#thank you so much dearest!!!

[shark-myths]

✏️🌙

✏️ Do you write every day?

I don’t think there’s a single thing on earth I do *every* day, but I write most days, either fic or in my journal

🌙 is answered here!

[willowser]

you don't know how much comfort your dragon king bkg drabble has given me ever since you posted it!! i keep reading it i love it sm 🥹

as it turns out, the man bakugou is — a bit harder to handle.

he sleeps like a heathen; you once thought the dragon bakugou to be a bit lazy, with how often he tended to curl up in the fields of grass, warm under the sun, but now — it would seem his little human form needs significantly less rest.

almost up all hours of the day, and when he does finally lay down, he's everywhere. a mess of limbs: one thrown carelessly out to the side and the other bent at an angle you can't believe doesn't hurt his joints. his head stays tucked into you somehow, either buried in your neck or pressed against your ribs — or you'll wake to find him nose-to-nose with you. he still snores like a dragon, however.

you're also beginning to wonder if there is a bottom to the pit of his stomach. he ate much before, whole fields of things, but you expected that appetite to dwindle, at least a little, now that his stomach has decreased considerably in size. and in number ? you're not even sure how many stomachs a dragon has; that's not something that was mentioned in the fairytales.

it burns through him quickly, gives him more energy than he needs, and it doesn't ever seem to affect his weight much. already, he's huge and thick with muscle and eating as much as he does never dulls the severity of his cut abdomen. not that you're looking all that much.

— not that you have a choice not to, as he seems to have little-to-no understanding of —

the door to the bathhouse kicks open, with enough force that you already know who it is without ever turning to look. you try not to shriek when you see him, because he seems to like that in some evil, impish way.

you've been alone to wash so far, thankfully, as the inn you'd managed to find was small and far enough out from the nearest kingdom that the occupancy was low — enough for you and your little brute.

the man bakugou comes to stand in front of the bath, blinking and huffing against the steam. finding clothes for him was — nearly impossible, and so the trousers you'd found hanging on someone's line outside fit above his ankles, a bit too tight around his waist. instead of a shirt, you've wrapped him in a scratchy linen, swaddled him up like a baby to cover the small smattering of scales that decorate his body, almost like freckles from the sun, though they gleam just as bright and red as they ever have. no matter his form.

a horn has started to sprout, on the right side of his forehead, and you've done your best to cover that, too.

you have no idea how long this man thing will last. if it's permanent or if he even has control over it. the last thing you need is for him to switch back, somehow, while you're in the middle of feeding him, absolutely demolishing whatever tavern you're in and calling all of king todoroki's guards to attention.

bakugou grunts, almost sleepy, and tosses a fat, weighty sack onto the edge of the bath. it jingles a certain jingle that makes your heart stop.

"oh, allfather—" you move for the edge, awkwardly keeping one arm against your chest despite the fact that he's seen it all by now. when you peek inside and confirm your fears, you lob it back to him furiously, as if it were a steaming potato. "where do you keep getting this stuff?"

things have started to turn up, miraculously. shiny things — like coins and rings and gems. things he could not have simply found rolling around in the dirt.

"go put it back!" you hiss at him, and the tone of your voice makes his frown deepen. you never realized how pouty he was, when he was still a dragon.

you think he understands you, and you're pretty certain he just chooses not to listen; instead of doing what you've told him in the slightest, he simply dumps the coin-purse to the floor, and then lets his linen and stolen trousers cover it as he unceremoniously undresses.

the biggest issue that you would say the man bakugou poses is — his complete lack of understanding of personal space.

"bakugou!" your voice wavers, shocked again by his nakedness. as if you haven't seen it all by now. "no, you — get out!"

but he does the exact opposite, which is hop into the steaming water, ignoring the arm you hold out to keep him away as he saddles up beside you. skin against scales, pressing a nose into your hair to huff out his annoyance, to make it something you can feel.

if anyone were to walk in right now, they would �� probably think the lie you'd told the innkeeper was true. that you are a simple traveler and this is your mute, over-sized husband.

regardless, you think this behavior isn't polite. especially in a public bathhouse.

