#two of them are crochet blankets and don't count

[rohans-daughter]

oh also look what my husband built for me

any guesses??

a yarn shelf!!! I suggested adding dowels on the sides for skeins, but he designed the rest, building it out of birch plywood, premade trim, and some oak scraps leftover from a job renovating a church.

I think this is my favorite thing that I own now.

[augustjoy]

Just a little something.

Based on the following ask: I have a request that may be a little difficult for you to write, if you're up for it. I would like to request Hotch with a non-bau reader that likes to crochet in their spare time, particularly stuffed animals, and gift them to others. Jack and Hotch would obviously receive the majority of the amigurumi projects, but one day, the reader makes too many little crochet animals and persuades Hotch to take them to work and hand them out to other agents. You wouldn't have to go too into depth about the crocheting techniques if you don't think you could properly write about it; you could honestly just mention the creation period in passing and the present the finished crochet piece in the plot.

Aaron Hotchner x Fem Reader

Fluff

Word count: 841

Not edited - please be kind. Requests are open and feedback is welcome if it's constructive!

Warnings: My blog is 18+, minors DNI, Age gap (non-specified), established relationship with Hotch, no use of y/n, Fem reader, reader has no physical description, reader crochets, mention of Jack, mention of reader’s nieces and nephews, mention of anxiety (reader uses crocheting as an outlet) use of pet names, let me know if I missed any!

I do not consent to having my work translated or reposted to any other site. That being said I do not own the characters portrayed in this story.

You had picked up crocheting back when you were in college. Then, and even now it served as an outlet to release stress and anxiety. When you had started out your projects were fairly simple, wash cloths, granny squares, simple blankets.

The beauty of this hobby was that it allowed for some beautiful handmade gifts. As time went on, you began making stuffed animals. Your sister had gifted you a book with patterns for amigurumi projects, and from then on you’d been making all sorts of little creatures.

The primary recipients of your creations had been your nieces and nephews. First it was their baby blankets, then elephants, and turtles, which turned into cows and opossums, and most recently Pokémon.

When you and Aaron started dating you’d mentioned your hobby in passing, but as things progressed in your relationship, crocheting seemed to come out a little more in you. You’d casually pull out a project while watching a movie with Aaron and Jack, you’d brought over a throw blanket for the back of the couch. You’d even gifted Aaron a scarf and some socks before he left for a case in Colorado in the dead of winter.

--

One night after finishing a plushie of Charmander for your nephew, Jack spoke up…soft and unsure.

“That’s really cool.” He whisper.

“Thanks bud, do you like Charmander?” You replied.

“Kinda…I don’t really play Pokémon that much.” He shrugged.

“Oh yeah, what do you like then?” You smiled.

“I like spiderman!” Jack exclaimed.

A few days later you’d showed up with a stuffed spiderman for Jack. He was over the moon and from then on, he wasn’t afraid to ask you directly for something.

--

He was an incredible kid, he’d patiently wait for you to complete the project, even asking you questions throughout the process.

“And what kind of stitch is that?” He’d ask.

“This one here is a half double crochet.” You answered.

“And that’s different than a single crochet?”

“Yes, for a half double, you put the yarn over and then pull it through all three loops. You see that?” You asked, holding the project up as you showed him how to do it.

That night you hopped online and ordered Jack a Woobles crochet kit so he could learn alongside you.

--

For as long as you’d been crocheting, people have suggested you open an Etsy shop, and you always met them with the same response; it���ll lose the serenity it currently brings me. And this is why you only make small batches for two local boutiques.

Once a month you make a few things for each shop, and you go in and drop them off. As they sell, the profits are split 60/40 between you and the shops, which gives you the money for yarn and a little extra.

In the last week, you’d made a wide variety of stuffed animals, ranging anywhere from dinosaurs and bunnies all the way to peas in a pod and cherries. You had been packing everything up to get ready to deliver them.

--

“Hey sweetheart.” Aaron called as you entered the apartment.

“Hi honey.” You set your tote bin down and made your way to the kitchen.

“How were the deliveries?” He asked, wrapping his arms around your waist.

“They were good! I actually came home with a few things. With the Holidays just ending, one of the shops still had a few items and so they didn’t need their usual stock.” You explained.

“Oh, well now you’ll have some for next time?” He offered.

“You know, next time it’ll be Easter themed stuff…chicks and bunnies. What if you took some of these in for the BAU?” You suggested. “I can wrap one up for each of them and you can leave them on their desks for me.”

“I’m not sure…”

“Oh, please Aaron! Think of it as a late Christmas gift from me! I’ll even write them notes so they know it’s from me!”

“Sweethe-”

“Please!” You begged.

“Okay sweetheart. Whatever you want.” Aaron pressed a kiss to your forehead.

--

The next morning Aaron arrived at work even earlier than usual, that way he could place the brightly colored bags on everyone’s desks prior to their arrival. You had selected a specific plush for each person, even pulling from some other projects you had stored for an event you’d be participating in.

One by one, each member of the BAU arrived, quickly taking note of the giftbags on each desk. They shared confused glances and shrugged before Aaron stepped out of his office.

“There should be a note in each bag. Feel free to open them and enjoy.” He said, returning to his office.

Aaron smiled gently, toying with the crocheted whale shark you snuck into his bag. You always said he, like whale sharks frightened people, due to preconceived notions derived from fear, but in all actuality, they were gentle creatures.

Aaron’s smile only grew as he heard Garcia squeal with joy over the soft unicorn you’d gifted her.

[garciaasfluffypen]

omg this prompt is perfect for Emily 😂😂 1- “Don’t look at me, I was still dead at the time.”

could be x reader or maybe even emily x elle 👀🤷🏻‍♀️

don't look at me

pairing: emily prentiss x gn!reader, jelle mentioned! word count: 997 disclaimer: alcohol consumption, weed mention a/n: the way this has literally been sitting in my drafts for AGES becuase life just got so crazy with grad school and work. anyway i finally wrote it and i'm sorry it took so long! also, you're so right bestie, that is very emily coded and you can say it again for the people in the back!!!!!! i'm also not sure how i feel about the ending buuuuut here we are

you had been at the bau for approximately two years before you realized the team had a giant secret they hadn’t told you yet. 

to be fair, you had joined the team right after emily’s departure, however, no one had ever gone into details on what that entailed. considering how fresh it had been when you arrived, you didn’t blame them one bit. you had expected them to be less… nonchalant when they told you what had happened, especially as garcia flung herself into emily’s arms for what appeared to be the first time in forever. that was four years ago. it was now your sixth year with the bau, and approaching your first full year dating the brunette in question.

you had always gotten lesbian vibes from her, but didn’t want to make a move in case you were wrong. jj was the one to push you to ask her out. you could never thank the blonde enough, especially considering you now had ties to dc that would never let you leave. in the past eleven months, emily had made sure to make all the time in the world for you when you were off the clock. she was absolutely amazing at separating work emily and home emily, and you fell more in love with her every passing moment. she always made sure your favorite perfumes were full, or that the sweater you liked to wear around the apartment was always laying on the couch when you got home from cases. it never went unnoticed how she was always there for you and the team. 

that was probably how you found yourself hosting another girls night, with the girls of the bau and jj’s new girlfriend, elle. they explained to you how they used to work together and how jj was there for her after everything happened with the fisher king way back when. it took them a while to realize jj was bi, but when they did they slipped into what it was they had now. you liked elle. she was good for jj. and as a bonus, she got along well with emily as well. it was quite funny how fast they had clicked, considering they both had very standoffish moods when you first meet them. jj joked at one point that they had been stolen from you two, but it was all fun and games considering both girls loved you endlessly. your apartment had become the top hangout spot for girls nights, considering you two had gotten yourself a hot tub after a particularly hard case that caused you to blow your knee out. many a nights were spent in the hot tub, bottles of wine split between the five of you and sometimes edibles if you were feeling adventurous. garcia had been the one to bring up the idea, and frankly you all didn’t have the heart to tell her no. as long as you all didn’t do it too frequently, it was fine. 

the night drew on and the third bottle of wine had been opened, the group shifting to sitting in the living room after three boxes of pizza were split between everyone. a random chick flick was on in the background as everyone laid around, laughing as jabs were exchanged. you had curled up into emily’s side on the loveseat, the two of you sharing your favorite blanket that had been crocheted for you by your mother. it was a beautiful gray to black ombre, with little hints of yellow scattered throughout to symbolize stars. emily had claimed it pretty quickly after you moved in with her, and it had turned into the blanket you two typically used at home when watching movies or sitting in the living room scrolling through facebook. the one rule for this blanket was that it didn’t leave the apartment- you two couldn’t risk anything happening to it. 

“listen,” elle chuckled, jolting you out of your thoughts. “all i’m saying is i would have beat everyone’s asses so hard at beer pong.”

garcia gasped into her wine glass. “have you met morgan? he’s the king of beer pong.” 

“yeah, and we fucked too.” 

jj rolled her eyes. “you and morgan didn’t fuck, my love. he would never have shut up about it if you did.” 

“you know who i think did something?” elle raised her eyebrows mischievously. “emily and morgan.” 

“yeah, hard no on that one. he’s like my older brother.” emily took a sip of her wine. “and he has like ten other girls draping over his arms at any given point.” 

“you’re telling me you’ve never looked at him and said ‘damn’? i don’t believe you.” 

“there’s only one time they ever considered it. it was after derek found out what sin to win weekend was.” 

you looked over to emily. “sin… to win?” 

“and i always win big.” emily smirked at you, winking. 

“wait wait wait,” jj looked over to garcia. “when did derek find out what sin to win was?” 

“uuh… a few years ago? around the time of the case where he thought his cousin was one of the victims.” 

“that would have been roughly the same time as the one sin to win weekend you missed.” elle pointed an accusatory finger towards emily. 

“don’t look at me,” emily jokingly gasped. “i was dead at the time!” 

“you were also overseas,” you pointed out. “enjoying the beignets without me.” 

“to be fair we hadn’t met yet.”

“mm it was close enough to the time we did meet. should have saved me a beignet.” you shrugged playfully. 

“oh shut up.” emily rolled her eyes. “if you hadn’t taken that business trip to france you never would have met me.” 

“mmmm that’s debatable. i would have found you either way.” 

garcia squealed. “oh you guys are so cute! stop being so cute. i hate being single.”

“we’ll find you someone eventually, pen.” elle patted her on the shoulder sympathetically. “i promise.” 

