without a bile sack, it was hard to get one. Normally, if she really wanted to see what was going on, she’d ask Eda to borrow hers, but she didn’t have one of her own. Gus knew that, so did Willow. Did they not want her there? Why wouldn’t they give out invitations in person? Why were they hiding this from her?

She slumped onto the table, burying her face in her arms.

“I guess, well—” Amity faltered, catching up on her girlfriend’s sudden deflation, “It is his thirteenth birthday.”

Luz cringed.

“No, no,” Her girlfriend continued, “It’s his thirteenth birthday, Luz.”

She stared, blankly. “I don’t get what you mean. Why are you saying ‘thirteenth’ like that?”

“Oh shoot,” Amity face-palmed, a pointed ear twitching, “Of course you wouldn’t have the thirteenth, I forget how fragile humans are.”

“Hey,” Luz dragged out the word, scowling, “We’re not fragile, we’re just not meant to digest fairies or survive boiling water.”

Her girlfriend snickered, “Like I said, fragile. Anyways, when a witch turns thirteen, you have to go through some… trials.”

“I like trials,” Luz mumbled.

Amity smiled, fondly, then grimaced, “They’re not fun trials, Luz. A witch’s thirteenth birthday is said to be cursed; you have to spend the day with bad luck, and if you manage to survive, at the end of the day you can throw a party, celebrating your ability to wield magic and become a real witch. It’s a rite of passage.”

She ‘oohed’, “That sounds cool. Why wouldn’t Gus tell me about it?”

The purple-haired girl made a face, “I’m not sure. You’re perfectly capable of taking care of yourself, even if you are… squishy. I’m confident in your ability to survive the death threats of a thirteenth.”

Resting her chin in the palm of her hand, Luz grumbled. “Thank you.”

She moped the rest of the school day.

When her final class came, and the last bell screamed, Luz sulked, taking her time to put away her spell books and potions, slowly zipping her bag and slowly tucking away her pencils. She wasn’t looking forward to walking home alone.

Her feet felt heavy, footsteps echoing down the bustling hallway as other students excitedly talked about their weekend plans. She tried to ignore every whisper of ‘party’, flipping her cowl up to hide her face. Normally, Luz didn’t mind people staring. At home, she got enough of it already, but in the Boiling Isles being the only human made her feel… important.

She didn’t feel important right now.

Her hand gently pushed the front door of the school open, light momentarily blinding her as her eyes got adjusted to the outdoors.

“Luz!” An excited voice called her name, forcing her head to instinctively turn toward the offending noise.

Suddenly, two bodies were tackling her, and Luz found herself toppling to the ground.

“Ohmigosh, are you okay?” A very frantic Gus clambered from their pile of entangled limbs, pushing himself and Willow off of Luz.

“Wha—Gus? Willow? What are you guys doing here?” She blinked a few times, rubbing at the arm she had stupidly hit on the stone ground. Dumb human arms, always getting injured. “I thought you would’ve been getting ready for the party.”

They both cringed.

“Oh… you found out about that?” Willow fiddled with the hem of her skirt, looking away from the human’s face.

Luz felt her face get hot. She was not going to cry about this. Absolutely not. “Of course, I found out! What I wanna know is why my two best friends decided I’m not cool enough to go to their really scary thirteenth birthday party? I know Gus has to go through dangerous trials, and like, prove himself and whatever, but I’m tough! I can take it.”

Gus looked between her and Willow, as if debating whether he should say something. A beat of silence passed.

“Of course, I want you at my party,” the younger witch finally spoke, “actually, that’s what we were coming to talk to you about—”

He scratched the back of his neck, pausing briefly.

“Eda told us that humans don’t have bad luck rituals on their thirteenth birthday, so we—well—we may have—”

“It’s a double party!” Willow interrupted, face quickly turning bright pink. “Sorry, sorry! I’ve been dying of anticipation all day.”

She pulled a rolled-up parchment from her bag, unfurling it to show Luz an edited version of Gus’s party invitation. This one included a small doodle of Luz as well as Gus, both donning matching party hats and throwing confetti. At the bottom, the date and time were clearly listed.

Saturday, 9:00pm, The Owl House.

Luz’s eyes widened, a large grin forming on her face.

“You guys!” She d’awwed, pulling them into a group hug.

“We didn’t want you to miss out, and Eda said you’d be able to handle all the bad luck just fine, and King’s okay with it as long as we bubble-wrap you, and we didn’t want to miss your birthday in case you had to go home before we can celebrate—” Gus cut his own rambling off, taking a breath.

“We got a clown!” Willow laughed, excitedly clapping.

Gus nodded enthusiastically, repeating her, “We got a clown!”

“Is this why you were texting Amity all those weird questions?”

Her friends both gasped, Gus especially offended, “I wanted to be as accurate as possible, the party is human-themed after all. Amity wasn’t supposed to tell you about it! That’s the point of a surprise party.”

“Eda was setting up pre-birthday decorations at the Owl House for tonight’s sleepover.” Willow added.

“Sleepover?” Luz repeated, awestruck. “Oh, my Azura, you guys are the best.”

The three kids hugged again, laughing about their birthday schemes. Human or not, Luz should’ve known better than to think her best friends would exclude her like that.

This was going to be the best Friday ever.

[pra370r1an]

Lost Santos Dreams - TOH/Fake AH Crossover

https://archiveofourown.org/works/29233251   TW: Blood, Violence, Death

New to Los Santos, the Beta crew dream to make it big. However, they're about to learn the hard way why the top gang has an almost mythical status in the criminal underworld...

“I’m not wearing that!”

“Oh, calm down. It’s cute!”

“I said I wanted a lion, Noceda!” Amity snarled.

“It is a lion!” Luz held up the lion mask, complete with a bright cheerful smile and rosy cheeks.

“I wanted a fierce one, not a children’s mask! There was a bloody lion mask there last week, why didn’t you get that one!?”

“Then you should have bought them! Besides this way we match!” Luz held up her own mask, a winking otter with a wide smile. “Back me up here Willow!”

Willow sat driving next to Luz, sunny sunflower mask already on her face. She turned and briefly glanced at Luz, who was half turned around to see Amity in the back of the van.

“This seems like a lot of arguing for something we are going to destroy later, since its EVIDENCE.”

“Oh, you’re both no fun,” Luz sat back and pouted. She tossed the lion mask into the back, “Just wear the damn thing, Blight.”

A voice crackled in her earpiece, “Are you guys done fighting each other? Cuz there’s still a job to do.”

Willow raised a finger to her ear to respond, “They’re fine Gus. Just how they are. Now we’re almost there so codenames people. Illusionist run us through one last time.”

“You got it Venus. The three of you go in. Princess kills security and controls the crowd while Luzura beelines to the tellers and stops the panic buttons.”

“Don’t fuck it up Luzura,” Amity teased from the backseat.

“SHHH, I’m trying to listen,” Luz whispered overly dramatically while pointing towards her earpiece.

“Quiet in the peanut gallery,” Gus deadpanned. “Meanwhile, Venus grabs the manager and grabs whatever she can from the vault.” Willow grunted from the front seat, too focused on driving in a mask to contribute. “All the while, I’ll work my magic and keep the alarms off and the cops off your backs. Simple.”

“It’s never that simple Twerp,” Amity grumbled as she put the mask on, and fixed her hair over it. The dyed green hair forming the lion’s mane around her mask.

“Why do you keep calling me that, Princess?” Gus groaned. “Alright I’m all set up here, ready to go when you are.”

“We’re here,” Willow pulled over outside of Grand National Bank.

“What’s that tag?” Luz looked at some graffiti on the bank by an alley, a green rubber duckie encircled in a green crosshair.

“It’s how gangs claim territory in Los Santos,” Amity double checked her rifle before cocking it. “It’s nothing to worry about. No self-respecting gang would use a rubber duckie,” She scoffed.

“You did check this place with Ed- er… the Owl Lady, right?” Luz asked Willow. “I don’t want our first official act in this city to be piss off a major gang.”

“It’s fine Luzura,” Willow double checked her body armor.

“Would you stop worrying?” Amity snapped. “We’ll be in and out before anyone is the wiser.”

Luz glared back at Amity, “Fine.” She grabbed her bat and opened the door.

The girls exited the van, and Luz took the three in. Willow had her usual trenchcoat on, hair cut short and combat boots, the sunflower mask a sharp difference from her outfit. Amity for some reason wore a bright pink outfit, skirt and all; which with the smiling lion mask gave a vibe of cheerleader at Halloween. Only the spiked bracelets and collar contributed to the danger of the AK she wielded. Luz had stuck with the classic, a striped shirt and green army jacket with a beanie. Of course, the winking otter mask sealed the deal.

With a quick nod, the three hurried up the stairs. Luz was the first to the door bodychecking it open and sprinting inside. Willow hurried in next and Amity strolled casually after, her assault rifle already leveling at the security guards.

Willow raised her pistol and let out a burst into the air, Civilians screamed and cowered away from them.

“HANDS UP AND GET DOWN NOW!” Amity threatened the under armed security guards with her ‘Blight’ voice. A tone which commanded respect.

Luz, running a fair distance ahead, raised her bat and slammed it into a lone guard on the other side as she passed. The man crumpled and Luz kicked open the door to the tellers.

“ALRIGHT HANDS UP! THIS IS A STICK UP!” She shouted as she threatened the tellers with her pistol. The tellers threw their hands away from the panic buttons and towards the ceiling.

“Oh my god, can you be more cliche?” Amity grumbled.

“No fighting,” Willow commanded as she hauled some well-dressed man up off the floor. “Ok, Mister Manager. Time to see the safe.”

“I-I don’t understand! We paid for this month, why are you here!?”

“Shut up and move!” Willow shoved him towards the back.

Luz meanwhile led all the tellers out of their room and had them lay with the rest of the hostages. Amity patrolled the room, her rifle just itching and a growl in her throat.

“Tellers secured,” Luz announced as the last person exited the room.

“Good work Luzura. How’s it going in the vault Venus?” Gus asked.

“This asshole won’t stop blabbing about the Fakes? Ever heard of them?”

“Sounds familiar, but I’m not too up on West Coast criminals.”

“The Owl Lady would know probably,” Luz said into her ear piece.

“Who cares? Let’s just get the money and get out,” Amity shook her head.

“Alright we’re good. Heading back upfront,” Willow gave the call after a few minutes. “How’s the street look Illusionist?”

“Looks good on my end. Wait…” Sounds of rapid typing filled their earpieces. “There’s someone else in the system. Fuck they’re good.”

“What? Who? Cops? Bank IT?” Willow sounded incredulous, as she tossed some bags to the others. Luz slung hers over her shoulder before turning towards the doors.

“Too good for them. Fuck, I don’t know what they want but you might not have too much time.”

“It’s fine we’re done here,” Luz shoved the door open with her shoulder.

“LUZURA GET DOWN!”

The van at the bottom of the steps exploded, knocking Luz on her ass in the open door. Looking around she saw a sports car parked a bit further down, the driver dropping an empty rpg tube into the backseat. He idly fixed his purple suit jacket (over an orange shirt? Who wears that?) and ran a finger along his white Stetson towards Luz with a smirk.

