#these backgrounds were so fun to draw but at the same time they almost killed me to color

[time-woods]

part 2 to the Chasing Stars au !

guess the name is quite literal rn

[guardkeywolf]

Don't mind me requesting again cuz your writing is good-

Anyway I need some older male reader that is team GHOST from call of duty ghosts and his team is fucking chaotic like they be almost killing them self's and one of them do stabby another like blowing shit up while male reader don't get enough sleep and be a dad on his team but in the end they get the job done

I just want 141 to meet male readers team during a mission and all of them see his team jumping out a window lol

I just need some chaotic shit

Ghost Soldier!Male Reader + Task Force 141

WARNING: INCREDIBLY CRINGE WRITING

While Captain Y/n is on a mission with his team, they are interrupted...

What matters most though is if they are friend or foe...

Honestly, trying to put a whole scenario like this together was fun and challenging at the same time but worth it @gamersansblog !!!

So I hope you enjoy!

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"Midnight, Hawk, do either of you have eyes on the target yet?" Y/n asked as he let his eyes sweep over the contents in the room. Falcon followed behind him, silently with his gun raised, clearing the room himself before rejoining Y/n's side.

"No sir, not yet," Midnight's heavy feminine voice replied through the radio.

"Just a whole bunch of shit in here, Captain, unless..." Hawk drawed out slowly.

Y/n knew that tone and quickly tried to intervene, "Hawk, I swear if do what I think..."

"Calm down, sir. Why don't we just turn this place inside out?"

"Hawk..." Falcon warned from beside Y/n as he watched his Captain let out a long sigh in front of him.

"Just a little demolition, sir. That's all... it's not like anyone knows we're here anyway. With the guards dead, I doubt we'll be interrupted, " Y/n could have swore he aged faster as he listened to Hawk's suggestion.

Honestly, Y/n was too tired for this shit. It felt like he was baby sitting 3 kids and he couldn't help but wonder if other groups dealt with the same thing.

There mission was simple, take out the guards, retrieve the files, and get out. Really simple shit. Y/n could do it in his sleep if he wanted too. But noooo, the Higher Ups just had to say his team needed to be with him for this operation.

Plus, Y/n doubted that Falcon could deal with all of them if Y/n left him alone with Midnight and Hawk. So he was forced to bring his crazy pyromaniac of a man, the little assassin that would kill just about anything even when Y/n told her not to, and his only good child.

God, being a father of a Ghost Team was hard.

But even so, Y/n wouldn't change it for the world. His team was just about the best thing that ever happened to him and his career. They were his second chance, his redemption. His everything...

"Alright, Hawk, set up those explosives and see if you can find anything. Midnight, watch his back. Falcon and I are gonna make our way over there..." Y/n commanded.

"Understood, sir," and in the background, he could hear Hawk's sinister little giggle and shook his head at his soldier's antics.

"You sure this is the best idea, sir?" Falcon looked worried about this and Y/n didn't blame him for it. They both knew Hawk could go too far when it came to blowing up things.

Last time they left him alone, half of a building managed to disappear.

Y/n shook his head at the thought, not wanting to even remember that mission again.

When he caught sight of Midnight, the woman was throwing her knives at some random crate she was using as target practice.

"Midnight, Y/n told you to stop doing that. You're gonna mess up your knives and then cry about needing to get new ones," Falcon stressed.

Midnight stuck her tongue out at the man and Y/n chuckled.

"Come on Captain tell her!" Falcon pleaded.

Y/n ignored it and looked towards Hawk.

"You ready Hawk?"

"Annnnnd FINISHED!" the man exclaimed happily as he put the last finishing touches on the bomb.

"Good... get ready to...the hell is that sound?" Y/n turned to see a drone watching them outside the window.

"Shit... someone else is here... we're leaving NOW!" Y/n yelled as he made his way to the windows with their repel gear.

"WHO THE HELL ARE THEY?!" Midnight bellowed next to him.

"Doesn't matter! Hawk on my signal you blow this place to hell!"

"What about the files?!" Hawk asked.

"The Captain and I got them on our way to you two! Now hurry your ass up and get ready to repel!" Falcon hollered at him, quickly putting his gear on.

Once they were ready, Y/n didn't take the chance of the enemy spotting them from the window. If anything, these guys were definitely professionals and had yet to show themselves but it didn't bother Y/n one bit. He knew his team was just as good.

So, he turned to the other window, pulling out his P226 and aiming it at the window.

"Hawk, you remember that scene from Fast and Furious where they jumped from building to building?" Y/n asked.

"Yeah, but we don't have a supercar, sir!"

"Well we can try!" Y/n began to run towards the window, shooting it multiple times until to burst into glass shards and they all jumped out.

"NOW HAWK!"

Y/n heard that lovely sound of the explosion going off behind him as they landed on the roof.

"Hell yeah!" Hawk whooped from beside him.

"We can celebrate later...we still need to find who else is here."

Y/n turned to Midnight first.

"I got an idea..."

"Sir?" She tilted her head in curiosity.

"You see anyone even hostile take them out. Hawk fill this place with traps, take Falcon with you."

Hawk nodded and tapped Falcon's arm before leading them away from Y/n and Midnight.

"Alright, let's go see who the hell were dealing with..."

Midnight sent Y/n a smirk as Y/n moved to take point and as they set out to find the intruders.

It didn't take long when they both heard a cry that only Hawk could make and quickly ran towards his yells. Y/n told Midnight to hide the in the grass, dropping into the dirt himself and aiming his rifle at the newfound men that had Hawk and Falcon in their custody.

He heard the gruff British man's voice question who Hawk was working with, who their team was, but Hawk wasn't one to talk.

Y/n made sure personally that they would never talk. He put then through the same exact situation he had been in now. Cornered by the enemy but except this time not alone.

"Midnight, stay down unless shots are fired. Got it?"

She nodded at him before popping up out of the grass.

"I wouldn't move it I were you..."

The men all turned back to him, guns drawn on him while he held his Honey Badger tightly to his chest.

"Who the hell are you?" The man in the skull mask questioned.

Y/n gave him a look before turning back to the man with the fisher hat on.

"You plan on fishing for my soldiers..." he drawed off.

"Captain Price." He answered.

"Ah...I've heard of you... You and your little Task Force. What was it...141, right?"

"Ye now who the hell are you?" He watched the man's grip tighten on his own gun.

"Captain Y/n and you're going to give me back Hawk and Falcon now." Y/n demanded.

"How do I-" he was cut off by another voice going through his radio.

"Yeah but-... Are you sure, Laswell?"

Y/n looked up when he heard Kate's last name leave the older Brits lips.

"You familiar with Laswell?" Y/n asked as he watched the men untie Hawk and Falcon.

"Seems so...and it seems she knows you as well..." Price commented as he watched Hawk and Falcon walk back to Y/n's side.

"Sir, are you sure Laswell said they're green?" The dark skin man asked the Captian.

"I doubt Laswell would lie to us Gaz. That goes for you two as well," Price said, turning to the skull masked man and the slightly shorter man standing next to him.

"So that's a infamous Ghost...I thought he be taller," Hawk.

"He lots pretty damn tall to me, considering he's standing near shortstack over there..." Falcon said.

The shorter man sent him a glare, obviously hearing Falcon's comment, but before he could say anything, Ghost pulled him back.

"He's not worth it, Soap."

Y/n heard a Scottish accent come from the man as he watched the two talk.

"Oh, sir... You should probably tell-" Falcon was too late to warn him when Midnight sprang up from behind Ghost and Soap.

Y/n sent her the scariest death glare in history before the woman's knife even made it near the two men. Only then did Ghost realize Y/n was glaring but not at him and turned around only to see nothing there. When he turned back, there was now a third soldier standing near him that wasn't there.

"Who she?" He cocked his head towards her.

"Midnight." and he left it there.

Price turned to look at them apologetically before letting out a long sigh.

"Sorry about the mishaps, mates. Seems we got you mixed up with someone else, by the way... you know who blew up that building?"

"We did," Y/n said quickly, watching the man's face change to confusion.

"Why did you-"

"Sorry, but we're kinda on a tight schedule so we'll see yall again sometime soon yeah? Nice meeting you, Captain and your team. Lovely bunch, really! Sir, we have go to go." Falcon said as he pulled Y/n away, the man shaking his own head and chuckling himself, with the other two laughing.

"Kids am I right?" Y/n shouted as he sent a quick nod to the Captain before turning to greet his own team as they made their way towards exfil.

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Please feel free to REBLOG with the TAGS if you enjoyed reading this!

Using tags makes it easier to navigate yalls blogs!

Thank you again for reading!

-Guards

[dododrawsstuff]

Ikevil OC Atlas Fowler

Edit!!!!: the profile template was made by @natimiles

“The star that burns twice as bright, burn half as long” ~ Estella about him

“Where does your loyalty lay, little Robin?”

I'm on a trip with my family this week, so I have plenty of time to work on my OCs and catch up to the expression requests remaining

I had a lot of fun desiging him and his curse (that I took inspiration from filibusterfrog's "Umbralysis") and ended up making a ref sheet of sorts, but I'll still draw his back and some other expressions, other than his little shit smile. I still feel like I can improve him a lot, but I'm impatient and wanted to share him with you.

More about him under the cut! And as always, I'll keep tweking this post as I think of stuff to add or change. Hope you like him!

OC taglist: @olivermorningstar @keithsandwich @scummy-writes @aquagirl1978 @sh0jun @mxrmaid-poet @violettduchess @floydsteeth @lorei-writes @ikeprinces-stuff @flimflam707 (let me know if you want to be added or removed from the taglist)

I'm also tagging some people that showed interest in him on my other post, let me know if you don't want to be tagged and I'll remove you @errethebunny @bicayaya @natimiles @venulus @rou-luxe

Name: Atlas Fowler

Age: 27

Birthday: Nov 22

Height: 181 cm

Affiliation: The Circus

Hobbies: Collecting information, baking, pissing off people he doesn't like

Skills: Singing, styling hair

Likes: Chocolate chip cookies, freedom

Dislikes: Fish

Resents: Disloyalty

Weapon: Daggers

Personality: Atlas is a very charming and charismatic man, always displaying a pleasant smile, he is a natural entertainer. He is always in a good mood and is very positive, almost as if he doesn't even experience bad emotions…?

Beneath that facade he is arrogant and thinks he is untouchable, and believes his ability is a blessing, rather than a curse. The thing most valuable to him is loyalty, he despises betrayals the most.

He is smart and cunning, and is not afraid to use his ability to get information for his own benefit, though he mainly uses it on people who have been unfaithful.

Curse: Peter Pan

It makes so that Atlas’ shadow can move independently from him. He can know what his shadow experienced while apart from him, allowing him to be “at two places at the same time”, he has full control of the shadow and prefers to use his powers at night, as to not rise suspicion from others.

Atlas also discovered a peculiar characteristic of his ability, he can divide his emotions between him and his shadow, it acting almost as a storage for him. The curse manifested when he was still an infant, so he had some time to figure it out on his own.

One thing Atlas doesn't know is the fate of those afflicted by the Peter Pan’s curse, every single one of them uses their shadow as a way to get rid of "troublesome" or "useless emotions", but as they keep pouring those negative feelings, the shadow begins to gain sentience. In the end it usually kills its owner and itself in the process.

Backstory: When he was little his parents got freaked out by seeing him playing with his shadow, they thought he was cursed, or possessed but nothing they did cured him. What broke the camel's back for them was when Atlas told them the culprit of a series of murders in the neighborhood and days later the police caught them, when his parents asked how he knew, he explained that his shadow had seen it and told him.

Not too long after that they tried to get rid of him, but the church nor the orphanage wanted to accept him, since his complicated background preceded him. Until they found an itinerary circus, they lied and abandoned him there. Most of the crew were kind and welcoming to him, especially Estella, the magician, she became a mother figure for him and the reason he decided to follow her steps and become a magician.

Random headcanons:

He learned to style hair from Estella, she says that presentation is everything for a magician

After every presentation, the circus crew gets together to bake chocolate chip cookies

[wazzappp]

I drew. a lot for this. Also heads up for non RE mutuals this is going to be. confusing for you. I'm going to do my best to annotate and provide context but you are in for a wild ride.

