#they'll be fine i think

[thisfrailheart]

prompt: hair | july 29 | rosekiller | Teen and up - no warnings/triggers I think (let me know if you want me to add something) | word count: 682 | @rosekillermicrofic Part 2 to this prompt: "unrequited" July 24

***

It's been three weeks. Three weeks of nothing. Three weeks of Evan's heart breaking over and over again as Barty ignored him. Or acted like he did. Evan could feel his stares. But whenever Evan would stare back, challenge him to speak, to say something, he'd avert his gaze, caught.

Evan hates it. The feeling of a secret he shouldn't have shared hanging between them. Poisoning the soil they'd once built their friendship on.

He skips meals regularly now, unable to bear the brokenness he feels surrounded by his friends. And Barty. He closes his potions textbook, flopping back onto the mattress. Breathes deeply to fight off the nausea settling in his stomach when he hears a knock. His dorm mates should be at dinner. And even though he's hidden behind the curtains, he feels like he's on display.

"Brought you something from dinner. You need to eat." Not him. Not him not him not him.

Barty sets the food down on his nightstand with a thunk. Evan sits up, holds his breath. Hopes he'll go. Leave him alone again. But Barty sighs. Evan hears him sit down on the bed next to his, wooden frame creaking. He exhales shakily, draws another breath only because his body demands it. He wants to disappear.

"I'm sorry. For— well, for making it seem like that's what I want. I don't! I mean…actually, that's a lie maybe? I would want that, I think. With you. I don't know what it's like to…to not. Want it. But I don't— That's not the only thing? I didn't ask you just because...of that."

Evan's heart races. His throat is tight with unshed tears. I don't want to know. He hears Barty get up, then sit back down. Get up again. Start pacing.

"I've got no bloody idea what it's like, yeah? But I know what it's like to feel different. And…and wrong. And I don't want to make you feel like that. And I think I did? I think you believe that I just wanted…that. And I don't. I'd quite like, you know, you as well and— Merlin, I'm not doing this right."

An exasperated huff from the middle of the room.

"You're doing fine." The words are out of his mouth before Evan can stop them. The bed hangings are open before Evan can stop himself.

Barty's standing there, confusion personified. Hair sticking up in all directions, probably from nervously running his fingers through it again and again. Evan wants to smooth it out for him. "I am?"

Evan nods. This whole thing is awkward but he decides to push through. "It's…confusing. For me, too. I don't— I don't know everything about it either? Most days I don't even want to think about it. But then some days it's like…like maybe I could, uhm…want it? I'm not sure. I just… Everyone always talks about it. You talk about it. And I'm just...there and I feel out of place and it's— it's lonely? And I feel like...like I'll always be the wrong choice."

Evan shrugs, looks away. Barty moves a bit closer to the bed. "Do— do I make you feel like that?"

Evan shrugs again. He doesn't really want to answer.

"Oh." It's quiet and sad. And then it's not. It's angry and beautiful. "Well. Well, you're not. I think you're— You're just not, okay? And if people don't get that then...then they don't deserve you. I—You're not the wrong choice. For—"

Barty sighs. Looks up at the ceiling. "For me."

Oh.

Evan's never felt so calm before. So…right.

"Alright, well. Uh, I just needed to...to tell you that." Barty scratches the back of his head. Lingers for a moment. Then turns to leave.

Evan's head is spinning. Hope settles in his chest, warm and sweet. He almost chokes on the feeling of it. The possibility that the guy he likes might like him back.

"Ask me again?" Evan gasps, breathless.

Barty stops in the doorway. Turns back slowly. He's grinning.

"Hogsmeade, Rosier?"

[hhhhunty]

Seastone negates devil fruit abilities.

[viveela]

A style comic I just had to get out of my system

[mayhaps-a-blog]

Something about how few of the conflicts in Dead Boy Detectives are solved by violence. Something about how the few times it is, it's presented as weird, wrong, extreme. Something about Jenny and her cleavers, Charles and his cricket bat, Crystal and the knife.

The first fight, against the WW1 ghost, Charles has a knife - an iron knife, that would hurt the ghost. And even when he's pinned down, all he goes for is the mask - even when he could use it to get the ghost off of him.