A lanky well-dressed blonde in gold sunglasses grinned next to the passenger seat, but it was when the trunk closed and two more people stepped around to the front that Luz moved.

She scrambled backwards, slamming the door closed and started shouting at everyone, “GET BACK! AWAY FROM THE DOOR! MOVE QUICK!”

She dove over the central desk as bullets started flying through the door, peppering it with holes. Outside the noise was unrelenting as the thick wooden doors were slowly turned to scraps. Luz thought she heard screams but couldn’t tell if it was civilians or her friends as she huddled behind her cover.

After what seemed an eternity, first one then another door fell off the hinges absolutely wrecked. The hail of gunfire stopped, though the ringing in Luz’s ears continued.

Gus’s voice was the first thing to pierce the ringing, “Guys!? What’s going on!? I lost visual feed!”

“I-I’m ok!” Willow sounded unsure for the first time since Luz met her. “Princess? Luzura? What was that?”

“That would be company toasting our ride!” Luz responded, using the lull to check her gun. “No way that was cops! What kind of bank did you bring me to!?”

“Isn’t it obvious? It’s a mob bank. A well-armed one. Ah Fuck!” Amity grunted in pain.

“You going soft on us Princess?” Luz asked with no small amount of concern.

“In your dreams, Luzura,” Amity snarled.

Luz went to say something else but a high British voice called out, “Now that is how you make an entrance Boi!” Gripping her pistol and bat, Luz slowly looked over the counter seeing the four enter the door. The lanky well-dressed man with golden shades was gesturing around with a golden deagle and a grin.

Next to him, a man in a leather jacket scowled at the Brit, “Yeah, that’s why I did it, idiot!” The man’s minigun still smoked from pulverizing the door.

“Aww, Mogar. Let him have his fun,” A redhead woman laughed as she draped herself over sunglasses.

“Can you guys focus?” The color clashing cowboy cocked his AK, “Hey Fuckers! You and your friends are dead!”

“Whelp. We’re screwed,” Luz whispered into her earpiece.

“Giving up already Luzura?” Amity’s laugh turned to a hiss.

“That’s it! I’m heading over! Where the fuck’s my gun!?”

“Chill Illusionist! There’s only four, and if it’s their bank they won’t use that minigun inside. They’re all bluster,” Luz could almost hear the gears turning in Willow’s head.

“They already used it on the door and Princess is hurt, we’re still at a disadvantage,” Luz shot back, trying to keep sight on the four without being seen. The three had started moving further into the bank, while leather jacket (Mogar?) stood guard at the door.

“It’s just a scratch,” Amity hissed.

“Ok, an AK and two pistols. AK is heading left of the doors and pistols are going right,” Willow must have a better vantage than Luz. “Princess move towards the AK and try to get a drop on them. I’ll go the other way and try to draw the pistols away. Luzura stay down and wait for an opportunity.”

“Copy,” Amity responded.

“What about the mini?” Luz asked.

“It’s intimidation Luzura!” Amity snapped.

Luz only grumbled as she checked her pistol for the twentieth time. She could hear someone just on the other side of her cover.

“Come out, come out where ever you are…,” The redhead sang softly. Luz tensed with her pistol, watching the lip of the counter.

Suddenly, Willow’s automatic pistol barked to Luz’s right. “Ahh! Shite!” The Brit’s gun fired twice, “Phoenix, a little help!?”

The redhead groaned, “C’mon Golden Boy. You can’t take one pistol?” Luz saw her moving forward to take cover by the teller windows, not noticing the girl behind her.

“HEY FUCKER!” Amity’s AK barked on the other side of the bank, “ARE YOU COLORBLIND OR SOME SHIT!? I MEAN PURPLE AND ORANGE!?”

“SAYS THE GIRL WHO CAN’T DECIDED BETWEEN PUNK OR PREP!” More automatic fire rang out. “THOUGHT YOU WOULD UNDERSTAND!”

“Ok, OK! I’M IN! …and I’m out…” Gus called out, “Shit. This fucker is good.”

Willow’s pistol let out another burst, and Golden Boy’s gun shot back. The redhead leaned forward to peek over the teller window, and Luz lined up her pistol. As she was about to pull the trigger, Willow’s gun fired and bullets bounced off the bullet proof glass above Phoenix’s head.

The redhead ducked from the fire; her head turned to press against the counter. The girl’s eyes went wide as she met Luz’s stare.

“FUCK!” The redhead spun pulling her gun up. But Luz’s gun barked in panic unloading the gun into center mass.

Behind Luz a wail was heard, before the whirling sound of a minigun coming to speed was heard. Luz hated being right.

She shot up and ran to the left, as bullets started flying shredding her hiding spot. Running as fast as she could, hyper aware of the hot lead that seemed one step behind her.

“SHIT, SHIT, SHIT!”

Luz dove into an empty office just as the gunshots turned to clicking of an empty chamber. Mogar screamed again, and a large metal thud sounded as the empty minigun landed close to the office door.

“LUZ!?” Amity shouted in concern.

“Fuck that was close,” Luz kicked the wood door shut then scrambled behind the desk. Gunshots rang out outside the office, and Luz patted herself down looking for another mag. Finding one last mag she reloaded, “Bad news guys, I lost my mask. How are you?”

“Only you Luz…” Willow sighed.

“Dumbass,” Amity’s AK barked again.

“Love ya too,” Luz chanced a peek through the window. Mogar was kneeling by Phoenix, holding her hand. He leaned down and cupped her face for a moment before standing up and firing a bullet into her head. He turned snarling towards Luz.

“Shit!” Luz ducked back down, holding her bat and gun tightly. “These guys are fucking hardcore. He just executed his teammate!”

“Fuck!” Amity growled, “How are we going to get out of here Venus?”

…

“Venus?”

“Oh, sorry. Was that this lovely bird with the trenchcoat?” Golden boy’s accented voice came through the earpiece. “She can’t come to the phone right now. May I take a message?” He asked in good humor.

“YOU SON OF A BITCH! WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER!?” Gus roared over the coms.

“Nothing she didn’t try to do to me, I assure you mate. Besides, if you didn’t try to rob from the FAKES then this wouldn’t have happened.”

Gus continued to yell and rage but Luz was distracted by the gunfire shattering the windows in the office she was hiding at. Luz yelled in surprise covering her head from the glass.

“LUZ,” Amity screamed over the comms, her gun going off again. “JUST DIE YOU FUCKER!”

“Hey! Ottergirl!” Mogar yelled, “You killed my wife you Bitch!” He fired off a few more times with his pistol, “Come out coward!” His gun clicked empty.

“I’m no coward! Now eat this Sucker!” Luz shot up and unloaded her pistol at the man. He stood there calmly reloading as the shots flew by him, the entire time glaring at Luz. Luz slowly lowered her empty pistol, “So…Would you accept a heartfelt apology?”

Mogar growled, stuffing his pistol back into its holster. He cracked his knuckles and neck as he strode confidently into the office. Luz tossed the empty gun at him, then raised her bat.

Luz swung, keeping Mogar on the other side of the desk. He snarled at each swing, before grabbing a chair and chucking it at Luz. Luz yelped and swung her bat, smacking it away. This was the opening Mogar was waiting for, and he went low driving a fist into her stomach. Quick as a flash, his other fist connected with her face.

Luz’s head rung and she tried to get away, swinging her bat rather weakly in a vain attempt. Mogar easily blocked it and grabbed Luz, throwing her over the desk and back into the bank proper.

Luz rolled to a stop, using her bat to attempt to get up. She wiped some blood from her lip and glared at Mogar.

“HEY!” Amity yelled from the side. She stood there sans mask with a pistol under the cowboy’s neck, holding him hostage. “Let her go or this colorblind idiot gets it.”

“Again, it’s very insulting when you say that. I am not an idiot,” The man slowly reached up and took his hat off.

Mogar huffed and pulled his gun out.

“Hey! I mean it!” Amity shouted, forcing the gun into his neck even harder.

“I’ll see you back at base Rimmy Tim,” Mogar leveled his gun at the pair. Luz tried to stand but fell back to her knees.

“Just make sure you bring my hat this time. Don’t feel like another raid on the evidence locker this week,” Rimmy Tim smiled completely at ease as Mogar pulled the trigger.

Amity looked shocked as Rimmy Tim went limp, dropping his body and looking at the blood that smeared onto her hand. “What the fuck?” Several gunshots rang out and Amity dropped.

“NO!”

Luz drove her bat towards Mogar’s legs, knocking him onto his back. She jumped on top swinging. They devolved into an absolutely feral fistfight. Both giving as much as they got, as they rolled round trying to gain the upper hand.

Climbing on top once again, Luz slammed a fist into his face. In the daze she managed to get her hands around the man’s neck. Mogar snarled up at the girl, his hands trying to break her grip or punch her off. But in her rage, Luz was beyond caring of a few punches.

Pistol-whipping, however?

A shiny gold handle slammed into Luz’s head, knocking her off Mogar who gasped for breath. Luz’s vision swam for a second before clearing back up. Faintly she was aware of Gus yelling, seeing as her earpiece was knocked out of her ear.

“Now, now. None of that Love,” The Golden Boy’s voice casually said. “Too much killing already so I can’t have you offing my boi.” He shrugged as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Fuck you and your Boy!” Luz spat out some blood. “He killed my Girl!”

“You killed my wife…” Mogar choked out between coughs. The Golden Boy rolled his eyes.

“So dramatic. Sorry Love, all’s fair and all that,” The Golden Boy leveled his golden deagle at Luz’s face. “That’s just how the milk crumbles the biscuit sometimes.”

“What the fuck does that even mean?” Mogar snarled at the Golden Boy.

“Oi! Don’t be rude, Micoo!” Was the second to last thing Luz heard.

BLAM

 Luz shot up, looking around wildly before realizing she was in the bedroom of her new apartment. She winced at the horrible headache splitting her skull. Her sheets were covered in sweat and she panted from the scarily clear nightmare she had just awoken from. With a sigh of relief, she fell back onto her pillow to stare at the ceiling, cursing the throbbing headache that clearly influenced her dreams.

Unfortunately, her tentative plans to just go back to sleep to avoid dealing with said headache was cut short with a ringing phone. With a groan, she patted her pockets for her cell. Idly she realized she must have fell asleep without changing into her pajamas, as she pulled her work cell out and answered.

“What!?” Normally, she was more chipper but the headache felt as if it sucked all the life from her.

“Christ, Luz! Finally!” Amity snarled with a bit of relief. “Willow! I got Noceda!” Amity called into the background before asking the one question she never asked Luz, “Are you ok?”

“What? Yeah, just got a throbbing headache. And apparently, I slept in my body armor,” Luz’s free hand started unstrapping the Velcro on her armor. “That’d explain that freaky dream I had.”

“That we tried to rob Grand National Bank then were killed by a rival gang?”

Luz stopped, concern forcing its way into her thoughts, “How did you know that Amity…?”