"bakugou," you try again, turning your face away as you speak to the wood-paneled wall. "i'm taking a bath, you have to wait your turn."

all you receive in response is another huff against your ear and a low rumble of disagreement from his chest.

he has yet to speak back, and has only used inhuman sounds as his points of conversation. the only word you've ever heard him utter is oi, which he does when he really thinks he needs your attention. you're starting to wonder if he's named you that in his head. oi.

curiously, you turn back to him and the movement has him pulling his face from your hair, just enough that he can look down at you, too. watch you, with the red-rippled sea in his eyes.

they're — amazing, you will admit. just as bright and detailed as they always have been. fit for a fairytale told by the fire, veiled by the soft-ash of his lashes. he watches you through them, half-lidded, and you wonder if it's something other than fatigue that has them so heavy.

"do you know what i'm saying?" you ask quietly, voice lacking the firm heat you want it to. instead it's heavy, too, weighted by something soft and unfamiliar and frightening. "can you even understand me?"

bakugou doesn't respond, not with a huff or a rumble or ever a purr, like the one he let out on the night he lay over you by the lake. you've only heard it sparingly since then, oftentimes in his sleep when his face is pressed into you.

you try not to frown at his silence, try not to let it disappoint you because it shouldn't; he's a dragon afterall, and you're not sure what it matters. the little horn protruding from his forehead catches your eye and you reach up to touch it gently, watching him blink away the water that drips from your wrist — and then he's turning into you again, too close.

beneath the water, you feel his hands skate up your bare thighs, wrap around your waist until your chest is pulled flush against his. you feel his huff, again, against the damp skin of your neck but it's slower, lighter. not laced with his frustration. some unknown thing you feel guilty for liking.

you drop your hand to his hair, rushing full force into all the damned things you've thought about doing but have been too afraid to. he's soft between your fingers, and you trace your nails lightly against his scalp until he groans quietly; a new noise, one you don't know how to translate.

your fingers stop when they brush upon little spines that have grown at the base of his skull, that have started to trail down the center of his back.

suddenly, tangled up in the bath with him, you wonder how much time you have left.

bakugou huffs again into your skin, a little fiercer this time, and it's because of his light jostling that you realize how rigid you've gone. you try to relax so that he will, too, though you must not do a convincing job, because a sharp nip comes to your earlobe.

"ow!" you squeal, but he doesn't let you go far, not even as you try to jerk away from him. in fact, the harder you try the more his teeth show: into your cheek and the point of your jaw and then dangerously low on your neck.

it's not until you finally freeze that he stops, huffing again, with a warmth that burns more than the steaming water.

and then, very quietly, he grumbles, "shitty wife," into your collarbone, just before biting you again.

[orchidscurse]

if you thought my gregg araki era was over, think again!! my dearest friend @projectiondepartment and i rambled for ages about araki's trilogy & are forcing all of you to listen to it in coffee & film's first ever bonus episode. ☕️🎞

[botanautical]

Thank you, Mob Psycho 100!

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

pondering my lorb

We Are All Pondering His Orbs

[sharkinlovewithadolphin]

Ten images challenge, tagged by @hamykia ❤

Post 10 images that describe you without downloading anything new! Tagging @kookiehyungie @illbebuyingallofthoseflowers @dandelionmeadow @nenufair @declawedwildcat @ocean-waters @dragon-of-timeless-blue @elena-of-time & @i-need-slep

[2aceofspades]

*slinks in and boops a gold star onto ur nose*

Hey you

Yes you

ur amazing and wonderful and ily and hope you are having a great day! because ur absolutely awesome and brighten my day whenever I see u on my dash, even im not verbal enough to express it

Youre a super star, and I will abso-tivelly posi-lutely cover you in gold stars to remind you of that fact, if necessary! 💜

~-- --- .-. ... . / .- -. --- -.

MORSE ANON!!

Dude

Bro

I was just thinking about you and hoping you're doing well. It's so so good to see ya slide into my ask box again 🙌✨ I missed ya but I sincerely hope you're taking real good care of yourself and keeping safe!

Thank you so much for being so ridiculously nice and sweet you seriously made my day gaaaah- /pos pos pos

You never fail to make me smile 💙

[mandarinmoons]

I am so speechless.

I'm practicing on you for when I get a special someone one day, feel special 😔

[neiptune]

Hihi! ☺️ For your event: "i’d drive away before i let you go" w/ Sanemi (or Giyuu) + mutual pining trope. 🤍 Preferably a happy ending (implied or obvious), but I'll survive if you mix in some angst. 😆

Thanks so much for hosting another event — super excited to read what you write !! 😍

tomioka giyuu x I'd drive away before I let you go

request a character + prompt here :)

“D’you believe in soulmates?”

