#who i then just turned into a middle aged random oc

[amoebeau]

have you . Ever drawn.. . ..fiver nights of ffreddpyks....... . . .

YES I HAVE ACTUALLY its embarrassing but my old arts still floating around out here actually.... quite scary

here is a quick feddy for your troubles

[platinumshawnn]

Bound by Blood and Fire — benjicot blackwood x tully!oc

prologue

masterlist

forward

A/N: new fixation of the month, another skinny yt boy! I haven’t written an actual series in a few years, so here I am giving it another try. Also I know he didn’t turn out to be Benjicot, but I’m sticking with fancast!Kieran as Benjicot. Benjicot is aged up to 21, character is 18 — semi-proofread and updated (the character was changed into a random oc) characters physical description is not detailed or referenced to.

You can now read the next part here: i (posted July 17 2024)

Synopsis: Amidst rising tensions and a looming war, House of Tully seeks to strengthens its strongest alliances by proposal a marriage between Benjicot Blackwood, heir to Raventree, and Elmo Tully’s only daughter.

Content Warning(s): mentions of violence, no detailed depictions however. Era related content and sexism.

Word count: 1.8k

“It is done then?”

Elmo looked across the table at his son, his heir, as Kermit Tully nodded his head — his head bowing forward in response to his father’s words, “It is.” He simply replied, head lifting then to make eye contact with his father’s.

The pair stood in silence as the weight of his admission lingered in the air, the flames from the torches that lit the room casting a dim glow over the face of the father and his son who could have been mistaken for a mirrored image of himself if not for his own having grown aged throughout the years — Elmo’s gaze darted to the walls of their meeting room after a small, meek nod that hinted towards his reservations; gaze scanning the walls built of solid stone that stretched upwards in seemingly endless slabs, high enough that it almost seemed as though they were attempting to reach up high enough to the Gods themselves. The air was damp, caused by the ongoing storm outside having plagued the House of Tully for days — it made for a mess keeping guard amidst the growing tension between the houses, further enabled by the ongoing dispute regarding the throne.

“I do wonder, father,” Kermit suddenly spoke again, interrupting his father’s silence of contemplation as his grip on the hilt of his holstered sword at his hip readjusted, the glazed over look in his father’s eyes briefly clearing as he once more looked at him. “If I might…do you think she is ready? I do not wish to rush her into this, this is not a decision I think should be lightly considered…”

“Worry not, Kermit.” Elmo snapped, the anxiety in his chest heavy again at the thought of his daughter, shrouded by guilt that he was forced to swallow down. Pride. He released his grip on the ledge of the table made of weirwood and wrung his hands as he paused, his brow twitching and inhaling deeply, “We have given her more than enough time — all she’s had is time. It is her turn to perform her duty, just as we all must.”

Kermit’s gaze shifted, blinking a couple of times as he nodded, processing his words. There was a silence that fell over them both once more, the tension in the air almost suffocatingly thick and crushing him under the weight of it as Kermit thinks of his sister. Thinks of how she will react when he tells her she’s to be married. Thinks of his sweet sister, caught in the middle of the politics of the realm — treated as nothing more than a pawn and broodmare; his sweet sister who cried when he brought back his first deer after a hunt when he was twelve, big eyes welled with tears and nearly inconsolable. He recalled the days it took for her to speak to him again after that, promising to never subject her to such a sight again and do his best to sneak any catch in through the back gates. He thinks of the soft, sensitive girl who picked flowers and was fascinated by bugs growing up, much to their mother’s dismay — so curious and quiet, innocent and in her own world. Kermit wished he could have understood what it was like to see the world through her eyes sometimes, to see what it was that she did. Sometimes.

He almost felt dirty at the realization of just who — what — she would be marrying and that he was subjecting his sister to a lifelong commitment to a man who used to throw mud on her dresses; teased her until she cried as a girl, and then teased her more because she was a girl. That he was giving her hand away so quickly without giving her even a chance to agree or defend herself or choose — but what choice did a woman have in these matters? Kermit swallowed thickly, exhaling as his hands clenched tightly around the hilt of his sword.

Kermit did not have many friends beyond these walls that were not of his own blood. Benjicot Blackwood was one of the very few exceptions — introduced as children, both heirs to their respective houses, Kermit naturally found himself in the other’s presence more often than not; learning the ways of running households, trailing behind their fathers. Hells, they had trained together for several years and even fought alongside one another, too, on a few occasions after run-ins with Brackens. Benjicot had become a close friend of his over the many years they’d known each other, coming to know him as soft spoken, if not even shy and quiet and still, even knowing him and his character as well as he did — the decision still had not been an easy one. But he had mulled over the many available lords and their heirs across the realm, thoroughly considering each of them and whether they were suitable for his sister’s hand. No matter how close and good of an ally any of them were, how loyal they were, how fierce and powerful….Kermit simply could not consider any of them to be good enough for his dear sister. Benjicot hadn’t even been his idea. It had been his father’s idea, in fact — he was one of the first names that had been put forward when the discussion had first come up, but he had shot it down just as quickly.

He pictured the thought of his sister, sweet and soft spoken, scared of anything violent and bloody beside Benjicot — wild, crazy, and psychotic Benjicot whose eyes were wild in battle, bordering feral in simple fights that did not require getting bloody, pummeling men bloody regardless until they were nearly unrecognizable. The thought made him feel sick to his stomach.

“Do you think…” Kermit began to say, cutting himself short as he did not know what he intended to ask. He blinked twice, glancing down briefly before looking back up to where his father had turned his head to stare at him. They were both quiet, staring back at one another, as if they both seemed to be sharing the same thought.

Elmo looked back out the windows, looking over the fields that were soaked and flooded by the rains, seeming to know what his son intended to say, “She will understand.” He stated, taking a few steps closer towards the window’s ledge, looking up at the sky that was covered by dark, full clouds that hid nearly any and all traces of sunlight. “You should be off to speak to her, let her know of the news. Lord Samwell will be expecting you in the coming days. I am entrusting you to oversee finalizing everything. Oscar and I will follow.” He explained, back turned to him still as he spoke.

Kermit was not one typically to shy away from making difficult choices, but this one still felt like he was ripping out a part of himself. Like he had betrayed his sister somehow.

He nodded abruptly, bowing his head before taking his leave with a pivot-step and striding out of the room quickly, the doors swinging open before slamming shut behind him with the force of the guards stood outside. With a curt nod to the guards, Kermit turned and began wandering through the halls; absentmindedly guiding his way to the library, his hands clenched so hard his knuckles had turned white and jaw clenched as if that would steady him.

The doors to the library could have otherwise been a comforting sight on any other day, given that he had spent several days there in his youth, studying and teasing his sister into their adolescence over her obsession to memorize the history books front-to-back rather than being outside with the girls her age; knowing this was her safe haven amongst the busy day-to-day hustle of their house. However, it appeared daunting that particular day as he paused outside them, hand stretched out and ready to push inside as he listened for any noise; hoping that he would be met instead with silence that he could use as an excuse to walk away and claim that she wasn’t there — that he did not know where she was at that moment. Give him any excuse not to tell her…not yet. But instead he was met by the soft shuffle of shoes and melodic humming, his eyes closing with a furrow of his eyebrows as his shoulders slumped, sighing out a breath.

It took him a moment to compose himself — straighten his shoulders and stand upright, taking one final breath before he pushed open the door to find his sister; her head turning immediately to look at him, eyes wide and one hand up to her mouth as she picked at her bottom lip, frozen as though he had startled her, her humming ceased as her other hand held an open book, “Brother?” She suddenly asked, voice small amongst the room.

“Sister.” He greeted, voice low. “We must speak — join me.”

—

“Winds are coming from the east today.” Benjicot said, looking out from the entrance of his tent before letting the flap drop closed, shielding him and his cousins from the cool winds that had picked up over the past few hours with the storm; clothes still clinging to his limbs from the rain that had caught him on his way back to camp, his hair soaked as it stuck to his forehead in stringy strands that dripped into his eyes. He used the damp backside of his hand to wipe a bead of water from his eyes as he knelt close to the map, staying far enough back so as to not damage it by getting it wet as he’d yet to change into something dry. “We can use that to our advantage if this rain slows down.”

“Any animal with even half a brain across the realm has gone into hiding by now, there’s nothing left out there.” Emrys said, his tone dripping with sarcasm as he sat back on his elbows, earning a pointed stare from his cousin. “Let us just call it a day for now. We will continue in the morrow — rest, warm up.” He pleaded.

“Don’t be foolish, Emrys.” Benjicot snapped while standing back up, circling the tent towards his cousin and deliberately nudging him with his rain soaked boot. “A true hunter does not just give up so easily, dear cousin. Though, I imagine this isn’t how you would rather spend your day — rather instead spend it with your whores, yes?” Benjicot mocked, the men letting out a chorus of laughter that was muffled by the sound of heavy rainfall.

“Regardless, we still might —”

Benjicot’s words were interrupted as a guard arrived, calling out to him as he entered the tent where the group of men were meeting, “Ser,” the guard said, stopping abruptly by the entrance and holding out a scroll. “A Raven has just arrived for you.” He announced, the scroll dampened by the rain as Benjicot retrieved it from his grasp, eyes narrowing slightly at the stoic male who stood still as a statue; awaiting his next orders. His gaze dropped to the scroll in his hands, the seal recognized as that of his house and glancing up at the guard once more before cracking the wax seal to unravel the paper, his gaze scanning its contents. In his peripheral vision, he could see his cousins sit up, Emrys to his right.

“Who is it from?” Emrys asked.

Benjicot blinked, jaw clenching as he lowered the scroll, sighing, “My father.” He replied. “He’s instructed us to return to Raventree at once. I’m to be married apparently.” He explained, voice just above a mutter as he crumpled up the paper and shoved it into a pocket.

[nnovus]

𝐄𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐍𝐀𝐋 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 ━━ S.TODOROKI X READER

SYNOPSIS… In which, Shoto Todoroki youngest son of pro hero Endeavour is forced into an arranged marriage with the daughter of Pro hero/ clan leader, Tajima Uchiha.

INFO… Todorokixreader , ShotoTodoroki x sasuke/madarareader, mhaxnaruto, crossover, OC!!reader, OP!Reader, arranged marriage, slightly angst, character development, uchihaclan, readers looks and personality are based off madara/sasuke uchiha.

OTHER…likes and reblogs are appreciated

MASTERLIST

The water dripped down onto her head as she stared at the floor ━━ She heard laughter coming her father and other guests a few rooms away from her.

In recent events, Y/N had agreed to an arranged marriage that would help her clan’s war situation greatly.

She closed the shower tap and grabbed her towel before slipping on her dark, navy blue nagai that exposed most of her inner chest.

Putting on her wooden sandals she walked into the traditional Japanese styled hall finding her younger brother; Izuna Uchiha leaning against the wall.

“Are you really agreeing to all of this, getting sold off to some random? No one’s forcing you to do this. So why aren’t you saying no!!?” Izuna asked sternly obvious anger shown on his face.

He could only watch his elder sister tilt her head and stare at him expressionless. “I’m sick and tired of this, I just want peace upon our clan.” She whispered.

Her brother was unsure what to reply with as she walked past him making her way towards the middle of the Uchiha compound where the meeting was taking place, leaving her younger brother feel uneasy.

Stepping foot into the room she saw her father the no.5 hero, Uchiha Tajima, sitting at the chabudai table with the no.2 hero, Enji Todoroki, across of him.

She saw a young male who looked about her age sitting beside the number two hero.

He was tall and rather well-built. His hair was quite long, though it didn’t pass his neck, he had short bangs, parted twice as to not obscure his vision.what stood out was his hair was evenly split between two colors white on his right side and crimson red on his left.

She assumed that was her soon to be 'fiancé'. she walked towards the chabudai and bowed before sitting down on one of the zaisu.

“So, this must be your daughter, Tajima.” The fire hero asserted, staring at the beauty as she sat there remaining silent.

“Yes, this is my daughter, Y/N.” He smiled placing his hand on top of his daughter’s head as he moved it away soon after.

“Pleasure to meet you, sir.” Y/N commented with her usual straight face, lowering her head to show respect.

“Y/N is my eldest child and only daughter. She been accepted into UA by recommendations, perhaps you seen her at the exams Shoto?” Tajima mentioned as he gave a gentle smile to the number two hero’s son.

“No, we were probably placed in different sections of the exam.” Shoto muttered looking away from everyone. It seemed like he didn’t want to be here.

“That’s a shame, but since you both been accepted. That should give you three years to know and understand one another before your marriage.” Endeavour stated as his son stayed quiet with an unpleasant look on his face.

“And if we aren’t in the same homeroom?” Shoto asked angrily showing clear rebellion towards his father. Making the red haired adult give him a stern look.

Endeavour turned to the young girl needing to start a conversation to distract the two Uchiha of his son’s small outburst.

“Say, Y/N you must have quite the power considering your Uchiha heir.” Endeavour said making the girl turn her head to face him.

It then became obvious that he only wanted her to marry his son for a more powerful heritage and connection to his family.

She then turned to look at her father before he gave her a clear nod. “People of the main family all the same quirk called Kekkai Genkai, it depends if you’re able to awaken it or not.” She explained.

“My apologies, It seems I have forgotten. What about you Y/N have you awaken your Kekkai Genkai.” The pro hero smirked.

Before she was able to say enough her father had joined the conversation. “If you ask me Y/N has the strongest abilities the Uchiha clan has seen in a long time.”

Her eyes widened as her cheeks showed an unnoticeable pink. As her father smiled, fully aware of his daughter’s potential and power.

“Doesn’t matter, you’d be useless to me anyway.” The table became silent everyone shocked as they placed their attention on the young male.

Her eyes widened as she heard those words come out of her soon to be 'fiancés' mouth. "That’s enough, Shoto!!" He scolded him trying to hide his obvious annoyed face.

She felt the sharp stare of the no.2 hero's son as he stared at her in disgust. It wasn’t that he had anything against her or that she was unattractive she was beautiful in fact.

He just hated the fact he would marry someone of his father’s choosing and desires. Even the idea of it infuriated him.

The room remained silent until three knocks were heard coming from behind the sliding door. They turned to see Izuna standing by the door.

He wore casual attire that consisted of a short sleeve grey turtle neck with black trousers and home slides. As he dark long hair was in a ponytail

“Sorry to interrupt, but Y/N your needed at the front gate.” He muttered as everyone’s attention turned on him.

“please excuse me for a minute.” Y/N bowed before standing up and slowly walking towards her brother who waited patiently for her.

“Your son, Tajima?” Endeavour asked trying to change the topic as he stared at the male who had just arrived.

“Yes, this is my son, Izuna.” He introduced as the fire hero saw the similarities between the two siblings.

