#this is pretty much the only thing i’ve been able to draw lately. i don’t know why but

[kr-210-r2700-prime]

assorted whiteboard slop from yestereve

[cameronspecial]

https://www.tumblr.com/cameronspecial/730937552404627456/let-me-protect-you-angel

can you tell use more about rafe’s rules for the reader, pls and thank you lol 👀

— @cantstoptheimagines

Let Me Save You, Angel

Pairing: Frat!Rafe Cameron x Reader

Warnings:  Swearing, Uncomfortable Because of A Pervy Misogynist

Pronouns: She/Her

Word Count: 1.2K

A/N: This is a continuation of Let Me Protect You, Angel.

Masterlist

Some of Y/N’s favourite rules for being Rafe’s girlfriend are the ones that show her that he cares. She didn’t need to look at the napkin anymore to remember which rule was which number because she had them all memorized since they wrote them down on that napkin during their first date. Numbers Five and Six often happen in tandem and show Rafe’s caring side. She hasn’t seen Rafe in almost five days, which is quite obvious to the whole campus as Rafe always gets more on edge when he doesn’t see her. However, she finally gets to see him again and follows Rule Number Six. The door to Rafe’s room has a code, which beeps its little song as she punches in her birthday. 

Her thoughts are focused on taking her stuff out of her backpack, so she is genuinely surprised by Rafe’s arms wrapping around her waist. “I’m so glad you could come over tonight, Angel. I was scared we were going to break our streak,” he declares, pressing his nose against the skin of her neck. She brings her hands up to wrap them around his neck and looks up at him, “It would be a shame. I’ve slept over at least once a week since we started dating. That’s a hundred and four-week streak.” Rule Number Six: Sleepover in Rafe’s room once per week whenever possible. 

He moves them over to lie down on his bed with his head resting on her breasts. She can feel his soft breath on her skin as he talks. “Rule Number Five, Angel.” She draws patterns on his back, letting out a big sigh, “It was stressful. I had a lab and I couldn’t find my notebook with all my notes for this week’s experiment. And then I got caught up in the cafeteria line at lunch so I was late for my meeting with my academic advisor. This whole week has been so busy.” She feels his fingers start to trace tiny hearts on her bicep. “I’m sorry things have been so hard and I couldn’t be there for you, Angel. I hate that I had to go away for my football game,” he grumbles. The fact that his mouth is pressed against her skin turns his words into raspberries and it makes them both laugh.

“It’s okay, I’ve been pretty busy, so I probably wouldn’t have been able to come over anyway. How was your day, Rafe?”

“It was okay. Same as always. The only eventful thing that happened was that Topper accidentally wore my underwear. That was weird. But it got so much better when you walked through the door though, Angel.”

“My day got better when I walked through the door too.”

He lifts his head and gives her a sweet kiss on the lips. Rule Number Five: Always tell each other how your day went, no lying. Even if it has to be over the phone, through a text, in an email or in a written letter. 

——

Y/N remembers how ridiculous she thought Rule Number One was when Rafe wrote it down on the napkin. “Come on, that’s never going to happen,” she proclaimed, tilting her head upright after reading the words. Rafe shook his head, underlining a specific word of the rule, “You don’t know that. And, god forbid if it does, then I want you to let me save you, Angel.” She could see he was serious and concerned about the possibility of something happening, so all she could give him was a nod as a promise.

Right now, she could not be more glad that her boyfriend is always thinking ahead on how to protect her. She didn’t know how she got into this situation. One minute, she was by herself in the lab looking over the work she did for this week's experiment and the next, Terrick was in the room with her. He has every right to be in the room; he is also in her class and pays for tuition. However, she always feels a little unsettled by him. The way he looks at her makes it obvious he is objectifying her. The way he speaks makes it clear that he was not taught to respect women. The way he stands too close to her makes her stomach drop. She wants to walk out of the lab right now so she isn’t alone with him, but he is blocking the doorway. “And the bitch got my name wrong too. Like sure, get my order and my name wrong,” he starts ranting. “I don’t understand how a girl can screw up my drink order. Aren’t you guys made to do that type of stuff?”

Y/N doesn’t know what to say. His frustration at something so trivial causes fear to flash through her and she is scared of what might happen if she tries to leave the room. Thankfully, as if Rafe had spider senses, she gets a call from him. She gently lifts a finger up to tell Terrick to give her a second, “Hi, Rafe. What’s wrong?” “Nothing, I was just wondering what you wanted me to bring over tonight. I’m at the store, right now,” Rafe asks, placing his pre-workout into his cart while his phone is wedged between his shoulder and ear. Y/N flashes Terrick a tight-lipped smile as he impatiently waits for her to get off the phone, “I’m actually craving some pie. Could you get me a coconut pie?” Rafe immediately stops what he is doing and moves his phone to his other ear. “Are you sure you want coconut?” he presses, already returning the stuff he was going to get onto the shelf. 

“Yes.”

—— 

They stayed on the phone for the whole time it took Rafe to get back on campus, pretending that he needed a detailed account of every single item Y/N needed from the store. When he walks through the door, Y/N feels her heart rate start to slow down. “What are you doing here?” Terrick snides through his teeth, looking at her boyfriend in annoyance. Rafe immediately puts himself between Y/N and the other man, “I realized that I am so clueless that I need Y/N to come to the store with me, so I came to pick her up. Are you ready to go, Angel?” The last part is obviously directed toward her and she is quick to get her backpack so she can weasel her way under Rafe’s protective arm. “Yep. Bye, Terrick. Great talk.” 

The couple makes their exit in each other’s hold with Rafe keeping an eye on Terrick. Once they are out of his earshot, Y/N lets out a sigh of relief. “Are you okay?” Rafe worries, looking her over for any indications that Terrick touched her. She gives a small nod, “Yeah, he didn’t hurt me. I don’t think he was going to. I’m sorry I used the code word, I probably shouldn’t have if I didn’t think he was going to do anything.” He stops their journey towards the exit and swings himself so he is facing her. His hands find weight on her shoulders and he lifts her chin up to look him in the eyes. “I don’t care if you use the code word for me to come kill a spider. If you feel the slightest bit uncomfortable or scared, you tell me coconut pie and you let me save you, Angel. Do you understand?” he brings her into a hug and kisses her temple. “You have to trust your instinct. Your safety is my number one priority.”

Rule Number One: Say coconut pie if she needs Rafe to save her.

[mintmint2]

Idk what to put here

Apologies in advance—I like vomiting out rants of every single thought I’ve ever had for the past 19 years so if you don’t wanna mentally narrate out this giant wall of text or if you’re just here for the small doodles of your characters, feel free to just skip down to the small tiny insignificant sketches I made! This is really just a giant newsletter of what I’ve been doing these past 3 months.

(Something I would like to add is pretty please don’t reblog this, I want this to be like only a small circle of people to see, if you have something to say you can leave a comment!!!)

((Edit: nvm yall it seems everybody reblogged it😭😭))

My project. I’ve been working on my project for 3 months. 400 hours.🙂

Okay, so, for these past 3 months I’ve been aggressively relearning how to animate using the most basic animation app to exist. And what I mean by “relearning”, I mean diving headfirst into the animation studio with little to no prior knowledge of animation other than animation memes and some.. other.. stuff. And with that limited information, I managed to crank out a low-quality, crappy, mediocre 10+ minute prologue that I hate and it sucks and I hate I ha. I honestly had no idea what I was doing—I walked into animating with a giant lollipop and a propeller hat, and I came out as a 40 year old man with depression, but now armed with stacks of newfound knowledge about animating, so it wasn’t for nothing!! Seriously, drawing every day for 5+ hours is no joke; I genuinely thought this project would take like 1.5 or 2 months max with how simple I made it… but turns out drawing thousands of rendered individual frames with a bunch of other tiny prickly problems tripping you over is actually pretty time consuming even if it sucks😔.

But at least now that I’ve experienced the gruelling process of animating a several minute video first-hand, I was able to figure out my strengths/weaknesses in art and how I could exploit them, things that take a long time, things to avoid, and things to look out for. Even though I think my added skills in this department can be helpful in the future, it’s still super time consuming, which I think kinda ties nicely in my more major topic!???

I’m doing a MEGA art style change, I’ve rubbernecked at a lot of olden cartoons and decided I wanted to shift towards those art styles with no rendering and the characters are like kinda chibi in a way—you know, that kind of style. But this isn’t just me wanting to copy my favourite cartoon shows though; I looked into the pros and cons of a simpler art style and the pros outweigh the cons by a landslide

I obviously am not a good artist and I’ve struggled with things like consistency, pacing and proportions, if I can just break down all my characters into shapes and add rules to how to draw them + stylized anatomy, I think It’ll help with making characters NOT look like a grown 40 year old women in one scene, a child in the other, and a teenage drunken boy in the next.

I literally can’t imagine drawing fight scenes either with full body anatomy that isn’t simple shapes, drawing a running cycle or a character doing parkour that lasts literally only 2 seconds is hard enough for my skill set. Don’t make me have to draw them engaging in a full-blown battle with each other, it’ll be even worse if the characters start shrinking every frame but I don’t notice till it’s too late.

Plus, I pretty much grew up with cartoons too, so I also just feel more connected and motivated when it comes to characters that look like Steven Universe or chibi-styled in general, it makes me wanna draw them more and reduces burnout a lot. (Seriously though, I hate shading SO MUCH. I wanna draw the next frame already stop making me go back and fix this pixel of value that wasn’t added and somehow you can still see it a mile away💔 and wouldn’t you know it I’ve lost my sanity and begun racing through / deleting scenes to make it go by faster, which ruins the pacing and everything alongside it)

Do you want some concepts? No clothing folds and allat. Sorry I was too exhausted to make full drawings… actually a lot of my actual sketches for these people are all in my sketchbook, got like 19 pages worth of all y’all’s oc’s but it’s too awkward positioning my camera to snap a pic of it

I’m learning how to do fast paced figure drawing. (Trying), and the crew isn’t here because everybody in that crew is getting a redesign and sans is having a identity crisis too

Another thing is; I’m going to be taking a break after this 400 hour grind session, no I’m not being lazy and I really DO wanna go back to dragging my finger across the screen till it bleeds (because it’s an unhealthy addiction at this point) but I NEED planning and practice.

A lot of stuff has changed since I’ve started—plot, character designs, story… I also finally started tackling architecture, designing rooms and the houses based on both the characters logic and practical functionality, cause making a background with just one giant blob of equal paint is a bit… boring. And I’m practicing art too, my art has changed quite a lot ever since I started paying less attention to small details and instead on form and movement within the lines.

I’ve got so many ideas swimming in my head I need to test out and more. I don’t have a teacher and I’m too lazy to find tutorials so I’m doing this the trial and error way. Test literally everything, cancel out the ineffective and keep the best. I need time to figure out stuff and I think it’s working because not only has my entire art kinda improved in a way, I have been able to get a truck ton of plot down and how I want everything to end and everything.

The last thing I wanna add because it’s a problem I also need to fix… holy guacamole, I NEED to improve on my story boarding and pacing—I kinda blame that on myself for cutting out/rushing scenes to get it done but goodness does the plot fly by. Like how the chocolate did the lab/true-lab scene and waterfall scene all fit in 2 minutes?? I chose the opportunity to animate less over the writing and characters itself, literally feel so ashamed after that💔 insanity and mind rot of drawing for hours really does catch up to you eventually though. The results were cringy anyways so

Yeah okay I have like a TON more of stuff to write down here as problems I need to fix, but I’ve been writing for too long and this post is getting stuffed with too much words it’s gonna overflow and shatter. Basically I’ve learned a lot of stuff from this, I’m aiming to improve in every category, even if I don’t, I gotta make some sort of progress.

So uh… that’s it, I guess? I’ll update every once in a while… nah, watch me vanish for another twenty years. That doesn’t mean I’m not still here though, I’m watching every post you guys are making and documenting every fact and detail about your characters. 👀

Sorry for the length and weirdness of this rant

I forgot to mention—I made my very own/first persona. I call them MintMail cause they’re a mailman…I don’t… really know what to do with them.. uh, I’ll probably feed them sometime tomorrow

Ohhhh boy, time to tag the people I sketched. (Guys I promise I’m not tagging you just so you can read this)

Trickster belongs to @yourloveaton !

Nems belongs to @bloobluee !

Virux belongs to @bunrux !

Sanu is mine.

Magi is also mine.

Trans belongs to @ken-tfc / @fivebecomesnone and @youregonnahavetime !

Dionysus belongs to @javaxzun !

[strangerthingsfanworkrecs]

Would love to nominate an artist: hearsegrrl Rachel is one of the friendliest artists I know. She is so supportive of other artists and writers, and although she's extremely busy irl, she still makes time for fandom and always drops the most iconic works. She's incredibly humble, and deserves all the love and recognition in the world.

This week, we're highlighting @hearsegrrl as an artist! All recs this week will be her art.

see the original here She answered some questions about her work under the cut

Why Stranger Things?

Honestly I had never seen it before season 4, but when it dropped I started getting a bunch of Eddie edits on my TikTok and was like “WOAH, I gotta know more about that guy right now.” I binged the whole season over a couple days, fell in love with his character, remade a Tumblr account for the first time since my early teens, and started drawing him pretty much immediately.

What's your favorite ship (platonic or romantic) to create for?

