#and without sketching the space beforehand

[harryzroze]

Happy Lesbian Visibility Week !!! cheers to the fav lesbians

Close up image, screenshot reference I used and image description under the cut below!

Ruby and Sapphire from the show "Steven Universe" in a forest scene, a redraw of the scene in the episode "The Answer" moments before they fuse for the second time. My drawing has more paint-like texture due to the brushes I used, with dark blue shadows of trees in the middle-ground and background to frame around the two characters. There is a darker tree shape in the foreground that frames the brightly lit forest scene. Streams of water are flowing around the two gems and rays of light are coming from above the forest shooting downwards to hit the streams of water, making the areas glow. There are soft pink lights spread out in these glowing areas. I also added 2 frogs in the bottom right corner as a nod to the moment in the episode where Ruby catches a frog when they explore the surface together. Sapphire and Ruby are holding each other before they dance in this scene. Sapphire has her left hand on Ruby's right shoulder, Ruby's right hand gently hesitating at Sapphire's left elbow. Ruby's left hand and Sapphire's right hand (their respective gem hands) are holding each others hands in the back of the drawing, filling the small empty space between them. Sapphire is leaning forward slightly with a soft smile and Ruby has her eyes closed in a content, happy-like manner.

If you haven't heard of these characters before, here's a general description of them:

Ruby is on the left side of the drawing, she has scarlet red skin with dark red shorts, and a sleeveless dark red shirt with a lighter red triangle in the middle of the shirt heading downwards. her hair is a very red colour (almost black) in a square like shape that frames her face. She has a thick build and appears bulky and strong. She has a ruby gem integrated into her left palm.

Sapphire is on the right side of the drawing, she has light blue skin and a bright blue dress that hides her legs and feet. The torso of the dress is a dark blue with a light blue triangle shape in the front going downwards and two smaller white triangles alongside this. Her dress has big white puffy shapes at her shoulders, and she wears white gloves that go to her elbows. She has light blue long hair (the colour lighter than her skin), that curls down to around her hip area, and she has a fringe that covers up her singular eye. Her thinner arms indicate she may have a slimmer build than Ruby, but they are the same height. She has a sapphire gem integrated into her right palm.

[a-suspicious-number-of-ducks]

Hermit-a-Day May, day 7: Bdubs + shrink plastic

[Image ID: A photo of a small piece of plastic with a drawing of Minecraft YouTuber BDoubleO100 (Bdubs) on it. The drawing is from an angle that suggests the viewer is looking down at him, and his arms are raised above his head like a child asking to be picked up. His eyes are enormous and shiny, and he is smiling widely. He is wearing dark blue jeans with holes at the knees and a green hoodie with a fluffy moss texture. The piece of plastic is nestled standing up among red mulch and small green plants in a garden bed. ./End ID]

Today's style/medium is shrink plastic! Also known as shrink film, also known as shrinky dinks. For those unfamiliar, these are translucent sheets of thin plastic that, when heated to a high enough temperature in the oven, spontaneously shrink to about 1/3 of their original size. It's a ton of fun to watch! I chose this medium largely because of the "Bdubs is short" bit, especially Cleo's "life-size replica of Bdubs" from Permit Master. What could be more fitting than a medium that actually gets smaller as part of the creative process? It's not quite as ambitious as some of my other projects this month, but I'm still really happy with it. Give him uppies. He wants uppies. Details and more pictures below!

[Image ID: The same image of Bdubs with his arms raised, but drawn digitally. The colors are slightly duller than they were in the photo. The background of the image is transparent. ./End ID]

To start, I sketched, inked, and colored my design digitally in Krita on a canvas the size of my shrink plastic sheets, to ensure that the dimensions would be accurate. Then, I printed out the digital drawing, stuck my shrink plastic sheet on top of it, and traced everything onto the shrink plastic with colored pencils. Then I baked it, panicked because it didn't flatten out all the way after shrinking, and stuck it under a plate while it cooled to make sure it stayed flat. I think it turned out alright!

The colors are, of course, more saturated than they were at full size, because all that colored pencil has to be compressed into a third of the space. That's always a challenge with this medium, and though I still do like the unshrunk version better color-wise, I think I did a decent job of compensating for the concentration while drawing.

[Image ID: The same drawing of Bdubs on a piece of plastic, but the plastic is much thinner than in the earlier image. The colors are lighter, less saturated, and more translucent. The piece of plastic is lying on tray covered in aluminum foil. ./End ID]

He's currently drying on the porch from his protective topcoat (because without it, the colored pencil would smear right off), but I managed to take a few shots beforehand while it was still light out. Here's my favorite, other than the one in the garden:

[Image ID: A photo of the same drawing of Bdubs on a small piece of plastic, lying on a large gray rock that serves as the background of the photo. ./End ID]

Once the topcoat is dry, I'm planning to turn him into a keychain/backpack charm, but for now, he's just perfectly pocket-sized. He's just a little guy. Thanks for reading, and happy arting!

[toast-tales]

Do you think you’d ever write a story where Matt somehow comes to the world of giants and gets to meet Danny, Christopher, Nathen and the other characters? It’d be super cool to see him in something even if it isn’t canon

This is a short couple of scenes I wrote based on a roleplay I did with @luckyshotwrites involving her character Vallen, an employee of an organization from the human world called the C.P.P.A. (Chaos Prevention and Protection Agency) that deals with interdimensional conflict and monsters of all shapes and sizes. I hope to share that roleplay with you all one day, but for now, have this little look into Danny getting to invite her brother Matt to visit the giant world and meet Christopher. Goes without saying, this is all “non-canon.”

A Little Family Reunion

~10k words. Gets a little glimpse into what Danny's life was like back in the human world, and her brother Matt, who's visiting the giant world for the first time.

“So, when’s he getting here again?” Christopher asked, tracing a pattern for a human-sized t-shirt onto some green fabric. He didn’t look up from his work.

Danny was leaning back against a book on Christopher’s desk, sketching idly in an attempt to get her mind off of the impending visit. The flowers she was drawing had rather anxious, jagged edges. 

“Vallen said he’d bring Matt here in a few hours. They have to do some sort of…uh, introductory course or something before they bring him through the rift.”

Christopher raised an eyebrow. “He…does know he’s coming to a world full of giants, right?” 

“I mean,” Danny sighed, her lips pursing together. “I told him about it, a little. I didn’t tell him everything.” 

“And by everything, you mean…” Christopher smirked. He knew exactly what Danny had intentionally omitted. 

She snapped her sketchbook shut, stood up, and marched over toward Christopher. “Okay. Listen here, bastard.” 

Christopher obediently put down his pencil as she approached.

She wagged a finger in his direction with a very serious look. “If you mention anything about eating people around Matt, I’ll kick your ass. If you mention eating me, I’ll get Sybil to kick your ass. And if you make one offhand comment about Matt’s taste or something creepy like that, I’m gonna get Vallen to kick your ass. Got it?” 

Christopher returned her vitriol with an innocent grin. “Danny, when am I ever not on my best behavior?”

She narrowed her eyes. “I’m serious. I don’t want him to worry about me more than he already will be.” 

Christopher gave a soft chuckle, and took her hands between his fingers. “Okay. I promise I’ll be nothing short of a gracious host for your brother, and I won’t mention anything about eating humans.” He released her hands, giving a thoughtful look to the side. “Although, you know…if you don’t say anything to him, there’s a possibility he’s going to think we’re…”

“Dating? HA!” Danny waved Christopher off. “Yeah, he’d know better. Even if I wanted to date, I think I have better taste than that.”

“Oh, you certainly do,” Christopher hummed, his smirk widening.

She scowled. “I hate you.”

“You love me.” 

She gave his arm a light kick before returning to her position seated against the books. “And I hate that I do.” 

She grinned, despite herself. She always did.

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

When Matt finally arrived later that day, the two of them embraced warmly—Matt felt just as familiar as before. No matter how long it had been since they’d been apart, it always felt right to hug him. 

Matt laughed. “I know I saw you, like, a few hours ago, but it’s good to see you again, Danny.” 

“Yeah. I’m glad you made it.” She took a step back and beamed at him—she could sense the wariness in his expression, and so she projected as much confidence as she could. “This is, uh, my house.” 

The CPPA had agreed that it would be best for Matt to start off in Danny’s house before seeing the rest of the world, even if Vallen and Danny explained everything to Matt beforehand. It was still a space made for someone three times the size of a normal human, at least, but it was a much more manageable difference to get used to.

She hadn’t gotten much time to explain things to Matt, and what little she had been able to tell him hadn’t elicited a very positive reaction. She’d hoped that Vallen would be able to console him a little further, but somehow, she doubted the fancy-pants agent would have more luck with Matt than he’d had with her and Christopher. She wished she could have stayed behind and helped, but the CPPA had rules she couldn’t argue with.

Matt looked around in awe. “It’s huge. Oh my god. But I…I don’t know, the way you and that guy from the agency talked about it, I was expecting your giant world to be even bigger.”

“Oh,” Danny said, slightly embarrassed as she realized what Matt must have thought. She hadn’t taken a growth serum intentionally, not wanting to tower over Matt right away, so in her own house, she seemed a third of the size of it. “This is my house, but, um…well, the rest of the world is much bigger. I, uh, I take this stuff that makes me a little bigger sometimes. That’s why this place is big. Christopher made it for me. My, um, roommate, you remember him?”

“...oh.” He raised an eyebrow, looking around the kitchen they were in. It seemed normal enough at first glance, although there was a distinct lack of appliances. And out the window…well, if he looked, he’d probably get a glimpse of the gigantic room Danny’s house was in. But the walls and furniture were all well-made, not showing many signs that a good portion of it was put together by giant hands.

“A…giant built this?” 

He was trying so hard to talk about it like it was normal and he was fine with it. She recognized the voice, and the way his eyes darted around. She still wasn’t sure how she recognized it, but it was an expression that felt familiar.

“Yeah. When I moved in here. It’s kind of nice to have a place my size, you know?” 

Danny sighed. “Yeah, that was because of the CPPA. They put him in a human case, so he could walk around and stuff. He’s actually a giant, just like my other friend Nathan. You haven’t met Nathan yet, but he lives here too. He’s Christopher’s boyfriend.” 

Matt paused and narrowed his eyes, as if he was trying very hard to remember something. “Wait…wasn’t Christopher with you, when you first came back? Wasn’t he…normal?” 

He looked at her somewhat sternly, shaking his head. “You still haven’t told me the actual story yet, of how you got here and…met them.” 

Danny gave a long, tired exhale. She had no intention of telling Matt the full story. She didn’t know what he would do if she told him how she’d actually met Christopher. He’d probably do something stupid. She’d developed a far more…sanitized version in the meantime, and hoped that Vallen hadn’t told Matt anything. He told her he wouldn’t, but she wasn’t sure how much she trusted the smug bastard in the first place. “It’s a long story. I can tell it later tonight, if you want. But I’ve got so much to show you first.” 

Matt nodded nervously. It was then that his eyes traveled sideways, out the window in the kitchen, and he saw the room outside. His eyes widened in shock. “God…I…I know you said it was a giant world, but…Danny, that’s huge.” 

“I know,” she laughed, trying to conceal her own nervousness all of a sudden. She didn’t want Matt to be scared. “You…get used to it, I guess. It’s really not that bad.”

“How…how big is Christopher?” he muttered, stepping closer to the window and peering out at the room. 

“He’s got an ego to match,” she said with a wry grin. “Are you…ready to meet him? If you need a few minutes, that’s fine. He’s just making dinner right now.” 

Matt nodded stiffly—his eyes kept darting out the window, like he expected a giant eye to peek in from outside. 

Danny held his hands between her own. “Hey. Matt. Look at me.”

He obeyed, his hands softening up to her touch and grasping her back firmly.

She looked directly into his eyes. “I know it’s crazy, but I promise I’m safe here. Christopher and Nathan are both really friendly—they both work for the HRA. The, uh, Human Rights Alliance.” She realized that was getting dangerously close to territory she didn’t want to explore—the reason for human “rights” in the first place and the only recently-implemented legality of her existence. “You’re not in danger here. Christopher’s very careful—he’s used to looking for humans, and he’s got insane senses. You’re not gonna get dropped, or stepped on, or anything. Can you trust me?” 

Matt stared at her while she spoke, before his lips tightened and he looked at her with his eyes full of worry. “I’m not worried about me, Danny. I just…it’s just so much to take in. You’ve been living in a place like…like this for…two, three years, now? I…I trust you, I just…I just want you to be safe. It’s just hard to believe you can be safe here.”

“I know,” she said quietly. “It’s taken a long time to realize it for myself.” 

She didn’t want to tell Matt about the nightmares she sometimes had on occasion—she definitely wasn’t going to tell him about how she dealt with them.

“But Christopher barely lets me out of his sight. It’s…I mean, god, it can be annoying sometimes, but I know he’s just wanting to look out for me. Even if I did something stupid, like accidentally walk off a table or something, giants have these crazy reflexes. I know he’d catch me. Not that he’d let me do something like that in the first place.” 

She chuckled. “Trust me. Even when you’re not here, I’ve got someone filling in the job of worrying about me. Okay?”

He nodded—still not entirely convinced, but at least for now, he seemed to put his worries to rest.

“Now come on. You ought to meet him.” She reached into her pocket and held out a pill. “Want a growth serum? You can be a little bit bigger.” 

He laughed, though it was somewhat nervous. “You’re already offering me drugs, Danny? If only Mom knew that’s what you’ve been doing while you were gone.” 

She rolled her eyes. “I won’t take one if you don’t, but it might help you feel a little better. You’ll still be small, but not, you know, as small as you are now.” 

He took the pill gingerly from her. “You take these all the time? And they’re safe?” 

She nodded. “Completely safe. You’ll just have to take the reverse pill before you go back.” 

He bit his lip as he thought about it, before he agreed. “Okay. I’ll take one, then.” 

“Hold on,” she said quickly, before he had a chance to ingest it. “Let me go first. I’m used to keeping my balance with it—this way, I can catch you if you stumble or something.” 

Before he had a chance to say anything else, she crushed the pill between her teeth and instantly grew to match the size of everything in her house, suddenly towering over Matt. Her brother looked up at her in frightened awe, only coming up to about her knees. 

She grinned, and motioned for him to do the same.

He stared at her for a moment more before regarding the pill in his hands, turning it over as though he expected to see something out of the ordinary. Finally, he closed his eyes and popped it in his mouth, swallowing it awkwardly. Within just a second, he rose up to Danny’s height, finally matching the furniture and walls that surrounded the two of them. 

Matt did stumble a bit, but Danny caught him easily, propping him back up onto his feet. “You can open your eyes now, dork.” 

Matt’s eyes opened slowly, and he let out a dumbfounded laugh. “This is…absolutely crazy, Danny.”

She smirked, before heading towards the door and motioning for him to follow. “You haven’t even met my giant roommate yet. Come on—his cooking is fucking amazing.” 

Once they’d made it outside of Danny’s room, Matt looked around in amazement. The ceiling was far above them—higher than even the most impressive of cathedral ceilings back in the human world. A huge bed was pushed up against the wall to the left, although their vantage point didn’t allow them to see on top of it. Light streamed in through the window, casting warm sunbeams along the wooden floor where they walked. 

