#other times it's my scariest chore

[sillimancer]

good eatin today

I haven't had starbucks since I moved back in w/ my parents (it's inconvenient/expensive/not my preference/bad for palestine? I think??) but my sister had a hankering and offered to get me something if I picked it up on my way over

and at first I was just gonna get her thing and maybe hit a dunkin instead or just drink water but then I remembered those blonde iced lattes they have 👀 so I got one and it was really good, better than I remember even

then my sister and I made french bread-style pizza with a garlic and herb bread I got from the bakery aisle and that was really good. I just finished my half of the leftovers. 🤭

it was nice. I've really been struggling with food for the past year-ish. it's nice when I can enjoy it again. I miss enjoying cooking and eating and stuff.

food's good.

[tiramissyoucake]

not adding a title to this, it was supposed to be a drabble but i got too into it..... oopsie

MINORS+AGELESS BLOGS DNI, Toji Fushiguro x reader, characters are 18+, reader is pink bimbo coded, predator prey kink? idk toji chases reader around the house, 1.1k words

CW: nsfw heavily mentioned but no full smut, toji is horny but reader wants to paint her nails. plushies used as ammunition (reader throws them at toji lol), some proof reading

You usually liked the rain, but today it ruined all your plans and you almost swore hatred on it. You had an appointment with a nail technician which was canceled minutes after you began getting ready due to the rain escalating into a storm (honestly you wouldn’t have gone even if it was regular rain; that would mean ruining your adorable new shoes! You paid a fortune for those!), a friend of yours canceled plans due to said storm as well- Mother Nature was against you today.

It wasn’t ALL bad, you settled for staying inside in your cutest pajamas and you even got a few chores done, now you relaxed on your couch as you painted your nails, your nail appointment may have been canceled but that won’t stop you from your pursuit of aesthetics. The silence was annoying to deal with at first but after a snack and a few episodes of your favorite show, you found the atmosphere quite nice.

You were abruptly pulled out of your tranquility as the door slammed open and then shut, the rainstorm’s noise briefly filled the room before growing muffled again, your eyes followed the noise and saw your giant of a boyfriend covered in rainwater and.. you want to say grime but you think its blood from his latest job. Toji kicked aside his shoes and threw his bag aside grunting to himself, he hadn’t noticed you yet.

As he walked in, the water dripped off him and soaked into your floor, you grew irritated.

“Umm.. could you not?” You asked him with a look of disappointment, you had just wiped the floor earlier! He looked up at you with an indiscernible expression. “I just wiped the floor like 2 minutes ago! You’re cleaning that up!”

Usually, he’d whine and groan about chores but this time he just stared at you, slowly you became unnerved as those eyes studied you- the scariest part is that you didn’t know what he was thinking, but in the back of your mind you knew what was about to happen.

“… Toji?”

He took one step forward towards you.

“Toji, no.” you reprimanded, he took another step

“Toji, yes.” He simply replied as he cracked his neck once, waiting for the perfect opportunity.

“I said no! I’m doing my nails!!” A grin graced his features, one where you knew you have to start running.

You both stared each other down for a moment before Toji lunged at you, you narrowly escaped by climbing over the couch leaving behind a cushion in his arms, he quickly tossed it aside and followed after you.

“C’MERE!!” He practically yelled as he easily leaped over the couch and followed after you, you let out a loud ‘NOOOO!’ the adrenaline quickly spiked in your system as your lover chased you like some starved predator.

Your chase consisted of him almost cornering you in multiple areas of your house, he almost reached for you over the kitchen table, you barely dodged him near the bathroom, you had a moment to breathe at the kitchen doorway before sprinting away after he almost caged you in his gigantic arms.

“Where’re you going, baby?! you don’t love me anymore?!” he mocked you as he laughed, your terrified squeal fueled him, and seeing you run from him excited him to no end. He chased you to your bedroom arriving behind you just in time to see you climb on your bed as if high ground was going to keep him away from you.

“Shoo!! Go away!!” You yelled at him as you threw your plushies at him from where you stood on the bed, he easily parried the little stuffed companions as he let out a sinister laugh.

“What’s wrong? I just wanna show my girl some love!” He circled your bed looking for the right chance to capture you in his arms, you tiptoed and balanced yourself on the mattress- your ‘My Melody’ plushie clutched in your hand; she was your last line of defense.

“That’s what you said last time, and I ended up walking funny for days!” he smirked and his scar curled with his smile, you blushed at the memory of the time he practically shoved you into a mating press and drilled you until you were overflowing with his seed (you were confident this pervert took pictures during that time).

Aiming, Toji’s smug smile hadn’t faltered as you pouted at him, god he couldn’t wait to pin you under him and fuck all his stress away. Throughout his entire day he thought of you; that pouty look you gave him when he teased you, the obnoxiously pink yet adorable outfits you wore that made his dick throb, and of course- how could he live without that ass of yours that was practically begging to be groped by his large hands as he got an eyeful while chasing you?

“Baby doll you’re being dramatic!” Toji tried coaxing you into putting down the plushie but you knew better “Put the bunny down and jump into your Toji’s arms!” he emphasized his point by opening his arms to you, as if you were going to do that after he chased you like a madman all while he was dripping wet, oh and did you mention that you WIPED THE FLOOR before he came home?!

As he blabbered sweet nonsense to you, you made a plan to throw the plushie in his face as a distraction and escape your bedroom, additionally, you got the idea to shut the door behind you and lock him in when you caught the glint of your bedroom key slotted into the door.

It was risky but you know you can do this, this is perfect, your plan is perfect!

… not.

The moments flashed by after you launched your poor soldier at him, you only took one step forward off the mattress, a singular step that went nowhere as you blinked once, and suddenly, you found yourself on your back on the bed with Toji pinning you down with his weight straddling your waist. your expression was adorable; lips parted staring up at him as those wide confused eyes slowly registered defeat, the most humiliating symbol of said defeat was your plushie in his free hand as the other held down both your wrists in one hand over your head.

He let out a low chuckle, one that vibrated in his chest as he pressed his body as close to yours as possible leaning down until your noses were centimeters from touching. He lifted your little plushie to your line of sight and grinned “You put up a fun chase, but I want my prize~”

Toji tossed your trooper off the bed, and as the storm progressed outside your home you were glad you threw the rest of your plushies off the bed when you did.

[mint-ty]

a prompt if you're still doing those: bojere, taking care of bojan when he gets sick 💗

thank you!! 🥹💕 this got a bit longer, but bojere is my drug, what can you do 😌Also thank you to @nembzz for suggestions on Finnish remedies 😁💕

Bojan dragged in his hand luggage through Jere's apartment door and they shared a long hug. Several days ago Bojan had complained on their weekly phone call that he was starting to feel under the weather again, even though he just got better. Jere suggested, that maybe in that case Bojan should just change the weather, and that he's always welcome at Jere's. To his pleasant surprise, Bojan did take the offer without any further pushing.

"Sorry I can't pick you up from airport..." Jere apologized when they separated.

Bojan smiled back. "Oh don't worry! It was actually so nice remembering the route and knowing where you live."

"You want to eat something? I have food here, but I can order also. Or drink? Do you want drink? Do you want to go out?" Jere jumped right into offering anything he could think of.

"No that's okay, don't worry." Bojan sat down on the couch and immediately he felt the gravity pushing his shoulders down and he stretched out. "I'll just lay down for a moment if you don't mind." The travel wasn't long, but somehow it seeped out all the energy he had.

"Yes yes of course." Jere was hovering around Bojan, not being sure how to help. "Do you have temperature?" He asked with a heavy accent on the 'r' sounds and pressed his hand to Bojan's forehead.

Bojan smiled at Jere's touch. "No I'm fine, really."

"We should really go to sauna... I am sure it helps."

"Maybe later, okay?"

"Sinkki... You need to drink sinkki... um, zinc?"

"Jerč..." Bojan extended his hand to grab Jere's hand, who was about to run off to the kitchen. "I just need to rest for a bit, can you stay with me, please?" Bojan scootched to the wall making space for Jere, and after a brief pause Jere carefully arranged himself next to Bojan, hugging him and placing Bojan's head under his chin.

Bojan chuckled to himself. In a silent and sunny living room, with Jere's heartbeat next to his ear, of course he would immediately feel better. If there was one safe space in the whole world, it was here - in Jere's arms.

"I'm tired..." Bojan whispered and felt Jere gently brush his hair with his cheek. "I don't think I'm actually sick, but I am so god-damn tired all the time... No matter how much I sleep or eat, there's no difference."

"...Maybe you have panic again?"

Bojan had to think for a second. "I don't think so? At least I don't remember. But it feels... like I don't feel anything." Bojan burrowed his face into Jere's neck and confessed the scariest thing of all. "I don't feel motivated. I don't feel like creating lyrics or playing music, or singing... it's all a chore. I just want to... I don't want anything." He finished with a small voice.

Bojan knew that Jere would understand, but for a moment he was still scared of Jere's judgment. Would he think Bojan was giving up?

Instead Jere wrapped Bojan harder in his arms and sighed. "Bojan, I think you're burnout."

That surprised him and Bojan lifted his face to look at Jere. "From what? This year is so much easier than last year... Why would I have a burnout now?"

"Maybe if you know, you wouldn't have it?"

"Huh? So how do I get better if I don't know what's wrong?"

Jere brushed Bojan's arm and gave a soft kiss on his forehead. "You listen. Your body know what you need if you listen. If it says he don't want anything - don't do anything, just rest."

Bojan placed his head back on Jere's chest, thinking. Maybe Jere was right, Bojan's body did take him here, back into Jere's arms, almost without any conscious thought. He didn't have energy for anything, other than a spontaneous international trip to Finland it seemed.

"But I still think maybe you also are little sick too." Jere continued after a while. "So I take you to sauna later. And we drink tea and honey. And I give you socks with garlic."

"A what?"

"Garlic in sock? You don't know? You sleep and you feel better!"

"And you'll let me sleep next to you with garlicky feet?" Bojan had to laugh at that.

"Yes yes! It cure you, you will see!" Jere was looking at Bojan with an open eyes and once again Bojan wasn't sure if Jere was joking or not. But Bojan was about ready to try anything that might help. And Jere taking charge was so comforting that Bojan decided not to question the methods for now and just let Jere care for him.

"I don't have onion... I need to buy some." Jere mumbled to himself.

"Jere... You're making soup out of me?..."

"Ha! No... but I still eat you!" Jere grinned, squeezing Bojan hard to his chest.

It really was a wonder. Only twenty minutes here, and Bojan was already feeling so much better.

[topazadine]

Ah I feel like I should reintroduce myself

Mostly because I kinda forgot what I said in my last one.

Look it's my dog Clark and my giant stuffed duck Ahiru-san (of Bizenverse fame, yes I bought the stupid fictional duck)

Anyway, basic points:

Cam

Ohioan (most important identity)

She/her pronouns

Fantasy author

Pit bull mom

SEO writer

Lesbian

Bipolar

But wait there's more

My hobbies other than writing, in order of how much I manage to do them

Staying up really late

Fighting with people on the internet

Walking my dogs (is that a hobby?)

Yelling at my plants to grow faster

Knitting

Horseback riding

Rock climbing (new! I am still bby)

Photography

Dollhouses

Kayaking

Traveling to underappreciated places

Activities I am fascinated by but do not understand whatsoever (if you have tips or do these things tell me pls)

Archery

Mounted archery

Caving

Ukulele

Embroidery

Spinning yarn

Things that I am deeply curious about

Caves

Superstitions

Human psychology

International conflict

Comparative mythology

Cryptids/ghost stories

Cults (but not joining them)

Bizarre deaths (especially stuff like cave diving deaths)

Stuff I have written that you should read

9 Years Yearning

The Lucretia Cycle

A lot of stuff on AO3

My sorta defunct blog (I moved back to Tumblr lmao)

Medium posts

Random facts about me that no one cares about

I have double eyelashes and a chest tattoo that says "Death to Rapists" in Latin Additionally, I have dyscalculia, which makes it almost impossible to learn languages or play a musical instrument because Brain Don't Work That Way. So it is annoying when people screech about monolinguals and say we're all lazy or whatever. I've tried multiple times to learn multiple languages and it simply does not work. Get off my back pls (random pet peeve) I studied abroad in Scotland on the prestigious Gilman scholarship and it radicalized me against England The main reason I did my Master's degree in International Relations is because they offered me a free year of tuition. This radicalized me against becoming a politician. As an aside, I did my Master's thesis on international human trafficking. Multiple people have told me I'm like a herding dog because I need to be doing something and get sad if I don't have a task My greatest fear is being electrocuted by stepping into a puddle after a rainstorm I get anxious going to the grocery store but have no problem with public speaking (strange) My favorite job I've ever done was an internship working with refugees (love) My dream vacation would be visiting the lava tube caves under Aokigahara, climbing through Buddha's Nostril in Nara, and then petting all the nice deer at Nara Deer Park I would also like to visit Mongolia and eat all their yummy snacks My most hated household chore is laundry Last year, when I went to Blood Prison, I cried because I didn't get scared and it's supposed to be one of the scariest haunted houses - I have a bizarre immunity to haunted houses because I can't suspend my disbelief Whenever I am in pain, I completely forget about the existence of NSAIDs and instead bitch about being uncomfortable until someone (usually my mom) reminds me that modern medicine is real and may in fact have solutions One time I stapled through my hand with a staple gun because I was trying to repurpose a cabinet drawer into a scratching post for my (now deceased) ferrets I am terrified of amusement park rides where you go up in the air but you don't have your feet on anything, like Windseeker at Cedar Point. My primal lizard brain craves the ground. But rock climbing is fine.

