#training room.

[reapersmarch]

i don't know. don't look at me.

“Careful, old man, don’t want you throwing your back out on the way up.”

Ricardo shoots Bel the dirtiest look he’s ever seen over his shoulder, and it fills him with a kind of glee. Standing there, arms crossed and head craned up, grinning beneath his mask, he watches him dangle freely in his harness, one hand holding on to the wall, the other raised to give him the finger. It makes him laugh, full and genuine. This had started as a bit of practice—Bel liked to stay sharp where he could, and being able to scale a wall in an emergency wasn’t a bad skill to have on hand.

Doing it while suited up was an even better one to have.

Normally, however, Ricardo wasn’t there, too. Normally, Bel had the entire gym to himself.

When he’d learned what Bel was up to, the Marshal insisted upon joining him; said it was a great idea, and that he should probably do the same, even though Bel was fairly certain that Ricardo had prior commitments he’d made forever ago.

He couldn’t complain, though. Even if he generally liked the solitude more—it afforded him time to unwind and decompress—he didn’t mind the company, either. It very quickly, however, devolved into a competition: who can climb the highest? Who can ring the bell the fastest? Loser pays for drinks afterwards.

Bel didn’t mind that, either. It was a fun little way to make the time pass, and he’d been doing this so long, he was confident he would win. He neglected to mention that part.

“I think calling me names is cheating,” Ricardo calls down, turning back around to focus on climbing higher. “So. I think you lose by default.”

“Mm… no. That’s not how that works,” Bel laughs. “I’m hardly responsible for your inability to remain focused.”

“What are you talking about? That’s exactly how cheating works! And—no, you’re totally responsible for it, actually.”

Ricardo reaches up; the bell rings. He starts his descent.

Bel checks the stopwatch in his hand and clicks it off once he’s back on solid ground. “A little under a minute and a half. Not bad, all things considered.”

“Not bad? That’s pretty damn good!” Ricardo huffs.

“Sure it is. If you’re old,” Bel snorts. He tosses the stopwatch at him, then trades places. “Your joints still function after that climb?”

“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. I’d love to see you do better.”

“You’re about to.”

He checks his gear, then walks briskly up to the wall. There was no way he was going to lose.

“Ready?”

“Yup.”

“Okay… go.”

Very casually, Bel begins to climb, moving from one handhold to the next, periodically moving sideways, doing little hops to reach ones that are further out. He knows which colours to grab, which to not. Which ones have an odd grip and where your foot might get caught. No contest. It wasn’t really fair, in Bel’s opinion, that he was so obviously going to win, so he needed to find ways to stall—just enough to keep things even, but not enough to make Ricardo think that he was throwing the competition.

“Ready to call it, Ricardo?”

“Cocky doesn’t look good on you, Bel,” he teases. “You’re being a show off.”

“Hubris generally is the fall of most men, yes,” Bel agrees with an amused chuckle. “Most men.”

When he’s done messing about, he scales the rest of the wall with a practiced ease, and gives the bell a quick little tap before beginning his descent.

“What time am I at so far?” he asks.

Ricardo checks the timer and frowns. “…‘Bout a minute.”

“Accurate time.”

“Forty-five.”

“Uh-huh.”

Midway down, Bel kicks off the wall to turn himself upside down, wrapping his leg around the rope cord to maintain his hold. “See?” he says, one hand extended nonchalantly, and even though Ricardo can’t see it, Bel puts on the biggest shit-eating grin. “Told you I’d win.”

“You haven’t touched the ground yet, timer’s still ticking,” Ricardo tells him. He stands about eye level with where Bel is dangling from, eyes half-lidded in a placid expression of amusement. “Sure you want to push your luck?”

“Eh. I’ve got time to play with.”

Ricardo hums. He pauses thoughtfully for a moment, then reaches up, fingertips finding the seam of Bel’s mask and tugging gently. He pulls until it slips past his mouth, and Bel can’t stop the confused little noise of surprise that escapes him.

“What are y—” 

The gap between them closes. Ricardo holds Bel’s head steady, face between his hands as he kisses him, thrilled with just how much of his skin turns maroon. It’s brief, but it lingers. Then he does it again. Then once more, for good measure.

He makes sure Bel doesn’t fall from his legs giving out, and sets him back on his feet, speechless, then takes a look at the stopwatch.

