#the glowy eye arts are beautiful and i love them but what if it was just a whole mess

[beloveds-embrace]

DukeDom Poly!141

So, in one of the things (Simon and pleasure), you mentioned boudoir paintings…

OMFG I CAN JUST IMAGINE HIM MAKING ALL OF THEM DO ONE, I bet you he hangs them in his room. OH OH OH! also, I bet Simon can draw skjsudisndh 😭😩! HED SIT DOWN WHILE ONE OF THE OTHERS IS GOING AT IT WITH THEIR DUCHESS AND JUST DRAWS IN HIS CHAIR ON THE SIDE 😩😩. Reader laying on her back or ass up in the air, all sweaty and glowing while one of the boys goes at her in bliss and Simon just drawing her from the side lines… 😫🤭😩

Also, can I be 🪭 anon?

Dukedom 141 masterlist

God, Simon painting them himself? Absolutely yes.

He’d do sooo many paintings of you, it’d be concerning if you could actually think past the pleasure that clouds your mind. He has you in so many different lingeries, things that make you turn warmer than a furnace and your men’s eyes darken with want; silks and laces that snag around your soft skin, garter belts that frame the length of your thighs, custom panties with nothing more than a neat, glowy string of pearls to line your cunt with a matching jewelry set.

Simon dresses you himself, and none of the men say anything against it; he is in his element, drawing the stockings up your legs and kissing your ankles along the way, big hands carressing your calves. He takes his time lacing up your corsets and bras, kissing up your spine, cupping your tits in his big, warm hands and kneading and groping until your nipples are stiff enough for his liking, for what he needs to do his painting, and you have that lovely, desperate and needy expression on your face.

Simon may do the painting, but to him, the scene itself is art: you, you, you. Face down and ass up, bared to his gaze and brushes while Kyle keeps your hips up with a hand under your belly and three fingers pumping in and out of you, your noises, sweet moans and cries, a background melody with Kyle whispering praises into you ear until Simon can see how well you cream around those thick fingers.

Art, that’s what you truly are. No painting will ever truly capture your beauty, but still, Simon tries-

And that means he also has you in so many different poses. Another day, another lingerie sets, teeth marks indented over your body, your ankles and calves, while Johnny keeps you pinned and spread with his body. Simon focuses on your straining muscles, your pretty painted nails raking down Johnny’s back and leaving behind angry red lines that don’t compare to the way he pistons into you, your pretty cunt stretched around him and your combined cum drenching the bed. Your legs, adorned in heels Simon specifically got for you, shake and tremble, your pleasure visible and audible to all.

And John… Simon doesn’t think he’s ever seen a better seat for you than his face. You look perfect, twitching and whining, your hair and makeup a mess of a canvas, John’s hands around your hips like unbending snakes. He’s made you cum so many times, your nub swollen and sensitive under his heavy tongue, you’ve soaked his beard, his face, his neck- and yet he doesn’t stop. A queen has no reason to leave her seat, no? And yet it’s your expression that has Simon fixated, the way you look around, look at him as if you want to beg him to save you or join you. Maybe both.

Simon paints each and every one. Moments frozen in his paintings, never comperable to the real thing, and yet adored all the same.

(And you stare at the finished paintings with awe, in spite of your blush. The way he’s drawn you… you never knew you were seen so beloved.

You turn back to Simon, bejeweled fingers wrapping around his cravat, and pull him close to kiss the corner of her lips. Your men continue to admire the paintings, but you are focused on the painter.

“I want one of you and I, Simon my love.”)

First time writing smut (if this can even be considered that 💀😭)

[hopeastrz]

THE ART OF EYE LANGUAGE: your gaze and eyes based on beauty asteroids in your natal chart.⋆𐙚 ₊ ° 🌪️⊹ ♡

«KINDLY READ THIS IN LIGHT MODE!»

CHECK OUT SEPTEMBER SALE: fixed price on any and all of my readings 17 DOLLARS only.

EXPLANATION: If you want to know how your gaze looks like to people check which beauty asteroids you have in aries, conjunct your sun, moon in a very tight orb, or sit in the 1st house since those mainly rule our eyes.

NOTE: should i make part 2?, wanted to post something quick before i sleep as a thank you for all the love you keep showering me with, enjoy and lots of kisses xoxo.!!

SIRENE (1009) on the rising or in aries may give you upturned feline eyes, very hypnotizing gaze, may make people feel very drowsy or they feel very pulled by you.

PERSEPHONE (399) duality queens, you can be the queen of the underworld or the spring maiden with your eyes, you choose to be what needs to be depending on the situation, if you’re seducing someone you’ll wear your most captivating gaze, and if you feel extra sweet you can make flowers bloom just from a single look.

NARCISSUS (37117) you really don’t need anyone’s opinion about your eyes and you obviously don’t care since you’re your own number one fan lmao!, these natives may be obsessed with their eyes and feel like it’s their best feature!, you are your own admirer.

LOTIS (429) and VESTA (4) innocent ans very pure eyes, both asteroids may indicate having a very pure and serene gaze, you can make people fall onto their knees just to please you, and they may feel the need to protect you from evil even if you’re oh not so innocent!.

MEDUSA (149) you can never hide your envy, it’s one of the most prominent things that show on your face, you may be born needing to wear glasses so alas you envy those who don’t wear them, however your gaze hold are very bewitching, and could make people fear looking into your eyes for a long time especially if you’re a powerful person.

SADO (118230) dark small eyes, my sister has this placement and her eyes are so dark almost black looking instead of normal brown.

FOX (16248) may give you a witty and cunning look, almost like you’re always plotting something mischievous, curios and sly gaze!.

PHOTOGRAPHICA (443) you may like to take lots of pictures of your eyes and post them on social media, in some rare cases you may have a very strong photographic memory!.

GLO (3267) obviously your eyes may be glowy, maybe they are so dark that any slight amount of light makes them shine brightly, or actually they are so light colored that they feel like light itself, you know brown eyes once they turn golden? Yep!.

PTAH (5011) may bless you with a strong commanding gaze which can both hold violence and gentleness, you can command both authority and ooze charisma, but also could turn your gaze into a very love sick one!.

PTAH (5011) spell bounding eyes, very enchanting and captivating.

NADHERNA (5089) very unique eyes, you may have Heterochromia or was born with a unique eye condition which made you need to wear glasses, you may have experienced a really unique eye condition and even your eye color may be rare or different!, and you may have some very long lashes!.

LIST OF ASTEROIDS MENTIONED BY ORDER: 1009, 399, 37117, 429, 4, 149, 118230, 16248, 443, 3267, 216, 5011, 5089.

[fwuitiestfwogiest]

It's been a hot minute, but it's that time again!

1st thing 1st, let me just say I know nothing about Elden Ring...BUT IT KNOW A THING OR TWO ABOUT ART AND THIS IS BEAUTIFUL!!!

I love the hair and how it's shaded! Something about the artist's shading style just makes me smile! Furthermore, this is a WHITE haired character on a WHITE background with rather light skin, and yet, there doesn't appear to be any sort of problem with it all blending together.

I love the glowy eyes and how the red contrasts with the hair! The eyes glowing a bit makes the sword pop out when you're looking at them as the sword is glowy as well.

The lighting on the sword looks so majectic and fantastical! I'm not sure if this is a weapon from the game (it is a game, right?) or if it's created specifically for this character, but if it was created specifically for the character...all I can say is wow. It can be pretty hard to design weapons, especially ones that have that golden middle ground of detail!

I also quite like the clothing design. a lot of similar colors are used but each piece is still clearly distinct from the others.

The sword is not only beautifully highlighted, but said highlight casts light onto some of the character's other items. I noticed it most on the left glove and on the blue cloth (idk what it is exactly). And speaking of that cloth, the line drawn on it really help the viewer imagine the texture of it!

I noticed textures in other places too. The upper left leg for example has a splatter like texture that makes it look kind of gritty like leather. The bottom of the cloak also has some noticeable texture. Above all that, I'm not sure if it's just my screen, but the whole character seems to either have an overlay or to have been drawn on a canvas that has a paper like texture!

The ends of the sleeves have cool designs on them that really help the character feel real (if that makes sense). I, personally, always have a hard time when it comes to not only making designs that blend well with the overall character, but drawing them so they flow with the material of the clothing? IT'S SO HARD! BUT THIS ARTIST DOES IT SO WELL!!

Also, not exactly art related, but...Lord of the Stars? THAT SOUNDS SO FREAKING COOL!!!!

Anyway, this artist's work is really cool and deserves praise. I'm sure there are plenty more little details I'll notice the longer I look at this piece too!

As always, there are simply the ramblings of someone who's just kind of okay at art, so please don't take this post as me looking down on it or anything! I just wanted to point some details I know non-artists, or even artists sometimes, don't always notice. I know as an artist just how many small details we add that often go unnoticed, and just how long it takes to add them, so I wanted to take the time to point some of them out and say not only how important I think they are to the overall piece even if some viewers don't realize, but to let the artist know that they are much appreciated by the audience. It's the little details that really elevate a piece!

lord of the stars

my elden ring oc art i meant to make in time for art fight but didn't get a chance to! I finished the DLC before the new xiv expac dropped and loved it <3

[freunwol]

hey man youve got something on your uh. your um. uh.

inspired by blue_channel: thalasin (big warning for body horror & unreality)

[decamarks]

the thing people point out most often in my paintings is usually my use of color. it's definitely my favorite part of painting, so hearing this always makes me happy. but it's weird, because it's really hard to articulate exactly why i choose colors the way i do, aside from basic color theory principles. HOWEVER, i've recently come to the realization that i have one significant influence that i don't often register consciously: IMAGE COMPRESSION. the way colors are compressed is really similar to the way i choose all the colors i use. here's an example of what i mean:

see on the left it's just a normal, white hallway. but when you start to reduce the number of colors through posterization, you see that there's BLUE! and RED and YELLOW! there's all these vibrant, glowy, low-contrast rings of color banding around the walls, comprising an overall 'white' image. they're like little halos of light. the photo obviously looks 'uglier' when you compress it like this, but i can't help but appreciate how unique it looks. it almost looks iridescent. you would never think to use color like this if you weren't a computer trying to crunch together the closest available colors.

there's a lot lost in a camera's translation of raw sensor data to pixels, but the distortion created can be equally beautiful if you look at it through the right lens. i remember zooming into heavily artifacted art when i was little and thinking "how do the artists know when to use white pixels or very slightly bluish-white pixels??" i ended up trying to replicate this a few times, assuming the reason my drawings didn't look as good was because i was using the wrong colored pixels. this initial misunderstanding definitely paved the way for my fixation on the subject, once i was old enough to know what a "jay-peg" is.

the different containers that data, particularly images and sound, are encapsulated in, always define them in some way. the idea of lossless quality—seeing/hearing something the way it was 'meant' to be perceived, free of distortion—is an ideal that i've learned to stop striving for. there's value in compacting things, and conveying them less than perfectly. this concept isn't anything new, of course. the warm fuzz of record players, the blurry imperfection of polaroid photos... these things are genuinely gorgeous, despite their 'ugliness'. it's almost strange to think that effects like these were compromises with the technology available rather than deliberate aesthetic choices.

dithering, reduced color palettes and artifacting are all obviously more modern forms of 'ugly', and thus less often reminisced about. but i really wonder if we'll see more appreciation of them in the future, and i kinda hope we do... i've been showing my appreciation for this somewhat abstractly, but it's undoubtedly still apparent as an influence in my art. i can't help but love it all, honestly.

there's something undoubtedly charming about images so compressed that it's obvious they've been passed around websites for a while, as well as slightly sped up, 128kbps versions of songs uploaded over a decade ago. yes, sometimes it hurts that you can't covey things with lossless clarity—there is always a distortion; a compromise made to compact raw data into something comprehensible by human eyes and ears. these little bits of 'ugliness' are unavoidable and inevitable, because they define the data itself. even your flawless FLAC files become distorted by the speakers that play them. perceptual perfection is always fun to strive for, of course... but sometimes learning to love the limitations of a medium is the best you can do for it.

[blackgirl-galactica]

"LET'S SEE WITH THE ASCENDANT" PART 1!

NOTE: WHILE I AM NOT A PROFESSIONAL ASTROLOGER, I LOVE ASTROLOGY AND ITS ASPECTS AND I LOVE TO LEARN THEM! PLEASE DO NOT STEAL OR REWORD MY WORK WITHOUT CREDIT! THANK YOU :)

Hey y'all!

- I am finally settled and I am ready to give you some more astro knowledge to keep in the books!! Today we will be talking about the Ascendant (ASC for short) through the first 6 signs!! Part 2 will come out tomorrow!

- But first, what is an ASC sign?

-I'm glad you asked honey! First things first, your Ascendant is an angular house! Angular houses are the Ascendant, Descendant, IC (Imum Coeli), and MC (Medium Coeli). I'll do a post on what angular houses mean later on! Or do feel free to research on your own time :)

-Your ASC sign is what's popularly known as the sign (or sign traits) you may give off as a first impression to the outside world. According to the book, The Only Astrology Book You'll Ever Need by Joanna Woolfolk, she asserts that our personality is a blend of our Sun Sign in combination with our ASC sign. This has some truth in it as our ASC can also represent our self-interests, how we process self-awareness, our goals, our objectives, & how we assert our self-sufficiency! Think of your ASC sign as the sign when you walk in a room full of people.

- You can find your ASC here! Below is my chart( credit from Astro.com) for my visual learners! The ASC will be on the left side of your chart (marked AC); usually your angular houses are marked! In this example, my ASC is in the sign of Sagittarius!

-Have you ever had someone guess your sun sign but they were wrong? Chances are, they probably are guessing your ASC sign!

-With that being said, let's get into it!!!!

ARIES ASC:

Adventurous and pioneering!

Typically the ones to be "the first" at something.

Likes to get shit done! Act first ask questions later kind of energy.

Leader of the pack vibes.

Possibly have a very muscular, strong body.

When they walk in the room, they give such a strong sense of power, strength, and exuberance!

Possibly can be red-headed. Aries rules the color red and also rules the head. Doesn't mean every red-head is an Aries ASC though. Or they may like to wear alot of red.

They can give a direct, kinda bossy attitude but also a very free-child-like attitude I love it!!

Be careful with sharp objects. Sharp objects like knives are ruled by Mars (Mars rules Aries) and you may be a bit more accident prone so be careful, according to Woolfolk.

TAURUS ASC:

Very stable and calm energy when they walk in the room.

Patient & steadfast people.

Love the arts, could be talented at composing music esp!

Love comfort and the comfort their materials bring them.

Can have super beautiful necks. Necks/throats are ruled by Taurus.

Also, they may have larger, rounder eyes ooooo so cute!! Almost like a doe.

Can accumulate wealth over time.

Loves security and things that make them feel safe.

Many people think they are lazy, but that is not the case. A Taurus ASC does not believe in wasting time on things that don't bring them joy or comfort. They are hardworking, if it means they can attain the goals they set out for!! Once again, THEY ARE NOT LAZY!

GEMINI ASC:

Witty & charming.

Extremely smart and sociable.

Also can thrive in the entertainment industry as actors, writers, TV hosts, or comedians. They can really captivate an audience with their social and witty behavior!

Gemini rules the arms & hands, so they can have really nice hands/arms. If Venus is in aspect to their ASC, this can possibly point to someone who is a hand model.

The type to always want to be constantly stimulated and learn something everyday so they don't get bored.

May like to travel alot or move alot.

They also can marry more than once in their lives.

Extremely intellectual communicators. Very good with using their words as their best assets!

Could have big, wide eyes. This is just a personal take as I have seen multiple Gemini risings with big, wide eyes.

CANCER ASC:

Love security & comfort.

May have a oval face or round face. The moon rules Cancer so I won't be surprised if your face is shaped as round as the moon.

Sensitive to other's emotions & intuitive on how people may feel or react.

Amazing creatives. They use their emotions to make the best projects. Some of their projects (story writing for example) can be based on their lives at home or their hometown.

On the outside they may come off reserved and even cold. This is the "hard on the outside soft on the inside" effect. Deep down they are very soft, sweet, giving, & sensitive.

They want public recognition for their efforts, as you should!!!

According to Woolfolk, they are very good with saving money and handling it as well. Being the opposite sign of Capricorn (the sign of conservation), I am not surprised since opposing signs do share qualities of each other in one way or another.

LEO ASC:

Very grand people and luxurious YESSSS BITCH!!!

People may notice their hair first. Know how Leo is the lion? We see the lion's mane (or hair) first. This also applies for Leo ASCs.

A personal take- Leo ASC have this sun-kissed glow about them (lol pun intended). It's like their skin is so bright and glowy and it is so beautiful.

Give off a very happy and exuberant energy.

Extremely likeable people.

Views life as a stage!

Prides themselves on being a leader and delegator.

Can easily find fame or people will scout them out easily.

Also can be surrounded by alot of influential people. This helps their image if they want to be famous one day. Get to networking!!!

Can have a very nice back. Leo also rules the back.

VIRGO ASC:

Another personal take: why do so many Virgo ASC or Virgo placements have to wear glasses? That's interesting.

May have a frail looking body, but that does not mean they are sick yall.

Looks at life through a filter. Meaning, they like to hold on to valuable information that they can actually use and apply in their life.

^Yet, this can also mean that they may become too dependent on details to make decision. Don't forget to look at the bigger picture.

They love order and reason.