I love how much people love Steddie. I love a two himbos in love dynamic and I love their interactions in the show, even if they were brief they obviously stuck with people.

What's your typical drawing process like?

Oh jeez. Long. Once I have an idea I’m pretty eager to start on it asap, I collect a lot of references for what I’m thinking googling model poses, random band member candids, or taking weird self timer pics of myself posing in my kitchen and then cut and paste and collage them into something close enough to what I want and then kind of draw a “skeleton” over all of that just to save a couple hours, but that process still usually takes me about 2-3 hours to get it perfect. The piece I’m working on right now has a lot of little pieces in it and that part of the process took ten hours alone. Then I have a line drawing that I block base colors into, lock all of those, and then kind of fully render out each part at a time- skin, hair, shirt, pants, accessories, whatever else. I spend a good 75% of that process going “AHHHHH I DON’T KNOW IF THIS IS WORKING,” and then somehow it all comes together in the end. Sometimes depending on the piece, I’ve liked finding random stock images to kind of overlay in the background, it makes him feel so much more real and lifelike to me. Lately, the fully rendered stuff I’ve been posting takes anywhere from 12-20 hours of drawing. I tattoo full time 11-7 or later 5 days a week on top of drawing for appointments outside of work and usually only have time to draw for a couple hours at a time, or a little on the weekends so I try to be as efficient as possible.

Do you have a favorite tool for drawing?

I used to do a lot of painting for work and pastel pencil drawings for fun but I switched over to an iPad Pro a few years ago and it’s so much easier to be able to just draw on the couch and not drag out a bunch of materials and make a mess. I use Procreate for work and for fandom art.

Do you have any tips for drawing clothes?

Using references or making your own references to take pictures of! They’re a relief to get to because they don’t need to be perfect, unlike a face that is very anxiety inducing so don’t overthink it.

What has been your favorite project so far?

I really, really love the one I’m working on right now, I don’t know if I’ll post it (and if you’re reading this after Valentine’s Day you may have already seen it) because it’s a gift but it’s been the most fun and silly and therapeutic. But I love any “Eddie with an occupation” or AU moment, doing the baseball AU drawings for @brock-eddie was so much fun and I love how they turned out.

What has been your hardest project so far?

The Christmas Steddie one was kind of a pain in the ass because it took so long and had so many more little parts than just drawing one character, but I was happy with how it turned out. There’s a couple WIPs in my iPad that I would love to finish but they just weren’t turning out how I wanted them, I want to revisit them but I might have to scrap them and start over. Everyone is so nice I’m sure I could post them now and people would be stoked but things have to be perfect or I lay in bed at night and regret posting them for literally weeks.

Have you ever had a creative block?

Not really for coming up with ideas, but finding the energy to sit down and draw after working all day is hard sometimes. I have a weird thing where I don't want to draw for a little bit, I have to be in the headspace to work for at least 2-3 hours at a time or I just won't do it.

Is there a big source of inspiration for you? Books? Art? Games?

UGH, BEIN IN LOVE. Being a weird alt girl in Indiana. Eddie is so my type and for the first time I had a huge crush on a character that I felt like I could be his type too. I’m a tattooer going to metal shows in my free time in 🤠Waynedale, Indiana🤠, it is so easy to picture him living in my town and going the same places I do and through art I can make him real. There are so many talented writers on here who have brought him to life and I love and am inspired to draw by the fics that really flesh out the fact that he’s so earnest and has all these deeper feelings but he’s still a ding dong twentyish year old boy doing ding dong twentyish year old boy things. @jo-harrington's store manager verse, @wheels-of-despair's Evil Woman fics, and @courtingchaos's writings all fill me with DEEP, ACHING YEARNING for a boy like him, and no matter how sucky and unimpressive dudes in real life are, they make him so nice and funny, and I can dress him up however I want and draw him from the viewer’s perspective and there is something so therapeutic and comforting about that. I’ve been through a lot of dumb and mildly traumatizing stuff the last couple of years and reading fanfic again and drawing fanart has brought me so much peace and happiness in all of it.

What's your favorite way to get comments or interactions on your art?

I’m always really excited to finish a piece and get to post it here ASAP just to see everyone’s reactions. I’m so proud of the work that gets put into them but I’m never going to post them on a more public forum like my Instagram, I do them for myself and for the little group of people here I know it’ll bring joy to and it’s really fun to share that joy with everyone. When I’m sad, I go through the tags in the reblogs because people are so funny and sweet about them.

Is there an upcoming project you're particularly excited about?

Nothing specific right now, I’m about to get really busy with real work so I may have to slow down a little. I get a lot of ideas around the holidays/seasons changing because I love the more themed drawings, so after Valentine’s Day hopefully I’ll have some cute spring ideas to work on! I always like getting requests to see what people are wanting to see. I can’t always get to them because of work but sometimes they spark ideas for bigger projects.

Is there anything we forgot to ask?

I don’t think so! Love you all so much, for real. Time to write and draw more Eddie stomping out fascist weirdos. The world really sucks right now but everyone contributing to this fandom is creating a positive space and helping us get away from it all, I am so grateful for all of the talented people here for making life more bearable right now.

[cursedbycain]

strangers - Cain x Lane

tagging: @rc-catalog

synopsis: being locked away isn't so bad, as long as you have company.

word count: 2.8k

I’m not quite sure how I ended up in this cell. But frankly, I seemed to not be sure of much lately.

Time seems weird here. There’s no window, just three stone walls and cold metals bars that keep me trapped. Even with a window, I probably wouldn’t have been able to tell the time. Perhaps I had only been here for days, maybe weeks.

I don’t like to think that it might have been years.

Most questions I ask to the voice in the cell across from mine go unanswered. I know very little about him. I’m pretty sure it’s a him, based on the rare answers from a deep voice. He doesn’t like to talk. Normally, speaking to someone who did not respond would deter me. But nothing is normal here, and I worry if I stop speaking out loud, I’ll forget how to.

“How long do you think we’ve been here?” My voice is barely above a whisper. I’ve never seen any guards near our cell, but sometimes I’ll feel a heavy presence in my bones that paralyzes me with fear. I try not to draw it’s attention.

“Eons.” He answers dryly. I almost want to smile. I like when he answers, even if he sounds like I could not annoy him more.

“I doubt that. We’re still alive aren’t we?” If I peer into the darkness of the opposite cell enough, I can sometimes see a flash of white. I would ask but I know he won’t answer.

“Who knows? Perhaps we’re dead and this is our punishment.” I don’t like the tone of his voice. It’s too knowing.

“…You’re quite the cynic.” I note. I hear a huff that could maybe be a laugh. He doesn’t speak again and I sink down to the cool floor.

There is nothing in my cell but a bed with a thin blanket and a small pillow. Something about this place made me feel weird. I didn’t feel hunger or thirst or any other urges. I only slept when my boredom reached a level that made me fear for my sanity. I wish I could dream, but the only things my brain can conjure are memories, and I would rather be awake than relive those.

He is not always there. I suspect that whatever keeps us here likes to whisk him away for periods of time. It’s hard to notice when he disappears or re-appears. Maybe they do the same to me. Sometimes I wake up with new bruises, an ache in my bones, dried blood on my face, and no recollection of how any of it appeared. If I dwell on the feeling too much, I feel sick with fear. It’s a paralyzing kind of fear. One that makes me want to claw at my skin and rip it apart.

“Do you think we’ll ever get out of here?” I wonder out loud. He’s quiet for a bit. The seconds stretch and just when I resign myself to thinking my question will yet again go unanswered, I hear him speak.

“The both of us?” His voice is measured. I mull over the question for a second before nodding.

“Yeah. Both of us.” I feel a strange connection to the man in the opposite cell. Maybe it was loneliness. Maybe I was just desperate for something I had never had before.

“There is a way…” His voice sounds almost excited before he catches himself, “But it’s an unlikely scenario. And not worth entertaining.” The cynicism enters his voice once more.

“Okay…what about you?”

“What about me?” He asks and I wonder if he’s frowning.

“Do you think you’ll ever get out of here?” When I look at the opposing bars, I swear I can see a flash of red. Then I blink and it’s gone.

“I won’t be trapped here forever.” He emphasises the word ‘here’, as if he will be trapped wherever he is.

I’m too afraid to ask about myself. I’m worried he already knows what will happen to me. As if he can read my mind, he continues.

“You won’t be here forever either.” The words are oddly not comforting.

“How can you be sure?” Something prickles at the back of my neck, a heavy presence. If he feels it too, he doesn’t say.

“I just am.” There’s a finality in his voice, signalling that our conversation is over. The presence disappears and I let out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding. I let myself lay back on my bed and shut my eyes. Sleep doesn’t take me so I resign myself to think of life at the base. As horribly lonely as it was, it was the only place I liked thinking about.

There are many perks to being immortal. Cain knows this, despite how much the burden of a never ending life seems. However, the one perk he really enjoys is his heightened senses. Particularly, the vision.

He can see her perfectly. Every face she makes, the way she moves in her sleep, everything. He knows she can’t see him, in a weird way he’s grateful for that. He didn’t deserve to have her look at him.

Her eyes are shut but he can tell by her breathing she isn’t asleep. She doesn’t seem to sleep much which he knows is odd.

The question she had asked still lingered in his mind. The father of lies was constantly sending Cain on missions to spread the cult’s influence so Cain never really thought about being stuck here forever. He was only brought back when he needed to report back or when Baal felt he was acting up.

Cain acted up a lot.

He tried to pretend it wasn’t so he could be called back here and see her. But a strange sense of relief alway filled him when he reappeared in the cell and she was sitting there. The most horrifying times are when she isn’t there. He knows he can’t ask what Baal is doing with her, can’t give a hint of caring for her, but it pains him to think it. The father of Lies won’t hesitate to exploit any weakness Cain shows so he has to be careful. The worst part is that he knows she doesn’t remember. She doesn’t know what the demon has planned for her. All Cain knows is if it’s something Baal won’t assign to him, she definitely won’t survive it.

When I wake up, I hear a very faint tapping. It’s an almost soothing melody, coming from the other cell. Peering into the darkness, I swear I see a flash of a large white object.

“What is that?” I mumble to myself but the melody stops as if he heard me.

“Did I wake you?” He almost sounds guilty, like a child caught with their hand in the cookie jar.

“No. I don’t sleep well here anyways.” I admit, pulling the thin blanket up a bit higher.

It’s quiet for a while and I let myself attempt to relax. I always feel slightly safer when he’s here. As if he would be able to protect me. It’s a naive idea but I can’t bring myself to give it up.

“When I was younger…I would play the piano.” I sit up when I hear this. He had never spoken about himself like this, much less his past. My mind races as I try to think of a response but he continues as if he isn’t even speaking to me.

“I grew up in a church. The priest that raised me taught me how to play. The melody…keeps me in check, in a way.” His voice is more open than I’ve ever heard it. I decide to return the sentiment.

“I grew up in North Carolina. I-I didn’t really like it there much, so I studied abroad.” A part of me holds back the family trauma, even if the other part of me desperate wants to share it with someone.

“What did you study?” He sounds genuinely interested and it warms something in me.

“Cryptography. I think I chose it to feel what it was like to uncover something no one knew. Is that weird?”

“Depends on your definition of weird.” Something in his tone makes me smile, as if we were friends just hanging out and not locked away in cells.

“I think I’ve always been different,” I wonder out loud, “I was a quiet kid. And then I grew up and I just…stayed quiet.”

“Quiet is not the word I would use.” His voice is teasing and for the first time in however long I had been here, I laugh.

“Whatever. Tell me something else about you.” I sit cross legged by the bars. It’s too dark to see anything past the bars of his cell but it makes me feel closer to him anyways.

“I have a better idea. Stand up?” He asks and something in me twists in anticipation. I stand a little too quickly and grip the bars of my cell to steady myself.

“Close your eyes.” I hear him tell me. I obey, the metal bars pressing against my body.

“Now, stick your hand out.” I do it, reaching as far as I possible can. Soft icy fingers gently graze the tips of my hand. I gasp quietly. It had felt like ages since I felt any sensation on my skin other than my own. The sensation is replaced by something soft and cool brushing along my palm, as if a bird had flown by my outstretched hand.

“What is…” I mumble, my eyes still shut. The feathers brush higher up my arm, tickling the bruised skin. They stroke my shoulder softly, the feeling so comforting that tears burn at my still shut eyes.

“Just relax…” His voice seems to float around the damp air of the dungeons. I know he is as trapped as I am, but he still seems free. For the first moment since I woke up in this cell, I allow myself to completely relax. The feathers continue to stroke up and down my outstretched arm until there is a distant noise and all sensation disappears. I open my eyes, attempting to peer into the darkness. Like usual, I can see nothing but the faint outline of the bars of his cell.

I blink a few times, trying to get my eyes to adjust but nothing happens. I wait by the bars for a while, trying to see something, anything. But there’s nothing. I call out a few times too but there’s no response.

It feels colder when he’s not there. I wrap my blanket around myself tightly but it never does any good. An uncomfortable feeling of worry gnaws at me. If he didn’t come back…

No.

I push the thought out my head instantly. I refuse to think about it. He will be back.

Time here is infuriating. Sometimes I would count the seconds, trying to see if there was anything to show the passage of time in this dark cell. But I would always eventually lose count. I tried not to daydream too much for my sanity. But deep down, I knew my sanity was probably slightly lost by now.