“Pleasure to meet you, sir.” Izuna bowed as he then quickly turned to leave needing to catch up with his elder sister who was waiting for him down the hallway. As he found no need to start a conversation.

She stood there with her back facing him as her head was slightly turned, giving the boy a view of her side profile.

she raised her eyebrows watching a sudden change in her younger brothers actions. Seeing as he refused to make eye contact with her, showing obvious signs of guilt.

“I lied, I just thought you needed an excuse to get out of there after what he said.” He admitted unsure of what his sister would react with.

Only then did his eyes widened to hear a giggle escape from his sister’s lips. “Thank you Izuna.”

Upon hearing those words a huge childish grin was painted all over his face. It wasn’t hard to miss the fact the boy deeply cared about his sister. Ever since they were younger their connection only grew stronger.

“Hey elder sister , you think you could help me with my training.?” He smiled rubbing the back of his neck as his cheeks became flustered.

Y/N couldn’t help but smile at the childish boy in front of her. He was only two years younger but to her he still just a child. Exactly why all she wants to do is protect him.

“Maybe later, Izuna.” She smiled watching the younger boy get all giddily as his eyes practically was sparkling with excitement.

Izuna felt his smile fade has he watched his sister turn around and slowly walk away from him, watching her disappear from his vision.

“Hey, where are you—” he stopped his sentence half way to realise she had already disappeared.

Y/N had now past the halls of the house to make her way to garden she often found herself at.

She stood infront of the small duck pond, staring down at the water. It didn’t take long to hear loud steps coming from behind her.

She stayed facing forward as the footsteps stopped a few feet behind her.

She couldn't feel any chakra so it couldn't be her father or Izuna. Since endeavour was to busy arranging the two’s future. it would only make sense it was her soon to be ‘husband’ behind her.

“Uchiha-san..” Todoroki spoke up. His tone of voice was rather harsh and cold. Making him sound all the more confident.

“I want to make it clear that I have no interest in you or this marriage. I don’t care what quirk you possess or what you have to offer, just make sure to stay out my way.” He commanded with his fist clenched and his eyebrows crossing.

“I would never love someone like you..” Todoroki added.Y/N then turned to face the taller male. His light eyes made clear eye contact with her dark ones.

“I hope you come to realise, I also want nothing to do with you, I am only agreeing to this for peace among my clan.” She admitted as the tension between the two only thickened.

As they stood in silence Todoroki could only take a full glimpse of her beauty. She was shorter, specifically reaching up to his nose.

As for her features, she most certainly had a unique face. She was a fair-skinned with spiky, long black hair that had a slight blue tint to it.

She kept her hair down,its length reaching to her waist, with shoulder-length bangs framing the sides of his face, covering most of his right eye.

As he continued looking into her eyes he noticed even though she was still relatively young, more prominent creases had developed under each of her eyes. Only making her even more beautiful.

“Y/N, father is looking for the both of you.” A voice standing by the doorframe said. The both of them had been brought back to reality as they turned to see Izuna leaning on wall with his head facing them as an obvious scowl was put on his face.

Todoroki not finding a need to be here any long, began to walk inside having to go sit back with the adults.

Izuna could only watch him walk away as his back faced the two. “Can’t believe you’re marrying such a scumbag.” He complained glaring at the Todoroki’s back.

“That’s enough, Izuna.” Y/N scolded making her way up the garden steps as her brother waited biting his inner of his cheekbone.

“Tch..” Her younger brother muttered clearly frustrated with today’s events. He could only furrow his eyebrows as his sister walked past him making her way to the room that the adults sat in.

She had walked into the room to see her father laughing with the flame hero as his son only stared at her entering the room.

“Well this is just wonderful isn’t it, Tajima.” The smirk of the no.2 only grew. The Uchiha could only feel the strong stare full of hatred coming from her fiancé as he looked at her intensely.

“I’ve been thinking since you both will be attending UA, let’s have our next meeting some time during your first week. How’s that for you Tajima?” Shoto’s father asked.

“That would be wonderful. Y/N please escort Endeavour and Shoto out.” Tajima asked his daughter calmly. "Yes father." Y/N nodded. The female stood up and walked towards thenm entrance with her guests following behind her while her father stayed seated reviewing papers giving to him by Endeavour.

Finally arriving at the main families homes entrance leading to the rest of the compound, slowly making their way out.

the Uchiha watched as the older man stopped halfway to tell her something. “ Lovely meeting you Uchiha, I’m sure you will be a perfect and strong wife for Shoto and your future children.”

Her eyebrows raised at his comment. Children? She's still so young. She stood there confused as they continued to walk out heading to where their car was parked.

The Uchiha stared at the ground while her bangs covered her face. She didn't want to get married. She didn't want Children. But, considering the state of her clan. She needed too…

[enjoythesilentworld]

2024 fandom review!

thank u for the tag @willesredlights sorry it took me literally ages to get to it

lets pretend we're not almost two weeks into the new year ok? and what a year it has been. holy shit.

~ Fics written ~

I'll be honest I did go a little batshit crazy this past year. 314k words across 19 published works, plus god knows how much more unpublished on tumblr. listen, I was deep in the ??? phase of my master's (still am, lets be honest) and desperately looking for a new creative outlet. I've always been a writer, always loved dreaming up stories, but I have never quite connected to a universe as much as I have to this one. I resonate with so many of the characters, and i just feel like there is so much room to play and explore. i will continue to add in old people OCs to my fics wherever and whenever i get the chance.

First fic: for the tree's sake (M, 48k) aka tree boys inspired by the trip that eventually led to my discover of young royals in late '23, and my darling baby. yes, that airplane ride that seems weird and random is based on truth!

Fav fic: just if for a minute (T, 53k) aka fake married idiots i greatly enjoyed making Wille suffer for just under 53k. that confrontation scene took days off my life and yet i am so proud of how it turned out.

Honorary mention to Growing towards the light, which was a dream to work on and create with my dear sweet friend Lia. there is one braincell between the two of us and it's full of nature facts and dick jokes. and beautiful stories about getting lost in the wilderness and finding yourself along the way. and tent-dick jokes.

Last fic: Wille på Hyllan (T, 13k) aka christmas shenanigans! another collab with my dearest friends which was hilarious to write and so silly and imo an example of one of the greatest perks of being in a fandom: meeting some of the most incredible people ever. also, dick-lights and dick-tomtar and dick-cookies. what more could you want?

~ Fics Read ~

if i tried to go through my history and tell you how many fics i read this year i would never make this post. i'd be here counting and trying to copy links forever. i read hundreds of fics. i enjoyed all of them, thoroughly. i got a lot better at leaving comments (sometimes). i was consistently and repeatedly blown away by the genius brains we have in this little Swedish corner of the internet.

if you are a writer i love you and i give u a kiss on the forehead.

also: i recently made a lil rec list here.

~ Other Stuff? ~

i had two big, busy months this year. three? : May, Wille's month & July, Simon's month i cannot believe i wrote 62 stories in 62 different universes (give or take a few). that's kind of stupid! but oh my god it was so fun!! some of my favs: -> Food, where Wille and Simon meet and embark on a mistakenly booked couples food tour in Barcelona -> Fashion/Style, aka the Met Gala AU aka the thing that turned into something so much bigger than i could have ever imagined. literally i thought people were gonna hate it. so, thank u for not hating it. and for letting it become 15k+ of pwp. -> Secret, friends to lovers RAHHHHHH -> Home (Improvement), aka grumpy home renovator Simon idk i just feel like this should become a full-blown fic one day

and oh boy who can forget about Kinktober from wax kinks in 17th century Italy to desperate love confession in the middle of wildfires to... whatever that was in the confessional (idk, that's between them and God).

2024...

I did some painting: x x I wrote some real weird lil ficlets: x x and I met dozens of incredible people. thank u for liking my stupid rambling posts from 3am and my silly little ficlets and for reading my stories and telling me about your stories and saving me from the Frankfurt airport and yelling with me about stuff thats definitely not in the Bible and sharing your time and space and art and care.

@bigalockwood @hergrandplan @gulliblelemon @saynomorefic @pagegirlintraining @skibasyndrome @sobadbad @impossibleknots @piebingo @theaviatorthatcouldnotfly @misfithive @sillylittleflower @zee-has-commitment-issues @purplehoodiesandclementines @justfriendsbestthings

giving u a big hug. and! this is by no means an exhaustive list. if ur reading this we are bffs. send me a message ok? ok. y'all keep me sane and happy and i am so grateful for you! live love wilmon

[daintylovers]

Champagne Coast

1.1 Pilot

Seth Cohen x Hailey Atwood (oc)

A/N: hehehehe I just loooovvveeee my stiles stilinski variants. this is an oc and she is ryans sister- twins! at least, same ages. I'm gonna try not to have too many physical descriptors of her, for all we know she could be adopted. hope you enjoy!

"Trey, what if we get caught?" Ryan was always so quick to assume the worst.

"Ryan," I started, "We won't get caught, but you might if you keep overthinking things."

"Hailey, this is grand theft auto. Real-life fucking grand theft auto, not the video game. Something seriously could go wrong." I just rolled my eyes in response. We had done this several times by now, jacking cars for parts. We needed the money, and of course driving around random cars was always fun. A way to blow off steam from the stress of everyday life.

Catching on to my facial expression, Trey slung his arm around my shoulder, "There's the spirit, Bambi." That was my designated nickname. It was a running joke, at first glance everyone assumed I was just an innocent little thing. It helped me get out of sticky situations. More than enough.

"Come on Ryan. Are you in? Or are you out?" Aforementioned boy sent a glare in my direction, willing me to change my mind. I just shook my head with a smile. No way out of this one.

One of Ryan's best qualities was his inability to say no to me. I was always dragging him into my messes, and thankfully he would always arrive with a mop in hand. Ready to clean up the disasters left in my wake. I could feel sorry for him, if I thought about it enough. But that's just it, I didn't.

If it weren't for me, we might be stuck living at this house, for the rest of our lives. No stories to tell, no anything, really. I can't live like this. And he shouldn't have to. Ryan was one of the good ones. And if I could find a way to get him out of here, he could establish himself, and pull me from these ashes.

"Fine. But," Here comes the ultimatum, "Hailey, you stay as far away as possible. You aren't getting thrown in a cell again." Oh, but it's fine if he does it?

All three of us had terrible track records. From fights to breaking and entering, the cops were our biggest fans around Chino. But now we had to be more careful than ever. Trey wasn't a minor anymore. While Ryan and I were each one way from juvie. Ryan had been on the fence for three months now. While I got my final warning just last week, for punching a guy in the nose. He had been trying to grind up against one of my friends, and she had repeatedly told him to fuck off. But to no avail. Ryan tried to hold me back, but I had slipped easily from his grasp, hitting my target so forcefully that his head snapped back and his nose was left bleeding and crooked.

****

Our target was a shiny, souped-out black sports car. I wanted her. I debated trying to convince Trey to let us keep it for a few days.

Ryan was still wary so Trey began to speak, "I'm your big brother. If I don't teach you this, then who will?" Then he smashed the window open. So much for keeping it for a little.

"I don't know Trey-"

"Hailey, get Ryan to get in the car or I will leave his ass for dead." Could have just told him that yourself. I wasn't Trey's biggest fan, but he got shit done. I admired that. Very resilient, the lot of us.

Ryan climbed into the passenger seat, while I took up the back. Situating myself in the middle, I had the perfect view and the empty streets we were about to race. Trey hotwired the car like it was nothing and we were on our way.

Except we didn't get very far before sirens started following us. Fuck.

"Trey pull over."

"Ryan- fuck off man no way."

I tried, "Trey, please. Maybe we can make a run for it."

Trey turned around to spat something at me, but swerved the wheel on accident, causing the car to smash into the building adjacent.

Kids, always wear your seatbelt. Especially if the driver is a fucking idiot. I flew from my seat, but Ryan's arm caught me and pushed me back. My head bounced off the seats. My ears started ringing, and I swear my neck almost snapped from the force.

Someone was talking, but I couldn't make out the words. Or the voice for that matter. But the flashing lights told me enough. I watched Ryan put his hands up, and look at me. He jerked his arms up a little and I got the memo.

With raised arms and my head spinning, I tried to prepare myself for the jail cell.

****

My neck hurt like no other when I awoke. One of the guards had been knocking against the bars, guess I hadn't heard him. He looked pissed. "Get up kid, Someone is here to see you." Who the fuck could that be?

With bleary eyes, I forced myself into a standing position. I held my wrists out so he could slap the cuffs on them before he led me to the visitation room.

Walking in, I spotted Ryan instantly. He was sitting with some older man, who had papers out in front of him.

Like he had some type of sixth sense, Ryan turned his head to face my direction, giving me a soft smile, happy I was alright. He was always the more worried one during this type of thing. He had a point though, girls are never treated the same.

Sitting down, he was quick to assure, "Bambi- you alright?"

I nodded, my throat feeling scratchy. He looked at me with concern, "How's your neck? The crash probably affected you more."

"I'm fine Ryan. Just a little banged up" I replied, voice sounding like hell.

I turned to face the newbie, who was watching our interaction like a hawk.

"Hailey, it's nice to meet you. My name is Sandy Cohen, and I have been appointed as your guy's public defender."

Having already thought about my fate all night, I wasn't feeling too hopeful. I just stared at him, with no expression. He didn't care if I rotted in prison for the rest of my life. No one did. Besides Ryan, but because of me, we would rot together.

Ryan asked about Trey, and that made me pay more attention. Was it bad, that I had forgotten about him? During my all-night freakout session, I hadn't once thought about how this would affect him. The only things on my mind had been about Ryan and I.

"Well, Trey is over eighteen. Trey stole a car, had a gun in his pants, an ounce of pot, and a couple of priors," He had a gun? "Trey is looking at anywhere from three to five years."

The man, Sandy, continued, "I'm not here for Trey. I'm here for you two. Ryan, your grades? Why is a smart kid like you in here right now?" Because of me. "And Hailey, you have community service written every which way. What, steal a car to help out the neighborhood?"

I couldn't help myself, "Something like that."

"She speaks." He laughed a little. I just stared at him. "Hailey, fighting? That doesn't seem like you. Ryan, truancy charges? Come on guys, why are you doing this to yourselves?"

Not receiving any answers, he trudged on, "What is your guys' plan for the future? College? Trade School? Anything?" This guy was trying so hard to remain hopeful for us. What a joke.

But- if we're really being honest, his questioning was making me a little sad. I had no future. Never really did. But Ryan? God, Ryan could do so much. I think I might be sick.

I guess my face cracked, losing it's blank expression in exchange for desperate eyes. If you looked extra close, my lip was sure to be quivering. If Trey were here, he would have laughed at me. He didn't take too kindly to emotions. Ryan learned that quicker than I did growing up, which is why his expression never faltered.

