#so here's me attempting to recreate it somewhat

[partiallypearl]

Music Shuffle Challenge - FTWS EDITION

IPod Shuffle Challenge Rules: 1. Pick a character, pairing, or fandom you like. 2. Turn on your music player and put it on random/shuffle. 3. Write a ficlet related to each song that plays. You only have the time frame of the song to finish the drabble; you start when the song starts, and stop when it's over. No lingering afterwards! No editing! 4. Do ten of these, and then post them.

SONG: Nineteen - Elestial 

Her nineteenth birthday is one of little fanfare. Just what Stella had wanted. Technically, it is also her coronation birthday. She is officially crowned queen of Solaria at 4:47AM, and she signs her name on the doted line. She’s the ruler now. No ands, ifs or buts about it. 

But here, in this dingy little diner, with Aisha and Bloom singing an off key version of Happy Birthday, she’s not the queen. She’s just Stella, who has two best friends who absolutely adore her, and are willing to make themselves look like total fools for her. 

“How does being 19 feel?” Aisha asks, grabbing a grape from Stella’s plate. Stella shrugs, tucking her chin length curls behind her ear. “It feels like every year before it. Too much and too little at the same time.”

Bloom hums, before gently bumping her shoulder. “But hey, at least you get the really fancy crown now.” 

Stella and Aisha both turn to look at the redhead in disbelief before they start laughing. Of course that’s what she chooses to focus on. 

[runningwithscizzorz]

HOW DO YOU DRAW FACES??!?! seriously, everything about your art is pure eyecandy, I love it SO MUCH, but faces. YOUR FACES. the faces are perfect. they capture every detail. they feel so human. so expressive. i would love to know how you draw/structure your faces because it's the biggest thing i'd like to improve on with my art!

Art is a translation of how you perceive the world. Art is both extremely watered down and painfully vulnerable with emotions. The artist translates the world, and people translate the art. Lots of art gets lost in translation. My goal is to make people read my art regardless of my language. I want my art to speak louder than my simple cluttered words could.

How can you read a face with no words? You have to find your own way to do that, but here’s a very rough way of how I read people and attempt to translate their world into mine.

One practice is drawing straight from a reference. I've been watching TLOU, which has some of the best acting ever and is perfect for screenshotting specific moments to recreate. Pulling scenes from episode five, I stretch and amplify the facial features to properly read their emotions in my style, ex, making Ellie and Sam's eyes bigger to amplify their youth, smoothing out facial wrinkles for simplicity, and (my favorite) exaggerating the mouths so they emote louder.

Second method is feeling how your face moves. Ethan Becker on YouTube explains it better (go watch all his videos) of how to feel and observe how your face compresses and works with different features to properly express emotions. Using your own face as a stencil to understand how your muscle and jaw work is both simple, and always accessible for artist reference.

An example of how I break down bits of a chapter into chunks for each panel while still attempting for it to run smoothly like the writing. Honestly, a lot of this part rides on wanting to do the author justice for their fabulous work. You want to show them how much their work affected you and why it’s totally worth it to draw their stories.

Some examples of scenes from media (that almost made me cry) and how I translate and manipulate it into my style. This is why I redraw scenes from movies so often, not only is it fun and easy, but it’s a great way of studying the masters

But, to actually answer your question, I think the reason my drawings are so expressive to you is because I still follow somewhat typical human anatomy while still being cartoony enough to break the uncanny valley and create an aesthetically pleasing style. I’m still practicing and studying everyday to get better. You must work as much as possible to attempt to properly translate the world.

[demigoddessqueens]

drive-in dalliance

SUMMARY: you and your hot date for the night have a little inspiration from the local drive-in theater

WARNINGS/TAGS: 18+, NSFW/SMUT

A/n - here and on ao3

You thought it sweet of him to treat you to such a night. Call your love a bit old fashioned, but Adrian knew what it took to set the mood for the night.

He had noticed that you had been eyeing the city’s new drive thru theater and surprised you for an intimate date night. Quiet, low-key, and a bit of a space all for the two of you. Maybe it was the mood set by the vintage flick and alluring atmosphere, or the cheap wine you both snuck in for this night, but everything just felt perfect.

Perhaps a little too perfect for your liking. The ambience of the night and romantice scenes from said movie left your mind wandering to what else was present.

Or rather who you would rather recreate a scene or two with.

It started off with a few neck kisses that you peppered along his cheek. Then you moved along his neck and bob of his Adam’s apple as your hands gathered in his hair.

“Love…mhhm..w-wait, the movie – mhhn…fuck--.”

Undeterred, you kept on as you kissed along his neck and lips, palming the growing bulge that was starting to brush along your leg. Chills creeped along his back when your voice whispered in his ear.

“I know, but this movie is giving me some ideas…”

As much as he was trying to keep his focus on screen, Adrian’s resolve disintegrated the more your body brushed against his. Letting the last of defenses fall, Adrian coaxed you both to the back of the car. Kisses and touches became more heated as he bottomed for you, whining for more as your touch when you grinded against him.

He started to grow more impatient and growled in frustration as he removed your blouse, pushing away the lace bra you had for this night to where he could feel your breasts.

Skirt hiked up and pants drawn down past his hip bones, you grasped the pink cock between his legs. Teasing just the tip along your entrance threatened to rip the loudest moan from the man, but he dug his nails into your sides instead.

“N-no! Not like that! I—need!”

A slow smile crept along your face, your voice keeping an innocent tone, as a hand stroked him instead.

“What do you need, Adrian?”

The blond tried to gather himself in a somewhat dignified manner before attempting to speak.

“I need you to fuck me. Please. Just ride me. But don’t let them see us! I don’t want the car to shake…”

You leaned down to kiss him silent, lacing your hand in between his as a sign of reassurance.

“I’ll be gentle, baby, don’t worry. You ready for me?”

Once, twice. He swallowed to try and catch his breath before nodding for your approval. Slowly lowering yourself onto him, both of you gasped when he was sheathed inside of you. No matter how many times you did this, you never got tired of feeling full of him.

Looking up at you, Adrian swore he was witnessing heaven a thousand times over whenever he was inside of you.

To you, he was prettier than when this date night had started. Moaning out your name, holding onto your hips or the car door, releasing all the pent-up emotions he had was such an erotic display to you. Even underneath you, Adrian was determined to give you all the pleasure he knew you deserved.

Bucking up his hips to meet yours, he could feel himself teetering that edge but kept grinding into you. Whenever you leaned down to kiss him, it was slow and hard that made you clench tighter around him. Adrian was also generous enough to nick and mark your chest whenever he wanted to be in your arms more.

“So wet, so warm,” was all he could manage before the moans started to get louder. Feeling him twitch inside of you, you knew he was not long after you.

“I – I can’t las—st-!” Throwing his head back, you could see Adrian’s eyes screw shut as he tried to keep his orgasm at bay.

“Cum for me baby, please, I want you to!”

Steeling himself again, Adrian tried to gain that sensation he was chasing. Fire burned through his arms and legs as he mustered the last few thrusts to match your own. Yet you both kept moving as heat grew numb from exertion. Oh you were so, so close.

Finally, the budding sensation broke through the dam and you both cried out in ecstasy. Adrian spilling himself inside of you sent shocks through your body, making you both overstimulate in each other’s touch.

Exhaustion took over you and you fell into Adrian’s toned chest as he held onto you, kissing the crown of your head. As soon as you both had come down from your high, there was a flicker from the car lights next to you both.

Adrian muttered an embarrassed “oh god” before hiding his blushed face in the crook of your neck. Knowing what it meant, you hid your laugh in the crook of Adrian’s shoulder much to his mortification.

“Seems we gathered an audience.”

[mulders-too-large-shirt]

s3 episode 20 thoughts

dare i say it, once again… new favorite episode??

okay, my previous favorite episode was an ENTIRELY different direction from this one, but i’d say there should be one best episode for serious stuff and one best episode for the silly!!! and this takes the silly crown!! and tbh i can't make an actual hard and fast rating anyway because there are so many great things to choose from- but this is amongst them, for me, in terms of legendary episodes!

please, join me on this ride, which i enjoyed each second of, and will need to someday rewatch without pausing every 0.5 seconds to jot something i noticed down. the live experience begins beneath the cut.

it’s been 84 years…. (3 days since i’ve seen an episode)

ooo, this sounds interesting! is scully going to work with an author?? are we gonna learn more about the things that she reads?? this is prime content to a person like me

stars…. space ship….. filled with tubes and wires and other such things…… just kidding!!! it’s a guy working on some electrical stuff. whilst two people drive by!! i thought they were mulder and scully at first but they are not

“um, i don’t want to scare you, but i think i’m madly in love with you” says this guy who is not mulder but actually named harold to this girl who is not scully but is actually named chrissy. OH! and this is the first date. so that was a weird thing to say. i thought it was quite sweet at first but that changes things for sure.

GASP! UFO be upon them. creatures are coming out to get them. she asks what they are and he says “how the hell should i know?” ooo ooo i know! they are aliens 👽 and then the two fall on top of each other like they are knocked out… and the aliens drag them away???? 

until a king kong looking fellow rolls up. very puppet-y. and the aliens don’t know what this creature is either!!! and also ask what that thing is and the response is “how the hell should i know?” haha i see what you did there... out aliening the alien

bum bum bum bum…. (<- my attempt at recreating the noise of the intro)

now, what was that? i'm stuck on the king kong and godzilla love child puppet….

scan up on mulder’s iconic poster!!! and a guy is here who is yet again not mulder. his name is mr. chung and mulder will NOT talk to him… oooh, what is their beef…?

mr. chung is saying he always felt alienated on this planet, who can even imagine actual aliens! and he has a point there.

oh! scully is a big fan of this fellow, which is why she agreed to talk to this guy!!! he calls her beautiful, which is true, but time and place 

so he isn’t even interested in aliens, but his publisher said he should write a book on the matter. he is going to create a NEW genre: non fiction science fiction, a gimmick that will give him money. this seems somewhat disappointing to scully, who must be a believer in artistic integrity, but i find his honesty refreshing.

she wants him to tell the truth, but apparently he spent 3 months in kass county where all this stuff went down, and NO ONE could tell him what actually happened. the truth is just as subjective as reality. which sounds like something i learned in history class. and, it helps explain why everyone with an alien story starts with some variation of, "i know this sounds crazy, but"...

so he wants HER version of hearing of the case. also he touches her arm and... let's slow down a little there, mr. chung.

OHHH we are seeing a story told in flashbacks!!!! narrated by scully!! how wonderful!!!

this girl is suffering from “missing time”, a phenomenon we have come to know well here on this blog. also her clothes are inside out and she has signs of abuse. not looking great for her.

apparently mulder prefers the term “abductee” to “experiencer”, which mr. chung has valid disagreements with. we go on, however.

this poor girl is seeing aliens that are not there and her nose is bleeding. WAIT! it’s the guy from before! harold and chrissy! he comes to her window to say he did everything he could but she rejects him, thinking he had drugged and assaulted her. yikes.

harold is testifying that he was abducted by aliens, but no one believes him. he stuck to his story UNTIL our agents arrived!

(MULDER SAYS SOMETHING VERY OUT OF POCKET HERE ABOUT GOING TO PRISON BUT LET'S KEEP MOVING)

despite this announcement of presumed prison time, mulder brings chrissy in for questioning. asking her if she has all the symptoms of “post abduction disorder”, which she confirms, while scully rolls her eyes with great force in the background. and he talks the girl’s parents into letting her do hypnosis.

“what is your opinion of hypnosis?”, mr. chung asks scully, which is something i also have been dying to know! i mean, we saw her do a little bit before, but it didn’t seem to be a positive experience. she says it has therapeutic value, but has never been proven to enhance memory; it even makes memory worse. a very balanced and doctor-ly answer! 

LMAO scully is so cute… mr. chung mentions another book he wrote and she proclaims it “one of the greatest thrillers ever written” <- STOP I LOVE HER SHE IS SUCH A NERRRRD 😭😭

mr. chung said the FBI knew nothing about how hypnosis worked back during the MK ULTRA days… and he is fascinated by the idea of a person’s consciousness being transformed by listening to words. admittedly very fascinating! you could probably say the same about meditation, no?

(but he speaks to the power of storytelling, i realize now in hindsight! how we find ourselves wrapped up in the tales of things that never happened, how it fills us with sorrow or joy! how fascinating! i see what you did there, writers!)

cutscene to hypnotizing chrissy. who is seeing aliens. she is on a space ship wearing a fit that looks very similar to a lady gaga chromatica era performance, but it has tubes attached to her. harold is in a very similar contraption!!!!

she says the aliens are arguing without moving their mouths and she hears the lead alien in her head saying it’s for the good of her planet. and he is stealing her memories? um. for what purpose...

scully is serving looks in the corner while this goes down, looking mad as hell and very good. she says chrissy's abduction story seems a little TOO typical… and i have to agree! but mulder says no, there are TWO people with the same story! they can't both be lying, surely!

LMAOOOO they play with censoring the dude who comes in and yells at them… “well, of course he didn’t actually say ‘bleeped’” 

(BAHAHA i’m loving this insight into how scully’s memories operate. so this angry man is named detective manners)

“you still gonna hold the boy?” “oh, you bet your blankety-blank bleep i am” <- i am a simple woman, and an actor delivering these lines with a straight face whilst surrounded by other actors keeping a very straight face is going to make me cackle. look at her looking so bored while he says that. i’m howling!!!!

anyway, harold has a very different story on what went down that night, that did not seem to involve gaga-inspired fits, but instead they were both placed in electrified cages. while another alien in a nearby cage smokes a cigarette. he seems to be what i would call “an unbothered king”

in this story, harold claims that he will protect chrissy and never let anything happen to her, and of course something immediately happens to her while he hides in the corner like a baby. lmao.

and this alien is talking in english! not telepathically! he keeps repeating “this is not happening” until harold ALSO gets taken by the thing that took chrissy. 

mulder is trying to figure out what is going on, but his predictions aren’t lining up with what happened to harold. scully is pacing and looking pissed, and again, very pretty.