Matt didn’t speak while they made their way out of the room—he gawked at each and every little thing, his neck craned far back to look up at the end table and chair next to them. 

And then, they rounded the corner of the slightly ajar door—which was wide enough for Danny’s hand to rest against the slim edge of it—and Matt’s eyes fell upon the giant standing on the other side of the room. 

Christopher was, for his part, doing his best to act like he hadn’t heard any of their conversation, or that he knew exactly when they were about to enter the room. He was tending a pot of something cooking on the stove with his back to the humans, but as they entered, he turned and smiled as his eyes landed on the redheaded human standing behind Danny.

“Well, hello there—Matt, isn’t it? It’s great to finally meet you. Danny’s been looking forward to having you visit for a while now.” He strode around the counter slowly. “Dinner’s almost ready.”

“Good, because I’m starving,” Danny remarked. She turned to see that Matt had effectively turned into a stone statue, his mouth slightly open as he stared up at the towering figure of Christopher before them. 

She gave him a sympathetic smile before lightly hitting his shoulder. “Hey, it’s okay. He doesn’t bite.” 

She instantly regretted her choice of words, but as a man of his word, Christopher didn’t so much as crack a smile at her remark. 

“Ni-ice to meet you, um, Christopher,” Matt mumbled, barely managing to speak without his voice wavering in fear. 

Christopher bent down onto his knees to get a little closer to the two of them in height, and held out his hands as he always did for Danny. She stepped onto his hands easily, without a second thought—this was more than a common routine for her. 

Christopher carefully lifted her up to the counter before bending back down to hold his hands out for Matt as well. Matt didn’t move.

Danny peered at her brother from up on the counter. “It’s okay, Matt. I told you he’s not going to drop you.” 

Christopher gave Matt an easy, gracious smile. “Your sister would wring my neck if I even entertained the possibility.” 

Matt’s terror gave way to an incredibly nervous smile as he took a few steps forward, pausing just in front of Christopher’s hands before stepping onto them. He wobbled a bit, and Christopher moved one of his hands to support Matt as he slowly rose to his feet and lifted him up, placing him gently on the counter next to Danny. 

Matt put a hand on Danny, slightly leaning against her. She could hear his frantic heartbeat and the quick breaths he was taking. 

She gave her brother a teasing grin. “What are you, afraid of heights?” 

“Shut up, I-I’m fine,” he said, laughing nervously. “It’s fine.” 

“It’s okay if you’re a little nervous,” Christopher said smoothly, grinning slyly. “Danny was scared of heights too, at first.” 

Danny huffed defensively, snapping her head to the side to glare at the giant. “I was not.”

Christopher cocked an eyebrow at her, like a challenge. “I recall you being rather wary of the ladders I installed.” 

“I’d say I was more wary of your shoddy craftsmanship than heights, jackass,” she sneered.

Christopher put a hand to his chest in mock offense. “Shoddy craftsmanship? You’d really say that about the man who built you a whole house?” 

“Well I didn’t have the house at the time, now did I?” 

Christopher leaned in closer to Danny, still grinning smugly. “Maybe you just like me carrying you around all the time instead, dollface.” 

“Dream on, bastard.” His face was close enough for Danny to shove at his nose, prompting a laugh from the giant as he backed off and turned to finish getting dinner ready.

Matt watched all of this with wide eyes, clearly not sure what to make of their banter. He’d known Danny to be hot-headed, but he’d never seen her quite like this before. He could tell she wasn’t actually irritated with Christopher, but even so, he’d never seen her call someone names and snap at them like that in a friendly way. Much less a giant who could easily just crush her in retribution.

And when Christopher had leaned in right next to her, Matt had to admit that his anxiety spiked—but Danny didn’t even flinch. 

He stared at Danny with awe—impressed even more with his big sister’s moxie, even if it bordered dangerously close to recklessness at times. It was the same Danny he used to know, before she’d disappeared—headstrong and brave. 

He wanted to know more about their relationship—how they’d met, what they’d done together all this time, and why Danny even put up with someone calling her “dollface,” something she would have likely kicked someone her own size for.

Danny had had friends back home, of course, but he didn’t think she was very close with any of them. She had been popular, easily able to rope people into things and give them a boost of morale when they needed it. But he remembered how lonely she was, too—how she’d worried she was “too much” for some people, how she admitted her tendency to get angry too easily and how she felt isolated as a result. She was always trying to defend the people she loved, and unfortunately that didn’t always work in her favor. She’d lost a lot of friends that way. 

From the sound of it, Christopher might be the closest friend she’d ever had. He could tell she was comfortable around him. And Christopher didn’t shy away from her personality, either—if anything, he seemed to like bringing it out, and whether or not that was a good thing, Matt wasn’t sure. He’d never seen someone bring out this snarky side of Danny so easily before. But as the evening went on, and he observed the two of them continuously going back and forth, insults and jabs interspersed with laughter and grins, he felt more and more comfortable with the idea of it. 

He found himself smiling as he watched them. He liked seeing his sister so happy. 

________________________

It was later that evening when Matt and Danny were settling into the couch in Danny’s home. It was easy to forget that Matt had taken some sort of drug that made him freakishly tall, given that he fit the size of Danny’s furniture now, and was literally dwarfed by everything outside of it. 

Danny hopped off the couch. “I’m gonna take a shower, Matt. Will you be okay for a bit?” 

“Oh, yeah, I’ll be fine.”

He watched her disappear behind the bathroom door, his mind wandering as he looked out the window to the huge room outside, now shrouded in partial darkness so that he couldn’t really see its size. 

He could hear the giant was still in the kitchen, still cleaning up from dinner, it sounded like. 

Should I…?

He had considered the idea of talking to Christopher one on one, even though the notion slightly terrified him still. He was trying to reassure himself that, giant or not, Christopher was friendly, he was Danny’s friend, and there was nothing to worry about. 

He decided that the best way to get over his fear was just to do it, before he had a chance to overthink it—and so he quietly got up and left Danny’s house, treading carefully across the enormous, dimly lit room to the kitchen. 

He saw Christopher turn to look at him as he peeked around the door—he actually heard me? How did he—

“Oh, Matt,” Christopher said, smiling graciously as he set down the dish he was drying on the counter. “Did you need something?” 

Matt felt that anxious fluttering in his stomach again, but he pushed it down. He didn’t need to be nervous. “Oh, u-uh, no, I’m good. I just came to, uh, see what you were up to.” 

He had no idea how the giant could hear him from all the way over there, but Christopher didn’t seem to be straining to listen. The giant grinned. “I’m just cleaning up.”

Matt took a deep breath, and a few more steps forward. “Uh, do you think, you could, uh, lift me up to the counter again?” 

Christopher’s head tilted slightly to the side as though he was curious, but he nodded and made his way around the kitchen island. “You’re getting over your fear rather quickly, aren’t you?” 

Matt laughed nervously as Christopher approached him and bent down, holding his giant hands out for Matt to climb onto. “It’s just, you know, it’s a lot to take in. But if Danny trusts you, I do too.” 

Christopher smiled wider at that, and he lifted Matt up to the counter. This time, Matt closed his eyes, and it wasn’t as bad as before. He still felt the rush of vertigo in his chest, but it was fine. He was fine. 

He tried to walk onto the counter without stumbling. “Thanks.” He took a deep, steadying breath, and decided a seated position would be more stable. He sat cross-legged and leaned back against the fruit bowl. 

“Of course,” the giant said smoothly, making his way back to the sink to continue with the dishes. Matt watched him quietly, observing whatever details he could. From what he could see, Christopher was a rather neat and tidy person—he grinned as he thought of Danny’s messy room back home, and realized that the only reason they likely got along as roommates was because Danny’s habitual messiness was only a tiny dent in Christopher’s enormous house.

“You know, you and your sister look remarkably alike,” the giant said, turning his head slightly to look at Matt as he worked. “Are you older than her?” 

Matt shook his head. “No, Danny’s the oldest.” He didn’t feel like his voice carried over the sound of running water, but as Christopher nodded along, he figured Danny was right about Christopher’s freakish senses. “I’m twenty-two.” 

“Are you in college?”

“I actually just graduated.”

“Oh, really?” Christopher looked impressed. “Good for you. What did you study?” 

Matt traced the patterns on the marble countertop idly. “Civil engineering. I’m gonna start working with WisDOT soon.” 

The name seemed to confuse Christopher, so Matt clarified. “The Wisconsin Department of Transportation. I’ll be helping with planning road work and infrastructure, things like that.” 

“Ohh. That’s right. Danny mentioned that’s what it was called.” 

Matt didn’t realize that Christopher was referring to Wisconsin, and not the rest of the acronym. 

He stared at the back of Christopher’s head. He thought of how David would surely have an opinion on a man with long hair like that (one with a boyfriend no less), and mentally rolled his eyes. Christopher really did have nice hair—it was clearly well taken care of. As was a practiced habit of his by this point, he told the mental image of his stepdad to shove it.

“So, uh, Christopher, did you ever go to college?” 

From his point of view, that question didn’t seem to faze Christopher, but what Matt couldn’t see was the slightly nervous expression on Christopher’s face. 

“No, I…didn’t have the money, at the time. I kind of went off on my own after high school.”

“Oh, okay. What did you do? I know Danny said you worked for the, uh, Human Rights Association, right? Did you do that back then, too?”

Matt didn’t take note of how Christopher paused at that. “The Human Rights Alliance, yes. No, I’ve…only been with them for a little over a year now. I did a lot of…odd jobs, after high school. Nothing that really stuck.” He resumed scrubbing a little more vigorously than before, quickly following up with a change in topic. “Did Danny ever go to college?” 

Matt grinned wryly, remembering many arguments from a long time ago. “She did, but she hated it. She wanted to go to school for fine arts, but David—our stepdad—wouldn’t pay for it. He wanted her to do something more profitable. They settled on computer science, eventually. Danny’s really good with computers, but I think the whole thing with David made her kind of spiteful about it. She was always complaining to me about her job.” 

Christopher seemed intrigued by the information. He finally finished with the dishes, dried his hands off, and made his way around to the other side of the counter, where he took a seat in one of the barstools. Matt tried not to look intimidated by the giant’s sudden closeness—the size was manageable from a distance, but as he had to look up, the twinge of anxiety returned. 

How does Danny deal with this? She’s so calm about it.

“I never knew she went to school for that,” Christopher mused. “I’m sure she told you—or the CPPA did—but when she got to this world, she didn’t have any memories of her life in the human world. So, even though she got some back after seeing you all again, there’s still a lot I don’t know about her.” 

“Yeah,” Matt said, a little sadly. It still hurt to think Danny had forgotten about him for so long—even though it was completely out of her control, even though she’d come back and remembered him when she did—it hurt. He’d never stopped thinking of her that entire time she was missing, and she'd just been living an entirely different life here—one without him. 

“Can you tell me more?” Christopher asked, propping his chin up with his arm casually. “What was she like—did she have any hobbies I don’t know about?” 

Matt smiled, looking down at the counter as he reminisced. “Well, she liked video games. She was always better than me, and I hated it. We always played a lot together, us and our little brother Will.” He rubbed his palms together idly. “And, of course, she loved to draw. She had so many sketchbooks. And she actually had a pretty good social media following for it, for a while. She was good.” 

Christopher smiled. “She is good. She carried that over, certainly. If you ever get to go to the human city, she did murals there.” 

The human city. The CPPA had explained the basic concept of this world to him, and so had Danny, but the thought of humans being relegated to this little city under someone’s house was still wild to him. 

Matt smiled a little impishly, peering over Christopher’s shoulder as if Danny could actually be in earshot. “Don’t tell her I told you this. But she also liked writing. She never showed anyone, and I don’t think she knows I found one of her stories once. You know what she liked to write?” 

Christopher raised an eyebrow, a devious grin of his own betraying his interest. 

“Romance,” Matt nearly whispered. “Like, the super sappy stuff. Which, if you know Danny at all—”

Christopher’s eyes widened. “You’re joking.”

“I’m not kidding. There was pages of it. I think maybe she had a phase in high school or something.” Matt laughed. “I’m only telling you her secret because she made fun of me for being scared earlier.” 

“That little punk…she rolls her eyes every time I watch one of my shows,” Christopher said with disbelief, glancing slightly behind him towards Danny’s room. His smile grew wider. “Don’t worry, your secret’s safe with me. But that is hilarious.” 

Christopher continued to look off in the distance towards Danny, and his face softened. “Was she always so…headstrong?” 

Matt nodded, without hesitation. “It got her into a lot of trouble, most of the time.”

Christopher laughed. “It still does.”

Matt gave a short, humorless laugh. “She was always ready to pick a fight with people. Especially David. She has…really strong convictions, and she doesn’t like to see people be mistreated. And it didn’t matter who it was she was arguing with—she used to pick fights with boys twice her size in middle school. She’d get roughed up pretty badly—she’d get hell from our parents for it—but she didn’t care. It’s like she didn’t have any fear at all.” 

Matt looked up to Christopher, who was nodding along solemnly. 

“She was always yelling at David. And to be fair, David’s kind of an asshole, but the two of them were always butting heads. She usually got angry for my sake, or Will’s.” 

Christopher looked curious, though Matt could see something like worry crease into the giant’s forehead. “What would they fight about?” 

Matt waved a hand about. “Everything. It never took much for David to get under Danny’s skin. But…” he bit his lip before he continued. “A lot of the time, it was about money. Danny would always be telling David he was a deadbeat. He’s unemployed, and Mom’s always working, and a lot of the time, Danny had to step up to take care of things. Like, she was always having to help Will with his homework because David was busy or something. And when she got a job, David kind of pressured her to stay and help pay the bills and stuff, since he helped pay for her education and whatever. Even though really, it was Mom that paid for it.” 

Matt sighed. “She wanted to leave. I know she did. She was so tired of living with David, but she didn’t want to leave me, or Will. She cared about us too much.” 

His fidgeting stopped as he stared down at the counter, feeling his heart thump dully in his chest. He could still remember the night Danny left, so clearly, like it had been yesterday. “That’s what they were arguing about, when Danny left. I don’t think she meant to leave for good—I think she just wanted some air. She didn’t take her phone. She wandered off outside, and she…didn’t come back.” Matt shifted his seated stance to bring his legs in close to his chest. “I looked for her all night.” 

There was a long silence that lay between them after that. “I’m sorry,” Christopher said quietly. “She never told me about that.”

“I don’t know if she remembers it,” Matt muttered. “When I asked about what happened to her when she left, she said it was all a blur.” 

He sighed. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to dump all that on you. I just…with the CPPA and everything, I can’t really talk about this stuff with anyone else. Our parents still think she’s helping refugees on the other side of the world or whatever. And I don’t…wanna tell her about the unpleasant stuff. She’s already got so much to deal with as it is.” 

“It’s okay,” Christopher said, and when Matt looked up, he saw the giant was grinning lightly. “I want to know more about Danny, the good and the bad.” 

Matt stared at the giant, gauging the expression on Christopher’s face. “I’m…glad she’s got someone to look out for her here. I can tell you both care about each other a lot.” 

