dove-actually

[dove-actually]

Happy Valentine’s Day!

I know that this is a holiday that can bring up a lot of feelings — both positive and negative — but I just wanted to let you know that you are an amazing person who matters. You are loved, you are appreciated, and you are cherished.

You are amazing and wonderful in more ways than you can probably see yourself, and I hope that you take a moment to really let that sink in because you absolutely deserve it.

Thank you so much for existing and for being here! It has been an absolute pleasure to be a part of the same community, and I can’t wait to get to know you better.

I love you, and I hope that you have a fantastic, loving Valentine’s day :)

Now go treat yourself!

[dove-actually]

[dove-actually]

i’ve already screeched my excitement at you, but omg THIS SCENE. Bethany’s seduction techniques are clearly 💯💯💯. i’m still cackling over the fact that Blake hid her monkey onesie. 

...and can i please have some of that boozy Nutella shake? I NEED IT. FOR REASONS.

Sunday Romance Week 5

@sunday-romance

Blake yelled my name from the living room just as I finished getting dressed. 

“Yeh?” I yelled back, pulling a silk dressing gown on over my outfit.

“You still want burgers for dinner?” 

I did, and I was banking on the fact that he would too.

“Yes,” I said once I left the bedroom, tightening the belt of the robe so he wouldn’t see what was underneath. “Where are we ordering from?”

“Nowhere.” He went to the fridge, pulling out a plate with several homemade looking patties. “Thought we could make them ourselves, so I got these ready. And-” he put a large drink in front of me, the top of the stainless steel cup piled high with cream, “-I made you a drink too.”

Tentatively I took a sip. Blake’s drinks were normally protein shakes or gross kale-filled green smoothies, but this, to my delight, was a rather boozy Nutella shake. This was way more effort on his part than I was expecting, and made me feel a little bad about what I had in store for him.

“That’s so good!” I gushed, slurping up some more before placing my hands on his chest and giving him a kiss. “I can’t believe you did this! You said you were only ever going to make healthy food.”

“Burgers can be healthy too,” he grumbled. “And I thought you might like something different to drink. Plus I needed to do something to keep myself entertained, seeing as you locked yourself in the bathroom for over an hour.” He fiddled with the end of my robe. “Was worried you were putting on that fucking onesie again, but that’s still where I hid it.”

And hidden well, at that, but I didn’t expect any less from Blake. Not that it mattered though, as I had several more he hadn’t thought to hide from me. 

“So what’ve you got on underneath anyway?” He tried to take a peek but I held the robe closed, not shifting my hand even when he gave me the most adorable puppy dog eyes.

Keep reading

[dove-actually]

[pops up from hiatus oblivion] ADIE. YOU FINISHED THE THING. AAAAAH.

I love that ending scene, it’s so amazing and THE FLIRTY BANTER IS EVERYTHING. (why am I not surprised Bethany has different categories for ‘tequila i am owed’😂 that’s the most Bethany thing ever). 

And omgggggg i am so curious about who is dead and why and how and almost very importantly, WHY IS IT NOT KENNETH. 😁

i am SO excited about this novel, and i cannot wait to read it omg. it’s brilliant and hilarious and edge-of-my-seat suspenseful. SO GOOD. 

I reached the end of Lies in the Lilies!

Draft three is mostly done! Three people are dead and Bethany has survived, and now I have better ideas for the sequel. Thanks to everyone who supported me through this draft - once I do a bunch of line edits and fix some dodgy bits I’m hoping it’ll be ready to beta. As a treat, here is the ending.

“So what’re your plans, then?” I asked.

Blake shrugged again, the serious look returning to his face.  “Dunno, honestly. Should probably learn more about this magic crap. Maybe settle down somewhere too… I’m fucking sick of motels, I gotta say.”

“Any idea where?”

“Sydney, maybe?” he stared off into the distance. “Never thought I’d get to this point, to be honest. Kinda figured I’d be doing as I was ordered until I was arrested or killed.”