"Mr. Cohen, with all due respect, modern medicine is advancing to the point where the average human life expectancy will be one hundred. But I read this article that said social security was bound to run out by the year of 2025. Which means people are going to have to stay in their jobs until they're eighty. So, we don't want to commit to anything too soon."

Sandy laughed, but persisted, "Look, I can plead this down to a misdemeanor. Petty fine, probation. But seriously guys, stealing a car because your big brother wanted you to it's stupid and weak. Two things, neither of you can afford to be right now." Well, actually we can't afford to be anything right now- fancy lawyer ass. "We three are cut from the same cloth. I know it may not look like it right now, but I was once in your position."

I cut him off, done with whatever this was supposed to be, "And look at you now, hot shot." He hadn't expected that. Just a minute ago I looked ready to crumble, but now I was turning my desperation into anger. I just wanted this to be over.

****

Mr. Cohen managed to get us out, shortly after. Now the sun was blaring down on us. I had Ryan on one side, and Mr. Cohen on the other.

"My office will be in contact to remind you of your court date."

"Got it," Ryan answered, as our mother's car screeched up to us.

She stumbled out and thrust her poorly manicured finger into my face. "Unbelievable! This is the kind of family I got. Pathetic!"

Mr. Cohen looked like he was the one getting publically berated. "Ms. Atwood? My name is Sandy Cohen. I am Ryan and Hailey's attorney."

"You should have let them rot in there. Just like their daddy. Just like their stupid brother." Then she grabbed my wrist, pulling me to the car, "Let's go! Now!"

I was already buckled in, not wanting a re-run of last night, before Ryan got in. His hand reached back, and I took the tiny card from him.

It was Mr. Cohen's card.

****

Once back at the house, a pit of dread formed in my gut.

Mom had already poured herself another drink, before she turned her attention onto us, "I can't do this anymore."

"I'm sorry Mom," I answered almost immediately. I was always the one apologizing first. I hated myself for it, yet every time I couldn't help myself. The Bambi nickname was more accurate than most people knew. Deep down, I desperately craved some sort of parental figure's love. Dad left, and Mom only cared when it benefited her.

"I want you out! Both of you."

"What?" I stuttered, tears springing to my eyes immediately. Hearing my wavering voice, Ryan was quick to grasp my hand, assuring me we would be fine. She didn't mean it. She never meant it. But the what-ifs always pestered me.

"Come on Mom, where do you expect us to go?"

Her boyfriend answered for her, "You heard her. Out! Now!"

Ryan was pissed, all of mom's boyfriend always treated us like shit. "This isn't your house, man."

"Oh, you think you're a tough guy, huh?"

Ryan's grasp on my hand tightened, and then he dropped it.

"Both of you, stop it." Mom tried, weakly.

But Ryan couldn't help himself, "Why don't you get the fuck out and stop freeloading off our mom."

The guy punched Ryan square in the nose, so hard that my brother stumbled back into me. I saw red.

I stepped out from behind Ryan and went to make my mark, but the guy was quick. He caught my fist in the air, twirling my arm around behind my back, then shoved me to the ground. My lip caught the corner of the side table, and I felt blood start to fill my mouth.

I felt someone lift me from the floor, knowing Ryan was the only one who would touch me after that. If I thought my head hurt before, then this was hell on earth.

We were out the door in minutes. Making quick to get the hell out of dodge.

****

No one wanted to house us. Ryan tried everyone we knew. I tried everyone and their mothers, and yet all we got was rejection. I had one last try, and my money dried up. Reaching into my back pocket, I pulled out the card we received just hours beforehand.

How did it get this fucked, so fast?

I showed the card to Ryan who just nodded, what other choice did we have. Sure the park benches were always an option, but after last time? No way.

Mr. Cohen was the only one to pick up.

****

The house we pulled up to was something straight out of a movie. I didn't even realize people actually lived like this. Talk about growing up on the wrong side of the tracks.

We were just about to go inside before Mr. Cohen stopped us and told us to wait just a little.

Not having any other options we nodded our heads.

Ryan started walking down the driveway, pulling his pack of cigs from his jeans pockets. I followed him down, waiting for him to finish lighting up.

Once he took his first puff, he looked down at my puppy dog eyes. He smoked but hated it when I did it. But I guess he was feeling sorry for me because he handed me his pack.

He turned his gaze ahead of him, so I took one out. Then after a second thought, I took a few more out, hiding them in my jacket pocket.

"Put them back." He chided.

Damn, I thought I was safe. I put most of them back, keeping an extra one. He turned and gave me a look, not having my antics.

"Please, Ryan. Just this once."

"You're getting your once right now," He said, sneaking his hand into the pocket to retrieve his stolen goods. Then he offered me the light and allowed me a taste of heaven.

Looking up, I spotted a girl across us. She was staring at Ryan. Of course, she was staring at Ryan.

Feeling a little out of place, I made my way up the driveway again. These rich people need to lock up their homes more carefully.

I made my way through the backyard, careful not to fall into the gigantic fucking pool in the middle. If I had a house like this, I would swim every night.

I continued snooping around and noticed the back door to the house was also unlocked. I stubbed out the rest of my cigarette and made my way inside.

Making my way around the corner, I was caught by the owners. And Ryan.

"There she is, girl of the hour. Thank you for gracing us with your presence." Mr. Cohen joked, while his wife looked like her head might pop off at any minute.

Sheepishly, I waved my hand and made my way to stand next to Ryan.

"You must be Hailey," the woman said, offering her hand. I shook it while nodding my head. "Great, well, you two will be staying in the pool house. Which I'm sure you have already found." Touche.

"Thank you, Mrs. Cohen." Ryan and I said in unison like the Shinning Twins.

The rest of the night was spent in said pool house. I had wanted to keep wandering, but Ryan wouldn't allow it. So instead we both tried sleeping, tried being the keyword.

****

I woke before Ryan did. Odd, because normally it was the other way around.

Tip-toeing around his sleeping form, I successfully exited the pool house.

I wasn't alone for long before, I heard a slight shriek. Looking inside the house, I saw two doe eyes staring back at me. Then I let out my own shriek. Who the hell is that?

He was clearly younger than Mr. Cohen, but I wasn't aware they had a kid. Unless they didn't, and this was some sort of looter.

Sliding open the door that separated us, the boy stepped outside, ready to question me. But I beat him to it, "Who the hell are you?"

"Huh- Who the hell am I? Who the hell are you? Why are you in my backyard?"

"Wait, you live here?" So not a looter, my first theory was proving to be more accurate.

"Yes!" He exclaimed, "But you don't live here. And you're pretty, but with the cut on your lip, I'm assuming you aren't here to befriend me. So please leave before I get my lawyer dad to throw your ass in jail."

"Well your lawyer dad, just helped get my ass out of jail. So I feel pretty good about my standing with him right now."

This made him falter, "Wait, aren't you supposed to be a boy?"

I just raised my eyebrow at him.

"Sorry, my mistake. I must have heard wrong last night," then to save his ass, he extended his hand, "Truce?"

"Sure, spaz." and I put my hand in his. We awkwardly shook hands for longer than necessary, before I pulled away.

"Seth, but close enough. Wanna play video games?"

****

We played on his living room floor for about thirty minutes before Ryan caught us.

"What the hell Hailey, you left?" Seth swerved his head toward the intruder so fast, that I was worried he was gonna get whiplash.

Answering the question I knew was on the brunette's lips, I said, "Technically Ryan, I didn't leave. I relocated."

I looked to Seth, with his big questioning eyes, "Seth, meet Ryan. Ryan meets Seth. You two are like opposite sides of a coin." Then I smiled at Ryan, mouthing "sorry".

"Hi, Ryan. I wasn't aware there were two of you." That last bit was directed to me. I shrugged my shoulders. "Well, you want to play?"

****

In the next few hours, I received a lot of information. Seth was in love with Summer, a girl, not the season. Ryan was in love with Marissa, the girl from last night. But most importantly, Kirsten, the woman from last night, was in love with playing dress up.

We were currently residing in her room after she insisted that Ryan and I should attend the fashion show later that night. She had heard that Ryan was invited and thought that meant I would want to go too.

Don't get me wrong, in another life, I would eat this up. But, I didn't have high hopes for trying to fit into this richy rich society.

Kirsten had loaned me a dress, light pink silk that dropped down to my knees, with an asymmetrical hem at the bottom.

"That looks great" she smiled. Catching her gaze in the mirror, I tried to smile, but it looked more like I was in pain. She wasn't wrong, it did look great. Probably the greatest I have and would ever look. But I just felt so empty.

No empty was the wrong word. I felt too much, like one wrong breeze and I would fall off the cliff I was on.

"Thank you for the dress. And for your hospitality."

She made her way behind me, patting my back gently, "Come on sweetheart, the boys are probably waiting."

****

"Welcome to the dark side." Seth introduced. We had arrived at the function, and I was trying to stay mindful of why I was invited.

The show started soon after we took our seats. Ryan's Barbie doll, the model-faced girlfriend came out first. Then a slightly shorter brunette bounced out after, and Seth turned to whisper in my ear, "That's Summer." Of course, it was.

He tilted his head slightly to look at me, waiting for my approval. I gave him a thumbs up, then brought my lips up to the shell of his ear, "She's really pretty Cohen. Watch out, I might just steal her from you."

Pulling back, I looked at him and we erupted into giggles.

Once we turned our attention back to the show, I noticed that Summer had already gone back. So much for Seth's five-second glance at her.

I turned back to him one last time, ready to mouth "sorry", but he was already looking at me. I proceeded anyway, but with my cheeks heating up. He just shrugged his shoulders, then reached out to turn my head back.

After the show, Seth and I managed to be separated from the rest of the group. After failing to find our group, we lingered off to the side.

"You know, you could have been up there tonight." he started.

I looked up at him and gave him a smile, "Really? I was thinking the same about you. I could totally see you swinging your hips to be beat up there."

His cheeks turned red, but before he could come up with another witty comeback, Ryan found us. "Guys, we should go to that girl Holly's house. She's throwing a party."

"A party? No- no I'm good actually. I like my house."

Never one to back down from a party I said, "Come on Cohen, what if Summer is there."

That got his attention, cheeks turning brighter by the second.

"Come on!" A girl from the back of the car ahead called out.

Looking at Seth one more time, I wiggled my eyebrows and started walking back. "Come on Seth, you heard the girl." Then I turned on my heel and got into the car.

Looking around, I noticed a certain brunette bombshell was sitting right next to me. She offered me her hand and I accepted, "I'm Summer. You're Ryan's sister right?"

"That's so close, you almost knew my name!" She looked embarrassed and I felt guilty. "I'm Hailey, and yes, I am Ryan's sister."

"Awesome!"

****

I had been at the party for about an hour now, and still no sign of the boys. Not that I had searched too hard for them. Instead, my eyes had spotted the booze fairly quickly, and that ended up with me dancing with some guy. He was cute, but not cute enough for me to stop thinking about Seth. I hoped he actually came out. He needs to experience life a little.

Parting ways with the guy, I motioned to the drinks and he followed suit.

Then I spotted just who I was looking for. "Seth!" I stumbled over to him.

He turned around fairly fast and caught me as I thrust myself into him, going for a hug but failing. He laughed and held me up, hands on my waist. "Hailey!"

"You have a boyfriend?" A voice interrupted.

"Boy-boyfriend, no, no I'm sorry," Seth said to my former dance partner. Who ignored the boy, looking at me instead.

I was bored of him so I just nodded my head and then turned to ignore him.

He must have left as I made my way to get another drink because Seth came to stand right next to me. "How much have you had to drink?" He asked.

"How much have you had to drink?" I tried to counter. He just laughed at me, before a commotion erupted outside.

Noticing Ryan wasn't near us, I had a sneaking suspicion that he might be involved in whatever was transpiring outside. I tried getting through the crowded kitchen, but between being slightly more than drunk and being shoved back by unsuspecting elbows, I wasn't making it very far.

Seth, noticing I hadn't made it as far as he had, turned back to grasp my hand, and then pulled me through.

Once we got outside, I watched Ryan get knocked in the face by some blonde douchebag who shouted, "Welcome to the O.C. bitch!"

What the fuck is happening?

****

We left the party quickly after.

Coming out of the bathroom, I felt refreshed after being able to take a hot shower. Ryan and Seth were sat on the couch by the bed, talking about the night.

When I came out, both boys looked at me and then held up snacks.

We talked and giggled for a while until each one of us had our eyes closing by themselves. Seth had been curled up on one side of the couch for a while now. Any minute and he would be out like a light.

I excused myself to use the bathroom one last time, as Ryan went out for another smoke.

When I came out, albeit I took a little longer than anticipated Ryan and his Barbie doll were curled up on the bed. Damn. That was my spot.

My only other option was the floor, or the side of the couch that Cohen fist rested on. I made my way to the couch, gently pushing his legs to the side, trying to get the pillow that he rested on. I figured the floor was a safer place than being kicked in the head in the middle of the night.

I was trying to be subtle, not wake the sleeping boy, but he foiled my plans. "What are you doing?" he whispered soft, voice clogged with drowsiness.

"Nothing, go back to bed."

He sat up, rubbing at his eyes the way a small child would, "Seriously, Hailey, are you sleeping on the floor?" he questioned.

He made a move to get up, but I placed my hands on his shoulders pushing down slightly. "Seriously, I'm not letting you take the floor. If you're going to be so stubborn, just sleep on the couch with me."

"Cohen, I don't want your freakishly long legs to kick me."

"They won't. Just come on," he said, removing my hands from his shoulders so he could scoot over. "See, enough room for two."

I debated it for a second, I had never slept in the same spot as a boy. But Cohen took my silence as rejection and immediately moved to stand. "I'm sorry, I- I should take the floor."

"No!" I was quick to interject.

"No?"

"No- just lay down again."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive Cohen."

And with that, he laid back down and opened up his arms. I crawled next to him, my back to his chest. He encircled by frame, "Is this okay?" I nodded in response, feeling the sleep hit almost immediately.

****

"Look, Ryan, Hailey, I'm sorry. I don't mean to play bad cop, It's nothing personal," Kirsten started.

Just minutes ago she had burst into the pool house, furious in only a way a mother can be. She didn't even question the fact that I was in her sons arms, only glaring at him and pointing behind her.

Seth got the hint and removed himself from me, following his mom back into the house like a scolded puppy.

Ryan and I made our way in shortly after, headed for the kitchen for one last meal before we were inevitably kicked out.

"I'm sorry, you two seem like such nice kids."

"It's okay, we get it," Ryan answered.

She was nice enough to allow us to stay by the Seth, so we made the trek upstairs.

Knocking on the door, I entered first. "We have to go," I told him.

"You're leaving?" he questioned, clearly sad.

Ryan spoke up, "We have to take care of some things back home."

