#{{ Funny I got this while I'm working on the rule page again... why is this hard. All I have to do is copy/paste and edit wtfffff aUGH.

[acoldsovereign]

Hi, Guillotina! I know you're still in the midst of setting up your blog and all, including new rules for followers (as you've said already), but I hope it's okay for us anons to still send you random IC & OOC asks! If not, you can delete-- I'll understand. ;w; I won't comment on recent dash stuff but I just wanted to check in and see if you/the people involved were okay???? I know you care about Saiyans a lot. Like, a lot, a LOT-- maybe more than anyone I know or seen so far. (In case I sound like a creep, I swear I'm not!) I was here when you first had Google Docs and had a really cute section about relationships/shipping stuff with Bardock. (Was also here when you first set up your Sites page and had an even *cooler* section about the diversity of the Saiyans' gene pool, explaining why Maiz looked so different! Not to mention your cultural & biological headcanons as well but that's neither here or there). So, I just wanted to check in on you. 🥺 I also say this because of your recent Toriyama post (didn't know he said that about female Saiyans omg! Everything makes so much sense now, haha. I was confused for years man 😭 ). Point is, I see how much Saiyans mean to you overall and I think it's rad to see as a fellow female fan of the series! Can you explain more of your muse choice to me? Like, what went into making her? I know you said she came from a fanfiction but I remember on your old blog, you also said she predates it?? Sorry If I'm misremembering! I just think you and your blog are cool! Keep on trucking!

{{ Heyo! Yes, that rule is still in place, anon! I will ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS enjoy receiving random asks (IC or OOC) from mutuals and anons. Though I'm private nowadays, I will extend this courtesy to non-mutuals as well! (How else am I supposed to know we're a potential match as writing partners if I don't extend that olive branch, y'know?). With that said-- awwww, you were here for all for that?! 🥺 My pre-Sites days too and during them?! That means you've kept an eye on me ever since I stepped onto the RP scene here.... You're an OG, you know that right?! I didn't expect this sweet and heartfelt message, so thank you so much for taking the time to write this out. I'm smiling so much like a goofy goober. This means the world to me. But yes, I'm okay. I got two new good friends out of said dash stuff (though we were mutuals already, anyway/had already been interacting). Anyway, yeah, I'm good! They're good, too! Thanks for checking in with us!! I'll tell them you sent good wishes, granted if they don't see this beforehand. :3

About Saiyans meaning a lot to me-- yeah. I wish I could remember the interview it was revealed in, but he was asked about it at some point to where he said something to the effect of "I didn't know how to design them/couldn't figure out their appearance", something like that. It stuck with me because like I've mentioned in my Toriyama post, many toxic (as in sexist/misogynistic fanboys and overall creepy ass people) tried to make DB a thing I wasn't allowed to participate in, all because I was born a girl which was and is-- bullshit. Women aren't a different fuckin' species, man. We like the same shit as men sometimes and that's alright. Trying to put me into a girly girl box is what made me into a rebellious ass tomboy (much like Videl who I somewhat related to, growing up). Only in my late teens/early adult years did I embrace my femininity (yes, I was vain and shallow like Bulma at times. I was also a bit too loose with money when I had some, so I understand her casual attitude regarding her wealth, but that's neither here or there). Point is there was and always have been room for female fans of the series, so when I heard that from the horse's mouth himself? Yeah, it was a wrap. That was it. Nobody could tell me SHIT. That's one thing about me: If I learn something is true and it makes my life easier, I will not listen to anything else. I'll do my own thing. I'm a bit stubborn like that but trust me, it's a good stubborn. Otherwise, I'm very open-minded about many things and I'm a good listener.

As I stated on more than one occasion, I started RPing in a chatroom of an anime-pirating website, while I watched DBZ Kai. After I finished the anime (and lost my original RP group of friends), I coped by scouring the Internet for more RP forums and platforms, of which eventually led me to Facebook. I ran into some mishaps here and there in the DBZ RP space but that aside, the highs were worth it and I stayed for a long while. I mostly specialized in Android/Cyborg OCs and Saiyan OCs. So yes, you are right by saying Maiz (as in RPC!Maiz's template) comes from my 2018 fanfiction but also predates it by SEVERAL YEARS because every female Saiyan I had from the age of 12 and up was essentially a prototype of who Maiz would become. Long story short, Maiz grew with me, even when her names before were: Rayearth (my og username on the chatroom/anime website), Beats, Serori, Celeri, and later Jinjā. Rayearth was able to go Super Saiyan and she was the angry-punchy type. She was closer to Vegeta in temperament and haughty as all hell. Beats was a bit more humble with a hint of cockiness. This was around the time I started playing around with morality and all that, so she was less of a Vegeta type but still rough around the edges. I think I implied she could go Super Saiyan but can't remember if it happened in any threads. Serori was much more humble and quiet-- introspective. However, she could be hostile if approached too quickly or suddenly. She was the first low-class Saiyan I ever made. Celeri was a jump off of that because someone had the same name as my OC so I changed her around*. She was extroverted, but not too much. I guess you could call her a quasi-Goku type, if Goku was Mid-Class and a woman. I changed the rank because I wanted to explore the classism aspect of the Saiyans and my OC's relationship between her and her inherent power. She was morally gray, if I remember correctly.

*A bit petty of me, I'm sure-- but I was immature and a moody teenager who only had her creativity to express herself with. Anything too similar to me back then felt like an attack on my personhood and individuality. Thankfully, I'm a mature adult who's grown past that trauma response from childhood.

Jinjā came in 2015. I was 16 going on 17, about to enter college. Stopped RPing some time before this, because well, I had to focus on school and life stuff. This is what she originally looked like:

She has no story, because she wasn't made with one in mind. I just missed having a female Saiyan to think/write about. She was truly random, a burst of inspiration that heavily looms over Maiz's current design. Jinjā has red, short, choppy hair because Seripa/Fasha was her base design. I wanted something different to make her stand out, or else she'd just look like a clone or twin. That's all. Fasha being the base is also where the earrings comes from, since she had them. (This was just before I started embracing cosmetics and accessories). While she didn't really have anything to her, the basic idea was to go back to my roots: a rough-and-tumble Saiyaness who can pack a mean punch and rock your shit even if it kills her-- even if she fails. Hence my attempt at blood and making her look badass/intimidating. Muscles and female anatomy was hard for me, still is slightly-- but I'm getting the hang of it. Anyhoo, I believe my intentions-- if I fleshed her out more-- would've been for her to be a Bardock-type. Fun fact: Battle of Gods came out a month before this redesign did, so I got some confused looks when asked if this was SSG (Red) and I said no. I wasn't a huge fan of the movie so I didn't really see it until later. Only clips and such on YouTube. I warmed up to it eventually.

While going back to college for the second time (2018-2019), I got into Super properly with the introduction of Broly in DB Super: Broly. I enjoyed the Future Trunks/Goku Black Saga but the narrative nightmare within the anime's climax (and the manga's middle part) was a tough pill for me to swallow. The movie though-- despite the minor grievances I have with it-- hit all the right spots: Saiyan lore! Saiyan culture! POLITICS!!! Space-Opera! Sci-fi!!!!!! Around this time, I was finally inspired to do something else for this fandom I've had a tumultuous relationship with-- write a fan fiction. Jinjā's redesign was imminent:

She got renamed in reference to her mom, who was now Seripa/Fasha's older sister as a nod to the latter being a design base. Karne comes the Japanese spelling of karnels (kaneru, if I have that correct) because she's frustratingly slow to anger like popcorn-- the pun she's based off of. (Fasha in other media, such as the games has always been described as the opposite: short tempered, fierce and feisty. She's staunchly loyal to her crew too, as implied in the movie and in those same games if you pay attention to her dialogue). With this, it only made sense to have the updated version of Jinjā follow the pun as:

To summarize: Maiz became Maiz in 2019, in the wake of DB Super: Broly. (It came out that year in the U.S). In the fanfic she originates from, she is the last female Saiyan, and that weighs on her all the time. Incidentally, Story!Maiz is much more sympathetic while remaining a frosty a--hole. Her trauma is much more apparent and while she's not exactly the nicest person in the Galaxy, it's much more clear to see why: she has attachment issues, which makes getting to know her difficult, she has trust issues, anger issues from surviving a bloody and rather violent/sudden genocide of her people at a young and tender age, she can't remember the last time she slept well, has frequent nightmares of being abandoned by her mother (she was the one who shoved her into an escape pod). She thinks there's no value to her life because she's been traveling through outer space with Turles for six years consecutively and there were several planets/galactic sectors who didn't even know what a Saiyan was. They were lucky to find remains. (Cut tails, boots, bones, dust/ashes, name tags, etc etc. The sights were very, very grisly. And she kept seeing the same things for six. Years. Straight). All of this turned her into a very bitter, negative person who became a straw nihilist. She kind of just wanted to pass away quietly in some corner somewhere, not because she felt remorse for being a Saiyan/the effects of her kin but because she had her entire life upended on a sadistic whim. There was nothing to live for in her eyes. She thought Turles was stupid for having hope after a while and became jaded. While she was stronger than Turles in terms of raw power, she had a issue with not wanting to preserve her ki for important situations. He constantly had to watch over her like a big brother and she absolutely resented him for it (misguided anger, anyone?). It didn't help that he remembered more of Saiyan life than she could. All in all, she was tragic and a bit too edgy probably, but she would grow out of her frosty shell with the introduction of Broly. She reluctantly bonded with him over time on their ship as Saiyan Squad (what I called them out of text) made their way to Earth to settle the score with Vegeta. Paragus didn't do anything for her but make her angry at first-- all this time she's convinced herself there were no more Saiyans and then she sees this old man still kicking somehow? Of course she'd be livid. (Paragus, over his short presence in her life until his death at Vegeta's hands proved to be effective; he became a makeshift father figure and imparted some words of wisdom of which she'd take to heart, post Broly fight. Turles was pretty devastated too and they would finally be the brother-sister duo he's always known they could have been. It's bittersweet and sad, tbh).