I’m in the middle of pacing when I turn and catch a glimpse of something by the bars. I whip around and nearly jump out of my skin.

There’s a man standing by the bars.

He’s tall, at least over six foot, with ash blond hair and bright blue eyes. I focus on his almost irritatingly perfect face for a second before something else catches my attention.

There’s a large pair of white wings behind him. I blink. No, not behind him. Attached to him. He has wings. Suddenly everything about his appearance makes sense. The perfect, serene expression, as if he wasn’t truly human.

He was an angel.

“Hi.” He says. There’s no emotion behind the word and yet everything feels like it’s crumbling down around me.

I know that voice.

For a second, anger fills my chest. An angel? This entire time, a literal angel had been watching me sit in this hell hole. And he had done nothing. He had sat there and talked to me and made me laugh and…nothing.

“I’m Cain.” He says, face still expressionless. My anger fades to hope, but then the hope fades. If he hadn’t gotten me out now, I doubt he’s in the position to help now.

“Lane.” I force out. He catches the anger but ignores it.

“I have to go. I’m not supposed to be here like this. But…” He glances around as if checking if we’re actually alone before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a small book. He hands it to me through the bars, his icy fingers just barely brushing mine and still sending a shock down my spine.

I look at the cover, the title “The Prophet” staring back at me. When I look up, Cain is already gone.

I read the book as quickly as I can, despite the pain of straining of my eyes. Pressing my back to the bars of the cell to get as much light on the pages from the hall as possible, I read and reread. My brain goes haywire at the stimulation. For a moment, I truly feel like a person again.

I don’t remember going to sleep. I never do, when I wake up like this. When I raise my head from the cool stone floor, an ebb of pain stems from my hand. Blood runs down my hand as I suck in a breath from the pain.

“What’s wrong?” I turn and once again, Cain stands in front of my cell as free as a bird. I want to say something mean, to get him to leave me alone, but I can’t bring myself to push him away.

He leans closer, peering at me through the bars. His eyes fall onto my hand, the bright red mark that won’t stop bleeding. I can barely see the cut but I can feel the pain and the blood.

“Give me your hand.” His voice is softer than I usually hear it. I shift closer and show him my injured hand. He takes it in his cold hands, wiping at the dripping blood. He pulls off a piece of fabric from his shirt, wrapping the cut to apply some pressure. It’s tighter than bandages should be but it works just as well. I wince in pain ever so slightly and his eyes flick up. His face is oddly emotionless. No worry, no remorse, no curiosity, nothing.

“This should stop it from bleeding.” He states, without letting go of my hand.

“Why are you helping me?” I ask with a frown. He sighs as if I have asked the wrong question.

“Because I want to.” He lets my hand go, standing up. I used to believe he was as trapped as I was. But he stands free from his cell, and I still remain locked away. Something about these meeting feels final. The way his eyes are locked onto my face, as if he’s memorizing them. The thought that dawns on me fills my body with terror.

“You’re leaving…you’re leaving me here alone. What-what’s gonna happen to me?” I hate how weak I sound but I can’t find it in me to conceal my feelings. Something like worry flashes on his face, as if he had been wondering the same thing. His wings flutter behind him.

“I’ll get you out of here, I promise. I’ll pull you out if it’s the last thing I do.”

“How am I supposed to believe that?” His eyes flash blood red as he smirks ever so slightly.

“I guess you’ll just have to trust me.” With that, he fades into the darkness.

When he grasps her hand, snow falling around him as the squad fights off the abominations, relief fills his body. It’s warm like it had been. When he pulls hard enough to get her to her feet, she finally looks at him. She looks the same as she did, albeit a little more sleep deprived, but something in her eyes makes him pause. He thought he would see anger, happiness, maybe even relief. But she stares at him as if they have never met.

“Who are you?” She asks and something in his heart twists in a way he’s never felt before. She couldn’t have forgotten him. Surely he wouldn’t have been able to scrub every trace of Cain from her mind.

“Who are you?” He asks in return.

Cain has never been certain of much. But he is certain of this.

Things will never be the same.

[alanaartdream]

Oook so I am late with my latest drawings/ sketches for today but I’ve been busy with many things BUT my ideas for fairly odd parents fairy Timmy with Nicktoons unite / Jimmy Timmy power hour haven’t left my head at all so super happy to talk more about what’s up with that

Now with past drawings I have my fairy Oc Felicity and her anti fairy are apart of this au and my idea of what happens with Danny Phantom goes with with what Butch has given on that (I mean the guy not always great with sticking to his story plots and he has been known to be a jerk but he at least gave some information on Danny’s future on YouTube so cannot ignore that)

So going with what I know Danny has a great ghost hunting team with Sam and Tucker and Tucker is also mayor of their town and later down the line him and Sam have kids who inherited ghost powers although the kids have ghost powers a little different from their dad so they’re half ghost like their dad

Now I think that Danny and his friends start up the ghost hunting team around time Timmy gets turn into a fairy and Jimmy has become a world wide teenager professional scientist while also still in high school but he’s on the fast track to great college at age 13 because he’s just that knowledgeable and it’s at 13 that Timmy gets turned into a fairy fully and becomes Wanda & Cosmo’s kid and gets raised by them with Poof/peri (who’s 4-5 at this time)

Now the process of becoming a full time 💯 fairy 🧚‍♂️ means you take on your adopted fairy parents DNA 🧬 so sometimes you take on powers from your fairy parents lines AND being as Timmy has save fairy world and his own universe so often he has a bit of magic from that as well so like peri / poof he becomes a pretty powerful fairy (( BUT it’s also noted by the fairy council that Timmy was becoming quite the ally to fairy kind and how much magic he was having build up AND how his wishes only seemed to get out of hand because of his Human parents were quite bad at being parents and well the human adults in Timmy’s life were failing him so bad they just couldn’t trust the human adults in Timmy’s life to raise him right and they don’t want any more cockers or something worst to happen with Timmy AND they figure Timmy getting to amune to having his memory wipe so figured it’s much better idea for Timmy to become a fairy and to be raised by fairies because the human adults of their universe cannot be trusted to raise any kind of powerful child and To help Wanda And Cosmo with Timmy & Poof/Peri getting settled into fairy world more my fairy Oc Felicity who was the last human child to be turned into a full time fairy and raised by fairies (she was adopted by Jorgen’s Nana boom boom who was her godmother back when Felicity was a child who had no parents and sent to Australia 🇦🇺 back in the times The British were sending convicts to Australia 🇦🇺)

Felicity is the fairy for 3 things

Her main thing is to help artists/ writers to get inspired to well art and write and help them get out of artists& writers block or burn out

She also helps homeless cats/ and kittens find humans who will give them forever homes

And record keeping of everything that goes on with fairyworld records ( she gets hang out with Father Time to get the truth of any events that happen with fairies being as she does paints for him that he likes to keep so she can do flash back viewings on events so you can see what happens without mucking with time itself)

BUT with Timmy becoming a fairy it also becomes her job to help with Timmy and Poof/Peri’s learning to control their powers being as while Cosmo was the last fairy baby before Poof/peri but Felicity was the last fairy kid before Timmy & poof/peri

Jorgen does help her out being as to him Felicity was kinda like a little sister to him (IS kinda his cousin thanks to Nana Boom boom adoption of her) but most of the time he’s busy with Da Rules so not always able to help

Now Jimmy with Danny’s help figure out what happened with Timmy when all the humans in Timmy’s don’t know where Timmy has gone (and he didn’t get to meet Cole ever before Timmy went through becoming a fairy forevermore so he doesn’t get to meet her until after Timmy is a fairy) and when he Danny and SpongeBob entered Fairy world to find out about fairy Timmy

Anti fairy Timmy (Ymmit) along with Foop/Irep anti Cosmo and Anti Wanda were causing havoc and so Jimmy Danny and SpongeBob become diplomats for their universes so they get to keep visiting fairy world and being as they know Timmy well and helped Felicity out with dealing with her own Anti Fairy (who was teaming up with Ymmit Foop/Irep Anti Cosmo And Anti Wanda )

She ends up going to Jimmy & Danny for help with helping Timmy & Peri/poof learn to use their magic so she like how Sam & Tucker do in some later Nicktoons unite games do gets to join the nicktoons unite adventures (think Wanda Cosmo and Poof/peri will still join as well until Timmy becomes a adult & Cole grows up and forgets Wanda Cosmo and poof/peri and only remembers Timmy when he was human and like everyone back her universe that isn’t a magical creature or fairy doesn’t know what happened to Timmy then Wanda & Cosmo retired and Peri goes off to study to become a fairy god parent and Timmy becoming a fairy lawyer who helps out with the Da Rules for Jorgen and also helps Felicity out with her other jobs and she helps him out with his lawyer work being as she keeps records for everything that goes on with Fairies; they kinda become fairy heroes to fairy world and Timmy becomes family to Jorgen Nana Boom boom and Felicity (Wanda Cosmo and poof/peri already family to Timmy and he to them) so Jorgen is like an uncle to Timmy & Poof/peri while Felicity is like an older Sister / cousin to him (so you’re likely see a lot siblings interacting with Felicity Tommy and peri )

Now Felicity will be a much better and more fun teacher to Timmy & poof than Cocker ever was being as she Loves creativity (I mean being the art fairy that she is it’s something VERY important to one of her fairy jobs so she will encourage Timmy and poof/peri to be creative all the time and give stickers whenever she see them being creative) now Jimmy being as he starts letting fairies visit his lab ( although it’s mostly Timmy poof/peri Wanda cosmo Jorgen and felicity who do being as most other fairies are a little nervous around scientists thanks to crazy scientist who wanted to get their magic for controlling the universe back in their universe so you can understand why they try to stay away from Jimmy in fear; it also doesn’t help Danny’s had to come in to stop Jimmy from using ghosts in some of his studies on other universes; although thanks to his growing feelings for Timmy Jimmy has a soft spot for fairies and so any fairy studies he does is to mostly protect them from those who wish to use their magic for not so good things (like what Cocker tries to do)

When both Timmy and Jimmy becoming adults they start to date but while they’re teenagers Danny would tease Jimmy about his soft spot for fairies especially one buck tooth one

I can totally see Jimmy becoming quite the world renowned scientist that he’s probably like top known professor that probably gets asked a lot to help consult on many subjects and matters so he’s probably got his own huge lab to help keep the world safe and to help improve things in his universe while Danny with Trucker and Sam are the ones that even the government have to consult to deal with all ghost like things dealings in their universe

Now with SpongeBob not sure if much will change in his universe being as he’s already an adult when the first time the nicktoons unite games/gang was form but in later games Patrick star and Sam Squirrel did join in on the

Nicktoons games so we’ll probably see them come in with SpongeBob a bit as time goes on and they’re join in with same adventures for sure

I’m gonna guess they’ll get along great with Hazel in the fairly odd parents a new wish

Would like Danny tell Hazel how they 1st met Timmy Wanda and Cosmo and all the times they went on adventures with fairy kid Timmy with toddler Peri

Or how help Timmy and Peri learn how to use their powers with Felicity as a helping guide

Who knows Hazel might join the team with adult fairy Timmy and Danny with his kids a few times as well

Don’t think Danny and Jimmy would trust Dev so much though (Danny would be a little worried Dev would be a bad influence on his own kids and Jimmy doesn’t like how power hungry the kid seems to get at times)

Now Danny and Jimmy know anti fairies are bad news and hearing that Dev would rather have Irep instead of Peri because Irep doesn’t care about following the rules would rub them the wrong way

Think it’s not until they learn what Dale’s like do they feel bad for dev a bit

[typewritingyip]

Hi ! I don’t know what hour is it where u live but it’s pretty late for me so : apologies for this hehe

LETS BE HONEST HERE : I LOVE YOUR STORY ! Im currently only on like….chapter 4, but

BUT i love the world building, we can see you really thought about all of that deeply

And. *chief kiss*

I have a proposition my dear writer.

If you describe me how you see Hound, Sunstreaker, Sideswipe and Breakdown in this AU, both in human and mech form (important things, like weapons, or facial features for the human part)

Then I want to draw them. I don’t know if I will have the time to actually illustrate this but AT LEAST I wanna have a full image in mind when I read this blorbos in your (amazing) style

Also also it’s funny because I was reading your story and I saw your pfp and I’ve been like ‘eh ? I know this’

And yes. You are the kind person that always like and comment on my drawings and I wanted to say TYSM <333

Oh my gosh, Hi!

I’m so glad you love the story, it’s been entirely amazing to be able to write like I have been. You have made my entire day so much better, thank you!

As for the crew of Arcturus One, man, I don’t even know where to begin. I know I briefly described how the ingrained tech was different for each of them in a different post probably here, but actually describing them and their suits…

Hound is what I’ve pictured as the very typical run of the mill military guy, he’s in his late 20’s/early 30’s and has been piloting for around 10 years. Probably started between 20-22, younger but not the youngest to become a pilot. When I’ve spoken about him out loud, I kinda have described him as a better version of Duke from GI Joe, but a lot less blonde. He’s probably a brunette in my minds eye. He stands without the suit around 5’11, on the fitter side of things, and had perpetual eye-bag syndrome. Mans is always tired. He very much would have had that “boy next door” look about him in his younger days (when he first met his ex-wife *cough*) but yeah. That very typical American who is mostly white but generally has a bit of everything there. He has been known to have facial hair but prefers the military look, just cause he does emulate his father in that respect.

