#challenge 32

[nelc]

Cayuga-class close escort by Robert Jamison

[stripysockxx]

DAY 24!!

I haven't thought about their ship name for a while and I thought it was 'agent 24' and I was flipping out cause I was gonna post them on DAY 24!!.. but erm wrong agents OOPS!!

[kirby-the-gorb]

[silme-lorien]

Coffee-Stained Wildflowers

summary: a modern au samfro fic in which Sam and Frodo fall in love <3 Frodo runs a coffee shop attached to Bag End Library, and Sam runs Gamgee's Florals, a little florist business :)

warnings: none for this chapter, but there are warnings for future chapters. I'm only posting the first chapter on here, but if you like it, there's 7 more on ao3! if anyone wants the other chapters published on here let me know

word count: 2.8k for this chapter, 21k for the whole fic!

thank you @frodosrings for beta reading and editing you're literally the best and this fic would not have happened without you <3

you can read this on ao3! click here!

Chapter One: Streams of Sunlight

Frodo Baggins awoke to the familiar, bitter smell of ground coffee. There had been no coffee ground yet that morning, of course, as his uncle always left that task to Frodo, but the scent constantly lingered in the air, like it had absorbed into the very fibers of the building. Sometimes, Frodo could even smell it outside of Bag End, the library (and his home), and had decided a while ago that it was a lost cause as the scent had latched onto his skin and etched into the threads of his clothes. Mornings were usually bleary and dreadful for him ever since he had made the decision to work at his uncle’s library. Not that the library was bleary and dreadful – though the people who came in could sometimes be – it was simply that Frodo was not a morning person. Despite this, his uncle Bilbo had lovingly given him the task of running the café attached to the extensive library, which Frodo sometimes viewed as a punishment, as he loved to be around books and was not particularly fond of coffee. He was thinking about how he vastly preferred the smell of books to the smell of coffee, trying to get his mind off the fact that what he would really rather be doing was sleeping, when there was a subtle knock at the door. 

Frodo knew it was Bilbo. There was no one else it could have been – his cousins would not have been so gentle, as they had proven many times. He also knew that it was a friendly knock, one that was simply executed in order to ascertain whether or not he had awoken from his slumber. 

“I’m awake,” Frodo spoke halfheartedly in the general direction of the door without opening his eyes. His voice was deep and groggy from the lack of use over the past nine hours.

“Get up, Frodo. I’m opening soon, and the people need their drinks.” The voice came muffled from the other side of the door – Bilbo’s kind, old voice. It wasn’t entirely a threat, but it was definitely a warning. Bilbo always knew when Frodo was trying to sleep in, and he was having none of it. Frodo was not yet completely used to having to wake up early to work, but he was slowly adapting. Just a few months ago, he wouldn’t have awoken if Bilbo had come into the room banging pots and pans together. Bilbo hardly considered this an improvement. Frodo couldn’t be faulted, though. If anyone was to blame, it was certainly Bilbo for allowing Frodo to awaken with leisure at ridiculous hours of the morning (or even afternoon) in the years since he had come to live with him. 

Finally opening his eyes, Frodo was surprised to see that a pale golden light was illuminating his room from outside. Summer was approaching, and with it a considerable lack of dark mornings. He mourned the loss of the comfortable darkness, which he had always felt at ease in, but also was grateful for the natural alarm clock, which was much kinder than the angry chirping of the one Bilbo had gotten him. Despite Frodo’s affinity for night, he always had a soft spot for warm sunbeams. The soft sunlight streamed in through the blinds, and Frodo watched as little dust particles danced around golden ray through sleepy eyes. With a sigh, he pushed his dark curls out of his face, decided it was time for a haircut, and rolled from his comfortable bed into the chaos of the day.

After the monotone, yet comforting completion of his morning routine, Frodo headed downstairs with renewed purpose and awakened eyes to the café. Living directly above your place of work had its benefits, as well as its disadvantages. For one, Frodo didn't have to walk far to get to work. However, it seemed like work never left him. The shop was always clean in the mornings, partly because Frodo’s night owl tendencies allowed him to stay up late cleaning, therefore giving himself an easier time in the morning, and partially because Frodo was very clean in general. He began to start the machines and prepare different parts of the shop; counting cups and lids, wiping tables again, and making sure everything was up to Bilbo’s (and his own) standards.