“You should turn the news on Luz…”

Luz sat still for a second, before shooting off the bed. Scrambling into the next room, she grabbed the remote and flicked the tv on.

“-orning gang violence erupted down at Grand National Bank, as two rival criminal factions had a shootout in the front lobby. There are reports of numerous casualties as well as the criminals getting away with thousands of dollars. Eyewitness accounts claim several of the assailants fell during the shootout, but LSPD has refused to comment.”

The blood rushed to Luz’s ears and the news reporters’ words seemed to become distant as they showed pictures and grainy video of the shootout. There her and her friends reenacted the dreams events as they faced off against the FAKES. She slumped onto her couch and just watched.

Slowly she became aware of someone calling her name from far away. Looking down she realized that her cell was still connected.

She put it against her ear again, “What the FUCK happened!?”

[lostinshawnsmemory]

Figure You Out: Chapter 4 - Shawn x African OC

A/N: I would like to apologise for how long it’s been since you saw Shawn and Tolani. Life just gets in the way you know? That being said, they are back with a vengeance.

Word Count: 5.8k

Warning(s): None

MASTERLIST 

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“How was the date with coffee boy?”

Tolani stopped,  her fork halfway to her mouth. Desire had insisted that she joined her, Nicole and Kyle for lunch on campus during their collective free period and there was no way she could get out of it. “We haven’t hung out as a group since that night.” she had whined. “That was a week ago. I mean we all live together.”

“Umm. Coffee boy is fineee.” Tolani shrugged drawing out the ‘fine’. “Just fine?” Desire asked with a raised eyebrow. “You looked so excited before you left yesterday and we didn’t catch you at the cinema so it must have been good.” she wiggled her eyebrows.

“You’re dating!” Nicole squealed. “Nope.” Tolani shook her head. “I’m not dating anyone.”

“What’s wrong with dating?”

“Firstly, one coffee date doesn’t mean I’m ‘dating’. ” Tolani said raising her hands to put the words dating in air quotations. “Second of all, I didn’t come all the way here to meet a boy. I have shit to do.” Tolani huffed, signalling the end of the conversation.

“You know we didn’t ask you to come out just to ask about your coffee date right?” Nicole looked at her. “We want to hang out with you and get to know you.”

“Yeah.” Kyle added. They’d crossed paths a few more times after ‘liongate’ as she was calling it. After that comment, she’d been incredibly wary of him and even though she wouldn’t call him a friend anytime soon, he was someone that Desire spent a lot of time with and because of that, she was willing to give him a chance. “We want to be here for you.”

The sentiment was sweet if not a little premature. Tolani knew that they were being nice and wanted to get to know her, but she just didn’t feel 100% comfortable around them yet. It took a while before she warmed to people, save for a certain curly-haired singer who knew more about her than anyone in the city, though that wasn’t saying much when she took into account how many people she actually knew in Toronto.

“The date with coffee boy was good.” Tolani smiled thinking back to her coffee date with Shawn and the subsequent car ride date if you could call it that. “We talked about life and music. You know casual first date stuff.”  “You said the word date!” Nicole observed winking at Tolani “And you were clearly out of your comfort zone and I for one am happy about it.” she sipped on her drink. “It was…. nice.” Tolani muttered staring at her meal as if the answers to the universe’s deepest questions were in her pasta salad. “He’s cute.” she shrugged.

“Look at you divulging information” Desire said with a raised eyebrow, “I thought I would have to threaten you for you to tell us anything.” Tolani playfully elbowed her. “I share things with you guys.”

“Yeah right.” the two girls scoffed in unison. “You actually have to be around to share things with us.” Desire noted, “And to add on to what I said earlier, it’s been donkey's years since we’ve seen you.”

“Shut up!” Tolani rolled her eyes, a small smile pulling at the corners of her mouth. It felt good to have banter like this. This was what making friends and building relationships looked and felt like. The only other person she felt like this around was Shawn and while she liked having banter with him, she knew that she couldn’t rely on that alone. She needed her own friends, people she could joke around with and be herself around.

“Oh, I was going to tell you!” Nicole screamed startling everyone at the table. “You know how you were flirting with Shawn Mendes that night?” For the second time in less than an hour, Tolani’s fork stopped halfway to her mouth. “Yeah...” she said trying to keep her tone as neutral as possible.

“Apparently he was seen riding around with a girl in his car.”  When the words hit homeTolani’s stomach dropped and she was flooded with numerous emotions, the primary ones being anger and jealousy that Shawn was with someone else. "What?!” Her and Shawn were not involved romantically and he had a right to do whatever he wanted. Tolani knew that but she couldn’t deny that the feelings were there. “When?” she asked with trepidation.

“A few days ago, here I’ll show you the photo.” Nicole took her phone out of her bag, it took a few seconds for her to pull up the photo but those seconds felt like hours. Eventually, she turned her phone around and showed everyone the photo in question. When she saw the photo, Tolani was immediately filled with relief, but that feeling was then taken over by a new one, dread. The photo Nicole was talking about, was a photo of the two of them when they were out driving, but you couldn’t tell it was her due to the angle of the photo. The comments under the photo were full of conjecture. Everyone wanted to know who the girl was. Some speculated that the girl in the photo was someone on his team, others were sure Shawn had a girlfriend, while others stated that she was just a friend. And some people were certain they knew who it was and kept name-dropping her.

The saving grace was that no one had mentioned her name. ‘Hopefully, everyone has moved on from me.’ Tolani thought making a mental note to check her Instagram comment section and DMs that she’d been purposefully ignoring.

“This is from a fan account.” Kyle noted, “You follow Shawn Mendes fan accounts?”

Nicole nodded “It’s all over social media. Shawn is notoriously single and whenever he’s with a girl, the internet goes wild. That being said, I’m a huge fan. I’m actually seeing him in a few weeks.” She then turned to Tolani “You should come with me!”

“I don’t knowww” Tolani shrugged dragging her words. “Won’t it be sold out?“ “I’m sure we’ll figure something out. Maybe you’ll run into him again.” Nicole winked, referencing their initial meeting. “Still can’t believe that happened.” Tolani felt her cheeks warming. “Yeah, it would be crazy to see him again after that night.” She hadn’t told her friends about the two separate times she’d met Shawn. She wracked her brain for anything she could use to change the topic of conversation and was eternally grateful when her phone beeped letting her know she had to leave for a seminar starting 10 minutes.  “Sorry guys, I’ve got to go, I have a seminar on microeconomics in 10.” ‘Saved by the bell.’ she thought as she picked up her bag and walked away.

——————————————————————————————-

Tolani walked into her first seminar of the school year feeling a little nervous. Lectures were easy to manoeuvre, you sat there in silence and left when it was over. Seminars were different. As far as she knew they were much smaller groups that encouraged talking. This was where she struggled. Tolani was the kind of person who only spoke when she was comfortable and there was no way she was comfortable enough to speak freely in a room filled with people she didn’t know. These were the times she wished she had a friend she could go with, alas none of the friends she did have did the same degree as her. So she sat in the back row, hoping that the class would go by without consequence and she could go about her business.

A little while later a woman walked into the room and stood by the board. “Hi my name is Kirsty Morten, but you guys can call me Kirsty and I’m going to be your seminar tutor.” she was a younger woman, much younger than Tolani anticipated, with kind eyes and a warm smile. “Okay so before we dive into microeconomics and what that is, I’m going to go over the register and try to put some names to the faces. Okay?” Her statement was met with an unenthusiastic “okay” from everyone in the room.

Kirsty then proceeded to read out the names on the register without consequence until she came to Tolani’s name. “Oh, we’ve got a hard one. Okay. Umm. Toh- Tow- Wow this is hard to pronounce.”

“I usually go by T” Tolani’s voice rang out from the back of the room. She felt everyone’s eyes on her as Kirsty said “That’s so much easier to pronounce.”  ‘I’m sure it is’ she thought mentally rolling her eyes. She knew that her name being butchered was to be expected but it didn’t make it any less jarring or cringy.

Tolani zoned out while Kirsty read out more names, that was until she heard a name she was familiar with. Her head snapped up when she heard Kirsty’s interpretation of the name. “Oh, we’ve got another difficult name here.” she chuckled nervously “Tow- uh- Toh- wow.” “Tomiwa.” he said deadpan, clearly displeased by the situation.

She scanned the room to see where the voice came from. Her eyes landed on a fade in the middle of the room, 3 rows ahead of her and even though she couldn’t see him, she felt a kinship with him. Having someone butcher your name was not fun.

The rest of the class went by without incident, it was also incredibly boring.  Introduction to Microeconomics was just that, learning about Supply and Demand and Consumer Behaviour, all the things she’d learnt about already. That meant she spent most of her time staring into space, so much so that she didn’t notice when class was over till she felt someone tap her on her shoulder. Tolani turned to find Tomiwa smiling at her, she knew it was him because she recognised his hair. He was the only one in their class with a fade so it was definitely him.

“Hi T” his voice was husky, his accent familiar. It was a lot like hers but lighter as if it was fading. “Hi. Tomiwa right?” He smiled when she pronounced his name the right way. “You don’t know how good it feels to hear someone other than my immediate family and a few friends pronounce my name correctly.”

“I know what you mean. That’s why I just go by T. It’s so much easier than having people try to pronounce your name and fail woefully.” She hadn’t told anyone why she introduced herself as T and it felt good to have someone who understood the sentiment.

“What does T mean?” he asked.

“Tolani.”

“Tolani.” he repeated nodding his head. “Tolani and Tomiwa, T & T. Now we have to be friends, I mean we're both Yoruba and the first letter of our names are the same, it’s in the constitution.” “Slow your roll.” Tolani laughed holding up her hand. “You haven’t passed the test yet. I have numerous questions.” “Oh shit! There’s a test. Alright then.”

A few minutes later the two of them were seated on one of the many conveniently placed park benches littered on the York University campus. “Are you from Lagos?” Tolani asked placing her backpack by her feet.

“I am, but  I moved here a few years ago just before high school and haven’t been back since. What about you?”

“Born and raised all my life. I only moved here just before school started.” she paused “Do you miss it?”

“Lagos?” he asked, there was a touch of sadness in his voice. “Yeah, I do. I love living in Toronto don't get me wrong, but there’s no place like home you know?” When Tolani nodded he continued “It’s hard to explain but there's something about living in Lagos. There’s this indescribable energy, almost like a sense of-”

“Chaos.” they said in unison.

“Exactly!!” Tomiwa cheered. “You get it.”

“I had to describe what Lagos was like, to someone who’s never been there and I struggled. It’s so hard to accurately describe. You have to go there and see it to understand.”

“You don’t have to explain it to me, I get it.”  

“It’s nice to talk to someone that does.” Even though they’d just met, Tolani felt a connection with Tomiwa. She’d felt out of place since she’d arrived in Toronto and it felt really good to talk to someone who understood where she was coming from.

“Okay. I have a serious question. Where can I get Nigerian food cause it’s been a hot minute since I’ve eaten Jollof rice and I need it.”

“You can’t make it?” Tomiwa said with a raised eyebrow and a sceptical tone.