Yeah so that's it thanks

[frogofalltime]

My qpr might not exist by tomorrow 3:

i'm so sorry ;–; i don't know what your situation is but i have been through this and maybe my experience will help you too ??

my qpr ended a few weeks ago and it was among the scariest and worst days of my life. it was my first breakup and DAMN IT WAS HARD. i really didn't expect it either, because i didn't know robin was so unhappy with the relationship, and it broke my heart. i blamed myself profusely and couldn't imagine a future. i couldn't go to class for a week, i barely slept, eating and doing chores and taking care of myself felt like too much.

however. this doesn't last forever ! with time you get used to it and understand why it happened. in the end, i think it was a good thing that it ended, because it wasn't working and it was causing a lot of stress for robin. i care about him a lot, he's my best friend, and i would prefer him to be happy and free from my burdens. sometimes people must put themselves first instead of trying to take care of others.

but !! it's important to accept that although you guys didn't work out it doesn't mean you are a problem, you were just incompatible. i'm sure that someone else will cherish you for all the traits that made your old partner resent you. you just have to keep going.

i found other people to love, i got over it, i understood why it happened, and i tried to continue life as just friends instead. (i'm failing really badly at this, it's really confusing switching from being partners to normal friends, and idk what the etiquette is, but i am going to keep trying and trying). it's really hard and some days the pain hurts more than others but you'll learn what does and doesn't work in relationships and you'll get through it stronger.

everything is experience. you can't get things right without getting it wrong a few times first. maybe your next relationship — whoever it is with — will be a lot better because you learned from the mistakes of this one :)

[atypical-artisan]

Can I ask you for Aran Ryan x Glass Joe hc's? (Aslo thanks again for those Hondo x Sandman earlier)

Oh my god ily (platonic) so much for asking this!!!! (Also ur welcome :P)

Anyways, on to the hcs!!

How it happens:

Okay so first thing's first, Joe is terrified of Aran before they get to know each other. Granted, he's scared of the whole world circuit cause he doesn't know them but Aran is defo the scariest because of the violent cheating.

When Joe finally bridges the gap between the minor, major, and world circuits, he's still hesitant to talk to Aran cause, again, violent cheating plus bursting with energy… but there's something about him, something Joe can't quite put his finger on, that's just fascinating about Aran. Aran ends up approaching first and they get on really well.

So they get to talking and find out not only do they have a lot of interests in common (Love for horror media, generally alt/gothic/darker music, love of edgy aesthetics, interested in creative hobbies, etc.) but they also share many similar life circumstances (Both having been denied high school, having to work very young, poverty, disability, being trans, etc.) and end up bonding.

Aran already had a bit of a crush on Joe, but it only deepens with the new friendship. Joe on the other hand has Aran slowly wrap around his heart and he's drowned in love before he even realizes.

The confession always ends up being kind of chaotic and dramatic but overall very sweet and perfect for both of them :)

When everyone else finds out holy shit there is chaos. Kaiser's upset cause he had a crush on Joe and now is pretty bitter towards Aran (They all talk it out its fine). Sand also had a crush on Joe but lets his feelings go and is supportive along with the rest of the world circuit. Hippo, disco, and bear are hesitant about it but Hondo ends up making them chill. Don tries to get in on dating them and is rejected. And tiger is busy comforting kaiser but he's honestly kinda happy for both of them cause kaiser is now free.

The relationship goes pretty smoothly from there with little to no major hiccups and both influencing each other to be better though not entirely different people.

Other random hcs:

Pet names all the time

Aran has a habit of staring at people he likes very intensely and creepily. It's like that one scene in the shining.

Any normal person would not like this. Joe is not a normal person and enjoys it a lot, feeling like he's being showered with praise and affection whenever he feels Aran's creepy stare on him.

Aran also has a thing where he draws whoever he's dating all the time- its especially intense with Joe as he has at least a couple sketchbooks entirely dedicated to him.

They ended up accidentally learning each other's languages- Joe mostly from Aran talking to the dog and writing in Irish and Aran from Joe's fancy french films and books

They wake up close to the same time- early in the morning, though Aran wakes up closer to sunrise.

Aran picks Joe up and carries him around all the time- both love it.

Love getting into wild shit together and going for drinks. Going to shows or scenic moped rides/walks is another good contender for their dates.

Aran and Joe are both big dancers and musicians, so dancing and singing together is a favorite pastime at their apartment

These two RUSH to move in together- it leads to a lot of chaos with their pets but things cool off quickly

They often do house chores and cook together

Joe doesn't care about Aran's cheating for the most part, that's Aran's choice to do- he's in love with the man outside the ring after all, but he does tell Aran to never do the horseshoes and flail thing again

Both have a lot of self worth issues- Aran believes he can't be loved romantically no matter what he does so he chooses to embrace his ugly side to push people away while Joe believes that he must hide himself to even be fit for society and serve everyone to no end

In turn, Joe likes being spoiled and doted on (From being forced to serve past partners to get affection) and Aran enjoys being able to serve and unambiguously show his affection (From being denied the ability to show past partners he loved them and told he should be grateful when he was)

They do a lot of work on each other. Joe helps Aran feel safer around people/being loved as himself and not cheat as much while Aran helps Joe become more willing to embrace his weirdness and stand up for his own well being, especially to people he cares about. Joe also helps Aran get help for all his mental issues and helps him feel safe going to a damn therapist.

Aran is super supportive of Joe's love for dark/macabre things and eventually convinces him to embrace being goth. From then on its all punk/goth solidarity

Joe constantly steals Aran's clothes and Aran tends to wear Joe's pants (Even if they're a little short on him)

They also take care of each other after matches a lot

Joe keeps track of things like appointments but Aran does all the math and date-keeping in the relationship

Cuddling is a must for both of them

Joe really likes when Aran grows his hair out, he love rubbing up against his beard like a cat, especially cause he can't grow much facial hair of his own

Aran has been trying to convince him to get a shared tattoo, to no success (So far)

They have a habit of making each other clothes- Joe repairs and embroiders things for Aran and Aran knits for Joe

They've babysat Joe's niece and nephew a few times and Aran's younger sibling and are DEFINITELY both thinking about kids

[bishiglomper]

Mom has been kicking ass in the kitchen. (second scariest room in the house)

I dont know how she does it 😮

I have no energy, stamina, and just tilting my head sideways gives me vertigo let alone trying to bend down or anything. My back was killing me just trying to make myself coffee..

Dunno how she does it. That THC CBD tincture I gave her must be amazing because she was bedridden before

So proud of my mommy 😭

She made me a chore list

I was like O:

Was kind of excited but also kind of omg no

But it literally just said keep doing laundry (which I have been) and help my sister clean the living room. I'm the one who's been systematically picking up the trash and getting dishes and clothes out of it 🙄

I hope mommy's efforts will help push us to be better. I mean, obviously it never does, but one can hope.

I'm hoping I can help defend her clean kitchen by telling my sister to clean up after herself. But i suppose i could help clean up after her too.. 😒

My sister (and her children) are my biggest obstacle. They leave clothes all over. Dont take trash or dishes out. Dont clean up after themselves like if they make food..

None of us have the energy to deal with accumulated shit.

I can deal with clothes, trash, taking dishes out.

It's all the other clutter they leave lying around i cant deal with. 😭

I have a hard enough time trying to keep my own carbon footprint low in this house, i cant deal with other peoples 😭😭

[aroaceacacia]

vote 3ht. heres some of my insane 3ht posting (plus a little of them w zam)

also please watch this c0gmented animatic to witness a classic 3 heart trio bit

they were like. the silliest guys ever and half the time they made so much fun of each other literally acted like being friends was a chore but they stuck together no matter what and had so much fun. THEYW ENT TO PRISON TOGETHER !!!!!!!!!! AND BROKE OUT !!!!ohhh my god. they beat each other to death to keep from starving and the third member of their team saved them by running into hell for them. the 3ht dynamic is being faced with awful options and considering the New York option instead. its breeding horses when every path to the end is destroyed and naming them all after the scariest guy on the server so that nobody steals them. its putting on a show about the extinction of the dinosaurs and adopting weird pets like boats and hoglins and planetlord. it's making speeches to twitch chat to persuade the audience to vote for them to get the leftover heart after they split the hearts between them equally. it's taking the leftover heart and burning it so that nobody gets it; it's getting sick of building new, hidden bases (they'll get found eventually anyway) and building above ground. its stubbornness despite everything. three heart trio is about choosing each other and choosing what connects them to each other again and again and again even in the face of gods and the end of the world and in the end getting commended for it. baconnwaffles will say he hates yeahjaron but we all know hes a liar

also they're just. SO fun to watch. planet bacon and jaron (when he actually showed up 🙄) made grindy streams so much fun. literally could make running around and getting totems from their "raid platform (NOT a raid farm)"* entertaining.

if u ever want to watch 3 heart trio content, bacon has a bunch of stream vods edited down into 10-15 minute videos on his second channel (most of his lifesteal s4 videos arent in his s4 playlist, but anything predating "The End of Lifesteal SMP..." is most likely a season 4 video and most likely has either planet or jaron in it). also those stream vods can be found on his vods channel, or in the lifesteal smp fan-run vod archive

also one time yeahjaron killed god #anotherdayanotherslay

tl;dr vote 3 heart trio ❤🧡💜

PROPAGANDA:

Architechs:

they're just. incredibly fucking stupid when they're together. it's like they lose every single skill they've ever had once they see each other. there's not a single interaction without giggling and you can tell they're genuinely having a great time which leads to AMAZING VIBES.

made SAHARA, played gold together in skirts, awesome dynamic, iconic, fought side by side, fought each other.

They are sososososo iconic. They were the best of buds during S6 and S7, they did so many shenanigans oh my gosh!!!!!! They are besties (S6-S7 is where you can see it the clearest, but also Iskall helped them cover up the Perimeter with Grian and Mumbo and a lot of other hermits, that has to count for something) They are business partners (Sahara, //which they made actual IRL merch for as well//) They perpetuated a running gag throughout the entirety of S7 (“get good lol” “I Got Good!” “OK LOL” “Get Gorgeous LOL” “FOR THE LOLS” <- all excerpts -the first one from their video titles) They fought on the same side of the Prank War together (Team-G, with Molebo Gumbo as a double agent against Team STAR) A ‘harmless’ curse of binding dragon head prank by Grian on Iskall caused the formation of the Dragon Bros. So many shenanigans. Hermit Challenges is the tip of the iceberg. I love them so much, they are my comfort trio PLEASE THEY ARE SO INCREDIBLY ICONIC LET THEM WIN. *cough* I mean, I am extremely and utterly normal about them :D

3 Heart Trio:

theyre soo silly theyre just silly little guys who do things like mining an entire chunk in the center of the server's spawn for their own entertainment and to annoy everyone else

They are PATHETIC. They are ANNOYING. They are PERFECT. They are playing on three hearts and they die so much. They have a specialized raid platform that is NOT a raid farm. They are a team against exploits! Their base has 3 hearts above it representing them

these guys decided to put love and fun above all on the killing-lying server. while watching other teams betray and fall apart they have stuck with each other till the very last day of the server and never doubted one another. they worked like a clockwork, they knew they could only rely on themselves and at the end of the day, they didnt mind that it was that way

these guys got the short end of the stick time and time again throughout all of lifesteal s4, they were the targets of so many traps and attacks for no reason other than they were weak and always around. and despite it all they never wanted revenge and never held grudges! they cared about fun and friendship more than anything else, and while all the other teams ended up falling apart or betraying each other, these three stuck together from start to end. they didn't care about how many hearts they had, how much gear they had, or how powerful they were, because in the end all they needed was each other <3 i miss them so bad btw

[seobshome]

seventeen as midnights songs

notes - this is literally my first ‘customized’ post on tumblr so if you have any tips plz help me lol. I got this idea because I saw some videos on tiktok of taylor and svt cross overs and the tour dates gave me this idea. The explanations just get longer and longer and some of them don’t make a lot of sense lol.

       Below the cut !

Lavender Haze - Joshua

I just feel like it fits him so well. I literally look at him and it reminds me of the vibes of lavender haze, he’s so vibrant and expressive, quite literally the most dreamy man ever. He’s so ethereal and full of beauty and that's how I see Lavender haze, its a beautiful song. “I’ve been under scrutiny, you handle it beautifully” I believed Shua is loyal to a fault, I just can’t describe why he’s so lavender haze but he is. 

Maroon - Mingyu

Easily it belongs to Mingyu, the song is just so him. “laughing with my feet in your lap, like you were my closet friend” sounds so him, like a relationship with him would be so intense but such fondness. Maroon to me is a relationship full of passionate love and that’s how I see this. Mingyu is literally a Taylor Swift song I don’t care, I am so down bad for this beautiful man.

Anti-Hero - Seungkwan

You cant tell me he doesn't embody it. All the hate he’s received, and the insecurities he’s talked about. Some people make it seem like a chore just to compliment all his hard work. He still pushes through it through no matter who says what on his name. Along with how the industry treated him before he made a name for himself and his. 

Snow on the Beach - Vernon

In my mind Vernon is such Lana material, he would be a Lana stan, I don’t care. How he’s spoken about his ethnicity and how he can get uncomfortable with it, but yet is still seen as so handsome in the eyes of many. “weird but fucking beautiful” his mixed ethnicity is looked down upon in Korea, but he’s so looked up to and complimented often on his other-worldly looks.