Seth got up and shook Ryans out stretched hand. They did a typical boy handshake, before turning to me.

Seth and I looked at each other, unsure of what to do. I made the first move, going in to wrap my arms around his waist. I felt him stiffen at first, and then he reciprocated my motion.

When we pulled away he said, "Well, I can't wait to come visit you guys down in Chino. You can show me your world."

****

Our world no longer existed.

Once we pulled up to the house, Ryan and I were met with the shell of our home. Abandoned with a single poorly written letter.

Awesome.

"Come on." Mr. Cohen, our savior, to the rescue once again.

Back to exploring Seth's world instead.

****

A/N: holy fuck this took so long to write. but- yipee!! thank you for reading <3

[mellosdrawings]

i loved seeing your character sheets for yuu and hayeli, especially hayeli’s!! it’s clear that a lot of thought went into them and i think his on/off mode is such an interesting concept (also a pomefiore student with blemishes?? yes please!!)

i’d be super curious what your creation process looked like, i.e if where there concepts you scrapped or how you went about choosing a name for them (it’s just a topic i love talking and hearing about but of course you don’t have to get into it if you don’t want to :])

not me also having ideas for an oc with mirror magic, but based on the mirror from the snow queen instead

First I'm so glad you like my characters! It seems Hayeli's bad skin is very popular and I love it! Give me more teenagers with bad skin and not making a huge deal out of it please!

As for my process... dear, that'll be a long post.

General process

Ok so my general character creation process starts with two ways:

1. I have a role to fill in a story that can't be fulfilled by a pre-existing character

2. I have a vibe and I need to turn it into a character

From those needs and/or wants, I'll go through several steps:

1. Age: surprisingly deciding on a character's age first unlocks at least half of its mental and physical design. Is it an adult who already has its shit together or a teen in the middle of a crisis?

2. Vague personality: is the character going to be introvert or extrovert? Shy or outgoing. Proud or self depreciating. Bubbly or quiet. Easy to anger or chill. It doesn't need to be its full personality yet, just guidelines.

3. Race: for fantasy and realism. A character's skin color and cultural background will shape how they view the world a lot!

4. Gender and sexual orientation: i usually decide on the gender based on how many characters I already have of each gender, or whether I want a character to be traditionally feminine/masculine or the total opposite of what's expected. Obviously the gender will affect the design, but the orientation will also affect how the character reacts to others.

5. Assets & weaknesses: for fantasy, it'd be their powers and their shortcomings, for action it'll be their strengths and the things they haven't mastered yet, for romance it'll be their best personality trait and their worst.

Once I have that base guideline, I can start working on a chara design. Age and race help with the body, personality and strengths/weaknesses help with how they dress and present themselves. (An outgoing person will have an easier time dressing in original ways while a shy person would be more traditional for example.)

Once I have a design, I draw shitty little doodles and meme redraws until I have a better sense of their personality. Slices of life and comedy and angst are great way for me to get to know my character. For writers, it'd be writing random scenes to test the characters' reactions.

Then, I double down on the strengths and weaknesses. Make them stand out. Make sure they are coherent to the characters. Make sure the weaknesses are as important as the strength. (For example, I have a character who has super speed. Arguably one of the most cheated powers in existence. I counterbalanced it by giving him poor stamina. In theory he is all powerful. In practice, not so much.)

Lastly, I chose a name. Sometimes it's just about how the name sounds. Sometimes I'm looking for names to mean something. If your character is POC, think about whether they'd have a common name or a name from their own culture. Both are valid but you need to think about it! (For example, I have two maohi characters in the same story. One is called Fray (common name), the other is called Tanemahuta (maohi name) because they and their families have different relationships with their own culture.)

Yuu

Well, that's a strange one since Yuu already does exist in the game, but it's a blank slate, a place holder. Let's make them something worth remembering, shall we.

First, I went with their gender. Most of my placeholders characters end up nonbinary because that's what I am and also I can't be bothered to role-playing gender when playing a simple game.

Then I went with a vibe and a bullet list of things I wanted to keep from the game and things I wanted to add.

To keep:

1. Not very proactive

2. Not very talkative

To add:

1. Raccoon

2. Clever/cunning

3. Physically rather weak

From there I made a design that gave "raccoon vibes". Semi long disheveled hair, lazy eyes, lazy dress up.

Now, what was important was to make up for their weakness: they don't have magic. The world around them is harsh and they get threatened by characters having breakdowns every two months. What is there strength? For Yuu, I wanted them to be clever and cunning. Have them actually outsmart our dear schemers. That's Yuu's one and only strength, they're a schemer themself. They see others as cards that make up their hands the same way Leona sees others as chess pieces. Once you have those big pieces from earlier plus the survival instinct, you get a character that is easy to handle. They don't talk much, keep everything to themselves, manipulate others from the shadows to defend themself.

But. Let's give them one more weakness, shall we? It's funnier that way. Let's make them yearn for connection. They are a teen who got kidnapped from their family. Let's give them a big family. But they are rather independent too, so let's find a way to remove the parents from the picture to explain why they are already able to fend for themself. Now make them yearn for real friendship. Make it obvious their manipulation comes from defensiveness. Have them slip up when they interact with people they genuinely end up caring about.

And there you have Yuu.

Hayeli

Now, for Hayeli, I started out with a vibe. He's actually pretty old, comes from before the game was even released when there were only countdown arts and some vague informations about the game. As I said in his description, he's based on the Evil Queen's mirror. I didn't know at the time there were already plenty of mirrors in the game haha

Contrary to my usual process, I started with his powers first. His Signature Spell had to be something about mirrors. The easy way out would be to have him shape-shifting. There are plenty of angst and fun opportunities from shape-shifting. But that was too simple, I didn't like it. Instead I went with the capacity to copy others' magic. In game there was already Azul being able to steal others' magic through a high requirement spell, so I went with this kind of power. High requirement high reward. I don't like for my characters to be overpowered and I wanted Hayeli to just be average in magic, so I doubled down on the requirements to make his magic near useless.

Then I went on to his gimmick. He still didn't have a personality or body at the time, I really went full mirror first. Hayeli is a mirror. He copies others' magic. What if I double down and make him copy everything as a by-product of his Signature Spell? Ok, now, since I still don't like overpowered characters, how do I make it ruin his life?

And so we come to the problem of his personality: he doesn't have one. He's a blank slate. A mirror. He reproduces others' behaviors and mannerisms and personalities and he has no control over it. He has no idea who he is himself. The angst creates itself.

Once there, it was easy process for the rest. Make him a body. Average size since he's just a copy of others. Pomefiore attitude and presentation since he's in Pomefiore. I like curly hair and there aren't enough of them in Twisted Wonderland so I went with that, but they couldn't be long since Yuu already has semi long curly hair.

I still needed one way to recognize him. Make him pop amongst the other characters. What makes Hayeli physically Hayeli?

1. Moles. So many moles.

2. Bad skin. He's in Pomefiore? Do the contrary of what's expected there. Give him a malleable standard face and add bad skin to it.

3. Strange eyes. He's a mirror who can reproduce everything he sees. His eyes are important. Make them pale like mirrors, make his pupils white to reflect others, make the shape a bit blurry as if the mirror isn't perfect.

And there you have Hayeli's body!

Oh. A name? Google translate, please tell me how to say mirror in different languages please. Mirror in Armenian is "Hayeli", I like the sound of it. Sold. So Hayeli shall be Armenian irl, that'd probably be on the frontiers of the Scalding Sands (thanks a friend for helping me with that part), so maybe I should make his skin darker. Besides, dark skins in a dorm that values beauty is also not the first idea people get. Sold!

(Somewhere during the process, I actually had an objective with Hayeli. "Make him represent Teenagehood itself". Teenagehood is a particularly difficult period, teenagers try to become their own person independently from their parents. They copy each other and all the people they look up to to find what suits them best, but they also hate not being able to tell who they are as a person. Hayeli represents that struggle, and that's also why I gave him a heavy bout of acne and red cheeks and baby fat but a lean body. Teenagehood isn't pretty, and it shouldn't be. Hayeli is awkward, his body is morphing a lot, he has no idea who he is or who he wants to become, he copies others without realizing. But he also has a lot of fun. He cheats at tests, he bothers his classmates and dormmates, he has fun with makeup, he tries a lot of new things. While Yuu was meant to represent survival, Hayeli is meant to represent teenagehood, for better and for worse.)

There you have all of Hayeli's creation process.

TLDR: Mostly I just... don't go with the very first thought I get. Do you know that Pixar or maybe Disney process where they give up on the first dozen ideas they get because it's too "normal" and easy to guess? It has its flaws but I think it's not that bad. I go with the contrary of what's expected (dark bad skin for a dorm that represents beauty) or I push the concept further if I can (copying magic instead of shapeshifting). And most importantly, I give my characters flaws and weaknesses. That's the most important part of the creation to me. What can I give him that'll make him struggle? The scenario writes itself as soon as you give your characters challenges to overcome within themselves.

[puckpocketed]

hello i was tagged by @18minutemajor for WIP Wednesday. it is not Wednesday but i am also not a cop so . here we gooo!!!!!!! tagging my esteemed colleagues (very politely and with no pressure!!!):

@neonfretra @oensible @sorrellegiance @moregraceful @stereax

@wheelsnipecelebrini

@korshrimpski (EDIT: it won’t?? let me tag you. unless these are on separate lines <3)

what's in-progress in your life <3 writing? art? recipe? skill acquisition?

if any crafty people see this - if ANYONE sees this - and would like to join in, feel free and consider yourself tagged <3 (and tag me back so i can see your stuff!!!) link to 18minutemajor's post if yall curious :3 my VERY long wip dump + ramblings under the cut!

its christmas soon and i like to paint gifts for my friends + and i'm finally revisiting my anime/lineart/inking era (here you are K!! my lineart past, present, and future!! <3) so here are some things i've been working on/coming back to/MAY NEVER FINISH: hockey related:

this is juraj slafkovsky and his dinky little middle part which he can absolutely learn to style into something a little less dinky but never does. i am so charmed by him. i imagine he just rocks it because his pretty privilege supersedes dinky middle parts . LMAO!!

here is Sasuke from my Naruto Hockey AU. I am a little stuck on jersey mockups lol. here he is. our haunted little 1OA who is absolutely normal and regular about his captain (LOUD incorrect buzzer):

personal oc art

wanna know some puckpocketed deep lore? i've never been one to make OCs. i was just not a very creative kid tbh. spent all my time drawing sailor moon instead. i still go back to her sometimes because she is one of my favourite shapes in the WORLD!!

in my 20s i took up playing d&d because of the. uh. plague. <3 and got pretty close to having OCs!! those count right? anyway. here is my tavern-wench-turned-wizard!!! i think i painted this 2 years ago? <- put dates on your works guys it saves lives. her name is Mel (short for Melins (pronounced like melons. on account of her knockers. can you tell i never grew out of my 12 yr old booby/cock joke era?) i revisited Mel recently and have started painting her in earnest again!! :3

I briefly dated someone who was very into streetwear and fashion, and I fell down a techwear/gorpcore/cyberpunk rabbit hole for a couple days out of curiosity. i remember literally zero salient info on any of it except the broad strokes of silhouetting and Vibes. what i emerged with, however, was a ?? sorta OC?? im not sure what to call them. they dont rly have a name or gender. I did this little sheet ages ago + the aborted attempt at a portrait later:

Here are my most recent explorations (i have been doing SOOOO much art. <3) which include:

unfinished character sheet + chibi art. I played with their jacket (much more structured/square/tailored thing) and added a lotta random buckles and belts. i took textiles class years ago and have a little experience in garment construction. and i know for a fact this thing does not make any sense. it hurts me to look at a little bit LMAO so i've paused it while i go draft patterns (badly. i was never good at drafting. i think i may have to break out my scrap fabric stash and hand sew a real life mock-up. HELP!)

here is me having fun with them and imagining them as some kind of cyber-fisherman. the best part of every game is the fishing mini-game to me. i love fishing mini-games so much. I made their hair really big because i wanted them to have big unwieldy hair and the vibes told me i should add more movement to the piece aside from the fishing line. I messed with their jacket AGAIN because i can't stop thinking about what kinda jacket they'd wear. gorp-core ? idk. it sure is something!

gifts for my friends :3

back in my weeb era for real YAYYYY!!! up til now i'd been making hockey art using a zero pressure sensitivity pen brush because i simply did NOT want to deal with that. it is and has always been a barrier to me making art that uses line art. <3 easing my way back into it though!

I used to paint gifts for my friends and then get them printed into lil posters and mount them on nice backing :3 i am now ready and back to painting.

Here is my girlbestie's OC. just a rough pose sketch. i think im pretty unsatisfied with the gesture of the head/hand. i wanted to include her gun in some way. i fear i may have to rework the pose entirely <3

For the genshin girlies.. here are some of my friends fave characters.

Yelan - this one i started many holidays ago and put on the backburner because the colouring was wigging me out. you can see where i started rendering stuff + got sidetracked and started on something else (the crystal choker IM LAUGHING @ past me...)

Ayaka - I reaaally like what i did here with the perspective + foreshortening. I don't know if the pose or expression is in-character or not, but i had fun :3 got stunlocked looking at references of genshin weapons so this is where i left off:

if you made it all the way down here hi... <3 ice hockey really cracked the ketchup bottle open for me when it comes to making art again. i love the communities i've found, and i'm inspired by every artist on here every day. thanks for being so cool + have a great day :)

[svmjaeyvn]

sincerely yours, s.jy.

chapter 00. origami hearts. pairing: idol!jake x afab!reader

add yourself to the taglist here

synopsis: where they meet once on the subway but he never forgets her or the encounter no matter how much time has passed

"YOU KEPT MY NOTE IN YOUR WALLET THIS ENTIRE TIME?"

"WELL, YEAH? I WASN'T JUST GOING TO THROW IT AWAY,"

00. ORIGAMI HEARTS

masterlist next

word count: 3.2k

my tags: @slutforsjy @jaklvbub @whowantshota @coolwitu @addictedtohobi (open)

a/n: cute pre debut jake and a little backstory :) (also this was originally written with an oc in mind of 3rd person pov so if i forgot to make some edits here and there i apologize)

— SUMMER ‘19

YOU SQUEEZED YOUR eyes shut. Reluctantly pulling your phone down, you pinched the bridge of your nose in attempt to alleviate the blurriness that came from staring at your screen for an unprecedented amount of time.

The distant sound of the tracks were drown out by your headphones that played music consistently the second you stepped into the subway. With it being the middle of the day, there were less people commuting providing enough comfortable space to find a spot to stand at without being compressed or hovered beside others. A majority of the open seats provided for everyone to use had been taken, leaving you to decide against squeezing between two random strangers although your feet continued to ache as time passed.