“I can!” Tolani replied sounding defensive, her Jollof rice was amazing if she did say so herself. “It’s just that it takes a while and I live with other people in a pretty crowded kitchen soo.”

“Fair enough. There a restaurant called Mamaland on Lansdowne Ave. Their food is amazing. We should go some time.”

“Yes please!”

“And if you ever want to make it, you can always come round  to mine.” He gave her a small smile.

“One day I’ll take you up on that offer.” Even though his invitation was definitely on the forward side, Tolani appreciated the offer and stored it away. “Emphasis on ‘one day’ though,” she added.

“So can we consider ourselves friends now.?”

“Like is said” Tolani replied with a smirk “There’s a test.”

“Hit me”

—————————————————————————————

“I can’t believe you have never been to EatDrinkFestival* you’re cancelled!” Tolani exclaimed, shock evident on her face. “How can I be cancelled for that!” Tomiwa rolled his eyes at her. “Cause I said so.” Tolani fired back. The two looked at each other before laughing. They were currently walking out of their microeconomic seminar. They’d been spending a lot of time together since they met, having coffee together before class and even sat next to each other. It felt really good to finally have someone Tolani could truly call her friend. She considered Desire and Nicole friends but there was a disconnect there, while Tomiwa understood her from the jump. It felt like they’d been friends for years rather than a week.

“I just never got around to going before I moved.” Tomiwa shrugged. “It’s amazing!” Tolani replied. “You get to go and try so much incredible food. I’ve gone the last few years and had a great time.” There was a sense of sudden melancholy in her voice. She didn’t know when she would go home next, she hadn't talked about it with her parents. The thought of not going home for a while made her sad.

“I’m sure there’s a food festival in Toronto we could go to.”

Tolani looked at her friend and snapped out of her funk. “True, even though it won’t be the same, it’s bound to be amazing.”

Before Tomiwa could reply her phone rang the name on the screen making her smile. ‘Shawn’

“I’ve got to go.” Tolani started gathering her things. “My mum is calling.” That was the second time she’d lied to someone where Shawn was concerned and while she did feel bad about lying, there was a part of her that felt like the lies were warranted. It had been over a week she’d seen him, and communication between the two of them had been pretty sparse and seeing a call from him was a welcome surprise.

“Hi Shawn.” “Hi honey.” his voice sounded as in her ear as melodic as ever. As if she needed a reminder that even Shawn Mendes’ voice was attractive. “Honey? That’s new.” she thought. “So we’ve graduated from texts to phone calls now?”

“I mean we’ve shared music. We’re basically married.”

Tolani couldn’t help the laugh that escaped. “Speaking of music, how’s the playlist?” She’d been updating it constantly, adding more songs that she thought he would like.

“No word of a lie, I’ve pushed it on all of my friends. I can’t stop listening to it.” That was hard to imagine Shawn and his friends dancing to any of the songs in the playlist, seeing as Shawn was so against dancing as a whole. Tolani couldn’t deny that it would be hilarious and she would willingly pay money to see Shawn and his friends attempt to dance to a Davido song. “Yeah, Afrobeat has that effect on people.” she shrugged even though he couldn’t see it. “As much as I like our talks and you know I do, is there a reason for this phone call?”

“How about I just wanted to hear your voice?” Even though she couldn’t see him, she could tell that he was smirking. Tolani felt her cheeks getting warm. “Thank you Shawn, but I’m pretty sure that’s not why you called me.”

“You’re half right. I really did want to hear your voice, but I also wanted to invite you to a party I’m having on Friday night.”

“Oooh, a party.” Friday night that was two days from now.

“Whenever I’m home I like having a few people over at my place just to hang out. Nothing too crazy. Would you like to come?” Two words struck a chord with her, ‘My place’ meaning his house. If she went, she would be at his house. In his space. Her heart started beating quicker at the thought of being in his house. He was speaking but the words had blended into white noise in her ear until she heard the words “If you want.” which snapped her out of her reverie.

“Huh?”

“I said you could bring some friends I’ve if you want?” The thought of her friends being in the same space as him for an extended period of time stressed her out further, but she couldn't deny that the idea wasn’t a bad one. Tolani looked up at the sky considering the question until an idea popped into her head. “I’d love to bring a friend.” “Great!” Shawm sounded excited which in turn made her excited. “See you on Friday. Bye honey.” “Bye Shawn.”

She cut off the call and turned to Tomiwa, “How would you like to go to a party on Friday?”

——————————————————————————————-

By the time Friday had rolled around, Tolani was nervous. She didn’t know what to wear, so she decided on a black tank top and blue ripped jeans with a dark red lip, emulating a look she had on when they met.

Shawn had texted her his address and told her to come over at 9 o’clock. It was 8:45 and she was in an uber heading towards downtown Toronto. She made polite conversation with Tomiwa in the back but her mind wasn’t fully there. She was thinking about Shawn. Even though it had only been a week since she’d seen him, she was nervous to see him again, especially when she took into account the fact that she would be on his turf. Every time they’d met it had been on slightly neutral territory, even when she was in his car she felt comfortable, but being in someone’s home and car were not the same thing. She also had to take into account the fact that he would be with his friends and people had a tendency to act differently around their friends and she hoped that Shawn wasn’t like that.

Shawn lived in an apartment building close to the entertainment district. ‘Fitting,’ Tolani thought as she got out of the uber. Her and Tomiwa walked into the building and greeted the concierge and let him know that they were headed to Shawn’s apartment on the top floor. In the elevator, Tolani could hear her heart in her ears. She felt like she was going to throw up. She knew that there was no reason to feel that way but she couldn't help it.

By the time they got to Shawn's door, they could hear music, evidence that people were already there. When they got to Shawn’s door, she heard Tomiwa whistle under his breath, clearly impressed by what he’d seen of Shawn’s building. Tolani knocked on the door and they waited. While they waited, a thought crossed her mind, Tomiwa didn't know that the friend she was coming to see. He may be Shawn to her but he was still Shawn Mendes uber-famous pop star to everyone else and that was something she probably should have taken into consideration when she invited him. They waited outside and when there was no response, Tolani knocked on the door, louder than before, this time they only had to wait for a few seconds before the door opened and Shawn filled the doorway.

One thing Tolani had learnt in the short time she’d known Shawn was that he was a smiley person, that was why she wasn’t surprised when he beamed at her. He looked as gorgeous as ever in a black shirt, jeans and Chelsea boots. He wasn't even trying and he looked good.  “T! I’m so glad you’re here!” he exclaimed, as he pulled her into a hug, ‘Great.’ Tolani thought, ‘He even smells good.’ They hugged for a few seconds even though it felt like it was closer to a minute when they broke apart. Tolani turned and indicated to Tomiwa and introduced him. “Shawn, this is my friend Tomiwa, Tomiwa this is Shawn.” It was then that Shawn turned to acknowledge her guest a look flashing across his features so fast she couldn’t decipher what it was. “Hi. Thanks for coming.” he said indicating that they should both go inside.

Walking into Shawn’s apartment felt like taking a look into Shawn’s mind. It was spacious, which in and of itself wasn’t surprising when she considered where he lived and how much it probably cost. He had a piano tucked into the corner and next to it was a guitar rack that held 5 guitars which again was not surprising. Apart from that, it was a pretty standard apartment, anyone could have lived there, the colour palette was pretty neutral with shades of blue and grey scattered around, but there were elements that were obviously Shawn. He had photos that she assumed were his family as well as photos of friends that she could recognise in the room. The thing that did surprise her was his view. Shawn had a balcony with a stunning view of the Toronto skyline. She stared at it for a few seconds before the noise in the room pulled her back. It sounded like a Post Malone song.

Tolani looked around and was catapulted back to the night she met Shawn. She’d awkward and out of place with her housemates and that was how she felt surrounded by Shawn’s friends. There were easily 50 people in the room and even though that number wasn’t very high, it was enough to make her feel uneasy. She knew that bringing a friend she was comfortable around was the right move.

The two got drinks and found a quiet corner to sit on Shawn’s huge white couch, Tolani with a coke and Tomiwa with a Corona. “You didn’t tell me you knew Shawn Mendes.” he stated looking at her with a shocked look on his face. Tolani took a sip of her drink and wished that she had something stronger. “Umm, yeah we met a while ago.” “How?” “We met at a coffee shop.” It wasn’t a total lie, they had met at a coffee shop, albeit a few days after they met at the bar but she didn’t feel like that part was relevant.

“That must have been a chance encounter, especially for you guys to be so close that he invited you to his house parties.” Before Tolani could answer she heard Shawn’s voice from across the room.

“T!” Shawn yelled over the sound of the music, “There are some people I want you to meet.” Tolani looked over to her friend who waved her off. “Go and mingle I’ll be fine.” She walked over toward the kitchen, it was a state of the art kitchen with an electric hob and an island that Shawn was leaning on. As she entered the space Tolani couldn’t help but think about how easy it would be to cook in that kind of kitchen and she wondered how often Shawn used it. “Here she is.” he said indicating to 3 of his friends when she was within earshot.

“Guys this is T. T this is, Brian and Jon. The one whose face is obscured by the camera is Connor.” “Hi.” Tolani waved somewhat awkwardly. “So you’re T, we’ve heard so much about .” Brain announced. He was almost as tall as Shawn and had red hair and mischievous eyes. “He hasn’t stopped talking about you.”  Jon added. Much like Shawn, he had eyes that seemed to smile at her and she instantly felt comfortable around him.

The only person who hadn’t spoken was Connor. He looked like he was half paying attention to what was being said as he was more engrossed in the footage he had recorded. Connor was stunning he easily could’ve been a model and Tolani wouldn’t have been surprised if he was, he just had one of those faces.

“Shawn hasn’t stopped talking about you.” Brian teased at which point Connor nodded. Tolani turned to Shawn with a raised eyebrow and saw him blushing profusely.

“Really?”

“Oh yeah! Every single day since the day you met.” She turned back to Shawn who had gone an even deeper shade of red.  “Anyway!” Shawn interjected in an attempt to change the conversation. “T is the one who made that really sick playlist I’ve been listening to!”

“I knew Shawn didn’t make that playlist on his own! He has good taste in music but its not that good!” Jon quipped. “Thanks” Tolani beamed, “I just added a bunch of songs from back home that I thought he would like.”  

“And where is home?”

“I’m from Lagos in Nigeria. Currently in Toronto for school.”

“Really? I don’t know anyone from Nigeria.”

“Yeah, I didn’t think you would.” Tolani laughed.

The four of them talked with Brian telling stories from his and Shawn’s friendship. They’d been friends since they were kids and seeing them like that made Tolani miss her childhood friend Folasade. She made a note to call her as they hadn’t spoken in a while.

While she was talking to Jon about his music, she heard familiar lyrics that put a smile on her face.

“She take my money when I’m in need, Yeah she’s a triflin’ friend indeed. Oh, she’s a gold digger, way over town that digs on me.”

She looked at Shawn and he also had a smirk on his face and she knew that he remembered the night they met where they had argued about what Kanye album was the best. “Don’t start with me.” she warned. “Only because you know that you’re wrong.” he stated, clearly trying to bait her.

