#only took me forever and a half

[lena-in-a-red-dress]

ARC: Lenas first day back to work

CW: panic/anxiety attack

(again, if you're not familiar with this series, I recommend you catch up, as there's a lot of back story)

---

When Sam is asked to stay home for Lena’s first day back at work after the tower collapse, she’s quick to acquiesce. Between the incident and Lena’s return to their shared home, she has yet to deny any of Lena’s requests. So when Lena leaves for the office with briefcase in hand, Sam boots up from home.

She tries not to worry, tries not to hover even remotely. (She’s proud to say she only checks in once over lunch– the fact Lena’s reply is curt and cursory is shoved from her mind.) But she’s prepared when Lena comes home, wound tight as a spring. She doesn’t take it personally when Lena blows past the kitchen where she’s waiting and heads upstairs, and she only follows when she doesn’t hear movement from Lena’s bedroom for a good ten minutes.

She finds Lena seated at her boudoir, left hand clutching the edge of the dresser with a white-knuckled grip. She barely breathes, her features stormy as she stares tearfully at the dresser top.

“Oh, honey,” Sam murmurs.

Just like that, the dam breaks. A sob bursts out of Lena, rough and jagged. She releases the boudoir only to clamp her hand over her mouth as the sobs come hot and heavy. All Sam can do is wrap around Lena from behind, a grounding rod in the storm of tears and emotion.

“I-I k-kept trying t-to shake their hands,” Lena heaves between sobs.

“I’m sorry.” Sam rubs Lena’s arm. “I’m so sorry, sweetie.”

“I-I couldn’t even– sign my own name!” 

Sam knows that’s not entirely true– weeks of occupational therapy has ensured Lena can fully write with her left hand, both print and cursive. But Sam understands what happened– Lena had fallen into old habits, habits as reflexive as breathing, only to be sharply reminded that she’s no longer the same.

Lena gasps sharply, her hand flying to her chest, and Sam knows what’s coming. 

“I– I can’t– I can’t breathe!” 

Sam centers herself behind Lena and breathes deeply, letting her belly expand to press against Lena’s back. All the while she continues to rub slow and soothing circles against Lena’s arm.

“Breathe with me,” she urges quietly. “It’s okay, you’re with me in your bedroom. Just focus on me. Breathe in… and out…”

The attack passes– longer than Sam would like but shorter than others they’ve worked through– and Lena finally deflates like a balloon, exhausted. She sniffles, releasing her death grip on Sam’s wrist to wipe her face.

“I’m sorry–”

“Lena Luthor.” Sam’s voice cuts sharp through the air, brooking zero argument.  “Don’t you ever apologize for needing comfort.” 

Sam moves to crouch beside Lena, getting on her level to look her in the eye. “It’s what I signed up for– what I promised when I married you.” 

Mentioning their marriage is risky. They haven’t truly discussed what relationship they share now, let alone mended the things that drove Lena apart from her and Alex. But as far as Sam is concerned Lena is still her wife. Her wife who needs her, even though she hates to need anyone.

Sam takes Lena’s hand and presses the back of it to her lips. 

“I will always be here for you– for better or worse. And I will never think less of you, not for anything.” She offers a gentle smile. “And I am so proud of you for what you’ve done today. It wasn’t easy, but you did it. Just like I knew you would.”

For Lena’s part, she leaves the marriage comment alone. Instead she gives the smallest of damp, tremulous smiles. “Thank you,” she says quietly. She gives Sam’s hand a squeeze. “Give me a minute?”

Sam nods, and rises to leave the room. ONce downstairs, she listens for a moment and is relieved to hear Lena getting changed and washing up. She knows they’ll likely never talk about what just happened again, but Sam pulls the exchange close to her heart and holds it tight.

Not only had Lena shown her vulnerability, she had allowed Sam to help comfort her. And that, more than anything, is enough to give Sam hope that their marriage may not be over after all.

//prompts are closed

[luck-of-the-drawings]

THIS THING IS SCUUUFFED AS HELL & ITS ALSO THE BEST THING I HAVE ANIMATED THUS FAR. IM SO IN LOVE WITH EMIZEL. JUST WISH I GAVE HIM MORE STUPID TATTOOS. NEXT TIME THO. NEXT TIME. I ALSO LOVE VEX&VIV SOOOO MUCH. charlies flavor of Deranged is my FAVORITE!!

[courfee]

“Regulus would be proud of us,” James whispered quietly to no one in particular, still gripping onto the painting like a life raft. 

— Tender Curiosities, Baby!  @otrtbs

[crystalpallette]

so I finished side order recently

[plushie-lovey]

FINALLY!! At long last, I've gotten my hands on a Pumpkin Kitty, after a whole year of wanting and waiting.

Her name is Latte! (Short for Miss Pumpkin Spice Latte) You can also call her Miss Spice!