All you’re actively looking at is the night sky, a dark blanket sprayed with tiny lights blinking back at you. Still, you’re sure he’s turned his head to look at your side profile with furrowed brows and a skeptical expression, the same one he had when you had first interrupted your stroll and begged him to just lie down for a little while.

“I don’t”

You snort, not at all surprised.

“Okay. What d’you think is the closest thing, then?”

“The closest thing to what?”

“That kinda love” you give in at last, turn your head to find his navy gaze already on you “if you don’t believe in soulmates, what d’you believe in?”

Giyuu lets a beat pass, comfortable silence settling over the both of you and the empty park, sounds that belong to the city feeling miles away as he slowly blinks, focused on your features for a second too long.

“Dread”

You huff out a laugh so genuine it almost, almost has his lips curling into a soft smile.

“Dread? Care to expand on that?”

Giyuu knows he’s not generally regarded as particularly perceptive but maybe you’re not so bright yourself, he thinks. Expand? Does he need to? Isn’t it obvious?

“When you have someone in your life and they slowly become part of yourself, too. When they know every aspect of you, are happy to put up with your worst and make you feel lucky to be around to put up with their worst in turn. So much that just the idea of losing them is dreadful. You know, paralyzing anxiety n’all that”

It’s interesting that you can’t cast your eyes way from his, even more that your gaze flickers to his lips for a second. Giyuu seems to not only know what being in love feels like, he also seems to have experienced the all-encompassing kind of love firsthand. It’s cruel, that you’re surprised. It’s even worse, feeling small pangs of resentment stinging in your throat and lungs all of a sudden. It’s unfair. So what if he’s had a love like that and has never told you? It’s not like he has some kind of unspoken obligation.

“Sounds to me like you do believe in soulmates” it’s pathetic, the way you turn away from him to focus on the sky once again. You’re barely able to discern the stars in the first place, city lights be damned, but you have trained your gaze long enough to know what to look for.

Memories of humid summer nights, gentle hands setting up a telescope indoors to guide you through how everything works before taking it out into the night make their way back to you. The moon, the very first celestial object you got to find by yourself, so close and a quarter million miles away at once, just like Giyuu. Patient explanations and gentle pleas to take your time to explore each impact crater and the lunar seas, formed billions of years ago. A summer spent waiting on a familiar balcony until jupiter would rise, bright and imposing with its cloud belts, nothing more than dusky tan bands in the eyepiece you were glued to.

The north star, or Polaris, is pretty consistent in its positon and always helps you navigate the sky more easily. The evening is crisp enough for you to find it right away: Orion with its belt, a little cluster of stars you’ve learned to recognize as the Pleiades sparkling on its upper right. Seven divine sisters, Pleione’s daughters. He’s taught you all that.

“You don’t need to believe in fate or destiny for someone to be special. Sometimes you just get lucky” Giyuu sits up in your peripheral, arms resting on his knees as he peers up at the sky.

You need luck. And you need timing.

“Have you ever gotten that lucky?” it’s not casual at all, the way you almost whisper the question. He’s tempted to glance at you: ever the attentive observer, always able to read every crease of your forehead and subtle furrow of brows.

He resists the temptation.

“Yeah” he mumbles and you wish you could swallow the words to ease the painful squeeze of your stomach.

“The kind of love you’d drop everything for? Quit jobs, change cities, take planes, get a driver’s license?” it’s childish, the way you insist, but you can’t help it and the way he just shrugs is honestly infuriating.    

“Guess so”

Fine, that’s it.

You stand up abruptly and not so gently pat your jeans clean of any grass remains, shooting him an offended glare you make sure he doesn’t miss by faintly kicking his shoe with your own. Giyuu glances up at you, currently towering over him with a frown that has gigantic question marks floating right above his head.

“Guess you’d really ditch everything, huh? Even me. Let’s go, before I change my mind about buying you that ice cream” you grumble, barely resisting the urge to flick his stupid forehead before turning around and marching in the opposite direction with a pace fast enough to underline your annoyance but controlled enough not to actually leave him behind.

