#so now i just use normal letters XD

[silverskye13]

Broke out the watercolors to do my little post cards and I'm,,,, enjoying myself immensely

[hanafubukki]

Hello hello, sorry to barge in suddenly

I love ur content XD especially the family themed with Lilia. #1 Bat dad got me weak in the knees.

I do love to think that Lilia would be OBSESSED with his pregnant wife and unborn child, literally glued to his wife since he found out that she got pregnant and even when the child is born? Man won't let you alone.

What do you think? I love me some family fluff content with this bat dad

Hello Anonie 💞💚💙

Thank you so much 💞☺️ I’m happy that you like my posts. You don’t have to apologize Anonie, I enjoy getting asks.

Lilia with his family is an absolute fave of mine to write about. Him with babies?? *shakes you* my favorite kind of tea.

I was reading a manhwa and remembered this ask because there was this moment that a husband went through for his wife that had me going “Yes! Lilia would have that!!” 😆😎

✨sympathy pregnancy✨ it’s when the expecting partner (and in some rare cases, very close friends) experience the symptoms and behaviors of expectant mothers.

You know I’m just going to take this idea and run with it 🤣🫶

The day you and Lilia find out you’re pregnant is one of joy. It’s not a shock to anyone really. The way he’s practically by your side when he’s not with his boys, Lilia doesn’t hide the fact that he adores you.

He really doesn’t. In fact, Maleficia, herself, was waiting for the day she’d receive a letter about your pregnancy from Malleus. Everyone knew.

It was a good idea that Lilia spent some nights in your dorm.

When you start showing signs of fatigue and nausea, you visit a healer with Lilia by your side. Where you born receive the news. Both of you are over the moon, but Lilia looks ready to actually jump as high as the moon.

Your pregnancy comes with a few hiccups. Nausea in the morning. Fatigue. Appetite changes. Aches. It wasn’t easy for you once your pregnancy symptoms kicked in.

Throughout all this, Lilia was by your side. Helping you the best he could. If he wasn’t by your side, one of the boys was.

After a hard day of symptoms, of which Mrs. Zigvolt stated was normal for someone having a half fae and half human baby, Lilia couldn’t help but feel guilty. You’re human after all, it would be harder for you to deal with this baby. He wished he could help you.

The next few days, surprisingly, you felt better? You could eat more. Your body aches lowered and your fatigue practically disappeared.

But you noticed Lilia…seemed a little off. He tried to hide it but you knew his tics by now. When he suddenly got nauseous one day, you asked Malleus to call the healer.

The healer merely announced Lilia suffering from sympathy pregnancy. Rare amongst human and fae kind, but not unheard of. Eventually, it would pass.

You felt bad for Lilia but his boys on the other had:

“The dedication Lord Lilia serves is an example for us all!”

“Father will need medication to handle his symptoms.”

“How supportive you are, Lilia. Maybe I should ask the royal scriptors to write about your romantic tales.”

You knew If he wasn’t so nauseated, Lilia would be berating them.

Even after the revelation, Lilia was determined to stay by your side. Content that you were feeling well and full of energy.

He became the talk of town, but nothing he didn’t handle with pride and quips.

As time went on, the symptoms mellowed out. Soon, a new member of the family joined. Healthy and already loved more than the number of stars in the sky.

This kind of got away from me lol 😆 it’s been awhile since I’ve been this chaotic with an ask, especially for Lilia, so I hope you enjoyed. 🫶💞

You could probably see where I ran out of steam lol

The manhwa that inspired this is “I Failed to Divorce my Husband.”

[moodymisty]

Instead of Lorgar getting cucked by Erebus (shudders) what about Argel Tal? He’s a Word Bearer space marine and I’ve heard good things about him. Also, this way we can have had Lorgar get cucked by his father (Emepror), his brother (Horus), and his son (Argel Tal)

Author’s note: I’m sorry I couldn’t not do it XD I'm normally really not a cheating/NTR type of person, but i had this idea and decided to just go for it.

Warnings: very vaguely lewd, Cheating, You are Lorgar’s beloved but he’s been gone for almost two years so Argel’s gonna tap that

Lorgar was often gone for so long.

For months, months apon months, It wasn't uncommon for life ending droughts and city destroying floods to happen in his absence. Entire building erected or torn down.

It's approaching a year and a half now since he left, and if it weren't for the murals, tapestries and art, you would've sworn you had begun to forget the details of his face.

You've stopped sleeping in his room since. You couldn't do it anymore. Something about it just felt so empty and cold.

He’s due to be gone for months longer still, as his crusade has drifted him so far from home. The letters and vox calls have stopped since, it's too far for them to reach Colchis.

It’s been so lonely. The emotional loneliness, the lack of someone to talk to…

The physical loneliness; The want for a hug, and a warm bed.

Argel Tal has at least been saying your need for the first type, talking with you as you look over the balcony. You’re leaning against it, dress gently flowing in the wind as the cool night air hits your skin, while Argel grasps it with a single, armored hand. You're surprised he's made such good company, normally the astartes are so stoic that it's hard to speak to them for more than a bit at a time.

Then again, you also think he's doing it because Lorgar ordered him to. To keep an eye on you. You only have an inkling, but even if he was, at least he seems to be enjoying it a bit none the less. You are as well.

The conversation has tapered off however, and you watch lights in the far distance flicker while the stars shine in the sky. It's peaceful. Argel breaks the silence with his voice- deep and rumbling in that odd astartes way.

"...Do you miss him, my Lady?"

He takes off his helmet, looking down at you. You hear the soft clink as he hangs it on his belt. It takes a moment for you to gather the words.

"I do, more than anything, but..."

You hesitate. Argel Tal is his son, one of his prized captains. His look is expectant, and for some reason you perhaps naively think he won't misconstrue your words.

"He's been gone for so long that I almost miss him less. Like when someone dies and you miss them with all your heart, but the wound slowly fades."

Argel looks down at you, jaw shifting as he thinks.

“Perhaps the others might not but, I understand.”

You breathe a sigh of relief.

“Thank you, Argel. You are a good man.”

Argel smiles, his tan skin scarred across his cheeks but still warm. You can't help but smile back at him as a cold breeze makes you shiver.

“I am honored you think that.”

Argel has so much humility compared to the other Word Bearers you’ve met, it’s refreshing. It also helps that he isn't as dedicated to Lorgar's titles for you; And had listened to your request when you told him to not use them.

You've been always looking forward to seeing him in these moments. It's the most joy you get in weeks long stretches at a time.

“I,” You don’t know why you hesitate, for a moment. “I should head to bed. Thank you for your time again, Argel. I hope you know how much I appreciate you being here.”

The astartes nods, pulling away from the railing as you do the same.

"You make good company as well. Astartes like I don't often get to speak with normal humans beyond giving orders." You give him another smile, before wishing him good night. He nods and leaves you, after you politely declined his offer to bring you to your quarters.

When you had, he seemed like he had something a bit more to say, but instead closed his mouth and walked away.

You decided about halfway that you would return to Lorgar's personal quarters instead; Perhaps to read a few of his books before trying to sleep. It probably wouldn't help, but you still wanted to try anyways. It was a long walk to get across the palace to where his quarters were, and by the time you got there you felt like sitting down.

You close the massive doors behind you, looking around. The bed is made from the last time you were in here, not a thing out of place. All the papers on his desk are scattered just the same, things half written or abandoned; Almost as if frozen in time.

Suddenly the sound of footsteps right outside causes you to turn back towards the door with a look of surprise, which only grows widen when the door is shoved open to reveal Argel. He’s removed his armor in the short time since he left, walking towards you in only his loose robes.

You don’t have time to say anything; Argel’s hands grab your face with both hands around your jaw- ignoring your shock gasp and instinctive fear has massive hands reached towards your neck - and leans downward to smash his lips against yours. He is rough and unforgiving, but even in his forcefulness you can feel something gentle there.

“You cannot tell Lorgar about these sins I have already committed,”

He says, lips brushing over yours. You could say the same as well. You are his beloved, but not yet wife.

But you are also so, unbelievably lonely.

“I won’t, I won’t ever-“

His lips are back on yours, and you attempt to pull him towards the bed. Any hope in realizing you shouldn’t do this is gone, you lost it as his hands gripped the thin fabric of your nightdress. You lost it in the desire for some sort of company, to fill the places in your heart Lorgar's constant abandonments leave ripped open.

Your back hits the bed and Argel follows.

“Tell me what you want, before I lose myself to my own selfishness.”

His body is so heavy, but he’s unfraid to push his weight against you. He takes the breath from your lungs, his hand tight on your waist.

“Just… Just touch me.”

[dramaticallytotal]

I have fallen into world tour again and fell into the alenoah rabbit hole, so I'm making it everyone else's problem XD

So why not start off with a fic idea?

Accidentally Popular:

I really am a sucker for Noah becoming Chris and Chef's like pseudo kid when Noah worked as Chris's assistant, but neither Chris nor Chef will ever admit it (Only to themselves and each other). While working for Chris, he unknowingly becomes popular with the interns, prop masters, camera crew, etc. So when Noah was "fired," they all nearly quit. He was basically the only thing keeping the show and network together. I mean, he somehow managed to scare the executives and producers into being somewhat nice to them all.

Chris had to explain to those who were threatening to quit that he didn't want to fire Noah, but the execs and producers strong armed him. He also secretly let's them know that the firing was staged due to Noah having to compete in the new season of Total Drama. No one is particularly happy, but they stay and play along since they know now that Noah will be back once he manages to get himself eliminated. Of course, he can't do it right away as that would make the execs and producers suspicious, but they were willing to let Chris rehire him if he got far in the game, unlike last time.

Noah hates everything about the plan, but hey, if this will make the execs and producers get off his and Chris's back in the future, so be it. Now Noah actually has to try and stick it out, unlike on Island, when he took one look at the camp and decided he would get thrown off as soon as he could manage.

He is not that same old Noah anymore. Sure, he's still snarky and witty and hella smart, but he's not as lazy as he once was, and he's learned to be more compassionate and to hold his tongue due to him leading teams left and right and also having to talk to various people on behalf of Chris. He's even learned to smooze rather well.

He thought he would probably stick to his normal group of friends, but once the game starts, he starts accidentally making a lot of connections and friendships without knowing. Like when he let Tyler rant about Lindsey not remembering him and how bummed he was because it somewhat reminded him of his sister Nadia when a guy she really liked ghosted. She had been so distraught and angry, so Noah sat and listened. He had no advice to give but at least he could lend an ear.

Then there was the time Bridgette was having a hard time missing Jeff, and though the party dude annoyed Noah, he knew the guy was genuinely nice. Plus, it reminded him of his other sister Neelima and an intern named Stacy, who both were in long-distance relationships. So Noah offered to help Bridgette write some letters for Jeff even if he wouldn't get them unless they happened to stop near a post office. His sister and Stacy had done the same when they missed their partners and swore it helped.

Somehow, it turned into a trend that Noah vaguely acknowledged, but for the most part, he just kind of thought everyone was just being nicer to him because he was Owen's friend. Little did he know, no, it was because he was just being himself. They all started to like him even if he tended to be blunt.

He even got Heather to like him! And she had believed he was just playing the game. But one night, when he had gone to use the restroom, he caught Heather messing with her hair in there looking like she was going to cry. It took a bit till she admitted that while she was used to the short hair now, she still missed how long it used to be. Noah was reminded of his sister Nila when she had to cut her hair due to some jerk putting gum in it. She had been so depressed she wore a beanie for a month straight. Look, Noah wasn't great at doing his own hair, but he was damn good at helping his sisters with their's since they forced him to learn how to braid and whatnot. So he and Heather messed around with different styles until she felt confident once more.

Alejandro also believed Noah was just playing the game and doing a better job of it than him. So he did his damn best to befriend Noah for strategy, of course, but somewhere along the way, he actually considered Noah a friend. Then London happened, and Noah took it as the perfect opportunity to throw himself out by talking shit about Alejandro. He chose to do so because he was suspicious of him like he originally was, but also, he totally doesn't think Alejandro considers them friends. Hell, he doesn't know that practically everyone on the plane considers them his friends! He just knew how temperamental Alejandro was and used it to his advantage.

In this au, he definitely wins the comeback challenge with Blainley. Of course, he partners up with Alejandro, who thinks they are now rivals. Yes he does make it to the final two with Alejandro.

When it's the Aftermath episode where everyone picks teams, Noah jas the most people, and when one has to compete for him, all of them are like "as Noah's best friend, i should compete" And everyone is like "??? I'm his best friend"

When Noah sees his team during the finale, he gets so flustered that Alejandro finally believes that Noah is an oblivious genius idiot. It's also when he decides to shoot his shot, but now he's not trying to be subtle. He's basically professing his love, which just makes Noah more flustered yet also strangely determined to win as he thinks maybe Alejandro will stop flirting once Noah wins.

Noah wins.

Alejandro does not stop.

________

Overall a kinda crack-y idea XD

[captainuranium543]

How I think various fairy tail characters would text - part 2

Wendy

- she uses emojis the same way natsu does, not relevant at all to the situation she just thinks they look cute

-🪽🐦🐁🌞🌪️🌳🍃🌸🌺🪻💨🩵<- her faves

- she will almost never use emojis with faces, if she wants to communicate and expression she EXCLUSIVELY uses the cat

- 😺😸😹😻😼😽🙀😿😾

- she types with normal grammar and spelling for the most part but will also just make up a word sometimes to describe shit or just use a random adjective that makes no sense but feels right

- "the weather was very sunflower windmill today" <- what does that mean? Who knows, nobody wants to ask

- oh also she uses XD sometimes because she is 14 years old, I don't make the rules it's a legal requirement

Happy

- he uses natsus phone because natsu basically never does

- also uses exclusively the cat emoji instead of faces but for him it makes more sense

- he has brainrot humour I don't make the rules

- that plus the fact he picks up on Wendy's words sometimes means he's basically always speaking in code, nobody knows what he's on about

- his paws make typing hard so his texts are full of typos (him and natsu are equally impossible to understand but you can always tell who's who)

- he LOVES emojis and uses like 50 each text, sometimes relevant sometimes not, but trust there will be many.