Anyway long ass lore post for how Lisa and Robbie go from fighting to working together in this AU.

In the RE8 cannon all of the Dimitrescu daughters are made at the same time but for the sake of ✨the situations✨ I am going to change that. Lisa lived the longest as a human before being assimilated into the mold with a Cadou (infecting extension of the Megamycite). Technically her 'sisters' are older than her, as they were assimilated a while ago. Lisa has been a member of house Dimitrescu for about 2 years now. This puts her in this. Weird middle child zone. She wants to make her 'family' proud but she's also aware that what makes them proud isn't really the most achievable thing in the world (expecially with Bela to contend with. Older sibling overachiever to the maximum). She's got a certain degree of distance from them and sometimes wonders if she wasn't better off before all of this. Her memories are fuzzy but still there for the most part. She cant remember faces or names but she remembers feelings and situations. She doesen't remember families being like this (she wants OUT).

Chasing prey brought in is fairly standard for her. It's some of the only entertainment she gets. So when she catches Robbie exploring around the castle she has no idea that he's special in any way. He's just some new guy she gets to mess with before eating and DAMN he's FUN. If she didn't know any better she could almost think that he has experience being chased around (he does. he very much so does. all of RE7's worth). What she ALSO doesn't know is that Mother Miranda (big bad. Different from Lady Dimitrescu, who she refers to as 'mother') is planning on using Gabe (who is replacing baby Rose in this) to try and resurrect her dead kid with a 'perfect vessel' and this requires. uh. disassembly (in the base RE8 gameplay the reason Ethan goes to each house is because uhhhhhhhh his infant daughter has been dismembered and stored in jars and he needs to collect them so he can put her back together.... yeah). Robbie intervenes before this can get going and is instead going house to house because if he wants to get out of this stupid fuckass villiage he needs to collect the key components to unlock the gate keeping him in here (i need him to have a reason. to kill everyone. its important to me ok).

When Lisa finds out this random, but fun guy, she's been chasing who she thought was JUST SOME NORMAL GUY killed one of her sisters she mentally goes 'Oh. OH. THERES A CHANCE FOR ME TO GET OUT OF HERE'. That in conjunction with discovering Mother Miranda is planning on FULLY DISMEMBERING A CHILD she uh. Makes some decisions.

What you have to understand about her plans of matricide is that neither Lady Dimitrescu or her sisters can actually really fully die. Sure, their bodies are gone, but their consciousness is stored in the hive mind and they can reform later after gathering their strength. If she has to put her kinda shitty found family in time out for the sake of getting herself out of here + keeping her newly revived conscience clean she's absolutely going to do it.

(fuckin. backgrounds. dialogue. fuck. why can things not just take place inside of the void. DUKE MY BELOVED WE LOVE AND RESPECT DUKE IN THIS HOUSE HES A REAL ONE fuck now I got it in my head that he keeps trying to play matchmaker for them and i need to. go draw that because its too funny not to.)

Lisas plan involves this lab I had her mention in the comic above. It's where Robbie needs to go to synthesize more poison for the dagger of deaths flowers, and SUPPOSEDLY where a medicine that might allow her to go outside again might be (enemies of Lisas type become SIGNIFICANTLY weaker in the cold. She could try to bundle up but its still really not a good idea). She would love to go there herself, but it's in an area of the castle thats exposed to the cold of the outdoors.

The Two of them make a fairly decent team and Lisa finds herself having a LOT more fun hunting with someone else than she does on her own. They balance each other out pretty well; Robbie works primarily with guns so he can watch Lisas back while she's up close wrecking any grunts they run into. It's also pretty helpful having someone who can turn into a swarm of flies for puzzle solving purposes.

After all this Robbies trust for her increases SIGNIFICANTLY. He's still not really sure about her, but she's moved out of the 'active threat' classification into the 'kinda helpful' zone.

Lisa's plan has three ways it could go:

They all fail miserably and get sent to mental and physical time out in the megamycite.

They win and get to go free but either the medicine isn't there or it doesen't work. In which case she's just planning on getting as many coats as possible and Try-or-Die-ing it.

The medicine is there and she actually gets to roam free

Luckily for her, the medicine IS there, it DOES work, and Robbies sense of honor / noticing her usefulness (its hard to wage a one man war on an entire community of mutants ok you cant blame him for appreciating having some ACTUAL HELP for once) all align for the best possible scenario.

The cold does still affect her; her healing isn't as quick as it usually is and her increased strength / speed is a bit reduced, but she can go!! outside!!

She decided to stick with Robbie in getting out of the village as a whole. She doesen't really know what the world outside is like but anything has to be better than here (plus if she stays here she's probably getting shoved into the Megamycite by Mother Miranda PERMENANTLY and that just. wont do).

Also yes Lisa being with Robbie for the rest of his adventures means that she is there for Heisenbergs 'proposal'. She uh. Does not like that much.

this all made. more sense in my head I hope it at least makes a little sense out loud.

[cronchyy2]

I think it's about time I posted him before I forget forever.

Dr. Otis Octavius, "Doctor Octopus"

He's fun to draw..

(Hella lore under the cut.. be warned, I type a LOT)

In the AU, he's one of the more "drawn out" villains, like Dr. Ohnn. His arc develops mostly in the background. If I were to turn the AU into a fan-comic, I'd have moments where it'd cut to him. 👀

Anyhow, the lore is that he started off as one of the many people chosen by a foe named Black Velvet (Dr. Archer Blakeley) to catch the Pseudo-Spider, so he could rid any sort of "traces" of the whole "radioactive spider" incident. Otis goes against it at first, but he eventually gets the idea of studying the Spider himself instead. After weeks of being vigilant, he's saved by Percy Parker from a car accident. Out of gratitude, the scientist takes Parker out for dessert the same afternoon.

After a somewhat sour conversation over sweet delicacies, he manages to find out that Percy was, indeed, bit by one of the two radioactive spiders that escaped Blakeley's grasp. However, he doesn't know he's the Pseudo-Spider.

This doesn't stop him from chasing him around the city the next day with his few months old mechanical arms. Since they're still in the process of being touched-up, the chase doesn't last so long. That and because the Pseudo-Spider deals with him before any sort of damage is done.*

(*Note, this is when Percy comes up with the name 'Doc Octopus' for him,,)

A month passes, and it seems like Otis has finally gotten along with Percy after clearing his own name, telling the youth that his actions were (mostly) from his own motivation, and that he should've just cut off Dr. Blakeley.

Then, one night, while Otis is dabbling in his little job with reactors, the Pseudo-Spider disrupts him while taking on an unknown villain.

To shorten things, the fight causes PS to bump into something and mess up the entire experiment. After the chaos that is Otis trying to get everyone out of the building and him staying behind in attempt to fix the situation, it all ends in a bright and seemingly powerful explosion.

Fortunately, all of Octavius' labmates escaped unscathed, but the head scientist himself vanished without a trace. This is enough info to convince Percy that he, the Pseudo-Spider, just killed a man. And that info haunts him for a good while.

It's been less-than-a-few months since the explosion now, and Percy has somewhat managed to get over Otis' death, and tried to resume his two lives. The thought still gives him shivers time-to-time.

That is, one night, the Spider finally confronts five of his greatest foes one more time, back to back. After a while, he meets their leader. The thought-to-be deceased Otis Octavius, in the flesh, standing before him like a ghost caught in the exact moment of their death.

The now not-so-good doctor reveals that he's been actively conjuring a (master) plan to get revenge on PS, thinking that he was, indeed, his murderer. Ock also reveals that he was saved from the blast by his own robo-arms, and they took him to a safe place while he was out cold. His influence for getting rid of PS mostly comes from them.

And that's all I have for his main arc. Told you it was a mouthful

There's more, but it's mostly side plot shenanigans

Edit: I lied. I forgot to talk about his personality shift during his arc. Basically he starts off as this grumpy, strange, almost-old man who has a soft spot for a select few people he cares about (biggest example being this universe's Harry Osborn, who's constantly under stress as the heir of Oscorp. Not to mention his long dead father. Otis kinda acts as a dad or cool uncle to Harr, constantly checking to see if he's alright and even taking on some of his work for him sometimes.) After the incident, the drive of getting revenge on the Pseudo-Spider REALLY starts to show. Especially on his face. Sometimes he subconciously breaks out these sinister-ass grins when he thinks about his plan (THE PIPELINE,,)

anyhow, heres this goofy drawing of him because i wanted to see how the arms would work with his coat's belt (yes, that bothered me for a bit)

[ladybisky88]

Hi!! I've a Tumblr exclusive just for you! I wrote this funny drabble (okay, let’s be honest, it’s a crack fic🤪) a while back as a gift for @burnalist. It’s silly, it’s fun, and honestly, I find it hilarious—I think you will too! 😄

Word count: 950

Summary: Hanzo stumbles upon Bisky's unique hobby while killing time during the election wait. (At its core still a hisoillu story)

Warnings: mature with mention of nsfw content. (Nothing explicit, though.)

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The election hall of the Hunter Association was charged with tension. Hunters of all ranks and backgrounds sought ways to calm their nerves and break the monotony of the wait. Some were pacing, others engaged in conversation, and a few, like Biscuit Krueger, chose quiet corners to stay out of the fray.

Another Hunter, Hanzo, drifted through the crowd, sipping on his orange juice. His eyes, sharp and curious, swept over the room, on the lookout for something - anything - to break the monotony. He exchanged a few words with one Hunter, shared a nod with another, but nothing seemed to hold his interest.

His gaze finally landed on Bisky. She was engaged in a stash of papers, seemingly oblivious to the room and the people around her. Hanzo's interest piqued - he had little to no interaction with Bisky, but her reputation as a formidable fighter preceded her. 

This could be interesting.

He approached her with light, unnoticeable steps.

"Hey, Bisky, what's so interesting?" Hanzo asked with a playful tone.

Bisky jolted, her hands trying to cover the papers in front of her. Her eyes had a flicker of panic when they met Hanzo's. 

"It's nothing, just... just some notes," she stammered.

Before Bisky could react, he leaned in and snatched the papers from under her hands. "Let's see what's got Biscuit Krueger so wrapped up!"

"Give those back!" Bisky said, making a grab for the papers.

With a grin, Hanzo kept the papers just beyond her reach. Bisky made several attempts to retrieve them, but Hanzo easily avoided her, amused by the effort.

It was only then he took in the papers' contents. The names 'Hisoka' and 'Illumi' appeared in a context that was decidedly not for the faint of heart, making his eyes widen. As his brain processed the explicit nature of the story, he spluttered, sending a spray of juice into the air.

"This is what you double-star Hunters do for fun?" Hanzo choked out, trying to regain his composure. 

Despite his initial shock, Hanzo found himself unable to stop reading, his curiosity too strong. His eyes widened further with each line, a blush creeping onto his cheeks. He turned the page only to find something even more attention grabbing. 

Bisky’s illustration.

In the drawing, Illumi sat in Hisoka's lap, with Hisoka's hands wrapped possessively around him. Their partially unbuttoned clothes left just enough to the imagination: Hisoka's loose shirt revealed his muscular chest and a glimpse of his abs, while Illumi's lean yet firm torso was artfully exposed.

The drawing paid careful attention to details – Hisoka's fingers pressing into Illumi's side, the slight ruffle of their hair, the visible bulges in their trousers.

Sure as hell, Bisky could draw.

Hanzo's mouth opened, then closed, and then opened once more as he struggled to remember how words work. 

"Why them?" he finally managed to utter. "I mean, they're... Hisoka and Illumi.”

Bisky sighed, a faint smile played on her lips and her eyes took on a dreamy quality. 

"You know, Hanzo, they have a certain... something. They're like two sides of the same twisted coin, perfect for each other," Her voice grew more animated, almost high-pitched. "And, they're so handsome!"

Noticing Hanzo's intrigued look, she continued, "It's not just them. There's something about beautiful men, especially those with power and an edge of danger. It adds a layer of… excitement to the story.”