“What about here?” I said before I could stop myself, rallying at the sight of his raised eyebrows. “Because, like, Melbourne is way better than Sydney. The nightlife here is awesome and the traffic isn’t as bad there’s way more magic resources here anyway and I could always introduce you to a few people who might be able to help…” the last part came out unexpectedly also, but I realised I meant every word. “I mean, only if you want.”

Keep reading

[dove-actually]

AHHH i love this. they all look so badass. GO TEAM STREET MAGIC 😍😍

The Ladies of Street Magic

Happy birthday @cirianne​!!! Here is a wonderful present from me to you with art by the incredible @fandomescapades​!!!

You know I have a soft spot for your Street Magic peeps (well, most of them anyway XD). I love them all dearly plus seeing a free Alicia is <3

I really hope you like this, and I wish you all the best, friend!!

Bonus below the cut: some dumb GIFs I made to ease the pain of waiting to give you these XD

Weiterlesen

[dove-actually]

😂😂😂 Oreo has chemistry with EVERYONE. 

and yes Sarra absolutely shoots a lot of sad angst looks at her horse, too. 

The sexual tention between any two characters I draw even if one of them is a horse

[dove-actually]

omg I love this - it hits all the perfect notes for my favorite romantic moments. Gorgeous-yet-slightly-creepy atmosphere? CHECK. The sense of wonder mixed with the sense of loss? CHECK. And TWO CHARACTERS FINDING A QUIET MOMENT TO ENJOY EACH OTHER IN THE MIDDLE OF WHAT IS CLEARLY A DESOLATE SCARY SITUATION?? AAAAA.

Anyway - this is beautiful and I loved it. Perfect little scene. 

PS this bit "Philosophers might say, that true beauty can only be found in transience [...] this place was always meant to provide moments, never permanence." it just made me gasp. Gorgeous. 

Transience

@flashfictionfridayofficial​ - a slightly post-apocalyptic prompt fill for this week 

(~1000 words, stand-alone - continued after the cut)

Rain is pelting down on us relentlessly, cold and sharp, running into the neck of my cloak, soaking my boots, my clothes, everything. I try to remember the warmth of the sun on my skin. I can’t.

Next to me, her voice almost drowned out by the noise of the rain, Katya sighs. “Grand Hotel. Finally.”

Our last stop before entering enemy territory is stretched over the side of a steep hill, looking down over the roaring river that we’ll need to cross tomorrow. Stone terraces and rotten wood posts supporting dead vines tell that this must’ve been a wine region, before. Before the plague, before the floods. Before the wars, the one had that started it all and the dozens that have followed.

The building in front of us seems to have fallen prey to nature, though, not to war. Its right wing has been torn away by a mudslide, small rooms ripped open, the remaining walls bare and crumbling.

The main building however seems remarkably intact. It’s formerly white facade is brown with mud, partly covered in hungry vines.

A large sign bids us welcome, its artfully printed cursive script probably out of time before the war already.

The hotel’s name above it has been painted over, hastily replaced by ‘LAST HAVEN’ in huge scribbled letters.

Whoever wrote this, they hadn’t been right. The colony has moved on, found a safer haven somewhere down the river. The hotel should be empty now, this time of the year, our guide had assured us. Nothing but a waypoint for smugglers and messengers. For people like us.

Keep reading

[dove-actually]

ohhh but the tension and creepiness in this scene are EXQUISITE. What a great, deadly and hot game these two are playing. 

...is Belle along for this date? Because if yes, that makes Joey’s internal swagger so hilarious. “I can read this woman so well. She has no idea what I am.” And i’m here like uhmmmm are you sure about those things, buddy??😁

The Games We Play

@yourocsbackstory​ Antagonist August Week 5: POV

Prompt: (Re)Write a scene where antagonist and protagonist clash - from the antagonist’s point of view. 

Joey and Anna ‘clashing’ in, ummm, a way?? As in… having a date at the nightly hospital cafeteria. Or - Joey manages to be creepy and hot at the same time. (This is the first time for me writing his POV from first person, so yeah. Enjoy.)