And Esther? Sure, they try - Charles with his knife, Edwin with his fists. And fail immediately, instantly. It's Crystal who holds her back, with her memories - it's Esther who swings around her cane, just because she can.

Charles throws a pot at a zombie, and breaks the magic vessel. Charles tries to hit Brandon Devlin, and gets trapped. They can't kill Angie, just put her to sleep. Jenny runs from Maxine - despite being tough, and strong, she hides rather than attacks. The Night Nurse hits Angie, but is only freed when Kashi asks, instead. Crystal punches Esther, but Tooth Face isn't defeated until she frees him. Charles throws a bomb at the demon, but it's still coming - they win by running, not by fighting. Jenny brings a cleaver to a demon fight, but instead is possessed, her weapons turned against her. And in the end? Esther isn't defeated by fighting her, by Crystal stealing her knife or her power - she's defeated when her power is broken, by Crystal crying out for justice.

The most violent scene, from the protagonists, is when Charles attacks the Night Nurse. It's brutal, it's violent, and it's wrong. The others are left staring, shocked, at a loss. It's extreme, Edwin says. It was a lot, Crystal says. And you know what? It didn't work. It inconvenienced her, sure - but she came right back, once she was free.

What does work? The good they did coming back around. Kindness, friendship, reaching out to others - that's what keeps them winning.

[another-goblin]

Dr. Ratio: I heard something about your last mission, my dear Gambler. I'm surprised you haven't messed it up completely. Topaz (sitting between them): *sigh* He says he was following your progress closely. He thinks you did great. Aventurine: It's a pity you weren't there to witness my near-humiliation, haha. Topaz: He says he wishes you were able to go on that mission with him. Dr. Ratio: You don't expect me to cancel my classes for the sake of dubious entertainment like this, do you? Topaz: He says he'll cancel his classes to go with you next time. Topaz: Psst, hey, Aventurine, did I say 100K credits per minute? I meant 1 mil. Dr. Ratio: Btw, I told you already that these clothes don't suit you. Why do you still insist on wearing them? Topaz: … Aventurine: I'm sure you have some ideas on how to help me with that, Doc ;) Topaz: … oh for fuck's sake… (leaves) Dr. Ratio: … Aventurine: … Dr. Ratio: Your place or mine?…

[starwarjotta]

Day 6 - resolve the resolve to protect those you care about even against impossible odds

[mislamicpearl]

The hero and the warrior

I've literally been telling myself for a whole YEAR to make more MK art, and the plan was to draw something cute and silly, but instead this sad quote popped into my head and I wanted to draw it immediately.

Click here if you want to reblog. DO NOT REPOST

This is one of those ideas I'm sure someone somewhere MUST have thought of already, but I personally haven't seen it and don't feel like checking soooo I just did it myself.

[revvethasmythh]

the thing about imogen saying that "if getting rid of delilah means getting rid of [launda] too, it's not worth it" is that it doesn't really change anything, does it? yes it provides laudna with reassurance that she is loved regardless of what lives in her head, but it doesn't mean that imogen doesn't still have negative feelings about delilah being there. "I love you more than I hate delilah" doesn't mean she isn't still disgusted by delilah. I get the sense that this is not an important distinction for imogen--she's said her piece, she's told laudna that she matters more, and that's the end of it for her. laudna matters more. her meaning is crystal clear: I love you and I'm choosing you.

but laudna has been obsessed with imogen saying she was disgusted by delilah watching them. she said herself she can't stop thinking about it, and marisha has said she can't stop thinking about it either, out of game. as far as they know currently, delilah's soul is twined in and around laudna's to the point where they are indistinguishable. the only way to get rid of delilah is to lose laudna. laudna doesn't know where she ends and delilah begins. imogen loves her, but imogen is disgusted by delilah. how does that work if they are one and the same? how does laudna cope with the fact that an inextinguishable part of herself is both genuinely evil and hated by the person she loves the most? at what point does being disgusted by delilah become being disgusted by a piece of laudna herself?

[naranjapetrificada]

So I know we all have ideas about how they'll portray Ed and Stede's First Time™ but while I don't think we'll see too much, I do actually think (hope? pray?) that we'll see each of them remove at least one (1) item of clothing from the other before it fades to black because The Symbolism of clothing on this show absolutely DEMANDS it.