Hanzo glanced back and forth between the papers and Biscuit. A moment passed as he contemplated the contrast between the tough, no-nonsense fighter he expected to meet and the imaginative woman standing before him.

Bisky, crossed her arms, trying to regain her composure, "It's just a silly hobby, okay? Don't read too much into it," 

Hanzo nodded slowly. The blush on his face faded, replaced by a thoughtful expression. 

Bisky broke the silence. "So, what do you think of my story... since you've already read some of it?”

"It doesn't make a lot of sense," Hanzo started, preparing to lay out his thoughts.

He was just about to point out the gap between fiction and reality - explaining that in the real world gay sex involved more practical concerns – safety and hygiene first of all. The passionate scenes she wrote, with all the sweet kisses, caresses and shouting each other's names, didn't match up with reality. And most importantly, the very idea of Hisoka and Illumi together was ridiculous.

But just as he was about to speak, he noticed a shift in Bisky. She looked discouraged, as if all her enthusiasm drained away.

Hanzo paused, the words catching in his throat. He couldn't bring himself to crush her spirit. Instead, he shifted gears, a small, playful smile tugging at his lips.

"It doesn't make sense that Hisoka is the top, though!" he said. "Given his personality, I'd bet he'd love being a bottom.”

Bisky's eyes flickered back to life, surprised and intrigued. "What? No way! Hisoka’s clearly the more dominant type, especially with Illumi being so composed and delicate.” She ended with a dreamy sigh, clasping her hands together. 

"Hear me out," Hanzo insisted, "Hisoka lives for the thrill, the challenge. Plus he loves pain. He'd totally get a kick out of being a bottom. "

Bisky considered his words, "Ok, but what about Illumi? He's always so composed, so in control.” 

"That's the whole point!" Hanzo responded, more engaged than he anticipated. "That makes him a natural fit. Him being a control freak screams ‘top’ to me.”

The conversation continued, evolving into a light-hearted chat filled with the occasional laughter. As they talked, the initial awkwardness melted away. 

It turned out, Hanzo had found himself a pretty interesting way to make time fly after all.

[teamplasmaofficial]

[@cryogenic-achromatic]

Pelipper Mail: It's another handwritten note, in the same doctor handwriting as the previous. It reads:

"I am another Colress, but I don't have a Pokeblr account. I didn't intend for my previous package to come off as a bribe. Rather, I'm quite curious, and simply wanted an excuse to ask."

"If you're comfortable with it, could you tell us about your immediate family?"

It's signed off with a crude drawing of a Magnemite.

Of course, if you wish to know, I have nothing to hide. I haven’t spoken of my family in many years, forgive me, I may have forgotten some details.

My siblings and I were raised almost exclusively by our mother, as Father spent most of his time abroad for work. He worked for the International Police, so we were never sure where he headed to, or how long he’d be gone. I have very few memories of my father.

My elder brother, Favian, was an incredibly intelligent man. I studied alongside him in Kalos, and all throughout our childhood I remember him excelling in everything he attempted. I still hold a great deal of respect for him. Unfortunately, he was attacked and killed by a violent Pokémon when he was 28 years old. Such a bright young man, gone much too soon…

As for my sister, Cordelia, I was never as close to her as I was Favian, despite us being twins. I suppose society has progressed since my youth, but young men and young women were raised very differently, which could have contributed to the lack of connection I had with my twin sister. She was never very intelligent, although she attracted the most of Mother’s attention of my siblings. I wouldn’t say I hated her, it was moreso a childish jealousy, as I’m sure all siblings have felt at one time. After Mother died, I never attempted to continue meeting with her, and she evidently felt the same.

Of course, this all was quite a while ago. Although, never for a second do I doubt my memory. I hope this satisfies you. In all honesty, I enjoyed having the opportunity to remember my childhood.

OOC:

ooh!! ooh!!! i’m gonna dump some headcanons i have that there is no way in hell ghetsis would ever admit like. publicly.

These all apply to my interpretation of ghetsis, and in case you didn’t notice, i have done a lot of research into possible social triggers which can cause APD (antisocial personality disorder), and yeah that’s where some of this stuff stemmed from. So don’t think i’m trying to sympathise with him by giving him an edgy backstory or anything. I just think it’s fun to take a character and flesh them out as if they were like a real person.

First of all, he didn’t forget to mention his mother. He just would rather die than think about her long enough to write a paragraph on her. She wasn’t neglectful per-se, but HEAVILY favoured Cordelia to the point that ghetsis felt quite unloved during his childhood. He hated his mother since he always worked hard and excelled in school to try and impress her, but his achievements were overshadowed by Cordelia’s like. existence.

He doesn’t remember shit about his father since he was so absent, which yeah lead to him viewing Favian as a kind of father figure.

AND ABOUT FAVIAN. The incident >:). For background, I recon Ghetsis was always a piece of shit toward his pokémon. His first pokémon was a Deino he hatched himself, and he took out his anger on it a lot. Overworking and abusing it. Deino is an uncommon pokémon, so even after he hatched it his mother didn’t really care, and my guy was PISSED.

Anyways, after he returned from Kalos, his Deino still hadn’t evolved and it was really annoying him. Favian offered to help train it, and here’s where it gets juicy. After a month of intense training with seemingly no progress, ghetsis got MAD. He was so pissed at everything, but Favian was all “hey man how about we battle to see how far Deino has come :)” so yeah. they did that.

Surprisingly, Ghetsis and Dieno won the battle. But Deino was so worked up, so sore and so angry, it attacked Favian, and ignored Ghetsis when he instructed it to stop. He tried to save his brother by attempting to pull the pokémon off of him, and that’s when he lost his eye and sustained the injury to his face. Long story short, Favian was dead long before anyone could calm Deino.

After that, Ghetsis was so very disowned. The only time he saw his family was at his Mother’s funeral, he never attended his Father’s. Everyone, including himself, blamed him for Favian’s death, and for some reason, he didn’t surrender the Deino which killed his brother. After the initial shock left, he recognised the power the pokémon held with its anger, and was determined to harness it. So yeah, it eventually became his Hydreigon.

He loved his brother a lot, and still lives with the guilt. Not only because it was his pokémon who killed him, but also because he wasn’t strong enough to literally wrestle Deino away. Which is dumb there are very very few people who could do that but we all know how much this guy loves to think he’s so strong and perfect.

I don’t blame the Deino for its actions really. It acted kind of the same way those captive orcas who killed their trainers did.

I do have more stuff about his family and general life leading up to BW, so idk if you’re interested send me an anon or something and I can try to get it out of my head and down on ‘paper’. Also I haven’t proof read this Injust typed it all out real fast so sorry about that.

[highly-opinionated-art]

It's officially been a year of album of the week illustrations! Had a hard time taking pictures this time around but you get the point, right?

(2024 part 1) (2024 part 2) (2024 part 3)

Lyrics + albums + descriptions:

Week 40: We're letting the music speak for itself this time: this is the guitar solo from the song Smooth, from the album Supernatural by Santana. Easily one of the songs of all time, and it turns out the rest of that album was quite fun as well!

Week 41: "it's gonna happen when it's supposed to happen", from the song One Step At A Time, from Jordin Sparks' debut album. My only claim to fame is that when I marched in Macy's thanksgiving day parade, we were behind her and she waved at us. I almost cried.

Week 42: "start again from wherever you end" is from the song Time Is The Playground, and "everything that ends begins again" is from the song Catching Windmill. Both are from the album Time Is The Playground by one of my favorite bands, Carbon Leaf!

Week 43: "speak soft with a big stick, do what I say or die", from the song US History, from the album Flipsyde by the band of the same name, except those lyrics are actually WRONG! It's supposed to be "do what I say or be killed". I'm so mad that I messed that up, cause I really like how this little piece came out. I also became instantly obsessed with that song, it's so good

Week 44: "what a way to make a livin'!", from the song 9 to 5, from the album 9 to 5 and Odd Jobs, by Dolly Parton. Once at work I found a silver stamp pad on the floor, so I took it home, and then I smeared it all over this page to create a glittery silver background which is impossible to take a picture of. The album itself was eh.

Week 45: it's the chorus and the background vocals of the song I Won't Give Up, from the album Love Is A Four Letter Word, by Jason Mraz. Another hella nostalgic banger- I drew my adult and kid selves singing it together

Week 46: "don't think you knew you were in this song", from the song 5 Years, from the album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, by David Bowie. Sorry the art came out kind of bad this week, but not that sorry, cause what the hell was this album? Why, when I asked my parents which David Bowie album I should listen to, did they both recommend me this incomprehensible nonsense? It's so weird! You guys like this kind of thing???

Week 47: "it's been decided how we lose", from the song The Emptiness Machine, from the album From Zero, by Linkin Park. By contrast this whole album was absolutely incredible, I LOVED it. The art this time is my beloved Hector of Troy, duh!

Week 48: "show me to where there's music // with music, I just might go on", from the song I Gotta Have A Song, from the album Signed, Sealed, And Delivered, by Stevie Wonder. It was alright. Colored pencil drawing I'm pretty proud of this week of Kim, an old and also beloved oc

Week 49: "I've got laser vision, and I'm burning a hole in the wall", from the song The Lady and the Tiger, from the album Join Us, by They Might Be Giants. YES I fell victim to the same faulty red marker again. I threw it away this time. Also weird music, but weird in a way that was much easier for me to appreciate. Really liked this song in particular.

Week 50: "you can keep your body, I just want your place in the world", from the song Mantra, from the album Vicious Creature, by Lauren Mayberry. GOOD ALBUM! REALLY GOOD SONG! My mom was really confused by the background for some reason- it's of my broken car mirror. Duh.

BONUS ART: "little boys have action toys for brains // I'm living proof it can last a long time", from the song A Great Big Sled, from the album Don't Waste Your Wishes, by The Killers. Annual holiday listen to my favorite christmas album ever! Drawing is of an action figure I have- yes, he's blue, I call him Paintball Vader. Meant to make the words smaller but I like how this came out

Week 51: "I'm gonna set my feet on Southern soil and breathe that Southern air", from the song Hey Porter, from the album I Walk The Line by Johnny Cash. 'Why is it green' cause I don't have enough gray markers to make it grayscale instead. Next question. Was it a good album? Eh, it was fine.

Week 52: "whoever I was then, I can't ever be again", from the song Miami, from the album Louder Now, by Taking Back Sunday. I'm so mad because I had high hopes to like this album and I hate it. I picked an album I hated for the first AND last weeks of 2024, ugh!

Thanks for following along with this little project of mine so far- MORE TO COME IN 2025!!!

[fountainpenguin]

I've been saying this for years... It feels incredibly unrealistic that every time you pick up a story with arranged marriage, the main character is complaining, and it's often paired with the parents having been arranged (Brave being one example where the mom points out her arrangement).

If it's been normalized as part of your culture for generations and you were raised knowing it would happen someday, there needs to be a VERY good reason why this character is breaking the mold. Some examples might be:

- Fell in love with someone else first before the arrangement occurred (instead of fleeing the arrangement).

If you're already in love with someone who fits well, the reader might be on board with you that you've found your person!

- Not feeling attracted to them and you resist them.

I prefer this one after those betrothed have already met, as I think it's fun to prove a lack of chemistry in awkward conversations or different political opinions in a world where having political conversations with your partner would be very important.

This is where the meat of the story can be! You can have a fantasy war going on in the background and the prince and princess are scrambling around trying to find time for each other while stuffing down food and talking about politics. Where do you draw lines between politics talk and making time for each other??? It's so funny, guys... please.......

I do think the movie Brave was going for the lack of attraction a bit, although I seem to remember it being played mostly as "Look at how non-feminine this girl is; she rips her dresses and is messy and fights all the time" and the movie didn't take a solid stand on "Merida isn't attracted to them" (I haven't seen it in years and might be misremembering, but I think she was mostly just upset her mom was forcing this and her choice was being taken away, but the story could've been the same if instead of arranged marriage, it was about a girl not wanting to move to a different house or something).

However, bonus points for Merida perking up and getting interested when that buff guy was on display before the chief yanked his scrawny son out from behind him, because I think it's funny that for a brief moment, she was thinking about giving that guy a chance.

