#this is so long-winded i'm so sorry

[strawberrisoulmate]

what do you and shinjiro like that the other one doesn't like but still puts up with?

first date? did it go well or did you go for a second date in spite of it going poorly?

is he good at giving gifts? does he express emotions well or does he need coaxing?

thank you for asking!!!! ❤❤❤

what do you and shinjiro like that the other one doesn't like but still puts up with?

ahaha honestly i feel like there's a few things shinji is annoyed by, but he puts up with for my sake. i'd say the main thing is probably just the general attention he gets from others about dating me, especially from akihiko. after all, they are childhood friends and have known each other pretty much their whole lives, so it's to be expected that he'd get teased a little bit about it. junpei also doesn't shut up about it when he finds out, which actually does just piss shinji off for real 😅

PDA is another thing. shinjiro just generally doesn't like attention and doesn't like being vulnerable around others so it does embarrass him a lot if i want to hold hands in public or want to sneak a kiss in front of the other SEES members. he prefers that stuff to stay private, but he also doesn't want to reject me or make me feel bad either, so he just kinda deals with it lolol

as for me, it does bother me a bit when he doesn't tell me things and occasionally just goes off on his own. i do try to convince him to communicate more with me, and sometimes he does, but sometimes he just says i "don't need to worry about it" and then goes out for a while. which, i guess he needs his space sometimes, but i wish he would let me help him with more things instead of dealing with it all by himself. that's just how he is, though.

first date? did it go well or did you go for a second date in spite of it going poorly?

well, idk if you would really call it a "first date" since we weren't actually dating yet at the time, but when we first started talking and spending time together, we would often go out on walks down to the various restaurants in the strip mall or to the cafe just to grab a bite to eat and talk about various things. it was always very relaxing and i enjoyed his company a lot. he also would just sit and listen to me ramble about whatever was on my mind, and he'd never get annoyed that i talked too much or anything.

so, regardless if any of those times were actually considered a real "date" or not, i still think that they all went very well and made it a lot easier for us when we actually did start dating. there was still a bit of awkwardness once we'd both come to terms with our feelings, but it wasn't nearly as palpable because we were already so used to each other's company ❤

is he good at giving gifts? does he express emotions well or does he need coaxing?

he definitely needs coaxing when it comes to expressing his emotions lolol. he's very guarded when it comes to that. even with his own childhood best friend, he still acts all reserved and doesn't let him know what he's thinking. however, when you finally manage to break past the wall he's put up, he lets out a much softer, gentle side of him and it's very rare that anyone else will ever see it.

and if they do, he'll deny it to hell and back ahah.

when it comes to gifts, he wouldn't say he's all that great at it. he doesn't do it super often, as he's more of an acts of service kind of guy. one of the first gifts he ever gave me was a leather watch and his only reason for giving it was "i thought it would look good on you" and "i dunno, it's just something to tell time with, so..." and while i don't usually wear watches, i was still very happy to have received a gift from him in the first place.

but yeah, like i said, he's more of an acts of service guy. he'd rather cook me a nice meal than go out and try to pick out a present, ya know? which i still think is very sweet of him 🥰

[dragonnarrative-writes]

Transferrable Skills Part 5

Transferrable Skills Masterlist

Read on AO3

CW: Hand feeding, praise, kink negotiations, discussion of power exchange dynamics, kissing (FINALLY)

When you reach for the cardboard box on the edge of the table, he catches both of your wrists in one hand. You only resist a little bit. His other hand flicks the box open and he picks up a thick fry.

“Open,” he rumbles, pressing it to your lips. When you open your mouth, you watch his pupils dilate. He purrs as you take a bite. “Good girl.”

The rumble of his voice sends a shiver down your spine. You would let him feed you limp celery with that tone. You lean forward again, jaw dropping open.

“Should talk now,” Simon rumbles, thumb dragging over your lip as he feeds you the rest of the fry. The contact electrifies you down to your toes. You must make some kind of noise as you swallow because he smiles. “Didn’t consider I might feed you myself.”

“Okay,” you breathe, leaning into the hand cupping your cheek.

“Finished your stretches?”

The temperature in your body drops significantly. You lean away from him. “I…uh. I… didn’t.”

Simon hums a low note, hand finding your chin again without making you look into his eyes. “Hurtin’ somewhere?”

“No,” you rush to assure him. “No, I just… I was in my work clothes. And I didn’t want to do… that in front of Gaz and Soap.”

“Fair,” Simon says, drawing you forward to brush his lips over your forehead. You feel your face get hot all the way up to where they brush against you as he speaks. “You want to do them now, or later?”

The tension you barely noticed creeping into your shoulders melts away. Of course. Simon is just Simon now, not Ghost. If you aren’t comfortable doing something, he’s not going to get mad, just give you other options. He’s kept you safe, and he’ll make sure you continue to feel safe under his instruction. Even though everything is different, it’s all the same.

Tears prickle your eyes, so you squeeze them shut as you lean further into him. Suddenly, one of his arms is around your back, the one on your leg lifting you into his lap. If there’s even a grunt of effort, you don’t hear it over the way your breath gets caught in your throat. Your hands come up, automatically, to brace against his chest and one bicep before you’re folded into him like that’s the only place you ever needed to be.

And then his lips find yours.

God, how many times had you thought about kissing him? The fantasy is so muted compared to the real thing. His lips are thin and a little dry, surrounded by the barest scratch of stubble. He doesn’t coax your mouth open, just presses his lips against yours like he could do this all night. The tip of his tongue flicks out for a quick touch to your top lip, startling a sound out of you. He does it again, opening his mouth to moan into yours when you squeeze his arm in response.

When your own tongue comes out to touch the scar you’ve always admired at the corner of his mouth, he growls. “Fuck, Bambi.”

“Simon.” You barely recognize your own voice.