Anyway, that's the evolution process. As for why she looks like this in universe-- I'm gonna be honest and say I got it from Father of Goku. There were different looking Saiyans in there, two women have blue hair. Super Saiyan has green eyes and blonde hair. Who's to say there aren't natural green eyed Saiyans who existed? Or blondes? Dark hair can mean black and/or brown, so why not both? Same with dark eyes! Make them brown, hazel, chestnut, almost black or straight up black. Etc etc. (As a reminder, Fasha has purple eyes! PURPLE). If you look at official artworks/some colored manga covers and whatnot, Goku's actually tan. Hell, Future Trunks is basically apricot or a peachy skin tone. If you want a triple whammy??? Read the manga. No, seriously. There are OFFICIAL scans that has Trunks with red hair instead of the Super Saiyan blonde. And those are mistakes from Toriyama himself. Look at Z Broly and all his in between stages-- blue hair, greenish-yellow hair, etc. It's really not that hard to create a unique looking Saiyan, or justify it-- so I feel like the whole dark hair and dark eyes should be overlooked/not a big deal. I also just don't like how restrictive it is from a narrative/in universe standpoint. It's not fun to play with.

Anyway, thank you so much. I know this was long. 😭 My bad. I enjoy talking about Maiz very much and her concepts.

[maulthots]

Rots novelization LAST ONE!!! I have a lot to say.

Cunty.

Obi wan and Yoda are sneaking into coruscant and they get stopped, at which point obi wan is like, please look at my Jedi baby and the guard says, that's the ugliest fucking baby I've ever seen, and then yoda (the baby) kills him. Like alright.

I cannot stress enough how much sheev just utters the phrase "we are one nation, indivisible" right before he creates the empire.

Padme is the one who gets bail organa and Mon mothma to vote for the emperor so they don't get arrested and executed. Crazy. And then she's like, I don't think I'm going to live that long.

Girl.

Edgy king

He's hunting the separatist leaders and they're like, sheev promised us we'd be left in peace and Vader is like, no haha he said you'd be left in pieces lol XD he is soooooo funny

Sheev was at the order 66 Jedi temple thing. I mean I guess obviously he was but I just never thought about it. I wonder, sorry, if he was like sexually gratified by watching his attack dog get to work, sorry. "He purred like a contented rancor" so I guess maybe yes.

Obi wan said he should have let the zabrak kill him on naboo SO TRUE KING

The baby really does kill all those separatists and then immediately begins to plot killing sidious. The rule of two is not even like a doctrine. It's just inevitable.

He has to reassemble himself into Anakin Skywalker before he meets padme again. Love that. Obsessed. Put on that mask baby boy

"lord Vader gets such a thrill from killing people who care for him" 😵‍💫

Anakin is like, let palpatine do the dirty work. Girl, you got a big storm coming.

Me when I see my fatherbrothermentorlover

He gave obi wan a chance to walk away. Feeling some kind of way about it.

Dumbest series of lines cut from the novel. Obi wan says that only the sith deal in absolutes and then mercifully does NOT follow up with the chancellor is evil.

Omgggg r2 is trying to rescue padme wah he's literally her droid!

The sith spent the last thousand years evolving while the Jedi spent the last thousand years sitting pretty in their temple, and that's why Yoda lost. He lost like a hundred years before he was born.

The sound I made out loud....

Oh shit obi wan used the force to fuck with Anakin's hand, got his lightsaber, and got bodied anyway.

Sheev has called Yoda, and I quote, a little green freak twice in a quarter of a page.

Anakin is holding both of obi wans wrists so hard they're going to break I repeat Anakin is holding both of obi wans wrists I repeat Anakin is hol

Kermit.

I am going to hurl

Anakin Designed His Lightsaber Based On Obi Wan's.

It would be a mercy to kill him and he was not feeling merciful????

Sidious picked him right up off the sand. Yoked.

Obi wan is like let's put luke on tatooine. Anakin survived it. Girl and we all know how that turned out.

Hurg

Gorl.

Gorlllll.

Anyway, bail organa is a prince consort. Important.

[onbeinganangel]

least read fics ✨

i was tagged by @danpuff-ao3 and @sweet-s0rr0w (see their posts here, and here, respectively, and go read those unloved hidden gems pls and thanks) to share my 5 least read fics on ao3, by either hits or kudos. this game was going around for National Author's Day and, as per usual, i'm so late it's not even fashionable anymore. ooopsies. thank you for the tags, pals!

while i think both hits and kudos are very flawed statistics i decided to go with hits for this one. my least read five, from the very bottom up are:

2020 Microfics [1100 words, 22 drarry microfics, rated E, warnings vary]

A collection of microfics written for Drarry Microfic's 2020 prompts.

a little too good to be true [800 words, ginsy, rated T, no warnings]

For a date that had started with Pansy surreptitiously pulling her phone out and texting Draco, in all caps, “You told me it was someone I didn’t know, you actual ballbag” the blind date had gone surprisingly well. It helped that Pansy accidentally blurted out what Draco had told her as soon as she laid eyes on Ginny, and Ginny laughed and replied with a “Well, Harry said, and I quote ‘She’s really lovely, give her a chance,’ so here I am.”

do it again [750 words, drarry, rated T, no warnings]

Luna,

I’m sorry. I know it’s the second time we’ve had to reschedule this interview. Work has been mental today and Ron got punched in the face. (He’s fine, it was kind of funny.) Draco will be mardy so if you have any of those hibiscus biscuits of yours with the lemon icing that you could spare, send him home with a few. I’ll owe you.

Tell him I’m really sorry and I’ll see you both at the Gala tonight.

H x

overture [115 words, drarry, rated T, no warnings]

In which Harry tells Draco all about his life.

2021 Microfics [5050 words, 95 drarry microfics, rated E, warnings vary]

A collection of microfics written for Drarry Microfic's 2021 prompts.

i accidentally rambled on (who's suprised? not me) about stats and about quality and about hits vs. kudos and all that nonsense so i'm putting the rest of this post under a cut. before that though, i'm going to link you to what is my 6th fic with the least amount of hits, because i am honestly appalled that it ranks 6th, as it's one of my favourite things i have ever written.

the underdog, the honourable mention, the but-mari-that's-not-in-the-rules:

Liturgia Horarum [1500, drarry, rated M, no warnings]

From morning melodies to evening encores, a day in the life through the soundtrack of routine.

and now, for my thoughts:

except for that last minute mention, the actual bottom 5 doesn't really surprise me at all. we have both sets of microfics, 2020's and 2021's and I think we all agree short form (especially extremely short form like micros) does much better on tumblr, plus the fact that they're all under the same work on ao3 despite it not being a cohesive story isn't super helpful. they're mostly there for archival purposes, and mostly for me. i do love having them all in the same place, and it does help me personally when i lose perspective. sometimes i open it just so i can tell myself "look at that, you wrote all those 50 word wee fuckers in numerous genres and styles, and tropes and ideas, all of them about the same two guys" lmao as a reader, i would much prefer to come across microfics and drabbles on tumblr than crammed into one work on ao3, so that makes sense to me.

the other three are T rated, short, and on top of that one of them is femslash too! (truly the holy trifecta of nopes, let's be honest there). so, really. this is unsurprising all around.

it's interesting though, because i'm a curious cat, and i couldn't help compare this to my stats by kudos — do keep in mind i never open my statistics page so looking at it to make this post was really cool! i notice that while i understand why none of these have more hits, they're pieces i quite like, personally. they're nowhere near my favourite things i've ever written, but they're stuff i think it's decent. i think they're alright.

on the other side of that though, are my kudos. when i sort by kudos, both sets of microfics are still on that bottom 5, which again, makes sense. BUT very different fics join those at the bottom of the list. interestingly, the other three fics are quite possibly my least favourite things i've written, the ones i keep on ao3 for the sake of archival but secretly pray no one ever reads! they are a lot higher hit-wise than the ones on the list above (E rated, generally quite porny though the writing/tropes/pairings are rather questionable), but they're at the bottom kudos-wise, which is a fun revelation! maybe it means my own judgement isn't that clouded and that readers and i agree when stuff is a bit... you know, shit. LOL

i find it really fun to look at this kind of thing. i do think the whole point of the game was sharing our less-loved stuff in way of reccommending it/getting it more love, and i ended up just analysing the statistics page. i do enjoy all of these, and none of them are shit, but if you were gonna pick any, for the love of god, read Liturgia Horarum.

can't think of who to tag, but if you haven't done it and you have read all my stupid rambling, you should do it and tag me on it so i can look, thank you <3

[omgitsamera]

my Short Story

Stuck In Limbo

Wednesday, October 30, 1968

12:00 AM

     One stormy night, while the tree's were banging against the windows, and the wind was howling. The Peterson family slept quietly…. Well… all but Sarah. Sarah was a very peculiar girl always getting into trouble…. But this one night changed everything.