- Meeting the man you're arranged to marry and being disappointed so you flee.

Dealing With Dragons and The Frog Princess do this well, as the character is specifically fleeing that person and it spirals into bigger things.

- In Dealing With Dragons, Cimorene was already in a spiral of having everything ripped away from her (like fencing lessons, magic lessons, and horseback riding). She found Prince Therandil incredibly boring and he kept brushing her off and wanting to put her in a box. - Hilariously, her main argument to her family to defend her reasoning that Therandil isn't good enough for her is that he hasn't committed any heroic acts like saving her from a giant. Her parents get uncomfortable and tell her that it's short notice, but they'll try to arrange something. I love them. - Cimorene runs off to make crepes for dragons and yells at the knights who come to rescue her. When Prince Therandil shows up, Cimorene makes him help her clean a storage room and he almost gets them both killed. She sets him up with another princess who actually wants to be rescued and they finally part like that; it's fantastic.

- The Frog Princess starts out more vague (if I recall), although I believe it was emphasized that the main reason for the betrothal was because Prince Jorge's kingdom has been wanting a particular stretch of land for years and don't care how they get it. - Emma flees because she couldn't stand Prince Jorge, but I love how she keeps Prince Eadric at arm's length the entire time they're frogs- He keeps asking for kisses and she keeps saying "Dude, not the time, we're literally about to die" and it's great. - I specifically like Jorge because in the sequel book, he's STILL being a problem. After Emma rejects his proposal, his kingdom assumes she and Eadric got hitched (Even though Emma keeps turning Eadric down too) and Jorge and his father declare war on Emma's kingdom. - The sequel book is Dragon's Breath, and Emma spends it running in and out of the castle to collect ingredients for a magic spell to use on an otter. Every now and then her mom will tell her what's going on with Prince Jorge, and the mom changes her opinion from wanting Emma to be with him to "omg, this guy's awful, I would never let you marry him," which I think is funny. Emma straight-up joins her father the king when the battle starts, with her heading out to the front lines. Jorje immediately disrespects her and the reader can see "Yeah, this was not the right match for Emma." I particularly like this example because Jorge wasn't thrown out after Book 1, but continued to be a huge problem to prove how annoying he is. Iirc, he later marries a four-headed troll queen and they have a kid and I think that's extremely funny.

- One thing I feel like I haven't seen represented often enough is a partner who doesn't feel anything, but chooses to get married away.

I've often thought that I'd have been a fantastic royal in an arranged marriage because I've never experienced attraction (and it's uncomfortable to pursue people I'm not attracted to because every attempt feels awkward to me), but I think I'd be comfortable living with someone I got to know and be an awesome housewife in the common medieval fantasy times.

In fact, the IDEAL would be to have a partner approach me from the context of "Neither of us knows anything about each other and it might take some time for us to warm up, but let's work together and have honest communications."

I regularly see posts and articles talk about how you should approach someone if you want to be in a relationship with them because you can't just wait around expecting people to find you and want to date you. There's nothing wrong with approaching, but as someone who lacks attraction, it makes me feel uncomfortable to present myself as though I feel something physical when I know I'm setting myself up to come out to them later.

I've been ghosted so many times even though I thought I did my best and had awesome dates, and it's awkward to look at myself and wonder if I just wasn't showing the right signals. "Oh, yeah... I don't think I ever played with my hair. I probably didn't look at their lips and glance away, and maybe I wasn't great at breaking the touch barrier." Things that don't come naturally to me because my body doesn't signal my brain to do those things, and I'm constantly plagued by the fear that I'll get in a relationship and then be yelled at for "leading the other person on," even if I love them in my own way.

I often say the dating isn't fun to me and I wish I could skip straight into marriage. Give me the partner, hold the guessing games, please.

I feel like I can easily fall for someone who approaches me and is kind to me. I don't think it would be hard for me to devote myself to a genuinely nice, patient person who wants to make a relationship work. But when you feel like anyone could be your person, how do you make the jump and pick one? And what if you've crossed an unspoken social rule, or you ask out someone who has a partner... Regular awkward things, but man. They haunt me.

Taking that awkwardness away would be a fantasy. Can you imagine?? Having someone stay with me, willing to make things work with me, while my inexperienced self learns where my boundaries are and doesn't get my heart broken by getting into relationships that didn't work, and my partner is genuinely willing to care about me and work with me and not immediately dump me for someone "easier to connect with?"

That's a fantasy I never really get to see play out in media. More stories like this, please.

tl;dr - For a decade plus, I've been longing for stories about arranged marriages where the marriage is a background detail and not a big deal, or where the relationship starts out rocky but they actually give each other a chance and try to communicate and make it work. I'm always so shocked and disappointed not to find stories like this (and I'm open for reading recommendations). I just... can't believe how few stories about arranged marriages show them trying to give each other a chance.

Honestly, after my many years of fantasy reading and movies, I can't stand the arranged marriage trope if I can tell the author expects the audience to automatically assume it's a horrible thing that rips away your sense of choice and is going to land you in a terrible life.

You can do more! You can make it fun! Also, please explain why your character is so resistant to the idea when they grew up in a culture where this was the norm, because that implies someone influenced them from the outside and you'd better be able to back that up.

Using myself as example again, even with all the knowledge I have about what the words aromantic and asexual mean to me, I still feel like I'd be down for an arranged marriage if you plopped me in a fantasy world, and I don't even have a cultural background for it.

Obviously every individual will be different, but I've never really seen my specific "Sure, let's give this a shot" feelings represented in media. It seems like all the media to cross my path is very cookie-cutter "They absolutely adore each other" or "One of them secretly resents the other" or "They both dislike each other." I want more nuance and more stories about marrying cautiously, or one character being madly in love with the other even though they're more hesitant and reserved, not sure if they're quite as obsessed.

Great post OP, just wanted to throw some of my thoughts into the ring as well <3

I'm really tired of the "woman sad about her arranged marriage" trope, especially if that woman is royalty.

I am sure that many women across time were sad about their arranged marriages, but I'm sure a lot of others were excited, ambivalent, or resigned. Again, especially if you were royalty! I am sure if you were born a princess, you were trained from birth that your whole purpose in life was to marry someone important to solidify the power of the person on the throne. And honestly, it's an important job, if it wasn't, they wouldn't have tried so hard to do it.

That woman isn't just marrying another king or prince, she's going to be an ambassador of her country. She's supposed to be there promoting good relations. She isn't just a woman being sold off, she has a job! Also, if she is marrying the reigning monarch (or the heir), she may well end up running the country if the king is off at war or he dies when the heir is really young. That happened a lot throughout history! (or maybe she marries the third son and helps him find his way to the throne. Good for her)

It just feels like a modern sentiment being projected back. In Romeo and Juliet, when Juliet's mother first brings up marrying her to Paris, Juliet's basically cool with it and says she'll try to like him. She would have known this was going to happen because that is what rich women do, they marry into another family so their two families can be buddies. What else would she even be expecting?

It wouldn't bother me so much except that it's all we see! Give me a story about a woman who is like, "Cool, I shall give it my all!" Or she's like rolling up her sleeves and planning how she's going to get the court on her side and rule France, power behind the throne style (these women are mostly portrayed as villains, but who is to say the king would do a better job?). And also, have a little faith in women's fathers? You think men in the past didn't occasionally consider the happiness of their daughters? Not even a little bit?

[the-tzarina-alexandra-paracosm]

Some of my favourite art - a timeline

Part 3: 2013

Final Fantasy X/X-2 and FFVII fanart. June or July 2013. The first pic shows remnants of my previous style, while the latter is fully anime. Late 2012-early 2013 was a transitional period in this sense. I really like the concept of the first pic, which is Yuna's past and future self looking at each other. The second pic shows an attempt at perspective and composition.

First row: July. Second row: late 2013. Not only was I growing more and more into my style, but I was trying my hand at original character design. (1st pic: Cherille and the others from the dragon story. 2nd pic: Ivy from the vampire story. 3rd pic: Thea, alien princess. 4th pic: Chleo, wanted criminal).

It's funny to me how clear it is that this is the first time I learned to do a gradient, then proceeded to use it everywhere.

And now for some of my most iconic 2013 pieces:

September (can't make the date out but it's somewhere between the 6th and 9th). I still love this picture. I like the colours even though I ended up changing the character designs to something more cohesive eventually. The concept of this drawing was combining my two stories taking place in Japan, the one on the left being a samurai one, and the one on the right being a modern time one (fun fact! These are the characters from what eventually became my first novel, The Image through the Thick Glass, but the very original ideas as illustrated here was a sort of whodunit/ revenge story, wherein Kaito's brother had been killed etc. It's crazy how different it ended up being from the initial concept!). I also have very pleasant memories of the drawing process, as I was in vacation with my family and we were chilling on a bench in the salt mines and having a snack (and I took my notebook with me everywhere).

In terms of art progress, the most noticeable improvements compared to just months prior are: 1. Side profiles have actual chins 2. Attempts to draw clothing folds 3. Attempts to do shading 4. Still anime influenced but slowly growing into my own style 5. Growing into my character design style

September 2nd. think this is single-handedly my favourite picture of all 2013. This is one of the first very serious attempts to combine composition, perspective, colour and mood. What I like the most is how the wind blows thriugh Onix' hair and clothes, and how the city lights reflect into the river, and how the cars are a mash of random colours to suggest the speed they travel at. This is definitely the highest effort and highest execution drawing I did in that year. And I still love the character designs (and concepts) today.

October or November. I like this because it is very experimental, and if there's a year that has been characterised by its sheer leaps and bounds in art, it's been 2013.

I had to check because I thought this was 2014, but it's actually dated as November 28, 2013. This is also one of my favourites, and perhaps objectively the best of that year. Compared to the Xavier and Onix pic, this had the added benefit of better contrast with the background and a more readable composition. I really like the mood of the drawing, too, it's very emotional. Also re: my gradient comments above, this is one of my first successful sunsets.

-----

The main characteristics of this year are: 1. Trying to adopt an anime artstyle 2. Experimenting with character design, as well as scene composition, perspective, gradients, shading, poses and so on. I didn't realise just how much I've improved over the course of just one year, it really seems like every new month brought a new skill with it, and the style at the beginning of 2013 and that at the end of 2013 can almost not be recognised as being from the same year.

[the-firebird69]

Another news or send us come up with the movie title "Double Chin" and it is for martial arts film and the movie headline cover is going to have a silhouette of red with black background and a black screen but it's of one of the all right there's an Asian caricature and it's kind of the fatter face and it's round it's like a single line drawing and with the small beard and small mustache and the hair done up and that's what it looks like as a face but they're two fighters facing each other roughly about exactly the same size and it almost exactly the same shape and they form up the photo negative for the face and usually those particular characters have a small double chin it's like Gilene had so you're starting to get it, it's about these two for martial arts experts and their Chinese American and they're in the Chinese mob so to speak and they're fighting to keep family secrets and one of them is a woman and you can't tell it looks like a man and they're always sparring and stuff in the middle of the movie but it's a serious movie it's a serious action film and it's about to Chin a dynasty a little bit and that they have stuff and they're fighting over it and they're not letting anybody know that they're pretty kick ass and beefy, and it's about the stolen artifact but they're trying to also keep their family out of the public eye that's a finger pointing session and it can begin there. It also alludes to the fact that they're a little bit bigger and it's about Double dragon and the legend of it and we can work it in there and Uriel and goddess wife will assist and of course our chins and they are God and Goddess as well they do have kids with the same name, in China that went the wrong way this is true it's not a whole ton of them but they do have power and they know what the legend of the double dragon is it has to do with the east and west coast of the United States and that's what the whole movie is about and they're saying it which is great. Onto the other stuff. And we are working on a script and we are looking for actors and actresses and there's a bunch of you that do very well with this kind of stuff like House of flying daggers you like that film because it showed they have superpowers too and parts of kill Bill although they kind of get their ass kicked by Sarah there's no if that's believable and this is Sean Connery movie in Japan Jackie Chan is a lot of movies but the martial arts is a little bit light. And jet Li's movies are always intense but he carries the movie and this is a different clan but he can be idiot that would be great because it's a supporting actor and he's a high profile actor and he wants to be it's about Double dragon and their white dragons what's funny is The chins are her side and she's looking at his double chin all the time. Now she feels better

The image of the cover of the movie it's the symbol and the flyer is awesome it says double chin in those big black martial arts letters on the bottom and there's a whole face just like the Jim Morrison face but it's with red and black and two fighters facing each other in the face. This is an intense idea I kind of like it and want to get it going

Thor Freya segmented woman pretending their fighting it's an ugly thing

Olympus we approve this and it's going to start up shortly and way chan Lynn wants to be involved since I'm alive you a****** and with a chans you dummy. So he had to explain the family stuff again and it's going to be tough cuz there's a lot of those names over there in all different there's tons of them and he's laughing so wow this guy is a super genius so it says so this is fine well have you making the bamboost ver here . Yeah you said they were going really slow he said he should have got the slow workers sign out it's funny cuz all the Asians make fun of it hey look I was right and then people like Sandy Wong say well dummy thier using robots. Sandy Wong says boy does it sound like me I guess it's going to cost you a few bucks because you have to pay me for my likeness. She didn't say all that but she said you have to pay me. She wants to be in the film and he wants her in it and she can be like a historian talking about the family and talking about the dragons and the legend telling them to shut up it's a quiet down and sit down that's a big noises with their nose when she's reading.... Had a criticize them for a few minutes. Let's read professionally and stuff and then she will read professionally it's a great idea we're going to publish now Thor Freya

[sainthelgas]

Wrow.