The hand on your thigh goes tight. It startles a gasp from you that he drinks down with a groan of is own.

He surprises you by pulling back enough to speak between kisses. “Beautiful, you know that? Thought I was hallucinating.” He tips you back a bit, taking all of your weight to scan your face. He grins as he says, “Was thinkin’ so hard abou’ you, and ‘ere you are.”

“You were thinking about me?”

“’Course, I was,” he says, leaning back into the couch. You end up resting your head against his shoulder. He sighs and kisses the top of your hair. “Missed our check in this week, ‘n you’d this big trip you were all nervous for. Didn’t get to see you off. Was lookin’ forward to gettin’ the tour of your hotel room, gettin’ y’r travel stories. ‘n then I got the call today, n’ I was cancelin’ on you again. Just about broke my ‘eart.”

“Oh.” You’re not sure what to say. You’d always kind of assumed he was indulging you, letting you ramble about your day until he could get to the good stuff, as your ex used to say. “I knew you were kind of… on call. I didn’t realize that you were saving hostages, but I knew you were busy.”

He twists a bit to look into your eyes. “Don’t like bein’ too busy to see you.”

“You just like seeing my ass,” you joke, burying your face into his neck to settle the butterflies in your stomach.

“’S a good arse,” he chuckles, shaking the meat of your thigh in his grip. “Was definitely lookin’ forward to a bit o’ skin. But if you were too tired, I jus’ wanted to ‘ear your voice, coax you through some of your stretches before bed. Speaking of…”

You roll your eyes at the significant look he gives you. The way he never forgets a command makes so much more sense now that you know what he does for a living. Your heart flutters to see the familiar way his scarred lips quirk at your sass, paired with the unfamiliar way he tweaks the skin of your hip with the gentlest pinch.

“I’ll do them later,” you concede. “I already did all my floor stretches, and I’m hungry now.”

“Good girl,” he says, patting your ass. “Should prob’ly eat before it gets cold.”

He pops open the second takeaway container to reveal your meal, a dish you had picked basically at random from the menu Gaz had showed you on his phone. It’s a lot less hand-feedable than Simon’s wrap and fries, so he lets you feed yourself, but he refuses to let you sit on the couch, even halfway. Just holds you in place while he eats one-handed, trading fries for bites of chicken adana and tipping water into your mouth every few minutes.

You’re ravenous until you’re suddenly not, halfway through your food. Simon doesn’t comment, just finishes the other half of your food while you rest against him, exhausted. Simon’s hand is still on your hip, his thumb tracing back and forth in an idle, steady pattern.

When he finishes eating, he asks, “Where’s your head at?”

“Nervous,” you say automatically. This, at least, is familiar. “’M tired, and I don’t know what you’re gonna expect of me.”

He taps three fingers on your hip, twice. “Trust me?”

“You saved my life today,” you point out.

“Tha’s work,” he dismisses. “Not workin’ now. You trust me?”

You think about it, because he always wants you to think about it before you answer. You fall back on your rules, the promises between the two of you.

“I trust you to be honest with me,” you answer, the mantra coming easy. “I trust that it’s okay to tell you if I’m not okay with something. I trust that you won’t yell at me. I trust that you’re not going to hurt or harm me on purpose to correct my behavior.”

“Very good,” he rumbles, pulling you close to press his lips against your forehead again. “I trust you to be ‘onest with me, too. Trust you’ll accept a no, when I give it. Trust that you’re not g’nna yell. An’ I trust you not to punish me if you’re upset.”

“Wow,” you say. “I never expected to hear you say that in person.”

“Never thought I’d ever ‘old you,” he replies. “An’ I’ve never folded a whats-it-called… a romper, before, neither. Interestin’ day o’ firsts.”

“It’s a jumpsuit if it’s long,” you mumble, mortified all over again that he’d had all of your stuff in his hands.

“’S impractical. Soft, though. Bet it’s real pretty on you.”

A swell of embarrassment swoops through your belly. It’s automatic to bury your face in your hands. “Don’t make fun of me.”

“None o’ tha’, now.” Simon grasps both of your wrists in one large hand again and brings them down to your chest.    He makes you look at his face with a finger under your chin. “Won’t promise I’ll never make fun, but I won’t say I think you’ll look good if I’m no’ bein’ ‘onest. Promised, yeah?”

“Trust you to be honest,” you whisper, tipping your face back into his shoulder. “Acknowledged.”

“Good girl. Three deep breaths.”

You push all of the air from your lungs, the way your therapist taught you. When you inhale, you feel his chest rise with yours. He matches you when you hold, then release the breath in a steady stream. Where the back of your hand touches his chest, you can feel his heartbeat, solid and steady as he takes the next breath with you. By the third inhale, you let your spine relax as you feel him do the same.

“Know we never planned on meeting,” he eventually rumbles. He tips you back to look down at you, then ducks down for a quick kiss. “But I’m gonna be selfish and say I’m glad you’re ‘ere. If you don’t want nothin’ else, tonight, gettin’ to ‘old you is still everythin’ I ever could’ve wanted. Honest. Acknowledge.”

“This is good. We don’t have to do anything else, and it’ll still be good,” you whisper. “Acknowledged.” You lick your lips, prop yourself up to look into his eyes, then away. “What if… What if I want to do more?”

“One step at a time,” Simon chuckles.    “Stretches first. Then we’ll see about tha’ reward I promised you, yeah?”

He brings his mouth to yours again. Your hands are freed so that he can cup your jaw so tenderly that it threatens to melt your heart, even as it electrifies you down to your toes. When you moan into his lips, he echoes you, then pulls a way to press his lips to your cheek.

“Up, Bambi. Let’s get you to the bed.”

[every-sanji]

[libr-0-cubicularist]

So how y'all coping with chapter 59?