[antbitez]

cannot be bothered anymore take it

[13eyond13]

nothing more cringe than coaxing and half-forcing someone to go to the movies with you because you're talking up how good the last one in the series was and then they finally agree to go and then it ends up being over two hours long and also kinda the worst 😬

[featheredomen]

LMFAO I TOOK MY MUM'S FUCKIN' JOB

[brucequeensteen]

character wrapped 2023 💥

tagged by @davidtennantpussytulpa ^-^ i didn't know how many to do so i copied tara and did top 10. i know the severance guys are Four Of Them but i can't separate them theyre all equally important to me

will graham (hannibal), em haywood (nope), aziraphale (good omens), mark & dylan & helly & irving (severance), hawkeye pierce (mash), martha jones (doctor who), ivan karamazov (the brothers karamazov), kim kitsuragi (disco elysium), stewy hosseini (succession), ruescott melshi (andor/rogue one)

i will tag... @fagician @britomart @libraryfag @roadwhores @majorbaby @globuspolski @hadleyfraserfaggot @tenderscience if u want to ^-^

[ckret2]

For a while I thought it might be a bit of a cop out to have the characters start to learn a bit about Bill's history by having them literally go read Flatland Flatworld-which-is-totally-the-same-thing-but-everything-gets-a-goofy-parody-name-in-Gravity-Falls

But the more I think about it, the more I realize that, narratively, it's probably a good idea. Because any reader who's already familiar with Flatland WILL assume that the dimension Bill's from is Exactly The Same As Flatland in every way possible, unless a particular way is addressed in fic as different.

Like, if I go "colors weren't illegal in Bill's universe," a fair amount of readers WON'T go "ah, I see, if colors were legal then this suggests the entire political history of Bill's home might be different, I shouldn't take anything for granted." Instead, they'll go "okay, so colors were legal; but probably everything else—up to and including the shape hierarchy and the eugenicist attitudes toward irregular shapes—is still exactly the same, or else that would have been mentioned too." Etc etc.

And it would be weird to shoehorn a bunch of unnecessary discussion of the details of Bill's world into the fic, just to ensure people aren't making assumptions based on an outside book I never claimed was gospel truth for the fic!

By having the Pines family pick up a copy of Flatland """Flatworld""", I can make the discussion necessary. Mistaken assumptions about his home world can become an explicit part of the narrative—even a deliberate part of the narrative, if Bill is hiding the truth of what his dimension was like behind the implicit lie that it was exactly like this old Victorian satire written by a human. If the readers and the characters believe that Bill's world is Exactly Like This, it'll actually MEAN something when he goes "lmfaooo you're so wrong about everything." It'll be an interesting part of the story, rather than me having to do damage control on readers' preconceptions.

[screechingsandwichhologram]

AUGGHHHHHH !!!!! HAVING LANGUAGE ISSUES !!!!!!

my grandmother calls my mom and also me sometimes this one word. it sounds like it would be spelt "pit" but i'd wager its not that. i don't know what exactly it means and i don't know how to spell it but its french canadian and is a term of endearment. help.

[pandaspwnz]

Whoever decided it was a good idea to bake a pie on a fucking wednesday afternoon is a goddamn clown and should be dropkicked into the sun

[luck-of-the-drawings]

!!! FLASHING LIGHTS WARNING!!! [IM NOT FUCKIN AROUND!!]

REACHED THE CUSP OF 'THIS MAY NEVER BE ABSOLUTELY FINISHED N IF I DONT SHOW IT NOW, IT WILL NEVER SEE THE LIGHT OF DAY.' SO HERE, A PROJECT IVE BEEN ORBITING AROUND UHH SINCE 2021 OR SO.

[depraved-gf]

.

[cq-studios]

8 and 11 for the fandom ask game?

8. you hope more people will come to appreciate ___ (a ship, a trope, an episode, etc)

Well, I’m sure pretty much anyone looking at my blog feels will agree when I say the mobile games.

Like I feel like people are too quick to dismiss them as just Gatcha cash grabs (and I understand they were to an extent, but that’s not all they were, you know?) . They both have told really interesting stories (even if KHUX took its time to actually get to it… 300 missions until Ephemer was insane lol) and added so much to the lore and casts. Not only that, but they gave us new content in what otherwise would’ve been painfully long gaps between games.

Just talking about this makes me even more excited for Missing Link.

11. if you're a writer or artist, what fic or piece of art are you proud of making?

As a writer and an artist I’ll answer for both.

For writing I’ll have to say Nameless AU is probably the fic I’m the most proud of at the moment, and, uhh it’s not out yet but just you wait! Once I finish that first chapter it’s all over for you lol

For art I think I’m obligated to say my Safe and Sound PMV. The art is old and not the greatest but it’s honestly a miracle it got finished at all and I’m proud of that.

[cha1cedony]

I was just looking through my Notes app and remembered I wrote down this dream I had a couple of days ago. I fixed the grammar because it was mostly incoherent due to my writing it at 5:27 am. Hope you enjoy