Carla

- She has her own phone, where do she get it? Fuck if I know

- she texts in cursive font, don't ask me why she just does

- rarely texts but when she does it's in perfect grammar and she signs each one like she's writing a letter

- similar to Lucy except she's doing it on purpose, she knows that's not how you're supposed to text but she doesn't care, it's the principle.

Also she HATES emojis, she thinks they're childish and is very vocal about that.

Uses big ass words nobody's ever heard of and sometimes Wendy will pick up on them too so it's a 50/50 shot weather a word Wendy used is one she made up or just a carlaism

Juvia

- emotocon user, of this I am certain

- ≧◠◡◠≦, <(^,^)>, >:O

- only emoji she uses is this one ->🩶, and I think you can guess why

- she uses them downloadable fonts to emphasize words, she has to say Gray-sama in cursive or else she dies

- her phone is a flip phone btw because she wants to attach gray charms to it (thanks guy from the comments on my last post for opening my eyes)

Mira

- gave people a bunch of nicknames in her phone when she was a teenager and never bothered changing them

- to this day erza's name in her phone is like "annoying ahh ginger" or some shit

- teenage Mira and adult Mira fall into very different categories of texting

- as a teenager Mira unironically uses 🖤⛓️🔪

- as an adult Mira sends minion memes

- gonna make a whole separate post for teenage Mira later for now we focus on adult Mira

- she uses some weird fucking emojis and almost never human ones

-👿😈🪜✂️💟🧶🌕🫀🐏 <- devil emoji because she just likes to use it instead of the smile, it's more personalized that way. Other ones hell if I know

- her siblings are brain rotted beyond belief shes fighting for her fucking life out here

- she's also an emotocon user but only the fancy ones you can't make on unless you fucking copy paste it

-(ง'̀-'́)ง (✿◠‿◠) <- genuinely where do you get that flower idfk

[silleegob]

Killua taking Gon on a date? (ﾟ∀ﾟ)

Was just continuing my rewatch on HxH, and something IMMEDIATELY caught my eye. I believe it is yet another silly subtext on Killua's romantic feelings towards Gon that Togashi put xD. (This happened on episode 86—which is chapter 201 in the manga!)

I'll be talking about this specific panel:

Oke so this happened right after Killua and Gon met Palm. They go to a restaurant so they can have their conversation about this Knuckle and Shoot thing. It's perfectly normal to choose a restaurant for that since Killua and Gon mostly go to restaurants to discuss stuff. But I 100% believe this specific restaurant conversation was a date, because !!! it's definitely a love restaurant. AND I HAVE PROOF SO SHH!!!

First of all, the uniform of the waitress:

She's legit dressed like those waitresses you see in Shoujo animes where the couple goes on a restaurant/cafe date. Not to mention, the literal heart on her chest!!

If that's not convincing enough, then literally look at this omurice:

The word on the omurice is written in the HxH alphabet, but I managed to translate it. :3

Ra, Fu, and a dakuten. The dakuten sign transforms F -> B = Bu. I'm also aware that the letter I is the same as the dakuten sign, but since it's small, and was placed at the top of Fu, then it's a dakuten. This means that it spells out -Rabu- which is the Japanese pronounciation of love. ᵔᴗᵔ

Now, I know the manga panel did not highlight or even write that on the food, but it's safe to assume that the animators drew that to imply that this IS a love restaurant. Seeing Togashi's drawing of the uniform, the animators understood what type of uniform that was, and where it's worn. Then proceeded to make it clear for us viewers that Killua and Gon are in a love restaurant by drawing "love" on the food.

And also, the waitress literally appears in front which covers Killua and Gon. I find it funny cause Togashi's obviously implying that this waitress is important to look at, like "BOOM check this waitress out!!! I'm highlighting what type of waitress she is, so look! Look at her!"

But that's not all, I also noticed the food being prepared at Killua and Gon's table.

That's quite a lot of food being prepared, and they look good too. It's not the usual -fast food, big meat, big chicken, spaghetti, orange juice- typa shit like what these two usually order. There's cake, pasta, coffee/tea (i can't tell), smoothies, and whatever else is there. And you know what this looks like? Killua working his ass off to properly choose and prepare nice and decent food for him and Gon—like he's arranging a date! (^^)b

I personally think Killua's the one who chose the restaurant, and the one who ordered the food because Gon just doesn't look like the type to give a shit about where they eat, nor choose those types of food, and Killua being the type to arrange where they eat cause he's that picky rich kid with tastes lol.

ANYWAAAYYY it's too convincing that he took Gon on a date, cause this also happened right a lil' bit after the "Gon you are light" scene—which we all claim as the confirmation of Killua's romantic feelings for Gon. So it's like Killua's just acting on crush instincts. ◠ᗜ◠ It genuinely seemed like he took their discussion—about Knuckle and Shoot—as an opportunity to take Gon on a date, too. (He sneaky as heeelll.)

This was nothing too serious, I just thought it was a cute and adorable detail that Togashi added!

[snek-panini]

Happy Halloween! Have a book:

This is Siren's Song by @kedreeva (Hi! I asked to bind your fic months ago, sorry it took so long XD). It's an incredible Good Omens siren AU, which needs no introduction from me but it gets one anyway. It's one of the most in-character fics I've ever read, tackles a lot of the most resonant themes of the original (love in the context of aromanticism and asexuality, human labels in the context of non-human perspective), and has incredible world-building. Later parts of the fic always make me cry but they're good tears. You'll see. When I first learned that fanbinding was a thing and started looking into how to do it, this was one of the first fics I thought of. It just took me a while to learn the skills I needed before I could do it.

More pics and process talk under the cut!

So the cover up there is black faux leather and momi paper that I bought...about two years ago? And just kept on hand till I was ready to do this project. This is the first time I've worked with it and it was fairly nice, though harder to get a nice crease into than lokta or chiyogami. It felt very fragile when I was handling it but I didn't have any issues with tearing or glue bleed-through like I thought I might. It did bleed some color when I got it damp with the glue, and it took way longer to dry than normal, but once that was done it's been fine. Which is nice because I have a lot left over, so it'll probably be making many future appearances in my binds.

Look! It's rounded! I got a backing setup recently and this is my first time using it. It was Very Hard and I am not very good at it yet. But I think it looks pretty good for a first attempt, and there was really no other way to mitigate the spine swell on this one. I used a thick paper so I've got a thick book. I also tried something new with the case, though it isn't visible. Usually I make the text block and the case separately and then attach them as the last step, but for this one I actually built the case around the text. Like, boards attached to mull/tapes (sandwiched between thinner boards, with grooves cut for them so there are no bulges), then covered with momi, then leather corners and spine, then paste down the endpaper. It's got an oxford hollow, too! The tapes and mull actually wrap around the outside of the boards instead of the inside like I've done before. Endpapers are my favorite feather chiyogami. Combined with the marbled momi they make for a very opulent look, and I had just barely enough to do this. Like, down to the millimeter. I had to trim the edges and then glue the endpapers after to be sure they were right. I'm glad they were, because I didn't have a backup plan. Handmade endbands, colors picked to match the cover. Also, last note, I got the corner bits right for the first time. Measured properly, with no weird pointy bits that come out at funny angles. Very proud.

Title page and bookmark/interior shot. Did you know that some basic fonts in MS Word look different when you use a huge font size? Because I didn't until I made this title page. That's Parchment for the title, and it only gets those swirly bits around the capital letters if you take it to 26pt or higher (I used 72 here). Now I wonder if any of the other fonts have easter eggs in them like that. The ribbon is very fancy, to go along with the rich endpaper/cover combo. I think it's pretty appropriate for a mythological golden age of piracy story, as are the text ornaments:

Chapter header image, chapter end image, and section break image. It was a very image-heavy typeset. I was originally planning to only have a header and a section break, but I couldn't decide whether I liked the ships or the book/shell/feather better, and they both suited the story so well that I just went with both. Again, opulent, but I think it fits. All the images came from rawpixel, all I did was resize them.

There was a small error in the trimming process. Comes of having to calculate so closely the exact amount you can trim off, that you have to trim off so your slightly-too-small endpapers fit. I think something got misaligned when I poked the sewing holes because only the first signature is like this. The rest of the book has a more appropriately-sized margin between the page number and the edge. I got very lucky here, and I know it, and I'm never cutting it this close (lol) again. Next time we just order another sheet of chiyogami.

And that's it! I have one author's copy and one new bind in progress right now (that's taking a while because I'm learning more new stuff for it), and then I have two Christmas gift books to do, so it might be a bit before I have another book to share.

[dynamic-k]

QwQ OMMGGG THANK YOU SO MUCH SKSJDKSKKCSKKCDJ I'M SO HAPPY YOU ENJOYED IT <33

(excuse my fangirling but I've been seeing you everywhere so this is an exciting experience for me ^^)

Q vQ ❤️

-

Oh, by the way! I noticed you were disappointed that there isn't official yellow text to use on Tumblr!

You actually can~

Although it requires a little bit of a HTML code workaround- XD

I have notes-

Anyway, keep in mind this won't work on the Tumblr app, you need to open up a browser tab for Tumblr! I used Chrome, but if you use Safari or Firefox or DuckDuckGo, or something else, it works the same.

so if you open up a Tumblr tab, you can edit your post or make a new one for starters.

Find the settings button! [The gear icon specifically inside the draft for a new post or the 'being-edited' post. Not the normal settings button for your account and such.]

You find the Text Editor section.

Change the option from "Rich Text" to "HTML"

And everything in your post is now in HTML!

See the Hexcodes I have in my notes above, and copy down the Yellow one.

Though you can swap out the #XXXXXX for any hexcode you wish if you want something else other than yellow, as this trick works with any color. :]

I used my recent reblog of your adorable fic for my tutorial example here. Your text looks like this now:

<div><span style="color: #fec400">Yellow</span></div>

That above text is what you want to paste in.

Now that you have that in, go back to the settings icon and swap the "HTML" option back to "Rich Text".

Bada bing bada boom, there be the yellow

~

And if you are careful, you can type text in the middle of the "Y" and "w" to add more yellow letters, if for example, you want the Yellow text to say "sunshine" or something else other than "Yellow". Or, just change the word while you are still in HTML, that also works.

:>

[labyrinthofsphinx]

Hi your Murder Husbands Partners In ... series are soooo fucking good like WOW im head over heels for your art. I am a bit confused at one part, though.

I probably just have horrible media literacy or maybe it's supposed to be a ~mystery~ but in the Cats, Dogs, and Wild Things comics, what exactly is the nature of the Alastor Cat and Vox Dog?

We see that their shadows are human rather than animal, and in the last panels they both end up human again, but the other always seems to think they are genuinely the animal?

Is it a metaphor and they were always human? Are they pretending the other is an animal for the letters they're writing? Is it a magic thing where they can change forms?

I'm just a wee bit confuzzled so I was hoping you could clear things up ^v^

Oh no problem at all! I'm so glad your enjoying it!! Normally I like answering these with a doodle, but it's actually kinda answered in Part III exactly what's going on, and I don't want to spoil too much.

But yes! It is a metaphor! They're currently writing to a help column butttt it can be a little embarrassing to ask about, well, advice on other people. So, Vox refers to Alastor as a cat because he's got some cat-like tendencies and that's part of the issues he was coming across, namely him wanting physical affection or is just touched starved and wondering how to get his 'cat' to be more comfortable around him.

Alastor in the same regard calls Vox a dog. Now, Al doesn't like dogs, not even in canon, so 'man's best friend' here is almost a replacement term for all men XD. 'His dog' has the problem of being clingy, which annoys him. While not at all entirely outside the scope of weird things he would do, Vox isn't actually hanging outside Al's window XDD

Silly things like Vox mentioning how his 'cat' kills a lot of 'vermin' and leaves them everywhere, and how Al complains about needing to get his 'dog' fixed is just a bit of symbolically covering up other things that go on, like Al leaving bodies everywhere and Vox being a bit of horndog.

I might also suggest that both of the cat and dog advice columns happen some time in the past, probably when they were only partners for a little while and figuring each other out.

By the time of the main story, these guys have it all down pat. They are too used to each other's messes and know each other like the back of their hands, literal partners in crime.

And never worry about asking questions! I love answering them! (And usually, I will respond with a doodle X))

Cheers!

[aashiqeddiediaz]

Hey, I love how you did the B/W strip + the text effect on your margaret atwood set, would you be willing to do a tutorial? 🙈

Hey Nonnie, thank you! Sorry this is a little late, but I did manage to hang onto this PSD for you.

We'll be making this gif:

This tutorial assumes basic knowledge of gif-making, Photoshop, and coloring. I’ve only described the text tutorial in this, but you can reach out if you have any questions.

(This is a different version of my gradient text tutorial, but the same principle applies!)

Tutorial under the cut:

Couple things to note beforehand:

There is a lot of trial and error involved when doing any sort of effect, and this is no exception! You might have to play around with the colors and the settings before you find something that looks good and readable and that fits your set!

This text effect works better on big gifs (540px width) that have quite a bit of movement below the shape so you get that effect.

For this effect, I find that a simple font works better than a cursive one, but play around with what you like.

