#should i tag it as arcane lmao???

[awkward--watermelon]

HAPPY CONVERGENCE DAY EVERYBODY🥰💖

[arcanegifs]

before i go to sleep please be reminded that i am only one person behind this blog and arcanescreencaps. i am also a human being with feelings too. i know my sideblog isn't perfect either, but i try. this is a fan-run blog, and i do this for free, for the love of the show. so all i ask is to please be nice under tags/reblogs/comments! thank you :)))

[the-spooky-children]

Can't stop thinking about unhealthy co-dependent teen!fireskulls..

[exx-bee]

I have been Too Excited to keep this secret and am now going 2 share a wip that im super proud of and have been working on ;-D

doodles under tha read more :-3

[ominous-feychild]

I was just looking through some of my old notes and I came across something that's hilarious (or so I think).

So, obviously I have faeries in my stories. Daleira, Valyarus, and Soren are all noted faeries in Sun and Shadow.

But did you know that the Arcane Rifts has faeries, too? And, in fact, that they're even more important there? (Like faeries as a "species", not just the faerie characters, haha.)

Introducing: Vysio and Rhys! They're respectively faeries of Glavnran's forests and nature in general (with a special propensity toward storms (aka water/electricity/wind/blizzards))!

Anyway, for those without context, my faeries are kinda... conceptual beings of pure magic that create forms for themselves! They're shapeshifters that can be who- and whatever they want.

The SaS faeries are all "gendered"--Soren and Daleira are male/female respectively, but actually! Valyarus wouldn't mind "they/them"! He's just gone by "he" for as long as he's interacted with humans, so it's just what he knows! So feel free to use they/them for him, if it makes you guys happy, haha.

TAR's faeries, however... well, they're not! (Actually, tragically, Rhys has lived their whole life with male pronouns. I can't really get into it without spoiling stuff, but suffice to say that they're not in a position where they can be themselves.)

Rhys is, well... an absolute gremlin who you shouldn't trust with any degree of authority (and yet they have a LOT of it--).

They'd probably prefer they/it pronouns tbh, but I'd have to get to a point with their character where they'd be able/willing to think of that sort of thing, so. (And let's just say Rhys doesn't appear until book 3, so they're def not getting that any time soon, OOPS!)

And then there's Vysio. My boy Vysio, the entire reason I wrote out everything I have here.

He's kinda just "whatever" with his pronouns. He's an entity of pure chaos (technically, not literally, but he is chaos-leaning!!! 👀) and is as close to your typical fae as my faeries get! He's a major trickster entity who just wants to cause every single problem possible, and gets so, incredibly angry that nobody recognizes him as the terrifying faerie he is! (My poor baby boy, you'll get them next time. 😂)

But, when I was going through my notes, I found the most wonderful thing.

A silly little "joke" that was 100% true.

Vysio would choose the pronouns "cryptid / bitch".

[tilia-cacophonous]

WAIT pause pause pause everyoene, I was todays ten thousand to learn that akechis VA robbie daymond is a va for league of legends???????

[frozentothetouch]

if tbhk got a reboot, can tpn? please???

[arcanegifs]

dark scenes are truly the bane of every gifmaker's soul

I’m convinced if ppl on this site knew how crappy gifs look before you color them properly, they would appreciate editors more

[hhhyperbole]

BY (not actually) POPULAR DEMAND I WILL GIVE YOU MY STARDEW OCS!!!! COME HITHER NARA AND HORROR

more info under the cut as per protocol <3

WHO IS HORROR AND WHY IS HE THE DESIGNATED FARMER?

horror is. Simply just a guy. Who is haunted and accompanied by many spirits who embody the different functions of the game. Fishing, mining, cultivation, companionship.. you name it, he has a spirit who’s with him for it. He’s of arcane descent (through nara, who is his biological mother) and can see these spirits, converse with them, and interact with then—even through physical means! his eyes are also symbolic of his somewhat innate but still unique connection to the spectral side of the valley—so ghostly pale and unfathomably tired—yet still seeing so much more and being wide awake of what is invisibly happening. he has favorites nonetheless lmao (sam, harvey, sebastian, abigail, and rasmodius) he’s also very avoidant of human interaction with the town during the first year seasons—from spring to autumn—until it passes into the second year, which lines up with how the player would be able to finally interact with his mother after you complete the first year (after receiving only vague letters that contain valuable produce that you can get cash with from her LMAOOO) like i said. horrors just a guy, really. i feel as if i should also mention who i ship him with + other info such as loved, liked, normal, disliked, and hated items, but i’ll save that for another post. lets talk about his mom now, shall we?

—

WHO IS NARA AND WHY IS SHE SO ELUSIVE?

WINE MILF!! we love you wine milf honorable tag list for nara: @yaiyogsothoth and @anonymocha, be delighted that i finally decided to post this/j . . . also, this has personal headcanons about how magic (or arcanum, as i call it in my au) works in stardew so like, block if u dont like how i did it x first of all, the art is incredibly inaccurate to the latest piece i’ve drawn of her, so i’ll correct that in a quick follow up post! but nara is the town’s very secretive winery owner who only ever emerges in winter. something about borders…? hmm.. she’s been blessed by the valley’s previous spirit of winter when she was born, turning her to be just slightly immortal (she stopped physically aging at 40 people are SO glad she did she looks so fucking fine in her 40s), so she’s at her most powerful during that season :3 her entire family, regardless of them being adopted law or biological, has been and is still being blessed by various manifestations of the valley’s arcanum, actually! so her kids—in order of age: Horror, Angelbell, Elise, Aeon + Eon—get it too :3 nara runs the beachside winery (which is aptly named the Crystalline Winery) and often only ever leaves to head towards cindersap or to the saloon, and when she does, her younger children look over the various vineyards that decorate the property until she comes back regardless of her reclusiveness, she has her favorites much like her son! (rasmodius, haley, harvey, the player’s farmer, elliott, emily, the traveling merchant [THEY HAVE A HISTORY], sandy.. and technically shane? she likes people, but only specific people..) and that’s where we leave it for now ~ aren’t you glad i didnt neglect the stardew posting for a week?/j