I am incredibly normal about This is an Adjuration by @not-freyja (lies)

[spacetimeaccordionfolder]

Vasher on Wind and Truth day 9: okay so what have I missed

*several folks explaining the occupation, probably one of them Lirin considering that Vasher in the hospital right now (not that he needs to be)

Lift: and then while Navani and Raboniel made something she's calling anti light and she also made anti void light and if you put anti light in to a dagger made out of raysium it kills spren and then that was used to--

Vasher: wait hang on

Lift: and then Navani used the dagger with anti void light to kill Raboniel and it was sad because the two became friends or something while studying light and investiture wait how many 't' sounds are in that word you know it sounds like you're saying--

Vasher: HANG ON. you are saying that Navani and a scholar she was close to made a powerful weapon that destroyed investiture and then she had to kill the scholar she was close to and possibly in love with? This is what you are telling me?

Lift: yeah basically but you didn't answer my question do you think it's weird that the word investiture sounds like that

Vasher: *having flashbacks*

-alt people get news that navani's back during this conversation and now the various surgeons are panicking because Vasher you were just tortured for well over a month you can't go running through Urithriu

[inspector-montoya-fox]

i am in the silliest goofiest of all moods so i decided to take my top 3 ice creams of this summer and share with you which characters they remind me of the most. let me know if you think you are sillier and/or goofier by sending me your favourite ice cream

at number 3 we have Arpeggio as Haagen-Dazs Dulce de Leche, and specifically the mini tub that comes in a box of four flavours. despite the flavour's Latin American roots, i think Arpeggio would savour it because he likes to indulge in different cultures as a certified genius. kinda sophisticated like him, and just like his time in the game, short and sweet

number 2 is a cool remix of a childhood classic: blondie caramel Maxibon with the waffle. I've paired it with Rajan because the packaging is orange, duh but also because it has two different sides. the waffle is Rajan's regal facade, appealing to Westerners, whereas the ice cream bar side is rough and rocky just like the predator within

the Kinder Bueno ice cream is paired with Carmelita and takes the number one spot this summer. is this coupling based on personal bias? maybe! the flavours here are so nostalgic and reimagined into ice cream form perfectly. the cone and hardened chocolate on top form a tough exterior but inside the core is soft and rich, just like Carmelita herself. 10/10 masterpiece

[theotterpenguin]

what’s your take on zutara being “you’re the wind, i’m in the water”. i’ve heard k@t@@ngs saying it’s clearly about their ship bc their elements are air and water but isn’t that a very surface level of understanding of the lyrics?

anon, i adore you for this ask because i love chemtrails over the country club (and lana's music in general).

i'm not surprised that people would try to apply this song to katara and aang because yes, at a surface level it's relevant to them for obvious reasons (water vs. wind), but i agree that the lyrics have far more depth than this.

first, we have to look at the context of the lyrics within the song. "you're in the wind, i'm in the water" presents a romanticized view of the separation of two lovers, just as the two elements brush past each other but never become one. this theme of separation is seen throughout the rest of the song as lana contrasts the privileged bubble of suburbia with the harsh reality of society, the darkness lurking behind a beautiful front.

likewise, zuko and katara have similar character arcs that revolve around an awakening to the harsh truths of society. zuko learns that the beauty and the power of the fire nation is just a facade, hiding the extreme cruelty of its colonialism and imperalism that has hurt all people (which goes hand-in-hand with zuko unlearning the abuse from his father, the personification of the fire nation itself). katara's arc involves a similar type of awakening, as she unlearns some of the dichotomous thinking she's held around the fire nation. her experiences with jet, hama, the sexism of the northern water tribe, the fire nation village in the painted lady, and even zuko show her the complexities of the war and teach her that people aren't always as simple as "good" or "evil." essentially, both zuko and katara undergo parallel character arcs that fundamentally change their worldview, reflective of the theme of chemtrails over the country club.

additionally, the "wind" and "water" that symbolize the separation of the two lovers in the song is also reminiscent of zuko and katara's journey - the two characters that have been pitted against each other from the beginning of the show, their opposing goals of protecting the avatar vs. capturing the avatar, daughter of the chieftain of the southern water tribe vs. prince of the fire nation, and the two characters that end every season finale in an climactic fight scene (first on opposing sides, then on the same side). and if you want an even more bittersweet perspective, there's also the fact that they are doomed by the narrative, two lovers who never end up together in this lifetime, fated to be separated.

if we want to look further into the song, i've also seen the lyric "nobody's son, nobody's daughter" being superficially applied to aang and katara as they have both experienced loss, but again, in the context of the actual show, it's katara and zuko who are repeatedly paralleled with this connection of losing their mothers and being separated from their fathers. katara discusses her grief over losing kya with haru, jet, and aang, but it's only her and zuko's connection over this that carries actual narrative weight in the story. and katara is the only person that zuko discusses the loss of his mother with. so it only makes sense that all of these narrative parallels culminate in the southern raiders, an episode vital to katara's character arc in which zuko is a crucial supporting character. you could also argue this ties in with the overall theme of separation in the song - being separated from your parentage and having to forge your own path.

finally, as a fun little addition, one of the other lyrics in the song is "my moon's in leo, my cancer is sun." and hmm, who are the two characters we typically associate with the moon and sun? (hint: "you rise with the moon, i rise with the sun"). but wait - it goes even deeper than that. i am most definitely not an expert on zodiac signs, but according to some basic googling, leo (a fire element) is typically ruled by the sun, while cancer (a water element) is typically ruled by the moon. by switching up what elements we typically associate with the signs, lana is reflecting on the duality and the unpredictability of herself like how she reflects on the duality of society earlier in the song. and similarly, zuko and katara undergo dual character arcs bound by elemental symbolism. despite being a waterbender, katara also personifies the element of fire - the element of passion, power, and will - as she stands up against injustice and refuses to back down from a fight. and despite being a firebender, zuko's arc also personifies the element of water - the element of change and adaptability - as zuko's perception of himself, his father, and the fire nation changes over time. they are both water and fire, both moon and sun, both yin and yang.