I read the description before watching it but I was still caught off guard by a lot of that. I don't know how historically accurate it was since I know very little about ancient egypt, but I will assume it was not very accurate.

Also, as the local pervert I will say despite being an incredibly sexual movie, it didn't do much for me. Maybe it's cause of the artstyle but I kinda just went "oh, those are boobs I guess" for a lot of it. Idk. I also feel like matching war and sex as these complimentary things is very interesting. I think they took that from the real life story of cleopatra but I still thoight it was interesting. They even have implocations about how war can often mingle with sexual assault, even if most of the time it is not taken very seriously. It also has the same problem as a lot of 70's movies as well as a lot of japanese animation where they draw black characters kinda closely to blackface. Though it's mostly a problem for some character designs. Most of the background characters woth darker skin tones are drawn normally. Except cleopatra who is very much white washed here. Irl I think she is believed to be at least half greek but realistically some more tanned skin would make sense. The only reason I notice most of this is cause they kinda set up another woman to be the one to "seduce" caesar before picking cleopatra. And the original woman is of course darker dkinned then cleopatra which may mean nothing.

A few more things I found interesting/weird in this movie.

First off. Ceasar having a mommy situation with his wife in rome. I googled it thinking maybe this was based on some truth but no. They just thought it'd be funny to have caesar call his wife mommy and act like uh yeah

The random Astroboy cameo.

The entire central plot about time travelers being put into bodies of people from the time in order to kill cleopatra. But then almost immediately lising their memories. One of them invents a gun and uses it to kill someone. Then it ends up in the hands of caesar who never does anhthing with it again. It feels like the gun being created hundreds of years early should have some long term effect on the time lime but whatever.

The depiction of the death of caesar was possibly the peak for me. It just came together very well and was a visual and audio masterpiece. It is funny that in this universe Brutus was basically paid to kill ceasar by Cleopatras lesbian servant who wants to fuck her so bad it makes her look stupid. And gets fucking killed on screen by the end. My mouth was hanging open during that bit I didn't think they'd go that far. Tney hadn't been shy depicting the horrors of war but they also had a bit very on where a man and a dobkey he was leading got their heads cut off. And they just swapped heads and looked at each other like *gulp. So it's a 50/50 what you're gonna get. I assume we're supposed to feel like that was her getting "what she deserves" for lusting after cleopatra/pushing her to kill caesar/whatever other romans in the way. Which idk. Kinda fair. I know you love him but like the romans are in fact an invading army so killing caesar is probably the smart choice. I also don't love this from a technical pov. It kinda takes away a lot of cleopatras agency by having this character to push her to do this stuff instead of her going out and doing it on her own. She is also at least by the movies standards "ugly" so you can kinda assume how the writers expected you to react to this character/her coming onto cleopatra

The end credits were pretty fun though. A musical segment with good visuals can always knock a middle of the road movie up a few points.

Now watching the 1970 mobie "cleopatra, queen of sex" or just cleopatra. I noticed this too with down and dirty duck but both that and this had two differant names. I assume here it's cause they didn't wanna market a movie with the word sex included in it.

[inertflouride]

The Heist- Part 19

You know the drill now... For previous updates, go here! I might have finished the task you all were snowballing hehe&lt;3

"Hell the fuck no!", I shriek at the flashy red 1968 Ford Mustang gracing the shitty background view, and I make a leap towards it, sprawling over its hood. "This is what they call a 'wet dream'!" I move back from the hood and take the majestic vehicle in once again, disbelief radiating from my eyes.

"Certainly", he lets out a small laugh in response, "I suppose our definitions of 'wet dream' vary a lot."

Thank goodness my back is towards him since I can feel the heat creeping out from my cheeks, most probably tainting them a deep red. I find myself pressing my thighs together subconsciously, trying to subdue the building heat between them. Ever since our little make-out session, I have now officially lost count of how many times did I repeat that scenario in my head. God knows where it would have led had we not been interrupted.

I get too busy with my thoughts that I seem to have not noticed Jake moving up and now standing behind me. Too close yet not enough.

"I know what you're thinking MC. No point hiding your face from me", he coos in my ear, one of his hands gently squeezing my butt. A little sigh escapes from me before suddenly he spanks my butt, and reminds me of the task at hand.

"Goodness, Jake!", I squeal at him and try to smack his tummy but he catches my wrist before that and gently twists it. I whine and try to free it from his iron clasp but to no avail. Then, suddenly, he brings it closer to his lips and gently kisses my inner wrist which makes butterflies flutter in my belly from the delicacy of his action.

"Everyday I find myself thanking whatever Gods that exist in this world for bringing you in my life. Whatever I say to describe my feelings towards you is still insufficient and an 'I love you' does no justice to the amount of love and respect I have for you MC. You gave a reason to my life even back then and you seem to do that now as well. I just hope that once all this ends, I'll be able to provide you a life you deserve. That I'll be sufficient enough to protect you, the way I should right now too."

Tears try to well in my eyes from the sudden declaration I receive from him. "Yeah well, you can call me your majesty from now as a token of gratitude", I sniff out a bit from the heavy emotions that stir inside me and try to lighten the air between us. Jake lets out a laugh and motions for us to start our journey.

"Okay well if not that, at least lemme ride this beauty?", I ask him, batting my eyes like a 3 year old in the toy section of a supermarket, "Pweeeeez(please)?"

He gently pinches my nose, saying, "Cute but no. Now no tilly-tallying about that and lets go."

I drag my feet to the car from the disappointment and slump in my seat, throwing my backpack to the backseats. Jake follows the same, except he 'keeps' his bag instead of throwing it back. He turns the ignition on and the engine purrs deliciously, almost making me drool over it.

As we finally start with our journey to Berlin, I realise that this has to be one of the calmest and optimistic moment in a while. We found Kyle! Unbelievable for me at least since I always had this feeling that Mark Wilson or whatever his name is, would have killed him already or something. The fact he managed to stay afloat regardless of probable bounty worth several dollars for his head is remarkable.

As for calling this moment calm, I say so because maybe ever since I met Jake, we never had a peaceful moment to ourselves like we do right now. Jake drives the car with his one hand managing the steering and the other takes my hand in his, intertwining our fingers in each other, his thumb drawing those little circles on the dorsal side of my palm. I throw my head back from the fatigue by the last few days, imagining how Jake spent years living a life worse than this and yet managed to stay a little fun with me at times during our chats.

"You know, you should take some rest while you can right now. The past few days haven't been very kind on you", he suggests me while glancing at me sideways for a few seconds.

"So haven't for you Jake. You can let me drive just so you know, if you get tired and need a break too", I soften my eyes at him, trying to reciprocate the mutual care.

"I will, once you get your quota of sleep in."

"Pfft, you and your obstinate ass", I roll my eyes at him and shift my weight on my left, leaning my head against the cool window pane.

As I shut my eyes, my mind wanders back to our foe at hand, how he oh-so-conveniently got rid of and silenced ANY further investigations regarding the cold blooded murder of Michael. How powerful is that guy? Somehow I still do not seem to know the answer to that question.

It still baffles me how we ACTUALLY got rid of Michael, how we tricked Mark to believe that his loyal servant was two-timing him, and the way James and Jake laid out the whole plan, and executed it...

Two days back when the three of us were bewildered over a dearth of ideas as to how to get in the farm where Mark was hiding. We knew he was at the farm only because of the intel we discovered on our own so sending James with the files would definitely be suspicious and abrupt, and it would make us lose out at an important chance if Mark sniffed something out.

"Well, what if James gets invited to the farm?", I subconsciously mutter, thinking deeply about the faint idea flashing in my head.

"What do you mean?", James lifts his head from the files and looks at me to elaborate further.

"Well, the best way to infiltrate an area is to get invited", I say in a matter-of-fact way. "If a rumour spreads in your organisation suggesting Michael is guilty of whatever is written in those files of yours, and then it reaches the inner circle that you were the one to discover that, I guess Master will himself call you in to clarify that. Then you take the files with you and show him everything. BAM, instant kill."

"But why would I be the one to throw light on Michael's deeds? Wouldn't it be suspicious that I suddenly bring up proof to get him out especially after Michael tried to attack you guys?", James tries to reason back.

"Oh. Then tell him the truth. Michael had the audacity to check on your personal space, suspecting you of hiding us and it hurt your ego. Plus you are loyal to Master, and you would never let anyone screw, whatever you guys call yourselves, over", I explained as I took a seat on the bean bag, flipping my hair backwards.

"Fuck, that would actually sounds honest and authentic. God, you are a genius MC", Jake beamed and kissed my cheek.

....

"FUCK, MC GET UP!", Jake exclaims in a loud voice, making me jerk from my little recapitulation.

"What happened Jake?!", I try to rearrange my mind, desperately in an attempt to understand the sudden commotion.

"They caught onto us. Master's men are after us. Look at the rear mirror", he mumbles so fast that I barely catch onto what he's saying. I look at the concave mirror beside me and find 4 black SUVs chasing us.

Jake tries to lose them, making sharp turns and twists which would have thrown me across the car if I didn't have the seat belt on. I feel a distinct buzzing in my pants and find Christopher calling me on my burner phone. I pick it up without further ado and stick it to my ear, so that it does not get tossed to some unreachable corner of the car.

"MC! Get to a safe place immediately! I heard some chatter in the FBI while I was there and demanded to know what was going on. Finally they spilled that the cyber criminal, who you are to help the FBI with, had caught onto your trail. Please tell me they haven't yet!"

"Fuck, they are right after us Chris. Jake is trying to outspeed them but I don't know what's there for us."

"I'm sending you... Just...there and call at... They will take you... help you too."

"What? I can't hear you Chris!", I try to re-communicate with him when suddenly a bullet hits the rear glass of the car, making me lose grip on the phone and duck down in response.

"Shit, shit, shit. MC, get my bag from the rear seat and open the front zip", Jake orders me, still zipping around the deserted road.

I flap open my seatbelt and try to reach the rear seat but misbalance as Jake takes another sharp turn. I push myself forward and somehow manage to grab onto the bag before seating myself back on the passenger seat. I open the bag and find a revolver staring back at me.

"What in the actual fuck Jake?! Where the fuck did you get this?", I ask him in utter disbelief though realising the situation right now isn't the most perfect one for Q&A. "Scratch that, what do you want me to do?"

"I'm gonna hit the gas really hard now, which will temporarily make them lose sight us of. Then we get out and hide, I'll do the shooting don't worry. Just stay with me and DO NOT let even 1 feet distance between us. Understood?"

