#you’re genuinely so endearing; i promise you needn’t worry about a thing.

[chilapis]

hi lapis! i hope this isnt bothersome, but i thought i should tell you, today i found out my f/o has an official perfume too, and all i could think of was your extensive and detailed (and impressive) breakdown of tartaglias. my bf is a fellow hoyo character, luke from tot, which im not sure you know of, but generally personality wise hes quite energetic and positive, with angst and gloominess hidden and unprocessed, but thats .. irrelevant. the top notes of the perfume have lemon and orange, and there is apricot in the heart (?) notes, which i think does suit him quite well. as well as spearmint? which i did not know you could put into perfume. and lily of the valley, and then amber and whatnot in the base notes. to my understanding the top notes arent what it mainly smells like?? im not knowledgable about this stuff at all so i dont know what scents mix well or whether if they have like themes or symbolism, i feel like ive been losing my mind reading articles about different notes and the composition of scents. i am still very lost, but i feel like your post gave me some direction, so thank you!

anyway, hope youre doing well, and also that this isnt too weird of a message to send, as we have been mutuals for only some time <3

- @lov3dream

Oh goodness, this isn’t weird or bothersome at all — it’s been such a thrill to read. I haven’t really ever indulged in any other MiHoyo games, but I have briefly heard of Tears of Themis so I do have the briefest idea.

First thing? Don’t every think of something as not holding potential to be a perfume note; it’s mostly chemical compositions that are used to achieve those notes or accords, or wrung out essences. It is truly insane what you’ll find in the notes of perfumes sometimes. That said, taking all provided notes into consideration, that certainly smells refreshing — citrusy, minty, with a slight warmth and sweetness to it. I’d say the way fragrances smell have a-lot to do with many different factors. Namely, if you put it on yourself or such, it might smell different on you than it might on someone else because different people tend to pull different notes of the fragrance more strongly based on their own body’s natural scent.

As for the notes; notes are usually divided into three categories, top, middle, and base. Most people usually smell the perfume in that order too; meaning that you might smell the top notes right off the bat, the middle notes when it’s been a few minutes and it’s settled in, and the base notes when it’s been a while and it’s just lingering now. Of-course this isn’t a rigid rule and sometimes the base notes are so strong that they hit you as soon you spray. I feel like it depends on the general/full make-up for scents to work together? Not to mention Memo again (can you tell I have a favourite house yet), but their Italian Leather fragrance literally has Tomato leaf in it. Tomato leaf. Can you imagine making that work without making yourself smell like soup? No? Well, they managed it somehow and it’s honestly not a bad scent, though it’s not something I’d personally wear due to my own tastes. It’s actually quite nice. Scents do have themes and symbolism however; most people are a stranger to that so you don’t have to worry about it, as the average person is more or less just concerned about smelling good rather than smelling like or representing a particular style or feeling.

Articles can be really confusing though, I get that, because certain things are just, much easier to understand in conversation than in a pre-written article. I promise you don’t have to do this alone though; I could help you navigate scents and themes a little better? You can message me if you need any help and are confortable with it, I wouldn’t mind at all. This is such a sweet message either way though, good luck and I hope you’ve been seeing to your needs and taking care of yourself!

[sardinesandhumbugs]

Things you said when you were scared, for Ratty and Mole? 👀

Naturally, Rat seemed like the obvious choice here however I am already delving deep into that particular anxiety well in Fractured, so this is more Mole POV (well, that was the intention...) and set just before the retaking of Toad Hall. 

Want to request a mini fic? Find the prompts here! 

x

It wasn’t true that moles were a nervous species. 

Oh, Mole could see how the stereotype had settled –  so often staying in their tunnels far from the prying light of day – but he wasn’t the anomaly the Riverbankers took him to be. 

You couldn’t freeze in fear below ground. That was the thing. Freeze, and you’d go nowhere. Freeze, and the collapsing tunnel or the floodwaters or the predator with the thrashing claws and gnashing teeth would get you. You could only keep moving. Keep digging through the paths that you alone made, and trust in instincts that nature had honed that you were heading for safety. Nothing in the earth would be fooled by an animal playing dead. You only stopped when you couldn’t go any further.

The instinct lingered in itching claws, in the desire to dig when stress arose, although not for the fleeing reason that so many Riverbankers mistook it for. It was the impulse to move, to act, and just as often this meant barraging towards the danger as much as it did away from it.  

Mole’s claws itched now, his paws rolling and flexing and threatening to crush the paper animals they’d repurposed for the retaking of Toad Hall. 

Ratty leant over and eased the paper out of Mole’s grip before they could become the day’s first casualty. “Nervous?” 

“I don’t like this.”

Ratty chuckled although the sound was tight, a sign of his own unease bubbling close to the surface. “This was your idea, Moley. If you don’t think it’ll work–”

“It’ll work,” Mole said quickly, although not quite with the confidence he had previously possessed. His claws continued to twitch. “It’ll work. It’s just I don’t like – I don’t like the waiting.”

Ratty exhaled, and Mole rather suspected that he veered somewhat on the other side of the fence; the waiting was fine. The waiting was safe. It was when the waiting was over that all hell would break loose. Ratty didn’t say any of that though, and for that Mole was grateful. 

Instead, Ratty leant against him, shoulder to shoulder in a purposefully steadying manner. Mole could feel the other animal’s pulse racing in fear of what was to come, in juxtaposition to his own born from the slowly dissolving adrenaline. 