[Chasing Demons] - [Week 1: Intro] - [Week 2: Legacy / Becoming] - [Week 3: God of War / Choice] - [Week 4: Anna]

She’s entertaining. She smiles and she laughs, and she has a very endearing way of throwing her hair behind her shoulder, exposing her neck to me.

It’s easy enough to read her. I’ve dealt with it all my life, with women, demons, despair, with the winners and the losers of mindless games of power.

Anna Montgomery is flirting at the edge of disaster, burying her pain, doing the one thing she’s comfortable with. The one thing that she can go back to, rely on when her life is falling apart.

Seduction.

Keep reading

[dove-actually]

😍😍😍😍😭😭😭😭 ANNA IS SO BEAUTIFUL. And omg @eluari your amazing artistic talent never fails to leave me awed. It’s like I’m looking at a real person - the details and grit and shading and everything are just SO GORGEOUS

Anna | Chasing Demons

I painted lovely Anna from @cirianne‘s Story Chasing Demons [Wattpad].  She was such a pleasure to draw. 💕

[dove-actually]

YAY THAT IS SO EXCITING 🎉🎊✨🎈🎈🎈 CONGRATULATIONS

Hi guys...

I have news...

My debut book The serpent kiss, or its danish title, Den som hvisker (the one who whispers)...

Is...

Getting published!!!!

Yes.

Yea!

I officially signed a book deal with a great danish fantasy publisher last Monday and we announced it on Facebook/Instagram/tiktok/discord/webpages and so on, last Tuesday!

And now I tell you guys!!!

So yup.

All three books. In Danish. And yes, we have talked about an international future and audiobooks.

My first book in the trilogy, my very first book ever, comes out in Denmark September 2021 🖤⚔️

And if you miss me, or you wanna see the process of publishing, you can follow me on Instagram for daily vlogs.

@calisawolters

.

.

.

I love you guys.

I’d write more if I wasn’t so turned around by joy and nerves and happiness and doubt haha

I’ll make a longer post once the dust has settled.

Hug.

.

.

.

Ciao babies

[dove-actually]

i am so intrigued by all of this omg. Marcus & Imogen’s real motives are one of those mysterious hidden plot points I keep trying to cajole out of you in vain😁. What do they want? Why did they help Bethany? Etc. etc.

also I love that in the middle of all the kidnapping/torture/magic/impending death chaos, Bethany finds time to have two ongoing dramas with Blake and her Mum😂 that’s my girl. 

Lies in the Lilies Snippet

Chapter: I Didn’t Know ‘Liar, Liar, Pants On Fire’ Was Literal

Context: Marcus and Imogen have just rescued Bethany from the Order, and have (at her insistence) returned to her apartment. Blake is MIA - the last time Bethany saw him, he had a gun to his head. And when she lost sight of him, she heard a gunshot.

Whispering a small prayer to the gods I dialled Blake’s number, still for some reason hoping he would answer. Instead the call went straight to voicemail, indicated only by a beep. He didn’t even have a message. 

I hung up and sent him a text instead. 

Hey jerkface, are you ok? B

“You’ll want to see this,” Imogen called from my bedroom.

“Does no one respect personal space anymore?” I asked, but apparently I was talking to a brick wall, as Marcus wiped off his hands and joined her in my room. 

I followed him in, ready to defend my research. 

From the look of Marcus though, I wasn’t going to need to. “This is impressive,” he said, exploring all the bits pinned to my wall. “You’ve done a lot.”

“Yeh well, I figured my best chance of breaking my curse was to learn about it,” I replied. “Now can you get out of my room? This is my private space for private things and we’re not doing that so we don’t need to be in here.” 

The second we stepped back out into the lounge my phone rang. It’s Blake calling to tell me he was ok. I yanked my phone out of my pocket desperate to answer the call.