[liyawritesss]

Hi! Hope you having a great day, do you still taking Arcane request. If so can you do a Ekko x GN reader where the two of them having really bad fight then the reader said they should take a break of this relationship and left the Firelight place. Didn't come back for a while. Both of them regret that decision but they too stubborn to said it.

It's been a week since that fight, the reader was a mechanic. They trying to fix something for a friend but ran out of things to fix, so the reader go out to find some supply. At that time the firelight was out fighting Silco's people, At first the reader choose to ignored but notice Ekko got injured from one of the guys that when the reader run out to help Ekko and the firelight beating those bad guys.

After a while helping Ekko get back to the try to make the wound better. The reader about to leave, returning to their work place. But Ekko pulling back, want to make up the fight before and didn't want their relationship to end like that. The reader apologize about that fight and they make up!

(You can make it a little drama like having a boy or girl got too comfy with Ekko or not your choice! Angst at the beginning then fluff in the end and sorry if my grammar bad, English isn't my first language)

ꜱʜᴇ ɪꜱɴ'ᴛ ᴡᴏʀᴛʜ ɪᴛ, ᴅᴀʀʟɪɴɢ; ꜱʜᴇ'ꜱ ɴᴇᴠᴇʀ ɢᴏɪɴɢ ᴛᴏ ᴄʜᴀɴɢᴇ

Pairing: Arcane!Ekko x Black!Fem!Firelight!Reader

Type: Fic

Word Count: 5.0k

Synopsis: When a minor mistake leads a stakeout mission astray, Ekko’s choice of words has you wondering where his emotions for you lie. It becomes apparent that even after seven years, the toic of discussion is one that still cuts deep for the both of you.

Warnings: cursing, show-accurate violence, mentions of drugs and drug-use (shimmer), mentions of guns & explosions, mentions of injuries

A/N: havent written for my man in a hot minute so thank you for this request! Absolutely adore Ekko, and while I think this could be way better, i know if I mess with it it wont be as good as I want it to be lmao. Sooooo here it is, hope you enjoy! Song Inspiration: “Devil Doesn’t Bargain”, “Boy in the Bubble”, and “Let Me Down Slowly” by Alec Benjamin, “lovely” by Billie Eilish ft. Khalid, “Broken Clocks” by SZA, “like that” by Bea Miller

Tags: @writingintheshadowsforever @mbakuetshurisprincess @verachii @cafehyunji @lulu-network @babyboiboyega @badass-dora-milaje @vander-affectionate @evermorewest

Sign Up For My Taglist Here!

The air that surrounded the Firelight soldiers as the squad returned to the hideout could be described as something akin to tension.

It was heavy, weighing on the soldiers shoulders as the squad of five hung their battle wear and accessories in their respective cubbies for housing. No one dared to speak, for fear that the unbridled temper that was thinly veiled by their leader’s quiet demeanor would be unleashed if a word was spoken into the unanimously agreed upon silence.

It was thick, evident in the way the squad members pushed through the hot and sticky summer air to hang their belongings. The hesitance slowed their movements, careful not to cause any abrupt disturbances in the carefully crafted momentum that would guarantee the three other squad members precise escape from the gear room and into the open clearing of the sanctuary, where although the air was still blazing hot, it was better to breathe than the air inside, looming with hostility.

Three would find their escapes successful, returning to their individual rooms to release the stress that had settled in their muscles from the night's events. And although they had escaped the worst of it, something still lingered in their stomachs as the distance between them and the last two remaining squad members in the gear room grew.

It wasn’t just tension. It was apprehension.

White locs were dirtied with gunpowder and sweat, a thin layer of it also coating his dark cacao skin. A deep frown makes its way onto the leader’s face, frown lines prominent on his forehead, thick nose scrunched in vexation. He leaned against a nearby table, arms swollen and toned with muscle folded across his chest as he stared at the woman before him. He was trying to calm himself, formulate the words he would say in a way that wouldn’t be regrettable, but as the events of the night continued to replay in his mind, he found his efforts nugatory.

It wasn’t just tension; it was apprehension.

He watched the woman before him take her precious time in putting up her gear. She wasn’t ignorant to the tension in the room. She wasn’t ignorant, but she knew the cause of it. She knew the reason why she was taking her time in stripping off her coat, making sure it hung on the right hook by the right tag. She knew the reason behind taking extra care in extracting her mask from her face, placing the facial ornament flat onto the floor of the cubby. She knew the reason why she was taking extra care in removing her gloves instead of ripping them off like normal.

It wasn’t just tension.

It was apprehension.

“So,” the leader’s voice echoes out into the room, the first vocal sound to do so outside of the rustle of clothing against wood and clacking of the same material against the frame of the cubby made from metal. His voice  was deep, laced with madden, restrained, “wanna talk about what the fuck that was out there?”