[moongothic]

Idiot's first crochet cardigan made in less than two weeks, let's go

I was going to a Spoopy Convention where I wanted to wear something Spoopy. And I had wanted to make a granny square cardigan for a long ass time, AND I wanted to have a black-and-orange Halloween-y piece of clothing. All these things combined lead me to making this cardigan in less than two weeks (just barely in time for the convention)

Because I was bullshitting this together I figured the best way for me to go would be to just start making granny squares and sew them together as I go so I'd be able to see and measure how big it was getting while working on it. And honestly, this worked just fine for me. I know a lot of people tend to make the granny square sweaters and cardigans in panels (front, back, sleeves etc), but like... I make my blankets by sewing them together corner to corner, and I didn't see any reason why I couldn't do that with the torso piece. So for my fit I figured out 7 squares would be plenty tall enough, left an empty spot for the arm and continued on towards the back.

It honestly went really smoothly and soon enough I had the whole piece done! And then I realized I had made a grave error. I did not make the back wide enough. If I went and sewed the front of the cardigan to the back, I wouldn't have any room for my neck.

Fortunately this was actually really easy to fix. I also noticed the arm holes were MUCH bigger than they actually needed to be, so I just added six more granny squares to make the back wider. Crisis averted.

Aaand with that, I sewed the front to the back on the top and did some basic ribbing on the bottom and around the front. Now it did take me a little while to figure out how I wanted to do the sleeves... I don't like super pillowy sleeves, so I wanted to make sure they were more fitted. But I wasn't sure how to do that. I did some weird experimentation but ended up realizing that if I added stitches and decreased stitches on some of the granny squares, and made some rectangles, I could make the sleeves slim down!

(To be exact: the granny squares I made for this cardigan were 3 rounds, so 11x11 stitches. On the sleeves, from left to right, the stitch counts are 15 on the outer row (where it gets sewn to the body), 11 stitches between the first and second row, 9 stitches on second and third and 7 stitches on third and fourth. The fourth and fifth rows were 7x11 stitch granny rectangles (two rounds instead of three)) (And yes, doing this does mean that the granny squares on the sleeves that connect to the torso don't actually match in size, so the checker pattern doesn't transition smootly. Personally, I just believed it'd be easier for me to do this instead of trying to figure out how to make the decreases if the sleeves were 5x5 rows instead of 4x5)

Forgot to take a separate photo but I did also make two extra rectangles that I put under the arm holes, just to make them smaller (by just half a granny square)

Now I will admit, I did make one big fuck up. You see, I thought I was being smart by making the checker pattern different on the two sleeves, thinking to myself I was making sure on the front of the cardigan the checker board pattern would continue uninterrupted (unlike on the back, where the orange and black squares go right side by side by other orange and black squares) But I forgot to take into account how the squares on the front aren't mirrored. So I was going to end up with a black square next to a black square and an orange next to an orange. On the front. That could not possibly do, so I ended up having to detach one of the four rows on the sleeves and moving it to the other end of the sleeve, just to fix that. All because I wanted to make sure I was sewing things on symmetrically on both sides. But once that was done, I sewed the sleeves on and did the ribbing on them.

Anyway, couldn't get a good photo of the cardigan pre-blocking because Honey had hogged my whole bed when I went to take photos (I could not possibly interrupt her nap time), and I was in a hurry to block the fucker because there wasn't much drying time left (I finished the sweater on like the 23rd? And convention was on the 26th. Mind you, I was worried if I'd have to frog and redo something after blocking, and this fucker IS wool)

So you get a photo of the cardigan post-blocking, but also these try-ons pre- and post-blocking respectively. Yeah it stretched out a bit, but it's also so drapey now (where as before it was super stiff)

Also, yes, I did go and add some basic black buttons on there (I did make button holes in the ribbing though they're not noticable), but honestly the buttons aren't functional and I couldn't be bothered to take any more photos just for some buttons

So, there it is. Idiot's first crochet cardigan. It actually turned out pretty good! I'm happy with it!

Honestly, my only complaint about it is that... so I was looking for the cheapest wool yarn I could order fast to do this project very last minute, and what I landed on was Drops Nepal. Cheap as hell, wool/alpaca mix, not superwash, and had a good range of colors. When I ordered this yarn, the product photo for the orange was a lot more... middle-ground orange instead of this very red-orange. And I'm slightly annoyed as hell about that. Like, I don't hate the color at all, it does still read as Halloween-y, (and I take comfort in it NOT being some ochre/muted yellow-orange instead) but... it's so much more red than I wanted.... That just annoys me...

But, yeah, Drops Nepal. 65% wool, 35% alpaca, 75m(/82 yards) in 50 grams, reccomended hook size 5 mm. I sewed everything together with black yarn while the ribbing was all done in orange, and I was able to get about 8 granny squares per ball. The cardigan required 120 granny squares but 18 of those were indeed rectangles and 24 had some other fuckery with stitch increases/decreases. I used 10 balls of orange (color 2920 (dyelot 357320)) and 8 balls of black (color 8903 (483356)) with leftover from both colors. Did not check how much I had leftover because I went and made a shitty little knitted beanie with it lmao

That's about it. I now have a granny cardigan, it's really nice and I really like it (despite the color). I am pleased.

[soymimikyu]

Rules: make a new post with the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous and tag as many people as you have WIPs. People send an ask or put in the replies(!) with the title that most intrigues them, then you post a snippet or tell them something about it!

Thank you @littlestsnicket -- I think -- for tagging me. Even though I don't really write a lot I'm going to take a liberal stance on what counts as a WIP and group them by category.

Writing Stuff

For writing things, I have the following in some sort of progress: Witcher fic in which Assire Var Anahid finds a cat in the wreckage of Aretuza after the Thanedd Coup. This cat will become Merlin, but I'm going to pretend its is actually Esmerelda. No idea how I will put this together, but she needs cat. Make all those who made fun of her fashion jealous because she has a cat.

IWTV fic in which Madeline and Claudia get cats. The cats will be named Louis and Lestat. I think they should have toy mice to nom named Armand and Santiago. Those two deserve happiness and cats.

My longest running idea is an LWA fic in which akko and diana make madeleines. It would be cute and involve tea. Also standard clueless Akko.

I wrote a random "OC" of an author hiding their writing of iwtv smut from their mother by disguising it as a roasted chicken recipe. In theory I could post it, but no one else would probably be entertained by it.

Illustrated Writing Stuff

I have a picture book idea about two gummy bears living in a house in the woods. When the full moon shines, they fuse into a dire wolf. It must be all in French because when I had the idea I just finished an anime that took place in the Belle Époque (the anime was Undead Murder Farce -- recommended if you like mystery / literary mashups / fun -- I mean sherlock holmes, arsene lupin, the phantom of the opera, werewolves, vampires, an immortal girl who is just a head, maid with a gun, a dude...its fun). I haven't figured out how to do the fusion scene with colored pencil yet. Will anything more happen? I'm not sure.

Crochet Stuff

Oodles of crochet projects to complete! Chickens for those who kept silent last year. I need to finish a baby blanket in under a month -- yarn came today! A yennefer doll. Two friendos already have names for them. A "thing". Another "thing". One more "thing". And some other stuff. If you name isn't littlestsnicket you can DM me more details :D. If your name is littlestsnicket and you ask for details you'll get some variation on the theme of smug anime girl.

I don't know enough people who haven't already been tagged. @phenoct -- do you have anything? Something something type refinement and curried record types? Or have you finally embraced void* and are allowing memory to be free? Take a chance. Cast to void*. Live dangerously :D -- all anything ever is is a uint64_t anyway :P.

[marcholasmoth]

OSRR: 3513

went to the doctor. she gave me antibiotics and told me to start taking the inhaler again.

rad.

got some advice and creative support on the quilt for my friend, which was really nice! my mom's been incredibly unhelpful saying how she would do it instead of accepting that this was going to happen how i wanted it to happen.

i had gotten so discouraged last night about the fabrics mom was pulling out and i hated how it looked and she was pushing me to use different fabrics and use a different design because she wasn't being helpful with what i wanted. but the people at the quilt store were so supportive in helping me realize the vision i had - WITH the original pattern i created, so i'm more than happy about that.

i'm super excited to sew it all together tomorrow. then i'll need a backing and a binding and batting and figure out how to fasten it together. and part of me wants to put lace in the edge because my favorite blankie as a little kid had lace in it. i liked it so much because it was soft and yellow and had lace. i still like it so much because of the same reasons. so i'll work with the colors and see if i can find a cotton lace for it. if i can, that is. if not, that's okay. i'll make something else with lace.

maybe a different quilt for a different friend's baby!

i am ambitious. for the other baby i'll probably do more traditional baby-esque fabrics. they'll be appreciative of it, i'm sure. i'll have to wash it before i give it to them, though, unless i just bring it straight to them from a quilter. that friend is allergic to cats, very much so, so having several cats around the fabric isn't exactly the best idea. i'll probably wash and dry the fabrics before i make it, if im totally honest. make sure when it does get washed it doesn't lose its shape.

count me in for making dozens of blankets for these two little babies i know who have the same first name.

i'm so happy.

i love making things. i'll make a crocheted one next, i think! since flannel is for the fall/winter.

anyway. i took a nap today after angrily washing pots for dinner. i didn't feel good and i was upset that the dishes hadn't been done - again - and so impeded my ability to make dinner.

which, for dinner, i made steak. and i fuckin KILLED it. not the cow, the cooking. first time to cook steak, did a great job. flavorful, properly cooked, cut like butter. moist inside despite being well-done. (while i am aware this is a culinary abomination, neither my sister or i can eat meat that is raw in any way. it makes us violently ill so we just. don't do that.)

but the nap and the steak occurred before the quilt cutting and pinning. the quilt is all ready to go for tomorrow. i'm hype.

also i am not going in to work tomorrow. the doctor told me to take it easy tomorrow while the antibiotic works into my system.

and because i'll be home it means i can actually get to joel's for game on time tomorrow night! that'll be nice.

and in the meantime, i have heartburn so i am gonna take some tums and try to sleep.

[knittingmachinepumpkin]

Knitting Machine Pumpkin

It's that time of year again! You want as many pumpkins for your fall market as possible, and the knitting machine is your most useful tool. If you've never made one before, please allow me to assist you.

Creating pumpkins on the circular knitting machine is so fun! You can make them so many different ways and colors. You can add things to make them unique and beautiful, themed, anything you want! I am currently in the midst of full-on market prep for my first market of the year, and only one of two that I do yearly, so I'm trying to make all I can.

This quick tutorial will show how to do a basic large pumpkin. I've created a video, and I'll also type out what I did as best I can for those (like me) who have a hard time following videos.

So, let's get to it!