Giyuu cocks his head as he watches you walk away, confused and not entirely sure about what's just happened. His eyes are still fixed on your back as he sighs in frustration.

“Yeah, I’d ditch everything” he mutters to himself “I’d drive away before I let you go. You’re the only thing keeping me here, anyway”

Idiot.

Who cares about timing? He's already been lucky enough, no need to be fucking greedy.

“Giyuu, what the hell? Are you coming or not?”

Yeah, he'll tell you. Maybe over ice cream.

[mrsoharaa]

HONNNNEEEEEEYYYYYYYYY

https://x.com/aransmind/status/1844777501412757894?s=46&t=xoOF7RQ6xibRgm0tzOJrYw

I SAW THATTTTT ASDGAGAEGHEYJEA IT MAKES ME SO FERAL HOLY FUCK

THEY BOTH LOOK SOOO SO GOOD! SUGURU LOOKS EXTREMELY GOOD IN THAT MAKEUP!! 😍😩😩🥴😵‍💫🥵💞💕💘💦💦

[dent-de-leon]

Listening to "Bedtime" from the Little Mermaid soundtrack and just,,,, thinking about how Taliesin said Molly was based on mermaids and not having a soul but Ariel gets her happy ending in the disney version and Kingsley gets a happy ending with the Nein and just,,,,

Taliesin Jaffe how dare you do this to me on this, our pride month

AH yes I love that Mollymauk is Taliesin's interpretation of a mermaid so much, it's so fascinating and tragic and bittersweet. Also, I just listened to the song and it's lovely. Makes me very nostalgic.

But yeah, that clip of Taliesin explaining his initial pitch for Molly still just breaks my heart. His acknowledgement that, "Mermaids are fucked," because they supposedly exist without a soul, "Empty" and eternally doomed from the start...it's just so tragic. "I want a body where the soul left, and the body just kept moving. Whatever was in there got pulled out, and went to the Raven Queen. And they just kept walking, like a mermaid--no soul....just someone who was a total blank slate."

And while he does get the fairytale happy end and get to live on with his loved ones, I think Tealeaf's narrative very closely mirrors the darker aspects of Hans Christian Andersen's original version. Especially given the premise of a being without a soul--someone who was supposed to be forever Empty, yet still became whole--

And one of my personal favorite mermaid parallels: A deal made with a witch for an impossible dream. Offering up a vital part of yourself in exchange for a false hope that can never truly be. To me, it echoes both Lucien's own family bargaining away their child to a hag--as well as Lucien later offering himself to the Somnovem. He might not have known Azrahari always planned to keep him as one of her puppets--"My beautiful boy...I had hoped to make you mine one day. What a perfect specimen you would have made. Oh, how you would have been merry with laughter and dance..." But he always lived in fear that it was a possibility.

His parents abused both him and his siblings, were willing to offer up one of their two remaining children to a witch for some fantasy; they passively stood by while they forced Lucien to lure victims to a deadly hag as a mere child--marks who were often bandits, murderers, and monsters as surely as the witch. Abandoning Lucien to them and Azrahari both. Azrahari, who promises she can finally make Lucien happy, return him to those childhood days of song and laughter and dance, if only he would let her carve out his soul--

Again and again, Lucien is promised happiness and safety at the cost of his own freedom and autonomy. The witch can take all his pain away, he just has to surrender all his willpower to her. Exist forever as a hollowed out, Empty shell, her glassy-eyed cadaver of a doll to puppet and put on display.

And the Somovem can make all of his dreams come true, can make his fairytale Once upon a time and happily ever after a reality, he just has to submit to their thrall completely. And, like with the Little Mermaid, it will also come at the cost of unimaginable pain. A girl who can dance beautifully, but every step feels like shards of glass in her feet. The pain of her transformation never leaving her. The Somnovem promising Lucien the whole world, and when he asks what it will cost, they decree, "Pain and pain and pain. A dear price for a man, a pittance for a king, and nothing to a God, cosmically ordained."

And while the Little Mermaid longs to meet her love, she also mourns the fact that, while mermaids live far longer than humans, they have no immortal soul. No eternity or gods or heaven awaits them. They merely fade away, dissolve into seafoam and cease to be. (Just a body without a soul, an abandoned vessel. Hollow. Empty.)