You’re on your own kid - Chan 

Everyone saw this coming, but that’s okay because its accurate. Even though he does have 12 older brothers to look after him and help guide him everyone knows the childish urge to want to do everything on your own. Everyone wants to try to prove themselves and often times it leads to them distancing themselves and trying to do it on their own, I see that in him especially growing up in the scene from a very young age. (this is me projecting btw)

Midnight Rain - Seungcheol

“A deep portal, time travel all the love we unravel and the life I gave away” quite literally Choi Seungcheol, he’s sacrificed so much of himself just to succeed and make a name for himself and the rest of the boys at such a young age, stepping up to be their leader. He has so much love for all of them and all I could hope is he looks back and sees his sacrifices have made him into who he is today. 

Question...? - Hoshi 

Honestly at first I didn’t really have any reasoning for assigning him to this song just a feeling but then the lyrics. “ It was one drink after another” made me think of him in ttt, “fuckin politics and gender roles” His duality and his style of dance is so fluid and I feel Hosh is such an open awesome guy and I just thought of him. “ Does it feel like everything's just like second best after that meteor strike” I feel he is often hard on himself and the others just from having to build themselves up from nothing and wanting the best for everyone. (idk if this one makes sense)

Vigilante Shit - Woozi

This song just makes me think of Jihoon honestly I don’t really have an explanation to my thoughts here. “Sometimes I wonder which one will be your last lie they say looks can kill and I might try”, everyone always says he the scariest when he’s mad but we all know Jihoon would do a lot for seventeen, he already does. There's just so many layers to him, and I think he defends the group much more than he lets on. This man could definitely write a diss track or something as his revenge.

Bejeweled - Jeonghan 

Obviously bejeweled is his song he’s so elegant with such a big personality. Not to mention his gorgeous looks and smile its hard not to smile at him when he’s giggling and grinning. His personality is layered though but he’s still such a sweet soul and he blesses those around him in a caring way under his mischief. Many members have talked about how they can come to Jeonghan with whatever, I just think he lights up a room.

Labyrinth - Jun

This song just suits him in my opinion “lost in the labyrinth of my mind”, we all know Jun spaces out a lot and he’s in his own world quite often which is one thing I really love about him. I cant explain it but his vibe is literally this song to me and the mixed beats and genres is just perfect. “you would break your back to make me break a smile” I just wanted to include this because it reminded me of the Jun 2nd place episode, plus seventeen as a whole love Jun so much and he can do nothing and they’d smile and laugh which I think is so precious. 

Karma - Minghao 

Nobody can tell me this song isn't Hao, he literally embodies karma. He wouldn’t stoop to anybody's level just to get back at them but he’d let the universe take care of it. “My pennies made your crown” literally came from nothing, a bankrupt company to the group its been made to today. By far one of the best dancer’s of the 3rd gen. “ ask me what I learned from all those years ask me what I earned from all those tears ask me why so many fade but I'm still here” It wasn’t an easy battle for them to get to the top either they went through many hardships and struggles and yet all 13 are still together.

Sweet Nothing - Seokmin 

I’m gonna try my best to make up a description for it but this was a no brainer between him and gyu. He’s literally one of the sweetest men ever in my eyes, and his gorgeous smile. “Outside they're push and shoving you're in the kitchen humming” this line just reminds me so much of him, he’s almost always so sweet and gentle with all the members and he doesn’t want any special treatment in return. Soft head pats, loving smiles, and laughing fits is what I imagine with dk.

Mastermind - Wonwoo

We all know Wonwoo as an intelligent man so of course it makes sense he ended up as mastermind. “saw a wide smirk on your face, you knew the entire time” that line just reminds me of him, like even if you schemed against him I just think he would know the whole time and let it flow because he wanted it too, and to see you happy. Wonwoo is a mastermind himself too so it just makes sense. (gives me debate night vibes lol)

[kiribaku-queen]

The Blood King and his Queen [12]

Pairing: Bakugou x reader

Romance, Angst, Drama

Word count: 1.9K

Summary:  From being a mere servant girl to marrying the scariest prince in existence, your world changed right before your eyes. Exchanging places with the princess, you knew, wasn’t going to be easy. But could you have found love on the way? Or was it never meant to be?

A/N: Short chapter today, and I know it’s not much but I hope you still enjoy it! I promise next week’s chapter will be so much better and I’m still working on those requests! Just give me some time to recover 😊 happy reading!

[previous]                                                                                               [next]

Bakugou sat grudgingly on his throne, looking out into the sea of dancing people. Lounged back in his seat, legs spread, head resting on his fist, and a permanent annoyed expression. He wanted to be anywhere but here, but he was stuck here. No thanks to the princess.

He couldn’t see you go.

He couldn’t see your pained expression as you were forcefully kicked out of the palace.

He didn’t want to hear your cries, how sorry you were or how your voice cracked with excuses.

He stayed looked away, fists balled at his side. When the door closed, leaving him alone, only the sounds of his heavy breathing could be heard. His chest heaved up and down, feelings of confusion and betrayal were strong, and his hands were itching to hit something. Soon everything he was wearing was getting too tight. With a quick rip of his shirt, he removed the restricted clothing, leaving his chest completely bare. He could finally breathe but he was still itching with uneasiness.

Not paying attention to where anything was, he punched walls, ripped down everything and anything on his walls, destroyed his bed, anything he could get his hands on he threw or ripped up. He let out his anger and frustrations with a forceful, belching scream. So much so that he felt his throat clench up and his heart went heavy. Fuck this. Fuck you. Fuck this party. Fuck everything.

Bakugou wasn’t even going to go to this party. It was to be called off. But did this princess have tricks up her sleeve. His father had already met the princess before Bakugou could say anything.

“The marriage must go on!” his father insisted when Bakugou tried to call off the party and the engagement.

“But Father,” Bakugou tried to impose but was quickly shut down and Bakugou had to seal his lips.

“Silence!” The King’s voice echoed in the empty halls, silencing everything around him, including Bakugou. “What are we waiting for? Let the party begin.”

And so here he was, the only one not enjoying his time. He watched as everyone around him was dancing the night away. Couples waltzing their way through the dance floor put Bakugou in a sour mood. That could have been you and him.

Bakugou shook his head from any thoughts of you. Why would you pop up in his mind out of all people? You were a traitor. A liar. A no good peasant who was using him and for what? Tch, he didn’t need you. In fact, he didn’t need anybody.

“Hello, my prince,” the princess said sweetly yet sarcastically to Bakugou, batting her eyelashes like she was so innocent. Bakugou didn’t even spare her a glance.

“What do you want?” he spat. And the princess did not like that.

“Watch yourself, your highness. We are in public. Don’t want to cause a scene,” she warned. Bakugou could only scoff at her.

“Oh, princess. Don’t you know who I am?” he asked and leaned into her, close enough where his breath was on her ear. “You better back off before I slice your head right off those pretty shoulders of yours. How’s that for a scene for ya?” The princess slowly backed away, clearing her throat as she softly touched her neck.

“I don’t want this marriage anymore than you do,” the princess said.

“Then call it off,” Bakugou rubbed his forehead. He had a headache now.

“You know that is impossible,” the princess argued.

“Nothing is impossible.”

“It’s for the good of both kingdoms. At least pretend that I’m her,” she said. But Bakugou was quick to get in front of her, blocking her view of everything and he was the only one she could see.

“Don’t you ever speak of her again,” Bakugou warned, making the princess shrink in fear. He hadn’t gotten a good look at the princess until now. She looked a lot like you. For a minute, he thought she was you. His emotions faltered for a minute and his heart did a leap, but it wasn’t until he really looked was where he noticed the difference.

He let out one huff and backed off, slouching in his chair again. The princess frowned and continued to sit next to him the entire night, frowning that you had made the prince feel like this.

You had returned back to the palace, with the help of a few guards who escorted you back the entire way. In handcuffs, might you add. With the courtesy of the princess, she had allowed you to return back to being a servant, but got demoted to lower servant. You would no longer be serving the princess directly. Instead, you would be getting all the hard labor jobs. And if need be, then an extra hand for the princess.

You didn’t know whether to be relieved or disappointed. Relieved, because you were still alive. The princess could have had you killed. But here you were, still working at the palace, doing the same job, able to live another day. She was being lenient towards you and you should be grateful.

But on the other hand, you were disappointed. Disappointed that you were back to living this life again.

As soon as you got back to the palace, you were placed to work. And of course, the girls wanted to know everything that happened.

“What was the Blood Prince like?”

“Did he try to kill you?”

“Why were you there so long?”

“Where was the princess?”

“Are the rumors true?”

There were so many questions yet you didn’t know what to say. You were not in the mood nor in the position to say anything about the vicious blood prince.

“Girls, I just came home. Must you know this very moment?” you tried to steer the conversation away.

“You’ve been gone so long, we just have to know!” one of the girls persisted. You knew you weren’t getting out of this any time soon. Just say something and maybe they’ll leave you alone.

“The Prince… is nothing like the rumors,” you simply say and put on your familiar servant outfit that felt foreign on your skin.

“What was the Prince like then?”

“Was he kind?”

“Or more vicious and blood-thirsty than we thought?”

Your eyes welled with tears when thinking back to your memories together and what could have been. A sad smile appeared on your lips but was quickly turned upside down. What could have been? What will never happen. You were no longer living in a dream. You were back to the reality that you are a servant. Here to serve the princess. Not marry a Prince. Become Queen? You couldn’t have pulled that off anyway.

Strangely, it felt good to be back to a place that was so familiar to you. You were back to roaming the familiar halls, talking to the same girls you grew up with, doing the same chores that was ingrained in your mind. But now you longed for something different. Something better than here. You now longed for a life that wasn’t here. After experiencing a world outside the palace, you realized how big the world was. You realized how much you were missing out on by being trapped inside the palace walls. But that reality didn’t seem plausible either at this point.

It wasn’t long until you were able to laugh, joke, and gossip around with the girls, getting accustomed back to your old life. You were helping the royal doctor grind up some medicinal herbs when you heard news of the princess coming back home. It was urgent that every servant was to greet her when she got home. So you dropped everything you were doing to join your place with the rest of the girls, bowing your heads down, waiting for the princess to arrive.

With one wide swing of the double doors, in came the princess. She walked slow and deliberate, taking her time to take each step. It was quiet. Only the sounds of her heels clicking on the ground could be heard. Her footsteps were coming closer to you and for some reason, it was making you nervous.

Step. Step. Step.

Until you heard her footsteps come to a halt and she was standing right in front of you. You gulped but tried your best to keep a poker face. The princess turned to you and lifted your chin up with a fan she held in her hand. She wouldn’t dare touch you with her bare hands. You had closed your eyes before your eyes reached the princess. You couldn’t look royalty in the face, especially not after what happened.

The princess took a good look at your face and let out an annoyed click of her tongue before harshly letting go and continued on her way. You could only bow back down and step back into place, blending in with the rest of the girls.

You had thought that you had gotten your old life back when returning to the palace, but you were treated more cruelly than before. You were demoted to a general servant, doing more labor than most servants. You weren’t supposed to be serving right under the princess. But she was calling your name any chance she got.

“Where is (y/n)?!”

“I want (y/n) to do this!”

“Fetch (y/n) for me!”

“Why is (y/n) not here!”

The princess demanded for you at least 20 times throughout the day, making you stop in the middle of your work to tend to her. The princess never really needed you. She just wanted you to run around, making you more tired than you should be. But because you couldn’t do your work properly due to her highness constantly calling for you, you were being punished.

You couldn’t count how many times her hand made contact to your cheek, the sharp pain was becoming regular to you now, because her laundry wasn’t done properly or you were being too slow. Your cheek was a constant red color with slight swelling. The other girls watched as you were getting smacked around and punished more than them.

The girls had to look away when one day. The princess snapped, making you lay out your hands as she used a stick to whip your hands. You wanted to cry out in pain but the more you resisted, the harder she hit you and the more slaps you were going to have to endure.

Granted, the royal doctor would treat you behind the royals back because you were so close to them, basically like a daughter more than an apprentice. But you would have to go back to work the next day to hide suspicion. And the punishments didn’t stop there.

Hot tea was spilt on you too many times to count, daily smacks in the face, more running around, being spat on, more beatings, marks and bruises all over your body. You couldn’t catch a break. And all you could do was apologize. Over and over again, you apologized. In the moment, you may not have done anything wrong, but she was the princess. Everything and anything you did to upset her, you were at fault. So you kept your head bowed to the floor, taking any punishments she gave you. Because you deserved it. She’s holding a grudge against you because you didn’t follow her commands to break off the engagement. She has every right to do whatever she wants to you. You were in the wrong. You deserved all the punishments. Because you were a servant, and that’s all you were ever going to be.

A/N: I’d love to know your thoughts and if you want to be added to the tag list! All are welcome!

Tagged: @superblyspeedydragon @melasnchz-things @animexholic @bkgwrites @sam-i-am-1025 @apexqueenie @katsukibabe @germfart3 @tspice283 @angie-1306 @bakugous-trauma @bakugousmrs @random-fandom-girl-24 @monetfatalia @triviajeongin @readingslumpfanfic @softredrobin @daddy-daichis @stardream14 @bevaevar @cathwritestragediesnotsins @luvtaromilktea @aaannaabbanana@i-ameri-cant @shyonigirichan @aomi04 @anime-for-live @maggiecc @cloudsgathering @backoftheletter @moshi-moshi-angie015 @sabrinakishi @thegirlfrom-rio

[gch1995]

I’m 25 going on 26 now, and I grew up loving the classic Powerpuff Girls cartoon series when I was a kid. Even now when I rewatch it as an adult, it’s still a cute and funny cartoon, especially now that I’m old enough to recognize all of the adult jokes. Like, there’s no way it was a coincidence that Professor Utonium’s despicably dishonest, greedy, lazy, manipulative, selfish, and sleazy former roommate from college was given the name Professor Dick Hardly by accident.

Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup actually are pretty relatable little girls who have believable flaws and insecurities. They make believable bad choices for little girls. Those issues actually get dealt with seriously, rather than just being brushed aside as no big deal with no negative consequences. They are still endearing and sympathetic in spite of their flaws.

While he had a few OOC moments of bad parenting in some bad episodes here and there, generally speaking, Professor Utonium from the classic Powerpuff Girls is actually one of the best dads in cartoons that I’ve ever seen, which is sadly pretty rare in most cartoon sitcoms, even the ones that are actually aimed at a children audience.

Most cartoon dads are abusive, lazy, neglectful, selfish, and stupid oafs. Granted, those type of dads in cartoon sitcoms can actually be entertaining and funny to watch when they are actually being well-written as shitty and slow-witted, but still essentially well-meaning people in regards to their families, such as S1-S8 Homer Simpson from The Simpsons and even S1-S3 Peter Griffin from Family Guy. However, the entertainment quality of those shitty, but well-meaning cartoon dads was mostly lost when the writers flanderdized their negative traits to the point of making Homer and especially Peter downright despicable with little to no redeeming or sympathetic qualities much of the time anymore. They went from being shitty, but essentially well-meaning parents and husbands to downright bratty and spoiled man-children who were much more intentionally abusive, childish, cruel, neglectful, petty, and selfish in regards to their families and others around them with little to no sympathetic or redeeming qualities much of the time anymore, and that’s one of the biggest reasons why The Simpsons went downhill in quality after S8, and why Family Guy went downhill in quality after S3.

Nonetheless, even as they were originally written on their shows pre-flanderdization when they were still well-meaning, but misguided parents and spouses, cartoon dads like Homer Simpson and Peter Griffin, weren’t good dads on the whole. There were still plenty of recurring plot lines and/or gags of them being abusive, lazy, neglectful, reckless, and selfish. Back in early seasons pre-flanderdization, it was more forgivable, though, because they also still had their fair share of kind and selfless moments with their families, and their shittiness as parents wasn’t intentionally abusive, malicious, premeditated, and selfish in nature, which balanced them out enough to still be entertaining and likable characters in spite of their flaws.

Realistically speaking, though, dads like Peter Griffin and Homer Simpson would be better off having their kids taken away from them by CPS. Their good qualities and lack of malicious intent, particularly in earlier seasons pre-flanderdization, would still not hold up as legitimate excuse as to why they should be allowed to keep their kids. Bart would have bruises all over his neck, fractures in his neck, and he could possibly be killed if Homer strangled him hard enough to actually break his neck and/or cut off his air supply long enough in real life just once. Meg, Chris, and even Stewie would not only be injured, but actually outright killed in real life from some of the abuse and neglect that Peter and Lois put them through in later seasons of FG. All of these kids, especially Meg, would have serious self-esteem issues for the rest of their lives because Peter, Lois’, and Homer’s abuse and neglect of their kids went beyond just a pattern of being physical in nature, but emotionally and verbally abusive as well.

So yeah, Peter Griffin and Homer Simpson are really not good fathers who you’d ever want to deal with for a parent in real life, even pre-flanderdization. The major reoccurrence of the abusive, bumbling, idiotic, lazy, drunken, neglectful, and selfish dad trope in cartoon sitcoms is exactly why I really love Professor Utonium from the classic PPG cartoon. I don’t necessarily mind it in absurdist cartoon sitcoms when it’s done well as a trope, but I’m also getting tired of mostly just seeing bad and stupid dads in cartoon sitcoms, and not enough good ones.

For the most part, the OG Professor Utonium is a great dad who goes above and beyond to make sure Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup are happy, healthy, disciplined, and safe. He’s usually the parent most of us wish we could have in real life, if we don’t already. It’s refreshing to actually see a good dad in an animated sitcom for once.

Professor Utonium in the classic PPG cartoon is generally a very kind, loving, selfless, and supportive dad to girls. However, he also knows when he has to discipline them and be strict without ever being mean about it. He gives them good advice. He’s very selfless, and even though the girls are superheroes with superhuman abilities, he’ll still risk and/or sacrifice anything to protect them when they’re unable to protect themselves with their powers, including his own life. He didn’t need to be the stereotypical cartoon sitcom abusive, bumbling, dumb, and neglectful dad in order to be funny either. He was funny because he could sometimes be overprotective of the girls, and he could sometimes embarrass them by calling them sickly sweet terms of endearment and telling embarrassing stories that he shouldn’t have about them in public. He was socially awkward. These are relatable flaws in parents that even the best ones have.

While the girls don’t have a mother, Ms. Bellum and Ms. Keane were very brave, kind, and intelligent strong women who were good role models.

Also, the Professor did many activities with the girls and chores around the house that get gender-coded as “mother’s work.” Some of these things include begrudgingly playing dress up as Bubbles to make her happy when she was playing PowerPuff Girls with Buttercup and Blossom on a rainy day inside of no crime when he saw that she was upset that no one wanted to be her, cooking, cleaning, and actually sitting down to talk with the girls, listen to them, emotionally support them, and give them advice. He’s also not afraid to be openly affectionate, doting, and emotional with the girls. There’s just not enough good dads in cartoon sitcoms, which is why I really like Professor Utonium from the OG PowerPuff Girls cartoon and movie. He mostly defied all the bad dad stereotypes, and was a really great one to the girls more often than not.

The main villains from the classic PowerPuff Girls cartoon are incredibly entertaining, especially MoJo JoJo. Him was always the creepiest to me because he was the most devious, insidious, and manipulative one. All of the psychological abuse and manipulation he put the girls and Townsville through was always the scariest to me when I was a kid because out of all the villains on the show, the torment that he wreaked upon the girls and Townsville by brainwashing them, gaslighting them, and/or exploiting their fears and insecurities often was played as dead serious with really scary results, especially in early seasons of classic PPG. While Him had a few human moments here and there, for the most part, he was pretty consistently played off as being seriously scary and dangerous.

MoJo JoJo was an egomaniacal asshole hellbent on destroying the PowerPuff Girls and world domination, and on a few occasions, he actually came close to succeeding. On a few occasions, he genuinely was more scary than camp evil. But he still had a lot of humorous, human, fallible, and relatable moments, too. My favorite MoJo moments are the ones where he is making jokes, irritably going grocery shopping to get eggs, getting too frustrated by the girls antics and childish behaviors and reactions to actually go through with his plans to destroy them at certain points, and getting angry and jealous enough to actually destroy the alien/robot invader from another planet who was destroying Townsville in all the evil ways that he always wanted to himself. He was highly intelligent at coming up with clever schemes and inventions with all his science and technology to take over the world, destroy Townsville, and/or destroy the PowerPuff Girls. However, his arrogance, impatience, and impulsivity always doomed him to fail to succeed in the end, though he did come pretty close on a few occasions, especially in the 2002 prequel origin story movie, and he did actually get to rule the world in “The PowerPuff Girls Rule the World!” Surprisingly, he actually was a kindhearted ruler who did good things, but then he gave it all up and went back to being evil because he got bored.

Originally, MoJo was a well-intentioned extremist who wanted to create a utopia ruled by primates where they would never be controlled or rejected by humans again. As much as Professor Utonium’s irritation with JoJo for being a destructive chimp lab assistant was completely justified, it’s also hard not to feel kind of sorry for Mojo Jojo and understand where he’s coming from in his motivations to become evil, particularly in the 2002 prequel movie because originally all he really wanted was to be loved by his owner, too. He understandably felt rejected when Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup became the center of his universe instead. Of course, that doesn’t excuse him for choosing to respond to the Professor’s rejection by becoming an arrogant, evil, cruel, hateful, hypocritical, domineering, manipulative, petty, selfish, and vengeful villain going on a quest for world domination, attempting to commit homicide several times, probably committing voluntary manslaughter of citizens several times that we didn’t see on screen when destroying Townsville all those times, turning the rest of the world into dogs to try to take over the world, and trying to destroy the girls. However, you understand why Mojo became the villain he did with his backstory. He’s relatable. Occasionally, he does have some genuinely sympathetic moments where he’s actually willing to be friendly with the girls, team up with them, and do the right thing.

HIM was just the personification of evil for no other reason than the fact that he was satan. While MoJo was a complex, human, and relatable anti-villain with his origin story as the Professor’s lab chimp, who gained genius-level human intellect from having Chemical X splashed on his brain, and then chose to become evil after feeling rejected by the Professor when he saw how he pretty much forget about him once the girls became the center of his universe instead, HIM was evil, manipulative, and hateful for no other reason than the fact that those traits were a part of his nature as the very embodiment of evil. Many times, a fictional villain being portrayed as one-dimensional with no sympathetic qualities or relatable motivations will annoy me, but with HIM being evil just because that’s who he is, it actually works because he is literally Satan. There doesn’t need to be a deeper sympathetic story behind why he is evil. Committing crimes, wreaking havoc, corrupting people, manipulating people, turning people against others, exploiting the fears of others, and deceiving others for his own amusement is just who he is, and in the early seasons of classic PPG in particular, that made him really scary to me when I was a six year old little girl watching the cartoon on TV.

You get the idea...The classic PowerPuff Girls was a fantastic cartoon, particularly the first four seasons. Granted, there was some series seasonal rot going on in the writing in S5 and S6 after the 2002 prequel movie, and Craig Mcracken and Gennedy Tartakovsky’s departure from the crew. Like, the characterizations of the characters and/or storylines in S5 and S6 felt comparably flanderdized, ooc, immature, inconsistent, pointless, shallow, and underwhelming at certain times to fit the plot, such as in the episodes “Keen on Keane,” “Pee Pee G’s,” “Seed No Evil,” “Reeking Havoc,” “Toast of the Town,” “Say Uncle,” “City of Clipsville,” “”Bubble Boy,” A Made Up Story,” “Mo’linguish,” and “Simian Says.” Even the good episodes of S5-S6 still didn’t ever reach the same level of greatness of the ones from S1-S4. However, the seasonal rot in the classic PPG cartoon of S5-S6 after Craig McCracken and Gennedy Tartakovsky’s departure still wasn’t nearly as bad as the seasonal rot on The Simpsons after S8, Family Guy after S3, and SpongeBob SquarePants post S3–S4 ish, so I’m still willing to consider most of S5-S6 of classic PPG legit canon.

However, it sounds like the 2016 PPG reboot fucked up everything that was originally good about it to go for a more slapstick comedic feel without substance without consistency, depth, and intelligence. Now, I hear that the CW is making a live-action TV show spin-off of the PowerPuff Girls being jaded and resentful young women who’ve given up crime fighting as result! No, no, no! Why? Why does the CW keep making dark, nitty, and gritty live action teen soap operas out of beloved childhood cartoons?

Yeah, the original PowerPuff Girls cartoon and movie had dark moments. The girls could be bratty and make bad choices sometimes. However, it was still very much a fun show about normal little girls born with superpowers, which they chose to use to defend their father, their city, and on some occasions, the whole world, from crime. No one ultimately forced them to be superheroes for everyone in the classic PPG cartoon and movie. They chose to do it because they had brave and selfless hearts. There was ultimately no obligation for them to be superheroes in the classic PPG cartoon and movie. Sure, they got tired of fighting crime at times, but they still ultimately enjoyed doing it when push came to shove. They weren’t weighed down by the darkness of the world, hatred, and resentment. They still were relatively normal little girls with happy, peaceful, and normal lives of little girls whenever they weren’t fighting crime after the events of the prequel movie about their origins. That’s what made the PowerPuff Girls classic cartoon so special.

By turning Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup into jaded young women, who have given up on being superheroes because they’ve grown resentful of “losing the normal childhood to crime fighting” that they basically are shown to have in the original series for the most part in their spare time aside from having superpowers that they chose to use to fight crime to defend their dad and Townsville from, anyway, where is the fun in that?

[ask-the-riders]

90 OC Questions For Ya

I tried to make one of those ask game things, and this is how it turned out :P I also tried my best to avoid any boring or bland questions (ex: “what’s their favorite color?”), so if these seem random and/or potentially chaotic, that’s probably why. As my luck goes though, I couldn’t find too many unique ones, so yeah.

**I split the list into separate categories and organized them a little, but unfortunately, the numbering is a little weird ^^” when sending in any of these, please be sure to specify which category your question is from, that way I can be sure that I’m answering the right one**

About Them:

Can they play an instrument?

What is their least favorite chore?

What was their best subject in school?

What is their opinion on naps?

When they want to get away from everyone, where do they go?

What food combination do they eat that makes others cringe?

What do they like but are kind of embarrassed to admit?

What movie trope annoys them the most?

What time do they normally go to bed?

What do they like to do in their free time?

What is the last thing they do before they go to sleep?

What are their turn ons? What about their turn offs?

What’s one thing they miss about being a kid?

In their group of friends, what role do they play?

How often do they check their phone? (From 1-10, with 1 being “Never In A Million Years”, and 10 being “They Never Stop Looking At It”)

What’s their worst habit?

How many children do they want?

Do they like to dance?

Do they currently have any pets?

Do they keep their things organized?

Do they have any siblings?

Do they have nice handwriting?

Do they have any nicknames?

Do they have any pet peeves? If so, what are they?

Do they think that humans will ever be able to live together in harmony? What about humans and monsters?

Do they like horror movies? Why or why not?

Do they ever sing when they’re alone? What about when other people are around?

What’s the longest they’ve been awake?

As a child, where was their secret hiding place?

Is there any place they have no desire to visit? If so, why?