Tolani rolled her eyes at him and decided to follow along with the song. By the time she got to the second verse, everyone in the room was screaming the lyrics.

“If you ain’t no punk, holla “We want prenup! We want prenup!” (Yeah!)”

After the song ended Tolani decided to switch her drink to something stronger. She noticed that Shawn had Hennesy and poured a shot for herself then mixed it with coke. It was a safe bet as far as drinks were concerned and she had a feeling she would need it tonight.

Shawn came up beside her. “Having fun?” She looked up at him and gave him a small nod. “Where is your friend?” “Not sure. Probably socialising which is more than I can say for me” she replied lifting the red solo cup to her mouth, the beaded bracelets on her wrists jiggling with the motion.

“You talked to my friends and now you’re talking to me, I’d say that counts as socialising.”

“Look at me being a social butterfly.” Tolani replied, holding the rim of the cup in her between her teeth.

She was about to ask him why he had invited her when the song changed and all her thought skid to a halt. A Burna Boy song was playing, more specifically, it was her favourite Burna Boy song. He was playing one of her favourite songs at his party filled with people who had no idea what song it was. She looked around and noticed that there were some confused expressions but for the most part, everyone seemed to like the song.

Tolani whirled to face Shawn her mouth agape. “You’re playing Burna Boy right now!” He smiled at her and nodded. “I am” “You mean to tell me that Shawn Mendes is playing Nigerian music at his party right now?!”

“Yes he is.”

Of all the things that she had expected, this was not one of them. She wanted to say something but someone one the other side of the room called him. He looked at her apologetically before walking off to see what the person needed, clearly in host mode.

Tolani stayed where she was swaying from side to side enjoying the music that she had introduced him to. When the song ended and another one started, Tomiwa came up to her looking just as energetic as she felt. “Shawn Mendes listens to Nigerian music?” “Apparently so!”

“Okay, we have to dance. Can you shaku shaku?”**

Tolani gave him a look that said “You have to be joking” and started dancing, in a split second Tomiwa joined her, the two of them perfectly in sync. Within seconds there was a crowd of people around them, trying to imitate the dance but failing woefully. Brian and Jon had asked Tolani to teach them and she tried but it wasn’t a success. She couldn’t stop laughing watching Brian flail his hands about completely offbeat. Jon was better nailing the footwork but he was having trouble following the song, clearly paying too much attention to what he was doing rather than the song that was playing.

Shawn had come back and was watching them a smile on his face, but the look he had on his face when he opened the door was back and just like before, it was gone before she could pick up on what it was.

Tolani walked up to him and stared up at him, looking him in the eye, “Do you want to dance?” she asked. “I already told you, I hate dancing.” he chuckled. “It doesn’t have to be that kind of dance.” she pointed over her shoulder indicating to Tomiwa who was now attempting to teach everyone another dance that clearly wasn’t working.

“Nope. I hate any kind of dancing.” he shook his head. “Fair enough.” Tolani shrugged. “Can I talk to you outside?” “Sure.” Before heading to the balcony, they stopped by the kitchen where the drinks were situated. Shawn refilled her drink and grabbed another Corona, then they made their way outside. The view from inside Shawn’s apartment had nothing on the view from the outside.

“Wow.”

“It really is an incredible view.”

“Are you used to it?”

“Truthfully? I don’t think so. I’m barely home, so when I do come home, the view takes my breath away.” he sounded wistful, probably because he was thinking about all the travel he had done and was yet to do.

“And that’s CN tower?” Tolani pointed to the sizeable structure that dominated the Toronto skyline. “Yeah it is.” he nodded. “I think it’s amazing that you’re learning about my city.” “Well it’s my city now too.” she quipped.

After a few seconds of comfortable silence, Shawn spoke “I know asked before but I’ll ask again, having fun?” She nodded again more enthusiastically than before. The change in music had upped her mood. “I am. More so because you played music from my playlist.” she paused. “That- that was really thoughtful.”

“I am super thoughtful.” he declared wiggling his eyebrows at her.

“Shawn is every conversation we have going to involve your ego.?” she teased rolling her eyes playfully. “No, but I like fucking with you.” “I can tell.” she smirked.

The silence returned but this time it was different, there was an energy in the air that wasn’t there before, it was almost tangible. Shawn took a step closer to her, and her breath hitched. “T, I know I’m probably being really presumptuous right now but I wanted to tell you that I really like you.” his voice had dropped an octave and sounded huskier than usual. Tolani could feel her cheeks warming, and could’ve sworn she could hear heartbeat pick up. He was closer than he had ever been and she didn’t want him to move away. “I really like you too.” she replied. He saw a smile break out on his face as he leaned forward. Tolani’s eyes fluttered closed as she leaned up to meet him halfway, she could feel his breath on her face as they closed the distance between them.

Before their lips touched she heard her name “Tolani!” Tomiwa’s voice rang out snapping them back to reality. She turned to see him crossing the threshold onto the balcony. Tolani felt her face warm and she backed away from Shawn who was looking everywhere but her.

“Hey Tolani! Hey Shawn!” Tomiwa waved clearly more than a tipsy and unaware that he had just interrupted something. “Hi Tomiwa.” Tolani said, willing her heart rate to slow down. “Great party man.” he turned to Shawn who clearly unamused but was hiding it under a mask of calm. “Thanks.” Shawn replied.

At that moment, Tolani felt like she needed to leave. Her mind was running in different directions and she knew she couldn’t sort through her thoughts with Shawn in close proximity. She turned to him and gave him an apologetic smile. “I think it’s time for me to go.” her voice sounding a lot smaller than it did prior to the interruption She saw the look on his face as he nodded giving her a small smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “I understand.”

During the car ride, Tolani couldn’t help but think about what had happened on the balcony. ‘What would have happened if Tomiwa hadn’t walked out’. Even though she was largely disappointed by the distraction, there was a part of her that was a little relieved. She knew how she felt about Shawn and was positive that he felt the same way but there was something that was stopping her from facing her feelings head-on.

She pulled her phone from her pocket and sent Shawn a text

Tolani: Thanks so much for an amazing night. I had a lot of fun. Sorry about the interruption. Maybe next time?

She locked her phone and put it back in her pocket without checking to see if he had replied.

Taglist

@justbeingoceana @rulerofnocountry @dazedshawnm @speakingofmari

@thotmendes @sinplisticshawn @mani-lifes @bugheadfanatic @shawnssnack @sean-mendezzzzz @dimestorebieber22 @anxious-bi-bb @kyloreins @momenraul @andibecamethestars​ @eve134340 @muffinnmendesss @pinkk-peonies​ @jxnellemxnae

Let me know if you want to be added or taken off

*The EatDrinkFestival is a food festival held in Lagos every year in December. It’s amazing!

** Shaku Shaku is a dance really popular in Nigeria and Africa as a whole. 

[moogiwarah]

Yaoi/Shounen-ai ヾ(≧∇≦*)ゝ

I won’t be updating this post anymore hehe instead, newly read BL will be posted here (under the tag ‘rec’). Happy reading!

SHOUNEN-AI MANHWA

💖•Star x Fanboy (ongoing) -cUTE ASF ?! AS IIIIN ?! BOTH THE STORY AND ARTWORK 😭💜 HUHU IBABATO KO CP KO GANON AKO KAKILIG SAKANYA. MUST READ ISTG ANG CUUUTE 😩. 

💖•Fools (completed) -  A reeeeeaally good read!  💘 like,, saglitan ‘to sa’kin and I’m sad that it’s over :(((((((((( The seme is my dream guy,, actually i think he’s every girl’s dream guy, he’s so good. ✊️😞💯💜 (this is my wallpaper atm, they’re so cute talaga). 

💖•Heesu In Class 2 (completed) -😍👌💜✊️😩💘 cute and so pure im,,, ugH orz. Nung natapos ko season 1 I fell in love with the story,, like PROTECT THEM OK THEY’RE SO FLUFFY AND PURE TALAGA aksjsdhjkjh

•What Lies at the End (completed)-parang nanood ka ng short series 👌 good character and plot development. 

•Raising a Bat (completed) -LIKE WATCHING A KDRAMA PRAMISSSS good sht esp. sa mga bandang dulo,, deals with realistic problems 💯👌.  /becomes a little mature as it progresses/

•Unripened Expression (completed)-FOHTA LONG HAIR NG MC DITO NAKAKALOKA! Cute graphics! 👀

•A Man Like You (completed) -THE ART 👌✨ ngl the seme is shady pero it's pretty damn interesting 👀 

•Can't Take My Eyes Off You (completed) -ANG KDRAMA DIN NG DATING NETO SKL HAHAHA. It looks promising 👀👀 

• 💖 For Your Love (ongoing)-VERY FLUFFY. I thought it was quite boring and nagagaguhan ako sa MC nung una pERO UGH IM SO GLAD I CONTINUED READING IT IS SO SWEET HUHU

💖•Meeting Him (completed)- tHIS IS A CUUUUUUUUUUTE ONE. Especially the seme :(( the plot is clearly inspired from Kdramas, royal person from the past is suddenly transported to present day. However, despite it being completed maraming unresolved things abt the story in the end, yun lang downside for me haha. 

•My Starry Sky (completed)-  A dramatic slice of life. It is veeeeery emotional. It is about two childhood friends and the progression of their friendship and feelings towards e/o. Not the usual na pampakilig type of romance but still a nice read nonetheless! 

MANHUA

💖•19 Days (ongoing, shounen ai) -A CLASSIC 💯😂👌 the side couple MAKES ME SCREAAAAM ANG CUTE TALAGA NILA HAH JUST LOOK  👀 HUHU

💖•Cry For Me (ongoing, yaoi) -ANG CUTE NG ART TAPOS PATI YUNG CHARACTERS HUHU THEY ARE SO PRECIOUS AND CHILL AND THIS IS A VERY NICE READ TALAGA :(( 💜 

💖 •Men’s Wear Store and “Her Royal Highness” (ongoing, shounen ai) -HOYYY ANG CUTE NETO EWAN KO BA? TRIP NA TRIP KO ‘TOOOO HUHUHU CUTIE NILA GRABEHHH,, im not a fan of crossdressing pero this story made me see the light! hahaha pls read if u can it is really good 💜

💖 •Here U Are (ongoing, shounen ai,,, for now? haha)-The art is soooooo fcking good ?? ugh 👌 yung story din? it is  👌 👌 👌 BACK THEN DI KO MASYADO TRIP TO TBH,, PERO NGAYONG BINASA KO YUNG LATEST CHAPTERS I FELL IN LOVE HUHUHUHU PLEASE READ THIS, THIS IS SOOOO GOOD :(( 💜

asldjhasjkas in case u didn’t notice, lahat ng manhuas na nabasa ko love na love ko. i think the chinese peeps have a talent for creating great yaoi (art + story) ganon huhu ok skl

WEBTOON (all shounen-ai)

💖•That Awkward Magic! (ongoing)-aNG CUTE NG DALAWANG ITO AAAAAAA 💜 💜 💜 , one of the works wherein the seme is really, very, truly, boyfriend material. Dream boy ganon /sighs/ 