The giant’s smile widened. “Danny is easily one of the most amazing people I know, human or giant.”

“I’ve never seen her, the way she is with you. I knew she was reckless, but you’d think she’d be a little scared of a giant, at least.” Matt laughed. “Tell me she had some hesitation, at first. Because I’m imagining her squaring up with an actual, literal giant man right off the bat.” 

Christopher snickered. “Hesitation? No, absolutely not. Certainly not with me.” His face softened, as though he was reminiscing something from a long time ago. There was a touch of bitterness to it—but Matt didn’t question it. “She was fearless. The way she’d talk, you’d never believe she was tiny. I don’t think she was ever scared of me.” He grinned humorlessly. “And if she was, she didn’t show it.” 

Matt felt his posture loosen up—the more he talked with Christopher, the more it felt like Christopher was just a…normal guy. “How did you two…meet?” 

Matt wasn’t sure if Christopher tensed up at that, or if he was seeing things, because just a moment later the giant seemed plenty at ease, smiling casually. “Well, I think that’s Danny’s story to tell, personally. But essentially, I…looked after her for a while, when Nathan wasn’t able to.” Christopher’s fingers tapped lightly against the counter, and he paused for a bit before he continued. “She was the one to get me to join the Human Rights Alliance, actually. Or at least, a good part of the reason. As you can imagine, she was…very passionate about it.” 

Matt nodded, though he still wasn’t entirely sure what the Human Rights Alliance actually did. Human rights? Did humans not have rights in this world? 

He didn’t want to bring it up right now, but he filed it away as a question to ask Danny later. 

“I wasn’t in a…great place, at the time,” Christopher continued. His easy smile had given way to a soft sort of melancholy at the edges of his eyes as he glanced down towards the counter. “Your sister helped me when most other people would have turned and ran away—I don’t think she knows how much of a difference she made in my life. And I’ll always be grateful for that.”

“She’s really special,” Matt said quietly. That was just like Danny—beneath all of it, she cared ferociously for people. She always pushed people to be better. He had no doubts that what Christopher said was true—if he’d needed help, Danny would surely have helped him, even if it ended up looking a little like tough love in practice. “I’m sorry if she ever gave you hell, that’s just…how she is. She cares a lot.” 

Christopher smirked humorlessly. “Oh, I deserved it. I learned very quickly that Danny does not have the patience to deal with anyone’s bullshit, my own included.” 

“True,” Matt agreed with a laugh. 

He didn’t want to pry further into their relationship—or rather, he did, but felt it wouldn’t be polite to press much further. A soft sense of suspicion crept into the back of his head about Christopher and whatever bullshit Danny had supposedly not tolerated, but it was easy to disregard in the face of what he saw before him—a surprisingly normal, thoughtful guy who really did seem to care about his sister, though he still didn’t understand their relationship in the slightest. 

Christopher’s head popped up suddenly, as though he’d heard something. He then turned toward Matt and grinned. “Your sister’s wondering where you are.” 

Matt blinked. “You can hear her?” He’d obviously heard nothing—he didn’t understand how the giant could possibly pick up Danny’s voice from that far away.

Christopher nodded as he stood up, and tapped against his ear. “Giants have better senses than humans. I pride myself on my hearing, personally, although it can be more of a detriment than anything. Sometimes I envy you humans.” 

Matt chuckled, somewhat nervously. “I bet.”

Danny apparently yelled something, because Christopher turned back towards the guest room and replied. “We're out here, Danny.” 

If he squinted, Matt could make out something moving near the bottom of the guest room door, and realized that was his sister. It looked like she still had a towel around her shoulders for her wet hair, and though she was pretty far away, he could tell that her head snapped right to him. 

He gave her a slightly sheepish wave.

“MATT!” she yelled, and he could hear it this time as she stomped towards them across the floor. “YOU SCARED ME!” 

Christopher went to pick her up and carry her up to the counter, only grinning at her hysterics. “He just came out to talk to me, what are you so worried about?”

She huffed a bit as she stepped onto the counter, angrily drying her hair with the towel. “You could have told me before you just up and left.” 

Matt shrugged. “You were in the shower.” 

She rolled her eyes. “The doors aren't soundproof, you dork.”

“Oh, cut your brother some slack,” Christopher said, poking Danny’s shoulder as he sat back down. “What exactly could happen to him while he's in my house?”

She gave Christopher a somewhat pointed glare before she threw her hands up in the air. “I don't know, he could have been carried off by a giant spider, or Vallen could have come back and whisked him away for all I know!” 

Matt circled back to the first thing she mentioned, his face paling slightly. “...I'm sorry, did you say ‘giant spiders’?” 

Christopher rolled his eyes and dismissed that with a laugh. “I don't have spiders in here. I've got amazing pest control.” 

Danny put a hand to the side of her mouth as she whispered, as if that was in any way effective at preventing Christopher from hearing. “That's what he says, but he doesn't live eye-level to them. It's only a matter of time before—”

“Oh, stop scaring him,” Christopher scolded, looking almost offended at the notion. “You've never seen a spider in here before and you know it.” 

She crossed her arms stubbornly. “IT COULD HAPPEN!” 

Christopher seemed to ignore Danny as he leaned a little closer to Matt with a reassuring smile. “Don't listen to her. You're safe here, Matt.”

He did his best to put the spider matter aside, though it was a horrifying mental image to shove under the rug. 

“Yeah, whatever,” Danny grumbled, clearly just irritated that she'd been called out worrying over nothing. “So, what were you guys talking about?” She stared at Matt with an eyebrow raised, almost accusingly. 

Matt shrugged. “Nothing much.”

Christopher smiled, though, and rested his head against his hand casually. “Apparently you studied computer science?”

She grimaced towards Matt. “I knew you were talking about me.” 

“Well, of course we were,” Christopher laughed. “What else would we talk about?” 

Danny sighed. “Yeah, well, apparently that's what I did back in the human world, I guess. I mean, I could probably pick it up again if I got a refresher course, but most everything at the moment is-” She waved her hand above her head, as if to mime the memories floating away.

“You know that's what Sam does, right? You could probably talk with them about it.” 

“Who's Sam?” Matt asked.

Danny shrugged. “Christopher's friend. Another giant. They're cool. I usually just beat them at games, though,” she said, grinning slyly. 

“They work in cybersecurity,” Christopher explained. “Well, I think network security, to be specific. Did you do something like that?” 

It looked like Danny tried to think about it for a moment before she gave up. “I have no idea.” She sat down, sprawling her legs out comfortably. 

Matt went to sit next to her. He rested his legs in such a way that they brushed up against hers—it felt pathetic to admit, but sometimes, he just wanted to feel that physical touch with his sister, as if it was a reminder that she was real. Even though they’d been reunited several months ago, it was still like a slap in the face to realize that she wasn’t missing anymore. He took every opportunity to remind himself that he could. “Yeah, I think you worked with networks, too. Don't ask me for more details, though, because everything about your job sounded like gibberish to me.” 

“Yeah, well, I don't remember much about it, except my job sucked.” 

Matt shoved her arm lightly. “Hey, you were good at it, though. Do you remember, you told me about how you accidentally hacked into your boss's account or something? And then you asked for a promotion.” He laughed. “It was a crappy company, yeah. You had skills way above your paygrade.” 

Her grin tilted upwards slightly. “I think I do remember that.” She glared up at Christopher. “But you guys don't have to talk about me.” 

Christopher wrinkled his nose back at her. “Fine.” He clasped his hands together attentively beneath his chin and turned his attention back to Matt. “So, Matt, what questions do you have about this world? Or giants?” 

He laughed. “Plenty. Oh my god. I don't even know where to start. I mean, between the whole ‘human rights’ thing, and the, the rifts or whatever, and-” 

He noticed Danny seemed to look away, almost worriedly. He nudged her. “What?” 

She waved him off and turned a little more away from him. “Nothing.” 

He turned to face her even more and placed a hand on her arm. “What? I thought you didn't want us to talk about you. And I want to know more about this place!” He crossed his arms. “Am I not allowed to ask questions?” 

She turned back to face him, crossing her arms as if to mirror him, giving him a stubborn pout of her lip. “Fine. But you're not allowed to worry about me if you hear something you don't like.” 

He shook his head disbelievingly. “Oh, so you can worry about me, but I can't worry about you?” 

“I'm the older sibling! It's my job to worry!” 

I've been the older sibling for the past two years. The thought stung, and he decided against saying it aloud.

He looked over to Christopher. “I want to know more about the Human Rights Alliance you guys keep mentioning. Danny said that most humans live under someone's house, right? Is that just…for…safety?” 

Christopher looked like he was choosing his words carefully—and this wasn't lost on Matt this time. “Well, yes, in a way. On their own, humans aren't really safe without a giant's protection. I'm sure that much is obvious, at least.” 

“...right,” Matt agreed, hesitantly. “So, the Human Rights Alliance, they…give humans a place to stay?”

Christopher nodded. “Well, yes, among other things. For instance, my job is to find any humans who may have found themselves in this area, and bring them to the human city safely. Just like how Danny ended up here, occasionally other humans will too.” 

He rescues humans for a living? He looked over to Danny, who nodded. She'd adjusted her seated position to wrap her arms around her knees as she stared off at something, looking slightly more contemplative and subdued than before. “It wasn't a total lie when I said I was helping ‘refugees.’” 

Matt looked back at Christopher. “How do you even…I mean, we're tiny, do you really just go out in the woods and—oh. Right. Your giant senses.” He realized it just before Christopher tapped his nose. 

Wait. Nose? 

Matt raised an eyebrow. “Can you…smell humans?” 

Christopher nodded. “I think humans have a weaker sense of smell than giants do in general. But giants are very attuned to picking up human scents. It's an…evolutionary trait, I think.” He smiled, though that didn't put Matt much at ease. This guy could smell him? What did he smell like? Were giants like dogs or something? Hearing was one thing, but this just felt…way stranger. 

Still, he nodded along. “Oh…I see.” He glanced back to Danny. “You said your other friend Nate works with the HRA too, right? Does he do the same thing?” 

Christopher shook his head, answering for her. “No, Nate's senses aren't quite as good as mine.” He grinned a little proudly. “He works more with the legislative side of things—fundraising, campaigns, things like that. He'll sometimes travel out of town to attend legislative sessions.” 

“Huh.” Matt thought about that for a while—legislation? What kind of laws did this world have around human rights? “What does…the HRA campaign for, usually?” 

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Danny's eyes widen.

He might have imagined the pause Christopher took before he replied. “...well, we recently were able to get human legalization passed in the state, and now the focus is on a nationwide legalization, before we move to—”

“Legalization?” Matt's eyes were wide, his mouth agape in shock. “Humans weren't legal? What the heck does that mean? People fall into this other dimension and get penalized for not having a passport or something?” 

Danny's head sunk further into her arms as she groaned. “Christopher, why the fuck did you bring this up,” she grumbled.

“He asked,” Christopher said simply, though it sounded as though there was a hint of regret in his voice. 

Matt stared at her, his hope of her providing a sensible explanation slowly fading as she refused to look at him. “Danny,” he said sternly, “what does he mean by human legalization?” 

Danny scowled, deeply, but not at him. “Human legalization isn’t the right term,” she mumbled. “He’s talking about human possession.” 

That did not sound better. 

“Meaning up until recently, it was illegal for giants to have humans with them at all.” 

It didn’t quite make sense—Matt’s eyebrows furrowed deeper. “...so what were the humans supposed to do? The HRA could still house them, right?” 

“The HRA operates…outside of the law,” Christopher explained. “Even today. The human city isn’t public knowledge.” 

Not public knowledge? There was something they weren’t telling him—things still wouldn’t add up. The only safe place for humans to stay had to be kept secret? And why did Danny call it human possession, like the giants owned them?  “Why was…human possession illegal in the first place?” He’d been trying to stay neutral, but he couldn’t keep the distaste out of his voice when he said that. “What the heck does the government here expect humans to do?” 

Christopher looked conflicted—like he wanted to say something, and then stopped himself. His eyes fell to Danny, whose head became buried even further into her knees. “I’m afraid your sister threatened to kick my ass if I told you.” 

Matt turned to face Dany fully, getting as close to her as she could. It only prompted her to retreat further into herself. “Danny,” he said, calmly. “I’m going to need you to explain this one to me.” 

She sighed before she lifted her head to look up at him—she wasn’t tired, but resolute. He recognized that look. Whatever it was she was about to tell him, he knew there was going to be no talking her out of staying here. 

“The giant government doesn’t recognize humans as people,” she said simply, as though that wasn’t a terrifying statement on its own. 

“So you’re…what, possessions? Danny, what the fuck?” 

She just gave him a look, and he tried to calm down. “Okay. Sorry. Continue.” 

“To giants, humans are…” She hesitated, chewing on her bottom lip for a moment. “Don’t freak out on me, okay?” 

He felt a sort of panic start to overtake him in the wake of that request. “Freak out? How bad is it?” 

“I said don’t freak out.”

He sighed. “Fine. Just tell me.” 

Christopher was remaining rather quiet throughout this, seeming to be interested in how Danny chose to explain this.

Danny rubbed her face with her hands, and she couldn’t seem to meet Matt’s eyes. “Most giants consider humans to be…drugs.” 

It was incredibly quiet in the wake of that revelation. Sometimes, when something is shocking enough, it doesn’t register as real for a moment or two. At first, Matt just thought he hadn’t heard her right. And when he heard the word “drugs,” it still didn’t connect right away. He was familiar with discrimination against people who used drugs, or associating people with the sale or use of drugs, and for a second or two, inexplicably, that’s how it made sense in his brain. And then…no, that wasn’t what she had said. 

She said that humans were the drugs. 

And she’d also told him not to freak out.

How was he not supposed to freak out over this?

“...what?!” he gasped, utterly in disbelief. How did that even work? How did that make any sense? “What the heck does that mean? How the hell are humans drugs?” 

“Okay, I told you not to freak out about that, but-”

“How else am I supposed to take that?” he nearly yelled. “How are you so calm about it?!”

“I’ve BEEN HERE a while, okay?” Danny wasn’t exactly afraid to yell back at him, but she did look apologetic afterwards, averting her eyes again. “It’s fucked up, I know, but we’re making things better. I know a lot of good people here. I’m lucky.” 

“Okay, but you didn’t answer my question.” He tried to calm himself down again, lowering his voice. “How are humans drugs? That doesn’t even make any sense.” 

“Well–” Christopher had barely opened his mouth before Danny shot him a glare, and he folded his hands back into his lap and waited for her to explain instead. 

She gave Matt a slightly desperate look. “Are you sure you wanna know?”

“Are you kidding?” He laughed, only slightly hysterically. “Yes!” 

She sighed, and somehow looked slightly…embarrassed? Had he seen Danny embarrassed before? “Giants…eat humans.” 

He felt his heart sink deep into his stomach all of a sudden—fear, disgust, disbelief, it all hit him at once. That was the kind of thing that came from fairy tales, not reality. Maybe if they’d told him that before he’d met a giant, he’d have believed it. But Christopher—he was just a normal guy. Giants were basically just big humans. He was supposed to believe…giants…ate humans…to get…high? 