Thrive in intellectual pursuits. Especially if they are scientific and not philosophical.

Likes to gain rewards from their own efforts and not due to what others think. They love to listen and be assured in their own reasoning as YOU SHOULD!!!

May forget to take others' opinions into consideration.

Could come off shy and distant.

May own property in their later lives? Idk but Woolfolk mentions this and if anyone can chime in here I would be happy to hear it!

-That's it for PART 1! Part 2 will be out tomorrow!

-Also, to show your appreciation, do feel free to tip me! I have so much more content I want to teach and tell yall and I'm excited! You can tip me at my cashapp: $DellyRelly if you appreciate my content in more ways than just following me! Anywho, see yall tomorrow!

-Claude

[egg-emperor]

Eggman with black and red could work if he at some point decided to upload a digital copy of his mind into a machine in case he died because let’s be honest after so many near death experiences, he probably thought of doing that.

hmmm yeah I gueeesss it could work that way.

I can definitely see him uploading and preserving his mind/a digital copy of himself, not just because of near death experiences but also as a way to immortalize himself and his mind if he does simply die of old age. because being middle aged already and having no idea how long it'll take to succeed in taking over the world for good, plus how many years it will take to fully realize all his Eggman Empire and Eggmanland dreams all across the globe, then expand across worlds and even universes etc, he's going to need many more years than however much he's got left now.

and I also can't imagine him simply giving in and accepting having a heir to take over after his death of old age if he doesn't have to because he doesn't want to hand over all he's worked so hard for for anyone dead or alive, he's selfish and he's never wanted to share before so he never will no matter what, and it would defeat the point of it being the Eggman Empire where his own brilliant self is hailed and he has all control. so him prolonging his lifespan/immortalizing himself seems like a very realistic choice for him to make, he'd at least try for sure.

but I have a feeling that he'd want to make his appearance in this digital form, or however he accomplishes this, exactly the way he appears now if possible because he truly loves himself and that includes every aspect of his appearance. I don't think he'd want to leave any of it behind, right down to the color of his eyes. and if you mean that's just how they turn out and he has no control over them becoming black and red because it's an effect that just comes with the process or something then yeah, it could work if you like that.

to be completely honest though, I'm just not really a fan of red and black eyes classic/modern Eggman. I still don't hate it but I've grown to like seeing it even less over the years, regardless of the context of whether if it makes sense or not or if he's still human or not, though part of why I prefer regular blue is that it shows he's human and not a cyborg or robot of some sort. and I can still make the rare occasional tiny exception, like when I reblogged that cute art of Eggman's eyes matching Metal's. but way more often than not, when I see him with red and black regardless of context, this is my reaction:

(render by NibrocRock lol)

I just really love his blue eyes okay, they're super pretty and they bring me so much joy hfjssngksnmg 💘💖💜💕 (specifically lighter blue with optional grayish tint in some lighting so they have an icy look to them, like he had in 06. Nibroc's render is beautiful but I do prefer em a bit lighter) so honestly I'd prefer for his prolonged lifespan/immortalized form of whatever type to still have blue eyes. maybe if he was digital they could be the same blue but glowy? that would be pretty cool and my personal preference! of course if you like the red and black it's fine but I'm for blue eyes Eggman supremacy for life 🥰💙

[peaceoutofthepieces]

Tracing Time

Saturday, 08:10

Song: Her - Five Minutes

The sun comes out.

It had risen hours ago with Sander, but also like him had then tucked itself away, making its ascent behind a flurry of dense clouds. Now Sander watches as the last wisps slither aside and reveal the full circle.

It hasn’t been up quite long enough to warm the concrete roof Sander sits on. He’d thought, rightly, to grab his jacket before slipping out around an hour prior, and he’s grateful for the tough leather now. He hadn’t bothered bringing his camera, so his hands are also safely tucked into his pockets. He doesn’t need any more photographs of this view than he already has.

He likes it fine like this. To just sit and see. He doesn’t need to capture it. To have it exist in this moment is enough.

Being so high up likely doesn’t help with the chill, but this is one of Sander’s favourite spots. He’d been pleased, the day one of his professors took their class to one of the older buildings in the academy and climbed the back stairs right to the top. They’d had to capture this scene that day. The sun glinting amidst the clouds, the clouds obscuring the tops of some of the area’s highest buildings, and all the life going on down below. Even now there are a few students milling around there, heading to their studios early or meeting fellow classmates, and interspersed is the honk of morning traffic, the hustle and bustle of a world just beginning to wake.

Sander is apart from all of it. The sun is slanting a ray solely for him; the beings below are tiny specks of colour splashed amidst the gray; the level of the world he’s entered is quiet, aside from the music lilting lightly in his ears.

He had been even more pleased that day to notice none of his fellow classmates had paid much attention to the roof itself, but simply focused on the task at hand. He had wondered how such a perfect place of solace wasn’t already constantly occupied, especially when it could be so easily accessed by a whole school of art students. He hadn’t thought he would be able to make it his own.

But sitting on the lip of the building, legs hung over the edge and arms resting on one of the lower bars stopping him from falling to his death, it does feel like the rooftop belongs to him and him alone. The thought is enough to bring a smile to his face.

He’s the only one seeing this right now, the only one capable of capturing this exact image at this exact time. It doesn’t—like many things do—make him feel as isolated or small as he expects. It reminds him that he has his own vision and his own mind and his own existence, and this must mean he is meant for something. This eagle-eye perspective of this universe in this exact moment is made just for him.

His smile widens as he ponders on how Robbe-like that thought is.

It’s this thought that eventually draws him away. He slides his legs back onto solid concrete and hauls himself to his feet, wincing at the twinge in his ass and brushing stone crumbs off the back of his jeans. Then he slips back through the doorway and down the stairs and begins the trek back to his number-one solace.

His feet cry out in relief as he quietly lets himself into the house and pulls off his Docs. They aren’t the best walking shoes. His feet feel achy and sweaty and he curls and rolls his toes on the wooden floor as he hangs his jacket back on his usual hook. Then he climbs another set of stairs.

He’s relieved to find Robbe exactly how he left him, only now lit in a more golden glow. The boy is curled on his side, facing the doorway Sander has just crept through, curls splayed on the pillow and mouth slightly agape. Fast asleep. Beautiful.

Sander tugs off his jumper and steps out of his jeans, then rounds the bed and crawls back in next to his boyfriend.

The sheets have chilled since he vacated them, unhelpful against his already-cold skin. He shifts towards the middle of the mattress and already feels warmer. The heat emanating from Robbe beckons him closer, and he doesn’t fight it, slipping right into the dip behind Robbe and sliding an arm over his waist, pulling the boy back against his chest. Robbe moves easily, snuggling back into Sander with a sigh, and Sander’s whole body blooms with heat.

As much as he likes his rooftop, there’s no doubt that this is his favourite place to be. ‘This’ being anywhere within Robbe’s orbit.

He doesn’t quite drift off again, but his body goes pleasantly lax and his mind quiets. The longer he listens to Robbe’s soft breaths the more his own heart eases.

Then Robbe starts to shift, and Sander worries he’s woken him. He wriggles in Sander’s arms and Sander loosens his grip, but Robbe simply rolls over in his embrace, turning to face him and immediately curling towards his chest. Sander’s lips turn up in a smile as he draws him in, pressing his nose to Robbe’s soft curls and inhaling slowly. Robbe’s arm curls over his waist, tucking around his back and denting his skin.

He traces patterns over Robbe’s bare shoulder in the few minutes it takes for Robbe to stir again. His grip tightens on Sander for a second as his eyes scrunch, refusing to succumb to the sunlight as he presses closer to Sander’s chest.

Sander presses a kiss to the top of his head as he lets out a tiny, whiny hum, still half-asleep as he stretches his toes against Sander’s ankles and blinks.

Robbe’s doe eyes, even while squinty and crusted with sleep, are the most mesmerizing things he’s ever seen. The corners of them crinkle as Robbe leans back far enough to smile up at him before burying his face back in the crook of Sander’s neck. “Morning,” he mumbles. Then he kisses the closest patch of Sander’s skin.

Sander hugs him tight and returns, “Morning. Sleep well?”

Robbe hums again. “Wha’ time is it?”

“I don’t know. Still before nine, I think.”

“Okay,” Robbe sighs, giving him a squeeze. “We still have some time then.” After a pause, he pulls away from Sander again and looks up at him curiously. “Did you go out? You’re cold.”

This last bit comes out as a whine, and Sander huffs. “Yeah. Just for a walk.”

Robbe hums, smiling as he snuggles back into him again, pushing Sander onto his back so he can sprawl out over his chest and lock their arms together. “Taking photos?”

“No. Didn’t take my camera or anything.”

“But you took your phone, right?”

“Of course, I needed music.”

Robbe huffs, but accepts this response without further questions, leaving a smiling kiss on Sander’s chest. He repeats the motion, then starts up a lazy trail, mapping his way across Sander’s collarbone until Sander tugs his hair. Robbe tilts his head up and lets Sander connect their lips, shifting up on the bed and pressing a hand to Sander’s cheek. Sander’s hand moves to cup the back of Robbe’s head, fingers tangling in his curls and drawing him closer. Robbe’s hand moves up his chest to settle in the crook of his neck and he feels suddenly warm.

He skims a hand down Robbe’s back, tracing the divots and dents of his spine, breathing slow under Robbe’s lazy kisses. He palms at Robbe’s hip, and Robbe quickly takes the hint, lifting his leg over Sander’s and settling atop him before letting out a happy hum.

“Good morning,” he says, amused and cheeky, and Sander bites his lip in retaliation.

Robbe giggles and Sander swallows the sound down, tucks it away in the lower part of his chest to be dug up later. He has made up a whole portfolio of these precious sounds, along with a plethora of the most stunning images and a sad imitation of Robbe’s touch. It’s hard to beat the real thing.

Sander soaks up as much of it as he can now and still begs for more, splaying one hand over shoulder-blades and letting the other slide down, curling over the curve of Robbe’s bottom, drawing him down while tilting his own hips up. Now Robbe’s hum is lower, coming from a more guttural place as he bears down on his own, only requiring that initial permission.

He breaks away to gaze down at Sander, tracing light fingertips over his face as he breathes heavily. Sander smooths his hand back up the line of Robbe’s back to tangle both in his hair. This time he makes his way along Robbe’s cheek, feathering kisses against the stubbly skin until he can brush his lips against the shell of Robbe’s ear and nip at the lobe, free of his earring for the moment. Robbe makes a small, mewling noise and tightens his grip on Sander’s shoulders.

“What time are you leaving?” Sander asks, keeping his voice at a murmur so as not to spoil the mood entirely.

“Jens is meeting me here around ten.”

Sander groans. “You can’t make that ten-thirty?”

Robbe huffs gently. He places his hands on Sander’s chest and pushes himself up to sitting, still astride Sander’s hips. Sander would be more upset with the new lack of contact if it didn’t give him such a nice view; Robbe is all clean-cut lines and lean muscle, with skin glowy and soft under Sander’s fingers. “Jens wanted to be gone yesterday,” Robbe reminds him, not unkindly.

“Why didn’t he just go with Lucas, then?”

“Because he agreed to wait around so I could spend the night with you.” Robbe raises his brows. At Sander’s permanent pout, he huffs again, shaking his head. “You can still come with, you know. We’re going to get a break before the end of school. Couldn’t you do with a break, too?”

Sander groans again and pulls Robbe’s pillow over his face. “I can’t,” he moans. “This project is due on Monday. Unless I stayed up all night tomorrow, I wouldn’t have time to finish it.”

Robbe hums. “You’re usually the one begging me to keep you up all night.”

Sander gives him a sour look, even as his stomach flutters.

“I’m sorry,” Robbe laughs. “I really am. But you know Lucas never asks for anything.”

“And you want to go.”

Robbe hesitates, but he never lies to Sander. He gives a tiny nod and an apologetic smile. “I do. And Jens really needs it.”

Sander considers him for a moment, the lovely curve of his lips and the gentle doe-eyes, and blows out a sigh. “You deserve it,” he says softly. He gives Robbe’s ear a tug and allows himself to smile. “And I suppose I’ll survive.”

It only takes Robbe’s grin to prove he’s done the right thing. Robbe leans down to leave him a kiss, light but lingering, and then turns it into a dozen different pecks instead. “You better. Thank you.”

Sander can only lie there and accept the onslaught of affection, laughing as he settles his hands on Robbe’s thighs and squeezes. He meant what he said—Robbe does deserve it. They hadn’t managed to get away over the break as initially planned, so when Lucas invited them back to Utrecht this weekend they had jumped on the offer. Sander had shared the excitement initially, but then had quickly been reminded of his reality, in which he had stupidly chosen to leave things to the last minute.

“I feel more sorry for you, anyway,” Sander mumbles, emitting a low whistle. “I’ll be alone, but at least I’ll have a quiet night.”

Robbe immediately pushes himself up again, wide-eyed. “No. We’re staying at Lucas’s house, with his mom. Surely they won’t…”

Sander snorts, waving at the space around them and raising a brow. “Where are we right now, Robbe?” At Robbe’s blush, he purses his lips together, making his own eyes big in suggestion. “It is a stress-relief getaway.”

Robbe buries his face in his hands and groans. He rolls off of Sander even as the elder protests, peeking through his hands to stare up at the ceiling. “I’m going to come home traumatised. It’ll be worse than the time I walked in on him and Jana.”

“Not if you don’t walk in on them,” Sander laughs. Seconds later, a pillow smacks him in the face. He makes a muffled protest as he’s attacked again, grabbing at the soft material and wrestling it out of Robbe’s grip to whack him back, hearing Robbe make an ‘oof’ sound before breaking out into giggles.

Eventually, Sander tosses the pillow aside and wrestles Robbe instead, getting him flat on his back and moving over him. He slots a leg between Robbe’s and presses their tangled hands down either side of Robbe’s head, and Robbe’s eyelids droop. Then his fingers flex around Sander’s as his lips part. His neck strains as his head tilts up. Sander ducks down, but forgoes Robbe’s lips to lick a stripe up his neck.

“Sander,” Robbe whines, squirming underneath him in protest even as he lets out a breathy laugh.

“What?”

“We haven’t got long.”

Sander hums, pulling the patch of skin he’d been kissing between his teeth to hear Robbe gasp. “We’d have longer if you were going to stay.”

“Sander,” Robbe repeats, this time in sullen protest.

“Sorry, sorry,” Sander soothes. “We still have enough time though, don’t we?”

“Did you hear my mom when you got back?”

“Nope. I assume she’s still sound asleep.”

Robbe smiles at that, pleased, and Sander finally grants him a kiss, slow and sensual until Robbe makes a needy little sound and squeezes his hands. Sander releases his hands and Robbe immediately tangles them in his hair, tugging at the strands.

“How many minutes do we have to make up for?” Sander asks him.

“Too many to waste time calculating now. We just have enough time to make sure you don’t forget me while I’m gone.” Robbe winks at him, and Sander huffs and goes in for another kiss, but Robbe is already moving. Sander half expects to be rolled over again, but instead Robbe just shimmies down, licking and biting his own way along Sander’s neck before heading lower.

Sander’s arms tremble with the effort of keeping himself up when Robbe’s lips close around his nipple. He draws his pillow over to bury his face in it as Robbe works a mark into his chest, rolling the opposite nipple under his thumb. Once he’s pleased with his work and Sander’s mumbling his name, he makes his way further south.

The following minutes are quite memorable indeed.

~^~

next

[ask-fantasy-sanders-sides]

What are the ten True Dragon Types? And what's a true dragon? I don't play D+D lol

(( Hey yall! This post is REALLY LONG (and techincally the part one to a much shorter addition about drow dragonblood descendants, here!) but the stuff in it is pretty important, since this game focuses pretty heavily on dragons and I’ve changed quite a bit about them from standard 5e! So, if you have time, maybe take a look ;) ))

(( I got a LOT of the changes to the chromatic dragon’s designs, and the pit organs of the copper dragon, from tumblr user filibusterfrog! Go check out their art and creature designs, they’re mad awesome!! ))

~~~

      True Dragons are the ten subspecies of Dragon who most resemble the ancient goliaths that ruled the entire Material Plane long ago, before it was stolen from them by the ancient Elves, and most of them were killed. They are few in number and don’t tend to band together in clans, but that does not make them weak. They are still huge, immensely powerful beasts, with a natural command of magic and the elements and incredibly long lifespans. 

      (“False Dragons” are either farther removed from their common ancestors, or are not actually related to dragons at all and simply resemble them more than any other creature type, like wyverns and drakes!)

      ((More in-depth explanations below!))

~~~

      After the war with the Elves and their allies, those Dragons who survived split into two pseudo-religious factions; the Metallics, who serve King Bahamut, Platinum Justicebringer, and made peace with the Elves and all other humanoids, and the Chromatics, who revere Queen Tiamat, Chaos Avaricious, who desire to see the world brought back under their thumb. 

(Metallic, strongest -> weakest: Gold, Silver, Bronze, Copper, and Brass.)