These two dear, sweet idiots are both desperate, howling pits of self loathing, so the importance of symbolic nudity outweighs that of literal nudity by an almost incalculable margin here. Ed needed someone to tell him he wore fine things well, but they both need someone to show them that they wear nothing even better and that they're good enough for who they are in their very essence and because they're human beings who deserve good things.

I'm also gonna go out on a limb and say that since romance tropes also require it, we'll probably also get the whole illusion of full nudity/tangled up in the bed sheets morning after scene as well (contrasted with Lucius and Pete, who as much as I love them aren't The Show in the same way that DJ has literally said E&S are). And tbh that's the part I'm the MOST excited about, because tropes also tell us it will be the harbinger of casual intimacy afterwards and that's gonna be so healing for them both. Ed's already pretty handsy with people, but casual intimacy is gonna transform both of them in ways they (and we!) never expected and I'm gonna be so normal about it.

[cherry-scribbles]

She lives ON Long Island, not IN Long Island!!!

Click for better quality <3

[khaopybara]

There are many layers to this.

The official subtitles say "I've heard that P'Khaotung and P'First are close", when Fourth says P'Book. Of course, First and Khaotung are close. Have you seen them?

Khaotung is a shopaholic apparently, but we already knew that. First always says that Khaotung takes him out to shop whenever they are abroad.

Even when First isn't there, he is there somehow.

[vikingknight90]

Listen, I'm sure Gwen and Miles will be cuddlebugs when they're together and things are fine and dandy, but before that, give me that angsty cuddling, you know?

like Spot is defeated and they walk away with various degrees of trauma from it, they've reconciled and yet maybe not quite. The hurt is still there, but at least, everything is explained and they know they love each other, and on this night, they need to be together and comfort each other. They find a bed (could be either Gwen or Miles', probably depends which place will be more... private?) and just. cling to each other.

idk if anyone will argue, but Miles is the little spoon okay? he buries his head in the crook of Gwen's neck, Gwen holds him tightly and they might both be shaking and silently shedding a few tears from the trauma of fighting Spot but also from the pain between themselves and everything that has happened. The closeness and tenderness soothes and comforts them however and Miles eventually falls asleep. Gwen remains awake a little while longer, she watches and caresses Miles' face while he sleeps, she thinks to herself how sorry she still feels for how she hurt him and how she'll never abandon him again, she wants to protect him at all costs etc. (I'm sure Miles already told her at this point he understood why she did what she did and he's forgiven her but Gwen will still think it, it doesn't go away that quickly and she knows his wound is still fresh too despite his words) Eventually Gwen falls asleep herself and they just remain holding each other in their sleep the whole night. When morning comes they feel a little better and converse a little easier with each other and perhaps share a kiss or two, then when it's daylight they finally feel a little awkward about the intimate position they're in and they blush and get up but the ice has been broken, they will still need to talk more and figure everything out but that night of cuddling and comforting each other made them both feel really good and relieved and in love and anyone want to write this or draw fanart please be my guest, lol, meanwhile I shall hope for something even close to this actually happening in Beyond, they better deliver on that angst and emotional pay-off you know? I do hold my trust in the writers though 🙏

[sergle]

ironically i love thrifting but ive never thought about using ebay, do you have any tips or keywords you use on it to find deals and shifty stuff/wording to look out for?

honestly I don't find ebay to be shifty for buying stuff! people are scared about using it sometimes and I think it's a little funny lol I guess the tip would be that if you search for an item with vague enough terms, you'll get some SHEIN-esque mass produced clothes muddying the results. and you know it when you see it, because those listings look like shit btw. this type of thing:

like, these are real listings and everything, and you'd get the product, but they are obviously not what you're looking for. you can ignore these, but if you want to filter them out, you can just narrow the search to SPECIFICALLY pre-owned items.

There isn't really any wording to look out for-- the only other thing would just be to make sure the stuff you get can be returned, bc sellers can specify whether or not they'll take the items back!

[daily-suyao]

[stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale]

now that I've had some time to think about Book Three's cover/description, here are some bullet-point thoughts

The art style has vastly improved from Book One. It feels like Tillie's finally comfortable with style, and the characters here don't have same face syndrome here. Also the color palette here is my favorite of the three covers. From everything that I've read from Tillie, the way she works with color is a strong point of her work... which again, makes me wish the entire comic was in color but nooooo...