Letting out a near silent groan, you rolled your neck in the smallest of ways. Ensuring you weren’t disturbing other passengers, you shifted your weight on your feet. Although no one had turned to provide any attention to you, you continued to attempt to get comfortable until losing your footing upon the subway swaying.

The off-balancedness caused you to stumble back while your feet tripped over the person's behind you. Nearly falling back, a pair of hands were quick to catch, one behind your back while the other grabbed your arm.

Scrambling to stand up properly, you spun around to face the stranger who saved you from the fall. Not leaving yourself enough time to catch a proper glimpse, you bowed down to a near 90 degree angle. "I'm sorry, thank you for catching me,"

Your stiff pronunciation caused you to grimace in your head. It had been hard for you to adjust in using Korean, although with the few friends you’ve made, you still had trouble speaking to strangers as it made you nervous.

Not getting an immediate response, you cautiously looked up. To your surprise, your gaze landed upon a boy, one that seemed to be your age who was gaping like a fish. Looking rather flustered himself, he began to scratch the back of his neck.

"Uh, it's okay. You're welcome," With his words flowing between English and Korean, your eyes lit up. His pronunciation sounded like yours when you first started learning.

Glancing around, you took note of how no one else within had bothered to spare the two of you a look of interest. "You speak English?" You asked softly, your voice low and his expression visibly relaxed.

"Yeah, I'm from Australia but moved back to Korea a few days ago," He replied, matching your level of tone. You nodded, the clear accent shadowed his words that contrasted against your American one. "My name is Jake,"

"I'm ___," Returning the boxy smile sent your way from Jake, you felt a sense of comfort in the Australian boy considering you weren’t forced to rack your brain continuously to attempt at a conversation like you usually did. "I'm from the U.S,"

Jake nodded along."What part?" He asked politely, choosing to further the conversation between the two of you.

"California," You answer, a small smile appearing at your lips as his eyes widened with surprise.

"Oh that's cool! I've always wanted to visit there," He beams, his giddy expression one that reminded you of an excited puppy. With a quiet laugh leaving your lips, you shifted your weight on your feet and fumbled with the rings along your fingers. Although you excelled at masking your discomfort, Jake was able to pick up on it. Standing up from the spot he was previously sat in, he pulled his backpack over one shoulder and made a small gesture to the now open space. "Um, here, here please sit,"

You blinked. Involuntarily, you felt your face tingle with heat slowly creeping across your features. "Oh, oh no, no please. You were sitting first and my stops almost here-"

"You've been shifting in your spot since you got on," Jake spoke softly, this time out of embarrassment as his expression flushed a deeper red compared to yours. "I-I mean, I just noticed. I was going to tell you to switch with me earlier but I didn't know if that was weird and plus, my Korean isn't very good so I didn't know if that's all you spoke either,"

"Oh, um," You felt a smile perk at your lips. The kindhearted gesture only furthered your amusement seeing as how Jake looked awfully bashful staring at you with nervous eyes and slightly flushed red cheeks. "Thank you, Jake," With a slight bow, you allowed yourself to slip into the unoccupied seat.

A shiver shot down his spine, Jake having to resist the urge to react. He couldn't tell if he was more happy that you didn't turn down his offer or because of the way his name rolled off your tongue and echoed like a soft melody.

"You're welcome, ___," He replies, attempting to keep his giddiness at bay but as soon as your eyes met, they quickly looked away in sync. A laughter filtered between you, voices mixing together to fill the air out of the awkwardness that swirled between you two teens.

You noticed how Jake was quite shy, although he did hold a sort of openness and warmth to him, he was shy nonetheless beneath the surface.

As the giggles begin to die out, your gazes connected once more. Gleaming eyes and ghost smiles shared, your bodies subconsciously moved in the slightest of ways to face one another. Jake was the first to look away, overwhelmed by the deep contact and praying he had no sense of blush rushing over his features from it.

You smiled, you found it endearing. Clearing your throat, you shook head slightly before straightening up. "Why'd you come back to Korea?"

"Hm?" Jake hums, tilting his head curiously not fully comprehending the sentence as he was far too engrossed by the pearly smile you continued to flash at him.

"You just came back to Korea, yeah?" You reiterate. "So, what brought you back?"

Jake pauses, pondering over the question. "I, uh," He begins, a small hum leaving his lips. He had a small debate within himself, wondering if he should tell you the truth but as he looked back to you who sat with a doe eyed expression patiently staring up at him, he knew the answer. Looking around momentarily, Jake leaned in slightly, one hand holding the safety pole he stood next to as he dipped down. "I have an audition at HYBE with Bang Si-hyuk,"

You took a moment, blinking slowly as you processed what he said. "Hold on," You spoke, a small laugh filtering through. "HYBE, like as in the company that BTS is under? And Bang Si-hyuk who is the one who founded them? You're auditioning for that HYBE?"

Living in Korea, you understood and clearly saw just how much of an impact BTS and K-pop itself had on the world. Its popularity continuing to grow internationally and you yourself had run in to a few wannabe trainees when you were with friends on a night out. But you could tell Jake wasn't telling you just to boast and make himself seem cool and admirable.

"That's amazing Jake," You encouraged, warmth evident in your voice as he smiled at your positive reaction. "I'm sure you'll make it and do great,"

"Eh, I don't know," Jake spoke, a hand going up to run through his hair. "It's an international audition, there's going to be guys from everywhere and I'm not even a trainee. I probably won't get it,"

Clicking your tongue, you shook your head. "You've got to have faith in yourself," You encourage but Jake merely shrugged his shoulders. It was evident that the boy was nervous, his confidence level low for someone who was aiming to be a soon to be star. "I know you'll make it,"

An airy laugh left his lips. "What?" He snickers, perplexed by your bold words that seemed like a promise. You stared back at him, nodding once with a look that displayed you didn't hold an ounce of doubt. "You.. you don't even know me. I could be a terrible singer and dancer, how could you be so sure without even knowing if I had talent?"

"Well, you and your family flying out from Australia just for an audition that you knew you wouldn't make doesn't seem very likely," You start, holding up a finger as you stated the reason. "Which means you have some form of talent in singing and dancing department," A second finger went up. "Having potential and working harder for the things you want tend to work out for people," A third. "And you're cute. Along with that boyish charming thing you got going on. That covers an all around good idol on the surface level, right?" A final finger went up as you beamed a smile, your reasons being enough justification in your eyes.

"That.." Jake began, fumbling for a proper retort but he figured anything he would say wouldn't be enough to convince you. Instead, his eyes flickered to the ground, a small form of embarrassment from the unexpected praise and blind faith held for a boy you just met. He didn't even have time to properly comprehend the latter sentence of flattery and compliment that came from you as he was already flushed from your words prior.

Amused, you began to dig through your bag, eyes flickering up to Jake who stood in a trace looking back at you with a dazed expression. Repressing a laugh at the doe-y look, you find the packet of gum you were searching for, pulling out a stick for yourself before pausing. Holding out the packet, Jake blinked out of his frozen state, glancing at the half empty pack, he hesitantly takes hold of a stick for himself.

"Thank you," He speaks up, voice softer than before due to his previous flustered state still lingering within.

Humming in response, you began to unfold your wrapper and stuck the gum in your mouth, beginning to chew. Fumbling with the foil and paper, Jake watches as you carefully folds the small sheet into shape. Expertly maneuvering the gum wrapper as if it were nothing, he watched as the folded paper turned into a small heart within a few seconds.

Noticing his curious gaze, you held it up with a smile to display your heart. "A girl I met in second grade taught me how to do this. I thought it was the coolest thing and I've just, sorta done it ever since then,"

"It is cool," Jake agrees, amazed at how quickly you were able to create it.

You held out your hand, gesturing to Jake's that held his empty wrapper. "Here, I'll do it to yours and show you," You offer and immediately afterward he hands it over.

Folding the paper slowly this time, you hold it carefully for him to see in full display.

"So why did you come to Korea?" Jake asks after a few seconds. Glancing up, you intended to meet his gaze but his eyes were focused on following along to the origami folding you were in the process off. A small smile peaked at your lips, the way his head was tilted slightly to the side and the soft way his brows pinched together in concentration were endearing.

"I'm an exchange student," You answered, going back to focusing on the heart. "I just finished my second year of University,"

Jake's head quickly picked up at this. With wide eyes, he stared at you in shock. "How old are you?" He blurts, the words leaving his lips without second thought. The entire conversation between you two, Jake had assumed you were the same age, maybe he was even a little older considering the baby-face look that you had.

"Here in Korea, I'm 18," You answer with a small laugh out of amusement from the reaction. "I was born in '02,"

"I was too," Jake frowns his brows, his confusion furthering. "So, internationally you're only 16?"

"17 actually, my birthday just passed in April," You correct with a small shrug. "I skipped a grade and throughout high school I took college classes so I'm a little ahead of everyone our age,"

"Wow," He breathes out in awe of the information. "So for the past year you've been living here?"

"Yeah, roughly," You nod along. "Growing up, I was essentially raised by my mom and her best friend. Her best friend is Korean and her family still lives here so when I said I wanted to take an exchange year, they set it up and I've been living with her sister and her family,"

"That's really cool," Jake meets your eyes, you sending him a mere smile, waving it off. "Seriously, you're really cool," He reiterates, practically oozing with admiration for your accomplishments. The praise followed with boyish charm as he returned your meek smile with a boxy grin.

"Yeah?" You laugh, finding his spark of amazement rather amusing. "You're cool too Jake," You add, holding up the now finished folded up heart. Although he lost his concentration on figuring out how to make one of his own, Jake still took the origami wrapper happily, carefully holding it as if he were afraid he'd mess it up so quickly.

Slipping your phone out from your pocket, you take note the time. Pursing your lips, you begin to fumble with your bag again. Jake watched expectantly, confused as you pulled out a pen and began to unfold your own paper heart that you made first.

"When's your audition?" You asked, the words momentarily distracting Jake from whatever you began to scribble along the inside of the wrapper.

"Three days," He replied, clicking his tongue at the thought. The nerves that he had since the moment he landed in Korea had begun to flood back, the momentary relief from speaking to you only lasted so long before he was reminded of reality and his circumstances.

You nodded, a small hum leaving your lips. "That's when I fly back to America,"

Jake tensed up. He understood that you were essentially a stranger, the short conversation one that would probably be irrelevant to you later on but to him, you were the first almost-friend he's made since landing. Being alone without his family made it that much harder to fight his internal battle of worries. He had a false hope that maybe your subway talk would lead to a proper friendship but once again, reality brought him to a rude awakening.

The metro began to come to a gradual stop. The cart swaying slightly as the subway pulled into the station and in return, a few passengers began to stand, one including you.

With the pen now tucked away and your origami heart folded once more, you sent the boy a bright smile that brought warmth to their bittersweet goodbye. "This is my stop," You announced, adjusting the bag that was slung over your shoulder. "I liked talking to you Jake,"

"Yeah, me too," He replied softly, his smile evidently smaller than before causing you to feel a tug at your heart, noting how adorable it was from your perspective. His pout indicated that he enjoyed your company just as much as you did. "We're probably never going to see each other again, are we?" Jake snickers, clicking his tongue with distaste at the thought.

"Who knows?" You began, gesturing for him to hold out his hand. Raising a brow, Jake followed to your signal, his hand being held between the two as he allowed you to grab hold of it. Flipping his wrist so his palm was facing upward, your hand cupped his own while your other gently placed the origami heart in the center. Your soft fingertips grazed his skin, the contact sending a wild flame throughout his body and Jake had to resist the urge to shiver at the contrast of how cold your fingers actually were. "If we're meant to then we will, I'll even buy you a drink for our reunion,"

"I feel like I should do that instead of you," He teases as you hum. Your hands moved away from his own, the loss of contact left a lingering air between you as the subway doors opened allowing for passengers to flood both in and out.

"You can pay for the one after that," You smile, taking a step back indicating the end of the temporary rendezvous from the outside world. "Hey, when you're a big worldwide idol, remember that I was your first and biggest fan, got that?"

Jake let out a small laugh, nodding along fully compliant. "Of course, I'll remember," He agrees causing you to nod.

"Good," You hum. Making your way to exit the doors, you stops to turn to the boy watching after you still. The familiar cheeky smile appeared at your lips, one that seemed bigger and brighter than the others and sent Jake's heart to rapidly thump like a drum through his ears. "Bye Jake,"

"Bye ___," He echos, voice softer than before but a fond smile captured his expression. Sparing him a look, you spun on the heels of your feet and began to walk away from the opening.

Jake's eyes followed you through the windows within, focusing on your figure walk away but just before you disappeared from his line of vision, you turned back. Seemingly feeling his gaze, you looked up with a smile, waving a final goodbye.

One that he mirrored. As the metro closed its doors and began to embark to its next destination, the two of you waved at one another until finally out of sight.

Jake let out a sigh. Glancing around, he noticed that the subway was more crowded than before but the seat he and you shared was open right beside him. Placing himself down in the spot, the boy situated himself before carefully beginning to unfold the heart you left him.

With his own safely tucked away in his jacket pocket, Jake's eyes narrowed in on the writing that filled the inside of the gum wrapper. The short message that was written scribbled in a hurry but still neat nonetheless.

The note itself was short and sweet, adhering to the small amount of space and minimal amount of time given to write it. You wrote it out of a final boost of confidence for the boy, intended to hopefully give him some form of temporary encouragement. You figured he'd smile at the message but it would nonetheless be thrown away later on in the day, soon forgotten along with the majority of their conversation with time passing.

But that wasn't the case for the words written held a far greater weight than you knew. Rather than having you forgotten, Jake would hold onto the origami hearts, it and it's message being close to his heart along with the idea of a girl he wasn't sure he'd ever meet again.

©svmjaeyvn

[kesouu]

Blue Star☆｡⁠*✯ﾟ⁠+*⁠.⁠✧

(⁠☆) Narumi Gen x Oc

(｡⁠*ﾟ⁠+ CHAPTER 1 +ﾟ⁠*｡⁠)

(⁠｡⁠•̀✧) FIRST POST IN A WHILE SO WHY NOT MAKE A SERIES??

13 years ago...

A 12 year old Hoshiko stands before a crowd of older boys unconscious on the floor and a boy her age in the center of the chaos.

"Hoy! Your all bruised up!" She yells cupping her hands around her mouth to emphasize her voice "What's it to you?!" The boy yells as he snaps his head in her direction with a scowl on his face which morphs into surprise as the girl walks towards him avoiding from stepping on the boys on the floor to grab the bruised boy's wrist. "Oi?!-" was all the boy could yell before he was being pulled and yelled at "I'm going to patch you up at my house! No complaining!" The girl exclaims.