A wave of revulsion rocked through him—he thought he was going to be sick. 

“Well,” Christopher said, thoughtfully, “that might not have been the best way to explain it.” He looked down at Matt somewhat apologetically. “It's not quite as bad as you may be thinking. Giants can eat humans safely, and bring them back up later, alive.”

He wasn't sure if that was worse or not. Was that better? For humans to be some sort of living, reusable drugs to giants? And why were they both giving him the impression that this was a common thing?

Why did he seem like the crazy one for freaking out about this?

For a while he couldn't do anything but stare at Danny, speechless, mouth slightly agape as he absorbed it all. 

“That's why the human city is a secret,” Danny said. She was glaring away from Matt. “It's the only place humans can be safe here. It's the only place where we're treated like people.” 

“W-why don't they…can't the CPPA bring them back to the…our world?” Matt spluttered. He was starting to understand why Danny had repeatedly told him not to freak out. But why the hell would his sister want to stay here? Did she not realize–

No, she knew how dangerous this place was, and she didn't care. She'd made her mind up, and there was no convincing her otherwise. 

“Vallen said they were gonna start doing that. For people that wanted to go back.” She glanced over to him. “My friend Maria did. She wanted to work with the CPPA. I don't know how many did–maybe half the city? But a lot of people stayed, too.”

“Why?”

Danny shrugged. “Some of them were born here. Some have families, or partners, or giant friends.” Her eyes flicked to Christopher quickly before she looked away again. “Some wanted to stay behind and help the humans still here.”

Matt quietly ruminated over it, trying to quell the worry that had begun festering within him. Danny had been living here for almost two years now, right? She had giant friends to look after her. Christopher seemed like a good guy, at least. 

He'd been hurt when Danny insisted on staying in this world, initially. After her being missing for a year, he was just supposed to let her go again, to who knows where, without even a way to reliably contact her? Why wouldn't she stay with her family? With him?

In truth, he had no way of knowing what it had been like for her. She'd had no memories of her life. This place–these giants, Christopher and Nathan–had been all she knew for those two years. 

It would have been selfish to demand for her to give this family up for another, wouldn't it have? Even if this world was hostile, and dangerous, and downright weird–she cared about the people in it. 

She'd never been able to make her own decisions while she'd lived with them in the human world. She paid her family's bills with the money she made from her job in high school, before going to college for something she hated, and taking on a career she hated equally just to take care of her family. 

He couldn't demand that she sacrifice more now, as much as it hurt to be separated from her. 

He sighed deeply, and scooted closer to Danny on the counter. “Well, at least you're safe here, I guess. At least you don't have to worry about…being eaten.”

…why did Danny seem to look away from him when he said that?

He whipped his head to Christopher, who seemed inexplicably fascinated with the details of the cabinets behind him. 

He turned back to Danny, who was definitely not looking at him either. Something about her posture seemed…embarrassed, and it was so uncharacteristic of her that he almost didn't recognize it at first. 

“...no,” he nearly whispered in disbelief. “Danny–”

“Shut up, Matt,” she grumbled.

“You did not–”

“I said shut up,” she hissed sternly. 

Years of arguing with his older sister had at least taught him not to back down. He put a hand on each of her shoulders and made her look at him. “Danny, were you eaten by a giant?!”

She gave him an annoyed look, but she didn't give him an answer right away. She pushed his hands off her shoulders. “Maybe. Whatever. It's not something for you to worry about, okay?”

Why is she so infuriating?!

He stared back at her in shock. “Danny, that's not okay! You–how am I not supposed to worry about you when you say stuff like that?! You were–”

“IT'S MY CHOICE,” she snapped, snarling back at Matt in frustration as she waved an arm towards Christopher. “I LET HIM EAT ME.”

…

…she what?

Immediately, Danny's face turned a bright shade of red. “I-it's not always some big awful deal, alright?” She glared down at the ground. 

Matt couldn't quite find it in himself to look back up at Christopher.

“I didn't tell you about the giants eating people thing because I didn't want you to worry about me. I know it sounds insane, and it kind of is. This whole world is crazy, I know. And there are a lot of bad giants, just like there's bad humans. But I know a few good ones, and they're really important to me.”

Matt didn't even know what to say anymore–his worry and fear weren't gone, but now he was just as equally…well, confused. And still far too much in shock to process what Danny had said. 

“...I'm sorry, did you say you let Christopher eat you?” Matt squeaked, his voice coming out in an embarrassingly high pitch.

Danny rolled her eyes. “Stop making a big deal out of it, Matt. I'm fine, okay?”

Matt finally summoned the courage to glance up towards Christopher. The giant had been rather quiet while he and Danny had argued, and now seemed a little surprised that Matt had looked his way. 

Christopher smiled, seeming a little less embarrassed than Danny was, although there was something a bit awkward about his grin still. He shrugged nonchalantly, as if this was all so fucking normal. “I promise it's perfectly safe, Matt. Giants’ bodies evolved the way they did specifically to protect humans. It's like a symbiotic relationship of sorts.”

Matt raised a finger and opened his mouth as if to retort, and then closed it again with a puzzled expression. “...what?” 

It seemed like Christopher was used to giving this exact explanation, for some reason, because he spoke to Matt with the patience and practice of a schoolteacher. “Humans have been coming to this world since it began. Clearly, though, they had little protections from the elements, or larger predators, and for whatever reason, their presence caused giants’ bodies to adapt, to hold them safely inside of their–”

“–okay, yeah, I get it,” Matt said, shaking his head and cutting Christopher off quickly. He didn’t really get it, but it was enough of an explanation to tide him over for now. That was just batshit crazy. He couldn’t think of any animals in the real world that did anything like that. 

And his sister…was okay with that? His sister willingly volunteered herself to be eaten? 

Was Christopher coercing her? Forcing her? He still had his doubts that whatever “relationship” they had could be equal, especially when Danny had to rely on giants for nearly everything. Was Christopher using that as some sort of…leverage? 

He knew Danny pretty well. He didn’t think she’d let herself be controlled like that. He couldn’t imagine it in normal circumstances—but these were far from normal circumstances. 

His fear was put to the side, momentarily, for the sake of the fierce protectiveness he felt for Danny. He stared up at Christopher, seeming to size the giant up as if he could glean anything else about the man’s character from a more scrutinizing glance.

Christopher looked back at Matt placidly, his dark brown eyes surprisingly soft. He seemed to be able to tell he was being scrutinized, and yet he offered Matt little more than a rather docile, almost curious expression. 

“Did you have any other questions about this world, Matt?” 

Matt laughed—not in a way that suggested he was feeling humorous, but because he was so deep in disbelief and shock that he couldn’t make any other sound. “Fucking hell. Do I have more questions? Are you for real?” He looked back at Danny, who seemed to be assessing his reaction too now. 

And then he grinned wickedly, crossing his arms as he stared her down. “You are telling me everything, Dan.” 

Danny groaned. “I forgot you used to call me that.” 

“Dan?” Christopher repeated, an almost mischievous gleam in his eyes. Danny immediately whipped her head towards him and glared. 

“You aren’t allowed to call me that. You’ve got enough fucking nicknames under your belt.” 

“But it’s cute,” he insisted, though he smiled in the same way Matt did when he knew he’d only be annoying his sister. 

“I’m beating the hell out of you the next time we’re the same size,” she grumbled. “I’m not cute.” 

“You know, pouting about it just adds to the cuteness,” Christopher quipped, poking at Danny’s shoulder. She tried to grab his finger and bite it, but he pulled away just in time, laughing.

Matt wasn’t entirely sure he could look at Christopher the same way anymore, not after being told that he apparently ate his older sister on what Matt assumed to be a regular basis. He couldn’t understand it, he wasn’t sure he wanted to, and he had no idea what kind of…implications that kind of relationship had in this world. And he doubted, even after he got through all the questions he wanted to tonight, that he’d truly understand it at all.

But the longer the night went on, the more he realized that Danny really did seem much happier than he ever remembered seeing her before. That wasn’t a lie, or an act. Whatever the two of them got up to, it was a real friendship, and it was obvious even through the layers of distrust and suspicion Matt wore. 

This world was weird, and frankly, it was terrifying. But he could see that his sister was thriving in it, and despite his own hopes that she would decide to come back to the real world…he could only be happy for her. And that was enough for him. 

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

I know that was a lot, but I like writing these kinds of things because even though they're not canon, I get to show a lot of the behind-the-scenes worldbuilding that I wouldn't normally get to show! Thanks for the ask, and thank you for reading!

[frokenkeke]

Dissection of the unfinished piece "Venus"

I have long held that you should be proud of everything you make and allow it to exist despite imperfections. Most of what I make gets shared despite my feelings about it. Exceptions are rare, but they happen. I find those occasions interesting, so today we will look at a piece tentatively titled "Venus".

This is my initial idea sketch dated 20th of May 2018. It depicts a hilltop scene of people encountering a mysterious object inhabited by ethereal beings. If I recall this was one of those ideas that had simmered around in my head for years without ever being put to paper. Hilltops are one of my favorite places to be, providing not only a impressive views, but a closeness to the sky and a certain solitude. Even in suburban areas, the hilltop is a bit too remote and inaccessible. Climbing it I typically find myself alone. I lie down at the top and face the sky. I see nothing but the sky and I feel nothing but the sky. A strange sensation.

I found some night time footage of a nearby hill from May 14th the same year, which I took for an unrelated project. The connection to my unfinished piece is not coincidental. At night, the hilltop not only borders the sky, but the cosmos. It allows us to feel a little bit closer to the universe. When I made the initial sketch for "Venus" the following week, this threshold was in my mind. I wanted to express it.

The 1969 self-titled David Bowie album (later retitled Space Oddity) ends with the track Memory of a Free Festival. It's one of my all-time favorite Bowie tracks, which reminds me of warm summer evenings and moments of long-gone happiness. I've sung it with friends, it's special to me. A lovely lengthy piece chronicling a gathering of joy and love, the titular Free Festival.

However, halfway through, the lyrics begin detailing fantastical events:

"We scanned the skies with rainbow eyes and saw machines of every shape and size. We talked with tall Venusians passing through. And Peter tried to climb aboard but the captain shook his head. And away they soared. Climbing through the ivory vibrant cloud. Someone passed some bliss among the crowd. And we walked back to the road, unchained."

The festival is visited by extra-terrestrial beings from Venus, seemingly instilling a feeling of relief and fulfillment. This inverts the album's famous opening track Space Oddity with its Major Tom spacecraft disaster, and together they form neat bookends; in Space Oddity man meets space, in Memory of a Free Festival space meets man.

My unfinished piece "Venus" pertains to some mental image of listening to Memory of a Free Festival. The tall Venusians pass by the hilltop, the joyful people are bewildered and overjoyed. Some want to board their craft and go with them, but are denied. Above is a cleaner sketch done within an hour of the first one. I still think the idea is good and find it a beautiful visual. I have no memory of my inspirations for the ethereal beings, they certainly have some inherent Tove Jansson-isms that basically all my work has, but still, I maintain they're quite imaginative takes on aliens. I enjoy their fancy evening wear dresses that are all unique, I adore the captain's little cap and how she uses a strange floating orb for navigation, I like that the leftmost creature has asymmetrical eyelashes and apparently is maneuvering some sort of old-fashioned rudder.

Generally a sketch like this would pretty straight-forwardly lead to a finished piece within the same day. I sit down and work until I'm done. Not this time.

In hindsight, this next step should've sent off warning signs. Usually I pick a handful of colors before I start working, sometimes I need to fiddle with their distribution a bit if I limit myself, but I don't need to think TOO hard on it. Rarely do I luxuriate with all kinds of colors to the degree where I need to pre-paint the entire piece beforehand. Here I've done exactly that, over-indulged myself with all primary colors in a hearty blend. Still, that can happen sometimes, it has worked in the past, so I kept on.

Above is the latest state of the piece. The Venusians and the environment are instated, the people are yet to be done. I remember coming back to "Venus" in this iteration once or twice, hesitating and stepping away it. Eventually I abandoned it. Ultimately, I think the colors were too chaotic. They have a slight subdued pastel tone, but they also look quite flat. In 2018 I had long since grown tired of shading, so this would've reflected my intended finished state. I can conclude that it simply didn't look good enough, it didn't feel worth it to continue. If I went back today I would probably fiddle with the palette; removing the cold hues and introducing some darker values, more contrast!

However, that was over 6 years ago, I don't fully remember all my thoughts and intentions, I don't know how I envisioned the final result, I have no idea what I would've even called the finished piece. "Venus" was just a convenient short filename. Going back now I would have to adapt and reinterpret myself, because whoever started making "Venus" no longer exists. What it would've been can never be realized.

To respect myself, I will instead celebrate the piece as I left it. This feels more truthful and honest than trying to "fix it". Maybe this will make me more comfortable to actually try my hand at this idea again some other time in the future. Who knows? It's not impossible.

This is an amalgamation of the finished and unfinished parts of the piece, the most "complete" iteration I can cobble together with what's there. It should probably give you a good enough idea of what I would've posted at the time.

Knowing myself, I can't help but make some observations.

The second human from the left is absolutely a self-portrait, I drew myself with these people longing for escape. The Venusian I connect with shares my colors, reaching out a hand and smiling. Conversely, the other person reaching out is turned away from our view, his colors don't match the green Venusian, who seems more resigned in their rejection. I see that this is also a self-portrait, vaguely resembling myself pre-transition. The contrast between the two encounters suggests to me hesitation, I feel like I might be trying to convince myself that I'm worthy of leaving the past behind. The Venusians favor my current self, yet both are ultimately left behind on Earth. My desires are left unfulfilled.

In 2018 I was in a pretty bad place, I realize I usually am and that I reflect this through my art in different ways depending on what I'm dealing with. I make art to express myself, to communicate abstract feelings I can't put to word. I believe "Venus" attempts to paint a pleasant warm scene that carries an underlying somberness. However, sadness has value too, it can teach us strength. As ethereal beings, the Venusians represent some impossible ideal of happiness that we may strive toward. But can we ever truly reach such bliss? We must be able to exist beyond such perfection and achieve happiness despite it. Perhaps the piece depicts the moment where such a lesson would be learned? When the Venusians depart, I will be left with friends, I will be okay. I am not alone.

As Memory of a Free Festival ends in chanting:

"The sun machine is coming down and we're gonna have a party."

[mirchloe]

i think chloe adds little doodles to her notes. even if she's older, working on actual engineering endeavors, she's sketching small concept art schematics or little aliens in the notes. she is paying attention, though, so she's drawing them after she's done listening. (also, her handwriting gets messier when she's older, too. she lets one word bleed into the next, and it looks like advanced cursive without any spaces. she can thoroughly read what she wrote until she's tired and squinting at the page, wondering why she didn't type it up beforehand.)

[melissamasakari]

Confessions you didn't notice

Chapter three. Guest from above.