“Nothing,” you responded, short and curt. You were biting your tongue, the both of you knew it. You were restraining yourself just as much as he was, “it was nothing-”

“Bullshit,” the white haired boy interjects, “you don’t do shit like that and call it ‘nothing’, (Y/N).”

He could see your jaw flexing, attempting to keep your mouth closed and your resolve intact as you stored away your last glove, closing the cubby door, all without looking at him. 

“I’m not doing this with you.” You firmly announce. Your pair of feet that had been stuck in the same position finally followed your will to move as you turned to the doorway, preparing to leave the room.

“You don’t have a choice, Captain!”

His voice is booming, thunderous like a God, and it commands you to halt your movements. The use of your title makes you grit your teeth, a tight breath slipping past your lips in a gamble for reclaiming your composure.

The leader pushes himself from his leaning position, standing firmly on his own two feet, hands coming together in a prayer motion in front of his face to stifle the agitation in his voice he was sure to let slip.

“We had a plan,” he says securely, though ironic in the current situation, “we had a plan to track movement. We had a plan to solely track that shipment; why the fuck did you divert from the plan?”

This wasn’t just tension; it was apprehension.

“The fuck do you want me to say, Ekko?” You seeth through gritted teeth, slowly but surely turning to face the boy behind you. “What the fuck is there to say?”

There’s an intensity in the air that comes from the severity of the situation at hand. Both of you restraining yourselves from enacting a yelling match, attempting to prevent the inevitable; trying to remain civil for each other’s sakes. Because if anyone knew how badly this could end, it would be the both of you.

“I fucked up,” you admit, though that was already evident in the heated silence that followed the squad home, “I made a fucking mistake. Is that what you want to hear?”

“No,” Ekko answers imply, “no, that’s not what I want to hear. Because that’s bullshit, too.”

“Excuse me?” You scoff, your expression mixed with shock and disbelief. “How are you gonna tell me about what I did? You think I don’t know what a fucking mistake is-”

“That wasn’t no fucking ‘mistake’, (Y/N)!” Ekko interjects again, and it’s the subtlety of which he does so that begins to spark an ember in your core with him. 

“We been in this game- we been together- for seven years, (Y/N),” the brown eyed boy continues, “seven fucking years. You think I don’t know your mistakes by now? You think I don’t know you?”

Of course he does, you think. Otherwise he wouldn’t be as angered as he is right now. 

“I know what it was,” he proclaims, pointing at you in an accusatory motion “it was your head.”

“My head?” You reiterate, said limb on your body tilting to the side, a growing annoyance evident in your voice. “What about my head, Ekko?”

“You really gon’ make me say it out loud?”

“Yes, cuz I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.”

It was a lie; you knew very well what he was referencing. You weren’t sure how it was so easy for such words to spill from your lips. Maybe it was because of the suddenness of this confrontation, despite knowing it was bound to happen. You’d played every plausible scenario of how this exact moment would play out, attempting to prepare yourself for Ekko’s questioning, and the inevitable argument that would take place. Maybe it was because you wanted him to hurry this charade along, despising his natural skill of dragging things on for far longer than what they needed to be.

“I have you as my sniper for a reason,” Ekko begins, “I have you as my second in command for a reason. Not because you’re the only person I’ve got left-” a fib of his own spills from his lips, but addressing it would not steer the conversation anywhere but in circles, “-not because you’re my fucking girlfriend, but because you proved that you could always hold a chill head. That you could take the orders given. That you could make the calls when I can't.”

“I’m sure you’ll get to a point eventually, Ek.” You scoff, refraining from rolling your eyes as he lectured you as if you were still children, holled up in an alleyway on the streets of the Undercity, hiding from enforcer soldiers.

“Whatever the fuck that was out there, was not a calm and chill head. So I need you to tell me,” Ekko steps closer, the sound of his combat boots echoing throughout the tattered walls of the gear room, “what did you see that knocked you off?”

“This is ridiculous, Ekko,” you profess, “what’re you gonna do if I don’t?” Take me off the tracking team? Demote me?”

Perhaps it wasn’t wise to say such daring words to the very leader of the rebellion you swore your life to. If there was anything about Ekko that was redeeming, it was his unyielding devotion to owning his title and standing on his word. And as he stands before you, an arms length away with chocolate brown irises blazing into yours with a fire so hot it could scorch your own fierce ones, there’s a gnawing at your stomach that tells you that he absolutely would. 

“You think I won’t?”

Silence filled the already tension-thick atmosphere, seeping into the folds and making it all the more unbearable. You weren’t sure how long the two of you stared at each other in a battle of will, a common practice the two of you engaged in whenever a disagreement arised. Without an audience, the glares in exchange lasted for what felt like minutes, hours. 

And Ekko wasn’t backing down.

“Are you serious?” You muttered through gritted teeth. “All this over a dumb mistake that will never happen again?”

“It was a mistake that could have costed us lives!” Ekko bellows once more, and if it weren't for it being the second time he had raised his voice, you may have flinched by the volume it had risen to. “We can’t afford to make mistakes, (Y/N) - especially with what we do - you know that more than anyone here!”

“And it wont happen again!” You declared, garnering agitation in your voice from having to repeat yourself more than you would like to. 

“And how can I know that, (Y/N)!?” Ekko shouts, challenging your words once more, and it more than suggests to you that he doesn’t believe them. He knows you’re not telling him everything, and it irks him to his core.

You turn once again with a mission to leave, even getting your feet to start moving, but that doesn’t stop Ekko from continuing to speak his mind. “What’s so hard about telling me what you saw!?”