To create knitting machine pumpkins, you'll need to know the basics of the circular knitting machine: how to cast on, how to cast off, how to "double-up," which means you fold one half inside the other, as if you're making a beanie. There are many tutorials on how to do all of these things on YouTube, if you're unsure how.

To make the large pumpkin above, I used a thin gold yarn that came in a blanket-making kit years and years ago, so I don't know the exact weight or name of the yarn. I used two strands, however, because it is a thin yarn.

You will also need scissors, a tapestry needle, and stuffing

First, you cast on to your big machine (either an Addi 46 or a Sentro 48), set your yarn into your feeder and tensioner (I used the smallest tension for my pumpkin), and carry on cranking!

Crank out 80 rows

Cast off of your machine with a long tail

pull both ends closed

double your work

tie the tails together to secure and close the pumpkin

turn your work inside out so that the tails are inside now, cut them short and reserve them for later.

Thread the longest tail onto your tapestry needle. Pick up your work and pinch the open end closed, take the needle and weave in and out of every other stitch around the end. This creates a drawstring that will help you close that side.

Stuff the pumpkin, firmly but not too much.

Now, I usually go back through those stitches to double-secure the opening. Tie the tails together 2-3 times. (Be careful not to pull too hard because sometimes yarn breaks and it's frustrating)

DO NOT cut the tails yet.

To create the sections of the pumpkin, you may want to refer to the video because I'm sure I can't explain it in a way where people will understand. But I shall try!

Using your longest tail, wrap the yarn around the ball, lined up with the stitches and rows, put your needle into the middle of the pumpkin from the bottom and pull it through the top. Pull it tight to create a dent in the ball.

Do the same thing several more times, several rows away from each dent.

Tie the tails and hide them.

Now you're done with your Knitting Machine Pumpkin!

That's it! That's all you have to do to make a pumpkin!

Hopefully this helps you out in your market-planning

NOTES

I crocheted the stem and leaf on my pumpkin with just some simple stitches, I didn't write the pattern down, but there are many people with stem and leaf patterns for free all over Pinterest.

Also try creating a green icord with a crochet hook or machine, inserting a wire or pipe cleaner and curling it like a vine. (I have a photos of one below that I made for a finger knit pumpkin)

The small brown pumpkin was made using 40 rows. The same kind of yarn was used, but in brown

The video:

To create a stack, you need three pumpkins

Pumpkin rows:

40 60 80

Using a long tail or piece of yarn, sew the pumpkins together in the middle. Decorate as you want!

(For my stack, I used cinnamon sticks and E6000 glue)

Now, go out there and get your market prep on!

If you found this helpful in any way, or if you just love the photos and the row counts, please share it with all your creator friends!

Thank you and God bless you in your endeavors!

"He changes times and seasons; He removes kings and sets up kings; He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding;"

Daniel 2:21

[bisexualbaker]

Math will probably depend on what you're making? A lot of amigurumi, for example, is based around multiples of six. If you're making blankets or granny squares or something, though, you can probably get away with just counting.

Stitch markers are also a lifesaver when you want to keep your place and don't want to stop and count a million times; when I'm working on amigurumi, a lot of times when I'm in an increase or decrease round, I'll count out just the stitches until I've reached an increase or decrease, then re-start the count, and repeat until the round is done. For example: One stitch, two stitches, three stitches, two-stitches-in-one (increase), and then keep going like that until I reach the stitch marker I placed at the beginning of the round. You can find stitch markers at craft stores or made and sold by crafters, but you can also just use a piece of yarn in a contrasting color, or a safety pin or similar.

Stitch markers are also good for if you've reached a stopping point in your project and want or need to set it aside for a while; you can put one through your most recent loop, then tighten the loop down, and it'll help ensure your work doesn't unravel. If you're using a bit of yarn for this, I recommend first doing a few extra chain stitches off of the stitch you picked as a stopping point, because it can be difficult to re-loosen the stopping point loop off of something as flexible as yarn.

One of the easier ways to make a crochet hook more ergonomic is to make the handle bigger. The above linked crochet hook is definitely an option, but there are ready-made crochet hooks you can find at most craft stores, and a lot of people sell them on Etsy (for example). One of the more interesting ergonomic crochet hook options I've ever seen is the Provo Craft Ergonomic Crochet Hook set. It has two handle options, one of which is designed for several different holding styles. I don't know if it's still in production, though, so you may have to find a secondhand version if it looks like something that would help you.

If you have wrist bracers that you use regularly, they would probably be a good idea for crocheting. I once gave myself tendinitis from crocheting too much in a relatively short span of time. What ended up helping me were some wrist stretching exercises designed to prevent carpal tunnel; I've got at least one video buried in my reblogs and can dig it up in a jiffy.

That's all I can think of for now; best of luck!

Questions for people who crochet:

I would like to learn how to crochet and I want to know just how much math is involved in it.

I am really really bad at math so before I even consider I just want to know how much math is involved and how complicated is that math.

Also how much wrist strain is there because I have loose ligaments in my wrists so I get wrist pain very easily so is there anything I should know in regards to that.

And if you have any advice I would really appreciate anything you share with like. Like is there a brand or type of hooks that you recommend or ones that I should stay away from. Or ones that more ergonomical and reduce strain.

Just any advice you are willing to share, thank you.

[thepenultimateword]

Werewolf Hero x Villain Part 4

Part One, Part Two, Part Three

CW: Blood, dog attack

"Wolf?" Villain quavered, taking a step back. "H-Hero?"

The wolf prowled forward, shoulder blades protruding sharp from its well-muscled back. Its muzzle scrunched and massive fangs glistened in the yellow lamplight.

"Hero, can you still hear me at all? Y-you better not be playing. It's not funny!"

The small of their back bumped against the kitchen counter, reminding them just how trapped they were. Their eyes flicked to the front door, but there were at least 6 feet up open space to get there, and they'd put their money on the wolf getting there first.

Villain held one hand out in front of them in what they hoped was a calming manner and began slowly edging sideways. Maybe if they moved slow--

A new growl, this time louder and deeper in the wolf's throat, brought Villain to a jerking halt.

The wolf's eye's burned into them, not so much hungry as...hateful. Wolf was supposed to be their friend; they'd bonded! So what was going on?

"W-wolf, listen to me. It's me Villain. Remember me? Friend. Friend. I don't know if you're being this way because of Hero, but...but even they don't want me--"

Wolf lunged.

Villain shrieked, scrambling onto the countertop faster than a cat up a tree. Apparently, it still wasn't fast enough.

Wolf's teeth caught on the cuff of Villain's sweat pants, tearing away a large strip as well as yanking them face-first to the floor. Villain barely had a moment to let their knees and the heels of their hands scream before they were scrambling upright.

The kitchen rug slipped out from under them, sending them back down on their hands. Their heart jumped to their throat. Wolf's teeth scraped across their upper arm then clacked shut on nothing. Villain was up again, hot breath hard on their heels. Bedroom. If they could just barricade themself in the bedroom.

They leaped over the sofa, snatching up the throw blanket along the way and swinging it behind them like a flag of truce. If it didn't jog Wolf's memory, it might at least come in handy as a shield.

Their footsteps hit the hardwood of their hallway harder than the years of pavement they pounded in retreat from heroes. Their vision had also never narrowed like this. The door came so fast, that they skidded into the bedroom several feet too far and had to throw themself back at the door.

The wolf's head was already shoved through the crack, snapping too close to their middle. Its muscular body shoved forward determinedly, knocking Villain back on their rear.

Fangs. It was all Villain saw coming as the Wolf closed in on them. Then blood.

They couldn't make much sense of it, but their face was suddenly sticky and throbbing. What made less sense was that the wolf was somehow lunging at them a second time. It registered too slow that they must have pulled back a little the first time, sparing them from a much worse mauling. Villain only had time to throw the blanket up in front of themself, and the wolf crashed headlong into it. Its muzzle, now wrapped in crappy crochet, slammed against Villain's neck, snapping viciously and spraying hot saliva against their skin. The yarn barely kept the fangs from finding purchase.

Villain immediately snatched the two remaining corners of the blanket from the floor and threw all their weight on top of the wolf. They skidded a couple feet together, and Villain took the short moment of confusion to pull the blanket tighter. The wolf was now covered from head to mid-chest and very unhappy about it.

Villain locked their arms around its struggling form, using all their raw-nerve strength to hold the blanket taught. Claws skidded on the hardwood and the creature thrashed its head wildly, but Villain only leaned in harder, closed their eyes, and desperately counted the seconds until morning.

... Villain wasn't sure when they fell asleep during that nightmare, but early sun rays slowly brought them to consciousness, painting the inside of their stubbornly closed eyelids red.

Their whole body felt like an automaton left in the rain to rust, every muscle and joint frozen tightly in place. Villain decided to start with slowly unclenching their jaw, something they had hardly been aware of last night. The joint popped, causing them to wince, and their teeth ached from being held together so long. A scratchy moan escaped out their mouth instinctively, unstoppably, as natural as breathing.

A lingering sick feeling pitted in the middle of their stomach, setting each nerve and hair in their body on end. Everything was quiet, but they couldn't calm down. Villain could only sum it up in the two words pounding against the walls of their skulls: Hurts. Scared.

Maybe if they could see... They struggled against the crust of blood gluing their eyes shut and pasting pieces of hair to their forehead and cheek. After a few minutes, they finally managed to tear their eyelashes away from each other and squint at the barely lit room. They rubbed a bit of blood and tear goop on their shoulder with a crank of their sore neck and the scene cleared a little.

Their arms were still locked tight around a blanketed form, though the only movement coming from them now was the rise and fall of sleeping breath. Villain's shoulders ached as they pulled their arms out from the barrel-sized body and sat back unsteadily on their heels. They almost didn't dare peek under the blanket in fear that this time the Wolf might have taken full claim of the hero's body.

The long stretch legs extended out the other side should have been enough, but for some reason, Villain couldn't relax until they saw what they'd covered uncovered. They peeled back the edge of the blanket tentatively, and nearly cried out in relief at the sight of skin and messy, tangled hair. They immediately flopped flat on their back with a loud thud.

Their cheek pressed against the hardwood as they double-checked the hero's face once again. So chiseled and delightfully human. A slight pang hit them at that thought. They had loved the wolf. They didn't want to be afraid of it. But how could they not after what happened last night? The closest they'd ever come to dying.

Hero's eyes crinkled, tightening and loosening several times before they squinted opened. The newly human werewolf blinked a couple times, staring into Villain's face sightlessly for a few seconds. Slowly, they reached out one big hand and cupped their outward-facing cheek. Their eyebrows furrowed over carefully bobbing eyes, scanning the face in front of them up and down, slowly trying to register what they were seeing. When it finally hit, their mouth parted and brushed Villain's skin with a trickle of warm, shuddering morning breath.