I don't think it's a coincidence that's the fate that awaits all mermaids--and that when Lucien dies, his soul is scattered into dust across the Astral Sea. "It's one thing to be in a different body, it's another to have your very essence scattered. Your very immortal soul divided into pieces, like so much confetti. I believe you seemed to fall for one of those pieces that stuck behind..."

To me though, a parallel that really stands out is the narrative culminating in a decision where you have to either kill someone you love or turn that blade on yourself. Hans Christian Andersen's Little Mermaid is granted a last gift at her darkest hour--a way out where she doesn't have to fade away into nothingness. A chance to live on with her family beneath the sea--a family who loved her enough to barter with the sea witch for one last chance at her freedom. And all it will cost is a dagger through the prince's heart.

But of course she can't bear to go through with it. She tosses the witch's dagger into the sea and falls after it to her death, choosing to sacrifice herself instead of the person she loves. And Mollymauk? When faced with the reality that he could only save the Nein by tearing apart Lucien--and himself along with him--he doesn't even hesitate.

He digs his claws into his own wound and lets himself fall to pieces. He never once thinks of self preservation, tries to barter or plead or find a way to save himself at the last moment. He knows either the Nein will survive or the Nonagon will--and perhaps through him, a part of Molly, even just a piece--but he chooses a painful, agonizing death over Lucien's warped perception of godhood and eternity.

All Mollymauk has ever wanted was to live--in spite of how harsh and cruel the world always was to him. He still wanted nothing more than to walk Exandria and fill that clawing Emptiness with joy and love, have just one more day out of the grave to live and feel and be almost real. And still, he chooses to offer up himself if it means sparing everyone else. When Matt narrates Kingsley's nightmares of Cognouza, he emphasizes that to Tealeaf, "It was worth it. It was worth it." As long as it's to protect the people he loves, letting himself pay the blood price will always be worth it--

"Looking out from within your prison, pushing against your invisible bonds--when your heart found the strength, giving all that you are to help those who gave you purpose in return. It was worth it. It was worth it...The moment you gave yourself and broke your prison. The lights, so many around you free to move on. The warm catharsis of letting go..."

Like the merfolk of the original tale, when Mollymauk sacrifices himself, it's not just death that he faces. It's total oblivion. Offering up all that he is. And he does it gladly.

But when the Little Mermaid sacrifices herself, she is welcomed by warmth, and light. Given a chance to earn an immortal soul through good deeds. And by the same token, when Mollymauk tears apart both the Nonagon and himself, he falls back into the Moonweaver's welcoming embrace. Given another chance by both her and the Wildmother--divine, higher powers that looked at this supposedly "Empty" vessel and saw a warm, bleeding heart. A "forgotten fragment" that was loved so much--and loved so fiercely and selflessly in turn--they became real and whole.

“Light gathers around the body, the magic attempting to reach out into whatever space holds the souls here in the Astral Sea, as so many go scattering outward now to search for one. A fragment of one. Or is it a whole one? If souls can grow from but a piece…”

I think it's both terribly tragic and heartwarmingly bittersweet that Mollymauk's ending echoes the Little Mermaid's own--a gutting sacrifice that leads to hope and a new beginning. A second chance and a soul made whole. Being saved and held together by the very love you sacrificed yourself for. It's also suitably a very romantic end to me, which fits Tealeaf perfectly. And the fact that the character who was inspired by mermaids goes on to become a pirate king...I do wonder if Taliesin did that on purpose, because I think it's adorable--

Anyway, I love Mollymauk, and all the Little Mermaid parallels, and wish we could listen to Taliesin talk about mer inspired Molly more. Also, this bit of character building makes mer widmauk one of my favorite au's--

[softquietsteadylove]

More from the lawyer au please? Maybe Thenas sister sending him a thank you card? Something sweet? :)

"What are you doing friday?"

Gil nearly choked on his gulp of soda. That would be a sad way to die--aspirating a fastfood straw. He blinked. "Sorry?"

"Friday," Thena repeated, tilting her head a little to convey that she was baffled as to why it would bear repeating. "Do you have plans?"

He still felt ready to choke on his bite of sandwich. But he dusted off his hands and pushed away from his desk. "Uh, n-no--no, I'm free. What's up?"

"Would you be able to come over on friday night?"

Now, he blushed. He knew this wasn't the case, but he really did feel a little like this was sounding like a date. Maybe it was just how she was asking it. It wasn't beyond Thena to say something plainly and not really know how someone else might take it.