Narumi, Hoshiko learns, hisses at the antiseptic she dabs on the boy's wounds. The boy was propped up on a counter, his head unfortunately forced by the girl to rest on her palm as he flinched away from the burn of it on his cuts. "You take punches but not betadine?" She laughs as she grabs a plaster to place on his face as she hears him huff in annoyance. "Aren't you that guy who aces all his classes but can't stay unsuspended for the life of him? We go to the same school." Hoshiko says gently placing the plaster on his face caressing it with her thumb to smooth it out. "Yeah, you done yet? If you are, I got a game to finish so-" Narumi was about to jump off the kitchen counter untill Hoshiko stopped him.

"Go to me when you get bruised up again." Hoshiko says sternly holding onto the boy's arm "Thank you so much, mitsuba-san" he says just as sternly until he yells out again "IS WHAT I WOULD SAY IF YOU DIDN'T NAG THE WHOLE TIME?! YOU'RE THE ONE WHO WANTED THIS AND YOUR THE ONE COMPLAININ'?" Narumi yells holding up his middle finger, in retaliation, she holds up her own and argues back "My conscience couldn't walk away when i saw you, okay!? I knew first aid anyway my mom taught me..."

Silence follows the outburst as Narumi scoffs "I don't care about you or your conscience if that's all that made you want to do this. It's just because you want to feel good about yourself..." He lowly says to the girl who's eyes widen at the anger and the twinge of sorrow in his words. "...I've always survived on my own no one has done me any good in this world anyway so leave me alone."

Narumi finally jumps off the counter top but was stopped at the front door yet again "You sure are stubborn." He says, an irk mark appearing on his cheek. "I get that a lot" Hoshiko smirks as she continues "Listen, you say the world hasn't done good for you right? Well let me be the first to give you good, come here whenever you like, let's be friends." The boy infront of her stares in shock and confusion 'Why the hell is this kid doing this..' "You have a wierd way of making friends you know that." The girl nods and moves out of the way of the door "I know, that's all I gotta say so your free to go." Narumi reaches for the doorknob and as he twists it Hoshiko speaks up again "I hope next time you come over it's not after you beat up more random guys alright?"

"Are you kidding me." Hoshiko was out in another one of her afternoon walks to see Narumi beating up another bunch of older boys. 'might as well lessen my job later' she thinks as she digs around in her pocket 'there you are...' she says grabbing her magic stick as she pulls the screw at the end and it extends and she goes to join in on the fight.

"You don't have to do this." Narumi says holding a guy by his hair as he watches Hoshiko hit another with the end of her stick "I don't learn bojutsu to just rot in the dojo you know." She huffs as the last of the group was on the floor to then turn to the boy she was with -

"Guess I'm going to be patching you up again, right?"

"Do whatever you want"

"You don't have to do this." Narumi says for the second time that day "But I want to" the boy who was sat yet again on her counter top furrows his eyebrows in frustration "You'll stop doing it eventually when you don't want to anymore." He says, the boy feels a slight pang in his chest at his comment "Nah I could get used to this I like patching you up now, you are my friend now, right?" Narumi stares at her as she smoothens the plaster on his cheek again with her thumb "You were serious about that?" And the girl hums as she began to clean up the mess she made.

"I better not catch you in a fight again, sheesh are you like a gangster or something? So many people have some sort of grudge on you. Its the weekend and all you've been up to is being ganged up on??" She says bewildered "Not my fault they don't mind their own business." The boy looks away his bangs covering his eyes Hoshiko then brightens up at the sight "I'll be right back!" She says before disappearing up the stairs leaving Narumi in the kitchen, from his position he can clearly see the living room so curiosity takes over him as he jumps off the counter to explore the room.

'Theres only older pictures of them together' Narumi thought as he stared at the family pictures on the wall 'they have a huge tv and a console too, might stay here a while then' crouching down to look at the console connected to the tv as he heard footsteps going down the stairs "Got you something!" Hoshiko says hiding an object in her hands as she descends the stairs "Look!" She stands beside Narumi to show him multiple clips shaped like stars "I am NOT wearing those." He glares at her as she laughs "Come on! It's to get your hair out of your face!" She whines as she tries to put it in his hair "No way! I like my hair like this!" He yells trying to push her hands away "Just this once!!"

The couch cushions were all over the living room, pictures were now hanging crookedly on the wall, coffee table not in the same position it was in before from the wrestling the two children did as Narumi sits with a scowl on his face as he plays with Hoshiko on her console with an assortment of different colored star clips in his hair "They look good on you" Hoshiko snickers without looking away from the screen "Shut up." The boy says as he glares at the tv in frustration "How are you so good at this!" he complains as the girl laughs "You're just ass at it thats why." she says beating Narumi in a match for the 3rd time "Forget it! I'm going home!" He says slamming the controller on the coffee table "No you aren't! You're helping me clean the mess we made!" The boy grows an irk mark at the girl's demand "Why should I clean?! You started it?!" He yells pointing a finger at the girl "You were the one who started throwing pillows!" She argues back.

"That was harder than I thought..." Hoshiko says looking at the living room they just cleaned "I would have been home by now fighting the final boss of my game." Narumi crosses his arms as he stands beside her "Well you're free to go home now." The girl says looking at the boy beside her as they walk to the door. "Did you have fun?" She says teasingly to Narumi's displeasure "...It was ok" he rolls his eyes and continues "Do I really have to keep these on?!" He says angrily and Hoshiko laughs at his frustration "Duh! I have loads of those things so its fine if you keep them." Narumi huffs out a breath and turns his back to the girl "Fine, I'm going home" he says as he walks away from the door raising his hand to wave "Bye! Get home safe!" The girl yells. On his way back to the orphanage Narumi feels a tingle in his chest 'The world is finally showing me some good huh?'

-☆☆

[galedekkarios]

male oc (tav, durge) x gale fic rec list! ✨

in no particular order + heed the tags, ratings, and warnings before reading!

Beneath the read-more you'll find 40 recommendations with their summaries attached. Enjoy!

Anxiousscrambles' entire BG3 collection (17 Works).

You'll find lots of Gale x Durge, featuring Dreuer, a middle aged tiefling warlock (who I love so much). They've written about Gale and Dreuer's journey from the beginning to the end of the game, as well as their life after (and a little of Dreuer's life before, too). Both characters grow and develop across each fic, both as individuals and partners, and it's just so lovely to witness them both being written with such care. There's a bit of everything, too, when it comes to content.

the night so black that the darkness hummed by persephoning

Kidnapped on his way to Waterdeep, elven bard Ruadhán Riddon wakes up with a blinding headache, an illithid tadpole in his eye, and no clear way out of either mess. To his dismay, the magnitude of the situation only grows worse by the hour, but there's more good hidden beneath the darkness than he expects.

Ship to Wreck by Snailsnol

“Teach them spell shield, first.” Anyir instructs as he limps back to his desk. “Yes, but my issue is how. I can’t simply tell them to cast Spell Shield while I throw a fireball at them.” Anyir sighs like that’s a great disappointment. “And additionally, you are a proficient martial fighter, the throbbing of my thigh is proof of that and I cannot teach them any of the skills you or your siblings share.” “Oh-khay. Explain Spell Shield me like you would your students.” Anyir says, scooting his chair up next to Gale’s. He barely resists the urge to bump their knees together. “Speak, magician.” ----- After defeating the Absolute, Gale finds himself alone in his tower again despite extending a hasty invitation to the artificer, Anyir. He desperately tries to shove the disappointment from his mind and bury himself in teaching his students, but his fool heart clings to it like a web. Until one day he is no longer alone and realizes existing is much different when you aren't the only one doing it.

you say love, i believe it to the bone by alliancedogtags

"Gale," the paladin finally spoke, voice quiet under the crackle of the fire pit and the breeze in the trees around them. "Surely you know that with or without your magic, you are still an incredible man?" Gale couldn't answer that. He tried, mouth opening, but no words came out of it. His usual charm of words, the security blanket of knowledge, the comfort of a conversation's upper hand. There was nothing. Not when they were alone. Not when Mylo looked at him like that. his finger traced the muted purple line down the side of his neck. "Gale," Mylo repeated again, softer this time, and something laced his words. Not just something, no - a certain sadness that escaped in the pitch of his voice. Not even pity. Sympathy. "Great Gods, Gale. If only you could see yourself the way that I do."

Sage and Lavender (Series) by TheMoYouKnow

Evander: 42, Half Wood-Elf Ranger. Hails from the area just outside Baldur’s Gate. Gale: 38 (probably), Human Wizard. Famously from Waterdeep. One shot pieces written at random for different points in their timeline, but the series will always be reordered chronologically after a new piece is posted.

Gale & Devour (4 Works) by CaptainNautical.

The link features four fics for Gale x Devour, a Dragonborn fighter. Devour is a beautiful character, and his relationship with Gale is so tender and touching in every fic.

Ironfire by scarvenrot

But beneath Gale’s hands, and in his arms, the withering ache of muscle turned from burden to gift, because it called such a fount of affection out of him. Every stroke of his fingertips, each careful brush of lips against flesh was a balm against burns, ice to swollen bruises, warmth to the joint. Krull didn’t have the right words for it all. You make me feel strong, was all he could say. Stronger than I ever have. Was this how his mother had felt, Krull wondered, when she had come across that bumbling, balding man and his goat farm besieged by goblins all those years ago? Did he unwittingly charm her with his earnest humanity, his love for his little home and his modest life, his empathy for livestock that ran so deep that he called them his family? Krull had never asked, and he didn’t know. But he imagined it must have been so. That it was written in his blood for him to love a human being so fully, so simply, for every fragile piece of who that person was. *** A half-orc barbarian and a human wizard fall in love.

gale gets good dick anthology (Series) by auriadne

maybe a joke, maybe not. mostly home to m!durge/gale fic. (op chiming in to say that this is some extremely delicious well-written smut, just in case the "maybe a joke" bit threw you off!)

Taste You On My Lips by Djarfskald

Gale had only intended to impress Tristan with a bit of magic and show him how it felt to touch the weave in the ways he did. What Gale hadn't expected was what the tiefling showed him when they shared that moment. All Gale could think about was seeing more, and it turns his already interesting predicament into something wildly unexpected.

Under the Stars, in Your Arms by weenietime

Gale had never been sure that scales would be a feeling he'd yearn for, but now he was finding himself bubbling with desire to run his hands along the textured skin below him. The warm surface was rough against Gale's softer skin, his human form pressed against the chest of a Dragonborn. He didn't have to imagine Altid underneath him anymore, because he was actually here; his hands gently grasping Gale's clothed love handles as he laid beneath him, warm breath tickling Gale's neck. (Aka me needing to write my first Tav and Gale makin' love underneath the stars)

Devour by Sylpherna

Gale contemplates the destiny Mystra had ordained, while Estevan begs him not to follow through. They fight, and then they fuck about it.

Skornweave (Series) by BoilingHeart

A cleric of Ilmater with a dark past falls for the wizard of Waterdeep. Both find in each other not just a new meaning of life, but the meaning of love and passion.

Shelter (Series) by Iselea

A series about my dragonborn Tav and Gale of Waterdeep. Hailing from Alaghôn, the capital city of Turmish, Tavraskirno Marivaldi is a dragonborn who ventured far into the Sword Coast to visit his adopted human sister who had settled into Baldur's Gate, only to wake up in the nautiloid with a tadpole in his head.

let it bleed through my fingers, a treasure in my hands by blazeofglory

Gale tosses his head to the side, practically writhing on the bedroll, and River spies a glint of silver, almost lost amongst Gale’s lovely brown hair. His earring. Mystra’s symbol. River cannot abide by Mystra's mark on something that belongs to him.

Magic of a Different Kind by Girlfoxgirl

My Githyanki Tav Genos and Gale share an intimate evening sometime following their first experience in the Weave. Character development and smut.

Cooking Time by Tal_Art (Tal_Monarch)

Gale panics when he sees smoke coming from the tower only to find Tav has attempted to cook.

My Hand That Will Not Harm You by goddessofcheese

The tent fell quiet again as he moved his attentions over to the other hand. The worries he’d dredged up wouldn’t quite leave but he found them easy to drown out by focusing on Gale’s high knuckles. His pulse, steady and strong beneath his grip. The fastidious cleanliness of his fingernails. Every so often he looked up, to make sure he wasn’t pushing too much into the mystery pain of what the wizard had to live with, but was glad to only see him with his eyes closed for the most part, fully absorbed in the relief. Pride flitted into Zen’s chest at being able to give that to him. Pride and… something else. Something… now altogether unfamiliar. He wanted more. ----- Alternatively, Gale finally accepts some help with the pain.

Wizards and Evil Lizards by SunflowerRose22

On a whim, the Dark Urge sneaks into Gale's tent one night. He's been craving the wizard for quite some time now and has decided to make Gale his.

Crow and Seagull by Subaruchan192

After two weeks at sea, Gale and Karasu finally arrive in Waterdeep. Both are looking forward to finally starting a new chapter in their lives together.

Want is a Four Letter Word by Saccharine_smiles

“Why did you–ugh–you confounding man!” The fear is evident in his voice and his fingers shake from where they begin the incantations of healing he knows. His eyes squint in agony at seeing Tav bloodied and beaten beneath him and he swallows the cry that claws at his throat knowing that this was his fault. “I like it when you use big words,” Tav says, head lolling onto one shoulder as the warm, soothing feeling of Gale’s magic overtakes him. It is the softest touch he’s had since the last time Gale had reached out to him with kindness. He is still not used to it.

I Want To Hurt You (I Want To Love You) by Brittany_Hamato

“I want to hurt you,” Tav’s voice rumbled from his chest, making Gale’s muscles quake and his chest tighten. “Excuse me?” “With your permission, I want to break you. I want to take you apart, piece by piece, and take everything you have to give, then take just a bit more.” Tav sat closer, his hand trailing across Gale’s shoulder blades, sending trails of electricity over his skin. “Please, gods” Gale choked on the aborted noise, it wasn’t quite a word, but Tav heard him anyway. Tav moved in closer, pressing his lips to Gale’s pulse as he nearly whispered his desires. His hands wandered lower, one supporting his back while the other tangled in his folded hands. “Your goddess can’t protect you from me,” Tav snarled, teeth pulling threateningly at his earring before continuing back down his neck, “and my god wouldn’t take away my toy.”

Forward, This Book is Dedicated To, Epilogue by upwards_descent

Gale is a disgraced and somewhat washed-up professor at the local prestigious college when he crosses paths with a handsome stranger at the library. Would this be the romance he needed to fix the hole in his heart, or was he just needlessly putting his own soul on the line once more?

fall away by whenwindwhispers

The Shadowlands have made our beloved party gloomy. Some members are becoming irritated by the smallest of things. For Gale, he is drawing the line at dirtying his favorite robes any further, and Whisper has the perfect solution: why not carry him? In short: Gale discovers he really likes being carried by Whisper.