"I..." Hero immediately drew back, swinging upright and scrambling back against the wall with the blanket gathered up around them. "What have I done?"

"It's f-ine," Villain said. At first, they thought their voice cracked because of their clenched throat muscles, but then the hot tears came streaming down their face. They rubbed their eyes furiously with the back of their hands, dry blood smearing their knuckles in crusted pieces. "I'm sorry, I-I don't know what's wrong with me. I promise I'm fine."

"You're not! I hurt you!" Hero ducked their head into their hands, fingers coming up through the holes in the crochet to grip their hair. "I never should have asked! I should have chained myself down in a locked room where no one had to deal with me!"

"You didn't know," Villain said, finally getting a hold of their tears, but their voice still shuddering. "The Wolf usually likes me. Something was just off yesterday."

"And if I do that again? What if next time I kill someone?"

Villain searched for an answer but came up with nothing. They'd never seen Hero like this before. They thought they liked seeing them vulnerable. Turned out they hated it.

They crawled the few feet between them and pulled Hero's head out of their hands.

"Have I actually seen the day when Hero's thick ego was shattered?" they said, forcing a smile, then gentler, caressing both cheeks with their thumbs, "It won't happen again. Because I won't let it. We'll figure out what's happening to you. Ok?"

"I don't want to hurt you again," Hero whispered.

"And now the mighty hero is worried for their enemy?" Villain bellowed a laugh. "I've seen everything!"

"I'm serious, Villain. I don't want to hurt you. I don't want to hurt anyone."

Villain's smile dropped, and they studied Hero's anxious, painfilled face. They slid their hands down from their nemesis' face and with a soft sigh, laced their arms around their neck instead. They weren't exactly sure what they were doing. Hero was the worst. They should be throwing a party right now. Rubbing this whole awful mess in their face. But for some reason, this felt more right.

Hero's collarbone was hot against the Villain's cheek. In fact, as they leaned up against their muscular chest, the warmth was almost overwhelming. Maybe it had something to do with the recent transformation or being a werewolf, or maybe it was just something about Hero. Villain didn't have enough experience with werewolves, Hero, or hugs to know for sure.

Hero's hands hesitated over Villain's back, the heat of their palms hovering just above their shirt. The first time their fingertips touched down, they immediately jerked back again, but the next time they let them rest a moment against Villain's shoulderblades. A moment later their arms encircled Villain's waist. They remained that way until the shadowy blue tone of the room turned yellow.

Villain shifted a little, resting their chin on Hero's shoulder and pressing their palm against their neck to bend their head down a little so that the hollow of their ear was directly in line with their mouth.

"Do you want some cereal?" they murmured.

Hero choked on their breath and exploded into laughter. They drew back a little to look into Villain's face. "Sure, weirdo."

Villain pulled back into a crouch and backed out a couple steps before straightening to full height.

"Let me get you some clothes. I have a really big hoodie now, but I still only have that one pair of sweats."

"That's fine."

Villain found the clothes and left Hero in the bedroom to change. Maybe oatmeal would be better than cereal, it was warm, and warm things always did you better have an emotional breakdown than cold things. Or at least in Villain's experience. Well, they'd just ask when Hero was done.

When they stepped out into the living room they froze, met with knocked-over furniture, a shredded sofa, and a lot of broken, thrown about things.

Villain jumped into motion and hastily began picking up the worst of the wreckage. It was for the best that Hero didn't see.

Part Five

…

Taglist: @supportingfandoms @moss-tombstone

[stellalunatmblr]

The Flower Path | Chapter 3

Genre/Tags: isekai (kinda?), bangtan x fem!reader, not poly, oc!bestfriend, surprise romantic pairings; rom-com, slow burn, fluff, angst  (will update tags along the way)

Status: Ongoing

Summary: What would you feel if you find yourself transported to the world of a cheesy web novel? Ecstatic, of course (well, among other things), except you’re stuck being the main character’s best friend slash sidekick. Fair enough, you don’t think you’re main character material anyway. Determined to get through your life that has changed all of a sudden, you try to keep yourself in the shadows of your “best friend.” Let’s just try to get through the last year of high school in peace. You thought it was gonna be easy – like a walk in a flower path– but the thing about walking that road is that there are bound to be thorns along the way.

Inspired by the web novel and manhwa: Inso’s Law

Word Count: 7.1k

Chapter warning: mean teenagers

Chapter Note: oh hello there! i just wanted to say, due to popular demand (lol) i opened a taglist. (See this post). i'll start the tagging next chapter.

please don't be shy and let me know what you think of this chapter by commenting or sending an ask! it makes me really happy. enjoy~

masterlist

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As soon as you stepped inside the school gymnasium, you could hear shoes squeaking and balls thudding on the hardwood floor. When you inhale, the smell of muscle relief patches fills your senses. You were grateful that, although with such a large space, it was well ventilated because the smell of sweaty teens was the last thing you'd ever want now that you have the obligation to come here frequently.

You didn’t expect to get called to the faculty that day after class, but even more than that, you did not expect that your application to be the volleyball team’s manager would be approved by the coach and team adviser.

"We were supposed to pick only one, but then I suggested having two managers for both teams would be more efficient since they don’t always get the same venue for away games. They already picked the other one, so you’ll get to know them eventually," the volleyball coach—coach Kai as he introduced himself to you—says as he hands you a binder.

He also mentioned that you and your co-manager will be rotated between the boys' and girls' teams, so he recommended you become acquainted with all of the team members to make your job easier.

"Here are some documents the former manager left for whoever replaced him because he thinks it would be helpful. He used to supervise both teams, and so he left a lot of whatever is in that." He pointed to the binder that you were now holding, "I'll leave this with you because I forgot to give it to the other manager." He dismisses you after that.

So now you're standing here, confused, unsure how you got into this predicament in the first place. Given you did apply for the position, but you thought your application would just be brushed off. You clasp the binder to your chest even closer, feeling a bit small. You have done a lot of half-assed things in your life. Your academics, learning to cook, heck—even that crocheted blanket you pushed to finish before winter one time. But this… this is what gets you results? You were barely qualified for the position.

To be fair, this wasn't your world, and perhaps the rules of the real world don't apply here—clearly. Maybe it was the kind of world where you didn't need to know anything about volleyball to participate in it. You scoff quietly to yourself. Or maybe I'm simply here to help move the plot along, you think. You were uncertain how it would help, though, because you do not really know what to expect in this novel. You only knew what this world was like.

You were still perplexed as to why you were cast as Minyoung's best friend when you lacked her exceptional traits. You'd offer nothing except that you'd always be the one who supposedly followed her about like a dog as her sidekick. To be honest, she didn't need you; she can make it on her own here with all of her main character privileges. But alas, you can not escape your fate. You know Minyoung has every intention of keeping you by her side.

You looked around with astonishment, as it was the first time you stepped into the school gymnasium. It was large enough to house two volleyball courts divided by a floor-to-ceiling net. You're assuming that each side is designated for each team.

Your snooping was cut short as you heard a ball roll onto your feet. You stare down at it before moving your gaze to the individual whose squeaky shoes have moved closer to you. Minyoung lets out a shriek.

"It's you! Please, please, please tell me it's you!" She hugs you tightly, the binder digging uncomfortably into you, and you brace yourself so she doesn't knock you over. From behind her, you can hear her teammates laughing, and you can even hear someone warning her to let you go before you both fall over. Minyoung ignores them and squeezes you even more.

"Uhm.. it's me?" You answered, puzzled as to why she was asking because she knew who you were.

"No, I mean, you're here as the new manager!" She says, pulling away from you to shake your shoulders.

"Oh, right. Co-manager, but sure," you shrugged, and she jumped up and down and embraced you again, so you laughed and hugged her back.

"You must be ___. We've heard so much about you." A team member extends her hand to shake yours, and you shake it as you cast a tentative glance towards Minyoung. 

"All good things! Don’t worry," she continued when she noticed your expression.

Minyoung comes to a halt at her spot. "Wait, did you just say co-manager?" she asks, her face knitted, as she walks in front of you again.

"Yeah, they decided at the last minute to get two and split them between the teams," you say, nodding. "So I think I'll be switching between the guys' and girls' teams."

You watch her pout and cross her arms.

"I can't believe I have to share you with Jeon," she muttered but you don't hear her.

"Huh?" Your brow furrowed as you inquired of her.

She suddenly smiled and shook her head, "Nothing. I didn't say anything. Come on! I'll introduce you to the rest of the team."

The other girls must have found Minyoung's antics entertaining, obviously fond of her, because they were all smiles and chuckles when you were presented to the team. You could tell they were polite and had a lot of respect for your friend. Ah, so that’s why she’s captain, you thought as you saw them all interact with her.

You and the others were all smiling as Minyoung proudly displayed her jersey with the number 1 highlighted to you. 

Her teammate, who you know as someone from another section of Year 3, taps her on the back and looks at you, "She worked really hard to earn the position of captain; please look after her—and us." 

You grin at her sincerity. It's comforting to know that even when you're not around, people are looking out for Minyoung.

The introductions were cut short, however, when you saw someone raising the net in the center of the court and approaching the girls' side.

"When will we get our turn?" The silver-haired boy grumbled.

"You've had your time with her, so I'm taking her now," he said as he gently yanked at your free wrist and dragged you across the gym.

"Taehyung," you said sharply, rolling your eyes, "I can walk on my own." You pulled your hand back and grabbed the binder with both hands, hoping he wouldn't try to pull it back to him. He glances at you, and you give him a fake grin, but he only laughs in return.

You swear to the heavens this guy is giving you whiplash.

After that incident in the library– which made you think he actually hated you for some reason – he went back to being casual like nothing happened. You almost tripped over your own feet when he nodded at you in recognition in the corridors when you ran into each other at school; you were expecting him to just start ignoring your presence.

He boasted, "Be careful, I know I'm stunning, but you should watch your step." 

You glared at him and scoffed, "as if," loud enough to be heard throughout the hallways. You saw that people were paying close attention to you, glancing your way and then looking at him. You had no regrets about that one, almost wanting everyone to know how appalled you were by his statement.

Taehyung called out to Jungkook once you both arrived where the others were. He turns around and collects the rest of his team when he sees you.

You bow to them and introduce yourself more formally than you did to the girls' team because you know it will take them longer to warm up to you. You didn't mind, and based on what you've heard from Minyoung, the boys' team is under a lot of pressure following their loss last year.