“We have to wait, Moley,” Ratty said, and if his thrumming heartbeat hadn’t given away his nerves, the overuse of the endearment would have. “Can hardly fool the weasels with shadow puppets if it’s still daylight out now, can we?”

“I still don’t like waiting,” Mole grumbled. “It gives me time to think.”

Ratty coughed in such a manner that didn’t quite disguise the laugh it was attempting to cover. 

“Time to overthink,” Mole clarified stoically, although part of him found comfort in the muffled snippet of genuine humour. “It seemed so simple at first – start a rumour of an army of bloodthirsty animals, sneak into Toad Hall, scare the Wild Wooders with the illusion of an army of bloodthirsty animals, save Portia, reclaim Toad Hall–”

“That seemed straightforward to you?”

“–but now I’m thinking what if it doesn’t go like that?” Mole continued. “What if they’re not fooled? What if we get lost in the tunnels? What if–”

“What if it all goes exactly to plan and it turns out you didn’t need to worry about any of this?”

“Do you actually believe that?”

Ratty eyed Toad, who was heralding an inattentive Mrs Otter with tales of the bravery of Toads from ages past. “Of course not,” he said. “But if you’re the one overthinking everything, then what am I meant to do?”

Mole snorted. “Take a rest?” he suggested. A moment passed. “You’re doing it now,” he said, affectionately admonishing. “I can hear you overthinking.”  

“Am not,” Ratty muttered. 

“What’s on your mind?”

“I’m thinking how insufferable Toad is going to be when he has Toad Hall back.”

“And?” Mole prompted. 

 A begrudging silence lingered. “And I’m thinking about the last time we encountered the Wild Wooders.” Ratty shook his head. “Not the courthouse. I mean–” and Mole felt Ratty’s breathing stutter, if only for a second, “before that.”

“Oh.”

They lapsed back into silence. Toad had finally twigged that Mrs Otter wasn’t paying him the attention he was due and had moved onto Badger, for all the good it would do him. Both water rat and mole watched as the amphibian trailed fruitlessly after Badger, endeavouring to persuade him to grant him all the most pivotal roles. (Toad lamented that he didn’t know what those roles were yet, but whatever they were, he would surely excel by nature of his innate aptitude)

In Ratty’s paws, the paper animals began to dance as he spun them from one paw to the other with agitated energy. 

“Ratty–” 

“I shouldn’t have let you go into the Wild Wood alone,” he said. “Who knows what could have– but that’s the thing,” he interrupted himself. “I know, I knew exactly what could have happened. And I let you go anyway.”

Mole wanted to laugh, to lighten the moment and assure Ratty that he was a stubborn creature and it would have taken a great deal to dissuade him from a course once chosen, but the air suddenly felt heavy in his lungs and so he stayed silent. 

“You are – you can be,” Ratty corrected, “so like Toad sometimes. Impulsive. Stubborn. You rush into things without thinking it through, without the barest semblance of self-preservation, and it drives me to distraction.”

Is there a ‘but’ to this? Mole wanted to ask with a smile and an amused cant of the head, but he could still feel the anxiety quickening Ratty’s heartbeat, and he knew that if he interrupted then Ratty might not find the courage to continue. 

“Toad was – is – my friend,” Ratty amended before Mole could chide him, “and he has many good qualities.” He dropped his voice a little lower, although he needn’t have worried about Toad overhearing him telling of his virtues for once; he was still focused on Badger. “He’s loyal, and soft-hearted in his own way, and there’s no better animal to energize one into action, but to be his friend... it can be a thankless task.”

The paper animals pirouetted quicker between Ratty’s paws. A paper rat lost its tail.

“And when it occurred to me that I might have stumbled out of one such friendship and straight into another of the same–” Ratty shook his head with a short, hollow laugh. “Oh, to think that I might have a type, to be continually cursed to repeat my mistakes... it scared me. I think it might have scared me more than the Wild Wood.”

Mole’s paw found Ratty’s and the contact was returned as if like a lifeline. 

“I am not a naturally brave animal, Mole,” Ratty murmured. “I do not have the buffer of Badger’s strategic planning or the... bluster of Toad. I certainly do not possess Mrs Otter’s grit.”

“It was a brave animal who went into the Wild Wood after me,” Mole said. 

Rat inhaled sharply with the ghost of a laugh. “Armed with only fishing tackle and a couple of oars? That wasn’t bravery; that was desperation.” 

“Still,” Mole said, unwilling to let Ratty write off a moment of courage, however foolish the latter might have thought it, “you still came.” 

“I came,” Ratty agreed. He sighed and, for the first time since the conversation had shifted his way, he met Mole’s gaze. His eyes were tired, but steady. “As it turns out, there is something I fear more than the Wild Wood or repeating my mistakes.”

Mole’s hold on Ratty’s paw tightened. “Then I’ll do my best not to get eaten by Wild Wooders,” he promised. 

“You’d better. Otherwise that’ll leave just me and Toad and I’ll probably murder him within the week.”

“Now there’s an incentive I can’t refuse.”

Ratty chuckled, and Mole felt the honest laughter pass through Ratty’s shaking shoulders and into his own, before settling with lightness in his lungs. And when it passed and silence alighted between them, Mole found that the itching in his claws had quite gone away.    

It wasn’t true that moles were a nervous species. 

But a little bit of help never harmed anyone.