We're going to start with this gif:

First, I'm going to add my text and center it. For this text, I used the font, Solar vesta Serif, with these settings:

Note: when you do letter spacing + underline, sometimes, the space after the last letter can lead the underline to stretch a little too far past the letter, making it look like the underline isn't centered properly.

To get past this, I just select the last letter separately, and put the VA setting to 0-10, depending on the font/letter.

We're also going to add a drop shadow here itself, and this is fully up to preference, but I used this:

All of that should give us this (yeah, it's the simplest thing because I'm lazy and I like easy things xD nothing too fancy)

Next, we're going to draw our rectangle around the letters. I like to keep even spacing around all the letters on all sides (in this gif, it's 4px on all sides) but just eyeball it initially, and then adjust accordingly.

I changed the fill to white (this color isn't important, I just used white because it's easier to show) and moved the layer in the back so the text is on top. It should all look like this:

Next, we're going to add a gradient map between the rectangle and the text later. I simply used a black and white gradient, and my gif now looks like this:

Here are the settings:

Next, we're going to delete that white box - the layer mask - next to the gradient map. Just click that and press delete (or right-click > delete layer mask). Your layers should look like this:

Now, we're going to add the rectangle as a layer mask. While pressing Ctrl, we’re going to hover our mouse over the square box next to Rectangle 1. Your cursor should show a white box with a dotted border. Click the square box with that dotted cursor and you should get a dotted selection line all around the box, like so: 

Next, we're going to select our gradient map layer, and then create a new layer mask. At the bottom of the layers panel, you should see a box with a circle in it (denoted with a red arrow). Click that - make sure you have your gradient map layer selected, or you'll end up putting the mask on the wrong layer.

The black and white will disappear, leaving you with just the box again. It'll look like this:

Now, just hide the rectangle layer so it looks like this;

And you're done! This is my final gif:

Once you get this basic thing down, you can play around with it all. For example, I like to adjust my gradient sliders so they emphasize the colors:

You can also just change the colors;

Unlike my previous text effect, we're not going for inverse X-ray effect, so for this, I like to make sure the lighter shade of the gradient is on the lighter parts of the gif, and same with the dark shade.

(If that's confusing, here's a side by side comparison of what the "X-ray" effect vs normal color effect looks like)

Anyway - it's fully up to you!

Because of the effect I was going for, I didn't add a drop shadow underneath the rectangle itself, but you always can if you want to make that a little bit more 3D.

You can also do this with any other shapes, too, with the same procedure.

Hope this helps, Nonnie! Let me know if you have any questions.

[m4delin]

WIP - Nothing more than codes and digits (let's add to it)

Since it's new years eve, I want to share what was supposed to be my third title for the Treebark Title Swap 2024, but I ran out of time for finishing it and since then it's been sitting in my WIP document. It's my own title I stole so I didn't feel bad for not finishing it.

I aim to actually finish it, but wanted to share what I got so far since I do like what I've written. Just don't mind all the notes in the brackets, you're getting everything here xD

Words: 6.7k Characters: Ren, Martyn, Doc, Tango Tags: datastream defender lore, C.H.E.S.T is evil, it's taking place in the future (at minimum 80 years after pirates smp ended), androids, memorials, brief mention of assissted suicide, pre-relationship treebark, spring is martyn, despite what martyn believes it is the real world, very much utopia

Summary: Having been one of the earliest people "rescued" from the datastream, Ren has helped a lot of people to get used to their new bodies and the new sociaty. Some has trusted him more, some has trusted him less, and Ren can't fault anyone for that.

Spring is proving to be the most distrustful person Ren has met yet.

A whistle from the kettle echoes through the apartment, and it brings Ren out of the drowsiness that always clings to him when he starts up for the day, just enough for him to yawn and stretch before detangling himself from the blanket.

It’s a slow start, really, it takes a good 15 minutes before Ren is finally on his feet, body awake enough to not move in slow motion.

He probably should ask Doc to take a look at him, it’s been a while since the last check up.

He files the thought to his to-do-later list, and instead focuses on his normal morning routine. Remove the still whistling kettle from the stove, take out a couple of bags of nutrients for his plants and mix it with the still hot but cooling water, throw the binder and tablet into his work bag, ignore any paper that doesn’t stick to the binder, and walk around to water the plants with the now cool mixture.

A small orb appears in the corner of Ren’s eyes, and as he looks at it, it turns into a small holographic image of Xisuma, but instead of his voice coming through, it’s a generic robotic voice that reads up the message.

“I’ll be running late, can you drop by the coffee shop on your way in? Thanks.”

Ren chuckles, and shakes his head at the message.

“Reply,” he says and the holograph changes into himself with a speech bubble beside it. “Sure thing, dude, I’ll get the usual. Don’t fall asleep on the bus again. End reply.”

He watches as the speech bubble gets folded into a letter before disappearing together with the holograph. No matter how many years have passed, he still finds it fascinating to watch the small avatars come and go.

Shaking his head, Ren focuses back on his task. He waters the final plant and hurries back to his bedroom to get properly dressed, since he’ll not only take a detour, but also open the museum apparently, he needed to get a move on.

He’s still buttoning up his shirt as he walks out of the apartment, work bag hanging over his shoulder, and the door locks behind him with a soft click.

[small transition for traveling? ]

The coffee shop is busy when Ren arrives, and he flicks an ear backwards in annoyance. Of course he succeeds in hitting rush hour for the morning travelers. Not that he has much of a choice, he realizes, with Xisuma being so late with his request. Normally the director would know way earlier if he was about to run late, but Ren guesses that today must’ve been an emergency. Or he had stayed up way too late again and slept in.

As Ren joins the queue, he decides that that’s what happened.

Surprisingly the line goes by fast and it doesn’t take long until the cashier is looking at Ren expectantly.

“One Cream Coffee and one Radiator to go, please,” he says as he lifts up his wrist, a small section of it lightning up. The cashier hums as they tap on the screen in front of them before lifting the other hand, holding a small square thing above Ren’s wrist. It beeps once and the cashier brings back the device.

“5 minutes,” they say, and waves Ren to move out of the queue. Ren does as instructed and watches the people move around him as he’s waiting for the drinks. [description of humans and androids? Ren receives the drinks, one blue, mentions of him passing breakfast at home?]

The walk from the coffee shop to the museum isn’t a long one, the perks of working in the city center, but it’s long enough for Ren to feel like he properly got to stretch his legs out and having sipped enough of his drink for a third to be gone.

It’s later than it’s supposed to be when Ren finally reaches the employer door to the museum, a showing of his wrists makes the door beep and open, letting him inside.

The building is silent at this time in the morning, even with Ren’s enhanced hearing. Or it usually is, but now one of his ears twist as he hears a high pitched sound from a light somewhere close by, no doubt about to go out during the day. Which he would have to replace.

Ren sighs heavily, and heads towards Xisuma’s office to drop off his coffee in the heat preserving container, before he goes to his own while downing his the rest of his drink.

The door to his office unlocks when he puts his hand on the handle, and opens without a complaint, and Ren is greeted by the sight of papers covering the floor.

Right. The research. He’d forgotten about that, honestly.

Luckily it’s only printouts of different texts that he was trying to decipher, so he’s not exactly careful as he walks over to his desk to put down his back and the now empty cup. He would start cleaning the room up normally, but since Xisuma was running late, and it would just be the two of them today, so not only did he have to change that light bulb, but also prepare the museum to be opened.

Ren isn’t sure if he’s happy or not that he can’t get headaches anymore.

He ignores the chaos that is his office, even adding a little bit more to the pile on the floor by pushing down a couple of more papers from the desk, and heads back out to start preparing the building.

He’s barely closed the door behind him when the small white orb appears in the corner of his eyes again, this time shifting into a goat when he gives it his attention. Instead of it starting to read up a message, the robotic voice let him know it’s an incoming call.

“Answer,” Ren says, and the goat shifts into the upper half of Doc.

“Good morning, Ren,” Doc says, one hand raised in a greeting.

Ren gives him a big smile. “Doc, my dude! Was thinking of you this morning! My body seems slower than usual in the mornings, think you can take a look?” He continues on his way towards the ground keeper’s office, Doc’s hologram floating beside him.

Doc blinks, and looks down into something in his hands. “Perhaps next month then. Been a couple of years since your last check up.” Then he shakes his head. “But that’s not why I called. Can you come by the lab next monday?”

It makes Ren pause in his step, and he looks properly at Doc again. “Have you found-”

“Yes,” Doc cuts him off, “another prisoner. Tango and I are setting up a body for them, and it should be done by the weekend, but I know you like to have your weekends off.”

Ren continues his path to the ground keeper’s office, but with quicker steps than before. “I want to be there when you wake them up, you know this, dude. Got any name on them?”

“No.”

The heavy sigh that accompanies the words makes Ren’s artificial heart sink as he steps into his destination. “Oh.”

“The disk was named though.” And… That’s unusual.

Ren pushes the buttons in the office to activate the cleaning robots, and doesn’t pay enough attention to the screens to see if they’ve been turned on properly. “That makes it sound like it’s not numbered,” he says as he steps out of the room, and continues down the hallway.

“It was titled Spring. Does it ring a bell?” Doc asks, and Ren wishes that it did.

“Hasn’t Tango looked through the police reports on the whole ordeal?”

“He has, and found nothing. But you’re the history expert on C.H.E.S.T, so figured it was worth asking,” Doc says, waving a clipboard around.

Ren frowns, and his ears lay down flat against his skull, and gets behind the front desk. “I’m sorry to disappoint, but I’ve never heard of something called Spring before. I’ll make a deep dive though, see if I can find anything.”

“Appreciated, Ren. I’ll send a message when it’s decided on when we’ll wake them up. Bye,” Doc says, and Ren says his own goodbye before the hologram of Doc turns into a white dot again.

Well. At least now Ren knows what he will spend his free time on til monday arrives.

With thoughts focused on the upcoming research, Ren hurries through the preparation of the museum’s opening for the day.

-----

[small scene that transition into the lab]

It’s easy to find the room where Doc and Tango would wake the prisoner[another name?] up, Ren has been here plenty of times already, and Ren clutches his bag closer to him. [add that he’s carrying a bag of drinks with him]

He’s honestly excited, it’s been a few years since they last discovered a disk that wasn’t broken.

Ren pushes the door leading to the viewing room open, and pauses as he only sees Tango in the room, sitting in front of the big window, and looking through it.

Tango glances away from the window, and smiles when Ren meets his eyes. “Ren! Good to see you, come on in!”

Ren makes sure to close the door behind him, glancing through the window. It’s a view of a spacious room, a wardrobe in one corner, a tv on the wall next to it, and on the opposite is a bed with a table beside it. A bed currently occupied by a generic looking android body that shouldn’t be up and moving, but obviously is. Beside the bed is Doc sitting with a tablet in his hands.

“I thought you would wait to wake them up until I arrived,” Ren says with a pout, ears pressed down against his skull.

Tango shrugs. “We planned to, but when we were preparing the body and inserted the disk, they woke themselves up,” he says, and looks back to the scene in front of them.

The android body is holding a tablet of their own, their head tilted slightly as they’re listening to what Doc is saying.

“That’s unusual. How many years has it been since that happened?” Ren asks as he opens up the paperbag with the drinks. He takes the smallest one out, and hands it to Tango.

Tango takes it, pops out the straw, and takes a sip. “Not in the years I’ve been working here. I think it has happened three times now in total?”

“Four,” Ren corrects as he digs out a larger drink, and puts it on the table behind Tango. “I mean, if you’re counting this dude too.” After digging out a small package of milk and making sure there’s only two drinks left in the bag, Ren returns to Tango’s side.

Tango snorts. “Why are you asking me if you remember that?”

“Years tend to float together after a while, the amount of times it happens are easier to remember,” Ren says with a shrug, before looking towards the second door on the other side of the room. “I’ll head down, and save the poor fella from Doc’s technical ramblings,” he says as he moves towards the door.

Tango giggles behind him. “Sure, old man. Remember to ask Doc for an upgrade in your cache at the next check up!” he shouts behind Ren. Ren just shakes his head as he goes through the door, and down the stairs.

Doc’s voice comes through the moment Ren opens up the door downstairs.

“-o problem at all- oh. Hello, Ren,” Doc says as Ren walks into the room, putting the tablet down into his lap. The android turns their head with slightly narrowed eyes, and Ren gives them both his best smile.

“Hi, dudes! Everything good?” he says as he walks up to the bed. The android is still looking wary, but Ren looks at Doc as Doc nods.

“I’ve given him the rundown of his new body, including a tablet for customization requests that’s not the generic type,” he says, and taps a [tablet pen?] against his own tablet. “Now I need to check more how his fine motor control is working, to make sure everything is in order, and then I need to-”

Ren chuckles. “I’m gonna stop you right there, bud, but one step at a time, yeah? We don’t need to overload his brain right at this moment,” he says as he pats Doc on the shoulder, and gives the android another smile.

“That… would be appreciated,” the android says as he looks between the two.

“With that approval-” Ren begins as he grins at Doc, “-I’m sending you off to the break room. I’ve brought a chocolate[other drink?] to you, it’s up with Tango in the room.”

Doc nods, and gives Ren a smile. “Thank you. I’ll be back later, whenever you’re ready to learn more about how your body functions,” Doc says, and with that he raises up from the chair, and walks through the door Ren had arrived from.

Ren puts all his focus on the patient, and gives him a smile. “Apologies for just switching like this, but Doc tends to get into the technical stuff immediately, and most people find it overwhelming,” he says, and fishes up a third, blue drink from the paper bag as he walks closer to the android.