“Ooh, two minutes. Rough!” Ricardo grins crookedly as Bel pulls his mask up the rest of the way, gawking at him. “Guess you’re buying.”

“That… No!” He splutters “That’s cheating!”

“Is it?” Ricardo asks innocently. “Huh. Nnnno. No, I don’t think it is. I’m hardly responsible for your inability to remain focused. So I win.”

Hubris. The downfall of most men—including Bel.

Well, there are worse ways to go out.

[magpiedraws]

Jon he's really trying here cut him a break

(tumblr crunched the resolution of this comic a lot rip)

[yuuchama]

Sometime during the VDC training camp, when everyone on team Night Raven is sleeping over at Ramshackle Dorm:

Ramshackle Dorm has no shortage of spare rooms, but their condition is another story. You've managed to get enough of them decently clean. They're not as nice as your room, which has had far more time invested in it and is well lived in, but your groupmates should be able to spend a few days at the dorm without issue and are more than free to tidy up rooms as they please.

Yet on one of the first nights, you hear the door of your room creak open. It's dark and you can't see the intruder, though you know it's not one of the ghosts. The approaching footsteps aren't as heavy as Grim's, even after he's cleared out the entire fridge in one sitting. You're also pretty confident Grim is fast asleep beside you.

"Hello?" You groggily lift your head and call out to the intruder. If it's anything malicious, you hope the ensuing scuffle will cause enough noise to wake everyone else up.

A weight pushes the edge of your mattress down and there's a gentle touch at your shoulder. "Prefect, do you mind if I spend the rest of the night here?"

"Jamil?"

You almost don't recognize him in the dark with his hair down. You feel around for a bedside light. Grim groans in his sleep when it clicks on and turns over, shielding his eyes with tiny arms.

Jamil looks exhausted. "Please, I'd really appreciate if you could let me sleep here tonight."

"Yeah, sure. Of course." Maybe it's the sleep addling your brain or your trust in Jamil. You see no reason to turn down his request and didn't question why he was coming to you instead of Kalim. You nudge Grim over to make room for one more on the bed.

The vice housewarden does his best to fit in the cramped sleeping conditions, assuring "I'll pay you back for this. Thank you."

He's turned towards the wall, back touching your side so that he doesn't fall. You wait to make sure he's fully secure in bed before turning off the light. In the calm that follows, you notice he's almost imperceptibly shaking. Sure, the dorm is cold, but not that cold. Especially with three in one bed.

"Jamil, are you okay?" The longer you spend awake, the more concerning this whole situation feels.

"I'm fine. Goodnight, Prefect." Jamil already has his eyes shut and seems adamant about not discussing things further.

"Okay... Goodnight."

You lay down and silence settles over the room once more. It's really warm between your two friends. Sleep is quick to catch up to you, you find yourself nodding off within minutes of your head touching the pillow.

Before you fully drift off, Jamil turns to face you. His hair drapes over the side of the bed and he places a hand on your pillow, lightly grazing your cheek.

"Thanks again," he whispers. "I feel a lot better with you here. Your room doesn't have bugs on the wall."

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Ooh, you want to know what happens at the gay bar run by ex-pirates, ooh...You'll just have to read Tiger Tiger to find out...

(Inspired by this Disco Elysium comic)

[feminist-affirmations]

[hinamie]

domain expansion

[windwenn]

I cant with these supposedly quick lighting studies taking me hours bc my painting skills are ass OTL

Anyway this movie made me a good person hope u enjoy. This was not a quick lighting study.

[pangur-and-grim]

Belphie is such an interesting kitten, compared to the other two.

baby Grim presented some challenges, because she loved to destroy property (mostly climbing various shelves and mantles and knocking everything she could to the floor), she was mildly aggressive toward Marmaduke the family cat (she felt that at the ripe age of 4 months, she deserved to be king), and she was fairly aloof for a kitten, more into running about than cuddling. in most ways, she was like a tiny mafia boss.