[myuminji]

I don't have much to ramble about but having 4 reincarnation aus on the go is so real, trimax -> tristamp reincarnation au drives me insane on the daily. begging to hear about the other reincarnation aus pretty pls

(also your art is so charming and lovely!! I love your comics hehe)

UOHOHOHO I SEE WE THINK ALIKE ANON 🤝 reincarnation AU ALWAYS drives me insane too!!! Trigun especially is giving me too much power for me not to waste em yknow?😩😩

(heads up: there's LOTS of rambles, and they're all VW-centric)

Timeloop/Reincarnation AU where Vash reverses the time every time he fails to save Wolfwood, despite having the guilt of knowing Wolfwood will have to go through everything again had Vash chosen to loop the timeline again...

Shouldn't he let him finally get his peace? Isn't it cruel to make him suffer yet again through this horrid nightmare?

(Have you ever imagined if his "I can see it in his eyes" or "all I see is a man forcing himself to play the devil while his heart cries out" is because Vash knows he's actually not like that? That the man he knows has been kind, kind to him. But will also fear what will happen to him if he pushes his belief upon Wolfwood... Would he rather see the Wolfwood he'd known from his past? Or would he let him kill; a cold murderer, befitting of his title as 'The Punisher' in favour of his survival? But could you still call him the same Wolfwood he's known from before? Should he even try to reverse the time again? Hadn't he suffered enough?)

Reincarnation AU trimax VW but focusing on reincarnated! Wolfwood instead, chasing after Vash at every cycle of his life so he can protect, and ultimately, save him from his misery.

(He fails, quite a lot of times. But Vash doesn't need to know how many times.)

Everything was all white. And before he knew it, it was dark. Wolfwood wakes up again in a different place than he used to live in. But more than that, a different body (It was confusing at first, but he's quick to connect the dots when he finds a familiar face he could not mistake for others, now in a wanted poster, spanning across the walls of the buildings: "Vash The Stampede" it says. Wolfwood remembers: it was the man who greets him every time he enters the shop; him donning an apron as he serves other customers and he in his working outfit, back from a job he can remember no longer...)

Star-crossed Lovers where Wolfwood eventually realised he only dies because he tries tp save Vash. He could've lived a long, normal life, even stop his loop! But he didn't. Wolfwood who'd rather live short lives and die countless times just to save him... and the closest he's been with him relationship-wise is where his death is mourned the most...

(whether he thinks it's shit or not, Wolfwood still doesn't know. But had he known it'd be the last time he sees him, he'd have at least pulled him into a kiss. Say sweetheart, how about a thank you kiss?)

Reincarnation AU (trimax->tristamp) but this time both of them have bits of recollections of the past they never told each other they know.

Vash being more deadset on stopping Nai and now EOM as his main objectives, passively avoiding visiting orphanages at all costs in his travels,

Wolfwood as a kid who knew what will become of him when he's selected by the EOM but still joins and persists through his experiments with the thought "This could help the spikey his memories seem so keen on remembering" or an "I could only meet him this way, protect him this way"

Imagine the panic that settles when the timeline doesn't line up with their previous life, "what do you mean I met the gang before the July incident, and who is this old man??" Wolfwood

Eriks going missing for 2 years as written, thinking he should really, really avoid Wolfwood for good before he gets dragged any deeper, maybe he should run away from everything this time?

And Wolfwood desperately searching for him for the whole 2 years, even though he knows he'll find him again, fearing how he gets closer to the time because "what if something is different this time and I can't meet him?" or "What if I'm not supposed to be by his side this time?"

The last one is the one I talked on prev post! Reincarnation AU (trimax->tristamp) but it's only Wolfwood who remembers, and it's mostly a "trying to move on but failing miserably because you can never say no to your (reincarnated) partner"

Wolfwood reminiscing how similar yet so different this life is... thinks how "the ticket to the future is blank, and it led me back to you"

[redstringraven]

Your OCs are in my head rent free so have a question for each of them:

Cassia: How is her relationship with April? and by proxy Casey? Does Splinter see her as one of his children?

Nyxram: I think it would have been interesting if The Ultimate Ninja challenged Nyx to a duel to the death like he did Leo. How would that have gone down?

Gwyn and Ash: Since Ash considers herself dead does she feel any remorse or hesitancy about being used to hurt or kill people? Does Gwyn have reservations about using her like that? Does Gwyn know Ash considers herself dead?

over here being emotional because that made me so happy, and i'm extremely grateful. ;w; for real, thank you for these asks and saying that, i just. ahhhh!! it makes my day. i always get so excited to talk about and further explore my dweebs.

---*---

cassia: how is her relationship with april? and by proxy casey? does splinter see her as one of his children?

cassia's interacted with april slightly more than she has casey, and i think they get along very well! she's also close with april's niece, bree (@/plantdonut's oc), so they run into each other a fair amount. cassia LOVES the 70s aesthetic and weird little trinkets. it wouldn't surprise me at all if she scopes out april's shop for things from that decade, or dropping not-so-subtle hints that it'd be super cool and stuff if april kept an eye out for anything of the sort. no reason. it'd just be pretty cool of her.

as for casey, they get along for the most part. though, casey tends to have moments where he... exposes how much learning and growing he still has ahead of him. like making a comment he didn't consider would be offensive or asking a question without thinking. cassia just stops what she's doing, stares at him and bluntly says "dude." (raph can be seen pinching the bridge of his beak in the background and groaning because his friend is a moron and, oh my god, you're embarrassing him).

thankfully for casey, cassia's willing to be patient with him, since he at least IS trying and making genuine efforts to correct bad habits, so... that's recognized and appreciated. and the turtles or april are there to back her up. ...i don't think esme would like casey very much, though. he seems like the type of person who'd have her on edge the whole time she's in proximity to him, and she'd likely be much less patient than cassia due to mother-bear-protectiveness (her side of the family did not accept cassia's transition; they've since been estranged). casey is someone esme can endure being around, but... that's about it.

i don't know if splinter would go as far as considering cassia one of his own. he does very much appreciate that his sons have a few more friends their age, and that cassia can be a more grounding presence for them. we DO have another slight 'personality clash' situation with splinter and cassia, where she can be high energy and loud, which adds to any chaos that may already be present in the lair that day. she often enables antics between raph and mikey, or enjoys the challenge of managing to pull a prank on leo.