•My Weird Roommate (ongoing) -yeeeees hit me with that cliche trope, we all need cliches 

🔞👀 manhwa

💖•Killing Stalking (completed)-SO FUCKED UP BUT SO DAMN GOOD GRABE 😩👌 NO WORDS NEEDED 💯 i cried at the last chapter :))

💖•Youjin (completed)-Such a good but short read! HAHAHAHA idk man nagenjoy ako dito ng bongga,, the only problem is that kokonti chapters and it’s already completed huhu. Highly suggested! 💜 

• 💖 Love Is An Illusion (ongoing)-ABO dynamics! kala ko sa fanfics ko lang 'to makikita lol and the artwork is niiiiice! 👀👌 

• 💖 Sign (ongoing)-The story is about a deaf cafe owner and a guy who has,,, like,,, a fetish for the deaf cafe owner’s voice akdjaskdh. It’s new and interesting 💜 

•Window Beyond Window (completed)-GRABEH TOH ANOH,, BASTA MALALAMAN NIYO DIN BAKIT GANYAN REACTION KO WHEN U READ IT HAHAHAHA GRABEH PO TALAGAH ARAW ARAW SILA HAHAHAHA. This is like a prequel to “Room to Room”

•How Sweet is a Sugar Daddy? (completed) -THE DIALOGUES ARE SOOOOOOOOOO GOOD. Nakailang screenshots ako dito. And,, idk ha para saken ang hot nung seme, like one of the hottest 😩🔥

• 💖 BJ Alex (completed) -weLllLlL ang fanfic ng dating nito (i mean,,, handsome camboy is a campus crush? dibUH hahaha)

•Lover Boy (completed)- ISANG TELESERYE,, DAMING PINAGDAANAN HAHAHA,, oh and Eunho (a main character) reminds me of Jungkook,, just sayin 👀 isa din tong gRaBeHh btw lol

•From Points of Three (completed)-Mej madrama yung seme at uke dito, ewan ko sa kanila dami nilang alam HAHAHA,, but it’s entertaining lmaO. (there’s a threesome here, not too much tho, light lang. This ain’t polyamory tho, pero if di niyo trip yun, ayan nawarn ko na kayo haha) 

•I'm Yours, Blood and Soul (completed) -type ko 'to, basta type ko siya hahaha it's an easy read for me hehe cutie 

•My Last Love Scenario (completed) -Established relationship!! I read this before the prequel so mej bobo ako don hakhak. prequel

•Wolf in the House (ongoing) -BEXAN! 💜 SIBERIAN HUSKY! uwu

•Make Me Bark (completed) -a lighthearted read,, typical yaoi with good graphics u know hahaha

💖Totally Captivated -  AHHHHH this manhwa got mE totally captivated grrrr. A yaoi that ACTUALLY works well with action. This is great if you want a lengthy read na di ka mabibitin! 

manga (mostly 🔞)

💖•Ten Count -wooooop 👉👉👀👀👌👌 chos di lang yon ofc the plot got me hooked too, this is rly good!

💖•Life Senjou no Bokura (completed) -UMIYAK AKO BRUH DI KO INEXPECT YON 😭  I CRYYYYYY SHEEEEEEEEET MUST READ IT'S BEAUTIFUL PRAMIS U WON’T REGRET READING THIS 😭👌💜

💖•Honto Yajuu (ongoing)- I LOVE THIIIIS GRABEE (icon ko sila d2 sa tumblr so halata naman jadhasdkh) THEY’RE SO PRECIOUS 😢 💜 ❤️🧡💛  My all time fave yaoi manga talaga (as of now)!! hehehe. As in, idk tuwang tuwa ako sa couple na ‘to because they show such a loving and healthy relationship hehe.

💖•Yatamomo- pROTECT THIS COUPLE EWAN KO HA MOMO IS...UGHHHHH 😢💜 Comedy but if u look closer grabe basta huhu it might seem like comedy and sex pero sHUCKS SILA I LOVED THIS 🧡💛

💖•Fushidara na Hanatsumi Otoko (completed)- This features a good relationship, likeable characters, and is very pleasing to read so it’s sad to know na mej underrated to huhu 😢💜 A very good read!! 💛

💖•Gunjou no Subete- slightly painful but my heart felt fULL after reading this ahhhhh 💜

•Labradorescence- A doctor and a photographer, ahh yes, slice of life of two adults uwu

•Kocchi Muite Waratte- Co-workers!! Cute confessions and relatable inner dialogues!  💜

•No.6 -A plot heavy story na di super focused on romance,, BUT IT’S THERE AND THEY LOVE EACH OTHER AND THE PLOT IS GOOD SOOOO yeah it’s a good read!

•Super Lovers -aAaAaAH Ren the cutie pie uwu,, for those who are bothered by age gaps,, this ain’t for u lol. Also this is (kinda) slow burn! For those who don’t know what that is igoogle niyo nalang hahaha basta ayon, more on slice of life siya,, as in showing the daily lives of the characters etc. etc.

•Konya mo Nemurenai -CUTIE NILAAAA 💜 THERE'RE DEMONS IN THIS MANGA AND THEY CHILL AF COZ..u know,, manga.

sequel: 

•Jackass! -A fun and easy read hehehe and idk ha trip ko pagka drawing sa characters 👀👌

💖•Sasaki to Miyano (ongoing)-  I AM IN LOOOOVE WITH THIS MANGA!! I LOVE IT WITH A PASSION 🔥💜 para siyang typical na tropahan ng guys sa anime bUT WITH ROMANCE,, yung SHOUJO MANGA type na romance huhuhu a must read! Warning tho, matagal tagal mag update :(( 

💖•Yoidore Koi o Sezu (completed, yaoi)-  Saglitan sa’kin ‘to hahaha, it is very very very nice! Good romance, good sex, good story, aHhhh a good read! 💜

💖•Shiba-kun to Sheperd-san (ongoing, yaoi)-  tHERE IS A CUTE DOG HERE GRABE GRRRR. PATI YUNG MAGJOWA DITO VV CUTIEEE. Kaso another one na mabagal bagal magupdate zzz but still! A cute read! uwu 

💖•Sayonara Alpha (completed, yaoi)- ABO!Dynamics mej nakaka loka siya kasi parang kakatok na yung FBI maya maya sa pintuan habang binabasa ko ‘to asldjnanskjdadjjasjk. but don’t worry! hindi siya (totally) shotacon! AND I ACTUALLY LIKED HOW UNIQUE IT IS EWAN OK NAGENJOY AKO HAHAHA BASTA BASAHIN NIYO TO KNOW WHY TF IT IS SO UNIQUE HAHAHA. 

💖•Itsuka koi ni naru made (ongoing, yaoi)- i think i have a thing for unrequited love between best friends asldjaskjdhadh. Ok ang cliche nito tbh pero iDK WE ALL NEED CLICHES EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE AND THIS IS A GOOD ONE hehez. 

This has a sequel, and apparently it’s good! at nakakaloka completed ang sequel pero yung prequel hindi grr (di ko pa nababasa coz habang inuupdate ko to tsaka ko lang nalaman lmao): 

•Kazoku Ni Narouyo (mangarock says it’s ongoing, but mangago says it’s completed sO don ako sa completed HAHAHA)

💖•Usagi Otoko Tora Otoko (completed)- HOY ANG PURE NITO. VERY WHOLESOME. GRABE MY HART OK. The couple is so precious and cute huhu PLEASE READ THIS IT IS GOOD FOR UR HEART :”(( 💜

•Hatsukoi- The characters OBVIOUSLY look like kageyama and hinata, pero since the author used different names, hindi ko siya icoconsider na doujinshi out of respect hahaha. NAPUYAT AKO NETO COZ IT WAS INTERESTING AF. 

💖 •(haikyuu!dj) Pinky Promise with My Boyfriend the King (completed, shounen ai) -BASAHIN MO FUUUUUUUUUUUKK SO MUCH MOE DLADASFASJDLASKJDAS

•(haikyuu!dj) Hatsukoi Combat (one-shot, shounen ai)-AAAH ANG CUTE POTEK I LOVE KAGEHINA SO MUCH OK I HAD TO 😭

•(haikyuu!dj) Tatoeba (one-shot, shounen ai), -FAVE PAIRING KO TALAGA KUROKEN SKL OK I LOVE THEM KASO DI GANUN KARAMI FANFICS and DOUJINSHI NILA :(( (one-shot)

•(haikyuu!dj) Precious Inversion (one-shot, shounen ai) -AAH another cute one ugH KageHina is precious af ok,, appreciate ✊️😩 

I hope you found something to your liking! 💜 Again, I will no longer be updating this post but for my new recommendations, I’ll be posting it under the tag: ‘rec’. Happy reading! 🙆💋

[gulfish]

2, 3, 4, 7, 8!

FThese are good questions jo 👀👀👀

This might be a lot so i'm just gonna break it here

Fun meta asks for writers.

Tell us about what you're most looking forward to writing – in your current project, or a future project.

Hands down, I'm most excited for season 3 of The Thief Returns (Status Quo)! I can't say it in detail but there's a part that me and my beta have been waiting for for a long time (like before I even started posting).

As for future projects, I couldn't really sleep last night because i was thinking of an Owlet fic.

What is that one scene that you’ve always wanted to write but can’t be arsed to write all of the set-up and context it would need? (consider this permission to write it and/or share it anyway)

I'm actually kinda wrestling with this one rn, I have a really good (and angsty) idea for a carulia fic i'm writing, but i'm having some trouble dealing with all the prior stuff. Dunno if it'll ever see the light of day though... Long story short, Carmen unintentionally draws a bit too much attention to Julia and a VILE assassin hunts them both down.

Share a sentence or paragraph from your writing that you’re really proud of (explain why, if you like)

I've got a few things I'm really pretty proud of! Technically it's 2 paragraphs, but since I'm still not sure whether i'm ever gonna post the fic at all i figure why not.

Devineaux made a noncommittal grunt before slumping back against the Blanton-Webster, and Julia returned her attention to the building. The sandstone façade granted many opportunities for a skilled climber to scale, but still all the windows remained shut and undamaged. Her eyes traced the strong architectural lines to the top, making note of the ornate details along the way. Julia was not the most knowledgeable of historical architecture, but she could not help but appreciate the blend of neoclassical and rococo styles unique to Nantes – Nantais Baroque, if she remembered right. Of course, any attempts to discuss the intricacies of the effect that western trade had on Nantes’ eighteenth-century architecture were brushed aside in favor of theories of Carmen’s evil schemes or simply silence.

Truthfully, Julia was tired of waiting – she had been for the past two hours – but Carmen gave Julia her word, and she’d be damned if she didn’t believe it. But even she had a breaking point, and it was rapidly approaching.

It just makes me feel smart!

I'm also really proud of s3e3, but I can't really post that without giving a whole lot away.

What do you think are the characteristics of your personal writing style? Would others agree?