“How many times do I have to tell you that it was nothing?”

“You can tell me a thousand times and I still won’t believe you-” the white haired boy rebutted, “because this isn’t you, (Y/N)!”

You weren’t sure for how long your back and forth ensued. Countless minutes of shouting back and forth, overlapping words, pleas to come clean, pleas to forget. This kind of situation wasn’t unfamiliar territory for the two of you. Ekko had a lot of weight on his shoulders, a lot of trauma he hadn’t yet faced, that he had pushed deep down to never be addressed. You understood, because you related. 

You both were there that night. You both witnessed the same act of monstrosity from the sworn enemy of your people’s leader. It was the very catalyst for the current occupation the both of you shared as leaders in a dwindling community, striving for peace and unadulterated existence while simultaneously fighting against the overwhelming clutch Silco’s grasp held on Zaun.

The woman you had become was because of that bastard's treachery and cruelty, who played a game that cost the lives of thousands. A woman of practicality, precision and calculated action. In this world there was very little room for emotion. Years ago, you wouldn’t gotten roughed up a little, but now, it got you a one-way ticket to the green, polluted waters of the desolate sewer system to be feasted on by the rats…and whatever other poor monstrosities that came from SIlco’s Shimmer.

Ekko knows this. Ekko knows all of it. Which is why he finds himself so frustrated that you won’t talk to him. It’s only in the midst of his grunting and growling that it clicks to him. A possibility as to why you acted out of such a practiced routine. Yet, he doesn’t know if he should rejoice about his revelation, or grow even more heated.

“You saw her.”

Three words that seemed to silence the world spilled from his lips in a breathy gasp. He knows he’s right when your lips come together in a tight line, and for the first time since the confrontation was initiated, your eyes divert from his.

You saw her.

“You saw her, didn’t you?” He asks, but is met with silence once again.

The topic of Jinx was always a sensitive one. Ekko may have been able to fool himself into detachment from the blue haired girl, shredding whatever hope he had left of recovering the old Powder who loved to go on runs with the two of you and made trinkets for your birthdays out of scrap metal and hard work. However, the same could not be said for you.

“(Y/N)-”

“So what if I did?” The rebuttal is sharp tongued and weighty, heavy with emotion, and Ekko knows what is inevitable to come.

“So what if I did see her, Ekko? What would you say?” You ask through gritted teeth, words strained as you feel the dam of emotions inside of you starting to overflow. “The same old shit you say all the time? That she’s gone and there’s no path of redemption for her? That she’s not worth saving?”

He’d never said such words aloud, but Ekko was guilty of thinking them, and to hear them verbalized tore open the same wound in his heart he’d patched up time and time again with each mention of the long lost friend.

“You may be able to let go, Ekko,” you grumble through gritted teeth, eyes watering over, and Ekko doesn’t know if its the sight of you crying or if it's the way the conversation has shifted that has him stilling, jaw clenched tightly, “but I can’t do that…I just can’t.”

And then, you left. And suddenly the unbearably thick summer air turned bitingly cold against Ekko’s skin as he watched you walk away. And as Ekko wipes down the length of his face, he knows there’s nothing much left for him to do but wait.

Wait until the air has become more bearable to breath. Wait until the tension has subsided. Wait until apprehension no longer clogs his stomach heavily, so that regrettable words would not be spoken.

“Hey, I’ll be back in a bit.”

“Going to the market?”

“Yeah. Your bike needs a rotator chain, I’m gonna see if I can find one on the west end.”

One week. Seven days. 168 hours since you’ve last seen Ekko.

“Be careful out there. Silco’s goons have been making rounds again, and they aren’t sparing anyone in these parts.”

You don’t remember leaving the sanctuary. You just remember waking up on your friends couch after, according to them, was a rough and stormy night. You probably blacked out after your screaming match with him, and had an overwhelming desire to just get away. Your friend’s place was the only spot safe enough for you to crash at until you got your head straight.

Though, after seeing what you saw, could you really expect to snap back in a mere few hours?

“I’ll be good. They won’t touch me if they know what’s good for them.”

You left the tiny home of your friend, clad in the same clothes you had left in and a jacket you were quick to grab from their wardrobe. They lived pretty high up above the marketplace - the homes of the residents of Zaun were built into the underside of the extravagant Piltover, where everything was dark, dank, and cold. Layers upon layers of makeshift apartments stacked on top of one another for conservation of what little space the undercity did have.

Your hand grabbed the pole of the crossbridge that led from the side your friend’s apartment was to the other, and with expert precision, you maneuvered your way down the several levels and layers of homes connected by bridges of wood, metal and concrete.

Memories of parkouring as a little girl began to flutter into your mind. How you loved to best Ekko, the self proclaimed ‘King of Parkour’, at his own game. How Powder would tag along with you because she wanted to be with her friends-

Fuck, you weren’t suppose to think about her.

You were thankful your feet met the ground before more thoughts of Powder filled your mind, because if you had still been swinging from pole to pole and jumping from wood to metal, you’d surely lose your balance and come falling down the rest of the way. It was the effect the past had one you; and an unfortunate one at that.

It’s as if the second you find landing and start to walk in the direction of the marketplace, your ears catch wind of commotion to your left. The muffled grunting and clamoring causes you to pause and turn, peering out of your hood to see what was happening.

You’d always been the one to answer a call to action, so there wasn’t much surprise when you found yourself inching closer to the alleyway of which was producing the concerning sounds. It had only been ingrained into you from your youth, and had become second nature in the wake of Silco’s reign. Having a knack for helping people was a blessing and a curse, and while it got you into more trouble than you would like, the favors that you’d stocked up on came in handy.