Getting up early on Friday proved surprisingly easy for me despite the fact that I’m not an early bird at all. The mood was wonderful. Festively dressed townspeople were already rushing to the field where today's event was going to be held. I decided to run into the guild beforehand, hand in my papers and figure out my plans for the next week. But when I was passing near the fountain, I noticed something strange and huge in the sky. This strange thing dashed past the city and landed somewhere in the east with a loud thud. I just hope that no one was hurt. So. Stop. It flew into the Sewage Plant! This means now I have much more important things to do than some festivities. After running through the entire Main street in one breath I confirmed my fears. Sam was already guarding the gate to the Wasteland, driving away curious onlookers. Climbing the stairs, I heard her ringing voice:

“Citizens, disperse! No one is allowed through. By Arlo's orders!”

Everyone began to shout at each other in agitation, demanding an explanation. Well, if she is here, then the guys are already in the thick of things.

“Sam! Do you need help?” I shouted, jumping up and attracting her attention. Without waiting for an answer I began to make my way through the crowd to the gate.

“Oh, little fella. You are here, too. Were you successful?” She looked at me and winked. However, I didn’t have time to answer. The gate opened with a creak, Remy flew out, looked around, grabbed me by the elbow and dragged me through the gate.

“I was just about to call you! Let's go!”

“Alright! Do things look blue?”

“Seems so. This thing pierced the building's covering in several places. While this is not very dangerous, but monsters are coming out of the hole. Arlo is staying there.”

“Do you need a fighter or an engineer?”

“We need you. Two in one. We’re almost there.”

“Melissa! You're smart, think of something!, I'll try to buy you some time! Remy, protect her!” Arlo's words reached us.

We made our way through the crowd of monsters and reached one of the sources of the problem. Wow! Yes, this is a full-fledged space station!.. Or it was. It also looks very relic.

Well, it dealt a huge amount of damage! It’s a miracle that no one was blown away along the way. I quickly sketched out a drawing and calculated the parameters of the needed “patch” and rushed off to another breach to assess the damage.

“I need to bring a ton of equipment here. The buses don't work, and there's panic at the gates. What's our options?” I asked while continuing to land heavy kicks on climbing creatures.

“There’s no time to look for Gale. If this drags on, we won't be able to protect people.”

“Actually, that’s easy, he opened the festive events. It was just when I reached the gate. But that’s not going to help.”

“Yes, we can’t allow the panic spread either,” Remy added, pumping his fists.

“I have everything I need. But I can't carry this stuff over the hills. Until tomorrow lunch, at least. By that time there won’t even be any bones left of you!”

“Run to headquarters. Higgins is locked up there. Tell him we're trading his freedom for help with transportation. Anyway, he won’t be able to take any commissions for another three days. At the gate warn Sam, so she will give you the necessary docs.”

“What if he refuses?”

“There will be no one to release him until a new captain is appointed. And that's a long process.”

“Understood. I withdraw. Please do hold on! I'll tell the medics on the way, just in case.”

“Thank you! We'll wait!” Arlo smiled encouragingly, breaking the head of another nasty creature with his knee.

To my surprise, the vile complainer listened to me without any questions. And he even apologized for false accusations! With his help I managed to deliver everything I needed before sunset. My guys looked exhausted, but intact. Fine. I helped to scatter some monsters and diligently sealed the first hole, then the second.

Phew, we can take a break now.

“Guys, how are you?”I’ve noticed a fallen tree and decided to rest there. At the same time, it’s a good vantage point, I’ll be able to see any danger coming our way.“Come here.”

“I strained my knee. But overall it’s that not bad,” Remy responded and sat down next to me.

“I'm fine. A little tired. I haven't trained so intensely for a long time!”Arlo said way too cheerfully and loudly plopped down on the other side, leaning with his palm on my shoulder as he landed. So nice, even though he is somewhat heavy.

“Be careful! It's slippery. Does anyone need first aid kit?”

“If you have painkillers or an elastic bandage with you, I’ll be grateful.”

“There are both, here you go, buddy,” I rummaged in my bag and passed the requested things to the right. Remington nodded gratefully and began to stir, moving away slightly. In twilight I can’t see what he’s doing there, and I don’t really want to.

“Sam will be mad at us for we’ve stolen all the fun,” the redhead took off his gloves and began to knead his knuckles.

“It would be more fun at the event. But that’s okay too. Remy, do you need some water to wash down this crap?”

“Do you have any?” Both responded in unison.

“Certainly. I'm thrifty. Here you go,” I passed bottles of water to the left and to the right. It's a miracle bottles didn't crash, seems that we were lucky.

While they were freshening up, my attention was caught by a strange noise coming from a fallen relic, on the hull of which was the inscription Altair-01. With a loud clang, a hatch opened somewhere above. Just in case, I prepared my weapon for battle.

We probably looked funny. Two big guys on the bench and petite girl with a sledgehammer ready for the battle. Arlo jerked up, trying to push me back. He did not succeed as he was clearly much more tired than he wanted to show me. They surely got out hungry in the morning. Meanwhile, a grinding sound was heard from the open hatch. The hum kept growing, accompanied by irregular knocking from the structure inside the station. I took a couple of steps back. You never know what can hit your head from above. That is alarming - the hatch released a cloud of steam with a terrible hiss.

It came from above.

Something came from above.

“ACK, ACK ACK!” “Something” screamed as it fell.

“What is this thing?”

“I've never seen anything like this before!”

“Guys, is it talking?! Wait.” I changed my hold on the sledgehammer and pulled out the lantern from my bag.

“My dear Lara! Where are you?! ACK. My name is Ack,” the strange thing crawled a little closer to us, moaned something else and sank down.

“Wow!”

“Yeah. It looks like a robot. It's pretty heavily damaged.” Arlo said observing that thing from safe distance with cheer curiosity.

“I saw similar ones in Lucien. One, it seems, lives in Atara. This is an AI.” Remy responded with concern.

“I would show him to Petra. Our scientists will be absolutely delighted.” I offered carefully.

“He could be dangerous. Let's put him in the cell, it's just freed up.”

“Yes, Captain!”

“Remy, stop teasing! You, are the captain too. Grab it and drag it up.”

”Are you crazy?! You can barely stand on your feet and are about to drag a potentially dangerous living thing thought the hills. Let's at least call for reinforcements!”

“How? Will you run ahead and bring us a bus?”

“Very funny. Remind me color coding for the alarms as used in Portia. We could have different one in Barnarock,” I started rummaging through my bag, pulling out several colored tubes.

“Great idea! Give me two red ones, a blue one and a yellow one,” Arlo placed obtained fireworks near the bus stop. “And purple. Melissa, we're moving the robot away now, and I'm checking the direction for signals. Your task is to light the wicks at short intervals and immediately run away to cover. The noise may awaken the local fauna, so prepare for a fight.”

“Accepted. But I won’t leave you here. Do not even ask!”

“I didn’t intend to. Thanks.”

After the fireworks were launched, our sudden guest from the sky woke up once again. He said that he was a cook and shouldn’t have been on the ground, asked for help, and passed out again.

Following our signal Sam rushed over, organized transport, and our entire wonderful company was dragged back to the headquarters. As someone had already notified the city authorities, it was a bit crowded and very noisy inside. But I couldn’t abandon my guys just like that. While everyone was arguing about what to do and how to behave with the real living Artificial Intelligence, I decided to prepare something to eat so I quietly called my friend.

“Sam. While they are arguing show me to the kitchen and bathroom. Our guys are really tired. And looks like this mess will drag on.”

“Don’t worry, I’ve already sent a messenger to Django. I even asked for delivery. Will you stay for...dinner?”

“I’ll stay as long as necessary. Can I make you some coffee? I know you’re not a fan, but it doesn’t seem like we’ll all be able to sleep anytime soon.”

“Sounds good. I don't mind a coffee with cream, though,” we headed to the kitchen and started fiddling with the drinks.

“Sugar, surely, is absent here?”

“Yeah. We'll have to live with it. Spices will be fine, won’t they?”

“Pass me some cinnamon, please.”

“How did your meeting go, by the way?”

“Not sure. I'll figure it out later.”

Attracted by the smells, a noticeably refreshed redhead entered the kitchen.

“What will you figure out?”

“Your itchy feet, of course. Did they decide on something or is it the same as always? I plan to stay until the end of the showdown. If you don't mind, that is.”

“Nope, I just thought about how to invite you to stay. Your help was invaluable.”

“That's my job. You will probably need to check the station again.”

“I blocked the gate, that will definitely wait until tomorrow.”

“What if some other crap comes out of there?”

“Now everything will surely calm down and then we can ask the robot. Since nothing exploded during the fall, it means there were no weapons of this type on board. People also could not survive, certainly not for more than three hundred years. He says that he doesn’t even know anything about the Dark Era.”

“What a mess here, Cap. I'll go see if our dinner has arrived yet. There hasn't been such an excitement here for a very long time.”

“Have you already taken care of this? Good job!”

“I didn't want to ask our guest to cook, you know.” Sam nodded in my direction, grabbed two servings of coffee and went to the reception area.

“Do you want your coffee black, with cream, or maybe I should add cinnamon?” I was finishing preparing my own.

“I want the same as yours.”

“Fine. Keep in mind – that’s quite bracing. You may have minor problems with your sleep for a while.”

“It's okay. It looks like the next couple of days will be extremely busy for me.”

“I guess so. It's a shame, but there's nothing we can do about it.”

“Sorry for ruining your holiday. Please go tomorrow and have some fun without us, huh?”

“In fact, I would prefer to go with you to inspect Altair. But I already know what you will say to this, so I won’t impose myself. Here,” he carefully took a sip from his cup which I offered him. He made an absolutely brutal face, coughed, but didn’t stop trying to drink it.

“Tough shit. What did you put in there?”

“It would be better with sugar or syrup. But you don’t have any of these,” I shrugged and calmly drank my own coffee.

“Apparently, I overestimated my dislike for sweets. Let’s go, it seems like they stopped yelling,” the captain motioned toward the reception area, “I just hope that doesn’t mean that they started fighting.”

“Mr. Robot, you will have to stay here until we are sure that you or your transport is not a threat to the city. Next, I will put this issue to a vote and give instructions to the Civil Corps.” Gale having with an extremely important look made funny gestures pointing at everyone present. Lee looked terribly unhappy; it seems that he did not like the idea of leaving the robot “alive” at all. Merlin stared at the prisoner with obsession, as if she was going to take him away for experiments that very moment the cell was opened.

The sponsor of our evening entertainment himself sat helplessly on the floor. After the speech the mayor looked around, pointed his finger at me and demanded that our space visitor to be repaired. Very funny. The tools I have with me now are a screwdriver, a lantern, a torch and a sledgehammer. No engines, no materials, no welding. Before I started to get indignant, Arlo shrugged and dismissed everyone. My hero!

Sam brought the food and began setting the table in the reception area. Remy climbed out from somewhere above and joined in. Suddenly a voice came from the cell:

“I want to remind you that I was promised a glass of milk. And information about my team who remained at the station!”

“Sorry, as far as we managed to inspect the station, there were no survivors. We'll go there in the morning and find out for sure.”

“Your landing was not the softest, Mr. Ack.”

“I’ll bring you some milk now. Unfortunately, repairs will have to wait. I don't have anything suitable here. Only sticks, mops and pots, perhaps. Some of these also need to be washed.”

“Wow. Robot chef. And I didn't know they could eat it food, too.”

“Milk is the drink of the gods!”

“Maybe. How were you going to hold the glass? Should I bring you a straw?”

“Do it, strange redhead girl.”

“Oh, not this again. It’s just impolite to call me a girl, but of course I should be grateful not to be called a boy.” I returned after a while with a bottle of milk and a drinking straw, and handed everything to our prisoner.

“Don’t be annoyed,” the second redhead here came closer, put his hand on my shoulder and began to name everyone present in turn, introducing us to the robot. “Briefly speaking. As you already know, you are on Earth. Around us is a city called Portia. This specific building is the headquarters of the Civil Corps. Like the Old World police. I am Arlo and I am considered to be a boss here. The rest are my friends and my crew. This cheerful one is Remington. The tomboy blonde is Sam. Now there are only three of us serving here.”

“Understood. And the child? Is that your child?”

“I’m actually an adult! My name is Melissa. I have a workshop outside main gate. I’m something of an inventor and tester and sometimes also an engineer. These three are my closest friends, so I find myself often drawn into all sorts of adventures.”

“Speaking of adventures. Don't you want to change your job?”

“For example?”

“We could use your skills; do you want to join the Corps?”

“I do. But they won’t give you enough budget to afford to hire me.”

“It's a pity. But you just think about it.”

“When I get rich enough so that's no longer a problem, I know where to look for you.”

Sam whistled in amazement and reminded us that the food was getting cold. Really. Well, it was delicious. I’ll need to clarify what exactly that was, because it seems that the “Round Table” has a new menu. After washing the dishes, Remy brought a plunger from somewhere. Just for fun, I tried to attach it to the robot. Ack was pleased and asked for a saucepan, put it on his head and fell silent in his corner. So it seems that I'm no longer needed here today.

“I'm going to my place. My knee is hurting.” Remy stated.

“Okay, now that everything is done, I’ll go too. Do you need pepper compress?”

“Enough for today. Thank you,” he stomped up the stairs, holding the handrail. Well, it's always surprising how quickly he moves despite his chronic injury.

“Give up. Where will you go? It’s dark and slippery there,” Arlo said to me.

“Or we can come to my place, if you want,” Sam suggested.

“It won’t work, we need you at headquarters. You're on duty, remember?” Our so-called boss immediately cut off.

“Crap. Okay, I have some spare clothes. It will be too big for you, of course. But here you can wash yourself off and find a place to rest.”

“Sounds like a plan. Drag it here.”

I cleaned myself up and took the sofa opposite the cage. I made a cocoon out of a soft blanket (was it llama fur?) and covered myself with a hood to block out excess light. I immediately passed out, despite the strongest coffee in the world.

[mehekjain]

The Ultimate Guide to Shopping for Garden Furniture Online

When it comes to transforming your outdoor space into a relaxing oasis, choosing the right furniture is key. With the convenience of e-commerce, more and more people are turning to garden furniture online to find the perfect pieces for their gardens, patios, and balconies. Whether you're looking for modern elegance, rustic charm, or functional simplicity, shopping online offers endless possibilities — right at your fingertips.

In this ultimate guide, we’ll walk you through everything you need to know about buying garden furniture online, from choosing the right materials and styles to measuring your space and understanding delivery options.

Why Buy Garden Furniture Online?

Shopping for garden furniture online provides a level of convenience that traditional retail stores simply can't match. You can compare a wide variety of styles, prices, materials, and customer reviews — all without leaving your home. Online retailers also often offer exclusive deals, a wider selection, and detailed product information.

Additionally, many online stores provide virtual tools or photo galleries that help you visualize how the furniture might look in your outdoor space.

Set a Budget Before You Browse

It’s easy to fall in love with stylish outdoor furniture pieces, but setting a realistic budget beforehand can keep you grounded. Garden furniture online comes in a wide range of prices, from affordable basics to luxury collections. Determine how much you’re willing to spend, and filter your searches accordingly to avoid overspending.

Remember to factor in potential shipping fees, taxes, and any extras such as cushions, covers, or assembly services.