As a child, did they have any pets?

If their mind were an island, what would it look like?

What type of kid were they?

Who is one of their best friends, and what do they love most about them?

When people come to them for help, what do they usually want help with?

Their Favorites:

What is their favorite breakfast food?

What is their favorite dinner food?

What is their favorite season?

What is their favorite Disney movie?

What is their favorite holiday?

What is their favorite memory?

What is their favorite food to snack on?

What are their favorite songs?

What is their favorite way to de-stress?

Have They Ever:

Have they ever been to a planetarium?

Have they ever slept outside?

Have they ever done karaoke?

Have they ever eaten food from the trash?

Have they ever changed a diaper?

Have they ever been in a treehouse?

Have they ever fainted?

Have they ever shot a gun?

Have they ever eaten sushi?

Have they ever been to a farm?

Have they ever been surfing?

Have they ever ironed clothes?

Have they ever seen a ghost?

Have they ever shoplifted?

Have they ever been to the zoo?

Opportunities:

If they could learn any two languages, what would they be?

If they didn’t need sleep, what would they do?

If they could have any kind of pet, what would it be?

If they had the opportunity to look through someone’s email without them knowing, would they?

If they were a king/queen/royalty in general, what would they want their throne to look like?

If they could live anywhere, where would it be?

If they could change genders for a day, would they? If so, what would they do during that time?

This Or That:

Book or eBook?

Coffee or tea?

Coke or Pepsi?

Hot or cold?

Beer or wine?

Shower or bath?

Cake or pie?

Call or text?

Dogs or cats?

Chocolate or vanilla?

Pancakes or waffles?

City or country?

Pizza or tacos?

Travel alone or travel with a group?

Situations:

What’s the scariest animal they’ve seen in the wild?

Have they ever saved an animal’s life? What about a person’s?

If each person came with a warning label, what would theirs say?

Would they feel comfortable showing someone the pictures on their phone?

What set of items could they buy that would make the cashier the most uncomfortable?

Who would they hate to see naked?

Would they dress in drag for $25?

Would they let someone slap them for $100?

If someone wrote a biography about them, what would they think the title should be?

Would they rather go without junk food for a year or go without tv for a year?

[vicarfelix]

Internal Suffering

Vicar Max x Fem! Captain

Warnings: Language.

Word Count: 2,756

“Captain. You’re better than this.”

“Is she okay?”

“Should we get SAM to break open the door?”

“Damn. No amount of alcohol in the world could drown out what she probably saw.”

“ERROR. Status of Captain’s door...LOCKED.”

Max finally held up a hand to silence the rest babbling crew that was expressing their concern for their Captain from where they sat around the kitchen table. They had known something was wrong the moment that Ellie, Max, and the Captain returned to the ship after they had been out for almost two days. She didn’t say much at all, only offering a brief hello before snatching a drink from the fridge and taking a shower before keeping herself buried away in her quarters. 

She was bruised and had minor injuries in various places. Not to mention that she hadn’t slept in almost 48 hours. But it was clear that was the least of things on her mind.

Max had managed to convince her to open the door long enough for him to check on her, which didn’t amount to much considering that she practically yelled at him to get out and leave her alone for a while. Max usually wouldn’t give up so easily, but he could tell that (despite her angry tone) she wasn’t mad. 

She was hurt.

She was completely rattled by what they had seen today. An ugly painting of horrific images and gruesome smells that not even the hottest of showers could wash away. It would haunt her for weeks to come, and on top of that, she was worried about how this was affecting her crew. 

Thankfully, she had taken Max and Ellie along today, which made her feel a bit better considering they were two of the more thicker skinned of the group. Still, she felt guilty for exposing them to that. 

Max and Ellie gave the crew a brief rundown of what had happened. While they were sickened by it, they were more worried about the Captain.

“Come on. We just want to know if she’s okay.” Felix pleaded.

“She’s just seen probably the worst that the colony has to offer,” Ellie huffed; “I’d be worried if she was okay.”

Max sighed heavily. He was beyond concerned. It wasn’t like you at all to shut out the crew like this. It wasn’t like you to shut him out. He was afraid that this had pushed you over the edge.

“She wishes to be by herself,” Max announced; “We should all give her some space and let her work it out.”

“I don’t know if that’s such a good idea, Mr. Vicar.” Parvati replied.

“Yeah, I don’t think she ought to be alone after seeing something as traumatic as you’re saying it was.” Nyoka detested.

Max shook his head.

“I know. But she doesn’t want to talk to us. We don’t need to push her.” Max pointed out.

Felix looked stunned at that, his eyes widening.

“She must be really shaken up if she won’t even talk to Max.” He said, clearly alarmed.

While Felix’s statement had innocent intentions, it caused a sting in Max’s chest. It was true that the Captain always seemed to flock to Max when she needed to talk. It was a mixture of things really. He was a professional when it came to listening to confessions, but he was even more comforting being as he was her boyfriend. She never felt like she couldn’t go to him when she needed him until now. 

It was killing him that she was closing herself off to him.

“She’ll be alright. Give her a couple days...or weeks. She’ll feel better when we get this job done.” Ellie stated.

Max sure hoped that Ellie was right. He wasn’t going to be able to stand it if the Captain never got over this. For now, all he could do was keep his arms open to her for when she was ready. Or for when he knew she couldn’t take it anymore.

The crew dispersed reluctantly to finish out their chores to close out the day, the Captain weighing heavily on their minds. Max went to take a shower to wash off the blood (some his and some not his), dirt, and sweat from his body. He took a moment to reflect on what he had seen earlier, realizing that he hadn’t given himself a moment to process everything. He wasn’t quite like Ellie Fenhill who preferred to drink herself into oblivion until her mind was too foggy to remember much of it. He’d rather come to terms with it on his own time.

Max had killed more people that day than he had the entire time he had been traveling with you. The strung out marauders and the doped up test subjects were probably the most terrifying people he had ever encountered. They were basically soul ridden beings with no sense of purpose or morale. They were just blood thirsty, violent animals that were once loving people.

That was the scariest thing imaginable.

Max stood under the stream of water until it threatened to turn cold, prompting his exit. He changed into a pair of clean clothes before leaving the bathroom, debating on what he should do next. By the time he had freshened up, everyone else had turned in for the night. The only sounds were the humming and singing around the ship, as well as Felix’s beloved Tuesday night adventure serial coming from his cabin. 

Max eyed his own cabin, the only one with the door open and the lights turned on. Max chuckled to himself as he entered. He couldn’t even remember the last time he had actually spent an extended amount of time in his cabin. Ever since establishing a serious relationship with the Captain, he found himself staying in her room pretty much always. Her cabin was much larger than his, and despite the fact that her bed was exactly the same as his, he was convinced that it was comfier. 

Maybe because he always had someone he loved snuggled up to him at the end of every day.

He ran a hand through his damp hair to somewhat even it out. It always seemed to have a mind of its own when water dripped from his graying hair. She had always told him that she liked seeing his hair somewhat out of order, which was why she was likely the only person who had ever seen his hair unkempt.

He wasn’t too keen on the idea of sleeping alone, considering he had gotten so used to having her with him. But if she didn’t want him, then he would respect her desires. He bit the inside of his cheek in disapproval when he tried to stretch out onto his bunk. He sank into the mattress that hadn’t been used in quite some time, but it didn’t feel the same. 

His entire cabin just didn’t have the same comfort that hers did. Although, it wasn’t her cabin that he found comfort in. 

It was her.

Every other thought was occupied by his Captain. He wondered what she was doing as he lay there awake, worrying himself beyond measure. He was beginning to go against his own word, tempted to go to her even if she had pushed him away. She was struggling right now. She was suffering. 

He couldn’t just let the woman he loved be in pain like that.

He got up from his bed, quietly going down the stairs to the Captain’s door. The red light above her door indicated that it was still locked, and he couldn’t get in unless she opened it from inside or ADA unlocked it for him. It was awfully quiet from inside the Captain’s quarters, and he hoped that she was just asleep.

He traveled down to the ship’s computer asking ADA nicely to unlock the Captain’s bedroom. ADA, however, almost always gave Max a run for his money.

“I cannot take orders from anyone other than Captain Hawthorne.” ADA informed the vicar.

He groaned. 

“I know, ADA, but I’m worried about her. I just need to get into her room.” Max explained.

He always felt so stupid arguing with a machine. Although, ADA was likely light years smarter than he was.

“I can only take orders from Captain Hawthorne. You are not Captain Hawthorne.” ADA replied.

Max grumbled to himself. He’d have to take a different approach.

“Well...can you at least tell her I want to speak with her?” Max questioned.

“The Captain gave me direct instructions not to converse with her unless there was an emergency. Is this an emergency?” ADA acquired.

“No...” Max responded gruffly. He was a little surprised that the Captain had taken so many steps to avoid anyone from seeing her; “How would I go about unlocking her door myself?”

“Hypothetically, her door would automatically unlock if I entered a rest cycle. But that requires my restart button to be push-”

Suddenly, ADA’s screen went dark as Max put her into a manual rest cycle. The Captain usually ordered ADA to take a rest cycle overnight anyway unless something with the ship went wrong, so Max didn’t feel bad for shutting the computer up for a bit.

He commuted back to the Captain’s door, the doors whirring open to reveal what appeared to be an empty room. The Captain wasn’t sitting at her desk or laying in her bed, and she appeared to be nowhere to be found. Just as Max went to panic, he heard a sound. 

It was a soft noise that he would’ve missed if the room hadn’t been as quiet as it was. He followed the sound of sniffling over to the far corner of the room behind her bunk. 

The Captain was backed into the corner, knees huddled up to her chest with her head buried behind them. Her towel from her earlier shower was still wrapped around her naked body, indicating that she hadn’t even gotten dressed afterwards. Her skin was dry now, and her hair was just barely wet as if she had been there the entire time. She raised her head from her knees when she felt his presence, revealing her reddened, watery eyes and blotchy cheeks from her hours of crying. 

Max’s heart broke at the sight of his Captain falling to pieces like this. She was hands down the strongest, most confident person that he knew. He always reminded her how proud of her he was for always being the bigger person and doing what was right. Maybe that was his mistake. Perhaps he had made her feel like she had to be at her best all the time. 

She looked at him through bleary eyes, a fresh set of tears falling down her cheeks. Her voice cracked as she spoke, her tone thick with sobbing.

“I’m sorry I yelled at you.” She apologized, almost choking on her cries.

Immediately, Max was sitting at her side, her head falling onto his chest as she wailed. He eventually brought her into his lap to hold her close, rubbing her back up and down and kissing her temple. He hushed her, hating the feeling in his gut every time she sobbed out again. Her face was buried into the soft material of his shirt, her tears staining it. Her arms and legs were freezing from being exposed to the cold air of her quarters for so long without clothes, Max’s hands rubbing up and down to provide her some warmth.

“It’s alright, love. I’m here.” He hummed, holding the back of her neck in his hand.

“It was horrible. I’ve never seen anything like that,” She cried; “I don’t know how Spacer’s Choice could ever be capable of something like that.”

“Spacer’s Choice is arguably the most powerful corporation in the colony,” Max spoke; “The stronger the company, the more room there is for catastrophic events.”

The Captain sat up from his chest, leaning against Max’s leg that he had hiked up for her to lean on.

“I fucking hate the Board,” She hissed; “If I have to personally put a bullet in the skull of every single person involved then I swear to Law I’ll do it.”

Max was alarmed by her harsh words, his hands coming to her face to wipe away her tears.

“Captain. You’re better than this,” He remarked; “What’s the number one rule you always tell us? Try to talk it out before pulling the trigger.”

The Captain shook her head. Her tears had dried, but the anger coursing through her was giving her more energy than she had in days. 

“It’s becoming obvious that doesn’t always work. I don’t care if I have to wipe out every soul in Byzantium if it means overthrowing the Board.” She growled.

The last thing that Max ever wanted was for the Captain’s heart of gold to be hardened by all the things she had seen. In the beginning, the Captain had the most hope for the colony’s revival. Now though, her hope was diminishing with each new discovery she made.

He didn’t want her to become a lost soul the way that he had been for so long.

“What happened to my darling Captain? This isn’t you.” Max stated.

“I want the Board out of the system. Halcyon’s never going to make it with them around.” She replied in fury, ignoring his question.

“Captain, I-”

“I personally want to throw Sophia Akande out of an airlock.” She went on.

“Listen to me, this isn’t-”

“I’d like to throw her in a cell and pump her full of drugs just like-”

“Stop,” Max cut her off; “This isn’t how you do things. I know this isn’t how you want to do things.”

She finally let her tense shoulders relax for a second. Her eyes falling downward, her hands fiddling with the edge of her towel. 

“I know,” She whispered out; “I’m just tired of seeing so many people get hurt. Earth was never like this...not really.”

Max felt relief. Now she was beginning to sound like herself again. He pushed her hair behind her ear to reveal her pretty, but tired face. He caressed her face with his hand, her cheek resting in his palm. 

“If you keep doing things the way you have been, taking things day by day...then we’re going to be fine,” Max said; “I believe in you. I believe in us.”

She nodded, his hand falling to her waist and rubbing through her towel. 

“What do I do now?” She asked.

Max smiled softly.

“For now, let’s get you in bed. We can figure everything else out in the morning.” Max said, kissing the Captain’s knuckles in a gentle manner.

“Okay.” She replied.

She had to admit, it felt nice to have someone else giving orders for once.

Sleeping the rest of the night away was sounding really good to the Captain right about now. Without really giving it a second thought, the Captain let her towel fall so she could get dressed. She caught the way his eyes lit up at her naked frame, a blush evident on his face as he looked over her. She smirked a little, the first real positive emotion she’d had all day.