(Chromatic, strongest -> weakest: Red, Blue, Green, Black, White)

      These two rulers gained Deity status through their people’s reverence, and in turn shaped the bodies and minds of their people into the dragons we see today: Unlike most Humanoids, Dragons don’t exactly have free will. (Most of their personalities and decisions are directly puppeted by their Gods.) Because of this, the behavior of each Type is pretty consistent across the board, even in half-dragons or dragonblood descendants. Each Type also has a distinctive look, a set of common behaviors and flaws, and a set of Hoarding Behaviors, though they are all incredibly greedy and proud beasts. 

~~~

The Ten True Types:

~

      Black Dragons are slender and wiry, their bodies covered in slick, dense, thick tar-colored fur. Their fur is lighter around their eyes and on their underside, appearing a pale, sickly yellow or green. Their horns are just as pale, and protrude from the sides of their heads and wrap around, projecting forwards. Thick pale skin plates their muzzles and under their eyes, appearing like the naked bone of their skulls. Their front feet have extra skin that acts like a paddle for swimming, and they have flat, paddle-like tales, and the hair at the upper part of their neck sticks out like a large frill. They smell of rotting vegetation and foul water.       By far the cruelest and most vile-tempered of the chromatic dragons, black dragons actively take pleasure in the suffering of weaker creatures. They hoard the ruins of old civilizations and ruined noble houses to imagine the suffering of their endings, and hoard tools of torture they might use to toy with their prey. They desire nothing more than to kill, in whatever way which maximizes the suffering of their chosen victim/s. Their weapon breath is a stream of bubbling green acid.

~

      Blue Dragons have two large horns on their snout much like a rhino, two smaller horns by their ears, and even more horn-bumps lining their thick, crocodile-like tails. Their scales are thin, layered across thick hide-skin like a light chain mesh. They range many shades of blue, with a more cream-colored underbelly, paws, and horns. They have a dark blue mane of hair around their necks and chests, which stretches down their back and tail, between their scutes. Their chests are large and necks are short, but they are lighter than they appear, most of that center mass being applied as muscle that powers their massive wings, more powerful than any other dragon’s. They smell like arid sand, and the burning, static sting of an oncoming storm.

      Blue dragons are ceaselessly vain, more concerned with being respected for their beauty and the beauty of their hoards than for their power. They are even known to spare those who flatter them enough, and allow safe passage to jewel merchants who promise them the finest in their possessions. They are still not to be trusted, and are more likely to mock and toy with lesser creatures than spare them, like cats playing with mice before a meal. They exclusively hoard gems and items laden with them, preferring blue sapphires above all others. Their weapon breath is a stream of powerful lightning.

~

      Brass Dragons are one of the most distinctive. Their wings attach all the way to the tips of their tails, longest at the shoulder, making a V shape from below. Their thin, brass-colored scales -- which start brown when they are young, turn brass, then turn blue in splotches as they age -- radiate heat and light. Large curved plate-like horns extend from the dragon’s eyes and cheeks on either side and curve upwards into two points, and a mass of brass and brown spotted feathers grows behind them, fluffing out around their chest and neck like a lion’s mane before tapering down their back to the tail. They have two sharp horns on their chin that curve downwards, giving their muzzles a faux beak-like shape. They smell like freshly worked metal.

      Brass dragons are the most benign of the ten, wanting nothing more than to converse with other creatures. They love to talk, to the exclusion of every other possible activity. They hoard items that make conversation easier, like sentient magic items, genie lamps, and items with charm effects. Brass dragons have two separate breath weapons: a narrow line of fire, and a cone of sleep gas. (All Metallics have a lethal breath and a non-lethal breath)

~

      Bronze Dragons have small, reflective scales (which are red at infancy but turn bronze in color during adolescence,) and black claws and horns. As they age, the tips of their wings and horns turn teal blue at the edges and tips, and their scales turn teal in long stripes. They have four large horns on each side of their heads, three protruding from each cheek and one from the top of their brow, all pointing back towards their tail. Their tongues are long and purple-grey, with a shallow fork like an iguana’s, and their teeth appear to be forged of broken glass, like the moray eel’s. A series of long spikes runs down the upper part of their necks, the spikes curving slightly backwards towards the tip of the tail. A dorsal fin runs from just beneath these spikes all the way down to the tip of their tails, mirrored by another long fin that stems from under the chest and runs along the underside of the body. Bronze dragons smell like sea spray.

      Bronze dragons are curious and stubborn, possessing a strong sense of justice and a deep-seated hatred for all forms of cruelty. They crave the sea and the pursuit of freedom, often spending their time taking human shape and becoming pirates or seaside mercenaries. They are brilliant military tacticians, and they demand high salaries for their work. The only time they will charge into battle without compensation is when fighting against a powerful tyrant, where they can expect to go all-out, and exercise their true strength without restraint. They hoard keepsakes and memorabilia from the wars they’ve fought and adventures they had, including sunken ships, old cannons, and legendary weapons. They have two breath weapons, a lethal lightning breath and a repulsion breath that does no damage, just moves things around. 

~

      Copper dragons have short, smooth faces, with pit organs and cheek ridges that point backwards. Their long segmented horns begin as smooth brow plates and extend backwards, and plate-like scales extend backwards from the tops of their heads and down their backs, with incredibly thick hide on their underbellies and the insides of their limbs. Their scales are wide and large, like interlocking shields, and dome over their wide bodies, making them look much like pangolins. These scales begin orange, yellow, or green in color, turning copper as that dragon ages, then green in spots and splotches as they reach adulthood, though they remain red-orange around the eyes. Tucked underneath the bottom ridges of the lowest scales are their alar limbs, short but articulated, and manta-like wings grow from them down to the base of their tails. When fully opened, they seem to make a U shape from below, with red and green discolorations at the end. Their tails are long, wide, prehensile, and well-armored, and they have long digging claws.. As they age, these dragon’s pupils turn a glowing turquoise green. They smell like stone.

      Copper dragons are even-tempered and sociable, with an insatiable love for riddles and jokes. They love to share in witty conversation and play “harmless” pranks, but get offended easily at those who don’t like to laugh or talk, and people who do not find them funny. They treasure moments of good companionship, and hoard items that remind them of people and conversations they’ve enjoyed, as well as old tomes that contain their favorite stores. They have two breath weapons; a line of powerful green acid, and a cone of gas that slows anyone who touches it. 

~

      Gold Dragons appear like the typical depiction of a Chinese dragon in our world, but their fur, scales, antler-like horns, and claws are all the color of glittering gold. As they aged, even their pupils faded away until their eyes appeared like pools of liquid gold. Notably, they do not have wings, flying entirely through magic and force of will. They seem to glow in the sun, though whether they are actually glowing or their scales simply reflect sunlight very well is anyone’s guess.

      Gold Dragons are passionate and valorous, desiring nothing more than victory over evil. They are relentless in their hunt for evil creatures, injustices, and foul play of all forms, putting aside all other desires and even often food or shelter to combat cruel forces in the world that require more force than humans are capable of. They are personally grim and reserved creatures -- not unkind, they simply don’t prefer company, and usually avoid casual contact with other creatures, even fellow dragons. They hoard the spoils of their evil-hunting conquests -- hoards of chromatic dragons they’ve slain, jems from the bowels of a purple worm, etc. They have two weapon breaths, being a cone of fire breath and a spray of some chemical gas that weakens all who inhale it...

~

      Green Dragons had long, snake-like bodies and smooth snake-like scales. A large, waving crest fin starts at this dragon’s nose and runs the entire length of their body. Their scales and fins start a dark blue-black when they are young, turning dark green as they reach adulthood, and then their underbelly scales lighten to a paler green as they age. They also have exceptionally long, slender forked tongues.

      Green Dragons were master manipulators and liars, who enjoy corrupting weaker creatures (especially elves) and hoarding them like possessions. They will put up a front of diplomacy and deceit when bargaining with stronger foes, but reveal their true cruel and petty nature when intimidating lesser beings or when they gained the upper hand. They delighted in stalking their chosen enemies for information and exposing other’s secrets, but despised whenever they were exposed in a lie. Their hoard took the form of a network of spies and captives, who the Green Dragon blackmails and manipulates into servitude and dependence. Green dragons are one of the weaker of the true ten and despise getting their hands dirty with violence, counting any encounter that couldn’t be ended with words and mind games as a failure. Their breath weapon is a cloud of yellow poison gas.

~

      Red Dragons appear like the classic English/European dragons, with fire-red scales, reptilian bodies, and large bat-like wings that fray along the edges. Their horns, claws, and underbellies are a pale golden color, growing back from the skull and curling back and upwards towards their wings, twisting on themselves as they grow longer. Red dragons were of an enormous size and wingspan even for dragons, true powerhouses of their species. They smell of smoke and sulfur.

      Red dragons embody the worst of all their kin’s vices. They are voracious over-hunters, vain and covetous hoarders, and cruel, maniacal, sadistic tyrants. Short-tempered and hot-blooded, Red dragons are known to make all decisions without an ounce of forethought, completely confident in their ability to do anything they want. They delighted in the ruin, death, and destruction of other creatures and their settlements, wanting nothing more than to set the planet ablaze and reap the rewards of dead men’s gold. They hoarded anything with material wealth, wishing to be the richest creatures alive.

~

      Silver Dragons’ bodies are tube-like in shape, with soft, iridescent silver fur all over their bodies. The fur on their underbellies and jaws are more white than metallic, with pronounced goatees of longer whiskers under their chins. They have curved wings with two talons instead of the usual one. A beautiful stripe of glittering opalescent fur runs down from the top of their heads all the way to the tips of their tails, sticking up like a spiked frill or mohawk of pearl thread, abruptly fading to a purple hue at the tip. Their antler-like horns and long claws were also pure silver with opalescent purple tips. They smell like rain and petrichor. 

      Wise, noble, and playful, Silver Dragons do not go out of their way to fight evil like the gold or bronze, but wait to be asked for help; They were simply more concerned with protecting those humanoids they had come to befriend than actively seeking out injustices. They are obsessed with the lives and cultures of humans and elves, spending most of their time among them, taking the shape of a humanoid and pretending to be one of the crowd. They desired to spend most of their everyday lives in humanoid form (though it should be remembered that they still consider themselves to be the most superior creatures in the world). They hoarded works of art and historical artifacts with connections to civilizations they admired or befriended, and the friendships they made with humanoid people (though they did not physically keep the people themselves, like Greens and some Brass). Their breath weapons were an icy blast that froze solid all it touched, and a short-lasting paralyzing gas.

~

      White Dragons appear very similar to Silvers, at first glance. But, unlike the lithe and flexible silvers, White dragons are stocky and muscled; still streamlined for maximum speed but built with considerably more strength. They have manes of long, thick white fur on their shoulders and back, stretching down their tails and the outsides of their limbs. Their underbellies, faces, and the inside of their limbs are plated with glittering translucent scales, shining all shades of pearlescent white, icy blue, and opalescent lavenders. Their claws are obsidian-colored and long, optimized for climbing and digging through solid ice, and their tales are tipped with a leathery swimming fin. A singular horn-like crest grows back from their skulls under the mane of long fur, and a large dewlap hands from the underside of their necks, with spikes growing down from it. Like red dragons, their wings appear frayed and punctured towards the ends, but usually aren’t actually damaged. Their eyes are fully black, turning a light purple as they age. They have a crisp, vaguely chemical smell.

      White dragons lack the cruelty of their kin, but they make up for it in pure strength and ferocity. It is believed that they are actually one of the strongest of the chromatic dragons, (unlike their typical placement on the hierarchy,) but because they chose not to engage like other dragons; They purposefully abandon their natural talents for magic, and even their intelligence, choosing to behave as massive animals. White dragons despise socializing or even speaking to other creatures, resorting even to fleeing their lairs for the day if they see someone approaching. If bothered persistently they are known to make deals with other creatures (as long as they aren’t hungry or angry already when you show up), and even form bonds with them, at which point they are very protective and loyal allies. They are some of the most excellent hunters on the Material Plane, seamlessly blending otherworldly intelligence and heightened senses with animalistic vigor and savagery. They are still one of the most dangerous of all ten dragons, though, from their tendency to go full ‘animal’ and hunt any creature that moves. They hoard anything that glitters shines in the light (including chunks of ice), and their breath weapon is a blast of freezing cold.

[neverendingstories00]

Past The Point Of No Return (Ch.3)

Summary: Safin takes you on a tour of your new home and offers an interesting proposition.

Word Count: 4.3k

Warnings: n/a

A/n: Guys, sometime needs to take my labtop away. Safin is 100% going to be the death of me. I cannot stop thinking about this pyscho man PLEASE rearrange my guts. Anyways, school is starting for me tomorrow (today since i’m posting this at like 2:30am). I’ll try and get Ch.4 out asap since that’s where the drama is gonna rise. Also, thank you for all the support and comments! I’m gonna respond to them all tomorrow, I promise. I love ya’ll and enjoy the story!! ❣️❣️

Previous Chapter | Masterlist

Three days had gone by. You refused to leave your room after Safin’s temper tantrum. Three days in isolation weren’t the worst thing in the world even if you had no idea where you were. The room Safin had given you was elegant and bigger than your old flat. It was like if Japanese Zen had met modern times. A living room with endless books and plants connected to a bedroom and large bathroom. You felt like you were in a fancy hotel. Inside of the bathroom was a freestanding club that outlook a rock garden. Of course, you had tried to break the glass or crawl out one of the closet vents, but everything had been locked shut. At one point, you had felt the room had been made just for you (which it probably had been). Safin must have had a lot of time on his hands to be able to construct it. The books that were on the shelves were the same books you owned a home, the candles were all lavender and cherry blossom, and even the small amount of clothes he had offered and gotten your sizing in were accurate to your taste. It was oddly amiable, but alarming that he knew so much about you.

As you finished making your Feng Shi bed, you heard a gentle knock at the door. With years in the military, you had recognized footstep patterns. Safin had light but quick footsteps, his boots always making a clicking noise.  

“Good morning Y/n.” He says, his cold accented voice slightly muffled behind the door. “I wanted to come and apologize for my uncivilized manner a few nights ago. I didn’t realize that you would be in such a sensitive state. I believe adjusting to new surroundings can be quite difficult. The way I acted certainly didn’t help with that. I did not mean to frighten you.”

Rolling your eyes, you didn’t even want to respond. If you could survive on your own in the wilderness for a month, then you could survive in a lavish bedroom in the middle of god no’s where until-

Oh right. There weren’t coming.

“It truly bothers me that you feel the need to isolate yourself in that room.” Safin. Instead of sounding condescending, he seemed genuine and even beseeching. “You haven’t had anything to eat or drink.”

“I’m fine, thank you though.” You coldy reply, seeing it as a facade. Safin was an anarchist, insane and cruel. “You’re a solid actor though, I’ll give you that.”

Safin sighs but doesn’t give in to anger or defeat. “For what I did to you, you have every right to upset at me. I’m upset at myself. I’m sorry for scaring you into isolation, my dear. It was not my intention.”

You refuse to respond, crossing your arms as you hear him let out a loud sigh. Safin looks at the nearest object to throw in frustration but stops himself for her.

“Y/n, I need you to understand that under no circumstance, that I will ever hurt you. You are a resident, not a prisoner. I want to show you my..” He freezes. It’s not a home, it’s a lair. But for y/n’s sake, it was there home. “I mean, our home. It will be short, and I will get you something to eat. After that, I will not bother you if you accompany me for just one hour.”

Two sides of you were battling with each other. The younger and more stubborn part of you wants to say a snarky remark and tell him to kindly fuck off. But the wiser and more calm side of you says that your starving and need to get out. You don’t sympathize with his actions and hate him more than anything in the world. The man threatened to hurt your friends and family if you didn’t obey his commands. But If he was going to hurt you, then why hasn’t he killed you yet? What was the point of keeping you there, knowing that you could possibly kill him with anything? Safin has stalked your whole life, from your clothing sizes to your military history.

You freeze as your fingers fiddle with each other. Letting the villain win always bothered you. But he offered you food and freedom for an hour. He had better kept to his promise. Looking at the door, you break the silence. “I’ll be ready in five minutes.”

He responds, “Take your time.”