Consider Your Space and Layout

Before making a purchase, measure your outdoor area carefully. Think about how the furniture will fit in terms of both size and layout. Will there be enough room to move around comfortably? How many people will typically use the space?

When browsing garden furniture online, look for detailed dimensions in product descriptions. It’s also helpful to sketch a rough layout or use free digital layout tools to visualize your space. A well-planned setup ensures that your new garden furniture will not only look great but also function well.

Choose the Right Material

One of the most important aspects of selecting garden furniture online is the material. Different materials offer different benefits and maintenance requirements:

Wood (like teak or eucalyptus) offers natural beauty and durability but may need regular maintenance.

Metal (such as aluminum or wrought iron) is sturdy and stylish but may require weatherproof coatings.

Rattan or wicker provides a cozy, casual vibe and is often lightweight and weather-resistant.

Plastic or resin is low-maintenance, budget-friendly, and comes in a variety of colors.

Think about your climate, how much care you're willing to give, and your personal aesthetic when selecting materials.

Match the Style with Your Outdoor Theme

Your outdoor space is an extension of your home, so choose furniture that reflects your overall style. Whether your garden exudes a modern, bohemian, coastal, or farmhouse vibe, there's something for everyone when shopping for garden furniture online.

Look at color palettes, design motifs, and material finishes to find pieces that complement your landscape, flooring, and exterior walls.

Read Customer Reviews and Ratings

One of the best advantages of buying garden furniture online is access to customer reviews. Take time to read through the feedback to get real insights into product quality, durability, and comfort.

Photos shared by other buyers can give you a more realistic idea of how the furniture looks and fits in actual spaces. High ratings and positive comments about longevity and comfort are always good signs.

Prioritize Comfort and Functionality

While aesthetics are important, comfort should never be compromised. When shopping for garden furniture online, look for ergonomic designs, quality cushions, and multipurpose features like storage benches or foldable chairs.

If you're buying cushions or fabric covers, check the details on weather resistance and cleaning instructions. Opt for UV-resistant, water-repellent, and mold-resistant options whenever possible.

Check Shipping, Assembly, and Return Policies

Another critical part of purchasing garden furniture online is understanding the logistics. Review shipping costs, estimated delivery times, and whether the furniture arrives fully assembled or requires DIY assembly.

Make sure to read the return and warranty policies as well. In case the item doesn’t meet your expectations or arrives damaged, a fair return policy will make the process much smoother.

Look for Seasonal Deals and Discounts

Online furniture shopping often comes with perks like seasonal sales, flash deals, or first-time buyer discounts. Keep an eye on promotions, especially during spring and summer when outdoor furniture is in high demand.

Subscribing to newsletters or alerts can also help you grab the best deals on garden furniture online before they sell out.

Don’t Forget About Accessories

Once you've chosen your core furniture pieces, it’s time to accessorize. Umbrellas, lanterns, outdoor rugs, throw pillows, and planters can elevate the entire look of your garden space.

Many garden furniture online platforms offer curated collections of accessories designed to match or enhance your main pieces. Choosing the right accents ensures your outdoor area feels complete and inviting.

Maintain Your Garden Furniture

After your new garden setup is complete, keeping it in good shape is crucial. Even weather-resistant furniture needs occasional cleaning and maintenance.

Store cushions and covers indoors during bad weather, wipe down furniture regularly, and consider furniture covers for long-term protection. When you shop for garden furniture online, check the care instructions listed for each material type.

Final Thoughts

Purchasing garden furniture online opens up a world of possibilities for enhancing your outdoor lifestyle. With a bit of planning, research, and style awareness, you can find the perfect pieces that blend functionality with beauty.

From selecting durable materials to creating a layout that flows naturally, every choice contributes to the ultimate outdoor experience. Embrace the convenience, variety, and value that comes with shopping for garden furniture online — your dream garden setup is just a few clicks away.

[iceprincess129official]

Drawing art when HIGH: a Cautionary Tale

I recently had an experience that I thought would be interesting to talk about, which is drawing art while high. For starters I had never really been high before until this moment, and what I had was a gummy which in hindsight might not have been the best thing to start out with, which I will get into more later.

I took a gummy and sat down to draw. at first I drew simple little drawings of my persona with her cute light colors.

it was dumb and simple and at this point I wasn't feeling any different yet. then, without warning, it hit.

A friend in call asked if I could draw my character Frill high as well and I went "sure, why not" and as I was beginning the rough sketch before trying to do the line art or color, I started to feel a bit off. I felt like I was falling when I wasn't and I thought I had done far more on the artwork before I would check back in and see I had barely made progress, my sense of time was messed up. I remember seeing and feeling like space was weird and just, wasn't right.

I started to have bad time, also known as a bad trip.

I began to panic and kept telling myself to calm the fuck down, that panicking would make it worse, and it would. I found that people talking in call with me and focusing on drawing helped me a lot. If I wasn't focused on something I would spiral, literally and it felt bad.

It felt like ages for me to get the Frill art done, but from what I was told, I went pretty fast all things considering.

Once I got Frill done, I started to panic again so I asked my friends what I could draw next, and so my next artwork ended up being a dnd oc we call Moka.

While working on Moka I was still freaking out at this point and my memory gets to fuzzy to recall much. I just know that I didn't feel good and I remember laughing to keep myself from crying.

Here is the part I go more into detail as to what I took and did so you can be more aware of what I did wrong.

One, I had not eaten before taking the gummy.

Two, I took a 75mg for my first time which after I was told was WAY TO MUCH. it should have been a 5 or 10mg.

Three, I did not do my own research before being dumb with something I had never done before.

I felt the effects of the gummy for a few days and while I did draw even more art then that I have shown here, I do not know if I will ever post that art outside of some Discord servers I am in.

Hindsight is 20/20 and once looking at what I did after the fact, yeah I was dumb, so learn from my mistakes and be more careful if you choose to get high before doing an art session with friends.

In the future, I will probably try something like this again, but going forward I will keep in mind, eating food beforehand, taking a smaller amount and overall be more prepared for what will happen.

I hope this story helps someone from having a bad time like I did, there are ways to have fun and be safe while doing something like this, you just have to be mindful of what is best for you.

Take care and be safe.

[foxrazorblade]

full spread.

boring rambles and useless commentary below.

i was trying to write my emo shit before i began the ROLAL in the middle. i wanted to simply cross it out, but that'd ruin the page, with the need for it to be cropped out in pictures/hidden if others must see. so, to cover up, i wrote "MUST ROT".

i didnt sketch it out with a pencil beforehand, and the letters may feel awkward. the T looks a bit silly -- like the nose of a cat. because of the way the words go over one another i gave "ROT" thicker lines and darker shading.

already shared this one. it was actually sketched yesterday. i finished up the inking and erased the pencil today.

these are stupid thoughts taken out of context and stitched together. all of this, like "MUST ROT" above, is done without pencil sketching beforehand.

the full thing should be "MISERY INCLUDES HATE AND DESPAIR; PEOPLE HATE MISERY, AND YET THE SHARED HATE BRINGS THEM TOGETHER".

the next page was all sketched before using ink. everything except the lals on the far right was started yesterday.

the first to ink the outlines of, this lal is one that goes down not in the best way. the spacing is whack, id try to fix it, but each new attempt was worse than the last. i did the "shading" after the middle lals so that this one wasnt too bland (i shouldve kept the letters empty).

middle lals. bottom one was inked first, and turned out way better than the top lal, even if it was off-center until i added the speech bubble. im not even going to touch on the top one; i left it unfinished because i messed up the lines that i was drawing while really annoyed from my environment (class).

each of these lals was sketched in a seperate grid, toplals looking like )++( where by the middle vertical the letters should squish, and bottmlal being like (__) where the horizontal line curved in the middle was supposed to make the lines spread out. you decide if thats what it looks like.

nothing much to say about the righties. they were done today in an attempt to fill up the page. ro-lal is ugly and the perspective is incorrect. mock tribrolal wouldve been a nice touch if it was more in style.

overall, this looks bad. and so was expected; im trying out a new style. id sketch my throwups with more soft and circular shapes, so this is my first time actually giving the edges a go. instead of ovals and squiggly lines in mind, the letters were blended with trapezoids, diamonds and rectangles, while also trying to not be too stiff. i didnt use any references as one can easily tell. it looks amateurishly, and im satisfied with how it is as an actual thing, not a try-hard toy attempt.

maybe soon ill try this out on a wall. but first, practice in the 'book.

[vibrantbuildcon]

The Role of Virtual Reality in Modern Architecture: How VR is Shaping Design and Client Experiences

The world of architecture is constantly evolving, and one of the most exciting changes is the introduction of virtual reality (VR). This technology is reshaping how architects design, present, and collaborate with clients. By offering an immersive experience, VR allows clients to step into a space before it’s even built, transforming the way projects are envisioned and executed.

How VR is Changing Design Processes

In traditional architectural design, blueprints, 2D drawings, and scale models are the tools of the trade. While effective, these methods often leave room for misinterpretation or a lack of clarity. Virtual reality changes that by providing a 3D, fully immersive experience where both architects and clients can visualise a building’s layout, design, and even interior finishes.

For architects, VR is more than just a visual tool—it’s a practical solution. It helps them foresee potential design flaws, test different materials, and explore innovative concepts without needing costly revisions later in the construction process. It also fosters real-time collaboration, where stakeholders can walk through spaces, suggest changes, and see instant modifications, making the design process more efficient and streamlined.

VR and Client Presentations

One of the biggest challenges in architecture is helping clients understand the final product. Plans and sketches can only do so much. Virtual reality bridges this gap by giving clients a virtual tour of their future space, allowing them to experience every detail as if they were standing inside the building. They can walk through rooms, feel the flow of space, and get a realistic sense of scale.

For clients, this means fewer surprises when construction is complete, more involvement in the design process, and a stronger sense of confidence in the project. Decisions about layouts, materials, and finishes become easier when you can virtually experience them beforehand.

As VR continues to transform the architecture industry, events like **Vibrant Buildcon 2025** are key platforms to explore these advancements. Scheduled from **April 13th to 16th, 2025**, at Yashobhoomi IICC Dwarka, New Delhi, this event is India’s largest building materials exhibition. It’s a must-attend for professionals looking to stay ahead of industry trends, including cutting-edge VR applications in architecture.

Aligned with the "Viksit Bharat 2047" initiative and national campaigns like **Atmanirbhar Bharat** and **Make in India**Vibrant Buildcon offers Indian manufacturers a unique opportunity to showcase their innovations to a global audience. It enables businesses to expand their presence, both in India and internationally, without the need for costly travel. With over **2000 international delegates** and **600+ exhibitors** expected to attend, Vibrant Buildcon 2025 is a powerful networking hub that helps growing MSMEs establish meaningful connections and create international bilateral relationships with buyers.

How Vibrant Buildcon Can Help the Industry Grow : 

Vibrant Buildcon isn’t just about showcasing products—it’s about creating a platform for Indian manufacturers to expand their reach and connect with new markets. The expo fosters collaboration between industries and helps businesses access international opportunities without the need for extensive travel.

For growing MSMEs, this is especially important. Vibrant Buildcon provides them with the chance to build global partnerships, introduce their products to international buyers, and expand their market share. By gathering industry leaders under one roof, the event reduces barriers to entry and helps companies establish a strong presence both domestically and globally.

The Future of Architecture and VR at Vibrant Buildcon 2025

Virtual reality is just one of the many innovations that will be on display at Vibrant Buildcon 2025. As architecture becomes more immersive and client-driven, the role of VR will only grow. Architects, developers, and manufacturers attending the expo will have the chance to explore how VR is changing the landscape of design and construction.

Whether you’re an architect looking to enhance your client presentations or a manufacturer aiming to reach a broader audience, Vibrant Buildcon 2025 is the place to connect, learn, and grow.

Don’t Miss Out

Join the industry’s leading minds at **Vibrant Buildcon 2025**, where innovations like virtual reality are not just talked about but experienced firsthand. This is where the future of architecture meets the world of business. **April 13th–16th, 2025**—mark your calendar and be part of the change!

[wedezineinterior]

Transform Your Living Room with WeDezine's Expert Art Selection Tips

Enhance the ambiance of your living room with the perfect artwork from WeDezine, the premier Living Room Interior designer in Bangalore. Art has the power to imbue personality, color, and a focal point that ties your space together. Discover our expert tips for selecting the ideal pieces to elevate your home.

Reflect Your Room’s Style Your living room’s existing decor sets the stage for choosing artwork. Whether your style is modern, traditional, minimalist, or eclectic, selecting art that complements this aesthetic creates a harmonious look. Abstract art or modern photography suits contemporary spaces, while classic paintings or detailed sketches enhance traditional settings.

Harmonize with Color Artwork can introduce new colors or reinforce existing ones in your living room. Choose pieces that seamlessly blend with your color scheme or provide a striking contrast. For neutral-toned rooms, vibrant art adds a splash of color, whereas in colorful rooms, neutral or monochromatic art balances the palette.

Scale and Proportion Consider the size of your living room and wall space when selecting artwork. Large, bold pieces make a statement on expansive walls, while smaller artworks or groupings fill spaces without overwhelming them. Ensure your art is appropriately sized to command attention and complement your room's proportions.

Personal Expression Your living room should showcase art that resonates with you and reflects your personality. Whether it’s a painting, photograph, or sculpture, choose pieces that evoke positive emotions and contribute to your home’s unique character.

Curate a Gallery Wall Showcase a collection of smaller artworks with a gallery wall arrangement. Experiment with symmetrical or asymmetrical layouts to add visual interest and create a personalized display. Plan your arrangement on the floor beforehand to achieve a balanced and appealing composition.

Perfect Frame Selection Enhance your artwork with the right frame that complements both the art piece and your living room decor. Whether matching frames for a cohesive look or mixing styles for eclectic charm, choose frames that enhance the overall aesthetic.

Strategic Placement and Lighting Placement is key to maximizing the impact of your artwork. Hang pieces at eye level for optimal viewing and ensure proper spacing above furniture. Utilize spotlights or picture lights to highlight artwork and create a captivating focal point in your living room.

Explore Diverse Mediums Expand your art selection beyond paintings or prints to include sculptures, textiles, or mixed media pieces. These mediums add texture, depth, and a tactile element to your living room, making it truly distinctive.

At WeDezine, we specialize in transforming living spaces with art that not only enhances decor but also reflects your individual style. As your trusted Living Room Interior Designers in Bangalore, let us guide you in selecting artwork that brings your vision to life. Contact us today for personalized advice and expert interior design services.

Contact WeDezine

[storiesdesign]

Benefits of 3D Interior Design: Unveiling the Magic within Spaces

Unveiling the Advantages of 3D Interior Design

Within the domain of spatial aesthetics, the notions of "perplexity" and "burstiness" hold tremendous significance, serving as pivotal anchors around which much of the analysis and understanding revolves. Picture a scenario where envisioning the manifestation of your design ideas in a tangible space becomes an accessible reality. The quandary resides not in the vision itself but rather in the difficulties that may arise in properly carrying out such an aspiration. Enter the realm of 3D interior design, a paradigm shift from the abstract nature of handcrafted sketches and 2D blueprints. This transformative approach not only brings designs to life but also addresses the intricate dynamics of spatial perception. Delve into the profound intricacies and nuanced benefits of 3D interior design in this discourse.