"I'm looking forward to working with you," you said softly.

"Please take good care of us," Jimin said as he took a step forward and bowed, followed by the others.

You reciprocate with a smile. Jimin was the most courteous of the three musketeers to you, with Taehyung a close second but more bothersome than polite, and Jungkook last since he never actually talks to you.

"You guys should get back to doing what you're doing," you say, and they started bowing slightly towards you before dispersing.

You see Taehyung reach out to ruffle your hair, but you catch his wrist and give him a cold stare. You attempt to break free from his grip as he reaches out his other hand to cover your eyes.

“Stop! You're really annoying!" You eventually broke free from his grip and pinched at his side, which he gripped tightly and dramatically whimpered. His antics make you roll your eyes.

Taehyung was a dangerous one, you thought, and certainly someone you should be wary of. You can never figure out who he is as a character because he acts one way one minute and then the total opposite the next. You think his charming smile is deceiving.

“Fine, fine,” He held his hands up in surrender, “You’re just fun to rile up,” he adds.

You breathed a sigh of relief as he finally stepped away, grabbing a ball from the cart and lifting it up to spike it to the other side. Just from that interaction, you feel like you've aged. You're hoping to be assigned to the girls' team more since you don't want to deal with Taehyung's erratic behavior any longer.

You take one final glance around before choosing to leave, but before you can even turn away, Jungkook jogs back towards you.

"Hey," He says tentatively.  

“Hmm?" You hum back, uncertain how to respond since this is the first time he's really spoken to you directly.

He clutches the back of his neck. 

"Would you mind if — I mean, did the coach say anything about..." He pauses, and you wait for him to finish, prompting him with a cocked brow.

You observe him hesitate for a moment before letting out a deep sigh.

"I– nevermind, I'll ask another time," he says as he walks away, leaving you to wonder what the hell just happened. That wasn't really a conversation; they were just a few words he uttered to you–which, by the way, didn't make any sense.

You shrugged as you shifted your gaze to the other side of the gym, waiting to attract Minyoung's attention before waving goodbye. She returns it with a nod and resumes giving directions to her teammates during a drill.

Taehyung notices your retreating figure and calls out your name.

"Bye!" You hear him yell in a singsong manner.

When you saw several kids looking in your direction as you approached the court's exit, you quickened your speed and covered your face with the item you were holding.

You can hear Jimin chuckle alongside him.

You were walking back to your building, taking your time and kicking on some pebbles along the way. Even though it was the end of the school day, many students were still there, engaged in their various extracurricular activities. The typically empty field was crowded with various clubs, some of which were practicing and others doing routines.

You slowed your pace as you turned away from the open field and peered beneath the purple tree nearby. You noticed Jin underneath it, clutching his phone to his ear and seemed to be engrossed in a serious conversation.

You feel like a creep doing it, but you couldn't help but notice how beautiful he looked with the wind brushing his hair and the tree's fallen petals dancing around him. The warm glow of the almost-setting sun gave him a serene look, and you couldn't help but grin when you noticed the tree's petals were almost the same color as his hair.

For a few moments, you just stood there, enthralled by the scene before you. It seemed like something out of a movie, only the peace and quiet contrasted with the grimace currently decorating his face.

You see him purse his lips while on the phone, brows knitted in what seemed to be exasperation, then converse again before his expression changes to a dejected one. His other hand brushed over his face, but it didn't smooth out the wrinkles caused by his frown.

You didn't realize you were approaching him slowly, so as he moved his weight to the side, his eyes landed on you.

You were taken aback by his attention, but you smiled and waved nevertheless, and you observed him halt for a second. His eyes softened and his face morphed into something akin to relief.

You can see him thinking about something, then he turns aside and talks into the phone once again, this time with more conviction than before.

He puts the phone down and walks toward you, meeting you halfway.

“That looked like an important phone call,” you point out once he reached you.

“Yeah, my dad.”

His dad? 

You narrowed your eyes at him. But it looked like they were fighting over the phone, you thought.

"You haven't gone home yet?" He inquired as you both began walking back to your building, him matching your steps because you have shorter legs than he does.

"No, I'm returning from the gym." You turned your head away from him.  "I'm apparently a manager now," you stated as casually as you could, trying to hide your embarrassment.

He must think I'm ridiculous for even considering going through with the application.

"No way! That actually worked?" He gasped exaggeratedly, and he nudged your shoulder with his. You rolled your eyes and shoved his shoulders away, causing him to trip over his feet as he cackled. 

"You’re like, the least qualified applicant for that." 

You huff in response, denying him the satisfaction of a spoken retort. I mean, he was right, but he didn't need to say it right to my face!

His laughter died down eventually and you were enveloped in silence. It wasn’t awkward, but it did seem uncharacteristic of him to be quiet around you. This was Jin, and he, like Hobi, practically never shuts up when he's with you guys, so it did cause you some concern. You wonder whether it has anything to do with the phone conversation he had with his father.

Because of his silence, you peered at him and noticed his eyes reflect his thoughts that were racing at a breakneck pace, his poker face gradually morphing back into a frown.

You feel your hand twitch. You kept your head straight and continued walking. After a few minutes of stillness in the atmosphere, you decide enough is enough and stop in your tracks.

He kept strolling aimlessly, and he would have kept walking if you hadn't grabbed his wrist to stop him. He staggered for a moment before looking at you, wide-eyed.

"You okay?" you ask casually, not wanting to seem nosy.

A few beats pass before he decides to reply.

"Of course, why wouldn't I be?" he replied, flashing the million dollar smile that you're used to seeing him show.

You responded with a hum and continued to stare at him. He attempts to hold your gaze for a few moments before turning away.

He began walking away again, and you followed suit, strolling side by side.

"You’re going to be alright, you know? Whatever it is." You tell him without looking, and you feel him turn to face you.

"And even if you're not fine now, that's okay too."

He waits a little longer before saying, "How do you know that?" like a whisper in the wind — as if he both wants and doesn't want you to hear it.

"Because," you laugh quietly, "I just know."

He's a protagonist, so you can tell him that in confidence. Things will always work out for him, even if they don't right now. Whatever he's worried about, you can be sure he'll overcome it with the aid of whatever forces the novel gods throw his way.

You, however, were lost. You had no notion why you were here, much less how things would turn out. You were blindly navigating your existence here, like if you were wandering down a long, dark corridor. You groan inwardly and forcefully push down the bitter sensation that had begun to sneak up on you.

You were so preoccupied with your own thoughts that you didn't see Jin staring at you as if you were the most complex puzzle ever devised.

How can she say that to me when she appears to be in the same boat as me? 

"I don't know if I will, though. Be okay—I mean." He adds, his gaze fixed on you despite your lack of reciprocation.

You can't exactly explain to him why you were so certain of his future, so you settle on giving him a small shrug. You felt your fingers twitch as he gazed down on his fumbling hands and furrowed his brows even more. You turned to him to poke his cheek, and as soon as you did, you froze. He did too. You don't know why you just did that.

 That's so embarrassing! Why did I poke his cheek!

You notice a menacing smirk forming on his face and before it could fully form, you let out a defensive huff.

"I just– you were frowning so much that you could nearly play the Grinch!" To emphasize your point, you flail your free arm about, although you doubt it helped. It only made you appear dumber.

When you heard him chuckle, you crossed your arms and walked faster.

"This face? C'mon, you're just spouting shit now."

You rolled your eyes at his reply. You can hear him closing in on you before you feel a tiny pat on the head and hear a hushed "thank you."

"Huh? For what?" you asked, but you were left with no reply as he raced ahead of you and opened the door to your classroom.

"You have been blessed with my presence!" He yells inside, and you shake your head before stepping in after him.

You notice him grabbing your seatmate's chair and twisting it around to annoy Yoongi when you finally get in after him. You gather the rest of your belongings and stuff them into your bag along with the new binder.

"Oh! Are you about to head home?" Hobi asks as he watches your movements. Only the four of you were left in the classroom, along with just a few other classmates.

"Minyoung is practicing until the end of the day today, and she told me to go ahead."

You were about to walk away with your bag hiked up on your shoulders when you heard a chair screech, which caused you to pause and look back.

"Wait a minute! Let's go hang out!"

Your brow furrows as you look at Jin.

You turned around and pretended not to hear him when you heard the sound of another chair being dragged back.

You think you know exactly what will happen. You sigh and pinch the bridge of your nose as you close your eyes.

"I don't want to go home yet, either, because no one is home and I'd get bored," Hobi says.

"Then you guys hang out and be bored together," you groan with your eyes still closed, your hand now covering it.

Jin pried your hands away from your face and had you headlocked before you could even move a centimeter away.

You try to push his arm away from you, but the man is much bigger and stronger than you.

"Let go right now," you threaten with a scowl before he lets go and pouts like a child.

You brushed off the imaginary dust on your blazer and straightened your hair before taking a deep breath and glaring at each of them.

"Look, I don't have energy for any more social interactions today. I'm all spent," you said, rather than attempting to explain that you're not exactly fond of whatever force of nature occurs every time they are exposed to other people's presence, just like that time at the library.

"Don't go home yet," Hobi exclaims as he snatches your wrist and swings it back and forth between you.

You sense yourself faltering a little and you hate yourself for it. You yank your hand away. Again.

"Nope, I'm leaving." For the nth time, you begin walking away.

"In that case, I'm coming with you!"

You yank your hair in frustration and turn around to see both of them ready to follow you like you're their kindergarten teacher and they're, of course, the kindergartners. You quickly cover your lips to avoid a chuckle from escaping due to the image before you, but your eyes betray you by crinkling up. The muted laughter you tried so hard to conceal wasn't lost to the two in front of you, and you watch them slowly smile triumphantly. You shook your head as you rolled your eyes. You knew you'd lost the first time you looked back.

Fine. Fuck. Whatever.

You straighten up before letting out a fake huff of irritation and glancing towards the back of the classroom.

"Are you coming, Yoongi?"

You see him sitting up straight and looking at you for a split second before unhooking his bag and standing up.

He came to a halt in front of you and formed a line with the other two. You turned around and raised your hand as if it were an invisible tour guide flag.

"All right, my ducklings, let's go!" you exclaimed as you led the way.

What you don't see is them glancing at each other in confusion before following you.

❀。• *₊°。 ❀°

You snapped a picture of them playing with your dad's gaming console in the living room and opened your messaging app.

[From: You] minyoung why did you leave me alone with the children :(((

[From: Choi Minyoung] im coming home soon from work my sweet, dont worry 

She also included a kissy sticker with this one which made you smile.

[From: You] lol you're an idiot

[From: Choi Minyoung] i cant believe ur hanging out without me !!