Walking over the closet, you look at the outfits organized by monotone colors. Everything seemed the same as you searched for something that wasn’t oversized on you. Eventually, you came down to wearing a black turtleneck, light grayish blue kimono jacket, and olive peg pants with black boots. The clothes were oddly comfortable and looked more expensive than your shitty flat. You hated wearing tight and revealing clothes, so it was doable. Looking in the mirror before you leave, you see your eyes. They’re tired from crying and sleepless nights. Your body had no energy as your stomach rumbled and throat thirsted for water. The last person you wanted to see was Safin, but you truly had no choice.

Opening the door, you see him standing in front of it with a straight posture and hands behind his back. A subtle smile appeared on his face, seeing you walk out.

“You look lovely, y/n.” He compliments as you walk side by side. He thought you could pull anything off and still looking amazing. You looked at him and nod, a silent response of “thank you”.

As you walk down the hallway, Safin noticed y/n limping more than walking. He made sure Serrano and his men had there asses yelled at. They had done everything they weren’t supposed to do; treat you like an animal, hurt, and embarrass her. No wonder y/n hated him, he thought she was going to be a prisoner or some toy for Safin to fiddle around with. As much as Safin yearned for her beauty, he saw her talent and intelligence. She would be useful in many ways.

In an attempt to be a gentleman, he held his arm out for her for support. Y/n, being the woman she was, silently and polarity declined this offer. Safin found it darling that she was so stubborn, refusing the help of others even if she needed it. Seeing you limp and silently groan made Safin’s stone cold heart drop. He wouldn’t be a gentleman if he didn’t help this sweet, little y/n. In a devilish move, Safin tucked his arm under her hand, linking them both. Her clutched fist dangled in his tight hold, wanting to resist. Seeing her [y/s/c] burn up, Safin softly smiled at her. She eventually gave him as her fist unclenched, softly leaning onto him.

The hallways were long and large, lit by hidden lights. From what you could tell, it seemed like an abandoned Russian military site that had been reconstructed by Safin. It was all concrete and void of any color or life. The Architecture was Raw, brutalist, extraordinary. Taking you up a dark hallway, Safin showed you a bright hallway, full of mustard yellow art. Leading you under a dark tunnel, it revealed a large, empty room. In the middle of the room was a large low black table with cushions, and that was it. On the sides were rock gardens full of shrubs and bamboo. You could hear a running river disconnect the gardens from the concrete gray floor. A few guards stared at you for linking arms with Safin. Seeing them whisper made you look down. Safin had noticed and looked at the men, who had fear in there eyes as they stood straight.

Safin explained that his room was where he and Serrano (or other co-workers in his words) would discuss their ordeals. He saw the light in y/n’s slowly disappear, seeing her thoughts run to something else. There wasn’t really much to show considering that Safin was the only man who inhabited the submarine pen. The soldiers and Serrano resided on another part of the island. He didn’t want to bore y/n but wanted to make sure she was adjusted with her new home.

“Are you enjoying everything, my dear?” He asked, Y/n looked up and nodded in response. She looked exhausted and upset, trying to hide it. Her once glowy [y/s/c] skin was turning lifeless and grey. Safin could see that you were miserable and depressed. He knew being trapped in the submarine pen wasn’t ideal, he had been doing it for years and was ever so alone. Having the company of a woman was something he desired more than anything. Over the years his man had brought him women, but they refused to lay with because of his scars. Safin hated seeing the once joyful and bright light he saw in you.

No words came out of your mouth. You once again nod in response, forcing a faked and sad smile. Safin heart breaks seeing you so silent and upset. His grasp tightens on your arm, to squeeze some reassurance into your dying soul.

“My dear, please speak to me.” He gently cooed, looking into her [y/e/c] orbs.

“I’m fine, just please continue…” You sigh in frustration.

Not knowing what to say, Safin simply continues. It had been years since he had touched or even been close to a woman. Having you here with him was a dream come true. He hated having you sleep all by yourself that was in the opposite quarters of him. All he could imagine was y/n’s soft cries into her pillow from giving up on life. He knew what would hopefully cheer you up. Walking up a spiral staircase, Safin opened the door for you to exit. Upon exiting, you were greeted with a beautiful view. Safin allowed you to walk to the edge to admire the breathtaking view. Not one cloud was in the bright, blue sky. The top of the submarine pen was covered in the island’s rich plants. You truly were in the middle of nowhere, you could have been in the Medaterrian or off the coast of Africa. The Island was so beautiful on the outside, yet so depressing and ugly on the inside. The sun shined onto your skin as you felt the gentle breeze through your hair.

You stand on the edge, seeing that the only island in the distance was you. You were surrounded by miles of water, along with the world’s most feared Anarchist. “It’s so..”

“Breathtaking.” He breathed, standing right behind you. You turn around, somewhat scared by how close he was. Your [y/e/c] met with his milky orbs. His face was grey and dark, his sleek black hair, and dark navy clothes were so dark except for his eyes. He had an usual and exotic face. But his eyes were beautiful and mesmerizing. “Just like you, my dear.”

You huff, rolling your eyes. What had been a nice moment turned into Safin trying to subtly flirt, or so that’s what you thought. “Can you please call me y/n?”

A small frown appeared on Safin’s arms. He’s confused about why you don’t enjoy his attention. “Why not, my sweet?”

“Because I’m not your partner,” You clarify. The way those words rolled over his lips made you squirm and your cheeks burn.

“Whatever you say, my little dove.” He smiles, holding you close. A disgusted “ugh” escapes from your mouth. The time you had outside makes you feel somewhat better. Feeling the sun and wind against your skin felt so normal in your little fucked up world.

Safin tried to pull you closer to him, but you pull away. Even if he was trying to be a “gentlemen’, he was still an anarchist who wanted to kill millions and overthrow the government. All you knew was that you weren’t going to fall in love with him, ever. You shrug him off, looking away from him.

“How did you find this place?” You ask to break the silence.

“Me and Serrano discovered this place when I had left Spectre,” He explains, looking around the gardens before back at y/n. “It was an abandoned communist Submarine Pen. Nobody inhabited it, so I simply took it as my own. I was based in Okinawa before I denounced, so I took slight inspiration from the gardens.”

You raise an eyebrow, “Denounced Spectre?”

“One of my targets resurfaced, a young woman. A woman who I spared...who I loved,” Safin stated, “I had let them go and let them live a comfortable life. She promised herself to me, but loved another man...and birthed his child when she was mine. Spectre wanted her alive, I wanted her and her whole family dead. When they didn’t let me kill all of them, I killed every agent I could. All of them.”

Chills had been sent down your spine. When Safin didn’t get his way, he used violence. You never knew Spectre’s downfall, but all along it had been his man. No wonder Bond was able to take them down; it was all because Safin had practically murdered half of them in a rage since he couldn’t kill his ex-lover’s family. Your thoughts began to race. If you didn’t do as Safin pleased, would he truly kill you? Who could have ever loved someone such as Safin? Too many questions came to your mind.

  “So, that’s what you do.” You noted, raising your eyebrows. “Kidnap women and force them to fall in love with you?”

Safin’s face scrunches up with anger, “No, she was different. She was a whore. I never hurt her. I spoiled her and loved her. She betrayed me. But you...” He looks at you with his expressions softening. “Are different. Out of all the women I have encountered, you y/n...are different.”

“That’s all you men come up?” You snort, staring right into his eyes. “Say that were different and then only use us for our bodies? You’re different, Safin. If you don’t get what you please, you act out. You use violence and kill.”

Safin looked at y/n, seeing the smirk on her face. She knew how obsessed he was with her, the anarchist obsessed with the cyrptographer. Safin had no intention of killing you and couldn’t bring himself to kill the woman he was madly in love with. Instead of becoming upset, he saw through you. All y/n was doing was poking the bear, refusing to give into Safin. Safin knew her antics all too well.

“Your hands are not clean either, y/n,” He debated. “Three hundred and thirteen men is a large kill count for such a young woman…”

In your short time in the military, you had achieved one of the highest kill counts in your ranking. Everyone knew you as the girl who never missed. From surviving alone in Serbia and crawling out of building rubble in Iraq, you were respected and feared. But that had been in the past when you still were young and had sanity. Now you were older, wiser, and even more broken. The military had changed your life drastically.

Safin truly knew how to dig under your skin and make you upset. He wanted to see you weak and feel stronger. You refused to let him. A small voice in your head kept telling you, “ Don't play his game. Play yours.”

 “ Safin, you’re the most accomplished stalker I’ve ever met” You chuckle. He’s oddly smiling like nothing was wrong.

“A beautiful bird cannot freely fly in a cage.” The anarchist response, a small smile on his face.  He relinked your arms as you walked back inside of the submarine pen.

Safin saw y/n, once acting up again. Seeing her make small “hmphs” and look away softly made Safin chuckle. He kept telling himself that with time, she would fall in love with him. Y/n was a young and stubborn woman who didn’t go down without a fight. Once Safin had her, he wasn’t going to let her go. Y/n was all Safin’s now. All the anarchist ever desired was to have company in his lonely lair. Not only someone to love but someone he could talk to and even work with. Y/n was the woman of his dreams who he had yearned for. She had to fall in love with him. She didn’t have another choice.

Safin let her slide away but still kept their arms linked. A part of him wanted to carry her to there next location, but he knew that she would probably punch him. In his spare time, Safin spent hours preparing the submarine pen for Y/n’s arrival. The bedroom was designed to fulfill her needs, but that wasn’t the only place that was meant for her.

“Close your eyes,” He says as you arrive at a large door.

You look at him and raise an eyebrow, immediately protesting. “Your going to trap me in a room where I cannot escape, aren’t you?”

“You are a guest, not a prisoner.” Safin reminded. You roll your eyes, deciding to go alone. Closing your eyes, Safin’s opens the door and leads you in. Taking small steps into the room, you can bear water running and birds chirping. A light that wasn’t artificial was projecting onto your skin. Opening your eyes, you couldn’t believe what you were seeing.

You were inside of a large glass atrium that had an open ceiling, showing the sun and cherry blossom tears. Their sakura petals fell into the garden, a few landing on your clothes and hair. Like all of the other gardens in the submarine pen, it was inspired after a Japanese Zen Garden but with color. There were Cherries, Bamboo, Camellias, Lavender, and a range of other flowers. Out of all of the places in your cold and unwelcoming home, this place had shined the brightest. It brought a true smile onto your face. Letting go of Safin, you walk down into the shrubs and are greeted with a small pond and a chabudai with a teapot and two cups.

“Would you like to have some tea?” Safin offers. You turn around and nod, a smile still on his face. Your not smiling at him, but the beauty of the garden. Before, the flat you had lived in was too small to host a garden (you also lived in the heart of Chelsea). As a substitute, your garden was a bunch of homemade terrariums and flowers. It felt like ethereal heaven.

The two of you sit down in the garden. Safin loves to see you so memorized with all of the plants. He had been in your apartment a few times when you weren’t there. He didn’t know how you managed to live in such a contained space. He had noticed all of the flowers and candles you had kept around and tried to replicate it best. He wasn’t doing something for himself, but his y/n.

“ Your smile is like the flowers in the spring.” He compliments. You look at him as you admire the diverse range of flowers that surround you. “It’s divine.”

“Oh..” You say as you feel your cheeks burn. This man was not going to stop until he got what he wanted. Safin went from kidnapping you to giving you a beautiful garden, along with subtle flirting. You weren’t really into dating much and never were hit on, even if you were a young woman. “Um, thank you..?”

He pours you a cup of Chai tea, and the two of you sit there, drinking in silence. Safin refuses to take his eyes off of you, admiring your every breath you take. Seeing you look at the flowers, fiddle with the cup, and small strands of hair fall into your face as you push them behind your ear. Everything about you was so magical to Safin. No matter what, Safin was going to make y/n fall in love with him. The two of you had enjoyed your tea in peace. Out of all of the madness, being in the gardens brought you peace.

Safin had let you enjoy the moment until he asked the question that he had been pondering about. “Do you love me?”

You nearly spit your tea out. Safin had been subtly flirting with you, but hearing him say the world love made you nearly choke. His face looked surprised, waiting for an answer. You had barely been around this man for a week, and he was already claiming he loved then. Then again, he did stalk you.

“I..um..no?” You spit, furrowing your thick eyebrows. The question had caught you completely off-guard.

Safin smiles, nodding at the response. Although upset at your answer, he knows that you will eventually have to give into him. Safin always got what he wanted, no matter the cost. “Fair enough, you will come around with time.”

The younger and more stubborn part of you would have loved to throw the tea into his hideous face and beat him. But it wasn’t so simple. Safin was a dangerous and mysterious man. The reason Europe was probably going to go into a civil war was because of him. M16 was probably going to have it’s a downfall because his blood became tainted on your hands. Not only were your friends were at risk, but so was your family. Safin had made a threat that if you didn’t comply, then he would...hurt them for you to love you. You couldn’t love a man that would hurt your family and drag them into your mess.

So you did the selfless act. You, a young woman, sacrificed yourself to Safin so your family could be safe from him. You would comply but at a price. No matter the cost, you wouldn’t give Safin exactly what he wanted.

Y/n was giving him the silent treatment again. Her face scrunched up as she looked away, annoyed.

“More like a thousand years.”

“Listen to me, my dear. I will strike a deal. Every night, I will ask you at dinner if you love me. Tell me no as much as you want. I don’t care how long it takes for you to come to your senses.” Safin proposes his plan. He sees y/n’s sudden interest with his “idea.”

“And when I do?”

“The next day will be your wedding day.”

Your jaw almost drops to the ground. Safin was an insane man; you already knew that. He was delusional enough to think that you were going to love him, but marry? That was a whole other level.

“You told Q in Athens you wanted to fall in love before you married, so I have given you however long you need.” He reassures. “But I know it will happen.”

You look at him with pure hate in your eyes. Words could barely process in your mind. You clench your teacup so tightly that you don’t even care if it begins to burn your palms. Safin had a smile on his face. He stood up and walked over to you, helping you up.

“I can get up myself, thank you very much,” You grumble as you walk ahead of him. Safin catches up and walks right beside you, seeing your anger. He pulls you closer than he did last time, tightly holding onto you. He knew that you weren’t going to protest if your family and friends were on the line. As you walk back to the bedroom, you feel relieved since being with Safin is emotionally exhausting. You mentally declare that he is one of the most insane men you had ever come across.

He stops in front of the door. A pissy “goodbye” leaves your mouth before Safin takes your hand, spinning you around. Your faces are even closer now. He smells like an expensive cologne with his haunting, big green eyes. The scars on his face aren’t burns, but horrid cuts that mutated his whole face. His hands were cold and rough from all of the scars. Safin doesn’t speak at all and just looks at your face in a creepy manner.

You feel his fingers brush against your skin as he puts a camellia behind your hair.  Safin backs away, a smile on his face as he adores you. Out of all of the gloom in his life, y/n was ever so bright. She had been caught off guard when he placed the flower in her hair. His beautiful bride to be.

“I thought it would go well with your hair,’ He purrs as his fingers stroke it. “Anything would look lovely on you.”

Holding back at eye-roll, a soft sigh escapes your lips. “Thanks…”

“I hope you enjoyed our time together. The garden is for you and only you. Feel free to wander as you please. After all, this is our home now.” He slowly backs away, seeing your eyes watch him disappear down the fall. “I will be pack to pick you up for dinner at seven. Goodbye, my sweet y/n.”

Once he disappeared, you retreat back to your room and slam the door. You see yourself in the mirror with a bright flower in your hair. The hair you had combed had been touched by Safin, making you cringe. As much as you hated him, this new place was your home. This would be your life from now on, whether you liked it or not. Your family and friends’ lives were on the line. It wasn’t such a horrible life. The submarine pen was void of all life but lavish. If being in love with Safin meant your mother and sister would be safe, then so it be. You couldn’t believe you, a simple cryptographer, was the Anarchist’s, true love. Sighing in the mirror, you ask yourself a question that will never be answered.

What the hell had you gotten yourself into?

[rogues-r-we]

MASSIVE SPOILERS FOR SPG'S 1896 ALBUM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

hey everyone! since this is my first time being around for an SPG release, i figured i'd do a review of it! i'll go song by song, and rate the regular versions and the accoustic versions separately! i'll also rank art.

1) COVER ART

Bunny and Gabi really blew this one out of the park! I love the 80's neon theme that the band went with, it feels nolstalgic and vibe-y! SCORE: 15/10

2) BAD DAYS ON THE HORIZON

ART: It's super unique, and i love the color scheme! SCORE: 10/10

REGULAR: the backing vocals from Penyaks and Friends™️ sounded really good! my only issue is that david sounded like he was straining really hard on some of those high notes, and he does NOT need to be destroying his chords. other than that, we love a good cowboy love ballad. SCORE: 9/10

ACCOUSTIC: classic country song. this is the only country music I will accept ever (except for Dolly Parton). SCORE: 10/10

TOTAL SCORE: 29/10

3) EAT YOUR HEART

ART: ughhhh i love pastel gore SCORE: 13/10