“you know when you’re a kid, and you tore the legs off a bug for no reason?”, asks harold (cutscene to mulder’s face with visible confusion) LMAOOOOOOO

scully getting to business: did you engage in consensual sexual intercourse that night? she is not messing around! she's had it up to here with the shenanigans of harold and chrissy!

harold is very very quiet until he says that her father will kill him if he finds out!!! gasp!!! confirmation!!!

so is this whole story just… a cover up??? for fornication???

scully vs mulder time. “so what if they’re having sex?” he asks, which is funny coming from him; and anyway, he claims it happened BEFORE the alien stuff went down. but she thinks they’re traumatized, and that is more likely than alien abduction. 

until detective manners bursts in and claims he has an eyewitness to what went down! he used more blanks and bleeps and again the straight faces killllll me

and ALL OF THEM telling their stories start with “i know how crazy this all sounds” just as mr. chung had described LMAOOO. now who tf is this dude who says he was an eyewitness?

(i’m taking soooo many notes because i keep laughing and noting things. which is a good problem to have!)

this dude, named roky, spent 48 hours straight writing down what he saw, and said that by looking at this, they are putting their lives in danger. so okay. better be juicy.

he says his garage door opened up, a car pulled in, and a man told him some facts about venus. he says they put him in a trance! and that they were in all black……

mr. chung says that myths of men in black garments are nothing new!!! so take THAT, men in black legends, you are one of many.

back at roky's place, the other dude in black says jimmy carter thought he saw a UFO once, but it was just venus. roky is scandalized, grabs his paper, and states that he is a REPUBLICAN.

(omg jimmy carter is going to be 100 in a few months god willing…..)

this man in black is saying that roky saw VENUS and nothing else, just VENUS. and not to tell anyone he saw anything but VENUS or he will die. and then the car drives away. 

so after that build up, he gives mulder the manuscript, and says he is packing up and leaving. bye bye roky. hope you find some peace.

mulder is reading this story to scully who is sprawled on the bed, looking, again, angry and hot. it seems he is describing that earlier puppet-y action.

oh! roky was the electrical guy from the very beginning!!! he hides in his truck but the king kong looking fellow says “be not afraid” and that he is needed for the good of the earth? what is with the good of the earth here.

cutscene to a very baffled looking scully laying in bed as mulder continues to read LMAOOOOOO

AND ROKY’S STORY SAYS HE WENT NOT TO OUTER SPACE, BUT INNER SPACE HELPPP!!!! now, inner space is towards the core, if you, like me, were unaware. also, king kong godzilla dude’s name is Lord Kinbote, so jot that down.

mr. chung says he has a copy of roky’s manifesto- which was sent to his publisher? and LMAOOO the story is disturbing both for its soul orgy scenes and the fact that it is written as a screenplay 

well, surely your partner didn’t believe any of it, mr. chung states! “mulder’s had his share of peculiar notions” is scully's carefully worded reply... LMAOOO 

cutscene to her sitting up from the bed and calling him nuts <- LMAOOOOO but HE says that whatever roky saw may have triggered some delusions, and that the only story that doesn’t add up is chrissy’s, so he is calling to get her re-hypnotized, much to scully’s indignation!

so back to the hypnosis. and chrissy is now mirroring harold's story exactly. oh! she says the people who took them are from the air force?? so where did the gaga slay outfits go... 

the air force men are arguing in front of her. and then they say to “rinse her out”. saying it is for the good of her country. and stealing her memories!

so WHO is doing the real memory stealing here….. the aliens or the government?? an age old question!!! one that is at the heart of this series.

scully and mulder fight over what is going on, and he thinks that this might have nothing to do with aliens, until detective manners shows up with news that a crazy blankety blank claims to have an ALIEN BODY!!

(what if it’s a raccoon with mange…)

again, the man recounting this story begins with “i know how crazy this is going to sound”, but then says he wants to be abducted by aliens. well! i’m sure that’s a sexual thing i don’t care to unpack.

cutscene to mr. chung interviewing this same man, who wishes to go where finding a job is not a requirement. he was looking in a field for UFOs. and when he called the authorities upon spotting one, the agents show up!!

he says that scully was a man dressed as a woman but not pulling it off??? RUDE AS HELL! jail for 10,000 years. "HER HAIR WAS A LITTLE TOO RED, YOU KNOW?" LMAOOOOO and mulder was the “tall, lanky one” with a blank expression. well yeah that is an accurate depiction.

AND ACCORDING TO THIS GUY'S ACCOUNT, WHEN MULDER SEES THE BODY, HE SHRIEKS LIKE A STARTLED SQUIRREL I’M CRYINGGGG. so scully says to wrap this body up!

BUT THEN SHE GRABS HIM AND SAYS TO NEVER TELL ANYONE HE SAW THIS I’M CRYINGGGG... that had to be such a silly scene to film 

okay, seeing the part about subjective truths now. this is so funny... why is this loser making scully a hater in his version!!!

she’s PISSED to hear he claims she said this LMAOOO and that is ridiculous!! they even let him view the autopsy!!

so mulder takes this weirdo’s camera and records the autopsy?? scully cuts his brain open. and the tape ends up on late night television LMAOOOO

SCULLY IS SO EMBARRASSED THAT SHE IS ON THIS ALIEN HOAX AUTOPSY TAPE... I’M CRYING SOMEONE SAVE HER!!! and the host of whatever show they end upon is STUPENDOUS YAPPI FROM THE CLYDE BRUCKMAN EPISODE!!!! i'm howlingggg

she’s mad that whoever got the film edited out all the important scientific findings!!! like the two layers of skin!!!

wait. it’s a zipper. this is a dead guy in an alien suit. LMAOOOOOOOOO

the weird UFO cameraman kid is ill after realizing it was an ordinary dead guy, and scully looks deeply pained as he runs away to get sick LMAOOO

so: who is this dead guy? he was in the air force! and his name is robert. but who arrives but more people from the air force!! are they here to bury him?? or question the agents…

the folks from the air force want robert back, so she has to break the news that he is dead, and being kept for investigation into kidnapping. can they see him? scully is like yeah sure but mulder says no!!! but you CAN talk to the other AWOL guy we brought in. GASP!! a bluff!!! and it works!! from this they learn there is another missing guy!

LMAOOOO except it doesn’t go as smoothly as intended, and mulder is all “hmm he was here a few minutes ago… guess he’s still AWOL… anyway wanna see the body?” I’M CRYING THIS MANNNN IS SO RIDICULOUS 

but bad news: the body is gone. 

cameraman UFO guy is sitting on his floor watching the autopsy tape. when in bursts… the men in black from the earlier garage scene!!!! they knock him out. 

he claims mulder slapped him back to reality. and that he ALSO threatened him... me when i lie.

so mulder doesn’t have the tape. but when he drives home a fully naked man is walking about in the woods. it’s the other missing lieutenant, jack!! he is repeating “this is not happening” in the same voice as the alien as before!!!!! HUH WHAT IS GOING ON?

mulder takes jack to eat. he claims to have piloted the "UFO", and that all the abductions are military stuff, and at the base the abductees are messed with mentally, until they come out convinced they were probed by aliens. 

well okay, if its all the government, than what abducted YOU, jack? he isn’t sure about anything at all anymore, even if he exists. until who walks in... but the military!!

wait, mulder points out, it can’t all be fake- who was the third alien? jack seems to know him by name- lord kinbote. HUH?

and mr. chung heard a story about that same night from the cook at the restaurant! apparently mulder ordered sweet potato pie? huh, that’s interesting. and he kept ordering more and more pies with each question he asked the chef. LMAOOOO I just KNOW that scene was hard to film!!!! scenes where people eat always make me wonder how many times they had to have that damn bite of pie. 

but he claims there was no jack, nor any air force personnel at all. just a hungry mulder. again, so what is the truth...

mr. chung points out that scully doesn’t seem too phased to learn about all the contradictions in this story, and she says well no, not after what happened next. because when he got back to the motel, the men in black were in her room, going through her stuff! they claim she went to get some ice. he’s got 'em at gunpoint, screaming WHERE IS SHE!!! all protective, okay i see you. but she really did go to get some ice???

okay… man in black says that some alien encounters are engineered by the government and then exposed to discredit truth seekers. and mulder counters, well, people say the men in black also do purposefully strange things, so that anyone describing them sounds crazy! they proceed to… try and hypnotize him?

BUT IT’S ALEX TREBEK WHO IS DOING THE HYPNOTIZING???? LMAOOOOO HAS HE BEEN THE QUIET MAN IN BLACK THIS WHOLE TIME??

mr. chung is GAGGED, and wants to know if it WAS alex trebek, but sadly scully cannot confirm, for has no memory of this!! 

she woke up the next morning to mulder in her room….? and mr. chung is also gagged to hear this. me too tbh like did he just sleep on the couch? well we know that is how he sleeps at home so i guess i'm not shocked.

mulder’s trying to explain that she didn’t just "let him in" last night, but detective manners calls and says they found a bleeping UFO.

and what is it but…. a plane!! a secret plane!! and who are they carrying away on stretcher but the missing airmen, jack and robert???? SO HOW DID THEY DIE!

mr. chung puts his pen down, baffled, and scully points out that this story may not have a lot of closure, but it’s more than some of their other cases, which is funny because it is true. and she’s playing with her earrings and it’s so cute.

cutscene to mr. chung typing at his place. until a shadow approaches and he holds a tiny gun!!!! he is ready for a showdown but it’s… mulder at the door?

WAIT how does chung recognize him… did scully show him pictures i'm crying

mulder is in chung's apartment, asking him to not write the book, because it will do a disservice to a field that has always struggled to maintain credibility. we can’t understand these alternate realities yet!!! well. compelling argument... but mr. chung needs a paycheck. 

OH! and mulder suspects that the book is a “covert agenda” of the military industrial complex. always theories upon theories with this guy...

mr. chung says the book WILL be written, but he needs an explanation from mulder: what really happened to those kids on that night?

his answer: how the hell should i know?

(it was so perfect, i thought the episode would end right here)

mr. chung says he has deadlines, and mulder looks very sad, very previously neglected shelter dog rizz, and walks out. back to mr. chung’s furious typing. 

okay, so the cameraman now works for the electrical company roky worked for. because roky moved to california, preaching on purification and the inner earth and core enlightenment. right right right makes sense.

cutscene to scully reading the finished book by mr. chung!!! she is fictionalized as “diane” who is “noble of spirit and pure of heart” but “nevertheless a federal employee” LMAOOOO

and mulder is “renard muldrake” LMAOOOOO that is such a funny name... he's watching something in bed shirtless as his fictionalized self is being described- “a ticking time bomb of insanity” AND HE’S WATCHING THE BIGFOOT TAPES BAHAHAHAHA

chrissy now is an environmental advocate and harold still loves her but it isn’t required. aww harold :(

mr. chung ends by saying that we are not alone in this universe, but in our own way, we are all alone.

NEW BEST EPISODE CONTENDER???

this feels like one of those posts where people make up a bunch of information and then it all gets proven wrong so it is described as a "net zero information gain" bahaha

but don't get me wrong, i don't fully understand what happened, but i loved it. i was laughing, i was enjoying seeing the subjectivity of one story to the next, i was enjoying scully and chung time, and despite all the silly, we still got clues on the whole "is it aliens or the government" thing. and sure, maybe it doesn't make immediate sense, but you have to ponder these matters to learn what is at their heart!

so what DID we learn? well, some alien cases might be the government! but i guess that is still a "might", so maybe we can't truthfully say we LEARNED it. we learned that scully is a big fan of mr. chung!!! we learned that mulder is fiercely protective of his line of work from all his years of being ridiculed! and that he watches the famous bigfoot tape for fun and also maybe like sweet potato pie? it was unconfirmed.

i really enjoyed the playing with perspective, seeing how one character saw things, and then another. and seeing mulder and scully threaten that dweeb was so funny because it was so out of character and had to be silly to shoot.

and i thought it was impressive how it managed to tie back to the big alien and government mystery while still making me laugh so hard. how many past episodes can be analyzed through the lens of certain things being faked for exposure? and what REALLY happened to those airmen? we still don't know if mulder's convo with jack even happened! and we never will!

i came to appreciate the company of mr. chung immensely, even though i thought he was gonna be creepy after calling scully beautiful and touching her arm, but i suppose that he was just a genuinely sweet fellow. you can't blame me for being suspicious after some of the things she gets put through, but i'm sure that if i picked one of his books off the shelf, i, like scully, would be a fan.

overall, i am deeply pleased, and would love to give this a rewatch sometime when i am not taking notes so i could appreciate the pacing in more detail. man, season 3 has really been killing it, huh? and i'm nearing the end!!

[bibibi-tchx]

welp shit

it was fun while it lasted, but rd is the foundation of my fic universe, and it is so so hard for me to ignore whats happened and continue writing

and YES ik its scripted, ive just got bp2 and therefore cannot cope

if it was somehow all a ruse, then expect me coming back when its revealed but until then clove is outy

thank you all sm for the love and inspiration, but since the liv thing even started its been hard

keep reading for the fic

im gna copy and paste it here, and if anyone wants to finish it go ahead, just make sure u credit me

They could do this. They could totally do this.

It was their first proper outing to a social event as a family, a work related event no less, since Rhea’s departure. Each member of the Judgement Day, and a plethora of their colleagues, had received an email from the big man, Triple H, himself, inviting them all to a company gathering to commemorate the company’s milestones since his takeover. It weren’t as if they could decline, either, because pretty much the whole roster from each show had been invited, and the whole of Judgement Day (including Rhea, barring the fact that it had to be discussed on a FaceTime where the whole family- inclusive of JD McDonagh for once- could come to a verdict) had agreed to going so that no one could possibly call them out on bunking the event.

For obvious reasons, Rhea herself would not be turning up, but she had played an essential role in levelling Dominik’s confidence to go to the event and actually socialise with his fellow wrestlers on the FaceTime call, reminding him of sweet nothings, of how far he has come in such a short period and how proud she’ll be even if he went with a pout on his face like he had been stuck in for the last few weeks.