Decoding 3D Interior Design

The intricacies of 3D Interior Design unfurl as a meticulous process of conceptualizing and structuring the internal space of physical structures. This multi-dimensional vista bursts beyond the confines of a flat surface, unfolding a vivid three-dimensional landscape replete in breadth, altitude, and perspective. In simpler terms, it provides a realistic vista of the space, revealing the placement, nature, and characteristics of structural components, furniture, appliances, and more, well before the construction commences.

Unraveling the Merits of 3D Interior Design

1. Enhanced Visualization:

Embark on a virtual odyssey through your space with 3D interior design, offering a comprehensive and vivid preview even before the inception of the project. Every nuance, from structural elements to design intricacies, is laid bare. Whether it's an expansive bookshelf, diminutive window, or confined foyer, the positioning and aesthetics of each element become lucid, bridging the gap between conception and realization. The comparative challenge of 2D interior design, where aesthetic and technical aspects were elusive, now become obsolete.

2. Design Flexibility:

Are you keen on experimenting with diverse curtain hues? Do you wish to envisage the presence of your elongated couch in your living space? The virtual realm of 3D interior design offers boundless possibilities. By virtually experimenting with innumerable design possibilities through permutations and combinations of styles, color schemes, textures, patterns, and layouts, one can explore an extensive variety of aesthetic options without physically modifying any real elements. The cost-free experimentation provides unparalleled flexibility.

3. Seamless Amendments:

In the collaborative expanse of 3D interior design, a virtual canvas unfolds where you and your Interior designer can seamlessly modify, augment, subtract, replace, or shift elements. This dynamic interaction in the virtual sphere empowers swift adjustments, ensuring the alignment of the design with your envisioned precision. For instance, discontent with a swing door wardrobe? A brief consultation transforms it into a sliding door or a walk-in wardrobe, rendering the process agile and tailored.

4. Conservation of Effort, Time, and Capital:

The holistic visualization afforded by 3D interior design emerges as a triumphant savior of three invaluable resources: time, money, and effort. Unraveling potential design flaws, such as ill-fitting furniture or misguided art placements, beforehand circumvents costly rebuilding and reshaping. The capacity to explore myriad options preemptively mitigates the risk of design disasters. Moreover, the accessibility of 3D interior design online introduces a newfound dimension of convenience, catering to the contemporary constraints of time and mobility.

As a transformative cherry on top, the quintessence of 3D interior design extends its accessibility to online platforms, making virtual design consultations a time-saving and efficient alternative. If the hustle and bustle of physical visits to design firms or the confines of the 'new normal' confine you, embrace the dexterity of a virtual design consultation. Your journey toward a refreshed and adaptable spatial metamorphosis begins by securing your slot promptly.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What distinguishes 3D interior design from traditional methods?

 3D interior design stands out with its lifelike visualizations, streamlined planning, and cost-effective prototyping, offering a level of detail and efficiency unmatched by traditional methods.

Is 3D interior design suitable for all types of spaces?

 Absolutely! Whether it's residential, commercial, or industrial spaces, 3D interior design adapts seamlessly, catering to diverse design requirements.

How does 3D interior design contribute to sustainability?

 Through virtual prototyping, 3D interior design minimizes material wastage, promoting a sustainable and eco-friendly approach to design.

Can clients actively participate in the design process with 3D interior design?

 Certainly! 3D interior design fosters collaboration by allowing clients to visualize and actively engage in the design process, ensuring their preferences are accurately translated into the final outcome.

Is 3D interior design suitable for small-scale projects? 

Absolutely! Whether it's a compact apartment or a cozy office space, 3D interior design adapts to projects of all scales, offering a tailored and efficient design solution.

How does 3D interior design contribute to cost savings? 

Virtual prototyping minimizes material wastage, leading to cost-effective planning and execution. This not only benefits clients but also promotes an eco-friendly approach to design.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the benefits taking by interior designer of 3D technology are far-reaching and transformative. From enhancing visualization to promoting sustainability, this innovative approach is reshaping the way we design and experience spaces. Embrace the future of interior design, where creativity meets efficiency, and spaces come to life in ways unimaginable before.

[izzyeffinhands]

Considering that Stede was his boss for this? Yes, it would have been inappropriate. Although Israel did find him cute as well. It might have been one of the many reasons he agreed to help with this project of his. It was all about color and beauty, Bonnet was incredibly talented and had taken many pictures of his own work, and it helped the photographer was a cute blonde.

When they were brought together, he gave him the softest of friendly hugs. Just from the sets his eyes were lighting up. He’d been given a portfolio of clothing and design prior to this to help prepare but nothing was like seeing it in person. Izzy’s busiest week of the year was coming up soon so he was glad to be able to get this project in beforehand.

Izzy followed happily, looking around, taking in the space. Once they reached what was designated to be his own little room he rolled his large make up kit inside. There would be make up available here but there were things Izzy wouldn’t dare travel without. “ Oh for a two day or so shoot you really went all out.. “ He complimented, following him to the dressing area.

It was here he’d get his first glimpse of not only models but fashion and he practically beamed. Almost immediately some of the models were saying hello, one young girl going to give him a hug which he reciprocated. Izzy could make or break you in make up and beauty. Obviously this girl had something. There was the briefest of cordial words, and then Izzy moved to the clothing rack with Stede by his side.

“ These are stunning. I saw pictures, but they don’t do these numbers justice.. “ He pulled out one outfit that had quite a bit of turquoise with his own sort of smile. “ I got your notes on what you generally wanted, but I did bring plenty of sketches before we get started. That way if you don’t like something, I can change it up. This is your magazine after all. “

If Looks Could Kill

Another day, another job for world-renown make-up artist Israel Hands. Better known as Izzy, he’d been featured in magazine spreads himself. He’d done it all, from fashion week, to covers, to movies, to red carpet, to editorial and so much more. If you were a designer or photographer, and you could afford it, you wanted to have Izzy work on the models. He’d been in the business for over thirty years and he had no plans to stop anytime soon.

And here he was, about to work on models for a photographer of fashion, beauty, and more that was just as renown; Stede Bonnet. They were both names that could make or break a person’s career. So often Izzy was a key in the industry, meaning he was the mua that designed the looks. At big events like fashion week, he’d have a team under him that had duplicate whatever he’d created. And it was well known that Izzy had very little forgiveness for mistakes if you were on his team. He could crush a mua’s dreams with a few words. He was fierce and he damn well knew it.

His looks followed that fierceness as he walked onset. He’d never actually worked for the illustrious Bonnet before. They knew each other because they worked in the same circles. Worked together even, but this time he was working for him as the photographer was shooting a spread for his own highly anticipated magazine. Izzy’s hair was pushed back, beard that lovely silver. His trousers were glistening pleather accentuating by what could only be described as dominatrix boots. A black shirt topped that which was left unbuttoned a bit to show off his marvelous chest hair, and a tight and simple underbust corset was around his waist.

There was no time to lose in a project like this, wheeling his large make up kit like it was luggage, getting a glimpse around at the unique sets the man had decided to shoot on which made him smile. He’d spotted him fiddling with his camera, even taking some shots of someone which he hated to interrupt but he was here.

“ Bonnet! “ He shouted from where he was, making his way to him with an utter saunter in those heels and boots of his. Israel always liked straddling the boundary of gender, so it should have been no surprise. And he’d gotten previews of what the models were wearing and the general vision Stede wanted. He hated having to give up a bit of creative control, but one had to do the damn job.

“ Looks like you’re already getting started. Wonderful set pieces, by the way. — where should I kip up? “ Meaning where should he go to get the models, where should he go to get going.

[izzy2210]

ok I made this post and @steddieas-shegoes urged me to write this so here you go! :)

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Steve's at Eddie’s trailer. When he picked up the kids at that game of theirs, Eddie proposed they hung out without the mongrels, and he agreed. He called beforehand, Eddie knows he’s coming but still, he’s nervous. His fist’s been hovering over the door for a good while. He breathes in once more, and knocks. 

He hears Eddie rummaging through the trailer’s walls, until he opens the door. “Hi Stevie!” He bows dramatically, and gestures for him to come in. Eddie’s wearing this band T-shirt, but it has been washed so much you can’t see the logo anymore. He has his hair in a bun, and Steve knows he’s staring, but he just can’t seem to look away. When he finally tears his eyes away, he looks around the trailer, expecting Eddie’s uncle somewhere. “Your uncle isn’t here?” “Nah. He has to work today. What, you wanted to hang out with him instead of me?” He pouts, and laughs right after. Steve laughs with him, and can’t help but look at those dimples.

“I was thinking we could get high a bit. Your house isn’t that far away, and if you’re really in no state to drive, you could just stay here. Or do you have work tomorrow?” He leads him through the organised chaos, and towards his bedroom. “I don’t have work. We could get high.” “Great! You seem like you could use it, you’re so tense.” He laughs again, and massages Steve’s shoulders. He’s touching me.. Steve thinks, before shaking his head like an Etch-A-Sketch. 

Eddie collapses on his bed, and pats the space next to him, but not before he’s turned on some music. It’s metal, Steve’s pretty sure, but not the ear-shattering one. It’s nice. “C’mon, I think I have some joints somewhere.” He says while rummaging through one of the drawers. He lights one, takes a drag, and passes it to Steve. 

He isn’t inexperienced, he’s had weed before. Come on, he’s had worse before. But it’s different when he’s sitting next to Eddie. He didn’t eat enough today, definitely didn’t drink enough today, so he’s a bit of a lightweight. He lays down on the bed, and it’s all Eddie, all so Eddie. The smell of him, mixing with the weed, which is also Eddie. It’s just a bit too much. He’s had another drag, and passes it to Eddie again. “I feel like you’ve already had some before I came here.” He notices. “No shit. Not gonna lie, big boy, I was a bit nervous.” That makes Steve laugh. 

“Nervous? Pff. Of course.” “Nah man, I’m serious. It’s not every day the king of Hawkins High is in your bedroom. At least not for me.” He laughs. “Ah I hate when people say that. King of Hawkins High my ass. I wasn’t king of anythin’, just pretending to be. When I fell off Billy took the throne. Not the king anymore, Eds.” His vision’s getting that good blur, the nice one. He looks left of him, and sees Eddie’s laying on his back as well. When did that happen? “Well, it’s not every day I have Steve The Hair Harrington in my bedroom. At least that’s still true. Damn, I really wanna feel it right now.” Steve almost swallows the joint he’s holding between his lips. “What?” “I bet your hair feels fucking soft, man. Just wanna..” He moves, and his hand is really in Steve’s hair, he’s not dreaming.

He’s moving it now, gently rubbing his scalp, and Steve would say how weird this is, but he’s high out of his fucking mind, and it also feels kinda nice. “Mmh.” He says instead. “You like that, sweetheart?” “Mhm.” “Good, ’cause that was really scary for me.” He giggles. “You have no idea how scary this is for me, man.” Steve admits. “Huh?” “I’m actually not supposed to say this, Robin’s gonna get so mad that she wasn’t here for it, but fuck it. I’ve had like a massive crush on you since Watergate, Eds. Like, like this big.” He spreads his arms as far as he can get them, hitting Eddie in the process. “Sorry, Eds. ‘S just.. ‘S just so fucked up, ‘cause I’m supposed to end up with a nice lady, and settle down in a nice town, and do fuck all for the rest of my life. But I don’t wanna.” Eddie starts breathing again. “Holy shit.” He says. “Holy shit.” Steve repeats. 

“Who says you have to end up with a lady?” Eddie manages to say, fiddling with a strand of Steve’s hair. “Fuckin’ everyone, Eds. Especially my dad.” “When’s the last time you saw your dad?” “Before whole Hawkins went to shit.” “Steve, that’s two months ago.” “I know.” He reaches for the chain on Eddie’s pants, twirling the cool metal around his fingers. “I like this.” He says, giving it a good tug, and then letting it go. 

“You do?” “Yes. The whole..” He gestures vaguely. “Shebang you got going on there. I like it. Suits you. ‘S pretty.” He rests his hand on Eddie’s thigh. “You’re pretty.” Eddie smiles. “Thanks.” Steve smiles as well. “Pretty boy.” “I think that’s the first time someone’s said that without it being an insult.” “Glad I’m the first one, pretty boy. Pretty Steve.” He chuckles. “Do you really think I’m pretty?” “Of course I do.” It’s silent between them for a while, the tape whirring to a stop. 

“Do you want to kiss me?”

Eddie sighs happily, lighting another joint. 

“Of course I do.” 

He takes a hit of the joint, and rolls over, the smoke still in his mouth. He raises his eyes, to say may I? And Steve nods. He breathes out a little, the smoke hitting Steve’s lips, and he opens them, inviting the smoke and Eddie in. They kiss, and Steve inhales at the same time, it’s making him lightheaded in the best way possible. Eddie tastes like weed, of course, but also like something else. Eddie, Steve realises. Was it ever so simple? Eddie tastes like Eddie.

Their lips separate, and Steve breathes out, or sighs, he’s not sure. Eddie gives him time, but as soon his lungs aren’t filled with smoke anymore, he crashes their lips together, holding Steve’s face with both hands. “Eddie..” He mutters, moans, inside his mouth. “Fucking hell, Steve. You’re gonna be the death of me, sweetheart.” Steve chuckles, still so close to his lips he can taste the weed. “I fucking better be.”

They kiss and smoke and talk some more, until Steve realises it’s 1 AM. “Shit, I should go home.” He prepares to stand up, but Eddie’s strong hand pushes him back down on the bed. “Stay. Please. I told you you could.” “I don’t have anything to sleep in.” “You can borrow my shit.” “Huh. Thanks.” “No worries sweetheart. Can I get another kiss before you leave me here to be touch starved for a whole entire two minutes?” He pouts, and Steve laughs, he thinks he’s getting the hang of this. “Of course, my precious Edward.” He says, and Eddie laughs. 

When he changed into Eddie’s pyjamas, he crawls back in bed, where Eddie’s laying, his arms stretched out, his hair like a crown around his head. “C’mere sweetheart.” He does as Eddie says, curling up against his chest. “You are so high.” He giggles. “No you.” He nods, and buries his face in the washed out shirt. It smells like Eddie, he’s surrounded by it. All sound and feeling seems to be duller, only that smell sticking around. “Would it be weird to say I love you now?” He wonders out loud. Eddie’s breath falters. “I wouldn’t mind.” “Well. I love you, then.” “Oh sweetheart.” He giggles. “I love you too.”

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

Taglist:

@evashuu @littlespaceyelf @steddieas-shegoes @mysticcrownshipper

[mollymawkwrites]

Dans ma peau

Making this a bullet fic because it's been in The List for centuries but I don't have the crayons to write anything atm

Inspired by the song "Que des coeurs" by MPL.

Geralt is a tattoo artist.

A young man comes in one day without appointment, asking for a simple heart with a name tattooed on his ribs

Geralt wouldn't usually accept this kind of stuff, it's stupid and boring, but he hasn't had a lot of clients lately. Yennefer says it's because he unsettles them, not talking at all when he's stabbing them with a needle

So he nods, and steers the young man towards the chair. The tattoo only takes half an hour. The man speaks the whole time.