...i can also see cassia developing a stupid one-sided-joke with splinter, where if she and mikey are watching a movie, and the actor pulls off a wild stunt, she turns to splinter and points at the tv and goes "DID YOU TEACH THEM THAT???? dude, that's crazy--that's mega coconuts" and splinter just kind of stares at her.

it's possible this has expanded into more ridiculous things like ...vehicle stunts... anime moves... ...godzilla firing his laser. i'm so sorry, sensei.

nyxram: i think it would have been interesting if the ultimate ninja challenged nyx to a duel to the death like he did leo. how would that have gone down?

oh. he'd. ...he'd die. >xDDD

like. i normally don't like sitting here with the air of "lmao my oc's power level is so high haha"--if this were asked of gwyn i'd waffle around, weigh her chances based off the environment and how resourceful she's allowed to be or if ue even allowed her to use ash as her primary weapon--but this is nyxram.

nyxram was birthed with the intention of forging the perfect killer. she's the only survivor of her clutch because she fought for it from the day she hatched, and that was by design. her parents wanted to weed out "the weak". she was meant to surpass her mother and father in their skills, she's supposed to be walking death, serving the prime leader and triceraton republic. this woman has single-handedly taken out small federation fleets and made it look like they just oopsie-daisy'd and vanished into a black hole.

like. i cannot emphasize enough... ue is DEAD.

being the daimyo's son, i'm pretty sure he's high-profile enough that he'd be on her radar by default. he'd have almost no element of surprise; she'd go into the fight already having an idea of what to expect from him. the SECOND he opens himself to a kill shot, she's taking it. NO hesitation. none. this is, literally, what she was made to do.

there would be some chance she'd spare him if this were post-rebellion, but... --i've had gwyn use this line in RP before, but nyxram would also abide by it: if you're going to kill, you better be ready to be killed.

you challenge her to a duel to the death? ...alright.

i'd ask what you want her to tell your family, but it wouldn't matter. she won't be reaching out to them. you should have considered that before you threw your knife at a reaper's feet.

gwyn and ash: since ash considers herself dead does she feel any remorse or hesitancy about being used to hurt or kill people? does gwyn have reservations about using her like that? does gwyn know ash considers herself dead?

for the first two questions, in short: it's complicated for both of them.

just in case it needs restating, the entire reason they're having to survive like this at all is because, ever since ash wound up trapped in the shape-shifting weapon, they've been followed, tracked, hunted, set upon by assassins and bounty-hunters--just, endlessly pursued. a liáfsian druid, darach, is near always on their heels and trying to get his hands on the weapon (this is an extreme nutshell version of that situation because the question's not about that). neither of them WANT this.

i'd say who has more reservations with causing harm highly depends on the situation, and it's near always done in self-defense. ash wants gwyn to live, and she'll do whatever she can with her limited power to keep her alive. gwyn tells herself repeatedly that if SHE dies, what little remains of ash dies, and thus will do whatever she feels she has to in order to keep herself alive. because she CAN'T let ash "truly die". i can't really say which of them is more prone to lean into violence or revenge or spite; they both have their share of triggers that might cause them to 'twist the knife' more than they need to in a survival situation. but it's usually because one of them feels the other was wronged in a specific, pointed way, and they want the source of it to pay.

they both also have ways of preventing a more violent outcome. like, if ash is currently in the form of a sword and doesn't WANT to used to stab someone, she can simply take the form of a whip instead. gwyn has no control over ash's shape-shifting.

and vise versa, if gwyn doesn't want to use ash to hurt someone, she can put ash in a sheath or other location on her person where if ash tried a sneak-attack, she'd risk hurting gwyn in the process. in most cases if one of them doesn't want the violence to happen? it won't happen.

gwyn does have more autonomy than ash does, though. if ash won't cooperate, gwyn will find something else to do the damage she wants. but this rarely happens because if ash makes it clear she doesn't want a certain outcome, gwyn will almost always listen to her. they tend to be on the same page.

and for that final question: yes. gwyn knows ash considers herself dead. they've had this argument dozens of times; most of them took place in the earlier period of ash's presence in the weapon. as time's passed, ash has grown more and more exhausted with the topic. now it mostly comes up when gwyn's had a near-death experience, and ash is panicked and pleading with her to just let her go and get on with her life already. but gwyn... just won't listen to her. the moment passes. and they carry on.

there're times gwyn wonders if what she's doing is entirely selfish, prolonging ash's torment with her delusional hope. spirits in liáfsini exist, free in the afterlife, and ash SHOULD be among them. instead, she remains trapped in the weapon. gwyn knows dozens of people--several of whom she's never met--have been left suffering in her path because she clings to the possibility she can get ash back in a body. ash's only real agency is her voice, but gwyn's fear of someone stealing her robs her from having her own relationships and connections.

but the more she dwells on that, the more terrified she becomes with the realization that she has... nothing. ash is all she has, all she's ever really had. she doesn't even know who she is anymore if she's not searching for a way to get ash back. so maybe it is selfish. but if she were to leave ash behind and, someday, stumble across a way she could have gotten her back... how could she ever forgive herself? ash gave her life protecting gwyn, after all. guess the whole ill-omen and parasite thing wasn't too far off, was it?