So far, it had been a rough month or so without her, with all of the issues regarding Dominik and the rocky relationship he had been beginning to have with his regression since Rhea had returned back home to Australia, and then the whole debacle around Dominik feeling as though he would be abandoned to revel and reside in emotions of utmost despair- especially in the way in which Damian’s actions would juxtapose depending on if they were in front of the cameras, out in the ring, or when they finally reached backstage: where any quests initiated by preying and hurtful eyes that would attempt to enact upon their cruel and ignorant judgements based upon the interactions within their dynamic could be shut down.

In the most simplest ways of describing it: it had been an incredible mess, that not only Dominik learned that Damian, and Finn, would always love him to the point where it could be sickening, but Damian had it honed into his own mind that Dominik needed to understand that he was cherished, and Damian needed to express that no matter where they were. Even if there were thousands of people staring at them. Damian couldn’t keep on maintaining the perpetuating, unrelenting nightmarish cycle of not truly nor effectively communicating how much he genuinely felt heaps of adoration for Dominik outside of their family home; thus, Dominik was left to his own devices to think that Damian did not love him.

Overall, to keep it even more brief than before, it had been a horrible, cob-webbed debacle that no one in their family ever wanted to recreate.

As Dominik leans into Austin Theory slightly, knowing that the action makes people believe as though he is actually digesting their dialogue, he can’t help but pay mind to the feelings of layering guilt- he wanted to go home, but he knows how much work had been put into this moment; how long it took for them to get Dominik somewhat keen to go, and even getting ready had been a bit of a chore from what Dominik could remember from behind the fog of his headspace.

Originally, after some cajoling and totally-not-bribery from all three of Dominik’s caregivers, Dominik had been the most amped up to go, eager to finally step his anxious footing into the barrelling outside world after hiding away in the guarding of his Papi and his Daddy’s arms since Rhea’s departure to Australia. He had dragged Damian and Finn throughout their home, helping (more like rushing) them to get ready- even despite how he only had one working arm. Dominik was finally ready to leave the nest, in an odd way.

“Faster, Daddy! We got’sa go to the party!” Was hollered out from the depth of Dominik's throat more times than Finn would like to admit. But, in Finn’s defence, it is harder than the majority would think to wrangle a fully grown, six foot, toddler into the only sweatshirt that he would wear.

Not because any others were dirty. Or because of the presence of any holes in the fabric.

No- because Dominik wanted to wear his dark blue sweatshirt, the one with ‘Atlanta’ written across the chest in white lettering, and there was no other one that he wanted to wear. He had to wear that sweatshirt. And, by now in their loving dynamic, Damian and Finn knew more than fully well at this point it was better to try and help Dominik with what he wanted to achieve as long as it was within reasonable means.

After all, the whole point of Dominik’s age regression was to help him heal from what he had faced growing up; to give him a stable sense of self where he can be extremely secure in the knowledge that he does have a support system.

What damage is letting Dominik be spoiled with a sweatshirt going to do to that bond they had carefully crafted?

Then, it was having to wrestle (not literally, of course) with Dominik’s black arm sling. It wasn’t at all akin to Rhea’s injury, and he was able to remove the sling when having a bath, but the ever kind doctors had advised that Dominik to try and keep the muscle compress on for as long as humanly possible: and Rhea had been fully made aware of this development as well; so, even from across the globe, Rhea had cracked down on her parenting partners with an iron fist to ensure that this had been implemented. Of course, both Finn and Damian had consequently agreed with this revelation. Additionally, there was no way that they were going to go against Rhea’s orders.

On the hour ride over- which, they were immensely happy for, as the shorter rides means that Damian doesn’t have to worry about packing snacks for when they were on the vexatiously long motorways- they had managed to help ease Dominik away from the light fuzz that was associated with his headspace whilst he was regressed, hyping him up and encouraging Dominik to relish the social evening for what it was: to take it as a time to distract himself from the eternally gnawing sensation that had been clawing and weighing down his heart since that fateful day back in April where Rhea had kissed him goodbye whilst he hid under the comforting leather of Damian’s jacket.

But, alas, an hour into the event, Dominik’s ears were starting to ring out, all of the noise meshing together in cruel and despicable ways.

The offensive hum of the people collided with the bombarding bass of the music, and all Dominik wanted to do was return back into the crook of either of his caregivers’ arms before they would head home where Dominik wouldn’t be subjected to the horrible noises of anything else but Finn’s exceedingly engaging storytelling, and the soft lull of Damian’s singing voice dancing in his ear drums.

His brown eyes darted around the room, not intentionally ignoring Austin Theory, notwithstanding the irksome fact that Austin was dragging on a pointless conversation, remaining to talk absolute nonsense into his ears, as Dominik knows it can be considered rude to not pay his attention to his friend, but he needed to locate Damian or Finn- he needed his ear defenders, at the very least.

Typically, Dominik would have all of his sensory-related items on his person, all organised neatly (all thanks to Damian, in that regard) into the tight compartments of his black backpack, that would always be slung around his shoulder and swinging against his shoulder blade- whereas Damian would hold his age regression supplies in his own matching (literally: it was the exact same bag and brand) black backpack. That was purely to restrict any confusion between the two bags, in case Dominik needed to whip out a fidget toy, and ended up yanking out his dark blue pacifier inside its sticker-covered plastic case.

One is a much more prefered conversation to have with nyon strangers than the other.

However, tonight, the group had made the very conscious decision to keep both bags secured, locked inside of their black Range Rover in a means of trying to prevent either bag from going missing or getting left behind due to the high levels of social intensity in the event.

Finn and Damian had checked with Dominik multiple times about the decision, not wanting to shove Dominik into a situation without any easy access to his comfort items, but Dominik had given them the same tooth-bearing grin as he usually does (the one that makes both of their hearts melt at the drop of a hat), shooting them a little, “Yeah! I’m all good!”, and they were on their merry way.

They brushed their way through the security briefing, with the whole shebang of ‘no drugs, no this, no that’ with everyone having to agree that no recreational drugs will be used on their premises, even despite how they literally worked there and knew all of this, and then the reminders of where to go if there was a fire. Triple H had concluded the meeting with bustles of praise, after all, it had been a celebration of their recent successes in terms of the brand’s growth around the world in the last few months, a way of the higher ups giving their thanks and recognition to their wrestlers. A nice treat as a means to encourage this behaviour. So, it makes sense for the Big Boss, something that Dominik has heard Damian refer to him as a lot more frequently than before, to make sure everyone left the room with a positive sense of keenness for the upcoming future of their company.

The only thing Dominik had paid attention to in the briefing was the suffocating sensation in the room, staring at the sweeping amount of people that had filled the meeting room to the brim.

Even as they began to sizzle out, groups and friends making their way to all of the different rooms to the evening, Dominik’s mind kept on focusing on how utterly foreboding it all felt; the awfully paralysing size of the people in each room painting Dominik with increasing layers of agony as he continued to survey the area.

There were bustles of them, incredulous amounts of many crowds of loud people surrounded them, laughing, talking, flirting- the whole seemingly-desirable package of general socialisation that was expected when it came to their company meetings.

Party? Meeting? Neither caregiver, JD, nor Dominik had really the foresight to pinpoint which this event was categorised as: the email hadn’t been all that clear. Sure, there wasn’t as much alcohol as a party, but there was no way it was a proper ‘meeting’, less there wouldn’t be such a heavy emphasis on all of the wrestlers from across all of the shows being able to socialise with each other.

Dominik knew that Damian was most likely to go and congregate along with the other champions, which he was more than fine with, and he had seen Finn and JD leave the meeting room with an unfamiliar woman, but Dominik mustered up the courage to try and be big, to try and talk with everyone else.

“I mean, who does that? Like-“ Austin continues, and Dominik knows that he’s merely just attempting to formulate a conversation with one of his longest friends since he ever joined the company itself, but he doesn’t want to talk anymore.

He wants his muffling sound defenders: the sticker-covered pair that he had decorated with his Mami back when she was still with them, and she wanted to do some activities with her little boy before they would head on their way together to one of her doctor appointments for her shoulder injury.

He wants to hide away from the world once more: to shove his head into his weighted blankets and feel the weight of the world transfer from him to the beads inside the grey and fluffy blanket.

He wants his Daddy and his Papi: he wants to pull them into the tightest cuddle that Dominik could ever be capable of mustering up the strength to enact upon, just so that he didn’t have to deal with none of the abrasive lighting of the rooms across the floor which the social gathering was taking place upon as his Papi would tower over any light coming through, and his Daddy’s hand would distract Dominik, toying with his dark brown locks of luscious hair that was still growing out strongly, his long and calloused hands working their ways in a rhythmic and familiar manner.

Maybe, just maybe, Dominik wasn’t all that prepared to go out and socialise as much as he originally thought. The promise of some of Damian’s specialised chocolate mousse that he crafts for Dominik at home be damned.

The haziness that often accompanies his headspace makes itself known, knocking at the doors of his mind with pastel hues and reminders that he’s clearly much too little or small to be in such a grown-up, matured, space like the one he was in. Dominik doesn’t particularly know where the heavy emotions had come from, nor can he exactly pinpoint when they had begun to swim in his mind, chucking any coherent, adult, thoughts out from his conscious mindspace with a beckoning urge to scream, cry out for his caregivers so that they could pluck him up from the agonisingly sticky leather sofa where people were ingesting ludicrous amounts of alcohol (he swears Triple H had put a limit on how much everyone could drink) and engaging in with prattling conversations and take him back home.

Dominik sucks in a breath of tension, holding it staunchly in the jaws of his mouth so as to prevent alerting Theory, or any of the other people on the sofa they were sitting together on, that something was starting to off-hilter his mind. The doe brown of his eyes look back at Austin, sending a swift smile (though, a thought rushes to his mind that his Mami would have pointed out that it was a ‘bread smile’- whatever that meant, it always went over Dominik’s head, so he never gave much actual thought to it) as a makeshift way of giving Theory the illusion that Dominik was still listening to what he was saying, before they go back to surveying the room.

He doesn’t see Damian.

And Dominik definitely cannot see Finn, nor does JD McDonagh breach his cautious eyeline.

But, there is one person that he sees. Sure, the guy himself is probably one of the loudest in the room, maybe one of the loudest people in the whole company, but Dominik had grown comfortable with the dude, even more so since he had practically saved him during the Royal Rumble- even though the reasoning behind his help was a bit out of pocket.

R-Truth was across the room, talking in that gravel-soaked voice that always made a regressed Dominik feel ever-so giggly. It appears as though Truth was the only person in the room who was actually aware of his regression, and Dominik doesn’t really have to second guess nor does he have the ability to dismiss that vague idea.

Dominik silently, fondly, curses Rhea, Finn and Damian for being territorial when it comes to him, not allowing any unwanted eyes to peek through their family curtains, and guarding Dominik with what might as well have been diamond swords. Maybe if they weren’t so restrictive, he could have the capabilities to find someone else, and not be forced to interrupt R-Truth’s conversation with some of the older wrestlers, who would have all known Dominik since he was actually as old as he feels, if not a little bit older.

Though, Dominik knows that their protection and restrictive behaviour is all in good faith to cage him from those who are able to cause any sort of disruption to him.

The Miz was there,obviously, and he’d seen Dominik back when he was still just a preteen. It was evident that he was by R-Truth’s side because he had assigned himself R-Truth’s caretaker, something that Dominik found funny to no end, but it also looks as though they were talking to Triple H himself, and that man has known him since Dominik could really remember when he had started to accompany his father to the shows.

“Sorry, Austin, but I wanna go speak to Triple H about something- y’know, before he slips off to go boast to whoever will listen to him again.” Dominik makes a measly attempt at a joke, but it appears to work as Austin chuckles a little, slapping his hand on Dominik’s shoulders in a clumsy, obviously intoxicated, manner.

“You go do you, big man. Good luck!” Austin cheers, pointing his drink in Dominik’s general vicinity, the cliche red cup in his hands causing Dominik to giggle a little about how Austin was the picture perfect example of an American party-goer.

The heavenly giggle still lays upon the pink of his lips just as Dominik waves his goodbye to Austin, “Thank you, Theory! I’ll see you later!” Dominik calls out, although, if things went his way, then there’s a very little chance that Theory will actually see Dominik again for the rest of the evening.

He walks the five seconds over to where R-Truth, Triple H and the Miz are in what is definitely exceeding five seconds, trying his best not to anger a colleague or two as he has to swim his way through the sea of people, having to keep in mind that shoving was rude, and that if his Papi or Daddy were to see him shove someone, without their direct guidance or direction, then they will surely be upset with the lack of manners, reminding him that his Mami always preaches about how we have to be kind to others, and they will be nicer to us in the return.

Funnily enough, the Miz caught Dominik heading their way first, and he more than welcomes the distraction- there’s a sense of fond annoyedness that Dominik sees in his Papi’s dark brown eyes whenever he’s up to mischief, and relief begins to collide with the anxiety that he was feeling only a few seconds ago.

“Wassup, little dude!” Before the Miz even gets a chance to welcome Dominik with grateful arms into the conversation, R-Truth beckons out a typical greeting, and the nickname makes Dominik want to bounce on his feet in delight; he’s not as graceful in stopping the behaviour, but he manages to reign it in.

R-Truth brings in Dominik for a ‘hug’: it was not so much as a hug but a way for R-Truth to have an excuse to pick up Dominik, his cherished and white Jordans dangling from the height that the older wrestler has managed to bring him up to, and swing him from side to side.

If Dominik wasn’t feeling the haze and the sensations of bewilderment of his headspace before R-Truth had made him feel about as heavy as a feather, he definitely was now. The fact that all three of them towered over him didn’t exactly help that much either- all it did was remind Dominik that he was evidently too small to be in such a setting, much too little, and that he needed to find his Daddy and his Papi to aid him in whisking all of the negativity and lugubriosity of the world.

“Hey, big dude!” Dominik says with a shabby, cheerful tone, repeating their nicknames for each other that had been coined during their time together whilst Truth was terrorising their family during the Monday Night Raw segments.

Although, behind the scenes was a whole different scene: Damian and R-Truth got along more than Dominik had ever seen his Papi bond with someone else, and it made the younger Latino happy to witness his Papi, his Damian, to finally get comfortable to relax around other people. And, of course, a regressed Dominik absolutely adored the older man: R-Truth would always pick him up and swing him around; he would crouch down and bend when speaking to Dominik when he was feeling small, which, of course, would only push Dominik deeper into his regression.