It looks like Ricca has her own cane now, which makes sense given a bit point of her character through the series is her worsening vision like... even with her glasses, she's practically blind.

Clementine has a new hat. Y'know... because her iconic hat got left with AJ... y'all still remember AJ, right? The comics don't.

Dr. Barnwell the cat made it onto the cover.... you know I'm in too deep with these damn comics when I see some random person be like "Clementine's getting a new cat" and I say, out loud, "That's Dr. Barnwell, you dingus, he's been around since the end of Book One." AS IF ANYONE ELSE CARES!

I know too much about this series, y'all

In my defense, I'm a little snappy about stuff like that after Book Two came out and people were just making shit up about what happens, going as far as to fake screenshots, and tell people it's "just like fifty shades of grey" when uh NO? it's not? People were deliberately trying to deceive others over certain elements and it still makes me mad whenever I think about it.... ANYWAY

We also see Fen and Olivia featured here, too. Fen's one of the more interesting side characters we've gotten, and I'm glad she survived Book Two, and Olivia.... I notice the way she's drawn with the front of her body hidden. I know that's probably to not show spoilers for Book Two since that reveal's a big deal, but still.

"Clementine finally has it all–a safe place to live, a girlfriend, and even a cat…but nothing lasts forever. And when Clementine suffers a loss unlike anything she’s ever faced, a new mentor called The Gardener offers her a new family, and a new way of living… but at what cost?" This is the description we were given.

First of all, Clementine had it all at Ericson, and it didn't make her happy. In fact, it made her so miserable that she left... I kinda hope this book does something with that by giving her everything she wants [as in, the safe home, a romantic partner, friends, a cat, etc] and she's STILL unhappy...? And it ends with her leaving again? But something tells me it won't.

Clementine's going to suffer a loss "unlike anything she's ever faced"? Ehhhh, press X to doubt. I played the games, I lived through all of her losses. I don't think anything will ever top seeing her parents as walkers and then losing Lee right after.

I mentioned before that the obvious direction here would be for Olivia to lose her baby, or for Olivia to die after giving birth, but uh... Clementine's been through both of those things with Christa and Rebecca... but we have to keep in mind that we're so far removed from the games at this point that it's never going to bring those up, y'know?

Real talk though? I'm very intrigued by the idea of a new mentor character called The Gardener who is apparently offering her a new family and a new way of life... but at a cost. What cost? What new way of life? What new family? Are we joining a cult now?

Listen, we missed out on the opportunity for a cannibalism plot in Book One, and Miss Morro left a lot to be desired in Book Two, so like... go extra dark this time. C'mon, Tillie, do it.

Also, Amos is definitely coming back as a twist villain, I feel it in my bones. We didn't see a body at the end of Book One okay!

I'm mostly joking but also NOT JOKING AT ALL!

My offer still stands, if Amos comes back, the book is an automatic 5/5 stars, no questions asked.

Anyway, I'll keep y'all updated on this, and when it releases next year, I'll write my in-depth review... "I read it so you don't have to" and all that.

Just as a final reminder, and allow me to make it extra big so that everyone can see it:

Leave Tillie Walden alone. I don't care if you hate the comics or think they're an insult to the game or whatever else. You want to express that, then do it on your blog. Don't send it to Tillie. We have enough pricks harassing her as is, and you're the bigger asshole here if you think it's okay to send her shit like that, so don't.

Seriously, it's the last book and then Tillie's done with the series, and I doubt they're gonna sign her on to make more. The games still exist, you can still go play them, these comics aren't taking that away from you... and if you feel like they are, then don't engage with them, period. It's not hard.

I cover the comics in-depth for people who don't want to read them but are curious about what happens. They don't bother me in that "they ruined the games" way that they used to, so I can handle it. If you can't, then do yourself a favor and just don't. Just don't!

[tj-crochets]

Do y'all have any suggestions of things I could embroider on denim shorts? I'm leaning toward plants for one pair and a rainbow of shapes on the other, but idk if I want to do just the hems, the hems and the pockets, along the side seams, or what