“You’re blushing, Vicar.” She teased,

His grin was blinding, as he pulled his leg in more to bring you in closer. 

“It’s hard not to,” He purred; “Beautiful...”

She kissed him like she meant it. His hands were warm on her exposed skin as he touched her the way he had dozens of times before. She ran her fingers through his hair, his smirk showing on her lips.

“I’m here for you. I love you.” He rumbled deeply.

“I love you.” She returned.

Max guided her up from the floor, wincing at the way her joints cracked from being uncomfortable for so long. He got her into a shirt to sleep in, bringing her over to her bed and getting her comfortable up against him. It didn’t take her long to fall asleep. The feel of Max next to her and the softness of the mattress under her was enough to send her straight to sleep. Max was tired too, but he wanted to make sure she was okay before he got any sleep. 

He knew she wasn’t totally back to normal. It’d be a while before she felt like herself fully again. But he didn’t care how long he had to wait.

He’d always be there for her.

[tendermiasma]

i’m not even into overwatch anymore but i just wanted to say I ADORE your art style and hope to develop my own into a similar semi-realism leaning...have you made a post about your art journey? I’m assuming I just need to buckle down and do anatomy studies but any tips are very welcome!! Ty for your time <3

Oh man thank you! I’ve never made a comprehensive post about how I got to *gestures* whatever this point in my art this is, and I definitely sat here wondering what “art journey” means for me since I always feel like I’m stumbling around so I’ll answer as completely as I can. But a great way to develop a realism-minded eye is to draw from photos and life. Everyone in the world has said it over and over but it really gets it done, it’s not any more complicated than that. It’s how I started when I was little and it’s not something I planned, but the Legolas posters were right there so how could I not? Your own non-realism “stylistic” touch will bubble up whether you want it to or not and that’s a beautiful thing. It’s not something you need to look for because it happens on its own, whether it’s you seeing something another artist is doing that you like and assimilating it into your work, or it’s your own unique way that you absorb information from the world and use it to solve problems in the drawing in front of you. Some new artists also still have the idea that using references is cheating-- I’m not blaming them, sometimes this weird thing is circulated by more established people as well-- but this is a very small minority. Please use references. I’d be lost without them. The Castlevania team has a giant collection of references for faces of every character from every angle, props, etc. and I always have a second screen up with 10 different sheets of whoever I’m drawing. Feeding yourself info is essential to getting better. Look at how other artists handle something you’re having a problem with too. If they’re doing a similar pose or something, study their drawing and ask yourself what specifically, extremely technically about that drawing is convincing-- what marks are where, and what is the quality or direction of the strokes? Try it out on your own drawing. If you’re stuck, become aware of if you’re holding on too tightly to what you think something should look like. I have to remind myself this as well. Really try to let go of the idea you have in your head about how something works and simply try instead to draw what you see, even if it feels weird. The results are often pleasantly surprising. 

I have a funny relationship with studies. You seem to be looking at them like a chore and I feel the same way. It’s impossible for me to sit down and just draw something over and over, disconnected from emotion or a larger narrative. I think a wonderful way to “study” is to incorporate those studies into a project that you wanted to do anyway. I’ve used my minicomics to get better at background painting or specific figure poses that I needed for the story but wasn’t sure how to do. I’m a very “oops I need it now better learn TODAY” kind of artist, if that suits you better than buckling down and doing anatomy studies for hours. Both are great ways to improve, but you have options for how to get there. 

In terms of how much time I spend drawing.. well lol it’s a lot. I almost typed “but I don’t do it every day” but yes, my jobs have made sure that I do (I tend to separate personal drawing and job drawing). But the truth is, to get better, a lot of very focused drawing time is important; how much of it is up to you and your schedule. You can sit down for 6 hours and doodle or you can sit down for 3 with an extremely critical eye. It’s about the volume of time as well as focus and I don’t have a clear answer for it, but I can point to one specific year in my life where I made artistic progress like I’ve never seen from myself since. I drew a comic with regular updates during that time and, looking back, the art was not good. But the point was, I was drawing for 7 hours a day after work, at least 5 days a week, and actively looking to draw things that I hadn’t done before or knew that I wasn’t good at, and the result was that every single update was almost like it was drawn by a different person-- readers noticed and commented on the progress as well. It was very much an art bootcamp and I wouldn’t have the skills I do at this point if I hadn’t done it. It’s important that you’re loving what you do if you do it for yourself! That’s how you get through big projects and continue to be excited with where you are. Love is one of the most important motivators and discipline-keepers in art, in my experience. Draw what sets your brain on fire and attack it wholeheartedly even if it’s really weird or niche, not what you think you should be drawing, and you’ll improve a million times faster.

Art journey in terms of what I’ve done with my life (if this is what you meant from the beginning I’M SORRY I’m just trying everything you might have meant) uhhh I haven’t been to art school. I have no idea what my relationship with art would be like now if I’d had any formal training and I don’t really dwell on it. I could either be a testament to being able to get by without it or an example of someone who has no idea what she’s doing at all and lacks many basic foundational art skills. I have an architecture degree. I love architecture, I love the language of space we build for ourselves, and I’m truly, deeply glad for that eye-opening and often grueling experience, but I think my current field is a much better fit. Before animation I worked as a graphic designer mainly drawing storyboards for commercials and internal-industry stuff-- lots and lots of quick colored sketches (one of our main clients was a big glass company and my god I never thought I’d draw so much glass in my life). I was able to do that job due to the skills I developed through personal work. Maybe I’d be a hundred times more powerful if I went to art school! Maybe I’d be completely burned out and bitter and not drawing anymore at all! I just don’t know. I have friends who have had both experiences. Whether you choose art school or not it’s best to keep tabs on if the art you’re currently making brings you joy. Joy and struggle aren’t mutually exclusive. Oftentimes I’m drawing something I care deeply about but it’s VERY FUCKING HARD and I’m frustrated but it’s worth it.

I also do everything while being very scared of the thing. I have a lot of deep-seated anxiety that I’m constantly trying to root out and my brain compulsively twists things around into why I can’t do something, why people secretly know I’m below-par and are just too nice to tell me, how I’m “tricking” people into thinking I’m better than I am, etc. It’s so bad that my first thought when I was initially offered the art test for my current job was to say no; not because I didn’t want it so badly it hurt, but because I thought I’d be too much of a disappointment.  After completing the test I spent an hour figuring out the most gracious way to apologize for not being enough. It’s common, but not something to accept and we’re all working on it. I just thought it was important to mention because art is also a mental journey and forces you to do all this navel-gazey shit in order to advance, and feeling like you are Not Enough is rife in the creative community. The work feels entangled with my value as a person because art is a massive part of my life. Something I’m learning is that I don’t have to be confident or sure of myself all the time. This ensures that the process is usually painful and frightening. Often there’s no way to make it less painful or frightening, and I just have to hold my breath and do it. An oddly comforting thing to me the past couple years is to remind myself that the scary thing I’m about to do won’t be the scariest thing I’ll ever do. I implies both that this isn’t the pinnacle of my progress and also that I will inevitably get over it. If you continue with art you’re going to run into things like this and I guess if it was me it would’ve been helpful to know I’m not alone in it.

I hope that maybe answered some of your questions, maybe? If you have some specific questions feel free and I’ll try my best. Hope you have a good day/night!

[saintlevrant]

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐈 𝐝𝐨 𝐢𝐟 𝐈 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐈𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐤𝐢 𝐦𝐞𝐧 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞-𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐩?

𝑞'𝑠 𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑐𝑘 𝑐𝑙𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 — Use of first person. Crack! My wifi is down, and I can't do my school work. So, let's dilly dally! ♡

tw: mature language

𝐎𝐣𝐢𝐫𝐨 𝐀𝐫𝐚𝐧

♤ personal manager

♤ 10/10 employer

♤ gives random raises and bonuses like it's nothing

♤ also buys a gratuity gift for being his personal manager

♤ "I know it's not much, but it's a little something."

♤ and he just eagerly stands there while I open it

♤ if it's something stupid, on everything, Imma act like that shit is the coolest thing ever given to me just to make him happy

♤ "Gahlee, my guy! This shit cleaner than a bitch! Where'd you get it from?"

♤ his grin is so goofy afterwards

♤ such a sweet man, but ong he stinks after a game

♤ please, y'all know how those jocks in the hallway smell on a daily basis? it's that + make it ✨ sweaty ✨

♤ I'd have to wash his uniform and force him to shower 3 times to get that stench off

♤ hahaha he had me in the first half

𝐊𝐢𝐭𝐚 𝐒𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐮𝐤𝐞

♤ rice processor

♤ 17/10 employer!!!

♤ he'd probably want some help harvesting the rice, but me and outdoors don't get along

♤ mans does not ask questions after I tell him that

♤ the king of approving whack ass vacation days

♤ he'd let me stay home for a month because I asked and still pay me while I'm gone

♤ he also buys his workers breakfast and lunch without taking it out of our paychecks

♤ the best employer on the block

♤ worse part of the job is when he calls meetings

♤ only calls them when sales go down

♤ he has 5 people that work for him (the two harvesters, me, the dude that picks up the rice to deliver it, and homegirl that takes record of the amount of rice harvested)

♤ we sit at a round table and he, deadass, stares into everyone's soul

♤ "Sales... are down."

♤ scariest statement I'd ever hear ✋🏾

𝐌𝐢𝐲𝐚 𝐀𝐭𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐮

♤ idk, man. his receptionist?

♤ 6/10 employer

♤ don't get me wrong, probably the coolest employer out of all of them

♤ would probably try to drag me everywhere with the team

♤ bitch, I'm supposed to be at home managing your business calls, not out here babysitting a whole volleyball team

♤ swear, this dude forgets to pay me every other month

♤ that means I get paid once every 2-3 months

♤ how am I supposed to LIVE???

♤ really gotta learn how to ration that shit, ig. wealthy girlies could never.

♤ the pay day might be sporadic but he pays a shit ton when he remembers to

♤ I don't get to take vacation days with him, not because he won't let me, but because, I'm scared to leave him to fend for himself

♤ worst part is that he makes me clean up his house

♤ "Got anything goin after the game?"

♤ "Swear. I gotta go do some chores."

♤ "Does that mean yer cleanin my house today?"

♤ no, Atsumu. I'm not ya fookin nanny

𝐌𝐢𝐲𝐚 𝐎𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐮

♤ dish washer

♤ 13/10 employer!

♤ tried to make me a waitress at first

♤ told him that I'm not a people person, but he kept asking so politely

♤ I mean, homie is super hard to say no to

♤ so, I did it anyway. I'd pay attention to the orders, but I wouldn't talk to them

♤ other than me LOOMING over the customers silently when they needed a refill, I'd be a pretty decent waitress

♤ yeah, he automatically knew that I was right about wanting to be a dish washer

♤ I become the dishwasher (yessssir!)

♤ I literally scrub the dishes so clean that they started squeaking

♤ all the workers are thinking that the utensils and plates are going to break

♤ girl, no. them thangs have to be sterilized. there's a mf pandemic out there

♤ probably the most laid back employer

♤ he's the second most organized after Kita

♤ he pays good money too, and he does not forget to pay on time

♤ vacation days are up to a week per pay period, but he's nice about it

♤ paid leave is only when I get sick + bonuses are only for holidays and birthdays

♤ FREE LUNCH!!!

♤ pick anything off the menu and that's lunch

♤ Imma be milking the shit out of that opportunity cause I want that free lunch to keep coming

♤ "Mr. Osamu, put it on god you made this."

♤ "Ha ha, yeah, I made it."

♤ "On my mama, this hoe bussin! Keep doing what you doing."

♤ the worst thing is having to touch other people's messes. ong that's gross.

𝐒𝐮𝐧𝐚 𝐑𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐨̄

♤ personal assistant

♤ 4.5/10 employer

♤ the absolute worst one to work for

♤ does not care about anything except what he wants done

♤ you think that he can't be that bad, but I'm telling the truth

♤ calls in the middle of the night for stupid ass errand runs with no reason at all

♤ he has shawties

♤ and he has a bunch of them, like he's trying to be gen z's flavor flav

♤ he orders me to go pick one of them up and take them back to his house OUTSIDE OF WORKING HOURS

♤ uh, I don't know if he forgot, but I ain't his fucking chauffeuse. I'm the assistant

♤ but I let it slide because his shawties are really nice and deserve to be driven instead of walking alone at night

♤ he just ruins it though cause he proceeds to tell me to go pick up some condoms and lube

♤ chile, I knew that they were gonna have a lil seggs, but I ain't wanna hear it from homie himself

♤ deadass, I just bought some of that shit about a couple of weeks ago

♤ I'd go anyway though, ya know? for the coin

♤ cause he pays decently, not as much as Atsumu, but then again, he pays weekly (that's where 2.5 of his rating comes from)

♤ don't expect any vacation days, raises, or bonuses. you're setting yourself up for failure if you do

♤ all I get is a day off each week and a 10 minute lunch break during working hours

♤ the shawty fiasco isn't even the worse part

♤ when he has his old team over his place or just any company, he shits on everything I'd do

♤ most of Inarizaki are foodies, so if he tells me to go pick up some din dins for them and HE doesn't like it, he's gonna throw it all away and tell me to go get something else

♤ "Try again. This time you better not fuck up."

♤ and he be saying that shit in front of everyone

♤ whatever, g. I should've gone to Shiratorizawa.

© gyecm 2021. do not repost or modify.