R-Truth was the best- no questions asked, no doubt riddled.

The Miz and Triple H join in with welcoming and greeting their younger colleague, but R-Truth, as he typically does, pounces back into the conversation- “What brings you over here, Dom Dom? What can I do for you?” Truth’s smile is truly infectious, and Dominik feels his lips replicating the joyous feeling that R-Truth was spreading as he tries to think of an answer.

He opens and closes his mouth for a second or so, fumbling around for a response- although, yet again, Dominik is interrupted by R-Turth’s hoarse voice ringing through their social circle, his eyes scanning around Dominik momentarily before looking in different areas of the room they were in, “Where’s the big dog?” R-Truth questions, hints of concern beginning to trail in his tone, increasing in prowess as Dominik shrugs his shoulders, a neat and non-verbal way of letting Truth know that Dominik was not aware of Damian’s location, “What about that grumpy old man Finn?” R-Truth tries again, and upon Dominik repeating his earlier actions, the older man sighs in a dramatic, hyperbolised manner, “Not even that alien looking dude?”

Dominik giggles a smidge at the insult aimed towards JD, and R-Truth’s dark brown eyes bulge open as he realises that Dominik had clearly come to him because of the fact that everyone else was off, leaving Dominik behind in a space that, judging by the way he was bouncing on his heels subtly, now that Truth actually gets a chance to analyse it, “No idea, dog. I was hoping that you’d seen them, actually.”

“Oh snap…y’know what, Mizer-”

“Miz.”

“And Mister H-Man-”

“I’ll take that.”

“Were starting to bore me- all this talk about the championships. You get it, don’t you, little champ? You guys should see how much he takes after Dame.” R-Truth comments, large hands gesturing at Dominik’s outfit, pointing at the matching silver chains (the really cool ones that Damian had gotten him even before he knew of Dominik’s regression, with Dominik having the smaller cross whilst Damian had the bigger one) that he and Damian would always wear together.

Heat rushed to Dominik’s cheeks, flushing his face a paintable shade of pink that highlights the browns of his doe eyes, and he can’t really tell if it’s because of the heat from all of the people, or because R-Truth has just successfully managed to make Triple H chuckle a hint about how much Dominik has been taken after the older Latino man in the last few months.

“So…you don’t mind tagging along?” Dominik asks, a juvenile sense of hope riddled in his voice that R-Truth notices as well- he may not be as well-versed or knowledgable on Dominik whilst in his regressed headspace compared to his three other caregivers, but R-Truth can tell that he was definitely dealing with a smaller version of one of his favourite colleagues.

“Nah- of course not! Farewell, Mister H. Mizer, I’ll catch you later. For now, returning the lost boy to his family!” R-Truth calls out, and Dominik’s just grateful that everyone is so familiar with Truth's shenanigans that no one, absolutely no one, even bats an eyelid in their pathway as R-Truth wraps his large and toned left arm around Dominik’s figure, bringing the regressed boy closer in to his chest so as to shield him from everyone else around them.

R-Truth walks Dominik and himself along the edge of the room, with his own right arm brushing against the wall every so often as he committedly guides Dominik out of the area, doing all he can to be as fast as he could whilst also making sure to treat the Judgement Day’s youngest member with great care as they pushed their way out and into the hallway; a significantly smaller amount of people were loitering in between the three or four rooms that they had been designated to socialise that evening, the only person of note being someone from NXT taking a phone call.

In a husky and hushed tone, R-Truth whispers something of concern into Dominik’s ear.

“Where’s your bag at, kid? That little black one that you and your Papi have.”

Dominik smiles a tad at the implication that someone else outside of his makeshift family actually cares about him that much to notice such intricate details, his voice matching how quiet Truth’s was, a drip of an attitude of a sombre kind evident in his articulation, “In the car- both of ‘em.”

“That’s fine, Dom Dom. I bet your old man has the keys, so why don’t we go find him? A R-Truth and Dominik adventure.” Truth ruffles the brown hair on Dominik’s head as he smoothes out his voice, recalling how the boy’s Mami had informed him one day a few months ago that it was best to distract Dominik with smaller, attainable goals if he was visibly upset or distraught at something and his caregivers were not in the immediate vicinity to even notice Dominik’s shift in mood.

The pair of them remain out in the hallway, utilising the floor-to-ceiling glass panels to save them both the stress of searching each individual hang out spot for Damian’s whereabouts

“He was wearing one of his baseball jerseys, wasn’t he?” Truth prods, trying to aid Dominik in looking for his Papi, who, in retrospect, due to his grand height alone, really shouldn’t be that hard to spot, both R-Truth and Dominik grateful for the fact that it would take significantly less time. Dominik’s head rested onto R-Truth’s shoulder, happy to let his head relax in the older man’s neck whilst they surveyed the room in silence.

Although, as Dominik had grown to be more than fond of in the last few months, R-Truth and silence is a combination that never works cohesively past five seconds.

“What’s the plan when we find your Damian then, little man? Just want to grab your special headphones?” R-Truth enquiries, his eyes squinting as he continues to survey the room, looking for people who appeared to be around Damian’s height as a first clue.

“Don’ know, Truth. I wan’ go home, but I know D…Dame an’ Finn are having fun- I don’ want to make them say bye’s to everyone.” Dominik shrugged his shoulders, the ghost of a pout beginning to strengthen, coming to fruition by the second as he heard R-Truth sigh in a tender and doting manner as Dominik continued, “It’s all so loud and… ugh. So much goin’ on.”

“Kiddo, they won’t mind. They know what they are doing, okay? You don’t ever need to worry about your Damian and Finn- they will absolutely understand if you need to go home. They are your caregivers, and, most importantly, your family. It would be rather silly of them if they didn’t let you go home.” R-Truth does his best to console the growingly anxious Dominik, his eyes catching how Dominik’s feet were shuffling against his own trainers once more. The thumb on R-Truth's left hand, the arm he had been clutching Dominik to his side with, rubbed up and down Dominik’s shoulder.

Suddenly, Dominik’s arm raised upwards and pointed at where he could see his Papi, along with Cody and Bayley (so, Dominik’s estimation was correct about his Damian going to see the other champions) congregating by the snack and drinks table, noticing Damian’s hands being bare of a beverage, which means Dominik obviously has to turn to face Truth as he began to jump on his tip-toes slightly, already starting to feel a bit more happy, “Look, tío!” Dominik says, an adorably awkward merge of a whisper and a yell coming out from his lips.

The sight of Damian makes Dominik teeter more deeper into his headspace, not to mention the deep chuckle from R-Truth upon hearing the term of endearment fall eagerly from childishly rosy-coloured lips.

Sensing a set of light brown eyes- his boy’s light brown eyes, no less- Damian’s own dark brown irises glance up from where they had been focused on Cody Rhodes, and his eyebrows soften, his eyes beginning to crinkle as love swarms his heart upon seeing Dominik switch on his heels to face his friend, R-Truth, a toothy grin on his face and mouthing words that Damian can easily tell, even from the distance alone, is something along the lines of, “Dame!”, as Dominik’s lips hold on the ‘m’ sound for longer than he would with any other word.

The older Peutro-Rican man is snapped out of his love-filled trance upon hearing Bayley let out a joking taunt, “Oh!” She teases, dragging out the vowel for as long as humanly possible, and when Cody catches on to the fact that Domnik is standing outside of the room, his left hand waving big and wide with a teeth-baring smile that could not more obviously be painted on for Damian to see, he cheerfully waves back at the younger boy whilst Bayley continues talking, “I was wondering where Dominik was- he trails right behind you these days; it is honestly so sweet how you care for him like that. How’s he been with the whole Rhea leaving thing?”

Damian expresses his gratitude for her thoughtfulness and compassionate words with a short simper, “He’s been doing better than we thought he would originally; I’m so proud of how he’s been handling it, you have no idea.”

“What about you?”

“Hm?”

Cody repeats himself, this time his hand touching Damian’s shoulder in a friendly and genial approach, “Have you been taking it since Rhea left to go back home? I can only imagine how hard it is for you- you two are literally brother and sister at this point.”

Damian chuckles at the implication, but also finds himself grinning once more at the fact that Cody seems to genuinely care about how he has also been feeling, “Well, I’ve been better, you feel me? It looks like Dominik’s getting all antsy about something, so I’m going have to leave this conversation here. It was genuinely so nice to have this catch up. Hopefully, we get to have another party soon.” Damian swiftly shakes each of their hands, both of his fellow WWE Champions saying similar compliments and niceties to send Damian off with.

Although, Cody does whisper something of note into Damian’s ear, and the way it was said so rushed and yet so cheekily leaves Damian walking away from the conversation with another set of his typical deep and rumbling chuckles, “When parenting calls, you always got to respond.”

Meanwhile, Dominik had been talking his way to R-Truth, the older wrestler always being happy to engage with the little one’s talks and eager questions about how the world works whilst they waited for Damian to leave the room.

“Tío?” Dominik signals, eyes still casted to where Damian was walking through the room t get to Dominik, a hint of concern beginning to riddle his chiselled features, looking up at R-Truth with a world of childish wonder painted in his eyes that R-Truth can’t help but admire.

Specifically, the nickname never fails to make R-Truth feel as though he’s truly being admired and appreciated by the little boy.

“Yeah? What’re you thinking about, Dom Dom?” Truth probes in a soft voice, curious about what Dominik was about to say, one of his eyebrows raising in curiosity, and also partly to make Dominik feel better about his beloved Papi taking so long to leave the room and bid his colleagues a good day - or, at least, something along those lines.

“Why’s the Sun follow me when…when I’s in the car?” Dominik asks, his voice just a tad bit timid from how he was slightly embarrassed to ask the question so loud in the hallway that his Papi would hear the ‘silliness’ as he gets closer to the glass door that opens up to where R-Truth and Dominik were waiting idly together.

“I think you might have to ask your old man about that, kiddo. I don’t really know myself.” R-Truth shrugs his shoulders, and Dominik’s eyes cast to the floor, a look of juvenile determination beginning to paint his round features.

“Eso es tonto…” Dominik mumbles under his breath, eyebrows furrowed and evidently not impressed with Truth’s response to his question.

“Say that again please, mi chiquitin. I couldn’t quite hear you over all the music that’s playing.” Damian requests in a nonchalant tone, and Dominik breaches the three steps in front of him and dives his body right into the comfort and familiar sense of home that Damian’s chest effortlessly provides, wrapping his arms tightly around Damian’s waist, his nimble fingers pulling at the hem of his Papi’s shirt as Dominik finally has a chance to collect his thoughts and focus on something else that isn’t how loud the music is, or how sticky his nice trousers felt from the sofa he was just sitting on with Theory.

“Papi.” Dominik breathes out into the fabric of Damian’s patterned shirt, delighted at the relief that Damian’s presence immediately provided.

“Yeah, I’m here, I’ve got you, Dom.” Damian reciprocates the hug in a moment of instinct. Damian’s dark brown eyes cast upwards from where he had been possesively staring down at Dominik, a paternal smile donning his lips, looking up at Truth, jumping straight to the point instead of dancing around the issue that was currently in Damian’s arms and dampening his shirt, “What happened, Truth? Anyone hurt him?” Damian probes, protective instincts surging any normal state of mind that he was in.

“No- he’s all good, big dog. Just felt a bit clogged up, if you get my gist.” R-Truth explains with an over-dramatised whisper, and Dominik lets out a wet giggle into the fabric of Damian’s white and blue striped jersey at how silly the older man seemed to lean into his Papi’s ear,looming over Dominik as though Dominik was no more than a foot or so tall, the two giants towering over him with Dominik beneath.

“Alright. Well, thanks for bringing him over to me.” Damian ’s voice is thick with gratitude, and R-Truth takes that as his cue to leave Dominik and Damian, on his way back to torment the Miz once more.

Damian’s dark brown eyes begin to pool with concern as he feels a small wet spot form on the shoulder of his jersey; his calloused, yet always able to grace Dominik’s sensitive skin with softness and doting drops of love, hands gently pry Dominik’s face away from his shirt and in front of his own face.

Damian decides to switch the language of their now-private conversation into Spanish, just so that any nosy ears couldn’t really understand what they were saying, “Qué voy a hacer contigo, mmm? Qué pasó, mi pequeño cachorro?” Damian dotes with a fond sigh, and Dominik’s feet begin to twist out of a stabbing sensation of anxiety as the older Puetro-Rican male’s concerns aimed towards the shabby state of his (only his, and Rhea’s, if their suspicions about JD, and even possibly Finn were true in the slightest of ways) little boy.

God, he really didn’t want it to be true. Not after what happened with Liv Morgan a week or so prior; it had taken ages of Finn wheedling his way back in, and even Damian had began to soften, but Rhea was stone cold and stubborn. No one she didn’t want, no one she did not trust, or respect, would be around her boy.

He was hers, first and foremost.

Damian begins to walk him across the hallway and to the elevator, knowing how shakey Dominik’s legs could be when he begins to regress into his smaller, more innocent, headspace.

“What happened, Dominik?” Damian asks, his tone leaving no room for Dominik to dismiss or ignore the question- concerned, for the lack of a better word, was how Dominik would describe Damian’s voice.

“It started when…when I couldn’t see you or Finn. It was all super loud, like in the stupid way-”

Damian lets out a chuckle at the way his little boy, who still had his regressed headspace swimming at the surface of his mind, manages to retell the account of his feelings: the level of his metric; the pacing of his words, and how it coincides with the rhythm of his foot swaying against the metal of the elevator floor.

“What’s so funny, Papi?” Dominik asks with an accusatory tone, obviously unbeknownst as to what exactly his older friend and parental figure had found amusing.

“Nothing Dom,

[dk-wren]

Buddy Daddies Week - Papa Rei's Onigiris

Welcome to Day 6 of my Buddy Daddies anniversary celebration week! I am so excited for today (even though it got a little delayed) as I present to you...my attempt at Rei's onigiris from ep. 9!

In all honesty, it's something I've been wanting to do for a long time. And I'm so glad I finally had the time and special occasion to do it! Since episode 9 premiered, I always thought Rei's choice of filling sounded different, but good. Maybe that just says something about my taste buds/food preferences. I don't know.