[upsidedownsmore]

Hi!! I was wondering if its okay to ask what brushes u normally use in krita? I love your art!!

Thank you so much!!! I only use the ones available in Krita by default and I tend to jump around based on what I think will work best for each piece, but I can give a little rundown on which ones I use the most and what I use them for :)

Here's an image guide with each of the brushes I've used and that I recommend checking out:

I'll highlight my favorites as well with some examples where they were predominantly used! (though in some cases multiple or even all of these brushes were used)

Marker Details:

Varying opacity and size makes this one my favorites for sketching, especially since it can easily be nearly transparent or fully opaque which helps with value range.

I also like using it for silhouette sketches!

It can also be used for final linework, but it takes more work to get to a full opaque and its lack of texture makes it a little less interesting than Ink-7 Brush Rough imo.

Ink-7 Brush Rough:

Really good for linework, especially for comic styled drawings with it's slight texture, varying weight, and opaqueness.

Also good for just filling in entire areas with a single color as well as non-smoothed shading!

Wet Bristles Rough:

Actually just an amazing brush, its pressure sensitivity is crazy.

Blends strokes like paint and can vary in size and opacity.

Also has a nice subtle texture!

Amazing for smoother coloring and shading, especially if you want a more painterly style.

Watercolor Texture:

(hard to show examples of this, just assume that I've used it in any piece that has smooth shading lol)

Not the best for painting/drawing on its own, however I've found it to be really useful when set to white or black on an overlay layer for adding extra shading and/or highlighting on top of the shading I've already done.

I usually shade individual figures, objects, and parts separately, but using an overlay layer with Watercolor Texture (or even Shapes Square) on top of everything helps make the entire piece feel more cohesive.

Also adds a hint more texture!

Another thing to note is the importance of layer modes!

I know that you asked about brushes specifically, but many of these brushes (particularly those to do with effects and textures) work best when experimenting with different layer modes other than Normal. Overlay is generally a safe bet and most of the best for, well, overlaying multiple layers for interesting effects. But please try out all of them at any given opportunity, sometimes things like Burn, Color Dodge, Soft Light, etc can have more interesting effects!

In addition, mess with filter masks! You can even edit where they apply by drawing on the mask directly! HSV/HSL Adjustment (also accessible with ctrl+u) in particular is INSANELY useful for fiddling with the colors and balance of a piece, from individual layers to whole groups and drawings. I also really like blur filters, often times I'll duplicate a layer and make the bottom one blurred to add a glow affect to something without losing its definition.

While this latter stuff isn't about brushes specifically, its generally very important to how I use and experiment with all these different brushes!

Anyways I hope this helps!! I kinda went overboard with this post, but I had a lot of fun writing it! Thank you again for the wonderful ask!! :)

[silverselfshippingchaos]

sorry for not doing anything for valentine's day this year, but happy valentine's day! hope everyone had a good one!

[blu3cl0v3rs]

Summary: Garmadon and Co. move into the monastery.

Warnings: Wu is in denial

Prompt: Day 13 - New Beginnings

Extra: Set in pre-canon. "And Co." are Ray, Maya, Libber, and Lily. Wu is in denial of being a father, but Ray and Garmadon will not shut up about it. I am sleepy so this probably sounds a bit dead.

"So this is what you've been doing in my absence?" Garmadon asked after he knocked on a giant red door of the Monastery.

He had walked in on Wu as he guided Morro through proper katana form.

The brother's locked eyes.

"Morro, you've done a great job today, but I think we're done for now. Do you mind cleaning up everything?" the blonde asked kindly.

Morro simply bowed and dragged the training dummy and bokken to their respective storage places, disappearing into the monastery afterwards.

Garmadon approached his younger brother. The two stood face to face, tension thickening the air as silence flowed between the two.

"Is this the boy you've been writing about?" the elder brother asked.

"Yes, that was Morro." The younger brother confirmed. "Where are the other four?"

"They are… coming." The brunette turned to the stairs, where spiky brown hair popped up from a distance. "It has been a long journey."

"I see. Good thing Morro and I prepared rooms for you all ahead of time." Wu stepped forwards to be next to the taller man.

The two stood in weighted silence.

The eldest sighed, "I missed you, Brother."

"As did I." The younger quickly brushed off any dirt accumulated from training.

Ray clambered up the stairs, huffing with each step he took. Maya, Libber, and Lily followed up behind. All of them at different levels of exhaustion, ranging from Libber, who was bent over with her hands on her knees gasping for air as fat beads of sweat dripped down her round pale cheeks and thin neck, to Lily, who was slightly winded as she dabbed sweat off her brow and jogged up and down the same three steps, giving encouraging words to the other women with her.

"Why," Ray asked through labored breaths, "do you live on top of a mountain?"

The blonde man smiled, "There's a nice view."

"Eughhh… I need… a bath," Libber groaned as she collapsed against the wall of the monastery, scooching over to a shaded area.

"Same, I forgot how tall this mountain was," Maya agreed.

"Oh come on, it wasn't that bad," Lily received two deadpan stares.

"Maybe for you because you love rock climbing," Libber grumbled before slouching inside to bathe. Maya and Lily followed suit.

Ray straightened up eventually. "So, where's your kid, Wu?"

"What?"

"Your kid. Y'know, agh what was the name, Mollo? No, Mono? Ah, Morro!"

"Wha- hah! Morro is not my kid."

"You sure, Brother?" Garmadon piped up. "You seem quite fond of him."

"I can be fond of a child without adopting him! Besides, he's only my student."