     Sarah sat in her room brushing her hair. " Tonight's the night," she told herself…. She put on her costume and headed out of the house to meet up with her friends…. When Sarah got to her destination the first person she saw was her best friend Matty, "finally…guys Sarah's here" her best friend hollered from across the room. "You did bring it right... the spell book " Sarah looks at her friend like she just asked the stupidest question… 

" Of course I did moron, I'm not dumb" her best friend smiled and led Sarah to the fire… " everyone gather around its time" all of their friends gathered around the fire ready in anticipation…One of the boys finally spoke up and said,"Alright so…. Why are we here? ``Sarah looked at them with a grin and said, " well you all wanted something gruesome…so let's do a death spell" Sarah opened up the book and flipped to the middle of the page… 

the title read  "la Muerte de una historia," they all looked at each other smiling " let's do it" one of the girls said… everyone else agreed. Sarah leans into the book and starts reading the rules `` alright… it says we have to hold hands and chant three times… are you ready" they all shook their heads.

     "Se necesita una Muerte lenta y dolorosa para tomar las almas del maltratado" after doing everything that the book said nothing happened so they repeated it…. And repeated it …. And repeated it… One of the guys threw his hands up and said, " I thought you said this would be scary Sarah" everyone looked at her frustrated and tired. He continued " you totally lied now we're out here for nothing" they all got up and started leaving even her best friend….

     After everyone left, Sarah threw the book in the fire, " this is what I get for taking a book…I can't believe I thought it would really work”. Sarah headed home, bothered and very upset. As she got closer to her house she heard a tree branch break… she turned around but nothing, no one was there … so she kept walking “Sarah” she turned around still there was nothing and no one there “matty if it's you this is not funny stop messing around” but no one came out or said anything so she kept walking…

     Then, the wind started to blow harder, like a ship twisting and turning in the eye of a storm. The harder the when blew the faster she walked. When she finally got home she took the key out of pocket and put it in the lock… all of a sudden she felt a cold hand touch her…”Sarah.” Whoever it was they were so close she could feel their breath on her ear she jumped and looked back but no one was there…. She unlocked the door as quickly as she could and ran up the stairs to her room.

     She got in her bed and prayed to a god, any god that would listen that this… this terrible nightmare was just that… a nightmare. Suddenly she heard her bedroom door crack. She started shaking under the covers then she heard someone say in a low light whisper “a life for a soul, a soul for a life try to cheat death and the widow will bite '' it kept repeating the verse over and over again, and the closer it got the deeper the voice got, then… it stopped… Sarah came from under the cover and looked around she thought it was gone so she took one step forward but she was sadly mistaken “ i see you” Sarah looked up and as quick as she did the widowed woman grabbed her neck and threw her to the wall letting it suffocate her slowly until nothing was left but her brown slipper….

     They say that if you listen closely you'll hear the screams of her soul dying, still to this day echoing in the walls...So, if your room door cracks open just know it's Sarah searching for her soul… forever stuck in limbo.

[moralesispunk]

Old Guys Rule

Frankie Morales x Female Reader

Summary: With a birthday coming up, Frankie's insecurities about the age gap in your relationship start to get the better of him

Warnings: legal age gap relationship, insecurities about said age gap, mentions of children but no mentions of how they came to be in the relationship

I found this hat in a shop in Cornwall and I had to write this!

"Are you wanting to do anything on your birthday? I was thinking about booking a table down at that Italians you like and asking your Mom to watch the girls but if you have plans with the guys I can find a different day?" you looked over your shoulder at Frankie from where you had been scrolling through the booking page of the restaurant.

"Hmm? No, dinner sounds fine," Frankie answered, his head not lifting up from his phone as his face stayed firmly unbothered.

"We don't have to do anything if you don't want to..." you trailed off as you turned back to the laptop that was resting on the kitchen counter, not convinced by Frankie's response.

"What?" you could tell that his head had whipped up to look at yours now you had turned around, "No, dinner sounds good, yes. Thank you."

You didn't answer, instead scrolling up and down on the page for a minute as you tried not to take his response too personally. It had been a while since you and Frankie were able to go out for dinner just the two of you, finding it more difficult to get some alone time since the new baby came along and you now had the two girls, so you thought he would like the idea of a romantic dinner alone.

You could hear Frankie's footsteps pad across the kitchen floor until he was leaning against the counter next to you. Avoiding his gaze as he crossed his arms over his chest, mimicking the way his ankles were now crossed over one another, you filled in the booking information before closing the laptop. Without looking at him you turned in the chair to stand but Frankie's hand fell on your wrist stopping you.

"Hey," his voice was soft, "I do want to go out for dinner with you and thank you for booking the place that I like, I just-." Frankie sighed and let you wrist go before dragging his hand down his face as he let his eyes drop to the floor, "I'm just not looking forward to this birthday. I'm in my late forties now!"

"I think you're still mid-forties."

"So much better," he rolled his eyes.

"So you're not looking forward to your birthday because... you're going to be a year older? Forty-six years and thats you just realising how birthdays work?"

"It's not funny."

"I'm not laughing, I'm wondering why that's upsetting you. Whether or not you're looking forward to it you can't stop it."

"You'll make fun of me if I tell you why," his foot was swinging out in front of him before crossing it back over the other again.

"Maybe, but we've been married for six years so I think I'm allowed to make fun of you."

A smile was tugging at the corner of Frankie's lips when he finally looked up to you, his head leaning slightly to the side as he met your eyes. Frankie loved everything about you but he especially loved how relaxed you made him feel. Even though he wasn't in a good mood when you started talking birthday plans, instead of giving in to it you pulled him back from it. You had done it ever since you met him. Frankie could tell you, and has told you, his deepest, darkest secrets and fears and you don't shy away. You don't pull him further into the darkness; you just listen and make him feel comfortable until you help him out the other side.

"I know there isn't a bigger gap between us now that there had been when we first started dating because thats not possible but it just feels bigger now? Like, you're still able to keep up with Sofia when she runs rings around us even after you've been up all night with the baby. You don't have to hold the menu back to read it more clearly when we got out for dinner. You don't have to think about having a sore back for a week if we fall asleep on the couch when watching a movie. You don't even fall asleep when watching movies at eight at night but somehow I do!"

You let his breathing settle a little before you pulled him to stand between your legs, resting your hands on his chest.

"Is it about all these small things or is there something bigger to it?"

You tilted your head to catch his gaze as Frankie's eyes fell to the floor again, stopping him with two fingers under his chin and lifting his eyes to meet yours.

"I just worry that you don't want to be with an old guy like me," he sighed, his hands resting on your thighs.

"I'll have you know that I love that your an old guy. I fall more in love with you every day as you get older. I love that you run around enough with Sofia until you're tired because you don't want to stop. I think you're cute when you have to squint at the menu because you're too stubborn to get glasses, even though I think you would look very handsome in them. And I like giving you back massages when it gets sore because its just an excuse to get my hands on your very sexy, super hot, handsome DILF self."

Frankie barked a laugh, his forehead falling against yours as his hands reached up to cup your face.

"I love you so much, you know that."

"I do, and I love you."

His lips found yours, pressing a soft kiss to them. Just as his mouth opened to push his tongue into yours the sound of tiny footsteps running into the kitchen pulled you both away.

"Mama, Papa!" the voice cheered as Frankie leaned down to swing Sofia up, groaning as he did so.

None of what you had said to Frankie was a lie. You truly did love him more and more every day.

As time went on it had been kind to Frankie. He had fought off his demons for the most part, nightmares only sneaking in every so often, and it showed. He carried a lightness with him, not being weighed down by his past anymore. His eyes crinkle at the side when he smiles, which he does more now than ever. His face has filled out a little more in a healthy way. His jaw is also covered in a patchy beard that now has spots of grey that you love the most even if Frankie doesn't believe you.

❀❀❀

You let Frankie lie in on the morning of his birthday, getting the girls up and ready so you could have a lazy breakfast together before you dropped them at their Gran's while you and Frankie go out for dinner. After sorting out a breakfast, having to start again after Sofia wanted to help and ended up spilling the batter over the countertop instead of in the pan, you carried it upstairs with the girls in tow.

Frankie was already waking up as you opened the door, his face lighting up with a wide grin when he spotted you balancing the baby in one arm and carefully carrying the tray in the other as Sofia carried bags of birthday presents.

"Happy birthday," you and Sofia chimed with a small gurgle coming from your side.

"My beautiful girls, thank you!"

Frankie lifted Sofia onto the bed with the presents, settling her into his side, before taking the tray of pancakes from your hands. Once it was safe on his lap he lifted his head, catching your lips in a kiss, before you sat across from him.

You managed to get through breakfast before Sofia had spoke about opening the presents again and once the tray was placed on the bedside table you got to opening the gifts. With baby girl back asleep and placed on Frankie's chest, Sofia pulled the paper off them more so than Frankie, handing him the opened presents as he thanked you all. Once all the presents that were on the bed were opened you leaned across and pulled another from your bedside.

"One more," you smiled knowingly and Frankie narrowed his eyes at you as you handed him the small bag.

He snaked his arm from around Sofia, holding baby girl close to his chest as he put his hand inside the bag and pulled out a hat.

"Oh a new hat, thanks babe I love-" he stopped when he read the front, looking at you with a grin on his face.

"What does it say?!" Sofia asked, pushing her head in front of her Dad's to see the cap he was holding.

"It says Old Guys Rule!" you exclaimed.

"Because Dad is old," Sofia flung her head back in a fake laugh that bellowed around the room.

"Is that right?" Frankie tickled her sides until she was giggling for real and her head was lying next to her sleeping sister's on Frankie's chest.

"Dad is old, but he's still cool isn't he?" you reached across and pulled Sofia onto your lap as she nodded.