REGULAR: this song is definitely in my top 5, it's so boppy and i'm a sucker for songs that are upbeat yet depressing (see: i'll rust with you). also bunny is vvv talented and her vocals on this are super pretty. SCORE: 13/10

ACCOUSTIC: it's still good, bunny's vocals and the harmonies are kickass, but it's waaay too slow. SCORE: 8/10

TOTAL SCORE: 34/10

4) HOT ON THE TRAIL

ART: edgy spine edgy sPINE EDGY SPINE SCORE: 10/10

REGULAR: this is (for me) my 2nd favorite DMB song on this album, you can feel the raw emotion emitting from his vocals (even more so through the music video). unlike bdoth, he sounds less strainy on this one. SCORE: 10/10

ACCOUSTIC: heavenly. gorgeous. backing vocals are so pretty. omfg. SCORE: 13/10

TOTAL SCORE: 32/10

5) INTERTWINED

ART: absolutely beautiful, i love that it's canon that zer0 also has heterochromia like rabbit. also i wanna learn more about the little cat dude at the bottom, gimme the deetz. SCORE 10/10

REGULAR: gorgeous. stunning. incredible. flawless harmonies. SCORE: 13/10

ACCOUSTIC: gorgeous. flawless. stunning. incredible. well blended. a piece of artwork. SCORE: 15/10

TOTAL SCORE: 38/10

6) LATUM ALTERUM (YA YA YA)

ART: hehehe i love eyeless demon queens SCORE: 10/10

REGULAR: beautiful. i want more spg uke music. SCORE: 10/10

ACCOUSTIC: cute n quirky. SCORE: 10/10

TOTAL SCORE: 30/10

7) LYIN AWAKE

ART: color scheme is AMAZING, also glowy eyes are p r e t t y. SCORE: 10/10

REGULAR: brian needs to share some of that absolute TALENT with the rest of us, he aced the songs on this album. SCORE: 13/10

ACCOUSTIC: artwork. absolute magical art. SCORE: 15/10

TOTAL SCORE: 38/10

8) OLLY AND THE EQUINOX BAND

ART: hey did you guys know i love the 70s cartoon and music aesthetic? SCORE: 15/10

REGULAR: why is wa-wa guitar so appealing? also harmonies are stellar and drum-o is my babie. SCORE: 15/10

ACCOUSTIC: is at the same level as the original, but i miss my wa-wa guitars. SCORE: 13/10

TOTAL SCORE: 43/10

9) SHATTERED STARS:

ART: preeeeeetty :3 SCORE: 10/10

REGULAR: fun, fresh, and funky. SCORE: 10/10

ACCOUSTIC: it's so good...how is it so good...i love how much better you can hear the harmonies in the accoustic versions (for all of them). SCORE: 13/10

TOTAL SCORE: 33/10

10) TRANSFORM

ART: i love the two sides being original rabbit and current rabbit🥺 SCORE: 13/10

REGULAR: a masterpiece. makes me cry every damn time. SCORE: 15/10

ACCOUSTIC: also absolutely beautiful SCORE: 13/10

TOTAL SCORE: 41/10

11) WHATS IN A NAME

ART: n/a

REGULAR: cute and silly SCORE: 10/10

ACCOUSTIC: n/a

TOTAL SCORE: 10/10

12) LAYING DOWN IN YOUR ARMS

ART: n/a

REGULAR: goddamnit david stop teasing VQ part two, also the people playing olly, sully, and nelly are absolutely incredible!!!!! SCORE: 20/10

ACCOUSTIC: n/a

TOTAL SCORE: 20/10

13) OVERTURE

ART: n/a

REGULAR: a solid vibe SCORE: 10/10

ACCOUSTIC: also a vibe, just slightly less SCORE: 9/10

TOTAL SCORE: 19/10

IN ORDER, MY FAVORITE TO LEAST FAVORITE TRACKS ARE:

1. Olly and the Equinox Band

2. Transform

3. Intertwined/Lyin Awake

4. Eat Your Heart

5. Shattered Stars

6. Hot On The Trail

7. Latum Alterum (Ya Ya Ya)

8. Bad Days on the Horizon

9. Laying Down in Your Arms

10. Overture

11. What's in a name

THIS IS ABSOLUTELY NO HATE TOWARDS SPG! THIS IS JUST MY OPINION ON THE ALBUM!

All of the album is absolutely FANTASTIC, there's just gotta be some you like a little less, you know?

Great job to Bunny, David, Brian, and crew for creating such a magnificent album! I'm so glad I got to be in the fandom for the release of a new album!

[ginko-forever]

All right! Since I’m bored and have nothing else to do today, I’m gonna binge mushishi and post my thoughts while I watch! (I’m watching the dubbed btw)

Episode 1: The Green Seat

Wow, I forgot how much I love the voice of the intro. Like, it feels like it’s almost creepy but it just ends up being calming to me.

I LOVE THIS THEME SONG

The sore feet song just awakens something in me

And I love all the vague plant aesthetic during the song

I LOVE TRAVIS WILLINGHAM’S VOICE

The background art is so gorgeous

Ok, so the little ink bird the kid makes, Ginko just sees it and grabs it therefore crushing it. But he’s so against killing mushi so shouldn’t he have tried to catch it first or something? I know the ink bird isn’t technically a mushi, but still. Maybe he thought it was a bug?

His eye is beautiful, such a gorgeous blue-green color

I love the way that the kids drawings come to life how they don’t manifest as a full creature but more like the ink peeling off the page and moving around keeping its shape

If he drew a human would it come out as an actual human or just stay as an ink outline?

I bet that would depend on how he draws it like how later in the episode the bowl comes into reality as an actual object instead of just an ink outline

This face cracks me up

I love how easy it is for Ginko to get people to talk to him about stuff and I know in this episode it’s partly because the kid is completely alone all the time and probably misses human interaction, but still

Why is the kid making wine???

I LOVE THE DESIGNS OF THE MUSHI

They’re so ethereal and flowy and pretty

The hand analogy to explain mushi is so great

I love that the mushi are described as being at “the place closest to your heart” and life at its purest form

They’re definitely at the place closest to MY heart

Ginko just said what people call ghosts are actually mushi of some sort... I love that concept of ghosts not being dead people but just this different kind of life form

Is it weird that I wish there were mushi in our world? They would make it so interesting

I want to be a mushishi wandering without a destination

Why is the mushi girl on the ceiling???

Love that Ginko just keeps a mushi that sticks to other mushi

Ginko’s favorite color is green

The moment of realization in his eyes, but he’s able to keep his expression under control and keep up the snarky voice

I love his snarky voice

Oh my gosh he’s so observant

Just from those few sentences he can completely analyze that she’s not a full mushi and used to be human and even has an idea of how it happened and how to help her

I love how you can practically feel all the points connecting rapid fire in his mind

The specific tone in his voice that makes him give off vibes that you shouldn’t trust this strange man but yet at the same time his confidence with everything makes you trust him 100%

I love his calm voice when he’s explaining things. If he did a podcast where he talked about mushi I would listen to it every night while falling asleep because his voice is just so calming

The mushi in human form for the mushi banquet are honestly actually pretty creepy

Also why do they choose someone to become a mushi?

When Ginko tells him that the mushi half of his grandma has stayed in the house watching him since the day he was born... honestly Ginko, that’s a little more freaky than comforting

Ginko says the kid can’t see he because she’s not a full mushi, but so then how come Ginko can see her? Is it because he’s a mushishi? Can all mushishi train themselves to see half-mushi? Or can he see her because he’s practically half mushi himself?

Ginko you sneaky little man

Promises he won’t watch him draw

Pokes a hole in the screen anyways

Specifically thinks “since he told me not to, I just have to look”

Bring this man to a museum and he’ll touch everything with a “do not touch” sign

So the kid just imbues the brush with green paint by thinking about it... has he done that before or is this the first time?

When the cup pops up from the page the kid looks surprised, I feel like it must be the first time he’s drawn something like that and had it fully come to life instead of just an ink outline

Grandmas just sitting up in the tree

Nice catch Ginko

Love the glowy liquid

Why did it turn the grandma into a full mushi but not do anything to the kid when he takes a sip? Do they have to specifically have been invited to the banquet for the liquid to have an affect on you?

Also how weird suddenly having your grandma be your age

I wanna drink the mushi liquid

I LOVE THE RIVER OF LIGHT

Dumb crow interrupting the banquet

So the mushi ask her to watch over her grandson all his life as a favor for them... why do they care about that??? Why do these specific mushi have enough sentience to care and want someone to watch over the kid with special powers? Would his powers affect them negatively if abused?

IM SCREAMING THE SOUND EFFECT OF THE CUP SPLITTING IN HALF AS SHES SPLIT FROM PART OF HERSELF!!!!! SO GOOD!

The real question is did the part of herself that kept growing old remember the banquet at all?

Probably not I’d guess. I bet the part of her that got left behind is the part that could see mushi

I love that the light wine makes everything grow

I love that Ginko just chooses to leave without a trace. I wonder if he’s considered a local cryptid in some areas

So is the kid just gonna live the rest of his life in the mountains with his unaging mushi grandmother and just never see anyone else ever?

Ginko you little theif just taking the wine glass

Ultimately: a very good episode, good introduction to the world of mushishi

I LOVE THE SOUNDTRACK

[moonlightreal]

Fate Episode Two

Last time on Fate: Silva was surprisingly interesting, Stella was surprisingly pitiable, and Terra was surprisingly badass.  What surprises await in episode two?

In which we have a magic class.

Promising start, Silva and Dowling walking in beautiful Irish landscape, talkin’ worldbuilding!  The “Blackwoods massacre.”  Silva killed thirteen, or at least helped kill thirteen.  

They’re going to check on the Burned One they have doped to the gills and locked up in a shed.  Dowling is going to read its mind and hopes to find it’s the only one around.  Dowling crouches down by the Burned One and her eyes glow silver.  So she’s a Mind Fairy like Musa, I guess.   She gets flashes of the Burned One killing the shepherd and chasing Bloom.

But WE know Beatrix came and woke this Burned One up, so we weren’t surprised when it leaps for the grownups!

Opening sequence!  Still good music.

Bloom waking up.  Aisha’s already been up for hours.  Aisha suggests, “get up!  Be excited!  Today you get to learn to use your magic!”

Waking up montage!  Musa and Terra being friendly.  Terra asks Musa if she can detect lies or “social niceties” heh.  A sensible question, Terra!  But Mua’s not a lie detector, just emotions.  But it seems like she can feel every single emotion Terra feels in realtime, which… how would you LIVE?  How far is her range, if it’s just the closest person the school should’ve giver her her own room, if it’s all the girls how has she not gone completely barmy by now?

And of course Musa isn’t a walking lie detector, this show is going to have a “but who summoned the Burned Ones” plot and lie detection would mean no Plot!

Terra’s changind in the bathroom and Aisha comes in and sits down on the toilet just right in front of her and then strips and hits the shower also right in front of her.  O_o  Terra flusters and looks away, clearly full of shame about her own body compared to Aisha’s.  Poor Terra.  Aisha seems oblivious, she just asks if anyone’s seen Stella.

Cut to Stella walk of shame coming in.  

Musa: ‘That outfit looks similar to yesterday’s.  Same designer?”

Buuuurn! Ok, that’s mean but after Stella’s “they expect me to care about how I look” last episode Musa is kinda delivering karma here.

Bloom hears them talking and comes out of her room to say the Burned One took the portal ring.  Stella’s upset.  Musa: “Calm down, princess.”

Yep, Stella’s a princess!  “My mom is the queen and the ring you lost is one of the crown jewels of Solaria.  That might not mean much to a First Worlder so feel free to ask your suitemate how much of a screwup that is!”

Aisha brings the logic: “Almost as big as giving it to her in the first place.’

They say Dowling has the Burned One locked up, if it was loose in the First World even for a little while that’d be a disaster.  Stella dribbles the idiot ball saying nobody should tell dowling about the ring, she’ll figure out what to do after class.  “and can someone make sure Terra knows that?  She can never keep her mouth shut.” and Stella opens the door and there’s happy Terra squirming into a vest that looks like it doesn’t fit but sunny as a daisy.

Cut to Beatrix with her hair down walking up some stairs.  She’s going to Dowling’s office again, to “see if she needs an escort” down to the stone circle where the first-year class is being held.  But obviously she really came hoping nobody would be there so she could snoop.  Also, beatrix has an interesting pendant that might be magic or not.  I don’t think they had a big prop budget in this show; the portal ring wasn’t much.

Outside Iiiiiireland!  Green!  Waterfall!  And here’s the stone circle! it’s not very big, the stones are low and the dolmens are actally seats.  The first year class is less than twenty people, though we do see a few of fate’s minor fairies in the shot.  Dowling has “the vessel’ a big silver dish, maybe two foot wide.  Beatrix could’ve been trying to get her hands on that too.

Dowling teaches: “Magic lives in the very fabric of nature.  And here in our circle of stone it’s magnified.  The vessel tests your ability to channel that magic.  Further down the line you may learn to connect with other elements but your first year is all about the element you were born with...”

And here the girls show off their powers as in the trailer.  

“Earth. Soil, sand, rock, and all manner of plant life.”  terra looks so happy as she coaxes ivy vines up.

“Water. The lakes and oceans of the world, or the molecules that exist in all organisms around us.’  So could Aisha do bloodbending?  Or pull water out of a person ‘til they drop from dehydration?  How dark is this show gonna go?

“The mind.  Thoughts, memories, dreams.”  Poor Musa just holds a bubble of ripply air and her eyes glow purple.  They could at least have given her some glowy lines around her eyes like Psyloche or Jean Grey in her pre-fiery incarnations.  And yeah, “mind” instead of ‘spirit’ for the sixth element it does WORK it just...

“I know! Let’s base magic on the traditional magical elements! That’ll be a fresh new take!” Said every fantasy showrunner ever. Smh.  One of the cool things in Winx was that it opened way more possibilities.  Telekinetic-flute Musa would’ve been more fun than this Musa whose power so far just makes her and Terra’s roommate life difficult.  I hope there’s good plot reason for it all later.

“Air. Speed, temperature, sound, its power.  And electrical properties.” Beatrix stretches lightning between her hands and smirks and sideeyes like the villainess she thinks she is.  So is Beatrix The Flash?  Can she create phantom sounds, maybe mimic voices?  Freeze people?  Be nice if she could freeze people, give her one of Icy’s tricks.  And if she can throw lightning… uh, that’s a lot of powers for one person.  Who is a baddie.

“Whatever your element, the emotions underlying it are the same for all fairies.”

Bloom gets up to take her turn.  Her eyes flame up but she’s not getting much more than sparks.  The other students look at each other and snicker.  Dowling says, ‘focus on clear, positive feelings.”  and Aisha like a bonehead says, ‘What about your parents?  Focus on how much you love them?”  Aisha, not ten minutes ago in this episode Bloom told you she was trying not to have feelings about this changeling thing.  You’re an idiot.

Bloom says it’s not working.  Dowling says feel don’t think, and Musa singsongs something to Aisha that I couldn’t catch after rewinding 3 times.  Finally Bloom just says, ‘It’s not happening, can we please move on?” and we cut to class being over and they’re all leaving.

Bloom says to Dowling, ‘I’m either on the verge of killing everyone or I can barely light a match.”  Dowling says she just needs a clear mind, “Distraction can cause magic to be erratic.”

And then Dowling says, “So we have exercise classes, meditation classes, and I’ve signed you up to talk with a specialist fairy councilor to help you figure out your relationship with your parents...” oh wait, no she doesn’t.  She turns away.  

Bloom bursts out, ‘Am I a changeling?” and says how Aisha told her. Dowling’s face confirms it.  ‘i didn’t want to burden you with too much too quickly.

Bloom: “So instead you let me learn from teenagers, the most gentle and reliable sources of information.’  Ahahahaha!  Love it!  So self aware.  

Dowling admits that was not ideal, then snaps at Bloom when she says, ‘Ya think?”  Bloom deflates.  She asks who her real parents are but Dowling doesn’t know.  Just, ‘Come to class every day, you focus, you learn, you grow.  Eventually the answers will come.”  She turns away.

Bloom: “Cryptic and vague just like everything else in this place.” Iknowright?  I’m starting to feel less like Dowling is sus and more like Dowling is just a bad teacher.  Why was there no, “And I will help you find out.’ Dowling suspects Bloom is a very important changeling and knows her magic can be very destructive, why isn’t she working harder to get Bloom what she needs to become an emotionally put-together nondangerous fairy?

We go from here to the Specialists doing martial arts!  Sky and Riven are watching Dane and a girl face off.  Apparently last year Riven was kind of a hopeless case until sky befriended him.

Sky goes off to see Stella, who’s coming over, and Riven gets up to creepy-flirt with Dane.  Apparently Dane accidentally putting a like on one of Riven’s sexy pics is something that could ruin him before the whole school?  I guess it could out him.  There is something sexual in Riven’s menacing, he’s sitting right next to Dane with their faces close together.

And then Riven un-creeps completely and starts giving Dane advice about “chose your friends wisely, focus.  Being a good specialist is about strategy not how big and strong you are.”  then he calls a big specialist named Mikey over for a bout and takes him down handily.  He turns to Dane with a big wholesome grin, “You see?”

Uh. I guess Riven is your standard perv; when he’s not being creepy he’s very likeable.  Makes you want him to not be the kind of guy he so clearly is.

Over with Sky, Stella’s asking him where they might keep the Burned One. Sky says he’ll break out the maps, and suggests they tell Dowling. But Dowling took an oath to the queen, and if the queen found out Stella lost the ring… Stella looks teary-scared.  What of, exactly? She hugs Sky and maybe it’s just my pity for this poor washed-out Stella but I do get the vibe that she’s not being a queen bee, she’s scared and Sky is helping her and it’s not about romance. Then silva comes over and she covers it up with, “so just let me know about the Celtic runes quiz when you find out.  Thanks Sky.”

Huh. Using earth runes for Otherworld magic.  I feel an extra post about this comin’ on.

Stella leaves.  Silva doesn’t even have to give Sky a look, Sky says, ‘you don’t have to lecture me, I’m lecturing myself for it in my head.’  Heh.  And Silva says, ‘My guess is you would ignore your own lectures as well.’  Hah!  And they have a great little teacher-student chat.  Silva promised Sky’s dad to look after him, and the famous Andreas of Eraklyon would’ve said the same thing but with more profanity.  Heh.

Is Sky’s dad dead?  I got the vibe he died in the last magic battle with the Burned Ones but I don’t think they’ve actually said it. Anyway, good lil scene there, show!

We go now to Bloom’s room where she has, ooh! A spell book!  Of Celtic runes!  It’s a fat book, and ok I only know the Norse runes but there’s only 24 of ‘em and you could maybe squeeze out a few pages of meanings and uses for each one plus readings and ok if you added lots and LOTS of spells...  And the Celts didn’t use runes, strictly speaking, they used the Ogham alphabet which is basically runes being an alphabet of straight lines but it does have its own name.

Her other book is called Magical Flora and Fauna.  