Breakdown is from Ukraine, he is the tall guy of the group like 6’ and above. Very stoic in appearance, but the guy is so kind that he is only really intimidating when you don’t know him. He’s on the older side of things, has been a pilot for around 15 years, and probably is one of the longest standing ones. His number came about when he emigrated to the US, getting things changed and re-organized so he has been a pilot longer than Jazz but not in the same programs till after Jazz was around. He’s the eastern block guy of the group, dry humor and certainly knows more English than he lets on. But he still learned a lot of it from movies and things. I’d put him on the slightly bulkier side of things, he’s put in a lot of hard labor and his mech is harder to control than the others. It’s older and heavier, but familiar.

Now the twins, I probably know the most about their appearance. Being born and raised in Florida, I wanted to give them a bit more history and culture, (make Hound feel like the odd one out, sort of) but their mom was from Cuba and their dad met her when he was visiting from New York. They are fraternal twins and Sides took after his dad while Sunny took after their mom. Meaning Sides got hella straight hair and Sunny has got curls, which he will be the first to say are the biggest pain in space. They both are around 6 foot, not taller than that and are pretty lanky. The reason they became pilots is cause they were going to get arrested for drug dealing and street racing, they weren’t dealing drugs but welcome to America. This happened around 16/17, and they’ve been pilots for about 7 or 8 years, so early to mid 20’s right now. Still pretty young.

So to just briefly explain, Hound remind me of just a better/older looking Duke from GI Joe (comics not movies), Breakdown is Ukrainian with the touches of scaring from growing up behind the iron curtain. Sunstreaker is Cuban-Italian, with more features from his mom’s side. Sideswipe is also Cuban-Italian, with more features from his dad’s side. They look incredibly alike and can be confused for identical but they certainly are fraternal.

Now for the Mech suits, the hardest part for me.

Hound is green and very military themed, kinda take War Machine from marvel but make it typical military green in a way. They still have the smoother edges and rounded corners, unlike the Cybertronian’s. The military wanted to make him look approachable to kids, so he sorta looks like a giant thing wearing a helmet to them, but his visor is whole face (like Soundwave sorta in TFP) It had the ability to light up and darken, it was newer tech that they were attempting to make the mechs seem less threatening (*cough cough* blame vortex *cough cough*) He does not have wings or additional thrusters other than the ones that help him stay upright, so he cannot fly/float. Hence the parachutes in chapter 4. His gun stores in part of his leg just cause there wasn’t many other places it would fit, it’s a hand gun with the ability to add a longer barrel to it to make a rifle. It’s not mounted or anything so it looks kinda like he’s unarmed most of the time.

Breakdown is very utilitarian, I mean it doesn’t look dissimilar from the mech suits that the Russian’s pilots in pacific rim on the bottom half, they got a bunch of regime contractors and engineers together to make a defense system and that’s what he pilots. The head was re-designed on his entering Mecha’s service to be more appealing towards marketing. Hence the orange battle mask, I really haven’t described it so much in person but his suit’s head looks much more cybertronian than the others, spots for eyes etc. I’d say his head is much more Earthspark shaped than TFP but that’s just me. His suit is mostly blue though like TFP. He had a soviet era anti-aircraft style cannon attached at the top of his arm/shoulder but that’s received some upgrades. I think I also mentioned other weapons for him but I can’t find it at the moment.

The twins suits aren’t dissimilar other than for the shape of their heads, weapon choice, and color. Their suit’s aren’t dissimilar in shape to Hot Rods here, but once again lack the door wings. They also only have the partial facial visors, mostly covering where eyes would be. They effectively have blades on the outer side of their arms, the bracers I mention in later chapters, for Sunny that is all he has preferring close combat because his mech is lighter and faster than most other pilots (other than Blur, which your design for him is peak I might add.) Sides has those but one side can pop out to be an actual sword/blade that he prefers to use. That took a lot of trial and error to make work.

—

Wow, that was a lot to write out. Also, if you want more information on them or other character's who will appear in later Arcturus missions (because I have a list, muhahaha) feel free to reach out! I love talking about these guys, I love writing them, and it’s just my current escape from the hellscape that is LSAT prep. Also for everyone, I live in eastern standard time, so New York time zone. Next part will hopefully be out tomorrow night at 4:30 ish.

[marantha]

How does this go? Long time lurker first time poster? Something like that? lol I absolutely love reading some soft and heart warming fics when I feel sick. Which lately has been all the time. I decided to write a cute little something to take my mind off of it.

Latent love

Another day another mildly irritating migraine. I really don’t understand what sparked this migraine outbreak I’ve been suffering since January. My migraines had been under control for years at this point, and aside from switching jobs nothing had changed. These migraines were made even more irritating by the fact that my go to medicine now gives me a side effect. So now I have to decide if I want to suffer the side effects of the medicine or suffer through the migraine until I’ve knocked myself out. Needless to say the head pounding, dizzy brain fog was basically my new baseline. Today was no different. Woke up, tied my curly hair back and almost instantly developed a tension headache. After loosening my hair tie I keep getting ready for work. The fact that I’ll be able to see my pookie Pedge is basically the only thing getting me through the day.

Because the world apparently has it out for me, my phone decides to let me know that the atmospheric pressure will be changing several times today. Guess who discovered this past winter that atmospheric pressure changes are a migraine trigger? You guessed it, ME!

Today is going to be an awesome day, maybe if I keep this thought in the forefront it will become true. Unfortunately once I got to work my day derailed. It’s always something I swear, if it’s not inventory it’s issues with our system. The one draw back about making yourself indispensable at work is that you’re now everyone’s go to when something goes awry. Almost as soon as I walked in my AGM pulls me aside and to give me a brief on the previous night. “We had a pretty chill night, but we had an issue with the new hire” —she tells me. It’s pretty unsurprising, unfortunately our newest hire isn’t quite fitting in and is making most of our employees uncomfortable. I turned to ask “what happened now?” She looks at me with a look that says ‘you’re not going to like this one bit’. “Well he was outside taking orders and told a customer ‘where did you all come from, there’s so many?’ Which in itself is bad enough but this customer was a minority.” I honestly I’m baffled and a bit put off as a minority myself. I don’t quite know how to respond to her aside from “What the fuck?” This will probably be this guys last straw because even if he didn’t mean it in a racist way, the phrasing is left to interpretation. “Okay, I’ll talk to the DM and get her opinion on this.” Once we finished our little catch up we hopped on the line and started slinging drinks. The rest of the day was full of minor inconveniences that didn’t help the dull migraine I had walked in with. The biggest issue was that our iPads and POS system decided to quit on us in the middle of our lunch rush. After troubleshooting that and basically missing my break I was completely checked out for the rest of my shift.

I made it home before Pedro did, which I was hoping would be the case. I needed a couple of hours to decompress, hopefully get this migraine in check and be more personable when he came home. Heading straight for our bathroom I stared a bath and set the temperature to scalding. While that filled up I was left with the decision of how to treat my migraine. Do I take the triptan and basically feel like someone is holding my throat for hours, or take a ‘gummy’ and end up horny as hell. Honestly I’ll decided after my bath, I don’t have the capacity right now. Shutting the water off, I undress and hop in the shower for a quick rinse before enjoying my bath. Even in so much pain the idea of being sitting sweat soup wasn’t appealing. I hoped in the bath, put on my eye massager and enjoyed my bath.

I must have dosed off because next thing I know Pedro is walking into the bathroom and pulling my mask off. “Hola cariño, how are you?”—he asked in the smoothest voice ever. I think he knew I wasn’t feeling well the minute he walked in. “Not great, today was a day and a half and my migraine isn’t letting up.” He just looked at me with the most compassionate look another human could give me. “Have you taken anything?” “No I haven’t, I couldn’t decide if I wanted to take the triptan or a gummy.” Before I even finish my sentence he’s shaking his head at me and walking back into our shared bedroom. He comes back in carrying three gummies, two for me and one for him. “You know these make me horny, right?” I asked him straight up. He nods his head and states, “I am very aware of how these get you worked up. I am the one that takes care of those needs every time. Take it and get out of the bath so I can help you get ready for bed. I already closed all the blinds, made the room extra cold and grabbed your saltines.” I looked at him in awe, I really shouldn’t be surprised he had taken care of everything after a year of dating and three months living together he knew me like the back of his hand. “Okay, thank you. I’ll be just a couple of minutes.” Once he walks back in our room, I shake my head and realize once more just how lucky I was to have met him. This is the moment that I realize that true love is never a burden, as someone that suffers from a chronic illness my biggest fear is dragging down those I love.

I walk over to the bed and get in and snuggle my man. I’m feeling extra sensitive at the moment so I decided that sleeping nude feels like the right move. So I walk across the room and climb in bed without a second thought. “Cariño, you haven’t done any of your skincare.”—Pedro reminds me. I shake my head and say “I know I just don’t feel like standing any longer” almost before I can finish my sentence he’s standing up and heading to my vanity. He comes back with my toner, serum and moisturizer. Not my full routine, but the basics. “Pedge, I can barely sit up, I’m skipping the skincare” he starts shaking his head mid way through my sentence. “I didn’t bring these over for you to use, I’ve seen you do this enough times I can apply them for you.” At this statement I’m two seconds away from crying, because he sees me. Pedro sees me and my flaws, quirks and illnesses.

He finished my skincare in less than a minute, goes to put everything back and comes to bed once all lights are off and our pup is in the room. Once we settle he’s big spoon, while I’m little spoon. He slides his arm under my head for me to rest while his other hand is wrapped around my middle. Almost instantly I’m relaxed, and a in almost a whisper I say “I can’t believe you’re the man I get to spend the rest of my life with” I end my statement with a kiss on his arm. He nuzzles my neck and sates “I will never be more thankful that I spilled my coffee that morning almost a year and a half ago. Every day I wake up and thank the universe for bringing us together and I cannot wait until I can call you my wife”

[chickenkurage]

Important Announcement

040425 | 5:28 AM (UTC+8) | ANNOUNCEMENT

Disclaimer: Please take a moment to read the announcement from Sponge and JM below. They will be sharing their plans and other details. If you are a dedicated reader of the fics and a big fan of JM's artwork, this announcement is especially for you.

SPONGE's MESSAGE

Hi, everyone! I have some important updates to share, especially regarding my fanfictions. As mentioned in our pinned post, I want to keep you all informed. Lately, I haven't been able to update any of my Alan/DJ AU stories. Initially, the reason was my increasing college workload, which made it difficult to balance my research papers and writing. I intended to slow down instead of completely stopping, but as you can see, I have unfortunately stopped writing altogether. Currently, I'm only updating my VicAgent AU, which might also be affected by the next thing I want to discuss.

I have to be honest: I have lost interest in the fandom. I can’t pretend otherwise—I’ve fallen out of the AvA fandom, and I realize I haven’t been keeping up with Alan's posts or even watching AvG. I know I promised you all that I wouldn’t leave things unfinished, but it's true that I’ve not only lost interest but also forgotten the plots of my AUs. I barely have time to revisit them, especially since my research is still ongoing.

When I do find the time to read, I notice how inconsistent and lacking my writing has become. This is probably a result of trying to keep up while being busy, but I don’t feel happy or proud to reread my fics. I’ve discussed this with JM, and now I am considering deleting all my AvA-related fanfictions on both AO3 and Wattpad.

Additionally, JM and I have agreed to delete this Tumblr account. I recommend following us on our separate accounts, as we will most likely transition there. However, it's not guaranteed that we'll be active there since college is quite demanding for us right now.

I sincerely apologize, everyone! I know you've been patiently waiting for updates, but life has thrown a lot of bricks at me. And trust me, none of those were given a kiss at least.

Thank you all for your support! I’ve met so many wonderful people during my time in this fandom, and I’ve truly enjoyed my experiences with all of you. - S

JM's MESSAGE

As much as i want to keep drawing and posting more stuffs for you guys, spongey and i have made the unfortunate decision to suspend all activities in favor of dealing with our own separate issues. 

Personal life is deffo not doing me any favors since college has me burnt out and worrying over my grades, and it doesn’t help i keep forgetting stuffs more than usual. Relaxing isn’t even an option when my college professors keep stacking me with mountains and mountains of work that I’m pretty sure Spongey is getting tired of hearing me rant about them. 

I’m currently sleep deprived and tired so i apologize for whatever massive heap of negativity this is? Life right now has me thinking about my decisions whether I did the right thing choosing a practical course over my passion haha (i really need some time off)

For those who’d like to see the arts in our tumblr account, if there’s anyone, i’ll get started on that google doc compilation of ava fanarts in our discord server when I’m free, which might be a while. 

Over the months of activity on our shared tumblr, you all have been nothing but supportive and i wanted to say thank you to all of you. Overcoming our own obstacles is what me and spongey plans to do for the sake of our own health and i hope you understand us.

Let this letter be taken not as a goodbye, but as thanks for all the endless support you showered us. Sending you all my love <333 - JM

[tinycherry0]

Pretty as a Picture

Abby Anderson x shy!artist!fem! Reader

Okay so this is the first fanficton I’ve written in a quite while, don’t expect this to be a normal occurrence lol. I’m only writing this because it’s an idea that I had that needed to be written into existence 😭 (also side note this turned out to be longer than I anticipated 💀) so enjoy!