Suddenly, like a whirlwind of pure energy and chaos, entered Frodo’s two younger cousins. They barrelled down the stairs, two hurricanes, with one sole objective – to make Frodo’s life just a little bit more difficult. He loved the two, of course, but they were always up to something. The two were intelligent, they just often chose to ignore this fact and mess about, always making up schemes. When they were younger, it often fell on Frodo to be a sort of babysitter, but he would inevitably be wrapped up in whatever conspiracy they were planning at the time. Merry, the older of the two, had grown out of his more obnoxious pranks and jokes, and Pippin was starting to show signs of growth as well, but Frodo had yet to be convinced of their maturity levels. 

After tumbling down the stairs, the two-faced tornado made its way toward Frodo at the counter.

“Hey, good morning, Frodo!” said Merry. Although, ‘said’ was maybe not the correct way to describe it – it was more like an exclamation between a shout and a song.

“Good morning,” replied Frodo tiredly. He looked at them through sunken blue eyes, heavy eyelashes, and dark curls. He loved Merry and Pippin, but he also loved peace. And silence.

“Don’t be like that, Frodo,” said Pippin with a slight tinge of annoyance. “You know what today is, right?”

How on earth could he forget? It was all Pippin had talked about for weeks now. His uncle Bilbo had always had an affinity for extravagant parties, and since it was Pippin’s birthday – his eighteenth, as he liked to remind everyone at any opportunity – Bilbo had, of course, felt that he had to throw one. Today. This information had slipped Frodo’s mind temporarily – between the shock of waking up and the routine mundane nature of his life, it seemed like just another day. There was, of course, the aspect that was likely more to blame for his lapse in memory – the fact that he did not want to go to the party. Frodo had never liked large gatherings like that, despite the rest of his family’s affection for them. Honestly, he would have rather liked to stay in and read, which he knew made him sound annoying, but it was only the truth. 

“Of course I know,” he responded, still tired but gaining a bit more strength from being around Merry and Pippin. Their energy was definitely infectious – no, perhaps contagious might be the right word.

 “Happy birthday, Pip,” he said warmly with a smile. This affirmation seemed satisfactory to Pippin, who promptly moved on to the next thing that interested him, which at that moment was making himself a cup of coffee. He strolled behind the counter and began to run the machine. He often did this, even though the coffee in the café was strictly for customers, but Frodo allowed it today. 

Merry watched for a moment, and then spoke.“Frodo, you all right, mate?” 

Frodo was a bit taken aback by this – did he look sick? 

“Yeah, I am. Why?” he responded hesitantly, not really wanting to hear the answer. Merry knew that Frodo wasn’t a morning person, so there had to be some other reason that he was asking. 

“You just seem a bit down, is all.” came Merry’s understanding voice, cutting his thoughts off. “I understand if you’re worried about the party – there’s gonna be lots of people.”

Frodo appreciated the sympathy, but he didn’t want to dwell on his feelings about the party for too long. Especially not in front of Pippin, since the whole thing was for him anyway. Truthfully, the party wasn’t much more than an inconvenience for Frodo, simply something that he did not want to do, while for Pippin it was a symbol of a milestone in his life. It was a physical manifestation of him becoming an adult. Frodo suddenly felt very guilty for having any negative feelings towards the party at all.

“Don’t worry about it, Merry. I’ll manage somehow,” he laughed and tried to force a kind of cheery indifference into his voice. This seemed to be all right to Merry, who was suddenly preoccupied with figuring out where Pippin had gone. Mysteriously, in the minute since he had gone to make himself a coffee, he had also disappeared. This event promptly left Frodo alone again, hearing the aftermath of Merry finding Pippin about thirty seconds later (which was inevitably a loud crash, whispers of shit and damn, followed by a shout of “we’re alright!”). 

Frodo finished his morning duties of setting up the café, and then flipped the sign on the door to “OPEN” and went behind the counter to wait for something to happen. 

Nothing did, for some time, until a familiar face came in. The small golden bell on top of the door rang out and the opening of the door caused sunlight to stream in, illuminating the person standing there like an angel, if only for a second. Then, the door fell closed, and standing there was not, in fact, an angel, but Frodo’s friend Samwise Gamgee. 