While she unpacks these books from her bag Bloom is on the phone with her mom.  Bloom describes her roommate as, ‘Perfect.  Overachiever, athlete, morning person...’ and mom says, ‘and you get to spend so much time with her...” just savoring it, but in a joking way. This conversation was very sweet.  And Bloom’s mom has a watch set to Switzerland time so she knows it’s time for Bloom to go to bed. that’s really sweet.  It’s clear Bloom’s parents do love her, but how regular were meltdowns like the one that set the house on fire?  Like Riven, people can be both great people and horrible people.

And they are so unlike Mike and Vanessa that I’m not calling them Mike and Vanessa.  Fate clearly didn’t mean for them to be the same characters.

Late afternoon outside.  Beatrix approaches Riven and enlists him to break into Dowling’s office because he seems like a “proper delinquent.” and also “because you’re a guy and I’m hot.” Pfft!  Uh.  Go, Beatrix?  Own your power?  “Or did I underestimate the depth of your character?”  Heh.  Beatrix heads off without waiting for Riven’s answer.

In the cafeteria Aisha and Musa get dinner.  Aisha is wearing a bright yellow ankle-length skirt what is with the costumes in this show!  At least Musa’s got her appropriately colored red jacket.  She talks about her power being always on and how that makes crowded places a nightmare, and reads some people’s minds.  Then she reads one guy’s mind and meaningful music plays.  What is this?

They go sit with Terra and Bloom and Aisha is again on the ball trying to help Bloom figure out her emotions so she can control her magic because she’s worried bloom’s too distracted by the changeling thing.  And yeah everybody knows about that now.

Terra: “Oh is that why you were freaking out about the vessel that makes so much sense because that’s about the easiest assignment we’ll have aaaaand I’m making it worse.”  Musa had to signal Terra to shut up, but good save.  The girls are being nice to each other, I like that.  Aisha is epically bad at the skill of helping, but she is trying to help.  Gee, if only there were school councilors who had studied the skill of helping!  

Stella and Sky come over with a map of Alfea and Terra starts pointing out all the locations and starts a story from her childhood and even Stella’s glare won’t shut her up.

Sky sits down by Bloom and asks if she’s ok after last night.  “I think you’re freaking out and pretending you’re not.”  

Poor Stella can’t decide who she hates more, chattering Terra or talkin’-to-my-guy Bloom!  Hope Stella gets her head on straight about Sky soon.  After Musa and Riven in season 8 my eyes have run out of roll. 9_9  

They figure out the likliest place for the Burned One to be chained up and Stella says, “We just have to go there and get my ring.” But Musa and Aisha say this isn’t a “we” problem, more of a “you” problem.  Stella pulls out her worst side and says to Bloom, “But ‘I’ didn’t lose it.” and Bloom’s down to go.  Even knowing she has no control over her magic.  But the Burned One is chained up and drugged with some oil that Terra’s father makes.  Called Zambak or something.  They can maybe get some more.  that’s sensible. Nasty Stella says, ‘thank you Terra, thank you Bloom for taking responsibility, and everyone else thanks for… nothing.’ and smirks and gathers up her map.

Yeesh, Stella’s catty!  

Also, how do they know Dowling and Sliva haven’t already searched the Burned One?  Do Burned Ones have pockets?  And Burned Ones carry a disease that kills you if you get scratched by one, so is it even safe to touch them at all?  Does Stella have a plan for a magical hazmat suit or something?  Have y’all really thought this through?

I think Bloom stealth rolls her eyes at the cattyness, and then she goes outside.  To what looks like a hedge maze with a pond where IS this place?  Sky follows and says, ‘You don’t have to go along with what Stella says just because she’s got a… strong personality.”  But Bloom’s mind is made up which makes her also a strong personality.

Sky awkwardly explains he dated Stella last year and they had a rough breakup, trying to set out his situation for Bloom so she won’t think he’s ‘that guy’ but Bloom sensibly points out they only met yesterday and she already has enough complication in her life.  

Meanwhile our conspirators are working out Dowling’s schedule in a library somewhere.  Riven knows already!  Dowling’s secretary is named Callan.  

And Riven is trying soooo hard to prove he’s a bad boy.  Hood up, pouring booze from a decanter, saying he smokes weed with his vape. If you gotta try that hard, you have already failed.

Beatrix meanwhile is petting the books.  She’s not after test answers, she’s beyond the stuff they teach.  She wants secrets.  “the history of this place is a lot darker than Dowling an the rest of the faculty want us to know.’

Riven: “So wait you’re like some hot fucked-up history nerd.’  Heh.

And Beatrix comes over and sits on Riven and the camera thankfully doesn’t make us watch them making out!

Musa’s in the cafeteria, she detects that guy again.  She follows him-- to a closed door.

Bloom’s gone back to the stone circle!  The vessel is still there, which seems stealable, and we see it’s full of crystals.  Bloom opens her red notebook and we see her notes “clear mind = emotional control + stronger magic” and “positive magic > lasts longer.”  But just as she starts trying to summon fire…

“I hear you’re broken.  In more ways than one.”  Stella, that was mean and that costume does nothing for you.  Are long skirts in style in Italy?  Heck, they could be in style in America for all I know, I haven’t seen other people in ten months.

Stella briefly acts nice, telling Bloom her notes are the problem magic has to come by feel.  Then she turns and starts a mocking list of things she thinks Bloom might have listed as sources of positive emotion. Then Stella goes for the changeling thing, and pushes Bloom to use her rage to call fire.  Bloom summons fire and jumps back.  Stella says, ‘What?  You think you’re done?” So Stella is going to just abuse Bloom to get her magic working?  Great, just great.  Ugh. I suppose later on she’ll say, “It had to be done, we didn’t have time for you to figure it out the normal way.’ and that’ll be fine and nobody will punish Stella for creating a danger to herself and the whole school.

Also, Stella goes for “worthless changeling” which ok anything will be nasty in that voice but what’s wrong with being a changeling?  not like Bloom had any say in what her parents did when she was just born.  And Aisha called it barbaric… was changeling-swapping used for some awful purpose back in ancient times that created a stigma? What?  I sense worldbuilding, and Fate you’d better deliver!

Or there is no stigma to being a changeling and Stella’s just poking Bloom where it hurts.  Or if Stella knows about the mysterious Rosalinda she may have put the dates together and realized Bloom could be the daughter of the great heroine and destined for main-characterhood.  And Stella may be getting jealous.

Also 2, Stella’s basically using Sith philosophy.  Didn’t you ever see Star Wars, Stella?  Heck, maybe she has and she’s doing it on purpose.

Also 3, I may need to do a separate post about magic and emotion.  It’s easier to get to angry from happy than to happy from… anywhere. it’s just how brains work.  So everybody ever would discover rage works better and… I don’t even know where the worldbuilding would have to go from there.

Ok. That was a lot of thoughts and my mid-episode break on a Friday night.  (dinner, watched some Classic Doctor Who, wrote some fanfic, went to bed, got up, wrote more fanfic, walked my pokemons, and here we are again.) We rejoin the episode at definitely-night at Alfea.  Dowling has no lighting in her office.  Silva comes in saying the other realms have had zero Burned Ones sightings.  Silva wants to move the Burned One to the queen’s prison before the students start trying to find it. Silva is a sensible guy.  (also his first name is Saul, which I learned already on Tumblr.  I’m not the only one who thinks he’s a good character it seems.)

And I guess Dowling goes along with it because here come 3 black SUVs from the queen’s army, lookin’ very Jurassic Park as they roll across the fields.  No roads around Alfea I guess.  Doomful music plays.  I think something very Jurassic Park is about to happen to these poor guys…

Also, it’s day when before it was night.  Is it the next day?  A few days on?  Time & lighting in this show!

The soldiers stop when they see a dark figure, but it’s just someone in a cloak.  There’s a growl…

The girls waking up!  I guess it’s the morning of day 3 now.  Aisha makes her bed as Bloom snoozes away.  Aisha sees Bloom’s notebook, conveniently left open to Bloom’s notes about “Is Stella right that I should use hatred and fear?”  Aisha is concerned that her roommate is considering the ways of the Sith.

She talks to Musa about it on the way to (I presume) breakfast.  Bloom and Stella were ouit late last night.  But Musa thinks Aisha is just jealous that Bloom and Stella may be becoming friends.  And Musa’s eyes glowed so I guess that’s what Aisha was thinking?  Aisha changes the subject to the boy Musa’s chasing.  Musa says she senses him behind her but there’s nobody there… then he Kitty Prydes it in through the wall.  ‘Mystery solved.  Earth fairy.” and Aisha just calls him over and introduces the two of them and says Musa’s been stalking him.  As Musa quietly swears hatred to Aisha’s children unto generations, but is kind of laughing too.  Musa turns and Sam says, ‘Lucky me.” and Aisha leaves them to get acquainted.

We go to Terra in the greenhouse where she’s doing planty things and teaching Dane chemistry.  They have pipettes in the Otherworld, and they’re called pipettes.  Dane has a glass chemistry apparatus.  Is he doing chemistry or potions?  ‘Cause they are two different disciplines!

Terra coaxes a flower from a bud with her magic, and Dane says it’s cool. Cute scene.

Interrupted by Riven texting to ask if Dane is training or busy picking flowers.

More cuteness, Dane teases Terra asking if she’s making drugs, apparently meth exists in the Otherworld too, and Terra tells him about the anti-Burned One oil she’s making.  Dane is helping with preparation while Terra does the magic bits.

Riven sends a picture of someone picking petals off a flower and Dane says he has to go.  Poor Terra is abandoned.

Riven is in a dark room smoking.  He shows Beatrix his phone and she says, ‘Homophobic gay-bashing via gif. Truly you’ve reached your peak clever.”  Riven explains he doesn’t care if Dane is gay, he wants to make him less lame.  Well-intentioned bullying.  That is weirdly thought-out, Riven.  

Sky comes in so I guess we’re in Sky and Riven’s dorm.  Beatrix offers him her vape pen and he declines.  Riven isn’t worried about having a girl in the boys’ dorm because Silva went off to meet the soldiers coming for the Burned One.  Beatrix knows Sky is dating Stella and asks if it’s weird having sex with someone who looks just like him and I snicker.  Sky is unmoved.

Beatrix heads off to the library and Sky says, “I don’t have time to tell you all the reasons that is a bad idea.”  Riven just waves it off.

Over with Bloom and Aisha, Bloom’s trying to write a paper when Aisha interrupts to spill the beans about seeing the notebook and says Stella’s “methods are unreliable” and she’s maybe not the best magic teacher.  Bloom just focuses on “you read my notebook?” and asks Aisha to stop trying to help.

Stella arrives in that big olive coat to say the Burned One is about to be moves, their mission needs to happen now.  The coat is something the real Stella would never wear in a million years, but I find myself approving of a practical choice in adventure wear.

Sam and Musa are chatting happily.  Sam is trying to guess what he sounds like in Musa’s head.  Guess she heard emotion as music.  Musa says he sounds like “an absence of chaos.”  And sam describes his power which he calls “boring through anything natural.”  I’ll just call it phasing because obviously.

Terra texts Musa for help in the greenhouse.  I do believe we’re leaping into action.

Stela, Bloom and Aisha stride across the grounds.  Aisha calls Stella “Army Barbie” so wait they have Barbie dolls in the Otherworld?  How does that work, pallets of dolls get spirited away from the Mattel factory?  Stella spends a long time saying Aisha was not invited. But Aisha is coming along, they need her.

Stella: “I fixed her.”

Aisha: “Negative emotions are unreliable. They have limits. Your method won’t help her in the long run.”

Bloom points out neither of them are helping at the moment.  Stella and Musa arrive and the five of them cross the barrier to go find the Burned One.

They find the barn quick, but the Burned One is already gone.  Stella again sounds teary and holds the chains saying “No, my mum’s going to kill me...”

Musa gets a bad vibe and she and Terra follow it.  Suddenly Musa is struck down by a blast of empathic pain.  Ah crap, here are the soldiers, very dead!  Oh good, Silva is just grievously wounded.

But Bloom lagged behind at the barn.  Aisha and Stella go look for her while Terra and Musa hopefully save one of the three adults in the cast.  

Bloom is wandering through the forest, summoned by magic one assumes because this is a bad time to wander off.

Yikes, poor Silva is infected with Burned One venom and not in his right mind!  Luckily Terra takes charge, vines the guy up before he can stab them, and tells Musa, ‘He’s scared, I’m not.  Focus on me.”  the anti-Burned One oil will help with the infection.

Aisha and Stella follow Bloom through the dark forest.  Stella tries to summon light but can’t make it work and Aisha says, ‘I don’t have time for this, go back to school.” and walks off.  So the three of them are now separated.

And there’s the Burned One!  It runs at Bloom, who sends fire at it. Even being on fire doesn’t slow it down but Aisha sends a wave that tosses it into a tree, impaling it through the chest on a branch! The girls creep in for a closer look and they see Stella’s ring, that the Burned One has buried in its flesh!  We don’t see that. The girls waffle about who should pull it out-- did none of you bring a pocket knife?  A stick?  Don’t touch the highly infectious monster!  But Bloom reaches in with her actual hands and grabs the ring and they flee.

Stella did go back to school.  She finds Sky and tells him what happened, that the Burned One got loose.  Sky immediately goes from, “How?” to “How are you?” making him a class A good dude.  Stella begins to cry and says her magic wouldn’t work.  Sky says, “Tell me everything.” when below in the cafateria Musa and Terra enter with the injured Silva.  Terra takes charge, ordering medical help and for Dane to come help them get Silva to the greenhouse.  I guess there’s no infirmary here?  Maybe all the medicines are potions.  Beatrix runs to get Dowling and Sky and Stella rush down to help.

  And we learn Sam is Terra’s brother.

Beatrix rushes into Dowling’s office, tells the news, and Dowling and Callan rush out.  Leaving Beatrix right where she wants to be.  She lightnings up her hands and Dowling’s secret passage slides right open for her.

Down in the greenhouse Terra’s dad Harvey says, ‘You saved his life, I’m so proud of you.” and Terra glows.  Silva is battered but himself again and tells Sky he’ll be fine and sends the students out before telling the adults the real news.  The Burned One was freed and waiting for them.

Beatrix can’t get through the secret door.  There’s a barrier on it. Dowling’s assistant Callan comes in and catches her, but he’s a baddie too!  He says turning loose the Burned One was a good distraction but he can’t get through the trap on the secret door because he’s not a fairy and that’s why “he” sent Beatrix.

The plot thickens!  A mysterious boss-villain has emerged!  And Beatrix, that is a lot of lipstick.

Evening of day 3, getting ready for bed in the dorm.  Terra texted, Silva will be ok but they should prepare for a lecture.  But bloom’s more interested in teasing Aisha about her toothbrush.  

Stella turns up and says while the others were in the woods she was covering for them at school and Bloom should be grateful.  Which is a total lie.  Bloom returns the ring, joking about what she had to do to get it and Stella says right over her, ‘let;s never talk about this day again.” and leaves.

Sky arrives.  And looks at Bloom, then goes into Stella’s room.  The door shuts behind them with great finality.

So… does “being turned on” count as an emotion for the purposes of magic?  That would make the worldbuilding very odd indeed.  We’d have the Sith and the… hmm… Bacchanates?  Supposedly followers of Bacchus who ran around drinking, having orgies, and tearing apart small animals with their bare hands in the lust of the hunt.  They probably didn’t exist in our world, but in the Fate world they’d make sense.

Also would people with mental illnesses have stronger magic?  Bipolar mania is a heckofathing from what my psych textbooks say.

Anyway Bloom and Aisha talk before going to bed, Aisha apologizes for helping too much, says it’s all new to her too.  Bloom says she wandered off from the barn because she felt something.  “a connection to that thing.”  She talks about how she’s kind of given up on understanding but, “opening up emotionally the magic’s all around me.  And that’s new and kinda scary.”

A meaningful silence falls, and when Aisha looks over Bloom’s eyes have gone blank white!

Boring ending music this time.  i guess the themes from this episode are 1) lots of characters do really awful things and also likeable things.  either this show has nuanced characters or it doesn’t know what the heck it’s doing with its characters.  I’m not sure.  and 2) Has this magic=emotion thing really been thought through?

[crownedbyluke]

Long Road Ahead (Chapter Fifteen)

Estelle Finley has been friends with Ashton Irwin and Luke Hemmings for three years. When the boys bring her along on a jam-packed road trip to Cape Cod with the rest of the band, their adventures are just beginning. Through long hours driving, exploring cities, and hidden secrets, something more is bound to happen on this journey. How will this road trip change Estelle’s friendship with the friends she’s come to love so dearly?

Word Count: 2,560

{Chapter One} {Chapter Two} {Chapter Three} {Chapter Four}{Chapter Five} {Chapter Six} {Chapter Seven} {Chapter Eight} {Chapter Nine} {Chapter Ten} {Chapter Eleven} {Chapter Twelve} {Chapter Thirteen} {Chapter Fourteen}

The sound of my phone buzzing jolted me from my sleep. My eyes slowly adjusted to the bright sunlight shining through the windows of my room. There was a text from Luke.

L: Hey little dove. We gotta head out soon. 

E: Okay. I’ll be out in 5.

I blinked a few times, the memory of last night ebbing back into my mind.

“I love you Lu.”

He kissed me with all of the passion and love he could muster up. It felt like I had been away from home and this was the moment it was finally coming back. His hands pulled me closer, desperately grabbing as if I’d fade away. My fingers tangled in his hair, gently tugging. He let out a small moan. Before I had time to think, Luke lifted me up. I instinctively wrapped my legs around his waist. It felt slightly weird how needy we were since we had kissed already. 

“You’re mine,” he almost growled, gently dropping me onto his bed. 

I nodded in agreement, pulling him back towards me. We kept kissing for what felt like hours until Luke sat up and moved away from me. 

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“What changed between getting back and now?” he asked. 

I sighed, unsure how to phrase the thoughts that had been causing a storm inside my mind. 

“I’m tired of fighting. I want to be happy and pretending to be that perfect daughter again made me feel disgusting. I used to do that all the time before college and before I met you and Ash. It doesn’t feel right or even remotely okay anymore. I watch Mikey and Crystal all the time and they’re so happy together, and deep down I know we could be that happy too. I’ve dated plenty of guys and none of them make me feel the way you do. I just want to be with you, Luke. Is that so horrible?” I asked.