Keep reading

[dove-actually]

THEY ARE SO GORGEOUS omg i can’t overstate how much i’m loving all this art. (also did I mention your not-so-new-anymore-but-still-new-to-me blog theme is STUNNING?) Hahaha and I adore their pose here, like they just finished their musical theater dance number. NOT very responsible & formal, you were saying? I DO NOT BELIEVE IT😁

It’s Tough To Be A God

Surge and Mist may have been two of the very first sirens to exist, but that doesn’t mean they were very formal about it. In fact, as they were the very first of their kind to ever exist… they kinda had no idea what they were doing. At all.

So being supremely powerful individuals in charge of an entire race… mmh, let’s just say they weren’t the almighty, omnipotent, perfect deities that modern sirens think they were.

Keep reading

[dove-actually]

ohhh I have so many feelings about Amaria already, from just this short excerpt. (clearly, spy/assassin ladis with a lot of internal angst are my weakness 😁). Can’t wait to learn more about her history and her complicated past with the city (and in general). AND, I also can’t help noticing that both Amaria and Kiyree ended up at this orphanage around the same age, with no idea where they came from...i must ask, are their Mysterious Pasts (TM) related??? 

Character Introduction: Amaria Caitera | The Bleeding of Stars

~400 words excerpt; continued under the cut + more info!

The familiar tolling of the clock tower sounded across the hills of dry, yellow grass. Its song called her home. Welcomed and beckoned her closer after her long absence. And yet as she sat in the saddle, staring at the walls of Ter Lavarn in the distance, she hesitated. Her gelding nickered lowly, scraped his hoof across the ground.

Amaria patted his neck, ruffled her fingers through his mane. “You’re ready to rest, aren’t you?” she asked silently. “I don’t know if I can find rest there.”

Keep reading

[dove-actually]

[raises hand] can I be on this eternal tag list pls?💚

Forever/General Tag List?

I’ve had a couple of people ask me for a forever/general tag list, most recently @quilloftheclouds. My answer was no, I don’t have one.

But guess what? I think I will start one! Also because recently I’ve been having fun writing drabbles for FFF, and I do hope to write more of them in the future. So some of you might be interested in that. (My last recent drabbles, that are unrelated to any of my wips, you can find here: Better than this and Made from Stardust.)

I don’t remember who else asked me, and I don’t want to falsely tag you. But anyone who’s interested, please let me know! Shoot me a message or comment on this post!

[dove-actually]

i love this backstory😍 and the amount of detail that went into this. The positioning of the siblings around the Crown Prince/ss and the gold vs silver trims and the necklace - SO COOL. Also i love any and all art of your amazing MCs. 

so are those the only portraits a monarch(/monarch-to-be) has? their 10-y-o heir portrait and their adult portrait w/ the spouse & heir? Does Anjelika have other portraits done at special occasions? 

Family Portraits

@quilloftheclouds​​ I thought it would be better if I moved my response here for now XD sorry about the delay!

The Kosmosian Royal Family have had a tradition for over two centuries, that consists of having a family portrait officially painted when the Crown Prince or Princess turns 10 years old. The portrait features the reigning monarch, their spouse (if alive), and any children they have. The Crown Prince/ss is featured in the centre of the portrait, with any siblings beside them. In the case of only two children, the Crown Prince/ss is on the side of the reigning monarch.

This tradition is repeated every time the Crown Prince/ss turns 10, creating a cohesive line featuring the reigning monarch as a child and as the monarch.

This is my MC Anjelika with her parents on her 10th birthday, with the portrait being painted as per the tradition. (art by @arrhythmiacomic!)

They all wear formal outfits similar to this, including their crowns/tiaras and other valuable pieces of jewelery and such. As the portrait is painted on the Crown Prince/ss’ 10th birthday, this is considered a key part of the celebration. The portrait is specifically taken on the 10th birthday because it’s considered a good luck number, as well as the fact that a child who makes it to age 10 is more likely to survive to adulthood.

As for colours, they tend to wear darker colours like royal blues and emeralds, but as you can see in the picture - the Queen’s dress has silver edges and gloves, whilst the King and Anjelika have gold. If Anjelika were to have any siblings, they would have silver lined outfits like the Queen does. It’s another way of distinguishing who is the next in line to the throne.