[halcyonstorm]

I'm so sorry this prompt took me a long time to start, but once I started, I finished it in three days. I loved writing this prompt so much. I hope you enjoy. Warning: Angst, Major Character Death

The title is: The Most Beautiful Flower (For You) (click to read on ao3)

If heaven was a place on Earth, it would be in Italy. When the gentle waves of the Tyrrhenian sea kissed the Mediterranean coastline, the cool water splashed against the very pregnant gardener’s feet, as well as the powerful Duke, the father-to-be. The bright, hot sun beamed from across the ocean as it submerged beneath the waters. Suddenly, the gardener felt a sharp pain in her stomach, causing her to groan loudly.

“It’s time…” She whispers harshly, beginning to place her hands on her knees.

It is ironic, though, how the scariest human to roam their city was born on such a beautiful night. The child’s father, the Duke of Smeraldo City, shouldn’t have impregnated the beautiful woman who tends to his castle’s garden daily, but he did. His wife, the Duchess, was infertile. This angered the Duke, causing him to have a secret affair with the gardener, a poor yet beautiful woman who he met with daily and eventually fell in love with. The Duke was scared. He didn’t know how or when to deliver a baby. He was smart, but he was smart in politics and economics, not childbirth. She sat down on the white sand behind a large rock, hidden from the rest of the world. He didn’t have time to bring her to a clinic. She opened her legs, ready to push. The Duke was ready. He patted her forehead dry of the sweat that had beaded up. He noticed then that she was extremely cold. This confused him; It was warm outside, almost too warm for the evening. She should be warm. She was starting to breathe heavy, her screams of pain becoming more breathless with each push.

With each push to expel the baby, more and more blood came out of her, staining the white sand dark red and black. It horrified the Duke. He was falling for this woman. He felt worse that he had no idea what to do to help her. When he saw the head, he cried out in joy, almost forgetting about the mother’s condition.

“You’re almost there! You got this,” he encouraged. His mistress looked ghostly pale with more sweat dripping down her face. She doesn’t look good. He noticed her neck pulsating. With three more pushes, the woman couldn’t scream any more; she was too exhausted. She was losing too much blood. The baby came out, crying and whining. The Duke was happy, extremely happy. All he wanted was a child. That happiness was short-lived, though. When the Duke wrapped his child up in his button-up shirt, he noticed his mistress hadn’t spoken a word. In fact, she was still… too still. He narrowed his brows in confusion and face contorted to worry. He placed his newborn down in the cool sand and quickly scrambled to place his ear to her chest. No heartbeat.

That is how Levi was born.

-

His father was scared he’d be caught by the Duchess, so he locked his child away in a tower on the outskirts of Smeraldo City. His father would come to visit him weekly, often having a maid tend to Levi in his place. Levi grew up hidden away in that castle. The castle, although extravagant, was torture for Levi. He hated it. It was a huge, tall tower made of cobblestone and vines. Levi had this aching, empty feeling in his chest when the maid would leave for the night. He described the feeling to her, and she explained to him it was “loneliness”. He never knew the feeling, but it was all that he felt when the sound of his shoes tapping the floor echoed as he walked down the dark, empty corridor at night. The lack of affection caused Levi to grow cold. He began to despise his maid, too. He was just her job, after all. Her extra chore. One more task to complete for the Duke of Smeraldo. When his prestigious father would come to visit, it was mainly to just apologize for avoiding him. It was a constant cycle. “I’m sorry,” he’d say, then proceed to do just that for another six months. Some nights, he would go to Levi’s castle to scream at him. “You are the reason she is dead,” he’d complain to Levi. The truth is, the Duke wanted a child. That child; however, was not Levi. Levi’s raven black hair and piercing grey eyes were too similar to his mother’s, causing the Duke to avoid Levi as much as possible. Levi despised his father. Whenever Levi’s maid/replacement mother came to visit him as a teenager, she always kept her distance. She’d stay on the far side of the room when she tended to his laundry, avert her gaze when he looked at her, and keep their conversations short and brief

“Why must you keep your distance from me?” Levi would ask.

“Because you are ugly,” she would reply. It didn’t hurt Levi’s feelings. He didn’t care about his appearance. He had no one to show. He was truly and utterly alone. Sometimes, the maid would come to his castle with a man. He wasn’t sure about many things. When he saw the man with her, he decided to watch them. He would wait around the corner from the maid’s bedroom, waiting and hearing what they’d do. When he’d leave her quarters, he’d press his lips to hers. Levi realized at that moment, he wanted a maid too. He wanted to feel whatever the fuck they were feeling. He decided to ask her about it.

“Why does that man press his lips to yours?” Levi asked as he stared at the stone ceiling in his bedroom. The maid was hesitant before replying. She realized she never taught him about those feelings.

“Because we are in love,” She replied plainly, sitting on a chair in his room, still keeping herself a safe distance away from the ugly and scary man. “We are close friends. Over time, we fell in love.”

“What is love?” Levi asked.

“Love is… complicated. It’s a feeling of deep affection... and it can be applied to anything or anyone. With a person, it is the feeling you get when you’re excited to see someone and enjoy their presence, but it’s also dangerous. Falling in love means you can get hurt, too. The person you love may decide they want to be with someone else, or they lose that feeling. Or, they may never feel that way about you at all…” She spoke from experience.

“Love is stupid,” Levi determined. “Why do it if you’re going to get hurt?”

“Love isn’t a choice,” she debated. “It can be, like the Duke and Duchess.” Levi perked up, the hairs on his nape erect.

“The Duchess isn’t my mother?” He asked. She hesitantly shook her head no. “Then who is?”

The maid told Levi about his mother, the gardener. She told him how his mother would sing to her belly every morning and evening, read him stories, and share her life stories with him. Levi smiled at this. From what the maid told him, his mother truly loved him, unlike the Duke. Learning about his mother inspired him to pick up gardening. He began by binge-reading the gardening and plant books in the master library. During the weeks, he would wear his black hooded cloak and mask and head into the town’s market. There, he found a stall that sold flower seeds of all kinds from Italy. The first seeds he bought were that of oleander flowers. He remembers from his book that they stood for “caution” and “destiny”. It is destined that he must be cautious around others, and others must be cautious around him. He was horrifying to the everyday civilians, and the shrieks of horror kept him cooped up in his tower for months until he finally got the courage to go into town again.

In those few months, his flowers began to sprout. The flowers were all he thought about day in and day out. They were his only joy. These were the first moments he felt “love”.

When Levi turned 22, his garden was blossoming into something extravagant. There was a dainty, white archway at the beginning of the trail that led to the tower. Inside, there were fields of white lilies -the flower of Italy- blooming in early April. As he walked through his garden, he bent down next to a budding cyclamen flower. It was a small pink flower, surrounded by its family. The family’s flowers were dark pink at the roots, becoming lighter in color towards the end of the petal. They opened up and out, allowing the sun to help them grow. He gently grazed his finger over the petals, feeling its velvety smooth texture.

“At least flowers can’t hate me,” he’d reassure himself. He placed his hands on his knees, standing up. With his bucket of soil and the packets of seeds laying on top, he found an empty patch of grass. He started to dig with his small shovel. Once he reached an area where the soil was moist, he opened the package and sprinkled the seeds inside. The seeds claimed to be for a Juliet rose. One that stood for love and beauty. He knew of love and beauty. He was standing all around it.

For hundreds of yards, the castle’s courtyard was filled with flowers in intricate patterns that were only visible from the top of the tower. Flowers that formed flower shapes, circles, lines, and everything in between. The bees had three hives attached to purple wisteria trees. He loved those trees the most. They were tall, old trees that were by his side ever since he could remember. The trees were almost like his grandparents, watching him take his first steps and speak his first words. Now, they take in his music when he hums a tune as he waters his flowers and console him when he vents about his father. He liked to walk through his garden and visit the wisterias. He would use the tips of his fingers to caress the petals between his fingers. He loved wisterias the most.

He woke up the next morning slumped under a wisteria tree, the purple tree creating a cool shade that enveloped his body from the warm sun. The grass beneath him was flattened by his body. He scrubbed it vigorously to help the grass stand upright again. Then, he stretched his arms above his head, groaning loudly. He stood up, using his watering can to hydrate the flowers as he walked through his garden. When he got to the rose bushes, though, he noticed some flowers were missing. He furrowed his brows, crouching down to examine the damage. One, two, three, four… Four roses were missing. They were intricately plucked from the bush, as if the perpetrator had planned this. Someone stole from my garden. His jaw clenched tightly when he realized this. How dare someone steal from me? He asked himself. He spent years and years tending to his garden and perfecting it, and now someone was trying to take his one and only joy away.

That night, he hid close to the rose bushes. He hid behind a tall vine of bougainvillea flowers. The beautiful pink flowers were bright as the moonlight shone on them. They hung over the tall, stone wall that encompassed his garden and the tower. As he lay in wait, he admired the beautiful leaf-like petals of the flowers. They were soft, rich, and pure. He was proud of his garden. He was reminded why he was waiting again, his blood boiling.

That night, the suspect did not show up. Nor did they show up for the few nights he guarded the garden. This person was sneaky. The person knew Levi was watching them, lurking, waiting to catch them. Levi caught on fast to this cat-and-mouse game. After a week of no luck, he decided to wait in his tower. He peered over his balcony one night and looked down at his garden. The white lilies blew in the cool spring breeze, They were hard to view, considering the moon wasn’t as bright. It was in the waning gibbous phase, darkened on its right side, bright on its left. It hung high in the sky, looking smaller than it did just a week ago. Levi was broken out of his trance when he heard a soft rustle in his garden. Levi glared out the window and off the balcony, peering down below. There, he thought. There they are. It was a girl. The girl had dark hair, wearing what looked like a piece of white cloth that draped over her lanky body. She had crouched down next to the rose bush, starting to tug. Levi decided to go downstairs. He grabbed his dark cloak and mask on the way out.

By the time he had gotten down to the garden, she was walking away, four more flowers in her hand. Levi was enraged. He felt his blood start to boil. Why is this girl stealing from me? Does she think this castle is abandoned? How would the garden be so well managed if it was? How dare she steal from him, stealing from the only thing he truly cared about. She walked slowly through the forest, talking to herself. She would ramble on about her mother and father and money. Levi was puzzled. She was talking as if there were someone standing right next to her. Maybe she knew he was there? No, he thought. She’d freak out. She’d never come back. Levi’s frown turned into a wide grin, a new idea popping in his head. He, unfortunately, thought of his plan too late. They had arrived in town. As Levi followed her to the marketplace, he kept asking himself why she stole from him. It was still booming at 2000 that night. The market was filled with stalls and tents. A lull of chatter hummed through the town as he followed the girl. He saw her stop at one specific stall and go behind it. She spoke to a tall man who looked to be her father. He shared the same brown shaggy hair as her. He gave her a wide smile as she handed him the flowers.

“I was only able to get four,” The girl explained to her father. “These ought to make us a lot of money! Then we can buy shoes!” At that moment, he realized both her and her father were barefoot. Levi felt a pang in his chest.

“Indeed, my love. Thank you,” her father said, kissing her forehead. Levi was taken aback. She wanted to sell his flowers? Is that what love looks like?

“These flowers are beautiful,” She said, recalling the scenery in her mind. “The garden has all different types! It’s breathtaking. I wish I could go during the day… but I don’t want to get caught.”

“Yes, that’s best,” he explained. “Hange, see what other types of flowers are there and see if any are worth selling.”

Levi felt his heart skip a beat when Hange complimented his garden. He was able to get a better look at her face. She looked about his age and had half her hair tied up in a messy knot. She had a hooked nose that fit her face perfectly. Her eyes were gleaming when the glow of the string lights hit them. He couldn’t describe how he thought she looked. It didn’t bother him that his heart was racing in his chest or how his palms were sweating. He didn’t know how to describe her, but he knew he wanted to see her more.

When he went home, he found a small rectangle piece of wood, a thick stick, some nails, and a hammer. He grabbed a bucket of paint and wrote the following on the rectangular piece of wood:

Be mindful of the thorns.

He went back downstairs to the garden to stake it into the ground after hammering it together. He wanted to see the girl again. He didn’t want her to hurt herself, though. He didn’t want to give her any measly excuse not to come back to his garden. She liked it. She complimented his garden.

-

“I think a ‘crush’ is the term you’re searching for,” the maid answered. She looked down in her lap. Levi felt his face go red.

“A what?” He scowled.

“It’s like… when you’re attracted to someone. When you enjoy seeing them and being around them…”

“I thought that was ‘love’ in your book.”

“Having a crush and being in love are different,” she began. “Love is developed over time. Eventually, a crush turns into love if you let it linger.” Levi shook his head fast.

“No, no,” he muttered to himself. “That can’t happen. I can’t love anyone.”

The maid stood up, stepping towards him. This was the closest she’s been to him in a long time. He looked up at her as he sat on the bed.

“Everyone is worthy of and deserves love. Even you.” When she spoke, he truly felt she meant it.

-

Two days later, Levi was in his tower waiting for Hange. Around 1945, she arrived on time. As she walked through the archway, she saw the sign right away. He heard her speak it aloud. She let out a short laugh. Her short laugh was like a loving punch to his gut, taking his breath away. It was so… crush, he determined. She didn’t stop and crouch at the rose bush like he predicted. She waltzed through his garden, careful to avoid stepping on his flowers. He heard her hum a tune as she danced through his garden. She took his breath away time and time again. She was as beautiful as the garden around her. She stopped humming when she noticed the oleander flower patch, right against the tower.

“Caution,” she said softly, careful not to rouse the garden keeper. Too late, though, but she didn’t know that. Levi was shocked at her statement. She knew why he put them there. The flowers rustled in the wind as it picked up. She crouched down to pet the flowers with the back of her index finger.