He's back six months later. Geralt isn't surprised; that's what usually happens with these kinds of tattoos. What surprises him is that Jaskier (that's the name he put on the waiver) asks for another tattoo, with another name, instead of a removal, a cover, or a refund, like Geralt expected.

He doesn't need to say yes, really, business has been good the last few months, but something compels him to anyway.

Again, Jaskier talks the whole time. Geralt learns that he is a musician and a literature teacher, though he struggles to imagine the colourful, extravagant man teaching anything to kids.

It becomes a sort of routine. Once or twice a year, sometimes more, Jaskier comes back, and asks for another heart, another name. His body slowly becomes a canvas of his heartbreak.

Geralt can't help wondering why the man doesn't learn; few people make the same mistake twice, let alone a dozen times. His first guess is that the musician is just stupid, but with time, he learns that isn't true. Jaskier is brilliant, under all the peacocking and silliness.

One day, as he is placing the stencil on the thin skin of Jaskier's collarbone, he can't keep the question for himself anymore.

"You know you could have the old ones removed, right? Or I could try covering them, if you want."

"I know. I like having them with me, though. Our story together might have ended," he says, tracing his fingers along the name of one of his latest exes, "but I still loved them, at one point in my life. I don't want to forget that."

Geralt hums, not knowing what to say to that. His throat is tight.

"Well, you won't have any space left soon," he jokes lamely. A strange sadness fills Jaskier's eyes as he smiles at him, and they end the session in silence.

The ritual keeps happening, and Geralt starts speaking a little more when they see each other. Jaskier knows how to goad him into conversations. Yennefer looks at him weirdly.

Once, Jaskier doesn't come for a couple of years. It doesn't sit right with Geralt, for some reason. He tries not to think about it.

He also tries not to think about how relieved he feels when Jaskier walks back into the shop one day like he'd never disappeared, and asks for another tattoo. Says the last one proposed to him at a Five Guys

"A Five Guys, Geralt, can you imagine? I mean, it is my favourite place to eat, but I don't want my proposal memories to be filled with the smell of bacon grease!"

Geralt snorts and shakes his head, tapping Jaskier's thigh for him to stop moving as he starts on the heart.

When it's done, he pushes his chair back to give it a better look. That's when he realizes.

Jaskier is covered almost from head to toe in hearts. Of all shapes and sizes and styles - he told Geralt after the first few times that he could let his "artist's mind" speak and they've had fun finding original ways to draw hearts. There's only one spot left, Geralt knows, even though he can't see it: he knows Jaskier's body better than his own by now. It's on his right side, underneath his pec, where he's ticklish and sensitive.

"This one better be the one then, right?" Jaskier laughs when Geralt points it out.

Jaskier pays and leaves with a wave and a smile, but Geralt's world is all wrong suddenly.

Over the next few months, there are two parts of him warring inside, keeping him awake at night, his brain empty of all inspiration and motivation for his work. He wants Jaskier to come back, he's not fooling himself anymore about how much he likes the man. But if he comes back, it means he still hasn't found the one, like he's been prattling about since the first time. If he comes back, it'll be the last time. Maybe not the last time Jaskier gets his heart broken, but he'll have to find another way to commit it to memory, because his skin is already covered in ink. He won't need Geralt anymore.

Jaskier is back sooner than he's ever been. He usually calls beforehand now, since Geralt told him it'd be better if he had an appointment the first time. He hasn't called this time.

He comes just half an hour before Geralt closes the shop. Yennefer left early because it's hers and Triss' anniversary.

They sketch the heart in silence, Geralt feeling like his own is going to break to pieces at the smallest sound. Jaskier has a nervous energy about him, but he's strangely quiet as he takes off his shirt and lies down.

Geralt executes every step on auto pilot, jaw clenched. When his hands come to rest on Jaskier's ribs, he thinks he can feel his heart fluttering. He imagines he's stabbing it with his needle, pinning it in place for him to keep.

The heart is finished, and Geralt has to muster all his will to open his mouth and speak with a rough voice.

"Which name, this time?"

He doesn't want to look at Jaskier, because he's a coward. He'd rather die than watch the sparkle in his eyes as he says the name of his latest lover, the one he probably hopes is the one. Geralt's not sure his own heart would survive it.

But the silence stretches for too long, and he can't fuss with the machine and the inks and the needles forever, so finally he turns, meeting Jaskier's gaze with dread, and all he finds there is pure, unbridled hope.

"Yours?"

[mcyt-imagines]

hi hi ! first off, just a tip if you'd like more requests/asks in general you should prob turn on anon since this is like the only time i've sent a non-anon ask. but anyways, i'm assuming requests are open and i'd like to ask if you would write either just ranboo fluff in general or something like the tommy confession headcanons but w ranboo :D what you've posted so far is great <3

Thank you so much for letting me know! I thought I had anon turned on already, but it’s 100% turned on now! Regarding your request I got a little carried away and wrote both some general fluff and some confession headcanons for Ranboo so this post is a little long... Hope you enjoy! :D

(It’s important to note that these headcanons are a combination of ones pertaining to his Minecraft character in the dsmp and him outside of the dsmp roleplay!)

General Ranboo Fluff

- Dreamsmp Ranboo -

The first time Ranboo cries in front of you is when you confess to him and he is so happy and relieved that you reciprocate his feelings. He even smiles through the pain of his tears as you panic to cover the skin beneath his eyes, so your hands catch his tears to stop the pain.

Ranboo likes to ask if you need any resources from time to time and once you finally give in and answer, he spends the rest of his day trying to collect as much of it as he can. This has led to a few incidents in which you came back to your shared indent in the snowy mountain to find a chest stacked full with polished stone and countless ores. You’ve scolded him but the way he responds with big puppy dog eyes wishing to “just be helpful.” Sets the butterflies caged in your chest free every damn time.

Ranboo in addition to asking you for want you want he is also very observant in noticing what you need. Any tools close to breaking? Brilliant, he’s already got three more of the same tools ready for you to grab when you need it. He also names them using the anvil to some silly super cheesy pet names.

One of his favourite things to do with you is stargaze. You both travel to the top of your snowy mountain and clear out a space free of snow to lie down and simply hold each other. Ranboo has started asking Techno (on the nights you are away) to point out the stars and tell him their corresponding stories. He happily relays all of this information to you in exaggerated detail, looking at you in awe as your expressions change with the twinkling lights above.

Ranboo almost always carries a little umbrella around with him in case it begins to rain. Most of his friends notice and all start to buy him some. He now has a full collection that line his wall just next to the door. It’s those small things that allows him to remember who his real friends are.

Ranboo LOVES having his hair played with. He will fall asleep within minutes of you beginning to tousle his hair as he rests his head in your lap. He may make soft enderman noises, but you don’t dare tell him. Content on keeping that little secret to yourself.

Ranboo has to be kinda careful around snow considering that if it melts it will hurt him. Meaning he has to sit out on any snowball fights that occur. And they occur more frequently than you would think. It usually starts with Phil throwing a rogue snowball at Techno when Phil notices him slumping his shoulders. Which means it doesn’t take long until it’s a full-blown war. You usually find yourself smack bang in the middle of it and have to dive down to avoid getting pummelled in the crossfire. Ranboo will call you over to hide behind Techno’s house. As the onslaught continues between the two. you giggle and commentate over the fierce battle together.

- Outside of Dreamsmp Ranboo - 

Ranboo enjoys watching you whenever you are focused on something. He’s incredibly observant and finds himself mimicking the small little nuances he sees you exhibit. He gets incredibly flustered whenever you notice that he’s picked up on them, but he doesn’t bother to deny it.

Ranboo finds himself staring at you a lot. He doesn’t mean to but he can’t help it. You catch him frequently, “Watching me real closely, hm?” He tries to stutter out an answer to defend himself, but you just smile and tell him it’s okay.

Ranboo finds a lot of comfort in doing ‘domestic’ activities with you. However, one of his personal favourites is when the two of you go out to get groceries together. His mum will give him a small list and he’ll try his best to dawdle around the store whilst swinging your intertwined hands to make the visit as long as possible. It makes him think of a future in which the two of you get to do this every single week and that alone warms his heart.

Ranboo always has to be near you, he doesn’t have to be physically touching you but he prefers to just be stupidly close to you. It always makes you laugh when he sits just close enough to you that you don’t touch, so now he has to do it forever.

Your laugh is one of his favourite sounds. To the point that if you giggle or laugh at something, he will just keep doing it over and over again for as long as you keep laughing at it. Which eventually leads to the both of you red-faced and gasping for air.

Ranboo is a terrible cook. But he tries so hard to follow recipes and they always flop. He also for some reason, cannot attempt cooking without making an utter mess of himself. Whether it’s spilling flour all over himself, getting egg yolk splatter somehow in his hair or just spilling copious amounts of milk on the floor so that he slips. This boy is a walking, talking kitchen DISASTER. So now he can only cook with you supervising him. Which turns out, wasn’t as much of a punishment as it should have been. As your tutelage seems to have slightly improved his cooking skills. However, now you also get flour spilt all over you as well.

Ranboo Confession Headcanons

- Realising he likes you - 

Ranboo denies he has feelings for you at first. Believing that you’re just a good friend whose company he really enjoys. But the more he focuses on your friendship the quicker he realises he would prefer if you were more to him than that.

This thought alone sends him into a little bit of a spiral for a few days. Grappling with the thought of rejection and the guilt he would feel if he ever hurt you.

He spends most of the time grappling with his feelings he continues to try and act as normal as possible around you. You finding out would be his worst nightmare.

Ranboo realises he has absolutely no history in the dating department and desperately needs some guidance. He may ask Phil on a whim who would try his best to give the poor panicked boy some words of wisdom. Ranboo takes the advice to heart immediately, promising Phil he will update him on how his feelings for you turn out.

Ranboo finds himself writing about you in one of his many journals. He finds putting words on the page seems to help clear his mind. He tries to script his confession a few times. Desperately floundering to find the right words, but he always seems to fall short. He usually ends up scribbling all over those pages until you can barely tell someone had even written on them. Hoping to somehow erase the thoughts in the process.  

He even tries drawing you a few times when he finds himself with enough spare time. He doesn’t think they’re any good though. Sure, the sketches look like you, but they don’t make him feel the way you do. When he looks at the page his chest doesn’t tighten because of your beauty, but instead because of the way you’ve made him feel. Which he comes to the sad conclusion is something he simply cannot capture in his words or his drawings. He has to show it through his actions. Not exactly his strong suit. But he’s determined to do right by you. So, he devises a plan.

- Confessing to you - 

This boy plans the whole day down to a t, he has multiple back-up plans just in case his first one falls short.

Ranboo invites you over for lunch. Arriving at his place you notice how clean it is. He spent the last few days cleaning it top to bottom.

You spend a few minutes in the house chatting. You notice Ranboo is on edge almost immediately. Shoulders a pinch too tight, his smiles a little too wide and none of them reach his eyes.

You ask what you’re going to be having for lunch and he reveals a wicker basket from his kitchen. “A picnic!” Your heart warms, “I would’ve brought something if you’d told me beforehand.” He smiles at that, “Exactly. I even cooked without you, you should be proud.” 

He shuffles on his feet a little, wishing to be praised, “We’ll see how the food tastes first, maybe then I’ll tell you how proud I am.” You tease, moving to elbow him lightly. You notice the way his face flushes as you move into his space. His mother appears from upstairs, “Are you two leaving? I could drive you, y’know!” “No thanks mom!!” He is quick to grab your hand and practically drag you out of the house and away from his all knowing mom.

The bus ride is on the longer side and you find yourself feeling brave enough to scoot a little closer to Ranboo. “Hey, is it okay if I?” You gesture between your head and his shoulder, the cute, shocked expression he sends you causes you to grin. “Uh s-sure!” 

You softly press your head against his shoulder, “Thanks, pretty comfy shoulder you got here should’ve asked you to share it sooner.” You tease, nuzzling his shoulder lightly just for a reaction. And you get one alright, his skin goes such a lovely shade of red all the way up to the tips of his ears. You giggle softly, trying your best to hold it in and failing miserably.

You even manage to fall asleep despite your own heartbeat quickening at Ranboo’s closeness. You are tapped awake by him, “Hmm?” You rub one of your eyes knowingly appearing adorable and the way he looks at you makes it all worth it. “It’s our stop soon, we gotta get up.” 

You nod and lazily stand and he follows suit. Only for the bus to brake abruptly, promptly shoving you into his chest. He wraps his arms around you quickly to steady you whilst you desperately cling to the wicker basket, “You okay?” You both mumble to each other before laughing it off and nodding. “Oh crap.” Ranboo grabs your free hand and you both scramble to get to the front of the bus to hop off. Sparks fly up your arm at the extended contact, even as you jump off the bus.

Ranboo happily leads you to a spot he had picked out earlier in the month. A soft patch of grass below a large willow tree that now sways softly in the warm breeze. You set up your carefully packaged feast with haste now that your stomachs are grumbling.

Ranboo forcefully tries to make himself relax knowing you’ve probably noticed his tense state by now. But you choose not to push him on it, taking an educated guess on why he’s so stressed.

You are quick to compliment his cooking skills when he divvies out a freshly baked quiche.  Even though you know his mom for sure did most of the work. It’s the thought that counts. You hope that may snap him out of the stupor he seems to be in. However, no such luck.

“Hey Ranboo, do you want to talk about something?” Ranboo goes into full panic mode. He did not have a plan for you asking something like this. He thought you weren’t confrontational!! You watch as his expression changes rapidly. You look away, “You don’t have to tell me, it’s okay. I just thought you might want to-“ 

He takes one of your hands in his. Why is he doing this??? This isn’t part of the plan at all! “I…” His throat goes dry. All those hours obsessing over what he was going to say to you are sent out the window when he finally meets your eyes.

“I think I like you.” He hasn’t realised he’s even said it until its waaaaaay too late. Your eyes widen, you didn’t think he’d actually admit it to you. You squeeze his hand as you watch his eyes seem to lose focus, “I like you too.” He is silent for several long moments until he starts blinking rapidly, “Huh!?” The look of utter surprise on his face causes you to burst out laughing.

“Wait, wait, wait you’re serious?” He grabs your arm as a grin slowly starts to creep onto his face. “Sure am.” And as you meet his gaze you realise that his grin actually reached his eyes, for the first time in a long while. 

“So, you gonna kiss me now or what?” You tease as his face shines a dark red. “W-well I, uh-“ His stuttering only allows for you to sneak closer and press a firm kiss to his cheek. Somehow, he grows even redder and you sigh pleasantly. “My heart definitely made the right choice with you Ranboo.”

Meanwhile Ranboo is too busy freaking out over the fact that you weren’t even meant to find out he liked you until you were stargazing together later tonight. His plans are utterly ruined! But as you squeeze his hand again to bring his thoughts back into the present, he wonders that perhaps spontaneity isn’t such a bad thing sometimes.

~My ask box is always open if you’ve got any requests or just want to vent about the dreamsmp lore!~