A few other Facts TM that are related to this:

Katarzyna is the only monarch to reign where she was not the Crown Princess in the previous portrait. When her elder sister Elżbieta turned 10, her father the King had a portrait painted of the four of them (the King, and his three daughters. Katarzyna was 8 at the time). This was the very first portrait. The untimely death of the King and his eldest daughter meant that Katarzyna succeeded the crown, and she continued the tradition.

The monarch and the Crown Prince/ss both wear a gold crown/tiara where the others wear silver.

The necklace Anjelika is wearing in the portrait is an heirloom that was created by her 6x great grandmother, Queen Katarzyna. The necklace is almost identical to the one Katarzyna’s elder sister had, but was destroyed beyond repair when she died. The replica is the one that has been passed down from Queen to Crown Princess ever since. The necklace is considered so precious that it is only worn for special events alongside the tiara.

The same exists for the golden ring the King possesses. Unlike the necklace, however, that is in fact the original that Katarzyna’s father owned at the time of his death, and this has been passed down from King to Crown Princes.

The portraits are traditionally painted and regal attire is worn for the painting, and it’s unlikely to change even though photographs are taken for other Royal events.

The portraits that are painted are hung along the corridor that runs adjacent to the library.

As of right now, there are 8 portraits that hang there - the first being Katarzyna’s father as the reigning monarch, and the last featuring Anjelika as a child. The next one will be painted when Anjelika’s first child turns 10 years old.

[dove-actually]

ahakdjhgk I LEAVE FOR A FEW MONTHS AND COME BACK AND CELESTINE IS A *SIREN*?!?!!? 

also...yes...she is the cutest hissy fish😁😍 I can’t get over the little fairy wings/flippers, and her expression. HOW IS SHE SO CUTE.

Celestine Martínez - Base Reference Sheet

The little Spanish girl brat, the one-eyed hissy cat with a borrowing problem, the hydrophobic insomniac with a lost past–and the self-proclaimed guardian of the Siren’s Soul.

-⚡PLAYLIST⚡-

Success was sweet.

I reached the path to my cabin with no further difficulties, slowing my pace with a chuckle and a smile as I spun the coin purse around my finger from its drawstring. Those who dealt with the Navy were so gullible. Of course, an innocent little girl would never steal something from you! But I wasn’t innocent, and I wasn’t just some girl.

Celestine is misleadingly cute as a siren. She has sharp fangs and an attitude to match, please do not engage in a hissing competition. You will lose. Either that or she’ll take all your money when you’re distracted.

ALSO IGNORE THAT THE SCABBARD IS ON THE LEFT. I MADE A MISTAKE AND DREW IT ON THE WRONG SIDE SHHH

Keep reading

[dove-actually]

love these graphics and also POOR BEAUTIFUL VAELEN 

he deserves a break and a hug from Laudan preferably but all he is getting is ANGST AND PAIN 😭 why must you hurt this poor bby so much

Characters of Born to the Sea: Vaelen (PoV Character)

“A beast that doesn’t know what it truly is.” [The Hunter]  

GHOST. SURVIVOR. LOVER. WEAPON.

❖ The black cliffs of the Obsidian Bay rose out of the water and glittered in the sunlight like cut glass. Home. He did not want to be anywhere else.

❖ No matter what happened, he would not kneel. Not to anyone.

❖ For one painful moment he saw Laudan. His gaze touched his. He was the sun, but one did not look into the sun.

❖ Two winters he had longed for the truth. Those missing parts that would somehow make him whole. Now he wished for nothing more than to break the stream of memories that poured down on him, killing the man he once was.

❖ This was not his magic, not the gentle melody which had accompanied him for years. This was something else. Something that left the taste of ash on his tongue. Of blood. And death.

Born to the Sea explores a dark, twisted fate between lovers and a truth so harsh, that it might have been better if it didn’t come to light.

[Wip Tag | Caliyan | Laudan | Vaelen]  

Taglist: Send me an ask to be added.