Gum on your shoe (Series) by Lintu

1: Gum thought he'd been cursed to face the worst scenario taught to him by his people. Perhaps maybe a ghaik tadpole was the ticket he needed to see the world. Small segments of my tav, Gum, exploring Faerun and bonding with his new found companions. 2: "Wow. That's some sleight of tongue. Never seen that before." Gale watched as Gum stood, stolen ring in hand. "I have," Karlach replied. "But that's another story for another time." 3: Gale was left drowning in misery, the egg he intended to fry for breakfast past burnt and stuck to his pan. The very knowledge that he had turned Gum down, pushed him into the spawns arms, made Gale want to scream. --- Gale and Gum navigate both tadpole removal, abolishing the absolute, and their relationship.

My Many Tavs (Series) by upwards_descent

1: A series of snippets revolving around my Tav (Cairros Elrûn, a woodland elf Evocation Wizard) and his lover, Gale. Hella gay, super cute, with some bits of backstory for my boy sprinkled in. 2: Another series of snippets, this time featuring Gale and my other Tav, Rizal Aganaad the swashbuckling elder tiefling bard. A bit more angsty, a bit more kinky, just as fun! 3: A third collection of snippets romancing Gale, now with added Dark Urges! Featuring Autumn A. Augustus, soon-to-be redeemed human Great Old One warlock

A Talk About Control... by Faetality

Gale wants to talk about his pursuit of a certain artifact. Kai’chrell finds himself less than enthused with the idea and the urge… well. It raises its head at the worst of times.

You are Beautiful, Like I've Never Seen by Eternal_Starr

“You’re worth something to me…” He promises. “Worth a lot to me. And you are important in this world, even if you don’t feel it…” He watches as tears begin to swell in Gale’s eyes before he blinks hard to push them back down. He turns to meet Altair’s gaze, a warmth glowing inside them. Silence creeps in again. Neither of them dare to break it. ----------- Gale feels his death will make his life worth something. Altair claims he's worth something now.

Gale's Folly by arcanewriter

“Another night, I want to show you my home. Waterdeep. Tonight .. can you just hold me?”

Well Rested by Lintu

The gang gets to Baldur's Gate and stays a night at the Elfsong.

don't accuse me of accusing you by sertuna

Elminster delivers a message from Mystra. Callesian gives his opinion on the matter. “If you have something on your mind, I'd surely like to hear it,” Gale spoke at last as they locked eyes. He paused in response, leaving Gale to witness the gears turning in his mind as he formulated a response. Every feeling that had been stirring within him that evening threatened to bubble over the edge. Callesian knew if he let out even an ounce there would be no slowing down. For all the good rapidly escalating emotions did a barbarian in combat, it wasn’t a conduit for rational discussions. At last, he settled on what to say. “No, I don't think you would.”

Silly, Silly Tav, Or: Gale Gets Buttfucked Through The Portal by faeblesmith

“It seems… unstable, somehow. Normally, magic this old is the most stable sort, with decades, centuries, even millennia of support. There must be something very powerful behind this mass of sparks. Just as Tav gets within arm’s reach, someone half falls from the portal. Ass first. Bare ass first. “Hello? A hand? Anyone?” Tav stares at the ass, unable to even think for a moment, let alone move to do anything about some man’s bare ass (and legs, quite a nice set of ass and legs at that) jutting out from… the sheer rock face on the side of a hill.”

The Stars Can't Compare by Brittany_Hamato

He wants to forget his goddess and Eliminster's words. Instead of worrying about the orb, or the decisions left on his shoulders, Gale wants to just spend a night watching the stars. Tav decides to distract him. Gale is definitely distracted and certainly not complaining.

Roar of a bear by Subaruchan192

Gale is awestruck the first time Karasu turns into a bear and due to this distraction, gets hurt. The bear gets feral and afterwards they share a moment of tenderness and maybe flirting- or whatever these idiots understand by flirting.

wordlessly and entirely by reddragoncrush

The hungers in Gale never quite died, but sometimes they were silenced. Or, perhaps, more interestingly, he hadn't done what he needed to sate them.

Even in Darkness by PerditionLaFey

Post- game end, Male Tav was injured and has lost their sight, maybe for good. Gale comes along to provide some much-needed comfort.

shake like the bough of a willow tree by deathishauntedbyhumans

They never last long like this, either of them. The few times they’ve made love directly after fighting something that has made an honest attempt to kill them have always been hot and dirty and rather to the point. Tav doesn’t mind, though— there have been other moments, other times where their lovemaking has lasted much longer, been much sweeter. This is different. This is… stimulation, for the sake of stimulation.

an incantation of tongue by sanquines (wraithes)

Gale's desires are a well untapped, the cool waters of his mind plagued with wanton ripples. In attempt to free himself of one man, he finds himself with two — a challenge even the prodigy struggles to wrap his mind and mouth around.

an abundance of moments by floralprintshark

Gale struggles with his feelings for Tav and talks to pretty much everyone about this except to Tav. (Tav called Suvi, they're a Tiefling bard with the urchin background)

Counting Sheep by Nightwang

“That’s not what I meant. I was thinking more of turning that big, beautiful brain of yours off.” “Oh really? Well now this I’d like to see. What great plan do you have, oh fearless leader? A sleep potion? Perhaps a nice chair to the head?” For the prompt Gale/Any - Cockwarming on the Baldur’s Gate Kink Meme

God of Ambivalence by SpaceMonkeySalsa

A tiefling Artificer trying to carve a new path for himself splits a large stone on a beach to discover something truly shocking: a wizard missing a hand and in need of a lot of help, and magical items. Lucky for the wizard, Elion happens to be a fount of magical items.

[3m0n3rd]

heyyy guys! I wanted to make an announcement tht I might in the future make a webtoon of ocs! If anyone wants to help me with this project that again I MAY OR MAY NOT BE DOING please dm me! And I might make a discord server if I get enough help. Here is a small little draft of everything and I will give a rough drafts of a plot

Plot down below ⬇️ a lil TW? Maybe?

So the story/comic follows Najimi seawater (age 17, height 5’5”Japanese and American parents, though her dad dies which turns her mother into an alcoholic) she is lovesick as she bores herself in her catholic school. She keeps a watchful eye on Kai, an egotistic popular jock who, for some reason, najimi loves. One day she confesses her feelings towards him, which in reply, he has no idea who she is. After this, she sobs alone at the park near by when a random stranger, though her age and wearing the same uniform from her school, goes and tries to comfort her. And his name is yoshi (which najimi immeadiatly falls for)

Yoshi Amano (age 17, height 5’8”, Japanese American, and has a little sister, Fumiko) has been obsessed with Najimi since he moved to America. He forced his parents to put him into the catholic school, even though he was in fact not catholic. Seeing Najimi as the grocery store one day, he followed her home and from then on, stalked her with her not knowing him ever. And once he finds his way into her life, after comforting her and becoming Najimis friend, he begins to date Najimi. But soon he becomes more violent, and angry with anyone else. And soon he kills Kai, for even making Najimi sad. But once Najimi finds out about what Yoshi did, she’s of course terrified.

this results in yoshi yk kidnapping her since he could never ever lose her. I’m not gonna specify what’s gonna happen during this part but it will be gory. It will include as follows; amputation, starvation, rap3, self harm ect. (This is based off of my own experiences but more extreme. I do not condone ANY of this and this is not intended for younger audiences.) but soon Fumiko, yoshi little sister who is currently in middle school, finds out what Yoshi is doing in the basement. Of course she screams and this results in her death. And soon her and yoshis parents. Because he just wants to live a happy life with Najimi.

I haven’t really figured out what the ending may be but I have two ideas. One, Najimi escapes and yoshi gets the rightful punishment he deserves. Najimi still loves yoshi from stockhold syndrome. She will visit him in the Prison and yoshi is happy with that. Najimi does sorta recover but does plan on trying to get yoshi out because of the trauma she endured she feels obligated to help him out. OR Najimi just straight up dies after yoshi has a failed attempt at amputating another liver of hers. So then yoshi kinda offs himself.

[solei-eclipse]

More random stuff about Jiu & Kioku:

I was originally going to name Jiu "Ryuu" because it meant dragon, but I realized @starry-skiez already had a Ryu. I changed names, but now that I think about it Jiu still ended up sounding like another one of Star's ocs Ji Woo 😭😭 Jiu is Ryu and Ji Woo's accidental lovechild by name

I was almost going to give Kio a long ass name, but I found it exhausting to write so I scrapped it

The color of Kio's hairtie is the same color as Jiu's eyes

Both Kio and Jiu own the same kind of purple bracelet. Kio doesn't know how she got hers, Jiu doesn't wear his anymore

Kio has a tiny fang! It doesn't protrude like Ivan's, though, it's only visible whenever she opens her mouth

Jiu, like Ivan, doesn't wear a control collar and dons a high-collared shirt instead

Kio's hair is always messy. At one point she choked on it and is still clowned on regularly by everyone who was there to witness it. She started tying her hair back more often shortly after the incident

Jiu's default sleeping position (face-down) makes it very hard for him to breathe, but it's the only way he can fall asleep. He sleeps like a log, so once he's knocked out it's up to someone else to turn him over (a certain someone used to do this for him in their childhood, but not anymore)

Now on his own, Jiu wakes up in the middle of the night panting and light-headed from his sleeping position (survival instinct 😭 his body jolts awake before he can truly suffocate)

Jiu excels in all areas, most prominently in mathematics. Kio is below average in Gen Ed subjects, good in music and VERY excellent in sports. Her peers joke that she was sent to Anakt by accident and was supposed to go to the Olympics instead

Part of Kio's struggle in academics is caused by her memory issues. This is also why she prefers sports and activity. Despite her mind forgetting, her body always seems to remember

I drew Kio in her Anakt uniform once (standard shirt + shorts), but I might alter her bottoms to look more like sports/PE pants instead

Jiu carries the demeanor (and eyebags) of a depressed middle aged man who lost his wife and works a dead end minimum wage office job. This is partly due to the fact that he was put to work at the ripe age of 10 years old

Kio feels weak and sick when she tries too hard to remember certain things. She has a special medicine for this, but what she doesn't know is that it's essentially just a sugar pill. This was issued by her guardian

Jiu is biologically from a very noble lineage of pets, which is why his guardian was so keen to have him

Overworked, jaded, and reduced to a servant, he currently resembles a luxurious trophy that has lost all its shine and luster

Once Jiu deems that he is no longer needed by Kio, he begins to distance from her heavily

Whenever she is in need of help (though rarely), he is the first to answer her call

Kio finds it very conflicting. Sometimes he pretends she doesn't exist and other times he trips over himself in an effort to help her first. It's almost like he himself can't decide, or like he's trying to make up for something last minute

Even after they've become acquainted and familiar in the Anakt Garden, Jiu still refuses to look Kio in the eyes

[smileygoth]

21. Aspen (Inspired by Another OC From The Challenge, Month of Darkness 2024)

This is possibly the most terrifying prompt to post, because it means sharing something based on the work of a total stranger! I've been following the #monthofdarkness tag on Tumblr and X, and the OC who caught my interest came from the X account of @OffbeatWorlds. I hope I did your character justice! It's so hard when you only have limited information about them!

CW: None.

Image from @OffbeatWorlds. They also do awesome fantasy, D&D and Critical Role art and they have a calendar coming! Check them out!

Find the Masterlist here!

She dozed, and her mind wandered. Memories of Cesario became memories of so many others, and then memories of places she had been, memories of America….

A random gas station out in the middle of nowhere, while she’d been travelling from one city to another. There was so much open space between cities in America. The tour bus had needed to refuel, and it had been just a few hours past sunset when it pulled into the gas station, so Christina decided to get out and stretch her legs. She was hungry, but the idea of feeding on some poor random schmuck in the gas station toilets did not appeal to her. Instead she did a slow circuit of the station, wandering just inside the circle of light it threw while her driver and roadies went in to pay for the fuel and load up on snacks. Martyn had joined them, craving Redvines. He’d become almost addicted to them while they’d been over there.

Theirs was the only vehicle in the gas station, so once all the roadies had disappeared into the store, it was very quiet outside. Christina had stood still, closing her eyes to listen to the night. The road was quiet and all she heard for a few moments was the sounds of the insects chirping and the rustle of the wind in the trees around them. She didn’t get to hear this very often. In England all the spaces remote enough to be this quiet were rumoured to be home to -

A twig cracked, heavily, not far away. Christina’s eyes snapped open and she turned in the direction of the noise. It had sounded deliberate. She found herself staring into the dark eyes of a woman standing in the treeline who looked about the same age as her, wearing practical but worn clothes and carrying a bulging backpack on one shoulder. Her shoulder-length brown hair was tousled and had a couple of leaves tangled in it. She was staring directly at her with an intense and angry glare. Christina extended her senses toward the woman and immediately found out why. The scent and the aura that came off of her was unmistakeable, even though she had only encountered it once or twice.

Werewolf. Shit.

A wave of fear came over her. She had no chance of besting a garou in a one on one fight. Slowly, she took a step back, further into the gas station’s circle of light, and raised her hands in a gesture of peace. The woman in the treeline didn’t move, but her eyes followed her.

‘I’m just passing through,’ Christina said. ‘That bus over there? That’s mine. We just stopped for gas. I’ll be gone in five minutes, maybe ten.’

The woman continued to stare. For a moment Christina thought she wasn’t going to reply, and steeled herself to run. The she blinked and shrugged. ‘I don’t give a shit,’ she replied. ‘This isn’t my land. I’m just passing through too.’

‘Okay.’ Christina took a deep breath. Her mind whirled as she groped for something to say. ‘You need a ride?’ she asked eventually.

The woman snorted. ‘Not from the likes of you.’

Thank fuck for that, Christina thought. Aloud she said, ‘Fair enough.’ Glancing over her shoulder, she looked into the store and saw that her companions were still browsing the aisles. Could they not hurry up? Looking back, she saw that the woman still hadn’t moved. She forced a friendly smile onto her face. ‘I’m Christina.’

The woman’s eyes narrowed, and she tilted her head as if expecting some trick. She seemed to come to some decision, and her expression relaxed a little. ‘I’m Aspen.’

‘Pretty name. You going far, Aspen?’

‘Yeah.’

‘On foot?’

Aspen shrugged again. ‘I like hiking. You’re British?’

‘Yes, that’s right.’ Christina nodded toward the bus. ‘I’m over here to tour. I’m a musician. A singer.’

Aspen frowned. ‘I thought you lot had rules against leeches getting famous or whatever.’

Christina forced a laugh. ‘Don’t worry, I’m not that famous. And I’ll manufacture a disappearance of some sort before people start wondering why I don’t age. We have our ways.’

‘Uh huh.’ Aspen paused, considering. ‘Sounds exhausting, having to hide yourself all the time. Follow all those rules.’