Sam strolled into the café, his golden mop of curls surprisingly tamed on top of his head, and his rich, tanned skin seemed to be shining in the sun. Freckles danced across his flushed cheeks beneath warm brown eyes, which were highlighted by the green shirt he wore. He was stout and strong, quite strong in fact. Frodo felt that he was noticing too much all at once about Sam, and decidedly looked away for a moment, pretending to be busy. He suddenly realized this was probably rude and looked back up at him, and leaned against the counter. Sam was grinning, revealing his white teeth. Then from his lips came a word – no, a couple of words – that took Frodo a few seconds to process. After a moment, Frodo concluded that Sam had, in fact, said something very normal.

“Hiya, Frodo, how are ya today?” Frodo opened his mouth to reply, and for a second nothing came out. After mentally cursing himself for looking like an idiot, he mustered an answer. “I’m good, Sam. How are you?” he said, attempting to infuse this reply with an air of genuine interest in how Sam was, but it just came off as friendly at best. Internal curses bubbled to the surface again. 

“Can’t complain, Frodo, with the florist business doing good and all,” Sam answered, and shoved his hands into his pockets. After a moment, he spoke again. “Could I get a coffee?” he asked, with a bit of timidness. Frodo got the impression that he felt bad asking, but he was also certain that this was the reason he had come into the café in the first place.

“Of course, Sam – you’re in a café anyway. I’d be a bad barista if I didn't make you something.” Frodo felt lighter now, in a more joking mood, since Sam had walked in – Sam tended to have that effect on people. Frodo stood up straight, taking his weight off the counter, and grabbed a ceramic cup. 

Sam laughed softly and watched Frodo make the drink. Frodo knew how Sam liked his coffee – with sugar and milk – because this had become their little routine. Sam was always the first customer in the café, as he woke up early to garden. Frodo felt like something had shifted recently, though – maybe just for him. Maybe for Sam too. He could feel it, the air between them had grown thick. It wasn’t that they were growing apart, but something had changed. Frodo thought he knew why, but he decided to contemplate this later and focused on finishing his friend’s coffee. 

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity (but realistically was only about a minute), Frodo held out the coffee to Sam over the counter, which he took gracefully. 

“Thanks, Frodo,” said Sam, holding the cup with both hands like it was a baby bird. He looked like he was afraid of dropping it. His nervous eyes slowly moved upwards from the cup until they met. Frodo laughed awkwardly and pressed his palms against the cool metal of the countertop. The steel felt cold and soothing – he wished he could press his face into it to suppress the blush that was slowly creeping from his neck to his ears, then to his cheeks, but he supposed that trying to calm down was a more logical step than pressing his face into a countertop. 

“I s��pose I’ll go sit down now,” said Sam. Frodo felt an odd tug at his heart. The interaction was uncharacteristically awkward. Suddenly, a group of words tumbled from his mouth that were not entirely coherent. 

“I could– I could sit with you, if you’d like. Not supposed to, but it’s still early and there’s, y’know, there’s no one here yet…” he trailed off. So much for calming down, he thought.

Sam gave him an odd look and then accepted the offer with his usual kindness. Frodo felt very stupid, fumbling around with the little door that separated the coffee bar from the rest of the space, and then finding himself standing right next to Sam. He gestured for Sam to go find a table to sit at, and followed behind as he tried to break this awkward curse that had befallen upon him and his friend. 

Sam selected a small wooden table with two wire-wrought chairs on either side. He went to sit in the further of the two chairs, pulling it out from under the table. It made a sharp, horrible scraping sound, and Sam winced at the noise. He looked up at Frodo, who knew the chair did this every time, and Frodo laughed.

“It got you too,” he said between giggles. “That happens to everyone.”

Sam seemed less embarrassed after Frodo’s reaction and laughed a bit himself. “Damn chair,” he muttered under his breath and picked up the chair to carefully move it away from the table. Frodo considered this to likely be the meanest thing he had ever heard Sam utter. Frodo picked up the other chair to move it out from under the table as well and plopped himself down into the old relic. Sam followed suit a second later. 