Pangur I instantly soul-bonded with, because she was so sickly and pathetic. and neurotic, too - everything was scary to her, people, places and animals. she’d explore the house and play, but there was always an ‘expecting an eagle to swoop down and grab her’ energy.

now Belphie! he’s a healthy active boy with zero fear, and zero aggression, but (fortunately or unfortunately) someone cranked his Play button to maximum and then broke off the handle. he is either fast asleep, and the cutest kitten on earth, or racing about and flailing and climbing and pouncing. which means that he can’t be let outside the kitten room unsupervised yet, because his baby willpower is only so strong, and he will eventually break and start jumping on Pangur and Grim. so in a way, he’s the healthiest happiest cat I’ve ever had, but he’s also the most complicated, because he still has to spend most of his time jailed in the kitten room.

[goryhorroor]

my top 30 favorite horror movies

[thelolarahaii]

THE BOYS 4x07 | "The Insider"

[aroaceleovaldez]

the dynamic of demigods thinking which other demigod is the most powerful is always amusing to me because. like, we know the big 3 kids are all the most powerful. That's just a fact of their universe. And then we know nearly every character views Percy as the strongest demigod, and most people are very rightfully intimidated by him.

and you look at the powers of the Big 3 kids and there's Percy, but then you realize Nico is just kind of objectively more powerful than him but simply chooses to hang out in Percy's shadow like he's Percy's scary dog privileges. Like, the two of them are pretty equally capable of causing multiple different apocalypses. Nico just also has like four different instakill powers and it's not like he doesn't use them. He very much uses them! Not infrequently, even! And they don't seem to take a significant amount of energy from him! And other demigods are pretty intimidated by both of them! But Nico makes a conscious point to keep his cards close to his chest and not let on exactly how dangerous and scary he can be if he wants to. People are already scared enough of him without knowing anything about him and he doesn't like that. Percy doesn't think about that nearly as much, and so usually just goes in guns blazing and that's part of why he's considered a wildcard. And then Nico himself puts Percy on a pedestal, so those who do know more about Nico's abilities then presume Nico knows something they don't about Percy that implies Percy is even stronger than him.

And even on a meta level Nico's narrative role requires him to be functionally more powerful than Percy, because he very often serves the purpose of getting Percy out of situations he can't handle on his own. That's just part of his function as a character! But also narratively he can't overshadow Percy so he just takes a backseat of his own accord and that's very amusing to me.

[hooned]

heeseung driving us crazy loosening his tie 👔 for anon

[wizardemotions]

pinterest showed me some screenshots of posts that gave me the concept for an au where both harry and ron are sorted slytherin & draco is just slightly less rude in the first book. i could go into why i think this makes a lot of sense for ron but i won't. i've affectionately dubbed them the platinum quartet in my head and they will not leave me the fuck alone

[egophiliac]

@enderfore replied to your post “What do you think of Rook's savanaclaw card? <333”:

Chenya pic where???? I can barely see anything in that room there so much going on, rooks such a lil freak (affectionatr)

​he's under the row of flags on Neige's side of the room, next to the big Neige poster with the yellow background (look just to the right of the hand holding the apple)! he's REAL little; once you know he's there you can kind of see him in-game, but I only noticed him in the first place because I took a screenshot and was having fun zooming in on all the details!

I think that's either Hop or Snick and Dominic on either side of Neige, but if the others are meant to be anyone in particular I don't recognize 'em. though I do love all the absolutely terrifying implications of Rook having this. was this some kind of officially-published merchandise (and if so, why) or did Rook like...go hunting through the RSA trash to find this random student lineup just because it included Neige, and has had it hanging proudly on the wall ever since. (I mean, he definitely did do this, I don't know why I'm asking. the real question is why he hasn't cut out little pictures of his own face and stuck them over everyone else's yet.)

there is seriously SO MUCH in this room. how did Rook manage to keep this hidden for three years. also, somebody give this background artist a raise immediately.

[riceballoon]

time skip

a persona 4 velvet attendant!protag comic from 2 years ago! id enjoy seeing yosuke being the next wildcard and growing into the leader role he so admired

forgive the awkward dialogue i am not a good writer

[pallanophblargh]

Wake up, new cryptid just dropped!

It’s true that I’ve had to reimagine my day to day life since we got her, but I can’t imagine how we got this lucky. We thought we would have to work to earn her love, but from the moment she entered our house it’s been a cuddlefest, one I couldn’t possibly deny. There are hurdles she will be facing to be sure (and she will still need to meet the cats face to face) but I’m so happy to see this happy lil cheese every day. Welcome home Raclette!

(The couches will always be hers, even if it means she does try to smush whatever I’m working on at the time!)