Thena's eyes darted downward, looking at the case files she was carrying (despite it being their small and precious lunch hour). Which, in anyone else, he would take for a sign of nerves. But there was no telling when it came to Thena. "I know it's rather sudden."

He didn't know what to think. They were colleagues, and he would even dare to say they were work friends. Maybe more than work friends, possibly, since he'd made a home cooked meal with her for her sisters. But not only did the firm have issues with colleagues dating, for obvious reasons, but he wasn't sure what brought this on.

He didn't really take Thena to be interested in dating. For all he could see, her only concern was taking care of her sisters. Which would make sense, of course. And he didn't want to be responsible for making her uncomfortable at work or anything.

"Gil?"

He blinked again, realising he had zoned right out and missed what she had asked. "S-Sorry, I, uh-"

"Sprite's birthday is on friday," she sighed, no longer beating around the bush. "She asked me if I would invite you."

"She asked," he paused, craning his neck faintly, "if I could come?"

Thena smiled, though. "Sprite has become quite fond of you, as has Sersi."

"Well, I gotta admit I'm flattered," he smiled as well, swayed by the warmth that took over Thena whenever she talked about her sisters. "I get the feeling that they don't take to people easily...at least not Sprite."

"You're right about that," she conceded. Her posture loosened and she leaned against his desk a little. "Sprite has never been the most social. Unfortunately, she is quite like me, and our father, in that way. Sersi got our mother's warmth and inviting presence."

He raised his brows at her, "you can be warm."

"Gilgamesh," she rebutted with a look he recognised from when she was in court.

"Hey, it's true," he chuckled, pushing aside his lunch and leaning comfortably in his chair. "You just need to defrost a little, but once you're there, you're there."

"Funny," she murmured, although it sounded less cutting and maybe even a little humoured.

"So, Sprite doesn't want a thing with her friends?" he asked more quietly--more gently. He watched as Thena cast a cursory glance to the rest of the office floor before moving around his desk. She pulled up a chair for herself, folding herself into it stiffly.

"Sprite, unfortunately," Thena grimaced (it really was bad), "fell out of touch with some of her friends after our parents' passing."

He frowned. He would have thought she had found herself making stronger bonds, not losing them. "I-I'm sorry. Is she okay?"

Thena's deeply concerned expression didn't lighten. "They were nice, but I believe Sprite has held onto a lot of anger regarding things. And her friends...they were kind, but I don't think their bond was strong enough to endure the true weight of Sprite has been through."

So, they were friends but they weren't any true friends of the kid's. Gil nodded with his own sense of regret to it. "Shit--did this happen right around that time, too?--if it's okay for me to ask that."

Thena managed a faint pull of her lips at his consideration. She stared down at her files again, running her finger along the edge to occupy her mind. "I suspect that Sprite was largely responsible for their growing apart. They attempted to reach out but she wasn't in a frame of mind to accept their efforts. And so the bridge wasn't so much burned as it simply crumbled away from disrepair."

That was a good way to put it, all things considered. But that was tough for a kid to go through what she had at such a young age, and not have friends to support her through it.

"I asked Sersi what I should do," Thena confessed to him. She said it easily, but it didn't escape him that it was a pretty big confession to make for her. There was a time when he was too scared to ask her what she'd had for lunch that day. Now they were talking about her sisters' grieving processes. "She said that Sprite doesn't want anyone she barely knows, which accounts for many of her school acquaintances. So, she wants only people she knows. I'll order whatever she likes, Sersi will be there of course, our cousin Kingo whom she has always adored. And she asked if I would invite you."

It was enough to warm a heart, certainly. And he was already a sensitive enough guy, so he didn't need much to be moved to tears. "Really? I mean I'm honored, really, but is she sure that she knows me well enough to invite me to something like this?"

Thena laughed at his reluctance though. "You underestimate her fondness for you."

"Maybe I misunderstand it," he excused for himself with a sheepish wince. He drew in his shoulders, although he kept rumpling his suits that way. He tugged at his jacket, remembering how Thena had done so for him at the courthouse not long ago.