The android looks between Ren and the drink he’s holding out.

“It’s a drink called ‘Radiator’. It’s a fluid that people like you and me need to have a functioning body, and this one is made into a drink so we can mimic drinking. It’s calming for some people,” Ren explains, and watches as the android slowly takes it into his hands.

Ren gives him a smile when he does take it before he walks over to the chair Doc left, and digs out the fourth and final drink out of the paperbag. He discards the bag beside the chair, and hangs his work bag over the backrest before sitting down.

The patient is looking hesitant at the drink, and Ren knows how weird it is in the beginning, so he takes a gulp out of his own Radiator.

“You said people like us?” the android asks when Ren lowers his drink, and is now obviously glancing at Ren’s ears.

“Yep! People stuffed into an android body,” Ren says, and taps one of his ears, it flicking out of range at the touch, since it has the android’s attention. “These babies are custom made. Had human ears for a good amount of years, until Doc figured out a way to customize bodies without risking us shutting down. Real genius that man!”

The android frowns, and looks down at his drink in his lap.

“Had a tail for a while too, but let me tell you, not worth it! Not only do you have to make custom clothes, especially pants, but they wear[?] out too fast. As good as I am at repairing them myself, there’s only so many times a man has patient to repair his own pants per month,” Ren continues, chuckling at the memory. Yeah, he had to repair way too many pants.

The room falls into silence, just for a moment, as Ren looks at the android and the android is still looking at his drink. The tablet the android had been messing around with earlier is laying in his lap.

“This is a lot, I know,” Ren says with a soft voice, and the android glances up. “If you have any questions, go ahead. Kinda why I’m here, being the social dude so Doc and Tango can focus on making sure your body is functioning correctly.”

The android seems to think for a moment before he lifts up his head properly.

“The doctor said your name was Ren?”

Ren slams a hand on his forehead, and an ear flicks in annoyance. “Introduction is a thing, yes,” he says as he lets the hand fall back down into his lap, properly gripping his drink again. He gives the android a smile.

“Yeah, name’s Ren, he/him, I’m an ex-employee of C.H.E.S.T-”

The difference between normal androids and people with an android body is really fascinating if you ask Ren. Androids often just mimic expressions that humans make in certain situations, while the people have the mini[miniture? miniluscus?] expression change that androids seem incapable to mimic, despite having the same built body. And this is a perfect example of it.

Because the reaction is instantaneous.

Deep rooted fear flashes across the android’s face, as well as his body going rigid, but it’s there barely a second before the android’s face is neutral once again, although his back is much straighter than before.

It tells Ren that this person has dealt with C.H.E.S.T before.[not happy with this line, find alternatives]

Ren clears his throat, and pretends that he didn’t see it. “-I worked in the public and civilian sector, but when I started to investigate the disappearance of some of my colleagues, I ended up as one of their victims as well. They stuffed me into a digital disk, and stayed there until I got woken up by Doc. Don’t remember much of the time I spent being digital that way. Today I work for the Hermit Museum, working on preserving the memories of all of C.H.E.S.T’s victims, giving them a memorial for those we haven’t been able to find and give a new chance on life, as well as making sure that all of C.H.E.S.T’s crimes is known to the world.”

The android seems to still be on guard, and Ren doesn’t blame him. So Ren takes a sip of his drink before giving the android his best smile.

“Before I ask you your name, or any question for that matter, know that you don’t have to answer them. As much as I would love to know who you are, you’re entitled to keep any information to yourself,” he says in hopes to make the man relax just a little bit at least.

The man nods, and makes no attempt to introduce himself.

The next smile Ren gives him is softer. “Is there something I can call you the very least? Can’t call you dude or android the whole time.”

Again, the man doesn’t attempt to speak.

Ren’s shoulders slump forward a bit as his ears twist backwards. “Okay then. I’ll call you Spring until you’ve given me something else to call you,” he says, and watches how the man reacts to the name. There’s no more reaction other than him watching Ren cautiously.

“So. That’s me. Any questions?”

Spring is silent, his mouth in a thigh line, and then-

“I want to be alone.”

Ren sighs, and leans back in the chair, almost tipping it over. “Sorry dude, no can do. Until Doc and Tango have made sure your body is functioning well, and you need an identification number in order to be able to move around in society without getting, like, arrested, you need to have someone with you.”

Spring frowns at that, and stares into his lap again, drink still not touched and tablet seemingly forgotten.

And Ren knows that this feels invasive, especially when you don’t trust the ones who're supposed to look after you. But it’s a rule put in place for a very good reason.

“But,” Ren continues after a little bit of silence, “I can leave the room.”

Spring looks up, confusion written all over his face.

Ren gestures towards the window close to the ceiling, and Spring follows his hand until he sees it. And goes stiff again as he sees Tango and Doc sitting by the window, not looking into it but having their backs to it, seemingly having a conversation between the two of them.

“This room has no cameras, no microphones, no motion detectors. It’s completely soundproof. The only thing that can monitor you is if someone sits behind that glass, and we will until we’re sure your body won’t suddenly break down on you.”

Spring looks back to Ren, and Ren tries to give him a reassuring smile, but it probably ends up looking more sad than anything.

“We won’t keep this strict watch for long, tops two weeks if your body is having troubles. And after you’ve gotten your identification number, you’re free to go wherever. But we want to help you, we really do. We can get you in touch with a therapist, arrange for you to have an apartment, help you get a stable life. Just-” Ren takes a deep breath, hands clenching around his own forgotten drink, “-let us know if you don’t want life anymore. We- no, I- want to bury you in that case. You deserve a funeral, however you want it. You, and your story, deserve to be remembered.”

As excited Ren always is to meet someone new, this is the hardest part of helping them into this modern world.[?]

Offer them a chance to actually die, not simply being suspended in an empty dataspace.

It’s still better than finding out that they ended it by themselves.

Spring is giving Ren a strange look, and to be fair, it is strange to offer to bury someone. Ren doesn’t blame him for it.

“I-” Spring starts, but cuts off himself. He shakes his head and Ren tilts his head to the side, watching as Spring comes to a conclusion.

“I would like to be alone,” Spring repeats, and Ren nods. Without much further aboe[?], Ren gets up from his chair, pulling his work bag over his shoulder with his free hand, and walks over to the door.

But there he pauses, and looks over his shoulder at Spring.

“By the way. Doc and Tango has never been associated with C.H.E.S.T, neither of them was even born when that organization got busted. Even if you don’t trust me, you can trust them.” With that, Ren leaves the room.

“You good?” Tango asks when Ren gets up into the viewing room, and all Ren can do is to let out a deep sigh.

“He got real bad trauma with C.H.E.S.T,” Ren says as he sits down by a chair furthest from the window. While he can’t leave, he will at least try to respect Spring’s privacy when Doc and Tango aren't there to keep watch.

Doc hums, and both he and Tango look through the window. “Isn’t surprising. We’ll take it slow then, try to give him as much privacy as we can,” Doc says as he tips his cup back, and then frowns as he removes it from his face. “Empty,” he grumbles, and places it on the floor.

“I’ll try to get his identification number as soon as possible, should get it at the end of the week if I pull the right strings,” Tango says with a nod.

Ren tunes out his two friends as they talk and plan how to go forward this coming week.

Seems like honesty straight out of the bag wasn’t the way to go this time. But then again, it’s hard to know what to do when you don’t know who will be waking up.

With another sigh, Ren takes a big gulp of his own drink. He’ll just keep watch from a distance then, and help Doc and Tango out whenever they need. It’s not the first time they had to work like this, nor will it be the last.

But he does wish that he would be able to help Spring better than this.

---

A week and a half. That’s what it takes until everything starts to fall into place.

It takes about a week for Doc to calibrate Spring’s body to not stumble when he moves too fast, and to give Spring a general look[?]. And then they just had to wait for the identification number, which Tango pushed hard for.

Ren had visited and invited Spring out for walks whenever Doc and Tango had allowed it, and he had pretended not to see when Spring was looking around and taking in their surroundings in more than just fascination with the scenery. These walks always felt a bit bittersweet to Ren, since Spring never seemed to relax during it, nor afterwards. In all honesty, it probably had to do with Ren himself, which he doesn’t blame Spring for.

But hopefully today would be different.

Ren runs a hand through his hair, and sighs heavily. The plan for today was to take Spring to the museum, both to show him how to use public transportation and how to navigate around the money system. He hopes everything goes well.

Steeling his nerves, Ren pushes open the door to Spring’s room, and smiles at the man when he looks up.

Unlike the first time Ren saw Spring, Spring now looked like an actual human. Instead of looking like a generic android, he now had blond hair pulled into a small ponytail, blue eyes and pale skin, with a hoodie over his torso and jeans on his legs.

“Hey there, Spring!” Ren says as he walks closer to the bed where Spring is sitting, fiddling with a book. Ren gives him a smile, but per usual Spring stays silent and warily watches Ren.

“I have good news for you. Your identification number should arrive very shortly, and thus we shall venture out further than the gardens today!”

Spring raises an eyebrow. “What?”

Ren grins, and pets his shoulder bag. “We’re heading to the museum today! You need to know how to transfer money as you soon will be released from here, and it’s easier if I just show you. And it will be nice to be outside this place, yes?”

That catches Spring’s attention, and he puts down the book on the nightstand. “So… we’re going to the museum so you can show me how to pay?”

“And to show you how society works [fix this?]

Ren glances over his shoulder at Spring, who was looking everywhere but at Ren. There’s a lot to see, considering that this is the first time they’ve been so far away from the facility, so Ren is just happy that Spring is still following him and not trying to bolt the moment he could like Ren thought he would.

There’s so much Ren wants to ask the man, but he bites his tongue as he focuses his eyes forward on the street ahead of them.

Or rather, the opening of the buildings and the street which gives space to a big open area with a lot of different statues lingering about.

“The museum is just ahead,” Ren says with a grin as he speeds up just a bit. As much as he loves helping people out, he has missed the museum and working on his own projects. But he’ll get back to them soon enough, Spring just needed his identification number after all before getting released.

“That’s. A lot of statues,” Spring says, and Ren slows down to walk beside Spring instead of ahead of him. It earns Ren a sideways glance.

“Eyup! The classic ones are on the left,” Ren says as he motions in front of them. “Not easy to see from this angle, I realize. Come on, we’ll see them better when we get on the main path!” Without thinking, Ren grabs Spring’s arm in excitement to drag him with him, but stops when Spring pulls back his arm just as quickly as Ren had grabbed it.

Ren looks back at Spring who’s staring at him with a blank look, arm held close.

“Oh, uh. Sorry, I forgot myself,” Ren says, ears pressed flat backwards in embarrassment.

Spring moves his eyes from Ren to look at something behind Ren, face just as blank as before. “You’re excited for the museum?” He asks, voice carefully [blank? other word]

Ren nods, and motions towards the statue garden in an invitation to start walking again. “Yes,” he begins as Spring starts moving, and he joins Spring, “how can I not be? It’s a great workplace, I have wonderful colleagues and it gives me the best chance to just learn about history! I always love showing off what we have.”

There’s a moment of silence before Spring speaks again. “I thought you worked at the facility?” [check when ren introduces himself]

“Not really,” Ren hums, steering the two of them towards the street that runs in the middle of the statue garden. As they get closer, it becomes more obvious that there are two different sections of statues.

“I mean, I help Doc and Tango out with like. Social stuff like this. Helping people get back into society. But that doesn’t exactly happen enough to be an actual job.” Ren shakes his head. “I’m a [curator?] and researcher at [hermit museum?]. If you want we can go past my exhibition, but honestly, that might not be a good idea.”

Spring glances at Ren before looking in front of them, the two finally entering the main street leading to the museum, statues on both sides of them.

“How come?”

“[I research the damage C.H.E.S.T has done to society and its victims,” Ren says, not reminding Spring that he had already told him this when he introduced himself.]

Spring stays silent, and Ren lest him digest what he just told him, before clearing his throat, and motioning to the left.

“But, yes, the classics! They are just copies of the originals of course, but it’s nice to have something more physical to look at as the guide books tell you about them, rather than a hologram,” Ren says with a grin, and it seems to snap Spring out of his head.

Then Ren motions towards the right. “And that’s modern art. Statues. Eh, yeah, not really my department, but if we bump into Xisuma[? check how many i wrote works here] he will happily tell you all about it. There’s more modern art inside, and more history stuff too.”

Spring nods, but stays silent until they reach the doors of the museum which has been propped open to let the cool summer winds into the building.

Ren waves at the android sitting at the reception desk, who only tilt its head in acknowledgement to his presence, but it gives Spring a smile when it notices him.

“Hi, and welcome to [hermit museum]. Would you like a map, or a recommendation on where to go?” It says, voice a tad flat.

“Oh great, need to tell [groundkeeper] that they need to fix up Lucy’s voice again,” Ren says with a sigh before turning to Spring who has stopped by the desk, hand stretched out for the map that he was offered.

“You don’t need the map if you don’t want it,” Ren says as Spring grabs it, before shrugging when Spring gives him a raised eyebrow. “Again, I work here, I know this museum almost better than Xisuma, and he’s the owner of the place.”

“I think I’ll take it anyway,” Spring mumbles, and tucks it into his hoodie.

“Alright,” Ren says, one ear flicking backwards before turning back. “So, where do you want to start? It’s a big place, and I’ll show you how to interact and activate the holograms, though I’m sure Tango has already given you that lesson.”

Ren smiles as Spring looks at him, and waits patiently as Spring brings out the map to look at instead of asking Ren what places there are.

“Uh. What about here?” Spring says as he points at his map, and Ren leans over to take a look at it.