"How does it look?" Frankie pulled it onto his head, a little wonky as he was only working with one hand with the other resting on the tiny body on his chest.

You and Sofia both put your thumbs up and you laughed.

"Four out of four thumbs up!"

"Thanks babe," he chuckled, lifting his hand to settle the cap a little tighter on his head.

"You're welcome, you look even more handsome today. Forty-six suits you," you winked and he smiled.

Yes, Frankie was getting older but he was becoming happier and healthier and you were falling more in love with him every single day.

//

Permanent tag// @phoenixhalliwell @asta-lily @hb8301 @princess76179 @sarahjkl82-blog @spideysimpossiblegirl @blackmarketmummy @bison-writes @dihra-vesa @queridopascal @sfr99 @rosiefridayrogersunday

[chaotic-archaeologist]

Hey Reid, I wonder if you'd mind giving your advice - not about careers, but about blogging yours! I specialise in African archaeology (based in southern Africa, born 'n' bred), and I have recently gotten a full scholarship to do my PhD at Cambridge! I am very excited about this, want to keep a visual journal and keep people in my life up-to-date with what I'm up to, and start to build a professional social media presence for myself.

As someone who has documented their studies online for years (big fan; been following a while!) what has your experience been like? How do you balance what to post and what not to? Obviously there is sensitive content you can't share (I'm thinking unpublished work and certain finds, etc.) but what about talks and conferences and digs and all the other cool stuff we do?

How much time does it take per week on average to curate your blog? How did you start out, vs. where you are now?

Are there any things you regret, or wish you'd known when you started blogging? I'd be so appreciative of any wisdom you'd be willing to share.

Okay, I'll try to scrape together all of my experience and condense it here.

My experience has been mainly positive. I've gotten a little hate here and there, but for the most part all of the interaction I get is very friendly. I'd like to think that's partly my doing, but a lot of it is a credit to the dirtlings as well. You get out what you put in though, and I think I've been able to avoid some of the nastier stuff because I try very hard to never post when I'm emotional.

Believe it or not, behind the chaos I've been very deliberate with establishing what I think of as my "brand" for this blog. Your quirky archaeologist internet brother who is here to answer your questions and encourage people to pursue archaeology.

One of the biggest things that I put effort into is maintaining a certain level of integrity. That means putting sources in my posts and admitting when I don't know something. If I get asks that are out of my expertise I'll do my best, but I also tag people who might know more than I do.

For my own sanity I've developed a consistent tagging system (he speaks, he answers, academic advice, etc.) so that I can find relevant answers to questions that come in. I've also put together an advice master list and a faq page so that it's easy for me to direct people to posts without having to hunt them down.

As for what I do and don't post, I always clear artifact and site photos with a supervisor first. Additionally, I try to abide by medical privacy rules. For me, that means not posting anything that someone could stumble upon and recognize. No funny emails or class material, nothing that would put me in an awkward position if someone from real life found out about it. Conference research is a little different because it's being presented in public, but I would want the person's permission and to make sure the work is attributed.

I'm honestly not sure how much time I spend because it's all in fits and starts, but it's probably a pretty good chunk. I try to get back to asks promptly, and I check the notes of posts to see if there's anything I want to respond to. I also try to keep a list of drafts that I can publish (often just reblogs from other people) to make sure there's still content on a slow day.

If I have any regrets, it's that my internet hygiene hasn't been as good as it should be. As the blog got more popular I tried to get better, but at this point it wouldn't take much sleuthing to find out who I really am. Again, this is why I'm so careful with the content that I do post, because it's entirely possible that my schools and bosses could find out.

-Reid

[kasienda]

Hi! For the WIP ask game, oh gosh. I LOVE Restorative Justice, and I've been wondering if you were going to update it. I'm so glad it's still in the works and I totally understand the difficulty with writing that particular fic. And you know I recently discovered The Five Minute Adventures!!!

I suppose I'll ask about Rena Rouge: Secret Keeper, because I feel like that one would be very relevant to the current season (which I still haven't watched, just have had spoilers). So, what's the dynamic there?

Ahhh! Thank you! I love Restorative Justice, too!! The next chapter is kinda a monster both in content and size. I thought about breaking it apart, but so far I haven't found a good place to do that. But that's part of the problem in terms of an update. The other part, being what I already said - just having a hard time channeling the restorative circle experience when I haven't done one is so long! Haha!

...

Rena Rouge: Secret Keeper Preview (I couldn't choose between these two scenes, so you get both):

“Marinette, why didn’t you just tell him? I totally love that you have trusted me, but why did you never trust Chat?”

“I want to! I almost did! But it would be a selfish decision. He and I cannot know each other until Hawkmoth is defeated.”

“But why? Seems so arbitrary.”

“Yeah…” and she shook.

Alya held her as she cried. “There’s more to this than you just following the rules, isn’t there?”

Marinette nodded tearfully. “There was another timeline. He knew who I was. We were in love. Or that’s what he said, anyway. But… he was akumatized. And Chat Blanc destroyed the world. He said that it was our love that caused it to end. Bunnyx said he couldn’t know who I was. Not yet.”

“Not yet?” Alya questioned. “Maybe it’s okay now?”

“I don’t have some metric! The only thing I know is that he can’t be akumatized! So I have to wait until the risk of akumatization is over!”

Alya was quiet, uncertain what to say.

“I almost told him anyway, Alya. I’ve hurt him so badly. He’s never going to forgive me! I don’t know how to do this without him, but I didn’t know how to convince him to stay. And now it doesn’t matter because I don’t know who he is! And I’m never going to see him again!”

Marinette crumpled into tears. And Alya rocked her but her mind was already awhirl. Marinette has seen the end of the world? Alya hugged her tighter.

“You’ll see him again,” Alya promised.

“How?”

“His kwami knows who he is right?”

“They all do! But they can’t tell anyone!”

Alya looked over at Trixx who nodded in confirmation.

“Can they give hints?”

Trixx shook her head.

“It doesn’t matter, Alya! I can’t know who he is either!”

“But what if you weren’t the one to know?”

“What?”

“What if I knew Chat’s identity? It keeps you from knowing each other but helps us coordinate. We could include him in the planning! I could help support him like I do for you!”

Marinette was staring. “I… I don’t know all the details. But yes, anything, please! But you have to never slip, Alya. You can’t tell me who he is. You can’t hint! You may have to lie to me to protect him!”

“I understand.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’ve already lied to Nino you know… to protect you.”

Marinette slumped. “I’m sorry.”

Alya shrugged. “It’s part of being a superhero, and I know Nino would be okay with it if I could tell him the reasons, and I knew it had to happen to protect you because you protect the whole city. I understand the stakes! And I’m telling you, that I can do this.”

Marinette crashed into her abdomen, her arms circling around Alya.

“You are the bestest best friend in the whole world!”

Alya laughed. “I don’t know if I would go that far.”

“I would,” Marinette mumbled. “So how are you going to find him?”

Alya opened her mouth.

“No wait! Don’t tell me! I shouldn’t know!"

...

“Chat, Ladybug needs you to come back.”

“Then why are you here?” He ran his hands through his hair. “If I’m so important to her, why did she send you?”

“Because she’s still convinced you can’t know each other’s identities.”

He throws his hands up in frustration or something. “I don’t understand what’s so different that you can know and I cannot? I know she says she trusts me, but her actions say something different. And I’m not sure what I did that she found so unworthy of trust—“

“It’s nothing you did!” Alya interjected.

“— but I didn’t take myself off the team because I think I have the right to know. It’s putting us all - her and me and you - in danger when we’re not on the same page!”

“I agree completely!”

He glared unhappily at her for a moment, then his eyebrows furrowed together.

“She wants to know, Adrien. And she wants you to know who she is, too! I promise you, she does!”

“She has a funny way of showing it.”

“She spent the last few hours bawling her eyes out about how much she’s hurt you and that you’ll never ever forgive her. And that it doesn’t matter because she’s never going to see you again.”

He sighed and dropped his head. “I’m sorry, Rena. I can’t come back. I’m a danger to her and to the whole team because we can’t communicate.”

“I agree completely,” she said. “Which is why I’m here! Will you let me explain?”

“Yeah, sure,” he said, his voice the calmest it had been since she had arrived. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to take my frustration out on you. What did you come here to tell me?”

“Ladybug trusts you more than anyone. More than me.”

“But—“

“More than anyone!” she insisted. “Apparently she did trust you. You both knew each other’s identities at some point.”

“I don’t remember that.”

“I know you don’t. She doesn’t really either. But she saw what it led to. Bunnyx… you know who Bunnyx is right?”

He nodded.

“Bunnyx came and got her and took her to a future where the world had been destroyed. Bunnyx told her the inciting event was you two learning each other’s identities.”

“Why did she never tell me this?”

“She’s never been one to share burdens.”

He winced.

“She didn’t plan to tell me her identity either, you know. She just had a mental breakdown and I happened to be there. I imagine being a full time super hero when no one knows, wears you down.”

He snorted. “Understatement.”

“When she was spiraling, I convinced her that we could find some kind of loophole. Show you that she does trust you. She’s only trying to protect you, Paris, and apparently the future. I figured I could know both your identities, and act as a go between. That way you’ll always be in the know.”

“That only works if I know who you are, too.”

“I’ll drop the transformation as soon as you agree, Kit Kat.”

He stared at her for awhile. “I will want to talk to Ladybug about all this.”

“Obviously.”

“Okay then.” He put the ring back on.

“Will you stop renouncing me every time you have a bad day?!” Plagg screeched at him.