"Okay", I nod, more to myself as I try to prepare myself for the task at hand.

Jake then speeds the car so fast that I find myself being pushed back to my seat, unable to even lift my head. I scream at seeing a dead end ahead but Jake jerks my hand and screams, "Jump now!"

And I do. I open the car door and jump down on the grass which maybe does break my fall but my body stills rolls down and when it finally stops, I look back and find the car jumping into the deep ditch.

"NOOOO! JAKE!!!!!", I scream my lungs out on not seeing him anywhere. He didn't jump with the car right? "No no no, this can't happen." And I start running towards the ditch to figure shit out when suddenly...

@a-glimpse-of-fantasy here you go lovely! <3

NEXT PART

Sorry, I ain't as active as I was when I joined but ehh, life took over my steering so... <3 Hope you enjoyed tho haha!

[birdiesgolden]

Hello! Here’s a dose of songs that remind me of Warner I promised ages ago, if you liked it there are more songs if anyone is interested.

Btw this will have spoilers!

BOYFRIEND - Dove Cameron

Basically this whole song reminds me of when Adam and Juliette were together. I don’t think there is specially one line but there are quite a few. “I don't need to tell you twice, All the ways he can't suffice, If I could give you some advice I would leave with me tonight”. “I could be a better boyfriend than him, I could do the shit that he never did”

KILLER SHANGRI-LAH - Psychotic Beats

I heard this on an advert for a tv show and was like ‘oh…yes’. I don’t really think I need an explanation, the song is just pretty badass so I felt the whole vibe was right. “I had to kill you, I’m really sorry”. “But you know what…ain’t nobody gonna change me”

HUNGER - Alibi Music

Literally the same reason for the song above. “I see you watching me with those eyes, I feel them watching me all the time”. “You’ve got secrets and I’ve got mine, but how do we know when to draw the line?”

I DID SOMETHING BAD - Taylor Swift

I felt like this also just fit, it reminded me of when he killed Seamus Fletcher because he had no regrets to it. “They say I did something bad. Then why’s it feel so good?” “Most fun I ever had, and I’d do it over and over and over again if I could”.

THE 30TH - Billie Eilish

I cried when I heard this song it broke my heart. But besides from this just being a masterpiece I felt like it related to Warner in the Believe Me novella when Juliette was thought to die on the plane back to Sanctuary. He was so scared to leave her alone in case anything happened to her because of the trauma of almost loosing her. I think because he wasn’t beside his mother when she died, he may hold some regret that she was alone. In the song, there are a lot of ‘what if…’ and I think it could shows Warner thinking of it happening and struggling to move on from it because of the paranoia of someone you love almost dying. “But I told you even then you looked so pretty. In your hospital bed”. “I remember you said you were scared. And so am I”.

SANCTUARY - Joji

It just felt like a warnette song and it’s just so adorable. I can just hear this playing in the background if shatter me was a movie cause they just love each other and deserve everything. “If you’ve been waiting for falling in love. Babe, you don’t have to wait on me" "Pull me oh so close, 'cause you never know just how long our lives will be" " 'Cause what you want is what I want, sincerity"

LIKE A ROLLING STONE - Bob Dylan

In Restore Me we were told that Warner was listening to this song on repeat and I understand why. It seams to relate to his life and how it has changed so much from Shatter me to Ignite me (and obviously keeps changing). I struggled to pick out chunks of this song to put in this list but if you listen to it then it will probably be clear. "How does it feel, how does it feel? To be without a home" "Nobody's ever taught you how to live out on the street. And now you're gonna have to get used to it" "You're invisible now, you've got no secrets to conceal"

HEATHENS - twenty one pilots

I felt like this fits into the first shatter me book theme but also other books too. I thought it related to Warner because he is often misunderstood by everyone around him as they do not know, nor understand what he has been through. He is both a tragic hero and anti-hero. (Did any of that make any sense?) "Please don't make any sudden moves. You don't know the half of the abuse" "You'll never know the murderer sitting next to you. You'll think, "How'd I get here, sitting next to you?""

FATHER'S SON - Celeste

This feels like this song relates to Anderson, Warner and Adam. Warner throughout the series is almost trying to tell us he isn't anything like his father despite there being characteristics that are the same. Overall there is one clear factor that makes them stand out from each other. Warners emotions. With Adam and Warner it felt like the lines could fit Ignite me and Restore me. It feels like Warner is trying to process how the can be brothers with similar (but different) backgrounds but turned out to be completely different types of people. it reminded me of when Warner told Juliette he admired Adam for his capability to turn out completely different to him despite receiving Andersons abuse. "I know you look at yourself like me. With the same eyes, we both see through to the end" "I heard it's in your blood, baby. I heard you got the same taste in your mouth" "Maybe I'm my father's son, maybe I'm my father's son. Or, I'm nothing like you, or, I'm nothing like you"

SEVEN - Taylor Swift

This song feels to me like it could almost be from Juliette pov of when she was a child. It felt like the memories of their childhood together in Defy me. it was revealed that Warner and his mother hid in the closet to get away from Anderson and Juliette suggested to live underwater (bby). "And I've been meaning to tell you I think your house is haunted Your dad is always mad and that must be why And I think you should come live with Me and we can be pirates Then you won't have to cry Or hide in the closet And just like a folk song Our love will be passed on"

HIGHER LOVE - Lilly Winwood & Steve Winwood

This song is just so cute and I could imagine it playing when Juliette confessed that she loved Warner in Ignite me. "Things look so bad everywhere. In this whole world, what is fair?" "Worlds are turning, and we're just hanging on. Facing our fear, and standing out there alone" "There must be someone who's feeling for me"

[husbandohunter]

Moments of Despair #2 [Genshin Impact/Albedo x Reader]

Synopsis: "The alchemist who relished in his gifts only to fall from grace."

(A series of works where the boys deal with the passing of their beloved).

Diluc’s despair

Warnings: angst, tragedy, major character death and psychological horror (correct me if otherwise)

(A/n): I decided to take a slightly different approach this time. Regardless, it’s still killing my heart TwT.

---------------------------------------------------

Out of the many wonders of Teyvat, one thing Albedo loved most was how you were so different from him. 

Difference ties to the unknown, one that must be discovered. He was drawn to you the first time he had laid his eyes upon your form standing at the heights of Mondstadt's cathedral. The Sisters scolded you from below, but all you did was reply with a wink amidst their chaos before soaring into the skies and letting the wind carry your glider. Reckless they said. For him, your recklessness was intriguing. 

As the sun's light blinded his vision, everything he saw seemed like a glass barrier. For the ground was where he thrived and chalk was his core, it became the basis of Albedo's very existence. Even the geo Archon granted him a Vision of the same element to affirm his identity. The earth will forever be attached to his feet as he will keep on his stride until every last truth of Teyvat have all been realized. You, on the other hand, hailed from a place where he couldn't quite reach. What lies beyond this glass ceiling? Albedo found himself gradually holding onto a string of curiosities, a string he could touch but was not able to feel. 

'Interesting,' he thought quietly, while the breeze slip between the fingers of his outstretched hand. 

He was a character of logic, possessing sharp eyes that could pierce through the depths of the most complex formulas and a mind to predict their outcomes-  as long as alchemy was still related. All impossibilities thrown in his way only paved a path for him to become the well known genius he was now. Whether it was alchemy or  investigations with the Knights of Favonius, Albedo never failed to deliver the answers. But despite it all, he always found himself endlessly contemplating over things that were considered intangible. He wonders why you smile when there was nothing to laugh about. How could you tell between the complexities of the human heart? Albedo can't seem to put a finger on it. 

'Why? What drives you? What are you thinking?' 

The Chief Alchemist couldn't resist being fascinated by your unpredictability. It reels him in similar to a fish being baited out of the waters. However, unlike those creatures, Albedo only tightened his grip on the strings as if they were a lifeline, determined to find out what they truly felt like to the touch. 

"I can't really say it's much of an answer," you hummed, clasping both hands behind your back before declaring with a grin, "To put it simply, you just gotta follow your heart."

'Follow your heart...' What does it mean to follow your heart? 

"I'm afraid I still don't understand," he replied in a thoughtful manner. The statement never really resonated with him and it certainly weren't the words his Master taught when he was in the early stages of being created, "But it does suit you very much." 

"Really? But still bring your head with you," a playful laugh escapes and you add while pointing a finger, "At least, it's what everyone tells me these days." 

"Hm," Albedo then affirms with a nod, "I can definitely see why they would tell you that." 

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?" 

The days go by and his repetitious march towards the truth remains the same. However, there was never a dull moment when you were at his side. Perhaps that was the reason why Albedo became so attracted to your aura. The way you'd follow around his experiments, eyes so full of enthusiasm at every step of the activity. Sometimes the events can get a little too out of hand in which he needs to step in and save you from getting stuck in slime condensates...constantly. Albedo grew fond of your childlike excitement even when you weren't entirely sure what was going on. He normally distanced himself from socializing as it never sparked his interest. Frankly, he was too much of a genius for mundane conversations. Your presence was rather refreshing in this case. You were an oddball, just like him, and for once the alchemist felt like he didn't need to place that glass barrier between the two worlds. 

"You seem to be in a very good mood today Mister Albedo." 

He was a man of subtle expressions yet anyone could notice the small gleam in his eyes whenever he saw you walking in the hallway. Sucrose often remarked with a giggle after she noticed her teacher holding his documents upside down. But who could blame him? Joy, fun, laughter. He was able to experience those emotions all because of you; his beloved. You were the colour to his canvas and the meaning to his flower. You were a force of nature. Like a warm breeze gracing upon the terrestrial lands, you move him. 

Thump- thump- thump- 

Strings around his world began to weave one whole picture while they also tugged inside his chest. God had finally blown the breath of life into mankind's body, it was only a matter of time before Albedo came to follow his heart too. 

-------- 

"Alright, just one more detail aaaaand done!" 

You gave a small tap using the tip of your pencil and leaned back to examine your artwork. 

Masterpiece! 

On days when Katheryne had no commissions assigned to the guild, Albedo would accompany you to the Whispering Woods and conduct his sketches there instead. He was aware of the discomfort Dragonspine brought as the temperature wasn't ideal for anyone except for him. You eventually learned that your lover was not only intelligently different from the rest but physically too. Albedo, aside from the Cavalry Captain, was mysterious in his own way. He was hard to read yet never came off as intimidating, no one knew of his origins nor they knew how he came to Mondstadt. You wondered why someone like him would have wanted to get involved with your shenanigans. Rosaria often gave warnings regarding the alchemist's 'hidden intentions' in which you'd roll your eyes in response. The Albedo you knew was far from that. He was a big brother to Klee, a man passionate about his work, he was the one golden star among the many silvers in your sky. He was your lover. 

My Albedo. 

Brushing a hand upon the drawing you made of him, you glided down the lines of his cheek before resting your finger on the mark by his neck. You gazed at it with fondness. Truly a masterpiece indeed. 

"You do realize I'm still here?" 

The paper nearly flies out of your grasp and you snatched it back to your chest, "HUH A-ALBEDO, WHEN DID YOU APPEAR???" 

"I was with you the whole time," he states. The corner of his lip tug upward ever so slightly, "You said you wanted to sketch me." 

"A-Ahahaha, so I did," you reply while scratching your head bashfully. 'I thought I was looking at a sculpture!!'  You rushed to cover your face with the sheet. It wasn't that you forgot he was there, rather, you forgot he was still a living and breathing specimen who just witnessed your little serenade. As Lisa had once said, Albedo was easy on the eyes. His graceful features made him seem almost like an oil painting that could only be found in  halls of the most prestigious households. You made sure to capture everything, every detail, every curve just like he had done with your portraits. Only now you noticed the sun already began its descent below the lakeside, dusting the landscape with hints of bright orange as it marked the day's end. If only time could slow down. But duty calls upon your next journey and there was no telling when you'd return. At the very least, a simple portrait would suffice to fill in the temporary gap of his absence. 

"Can I see it?" 

You glanced his direction while keeping the drawing close to your nose, "Are you sure about that? It might not be up to your expectations." 