“Ah,” Ren says with a grin, “the [department]. That’ll be fun. Now! On our way!” This time he refrains from grabbing Spring, and Spring follows after a brief moment just looking at Ren. Again, Ren is very excited.

Two hours goes by, in which more visitors arrived, but it was still a far cry from being crowded. Spring had been looking at some of the holograms, but nothing had really captured his interest for long, so Ren had continued to guide him through the building in hopes that Spring would find something.

Ren is walking backwards, facing Spring, as he talks about [ämne], having entered  his guide mode.

He doesn’t keep track of where Spring’s eyes wander, so when Spring suddenly stops and fixates his gaze in one spot, it takes a moment for Ren to remember where in the building they are.

Ren slows to a stop, and glances towards the big, open archway which reveals some big plaques[?] with a lot of text and pictures on them.

The C.H.E.S.T exhibition.

Ren looks back at Spring who has not looked away from the archway, obviously having seen one of the plaques that has the words C.H.E.S.T on it.

“You want to go and take a look?” Ren says with a soft voice, and to his surprise, Spring nods and doesn’t wait for Ren to move, instead taking the lead properly for the first time this day. Ren follows and stays silent as Spring slowly walks into the exhibition, head constantly turning as if he’s trying to take in everything at once.

Spring stops at the closet plaque, and Ren slides up beside him.

“This part is mostly information about C.H.E.S.T. About who they were, their public front and shadow business, how they were able to trick the public, how it got discovered and its downfall,” Ren says, eyes staring at the C.H.E.S.T logo. Spring glances at him.

“Despite that it’s been [50 years?], there’s a lot we don’t know about this organization. I’m the main researcher on it around here, as the police stopped investigating some years ago, and other people who are researching this are doing so in other countries.” Ren cast his eyes down to the floor, trying to sort his thoughts. He doesn’t want to overwhelm Spring with all of this.

Spring turns his head around, taking in more of the room, before he looks back to the plaque in front of them. Then he reaches out to touch the button that activates the personal hologram.

Ren stays silent as Spring listens to the private hologram, and he follows him when Spring moves to the next.

They spend longer time in here than in any other exhibition. Spring stops at every plaque, and Ren lets him, ready to answer any questions Spring has. [allow ren to talk abt the lore i’ve come up with?]

But Spring doesn’t ask him anything. He simply watches and listens to the holograms, and then he moves on.

Ren doesn’t stop him until they start getting close to a smaller, but more decorated archway.

“Spring,” he says as he holds his hand up, stopping them both. Ren gives him a [soft?] look before motioning towards the archway. “I know you want to listen to the holograms but. Through that archway is the memorial. For all the victims of C.H.E.S.T. And since this will be personal for both you and me, I would like to talk about them,” he continues, bowing his head down. When he looks back up, Spring has a small frown on his face.

“You’re a C.H.E.S.T employee,” he says, and with a tone that indicates that he doesn’t think Ren should be allowed to.

“Ex-employee. And I worked in the public sector, not knowing what was going on.” Ren raises a hand to his own hand, and taps one of his ears that flicks away from the touch. “I’m as much of an android as you. I know you don’t trust me, but please. This is the way I can show these people respect. Please let me talk about them.”

Many emotions seem to cross Spring’s face, until eventually he closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. When he opens his eyes, he nods.

“Okay.”

Ren smiles as he straighteners his back. “Thank you,” he says, and takes a step to the side. He motions towards the archway. “Let’s begin.”

Spring takes the lead, but Ren is quick to end up walking beside him.

“These people,” Ren begins as they enter the memorial area, “are people who C.H.E.S.T have one way or another killed. Be it by mercanaries, tasked to take down who they consider enemies, or being forced into the datastream.”

It’s easy for Ren to slip into his [curator] role, and to forget why they’re here to begin with.

“[names] are some of the last victims that C.H.E.S.T caused[?] before the police and government started to crack down on them. In fact, most people here in the beginning section are later victims. Many of which were straight up killed as C.H.E.S.T tried to figure out who had betrayed them, not quite getting that there were too many people who were asking questions at this point. But there were quite a few that they sent into the datastream as well,” Ren says as he continues to slowly walk down the rows of plaques with pictures of different faces.

He stops as Martyn stops by a plaque and just looks at it.

“People who ended up in the datastream are people who we might be able to recover, as long as their data hasn’t been corrupted. Sadly it’s a too common recurrence that the data chips they reside in have been broken or rendered useless, so these are all we have left of them.” Ren looks ahead of them, eyes distant as he remembers waking up for the first time since being put in the datastream.

“Those who we’ve found to still be uncorrupted, we’ve given an android body and given a chance at life again. Most do not wish to be contacted, so please refrain from asking.”

Spring lets out a huff beside him, and Ren gives him a smile. “Apologize, there’s been a lot of people who ask to speak with them, so it just slipped out. Anyway.”

Spring shakes his head, and starts to walk down the row again, to which Ren falls in line with.

[reading up a few names?]

“As said, most people in this part were killed, and this ‘late stage’ started roughly 5 years before C.H.E.S.T was shut down,” Ren says, hands clasped behind his back. “Of course, that’s the official shut down. The police needed to hunt down underground sections for years after, but at least C.H.E.S.T didn’t have control of the public anymore.”

They cross a line on the floor, and Ren unclasps his hands and motions to the closest plaque, now sporting a different color in the background. “These people are more from the ‘middle stage’, for lack of better words, and many of them ended up in the datastream. We know this thanks to documents C.H.E.S.T kept, and we have found plenty of ‘resting chips’ as we have come to call them. Again, most of these are sadly corrupted, so a burial is all we have been able to give them.”

[more names? more walking around?]

As the room opens up [spreading?] into different paths for showing more plaques, Ren takes the lead, looking towards a wall, and slightly raised platform.

“These people,” Ren says as he comes to a halt in front of the display, “were a part of a group[name?] that tried to fight and stop C.H.E.S.T. It was created very early on, and was able to fight off C.H.E.S.T for a good amount of time, but sadly the targeted attacks became more and more intense. Too soon, many of these people disappeared.”

Ren lets his eyes trail over one picture at a time. “[name]. Viktor ‘Doc’ [name]. Martyn Littlewood. [name]. People who, at the time, just vanished to never be seen again.”

[katyahina]

Elden Ring sliders colors compiled (for quick reference)

I decided to put together the exact RGBs in a reference as someone consistently betrayed by my screen settings and no longer trusting myself to pick colors by an eye, which was only possible thanks to Zullie the Witch datamining the NPCs faces: ( x ) ( x )! I'd still have to adjust them, of course, but I personally find it helpful to at least have a base. Unfortunately Magnus is just not here as he was patched in later, and I could not find the ghosts with sliders and dialogues.. But ehhhhhh. Maybe someday they will be revealed too.

Anyways, here are some more specific and apparent remarks under cut on the sliders:

- Gideon is a Nox or related to them:

- Ensha and Nameless White Mask (a guy I presume was invading in bloody lake) strangely have pitch black eyes (both iris and whites), and they even have decent clouding, also pitch black. Kinda strange feature?

- With some characters, the 'real' eye color is not what it seems! Vyke's eyes are brown, but the colored clouding is so intense it makes them look pale blue. Esgar has dark green eyes that look red upon clouding, Arghanthy has red eyes that look orange/yellow, Rogier has brown eyes looking green because of clouding, Miriam has deep emerald eyes looking blue because of clouding... and which I especially like, Maleigh has brown eyes but it is colored by clouding to look very pale yellow, probably reflecting his sickness and how it effected the initial color!

- Although two of Millicent's sisters have both eyes 'missing' and other two have only one eye and it is covered by clouding color to be a very pale color, they all have the 'true' eye color being golden (orange color used for it), like Millicent herself. Her eyes, of the same 'true' color, however, have yellow clouding, making them shine even brighter. This is a really neat detail that cannot be observed my naked eye on their faces and only seen in the sliders numbers!

- Maureen has a unique feature compared to other sisters, where only her left eye (now missing as eyepatch suggests) is clouded by white and not pale yellow like others. Fun fact to consider! Maybe something unique happened with this eye before she lost it, other than a "regular" Scarlet Rot eating it away. A mushroom grew there? hahah

- Rya has asymmetrical eye whites color for some reason; her left eye has normal white, but the right eye has darker, greyish-yellow color.

- Yura has multiple dark old man spots/age freckles on his forehead that cannot be seen with his haircut! I do not have a screenshot to demonstrate it, but here in this post a person recreated his face data exactly but with a trim: ( x )

- I want to comment on the idea that it is always non-Tarnished who have yellow/golden eyes! Recently, Zullie made a video revealing eye textures of a LOT of characters' models having the yellow shining in them ( x )! Letter 'T' here marks the characters me and @val-of-the-north were confident are Tarnished. With 'golden' eyes, core color can vary in intensity; with some character being very bright yellow/orange, and others (like Kenneth or Irina for example) being very dull and only looking yellow-ish when you look at character's face! Interestingly, the Carians who we know are not Tarnished have pale, blueish eyes, similarly to Rennala... I suppose this would be not 'faded' eyes that is a sign of Tarnished, but altered color upon focusing on something else (the moon sorcery in their case). From my own observation, golden eyes are not specifically reflection of not being a Tarnished, but just having internal faith in GO, be it positive like with Maidens that follow it, or negative like with Omens that internalised being abominations in its system or Tanith that defines herself by being a heretic within it like her husband. That video I linked can offer some philosophical insights hahah..

- OLD Knight Istvan, that is stated to be one of the old ones actually doesn't look old at all somehow xd

- Alberich eyes is a debatable matter in my opinion, since removing his hat reveals a binder hinting that he was undergoing a similar process to Azur and Lusat:

(Do not pay attention to the green bits of the blood glintstones, they appear only on item icon and not on actual model when player is wearing his set. ...Unless......?) If eye color is sensitive to what a person seeks, like pale blue eyes of Carians or (now) red eyes of Esgar is of any indication, his eyes could have still became red in color if he pursued the bloody sorcery before! I am just saying that he might no longer have them 🤔

- Sellen's hair turn out to be not black, but just very dark brown! This is fuckin Adella issue all over again, I can never escape it lol

- Ensha actually uses Body Type B despite very masculine face with facial hair n all, which was revealed later after Zullie's video! Here is a Tweet from Zullie on that: ( x ). Trans representation, or Ensha is actually remains of the person that once lived that possessed some random person as a new vessel? That's up to you!

- Finger Maiden found in Church of Inhibition, not far away from Vyke's invasion / Frenzied Village, has eyes clouded in the same color as 'real' one that fully obscures her pupils (making 'blind' look). It seems like the same thing happens with Melina's golden eye in Frenzied Flame ending.

- Adan and Dung Eater both have a nearly undetectable feature regarding their eye whites: the white on their 'injured' eyes (right eye for both) is brighter by only one point on Green on RGB scale. I do not know why it is added, it is basically invisible detail ;-;

- Devin (the 'silver' twin) has some grey hair, unlike Darian (the 'golden' twin)! Yeah no shit lol

- There is a big possibility that Anastasia is a Tarnished herself; the term used for her, 鬼女 (kijo) refers in Japanese folklore to women that were transformed into hideous "demons" upon their bad karma. So, rather than being an ogress, it could mean that she faced an evil sort of transformation upon vile acts of cannibalising. Well- as well as gameplay mechanic suggesting she is, because upon defeat she is listed as Recusant (who are Tarnished that hunt their own):

- Cut content character Rico still has full face data in the game files, and has eerly similar colors to Roderika. Really hope that this character will be back in DLC, feels like a potential relative of her!

- The sliders for body hair for some characters not all make sense- like, you are telling me that chads like Diallos or Tragoth do not have body hair? ehhhh. Still, it could be used if you want to! Here it is:

0 - Tanith, Varre, Seluvis, Patches, Irina/Hyetta, Rya, Diallos, Lanya, Sellen + Puppet, D + his brother, Roderika, Fia, Dung Eater, Rogier, Thops, Nepheli, Rico, Vyke's Maiden, Maiden Summon, Ensha, Boc, Millicent, Corhyn, Therolina, Dolores, Jarwright, Vyke, Ravenmount, Nerijus, Tragoth, Istvan, Juno, Anastasia, Okina, Adan, Moongrum, Inaba, Silver Tear 1-4, Maleigh, Knight of the Great Jar 1 + 3, Garris, a White Mask, Wilhelm, Arganthy, Flame Guardian, Ghiza, Alberich, Mary, Maureen, Amy, Polyanna

70 - Bernahl 128 - Eleonora 140 - Esgar, Miriam 150 - Kenneth, Vargram 170 - Yura 210 - Jerren 220 - Rileigh 230 - Edgar 250 - Gideon, Gowry 255 - Boggart, Henricus, Lionel

- No, seriously, are you telling me that Dung Eater shaves???? NONSENCE. What I am saying is, some of the body hair sliders REALLY make no sense, a problem I do not see with the colors or muscles. Speaking of...

- Here are the muscular levels for the characters:

Standard - Tanith, Varre, Seluvis, Irina/Hyetta, Rya, Lanya, Sellen + Puppet, D + his brother, Roderika, Kenneth, Fia, Gideon, Rogier, Thops, Vyke's Maiden, Maiden Summon, Ensha, Boc, Millicent, Gowry, Corhyn, Therolina, Dolores, Lionel, Miriam, Okina, Silver Tear 1-4, Knight of the Great Jar 3, Garris, a White Mask, Arganthy, Flame Guardian, Ghiza, Alberich, Mary, Maureen, Amy, Polyanna

Muscular - Patches, Edgar, Jerren, Diallos, Yura, Dung Eater, Bernahl, Boggart, Nepheli, Rico, Jarwright, Vyke, Eleonora, Ravenmount, Nerijus, Tragoth, Istvan, Rileigh, Juno, Anastasia, Adan, Moongrum, Vargram, Inaba, Henricus, Maleigh, Knight of the Great Jar 1 + 2, Wilhelm, Esgar

[luonnon-varainen]

do your archivists have names? what are they like?