“I’ve only renounced you twice,” Adrien being surly.

“Twice too many! And there was a third time you threatened to do so.”

“You’ve given up the ring before?”

“Ugh! I don’t want to talk about it. Are you going to drop your transformation or not?”

“Trixx, let’s rest.”

“Alya?”

“Hi, Adrien. I swear I didn’t know you were hurting this much. I’m sorry I’ve been so blind as your friend.”

“It’s fine,” he shrugged it off. “I never told you anything was going on... Wait! If you’re Rena. That means Carapace is…”

She waved him forward. She wasn’t sure what she was allowed to say, but if he figured it out himself, it wasn’t her fault.

“Carapace is Nino,” he concluded. “Isn’t it weird that practically all the holders are in our class?”

“The same class where literally everyone except you has been akumatized?” She was proud of herself for delivering that line with a straight face. And felt guilty that she was already misleading him. But wasn’t that what she signed up for? To keep both Ladybug and Chat Noir on the same page while misdirecting them from each other?

Which was going to be way harder than she thought because they were together like all of the time. They saw each other every single day almost! They sat like half a meter apart in class! How had they not already figured each other out?

Some of this must have shown on her face because Plagg was laughing his head off at her. “Welcome to my world, kit,” the black kwami said.

She sighed. She definitely had her work cut out for her.

[vole-mon-amour]

OTP tag game.

Tagged by @captainjowl. You know for sure than I'm struggling to pick only 10 & fit them in here. But hell, that’s fun, thank you <3

Rules: Choose 10 OTPs BEFORE reading the questions, and then get to answering

1) Harry James Potter & Sirius Orion Black

2) Daniel Le Domas & Grace (Ready or Not 2019)

3) Samuel & Nathan Drake (Uncharted 4)

4) Corvo Attano & The Outsider (+probably Emily Kaldwin; Dishonored series)

5) Steve Grant Rogers & Bucky Buchanan Barnes (Marvel)

6) Tony Edward Stark & Peter Benjamin Parker (Marvel)

7) Handsome Jack & Rhys (Borderlands video game series)

8) Damon Salvatore & Elena Gilbert (TVD Books & a tv show)

9) Batman & Joker (in every universe, really)

10) Adam Jensen x Francis Pritchard (Deus Ex video game series)

1. Do you remember the episode/scene/chapter that you first started shipping 6?

I believe it didn't hit me before Spider-Man: Homecoming. Civil War was about Steve & Bucky for me, but when I saw that growing up Peter with Tony, their dynamic, chemistry. Tom & Robert are really just like that.

2. Have you ever read a fanfic about 2?

Lmao. I've read like 50% of the tag on AO3, I wrote my own & started a few wips on them. They are amazing. Plus, with that shitty canon? We didn't get enough of them & they deserved better, so it's only logical to save yourself with fanfiction.

3. Has a picture of 4 ever been your screen saver/profile picture/tumblr screen saver?

I was living with The Outsider icon on my twitter & tumblr. That one is still my Google profile picture I believe. Don't remember about having an icon with the two of them. Also had The Outsider as my lockscreen on my smartphone for a while.

4. If 7 were to suddenly break up today, what would your reaction be?

Funny how it fits canon, lmao. Rhys literally tried to erase Jack's AI in TFTBL, so I guess another day on Pandora, nothing new. They torture each other, they kiss each other, they kill other people in the process. It'll be fiiine.

5. Why is 1 so important?

I love them since the first time I met them, which was much more than 10 years ago, I don't even remember when. At some point they were the reason I was waking up & forcing myself to eat just to read more fanfiction & feel something. Even if I was drowning in pain (I was extremely depressed), it was still something. I read every fic I could find at that time. The depression that Harry went through, all these feelings, his love for Sirius. I was living through it, I could relate.

I'm currently drowning in these two again, though in a much healthier & happier state. I see their flaws & I know as much as I can. I see them differently as an adult. They saved me, they keep being my number one, I still consider making a tattoo of Padfoot/Sirius or of both Harry & Sirius together. I have many headcanons, ideas, I write fics about them. They are everything, you see? They were my choice when there was nothing, no one. They are HOME.

6. Is 9 a funny ship or a serious ship?

Both. There goes the dynamic of Jack & Rhys: torture, fighting, flirting, a lot of trauma. I'd definitely say that they are wild and comical sometimes, but they are definitely serious. With the Asylum, the mental health issues. There is so much more to it, the complexity of their relationship. The struggle of loving who you probably shouldn't (but hey, when does it work like that?) Thinking about Tettlate's Batman, about Batman: Europa & how Joker was: "You must be crazy, putting me in charge of the plan, letting me decide. Okay, well..."

Nah, they are entertaining, but this is a serious ship.

7. Out of all the ships listed, which ship has the most chemistry?

Are you kidding me? They are all the definition of CHEMISTRY. I'd say 5, but then go 2, 6, 7, 8. Come on. I'm not choosing. Most of they are WILD.

9. How many times have you read/watched the 10’s fandom?

The fandom itself? Idk. I found one of my favourite artists through this fandom. If it's about the characters themselves, I played the first game with the DLC from start to beginning, looking around every corner. Spent more than 60 hours in there. Watched a second game (my laptop can't run the game) and the DLC (obviously), since Francis is in the DLC & not in the main game. I have a tag for them on tumblr, I read fanfiction, I tried to write my own. I still follow Elias & want a third game. Elias liked my tweets about Adam and Jensen being an actual couple a few times. I'd say I interacted with all of this a lot? Still do, actually.

10. Which ship has lasted the longest?

5. Best friends since childhood, fought & died for each other, still found their way back to each other. "It would break your Captain's heart, to see what they did to you." That only the MENTION of Steve can pull Bucky out of this brain washing(ed?) state, distract him in the middle of a fight. When Steve died in the comics because of Sharon & Tony sent Natasha to take Steve's shield from Bucky because even Tony knew how much Steve means to Bucky. And Bucky was like: "Oh, I see what he did. Not happening!" Fought Natasha (that is his ex in the comics) & kept going for Steve's sake.

Well, you see the point, I can go on and on.

11. How many times, if ever, has 6 broken up?

They're not actually canon so none? They had a few fights: In Civil war (the comics), in Homecoming (the movie).  That only means that they’ve got history & love each other.

12. If the world was suddenly thrust into a zombie apocalypse, which ship would make it out alive, 2 or 8?

As fierce Grace is, they wouldn't stand a chance against Damon & Elena. Those two had to deal with worst thing than brainless stupid zombies. On the other hand, if there were no alive humans to drink their blood... It's either an animal diet that Damon hates so much or I don't know? Still, they're faster & more powerful. Their bodies have advantage of healing the wounds as well.

13. Did 7 ever have to hide their relationship for any reason?

From some people, yeah. Don't tell Athena, don't tell Vaughn, don't tell Fiona. Though Rhys wasn't very subtle about it & Jack just doesn't give a fuck. You will probably end up dead if you disagree or bore him, or if you're useless.

"I can take you to the top, but you gotta know where the top is" & Rhys doesn't tell anybody until Jack makes him the President for like whole 20 minutes lol.

Fiona & Sasha: "This can't be happening." Sure it can, darling.

14. Is 4 still together?

I have a headcanon about The Outsider finding Emily & Corvo after Billie frees him from the Void. He doesn't have anybody & they are his only friends aside from a potential friendship with Billie. And if we don't consider TOTO dlc, they definitely are! The Outsider visits them both when they sleep & takes them to the void sometimes. How could he not?

15. Is 10 canon?

Not really but also sort of? Let's say that they really care about each other in canon, despite Adam pushing Francis away because of his trauma & fear that Megan caused him. :/

16. If all 10 ships were put into a couple’s Hunger Games, which couple would win?

Can you imagine wizards fighting extremely powerful vampires? Superheroes with venom in their bodies that make them super strong with people that made a deal with the Devil himself (hi Le Bail)? 5000 y.o. God and his lover that share his powers and an augmented human protecting his tired IT guy? Combine mental health issues to that, Jack and Rhys with Batman and Joker. Corvo & The Outsider would probably slay them all as Corvo and Emily did in both games with entire islands, though it will still be a slaughter anyway.

17. Has anybody ever tried to sabotage 5’s ship?

All the fucking time, lmaooo. I’m not even talking about it.

18. Which ship would you defend to the death and beyond?

I feel like I already did with Steve & Bucky after many Marvel movies (we're not even mentioning Endg*me, I fucking died & was dead for full 4-5 months).

19. Do you spend hours a day going through 3’s tumblr page?

I used to do that a few years back, but not anymore. There is not much content since the trilogy is finished.

20. If an evil witch descended from the sky and told you that you had to pick one of the ten ships to break up forever or else she’d break them all forever, which ship would you sink?

1 already went through it & fandom lives, so I'd say maybe 7? Rhys will find a way to bring Jack back & they are both so wild. It’s what happened in canon anyway. Jack kidnapped Lilith & forced her to do Angel's job, so I'd like to see that witch try at first. Jack is an immortal bastard. <3

Now that I think about it, Corvo would also deal with her in seconds as she waits to curse them.

As a conclusion: no one breaks up forever, we're killing the witch.

I tag: @ianmillkovichgallagher​ & @aledbr​

Whoever else wants to join the game, please do.

[katedrakeohd]

Christmas Love ~ Part Two

[A Very Valtorian Christmas Masterlist]

Rated: Mature for Adult Themes, Angst, talk of Depression and Emotional distress during pregnancy, otherwise this story is all fluff and good stuff.