‘I have to, if I want to stay alive.’ Christina saw Aspen’s eyebrow raise and smiled. ‘So to speak.’

‘Or what? The other vampires come and kill you?’ Christina nodded, and Aspen snorted. ‘Wow. That sucks.’

Christina’s smile turned bitter. ‘Yep. Not a lot of vamp solidarity going on. Not in my area, at least.’ She cast a cautious glance at the werewolf. ‘I hear it’s very different for your, uh, people. Close knit packs, lots of freedom? Must be nice.’

Aspen’s expression clouded, and she looked away. ‘Something like that,’ she replied. ‘I should get going.’

‘Of course, don’t let me keep you,’ Christina said as she turned away. ‘It was a pleasure to meet you, Aspen.’

‘Whatever, leech,’ Aspen replied as she walked away, skirting the light of the gas station to keep in the treeline. ‘Have fun our your tour.’

The bell over the store’s door gave a tinny ring as Christina watched the woman disappear into the darkness. The sound of the roadies chatting and laughing among themselves broke the silence, which had gone from serene to tense and oppressive. Martyn came up to her side and put a hand on her shoulder. ‘You okay, Chris?’ he asked, following her gaze. ‘Hey, who was that?’

Christina shook her head. ‘Just a hiker,’ she replied. ‘We should go.’

[baguettelord]

Journeys in 2007

Y'all a friend of mine found some archived version of an old fanfic forum I was on in 2007 and I just need to share the entire EXPERIENCE that was re-reading fanfics I wrote at age 12.

I did not even have the internet at home until the year after, which means I was posting them from my school.

Come with me on this cringeful journey of Stargate Atlantis nerdism.

This response to a review: "thanx! ur mi 4th reviewer! u rok! i haven\'t red N E of urs, but i wil!" (seriously wtaf)

"we hat your guts"

"I never used to be a good person", she explained. (LMFAO??)

A scene with John spinning on a desk chair faster and faster while debating with Rodney and Radek whether the insane looking pink-afro super-powered terrible OC was attractive.

John getting shrunk by ancient tech, being sneezed on, washing the snot off in Ronon's glass of water, falling in tomato sauce, throwing crumbs at people.

In that same fic, trashing Weir's desk, running across Rodney's laptop keyboard writing swearwords while bored.

A spicy scene between Carson and the crazy OC character who had zero foundation of any kind of relationship or chemistry, but which was surprisingly one of the least cringe things my 12 year old brain came up with

Carson putting his hand over Rodney's mouth to shut him up and Rodney licking him - in the middle of a debriefing.

Going to a random planet in search of an unshrinking device for John, interrupting a wraith attack, helping an injured person lying in the road when a RANDOM man with crackhead NPC energy runs out of an alleyway, conks Carson on the head with a frypan, knocking him out and then runs off - and then the team including the smitten OC character leave unconscious Carson in the middle of the road to follow the sound of a crying baby????? WHAT ??? LOL???

"galleons of water"

Michael the wraith with mind reading abilities that can sense ancients for no explicable reason, and sensing that there's a romantic attachment between Carson and random OC. For no plot reasons whatsoever. It is never explained.

Pink hair OC then summonS GHOSTS TO FIGHT HIM? ?? ???

The ghosts kill him.

Then LUCIUS LAVIN APPEARS FROM BEHIND A TREE AND STARTS HITTING ON EVERYONE

There is no explanation for this - he is just there.

"I'm mentally linked to all nearby people with the ancient gene, so if I die, you all will die too." followed immediately by "SHOOT AT ME, ITS THE ONLY WAY" ????????????????????????????????what

This same character (pink haired OC) flying a puddle jumper directly up into the air, opening the hatch, backflipping out, landing on the roof of another puddle jumper and then remote detonating the original one in a kamikaze esque attack that somehow chain reactions into blowing up 5 hive ships.

Everyone fainting aLL THE TIME? Seriously I counted 5 people getting knocked out and at least a dozen faining from exhaustion / heat stroke / illness / etc. OVER FOUR FANFIC. JUST FOUR.

The worst part is that this is over 4 fics and is a REWRITE of the first ever fanfic I wrote. The original had an ABBA song for every chapter (I now cannot un-associate ABBA and Stargate Atlantis - thanks brain), the OC played the violin, could teleport, could turn into a horse sized hot pink space snow leopard that laid eggs, and also involved at some point a random series of inexplicable crossovers with Star Wars, Star Trek and Back To The Future. For no reason. Literally none.

I also wrote a couple of fic prompt / challenges which were kinda crazy

John wants to learn to surf and then Rodney gets captured by whales

Love triangle between Carson, Cadman and an OC.

Ancient device zaps everyone into being children and they have to travel the earth to meet up and figure out how to undo it.

I cry laughed tonight from this rediscovery. I have no idea what I was on at age 12 but apparently I thought it was a good time??

No wonder everyone thought I was weird LOL

[cannibalisticskittles]

OC + Random Associations

tagged by @fiendpact, thank youuuuuu <3

Animal: i always waver between a dog and a cat with her – she's got the teeth and claws of a cat, the propensity for sleeping in and laying around in random bits of sunlight, and her mouth has a bit of that catlike :3 curve, but she is also extremely full of love in a way that radiates out from her much like a dog enthusiastically wagging its tail around exciting new people. either way tho – house pets that will love you deeply and also grievously wound someone who tries to harm you.

Colors: gold + vibrant blues and greens

Month: september?? i will be honest, i hadn’t had a month association before 

Songs: make the grade - jack conte, i won't hurt you - the west coast pop art experimental band, my dog’s eyes - zammuto, existential crisis hour - kilo kish, birdsong - regina spektor.

Number: 1 because she always feels lonely maybe, haha

Plants: asphodel – and I always think of strawberry blossoms when I think about what flower would best fit her, even though she is Very Allergic To Strawberries. sorry babe, but the imagery of the humble little strawberry flower is just too fitting.

Scents: ash, sulfur, whatever the hell bat guano smells like bc of all her spell components – but also something pleasantly warm and earthy, like rocks in a hot spring

Gemstone: i feel like i’ve got to go with amethyst bc. purble. 

Time of day: late late late at night, creeping into the very early morning, when the world is quiet and you can’t help but hear your thoughts (or your worries) clearer than ever before 

Season: autumn – the warm colors and dry crackle of shed leaves for her well, and even more so because she’s recently accepted the patronage of equinox, an autumn eladrin-flavored archfey

Places: caves with bioluminescent plants/fungi, places with strange and magical flora like the feywild, but also busy, crowded city streets where it's easy to get lost in the noise 

Food:  stew! and traveling rations like hardtack or jerky or dry, aged cheeses – things that would keep for a long time on the road. she’s an obligate carnivore, but she does try to pad her diet with as much non-meat as she can.

Drinks: really shit ale that you can buy in bulk at the local tavern as you daydrink with your adventuring party and discuss what steps to take next to fulfill your quest as you also take turns sneakily refilling your friend’s mug so that he remains convinced that it’s magically self-sustaining. (and also, a shitload of water. to wash down the dry ass jerky and hardtack.)

Element: fire

Seasonings: cinnamon and clove! also maybe saffron because she spent so much of her life traveling with trading caravans and saffron seems like the kind of coveted shit that would justify long-ass journeys by guarded caravan.

Sky: night, somewhere in the wilderness where it's so dark that the stars fill the sky everywhere you look

Weather:  hot, dry, windless summer days – if faerûn had wildfire watch levels, it would be stuck on extreme 

Magical power: fireball babyyyyyy (+ a dash of hellish rebuke)

Weapons: daggers. and more daggers, hidden in various places on her body. and teeth. so many sharp teeth. 

Candy/Sweets: honey candy, soft caramels – and pop rocks. she would be delighted by pop rocks.

Method of long distance travel: walking. just… long slogs on foot. walking across distances that are truly miserable to traverse – the sort where you’re ready to give up halfway through but can’t, because turning back would take as long as soldiering on, so you soldier on anyway? that. 

Artstyle: my memory of art styles has not really been brushed up on since my middle school days, i admit, but i think i lean towards impressionism for her

Fear: being useless, being alone, being Known; and, of course, the combination of those fears combined – having someone get close enough to her that it feels like they really know her and see her for who she is and then reject her as not being worth their time. 

Mythological creature: fairies/fae! they're beautiful, terrible, awful little winged shitheads and she adores them. and, to a lesser degree, unicorns, lmao. an association with and an assumption of goodness while also being fully willing and capable of skewering someone.  

Piece of stationery: an old, old notebook filled with small, cramped notes; various plans and calculations and details about people she comes across (‘naming day is just before the winter solstice; remember, they dislike most sweets and pastries’)

Three Emojis: 🥰🔥✨

Celestial body: stars, but distant and far off – she views herself as one of many, not standing out, and she’s very content with that! (imagining herself as one star in a sea of stars would delight her, actually. would feel a little less lonely.) perhaps she is a sun to someone, but that will never be how she sees it.

tagging @amphyn, @biknuckles, @brekkie-e, @fangmich, @lesbianaloy, @meishuu, @riddlcr, @stellamancer, @wasserpl – no pressure tho, haha

[your-old-sins-tournament]

OC NAVAL WARFARE

/ -- Romantic

*-- Unlabelled/Other

+ -- QPR

& -- Familial

HG^2 (Charlie "Chuck" Beaumont/Octavian "Tavi Osborne)

Tavi is a cringe-fail loser spoiled rich kid protegy who never properly developed any social skills aside from making people swoon over them. They fell off their god-complex high-horse so hard it landed them in prison for their parents' murder. (They got better, though!) (Tavi, not the parents. The parents are still very much dead.) Chuck has extreme middle child syndrome and enough guilt to strangle the horse Tavi just fell off of (figuratively) .They were so desperate for outside validation that their old girlfriend straight-up poisoned them and they thought nothing of it. Grades and success always meant the world to them until they met Tavi and discovered that reputation wasn't everything. Sometimes being "evil" can be fun, too. Between these two they could fill a lake with their self-loathing, and then fill another with their love for eachother. They are in it together to the end, along with the children they somehow manage to pick up along the way. (These two are technically Marvel/Spiderverse OCs, though they are very separated from the Canon. My partner and I have gone kinda nuts with them over the years, and their story now includes elements/characters from: Ouran High School Host Club, The Magnus Archives, Danny Phantom, Ace Attorney, Supernatural, Harry Potter (as a parody), and many more that I cannot recall.)

Tavi (or Octavian [They/Them]) is the child of two multi millionaire parents. Though they had quite the god complex as a child it was slightly dampened by their roommate/rival/friend Chuck when they got to college at the age of 16. Though they had many wacky adventures during their four years together, that soon came crashing down when their parents were murdered during graduation. So like any sane person they cut off all contact to anyone that they cared about and started getting a Doctorate (after they were miraculously proven innocent). From their they spiraled until they turned 28 and started working at their parents' old company were they run back into Chuck. Chuck (or Charlie [They/Them]) is the middle child of 8, being sandwiched in-between two sets of twins and one set of triplets, wants to noticed within the family. This is achieved when they manage to graduate highschool early and get a huge full-ride scholarship to MIT. They are lead to be roomed with the other 16 year old, Tavi. Through their four years of people assuming that they are dating (they would like to date the but they definitely don't feel the same [they do]) their time together was cut off when their mother had to got to the hospital where she would die a year later. Gets into a toxic relationship, or should I call it poisonous?, relationship with a girl named Gray. That relationship ends and they get a job at a big science place where they eventually reunite with Tavi. Though their relationship starts off very rocky they find bonding time after becoming villains against a common foe and starting a twitch together. Eventually they find a bigger bad and adopt the first villain together <3 (Technically they are Spiderverse/Spiderman ocs but do NOT follow canon very well. Their lore goes further down the rabbit whole but I feel like this gives a good impression of them both haha [I kinda got carried away is what I am saying])

Geheneres (Teneres/"Gehenna")

Ahem hem hem. These two hate the hell out of each other at first. Teneres starts attending this school in senior year because he’s a certified loser freak and in one of his classes he meets Gehenna. While Teneres acts like your typical cringefail cool dude tm who cannot tie his own shoe laces, Gehenna is this cold, quiet being who does not take Teneres well at all. These two fight over the smallest and pettiest things and even before they’re friends they give ex energy.

It’s also worth mentioning Teneres has the ability to control time (rewinding it, altering it, pausing it) and before this he *literally rewrote time itself* in his favor. Basically, before THIS timeline he was shunned by practically all society. He knew the date of his own death, as did the people around him, who never wanted to connect with him in fear of being heartbroken when he eventually died.

Excluding some certain things, he barely managed to escape his own predestined death, which angered the forces which put his fate in place at all. “Nuh uh”, to which Teneres went “FYM NUH UH” and rewrote time. In this timeline, everyone adored him… except for Gehenna.

Because Gehenna was the only one who knew of what he’d done.

But… there was a catch. Over time the two fought less and slowly became friends, hanging out after school was over and learning more of each other’s lives. Teneres learned Gehenna didn’t really come from a very… safe place, and often offered him to come stay at his place after school. Such acts were what warmed a previously cold, outwardly-emotionless Gehenna to him.

But it was also through these interactions that Gehenna grew concern for Teneres. He’d slowly begin acting… stranger, looking as though he hadn’t eaten in days, slept in weeks, acting more agitated and rude. This was because Teneres could feel his control slipping, his ability to keep the secret of all he’d done leaving him. Even still, Gehenna kept it. It was Teneres who confessed he’d messed with time itself, to the people like him he lived with.

And it was here Teneres practically threw himself into this manifested labyrinth of his own making, his body malforming into differing shapes and sizes and matters as the time he’d manipulated and warped essentially dragged across him like sharp nails. Thoughts of self-loathing and yet deep selfishness seeped into his mind and brought Teneres to the limit, where he took out his rage, sadness and fear on the world around him. He only wanted a world that would let him live, and he’d become the villain of his own story just to do that. But to him, it was worth it.

But not to Gehenna. You see, there was a reason he kept the secret, the secret of Teneres’s doings to time itself.

Gehenna valued Teneres’ happiness, just as Teneres valued his. He’d found a friend, a true friend, a person he’d even begun developing… stronger feelings for.

And it was him that was able to truly get to Teneres, in such a state of collapse. Gehenna told him what he did was horrible. It was cruel, unjust and selfish, so selfish. The most selfish thing one could ever do… and yet, he understood. He understood the extent to which Teneres went just to have a chance at being loved.

Gehenna didn’t want to fight. He didn’t want either of them to be hurt anymore… he just wanted them *both* to come home, and they could go back to when they were just arguing during class with each other.

(Lots of stuff I might’ve left out in regards to things (outside) their relationship but man do I have ADHD about these long haired men. Hope you enjoy my cringe…!)