Anyways, the three fillings I used in my onigiri were based on what Miri, Hinata, and Kotori described in theirs. So, I used strawberry jam, Choco Rings (aka chocolate Cheerios), and grape gummies. I don't think it was specified what flavor of gummies was in Kotori's onigiri, but based on what I thought would taste or pair the best, I went with grape.

Here are my "ingredients:"

I made about a half a cup(?) of rice and was able to make 5 rice balls (of varying sizes). In the end, I made 2 rice balls with Choco rings, 2 with the grape gummy, and 1 with strawberry jam. Here's a cross section of a rice ball with Choco rings as I was attempting to shape it.

After I finished making/shaping the onigiris, I let them sit for an hour to cool down before putting the nori on it.

And finally...the finished product!

But how did they taste, you might ask? Well I got you!

I tried the Choco rings onigiri first because that was the one I thought I would like the best. In all honesty, I was a little let down. I think it was a personal/"chef" error because I forgot to let the rice cool down before making them. As a result, the cereal got soggy, so it didn't have a crunch, which would have added to the its distinctness. Likewise, because it got soggy, I think the cereal lost most of its flavoring since I snacked on some beforehand and could definitely taste the chocolate flavoring. There was a bit of sweetness when taking a bite with a large concentration of the cereal, but otherwise the cereal to rice ratio was not that great (and I was left mostly with rice with a hint of sweetness). Final ranking - 3rd

The second one I tried was the strawberry jam onigiri, which I thought would be my least favorite. Perhaps it was because I was let down by the choco ring one, but this was one ended up being my second favorite. This onigiri was on the larger side, but I was able to (unintentionally) spread the jam more evenly across the whole rice ball. This meant every bite had a bit of sweetness to it, and towards the center, I could really taste the strawberry flavor. What was even better was when I got a bite of the rice, nori, and jam. The flavors of each part mixed pretty well and created a pleasant taste.

The last onigiri I tried was the grape gummy one. This one ended up being my favorite. The ratio of rice to gummy was really good, and the grape flavor was really strong. That being said, because of consistency of the gummy compared to the rice, I was left with more gummy at the end of my bite.

Final Ranking:

Grape gummy onigiri

Strawberry jam onigiri

Choco Ring onigiri

.

.

.

Thank you for reading about my attempt to recreate Papa Rei's onigiris and indulging in my chaos with me! I genuinely had such a fun time doing this.

On another note, based on my personal struggles/difficulties that came up while making these, I can somewhat understand how the rice balls got their shape. If Rei made them with the inexperience I did, he might have not waited for the rice to cool before making the rice balls. Thus, trying to make them round or give it any type of shape became difficult. Likewise, each topping messed with the shape in comparison to how much rice there was for that specific onigiri.

Thank you again for reading and following along as I attempt to cook/make something (I am not a cook by any means and I think everything above supports that claim)!

-Dakota Wren

[aeroblossom]

more on albedo and rhinedottir

what is transmutation, if not rebirth?

okay. i think i figured out the motive behind rhinedottir's creations, among other things.

bear with me and my poor explanation, i'm also really bad at linking sources lmao. do correct me if i've gotten any details wrong. much of this was possible thanks to conversations with a friend of mine!

rhinedottir's reason for creating durin, elynas, albedo and everything else was to find the meaning of life itself.

i'm gonna try and make it as simple as possible to get, i hope.

so, back in search in the algae sea, during the third orthant - cater gives us a riddle, to which the answer is 'love'. some discussion upon alchemy and the orthants with my friend later, we decided to match the stages of alchemy (in rene's given order) to the order of orthants we travelled. that makes citrinitas corresponding to love. the third orthant is also the one of the soul. love and soul.

so here's an idea i've had for a long time. one motive for rhinedottir's actions may be that she was trying to recreate someone dear to her through albedo. someone she loved - be it a family member, lover, anything. with my friend, i discussed how rene quotes aleister crowley's poem regarding the womb of pan, which is essentially a void where all souls originate and/or return to in the time of rebirth. durin and elynas both speak about how they existed in some empty darkness before rhinedottir called them forth - but not albedo.

albedo's earliest memories, he says, are of traveling with rhinedottir. so.

'primordial human project'. rene's search led him to primordial humans. he tried to become one and failed. it involved dissolving himself to be reborn.

'primordial human project' - consider, albedo is not an original creation, but a reborn being.

the rebirth of someone dear to rhinedottir whom she tried to make a primordial human.

why? because albedo is her last ditch effort at saving the world - just like rene. like how citrinitas corresponds to the age of glory for empires and their subsequent collapse with the coming of the stage of rubedo, rhinedottir - khaenriah as a whole - knew its end was destined, and they must have known this. she asks albedo to reach the far side of philosophy and create a better future for them all.

think about it. societal collapse is imminent, your country is crumbling, the end of the world is near and everything feels so utterly doomed. and you know it. you know you're doomed. she must have known of the world formula, must have known rubedo must follow citrinitas.

in the hexenzirkel trailer, she sounds just somewhat reluctant when it comes to being called a mother. you know what this reminds me of, who she reminds me of? ruan mei. ruan mei, upon learning of the infinitely transient nature of life, sinks into emptiness. she can't show love to the creations she's made with her own hands. she knows so well how short, and thus meaningless their lives are. she fears forming attachment - she dissects the scientific meaning of attachment in her character trailer instead of seeing it as something people just do.

rhinedottir must thus have attempted to flip the last two stages of alchemy to prevent their fate, yeah?

if everything is truly meant to end, if it's all destined to fall from rise, what is really the point?

most hoyoverse games are about fighting this sort of nihilistic thinking. the character of otto apocalypse makes it abundantly clear. otto's character takes great inspiration from friedrich nietzsche, whom many people misunderstand for a nihilist. however, nietzsche's philosophies were actually staunchly against nihilism.

rene tried to save the world because he wanted to believe it has meaning. it troubled him that the rise and the fall are void of purpose, he wanted to save it because he believed there was a point in its existence.

rhinedottir is no different. there is no force greater than love. and guess what?

in wagner's play 'the ring' - the dwarf alberich steals the rhinegold from the rhinemaidens. the rhinemaidens tell him there's nothing greater than love in the world. and what does alberich do?

he denounces - wouldn't you know - love.

like rene, rhinedottir became the scapegoat for the cataclysm for her deeds.

i've expressed previously that the primordial human rhinedottir was trying to create through albedo may possibly be the third descender. one who descends.

so, then,

that may be what dainsleif means when he says "we will defy this world with a power from beyond", no?

[side theory :: i once came across the idea of the twins being meteors. the rifthounds induce corrosion on you, making you bleed. gold corrodes. and gold on the earth is also theorized to be extraterrestrial, ie, it came from meteor impact. so then, what if the twins are the source of azosite, or any other such materials derived from gold, that khaenriah now prizes?]

so, tldr : rhinedottir, amidst a world rapidly approaching its doom having learned of the world formula, seeks to prove it wrong, to prevent it, undo it - she tries to fight back against collapse by finding meaning itself. there is nothing more transient than life itself, and thus she sought to prove that there is meaning in something as short lived as that. i'm shaky on albedo being a life reborn, but i do believe it's not impossible. he could have been somewhat dear to her that she tried to make attain the status of primordial human - descender, even - so as to undo the laws of fate.

(some screenshots of the discussion, NOT in chronological order)

[hecatia666]

my mind clicked a switch when @yoku-yukihime told my my artstyle reminded her of gen 2 pokemon because I LOVE old ken sugimori style and i've been probably unconciously drawing and shading like that so here's an attempt at recreating the style with otherworlds me!

i need to gush about how much i love old ken sugimori style omg

it's like the blocky shapes and the circle circles that are somewhat satisfying to pull off and the shading, i dunno if it's watercolor but i love so much how the colors blend into each other so smoothly GHHAAAAGHHH!!!!!!!

[kaeyazuha]

hey! might be too late for the prompt thing from earlier in which case please feel free to ignore!! but “That was, by far, the stupidest thing you’ve ever done.” or “I may be an idiot, but I’m not stupid.” -> both scream tighnari to me lmao. i think i just want him to call me out kjdghljk

; this is possibly the funniest request I've ever gotten and I love it, thank you for this!

; 12/29/22

; CW: minor yelling

; pure fluff

“What were you thinking?!”

Is what you were thinking at this moment. You stared, slack-jawed, at the pure destruction that was Tighnari’s former garden. A pair of farmers in Sumeru city have been having issues with a whopperflower ruining their crops by acting like a weed and taking all the water. So, being the scientist you were, you decided to get to the bottom of this issue. And what better way to do that, than by recreating the situation? A genius plan, foolproof even. But, somehow it never occurred to you that this whopperflower you stole from a nearby lake would be anything but cooperative. 

“Please, not the mints!” You begged, whisper-yelling to the rabid flower as you watched the soil be sucked dry of any water it previously held. And then, you were forced to watch as it quickly took the place of the mint, effectively killing it in the process. You slapped a hand over your mouth, melodramatically sinking to your knees and accepting your fate. “...Tighnari’s gonna kill me, y’know,” You glanced over to the “mint,” and then glared at it fiercely. “And it’s all your fault.”

“What’s all who’s fault?” You’ve never jumped to your feet so fast, dirt still clinging to your knees as you quickly shuffled into Tighnari’s line of sight, trying to hide the ever-so-happy whopperflower casually killing his personal garden.

“Tighnari!!” You grinned widely, though it faltered at the sight of his tired deadpan. Who were you kidding? Nobody could fool him. Though, it doesn't hurt to try, right? “I was just checking on your garden, what brings you here?”

He completely ignored you, opting to try and peek over your shoulder. You watched nervously as he narrowed his eyes, squinting at the “mint.” You sighed, dusting off your knees to rid it of the dirt collected, and then you walked over to the flower. “I’d suggest drawing your weapon.” You muttered bitterly, leaving him no time to react before you yanked out the whopperflower, wincing at the bits of frost that stung at your legs when it sprung out of the ground. 

“What th-”

He made quick work, taking aim at the enemy and finishing it off with no mercy, leaving only you to face his wrath. You muttered a silent prayer to whichever god would listen, watching as he stared down at the remnants of his herb garden. “...(Y/n)...” You swallowed thickly, watching as he turned around slowly.

“That was, by far, the stupidest thing you’ve ever done.” There it was. He slapped a hand over his forehead, dragging it slowly down his face, and you laughed sheepishly. 

Your voice teetered on the verge of nervousness, but you tried to keep it level. “As you’ve said, anything for science…?” Though at his stone-faced stare, you cracked.

“Okay, okay! I know, it was dumb.” You groaned, tossing your head back while fighting off the embarrassment at the realization of just how dumb this all was. “Look,” Gesturing vaguely around the air, hands swirling around, you attempted to piece together a somewhat reasonable excuse, though your words fit together like puzzle pieces from completely different puzzles. At least to you, Tighnari just nodded along as if you were reciting simple laws of nature. 

“And you really, sincerely thought bringing a,” He pointed to the garden. “-whopperflower, was a good idea?” Tighnari questioned, though it felt more like an accusation and you withered under his piercing gaze.

“I knew what I was doing. I may be an idiot, but I’m not stupid.” You scoffed, trying to ignore the juxtaposition that was your justification, and crossed your arms. “I regret the idea, and I will fix this. You can go report me to the higher-ups.” Now becoming a bit discouraged by the entire ordeal, your shoulders slumped when you shoved past Tighnari into the destruction of a garden. To your surprise, he remained quiet and knelt beside you, carefully cradling a few unearthed herbs and starting to bury them once more. You raised an eyebrow, looking at him warily, and he looked almost offended by your expression.

He scrunched up his nose, his right ear twitching indignantly. “What?” Tighnari’s head swiveled back to his hands as they worked, and you could see the faint smile dancing on his lips. “...This is your first experiment, no?” Slowly, you nodded. “This is a start. It’s not a good one,” You groaned and he laughed. “-But it’s a start. We all make mistakes. You learned from yours, so there’s no need for shame. What the higher-ups don’t know won’t hurt them, wouldn’t you agree?” 

You quickly got back to work, staving off the dorky smile tempting your lips. “You’re not mad?”

“I never said that.” Suddenly, Tighnari’s hand was in front of your face. Inside his palm laid a single, tiny mushroom. “You killed my agaricus bisporus.” 

You laughed, though you tried not to. “Please, just call it a button mushroom. Don’t you have an entire garden of those? I thought you’d be more pissed about the ashwagandha with how expensive they are.” Everything fell silent. Hands still buried in the soil, you turned your head to him only to find two very wide, very angry multicolored eyes staring right back at you.

“...You did what?”

ₓ˚. ୭ ˚○◦˚✧˚◦○˚ ୧ .˚ₓ

Word Count: 970

ₓ˚. ୭ ˚○◦˚✧˚◦○˚ ୧ .˚ₓ

- Ky♡♡

𝗧𝗔𝗚𝗟𝗜𝗦𝗧; 𝗳𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺 𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝘀𝗸 𝘁𝗼 𝗷𝗼𝗶𝗻!

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[doshmanziari]

Hey, everyone.

In 2022, I wrote and illustrated a short comic book which I published and sold copies of at that year’s MICE. Entitled Adyton, it was a brief exploration of what I'd very loosely call the close encounter phenomenon, with an emphasis on the abduction aspect. Since then, I’ve wanted to expand on the book; but, as is usual for me, I have to ruminate on something for a long while until embarking on the project feels right. This recently happened, and I’ve decided to entitle what I intend to be my first complete and long-form graphic novel Can You See Behind the Moon? I’m not going to say where the title comes from, and will leave it to those who are more familiar with some of the paranormal literature to recognize its origin.

Over the years, I’ve made sputtering attempts at other graphic novels, but the lack of a clear narrative direction for one doomed it to oblivion (Underbrickers), while the creative momentum of the other seemed bound to a very particular timeframe (Grim Synergy). Differently, I see this project as encompassing ideas which, to varying degrees, are present within my mind every day, or every other day, and I do think it can be sustained by that persistence. If I were forced to speak in very general and perhaps reductive terms about Can You See Behind the Moon?, it is my attempt to explore possibilities implied by close encounters in a way which emphasizes a deep and occulted relationship humanity appears to have with itself, the cosmos, and what one might term the evolutionary impulse.