(I suck at trigger warnings, so I apologize in advance)

A special shout out to @drakeandcamilleofvaltoria for the drake & kate in a bathtub story challenge. 😊

Tagging:

@jlpplays1 @walker7519 @drakesensworld @kimmiedoo5 @speedyoperarascalparty @furiousherringoperatortoad @drakeandcamilleofvaltoria @jovialyouthmusic @samihatuli @kingliam2019

@fromthedeskofpaisleybleakmore @sirbeepsalot @dcbbw @desiree---1986 @emceesynonymroll @wickedgypsymoon @gardeningourmet @indiacater @bobasheebaby @loveellamae @rainbowsinthestorm @burnsoslow @mskaneko @bbrandy2002 @jessiembruno @emichelle @griselda1121 @msjpuddleduck @princess-andromeda-nazario @princess-geek @princessleac1 @addictedtodrakefanfic @janezillow @nikkis1983 @texaskitten30 @debramcg1106 @moonlightgem7 @be-still-my-aching-heart @walkerswhiskeygirl

..

With a sigh Drake looks around the bedroom. The bed clothes were wrecked from their play wrestling, and the girls in the laundry were going to fuss over the wrinkled sheets, but he had other concerns. Kate hadn't come back from the bathroom yet. Had he been too rough? He knew he got carried away sometimes, and today he had awoken Kate earlier than usual. Setting his phone and the bag of cookie treats on the bedside table, he walks over to the bathroom to check on her.

To his surprise the door is ajar and he hangs back for a moment to watch his wife. She was standing at the sink in her pale silk dressing gown dabbing at her face with a damp wash cloth. Her eyes looked sad as they met his in the mirror. Her gaze shifted back down to look at the water in the sink as he eased the door open and entered the bathroom.

“Kate?” he says in a low voice, his face softening with concern. Stepping up beside her he turns and leans against the marble counter, “Honey what's wrong?”

Still looking down at the sink Kate shrugs and then starts rambling, “I don't know, just feeling a little overwhelmed I guess. I was looking in the mirror at myself, standing in this gilded and fancy bathroom that belongs to a Duchess, and wondering what a nobody waitress from a New York dive bar was doing in such a place. A pregnant waitress, pretending to be a Duchess, who is going to birth a child that is destined to rule a country. It all seems so bizarre considering where my life was headed just a year ago. What do I know about running a Duchy, or about being a Mother to royalty?”

Drake reaches out and gently cups her cheeks in his hands, wiping away her tears with his thumbs and tilting her face up to look at him.

“Kate, our Duchy is fairly self sufficient, there isn't much you really need to do. And the Mother part… I’m going to be with you every step of the way, you aren’t ever going to be raising our child alone. We're both new at this and we'll figure this out together, and we've no shortage of help whether it's friendly advice from those who love us or the help of our Manor staff. There are healthcare professionals, counselors and support people to guide us in Parenting if we need it. There are political advisers and tons of community support to help us keep the Duchy running smoothly. There's nothing for you to worry about.”

Seeing the calm and loving expression on Drake's face, and knowing that he's making perfect sense, brings fresh tears of gratitude. His tone isn’t condescending or teasing just honest and full of love. Kate covers her face with her hands. “I'm so sorry. You must think I'm so foolish and crazy.”

Drake pulls her into his arms as she continues crying against his shoulder. “Sshh, you're not foolish or crazy. You're only human Kate, and I love you. You're growing a whole other human in that beautiful body of yours and you have every right to get emotional about it.”

The thin material of her robe offers little warmth and Drake realizes how cool her hands are as she cuddles into his chest. “My gosh, Kate you're freezing. We really need to find a way to heat this bathroom better. Let me draw you a warm bath, and then we can talk some more.”

Kate nods wiping at her puffy eyes and sniffing back her tears as she steps back. Drake grabs a bath sheet and wraps it around her shoulders, “Here hold onto this while I draw us a bath.”

“Us?” Kate asks quietly, wiping her nose on the corner of the towel.

Drake chuckles quietly, leaning over to turn on the taps on their large soaker tub. “Well who else is going to wash your back for you?”

“You're so sweet to me Drake, I bet other husbands don't do this for their wives.”

Drake fetches Kate's favorite shampoo and body wash out of the shower, “Well they should.”

As Kate watches, he places the shampoo and body wash on the side of the tub along with another bath towel for himself. Reaching into the bathwater he tests the temperature and then sits down on the edge of the tub to wait for it to fill.

Kate shifts from side to side, rubbing one cold foot against the other. How Drake could walk around naked in the chilly marble tiled bathroom and not shiver was baffling to her.

Drake glances down at her shuffling feet, “The floor does get cold in here doesn't it? I think we should invest in some infloor heating.”

Kate nods, “I suppose in the meantime I could get some slippers.”

Drake turns off the taps, and then walks over to Kate. Wrapping his arm around her shoulders he places a kiss on her temple. He grasps the edge of her towel in his fingers, “May I?”

Kate lets go of her towel and Drake pulls it away with a flourish, quickly folding it and placing it next to his. Untying her robe, he slips it down off of her shoulders and it melts into a puddle at her feet. Kate gasps and instinctually wraps her arms around his ribs to soak up some of his body heat.

Cradling her gently around the back he tilts his face down and closes his eyes, smiling against her lips as she tilts her face up to meet his. Their kisses are soft and unhurried, lips parting for each other under gentle pressure as they meet again and again. Once Kate feels warmed all over, she tips her head back and whispers, “Thank you, I needed that.”

Drake nods, “Mmhmm, I know. Ready for your bath?”

Kate nods and Drake steps back and then dips down to scoop her up in his arms. Kate holds onto his neck and shoulders as he turns and gently places her down into the warm water. Scooting forward a little she allows him room to climb in behind her. Drake settles down into the warm water with a sigh, drawing up his knees and Kate slides back to lean against his chest. Lifting his hand face up out of the water and resting it on his knee, Kate takes the silent hint and places her hand in his lacing their fingers together. Tugging his arm back to hug against her chest, she kisses the back of his hand. He dips his head down to kiss her shoulder. They sit quietly like this for a few minutes, watching the steam rise from the water. Kate breaks the silence first, “So what did Preston want?”

Drake presses more kisses against her shoulder and neck, working his way up to her ear. “He brought me my phone, that I'd left in the SUV yesterday, and for you he brought a special treat.”

Kate caresses up and down his thigh, raising her eyebrows with surprise, “Ooh, what kind of treat?”

Drake squeezes her hips gently with his thighs and kisses her on the cheek, “Oh, something round, sweet, green and Italian.”

Kate frowns in thought, “Sweet, green..and Italian?”

Drake sweeps her hair off to the side, kissing the back of her neck. “Remember the last time we visited Rome? We went into that sweet shop and you fell in love with the Pistachio Almond cookies on the sample tray?”

Kate gasps as she remembers, “You got me Peluso's Pistakì cookies?”

Drake smiles as he reaches for her bottle of body wash and the bath sponge. “Mmhmm, I asked Preston to enquire about them at the candy shop in town. I told him to tell them that they were your favorite cookie and asked if they could get them in stock.”

“Oh Drake, that's the best gift ever. Now I don't have to go all the way to Italy to find them. How did you know I was craving them?”

“I've watched you nibbling on bowls of mixed nuts and trail mix lately, and there always seemed to be almonds and pistachios mixed in along with your chocolate covered raisins and cranberries.”

Kate blushes as she gnaws on her bottom lip. “So you've caught onto my cravings for sweets then?”

Drake uncaps her body wash and squirts some on the sponge. “Uh huh. But you've seemed to keep it on the healthy side for the most part. As far as I can tell. So kudos to you.”

Kate thinks back to the cookies and milk and gum drops she was snacking on yesterday. Hana made sure to save as many green candies for Kate as possible. Kate nods, glad that Drake can't see the guilty expression on her face, “Yes, yes I try to.”

Drake knows she's lying but lets it slide. “Want to sit forward so I can wash your back and shoulders?”

Kate scoots forward in the tub, enjoying the scent of orange blossoms and vanilla as Drake washes her shoulders. Watching the creamy foam slide down over her breasts as they rise out of the water reminds her of ice cream. Breathing deeply and closing her eyes, Kate suddenly has a craving for an Orange Creamsicle.

Drake drags the sponge underneath the water and rubs Kate's back with it, bringing a moan of satisfaction to her lips. “Mmm, that feels so good. Why do you do so much for me?”

Drake wets down her hair with the sponge and then hands the sponge forward and reaches for her shampoo. “Cuz, it's my job.”

“I didn't know bath buddy was part of the Duke of Valtoria job description.” Kate giggles as Drake runs his fingers through her hair.

“No, but it's on page three of the husband and lover handbook.”

Kate bends her knees up and scrubs down her legs with her sponge. “That's funny. I've never seen that book in the library before.”

“It's in the special ‘Guys only’ section.”

Kate closes her eyes as Drake lathers up her hair, “So if bath duties are on page three, what's on page one and two?”

Drake smirks, as he scoops water up in his hands and rinses out her hair, “Sorry that's classified information.”

“Ok, point taken. So what other surprises should I expect on our first Christmas day?”

“I dunno, you'll have to wait and see. Oh just to clarify, you didn't really want a pony did you? Because we could always add one to the stables.”

Kate laughs, turning around in the tub to kneel between his thighs and lean in for a kiss. “No silly, you're my pony.”

Drake grins, sliding his hands down to cup her ass as she giggles between his kisses, “And what about the rockets and fireworks?”

Kate gasps with delight, wrapping her arms around his neck, “Ooh, could we really have fireworks?”