“Sam, are you coming to the party tonight?” Frodo inquired. He needed to know if he was going to have to bear the thing alone, or if he might at least have a friend. Merry and Pippin would be of no comfort, as they’d likely be drinking too much to understand anything.

“Why, sure. Everyone’s going, aren’t they?” Sam said, then took a sip of his coffee, looking down for a moment. “Why, did you not want m’to?” 

“No! No. I want you to. I was asking because I wanted to make sure that I’d have someone to whisper with about all the dumb things that are going to happen.” Frodo felt a slight panic at the idea that Sam could have even considered that Frodo did not want him to go. Sam looked back up, lighter again. Frodo smiled brightly at him – he couldn’t help it when looking into those eyes. 

“Then I’ll surely be going.” he leaned closer to Frodo, over the wooden table. “To tell ya the truth, I’m excited for our whispering.”

Frodo was about to make a sarcastic comment, perhaps a witty one about one of his family members, when the door’s bell rang out. That damned bell. It had sounded so clear and beautiful when Sam had stepped in, but now it was simply annoying again. Sam gave Frodo an understanding look.

“Shit,” Frodo muttered, standing up, chair scraping. “I’ve got to go, but see you tonight, okay?” It was half an affirmation, half a plea.

“‘Course,” responded Sam. Frodo grinned and went behind the counter quickly and apologized to the customer who had just come in. As he made her drink, he kept glancing over at Sam who quietly sipped his coffee while tracing over the grain of the wooden table with a soft finger. When he was done, he placed the cup carefully down on its saucer and stood up, taking extra care to pull out the chair and push it back under the table silently. 

Frodo considered that they might have looked right silly earlier to someone outside, sitting there like two old ladies in the intricate wire chairs and exchanging words over Sam’s early morning coffee. Handing over the coffee he had just made to the woman standing in front of him absent-mindedly, with a blank ‘thank you for coming’, Frodo then considered that he didn’t mind it at all. Feeling that same twinge in his heart as before, he watched Sam exit, and the heavenly glow of the sun enshrouded him once more.

read the rest on ao3 here !!! <3

[windslar]

it's not the cutest, but it'll do

[jayrockin]

Your hourlies are so cool, year after year. Would you mind sharing some of your process? Specially, HOW do you have time to do them as the day goes on? Or do you take notes on the hour and draw them later?

I don't literally make them hour by hour. I'm not interested in that kind of time crunch, because it would result in either one panel per hour or bad comics. I usually try to complete them all within 32 or so hours, because they ARE better when the events are fresh in my mind, but I draw them during downtime and keep mental notes or write a couple words while I'm busy. This last batch took me 3 days to finish, which isn't ideal, but I had little downtime for three days in a row. What's most important to me is documenting the day nicely.

[repressionmd]

I JUST. SHORT CIRCUITED. WOW i am glad they were more subtle about it because i just spat out my drink

[jocollins]

Day 32 of posting the first photo of @zayn Pinterest recommends me

[2ndfamily]

welcome to my twisted mind...

[simmie-stories]

Aladdin went through the gate first, and disappeared.

"Muahahahaha! The lamp is mine!"

But Jafar got stuck behind into the barrier and couldn't get any closer.

Aladdin had been transported to the real Cave of Wonders.

Forgotten Grotto Cave of Wonders by tomilynYT Cave of Wonders by EA ID rubinrot97

<< < - >

[crossbackpoke-check]

find a blorbo (nhl tag game)

RULES: Go through the roster of each NHL team and find at least one player that you can root for.

tagged by @bondedpairs!! when i say too many teams to count and here for the narrative um. i may not have lied. this is not an extensive list of my blorbos but in order to make it not ten thousand years long i made up the rule that i had to do it straight from memory :)

anaheim ducks: as evidenced by recent events i DO like mason mctavish and trevor zegras but i have to honor laura and mention troy terry and beloved goalie gibbie*

boston bruins: oh for sure brad marchand… can i say patrice? one of the charlies got traded but i think mcavoy is still there because gryz is gone, brandon carlo is there still i think

buffalo sabres: cozens & thompson, owen power, rasmus dahlin, ukko pekka luukkonen

calgary flames: is chris tanev still here? is markstrom still here?? noah hanifin?? as a last resort i’ll say blasty