Approaching the alleyway closer you could make out two figures standing - Silco’s men, no doubt, given the way they dress and the horrible filth they speak. Then there’s a person on the ground, wearing green.

Green was the color of the Firelights, and so naturally, you assumed the worst.

With your ankle pressing against the small knife hidden in your boot, you knew what had to be done. You crouched down behind a stack of crates and whistled, catching one of the perp’s attention. As they approached your direction for inspection, in one quick motion, you slipped the knife from your boot, took hold of the perp’s arm and knocked him into the wall. The blade made itself a home in his neck, muffling any yell he would’ve mustered out.

By the time you were finished, the second perp had been taken care of as well by the victim they were cornering. Revealing yourself from behind the stack of crates, your worries had been confirmed when getting a closer look at the coat the other person was wearing.

It was indeed a Firelights coat - a deep forest green to blend in with the shadows but still be distinguishable. The Firelight had been injured it seemed, as they held their arm close and with care, wincing with every movement of it that was made.

“Hey,” you called out to them, advancing closer to them as you did so, “you alright? Where’s your partner? You know if you’re patrolling you gotta be in pairs-”

“(Y/N)!” The Firelight gasps out in relief, confusing you. “Lieutenant- you’ve gotta help us! We were outnumbered- a-and got split up, they jumped us!- from every corner, we didn’t see them coming-”

“Hey, hey, hey,” You quickly soothing, grounding the obviously frightened soldier with reassuring hands on their shoulder, guiding them to breathe, “you have to slow down for me, and breathe so you can clearly-”

“-a-and it’s Ekko- Ekko, he got hurt-”

And in that moment, your world slows, and there’s an instant pit in your stomach that comes from thinking the worst. If Ekko of all people got taken out of commission, whatever that was going on was serious.

“...okay,” you start after your shock passes over you. As if a switch in your brain is flipped, and now you’re in fight mode, “you need to take me to where you all split from. Now.”

Your voice is commanding and stern, leaving no room for discussion. The Firelight, still holding his arm, nods at your command. As the two of you leave, you pick up the weapon that the second perp had been carrying on his back; it wasn’t anything compared to your sniper gun, but it would have to do.

According to the Firelight, the mission was to stop one of Silco’s Shimmer transports to a hotspot location known for distribution of the drug. The normal prep for such a mission was done properly, but there was an underestimation of power in numbers on Silco’s end. What’s more, a certain blue haired girl decided to make her presence known as well, and her erraticness threw everyone off square. To save face, Ekko commanded everyone to split up.

Which meant Ekko was alone, and hurt, and probably wallowing in some form of guilt, and that could not do. A guilty Ekko was not a functional one.

“We were over there when the fight started,” said the Firelight as the two of you stood on top of a roof overlooking the distribution post, “when he made the call, I saw him go east in the direction of the Last Drop. The two other soldiers went west, and I ran south.”

Two large, burly men, littered with tattoos and hardened by the streets, guarded a small cart covered with blue metal barrels, a strip of thick translucent plastic going down the side, showing the bright magenta liquid inside. Four more paced around the small clearing area, seemingly on the lookout for someone.

Six men within a ten yard radius of each other. If you were right, that cart held about thirty gallons of Shimmer. Tests done on the drug proved that it was highly flammable, which normally meant that with your sniper gun, setting the scene ablaze would be easy. But with a mere regular shotgun in your possession, you’d need an extra boost.

“Look in your pouch for me,” you direct to the Firelight soldier, “do you got any of those spark pouches?”

The Firelight uses his good arm to fish in his thigh pouch, producing a small, red sack of gunpowder. “What’re you thinking, Lieutenant?”

“We need to take these guys out while destroying that shipment in the process,” you explain, pointing towards the triangular shape of trajectory between each of the guardsmen and the cart, “the spray of the Shimmer is about fifteen yards, which will cover more than enough of the ten yard radius those guys are in. I need you to throw that spark pouch right in between the two guards on my signal. When I shoot, it’s gonna be enough Shimmer spray to kill them…but we gotta move fast to avoid it.”

It wouldn’t have been the first time someone looked at you crazy for such a straightforward plan. You’d garnered many such stares since you first began in the Firelight ranks. There was a method to your madness, as Ekko would put it, and there had never been a reason for anyone to not trust your judgements or plans. Despite the Firelight’s initial questioning of the credibility of such a plan, there was no choice but for him to go along.

The two of you backed up as much as possible on the rooftop to make it easier for a clean getaway. Once in position, you pulled out the gun you had acquired earlier, checking the magazine for sufficient bullets. Then, you took aim at the center of the cart, inhaling a deep breath to steady your hand and focus your vision.

At one, the world began to slow when your aim focussed steadily.

At two, you prepared your wrist for the recoil that would shock your hand.

At three, the Firelight soldier threw the spark pouch with expert precision. Not a second later, the shot from your gun rung out.

The sight that Ekko wakes up to is a pleasant one compared to the week he’s had.

The sun is blinding through his makeshift sunroof. There’s a dull pain on his side, and a ringing in his ears that subsides the more his vision focuses. It’s a great contrast to what he thought he’d be seeing when he awoke, but he welcomes the feeling of home that washes over his being.

His eyes turn to his side where he sees you, sitting next to his bed. His jacket is thrown loosely over your shoulders, and in your hands, you twirl a piece of folded paper. His eyebrows furrow at the sight; he isn’t expecting you to be here with him.