[From: You] come over when you get here then

[From: Choi Minyoung] you know i will !!

You placed your phone down your side on the couch, and stretched your body that was now clad in comfortable clothes–some sweatpants and a loose shirt. The guys opted to just remove their navy blazers so they can move more freely.

"You guys hungry?" you inquired, but you received no response since they were too busy shouting at each other over Mario Kart.

You walk to the kitchen to see if you can make something, and as you're searching through the fridge, you hear the front door open.

As you padded along the foyer, you had a panicked expression on your face, and you heard the boys pause their game.

You exhale a sigh of relief as you see your father enter with paper bags in his hands.

As you approached him, you remarked, "I thought someone was breaking into our house." He chuckled.

"I left early since business was slow. They could all manage by themselves." You grabbed one bag from him to assist since he did bring a lot. 

"And look, I packed so much food!" He looked down on what he was holding with a glimmer in his eyes. You bask in his joyous warmth, which brought a grin to your own face. 

You walk ahead, but you hear him stop as he sees the figures who are occupying the living room. They all froze as you turned around to see them looking at your father looking at them. You rolled your eyes and huffed amusingly.

"These are my—" you hesitate, unsure what to call them "classmates. They've come to hang around."

Your father looks at you with wide eyes.

"You have friends?!"

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"I mean, you have any friends besides Minyoung?"

"How does that wording make it better?"

You heard muted laughter from the sofa and cocked your brows at the three guys, your eyes giving them a warning. Your father promptly lays the paper bags to the ground and begins shaking their hands and introducing himself. You're surprised he's taking it so well, given that his teenage daughter just brought home three male friends, and he's casually shaking their hands. You grin at the notion that, while your father is extremely protective of you, he trusts you to surround yourself with nice people, and you know – or think – at least that these ones are harmless to you. You can see it as they all gently smile back, suddenly humble in the presence of an adult.

When he's done, he stands up straight and exclaims, "This is wonderful! I can't wait to embarrass her in front of you!"

"Embarrass—dad!" You scold him, but he ignores you and picks up the bags from the floor again, this time taking the one you were holding.

"What? You never invite friends around, this is a rare opportunity for me," he says, hiking the paper bags more tightly in his arms as you try to follow him to the kitchen, but he turns back.

"Let me prepare you all some dinner before I pull out the photo albums," he says to everyone.

"Wha- albums? Are you serious, Dad?"

You turn around in a panic, seeing both Hobi and Jin gripping their stomachs and laughing, and Yoongi with his head averted but his shoulders obviously shaking.

"Yah!" you scolded, stomping your feet childishly.

You approached them, pulled the controller from Hobi's grasp, and scowled at Jin.

"I'm going to beat your ass in Mario Kart just for that," you remarked, only to be met with an "I'd like to see you try."

After beating Jin in three games, gloating to him, "I told you so," and hearing him complain about how you were "cheating," you rose up and slipped the photo albums into your room, shoving them deep into the closet. You know your dad will not enter your room if you prohibit him, but you can't risk the albums falling into the hands of your friends. You think that seeing your baby photographs – which your father would undoubtedly bring out – and images of you as a child with different kinds of dirt on your face and clothes would be too embarrassing for you and too intimate for the degree of connection you currently have with those people in your living room.

You returned to find the coffee table full of food and your father talking to the guys, so you sat next to Jin and began eating as well. After putting the meal down, your father excuses himself and leaves you alone.

Minyoung arrives not long after and wraps her arms over your shoulders.

"I'm exhausted! And I miss you!" She complained in a whining tone while helping herself with a serving of food.

"We only saw each other a few hours ago."

"A few hours too long, you mean," she jokes, rolling her eyes before turning to the others. "What were you thinking when you chose to hang out here? I'm surprised she let you in."

"I didn't, they let themselves in," you claimed, but Yoongi interjected with a "No we didn't," which you didn't contradict because you were just kidding.

When Minyoung notices something, she glances around. "Where is Joonie?" She specifically asks Jin.

He swallows his food and then purses his lips.

"He had an important event to attend."

"Really? And you're not accompanying him? But don't you come in as a package?" She chuckles.

Jin frowns and has a distant expression on his face, and you suppose he didn't plan to show anybody, but you picked up on it. You raise an eyebrow at him, but he has his face turned away.

"They are joined at the hip." Hobi quips in, "Like me and Yoongi," he says, and you and Minyoung laugh because Yoongi doesn't dispute it and just keeps munching on his meal more intently.

When you glance at Jin, you see him playing with his food a little. You feel your hand twitch and sigh, remembering how distressed he looked earlier that afternoon and wanting to help him feel just a little bit better.

"All right, enough of that. Stop bothering him. Jin is his own person, you know?" You remarked, taking a piece of bulgogi with your chopsticks. From your peripheral view, you notice him turning to face you.

You sympathize with him a little because, while Hobi may not mind his name being linked with his best friend, Jin may. You sympathize because you, too, are now affiliated with Minyoung since you are there wherever she goes. Because you, too, come in a package. Her "best friend" is you. When people address you, they say, "___, you're Minyoung's friend, right?"

But you want to be more than that. You want to be more than just someone who people associate with Minyoung– or even with the sevens. You’re you, albeit sometimes irritable, shy, and prideful, you like to think there’s something in you that makes you special and exceptional as well. Your mom ingrained that in your brain as you were growing up.

"He may suck at Mario Kart, but I'm sure he has something amazing in there," you joked as you looked up but not directly in his eyes, and patted his head. You could feel his stare at you. He shrugged your hands off and turned away with a humorous sneer after a beat.

"I do not suck at Mario Kart," he said with genuine amusement.

"Yeah, sure. Whatever helps you sleep at night, Jin."

You see him try to headlock you, but you push him away first.

"Hey!” you tsked at him.  “You're in my house, don't you dare." You warn him with a pointed finger.

You let them play some more after you finished eating, even indulged Hobi as he took pictures of and with you guys – which is something he seems to like to do. After a while, Hobi checks the time and tells the boys they should leave so as to not impose any further. You call out to your dad so they can say their goodbyes.

As you guide them all to the door, you notice Hobi wrapping his arms around Minyoung as they bicker, and Yoongi strolling with his hands in his pockets as usual. Even with his companions being as raucous as they were today, he remained calm.

You trailed after them, with Jin strolling alongside you.

"Thank you for having us today," he murmured quietly, and as you approached the door, he turned around to look at you.

You raised your head and simply shrugged at him. "It's whatever," you responded, earning a grin from him.

He was usually brazen and had little to no sense of personal space around you, so it startled you when he asked, "Can I have a hug?"

You were stunned, but you didn't think much of his request, so you nodded casually, and he drew you into an embrace, exhaling a long sigh.

He felt a weight lifted off his shoulders when he drew away.

"All right, enough of that! You could miss your train." Minyoung chides them and shoves them towards the direction of the elevators.

She waves them goodbye as you lean against the railing in front of your apartment doors, gazing out at the city lights.

It now occurs to you that you have let them in, entering your home, your bubble, and your personal space. It was terrifying because you were unaware of it as it was happening. Or maybe you were, but chose to ignore it. But a voice in the back of your mind tells you that you can't deny that you had a good time today. Maybe it's alright. Maybe this isn't that horrible. You consider getting caught up in this life, planting your roots here, but knowing what you know, it is all easier said than done.

The light in the hallway starts to flicker. You turn around and don't see Minyoung; you assume she's gone back to their flat, despite the fact that you didn't hear the click of their door. You simply shrugged.

You close your eyes and lean against the railing once again. You wait for the thousand thoughts in your brain to calm before opening them, and as soon as you do, someone pulls you into an embrace.

You gasp in surprise and shove them away, turning around to find Minyoung startled and even a little offended that you pushed her away.

"Minyoung? What are you doing there?" You said, your mouth agape after speaking.

"What do you mean? I've been here the entire time. I just waved the guys off." She looks at you incredulously.

What? She offers you another embrace and pats your behind as she coos, before you can even grasp what she just said and what she meant.

"I'm going in now.  Don't stay out too late–there could be bugs."

When she turns around, you can hear the distinctive chime of the door opening and the click of it closing.

You shook your head and exhaled a confused sigh. Maybe you just exhausted yourself today. You don't want to acknowledge it, but hanging out with the others today was enjoyable. It did drain a significant amount of your energy, though.

You give a little smile and stroll back into your flat, almost unconsciously.

❀。• *₊°。 ❀°

It was break time, and you were returning after speaking with the volleyball team adviser about organizing a practice game with a nearby school's team. You've been taking your manager responsibilities seriously, and you've done a lot of research and worked hard to be an efficient one. You reasoned that even if you obtained the job by sheer luck, you may as well give it your best so you don't humiliate yourself.

The coach has even commended you on your organization skills.

"See, there's a reason I knew I had to choose you," he remarked, smiling.

You were ready to enter the classroom when you noticed the sight inside and came to a halt. You notice the sevens gathered around your table conversing, and Minyoung has taken a seat in your chair. You marvel at the fact that they look like they're in the middle of a photoshoot, with their nice looks, faint smiles, colored hair, and all.

But, soon, the smile fades from your face.

They looked picture-perfect in this position. You have the feeling that if you step in, you will seem completely out of place. You gaze down at your own dark hair, a stark reminder of your place. You know you're supposed to keep in their shadows, yet you can't help but feel spiteful. It's not a pleasant feeling to always feel inadequate.  Being around all of these great personalities would gradually sap your self-confidence, and insecurity is an emotion that does not settle well for you. It makes you want to claw at your skin.

You were ready to suck it up and take a step when you felt a tap on your shoulder. You notice a girl with short black hair beaming at you.

"Hello, my name is Jinah." She said, "And these are my friends," pointing to two girls behind her.

"Would you want to join us at the cafeteria? We were on our way there," she said with a warm smile. You take a peek around before pointing at yourself.

“Me?”

“Of course silly, who else?" she playfully rolled her eyes. "So?”

You pause for a moment. They actually want to befriend me? You take a breath in.

This may be your chance for a taste of normalcy, away from the sevens and Minyoung, and you seize it impulsively, too elated to think too hard about it.

You nodded eagerly, and Jinah took your arm in hers as she led you to the cafeteria. In any other circumstance, you would avoid the cafeteria and would not go anywhere near it. But, because you were certain that the main protagonists were in the classroom, you were confident that there would be no incidents in the cafeteria today. It was simple, and unlike the library, you didn't feel like you were suffocating. You find yourself just talking about whatever you want with Jinah and her two other pals, Minji and Ayeong.