He nodded, needing a moment to process my words. I pressed a kiss to his cheek before getting up. I felt his eyes on me as I walked towards the door. 

“I want this little dove. I really do, but I’ve got to take care of some stuff first okay?” he asked as I reached for the door. 

“Take your time. I’ll wait.”

A smile came over my face. It felt easier to breathe now that everything was out in the open. I checked over my outfit in the mirror, adjusting my black crop top and green sunflower shorts. As I pulled my denim button up over my shoulders, I felt secure. Once again, it was in Luke’s hands and I was putting all of my trust in him. He was it and I just hoped he’d feel the same once he handled everything. I grabbed my stuff and headed over to his room. He opened the door a second later. 

“Good morning,” I said with a smile.

“Morning. You look beautiful as always,” he said. 

I felt my cheeks flush from the compliment. He took my bag out of my hand and gestured towards the elevator. There was a weird tension between us, not exactly sexual or nervous, but just unsure. We checked out and headed to the car. 

“Do you want to drive again?” he asked after putting our stuff in the trunk.

“No, you can.”

I climbed into the passenger seat and moved it so I could relax. Luke turned the radio on, handing me the aux chord. It was simple, but meant that he wanted me to tell him what I was thinking. I scrolled through some playlists before I found the perfect one. The soft acoustic guitar from the beginning of “Hesitate” by Jonas Brothers started to fill the car. My nerves kept me from looking over at Luke as the chorus hit. As the second verse started, he put his hand on my thigh. I glanced over still nervous and caught the goofy smile on his face. Maybe this feeling wouldn’t last, but right now, it was me and Luke in the little happy bubble of our own. 

                                                     --

Ashton was running after Calum when we pulled up. It made me wish even more that we didn’t have to leave. 

“My lady,” Luke said, opening my door for me. 

“Why thank you good sir,” I said, taking his hand to get out. 

“There they are!” Crystal yelled from the porch. 

“I brought her back in one piece as promised,” he said. 

I laughed at them, feeling grateful Crystal had us go in the first place. Ashton came running around the corner with the familiar playful smile on his face. 

“Bugs!” he cheered.

Before I was able to tell him to slow down, he was wrapping me up in one of his bear hugs. 

“Don’t break her!” Crystal yelled, now coming down the stairs.

“She’s fine!” Ashton said, releasing me and gesturing as if he was Vana White. 

“Good, because we have lots to discuss,” she said. 

“Lots and lots,” I said, smiling. 

Girl talk was much needed right now and talking about almost having sex with your best friend after being into him for three years was not exactly Ash territory. 

“Don’t keep her too long. I missed her,” he called.

“No promises!” she said. 

We sat down on the side porch in one of the bench swings I felt her watching me. 

“Spill.”

“It went well okay?” I laughed. 

Her look intensified as she analyzed my face.

“I don’t see any hickeys so clearly not that well,” she said. 

“Oh my god Crys! That didn’t happen.”

“So what did?”

“I told him about the threat from my dad and after we got back, we kissed.”

“That’s it?” she asked, sounding shocked. 

“Yes! Why are you so surprised?” I asked.

“You had post-sex glow so I was hoping things had gone extremely well,” she said with a shrug. 

My laugh rang in my own ears. I hadn’t realized that we looked so glowy. 

“Well, are you two at least together?” she asked. 

I felt a sudden unease wash over me with the question. Even I had no real answer to that one. I looked at the ocean, hoping in some way it would magically present the answer. 

“I don’t know. He said he had to figure some stuff out,” I said. 

“That’s not a no though right?” she continued.

“Right, but I don’t know what those things are.”

“I’m sure he’ll tell you once he’s done,” she said, putting a comforting arm around my shoulders.

“I hope so.”

                                                     --

LUKE’S POV

“What was the name of Estelle’s real estate agent again?” I asked, pulling out my laptop. 

“Junie. Why?” he asked. 

“If her dad can take her dream home away, I want to know why and how, and if I can prevent it,” I explained. 

Ashton looked at me with surprise. My fingers flew as I searched for the office’s number. Once I had it, I dialed without hesitation.

“Hi there. I have a few questions regarding finances on your properties,” I said once someone answered.

“Of course. How may I help?” she asked politely. 

“Once a property is purchased and finalized with a move in date, can anything happen to change that?” I asked.

“Logistically speaking, no. However, we have had instances of the bank of a client deciding to back out of mortgage financing which lead to the client scrambling to find a new one,” she said. 

“In the event of a client using a trust fund, would that change that process?” I continued.

“Most likely, no. Typically, we take trust money right away just for financial security and then we require the client to obtain a mortgage through that bank still.”

I asked a few more questions before ending the call. Ashton kept staring at me as I finished up some research. 

“What?” I asked.

“What are you trying to do?” he asked.

“Estelle worked her ass off to get that house and I don’t want that to get taken from her for wanting to be happy.”

“Dude, I’m moving in with her. I’ve got that handled,” he said. 

“What about the threat to our career?” I asked. 

“I believe our record label wouldn’t let that happen.”

“So what does he have that makes him think he could?”

“Don’t worry, I’ve got our publicist on it,” he said with a wink.

It still felt like I was missing something. Maybe I was being paranoid, but the pit in my stomach told me otherwise.

                                                      --

ESTELLE’S POV

My heart was beating extremely fast, the nerves about what I was going to do sinking in. I was hovering over the call button, just waiting on the courage to call.

“Elle?” I heard Calum call from my door.

“What’s up?” I asked, tucking my phone away. 

“How’d it go yesterday?” he asked.

“Good. Tiny bit unresolved right now.”

“Are you going to be together finally then?” he continued. 

“I don’t know. I’ve gotta make a phone call though. Can we talk later?” I asked. 

He nodded, giving me a small smile. I locked the door after he left. My hesitation from before was gone, leaving me to just click my dad’s name. The ringing felt longer than normal causing my nerves to rise. 

“Estelle,” he said upon answering.

“Hello father,” I said. 

I felt my leg starting to shake, anxiety growing the longer the pauses were.

“How was your art gallery opening?” he asked. 

“It went well. Only one reporter asked me about you,” I said, getting to the point.

“And how did that go?”

“I said exactly what you wanted me to and gave her some winks so she’d write up something nice for you.”

“And how did your friend react to that?” he continued.

“He was surprised, but as you said, we’re just friends,” I said, trying to hold back the bite in my words. 

“Good.”

“Do you mind explaining why I can’t date him? I would have assumed you’d be thrilled by the press it could bring,” I said, slightly hoping to angle it better.

“We both know how you and the press interact,” he said, his tone getting sharper. 

“And we both know that I’ve gotten more mature since then. The college mistake was not entirely my fault and after that passed, I did everything you asked. I’m media trained, have my own job, and rarely ever do anything that would reflect bad on the company,” I argued. 

“Do you honestly believe the life of a musician is suited for you?” he asked, changing the subject sort of. 

“Luke is not every musician that parties all the time,” I said, gritting my teeth. 

“Really? Is that why a photo of him kissing someone who isn’t you was all over the internet five days ago?”

The memory came back full force, images swirling around as I took a deep breath. 

“He reacted badly to the news of the inability of being together because of you,” I said, digging my nails into the palm of my hand.

“What makes you believe he won’t react badly whenever something doesn’t go his way?” he pressed.

“Because we’ve been friends for three years! While you were out producing Inked and sticking your head farther up Wesley’s ass in the hope that he’ll be the promise child, I was working hard to gain my spot as a teacher. Unlike my brothers, I have listened to you and kept my head down. I am an adult now and if you can’t understand that enough to let me love who I want then you’re no better than when Mom left you,” I fired off, feeling how heavily I was breathing. 

“Estelle Rose Finley!” he yelled. 

“Harass Wes or Parker, but stop treating me like her,” I said. 

“Watch your tone,” he warned. 

“I love Luke and if I want to see what a relationship with him would be like, I can do that without needing your permission.”

“We’ll see about that,” he said, angrily before ending the call.

I took a few deep breaths to calm myself down. I hadn’t meant for the phone call to go that way or end in a big argument. My hands were shaking and there were nail marks indented on my palm. A tear fell onto my leg causing me to wipe at my cheeks. There were plenty of tears that had fallen from the anger that my father caused. It was rare for me to lash out or let him get under my skin. I felt exhausted from the conversation and it was only midday. There was a knock on my door, making me pull myself together. Ashton was standing there, concern all over his face. 

“I heard you yell. Everything okay bugs?” he asked, stepping in and gently putting his hands on my shoulders. 

“Yeah. Just another phone call with my dick of a dad.”

“Were you crying?”

“A little. I got really angry,” I explained.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“It was just about Luke. He keeps trying to control my choices when I’m an adult. It’s frustrating,” I said with a shrug. 

“I don’t mean to pry, but your mom left?” he asked hesitantly. 

“Oh, um, yeah. She left him when I was in my first year of college after the whole party incident,” I explained. 

He moved to sit on my bed, nodding as if to say go on. 

“When she found out about him threatening to move me, she lost it. I was already away for a couple months, so I didn’t know he was being mean and controlling towards her. I guess it was the final straw.”

“Where is she now?”

“She lives in England and has her own design house. We don’t really talk that much,” I said.

“And Wes and Parker?” he continued. 

“My brothers. Wes is three years older than me and Parker is two years younger.”

“You’ve never mentioned them.”

“I know and I’m sorry. My family isn’t the best at doing family stuff. They probably don’t even know I got my master’s degree,” I said with a sigh. 

“Weren’t they at your graduation?” Ashton asked, giving me a look of surprise. 

“I didn’t walk,” I replied, not meeting his stare. 

“Why?” he pushed.

“My dad didn’t want the press showing up and finding out I’m a teacher.”

“Why?”

“Doesn’t fit into the Finley legacy,” I said, quoting the exact words I was told.

“That’s ridiculous. You’re an amazing teacher. Those kids love you and you make their lives so much better. He should be proud that he has a daughter willing to do that,” he said, reaching over and wrapping his arms around me. 

“Thanks Ash,” I mumbled, returning the hug. 

His pride brought a few tears to my eyes. I had given up on searching for my father’s approval, but hearing how highly Ashton thought of my career, made it worth it. My family was awful, but at least I had friends that supported me. 

“Estelle!” Crystal yelled from what I assumed was the stairs. 

Ash and I broke apart, heading towards the landing to find out what was going on. Crystal looked nervous, almost unsettled. 

“Yeah?” I called as we headed down. 

“Um, your, uh-”

“Hello there daughter.”

A/N: I KNOW AND IT’S GONNA BE EPIC. Tell me all the feels please. 

tagged loves: @bbycal​ @emptysanity​ @floraldawg​ @cakesunflower​ @tommossoccer​

[melodiesofblueroses]

Star Boy (Yoosung x Reader) Pt.1

☆ ━ 𝙎𝙪𝙢𝙢𝙖𝙧𝙮: Yoosung puts the stars up in the sky every night and catches sight of the one who sits atop the moon ━ ☆ 

★ ━ 𝙒𝙤𝙧𝙙 𝘾𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙩: 2.4k 

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Bonus: Alternate ending

       As a star boy, Yoosung often found his job quite tiresome. It was the same activity night-to-night: align the dark nighttime sky with glimmering stars. While it was calming, the same repetitive action got quite troublesome after a bit. He’s been doing the same job for the past twenty-something years, often finding himself drifting in and out of his thoughts. The blonde was quite lonely, only having his fantasies about love as a companion. Yet, there was something about the thought of the smiles of humans down below. Yoosung sought comfort in that. They smiled at his work. They cried underneath his art. They kissed, they cuddled, they sought comfort in those fiery balls. They appreciated his work, and Yoosung sought comfort in the fact that he was wanted. 

        It wasn’t as if he had never seen her before, but rather he often ignored the girl that sat atop the moon. She always seemed to be lost in her thoughts or smiling down below at the city skyline or the couples walking the streets. When Yoosung first took interest in her, she had been swooped into the crescent shape of the moon. Her glowy pastel pink dress perfectly embodied her structure to some extent as it was a bit long. Maybe she should get it trimmed, Yoosung had thought. It hung over the moon, and her seemingly soft locks seemed to nest her head perfectly. A tiny strand would always be swinging over her forehead which the star boy had found to be quite adorable, blushing at the sight. Her eyes were shut tight, yet she was conscious, humming a soft melodic tune to herself. Yoosung had snuck quite close to her, grabbing stars out of his messenger bag and placing them around the moon in a rather neat order. That was the first time Yoosung had noticed her pink lips and tinted cheeks. 

        Ah, how beautiful. He found himself fawning over her, the girl he had just met a few minutes prior. Her lips looked quite soft, having the perfect shade of pink. Her hands had lain on her stomach as she rocked back and forth in the crescent. Yoosung had become mesmerized. Was this love at first sight? Nonsense. There was no such thing. Tooth-decayingly sweet love only existed in those fairytale books humans seemed to take an interest in. In truth, love was such a fickle thing. From the observations Yoosung had foretaken in, humans took advantage of love with only a handful truly loving love. Sure it broke his heart, yet Yoosung found himself wishing for such a love, one that was so sweet it was disgusting. The girl atop the moon began to shift, scaring Yoosung a bit. Crap, he would have to hurry up. Taking one more glance at her, Yoosung had memorized her details and blushed a bit, thinking about how nice it would be to hold her hands or have a nice chat with her. 

                                                             ~

        The second time Yoosung had seen her, it was the night of shooting stars. Ah yes, the night where humans would gather around and would want to actually watch the night sky. Yoosung had been as clueless as ever though. This was the first star shower since he began working as a star boy, so Yoosung didn’t particularly know what that was. Dressed in his usual attire of a striped gray shirt below suspenders with a beige cross-body messenger bag, Yoosung had been putting the stars in the night sky. He then was hit (rather rudely he would say) with a flying star, smack dab on his forehead. Nonetheless, the throw had been pretty strong, leaving a red imprint on the star boy’s forehead. He was quite irritated to say nonetheless. How rude of a celestial being to throw stars, the celestial bodies he took pride in aligning the empty night sky with. 

        “Hey, are you alright?” Star boy turned to face the voice and was met with a silver-haired being, dressed in a gray coat with a trail of stardust following him. Quite attractive to say the least, at least that’s what Yoosung thought. “I didn’t see you there.”

        “Why are you throwing around stars?” Yoosung asked rather rudely, agitation clear in his voice. The blonde puffed out his cheeks and crossed his arms. “Don’t you know, I’m the star boy. You shouldn’t be playing around with the stars I place in the night sky. They’re for the humans down there to admire.” The silver-haired being laughed at his venting, baffling Yoosung. This hurt him in a way, but the hurt was quickly replaced with irritation towards this cocky individual. 

        “Damn, you gave me quite a good laugh.” The rather rude individual wiped tears from his eyes. “You must be the newbie star boy. Now, what was your name Jihyun had said? Yoo…?”

        “Yoosung Kim.” He pouted, puffing out his cheeks in a rather cute fashion once more. He brushed off the fact on who this Jihyun individual was. It was probably the sun of this solar system since he had heard that they informed their assigned solar system of any new celestial beings. 

        “Oh yeah, yeah. Yoosung Kim, the naive little star boy.” Needless to say, the blonde didn’t appreciate the nickname. “Anyway, I’m Hyun Ryu, but just call me Hyun. You must have no idea what day it is then.” Yoosung tilted his head to the side cutely, giving a confused look to Hyun. “It’s the star shower tonight. I’m actually quite surprised you haven’t heard of one. They aren’t that rare you know.”

        “Yeah yeah, so what?” Yoosung didn’t intend to come off as rude, but Hyun was getting on his nerves a bit. “I’m still the star boy, so that doesn’t explain why you’re throwing my stars around. Besides, shooting stars aren’t actual stars. Rather, they’re space debris that entered the atmosphere.”

        “You’re quite naive aren’t you?”

        “H-Hey-”

        “Showers call for different celestial beings. And I am the one responsible for meteor showers and comets and shooting stars, the great Hyun.” The silver-haired man emitted a smirk as if applauding himself to which Yoosung rolled his eyes. “I go around and take these special stars and throw them all around the night sky, providing a show for the humans to adore and applaud me for. As for the space debris, you don’t actually believe that do you? I mean yeah, sure debris could enter, but they’re actual shooting stars. The humans just don’t know that.”

        “W-Wait, so I’m not the one doing the throwing of the stars?” Not wanting to admit it, Yoosung was a bit heartbroken. He wasn’t special enough to earn the title to throw around stars, yet here he was thinking that humans truly enjoyed his artwork. In reality, humans enjoyed Hyun’s work much more, preferring it over Yoosung’s dusty stars any day. It really brought down his self-esteem. 

        “Hey, don’t get too worked up about it. Only talented individuals like myself are allowed to be graced with such an opportunity.” Geez, thanks Hyun, you really brought up Yoosung’s self-esteem, didn’t you? Yoosung just puffed out his cheeks in anger once more, turning his back away from Hyun and continuing to put up stars. 

        “That jerk. He could throw stars all he wants, but I’m still more important. I have this job every night, unlike that silver-haired jerk.” While muttering to himself about how much of a jerk Hyun was, Yoosung saw him race to the moon from the corner of his eye. Well, that sure brought his attention. The star boy looked towards the moon, spotting the moon girl sitting atop a full moon and touching a nearby star he had put up, making Yoosung’s heart jump a bit. Ah, what a wonderful feeling to have his work admired by such a beautiful celestial being. The happiness quickly dimmed when he saw Hyun go near her.