Sorry if you already anserwed it before

Jup, they do have names and these names look like this and they wear them like earrings + extra infos about them and cultural convenances ↓

The last sentence is a bit more important in the name name topic so it say "Collector refers to them as Archivists, because mortals from the titan-collector war era called them like this - they're just nullifying the language barrier so Luz, King, Eda ect. can understand them. If they wanted to specify siblings, they'd refer to each of them according to archivist's assigned celestial bodies(fun fact - the celestial symbols also were given to Archivist's by mortals, they would never pick it by themselves. But now it's just part of their style as they've got use to it) : Solar(pretend it's yellow), Stellar, Jovinian and Lunar".

It's hard to read what is up there, because I made it in rush and if you wish just comment/dm me and I'll translate this little slob of letters into normal typing xd

[cyberfairyblog]

Cyberweek Day 7: OC

To end cyberweek here's some tidbits about my self insert pix + selfship lore

Even though he only appeared literally THREE TIMES the whole 22 years, I still ship myself with him. I think he's cool and has a potential to be a recurring ally to the squad. Also I'm a sucker for normal laidback guy x powerful magic woman trope

Technically Coop isn't an oc but there's so much we don't know about his life, I had to make one up. After his return, Coop starts working HQ as the repair guy/mission control. One potential redesign has him look older due to the magnetite. Since he had been infected for so long and so intensely, some of the damage is permanent. That won't keep him from staying off the rails!

Coop was a child prodigy in both inventing and extreme sports, but became a small time mechanic because he didn't care much for the spotlight.

He and Pix met she was assigned a mission in Radopolis where Coop and Hacker were working on an Top Secret project for Motherboard. She was disguised as a Radster, that coop quickly deduced that she was a poser.

Coop was a single father at the time. He had broken up woth a girlfriend from a previous relationship and had full custody of Slider. Pix absolutely fell in love with the boy, he was adorable and was just as passionate about life and skating as his father. She felt bad Coop had all this responsibility, so she often visited them to help around the shop or watch over Slider. Over time Pix grew to be a regular fixture at the shop. Eventually Coop started to enjoy her presence, and one night asked her out on a date.

Pix was nervous but was convinced by her friend to give it a shot. She loved it. Coop had this calming presence that made the night bearable. He wasn't judgemental, and even nervous himself. After a few more dates they made their relationship official but kept it on the down low.

Until Hacker found out...and Oooh. He was PISSED! He had wanted to ask Pix out FIRST!

After Coop's disappearance Pix took over his duties as store owner. She wanted to know the real reason behind his disappearance. She suspected Hacker to be the one behind it but wasn't for sure. She missed coop terribly, so much she lost her taste for skating and magic. It wasn't until meeting the kids she gradually regained her sense of peace. Pix began to play old rock songs Coop gifted her with, and always made sure to pay the bills. The shop was all she had.

Until Slider found the letter inside the picture frame. Pix read and and realized Coop left to protect them. Now he was in danger, time to return the favor.

They did find Coop, but their fight wasn't over as there was still Mecha Hacker to defeat. Luckily with leftover energy from the Transformatron and sheer love for Coop, her family and friends Pix evolved to a bigger form and took Hacker straight on!

Hacker had a huge crush on Pix, in fact her choosing Coop over him was one factor into his turn to evil. But she hates him now. She used to see him as a friend, if a bit weird, so she was disappointed to discover his true nature as a selfish butthole.

Even 22 years later, Hacker still thinks he has a chance XD

Older Doodles of Pix + her and Coop as an elderly couple. They'd be the really chill grandparents XD

[caramelstarlight]

Hi! Thank you for answering my prayer. Sooo…Tighnari x reader but reader takes some things literally (has a hard time detecting sarcasm, jokes go right over reader’s head) [totally not calling myself out (I am)] Also, how's your farming for TIghnari going?

pfft- (is this your way for asking more from me? Alright I’ll whip something up for you. Even if it isn’t <33) Also ✅/⭐️

Farmings great so far. 5k primos with everything he needs. Besides mora and exp books lol. Stole some of colleis artifacts to give to him. Including her stringless and amazing sands rip.

Here’s a recording of my current build for him. (On Faruzan. Half of it is colleis artifacts, unless I somehow get a better sands (Which I’m so proud of) it’s his IM SORRY COLLLEII 😭🤚 forgive me for my actions :d )

Don’t forget about the extra crit dmg from EM. I have 164.4 in total with it. (I basically have 600 EM. Which should grant 35% out of 60%) It’s only for charged shots and burst tho lol. But he does better with it XD

Hoyoverse where’s my Tighnari?????

Profile if ur looking for it. Lvl 10 friendship card with collei. Been playing since 1.6!

Anywayss, I’m on America server.

Here’s something I came up with. Just not a full on story lol.

A Lummox at heart

(Fluff, G/N Reader.) (Love confession.)

under cut <33

“Master Tighnari I don’t think Y/N understands sarcasm. They usually don’t react to jokes.” Collei admitted thinking of times when you heard jokes from cyno and didn’t understand.

“Y/N is truly the biggest lummox I have ever seen.” He’d reply focusing on his letter to send. Listening to collei talk about you. Speak of the devil, you came in with cyno.

He lowered his ears. Getting worried if he was going to hear another joke from cyno. “Were we collei-ing (coming) in at a wrong time?” Cyno stated as collei looked unamused. You stayed silent barely understanding his random jokes. Collei muttered out a few words as she kept listening.

“What-?” You’d state clearly oblivious to the joke he told. “We sure totally would love to listen to it again.” Tighnari mocked cyno as he rolled his eyes. Focusing on the paper.

“Oh then tell us cyno.” You’d state as Tighnari regretted his sarcastic remark. Lowering his ears as far as he could and finished the letter.

As cyno finished explaining everyone beside cyno and Y/N were dreadful. “Ohh!” You would state understanding it now but not bothering to laugh.

As cyno left a little later to go attend to his duties collei did the same. When you were about to take your leave he grabbed your arm gaining your attention as you turned around with an confused and soft expression.

“is something wrong Nari?” You’d ask being curious as he let go of your arm. “I really want to tell you something.” “Go ahead then Nari.”

“I love you I’m sure of it.” He’d say growing shy with the seconds as his tail swished rapidly. One of the rare moments to see the oh so calm and collected head chief so flustered.

“Anything else-?” You’d ask also shy kinda waiting for him to explain why. “What else do you need to know? Knowing me surely is enough. Or do you not know about some species of mating?” He’d ask blankly stating with a slight sarcastic tone.

“Nevermind then.” You’d say as you looked away. “Anyways… I accept it!” You’d state turning back to his view quickly. As soon as he heard those words he jumped at the chance to hug you. Literally.

He held you close as he took in your scent and wrapped his tail around you. Marking you as his effectively. His ears back to their normal state as you embraced the bug. He’d leave the crook of your neck alone as he faced you.

“You’re truly a Lummox at heart. You’re my favorite lummox.” He’d say as he peppered few kisses on your face. Earning a few giggles from you. Not bothering to deal with his work for the day.

He was always by your side when you were at Gandharva Ville, letting everyone know you were dating their head chief. (Yes you know how fennec foxes mate.) If anyone still tried to take their chance he’d dismiss it after his patience was gone. Growling with his tail on end and his ears perked in annoyance and anger.

He’s get you gifts every now and then something he thinks you’d enjoy either that he personally found in the forest or sumeru city.

(here it is woo <33 I hope you enjoyed it.)

[j-eryewrites]

The Dancing Men (I)

Part 15 of The Arbitrary Lives of the Occupants of 221B Baker Street

Word Count: 6.5k (back to normal-sized chapters)

SERIES MASTER LIST | MAIN MASTER LIST

Previous | Next 

Warnings: Sherlock is Sherlock, descriptions of violence and gore, Sherlock is absolutely in love with the reader, slow burn finally working its magic. 

Author’s Notes: You know how Benoit Blanc is horrific at Among Us even though he’s a detective, I say the same logic applies to Sherlock. At least that’s my headcanon. I also mixed a request into this chapter XD

John was quite enjoying how the evening was turning out. He sat smugly in his chair across from Sherlock whose face was stuck in a perpetual frown. It wasn’t every day John could say he had the upper hand on Sherlock. 

What started out as a simple game of Cluedo, or “Clue” as Y/N had put it, now became an obsession for Sherlock. John chuckled at the sight of his friend. He would have never expected the great Sherlock Holmes, the world’s only consulting detective to be reduced to nothing over a simple mystery game. 

“Professor Plum. The revolver. In the study,” Sherlock muttered. 

“Is that your final answer?” John asked. He raised a brow quizzically. Of course, he knew the answer. He had guessed it after the third round but had been so kind as to not tell Sherlock. 

Sherlock glared at John. “Positive.” Each letter was enunciated perfectly as it fell from Sherlock’s voice. He was getting on edge, John noted as he motioned to the envelope in the middle of the board game. 

Sherlock lunged at the cards and as he flipped them over, a cry of outrage left his mouth. “That’s not possible. Professor Plum. The revolver. In the study. Not Ms. Peacock with the rope in the kitchen!” He yelled. 

“Sherlock, it’s only a game!” John laughed earning another glare from Sherlock. 

“No, John. It’s not just a game.” Sherlock’s voice was oozing with frustration. He ran his hands through his curly hair and gripped it tightly. He sucked in, an attempt at a deep breath. “Onemoreround.” 

“What?” John asked. He leaned forward in concern. Sherlock really was getting worked up over a game. 

“One. More. Game. John. But this time–” Sherlock said. “We do it my way.”

“Sherlock that’s not how–”

That’s how John ended up on the floor of his flat. His face got quite comfortable with the ground as Sherlock paced around the room. Watching Sherlock navigate the flat was like watching a child attempt to dance. His steps were jerky and stiff as he ducked, jumped, and twirled around the room. His hand pointed out following along the clues the game has so far revealed. Suddenly, Sherlock dipped out of John’s narrow viewing field. However, he was eager to continue watching his friend obsess over Cluedo. 

“Don’t move.” Sherlock snapped. 

“Sherloc–”

“Don’t. Move.” 

John sighed in defeat. This was going to be a long night. John’s only thought of consolidation was that at least Y/N would be enjoying it. He heard the music she played through the floorboards as she got ready for her date with Jim that night. It was a nice tune, not something John would listen to willingly, but something to keep him distracted as he played the murder victim.  He even found himself humming along before Sherlock declared dead bodies don’t hum and threatened to silence his friend with duct tape. 

It wasn’t long before the boredom reached John. While seeing Sherlock fret over a silly game was hilarious, being glued to the floor was not. The wooden floor was uneven in some areas and John could swear something sticking into his side. He tried to re-adjust only to earn another harsh threat from Sherlock. 

Soon John found himself dozing off; a result of the faint music from below and Sherlock’s muffled footsteps. John would have fallen into a deep sleep if it were not for Sherlock’s sudden outburst. 

“I’ve got it!” Sherlock shouted. 

John peered up at Sherlock and snickered at the sight. Sherlock looked like a crazed man. His hair stuck out in all sorts of ways, and his shirt was wrinkled and untucked. There were even a few buttons left open. His robe swayed at his sides and he ducked under the numerous amounts of red thread tied around the room. Oh, did John forget to mention the redecorating the flat had gone through?

Not only had Sherlock forced John to play dead, but had also conjured the different murder weapons as stated by the game, took the character cards, and some red thread, and placed them in their respective rooms. Those rooms of course were adapted to be the very rooms of their flat. Connecting each weapon, character, room, and, well, John, were red threads. Where Sherlock had found the insane amount of red thread he did not know, however, what John did know was that Y/N was going to have a fit seeing the state of the flat. 

“Hit me,” John said. Sherlock raised his brow in an interesting manner. One that scared John. “No, don’t actually hit me. Just–” John could swear he saw Sherlock’s demeanour fall. “What’s the verdict?” 

“John Watson, my dear friend, was found dead in the study at 6.49 in the evening. The suspects are as follows–”

“Can I get up?”

“No.” Sherlock cleared his throat. “Suspects are as follows: Ms. Peacock, Ms. Scarlet, Dr. Orchid, Rev. Greene, Professor Plum, and Colonel Mustard. When each suspect was interrogated, I came to find–”

John groaned. Sherlock was conducting a case. A case for a game. “Get to it!” John yelled. 

“Dead bodies don’t speak, John,” hissed Sherlock. 

“Sherlock…” John said warningly. 

“Fine.” Sherlock walked into his room and emerged with a wrench in hand. It was large and very clearly a real wrench. John grumbled to himself. This was entirely his fault. He had indulged Sherlock too much and now he was going to be murdered over a game of Cluedo. Though, thought John, Y/N would have his back and make sure that Sherlock would pay tenfold. Now that, John was okay with it. “What you didn’t realize, John, is that your old lover Dr. Orchid would be in attendance tonight. She was jealous of you and your success in your career. When she had the chance she cornered you in the ballroom for one final dance with death. A dance that you did not walk away from.” Sherlock raised the wrench above John’s body. “With a wrench, she had found underneath the kitchen sink, she beat you to death.” Sherlock made a few gruesome sounds to what he thought a dying man would make. 