They asked about you and told you stories as you ate food. You were in the midst of laughing at something Jinah said when Minji tapped the table to gain your attention.

"Are you friends with Minyoung?" You pause for a beat before nodding cautiously.

“Right! And I've seen you around the Seven Princes as well," Ayeong adds and you grimaced at the nickname.

“Uhh.. yeah, I guess." you looked down at the table and felt Jinah nudge her companions in the shin under the table.

You look up to see her turn to you and say, "Don't mind them, you didn’t have to answer that."

She gives you a smile and you tilt your head at her when she looks away. She slid a carton of chocolate milk across the table to you and resumed casual conversation.

You tightened your grip on the beverage in your hand. You felt another piece of yourself chip away. You're no longer just you. You may be exaggerating, but you feel like you've been reduced to just being "someone who is friends with Minyoung and occasionally hangs out with the sevens."

You don't think they notice your silence as they continue to talk.

When the warning bell rang, they waved you goodbye, and you parted ways.

As you walked inside the classroom, you noticed that the group that had earlier gathered around your table had gone. You sat in your chair, but you couldn't help but feel a lingering gaze on you. You simply stare down at your hands and allow your thoughts to overwhelm you, not caring to listen to anything the teacher says in front of you.

You were sitting in a fast-food restaurant, caught up in conversation when Jinah clears her throat from beside you. 

It was after a few days when Jinah and her friends invited you to hang out again after class, but this time you had the courtesy to text Minyoung about it, although you didn't identify particular names. She was already occupied during training, anyway, and your manager duties aren’t always needed during it. You decide to give it another go – perhaps they were simply genuinely curious and didn't mean to pry into your relationship with Minyoung and the Sevens.

“So, Minyoung, huh?” She starts off and you give her a questioning look.

Suddenly? 

"Uhm," you cough awkwardly, "Why’d you bring her up suddenly?"

She shrugs, but you catch a glimpse of mischief in her eyes. "Nothing. It's just.." she shrugs innocently. "Must be hard to be friends with the golden girl, huh? Don’t you ever feel insecure? That you’re always being compared to her?"

I am?

In retrospect, you should have known better. The warning lights should have flashed the instant she opened her lips. You've dug yourself a hole with this one, but you were not aware of it.

“She – no, she’s nothing but nice to me. It’s not..” you trail off because you couldn't bring yourself to lie. It is hard. You can’t deny that. It’s hard being blinded by Minyoung’s light when you know you can never compare to her.

Jinah lets out a triumphant smile that you don’t see. Bingo, She thinks. The moment she caught news of the girl that’s hovering over Minyoung whom she hasn’t seen with her the years before, she knew it could be an opening to rip that girl apart. And now that she’s hooked you in, she’s going straight for it.

That bitch. What’s so special about her? She’s not even all that, yet people are always all over her.

She looked at you, seeing you chew on your lip. This is too easy, she’s obviously insecure, she thinks. It looks like it wouldn’t be hard to poke on her wounds.

“Come on, you can tell us. We understand you.” Minji coaxes. “We know how she can be, we’ve been her classmates before.”

You knitted your brows. They know how Minyoung can be? 

You recall all the times you've spent with Minyoung. You recall her scared eyes when she felt the stares from that very first day, as well as the desperate look in her eyes when she tried to keep you close. She always looked at you with warm eyes and made you feel included in her own way. She was the reason you were finally, slowly coming out of your shell.

But then you remember how you merely stood beside her and felt like you couldn't breathe, with intrusive thoughts about your own anxieties nagging you. You recollect the moments when you couldn't even be considered your own person since you were nothing without her in this world.

You look up to meet their eyes and see them look expectantly at you. 

"I..." you said instinctively beneath their stare, and you could feel their excitement grow. You narrow your eyes at them, thinking Jinah let her guard down too much since you noticed a wicked glimmer flash in her eyes. The realization hits you, and your blood runs cold, as if you've been doused with ice water.

They're using you. They’re using you to dig dirt on Minyoung. 

And you almost gave in.

You felt sick, felt the bile threaten to rise up from your throat. You abruptly stood up from your seat, never minding that the chair almost toppled over.

They think you were an easy target to get to her.

You felt tears prick your eyes from the anger.

You straightened up and gave them the coldest stare you could muster, and you swear you almost saw Ayeong flinch.

"Don't ever talk to me again," you muttered in a low growl as you grabbed your bag and walked away, but Minji grabbed your forearm in her grasp.

“Wait! Do you know the phone numbers of the seven princes?”

You return her look with one of horror, astonished at her audacity, and scoffed loudly before ripping your arm away from her.

“You stupid bitch! You drove her away!” You hear Jinah yell at her friend as you walked away. 

You stormed out of the establishment, furiously brushing away tears you hadn't realized were falling from your eyes. You despise the fact that you were played only because of your affiliation with them. You wanted to blame them, to believe it was their fault.

You were so naïve to think that someone else would want to be friends with you just as you are.

[weirdstrangeandawful]

I haven’t shown it off yet but I do have an ace ring! Since it’s pride month I may as well post it. I had to resize it with fishing line because my fingers are so small but I really like it. It’s black tungsten carbide with silver edges.

Also have a picture of my newest crochet project in the background. I love making blankets because they're so relaxing -- they require zero thought after the initial planning and counting and they're worked in rows so my memory issues don't get in the way. I'm occasionally tempted to make them and sell them so I can actually afford to crochet as much as I'd like but blankets take me about a week to make (two if I'm busy with other stuff) so I'd have to sell them for something like CA$300 to account for both materials cost and some amount of the labour cost... which is a lot for a blanket.

Anyway, that's my rant about how expensive life is have the photo of my ace ring (Please excuse the white balance — I had my room at my parents' house painted entirely yellow because it's my favourite colour and I love it so much but it makes pictures a pain to adjust properly):

[its-tea-time-darling]

i saw this thing you did @willbyersxmikewheeler bc rory @the-wckd-powers reblogged and filled it out, and i'm not in the fandom this ship is from (i don't even know which fandom that is ohgod), but it seemed so sweet and i wanted to fill it out, so i'm going to? i hope that's okayy.

1. your middle name (if you have one)

i'm not gonna disclose that, but it's my godmother's name which i find sweet.

2. favorite school subject

i really always loved school, so i liked pretty much all subjects. chemistry was especially nice though.

3. favorite song atm

message in a bottle (is all i can do-oh *runs off dancing*)

4. favorite animal

oohhh. good question, i love that. can i say bacteria? although they're not *technically* animals? they're just neat and i'm doing my thesis on them, funky little things (i mean, their funky-ness causes us major problems, but we're gonna tune that out for now <3)

5. favorite book/movie/series

oohhhhhh. maze runner. harry potter. those two are really up there.

6. favorite artist or band

7. your hobbies

my hobbies! i love these questions. no one's asked me about my favorita animal or hobbies for ages! right now it's writing fanfic. biiiig hobby. love it. electrifying, relaxing, thrilling, all the good stuff.

but. i've got a crochet blanket i want to finish until christmas, so i'd better get back into that! probably while watching series or listening to audiobooks. again, that'll be tmr or harry potter.

8. your height

1.74 (i think?)

9. dream job

UH. kinda has a different quality to it that question when you'll be done with your masters in *checks time* 3 months. hehhee. *nervous laughter*

so, i'd really like to work at the local water research institue. either on antibiotic resistance or sth to do with chemistry. or microbiology more generally. or heavy metal stuff. or modeling. anything there could be interesting really.

10. favorite color

i usually say green, but i gotta admit i like blue as well.

11. favorite stranger things character

i have never watched stranger things. but i liked sadie sink A Lot in the all too well short, does that count? :D

[deepspaceclawstation]

I see you have taken up knitting and are looking for people to chat with about it! I have been knitting for much longer than I have been crocheting. Are you knitting English or continental? (If you don't know what that means, it's basically "Which hand do you hold the yarn in?") I grew up knitting English (yarn in hand holding the active needle, big motion to wrap it around the needle) and have tried knitting continental (yarn in other hand, small motion with the needle to get it to wrap) but find that it messes with my tension, so if you're having trouble with tension that may be part of it. I actually sort of half gave up on the crochet sock pattern you sent me and have instead appropriated some of the sock yarn I bought to knit mittens for my son for this winter. Knitting generally takes a lot longer than crochet but I like how smooth and soft the end result is. But also I do more crocheting than knitting now because in a house with two cats and a toddler I don't want to leave a project on knitting needles for too long.

Thanks for reaching out! I have a very inconsistent style as of now but I think I lean more towards the Continental style. Or maybe an amalgamation of the two, because I hold yarn the Continental way but actually throw it around the needle instead of moving the needle itself. And that's while doing knit stitches, while doing purls I use my right hand (the one with the needle picking up stitches).

I did try the English style but that makes me slow down a considerable amount and I can't seem to get into a rhythm that way. Tbh I think the Continental style works out for me better as it is similar to how I hold my yarn while crocheting. I did look up YouTube videos on this topic but for the moment I think I'll just stick to practicing swatches till I find a comfortable position.

Sorry to hear about the socks but hey, what counts is that you were able to make good use of the yarn. Mittens in sock yarn must be so cozy! That heel was a bit weird wasn't it? I have another sock pattern I want to try (this one does the heel first!) but I just can't muster up the courage to start something so complex (for my skill level).

"Knitting generally takes a lot longer than crochet but I like how smooth and soft the end result is." That's exactly why I wanted to learn knitting! I ordered a large quantity of acrylic which was soft to touch but worked up quite stiff after crocheting (do you remember I asked you once for tips for a baby blanket? I meant to use it in that project.) So I bought some no. 6 knitting needles and the yarn is a lot more suitable for knitting it seems because the swatches are coming out great. I'm now planning to make this blanket for the kids instead but I'll probably start it after I'm done with the pink shawl.

I hear you about keeping knitting projects safe! When I had just started, sometimes when I had less than five stitches on the (not active?) needle and I moved my hand to wrap the yarn, those stitches just slipped right off :( Which sucks I guess but I learned very early on how to pick up missed stitches so it worked out well? This doesn't happen now but I'm still apprehensive of having so many active (unsecured? I should really get my terminology straight) loops. I generally use my needle connector as a perfunctory stopper for added security.

I'm on my 7th swatch now and it's fun! It's mostly knit and purl combos till now but I've looked up some interesting stitch patterns and I'm waiting for the holidays to get started on some of them. I'll probably keep bugging you for advice now that I know you knit too so look forward to that 😂

[logarithmicpanda]

a handmade blanket . . ..

(part 12 / ?)