The first four pages you see here (not counting the cover) are recreations of Adyton’s first six pages. As should be apparent, the narrative is not linear. Like Adyton, the plot sometimes progresses according to visual resonances which can also be interpreted as conceptual resonances. For instance, the as-yet-unnamed young man’s finger-gun gesture becomes the transitional point for a reference to the so-called Kelly-Hopkinsville encounter, wherein guns figured prominently, and unusually.

To be clear, this work has been done very quickly, in the interest of submitting it to relevant publishers as proof-of-concept material, and so that I’m able to maintain a pace of a couple of pages every two or three days (while also producing “fine art” for gallery shows, to say nothing of various other side projects). But I also like the roughness of the drawings, and the color of the newsprint paper… so, the making of these has also carried with it pleasure and occasional surprise at the results. Since I’ve decided to work within a limited palette, I’m relying heavily upon the linework.

For Christmas last year, my partner — somewhat regretfully — got me a comic book about UFOs published the same year by Dark Horse. I write “somewhat regretfully” because she didn’t really like the look of it; and when I received it I had to agree: the art is so simplistic, mundane, and ugly that I don’t think I’ll ever do more than skim some of the pages (the author also seems to have only done the bare minimum of research regarding Betty and Barney Hill’s case). But I’ve used the book as a point of motivation: surely, if something that bland could get green-lit by a fairly well-known comics publisher, then my work stands a chance.

Another one of my particularities is that I tend to get through projects more quickly when I don’t assign their completion an arbitrary date, and also when I don’t make myself beholden to publicizing all of the progress. I don’t intend on making a Kickstarter or anything for this — unless it becomes necessary — so I’m not sure when I’ll be prepared to share more. But, the time will come.

Anyway — even if there’s not much here yet, thanks for looking!

[forgottenroisin]

Brigit x Rosie “It could be worse.”

FLASHBACK

"The important thing," said Brigit. "Is that we remain calm. It could be worse."

"I don't see how!"

It had been a sweet notion. First, Brigit, Aoife, and Rosie had arranged for Eithne to take the day off, it being her birthday, by claiming to Valentina (who had no earthly notion when any of her stepdaughter's feast days fell) that she had a 'pox,' and vague and ill-defined malady which they had cobbled together expressly for the occasion (having lain some foreshadowing of the illness down in the previous fortnight, saying about how Farmer Tom's wife and boy had it and how it was said in town everyone in the are would have had it at some point, come the summer, and knowing well and good that Valentina would never fact check them as it would require stooping to speak to such 'low' personages as Farmer Tom). Second, Aoife and Cillian would take Eithne out to town on a few fun-filled errands while, thirdly, Brigit and Rosie prepared the cake.

While the first two parts of the plan had gone smashingly, it was the third for which them were proving not entirely prepared, a fact which stung all the more when one considered how both Aoife and Cillian had expressed doubts on this point while Brigit and Rosie had insisted up and down that they could certainly handle something so simple as a cake and that really the other two ought to have more faith in them as people than to hold such appalling doubts that, Rosie had added -- an argument which had finally convinced them -- were so rude as to nearly border on exposing a doubt Aoife and Cillian clearly held about their characters!

And, with their characters now on the line, Rosie and Brigit now stood side by side, gazing at their creation. The dazzlingly white confection sloped, slumping to one side like a wounded soldier. On the other side, it did stand up (somewhat), but this effect was marred by the attempt at decoration the sisters had effected. In attempting to pipe flowers and vines onto the side, they'd somehow managed to make it look rather as if the poor thing were bleeding AND wounded.

"We've created an abomination," said Brigit.

"I feel like a monster! We should put it out of its misery."

"Put it out of its misery? How?!"

Rosie pressed a knife into her sister's hand. "It's for the greater good."

"What do you want me to do? Stab it to death?"

"Cut it up! It's edible...I think...It can just be ready to be served when she arrives!"

"We can't cut Eithne's cake!" cried Brigit. "It's her feast day, not ours! It's not what's done! She has to make the offering to the guardians, and that starts with the cutting of the cake!"

"Would you prefer her to have to see this ghastly horror we've created? We'll give her nightmares. On her feast day!"

"No. We can salvage this."

"How?!"

Brigit grinned. "I have an idea."

***

"Are you ready?" hissed Cillian, rushing into the kitchen. "I ran ahead but, they're almost here and -- Amestris' head! Why is there a bush in the kitchen?"

"It's not a bush!"

"It's a cake."

"No, that--That, my dear ladies, is a bush."

It was certainly botanical. The kitchen island had been scrubbed entirely clean of the chaotic efforts lately put into crafting the cake by Eithne's sisters, and in its place, stood the mishapen lump they had crafted, disguised under an array of looping vines and flowers that seemed now to grow in effortless coils from a sweetly sloping mountainside.

"It's all edible vegetation," said Brigit.

"Don't you recognize it, Cillian?"

"What?"

"Don't you see?" asked Brigit. "It's the mountainside where our father asked our mother to marry him. Perfectly recreated, even now to the spot where trees and shrubs grow!"

"O--oh," Cillian's brows rose. "I...I do see it. That's genius! She'll love it. But...how did you recreate the exact slope of the hillside so perfectly?"

Exchanging a glance, Brigit and Rosie grinned. "Bakers' secret."

[chaotic-super]

Live With Me - Chapter 18

Read it on AO3 here!

“I don’t think that’s going to work.” Cat huffs, watching as Kara fruitlessly squirms in her seat in an attempt at getting out of the too-tight cuffs as she strains against the zip ties holding her legs against the chair.

Kara sags in defeat. “There has to be a way out for us. We both know what will happen if we don’t, and frankly, I don’t want to see the inside of a coffin any time soon.”

“Obviously I don’t want that either but tiring yourself out in a futile attempt to break free from that chair isn’t going to help us, is it?” Cat peers over at her, exasperation clouding her features. “We might have to fight and scream and cause a ruckus at some point. We can’t do that if you’re in need of a nap because you’ve already been fighting some handcuffs for hours beforehand.”

Kara sighs as she tries to stretch out her wrists. A quick wiggle of her fingers tells her that the cuffs are definitely cutting off her circulation somewhat. Her fingertips are slightly numb and that’s pretty worrying. “I wish they hadn’t put these cuffs on so tightly. Can prolonged blood loss to a limb cause permanent damage?”

“Do I look like a doctor to you?”

Kara meets Cat’s eyes. Her words might be harsh but her worry is palpable. “Point taken. Do you have any ideas on how we could get out of here?”

The resounding shake of her head has Kara sighing a second time, and she indignantly throws her weight back into the chair to show her displeasure at the entire situation. As she does, a faint crack can be heard.

“Was that…?” Cat barely dares utter the words.

“I think I just broke the chair.” Kara’s mouth hangs open as she looks over at Cat wide-eyed.

Cat shakes off her initial surprise quickly. “Don’t just sit there then. Break the thing. If you can break it, you might be able to get up, and if you can get up, getting out of here will be a hundred times easier, come on.”  

In an attempt to recreate the effect she just had on the chair, Kara leans forward before shoving her weight back once more, but it’s tentative. She does it again, reserved because she’s afraid of falling backwards.

“Kara, for the love of God, please put your back into it, quite literally, because if I have to stay here longer than necessary because you’re afraid to chip a nail, I’m not going to be very happy.”

The sharp tone cuts through Kara’s worries and puts her back into the correct headspace, getting her to try a bit harder and come back to the realization that her need to get out of here is a lot greater than her fear of falling backwards.

First, she rocks forward as much as she can and then she shoves herself back into the chair with as much force as she can muster. It sends both her and the chair toppling over, and her face scrunches as she prepares for the landing.

Her arms hit the floor first with a dull thud, muffling the sound of wood on wood. She has to press her lips together tightly to stop herself from crying out and, in the process, inadvertently ends up biting down on her tongue. She winces as the taste of copper floods her senses, making her nose scrunch up.

“Are you ok?” Cat’s worried voice calls out to her.

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m good.” Kara coughs, swallowing harshly and doing her best to ignore the pain in both her tongue and her arms from falling directly onto them.

“Can you get up?”

Kara tries her best, swinging her legs as much as possible to get her momentum to force her onto her side. Her feet are still attached to the legs of the chair but she has made progress. She’s managed to snap the back of the chair off completely.

 Pushing her arms back and wiggling as much as she can in an awkward sort of side shuffle, Kara manages to ditch the useless chair back, immediately giving her more room to move.

“What now? My legs are still trapped.” Kara strains to look back over at Cat, who is watching her closely, the cogs evidently turning in her head as she tries to figure out a way to get Kara off the floor and get the pair of them out of there.

“Uh…” Cat hesitates, and that doesn’t fill Kara with hope. If there’s one thing Cat Grant doesn’t usually do, it’s hesitate. “Can you reach your feet?”

With a bit more awkward twisting, Kara manages it, tapping her fingers against one of the zip ties to show she can. “Yeah.”

“Take your shoe off and bring it closer to you so you can get the laces out, then you’re going to thread it through the zip tie. Once you’ve done that, you need to create friction, pull it back and forth as quickly as possible, and it should snap. Got it?”

“Yes, I think so,” Kara grumbles, doing her best to ignore the aches and pains from being in such an uncomfortable position for so long.

From there, Kara attempts to follow the instructions she’s been given, the task achievable yet nowhere near easy to accomplish. She’s forced to wriggle and squirm to reach her hands around to her feet and contort her body in ways her joints don’t particularly appreciate.

“You look like a caterpillar that has been cursed by the universe to never turn into a butterfly. Hurry up.” Cat rushes her, aware that Kara has made a lot of noise and unsure if there are guards around or someone in the building who is supposed to be watching them.

“Thank you.” Kara grunts, forcing the lace of her shoes through the practically non-existent gap between her ankle and the chair leg.

As soon as it’s through, she starts trying to saw her way through the zip tie, her leg kicking against it to try and weaken it. It’s only on one particularly strong kick that she rips the zip tie down the leg of the chair and realizes that she could have just slid it off all the while without the added stress of trying to break it.

“Oh, I’m kind of dumb.” She mutters, sliding the other one off and forcing her shoe back on, minus the lace, which she just shoves deep into her pocket.

Now that she’s not attached to the chair, she flips herself onto her knees, using her hands as much as she can while still stuck behind her back. She clambers to her feet and steps towards Cat. “Ms Grant, I have an idea of how to get you off the chair, but it’s not going to be pretty.”

“I don’t care about pretty; I care about you getting me the hell out of here.”

Kara takes a deep breath before cracking on with her plan that she admits isn’t the best thought out but is the only one her brain is giving her in this pressing situation. They don’t have time for her to try and find another solution. She just has to try it and hope for the best.

Shuffling behind Cat, she turns her back to the chair before grabbing the top of it with her bound hands and slowly tipping it back, lowering Cat to the floor as gently as she can. Once she’s safely on the ground, she tips her onto her side as delicately as she can, which is not very.

“Hold on, I’m going to help you shuffle down to free your legs, and then I’ll help you off the back of the chair.” Kara murmurs, her hands scrambling to find purchase against Cat’s body to arrange her in a way that will make the escape possible. She’s never before wished that she was friends with David Blaine, but there’s a first for everything.

“Hurry up, we need to make this quick and we haven’t even touched on the handcuffs yet.”

“Oh yeah, I forgot about that part,” Kara whispers.

“You forgot?” Cat whisper-yells back at her.

Kara nods, focused only on getting Cat’s feet free, which isn’t too tricky. Once that’s done. Kara moves to get Cat out of the rest of the chair but falters and changes tactics. It will be easier to pull her up if she can see what her hands are doing.

Totally overestimating her flexibility, Kara attempts to pull her legs through her joined arms. There’s a struggle as she crouches down and tries to shimmy her wrists over her butt so she can kick her first leg over, and in doing so, she falls directly onto Cat, her face smushed against her stomach and her shoulder digging into her boss’ boobs.

“Ugh, can’t you do anything delicately? Jesus, Kara.” Cat can’t do anything to push Kara off her. Still, the sharp tone is enough to get her pulling herself together and trying again, this time a little further back from where Cat is lying so if she falls, it won’t be onto the woman that would totally file a sexual harassment claim against her with HR just to inconvenience her before revoking it after a day.

This time, Kara gets further. She gets her wrists over her ass and manages to get one leg through her arms. The problem comes when she can’t get the other leg through. She’s essentially now just stuck with her hands handcuffed between her legs. At least she can see them.

“That is entirely unhelpful, Kara. Now you’ll have to put your crotch next to my body, and I don’t appreciate that.”

“This is better. I can actually see where I’m grabbing you now.”

“I would prefer an accidental boob grab to having something Lena Luthor has spent too much time buried in lingering right beside my head.” Cat sneers.

Kara’s face flushes a deep crimson at the words, not expecting her boss to come out with something so lewd, yet somehow, she feels as though she should have expected it on some level. Making a choice that will most likely get her further away from the statement and the further tongue lashing she could potentially open herself up to, Kara stays silent, instead manoeuvring around Cat so she can hook her fingers into her armpit and drag her up and off the chair completely.

“Ok, now what do we do about the cuffs?” Kara asks.

Cat answers right away, a plan already formulated in her head. “I need you to pull out the hairpin in my hair and then pass it to me. I can get myself out of my cuffs and then I’ll get you out of yours. Ok?”

“You know how to pick the lock of government issues handcuffs?”

“I dated a senator once.” Cat offers up as Kara digs through her hair for a hairpin.

Kara’s face scrunches in confusion as she hands the hairpin over, her eyebrows furrowing and her lips pulling down as her nose scrunches up cutely. “Why would a senator—”

“Shut up. I have to focus.” Cat snaps, her face the epitome of concentration. It’s also the exact same face as the epitome of constipation but Kara doesn’t dare say anything. She doesn’t have a death wish.

It takes her a few minutes, but it works. Cat pulls it off, displaying the opened cuffs to Kara like a trophy with a smug smile before it drops with her eyes. She’s looking right at Kara’s hands with a level of disdain usually reserved for board meetings.