Noticing that he’d woken up, you focus your attention on the injured man. The folded letter is placed on the crate that acts as a nightstand next to Ekko’s bed, and you lean forward onto the bed to get closer to him. His hair is disheveled, locs splayed everywhere on his pillow and on his face. His abdomen is bandaged tightly, yet even the white gauze leaves little to the imagination. And the sun shines on his cocoa colored skin, contrasting against your own as you slip his larger hand into your own.

You needed to feel him, and be thankful that he was here.

“Hey, you,” Ekko croaks out, voice raspy and patchy from what you can only assume was yelling and sleep.

“Hi,” you mutter out against the back of his hand, lips pulled into a tight smile.

“Thought you were still mad at me.”

“”m not mad,” you mumble, shaking your head, “just glad you're okay.”

The fact that you’re not being snarky with him tells Ekko that there’s something weighing on you; something that’s not remorse for your absence, but something deeper. His eyes travel over to the nightstand, falling onto the letter once again.

“What’s that?” He points out, curiosity filling his patchy voice.

There’s a moment’s pause before you speak again, your voice somber and emotional; “It’s….what I saw.”

What I saw can only be referring to the incident a week prior, Ekko determines. His eyes turn back to you, his hand giving yours a gentle tug towards him, gesturing for you to climb into bed with him. He meets little resistance, and takes a little pride in how easily you slip into his side, molding against his form as you were made to. His arm wraps around your shoulders, helping you hide in the crook of his neck; a much needed escape you’ve wanted to indulge in for a while.

“Deal with it later,” he mumbles against your hairline, “jus’ stay with me.”

Resting against Ekko’s broad chest, you thought on his words. Knowing yourself, dealing with things later wouldn’t be as productive as he’d hope. You’d want to forget the subject entirely, revert back to the same concealment as before. Knowing the both of you, it couldn't be dealt with later.

“It was her eyes, Ekko,” You mumbled into his shirt, prompting the darker male to turn his attention to you, “there was something in them, Ekko. I swear there was.”

Seeing Jinx on that night wasn’t what any of you had intended. She’d very scarcely shown her face on the streets of Zaun, presumably at SIlco’s behest. As mad of a kingpin he was, he himself couldn’t deny the deranged nature the blue haired girl had. And yet, when she showed signs of stability, he seemed to allow her off on transportation missions at the very least. And it just so happened that after six years, a week ago was the first time you’d seen Jinx since the night Vander died.

When you saw those blue eyes, dulled and lifeless, it hurt. Hurt to know that the possibility of Powder truly being gone was higher than what you’d let yourself believe. Hurt to know that you would never have your friend back, and that there would never be any chance of recovering the family you’d list all those years ago.

You’d seen her, and then, she saw you. And when she did, the world slowed. And for a second, when your eyes caught each other, a flash of something came across her eyes that caused your body to react against your well-trained judgment. It was as if she had recognized you and felt a sense of…wistfulness.

Though it didn’t reflect anything of the like when she raised her gun towards you, and you had no choice but to act before she could.

“There was a moment where I…thought she recognized me,” you muttered, “but then she….raised her gun to me.”

Ekko’s chest stuttered as he released a shaky breath to your words. There’s a pause before you speak again, “Is it easier for you to just…believe she’s really gone?”

A long moment of silence passes…”Yeah, it is.”

Ekko has always thought about Jinx. It’s hard not to when her presence can change any of his plans on a whim, since he has people to protect and her mentality is as finicky as a time bomb. But Powder…he hates to think about her.

“If she was gone from the start,” Ekko mutters through a voice crack, “it means there wasn’t a chance to save her in the first place. Means I never failed in saving her, I guess.”

Your hand reaches up to caress Ekko’s face, jaw clenched tight from his own words, and when you look into his eyes, you can see the vulnerability he tries so hard to hide when talking about the blue haired girl. There was beauty in it, you always told him, though you never thought he truly believed you when you said it. Ekko was never given much grace to be vulnerable, to be a boy. He’d found that in you; so you knew it took a lot for him to even admit as such to your question.

You don’t really get to be a kid after watching the people you love die in front of you. Even the ones who still walk the land with another soul in their bodies.

You press a kiss onto his lips; gentle, affirming, and grounding. Your thumb runs the length of his cheekbones and  you find comfort in the crevice of his neck once again. When Ekko relaxes against your hold, you release a breath of air, and think that perhaps it’s best that you adopt his way of thinking as well.

Powder was gone, but at least in this hell, you had each other.

If you enjoyed, please leave a like, comment, and reblog for others to see! And don’t be shy to send in a request!

[velvet-games]

intro post

I'll probably add more to/change this later; I've just needed an intro post for a while, and this is what I could think of. you should probably remind me to update it if this section is still here after like six months lol.

name/pronouns/age/gay shit~

honestly you can call me whatever, but I probably won't know you're talking about me unless you use vel/velvet.

prefer they/it; any pronouns are fine.

I'm probably non-binary I guess.

I'm an adult.