"Sure, because you definitely wrote about discovering his favorite food like he's your student," Ray rolled his amber eyes. "Just accept it, you're a father now."

"Which means I'm an uncle as well," Garmadon quietly realized.

"Again, Morro is just my student. Besides, there's no way he sees me as a fa-"

"Sensei."

The three men turned to see their topic of discussion waiting patiently by a door into the building.

"Excuse me for interrupting, but I completed my task," the boy said after he came over.

"Good job! Let's go inside now, okay?" the younger Dragoni crouched to be closer to Morro's eye level.

The boy with a green streak nodded happily and softly made his way back into the temple.

Ray and Garmadon shared a look as Wu rose to his full height and followed, waving the two over.

"Not a father, he says," Ray mumbled before heading inside with Garmadon.

Bokken - wooden sword used to train in kenjutsu, or japanese swordsmanship

[askthewinddemon]

hey, hypothetical question. what would you do if you met someone who looked exactly like you, and claimed to be you from an alternate world?

[beliscary]

@necromycologist #<< Prev. who is this guy i need to know more rn

omg. okay.

so there's a supporting character in a videogame called final fantasy 16 and he has like THE most wonderful two hours of screentime, a potential ally with noble intentions amongst antagonists. that's Prince Dion Lesage. and then there's his boyfriend Sir Terence w like 8 minutes. and at this point I've glued his face on top of a prayer candle in my heart

I have to set the scene a bit first. this is broad strokes I hope it makes sense.

calling them catholic is a shorthand but their religion is ehhhh basically that. their emperor is the pope and also conceptualized as god on earth. they live in a world that's dying from overconsumption of magic as a resource(accessible materially through mined crystals)—crops failing, the land being blighted, that kind of thing. people who are born w the ability to draw on magic are enslaved, branded, and used up for their power/the convenience until they die from it (they turn to slowly to stone! it's very painful and visual dehumanization! the whole thing is awful!)

Dion is one of these people who can use magic, but he's extraordinarily powerful and in a position of some privilege bc of that. but also he's trapped by it. So like, dragons are sacred in their religion, and Terence's boyfriend Dion (I have to point out that I don't say this glibly, they are together) can transform by his magic into their Sacredest Dragon, whose entire thing is Light and Hope and Deep Religious Obligation, etc etc.

this power is a once in a generation thing that happens to a single individual (there are more of these godlike lineages for other elements like fire, ice, darkness, etc scattered across the world, as well as massive crystals to mine. you can see where this might lead to some instability and power jockeying esp with massive areas of land rapidly becoming blighted and unlivable. so he's kind of also the empire's nuclear deterrence.)

he's trying desperately to believe that by fighting wars and using his power he's doing good for his people who are trying to survive in this dying world, but his dad the god emperor is the resource hungry warmongering ruler of an expansionist slave empire with bloodline supremacy at its heart. so. (also dad had another kid that he likes better because that kid's not a bastard. as though that's dion's fault. a golden boy bastard imperial prince who upholds evil bc he Has to be a good and dutiful son.... ugh)

he's been at war since he was like 15 and he's 28 now. and his father just keeps sending him out to fight. like whatever he's already got another heir to inherit it all, and now dion is the spare. dad can reaaally use the bomb without worrying abt the continuation of his line now.

SO. boyfriend Terence. he's 2nd in command of Dion's holy knights, and we learn he climbed his way up through the ranks to get there. and he did this just to be able to be near dion and support him through all these wars and most likely watch him suffer and die horribly anyway. bc Oh Yeah none of the phenomenal cosmic power exempts dion from the turning to stone thing.

so anyway, in the 8 mins we do have of them together, we see Terence:

-subtly chastise his prince for his recklessness and then pray for his safety

-deliver a missive intended for his prince which he clearly already opened & read. just so he can soften the blow of the bad news himself as dion reads through it

-bandage and salve his man's arm, showing us they both know and see the inevitability of the slow creeping death dion keeps throwing himself towards

-suggest dion rely on his army rather than his magic, gently defying dion's father (whose word is holy decree)

-kiss his prince

-smile and yearn and make a sad face so cutie cute cutely

-declare very purposefully to the man who is constantly ordered around and used as a weapon that he will always be his servant, while on his knees. concise! thorough!

(i hope I'm establishing a pattern here that it appears when it comes to His Place In Society he knows the boundaries perfectly but also knows the location of every single hole in the fence)

-crack a joke about the death of a titan being a small mercy. king 👑

-shoo a messenger one piece of bad news away from getting his head bitten off out of a tent with Perfect economy and comedic sensibility

(god this is small but huge TEW ME... you see him react to bad news by lightly balancing his fingertips on a table and thinking carefully... this is in contrast to Dion throwing a guy around, punching a table, and having to visibly count backwards from ten)

-nearly throw down with another god-lite and only halt on his boyfriend's command. it's immediate too he's got great brakes !!

(seriously if you pay attention this man has like nooooo respect for authority or divinity on their own so-called merits and yet he's so calm and polite and steady and measured and kind in his demeanor and we KNOW he still prays too. it's. it's GAP MOE)

-continue to call dion His Prince. even after dion has been removed from any chance of ascending to the throne officially. like yes he is technically still a prince just not crown prince so it is a proper form of address but atp dion's purpose is pretty much expected just to be an obedient weapon of conquest who will die if ordered to, with no hope of that changing. so it kind of feels Pointed.

-like, yeah no, I heard what "god" said. but my prince is My Prince. he earned that. you can't tell me shit. my prince can't tell me shit about my prince either. what are you gonna do, fire me? that won't stop me either, my prince.

