#this took two weeks!! im sorry!

[starman-rat]

Not As It Seems: Chapter 4

Thomas, after a long day of working on projects assigned by Mr. Agrawal, let out a breath as he leaned back in his office chair. This is another routine he could get lost in too, he thinks. Typing on his keyboard, headphones on, music playing-- it’s nice. This is easy, this is okay. Monotony and something to get lost in.

Which makes the chaos of his life all the more exhausting when the peace is broken, his phone buzzing on the desk next to his mousepad. Fumbling, he threw his headphones down off of his head and picked up his phone, lifting it to his ear as he stood to walk into one of the small privacy offices. 

“Tom? It’s Sally. Nicholas-- We’re on our way to the hospital.” The panic in the nurses’ voice makes Thomas’ eye twitch and his fingertips crackle. He shoves them into his pocket, pushing his back against the wall. 

“What’s happened?” Despite the fact that he felt like he was going to throw up, Thomas managed a calm facade. 

“They think it’s a stroke, hon. Can you get off work early? It doesn’t look good.” 

Fuck. Shit. No, this can’t be happening. Three years of moving around and changing scenery and trying to make things work only to lose the thing he was so desperately trying to hang on to. This can’t happen. Anything but this. 

“I’ll--” The crack in his voice makes him flinch, another flicker at his fingertips, the fresh smell of rain fills the office as his control slips on his magic.. God, he has to keep it together. “I’ll call a taxi. I’ll be there as soon as I can, okay?”

“Alright, lad. I’ll keep you updated, yeah?”

The phone stays in its place by his ear for the next few minutes as Thomas takes deep breaths and tries to calm his nerves. Father would be okay. Nicholas Monroe was one tough man, and he would stick around. He’d promised Thomas he’d be there. He’d be okay. “You alright, Thomas?” David poked his head into the room, knuckles rapping against the door. His posh accent made his tone soft, and it took everything in Thomas to muster a small nod. “Yeah-- I-- My father is being taken to the hospital. Is-- Can I?”

“Say no more, mate. Family comes first. Let me know if you need tomorrow too, yeah?”

“Thanks, Mr.-- Ah, sorry, David. I appreciate you.”

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

David had originally wanted to confront the boy. 

After hours of researching who the real Thomas McCormick was, He had chewed the end of a pencil to hell trying to figure out how this kid-- a perfect carbon copy of a dead teen-- was currently working in the computer lab in his section. 

Apparently, Allah had other plans. 

It was now three hours later, and after puzzling over newspaper articles and police reports, David thought he had earned himself a drink. 

“Ivanka, I have had quite the day! One of the new interns is doing my head in.” David slid into his normal booth, opening his menu and looking up to see…. Not Ivanka. 

“Sorry, Mate, Ivanka called in. I thought you’d heard…” Richard, a pudgy fifty-some year old waiter who’d been working this joint since the late 80s, frowned down at him. “Something about ‘her kid?”

“Oh, shit! I’ll have to text her later. Do you know what happened?” 

“Not much. Her nanny took ‘im to the hospital and she said she couldn’t come in.”

David leaned back in the booth, brows furrowed. Crazy coincidence. David shook his head slowly, looking back up at Richard. “I’ll start with the strongest shot of whiskey you have, mate.”

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

Well, the magic certainly wasn’t new, as they had previously thought. No, the magic had always been there. Like a subtle buzz of a fluorescent light, it had flown under the radar until it either got louder or stopped altogether.

And this incessant buzzing had gotten louder. 

What Aurelias had been picking up on was overexertion. Exhaustion from an elongated game of hide and seek. From what Viktor could tell with the strong smell of bergamot and the soft smell of fresh rain was that the witch he was looking for was wearing a protection spell, masking themself and hiding among the pale-blooded humans. But a scent was not enough, and this temporary exhaustion would pass when their little lion had the chance to cover themself once more. 

That meant Viktor had to act quickly. He had to play chess with a ghost, one who knew he lurked in the shadows. For such a clever little witch, he would need a clever spell and a very clever plan. 

The circle was set against the hardwood floors of the chapel-- a repurposed building in the college campus-turned-coven. Dark lambs' blood made up the circle, with two eye-shaped rings that made a smaller circle in the middle where they overlapped. In the center, a dark splotch of black paint represented the pupil of Aurelias’ eye. Where the two eyes’ corners touched the circle, a candle burned, the only light by which the disciples worked as they laid sand outside the entirety of the circle. Viktor knelt in the center of the circle, taking the knife in his hand and cutting into his palm. As the blood dripped onto the pupil, gestured for one of his attendants to bring in the last piece of the ritual; A pet of the Fae. 

Aurelias had a few pets, but Noah was favored among them. Sweet, soft-spoken and ruthlessly clever, the boy had been a very good find. He had traded his freedom in for a friend, one who had been the original target of Aurelias’ collection. He was the perfect vessel between worlds, and his skin and blood sang with earth magic so powerful it was truly as though he was meant to be a faepet. 

The ginger-headed boy was led into the center of the circle, where he was guided to kneel facing Viktor. He was blindfolded, using his hands to find Viktor’s. With one hand he touched the floorboards where the pupil was etched, and with the other he gently grazed over Viktor’s bloody palm, his fingers tingling. He gasped as his vision came into view, guided by fae magic and letting himself be possessed by Aurelias. 

A woman, Viktor. His fae whispered, the deep voice unnatural through a boy of barely twenty. You’ll find her in a pub. Milton’s. Middle-aged, dark hair and gray eyes. Noah will know the way. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~

TAGLIST!! @pigeonwhumps, @emmettnet, @serenitydusk, @winedark-whump

[funsizedcrow]

Link is Hylia's specialist little boy (this is not a good thing for him)

(stills under the cut)

[lilybug-02]

Bribed with Chocolate. The way it should be.