You had kept yourself busy since the last time you were at the shop. The book Lilian had given you detailed two dozen runes, that were both standing in for specific sounds and for distinct meanings. The last page of the book explained a couple configurations that would make simple spells, and highlighted something you had understood on your own already: intent was a crucial part of magic.

You had to focus on what you wanted to achieve while tracing the runes, and it infused them with a purpose.

You had made sure to learn every rune by heart before going back to the Little shop of weirdos.

Lilian was at the counter again, but you had expected it. It had not been long enough for Gyn to be better, even though it had felt like forever since you saw them.

"Hi Lilian!," you greeted her since she hadn't looked up from the book she was reading - you recognized one of the lesbian romances you had sold her the last time and grinned.

She finished her paragraph before looking up, and that reminded you so much of Gyn that you felt a pang in your heart.

"Miria! Have you brought me anything magical this time?"

"Actually, yes, though it is not for you but for Gyn. Do you think I could give it to them?"

"Ow, you didn't last a minute without mentioning them this time. You got it bad, don't you?"

You felt yourself blush but refused to look away. Lillian's smile only grew wider.

"They're upstairs but they might be sleeping. Don't wake them up if they are, okay?"

You nodded.

"Before I go... Would you mind checking my work?" you asked shyly.

You had nothing to pay Lilian for her service, but you were anxious you'd mixed up something.

She nodded, intrigued, and you pulled out the big bag you had been carrying on your back. You got the blanket out and spread it across the counter.

It was made of a dozen shades of blue wool, and golden stars and runes were woven into the regular rows of crochet. Lilian whistled softly.

"You got it worse than bad, dude. How long did this take you?"

"Not that long. I did use magic to make it go faster. The runes were what I spent the most time on, because I wanted to be sure of what I was doing but..."

"But now you're second guessing yourself? Mmm. I hope you haven't contaminated the spell with your anxiety."

Because that made you feel better. You glared at Lilian, but she ignored you, running her hands on the fabric instead.

"It's very good work, for a beginner," she announced. "Your intent is still pretty vague and fuzzy, but it radiates positive feelings for my sibling, so you don't have to worry about anything."

She folded the blanket with a surprising gentleness, and handed it back to you. You hesitated.

"What do I owe you for this?"

She shrugged.

"You can pay me next time. Bring me a homemade muffin or something. This isn't much, so it is a very small debt and it won't have any consequence if you don't pay it back straight away."

"Okay, good. Thank you, Lilian."

You picked the blanket up and followed her towards the back of the shop. She pulled a key from a chain around her neck, and opened a black door you had never noticed before.

"Just go up the stairs until you cannot go anymore," Lilian said with a wink.

It took you a while. You didn't start counting the steps from the beginning, but you passed three landings before finally reaching a blue door painted with silver constellations. The paint looked old, and you smiled as you ran your hands on the wood. It felt gentle and familiar, and even if you did not exert much pression at all, the door slid open.

It probably hadn't been properly closed to begin with, you thought as you stepped inside quietly.

The room was dark but you could see a queen size bed on the right, and an unmoving shape in it.

Your heart skipped a beat. Maybe it had been presumptuous to come here. Maybe you should have just left the blanket with Lilian.

It was too late now, though. You could imagine the teasing you would have to suffer if you went back down still holding the blanket.

You walked closer to the bed.

Gyn was asleep. Their face looked more relaxed than you had ever seen while awake. You wanted to brush the hair out of their face, feel the softness of their cheek...

You didn't dare. With a small sigh, you took half a step backwards. They didn't look feverish, maybe even a little cold, so you decided to wrap the blanket around them. Surely that much was okay?

Your heart protested by beating erratically.

You breathed in, and gently unfolded the blanket before spreading it over Gyn's sleeping form. You almost wanted them to wake up, to find you there for them, to see their face as they discovered the blanket...

But they were sound asleep.

You suppressed a sigh, and quietly toed out of the room again, down the endless stairs.

You counted the steps this time.

42.

Send me a prompt in the form of an artifact and I'll write the reaction of the weird person at the magical antique shop that is not always there when you walk buy.

[deathclawforcuties]

OC Interview!

So, got tagged by @robobrainmurdermysterytheatre to do my OC from Fallout 4.

I'm supposed to tag five other people, but sadly I don't know anyone else to tag who hasn't already been tagged by others, soooo here goes.

1. What is your name?

"The Names Celestine O'Kelly-Hancock, but everyone just calls me Celeste for short. Nice to meet you, dude."

2. Do you know why are you named that?

"Which part are you asking about?"

3. Are you single or taken?

"Very much taken. Remarried, actually. My hubby is the Mayor of Goodneighbor. Maybe you've heard of him?"

4. Have any abilities or powers?

"I've a natural affinity for swimming, and growing some of the best damn rad-weed this side of....uh....what were we talking about again? Oh yeah! I can out-snipe anyone."

*somewhere off in the distance you can hear Robert screaming out "I CALL SHENANIGANS!"*

5. Stop being a Mary Sue.

"Huh? Dude, are you smoking the same shit I am? Who's Mary Sue? Pretty sure you mean Mary Jane."

6. What’s your eye color?

"My eye color? John tells me they're 'Nuka Quantum blue', but I'm pretty sure he's stoned when he says that. I think they're deep, almost grey-blue, to be honest."

7. How about your hair color?

"Currently it's purple, because SOMEBODY likes to play pranks and fuck with my soap. Deacon, I'm looking at you!"

*A maniacal cackle can be heard around the corner*

8. Have any family members?

"Well, sure I do. There's my hubby John, there's Robert who is like my little brother. I've got my fur-baby, Dogmeat, and my adopted dad, Wiseman..."

9. Oh? How about pets?

"Dogmeat, he's a dog, obviously. Then I adopted a ginger tabby I named Deacon."

*Deacon pokes his head into the picture*

"Awwww!"

"Because he, too, is an asshole."

*Human Deacon blows raspberries before slinking off*

10. That’s cool, I guess. Now tell me something you don’t like?

"Something I don't like? I can't stand bigotry of any kind; you picking on a ghoul in front of me is a great way to get shot. By me. Because fuck you, that's why. I also don't like it when someone tries to fuck with my crops. Wait until it's done growing. Fucking weed-nappers."

11. Do you have any activities/hobbies that you like to do?

“I smoke pot, I crochet stuff, and hunt raiders. Oh, and I like to bake."

*Hancock wolf whistles off from the side*

"You mean get baked!"

"Oh, ha ha babe!"

12. Have you ever hurt anyone in any way before?

"Damn, that's uh...that's kinda heavy. Yeah...um...not something I really want to talk about."

13. Ever… killed anyone before?

"Dude, this is the Commonwealth we're talking about. Everyone out this way has killed at least once in their life. I might have a higher kill count than most, I mean, I do actively hunt raiders and shit...so....yes."

14. What kind of animal are you?

“A house cat. Yeah, happy, lazy fucker that naps in the sun, sleeps a lot..."

15. Name your worst habits?

"My worst habits? I sometimes sleep too much, and I may, or may not, steal the covers."

*Hancock sticks his head in the room*

"She totally steals the blankets."

"BABE!"

16. Do you look up to anyone at all?

"My adopted Dad, Wiseman. No matter what hell comes his way, he faces it with a calm and compassionate heart leading the rest of my ghoul family through it all with grace. And John. He saved my life both literally, and figuratively. And my mom...I miss her."

17. Are you gay, straight or bisexual?

"Does...does it really matter?"

18. Do you go to school?

"The school of Hard Knocks count?"

19. Ever want to marry and have kids one day?

"Well, I remarried, so yes to that part. As far as kids go, John and I have thought about adopting, but I'm....not quite ready yet..."

20. Do you have any fangirls/fanboys?

"I don't have any strains by those names. Got some OG Kush growing right now...Just hit a blunt made from it, actually. Smoooth po-ta-to."

21. What are you most afraid of?

"Fucking rad roaches, man! I'll take a deathclaw on any day, but put me in a room full of giant bugs and I will nope the biggest nope that ever noped."

22. What do you usually wear?

*Hancock butts in*

"She usually wears my face on her lady bits! Yeah booooy!"

"OMG BABE! NO BAD!"

23. What’s one food that tempts you?

“When I get the munchies, I crave Dandy Boy apples, and gum drops. I can't get enough of them."

24. Am I annoying to you?

"Even if you were, I'm waaaay too baked to care right now."

25. Well, it’s still not over!

"Huh? What's not over? Did I just miss a whole conversation?"

26. What class are you (low/middle/high)?

"If I'm stoned, I'm HIGH class!"

*Giggling intensifies*

27. How many friends do you have?

"Tons. You looking to add to my list?"

28. What are your thoughts on pie?

"I could totally go for a slice right about now. Why? You offering?"

29. Favorite drink?

“Vim classic. Good shit."

30. What’s your favorite place?

"I've got two places I love: The Slog, and Goodneighbor. They're the only places I feel truly at home in."

31. Are you interested in anyone?

*Hancock butts in again*

"She's married to me. I don't share."

"You heard the Mayor: He doesn't share. Hey! I made a rhyme!"

32. That was a stupid question…

"Waaaaait.....did I think that out loud?"

33. Would you rather swim in a lake or the ocean?

“Both. I fear no body of water, and nothing ever bothers me when I swim, at least. Might have to do with all the Vim I drink..."

34. What’s your type?

“My type? Gotta be intelligent; if you can't carry on an intelligent conversation, you can quit right now. I like a partner whose heart is in everything they do, and who isn't judgmental, as well."

35. Any fetishes?

"I uh....um...*cough* I like role playing..."

36. Camping or outdoors?

"I adore outdoors. Being out in my garden is like a balm to my soul. Camping is meh, but sometimes when I'm on a job, it's a necessary evil."

[dogstarblues]

accomplishments for today!

cooked three meals for myself, ate them in full, snacked on juice, felt good about the amount i ate

painted an abstraction of water crashing against rocks and primed two more canvasses

tidied the table a little

gathered trash in the apartment for my roommate to take out, which he did, and replaced the trashbag

wore my new favorite perfume :)

hydrated

drank tea

re-adjusted my schedule for the rest of the week

crocheted two more rows for my friend's blanket gift

put together a stand for containing skincare and perfumes and tidied my bed area

sketched out some plans for abstraction

made my way through a third of a new and selected poetry collection

ran an errand at the bank

walked my dog twice, 25-30 min each. well, three times actually if we're counting 3:30am when she was sick

when my roommate is done bathing i will shower and brush my teeth and wash my face

then i will pick out an outfit for tomorrow

i don't feel bad about not doing yoga today tbh bc i did a lot! yoga will be done tomorrow :)