“These truly are beautiful,” she said to herself. Levi felt a smile creep up on his face. She looked up to the sky. “Why must I be cautious?” she asked herself. “Anyone who can create such beauty mustn’t be someone to be cautious of.” When she spoke, Levi had a thought cross his mind. Maybe I can show her myself. It was a silly thought, and Levi didn’t entertain it too much longer than that moment.

Another week passes by and the moon’s light is slowly diminishing each day. A new moon is coming. How will Hange know which flowers to pick? Levi thought of a solution. He grabbed his handy hammer as well as some string lights and secured them around the archway leading to his garden. On the ground, he stuck little lamps into the ground that radiated a white light. This way, Hange can come even when there’s a new moon. He also created a sign: The orchids are very loved. He loved his orchids so, but they were better off to give to someone who needed them. Orchids were rare to find and plant in Italy, and Levi had spent years and years trying to find the perfect technique to grow his lovely purple orchids. They were his favorites; he loved their long stem with the flowers that hung over the edge. He loved admiring the flowers up close, getting a very detailed view of the veins of the vibrant flower petals.

The moon was just a crescent in the sky when Hange came next. She wandered through the garden, not a care in the world, admiring the blooming flowers. She paused in her waltz when she saw his sign about the orchids. Her eyes shifted from the sign to the orchids. Indeed, they are beautiful, she thought to herself. She crouched down with her small shovel and pot and began to dig them up. This surprised Levi. The last few times, she picked the flowers with her hands. Now, she is preserving the flower’s life by relocating them to her pot.

“These sure are beautiful,” she said softly to herself. With the hustling and bustling of the town across the town, he wasn’t able to hear her. Again, he felt a pang in his chest when he imagined her seeing him for the first time. Her terrified face, her hands trembling in fear. He couldn’t scar her like that. He was too ugly, too brawny, too unworthy of being loved that he couldn’t dare to even consider revealing himself to her.

The next flower he wanted to draw her to were the gardenias. Now that she knew about flowers, he wanted to show her all he had to offer. He enjoyed seeing her in his garden. She talked a lot; he felt as if he were talking to her. She started staying for longer periods of time, which Levi enjoyed. He wondered if she even knew someone tended to the garden. She must, he thought. She sees your signs, right?

The gardenias were in a bushel next to the white lilies. He enjoyed having all the colors coordinated. Red when someone first walks in, met by rose bushes. Towards the castle were the oleanders of all colors, but mainly pink. That is where the bougainvillea’s were too, hanging from the castle window and wall surrounding the garden’s perimeter, as well as having their own bushel below. By his wisteria trees were the violets, orchids, periwinkles, and bluebells. The white flowers were blended with the purple and blue flowers. The white flowers included the lilies and gardenias, as well as jasmines. He loved the look of the small, delicate gardenia flowers climbing the wall surrounding his castle and garden. They had beautiful, rich white petals and a bright yellow center. He didn’t want to show them for his usual reasons, but in order to make a move. Gardenias stood for secret love, as well as a confession of sorts. After seeing her white cloth in the gardenias, he realized his crush was developing into something more. He decided to make another sign and placed it by the entrance: Open at dawn.

Hange seemed to understand his messages perfectly. One early afternoon, Levi was tending to his violets when he heard a familiar rustling. He didn’t have his cloak on or his mask. He was totally and utterly exposed. He quickly gathered his things and hid behind a grand wisteria tree. Please see me. Please don’t see me. She noticed footprints in the damp soil by the tree.

“Your flowers are beautiful,” Hange said aloud. “You have been a great help. I’ve finally gotten my own shoes!” She chuckles and glances at her covered feet. “I am trying to figure out a way to repay you…” You don’t have to repay me. I don’t mind.

“There are stories that a monster lives here,” Hange began, sitting down and leaning her back against the same wisteria tree Levi was hiding behind. “Is that supposed to be you? The person who plants these beautiful flowers?” Her words cause Levi’s cheeks to redden. She looks towards the bluebells. She sits up and kneels to admire them.

“Bluebells…” she murmured. “Gratitude. Everlasting love. I feel gratitude towards your everlasting love for this garden.” She giggled to herself. “Ah, I’m rambling nonsense. I should get going. My father will be worried. I hope you don’t mind if I take some flowers.” Take as many as you need. She walked through the garden. There was a sign next to the white gardenias as she walked towards the exit.

You’re lovely.

-

Levi was proud he was helping Hange and her family. From the sound of it, they were doing better. They were able to afford clothes for their bodies and provide two meals a day. She explained it was only her, her mother, and her father. She explained how her family loved her very much, and Levi believed her. He yearned for a love like that. He yearned to be loved at all. A foolish and childish thought ran through his mind. Could she ever love me? Does she love me? How could she love someone she’s never even seen before? Levi decided he must show himself to her. He must make some sort of confession to her. He planned it in the best way he could. He began searching the markets day in and day out to find the seeds to plant the most beautiful flower for Hange. It would be sure to bring Hange’s family wealth as well as help Hange understand Levi’s feelings.

He dressed in his dark cloak and mask and walked through the forest to the market. The smeraldo flower was one of the hardest to successfully grow in Italy. The smeraldo flower seeds were sold for dirt cheap since they were so difficult to grow. Many people attempted to grow said flower, but never succeeded. Once it blooms, it must be carefully maintained in order for them to prosper. He purchased a bag of seeds and headed home. He found the perfect spot in his garden: surrounding the wisteria tree. The purple of the wisterias and the blue of the smeraldos would perfectly blend together next to the violets, periwinkles, and crocuses. He got excited. Once he got home, he started to read about the Smeraldo flowers.

Must be planted at dusk. Must be watered every two days at dusk. Do not tear away dead leaves and flowers. Must be maintained in damp soil. If drought occurs, water daily. Meaning: I’m unable to tell you the truth.

Levi’s heart ached when he read the final line. Hange, he thought. I am unable to show you my truth. He wanted to, but he couldn’t dare to scare her away from his garden. He planned to make a grand gesture to express his love for her. He adored everything about her. She was his Sun.

That night, he went outside to plant his flowers. The sun was kissing the horizon, hanging low in the pink sky. He grabbed his small handheld shovel and began to dig a small moat around the tree. He palpated the soil with his fingers. It’s damp. It’s dusk. It was all ready. He sprinkled the seeds evenly around the moat of the tree and then scooped the dirt, placing it on top of the seeds. He patted it with his hands.

It took the Smeraldo flowers a long time to grow. Almost a year passed before the flowers were blooming. For every two days since he planted them, he watered them. Hange would stop by, chatting up a storm to the flowers before taking some in her bucket and leaving. As Hange aged one more year, she looked radiant. With the flowers to help her eat and dress, she filled out. She wasn’t as lanky as she was just one year ago. One specific summer day, Hange fell asleep in his garden. Her hair was sprawled over the white lilies, her body lying on the grass. Levi took this time to be brave. He walked over to her in broad daylight. He sat down next to her, admiring her face. She looked so peaceful.

“Hange, I am Levi,” he whispered, being careful to avoid waking her. “This is my garden. I am glad to hear you like it.” He looked into his lap then at the lilies. He plucked a lily from the bunch, tucking it behind her ear. Her dark brunette hair looked like melted chocolate scattered amongst the lilies.

“You are the most beautiful thing in this garden.”

-

Around 1700, Hange woke up. She noticed her pot was filled with beautiful gardenias. Levi filled it for her while she slept. Hange smiled softly.

“I wish to meet you someday, Levi,” she sighed, standing up then grabbing her pot. As the words came out of her mouth, she wasn't sure how she knew his name, but she was glad she did. The sun was beginning to set. She glanced up at the open castle window before turning on her heel to leave the beautiful garden once again. That night, Levi tended to his smeraldo flowers. They were beginning to bloom, a small baby blue head poking out of the green stem. It made him smile. He created this life.

It took about another month for the smeraldo flowers to fully open up and express their beauty. They were the most beautiful flowers Levi had ever seen. These are sure to help Hange the most. They were a light blue and purple with rather strange petals that opened less and less as they reached the center. They looked perfect surrounding the wise wisteria tree. They were so perfectly fitting for Levi and Hange.

He had planted some extra flowers in a hidden part of the garden just for Hange to take. He wanted her to be happy, so happy from his flowers. His flowers were all he ever knew. He wanted to tell Hange his truth, so so bad. He couldn’t. He couldn’t risk hurting her. All he wanted was for her to be at peace.

That day, he wrote another sign for her. He placed it along the path so she couldn’t miss it.

For you, behind the red camellias.

It took her a day to notice it - so yes, she did miss it. She loved the white flowers so much that she didn’t even venture to the red flower patches to find the smeraldos. She loved to dance and sing in the field of flowers that made Levi want to cry. It made his heart ache. She sounded like a siren; Her voice luring him, tempting him, but he had to try his hardest to resist her. As she had begun to leave that day, she noticed the new sign. Levi was in the garden that day, behind the wisteria. As she wandered behind the camellias, he followed her, peering at her behind the concrete archway leading to a hidden part of the garden. The smeraldo flowers were in a small bunch in a bucket, all ready for Hange to take. She gasped loudly when she saw them.

“Oh my God,” she exhaled. Her fingers touched her lips in wonder. Her eyes were wide. She ran to the flowers, kneeling down in front of them. She admired them closely, examining each vein of each petal and how the blue blended into purple. They were breathtaking.

“These are… extraordinary,” she said, caressing one flower with her hand. Tears welled up in her eyes.

“Levi… thank you,” she said his name again. It made Levi’s heart skip a beat. You are extraordinary, Hange.

“When I return tomorrow, I want to meet you,” she said aloud, picking up the pot by its wooden handle. “I know you can hear me. I know you’re nearby. If not, I’ll let the whole world know. I’ll scream it from the top of my lungs so you can hear me. I hear what they say about you in the village. They say you’re scary and that you’re a monster, but I find that hard to believe. You are kind. You are special.” Levi feels tears well up in his eyes, his throat tightening. What is this? He asked himself. “Ah… I am rambling again. Anyways, I will see you tomorrow.” She started heading for the exit. She looked beautiful: she wore a long, white dress with sandals. Please don’t go, he wanted to say. But she left, leaving Levi alone again.

That evening as the sun set, Levi picked bluebells from his garden. He hated to pluck and kill his flowers, but this was for something special. He brought the flowers in a bucket to his bedroom. He sat on his bed with the bucket, using a delicate hand to turn them inside out. His book states, If you are able to turn a bluebell inside-out without tearing it, you will win the one you love. It also states, Wearing a wreath of bluebells will allow you to speak the truth. Levi’s gentle touch manipulated the flowers in such a way to turn every single one inside-out; It took him hours. He was up till the sunrise working to make sure he didn’t rip any flowers. God forbid if anything messed up his chance. Then, he weaved the flower stems together, forming a beautiful vibrant wreath of bluebell flowers. Today, he was going to meet Hange in person.

He slept late that morning into the early afternoon. He jolted out of bed, instinctively looking out his window. Did she show? He didn’t see her. He put on his cloak and mask and went outside. He made sure to put on his wreath.

He waited till nightfall, and she didn’t show. The next day, she didn’t show. The day after that, she didn’t show. The bluebell wreath was beginning to wilt. Levi was starting to worry. He felt this strong urge to go into town. So, he dressed in his usual cloak and mask and followed his instinct. He found her father outside a building talking to a man in a white coat. They looked distraught. Levi frowned. Why is a doctor talking to Hange’s father? Why do they look sad? The doctor started walking with her father down the sidewalk. Levi felt extremely concerned. He walked across the street to the door they came out of. It was unlocked; Levi let himself in.

On the couch, Hange lay. She had a cold pack on her head, covered in blankets. She was sweating but shivering. Levi felt the familiar pang in his chest again. Levi swore Hange didn’t hear him come in, but she did.

“Who’s there?” she called out, coughing harshly. It sounded like she was coughing up her lungs. Levi felt his heart begin to race. He was nervous and scared.

“...Levi,” he replied.

“Show yourself.”

Levi did. He stepped out of the shadows into her field of vision. She gave him a soft smile.

“Come here,” she whispered. Levi did. He kneeled at her bedside.

“What’s wrong?” He asked, his face still completely covered.

“I got robbed,” she said, coughing harshly again. It made her wince in pain, a small “ow” escaping her lips. “They stabbed me.” She exposed her abdomen, blood seeping through the bandages on her upper left abdomen. Levi was too sad for words. His brows furrowed, lip quivered, eyes wide.

“I am going to die.” Levi felt his heart ache in his chest. His throat tightened again. No, no, no. This cannot be happening.

“Please, Levi,” she whimpered. “Let me... see your face.” Levi was like putty in her hands. He melted, seeing those rich beautiful hazel eyes looking at his face but at a black mask, unable to recognize any features. Levi slowly reached for his mask, untying the strap behind his head, letting it fall to the ground. That was the first and final time Levi got to look into Hange’s eyes. Hange gave him a sad smile. She reached her hand up to touch his cheek.

“You... are the most beautiful person... I have ever met,” She said, barely audible. Then, her hand fell from his face, her facial expression drooped. She was gone. Tears fell from Levi’s eyes uncontrollably. He tightly placed his hand on his mouth, sealing any sobs from escaping it. He wanted to admire her more, but he couldn’t. He had to go before they believed he killed her, delivering the final blow. He brought a white lily with him, her favorite, and tucked it behind her ear once more. He closed her eyes, pressed his lips to her forehead, as best as he could remember from his miniscule experience. Before he left her for good, he spoke.

“I will keep planting flowers for you. Over and over again.”