I basically just identify as queer at this point, but I'm like,, vaguely aroace-spec probably? still figuring it out. I'm actually very happy to talk about it more specifically, but I might have to sit you down for an entire day to explain it lol.

what I do/post~

I mostly post fandom stuff, and my original posts include a lot of art + occasional meta. I'm starting write fic too, so that might be a more regular thing in the future :)

other accounts~

@/velvetygames -- explicit nsfw twitter/x account, not very active

@cornerbytes -- old dragon prince account that I will probably revisit when the new season comes out

@/velvet_games -- ao3 account

nsfw~

I post occasional nsfw here (never super explicit; that's saved for my twitter); it'll be tagged #nsft.

fandoms~

current fandom: hazbin hotel

previous fandoms:

hannibal (will always have a very special place in my heart)

arcane (will revisit when the new season comes out)

ofmd (literally so happy this exists; devastated it's not getting a new season)

the dragon prince (will probably revisit when the new season comes out)

good omens

lotr (I also read like 2/3 of the hobbit and will hopefully finish it this summer lmao)

things in media that make me go insane (in a good way)~

friendship

happy endings

cannibalism

(WELL-WRITTEN) romance (THAT RESPECTS THE CHARACTERS AS INDIVIDUALS AS WELL AS WHO THEY ARE IN RELATION TO OTHERS)

surrealism

good visuals (even if everything else is shit; extra points if it's animation)

angst

fake-hating

this one's weird but I love situations where a character is really helpless; I thought I liked whump because I can be borderline sadistic about it sometimes, but whump is really not necessary at all to this concept

religious stuff, mythology, angels specifically for some reason (especially when they're terrifying and/or fallen)

gay people

requests~

you are welcome to send in ideas through comments, DMs, asks, etc., but I can't guarantee I'll draw them. if I don't, it doesn't mean that I don't like your idea; I'm probably just busy or have too many brainworms about a specific thing to draw anything but what's on my mind.

notes~

I randomly get really anxious about feedback on stuff sometimes lol, but I promise I read every single comment/tag and cherish them very deeply <33

also, like/rb spamming is totally fine and welcomed! I know some people don't like it, so I just wanted to make it clear that it's completely cool with me.

mutuals~

for a really long time, this was my pinned post, and it's still true! definitely welcome any interactions from mutuals <3

I do have a problem with randomly ghosting people though; I've been much better with it recently, but please try not to take it personally if I don't respond to DMs quickly. I'm probably just being insane and in my head about it. I'm really sorry.

misc~

this is an account that is purposely removed from my irl stuff; I'm here to have fun and relax on my mostly fandom-oriented blog.

I don't block often since I mostly meet nice people on here, but I am very happy to block accounts that make my experience on this app shitty.

I try to tag triggers when appropriate, but please let me know if you need me to tag anything I haven't.

art for me is just a hobby I use for fun and self-expression, so while I really appreciate concrit, keep in mind that my goal is ultimately to make stuff that makes me happy.

I am also very protective of young artists that get made fun of for being beginners or making unconventional art; you should never assume why someone is making art, and you especially should not assume that they are focused on becoming more skilled or making things that are beautiful to you. if they're not hurting anyone and you're not their target audience, get the fuck out.

I am of the mindset that media is not real, but that your reaction/the things you learn are. liking cannibal media does not make you a cannibal, but seeing bigoted portrayals of minorities can feed your biases (doesn't necessarily mean you can't consume it; does mean its effect on you/others irl should factor into if/how you decide to interact with it).

I'm vaguely fucked in the head. just keep that in mind.

[phoenixfangs]

WEEEE running around in circles skittering across the hardwood, thank u for the tag @fightbee !! <333

reading: uhhhh i guess tsukihime counts? its a visual Novel that i have to read to play so. yeah. fjkldsjf. (arcueid is wiwi, btw, she has absolutely been added to my growing pile of fictional blonde women to chew on) actual 'real' literature ive been Meaning to read though would be dracula and the sherlock holmes stories, i have both of those books on my ottoman rn just Sitting There untouched lmao

currently watching: no active tv shows at the moment, though i finished arcane recently!! sorry arcaneheads i dont understand the hype <3 except over jinx. i understand everyone thats jinxpilled. and also mel. i am melpilled. shes sooooo 😍 i hate jayce i want to kill jayce that should be ME. and also since i finished arcane i need to start berserk, kim convinced meeeee with casca propaganda its about time i cash that in

currently craving: sonic large cherry dr pepper, which i have BOUGHT and am sipping on. my large american beverage of choice

coffee or tea: coffee, i dont even drink coffee that often but i Do Not like tea im sorry i have never found a tea that i like. im still looking though!! maybe id appreciate a citrus tea or something, who has good citrus tea recommendations? also living in texas and having sweet tea constantly shoved on me (ESPECIALLY when a fast food place fucks up my dr pepper and gives me sweet tea instead)?? awful. i hate sweet tea. fucking NASTY drink i dont care what anyone says. if u like sweet tea and u disagree with my hatred of it, take me to court

taggingggg @rizaposting @rizatheestallion @ftmrizahawkeye @littlewitchbee @applescabs and of course, u, dear reader ^_^

[arcanegifs]

tagged by @adawongs thanks for the tag ♡

before/after gif challenge: rules: from your creations, choose as many gifs as you’d like and do a before and after to show off your colouring and sharping skills.

My thoughts with coloring my Arcane Gifs under the cut:

So.... Arcane... soooo painful to make gifs sometimes lmao. Anyways, for around 95% of what I make, I have a base Arcane PSD which you can see in the first 3 gifs of Vi, Jinx, and Cait. Then, I adjust the curves, color tones, and color balance when necessary. Most of the time, it turns out okay, and I really like it for brighter scenes.

But oh god does it STRUGGLE in dark gifs like the one for Cait lmaoooo. A LOT of colors need to be adjusted, and even the Caitlyn one doesnt come out perfect. Since it's super dark, I can almost never use it for large gifs. It's why I just cherry pick which scenes to make into larger 540 x 540 scenes. The darker ones I typically either leave alone or make smaller crops so that you don't get to see much noise. I really need more practice on coloring them.