“I really wish you hadn’t put us both in this position.”

“I’m getting that.” Kara breathes, rolling her eyes.

“I’m going to kneel in front of you. Please remember I’m not your girlfriend, so if I see those hips so much as twitch in my direction, I’m going to leave you like that. Actually, I’m sure Ms Luthor would probably like that. You look like the kind of couple to be into weird shit.”

Kara’s jaw is practically resting on the floor at this point and settles for leaving it that way. At least then her tongue can’t get her into any trouble. Any more trouble.

Cat works away for a minute or two, her eyes laser focused while Kara looks anywhere other than at the kneeling CEO. She would like to erase this moment from her brain forever and feels much dirtier than it actually is because of the uncomfortable air left in the room from the comments made.

As the handcuffs unlock, Kara feels the rush of pain to her wrists as the blood flow is restored. She brings both hands up to her chest and tries to rub some of the feeling back into them.

All signs of her previous snark gone, Cat rests a tender hand on her forearm. “Are you ok?”

“I will be once we’re out of here and we’ve found Lena.”

“Then let’s go find her.”

That decided, they first take a look out of the lone window over on one side of the room, taking in the wonderous sight of nothing but a dirty alley and no way to get down from what is very clearly either the third or fourth floor. There’s no climbing or dropping their way down without breaking their ankles, and if anyone were to try it and fail spectacularly, it would be Kara.

Cat flicks her head towards the door. “That’s our only way out. We can’t get down.”

“That’s the way they’ll expect us to try and escape through, in any case. There might be a tripwire or something.”

“A tripwire?” Cat looks half disappointed and half amused at how Kara’s brain works. “I don’t think there’s a tripwire.”

“Wait,” Kara calls out softly as Cat starts making her way over to the door. “We might not be able to get down, but I think we can get up.”

“Please tell me that doesn’t mean what I think it means.” Cat folds her arms, her usual strong stance faltering from a mixture of exhaustion, fear and stiffness from being trapped in one position for so long.

Kara looks up and out of the window, judging carefully to see if her idea is feasible. “I think we can do it. We climb out, and I’ll give you a boost up. There’s a balcony right above us. If you can get up there and help me up once you’re there, we can get out through that room upstairs instead.”

“Do you think I’m stupid enough to try and climb out of a window to a balcony attached to a room that could be filled with a bunch of assholes that handcuffed us to chairs not too long ago?”

Kara shifts her weight, her hands wringing in front of her. She stretches out her back, cracking it softly. “No, but I am, and I think it’s our best chance. I’ve just got a gut feeling that if we go up there, it will work out for us. I can’t explain it.”

With a huff, Cat pins her with a look Kara has never seen before. “Then let’s follow your gut. Maybe it will lead you to a buffet on the way to Lena.”

“I care more about Lena than a buffet,” Kara argues, prising the window open as much as she can, grateful it’s old and only has a catch, not a lock that requires a key.

“Then today is the day hell freezes over.”

“Is now really the time for you to be making snarky comments? This seems like a time where you should be giving me time to think so we can make the best decisions possible.”

Cat sneers in response. “The best decisions possible? Kara, you just told me to climb out of the window and risk falling to my death.”

Kara’s nerves are fried and she can’t keep her mouth shut any longer. “Would you prefer a bullet instead? I’m sure that can be arranged if you really want that.”

“You’re spicy,” Cat complains, but there’s a hint of something in her eyes that Kara can’t make sense of, her brain too busy figuring out how to get them out of this mess to try and work out the inner workings of Cat Grant’s mind, a hefty task if there ever was one.

“No. I’m scared, and you’re not helping.” Kara answers. “Plus, my head is killing me.”

Cat had somewhat grown accustomed to the dried blood smeared across Kara’s face, but at the mention, it’s like seeing it for the first time all over again. “Let’s get out of here then. You need to get that looked at.”

“Exactly. So, do you want to climb up there or what?”

“No, but let’s do it. I once climbed a basketball player like my life depended on it. This can’t be much different.”

“Gross.”

Kara climbs through the window first, keeping one hand inside to clasp onto the wall just above the window and keep her balance as she teeters on the thin window frame. She holds her other hand out in offering and sighs in relief when Cat takes it without a word, climbing out and facing Kara.

“Stand on my knee first and then work your way up to my hip. Then, I’ll brace my arm against my chest, you stand on my hand, and I’ll boost you up. It’s not that high up to the edge of the balcony. You should be more than high enough to grab the railing and have enough leverage to pull yourself up.”

Humming her understanding, Cat gets right to work. She’s not putting off the inevitable. If this fails, it doesn’t matter if she goes splat on the pavement now or in two minutes.

Kara grunts, doing her best to stay as still and as steady as possible as she’s used as a jungle gym. She has to give it to her boss, she’s actually pretty good at climbing. She’s scaling Kara like she’s nothing more than an average staircase. Impressive.

Cat grips the railing and starts pulling herself up. The metal railing is cold against her palms, the chipping paint helping her grip, something she needs because her palms are so sweaty. She tips herself over the edge as soon as she can, her heart thumping quicker than a hummingbird’s.

“Are you good?” Kara peers up as much as she can, her anxiety increasing now that Cat is out of sight.

She doesn’t get an immediate response, but then, through the gaps in the railings, two legs appear, swiftly followed by Cat’s sharp voice. “Grab on and get up here.”

Kara has a feeling that she’s either going to slip or break Cat’s legs, she’s not sure which it is. She wraps her hands around Cat’s ankles first, and a small part of her revels in the hint of stubble there. She’s found an imperfection in the Queen of All Media. Lena is going to love hearing about this later.

If she wasn’t determined before, she certainly is now that she’s got an image of Lena in her head. She has her head thrown back in laughter and a cheesy grin etched across her face. They’re at home and they’re safe. Kara’s going to get them home.

Climbing her way up to the balcony, her arms gripping Cat tightly and her feet scrambling for purchase against the wall, she almost slips as the unexpected sound of the door slamming open shocks her out of focus.

Someone is in the room they have barely stepped a foot out of and there’s no doubt that her legs are currently hanging right outside of the window right now. There’s no way they don’t know where she is.

“Get down, now!”

The voice is so demanding and strong that Kara has to fight every instinct that she has not to give in and obey, but they can still make it. She’s sure of that.

One final push and a little bit of dumb luck and she’s got her hands around the railings, Cat is standing up and she’s being pulled up onto the balcony fully.

It’s just a shame that by the time she’s safely on the right side of the railings, they’ve already been blocked onto the balcony by a group of agents.

“Hands where we can see them!”

Cat doesn’t fight them, and if Cat isn’t fighting them, Kara knows she sure as hell shouldn’t and follows suit.

“Catherine Grant? Kara Danvers?” One of them confirms – a woman with a stern face, heavily wrinkled despite looking moderately young.

“That’s us.” Cat answers for the pair of them.

“Agent Captyn, CIA.”

A badge is held up for them both to see.

“Agent C—”

“Spelt with a C-A-P-T-Y-N. No jokes at this time, please. We’re here to protect you in the name of national security. Follow us.”

A brief glance is exchanged between them before they shuffle in from the balcony. They’re a little shocked to see what has to be close to twenty agents in the room, some kind of office with a fancy desk and a large monitor in one corner.

“Agent Captyn?” Kara hesitantly tries to get her attention, not willing to risk tapping her on the shoulder. She’d like to keep all of her fingers; Lena would be upset if she didn’t.

Steely grey eyes meet hers. “Yes, Ms Danvers?”

“Have you found Lena?”

Those eyes soften just a smidgen. “We’re working on it, I promise. There’s another team out there right now on their way to a possible location.”

“Is it a hotel?” Cat rushes her steps to keep up with them, the pace a little too fast for her liking. She’s not one to be left behind in any capacity though. “That’s where I last saw her. We were initially taken there together.”

“It is.”

“Good.”

“Excellent.” Agent Captyn faces off with her, not liking the air of superiority Cat is exerting. “Now, we’re going to take you to a safe location and we’ll have someone look over your injuries, Ms Danvers. It looks like a possible broken nose from where I’m standing.”

Kara nods. “Yeah, they got me good. Where are they? The FBI guys sort of just left us there. Did they just leave after?”

“Either that or they got a tip that we were on our way. Our priority is your safety right now, Ms Danvers. All you have to worry about is following my orders and you’ll be back in National City before you know it.” She directs them to the fire escape and they start making their way down to where there are several non-conspicuous black cars and a few plain vans ditched haphazardly outside of the building. “Come on, you’re safe now.” She reassures them one last time.

Climbing into one of the cars, Kara feels Cat’s hand slide over her wrist. The pressure is grounding and helps calm her, but a sly glance over at the woman sitting on her left has her realizing that the touch isn’t for her. Even the mightiest of people falter under too much pressure and need a little reassurance.

Looking away to not make her self-conscious, Kara trains her eyes out of the window, the pain in her face now more evident since she’s got time to sit in the moment. She hopes that whatever doctor they set her up with gives her some pain meds because it’s getting less bearable by the second.

They have no idea whether these people are actually going to take them somewhere safe, but Kara finds that she doesn’t really care so long as she gets reunited with Lena. She needs to know she’s safe. That’s her number one priority.

-

Lena taps her fingers against the table impatiently. She was sure she wouldn’t be waiting long, but here she is, still waiting. At least a couple of hours must have passed, and she’s been alone ever since. It’s making her uneasy. She was so sure that she handled General Lane well and came out on top, but the longer she sits, stews, worries and waits, the less certain she becomes.

As much as she understands why she can’t have her phone with her, she wishes she kept it with her so that she could play one of the dumb games Kara insisted on downloading there months ago so she would have something to do in her downtime besides check her emails. She’ll never admit to Kara that she plays them occasionally, but she’s relatively sure Kara knows anyway. She always knows.

She sighs, weighing up whether or not to just put her head down and see if she can rest a little while she waits. It makes her feel awful that she feels she could sleep even though she doesn’t know where Kara and Cat are but she’s mentally and physically exhausted. She’s half ready for the government to just make them disappear at this point just so she can rest. Albeit, that would be a more extended rest than she would like. A nap is a nap though.

The door opens just as she’s about to throw caution to the wind and get some shut-eye. The person she was expecting isn’t the one standing there though. In place of General Lane, there’s instead a group of agents, guns drawn and in full tactical gear.

One steps forward and raises his mask. “Ms Luthor, follow me. We’re getting you out of here.”

“And who are you?”

“CIA.”

“Say no more.”

He looks confused as she stumbles to her feet. “You don’t have any questions.”

“Not currently. Just take me to Kara and I’ll be happy. That is where we’re going, correct?”

“Well…yes.”

“Wonderful, let’s go.”

-

Lena strides through the building like she owns the place, her fatigue and exhaustion pushed aside as she’s directed to a motel room by a couple of agents. They hand her the key and nod to door number twenty-seven. “You’re safe here. You’ll be well guarded, I promise.”

“Thank you.” She forces out, eager to get to her girlfriend. She slides the key into the handle and pushes it open, barely remembering her manners. “Good night.”

“Good night.”

She rushes inside, letting the door swing closed behind her.

The motel room is split into two parts, a living area and then a bedroom area. Given the quiet emptiness of the living area, she knows where her people should be.

Rounding the corner, she holds her breath, terrified that she’s not going to be there.

She is.

“Kara?”

“Lena?” Kara’s voice is filled with excitement and relief, but that’s not what Lena’s focusing on. No, her eyes are instantly drawn to the bruising and swelling across Kara’s face. She has sutures across one cheek and her forehead.

“You’re hurt.”

“I’m ok.”

Cat clears her throat from where she’s sat in a massive terribly-patterned armchair, the thing practically engulfing her. “She’s not fully ok, but she got signed off by a doctor. As you can see, those assholes really did a number on her face. Believe it or not, this is much better than it was before.”

Lena’s feet draw her closer to Kara, even when her mind isn’t all there to direct her. Her body knows where to go, or rather, who to go to. As soon as she’s within reach, Lena’s hands cradle Kara’s face, turning it gently so she can get a better look. “I’m going to kill them.”

“That’s easier said than done. I think a lot of them have run back to wherever they hang their bad-guy masks at night. They ditched us at the office building where they were keeping as soon as they knew the CIA were getting close.”

“And the CIA came and let you out?”

“We were already halfway out by the time they got there. We would have managed it.” Kara brags.

“By ‘halfway out’, she means halfway out the window. We were in the process of successfully scaling the building when they arrived. It was all very dramatic and very impressive. I could have done without it though.”

The story is almost too much. Lena’s had enough for the day—more than. “I can’t take much more of an explanation tonight. Think we can save the story for tomorrow?”

“Of course.” Kara takes Lena’s hands from her face and gently guides her down to sit on the bed beside her.

“She says as though she hasn’t been fighting sleep for the past hour because she wanted to be awake when her girlfriend finally arrived.” Cat snickers.

Lena can’t help the fond smile that falls into place. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” Kara nudges her. “Now, there’s three of us and one bed. How are we doing this? I don’t mind taking the couch so you can rest properly. I hear CEOs can be particularly grumpy if they don’t get enough rest.”

Cat raises herself up from the chair, straightening out her clothes as best she can despite them being heavily rumpled from the day’s events. “That’s quite alright. I’ll take the couch. I’ve been far too close to you today, and I don’t want that same experience with your partner. I don’t know if I’ll ever recover from being forced to be that close to your crotch. In fact, I might need therapy.”

“You’re not the only one,” Kara mumbles as Cat flounces off.

Lena pins her with a look of utter bafflement and Kara rushes to explain as she realizes that her boss just told her girlfriend that she was close to her crotch. That’s not something that any girl wants to hear about her girlfriend.

“I uh…I got my hands caught around my crotch.”

“I don’t know what that means.”

“It’s not as sexy as it sounds. I had my hands handcuffed behind my back and I tried to get them around to my front. I got caught like this.” Kara mimes out how she got herself trapped. “Cat had to pick the lock while I was like that.”

Lena nods slowly. “You’re a disaster.”

Kara is about to argue but loses the words as Lena practically dives onto the bed. “Come cuddle.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice.”