This wasn’t the first time you’d been assigned with Abby for a patrol; yet every time you were assigned with Abby you got nervous jitters, butterflies in your stomach, heart aching, and mind racing about being around her.

You couldn’t help it, she was single-handedly the most attractive woman you’d ever met. Her strong, secure, and powerful persona made your knees and heart weak. Along with her well-built muscular figure, cute freckles that adorned her face and toned arms, and the rare times when she did smile made you melt.

So when you found out you were assigned on a patrol with her in the morning? You couldn’t help but be giddy with excitement.

You stripped out of your clothes until you were in your tank top and underwear, leaving the rest of your clothes neatly laid out on a chair next to your bed for in the morning. You lit a candle on your nightstand for light, shifting to your black-leathery worn cross-body bag you took everywhere with you, searching for your sketchbook and pencil. You smiled to yourself as you found them, closing the bag and placing it at the foot of your bed. You wanted to see if you were able to draw Abby without her as a reference.

I probably should be going to bed though..is it creepy to draw someone you barely talk to without their knowledge?..

You shook the thought, opening your sketchbook and gliding the pencil on the paper as you recalled memories of being around Abby. Her strong and beautiful features, freckles that danced around her pale skin, cute lips and nose, and powerful blue eyes that bore right into your soul.

A half hour of sketching later, you were still unhappy with the results. It just doesn’t look right you thought. You pursed your lips in frustration as you shoved your sketchbook and pencil back into your bag, hoping that tomorrow there would be a window of opportunity to draw Abby when you were with her, when she wouldn’t notice.

The last thing you needed was to embarrass yourself in front of Abby. What if she saw it and thought you were a total creep? Drawing her without her knowledge or permission? You couldn’t have that.

You tried your best to shut down all negative thoughts as you blew out the candle you lit, drops of white wax now littered around the candle holder. You plopped your head against the pillow, closing your eyes, waiting for sleep to take you.

You woke up the next morning as your alarm blared. You were lucky enough to have one, this one you found on a patrol a few months ago. The clock read 4:30 AM as you shut off the loud noise, quickly getting out of bed and getting dressed. Normally you would have been tired, especially considering you had only gotten 3 hours of sleep but all you could think about was Abby, aching to be around her. You dreaded being late, as you didn’t want Abby to think of you as an unreliable slacker. No, you wanted Abby to see you as you saw her.

You brushed your hair and made yourself look presentable, making sure you didn’t smell and that you were decently clean. You grabbed your cross-body bag and put on your boots, heading out to the spot you said you’d both meet.

You were supposed to just look around the area for supplies and infected, nothing really special. Soon enough you saw Abby standing tall by the spot you said you’d both meet.

The sun wouldn’t rise for another half hour so it was still slightly dark out, but luckily you had your flashlight with you.

“Ready to go?” Abby’s powerful voice rang through your ears, already making you feel weak with want for her. You nodded your head, smiling slightly up at her as she nodded. You both started walking, not saying much of anything, just enjoying hearing the trees rustle in the wind, birds chirping around you along with crickets and cicadas.

Abby walked slightly ahead but still beside you, making it easier to look at her without her knowing. You couldn’t help but stare, but little to your knowledge she knew your eyes were on her. She smirked a little and narrowed her eyes back to you, making your face engulf in a pink blush.

You look away quickly, pretending there was something oh so interesting up above you, trying to look anywhere but at her. She chuckled to herself, making you blush even harder. “W-what’s so funny?” You mentally punched yourself for saying that aloud, but your mouth spoke before you could even think about what you were saying.

“Hmm..it’s nothing, don’t worry about it.”

About an hour passed but with little luck. You both found a small abandoned convenience store that had a bottle of rubbing alcohol, some large bandaids but most importantly some bottled water, but that was it. You both stopped by a cliff side that had 2 decaying logs laying across from each other as seats, both talking one of the bottles of water and sitting separately.

As Abby stared out into the cliff side, you took notice how the warm morning sun lighting up her features made her look so breathtakingly beautiful. You took out your sketchbook and pencil, flipping to a blank page and started sketching. It’s now or never you thought.

Abby hadn’t said much, aware of the fact that you were drawing something but didn’t ask you about it, just letting you do your own thing. But it wasn’t until she noticed your glances up at her every so often that made her intrigued in what you were drawing.

You both sat silently for about 15 minutes, Abby making use of the time by cleaning her weapons, pretending not to notice your eyes scanning her features every once in a while. But while you were engaged in sketching, she silently got up and crept behind you, making sure to be dead silent with each step. As she got behind you and leaned towards your figure, you almost had a heart attack hearing her voice behind you.

“Whatcha drawin’?”

She had a smug smirk plastered on her face, face inches from yours as you nearly jumped out of your seat. You quickly looked at her, arms clutching your sketchbook to your chest and face red with embarrassment as your mouth hung open in shock. You tried to say something but you couldn’t, so you averted your eyes and shyly handed your sketchbook to Abby. She took it from you and her eyes immediately widened as her face grew red and mind raced.

How the fuck did she draw this so quickly? I look like a fucking goddess!! And she captured my facial features and muscles so good??

It was confident to say that you left Abby Anderson speechless that day. But while her mind was racing with thoughts of holy fucking shit this is amazing, you thought her mind was raving about how much of a creep you were. You grew more and more nervous with each passing second, starting to regret drawing her until Abby finally spoke up.

“I..I don’t know what to say..” She chuckled and had a slight smile on her face, still engaged in your talent.

“Do..do you think I’m creepy? I’m sorry I drew you without permission, it’s just that-“ She cut you off.

“What?? Are you kidding me? I absolutely love this. You’re artwork is insane, you captured me perfectly.”

You jolted your head up at her words, looking into her eyes for any sort of doubt, but you found none. She was being genuine, and her smile made your heart melt along with her complements. “You really think so?” You also smiled up at her.

She nodded and sat down on the log next to you, looking back at the sketch. “What compelled you to draw me anyway?” Abby asked you, looking at you with a soft smile.

“I..um…I..uh…“ You couldn’t say it. You couldn’t spit out the reason you drew her! You couldn’t just casually say you drew her because she was the hottest woman on Earth even though it was true and what you were thinking. You blushed and looked away, trying to come up with a believable fib but before you could, Abby spoke up.

“Ohhh, I see..you have a crush on me, don’t you?” She smirked at you, inching closer to your face, looking at you up and down with half lidded eyes.

You weren’t expecting Abby to be so forward. You couldn’t even look her in the eyes, just mindlessly looking at the floor and toying with the strands of your hair nervously. That was until she lightly grabbed your chin and made you meet her gaze. You looked at her with wide eyes, lips parted and cheeks pink with embarrassment.

“I asked you a question, pretty girl..you gonna answer it?”

Your face was pink before, but now tomato red at what Abby had called you. Your heart felt like it was going to thump out of your chest but you managed to stutter out a sentence that was barely over a whisper.

“I-um..I do..have a..crush on you, Abby.” You could barely keep your voice steady as you said it, eyes still looking into hers. She just smirked at you and looked you up and down, letting go of your chin but inching her face closer.

“Hmm..that’s what I thought when I kept noticing your eyes on me. You’re not very sneaky about it y’know.”

She was so close to you. All your senses were flooded with the smell of her pine soap you loved so much.

“Um, sorry about that..I couldn’t help it.”

“You couldn’t help but stare at me? That’s cute. Why? What’s so interesting about me?”

She was so straightforward it was driving you crazy. Did she really expect you to answer a question like that??

Yes, she did.

“I..well..that’s a hard question to answer. There’s a lot of things about you I like..but, if I have to be honest, I’ve never met someone as captivating as you.”

You couldn’t believe you said it. You looked away in embarrassment, toying with your hands, face flushed as your heart felt like it was going to explode for the millionth time.

“Well, I think you’re pretty captivating yourself. You’re cute, and you draw really damn well. I’d like to get to know you better, if that’s okay with you.”

Abby got up from the log you both were occupying and grabbed her backpack, swinging it up onto her shoulder. You looked up at her and smiled warmly.

“I’d like to get to know you too.”

[m4iya]

ᝰ.ᐟ✮⋆˙ Matchup #6 @keishuii ˙⋆✮ᐟ.ᝰ

Hello!! I haven’t written a matchup in a while.. (I still have a bunch of bakery requests as well.. sob)

After reading a bunch, and letting some info simmer in my head, (I fell asleep) I’ve decided to match you to Tobio Kageyama!

So initially I was thinking someone upbeat and loud (Hinata-esque) but chose Kageyama since in my opinion he isn’t exactly introverted nor is he very extroverted either. And that reminded me of you :3

I think that outside of his obsession with volleyball, he’d be the type of person to appreciate the little things. I can imagine you crafting some small things for him, and him wondering how hard it would be for someone to make something so intricate out of a piece of paper. Maybe even origami? One of those foldable letters maybe, you might also draw something on them given your artistic nature. As we’ve seen, he doesn’t seem like a highly emotional guy, but your actions might soften him up a little c:

I can imagine you making him something that he’d keep with him all the time.

Let’s talk sentiment – I can see him keeping something like a letter; It might’ve been the first thing that you gave to him that made him come out of his shell. Something small but with meaning, something that would remind him of you during a match. I know I’m going on a lot about the crafting, but I can also imagine this as a mini hangout: The two of you meet up (probably at your place, (I don’t think he has many craft things lol) and follow some tutorials you found online for mini paper crafts. He’d see the first tutorial all the way through despite his lacking skill, but give up after that and opt to watch you instead. If you happen to crochet, I can also see you making him a ball keychain that he’d hang on his bag.

Here’s another idea that I thought of since you mentioned cooking and baking as one of your interests! Instead of baking or cooking together (which can be much more chaotic than some people make it out to be) I’d imagine you making things, and he’d be your taste tester. Only as a temporary thing before you find out that he isn’t the most eloquent with words. He’d tell you he’s trying to describe it, but all he ends up saying is “That was good.” or “Thanks, I liked it.” You'd scold him, asking him "Was it too sweet? How was the filling? Was it soft? Did it taste fresh?" He'd probably get too overwhelmed, and just give a simple thumbs up as he takes another bite.

And here is yet another idea that I came up with! Let’s say this is on a school holiday before a tournament, and you haven’t been seeing him much as he’s been very engrossed in his training, and you know how he can be. So when would he be have free time?

By the time you head home, have dinner and study for a few hours, it’s already pretty late. He’s told you that he usually goes for a jog after practice, but seeing as you’re both on a holiday from school, you’re not sure what he’d be doing. You call him and he picks up after a few rings.

“Hello?” You hear wind from the other end of the phone crashing loudly against the speaker.

“Hey.” He casually replied.

“What’s that sound? Are you out?”

“Yeah. I couldn’t fall asleep.” You can hear him panting as he jogs.

“Should I hang up? ” It might be distracting if he has to keep the phone up to his ear.

“No.” He pauses. “I was gonna call you.”

“Seriously?” You chuckle.

“Yeah, I haven’t seen you much lately..” His voice trailed off. “I guess I was thinking of you.”

That was the last thing you were expecting to hear from him. He wasn’t the most expressive person, and you were convinced he wouldn’t be able to say that to you face-to-face.

The two of you continued in conversation, talking about the various things that you’ve missed out on due to how busy he’d been lately.

You offer to bake him something – a way for the two of you to meet up soon.

Seeing as you also mentioned volleyball as an interest, even if it’s not a long term goal, I think the two of you could play together casually. Maybe if the two of you head to the park for a picnic, you’d bring a ball along, telling him that you’ve never gotten to see him play up close. He’d help you get better from time to time, teaching you the ropes, or correcting your posture and whatnot. He notes it as an effective way to practice with someone who’s always focused, using your skills as a way to make fun of Hinata whenever he messes up. He'd tell him things like “y/n wouldn’t have missed that.”

And now for the aesthetics:

I’ve done this before but I’m going to leave some outfits and aesthetics that remind me of the two of you. Seeing as you noted an interest in fashion and designs, I’ll touch on that as well! Seeing as Kageyama is – well, himself, you might help him pick out outfits from time to time, maybe even doing one of those colour analysis’ for him? He’d complain, telling you that “They’re just clothes.” (He probably has all solid blacks and whites in his closet, with an occasional pop of brown or navy blue). This might also lead to matching outfits! I’ll leave those down below :D

(The all black outfit with the cap is something that he ended up wearing a lot despite his complaints)

I know they're all relatively simple, so I'll include a couple things that reminded me of you!

[beauspot]

Loki Matters a Lot to Me *Long Post*

If you go on my page you’ll see that I’ve never posted about the Loki show or Lokius before so you might be wondering why now that the show is (probably) over? I always liked this show, and I considered myself a fan but coming out of it I wasn’t shipping anyone.

Don’t get me wrong I enjoyed the dynamic Loki and Mobius had but I was just happy to have Loki alive so I savored that. Also I sensed some history with Mobius and Ravonna which I still think exists. I found all of the characters interesting. That includes this season but something about season 2 was different for me and I couldn’t figure out why.

Why did this show affect me so much? Why did this second season affect me so much? And particularly why did this ship, Lokius, affect me so much?

To understand where I'm coming from you should probably understand that first of all I am queer and even before I knew I was queer I had a want for queer representation. For me oddly enough it started with Owen Wilson in Night at the Museum. Jedtavius was a pairing I didn't even realized I shipped til I was older. The enemies to lovers thing was so cute and it pretty much got confirmed in the last movie.