Dialogue. Man, sometimes that feels like all I can really do! I write like i talk, and the characters just kinda have voices in my head. Honestly sometimes it feels like all i'm doing is transcribing a show i'm watching rather than writing stories. I know you know what's up Jo, you told me this one already.

Other than that, I'm not entirely sure. In terms of more narrative characteristics, I think I just like humor? Not always overt jokes being said by characters, but funny plots and actions. Like in my CS/TOH crossover, Carmen painstakingly works out that she's in Norway, completely missing the mushrooms with literal teeth. I dunno, i think that's pretty funny.

Is what you like to write the same as what you like to read?

Yes and no. I like hurt/comfort, but i tend to stay away from writing it because i never really feel like i can do it justice. I would if i could, but that's just not where i am yet.

that being said i also don't really like smut, reading or writing, so don't expect that from me any time soon.

[thatoctokittenclutchinganotebook]

Star Trek Secret Santa 2017

My gift for @radioactive-violet in the @startreksecretsanta. Sorry it’s so late! I hope you enjoy it. Thanks to @mwahahahahahahaa for helping me with this. 

Game Night (link to Ao3)  

Michael was unsure of what to expect. The party had been difficult enough, but amongst crowds she could at least keep to herself if she wished. With only a small group of senior officers and Tilly, it would be difficult to remain engaged. She had researched common games and recreational activities, but she was not experienced in playing them, and there was too wide a variety for it to be possible to research them all. Everyone had been asked to bring a game they knew, so Michael was bringing Kal-Toh, but it’s focus on logic and strategy might not be what was expected. From the data she’d studied, strategic games such as chess were less common at a game night than those involving public humiliatio, n or consumption of alcoholic beverages. The attendees, as Michael had been informed, would be Doctor Culber, Lieutenant Stamets, Commander Saru, Lieutenant Tyler, Cadet Tilly, and herself. Any interaction between herself and Saru was likely to be tense, and she knew little of Doctor Culber, but she was comfortable with Sylvia and Ash. The game night was also happening in Michael and Tilly’s shared quarters, meaning Michael also had to contend with her private space being invaded. Tilly had ordered her out two hours ago so she could make preparations, and Michael was a little concerned about what she would find upon her return. She arrived outside at the same time as Saru, who eyed her suspiciously. That was not out of the ordinary. They had never been friends, not even when they served on the Shenzhou, and Michael’s mutiny meant that Saru would likely never trust her again. There was little she could do about that. They seemed to have developed a sort of truce, but it seemed unlikely for their relationship to improve beyond that. Michael opened the door, belatedly realising it may have been a good idea to knock as Tilly let out a sound of surprise, hurriedly turning to see who had entered. She smiled with relief to see it was just Michael, then looked slightly alarmed as Saru entered behind her. Michael deduced that Tilly was not entirely finished with the preparations. “Michael! And… Commander Saru! Would you like a drink? I’ve got alcohol from several different star systems, and I’ve been experimenting with cocktails-” “I would prefer not to imbibe alcohol.” Saru said smoothly, eyeing Michael. “It can have… undesirable effects on my ability to predict danger.” Tilly blinked. “Oh. Of course. But you’re not in danger here, so, I mean, if you wanted to? Not that I’m trying to pressure you, I just-” Michael knew Saru was trying to avoid saying he was uncomfortable being uninhibited around her. To say so would make Tilly feel awkward. “Perhaps Commander Saru is thinking of what happened at the last social event this crew had.” Michael suggested. “The party was not as safe as we might have thought.”Saru inclined his head. “While it seems highly unlikely that Harry Mudd will resurface, I would far rather not have my judgement impeded.” “Oh. Okay. Would you like water? Tea? Any kind of non alcoholic drink? I have plenty of those too. I can even make you a non alcoholic cocktail if you want, sir.” Tilly was clearly very eager for the evening to go well. Michael spoke again. “I would be willing to try one of your cocktails.”Tilly beamed, and moved towards where she’d set up the cocktails, starting to ramble excitedly about the different types. “I have several recipes, and I’ve made up a few. This one’s Purple Rain, and this is a Pina Colada. I’ve also have Mojitos, and Long Island Iced Tea’s. They’re all different, with different flavours. Which would you like?” Michael wasn’t sure. She didn’t know much about any of those cocktails. “Why don’t you pick one that you think I’d like? Or your own favourite?” Michael asked. “I don’t have much experience with cocktails.”Tilly smiled. “Do you like pineapples and coconut? The Piña Colada seems to have worked best so far.” Michael nodded. “I will try that one, then.” Tilly beamed again, before turning to pout Michael a glass of the creamy cocktail. She sipped it cautiously. The flavour was pleasant, but she was sure there was more alcohol in it than was apparent. The last thing she wanted to do was become inebriated. Just as Tilly served Saru a glass of water, the doors opened to admit Dr Culber and Lieutenant Stamets. Michael hadn’t spent a lot of time with Dr Culber, but she had a good deal of respect for his skills. Lieutenant Stamets had changed a lot in the short time Michael had known him, which she was attributing to the changes in his DNA that enabled the jumps. She had grown to like him, much as she had grown to like Tilly. She hoped that they would both become friends, though she knew her future was still uncertain. Then again, nobody could be certain of what their futures would bring. Case in point: Lieutenant Ash Tyler. A few months ago, he undoubtedly believed he would spend the rest of his life in a Klingon prison, and that his life would not be long. Instead, he was now a senior, trusted officer aboard the Discovery. Life was full of surprises. She took another sip of the cocktail. She wondered how long it would take for the alcohol to take effect. A few hours later, the game night was in full swing. Michael had brought Kal-Toh, and Tilly and Stamets had rapidly turned the entire point of the game upside down by making it a drinking game. To Michael's surprise, she was enjoying it. She was also winning, though Lieutenant Stamets was proving a challenging opponent. Saru had also been very good at the game, but he had retired from it to play a Kelpian game with Ash and Dr Culber. Tilly was watching from Michael's bed. Why she was sitting on Michael's bed and not her own was unclear. Michael made the finishing move to complete Kal-Toh and the model formed perfectly. Stamets smiled. Tilly suddenly sat up straight. “Ooh!” She said excitedly. “We should play a classic human game. Twister! Or monopoly!”As she explained the rules to Twister, Saru shook his head. “I would rather sit that one out.” “Monopoly, then.”Tilly  said happily. “That will be fun.” Fun was not the word Michael would have chosen to describe it. Fifteen minutes in, everybody just seemed frustrated and even angry, but they were engaged. Michael had come up with a strategy early. Most of them, she thought, would aim to collect only specific colours of property. If she bought as much property as possible, she would be able to both block the others from collecting the colours, and trade whatever she needed to make a monopoly for herself. Unfortunately she was not the only one with this strategy. Tilly was drunk enough to be deciding what to purchase completely at random. Saru was eyeing her suspiciously and buying very cautiously. Tyler had caught on to Michael’s strategy and was exactly the same thing, and Culber and Stamets were alternating between working together to infuriate the others and competing for the same properties.Michael had hoped to never find herself in jail again, but it seemed that the dice were conspiring to land her there. Not that that was possible, of course, but it still seemed odd that Michael was spending so much time there. She’d noticed Saru smirking each time, lips twitching upwards as she picked up a card stating ‘Go directly to jail’. Tilly was surprisingly doing quite well, despite her current state of inebriation. She didn’t seem to be pursuing a specific strategy, but had ended up with the cards everyone seemed to land on most by pure chance. Lieutenant Tyler was the first to become bankrupt, or close to it. He paused on his go, about to have to declare bankruptcy. Then, he turned to Michael. “I’ll sell you all my properties for $1.” He offered. She raised an eyebrow, noting his strategy. By selling his properties to her, despite the fact he would lose, she would gain an advantage against Tilly. It may not be enough for her to win, but it could help. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, so to speak. She accepted and handed over a dollar. Stamets was the next to declare bankruptcy. He sold all his properties to Dr Culber, though, meaning Michael did not gain anything from the action. Dr Culber then gave his properties to Saru when he bowed out. Somehow, despite this maneuvering, Tilly was still in the lead. Now it was down to the three of them. Saru, Michael and Tilly. It was clear by this point, as Tilly built house after house, hotel after hotel, that Michael was not going to win without help, and neither would Saru. It was time for a sacrifice. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few- and although it wasn’t a need, precisely, everyone else in that room wanted to beat Tilly, who was crowing uninhibitedly over her pile of cash. Saru was never going to help Michael win. She knew that. So, for the purpose of victory over Tilly, she turned to him. “I will sell you all my properties for $1.” Saru seemed surprised. This was not what anyone had expected. Even Stamets looked shocked. Tilly laughed. Michael knew that Saru would not want to owe her anything, even in something as silly as a game. She hoped he would believe that it was not a manipulation. His threat ganglia were not indicating a threat. Slowly, he nodded and held out a dollar. Silently, Michael passed him her collection of property cards. Tilly stared open-mouthed, then shook herself. “Did I have more to drink than i thought?” She murmured. “Probably.” Michael said honestly. “Oh look, I’ve landed on one of saru’s properties. I can’t quite afford to pay rent. I’ll have to give him the rest of my money and declare bankruptcy.” “Still not gonna beat me.” Tilly said, hardly coherently. “I’m gonna have all the monopolies.”In the end, it was a draw. It turned out that the entirety of the senior staff were no match for a drunk and uninhibited sylvia Tilly. Tilly’s collapse into semi-unconsciousness heralded the end of the evening. The others left, some with friendly wishes, Ash with a reluctant grin, and Saru with a cool and slightly awkward nod. Michael gently brought Tilly round. “Hey. Hey, Cadet, wake up.” Tilly mumbled something indecipherable.“Eyes forward, Cadet.” Tilly jumped a little and stared at Michael, eyes bleary. Michael held out a glass of water. “Drink this, and then you can go back to sleep.” Tilly obediently sipped from the glass. As she finished and Michela took the glass away, she gazed in confusion at the monopoly pieces scattered on the floor. “Did it already happen? Who won?” Michael smiled. Alcohol truly had a very strange effect. She didn’t know why anyone would want to be in this condition, but she could not deny that the evening had been fun. “Yes. It was good. Everyone enjoyed it. And you won.” Of course. She added silently. Tilly was unbeatable. Tilly smiled and fell asleep. Michael sat there for a moment. She hadn’t expected to enjoy it. She hadn’t expected to find friends here on the Discovery. Life truly was a strange thing. 

[mistralrunner]

Running Reads Oathbringer: Part III.II

So many awesome things going on as well as terribly concerning things I love this book so much.

Spoilers for pages 606-685 below.

Aaaaa there's a map!

A map

Sure The Stormlight Archive has had plenty of excellent maps but I think this is the first time they've had a detailed city map like this?

I'm so excited

I’m just going to stare at this map with joy for a while don’t mind me

Hmm what was Szeth's route through the palace during the prologue now that we have an actual map

Ooh they have a theater square

I feel like I should remember who Lanacin is given there's a monument

I'm intrigued by the Impossible Falls. Do they fall upward?

Well someone's being snarky about the gem time capsule

Huh the burdening the city with refugees strategy helps with sneaking in at least

Ah Unmade is a pretty good explanation for the wrongness

Wonder which one we'll get this time

Shallan's drawings are an Unmade detector?