Drake squeezes her ass and teases butterfly kisses across her cheeks and nose, “Not for Christmas, but maybe for New Year's Eve.”

“Ooh, they would be so pretty to set off over the lake.”

Drake nods, “Sounds like a plan, consider it done.”

---

Later, all warm and cozy in flannel pjs and sitting cross legged on the bed, Kate opens up her package of cookies. “It's a shame I can't have a cup of coffee with these. I miss coffee.”

Drake wanders out of the closet dressed in a pair of track pants, “We could get some decaf sent up from the kitchen. Or maybe some tea. I know I could use a coffee too.”

Kate unwraps a cookie and bites into it, closing her eyes and savoring the sweet flavor, “Mmm, these are heavenly. Do you want one?”

Drake watches her lick the powdered sugar off her lip. “Maybe later. Don't eat too many of those we still have to make an appearance at breakfast.”

Kate pouts as she finishes off her cookie. “Oh fine, just one….or maybe two. One for me and one for Little One.” Kate rubs her belly affectionately as she reaches into the packaging for another cookie.

Drake walks over to the bedside to check his phone, there's a light flashing indicating messages. “Damn, it's almost dead.”

He opens the bedside drawer to fish out his charger. Sitting down on the edge of the bed he hears the rustle of another cookie being opened. He sighs and then glances over his shoulder at Kate. “I thought Little One, or whatever was only having one cookie.”

Kate looks away, brushing some pistachio crumbles off of her chest. “Sorry.”

Shaking his head, Drake rests his elbows on his knees and thumbs through the messages on his phone. “Seriously, save room for breakfast. Oh look.. it seems that Bertrand and Savannah won't be coming to our Christmas dinner after all.”

Kate raises her eyebrows, mumbling around a cheekfull of cookie, “Aww, why not?”

“Bartie's sick and they don't want to travel with him and get us sick too.”

Drake turns and snatches away the box of cookies, “You're gonna make yourself sick eating so many of these. Can't be good for Little One.”

Kate tears up a little at his gruff scolding, “Hey those are mine! We're hungry.” She rubs her belly and pouts.

Drake frowns rubbing at his forehead with his thumb and fingers, “Quit it already with the childishness. Besides using the nickname ‘Little One’ over and over again is bugging the hell out of me. We need to pick out baby names or something.”

Kate looks down at the bedspread as she picks at the crumbs around her, “Actually Hana helped me pick out names yesterday.”

Drake sighs with annoyance, tossing his phone down on the bed. “Hana helped you.”

Kate shrugs avoiding eye contact with Drake, “And Nicholas…I'm sorry, I know you wanted for us to do that together.”

Drake's nerves bristle at the mention of Nicholas helping pick names for his heir. He and Kate had been adamant that their baby was to be raised as they saw fit, and that the heir to the throne business shouldn't be a priority until it really needed to be. “You let him pick names instead of me?”

Kate tries to diffuse Drake's anger before it got any worse, “Not exactly. He just supervised as Hana and I researched names from Cordonian noble history. We were just throwing around the idea of reviving an old name that would help our child connect to the past.”

The idea of his child being named after some long dead stuffy noble grated on Drake's nerves even more. “So we could instill a sense of stuffy pretentiousness in our child from day one?! You've got to be kidding.”

Kate sighs, her stomach feeling queasy, and her baby moving about adding to her growing discomfort, “Look, it's just a list of names. It's not a binding contract or a damn yoke around our baby's neck. You have the right to veto any name you don't like or toss the whole list away and we can start a new one. I'm sorry Drake, really I am. I didn't realize you would get so upset.”

Drake's phone vibrated on the bed and he picked it up to check it. With a groan he runs his fingers through his hair, giving it a tug and then letting go. “Well Fuck, if that doesn't add insult to injury.”

Kate looks on with concern, “Now what?”

“Olivia has invited herself to dinner.”

..

[elusive---ivory]

Circus Act - 15

Y'all ALREADY KNOW!!!!! PART 15!!!

Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15

Sandy couldn't help but feel a slight pain in her chest. Perhaps, second-guessing herself and her relationship with Arthur. The fact that see could see a different person in Arthur's eyes gave her chills. Of course, she adored him. Arthur was all she had.

She bit her lip, unlocking her apartment door. To her surprise, Des was already in the apartment, sitting on the couch.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Sandy sneered. She see a reason for Des to even be here.

"Sandy. I was wondering where you were. I've been expecting your apology for quite some time now." Des's smile was so smug, it was unbelievable.

"I don't have shit to say to you." Sandy hissed, throwing her car keys on the kitchen counter.

"Come on. It was one time, besides you've obviously moved on. Kinda, geez, you've downgraded." Des commented, looking at a picture of Sandy and Arthur. She continued, "I understand that the gala was a disaster. I mean, how else would I expect you to act. You're insane, Sandy."

Sandy couldn't stand more of this. Des was so snarky, so fucking rude. She grabbed a small knife and hid it behind her back.

"I had to protect him, Sandy. I was sure that you of all people would understand, but clearly you don't." Des huffed. "But, I tried. I tried to be apart of your life. Dennis was way out of your league anyway. I don't get it."

"You're right." Sandy said, blankly. "I didn't need Dennis."

"That's right. See? You're getting it." Des smiled, walking into the kitchen.

"Yeah, I am. You were right all along, Des. I can't believe I didn't see it sooner." Sandy smiled, pulling Des into a tight hug.

Des smiled nervously, trying to push Sandy away. "Yeah? So you forgive me?"

"Yeah, I forgive you, Des." Sandy proceeded to stab Des in the back with the knife. Des slowly felt to the ground with an emotionless shock on her face. Sandy continued stabbing the already deceased woman that laid there on her kitchen floor.

The blood stained her dress as Sandy looked at herself in the mirror. Her glasses laid in front of her, broken. She had accidentally threw them off her face.

Sandy started to laugh. Why was she laughing? She had just murdered someone that had been so close to her for years. Sandy didn't know either.

But, she felt happy. Like a weight was lifted off her shoulders.

She looked at herself in the bathroom mirror. 'Who am I?' Sandy thought to herself. She smiled to herself. She knew exactly who she was.

She stepped into the shower, feeling all the blood drip down her skin.

She then remembered. The Murray Franklin show. Sandy raced to her bedroom and turned on the television.

Arthur sat in the backstage dressing in full suit and makeup, chuckling to himself of the chaos that was displayed on the news.

He knew he caused it. He caused all of it. Arthur inhaled the smoke from his cigarette, as a gentle tear fell, dripping from the blue triangle that was painted just below his eye.

'You look ravishing.' Sandy told him in his head. He imagined her right next to him, and knowing she'd be watching him on television made him feel proud. This made him smile.

He imagined Sandy's hands on his suit, gazing up at him with her big eyes. He sat in a red chair next to a mirror, with writing in lipstick, saying "PUT ON A HAPPY FACE".

Murray Franklin then walked onto Arthur's dressing room.

"Murray." Arthur gasped. It was all unreal to him.

"Hey, it's Mr. Franklin to you, pal." Murray's manager said, rudely.

"Come on, Gene. That's all bullshit." Murray said, brushing him off.

"Thank you, Murray. I feel like I know you. I've been watching your show forever." Arthur said, remaining his composure.

"Thank you," Murray said, "So, what's with the make up? Are you part of the protest?"

"Oh no, Murray," Arthur shook his head, "I don't believe in that. I don't believe in anything."

"I just thought it would be good for my act." Arthur smiled.

"For your act? Didn't you hear? Some clown got killed-" Gene was cut off by Murray, brushing him off again.

"He's heard." Murray said.

"No, I haven't heard." Arthur intervened.

Gene sighed, frustrated. "This is what I'm telling you. The audience is gonna go crazy if you put this guy onstage. This good for a bit, but not a whole segment."

"Gene, it's gonna work. It's gonna work." Murray reassured.

Arthur started feeling gitty. "Thank you, Murray." He said, chuckling a bit.

"Got a few rules though. No cursing, no off-color material." Murray said, just before leaving the room. "Good luck."

"Wait, Murray. One small thing?" Arthur stopped him. "When you bring me out, could you introduce me as Joker?"

"Why not just use your real name?" Gene commented.

"That's what you called me on the show. A joker." Arthur said, ignoring Gene. "You remember?"

Murray looked confused for a second, turning towards Gene. "Did I?"

Gene shrugged. "I don't know."

"Well, if you say so, kid. Joker it is. I like it. It's good." Murray said, walking out the dressing room door.

Arthur smiled. "Thanks, Murray."

Once everyone left, Arthur was alone with himself. The excitement and build up in him grew. He took out a small box from out of his pocket.

A small ring sat in the velvet cushion. He smirked at it. Arthur put the small box away. He leaned back in the chair, taking out his pistol. The tip touched the bottom of his chin. Arthur felt at peace for just one moment.

It was time for Arthur to go onstage. He stood just behind the curtains, hearing the audience laugh at him. Arthur stared intently at the small crease of light, peering through the blue and gold curtains. Time seemed frozen. Everything seemed still. There seemed to be no one besides him and his cigarette.

Then, the music began to start.

Back in her apartment, Sandy was growing impatient for Arthur to show. She sat through each commercial, waiting for his segment.

Sandy sat on her bed intently staring at the television, with a cigarette lit in her shaking hand. Blood was trailed down the hall and into her bedroom. She had to get rid of Des somehow. Why not stuff her in the closet? That's where she belonged, right? Sandy's little joke made her giggle.