Part 22 || First || Previous || Next

--Full Series--

More to come as this is a two-parter. But you know how I am with schedules.

Bonus:

I think this was an equally possible reaction from Chara.

[koinotea]

FOURTH AND FINAL REDRAAAWWW AAAAHHHHH NOW BACK TO OUR USUAL LUBERTO PROGRAMMING YESS

[juniemunie]

"Well, when two people love each other very much-" "STOP RIGHT THERE"

//Okay but for real, Puss lived a good life.

...Every story ends at some point, right?

If you dont know, these poses are based off @/sihanjir from twitter

[rakkuntoast]

in 2021 i made a colorzas drawing that looking back at it hated it so much that out of pure spite i decided to redraw it two years later <3

more under the cut :

each colorza and ik phil isnt there this aint about him /j

and the old 2021 post for whoever that wants to see it (its awful im embarrassed abt it who let me cook 2 years ago)

[technicalknockout]

a bunch of loosely pko related art. can you tell i love him a lot

(more under cut)

[way2gosuperrstarr]

watch my body disintegrate into a pile of ash like a cartoon character who just got struck by a lightning bolt (JOINT PAIN JOINT PAIN JOINT PAIN JOINT PAIN) (just got off work)

[dawnthefluffyduck]

New game interest unlocked

(crow in bottom right belongs to @patchwork-crow-writes)

[blackbatcass]

Hi, I love how you wrote about Wally (the post that goes wally west is a guy of all time for me...) because that just makes sense and I agree with it and you know, I was wondering if you could write about the OG titans like Roy, Grayson, Donna, Lilth (and people forget Lilith).

thanks lmfao, I was in my feelings about flash vol 2 when I wrote that post I’ve kind of become a wally stan against my will. he is so precious to me.

ummm so i have written a few similar rambly posts about donna that you can find if you go through my tag for her. I think trying to condense dick’s major character traits into a single post might cause the universe to combust and much smarter people than me have analyzed him to death. I can rant about roy though😏

he lives in my head forever. he goes through father figures like water through his hands. no one ever loved him enough to stay. he still has nightmares about fires. he falls in love as easy as breathing and then can’t get rid of it. no one takes him seriously and it drives him up a wall, mostly because he knows how capable of a leader he is. the person who helped him when he was at his lowest wasn’t anyone it should have been, it was dinah, and he’s never forgotten that. he fights dirty. he breaks the rules. younger heroes look to him for help, because they know he’ll listen. he knows how to take care of people. he can’t stand it when his friends don’t let him help them. he has a daughter and promises he will never, ever leave her.

[electoons]

she was the silliest billy 🥹

[littlehatmouse]

i finished this in the last 20 minutes of lesbian visibility week after not drawing at all LETS GO

[mister-eames]

Hi! I don't know if you already answered this before, but I'm curious to know if you have any headcanons about Arthur and Eames families and how they grew up? Thanks :)

Hello lovely!!! Yes I certainly do, thank you so much for dropping by!

For Arthur I have really only have one headcanon for him. He grew up in a single-parent household with his mum. No other siblings but as close enough to an older cousin to consider them one. Dad either long passed or out of the picture. Definitely didn't grow up with a silver spoon, if you know what I mean, government schools, government housing, foodstamps, second-hand or hand-me-down clothes, learned how to make food stretch as far as it could kinda thing. Lots of challenges with himself and his mum, was sometimes her caretaker, but he otherwise grew to be a good kid.

Eames' headcanons do vary for me - but there is one constant I am going to yank from canon - 'the relationship with the father' thank you Mister Tom Hardy for delivering the line in such a way it couldn't be anything but personal. Daddy issues. And a hundred thousand iterations of them, they all work for me - i.e. big mean dad, cold and distant dad, disapproving but supportive dad, had-a-big-fight-with-dad-before-i-left-the-country-and-he-died dad, dad works for interpol, etc etc. Love it when he grows up in a super rich household as much as I love the idea of a middle class upbringing. He definitely gives me middle child energy, so at least two siblings. Lots of turmoil within the family -- not so much family dysfunction, but just series of unfortunate events -- sibling had a serious illness, childhood friend passed away young, both sides of the parents family didn't get along etc etc. Also had to learn how to be resourceful, but in terms of navigating people and not putting his hand in fire lest he be burned.

Thank you for your ask, nonnie!!! <3

[hwsforeignrelations]

RANT

[deoidesign]

please take as much time as you need to rest and recover. burn out is so hard and takes so much to heal from. your art and your supporters will still be here when you get back :) take care <3

Thank you very much

Unfortunately, my situation doesn't really allow me to take the time I need. I've got a ~two month hiatus scheduled for my midseason, but much like my first hiatus I'll most likely be working double time during it...

It's unfortunate because I could really really use a bigger break!

Having the time and flexibility to work on other projects really fires me up and keeps me going, and being able to take a guilt free day off for family and friends is necessary to my mental health, and I've been having to turn people down lately...

This is a very kind message, and I'm sorry to vent in response! But I just feel transparency about the pressure I'm under is necessary and important. I'd love to take the time I really need, but due to deadlines and that pesky "needing money to live" I can't.

But, once the series is over I intend to take a pretty big break before I start whatever I'm doing next! I've got so many short stories and projects planned that I want so badly to get to, I can't wait to really get to truly dive in to them!

[the-sinking-garden]

I realized I never posted these, so here are some of the oil paintings I’ve done for school in the past year. I have another statue painting similar to the first one that should be finished in the next week!!