“Alright, I get it. I died–”

“Your body was beaten to a pulp. Blood, brains, and bone fragments mixed together like a–”

“Sherlock, I get it!” John yelled. He would have given Sherlock more of an earful if it weren’t for the clearing of a throat. John looked quizzically at Sherlock. Sherlock narrowed his eyes at John. Neither of them had made the sound. 

There it was again. It came from a man noted Sherlock. He could tell from the pitch. It was too low for a woman to produce. Sherlock also noted that it came from the doorway. Slowly the detective and his friend peered over to the entryway. In the doorway stood a man in his late twenties. He wore a dark-coloured polo shirt and a nice pair of trousers. There was no wrinkle in sight. His hair was slicked back with gel in a stylish manner and he flashed a nervous grin. 

The man, whoever he was, was unsure of the scene before him. In fact, he was almost sure that he was about to witness a murder if it were for the ramblings of John; who had to explain the scenario. Finding out that they were playing a game of Cluedo didn’t help ease the man’s suspicion. 

“Who are you?” Sherlock asked. His face bore no sign of emotion as he eyed the man in front of him. From just his watch, Sherlock could tell he came from wealth. The golden ring on his finger meant he was married and the fact that it was polished let Sherlock know it was well-loved: a happy marriage. Sherlock noted next was the man’s choice of outerwear. The jacket he so carefully held in his hand was much too thin for the weather London had been receiving the past few days. This led Sherlock to his final conclusion, the man was from out of town, even more so, from out of the country. 

A deduction that was proven accurate the moment the man answered Sherlock’s question. 

“The name’s Hilton Cubitt.” He introduced himself with an Irish accent and was quick to follow with a hand ready for Sherlock to shake, who quite literally left him hanging. “I assume that your Mr. Holmes?” 

“Speaking.” 

“Grand.” Hilton smiled in relief. “The whole fake murder thing makes sense now,” he joked. 

John let out an uneasy chuckle. “Yeah…what are you here for Hilton?” He cleared his throat and once again realized his position on the floor. It took a moment and some tripping over the scatter thread for John to stand up. He could have sworn Sherlock was displeased to have his “dead body” removed. 

“It’d be just easier to show than to…tell,” Hilton clarified. Then he reached into the pocket of his trousers and pulled out a small slip of paper. Now this intrigued Sherlock, so he quickly snatched it out of Hilton's hands. 

Sherlock’s head tilted to the side with curiosity. A smile grew on his face. John took the peer over Sherlock’s shoulder at the sheet of paper. 

“That’s a child’s drawing,” John muttered and he was confident in his deduction. Upon the sheet of paper were small stick figures. Each figure is in a different position, almost like steps to a dance.

 “That your idea?” Sherlock. “Honestly, John after all this time I would have thought you’d have a more intelligent answer.” 

John elbowed Sherlock in his side. “You’re just still upset after I beat you in six rounds of Cluedo.” 

Sherlock clenched his jaw and turned away from his friend. “Then I suggest we get the opinion of another. Someone who is unbiased.”

Immediately, John shook his head. “No, Sherlock. She’s getting ready for a date. You can’t–”

But it was too late. Sherlock had already vacated the flat with the code in hand. John’s mouth hung agape before he asked Hilton for a moment and darted down the stairs after Sherlock. 

_______

Y/N quietly hummed along to the song playing on the stereo. She loved to hum or sing. It was one of the things that made her human and to know that she was alive. The feeling of her throat tickled as she mimicked the melody as best she could. One of her favourite feelings besides that of rain dancing across her skin or hugs from those she loved. The way they’d hold each other close in an embrace. It didn’t matter who the hug was from; her parents, Mrs. Hudson, John, Jim, and even Sherlock. There was even some part of her that preferred Sherlock’s stiff but calming embrace to anyone else’s. 

Now that she came to think of it, Y/N had been thinking more and more about Sherlock. She attributed the thoughts and feelings to all the events that had transpired in the past few months. Case after case. Danger after danger. It would only make sense she’d need to find comfort in someone who understood. She only really could find comfort in someone who was there. Of course, she had considered talking to Jim, but he’d just worry. He was great like that. He’d worry as a good boyfriend should, but then would just tell her to leave. Just like he did when she told him about the reason she refused to take cabs. 

“If it’s dangerous, then leave. Darling, just leave. Come work for me. Somewhere safe.” Those words, Jim’s words echoed in her head. She didn’t want to leave. She loved working with John and Sherlock. She loved helping others. She loved feeling like she was making a difference in the world. Something she doubted she could do working for Jim and his consulting company. Additionally, working for your boyfriend was weird. It felt like a commitment that would soon turn into an obligation. An obligation that would force her to stay, but Jim wouldn’t do that. He was the perfect gentleman. He probably just wanted to keep Y/N safe. Anyone would do that. 

Suddenly the door flung open. Only one person would ever just barge into her flat like that. Y/N sighed. She’d have to get the door hinges replaced with the force Sherlock used to swing the door open.  

“To what do I owe the pleasure,” She sarcastically questioned. Her tone was an attempt to hide that she was really happy he barged in. A tone that hid she’d be willing to replace her door hinges so long as he kept coming, but it came out harsher than she expected. Something she realized when she saw Sherlock’s dazed state. 

“I’m sor—just…” She cleared her throat. “You alright? Clue going well?”

As she said it, she realized Sherlock was more dishevelled than she had ever seen. Was his hair always this curly and out of place? Then Y/N thought of how much she would like to run her finger through his hair. It looked soft, so she imagined it like that. As soft as clouds, or those unbelievably fuzzy blankets you couldn’t help but just run a hand over at the markets. 

“You look–,” Stunning. Breathtaking. Like she’d rival Aphrodite’s beauty. Sherlock cleared his throat. “Sorry, what did you ask me?”

“Uh…just…clue? How’s it going?” She repeated. 

Sherlock gulped. “...Great. And you?”

“I’m doing okay,” She said softly. Why had her voice gotten so quiet? 

Sherlock nodded and looked around the room. His eyes darted frantically over the photos on the wall, then to the array of cat toys around her flat. Right, she had a cat. He could ask about that. 

“Your cat?” Sherlock muttered. 

“Bjørn? Erm… he’s with Mrs. Hudson right now. She spoils him rotten,” She chuckled. Then Y/N began to fiddle with her hands. 

Something Sherlock knew to be a nervous habit. “You alright?” He asked again. 

Y/N laughed again. “Are you sure you’re fine Sherlock? That’s the second time you’ve asked me that question.”

“Right, I mean-” His voice faltered as she stepped up to him. Her hand now rested on his forehead. She peered up at him. She was so close that Sherlock could see his face reflected in her eyes. They were gorgeous. He never knew so many colours could appear in a singular shade. 

“You’re burning up, and your face it’s all red,” She muttered, finally lowering her hand. “You’ve got to tell Joh–”

“Sherlock, I told you to leave her al–” John began to reprimand his friend before shutting his mouth abruptly. He had thought Sherlock frazzled at a simple children’s game was something, but the sight before him was even better. 

Sherlock stood in front of Y/N. Nothing too out of the ordinary. However, what John seemed to notice was the state of shock Sherlock seemed to be in. His mouth hung slightly open and his lips frozen in thought trying to find words to say. His cheeks have flushed a shade of red that John had only seen in cartoons. On top of it all, John could swear there were even hearts forming in Sherlock’s eyes as he gazed at Y/N. 

John chuckled slightly and wished he had taken a picture. His laugh and presence seemed to have shaken Sherlock from his trance. 

“You look nice,” John complimented Y/N. 

She smiled softly and looked down at her dress. It was a brilliant shade of blue. She ran her hands over the material straightening it out. “Thanks,” Y/N muttered. 

“John, I think Sherlock’s getting sick. His face is flushed and I think he has a fev–”

“I’m perfectly fine, Y/N,” Sherlock blurted. 

John snickered. “Now that you say it, Y/N, Sherlock does look a little feverish.”

“I’m not sick,” Sherlock stated. 

“Lovesick,” John coughed. Sherlock sent John a death glare upon hearing the words, but it seemed as if Y/N hadn’t noticed.  It took John a moment to notice the confusion on Y/N's face. He quickly looked to Sherlock to see if the man who came charging into her flat was going to do any explaining, but he seemed to be occupied with gazing at Y/N. 

“We need your opinion on something,” John said. He strolled up next to Sherlock and nudged his shoulder. This seemed to get Sherlock back in working condition. 

“Right. Look at this,” Sherlock instructed. He handed Y/N the paper Hilton had given them moments prior. 

The expression of confusion grew on her face. “What am I supposed to be looking at?”

“That’s for you to decide,” Sherlock explained. 

She looked up from the paper and eyed Sherlock carefully. “Right. You know, I really do have to go can’t I just–”

“No!” Sherlock cleared his throat. “No, just…quickly what do you think it is?”

Y/N glanced down at the paper once more. The hesitance was clear in her voice as she said “A child’s picture? Like one a kid draws.” 

John cheered in triumph. “Told you.”

Sherlock sneered at John. “Clearly both you and Y/N are lacking in some–”

But Sherlock did not get to finish for Y/N’s phone began to ring. “That’ll be Jim. Go to go.” She took a few steps outside the door before quickly turning on her heel. “Can you close the door behind you?” Her voice was directed more towards John than Sherlock. 

John nodded and wished her a good time. Even Sherlock flashed a smile to her as she left, but it was soon replaced with a scowl. 

John giggled at the sight. “When are you going to admit that you like her?”

“We have a client waiting, John,” Sherlock said. 

“Change the subject all you’d like, but still does not change the fact that you fancy her,” John replied. 

Sherlock didn’t even bother to reply to John as he left Y/N’s flat and embarked back up the stairs. 

______

“What do think?” Hilton asked John and Sherlock. 

The three of them now sat down in the flat: John in his chair, Sherlock on his ‘throne’, and Hilton Cubitt on the sofa next to the empty Cluedo game box. The way they were situated made Hilton feel like he was being interviewed. 

“Of what?” Sherlock asked. His eyes came to focus on Hilton. 

“The code,” Hilton uttered. “I read on your blog,” his voice grew sheepish, “of a case you recently solved involving a code. I thought you might be able to help me.”

John furrowed his brows. What case could– ”The Blind Banker?” 

Hilton nodded. “Excellent storytelling might I add.”

John smiled and thanked Hilton. Sherlock looked between Hilton and John before clearing his throat just loud enough to end the conversation. John and Hilton’s gaze whipped to Sherlock. John’s expression was annoyed while Hilton’s was embarrassed. 

“It’s rather curious. At first glance it’s a childish prank, so why do you say that it’s a code?” Sherlock questioned. He sent John a ‘don’t-give-me-that-look-he’s-here-for-a-case-and-not-to-fan-girl-you’ look. 

“My wife,” Hilton said. 

Suddenly a quizzical expression appeared on Sherlock’s face. “How does your wife let you know that it’s a code? Did she tell you?” 

“In a way she did,” Hilton replied. “One evening she saw the drawing and was frightened to death. When I asked her about it, she said that it was nothing, but I could see the terror in her eyes. Not just some childish prank would scare my wife like that. That’s why I came to you hoping you might help me. 

Sherlock looked at the paper once more. His pointer finger ran over the images. This was all very strange. Strange was exactly what Sherlock was looking for. One might even say that Sherlock’s middle name was strange. “Alright. Now, I need to know everything in detail.”

Hilton nodded. He was quick to adjust his sitting position into something more comfortable. “Now, I’m not much of a storyteller…Just ask me anything that I don’t make clear.” He cleared his throat and fumbled with the fabric of his trousers. “I’ll start at my marriage four years ago. Now, I’m not rich in any way, but my family, well, there’s no better-known family in Norfolk than the Cubitts. Anyways, I went to America about four years ago.”

“Where?” Sherlock asked. “Details.” 

“New York. It was there I met Elsie Patrick. I fell in love and quickly married her. Came back home to Norfolk after that. Many people’d say that it was too fast for such a thing, but you don’t know Elsie. She was upfront about everything. Kept giving me the chance to get out of it if I wanted to. I remember she said, when I proposed to her, that she had relations with the not-so-agreeable sort. A past that she wanted to forget. She asked that I never asked her about her painful past. I agreed. Of course I did! It didn’t matter to me who she was before I met her. All that mattered was if she’d be with me the rest of my life.”

Sherlock sat in his chair, hands under his chin, eyes out of focus, his ears taking in all the information Hilton was providing, and his mind in deep thought. Something John knew not to disrupt. 

“What about the code?” John asked. 

“Well,” Hilton glanced down the floor. His voice changed from one of light and love to one of seriousness. “About a month ago, Elsie received a letter from America.”

“How did you know that it was from America?” Sherlock questioned. 

“I saw the postage. Stamp and all. But when she saw it, her face turned white. Like she saw a ghost. Moments later, she read the letter and then tossed it into the fire. I didn’t ask her about it, but she was scared of Mr. Holmes. I knew she’d come and talk to me when she was ready.” Hilton turned to John, “But about the code. About a week later from the letter, must have been Tuesday last week–I found the figures drawn on a window sill. I thought it must have been our daughter.”

“Daughter?” John wondered. 

The seriousness faded from Hilton’s face at the mention of his daughter. “Yes, she’s three and a half. Loves to draw!” Then he reached into his pockets and pulled out his wallet. Inside was an image of a young girl and woman, who John assumed was his wife.  Hilton made quick work of displaying the photo for John and Sherlock to see. “One of the greatest things that happened to me, my girl. But if you give her a crayon, she’d decorate the whole house!”