        “What’s a beautiful young woman like you sitting atop the moon all by yourself?” The comment quickly caught the attention of the eavesdropping Yoosung. How dare he flirt with her! The audacity of him! Immediately Yoosung felt himself getting a bit heated. First off, he left Yoosung feeling insulted then he goes off and flirts with the purest of celestial beings. What a truly strange yet unrestrained individual. Quite sickening indeed. 

        Yet, the strangest of it all was that she laughed at his untasteful flirt. Yoosung was bewildered. Weren’t women supposed to hate the flirting? Aren’t men supposed to be graceful in front of women? Was everything his parents taught him wrong? Yet, those questions were only a side thought. Instead, something else plagued his mind. How could a giggle be that cute? How could it sound so sweet and soft and melt the heart of our star boy within an instant? And why did Yoosung’s face go red once he heard it? He’s heard plenty of other girls laugh before in his training classes, but none have ever close to sounding this melodic, maybe except for the giggle of Areum. That was a close second. 

        “Nice to see you again Hyun.” Ah, it was the first time Yoosung heard her soft-spoken voice. It was a perfect mixture of all the tones he had ever heard: a soft yet strong voice with a bit of sweetness thrown in there, whatever any of that meant. “There’s already another shower? Gosh, how time flies.” So the two of them must know each other, Yoosung deduced. That calmed his anger a bit. 

        Deciding to not butt into their private conversation (he decided to respect the moon girl’s privacy rather than Hyun), Yoosung continued putting the stars up in the sky. It was a tiresome job but the sight of our moon girl smiling and catching up with Hyun kept Yoosung going. He totally didn’t have a crush though. Nuh-uh, not in the slightest bit, as he loved to continue telling himself. 

                                                            ~

        Third time’s the charm as they say, and the third encounter with dear moon girl had Yoosung discovering her name. It was raining that night, and Yoosung was a bit melancholic. All the humans down below had rushed to get out of the rain and into their shelters made of bricks, turning on the blinding lights in the process. Now no one would be able to enjoy Yoosung’s intricate artworks. Was there even any point of putting the stars up now asides from the looming fear of being shunned by everyone for forgetting to do an important task that has been bestowed upon him? 

        “What’s wrong young star boy?” A soft, silvery voice called from behind him. It was the personification of luxury meshed with a spoonful of honey. Ah, the perfect recipe. It was that familiar voice, the one of an atmospheric atmosphere: moon girl. 

        Yoosung immediately felt his face heat up just the slightest bit. He had regretfully shown his crush that he was feeling rather down on himself on this fine night. The falling rain fit the atmosphere perfect for this rather melancholic occasion. 

        “I-I’m fine,” our young star boy stuttered out, hiding his sheepish smile underneath the fedora-esque hat he had atop his bed of hair. “I’m just feeling a bit down is all. I don’t get why humans need all this light during the night. Isn’t the beauty of the night the stars shining right above their heads?” Yoosung pouted and messily hung a star in the sky. It came out a bit crooked. The stars that he had put up looked sad tonight. “I thought that I had an important job dear moon girl. I wanted to be seen as a true celestial being. Maybe I’m not the bravest nor the strongest or most important, but I want to be accepted, prove that I am important. Yet, these humans down below don’t appreciate my art. Maybe I truly am a childish boy with a big dream out of his reach, way beyond what the stars have to offer.”

        “Why young star boy, your job is just as important as the rest of us, for your stars provide happiness to those down below.” The soft-spoken moon girl wrapped her hands around Yoosung’s pale ones, holding them close to her chest. “Humans are simple creatures afraid of the dark for they fear what they do not know. They turn on the lights to ward off their looming fears, but there are some humans that love your work so very much. They think that the stars are the most beautiful thing in this vast universe.

        “Dear star boy, these humans love to watch you put up these stars. They kiss and share secrets underneath your watch. You bring peace to the calamity. You are loved and known all around. You may think that you aren’t accepted as a true celestial being, but I assure you that even the biggest and strongest of these beings tear up at your intricate artwork.”

        Something in Yoosung’s heart shattered at that instant. For the first time since he started this job, Yoosung felt accepted. He felt loved, like he belonged somewhere in this expansive universe. It all fell in place at that moment. Everything inside of him exploded, and Yoosung cried. He let these silent tears flow down his red-dusted cheeks in front of this near stranger.

        Moon girl then embraced him in a warm hug. It was the warmest hug Yoosung had received. He couldn’t quite describe the sensation, but all he knew was that he wished it would go on forever. Time seemed to stop in that hug though. Although his grip around the moon girl’s waist might’ve been tight, he didn’t realize. Moon girl didn’t seem to mind either. Ignoring everything else at that moment, Yoosung realized what he was missing all these years. He had yearned for someone to be by his side, and he had finally gotten his wish. 

        “By the way, what’s your name?” That sweet voice broke Yoosung out of his stupor. The blonde pulled back from the hug and embarrassingly looked at the lovely moon girl with red, puffy eyes. 

        “Yoosung,” he muttered out unconsciously, still stuck in a dreamlike haze. 

        She giggled at his hazy expression and smiled. “Well Yoosung, I’m (MC), the one that sits atop the moon.”

[smoljoelito]

obra de arte || joel pimentel

word count: 2,499

requested by/request: my own idea I threw into my queue lmfao

description: you draw joel pimentel per request, but you don’t expect him to see it.

warnings: fluff

masterlist

tags: @quierick @mepuserojito @ericks-mala-actitud @woowoodaaboo @ella-se-vuelve-loca @joelsaww @honeyzhong @sarswilltakeyouout @pimentelssmile @whippedforcnco @notsoteenagegirl @richukisbb @besosdecnco @emsy55 @cloudfiveclub @erickspretend1 @hardtoadore

———————————————————————————————————--

Everyone has their outlet in life, as you like to call it.

An outlet, to you, any activity you do that brings you a happiness high or gives you a sense of calamity. For some, it’s working out. The intensity and achievement of small goals gives a lot of people a shot of dopamine that becomes an addiction. For others, a creative outlet suits them best. Some people sew, draw, sing, do DIYs, and/or dance and use it as their escape from the stressors of life. Then there’s the rare few, that their outlet is their job.

For you, you’re lucky to say that you have been able to take your favorite thing in the entire world, art, and make a living off it. Never in your life did you think you’d be able to do such a thing, but after beginning to innocently post a few artworks on your art Instagram account your friends encouraged you to make, you began to grow.

It was a snowball effect, starting slow, but as soon as the bigger art accounts began to repost your drawings, it grew faster then you could ever imagine. Whimsical art was never your forte, but realism for you came naturally. You could draw anything; humans, nature, dogs, cats, buildings, etc, as easily as breathing air. Some people even began to call you an art prodigy, which you never truly believed.

Your favored medium? Anything that you can make art with. You go through phases, sometimes loving markers for quick art, topping them with colored pencils for details. Sometimes, especially for nature, you enjoy pastels, oil, and chalk, to get the beautiful blending of colors needed to successfully make the picture come alive. Your favorite, however, seems to be painting, specifically watercolor. As much as you love oil paints, there’s nothing like layering watercolors together, giving a gentle and soft finish, but also an imperfect look that seems to draw the whole piece together as one.

Most say you have the ability to make anything come alive; from highlights to lowlights, from perfecting skin colors and providing the correct background to make it all tie together. It’s a special gift of yours; being able to find whatever makes people’s eyes sparkle, and this is how you have your success as an artist. You have the ability to make your models look alive by putting them in a situation where they automatically feel the most lively, where you can see the natural glow coming off their skin. The sparkle in their eyes isn’t painted on, and the flush in their cheeks isn’t just the paint, but it’s the model, and artist, in the prime. People look better when you decide to paint them, it’s like magic, how everything comes together so perfectly on the canvas. It’s like you have an innate ability to make absolutely anything, beautiful. 

Now on a full-ride scholarship to your favored art school in LA, you’re living a dream. Most of your artworks for school, you sell for money, but in the summer, you take commissions and requests to keep your talent and extra money up. So, at the moment, you’re working on a gouache watercolor painting of Joel Pimentel, a request you recently got. You know the band he’s from, since you’ve been listening to them for quite a while, but never so much into it to learn their names.

When you got the request, you decided to do it out of other’s you’d received since, for some reason, you had an incredibly good feeling about it. Your intuition is usually fairly good and right, so you decided to paint the curly-haired boy, whose name you just learned. 

Finding the right picture seemed to take you longer than the drawing, but after searching his Instagram account, photographer’s accounts, and google images, you found the most candid photo you could find of him smiling, seeming to be in his element, and he is.

The picture was taken inside of what appears to be a recording studio, but that’s not going to matter anyway since you’re making the background a single color; blue ombré, light blue at the top to accentuate his hair, and then dark blue at the bottom. Painting him, however, would be done in black and white. You enjoy messing with colors in such a way, just to experiment and keep creativity flow up.

With the picture in front of you, you begin your sketch. For some reason, once you get the basic shapes of his face and body down, you always start with the eyes. Eyes are your favorite thing to sketch because they are so versatile. With a few highlights, you can make them look alive and glowy, and with a few more highlights and some shadings, tear-filled and irritated. To perfect them, that’s where you always start. Then you move up to the hair, and then down the rest of the body. 

When the basic outline is done, you already have pride in the drawing, excited to finish it. Painting it is your favorite part, and once you get a basic grey wash across the entire drawing, you start with, surprise, his eyes. Once you get down the basic color blocking, you begin to add details; small white highlights around the inner corner to make his eyes look extra radiant. From there, you work outwards, building shadows in his face and hair, then letting it dry while you start on the bottom half of his body. 

This is how you work, layer by layer, until the clock reads 3:11 A.M. and your eyes are shutting every few seconds, requiring you to jolt yourself awake. After cleaning up your art hands, which is what you call your hands after they’ve been covered with whatever medium(s) you’ve been using for the day (A/N: this is what I call my hands after I’ve made some art since they’re trashed lol) and you wash your face, you practically collapse in bed. 

Upon waking up the next morning with the brilliant sunlight of the morning lighting up your room, you groan at the light pounding of your head. It’s your own curse, you’re a perfectionist, and you absolutely cannot stop doing anything you’ve started until it’s completed. 

You pop a few Advil that you leave by your bed, gulping them down with some water before pulling back the covers, exposing your body to the AC. A hiss escapes your lips as the cold meets your body rather gently, brushing over your skin like a light kiss, yet leaving behind shivers and goosebumps in its wake. Quickly, you snatch your favorite hoodie you wear around the house, pulling it on your body, before letting your toes greet the chilly floor. 

After you freshen up in the bathroom, your feet pad against the floor towards the kitchen to get yourself a cup of coffee. While it brews, you head back to your art desk you keep by the window of your apartment, finding the painting of Joel staring back up at you. A gasp escapes your lips as you hold it up, heart-swelling at how good it turned out. Just as you take out your camera to take a photo of it, you can hear your Keurig spit out the last bit of your fresh cup of coffee.

Once you have mixed in enough cream and sweetener, you head back into the living room, setting the cup down on a coaster on your desk. From there, you pick up the painting, signing it quickly, before hanging it on the white wall of your apartment. After you set up some white lights, you snap a picture of it with your camera. 

While you work at your desk, you leave the painting on the wall for fear of spilling your coffee on it, yet you have no fear of it spilling on your computer. The realization of your art life makes you chuckle as you plug in your camera to your computer.

After a few quick edits, you send the photo to your phone before uploading it to Instagram and your story, making sure to tag Joel and CNCO to help with exposure. From there, you set down your phone and put away your computer, sipping on your coffee as you think about your next possible artwork. 

Once you’ve downed your first cup of coffee, you stand up, putting all your lights away and placing the painting of Joel in a portfolio case, before picking up your phone.

A gasp escapes your lips as you find your phone blowing up with notifications from Instagram, a few specific ones catching your eye.

cncomusic has uploaded your post to their story.

cncomusic has tagged you in a post.

cncomusic has mentioned you in a post.

joelpimentel has uploaded your post to their story.

joelpimentel  has tagged you in a post.

joelpimentel has mentioned you in a post.

joelpimentel wants to send you a message. 

Quickly, you open Instagram, reposting the notifications to your story as you squeal with excitement. Then, you head to your direct messages, accepting the request to allow him to message you.

joelpimentel: Hey! You’re drawing is so good, I love it so much and so does my mom. We were wondering if we can buy it off you if you’d be willing to sell it to us. Thanks so much! You’re really talented :)

Your jaw practically hits the floor as you stare bug-eyed at the message. Before your brain can even process it, your thumbs are typing.

artbyy/n: Hey! Thank you so much! I really appreciate it. Unfortunately, I won’t sell it to you, but I will send it free of charge :)

Almost immediately, you see he begins typing back.

joelpimentel: You’re welcome, anytime :). No, there’s no way I’m not paying for it! That had to take forever. My mom says she’s going to pay you.

artbyy/n: LOL it didn’t take me that long. The medium I used wasn’t my most expensive medium and it was a request, not a commission, so I don’t really mind. I mean you already reposted my art and tagged me in it on your account and on CNCO’s account, that’s payment enough. My follower count is skyrocking lol thank you!

joelpimentel: Fine, okay. You’re welcome lol. Do you want to ship it to me?

artbyy/n: Sure! I can get it in the mail today if you send me your address right now.

joelpimentel: Alright, here it is! Thanks again :)) My mom is really excited.

artbyy/n: LOL well, tell her I said thanks! And you’re welcome, anytime!

Quickly, you take one of those long yellow envelopes and write the address on it with a brush pen to add to the artsy vibe. Calligraphy is also something you do in your free time, just to take a break from art sometimes. Then, you take the artwork and slide it in between two pieces of cardboard inside the yellow envelope before sealing it off with a rubber stamp with your initials on it. 

After putting on a stamp and paying for shipping, you take your keys and slide on some shoes, before walking outside to find your mailbox. Unfortunately, all the mailboxes are on the first floor of your apartment building, so you hop on an elevator and take the ride all the way down.

Around ten minutes later, you find your way back into the apartment, locking the door and kicking off your shoes. You head back over to your phone, finding many new notifications from Instagram.

joelpimentel liked your photo.

joelpimentel liked your photo.

joelpimentel liked your photo.

joelpimentel liked your photo.

It goes on and on for many notifications making you giggle, and then you see there’s a new message from him.

joelpimentel: Your art is amazing holy crap is there anything you can’t draw? Sorry for bombing your phone my mom and I were looking LOL.

artbyy/n: LOL I tend to draw the same things over and over again, so probably haha. It’s totally okay! A celebrity is liking all of my pictures and you think I’M complaining? Also, hi mom lol.

joelpimentel: I think you’re wrong you could probably draw blind. LOL you still have a right to complain. She said hi and wants to know if you speak Spanish cause she saw some of your captions are in Spanish.

artbyy/n: I actually have drawn blind before! It’s a form of art called the blind contour line drawing! Lol yeah I do! I love speaking Spanish so much I would speak it over English if I could. I took classes in high school and now I’m getting a minor in it! Last year I went to Ecuador to study abroad and I just got back a few weeks ago. It feels weird to speak English lol.

joelpimentel: I know the feeling. When I travel with my band and speak Spanish all the time then flip languages it feels unnatural. That’s so awesome you learned it though! Not a lot of people speak it that weren’t raised in a Latin family. My mom says that’s really cool and wants to know how you liked Ecuador.

artbyy/n: Thanks! I know right. I love the language and culture. I just love languages and cultures in general though. Really I could sit and listen to someone tell me about their culture for hours. In my free time last year I started teaching myself Italian too just because languages are cool. 

artbyy/n: Ecuador is the most beautiful country I have ever been too. I cried like a baby when I left. Everyone was so nice there, including my host family. I miss my host mom so much :( she’s the light of my life lol.

joelpimentel: I love languages too! I try to learn a few words from every country I visit. The world is an incredibly cool place haha. I’m interested just like you are :). 

joelpimentel: Ecuador is amazing. One of my bandmates, Chris, is from Ecuador! He’d be so happy to hear you loved it. Aw, I’m sorry :( hopefully, you can visit soon.

The conversation goes on for hours like this, and you only realize when your stomach starts rumbling from lack of food. Really, you’re never on your phone, so it’s odd for you to sit, staring at a screen all day long. A smile has been plastered across your face the entirety of the conversation, and you can’t help but hope he keeps talking to you for a while. It seems you both have the same likes and dislikes, so the flow of conversation is some of the easiest you’ve ever had. 

The smile on your face lasts the rest of the day as you two happily text until it is time to go to bed. When he wishes you goodnight, you swoon, phone dropping onto your chest as you stare up at the ceiling grinning.

Oh boy, you’re in for some trouble.

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do we want a part two?