"I'm sure," Albedo affirms with a straight countenance, "I can already tell you've put a great amount of effort, otherwise you wouldn't have taken this long." 

"Yeeaahh I kinda lost track of time. I guess it's only fair that you get to see the finished product," you say and shoved the drawing in front of him, "Tada! I present to you, my masterpiece!" 

Albedo takes it out of your grasp and you watched the way his eyes expanded upon sight. 

"Well? Whaddya think?" 

Words could not describe the mixture of emotions that erupted within him. Was it distinguishable or abstract? Albedo spent his time pondering between the two answers as he examined the drawing closely. Despite the lines being slightly jagged and the unevenness in the placement of his eyes, he managed to make the shape of the entire image you were trying to convey. Perhaps it was all thanks to his well trained artistic vision which gave him the ability to do so. Or maybe he was simply biased. But there wasn't a shred of doubt that this was indeed your craftsmanship. 

"You even added flowers in the background," he pointed out with amusement. 

"It's the thing you make when using your elemental burst, I couldn't fit your hand in the picture so I decided to put it somewhere empty," you informed, "Out of everything, that one took me the longest." 

"And the rabbits?" 

"They resemble Klee's bombs!" 

He lets out a chuckle, "I see." 

Albedo kept his attention downward until he was mindlessly staring at the paper in hand. This was a memory made to be carried as you moved on to your next journey and it saddens him that he could not accompany you. If only time slowed down. Albedo wanted to hold onto the memory forever, because he knew once he gave it back, he wouldn't be able to see you for an uncertain amount of time. 

"Do you really have to go?" 

His voice was barely above a whisper. Guilt crept into your heart and you gingerly layed your fingers on his gloved ones, bringing down the paper that blocked his face. A pair of teal orbs held a reflection of your image as the sun's rays casted from the side. You returned it with a reassuring grin, hoping to soothe his worries somehow, "I just need to pay a visit to my father since he's been very sick lately. I'll be fine, so don't worry too much okay?" 

Albedo turns over his palm and gave your hand a squeeze, "How long will it take?" 

"I'm not sure but it will be a while. Snezhnaya is pretty far so..." you trailed off, "But my time in Mondstadt, with Klee and with you, I will never forget! I won't even if I tried." 

When you were met with no answer, a breeze came in to fill the melancholic silence. He too will not forget and he would ensure that it was the same for you. Slowly, Albedo brought your hand up, past the center of his heart all the way to cupping his cheek. He allowed himself to indulge in your warmth, tangling the strands of his hair with your fingers while closing his eyes. Sweet flowers. You always carried the smell of sweet flowers. 

"Albedo?" You gawked, "What's the matter?" 

"...There are certain aspects where drawings can't imitate,"  he says, grip tightening ever so slightly, "How I feel against your skin, the shape of my jaw, your warmth radiating with my own. These are the things I want you to remember." 

Breath leaves your slightly parted mouth. It was unfair how straightforward Albedo could be when showing his affection. Doing as he pleases without anyone's approval to the point it would even catch you off guard since he often absorbed himself in the arts of alchemy. But during times when Albedo did choose to express his feelings, you knew they came from a place of pure genuinity. The thought made it hard for you to tear away from him, "Did you ever find out what the strings felt like then?" 

Albedo returns his gaze, long golden lashes hovering them as he smiles softly, "...I have." 

As he began to reveal his stories, the dusk sky continued to flare across the landscape with colours of passion. Red, it was the thread that had led him to you, the same string that weaved him together as a whole. Albedo lays a kiss atop of your pinky, there was a reason why Mondstadtians called him the Chalk Prince. You didn't know the intention behind his sudden affection but he knew. It was a promise, one to ensure that the thread would also have you return safely back into his arms. 

Oh how he hated the colour red. 

"Al...bedo..." 

With speed he never knew he had, Albedo scoops you into his embrace and held you close. How did everything happen so fast? He curses his mind as it proceeds to scan your injuries, drawing a conclusion where he wished to be wrong for once: 

You were beyond help. 

"Ah..haha..." you managed to laugh through bitter tears, "You don't have to say it. I know." 

His breath hitches, trying to make sense of the feeling that was slowly tearing him apart from the inside. It's not real. Of course it wasn't, it couldn't be. What other possible answer was there to explain the numbness stinging his fingers? The reason for his shaking? Everything felt so cold. Your body hardly registered to his to touch, you were losing so much blood. You were losing. He was going to lose you. 

"No," Albedo shakes his head, "We still have time. I'll go find help." 

Please, hold on. 

He forced himself to think. The ruin hunter ran off shortly after it had ambushed you, by now the Knights would eventually noticed and apprehended it on sight. They couldn't be too far. All he needed was to carry you back to safety and everyone can go home. Albedo darted his eyes all over the place, breaths becoming shallower with each passing second. Where? Where to go? Which route was best to not overexert your wounds? Think. Think. Think. Why couldn't he think? 

"A..." You watched him in your helpless state. Every part of you throbbed with pain but it pains you even more to see the renowned genius who stood atop the pedestal of elegance and grace so utterly, undoubtedly lost. This was not the goodbye you wanted, though death already had you tight in their grasps. Not yet. Using the last particle of your strength, you tried to stay alive as long as possible. Just a little bit more time. 

Albedo freezes when a trembling hand extends itself to cup around his cheek. Every single thought he had in mind vanished and was replaced by a loud ring resonating in his ears. Dreadfully, mechanically, he turns his attention to where you lay. 

"Don't cry," you whisper, "I love you, don't cry- okay?" 

Albedo grimaces, shutting his eyes closed as he allows the pent up sadness to flow out of him completely, "I can't," he said in a shaky voice, "Please. Stay." 

"I'm sorry," Your vision blurs and he hugs you even more. Drawing your final breath, you relay your most cherished words through a broken smile, "But no matter w-where I go...I won't for..ge.." 

The moment your hand fell, Albedo finally understood the difference between death and loss. 

It was...suffocating. Having the air trapped in his throat, begging to release yet it hurts to speak. The never ending stabs that pulsed within his veins rushed forth like the scraping  blizzard of Dragonspine until his whole body lost all its senses. The world was shattering. He could no longer feel your weight. He could no longer feel. 

(Y/n). 

Albedo glances at his blood stained fingers where the thread had been severed, wide eyes drowning in sorrow. What a horrible feeling. Was this a warning sent by the gods? For stepping into the boundaries of knowing too much? Ah the curse of knowledge man must bear when eating the temptatious fruit. It was the result of choosing to love you. With life, death is inevitable and with love, it will eventually bring pain. Everything had a price to pay and as an alchemist, Albedo knew that better than anyone. 

"...Meaningless..." 

But he refused to accept it. 

Cradling your corpse, he leans in and places a kiss on your forehead, lips quivering as they lingered for a second too long before gathering the strength to stand back on his feet. Nothing will stop the alchemist from reuniting with you. If the laws wished to take you away from him then he will use everything in his power to fight against those laws. 

"This is not goodbye..." Albedo said to the sleeping girl, "And it will never be." 

When the sun sinks below the plains and the stars lose their light, the sky had been replaced with a palette of darkness. It was time to go home. 

------ 

"Have you all heard about the rumours?" 

A group of knights gather in the corner as they whisper about. Sucrose stops on her tracks and hides behind a wall, clutching the book close to her chest in an attempt to stay hidden. 

"Another criminal disappeared from the dungeons? Crazy..." 

"More like creepy. I was told that place might be haunted by some dead prisoner's ghost. Even the Church is hopping onto this case." 

"Well I hope it doesn't get any worse. So many of us started going on night patrols..." 

Their voices faded out of range as the anemo user backtracks her steps carefully. Several months passed since the news of mysterious kidnappings have been announced to the public. Rumours of their whereabouts swirled around the city and much to her discomfort, Sucrose happened to catch every single one of them. There couldn't possibly be evil spirits lurking in the Favonious Headquarters right? She silently shrieks at the thought, shaking her head furiously to stop her mind from going too deep. No, I have to find him. Without wasting another minute, the anemo user sprinted towards the stairs all the way up to the second floor before stopping directly in front of her teacher's office. Despite the adrenaline that occured at the same time, she made sure to knock. 

No answer. 

"Strange, he told me he would be here today..." Sucrose muttered to herself. But suddenly she heard the sound of objects shifting from the otherside, signaling that there was indeed someone occupying the room. Without realizing, she held her breath out of anticipation. 

"Come in." 

The door creaks as she opens them, giving her enough space to slip between the gap, "Mister Albedo?" 

"You're early today," The Chief Alchemist noted from his desk, "Is there something the matter?" 

"Y-You mean you don't know? There was just another case about a person disappearing from the dungeons," Her tone became more frantic as she rambled to herself, "The kidnapper never leaves a trace and no one knows how they were able to get out. Even when we ask the guards what happened, they can't seem to remember as if...as if someone casted a spell on them!" 

"A spell?" He inquires, "I suppose that could be a possibility." 

"I think so too. I-It's the only explanation that makes sense! I mean...ghosts don't exist after all," Sucrose nervously looks down at her shoes while giving her book a squeeze, "But why? Who could be capable of such advanced techniques? No matter how hard I try, I can't seem to understand their intentions." 

"...Yes. It is a very strange occurrence indeed." 

Noticing her teacher's withdrawn attitude, Sucrose couldn't help but feel flustered at her own behaviour, "Ah my apologies Mister Albedo, I didn't mean to go off track. Have there been any progress on the investigations so far?" 

Albedo briefly glanced at the various documents splayed across his table. His reputation as an incredibly intelligent individual had reached far and wide through Mondstadt. This led to the authorities requesting his assistance regarding the recent matters, despite him specializing in the alchemical field, he was also the Captain of their Investigation Team. Although, Albedo detested partaking in things he deemed irrelevant to his research; 

"I'm afraid I would need more evidence to draw a conclusion." 

"Eh? You still need more?" 

He could not deny that the given authoritative position had provided much benefits to his own accord. 

"My expertise lies in the subject of alchemy," Albedo reasoned and proceeds to intertwine his fingers in front of his mouth, "Humans on the other hand, are very unpredictable in nature. Even the essence of their existence is hard to obtain." 

"Essence of their existence?" Sucrose repeated softly. She wanted to ask what he meant but the blank expression was evident  enough to signal his impatience. At least, that was what she thought, "Nevermind! I have something that might help," taking out a slip from her textbook, she handed it to him, "It's the report Captain Kaeya gave me. He said that the culprit might be a traitor coming from the Knights of Favonius." 

He narrows his eyes. 

"I-I think he might be right! Just think about it, we haven't found anything at all for the past few months but when we do, I sometimes feel like we're just running in circles...oh what if it's becau-" 

"Sucrose." 

"Y-Yes?!" 

Albedo calmly looks at the flustered girl, not realizing how sharp his tone was, "You're overthinking again. Perhaps it's best that you take this day off." 

"But I came here to help," she insisted, "I know it hurts to lose someone you love! Don't you understand that we're all worried about you? And Klee, she..." 

"..." 

"Please Mister Albedo, if there's anything I could do-" 

"No need," he cuts her off once again, "Your stress levels are too high. We can't go any further if you continue to act like this." 

"Oh," her ruby eyes casted to the side, "I understand..." 

"Good. Now, if you would excuse me," Albedo bid her farewell and watched as the door clicked behind her, observing every detail until he was sure that the absolute silence had returned. He picks up Kaeya's document. Such remarkable handwriting. But of course, appearances are only meant to be displayed on the surface for the Captain was a sly man, wearing a mask to shield what lies underneath. Just like his letter, they were full of innuendos and condensed meanings, orchestrated together until the truth spoke loudly to Albedo himself. 

"So, that's what he thinks." 

Perhaps the alchemist should have been a little more discreet. 

-------- 

There was a certain place in Dragonspine that no one dared to enter. But those who have, they never return. 

"Hm, no response. Now as for the next step..." 

And he was the reason why. 