(Just inconspicuously having your cowboy character quote Brokeback Mountain no big deal.)

I enjoy a good ship. As I got older however I began to crave real queer representation and I was lucky enough to find it in places like Steven Universe

And Adventure TIme

Then as I reached my mid to late teens I was able to see films like Brokeback, But I'm a Cheerleader, First Girl I Loved, The Miseducation of Cameron Post etc. Seeing these made me feel more secure in my sexuality.

Of course along the way I got dragged into non canon ships some of which were queerbait like Stucky or even worse, Stormpilot/Finnpoe.

The malicious part about all of these ships is the teams behind them waving these pairings out in front of people like a dog with a bone, hoping to draw them in to get their money knowing they had no intention of following through.

And I have become disillusioned with that. I have also become annoyed with fans of straight ships that oppose those queer ships acting like we're reaching.

I bring this up because there is a certain segment of sylkis(not all) and on a broader scale fans of straight ships that have this sense of persecution because fans of a queer pairing don't like their ship. It's weird and I am tempted to say it stems from homophobia. If you simply don't enjoy a ship that's fine. There are queer ships I despise, but try and assess where that hatred comes from.

There is a language that conveys romance and it seems like only when there is a minority involved do you guys become unable to understand it. This is an issue within most fandoms when it comes to not only sexuality but race in popular ships. For example, The Bear fandom in regards to Chef's Kiss, but I digress.

When a character feels the need to constantly touch another character that signals something, when a character fixes themselves so they look nice before they see another character that signals something. The way they talk, the way they act, how they are with and without one another says A LOT.

So why is it when we point these things out we get called delusional? Why do I feel like I'm going crazy every time I speak with someone about a queer ship? And why do I always feel the need to justify it?

Straight, white, pairings never have to justify their existence. They just are. Sylvie and Loki can fight, yell at one another, hurt one another, literally be the same fucking person and people will find that ok, but suddenly when people see Loki fixing himself before he meets Mobius we can't see love in that(you’re telling me this isn’t how someone acts when they see their crush unexpectedly)? We can't see loss in Mobius when he can't even do his job anymore now that Loki is gone? We can't grieve what could have been even if we find Loki as the God of Stories cool?

Why?

Mobius is the first person in probably thousands of years to tell Loki he’s not evil and he can be good if he chooses to be. We see how much this means to him. From this point on Loki is attached to Mobius like a puppy. Mobius becomes his person. I find something so refreshing about Mobius calling Loki out but then also offering him a path to redemption. He doesn’t let Loki slide, because he cares about him enough to know he can be better and Loki deserves to be better for himself.

So I was bothered by the way the finale was set up. I know they have the conversation about “the burden of glorious purpose” and often I am honestly a supporter of not everyone gets a happy ending even if they “deserve” it in a storytelling sense. I find the tragedy in that intriguing, but this didn’t feel good to me on a personal level. I didn’t walk away from the finale feeling sad but fulfilled, I walked away from it feeling miserable and empty. And I recognize that I attach myself to characters more than the general populace but I don’t really care? This hurt.

Loki wanted nothing more than for somebody to be there with him, to be for him, to love him and instead he ends up alone. Mobius ends up back in his timeline but he can't go back to his life. A version of him is already there and our Mobius doesn't even remember his children. Mobius doesn't smile at the end because he isn't happy. He's alone. They are alone and realistically there's a high chance these versions of them will never see each other again.

Does Sylvie seem bothered by that? No. She's ready to go live her life. And there’s nothing wrong with that, she took the gift Loki gave to her but Mobius is clearly, deeply hurt by Loki being gone. Because they found purpose in each other. In the order and chaos.

Having watched Good Omens and Our Flag Means Death season 2(along with the movie Bottoms starring Ayo Edebiri which everyone should watch 😁) in the same year I have become quite used to seeing queer rep in my mainstream shows. As the years have passed more and more queer characters are able to take center stage. So even though I knew Disney's track record I still held out hope because even the writer and composer saw the potential in Lokius.

Tom and Owen did too somewhat, but at the end of the day actors don't write the shows.

I think what bothers me most is that Loki is the first queer character in the MCU, we've seen him struggle and grow and learn to love and finally last season his queerness was made explicit (more than in Thor Ragnarok where he like fucked the Grandmaster or something). And they immediately paired him off with a version of himself.

Loki isn't gay so I'm not saying he had to end up with a man or anything you can be queer and end up with someone who is a gender different than yours my issue is a broader one which is, this story wasn't made to validate bi/pan people who date the opposite sex or whatever it was made to close Loki off to any other possibilities. One of those being Mobius.

Rewatching season 1 this decision is exacerbated because there are moments where they could have had him flirt with a man like when he was D.B. Cooper and boom we have on screen rep, but they decided “nah let’s just have him say it one time and then never acknowledge it again.” Again I want to reiterate, you can be queer and not be in a same gender relationship, but this is a television character. We don’t know their innermost thoughts like we’re reading a book we have to take them at their actions and we never got the opportunity for our first queer character to express that(at least in his own show because remember the grandmaster, but somehow that feels worse).

The executive producer recently came out and said Loki and Mobius were always meant to be platonic because they were trying to dismantle toxic masculinity by portraying “platonic male friendships”. A phrase I have grown to hate over the years because ALL WE EVER SEE ARE PLATONIC MALE FRIENDSHIPS. This is another parallel with issues I have with The Bear in which the cast and crew were like “why can’t women and men just be friends?” but only in reference to the black girl. Back to the topic at hand though.

Have you ever met a queer person who acknowledges they’re queer once and then never talks about it again? Especially someone with as much showmanship as Loki? Does that make sense to anybody? Even if he ultimately ended up with Sylvie(which I wouldn’t have liked but I digress) that would have been enough for me.

But instead we had this troubled character give up everything and everyone they love to sit on a throne they didn’t even want so that their friends could have a choice. So that they could have a life. And again I can find beauty in that, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it. And I won’t pretend I do.

🥀End of Post🥀

sidenote ouroboros is so autistic tell me i’m wrong. he’s literally an autistic with no experience of ableism just pure autistic sunshine.

[aniimoni]

Your oc lore sounds fucked up. Tell me more about that and worshipping issue i'd love 2 know

YEAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSBSBHDHDH sorry I am so deprived 🛐🛐🛐

No they don’t have a name yet, someone give me ideas, there’s another drawing (with both of them) here. The one with red hair is named Genevive (it’s spelt like that because i’m unique and cool obv)

Ok so basically:

They exist in a world where there is 1 main god, which is constantly referred to as “Him” “He” “The Creator”.

The one with black hair (this is her human form) is the god of the ocean.

The one with red hair is a general, who is the predecessor from a line of other generals. These generals are tasked to lead the army of this city in order to protect it (among other mundane things, like community service). It’s kind of like “passing the torch” in a way.

Everyone is raised to worship the god who created everything (wether out of fear or love). He has a major ego, is very picky, and passive aggressive (or sometimes downright aggressive in a very messed up way).

In a summary: Genevive is not super up for worshipping Him. She is pretty fond of the ocean, so yknow..

One day Genevive actually gets to meet the god of the ocean by surprise. And so, long story short: She will do anything and everything to make them happy. The god themselves knows it’s pretty messed up and against the rules, but sometimes they can’t help but entertain the idea.

They grow close and learn to love each other in a much more healthy way than I previously mentioned. However, He has taken notice of their relationship, and sees it as “worshipping” (kind of late to the party lmao). He is VERY pissed, and decides to try and negotiate with (manipulate) both of them. The god of the ocean is much more lenient, and agrees to try and avoid Genevive in an effort to protect her. BUT Genevive isn’t guying His bs, she basically tells Him to go screw Himself.

There are 2 scenarios I have in mind in which He takes His “revenge”

1) He leads her into a cave and slowly makes her lose her mind until she passes away

2) He finds her in the battlefield and kills her

But in both, He wouldn’t only be killing her, He would be ripping her soul away so she wouldn’t even be able to pass onto the afterlife. Keeping her trapped in His domain. He also chains the god of the ocean to keep them under His watch.

Either way, the other god finds out, and feels extremely guilty, blaming themselves for leading Genevive to her downfall. They hold a lot of anger towards Him, but they can’t do much since they’re chained, so their power is very limited. They can leave the ocean, but only in their human form, which also has very limited power.

I still can’t decide if that’s where I want it to end. But I had the idea that a hundred years later or so, some other mortal finds the god of the ocean and makes a deal with them in light of their common ground: getting revenge on the god of creation.

A funny fact actually, I was very much obsessed with these 2 and their story before getting into cotl, I think I’m seeing a pattern here. Anyway, love my lesbians. AND THANK YOU SM FOR ASKING I’VE BEEN WAITING FOR SO LONG FOR SOMEONE TO ASK!!! Sorry I kinda gave you the whole plot there, but it was sort of needed for context and yadada

[anaslair]

I’m a straight Bengali girl (daughter of Aphrodite), who’s a little chubby and has a lot of acne scars (both of which I’m insecure about, though, I’ve been staring to like my acne scars lately). I wear glasses and without them, the world around me is very blurry. I’m pretty shy and nervous, so I sort of have trouble speaking to strangers or people I don’t know well. But once I’m comfortable around you and we mutually see each other as friends, I’m able to show you my chaotic side and feel comfortable saying some pretty wild things. I also make quite a few sexual jokes. Though I am more comfortable to speak freely with my friends, if I’m in a relatively big group that consists of my friends, I get really nervous speaking in front of all of them, so I opt to talk to individuals rather than the collective. I crave for physical affection but I never ask for it because I’ll feel bad if I get rejected of such, so I’ll wait til someone decide to give me affection. I’m a huge romantic fan and love reading romance stories or fanfic, and I love men who are completely obsessed with you. If I’m going to be honest, I feel more attracted to depressed or sad men rather than happy or cheerful men. I love eating food, but don’t really like eating in front of people much cause I always feel like I’m being judge for the way I eat even if that’s not actually the case. I can’t help it, so I prefer to eat alone. My favourite food is chicken curry and rice! I have trouble keeping eye contact so I usually look somewhere else while talking to people, but I do occasionally (while in the conversation) do make eye contact. There are times where it takes time for my brain to process some situations or dialogue, and I have an awfully memory. I also hate reading out load cause my brain takes time to process the words on the paper for me to read out load, so it makes me say the words out load slowly and almost choppy, you know? I love my friends very much and always love to hang out with them, even if we are simply in a room together only doing our own thing. I just like being in their presence. Though, once my social battery runs out, I’d like to be alone in my room (though, I I have a romantic partner, I wouldn’t mind them being with me). I’m always open to be their for my friends if they are down and listen to their problems, but not good at verbally comforting them, so I’m open for providing them physical comfort such as a hug or rubbing their back if that’s what they want. If I don’t anything embarrassing, I will constantly think about the moment for years and best myself over it and mentally redo that whole conversation or action in a way better way that I should have done to have not embarrassed myself earlier, you know? I very kind and often give people the benefit of the doubt, and I’m sort of a pushover, but I’m still able to say no to situations that make me uncomfortable.

I love reading, drawing, and creating ocs and world building. I’m such a mythology nerd, especially when it comes to Greek mythology (I have many books about these myths). I absolutely hate bugs and because of them, I hate being in forests and such cause I always get swarmed by them. I’m also afraid of the dark, so when I sleep, I leave my door open and the hallway light on.

My matchups are usually long like this so that’s why they may take a little while to come out 🥸 pls bear with me guys 🫶

Hope you like it anon!! Have a great day and tysm for requesting!!! <3

I match you with…

Luke Castellan!!

(Let’s all collectively join hands and pretend he didn’t die 🫰)

After the second titan war was officially over, Luke went through a lot before finally being able to return to camp

He did literally stab himself to end Kronos’s reign of terror, so after a long fight discussion amongst the gods, it was decided he should be given a second chance at life. A brand new start

Not without cleaning his mess first though. He was assigned by the gods to send a load of monsters he recruited for Kronos back to Tartarus, while simultaneously healing from his fatal wound

Even under Apollo’s direct care, the injury left a huge, nasty scar on his body

Honestly, he preferred facing whatever punishment Hades had for him in the Underworld than helping any god. But he owed everyone (specially Annabeth and Thalia, his real family) an apology and to make things right

So he killed a shitload of monsters, (complained the whole time)

When he finally got back to camp, he almost couldn’t believe how much it had changed. The place was PACKED with new campers (and they were not all cramped in his cabin like usual 😱)

And there were twice as many cabins too??? for the smaller gods???

Was he at the right place?😀 Was he actually dead?🧍‍♂️

Took a lot of explaining for him to believe he wasn’t

The thought of demigods not having to go through what he went through was incredible, but hard to believe

A bit bittersweet for him too

On top of that, it took a lot of time and effort to regain everyone’s trust on him

Even with all the new space available in the Hermes cabin, he had to sleep on the ground for a long time before his siblings let him have a bed 💀

He had to prove himself for a long time before everyone started opening up to him again

Slowly but surely, it started to happen!! Annabeth and most of the campers got back to speaking terms with him, Thalia visited sometimes and Percy was still a little sus every time they interacted (specially when Annabeth was in the room🤷‍♀️) but it eventually got better

It wasn’t the same as before of course, which made him feel…lonely most of the time. It wasn’t perfect, but he was grateful for at least not being completely ignored

Travis and Connor even stole a new pillow for him after a while of him sleeping without any 👏

Soon enough, life was almost normal again (as normal as a demigod’s life could get)

He did live with an imense sense of guilt and had recurring nightmares about what happened, accompanied with sharp pains on his chest, right where he stabbed himself

But it was a small price to pay for all the pain he caused, he thought

Eventually, he became head counselor of the Herme’s cabin again and Chiron gave him permission to teach sword lessons to the newest campers.