So Shallan made Elhokar look somewhat reminiscent to his sister

Have we ever seen Jasnah and Elhokar interact cause they are siblings

How much do they interact?

Again Tarah is mentioned, when will we get this backstory

Well I suspected they'd spend time gathering intelligence. Can't waste that beautiful city map

Yes let Adolin and Kaladin be friends

Ah of course it would have been too easy to walk into the city

Yeah, there really isn’t a command structure it's this weird awkward place between a strike team and a DnD party

Heh Kaladin empathizing with the guard dealing with Elhokar

Ah Voidbringers of course we need yet another complication in getting through the door or rather a way to get in

Aaaa the conflict between staying incognito and wanting to protect

Battlefield tactics versus war tactics and Kaladin's knowledge vs Adolin's is kind of nice

This city is unsettling to say the least

Eerie spren parade and the spren are wrong

Pfft the person Adolin trusts with his life or more is his tailor that is perfect

Also is this why Sanderson said Adolin is going to wear something other than his uniform this book

Why did the Radiants abandon Urithiru? Was this before or part of the Recreance?

Shallan are you okay there. I mean I know you're not in general but punching oneself in the face doesn't feel like a healthy reaction

Oh she's trying to experiment with attracting spren

Elhokar I'm pretty sure it didn't take a dark spren for Aesudan to execute an ardent who insulted her

Shallan no not the scissors self harm isn't good even for scholarship

I wonder where the other Unmade were deposited

I'm guessing Purelake which has a plague, Horneater Peaks cause Song mentioned there was something wrong there, and maybe Shinovar just cause that'd be interesting. And maybe one’s chilling on Aimia.

Yeah I'd say something's wrong if you don't notice your own city is rioting

Oh Elhokar you sweet summer child your wife is a horrible person

Shallan don't you dare do something embarrassing to your party members.

The palace is going to be fun with all these people not returning classic

Like I'm amused at Shallan's dedication to science but also really concerned for her

The Cult of Moments? Oh lovely we have cultists too

Well that alarm spren explains the lack of communication and is more interesting than just Voidbringers magically block the signal.

Yikes though fabrials in general not working anymore

I'm really scared about anyone going into the palace

Pattern I agree Shallan telling her group about Veil is progress and frankly saves a lot of trouble since the illusions already would have hinted at it

I'm glad these records are candid. Also Aimia has hidden undersea caverns too I want to know more of that place as

What is it that makes fabrials different enough that they both have side effects in the case of soulcasters and attract these yellow spren. For the latter is it because of the spren captive since it seems the city's spren are wrong

Shallan's demonstrating increasing Identity concerns as her disguise is wearing a disguise 

I feel mildly offended at Shallan taking Lyn's appearance

Oh lovely the cult is guarding the palace of course they are

Oh no a love triangle complicated by multiple personalities whyyy

Hey that is a bad line of thinking too Adolin isn't bland and it isn't right to tease Kaladin like she does

Well two pairs of eyes who pay attention to different things is useful

Those soldiers also creepy

Yeah you definitely needed to set a plot arc like this after the world had been firmly introduced so this unusualness would be jarring and disturbing

Shallan you and Veil are the same person

So much for Kaladin joining you

...That escalated quickly

Taking a leaf from Jasnah's book I see

Oh lovely eerie mirror with shadow that probably is now aware of Shallan's presence

Ah Pattern I love you getting excited over discoveries of human nature at a time like this

Yeah that was rather traumatizing

Oh god the puns

Shallan your denial isn't great long term

Not surprised the Windrunners and Skybreakers were in opposition

Binder of Gods though that is a concerning title

Which Herald is Kelek again and why would he be associated with the storms sometimes

Ishar founded the orders? And is the Herald of luck and mysteries and priests and possibly more mad than the rest I am concerned

So Dalinar has a permanent mental compass because of his Stormfather/Origin sense? That’s cool.

"Stormfather!" Yes? "Oh. Uh, that was a curse." Ah, the downsides of being bonded to the Stormfather

Heh I suspected that god priest of Tukar a moment before Dalinar mentioned him

Oh Ishar is the Bondsmith Herald that's concerning.

That's why Taln called Shallan one of Ishar's Knights cause it didn’t feel like he was the Lightweaver Herald

And he founded the Oathpact

Oh dear Connection is powerful and dangerous although at least there's the tradeoff of little battle application

Binder of Gods is just such a concerning name

I wonder if we'll get the other two Bondsmiths

Three-one for each Shard? Or other powerful Honor spren?

Aaaa answers about Stormlight?

Power piercing united across all three Realms spiritual energy got it

"The Stormfather hated to be misquoted" and will correct Dalinar's recollection of explanations that's great

I mean training with an Honorblade is a way to practice skills but I'm concerned cause there might be other risks attached cause we might not know all that they do

So if you held different Honorblades would your eyes bleed different colors

The clock fabrial dings now that's great

Ooh Azir we might finally see Lift in person

Everyone wants to drink the Stormlight XP

But yeah mentality is key not staring at Stormlight and wanting to chug it

Oh hey conflict looks like Bondsmith time

Heh Adhesion-induced time out

Yay Jasnah I missed you

"Odd how natural it looked to see Jasnah with a sword"

Yes Lift and Jasnah two of my favorite ladies unlocking an Oathgate

Wow a lot of people got sick of Urithiru. What were the rules?

Heh I forgot the Azish Oathgate was in a shopping district

Incovenient Oathgate locations are fun

The Blackthorn enters your city with some magical pens and a bagged lunch

Ooh Spiritual Adhesion and languages

What did Lift do with the street urchin dialect then is it an Edgedancer or a being partially in the Cognitive Realm thing

Are there Physical Cognitive and Spiritual levels of all the Surges

Magical diplomacy powers activate

I feel like Dalinar’s thought processes feel different with Connection activated

I love the Azish where an essay is the weapon of choice

And a backup essay with valuable schematics

Applause to Navani and Fen

I swear if there's a third essay by Jasnah

YES THERE IS

I love them nerding out over Jasnah's writing it's delightful

and also just the fact that Jasnah is using her awesome scholarly prowess

Oh right the fact that there are things on the platforms makes movement tricky

Well Dalinar the Alethi do have slaves and deny some darkeyes the right of travel and treat darkeyes in general like garbage so this logic protest is pretty sweet

Ah yes the economic disaster

That’s cool that the Azish Parshmen immediately started acting super logical and petitioning. Shame they got dragged into the Voidbringer army cause successful negotiations and redress would have been cool

Where are the Worldsingers for understanding

I hope Lift shows up

The pen is mightier than the sword Dalinar

I do feel like this is yet another downside of Alethi not allowing half the population to read or engage in arts that would help with diplomacy. Of course war is going to seem more appealing.

Yes Lift stole Dalinar's lunch excellent

"And your order?"

"More food."

Did I mention how much I love Lift

Hey they’re Nightwatcher buddies

Although She leaves a trace that can be sensed? Or sensed by Lift at least

I'm proud of both Jasnah and Navani for their essays

It's happening we're going to have a council yessss

Oooh big tragic flashback time

Shame that it ruined the moment of telling Navani her essay saved the day

Aww little Adolin

It's nice to see the character growth with Dalinar, still bloodthirsty, but planning, strategizing, thinking, explaining

But where is Renarin

It is lame that giving one’s parent a hug in public isn’t Alethi

Dalinar why must you neglect Renarin cause he's "unfit for battle"

Evi. Deserves. Better.

Also Renarin.

Helplessss

Obligatory Hamilton reference there

Yeah the whole contest mentality of the Alethi is messed up

Evi you don't need the Old Magic you're a wonderful person

You go Evi

Even if she's not a game of wits person she thinks and is right

Wonder if Toh is still in Herdaz

Sunken forests? Those sound cool

Seriously Dalinar remember you have a second son

Thank you Evi for defending Renarin

Evi deserves better

Evi. Deserves. Better.

Okay that Fused does have an aesthetic with the absurdly sized tassels and polearm

Mishim I know that name ugh why am I forgetting

"I believe that Honor himself is changing" I am concerned

Elhokar can draw. Further evidence that the shadows once lurking around him were Cryptics

Wait Elhokar makes the awesome city map?

Aww Elhokar making a decent plan and getting praise and glory spren just for that small thing

Thank you Adolin for addressing the elephant in the room of the ardent’s Theses

Shallan's infiltrating yet another sketchy group great

Ugh they're not letting the poor and children get grain and it's just going to lighteyes

I don't know how to feel about Shallan/Veil going "Storming lighteyes" she is one of them and hasn't done any self reflection so it just feels like putting on a mask than anything actually genuine

Odium trying to replace all spren with his own?

WIT

But the chapter header doesn’t include that jester guy. Will I ever understand the pattern.

He's wearing Sadeas colors really

Ha it's the story Sigzil tried to tell

Storytime with Wit!

Two storytelling scenes in a book I feel blessed

Huh smoke storytelling somewhat like what he did in Warbreaker?

Always interesting when Wit noticeably starts. He did that once before because of Shallan. What is it about her.

Heh well at least one person can see through Lightweaving. Of course it's Wit.

Oh is Tsa using Mishim's tactic against her

Oh Tsa was the trickster all along nice

Wonder how much is true and what is also a metaphor

Seriously Kaladin why did you lose the flute

Ohhh he can sandbend. Sand master. Whatever. Cause that's Taldain sand

Ah now we have the proper Wit header

Full Wit on the header

Hey Shallan and Wit are finally getting a talk this could be good for Shallan

Wait Hoid's lingering for a chapter rather than just jumping in for a story or cryptic lines what

"The Sibling has withdrawn from men"?

Chouta is everywhere

It's okay Shallan don't feel embarrassed at getting pickpocketed by an ancient trickster

Of course Wit would give tips on disguises

Oh

Looking back at the chapter the Veil persona did flee although it was the moment she heard Wit's voice

Good job Wit

Dalinar: Are you a Radiant?

Wit: Nope

Shallan: Are you a Herald?

Wit: Nope

"I'm not stupid enough to get mixed up in religion again. The last seven times I tried it were all disasters. I believe there's at least one god still worshipping me by accident."

Do tell

...

That's the most we've ever gotten of Wit

I'm reeling

Just even that thin sliver

I mean it makes sense, he’s more engaged in this world and thus showing he is more than he seems and thus author has to make clear that he’s not a Radiant or Herald but still

Heh me too re: applauding Sadeas being offed. I just fear the consequences for people I care about

“Aim for the sun” is a fun variant on shoot for the moon

Are we getting a Wit character moment he's actually be disparaging about himself

So many good lines in this chapter

"Be wary of anyone who claims to be able to see the future, Shallan."

*looks to Renarin with concern*

Ooh what group does the cult remind Wit of

The Heart of the Revel. Quite a name

I like that take on hedonism not being actual enjoyment

Yay Wit is going to get Shallan in

Why is Wit here then cause pep talking Shallan seems rather important

Pattern: He feels like...mmm...one of us

hmmmmm