-get asked by THE sacred dragon if a coup is the right course of action. should the opinion of a mortal matter at all to a god? hm well it does to this one

-functionally do 300 wife nod dot gif in order to:

-support a coup against the newly declared emperor (the not-bastard brother) (who is, amen I say to you, theologically god)

-👆 do this without ever once telling his ordered-around-used-as-a-weapon/seen-as-the-symbol/the-potential-of-his-power-rather-than-as-a-man boyfriend what he should or shouldn't do

-seriously terence had all of dion's power laid down at his feet like frodo offering galadriel the one ring and what he ends up saying is p much 'whatever you choose to do, your men are with you'. even starts with an "I" statement and then cuts himself off and starts over!!! CONCISE. THOROUGH. KING 👑 POWER REVEALS!! AND IT HAS REVEALED terence has always wanted dion to have control of his own life and choices 🥺

-the rest is deep spoilers but My God. He's the Patron Saint of Smiling Through Tears. also and most importantly he's nobody he's doesn't even get a last name he's not even an important noble he's got no magic to speak of he's just a guy w a sword kneeling in front of a man asking him to stop killing himself for nothing (or, more accurately, an evil that undermines all the light and hope he thinks he champions--),,,,

(there was a loredrop later that explained they were childhood friends to lovers and had been together for 10 years by the majority of their in game scenes... terence had been in love with dion since they were both young and was gonna be quiet about it forever until dion took a blow defending him in battle at age 18. and I almost died in real life bc I had assumed it was a mutual agreement that the good of the People always took precedence and dion would never choose terence over that. but he almost died to save this one guy. he was ready to give up everything he could do for the world with his power... for his boy best friend. and they hadn't even kissed yet)

anyway yeah I Like Them I Like Putting Them Under A Magnifying Glass And Into Situations 🥰

[blue-rose-soul]

Ooo love the devil’s bastard au

In one of your precious posts you mentioned Charlie and Nicaise meeting in heaven and getting to bond. How do you think a meeting like that would go?

They wouldn't know who the other was at first. It's an act of fate (me) that brings them together. I've seen a few different people say that the winners in Heaven don't remember their lives on Earth, but I haven't heard this until recently, and even if Vivienne did say it, I'm hesitant to take Word of God as the absolute truth until it's actually shown in the show proper. Things change in the writing process, you know?

That said, I like the idea so I'm going with it.

As a winner, Nicaise also has some deer-like traits. Her heavenly outfit is all creams and golds, she's got soft doe ears and white speckles across her cheeks, shoulders and arms, as well as a pair of cream-colored wings. Even with the deer traits though, Charlie doesn't make the immediate connection. She's a dark-skinned Creole woman who speaks with a distinct accent from Alastor's, so there's a bit of a disconnect in Charlie's mind.

They probably run into one another while Emily is showing Charlie around, perhaps at the zoo. The winners haven't been informed that they're hosting a guest from Hell because the heavenborn angels don't want to cause a panic or anything, but it becomes clear within a few minutes of conversation that Charlie's different from everyone else in Heaven. How amazed she is by the simplest things. Her sheer awe at the koala. The smell of brimstone that clings to her.

Now, Nicaise knows there's something... off about Heaven. She's known it since she first arrived and she felt like something important had been stolen from her. She just can't put together what that something was. Over the decades, the heavenborn angels have tried to placate her, reassuring that there is nothing missing from her life and that Heaven has everything she'll ever want or need. She calls bullshit. But, realizing she's not going to get anywhere butting heads, she opts to go the more subtle route, seeking out like minded winners and bringing them together. Together, she and her allies have been trying to figure out what the heavenborn are keeping from them, what they lost, but they've hit a lot of walls. Sera is too difficult to approach, and not easy to trick, Emily is just as in the dark as they are, and Adam... Well, Nicaise knows how to deal with repulsive men. But Sera realized pretty quickly what Nicaise was doing and forbid Adam from speaking to her or her cohorts, so that line of investigation was cut short.

Needless to say, Nicaise is thrilled to meet people from outside of Heaven.

She probes Charlie for information and Charlie is plenty happy to talk to someone from Heaven who doesn't seem politely disgusted by her lineage. (Something about Charlie's description of her father strikes a chord in Nicaise. She can't quite solidify the thought.) Emily is surprisingly open to the topic of conversation as well; Sera's never told her any of these things!

Nicaise knows that she must have had a life and a family back on Earth, but it's not until Charlie starts talking about souls passing to Heaven or Hell that she really understands what this means. For just a moment, the veil lifts from her memories. And then they're gone again, like a dream. Charlie, on the other hand, is more than a little peeved that Heaven is actually preventing winners from remembering their own lives. Yes, some of the memories may be painful, but these are their lives! The souls have a right to them, regardless of how painful they were! It's her first hint that Heaven might not be as idyllic as it seems.

Unfortunately, Charlie's meeting with Heaven's higher ups means they don't have as much time together as they would like, nor will they have any way to contact one another once Charlie returns to Hell. But she's left a lasting impact on Nicaise and has an ally in her and Emily both. Emily tells Nicaise everything that happened in the meeting, including the revelation of the exterminations. Nicaise passes this on to her group, who pass it on to more people who pass it on to even more people.

Soon winners all over Heaven are questioning and Sera is panicking. Things get worse for her when Sir Pentious shows up in her office. If she's going to maintain order over Heaven, she needs to find the people responsible for spreading disorder, and get rid of them. Fast.

[brandonsanderson]

Hello everyone, it's been a while. I'm very sorry for not posting for so long, please don't be mad at me. Things have been incredibly busy this past year and I just couldn't get away to post here. But now that Wind and Truth is out I should have some more free time! I'm very proud of the book, please do check it out. It's available now in all the usual book buying places.

Quite a few of you have sent me questions over the past year, and I hope you're not mad at me for not getting to them yet. I'll try and get to as many of them as I can.

Thank you for your patience. Hopefully you'll be hearing more from me in the near future.