Thena looked pensive, selecting her words carefully. She pursed her lips faintly; he had seen her do that in court too. "Sprite has very good intuition. She decides very quickly if someone is trustworthy or not, let alone if she likes them. And immediately after you helped us with the lasagne, she has asked me nearly daily when you are coming over next. She said you seem fun, and nice, and-"

He was startled by the way she paused in the middle of things. But to his delight, she made a somewhat annoyed expression he definitely recognised from when Sprite had whined about having a diet coke.

"I don't make friends much either, so as much as she was surprised, if I am fond of you, then you must be someone good to know. That is how she phrased it to me," Thena sighed, equal parts exasperated and fond. She raised her plucked, sandy coloured brows at him. "So trust me when I tell you that you have my entire family's approval."

Except for this cousin that was coming, but still, it was nice to hear. Gil grinned, "well, then, I'll be more than happy to come. What can I bring?"

"Just yourself," Thena assured more like her usual cool and strict self. "I will take care of any and all gifts. Consider your company a gift in itself."

"If you say so," he conceded, although he was already thinking about what he might be able to 'just happen to pick up' at the mall or something.

"I'll tell Sprite and Sersi the good news, then," she concluded, standing from her chair and smoothing down her skirt. "I can text you more specific details tomorrow, but for now, expect to come over friday after work and enjoy dinner and perhaps some movies."

"Sounds fun," he promised happily, although he could still feel the lingering foolishness for thinking she was asking him out.

"Also," she opened up the folder on top of her stack and retrieved a small envelope. "This is from Sprite. I was asked to give it to you, but only if you accepted her invitation."

"Ah," he blinked, accepting it delicately. It was a plain white envelope with GIL written on it in pretty cursive. "Well, thank you."

"I don't know what it is, so you can't ask me," she disavowed with another laugh. "Nor are you allowed to show me afterward, either. It is just from Sprite to you."

He smiled; well, now he really had to pick out something for the kid. "Thank her for me."

"I will."

He smiled at her as she left his desk to go back to her own again. She was indeed working through her lunch hour, but he would have to hope she had a power bar or a protein smoothie somewhere. He looked down at the envelope again, excited in a way he hadn't been in a long, long time.

"Hey Gil, what did Ice Queen want?"

"I don't know if I've ever seen her smile."

He ignored his colleagues and their suggestive tones, opening the envelope carefully.

"Did she sign it with a kiss? Those lips-"

"Piss off," he barked at them, easily sending away the absolute pricks who both liked to disparage that Thena wasn't a 'team player' but also loved to insinuate that they had a shot with her.

Dear Gil, it's me, ya boi

I guess Thena asked you, and that you said yes. I hope she didn't pressure you or whatever. It's just gonna be a chill time. Kingo is nice, you'll like him. And Thena likes you, even if she's never said it. She doesn't like anyone, so it's really something.

Thanks for always being nice to my sister,

Sprite

It was a funny contrast--the elegance of the calligraphy and the overall tone of the note. But he blinked, feeling that feeling in his eyes. It was just so sweet, no matter how funny and sarcastic she tried to make it.

The comment about being nice to her sister spoke volumes. It was no surprise to him that the sisters were worried for their guardian, even - and maybe especially - the youngest one. Perhaps Sprite had anxieties about her sister being in a hostile work environment. Maybe she had heard that many of their coworkers were sexist asshats. And maybe Sprite just wanted to look out for her sister in whatever way she could.

Gil slipped the card away, happy to take it home so he could put it in a safe place of honour in his apartment. It was a sweet gesture, and he was determined to do right by it. He would find a card that suited Sprite's humour, he would find a thoughtful but casual gift to bring, and maybe he would even bring cupcakes or something, if Thena wanted it. And he would take it seriously as a guest to a very exclusive party.

This was far more pressure than a date.

[thepaladinstrait]

bilibili.com/video/BV16W4y1673u/?spm_id_from=333.337.search-card.all.click <3

ANON OH MY GOD DO YOU REALISE HOW MANY TIMES IM GONNA ABSOLUTELY DIE WATCHING THAT STOP OH MY GOD 😭😭😭😭😭😭

[oneiricazalea]

Happy 5th birthday to my dear OC, Sei ♥

[taee]

your yoongi cat meme sets are keeping the life in me hope u know that

here's the next one just for you!! i honestly enjoy making them too so as long as our suchwita yoongi cat meme editor bestie never retires I WILL CONTINUE TO PROVIDE

[thiefbird]

writing bad sex is at least 3x harder than good sex