Once again, Sherlock cleared his throat. Hilton immediately put away the photo he cherished. “Right,” Hilton continued, “well I washed the drawings away. Later that night, I mentioned them to Elsie who had the same look on her face when she opened the letter. She asked me to show her the drawings if I found any more before washing them away. And I didn’t find another until a few days ago. She saw the drawings and collapsed with fear. I knew something was wrong so I came to you.  The police wouldn’t believe me. Mr. Holmes. I’m not rich, but I would do anything to protect my wife and daughter.”

“Don’t you think you should ask your wife to tell you?” John asked. It was a reasonable question and John got the sense that all would be well if Hilton only had the courage to ask. 

Hilton shakes his head. “A promise is a promise. I won’t force her to tell me anything she doesn’t want me to.” He glanced down at the golden band on his ring finger and softly smiled.

“I’ll help you,” Sherlock announced. 

A wave of relief washed over Hilton. “Thank you, Mr. Hol–”

“Have you heard of any strangers being seen in your neighbourhood?” Sherlock asked. 

“No,” Hilton replied. 

“Norfolk. A quiet place right? A new face would be news,” Sherlock questioned. 

John peered at his friend. How would Sherlock know about the environment place in Ireland, but not be able to win a single round of Cluedo?

“In my neighbourhood, yes, but we have several farmers who take in lodgers. Along with the occasional tourist.” 

Sherlock nodded his head slowly, his mind taking note of the information Hilton had provided him. “These drawings obviously have meaning, something I may be able to solve, so long as they aren’t just arbitrary drawings. However, this image is not enough. Do you have any more images of the code?”

“No, but I’ll be returning home soon. Tomorrow’s my flight back,” Hilton explained. 

John’s eyes widened at the statement. Hilton really would do anything for his family if he’d just fly to London just to see Sherlock. 

“I suggest you keep an eye out for such drawings and document them,” Sherlock suggested. “If and when you do find them send them to me as soon as possible. That is all I can do until I have more of the code to study.”

“Right,” Hilton said. His face flashed with an expression of disappointment. “Well, here’s my business card. It’s got my email and number if you need to contact me.”

John looked at the white business card Hilton had stuck out for either Sherlock or him to take. A business card was a smart idea. He made a mental note to possibly ask Y/N to make some for Sherlock. It would really make these cases much more efficient. 

After noting that neither man in front of him was going to take the card from his hands, Hilton placed it on the coffee table in front of him. “Well, there…um,” He looked to John. 

“Right! You’ll be needing our number and email as well…?” John replied. 

Hilton nodded. “That would be great. It’s not the easiest to fly to London on a whim.”

“You flew on a whim?” Sherlock asked. 

“Of course not, had a purpose…thank you again. I’ll be sure to send you any more of that code I find,” Hilton explained. Then he politely excused himself from 221B heading back to his hotel to prepare for his journey home. 

The moment Hilton Cubitt had left the flat, Sherlock did not waste a moment in asking John for his phone. 

“Why can’t you use your phone?”

“I need to call someone about the case,” Sherlock replied as if that was an adequate answer. 

“I’m aware Sherlock but can’t you use your phone?”

“No, they won’t answer if it’s me,” Sherlock muttered. He stuck out his hand for John to place his phone into. 

John peered at his friend. “Who wouldn’t answer if it was you?” John asked. 

“None of your concern,” Sherlock clarified. “Phone.”

“Cause the only people I can think of are Mycroft, Greg, and…No, Sherlock,” John stated. 

“It’s important. Hilton mentioned his wife is from America, who better to ask about the case than her,” Sherlock argued. 

“Just because she is American does not mean she’s going to know everyone who’s ever set foot in the country let alone known about the case,” John refuted. 

Sherlock huffed. “John. Phone.” 

“No. She is on a date, Sherlock! She followed your rules. You gave her the night off. You must respect that,” John scolded Sherlock. “Just like Cluedo, you can’t change the rules of the game just because you aren’t winning. Which by the way,” John stomped over the tiny envelope that held the answer to the game. “You lost once again. It was Miss Scarlet with the dagger in the Billard room.” 

In a fury, he tossed the cards at Sherlock’s face and stormed off to his room. The loud slamming of John’s door echoed throughout 221B. Sherlock picked up the cards from the floor and clutched them in his hand. He clenched his teeth together and crinkled the cards within his hand. 

It was a stupid game. A stupid game Y/N had thought he might have fun playing. A stupid game that followed no logic. A stupid game that Sherlock lost over and over again. What was he doing wrong? Wasn’t wanting the prize–wasn’t wanting to win enough? Nothing was making sense anymore. Clues weren’t leading to anything. Y/N couldn’t see she was making it all worse. She plagued his thoughts. Thoughts that were never meant for anything other than logic. Y/N wasn’t logical. John had pointed that out to him long ago. Nothing about the way she smiled or how she laughed at a comment he uttered to Anderson made sense. So why did her gentle hand on his forehead or how she asked if he was well, feel so right? The thought of her in that dress singing to herself was all he ever needed. It wasn’t logical how Sherlock would throw away any thought of sanity just to be hers. This wasn’t Sherlock. Sherlock was logical and followed the rules of intelligence. Sherlock wasn’t swayed by emotion. Sherlock didn’t lose. 

He retrieved the paper depicting the code. This here was logical. A code. A worried husband. A case. The cases were logical. Sherlock followed logic. What hadn’t occurred to him was how late he sat in his chair staring at the drawings. His eyes were strained from observing the stick figures for the hundredth time. He was committing them to memory: The width of the circles that were used as heads, the direction each figure was facing, the poses of each stick figure, and the material they were drawn with. The sun had long since set below the horizon and Baker Street had gone quiet. Sherlock ignored how heavy his body felt. His eyelids were begging to close. But when they did, he thought of her and she wasn’t logical. Instead, he kept them open and looked at the drawings once more. 

_________

Y/N’s feet were aching when she finally reached the comforting black door of 221B Baker Street. She lovingly brought a hand to the raised number 221B and remember when she saw them for the first time. It was the first time she walked into her home. Y/N wasn’t afraid to admit that her home was Baker Street and that she shared her home with those she loved most. John and his sweet demeanour, Mrs. Hudson and her soap operas, Sherlock and his gross experiments, and Bjørn and his demon-like screech. This was home. 

She made quick work of finding her keys, opening the door, and stepping into the warmth and comfort of 221B Baker Street. The entryway was dimly lit and the light, Y/N observed, came from Sherlock’s flat. His door was wide open allowing the light from the room to seep out into the hallway. That only meant one thing. Sherlock was awake. 

Y/N took in a tired breath and dismayed her want to crawl into her bed with Bjørn tucked under her arm and fall asleep. She trudged up the stairs as quietly as she could before appearing in Sherlock’s doorway. 

He sat peacefully. His sapphire blue eyes glowed in the dark as he stared out the window. His legs were crossed comfortably in his seat and in his hand he clutched a paper tightly. 

“What are you doing up so late?” Y/N asked. 

She watched as Sherlock froze the moment he heard her words. He turned away from the window and gazed at her. 

“Could ask you the same thing. How was your date?” He replied. 

“You won’t get off that easy,” Y/N chuckled. “You need to sleep, Sherlock.”

“I will…how was the date?” He asked again. 

Y/N sighed softly before hanging up her coat and removing her heels. She forgot why she even wore them in the first place. They always made her feet hurt for days afterwards. She was soon to find a seat on the sofa. 

“It was nice. It was some charity event. Had a nice dinner and danced a little bit. Nothing too crazy.” She began to fiddle with the hem of her dress. It was satin. The soft material was smooth against her fingers. Then she laid back on the sofa, her head bumped into the box for Cluedo. She muttered a subtle “ow,” before taking notice of the room. 

“You’ve redecorated.” She noted. Her eyes caught sight of the red thread, the rope on the coffee table, and the game cards taped to the walls. “Must have been a fun game by the looks of it.” 

“You’d have to ask John. I lost every round.” Sherlock confessed. 

Y/N gasped. “Sherlock Holmes lost every round of Cluedo? Is it solving mysteries and murders your forte?” She said it with such humour, Sherlock let it slide. 

Sherlock playfully rolled his eyes, “The game doesn’t follow logic, so of course John won.” 

Then she giggled. Just the sound of her laugh alone drew Sherlock out of his sorrow. He couldn’t help the chuckle that left his mouth. He had always heard of laughing being contagious but only really believed it when he met her. 

It took only a moment for them to settle down. The fuel to their laughter was long gone. Y/N tucked her feet in close to her body as goosebumps appeared on her arms. The tiny bumps were the body's way of keeping heat, at least that’s what Sherlock told her as he offered her a blanket. One she gladly took. 

“He asked me to move in with him,” Y/N whispered. She wasn’t sure why she was telling Sherlock this. Maybe it was because Sherlock felt most like home. She didn’t want to leave her home. 

Sherlock tensed at her words. “...What did you say?” 

Y/N rubbed the back of her neck. “Jim, he asked me to move in with him. Said I’d think about it, but I’m leaning towards no. After all, what would you and John do without me?”

“You don’t–” Sherlock sighed. “You can move in with him if you want.” Immediately he wanted to hurl. What was he saying? Seeing her leave? He shook his head. No, this was logical. Her moving is logical. Who was kidding, it was the worst thing possible. Who would he have to bother when he was bored? Who would care about him when he no longer cared? He’d have John, but he wasn’t Y/N. 

Y/N shook her head. “Not just…I don’t want to move just because of you and John. Baker Street is my home. I–I could never leave,” Y/N confessed. “Plus, I think Jim asked me because he was worried. He found John’s blog and read about the Blind Banker incident. Doesn’t want me to get hurt chasing after you, but it’s my job and I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.”

She wasn’t going to leave. This eased Sherlock’s mind and beating heart, but then he felt guilty. Her boyfriend was right, she was hurt because of the case. “He’s right, you know. It’s dangerous.”

“I know what I signed up for Sherlock,” Y/N hissed. “Sorry, just…it’s too perfect.”

Sherlock frowned. “What’s too perfect?”

Y/N realized her mistake. Her face flushed and her voice grew quiet. “Nothing, it’s nothing.”

“It’s not nothing if it’s bothering you,” Sherlock stated. He leaned forward in his chair and placed a hand over hers. 

Y/N smiled softly at the gesture. “He’s too perfect. Our relationship. Everything,” Y/N groaned. She didn’t notice how Sherlock winced. 

“Jim, he’s smart, kind, handsome, and ever the gentleman. He knows exactly what I want. Never fails to take me on an amazing date, likes my favourite foods, and has read the same books I have. He’s perfect. Exactly what I want. Which sounds crazy, but he–it doesn’t feel real. By now I’d think I’d actually know him. He hasn’t really told me what does for work…”

“What does he do?” Sherlock asked. 

“He consults business, but that’s all he’s told me. I don’t know his favourite colour, where he’s from, or anything. It’s all about me, but he’s…he’s perfect,” Y/N sighed. “It doesn’t make sense. Nobody’s perfect…I don’t know what to do, Sherlock,” She confessed. “You don’t just break up with somebody because they’re perfect. It doesn’t help that he wants to take me away. On a trip or something…I don’t know. Just…nothing makes sense anymore. Nothing is what it seems. I fear you’ve corrupted me, Sherlock.”

He chuckled. “I’ve corrupted you?”

“Yeah. You’ve made me think. To observe, to not trust anything at first glance. Now nothing is ever what it seems,” Y/N admitted with a smile on her face. 

Sherlock smiled back. “And that’s good?” 

Y/N nodded. “Yeah. You’re great–It’s great.” 

“I’m glad,” said Sherlock. 

“So am I. It just makes everything that much more complicated.” 

“Exactly,” Sherlock replied. 

Y/N hummed in response. She took Sherlock’s hands within her own and Sherlock could swear his heart did a backflip off a cliff. She peered at his hands carefully. Her thumbs lovingly ran over his knuckles. Sherlock felt as if his skin was on fire. It burned to have her hold his hands. The hands were delicate things used for almost everything Sherlock did. To burn them was to render him useless and that’s what she did. Sherlock was rendered useless in the best way possible. 

“You should really get some sleep, Sherlock.” 

“Ah, but I have a case that needs working on. A code to solve.”

“Sherlock,” Y/N warned. 

“I’ll tell you all about it. A client, Hilton Cubitt walked in while John and I were playing Cluedo and —” 

“Sherlock,” Y/N interrupted. “You can tell me all about it tomorrow.”

“It is tomorrow,” Sherlock stated. He tilted his head towards the clock behind him. 

“You know what I mean. We both need sleep. You more than anyone,” Y/N said.  Sherlock opened his mouth to refute her statement when she cut him off. “Even the great Sherlock Holmes needs to sleep. If not for yourself, then for me.” 

Sherlock couldn’t find it in him to refuse her. He wouldn’t be able to refuse her anything. He nodded and watched as she removed her hands from his. 

In her tiredness, Y/N drew away from Sherlock. She stood up from her seat, picked up her shoes and coat, and went downstairs to her flat where she crawled downstairs into her bed and fell asleep. At least that’s what she told herself she would do all. Just then she leaned in close. She blamed it on the fog her mind was in. Nothing was ever what it seemed to be anymore. Her lips brushed against Sherlock’s forehead, her hands resting in his hair as she brushed it away from his face. 

“Goodnight, Sherlock,” she whispered against his skin. Just like she said she would, she left Sherlock in his chair. Her coat in shoes was in her arms as she descended the stairs. 

Now, if things were logical, Sherlock wouldn’t have let her pull away. He would grasp her wrists and hold her close. He would have whispered to her that she missed. Then he would have placed his lips on hers. He would have kissed her if things were logical. But nothing was anymore. Not when Y/N was with him.

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