Life was as good as it could get for him, for sure

Though it definitely got a million times better with you in it

You were one of the new campers, practically Luke’s age when you arrived, which got yourself urgent self defense lessons with Mr. Castellan himself

He was the ideal person for the job, being the best swordsman on camp and all

Chiron also knew Luke had a way of making newcomers feel welcomed, being used to do it with practically every new kid in camp before the war

So, as Luke made his way to your first lesson, he tried to come up with a way to politely ask you how you survived all this time without proper training-

Only to give it up as soon as he laid his eyes on you

Of course you were a daughter of Aphrodite, you were drop dead gorgeous. Probably survived all this time outside camp by using the power her kids inherited, charmspeak

All of that was going through his head while he intensely stared at you without saying a word 🗿

Making you nervously eye him back 👁️👁️

Noticing you were getting anxious, he snapped out of it, the very tip of his ears getting slightly red

Quickly introducing himself as your new self defense teacher, he offered a hand for you to shake

To which you did after a bit of an awkward pause, nodding at his words. He seemed like a confident, nice guy

He took it you were a bit shy so he made sure to try and not to make you uncomfortable while teaching you some basic sword moves and techniques

You were doing your best to keep up but honestly felt like straight up dying everytime Luke asked you to repeat a move

The sword was heavy and the afternoon was hot, making you sweat profusely

That’s when everything went downhill :)

Your glasses just wouldn’t stay still in your face, the sweat making them slip down your nose every time you tried a new move

Right as you were about to swing your sword for the millionth time, your glasses fully fell off your face, making you flail the big weapon around uncontrollably

Coincidentally chopping a good amount of Chiron’s tail off, who was just passing by to check on your progress

Chiron promised he needed a new trim anyway, but that didn’t stop you from apologizing almost a thousand times and sitting down with your face buried in your hands

The situation amused Luke profusely, but he could also tell you were seriously beating yourself up about it

So after thinking for a while, he gently tapped you on the arm, showing you small scar he had on his forearm

He told you it was from his first ever sword lesson, but it wasn’t caused by a sword

When you gave him a confused look, he told you it was a consequence of accidentally poking a Pegasus’s bottom with a sharp weapon

You tried not to, but you laughed right at his face

Which made Luke smile as well, you had a cute laugh

After that, you slowly started opening up to your sword teacher, who actually got attached to you pretty quickly

Y’alls friendship was honestly precious oml, he absolutely LIVED for the fact that you were completely unhinged when y’all were alone, which got both of you a lot of inside jokes

When you first made a sexual joke in front of him he was completely shook

You were in the middle of training, making him accidentally cut a whole training doll in half after you said it

Who knew that something like that could come out of a shy person like yourself

He laughed and threw a dirty joke right back at you, but his ears were completely red in the process

The first time he had one of his pain streaks next to you he got really stressed out, not really wanting to talk about the origin of his injury

Partially because it was tremendously hard for him to talk about his past, but also because he was afraid you’d hate him for it

But you never pressured him to say anything, just sat beside him with a hand on his back for support, furrowed brows in concern as you waited for his pain to pass

He absolutely adored you for that

He didn’t feel alone anymore

He’s a naturally attentive person so he can always tell when you’re uncomfortable in social situations, always making sure that everything you’re saying is getting the correct amount of attention, even if he was the only one listening to it

Everyone knew he kind of had a soft spot for you (totally unrelated to the crush he was developing on you)

He always went easy on you at sparring lessons, just to absolutely humiliate whoever was next against him by winning in seconds

He sneaked food into your cabin when you absolutely could not stand eating with everyone else at the dining pavilion

(anyone else would probably get caught in the act and get absolutely wrecked by the harpies, but he was a son of the god of thieves so 😋)

Kept you close during capture the flag, not only to keep an eye on you but also because he absolutely LIVED for the fact that you were more scared of the bugs than the monsters who lived inside the woods

You dealt with the monsters and he jabbed all the bugs on the way, you made a pretty good team

It was pretty obvious he had a thing for you, everyone knew about it but you apparently

I mean, he stole got you a whole deck of mythomagic cards because he knew you were totally obsessed with mythology, the guy was pretty much down bad for you pls 😩

And honestly, you felt the exact same way

It was pretty clear in the way your face got full on red every time he had any type of physical contact with you

He adored it and absolutely did it on purpose just to get a reaction out of you

He wanted to let you know how he felt, he really did

But on top of not wanting to risk your friendship, he was deathly afraid you’d absolutely despise him after you found out about his past

It was only a matter of time anyway, but he was going to avoid it as much as he could

Although you found out way sooner and it went WAY better than he expected

It was a warm night and you were awfully quiet, more than usual

It wasn’t because your social battery went out. No… he knew something was up by the way you hugged yourself tightly, touching your face from time to time

He asked if you wanted to hang out by the beach for a bit, to which you silently agreed

Y’all sat in silence for a while, Luke giving you concerned side eyes from time to time

He eventually spoke up, saying you could talk to him about anything you wanted to, he’d listen

Your eyes watered a bit. You breathed out and eventually told him that some days, you had a bit of trouble accepting your current weight and your acne scars

You told him you were working on it but some days were harder than others

Honestly, he was bamboozled lol

He could never imagine someone as beautiful as you had those kind of insecurities

Before even thinking about it, he said you were absolutely perfect in his eyes

It was the first thing he thought when he met you actually

You almost choked on air bro WHAT

Your face was COMPLETELY red, about to explode🚨

Ears fully red after realizing how he slipped, he quickly continued, telling you that he also understood how you felt

He touched the scar he had on his face, lowering his hand to touch the one on his chest right after

You knew something bad had happened to him. But you also knew he had to tell you on his own terms

You just softly repeated what he told you

“You can talk to me about anything you want to, I’ll listen”

His eyes met yours and you were surprised by how much sadness they held in that moment

He shifted his gaze from you to the sand, taking handfulls of it just to let it fall from his fingers as he told you about his past

He told you everything

“You can… cut contact with me if you want to, I’ll understand-“

He was suddenly interrupted by you hugging him

He was surprised to say the least, arms slowly closing around you after some time as he let out a shaky breath

You both sat like that for a while before you told him that none of what he said changed the way you felt about him, everyone deserved a second chance

Wait

The way… you felt about him?

Oop

He pulled apart from you gently, still holding you close in front of him

“Exactly how do you feel about me?”

You had no choice but to confess, face fully red and straight up stuttering the whole time

He smile was HUGE oh my gods that little shit was enjoying every second of it

When you finished, you were trembling a bit, afraid you just ruined the best friendship you ever had

Imagine your surprise when he slowly leaned in, kissing you

[writing-by-lunalight]

A/N: So for months I've been reading lots and lots of Yuri manga, probably more than I've ever read before in my life too…So I decided to try my hand at writing my own. Though it’s more of a novel, since I don’t draw, and I’ve attempted to be as faithful to the media as I can. LoveHarmful is my own take on the Yuri genre while playing to a specific kink, you’ll have to read on to find out which one though hehe. At the time of posting this I’m working on chapter 8 and my goal is get this to 20 chapters without dropping it or losing interest…so STAY TUNED!!

Chapter: (1)/2/3/4/Coming Soon!

!!Trigger Warnings!!

Consensual: Smoking, Burning(w/ cigarette)

Non-Consensual: None

—————————————————

[I understand this is a lot to ask of you but, I’m hoping you can work your magic here. ]

[Work my…magic? ]

[Don’t be so modest, not only are you class president, but you’ve managed to turn around all the troublemakers in your class. If anyone can get through to Shigure-San I’m certain it’s you, I want to be able to resolve this amicably, I’m worried about her. At any rate, you shouldn’t believe the rumors, she’s far more bark than bite.]

I agreed to this despite my reservations, but what was I thinking? Work my magic? All I did was talk to my classmates and help them vent their troubles from home, support their studying, then they improved on their own. But this?

Seiko Shigure is beyond being a troubled student…they say she’s insane! Always wearing this dark makeup, skipping class, showing up late, and that's not even half of it! I even heard she wears costume horns everywhere, does she think she’s a fantasy creature? UGH! Hard to believe she’s a 3rd year…I wish I could REALLY teach her a lesson. But talking it out and a slap on the wrist is what everyone wants me to do - what they expect, so I have to.

Still, just once, I’d love to really let loose on somebody.

From a young age, I always tore my toys apart, I wanted to see what was inside them and whats more I enjoyed it so so much. Yet my parents would get upset with me, and eventually convinced me to stop breaking things, it’s not normal they’d tell me. Though it pained me to stop, I didn’t want to hurt or upset anyone, not that much anyways. When I gained access to a computer of my own, I learned there was a name for people like me, a sadist. It made me feel relieved I wasn’t the only one who felt that way, but what hope could I have for an outlet? I have to be nice, I have to be good, I have to keep. It. In.

I said to myself, though at the same time I became aware of my nails digging into the back of my notebook I clutched in my arms. I sighed and released my grip, the small access stairwell looking back at me, I took my first step upwards. In the silence of the third floor hallway, each step echoed down the empty halls until I reached the roof door. With a sigh, I opened the door, only to be hit with an unfamiliar smell as the wind drifted past me into the building. Quickly I discovered the source, smoke coming from the tip of Shigure-Senpai’s cigarette, she failed to notice my entrance onto the roof. 

I approached quietly, not wanting to startle her for fear of reprisal. Shigure-Senpai sat with her back against the fence, one leg outstretched and her other tucked in with her knee up, supporting her arm and hand which held the cigarette burning away. On her wrists spiked bracelets hung loosely, made of shiny leather or perhaps plastic. As I neared I spoke up, clearing my throat first to call attention to myself.

[You’re Shigure-Senpai, correct?]

I tilted my head when she did not answer, only to notice the faint sound of snoring coming from her slumped down head. Really? As though it wasn’t bad enough to wear things besides the uniform, skip class, AND smoke on school grounds??

My face twisted into a pout, and I looked at her fake horns in anger, such a whimsical accessory for such a joke of a girl. Still, as I crouched down to see her face, I could see she was rather pretty. Her eyes had dark rings below them which I guess people mistook for makeup alone, but it’s clear up close she’s only tried to make it look that way. Her brow furled in frustration, perhaps due to a bad dream or some such, a frown falling across her pursed lips.

I held my cheeks in my hands and allowed myself to ponder how Shigure-Senpai’s face would look under real life duress instead of a nightmare. How would her screams sound? Would she lower herself to begging if it got to be too much? Or would she tough it out, and put on a brave face till she REALLY broke? I felt my face blush and my smile crawl across it as I thought about it in excruciating detail.

Just then, the ash fell off Shigure-Senpai’s cigarette and onto her thigh just below the hem of her skirt, causing her to jolt awake with a shrill cry and. . .a moan?? Her heavy breathing afterwards confirmed my suspicions, Shigure-Senpai collected herself and rubbed her eyes before looking up to see me in shock. Her brilliant sapphire eyes, shimmering against the sunlight and contrasting the blushed skin of her face looked up at me with embarrassment, yet her gaze quickly shifted to one of confusion. 

[Odd way to react to a burn.] 

I chided her, my desire to poke fun at her overwhelming my sense of reason.

[Odd way to stare at someone who’s sleeping.]

I looked away suddenly in a panic realizing I was still blushing, I-i hadn’t still been smiling at her though had I?

[Hey wait, you’re Meisa Enya-Sama aren’t you? What are you doing up here?]

[Sama? I’m only a 2nd year you know and student like you, San is more appropriate.]]

[Well still-]

Shigure-Senpai lit a new cigarette and got to her feet, taking a quick drag of it before exhaling away from me, which I found surprising given her reputation. She turned back to me and smiled, though I was still viewing her from a side glance as I calmed down.

[You’re a real go-getter from what I hear, the most impressive girl in school they say, and you certainly have better grades than I do. So Sama seems just fine given your status, don’t you think?]

Just as I’d managed to relax, I felt my cheeks blushing again,  even though it’s all true why was she praising me so much anyways?

[So, Enya-Sama, whats a girl like you doing up here, skipping class?]

[I…just wanted to talk.]

[To talk?]

[Mhm.]

[So, which of my senseis put you up to this?]

I didn’t reply, I instead flicked my gaze in the opposite direction, trying to think of where to steer the conversation. Maybe become more familiar first? Just try to play off what she asked and change the subject?

[You’re uncomfortable, I get it, even if someone asked you to speak with me it could still do a number on your reputation to see us together. But hey, let me ask you something else instead?]

[...alright?]

[It must be insufferable right? Dealing with that kind of pressure from everyone, having to be so perfect all the time, it must really suck huh?]

What is this? I’m supposed to be the one helping her, not the other way around, and how can she be so relaxed - friendly even? She takes another drag of her cigarette, then exhaled with a frown before taking a step closer, I turned to face her.