There are very rare times wherein the base PSD doesn't work, like the last Vi set, which had to be colored entirely different. I just don't like seeing a lot of yellows on my gifs (as a personal preference), so I decided to have a different coloring for it. I might experiment with more coloring next time, since I almost never feel satisfied with my colorings. But I still find my base PSD to be good enough for majority of the scenes. I’m still deciding if I should stick to an even more basic coloring style to preserve the original animation.

My sharpening settings are the same across the board, I don't really do anything else other than my smart sharpen and gaussian blur settings.

Overall, Arcane for me is pretty difficult to color lol, but it's mostly because I always struggle making dark gifs. I love the series, so I still try my best to make as much gifs as I can. I'm not much of a graphic maker though lol, because I'm not that creative. I usually just stick to making basic gifs instead. I’m always so awed at how other editors color and edit their Arcane sets because they’re all so good!

I'm really glad that I finally managed to have a base PSD so that it makes coloring a lot easier! Hopefully, I can continue to make more when S2 comes out.

[berryblu-soda]

LIKE!!!!! i am incredibly intrigued on how we go from point A to point B!!!! AND I SEE THE SIGNS!!!!! gahdfghsgadshfgshdgfyudhdsdjhfhndgsahdjhgsjsdhyufhjhadsy

Ramble post!!

[heymacareyna]

twenty questions for fic writers

I was tagged by @brynnmclean! Thank you! This was so fun!! <3

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

28 on AO3.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

310,970

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Currently, I write Arcane (Caitvi) fanfic almost exclusively.

Previous fandoms/ships have included the following:

Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus (Leyna)

Shugo Chara (Rimahiko)

Miraculous Ladybug (Adrinette)

Mortal Instruments (Malec)

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

say my name and every color illuminates: a multichap Caitvi contemporary soulmates au.

you are the best thing that’s ever been mine: a multichap Caitvi contemporary omegaverse au.

All You Need Is Love and a Cat: a multichap Adrinette shifter au.

All Business: a oneshot Malec tech support au.

pour some sugar on me (in the name of love): a oneshot Caitvi holiday smut piece.

5. Do you respond to comments?

I try to respond to each comment, but sometimes a few will fall through the cracks, and then the longer it takes, the more awkward I feel about responding...

6. What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I haven't written angst in a long time, and there was never much of it, but the angstiest thing I ever did was probably "Sunshine" (for the Psy-Changeling series), a brief oneshot about one half of a mated pair dying in the other's arms.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

This one's tough because I write a lot of romance, which dictates a happy ending. Probably “All You Need Is Love and a Cat” (an overall happy story) or “Obviously” (a story with some angst but a happy ending).

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Thankfully, not so much. Fandom has been kind to me overall. The weirdest comment I ever got, though, was on a slow-burn Leyna fic, in which the reader suggested I should "think harder about what I'm doing"?? lmao

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I do now. (I didn't for a long, long time.) I primarily write FF sex. I might write Leyna or Rimahiko (MF) smut in the future, though. We’ll see what happens.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

I’ve written one crossover. It’s not on AO3 because it was absolutely batshit. That’s all I’ll say about that.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not a whole fic, as far as I know. Once I found a single sentence (it was a distinctive sentence!) from one of my Leyna fics copied into another Leyna fic. I contacted the author and asked them to remove it, and they did.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes! My Caitvi oneshot pour some sugar on me (in the name of love) was translated into Spanish.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Nah, I haven’t. I think it’d be super cool, though!

14. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

Now that’s mean. Leyna and Caitvi can battle it out for the rest of time.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

I want to finish “you are the best thing that's ever been mine” (Caitvi omegaverse), but at this point I have no idea where I'm going with it, so progress is, uh, unlikely.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue is definitely my strength. I like banter and conversation.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Committing to finishing all the long-form fics I start, lol. And I’m not much for description, unfortunately.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

Sheer terror. I wrote bits and pieces of Spanish for my Leyna fics, and I was always afraid of getting hate for it not being realistic enough.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

The first fanfic I wrote, ever, was for the movie Cats Don’t Dance. It was backstory for the FMC, Sawyer the cat. Handwritten with illustrations and everything. My first posted fanfic was for the Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud, in 2008.

20. Favorite fic you’ve ever written?

You can’t pay me to pick one. Here’s three.

“A Good Chance”: Rima thinks there's a good chance she might actually lose her scholarship. Nagihiko thinks there's a good chance he might actually lose his mind. College AU.

“Obviously”: Best friends Reyna and Jason rule student government, while best friends Leo and Piper wreak havoc as the campus troublemakers. But when Jason and Piper get together, the four of them begin to spend a lot of "quality time" together—and uncover why the rival university burned to the ground. College AU.

“say my name and every color illuminates”: In a world where people only see color once they make eye contact with their soulmate, Caitlyn and Vi have learned to live in black and white. But a chance encounter at the gym changes everything. Contemporary soulmates AU.

tagging: @korblez @commander-krios @birgdets @sunsetsharkblog @sparatus and whoever else is reading this and would like to!

[wissenfurth]

Fiiiinally watching season 2 of arcane, or at least trying 2 LMAO i'm like 20 mins into episode 1 and hmm..mm.......mmmm ill tag spoilers probably if I do post about it further.. mel should be allowed 2 cuss everyone out btw like..