Taking the sword out of the transmutation circle, Albedo turned to the snowy hill nearby and activated his alchemy. A small portion of it dissipates, revealing a trench that went so deep underground that even warmth couldn't outplay the sheer cold. It was the perfect hiding place for the evidence to lay out of sight and an environment where only he could handle. The alchemist tossed the leftover along with the others before exiting quietly, summoning back the ice to bury his victims once again. Another day, another experiment, another stain goes to his title. The path he walked upon was one littered with corpses and the sins he committed. But despite the bones crunching beneath his feet and the weight of the dead hanging on his shoulders, the alchemist was numb to it all. Like an entity floating in space with nothing to hold, he became unable to feel. 

"I'm back," When reaching the center of Starglow Cavern, Albedo puts his hand on the icicle and caressed it's hard cold surface, "Did you sleep well?" 

The girl did not respond. Her eyes were closed and her skin was as young as ever. She was frozen in time. 

"You must have." 

Albedo felt the sword beginning to shake in his grasp as it resonated with his energy. Dust particles emitted from the hilt and slowly made their climb to the side of his arm. Still, Albedo's attention did not waver, "To this day, I've been thinking about what you told me the first time we met." 

"..." 

"Follow your heart. I couldn't understand it at first but after being around your presence, I believe I can finally recognize what that term means." 

He closes his eyes as he envisioned your lively form running across the landscape. Albedo, Albedo! The sound of his name was mixed with your laughter while Klee came into the scene and caught the dandelions with you. A content smile formed on his countenance as he watched from afar, even if it was just a memory, "It's everything. The breakfast we ate together, to the nights spent camping outside, and the silly moments we shared, they bring all these colours that I never knew existed." 

"..." 

Albedo curls his fingers against the ice as he continues to lament, "Perhaps that's why I began noticing the strings around me. The closer I was to answer, the more I felt it was necessary to discover what they are. All this time, you were the answer I was searching for," Moist begins to build up in his eyes but they freeze up once reaching the corners. How cruel. Despite what he went through, he wasn't even granted the liberty to cry, "Because with you, I'm able to feel them." 

He wonders what you would think if you saw him right now. Albedo peers at his reflection casted on the crystalline surface, the frame of his face had been decorated with streaks of purple and red, spreading out like tree branches as they both fought for dominance. The teal coloured orbs you once adored were beginning to transform to a colour that reminded him of his darkest days. This was Albedo's true nature- a monster, a being that wasn't human, the essence in which you never had the chance to see. 

"I know I may not be the same as I was before," he added, "But if that is what it takes to follow your heart, will you let me feel the strings again?" 

Would you still love me the same? 

"..." 

"If so, then please understand my actions," Albedo takes a step back as he held out the sword in front of him. At last, the preparations have finally been completed. He plunges the blade to the ground with full force and the surrounding area begins to shake under the power accumulated through many, intentional sacrifices. To revive the dead was a forbidden art as it came with heavy consequences. If it weren't for Albedo's talent and quick wit, the process would have consumed him long before executing the last stage. He winces, the pain was excruciating. It was hard for him to ignore the sound of his skin cracking below his ears and all the way to his nose as they fall off in the shape of small rock-like chunks. Everything hurt so much that even death sounded like a sweet dream but Albedo couldn't afford to give up. He had already come this far, his hands completely washed with sin and his reputation already broken beyond repair, Albedo had nowhere else to go. This was his last destination. 

"Soon-" he pants between choked breaths. Soon your eyes will open. He could drown in your embrace, one that was warm and not cold. Soon he will be able revive those cherished memories from a frozen past. It was all he could think of right now. Your existence was the reason why a part of him felt whole and your death made him realize how painful it was to tear away those pieces. Albedo refused to let go of those pieces, they had already become a part of him. And if this path ended up tearing him even more, then so be it. 

"I should have stopped you the moment you were born." 

The intruder snapped him awake and he swung around to where they stood. But before Albedo could make out who it was, they lunged past him with incredible speed, kicking the sword off the ground while severing his two arms once and for all. They flew to the side, blood dyed purple trickling from the edges of his joint as he struggled to stay upright. 

"Dains...leif..." 

Dainsleif watched the alchemist fall onto his back as the light around him slowly faded away. He turned his gaze to where the objective was and noticed a girl encased within the ice. The man sighs out of relief when she shows no signs of life, he came just in time, "So this is how it ends." 

Albedo weakly stared at the blonde man. He attempted to say something but the blood caught in his mouth prevented him from that. 

"Save your breath, you won't be having any," Dainsleif remarks in a cold manner and glared at his bloodied form, "The renowned Chief Alchemist of Mondstadt and an important member of Ordo Favonious. Hmph, what an interesting turn of events. Out of everyone, I never thought you were the type to act so foolish." 

Foolish...what a foreign name to be called as. He never heard anyone tell him he was foolish. 

"Truly a pity," With a flick of a wrist, Dainsleif brought his sword to Albedo's neck. It was unbelievable how he had the endurance to go through all that pain while still breathing at this point but what is there to be expected from a monster? "Remember that all actions have consequences." 

The alchemist watched as his life flashed before him, the weight of his sins had finally caught up. He had always seen the world as a platform for his objectives and results were merely a natural cause after attempting many experiments. But death as a consequences was an unbearble realization upon his final moments. He abandoned his title, his pupil and his dearest sister. In the end, he was still unable to fulfill his duty. 

"I just..." Albedo mumbled, his words slurring together, "wanted..." 

As the ashes turn to ashes and dust becomes dust, chalk returns to the earth, forever yearning a place that can never be reached.

[sehunniepotwrites]

puppy love | l.jn

synopsis: in which a new chance at love crashes into you when you least expect it to genre: dog park!au, strangers to lovers!au, fluff pairing: lee jeno x gn!reader word count: 1,392

author’s note: happy jeno day, czennies! i hope you’ll find this drabble as sweet as the birthday boy! (this is unedited, i’ll look back at it later!)

Tired of seeing sulk about being lonely, your friends suggested something that sounded great at the time. 

Get a dog, they said.

It’ll be a lot of fun, they said.

You always dreamed about having a pet. 

Well, they forgot to mention how much work having a dog was. Terriers were mostly known to be low maintenance dogs that were moderately energetic--your pup did not fit into the norm. 

Though small and compact, Nana was a hyperactive dog. A morning trip to the dog park often tired her out during the day, allowing her to sleep the majority of the time you were away at work. Playing with her granted you the exercise you desperately needed and while fun, you tired out very easily. There were times you wished for Nana to have a canine companion. You wished for it as much as you hoped to find a companion of your own. 

Your friends and family also played with the idea of meeting someone and their pet at the dog park-- kill two birds with one stone--but that storyline was damn near impossible. The only other regulars you saw at the park were either coupled off or just not in your age range.

Nana began to whine as you drew closer to the gate, the dog insistently tugging against your hold. “Hold on, baby, we’re almost there,” you said groggily. Looking around the area, you noticed that none of the regulars were there that morning.  Maybe it was because you came thirty minutes later than your usual time. 

“Seems like your friends aren’t here today, Nana,” you said dejectedly as you opened the gate. That meant you had to play with her--your morning fix of coffee didn’t hit you yet and you hope you did soon. You couldn’t keep up with her when she was like this. Your dog rushed in, her paws scurrying from the paved sidewalk to the grass covered in morning dew. Her feet impatiently stomped as you slammed the gate shut, waiting for you to release her from her leash. 

Hearing a loud bark, your head shot up to see a tall person in a hoodie running after a fluffy Samoyed that was heading your way. “Chief, wait!” 

Just as you unbuckled Nana from her leash, the larger dog leaped in your direction, almost bulldozing over your smaller pet and straight into you. The unexpected impact was too much for you, sending you back into the wet grass. Large pants and a heavy weight kept you from getting up and you glanced to see that beautiful Samoyed hovering on top of you. Its tongue stuck out, tail wagging rapidly as it stared down at you before nudging your hand for some love. You laughed in astonishment before carding your fingers through its soft fur.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry,” the owner profusely apologized as he reached you, “Chief still isn’t used to how large he is.” His voice was charming just as it was deep and once you caught his eye, your breath caught in your throat. If this dog was beautiful, then its owner was absolutely divine in the early morning light. His hood slid down to reveal more of his face, allowing you to see the man’s kind eyes, sharp features, and clear skin. His black hair was styled messily due to the hood but the look still suited him. 

One rough pat to the Samoyed’s side was enough to nudge him away from you. “Let me help you up,” the handsome stranger said, offering his large hand out to you. You tentatively slid your hand into his hold before he pulled you back to your feet with little to no effort. “Thank you,” you said in reply to his kind action. You hoped he didn’t notice the embarrassed expression on your face. 

“It’s no problem,” he smiled back, his eye scrunching into the cutest curves. He looked like the dog that just knocked you over. How was that even possible?

Dusting yourself off, you noted that Nana was no longer at your side. Just as you were about to shout for her, you found her playing happily with the Samoyed. “Oh good, I was afraid that she wouldn’t have a playmate during this time,” you let out a sigh of relief. Finding a need to explain yourself, you added, “I usually come earlier in the morning.”

“Decided to sleep in today?” the man asked with a teasing chuckle.

“Yeah, pretty sure I pressed my snooze button a couple of times,” you giggled.

“I usually come around this time but no one’s here,” he said, “It’s nice to see someone else at the park for a change.”

Before you knew what you were doing, you shot back with, “Maybe you should start coming earlier.”

With the same tone, he answered, “Or maybe you can keep hitting that snooze button.” You brought up your hand to cover your smile and mute the laugh that slipped through your lips.

Grinning at your positive response, the man extended a hand out to you. “I’m Jeno,” he started off. “And that, over there,” he gestured off to his Samoyed playing with Nana, “is Chief.”

Placing your hand in his rougher one again, you introduced yourself with a shy smile. “That little one is Nana.”

Jeno let out a loud snort and laugh before covering his lips. His shoulders shook as he tried to calm down. Shocked, you looked at him. There wasn’t anything wrong with that name, was there? You thought it to be quite adorable. 

“Oh no, sorry for laughing. I’m not laughing at you, I swear,” he waved his hands to reassure you. “It’s just that my best friend’s nickname is Nana. His real name is Na Jaemin.”

Tugging his phone out of his pocket, Jeno lit up his home screen to show you a picture of him, another handsome man, and Chief smiling at the camera. “Cute,” you commented with a smile.

“Who-- Nana?”

His sudden question flustered you. “N-no, I mean, yes? I mean--”

“Damn, I was hoping you were referring to me,” he said, the grin on his face growing larger.

“Well, I mean, um--” Oh, this was so going well. A cute guy with a dog talks to you and you can’t even form a full sentence. Why were you like this?

“Hey, no. It’s okay. I was kidding.” He lightly patted your shoulder as you took a swig out of your water bottle. ‘Not going to lie, though, I was hoping you would say I was cute.”

You barely missed choking on your drink. “Oh my god, it’s too early for this,” you muttered under your breath. “I need more coffee.”

“Sorry, am I coming off too strong?” Jeno chuckled as he rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s been a while since I’ve tried to flirt with someone.”

“So you admit that you’re flirting?”

“Yeah, I guess I am.”

“Yup,” you turned away to watch the two canines chase each other’s tails. “Definitely need more coffee.”

As if they knew you wanted to leave the park, your dogs charged towards you at full speed. Unlike before, Chief stopped right before your feet, tongue dipping into a bowl filled with water. He made space for your tinier dog to drink from the bowl as well, the two acting like best friends even though they just met thirty minutes prior. Tugging treats from your jacket pocket, you commanded them to do a couple of tricks before rewarding them as Jeno watching fondly in the background. 

“Hey,” Jeno called, drawing your attention to the two dogs nosing your hand.

“Yeah?”

“You said you needed coffee, right? Wanna grab some with me? I know a good cafe down the road from here,” he offered a bit timidly, his ears turning a bright shade of pink. “It seems like the two little ones want to hang out more. I think they like each other, I’ve never seen Chief act this way with another dog before.”

You heard a couple of yelps and quickly shifted to see Chief and Nana playing tug of war with a tree branch.

“Must be puppy love, then. And yeah, I’d really like that.”

When Jeno smiled at you, you swore he shone brighter than the sun. “I’d really like that, too.”

© sehunniepotwrites, 2021