[You don’t have to tell me, I’ve dealt with it before, but much happier now though.]

[It…can be a bit much sometimes.]

Shigure-Senpai smiled again, yet all it did was annoy me. She’s a failure, a ridiculous joke of a student, how dare she pity me.

[I bet you don’t even get a chance to let loose, do you? Are your parents at least good to you?]

[They are, they’re not the ones who force me to try so hard, if that’s what you’re implying.]

[Oh? I’m glad then.]

[And you?]

[What about me? Tell ya anything you want to know, Enya-Sama.]

[Don’t you hate the way everyone looks down on you? And what do your parents think?]

She closed her eyes and chuckled to herself, it felt like she wasn’t taking me seriously at all, I felt my foot begin to tap involuntarily.

[I ran away from home a few years ago, couldn’t take their oppressive attitude anymore, so I live alone. As for being looked down on, well, it’s not always a bad thing to be looked down on huh? Especially not when being looked down upon by one’s gorgeous classmate.]

[You’re looking down on me?]

[Only in the literal sense - I was actually referring to you though, I liked feeling you look down on me Enya-Sama.]

[What is that supposed to mean?]

[Forgive me for saying so, but I think you know exactly what I mean.]

I blushed and she took another drag of her cigarette, reddening a bit herself. She couldn’t…possibly be referring to the look I gave her after she got burned, could she? Even if I was blushing and smiling, that doesn’t mean anything, she couldn’t have guessed I was a sadist from just that. Furthermore what was with that compliment, was…she saying she was into me? Into girls??

I turned around and shook my head, slapping my cheeks a few times for good measure, I had to get a hold of myself. I came here as a request from Sensei, I can’t let myself get distracted, besides even if she likes me it’s irrelevant. I’d never be caught dead with someone like her, it’d ruin everything I’ve spent my whole life to achieve.

[SO, why the class skipping, being late, and sleeping during school?]

Shigure-Senpai froze and looked at me in bewilderment, and it was no wonder why, I just blurted out everything I was going to talk to her about. She’d shaken me up so much, and I hated her for it, my foot began tapping again.

[Well alright, I did say anything I guess…let’s see. It’s all a little bit related, I mentioned that I live alone, well I pay for it by working part time at a cafe kind of late into the night. Then I sometimes end up oversleeping, thus the being late, annnnd taking naps during the day thus the skipping class and sleeping. But I mean it’s fine, I test well and never miss the more important classes, so I won’t fail or anything. I’m not planning on attending university, so the bare minimum is fine.]

[I see. And the horns?]

[Oh! I think they’re cute, don’t you?]

She beamed a bright smile at me, then took another drag, her cigarette starting to reach it’s end. They were cute, ridiculous as they made her seem, and everything else seemed to add up too. Could it really be just a string of coincidences that made her out to be a delinquent? One the things I hear most often is she’s intimidating and scary, I guess she’s tall but, I don’t feel any animosity from her.

[I like you, Enya-Sama, I can see why everyone does too.]

[You’re…you’re not as bad as everyone says either.]

[Oh? Well you can just call me Seiko-San then, if you want to.]

[Isn’t that too familiar? Especially when you keep calling me Sama?]

[I don’t mind, like I said I like you, and huh you don’t like being called Sama, Enya-Sama?]

[Ugh you’re a pain, fine - Seiko-San. It’s not that I mind it, but it feels like you have an alternative reason for calling me that.]

[Well…you prefer to be on top, don’t you Enya-Sama?]

[W-what did you say?]

[To be in control? To cause pain? Isn’t that what you like?]

I’d had it, she doesn’t know me, she doesn’t know anything - how dare she try to throw that in my face. Even if it’s true, even if she’s right, what gives her the right to say that so casually? 

I reached up and took her cigarette from her mouth, she looked at me in confusion, she had no idea what I was about to do. No, what she made me do. Turning the cigarette around in my fingers, I pressed it into her exposed arm, causing her to recoil and moan before falling to one knee. I barely saw her face twisted with pain as she slumped her head back down, and I laughed, unable to contain myself anymore. Then I slapped my hands over my mouth as the reality of what I’d just done set in, I hurt someone, like I told myself I never would, no matter how much I’d wanted to. I couldn’t even find the words to speak, and so I ran, leaving Seiko-San alone on the roof with a severe burn I had caused.

[Damn, Enya-Sama, I really like you.♥]

[fritzes]

ok, now that I’ve calmed down here are my objective, purely tennis-based observations about the draw:

wta:

swiatek has a really, really rough draw. kenin in round 1 is the worst luck, she’s a former ao champion and she just took out coco in round 1 of wimbledon. in round 2 it’ll be collins or kerber, which isn’t awful especially considering she just beat kerber at the united cup and has only lost to collins once. then she could meet svitolina in the round of 16, who beat her in the wimbledon quarterfinals. and of course, her nemesis ostapenko is lurking in the bottom half of the quarter, but she would have to get past azarenka first which is a tall order at the ao. so yeah, not looking great for iga but it isn’t by any means a lost cause

things aren't looking great for vondrousova either, ever since the us open her results haven't been very good and she's been struggling with injury. her draw looks manageable until the round of 16 on paper, but if her body doesn't hold. up I could see her going out to navarro. in the round of 16 she's probably gonna be stuck with either azarenka or ostapenko, and I don't see her winning either of those matches

ajla tomljanovic is also in this nightmare quarter, and we could see her beef with ostapenko get rehashed in the second round. if that match does happen though, it depends on ostapenko's level, not tomljanovic's. if she's on, ajla doesn't really have a chance, but if she has an off day then its anyone's match. ajla could single-handedly save iga's sanity

rybakina/pliskova as a first round matchup is really interesting, there's way less "servebots" in the wta than the atp and yet two of them are against each other in the first round. I think pliskova's movement (or lack thereof) will sink her, elena should win this match pretty easily. she has a pretty good draw, I don't think there's anyone in her half of the quarter that can really pose a threat

the bottom half of rybakina's quarter is really interesting. pegula vs zheng is the projected round of 16 match, but if raducanu can stay injury free (and that's a BIG if) she might be able to make a deep run. I don't think she's gonna get past zheng, but there's a chance. if zheng/pegula does happen, it's probably going to be a very close match

daria kasatkina is also in this quarter. she's really good at playing to her seed, and I think that's what will happen here. I don't think she'll lose before the round of 16, but I don't think she'll beat rybakina

the projected semifinal of swiatek vs rybakina has a lot of potential, but they have to get there first. honestly I'm really confident in elena making the semis but iga is going to have a much tougher time

and now to the third quarter, which is completely ridiculous. gauff vs sakkari is the projected quarterfinal, but in this quarter we also have: linette (who was a semifinalist last year), wozniacki, haddad maia, garcia, osaka, and fernandez

that being said, gauff has a pretty decent draw. her first big challenge is potentially fernandez in the fourth round. they’ve only played each other once at the french open juniors, which coco won. I think coco will win this match because, especially now with her improved forehand, she’s a lot more well-rounded and complete than leylah. of course, there is the possibility of osaka in the round of 16. if she gets past garcia (who has been in a bit of a slump lately) I think naomi can absolutely get there, which will be a major challenge for both her and coco

as for the top half of this quarter, I’m going to make a bold prediction and say haddad maia is going to be a quarterfinalist. sakkari is the projected quarterfinalist, but her mental block at grand slams is definitely holding her back. she lost in the first round of the last three slams she played, and while I think she can make a bit of a dent here I don’t think she’ll go that far (I would love to be wrong). I don’t think wozniacki and linette will get past haddad maia either

sabalenka couldn’t have asked for a better draw. there is no one I can see that could maybe pose a threat until samsonova in the round of 16, but even then I think aryna can handily win that match. in the quarterfinals she will most likely play jabeur or krejcikova, both of which are winnable matches. honestly, aryna’s biggest opponent in this quarter is herself. she's dealing with the pressure of defending a grand slam title for the first time ever, and it’s definitely possible that the mental side could make her game worse. this is absolutely aryna’s quarter to lose

for the top half of the quarter, it’s probably going to be jabeur vs krejcikova in the round of 16, unless andreeva manages to pull of a massive upset. both of them have the potential to beat sabalenka in the quarterfinals (especially ons), but if aryna plays like she did last year I don’t think they’ll beat her

the projected semifinal is a rematch of the us open final, which could definitely give coco the edge because aryna will probably be thinking about that match (and how she lost it from a set up). that being said, either of them can win it, I think they’re pretty even in terms of level right now

interesting round 1 matches: swiatek/kenin, kerber/collins, rybakina/pliskova, linette/wozniacki, garcia/osaka, samsonova/anisimova, vekic/pavlyuchenkova 

atp:

oh boy this first quarter is… something. at first glance, it looks like djokovic is going to win. and yes, djokovic is probably going to win this quarter. I honestly think that the person with the best chance against him here is ben shelton. he lost in straight sets at the us open, but I feel like he’s improved so much since then and I do think it’s possible. is it probable? absolutely not, and all logic points to novak djokovic winning this quarter

the bottom half of the quarter can be anyone’s. tsitsipas is projected to win, but he’s been struggling with a back injury that seems really serious, and drawing berrettini first round definitely isn’t helping. I don’t think tsitsipas is going to make the quarterfinals, but there isn’t really a clear person to take his place. any one of berrettini, fritz, or musetti could be a quarterfinalist and that would make perfect sense. if berrettini is in form, a deep run absolutely isn’t out of the question, but I’m not sure if he’s going to be at his best. fritz, by all means, should be able to make the quarterfinals, but his mental block at slams is very real. he did make the quarterfinals at the us open so that probably helps, but knowing his grand slam history I don’t have a lot of confidence in him getting to the quarters. musetti has been so insanely up-and-down lately that I don’t even know what his chances are. if we’re getting the lorenzo that has beaten djokovic, then he can absolutely make the quarterfinals but if we’re getting the lorenzo from any tournament in the second half of last season, it’s not gonna happen

this is jannik sinner’s quarter to lose. if he retains the form of his life from the end of last season, then there isn’t a single person in this quarter he should lose to. now, it’s been a while since the davis cup and obviously form wears off. plus, his history in best-of-five matches isn’t great, and the lot of the hype around jannik is very much due to recency bias (I say this as someone who is absolutely biased towards him). still, his draw looks pretty open and he should be able to take advantage of that

the projected quarterfinalist is rublev, who has never won a grand slam quarterfinal, jannik has a winning record against him. in all honestly, I think it’s more likely that de minaur will make the quarterfinals. he just had an insane run at the united cup, he’s finally in the top 10, and he has the crowd behind him. however, he is 0-6 against sinner and it’s unlikely that he can beat him. however, it is worth noting that before beijing, jannik was 0-6 against medvedev and is now 3-6 against him, so anything can happen

the projected semifinal: sinner vs djokovic. this will be the big test for sinner: can he beat djokovic in best-of-five? I honestly don’t know the answer (I know what I want the answer to be of course, but I’m trying to be realistic). djokovic is definitely the favorite, but I wouldn’t count jannik out at all

let's just call the third quarter what it is: chaos

the projected winner is medvedev, and all things considered this is a pretty great draw for him. he’s always really good at the ao and not very upset-prone unless he’s playing korda, who isn’t in his quarter this year. his first challenge will most likely be dimitrov in the round of 16, and then either hurkacz or rune in the quarterfinals. dimitrov will be a really hard matchup for him considering the form he’s in, and dimitrov won their last meeting. that being said, grigor isn’t always the best at dealing with pressure against players ranked higher than him, and I think medvedev will use that to his advantage. for the quarterfinals, both rune and hurkacz have the potential to beat him (especially hurkacz, the fast courts will really help him out) but medvedev is definitely still the favorite

like I said, the other quarterfinalist is probably going to be rune or hurkacz, but I could see fils, safiullin, and maybe even shapovalov making deep runs. I think if rune’s stamina holds up it’ll probably be him, and we have yet to see him play at a grand slam with his ridiculous coaching lineup so who knows

and now the last quarter. much like sinner, this is alcaraz's quarter to lose. I think the biggest issue for him could be paul in the round of 16, but when you compare carlos’ matches against paul in toronto and cincy, it’s clear that he learned from the loss and I think he can definitely win that match. either of the likely quarterfinalists shouldn’t trouble him too much: he just beat zverev at the us open, and ruud has never beaten him. ever. this is a really good draw for him and if he can capitalize on it he can easily make the semifinals

the top half of this quarter is all going to depend on which casper ruud shows up. if we get the ’22-23 roland-garros and ’22 us open casper ruud, then I have full confidence in him making the quarterfinals. if we get the casper ruud from pretty much any other grand slam, then he’s. Probably going to lose to purcell in the second round. if he isn’t in-form, then unfortunately zverev will most likely be the quarterfinalist, I just can’t see lehecka or norrie taking him out

I don’t think I can even predict the projected semifinal. alcaraz and medvedev are 1-1 in grand slam semifinals. this is arguably medvedev’s best slam, but we haven’t really seen prime alcaraz at the australian open since he was injured last year. either of them could win this and I wouldn’t be surprised

interesting round 1 matches: murray/etcheverry, mannarino/wawrinka, shelton/bautista agut, tsitsipas/berrettini, tiafoe/coric, de minaur/raonic, safiullin/griekspoor, auger-aliassime/thiem, sonego/evans