Read the final 2 chapters on Patreon here!

Find out more about 'Supergirl May-hem', a new collaborative event for writers and artists who love all SG WLW ships right here.

[cheemken]

Ahoy it's me again I've been doing some thinking:

So march 31st is when the philosopher's stone was made which puts a wrench in our "Regulus created by the philosopher's stone" idea but what if not? (I'm about to be deranged here but I thought of this at 4 AM so wheeeeeeee)

One of the lesser known properties of the philosopher's stone is that it can be used to create a homonculus. Now there are alchemical recipes for homunculi that do not require a philosopher's stone (instead opting for lots of blood and a live horse, among other things)

So I was thinking: Why use the philosopher's stone to make one when stuff like blood and live horses are relatively easy to get? Well based on the difficulty of cloning mammals (Dolly, cloned in 1996, took 277 fertilized eggs to get 1 surviving sheep) and that homunculi are reputedly more like miniature humans, what if the philosopher's stone based method just gives better results? What if the philosopher's stone version of a homunculus eliminates the need for hundreds of attempts, perfects the homunculus to be nearly identical to a naturally born arcanist, and makes the process faster?

Because if the horse and blood based recipe takes 9 months, and the philosopher's stone cuts that down to 4 and a half months... isn't August 15 4 and half months away from march 31st?

I should go eat breakfast afhgkhlfgakfdklfkg

Oh you are cooking👀

Wait no that's dope cause if APPLe's goal was to create life, then that'd make much more sense for him to lose his body during the transmutation bc ofc, it seems like he's playing god, rather than just try to recreate the Philosopher's Stone

Okay this really got me thinking now cause if we go w that, it would make much more sense, since the Philosopher's Stone is already discovered, and for arcanists, that's an actual thing, unlike w humans who think the Philosopher's Stone is merely a myth. And APPLe wanted to know more abt it's uses, bc he knows it's an elixir of life as well, it could grant immortality, but most of all, he knows it'll be a better material in doing transmutation, he knows it'll be a successful experiment, but a lot of people had warned him not to, as not a single arcanist has ever tried creating life with the Philosopher's Stone

And it would somewhat justify the punishment APPLe received, while yeah he was successful in creating life, the stars had punished him by making Regulus from his own flesh and blood, a spitting image of him, and even bearing the personality traits he once had that he always hated. Regulus was a mirror of him that he cannot escape, a version of him w all the traits he never liked from his own self; bc he wanted to play god right, then he shall suffer the consequences as well

But w regards to the pendant, I mean it's pretty obvious is is the Philosopher's Stone, so what role does it play now Regulus? I do wanna say that it's like,, more like smth similar like the sentimonster thing in miraculous ladybug, the pendant/Philosopher's Stone is what gives Regulus life, it's connected to her somehow, and APPLe knows that. So if anything ever happens to the pendant, then smth is also gonna happen to Regulus, that's also the thing abt his punishment

He created her w the stone, and the stone is forever connected to her. And how could he even protect her properly w his new body, he's just an apple now, his arcane skills aren't as strong as they were before, Manus almost got the stone from them as well had they not escaped in time

Speaking of Manus it'd also make sense why they'd be after it, if the Philosopher's Stone can perfect the transmutation in one go, ofc they'd wanna get their hands on it, they could just create homunculus as their mindless followers right, powerful arcanists who listens to no one but Arcana, and APPLe knows that is still very much a possibility, and it haunts his every waking thought

[gloochi]

Mikoto and Noein?

So if you've looked in the CRYMACHINA artbook at all, you've probably noticed this interesting tidbit on Noein's page.

Her face resembles Mikoto's? And the fact that it's secret lore means that this was intentional. This wasn't just some "oh, we're gonna reuse a face on this character whose face will never be fully shown" situation, so what's the deal here?

Warning! Major spoilers for the end of the game below the Read More. Click at your own risk (preferably don't click if you haven't at least finished chapter 7).

Importantly, I think it's less that Mikoto and Noein resemble each other and more that they both resemble Eve. Sort of. Humans are very much nothing like they are in our world (unless we're also in a simulation that lost what humanity truly looks like), so there are some liberties to take here. We'll start with the Noein connection as that's the one that takes a bit more explaining and Hurts Me more.

Noein is very much a Missing Link of sorts between Humanity and the E.V.E., largely looking like a cross between the two. In fact, she rather heavily resembles the statues in Eden specifically.

Notably, there's also concept art of Noein with four arms, which I truly desperately wish had made the final cut.

As for the connections to Eve, Noein carries herself in much the same way, and I'd even argue that her thorny crown is somewhat reminiscent of Eve's thorny head.

On its own, this sounds tenuous at best, especially since Eve notably has NO eyes due to being a designer baby, but we know from Noein's Personality Data Memoir, one of the Cardinals' Personality Data Memoirs, and the document obtained from completing the Cardinals sidequest that Xu Dong, Noein's creator, was in love with Eve. Considering that Eve's presence on the project was being completely scrubbed, Xu Dong likely would've wanted to immortalize Eve's involvement in some other way, likely by drawing on Eve as her inspiration for building Noein, and thus, Noein could be argued to resemble an abstraction of what Eve would've looked like as a normal Human, a connection that I definitely feel would've been stronger with the four-armed Noein design.

And with that explained, now I can touch on why Mikoto has the same face. As we know, the E.V.E. Project was an attempt to recreate Eve for Lilly's sake, and Mikoto seems to have been the closest to that goal by far. She showed little to no rejection responses when given ExP (her reactions largely being limited to flashbacks whenever it altered her memories), and Evetization even seemed to be progressing at a decent pace, considering that Leben comments on how Mikoto has been acting differently lately in a Tea Party towards the end of chapter 3. On top of that, Lilly even recognized her as her sister ON SIGHT and took her head on the spot, confident that she was the one without even needing to check her personality data. Considering Lilly's genuine confusion as to why Mikoto wasn't fully awakening as Eve at the end of chapter 5, it can be assumed that she still wasn't getting major rejection responses, and the only reason it was failing was due to Eden's failsafes preventing a second Eve from existing. Thus, add on the fact that Mikoto shares a face with Noein and what we've previously established about the both of them, and we can surmise that Mikoto looks INCREDIBLY similar to what Eve would've looked like as an E.V.E., to the point where they could potentially look like twins when side-by-side.

Further backing this up, though, is Mikoto's eyes. As we know, Eve doesn't actually have any eyes, almost certainly due to her being a designer baby. It's unknown whether she can see without them or if she relies more on her remaining senses, but she can at least perceive the E.V.E. well enough to know that they're a poor approximation of Humans.

Mikoto, meanwhile, has two notable details about her eyes. The most obvious detail is that she wears glasses in her virtual form, and considering Eve's (lack of) eyes, Mikoto's glasses are probably just as functional as they are fashionable.

The less obvious detail is that, while it's perfectly obscured in her virtual form, her right eye is incredibly fucked up, and you can see as much if you look closely enough at her synthetic frame. The sclera is blood red, and the iris is pitch black.

Interestingly, there's concept art in the artbook showing her with her hair up, and there, the colors of the sclera and iris are swapped. The old colors can also be seen on her character model (if you use her launcher, then activate photo mode while she's ascending) and very briefly during the NotToNotice(); MV, but the MakeFlowerCrown(); MV uses the new colors, meaning that the change likely happened late in development. This particular shot also feels like it calls attention to it, with it being centered on the camera and only flashing on screen for a brief moment. If I had to guess, there may have originally been plans to call attention to her eye at some point, but those were scrapped for one reason or another, and the colors were swapped to make it easier for eagle-eyed players to notice. Again, though, this is just speculation.

Considering everything else about the connection between Mikoto and Eve, this is almost certainly an analog to Eve's missing eyes, especially when we consider how the NotToNotice(); MV focuses on it for just a brief moment. Interestingly, the fact that Mikoto specifically hides the eye with her hair (even around family) implies a lack of self-confidence in regards to it. It's possible she was mistreated because of it while growing up, which would line up with her being rather similar to Eve. I do wish we had gotten at least a Tea Party touching on her eye, but considering that it would likely have required a whole new set of portraits for her with her eye exposed just for the very little time it's used, I get why it ended up being just a background detail.

Tl;dr, Noein was likely an abstraction of what a Human looked like, likely modeled after Eve as an act of love from Xu Dong, and Mikoto almost certainly looks incredibly similar to how Eve would've looked as an E.V.E. Thus, Mikoto and Noein share the same face. This lore truly is secret, given all the pieces you have to connect to uncover the why of it all. 😆

[valeofpoppies]

hey!

you are very skilled with 3D art and game development, and i am also somewhat trying to get into it as a hobby (blender + godot rn).

can i ask how you learned to make 3D art? i am hoping that knowing how others learned will help me find ways to learn.

i know the basics of blender, but i really do need to learn how to get past the basics.

Hello! I appreciate you taking the time to write this. This is a question that requires some introspection and would be a good topic for future posts. However, here's the best summarization of my experience learning 3D:

I started doing 3D while I was a teenager. I downloaded a free version of 3D Coat so I could sculpt faces for fun. I barely had any idea how to manage topology then, so my workflow was very destructive (I made a lot of meshes with holes, clipping faces, bumps, no edge flow, etc.)

I revisited 3D during my years in college, when I took a couple of free courses on Lynda(dot)com on how to model in Maya (for which I had a student license for). They were really basic tutorials, but they helped me adopt better practices for modeling (like maintaining decent edge flow, how to use modifiers, how to use drivers, etc).

I began to learn how to rig in Maya until the pandemic hit in 2020, which happened to be the same year I would graduate. I wanted to pursue 3D further after college, but I knew my student license for Maya would eventually expire (and I didn't have enough money coming in to pay a monthly subscription) so I decided to switch to using Blender because it is open-source.

I learned to navigate Blender through a whole lot of popular dedicated Youtube channels (like CGCookie, BlenderGuru, Ducky 3D, and many others...) It did indeed help that I had prior experience with modeling software so I could look up what I needed to know then. I didn't get to using Blender for game dev until a year later, when I came across a whole bunch of game artists and mod-makers across various platforms (twitter, tumblr, steam, discord). The point in which I began to join communities dedicated to making game art/modding is where I experienced the most growth because I wasn't interpreting online tutorials by myself anymore, I was communicating back and forth with other people about making art in general. I learned what tools other people were using, I learned how they functioned, I studied unique applications for those tools by studying other people's work, and it also helped me find new leads for study.

A practice I adopted that I found very useful is pastiching models from other games. If I wanted to get better at creating topology, I would import a ripped model from a game that I liked, studied its wireframe, and attempted to recreate that style by creating a unique model. It is derivative, but in the process you learn a lot of unique applications of smoothing, edge sharpening, normal rotation, masking and texturing that could be useful for formulating a style of one's own.

There's a lot that goes into the learning process. For me, it is like undoing a jacket by the threads. The more you pull the threads apart, the more noticeable it becomes how its all woven and stitched together. Once you've taken apart the whole thing, you get an idea as to how it was put together in the first place.

[spinningbuster98]

Sonic the Hedgehog CD Ending: All action. No words

Stardust Speedway is one of those levels that you think you’d love, what with it clearly being Starlight Zone on steroids, but it just doesn’t fully stick the landing because, you guessed it, the level design is just all over the place. As a general rule of thumb: unless you’re going for the generator then stick to the lowest route since it’s the quickest and simplest. This is quite literally doing the opposite of what Sonic level design usually does but hey, that’s just how Sonic CD rolls I guess

I’ve never been a massive Metal Sonic fan per se. He’s either a non-character, basically just another tool of Eggman’s that only stands out by virtue of his concept, or whatever Heroes attempted to do with him. His design however is something that I absolutely adore. He looks straight up deadly, what with those dark eyes and spickier, sharper design that generally lacks most of Sonic’s own roundness and softness, presenting Metal as something truly dangerous and unfriendly. It’s also a pretty edgy design, perhaps the series’ first truly edgy character, a full 8 years before Shadow, yet he still follows the Classic characters’ overall design aesthetics what with his body proportions. He simultaneously looks in-line with Sonic’s world yet also unnatural to it. His boss fight is also pretty memorable and also perhaps the hardest in the game (though that’s not saying much here), which, alongside him being the one who kidnaps Amy at the starts and whose holograms you can find harassing small animals in the levels, helps to solidify him as an actual rival to Sonic. In fact, despite my thoughts on the character himself, I actually think that he makes for a better potential rival than the likes of Shadow and especially Knuckles, as his status as an Eggman robot built specifically to kill Sonic makes it easy and natural to set up situations where the two would fight without it feeling forced or stupid (just think about how, in Generations, he’s the only rival character whose fight justification doesn’t feel arbitrary, unlike Shadow “I know we’re all in a world without time but instead of trying to get to the bottom of things I’ll try to kill you now just ‘cause” the Hedgehog or Silver “but how can I know you’re the real Sonic? I know! I’ll drop a bunch of junk on your head!” the Hedgehog)

Metallic Madness is the worst stage in the game. Act 1 is fine, but Act 2 features pretty much every single issue in the game but cranked up to 11 because it’s the final level. It’s a giant goddamn mess and no amount of chibi Sonic can make me overlook this. Don’t go to the Past, I swear to God it’s even worse than the other timeframes, I always get lost in the god forsaken place. Man did Mania give this place a much needed makeover!

Fun fact: the original Sega CD version of the ending cutscene actually features sound effects at the start before playing Cosmic Eternity! I’m guessing that the later versions don’t do this because they play at higher framerates so the sound effects would be out of synch

I actually think I like the ending more than the opening: CD doesn’t have the classic all-stage medley during the credits but we actually get to see brief animated recreations of previous stages, and this is where I think that Sonic’s personality really shines, showcasing all the cute, cool and creative ways that he disposes of Badniks. I also like how, in the good ending, more specifically in the later versions, Little Planet disappears but not before emitting a bunch of sparkles that form an image of Sonic, kind of implying that it’s somewhat sentient and it’s thanking Sonic. It’s a nice way to sort of personify a literal world and make your efforts to save it from Eggman’s influence feel all the more worthwhile. Again: Sonic CD is able to give character and personality not through words but through actions