carolina hurricanes: aho & jarvy & teuvo teravainen & brent burns is still playing maybe? i know sepe got traded

chicago hockey: the bedsy narrative is compelling but ANDREAS ATHANASIOU MY BELOVED reunited with tyler bertuzzi… that’s the real story. also i like foligno

colorado avalanche: gabe landeskog, whatever ross colton & miles wood have going on, natemac + jo, mikko

columbus blue jackets: have long been on the merzlikins train, have been swayed to the darkside of umich boys (brindley, kent johnson, fantilli, blankenburg who is now on nsh)

dallas stars: seggy! mush! roope + miro and otter and robo and wyjo (rip ty dellandrea) and harls! etc.

detroit red wings: MOST players. dilly larks, moritz seider, jv, raymond, rasmussen, kitty, lyon, etc except for k*ne

edmonton oilers: mcdrai, ofc. nugent-hopkins, nursey, rip vinny & skinny

florida panthers: tkachuk, reinhardt, sasha barkov, verhaeghe (is there still?)

los angeles kings: adrian kempe… kevin fiala… danault… quinton byfield & alex turcotte

minnesota wild: kirill, marat, fleury, brodes, fabes, boldy, moose, middsy, spurge… god’s perfect idiots

montreal canadiens: going out on a limb here to say martin st. louis but also xhekaj (both), slafkovský, suzuki, my austrian reinbacher, yes fine cole caufield

nashville predators: MOST BEAUTIFUL D PAIR IN THE WORLD GRADY SKJEI AND ROMAN JOSI!! juuse, evangelista, isn’t stamkos there and also someone else who absolutely should not be

new jersey devils: nico… tuna (tatar), dawson mercer, siegenthaler, dougie hamilton, yes the hugheses whatever

new york islanders: barzy, zeeker & marty, anders lee, noah dobson lol

new york rangers: mika & chris, lafrenière & k’andre, shesterkin

philadelphia flyers: frosty & beezer and tk and sanny and the new baby michkov and coots and scooty loots and foerster etc etc. you know the Guys

pittsburgh penguins: the two headed monster but also compelled by rutger mcgroarty, and kevin hayes was there!!!

ottawa senators: timmy stü & brady! josh norris! the evolution of shane pinto! ullmark now and brännström and claude giroux and chabot

san jose sharks: ekky, thrun, mario, borde, logan couture, shakir, that other vaguely blond rookie

seattle kraken: brandon tanev, andre burakovsky! grubauer & d’accord also

st. louis blues: jordan kyrou, nathan walker (is still there?), rob thomas? is parayako still there?

tampa bay lightning: hedman, point, they dumped so many guys after the cup run… is kucherov still there or is he in nashville?? anthony cirelli (notable for being made out with by pat maroon)

toronto maple leafs: mitch, jt, willy, alex nylander, kniesy, dewar, et

utah hockey: crouse, keller, tuba

vancouver canucks: quinn, brock, petey, jt, garly, höggy, i want to say dakota johnson, elias lindholm?

vegas golden knights: brandon montour is here now… alex pietrangelo, so sorry to one i can’t remember who loves the lions it will come back to me

washington capitals: full of love and stupidity. oshie, nicke/ovi, pierre-luc dubois, dowd, vrána, milano

winnipeg jets: adam lowry!! josh morissey and kc and morgan barron, also vladdy my beloved

tagging @stillfertile + @colap1nto + @songsandswords + @moregraceful if they haven’t done it yet, i know they follow at least a couple teams. if anybody else wants to play i love adopting blorbos!!

[jilllovesmike]

Happy Birthday, Mike!

January 5, 1992

32 pics of Mike -Round 1

[sunnylighter]

Day 23: Celestial

This came out a prettier than I expected. I'm having fun using more glitter pens this year than previous ones.

[chrysaliscreatorii]

[angstics]

6 months into the year 🙏

[persephinae]

People are so fuckin funny about female characters and are afraid of aging lol

"Here's my inquisitor in DA4, who canonically should be in her late 30s/early 40s at least, but imma make her look 19 and cute <3"

Girl how old was she in DA3? 5?

It's ok to have older characters and older women! I prommy!