Beside her was one of the many clown masks the protesters were handing out. She took a drag of the cigarette.

Arthur's segment began. Sandy glared at the people who laughed at him.

It made her furious. She held onto the cigarette tightly, nearly breaking it.

"So, you might've seen that clip of our next guest. Now, before he comes out, I just wanted to say that we're all heartbroken about what's going on in the city tonight, but this is how he wanted to come out. I honestly believe we could all use a good laugh. So, please welcome Joker." Murray announced.

Sandy's eyes brighten as Arthur was introduced onstage. She smiled widely, seeing him twirl around onstage. She was greatly shocked, when Arthur kissed Dr. Sally. Sandy smirked. 'That son of a bitch.' She thought.

She burned out her cigarette, and continued to pay attention to the show.

"Are you alright, Doctor?" Murray said, on the television.

Arthur was mesmerized by the florescent lights, the audience and the stage. It was almost exactly perfect.

Murray raised an eyebrow. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah", Arthur nodded, "this is exactly how I imagined it."

"Well, that makes one of us." Murray shrugged.

The audience roared and applauded.

"So, can you tell us about this look?" Murray asked. "When we talked earlier, you mentioned that this look was not a political statement."

"That's right, Murray. I'm not political." Arthur chuckled. "I'm just trying to make people laugh." He said, in somewhat funny voice.

The audience stayed silent.

"And how that going for ya?" Murray commented.

And, of course, the audience laughed.

Arthur laughed, mocking the audience.

"So, do you got anyone watching here tonight? Any family members?" Murray asked.

Arthur stated quit for a second, still smiling. "I don't have anyone. Just my Sandy. Hi, honey." Arthur waved at the camera.

The audience awed, slightly.

"How do does Sandy feel about your career in comedy?" Murray asked.

"She loves it. She says I'm the funniest guy in Gotham." Arthur flaunted.

Murray laughed. "Okay."

The audience began to roar again.

Arthur began to look fed up.

"Well, surely, you have a joke for us tonight." Murray suggested.

The audience began applauding.

"Yeah?" Arthur chuckled. "Okay." He got out his journal.

Murray began to laugh at it. "He's got a book. A book of jokes."

Arthur stared at the page silently. The air seemed still.

While Sandy was watching, she could feel his discomfort. She wanted to hold Arthur in her arms, but he was all the way in downtown Gotham.

She grew furious.

"Take your time, you've got all night." Murray commented.

Arthur smirked. "Okay, I've got one. Knock, knock."

"And you had to look that up." Murray laughed.

The audience continued to laugh and praise Murray for his jokes.

"I wanna get it right." Arthur said, softly. "Knock, knock." He repeated.

"Who's there?" Murray replied.

Arthur began chuckling, slightly. "It's the police, ma'am. Your son's been hit by a drunk driver. He's dead."

The audience booed him.

"No, no, no. We don't joke about that." Dr. Sally scolded.

Sandy glared at the television, gritting her teeth. Her hands were balled into fists.

"Yeah, that's not funny, Arthur. That's not the kind of humor we do on this show." Murray said.

Arthur giggled nervously. "Yeah, I'm sorry. It just. It's been a rough couple of weeks, Murray."

"Ever since I," Arthur paused for a second, staring at the camera, "ever since I killed those three Wallstreet guys."

The audience gasped, and whispers scattered across the floor.

"Okay, I'm waiting for the punchline." Murray said.

"There is no punchline. It's not a joke." Arthur confessed.

The audience gasps grew louder, along with a few people telling him to get off the stage.

Sandy's anger shifted. 'What the hell is he doing?' Sandy thought to herself.

"You're serious aren't you? You're saying you killed those three young men?" Murray asked.

"Mmhmm." Arthur mumbled, confirming it to be true.

"And why should we believe you?" Murray asked, again.

"I've got nothing left to lose. Nothing can hurt me anymore." Arthur said, blankly.

'Nothing?' Sandy thought. She felt the anxiety build up in her chest.

Arthur began to chuckle. "My life is nothing, but a comedy."

The audience booed some more.

"So let me get this straight. You think that killing those guys is funny?" Murray asked, in shock.

"I do, and I'm tired of pretending it's not. Comedy is subjective, Murray, isn't that what they say? All of you, the system that knows so much, you decide what's right or wrong. Just like how you decide what's funny, or not." Arthur said.

Murray looked at him confused. "I think I might understand that you did this to start a movement. To become a symbol?"

"Come on, Murray. Do I look like the kind of clown to start a movement?" Arthur turned towards the audience. "I killed those guys because they were awful. Dennis was awful. Everybody is awful these days. It's enough to make anyone crazy." Arthur said, glaring at the audience.

"So, your crazy? That's your excuse for killing three young men?" Murray began getting upset.

"No. They couldn't carry a tune to save their lives." Arthur laughed.

Sandy couldn't see Arthur, anymore. The man onstage was someone new. Someone she had met. A charming devil in a red suit. She had to do something.

The audience booed Arthur some more.

He groaned. "Ugh, why is everybody so upset about these guys? If it was me dying on the sidewalk, you'd walk all over me. I pass you every day, and you don't notice me, but these guys, because Thomas Wayne, cried about them on tv."

"So, you have a problem with Thomas Wayne?" Murray questioned.

"Yes, I do. Have you seen what it's like out there, Murray? Do you ever leave the studio? Everybody just YELLS and SCREAMS at each other. Nobody's CIVIL ANYMORE. Nobody thinks what it's like to be the other guy. You think men like Thomas Wayne, ever think about what it's like to be a guy like me? To be somebody, but themselves. They DON'T. They think that we'll just sit HERE and TAKE IT, like good little boys, and we WON'T WEREWOLF, and GO WILD."

Through the television screen Sandy could feel Arthur choking back tears. She placed her hand over her mouth. She bit it, just slightly, so that she couldn't cry.

"Are you finished?" Murray cut Arthur off. "There's so much self pity, Arthur. Not everyone, and I'll say this, not everyone is awful. This Sandy, you were saying earlier. Surely, she's not awful."

Arthur glared at Murray. "You're awful, Murray."

"Me, I'm awful? How am I awful?" Murray said, defensive.

"Playing my video. Inviting me on the show. You just wanted to make fun of me." Arthur said. His voice was low, like the rage seeping in his eyes.

"You're just like the rest of them." Arthur continued.

"You don't know the first thing about me, pal. Look at what you did. What it lead to. There are riots out there. Two policemen are in critical condition because of what you did. And you're laughing." Murray said.

Arthur began laughing. "I know. How about another joke, Murray?"

"No, I think we've had enough of your jokes." Murray turned over to his manager, Gene, telling him to call the police.

"What do you get when you cross a mental ill loner with a society that ABANDONS him and treats him like TRASH? I'LL TELL YOU WHAT YOU GET. YOU GET WHAT YOU FUCKING DESERVE." Arthur blinked as he shot Murray Franklin in the head.

The audience began screaming, and running out of the studio.

Sandy gasped, collapsing to the ground. What she had witnessed was the beginning of something much larger than her and Arthur.

Taglist: @princessgeekface, @jokerflecker, @gloomyladyy, @memory-mortis, @joker-flecked-me, @mr--clown

[nvzblgrrl]

Part 1 Heyo man, I'm absolutely ecstatic that you have this whole One Piece Big Fic project in the works. I'm honestly p paranoid about interacting with words, but your works have been something I've continuously enjoyed going back to and rereading over all these years. And while you've grown and your earlier stuff feels cringe, there's a charm that Witt and Witticism and all of your earlier works have that is longlasting. And I, and apparently others, can't help but love.

Part 2 I've probably reread your fics a good thousand times by now. Like seriously I've got a good bunch of the fics you posted on AO3 saved as PDFs for my own personal reading when I feel the urge. Namely Luck of The Draw, Ultimate Symbiote, and a portion of your Chain Adventures. I've been here quietly reading for a long time and I'm gonna make sure to properly give feedback this time. Good luck in your absolutely bonkers endeavor!

Yeah, absolute mood on the ‘cringe’ part. I think the only excuse I can make for the really early stuff is that -

(this is gonna get loooong and reference child abuse + the 2000′s-2010′s meme culture, so pre-emptive apologies)

1. I had a really messed up upbringing. Not as bad as some people’s situations but still on the deeper end of bad by the ‘White American’ standard and still (albeit barely) within the bounds of Funny Sitcom Abuse Antics (at least for mid-2000′s and older stuff) most of the time. Most of it was neglect and social isolation - I pretty much left the property to go to school, church, and to visit relatives because of court-mandated visitation, the last of which probably kept me from going insane, and that was it aside from events where my dad needed an accessory to compliment his public mask - but there were some other shit mixed in that relied on the Trunchbull Rule (it has to sound too weird to be real so nobody believes it/takes it seriously) to happen.

So besides like, the PTSD from that (which has a habit of bleeding into all of my works, which you’ve probably noticed by now, lmao), I had like, zero experience on healthy relationships, social skills (well outside of a few variations on ‘messed up friendships’ and what I picked up from books, movies, and TV), and basic life skills outside of stuff like ‘boil water and follow the box directions’).

2. I got into the internet really late compared to my generation and everyone after. This was mostly because we had literally no semi-reliable internet access until I was about 11-13 and that was either the school internet or the dial-up at home (which of course was time-limited with the time shared with my brother and done on the family computer with observation in effect). Most of that was spent on like flash games or webcomics, many of which I have tried to reread only to find them gouging my soul because god what the hell was happening in 2007 - wait. Yeah.

It got better by the time we hit high school because by then we had our own computers (not scanners though, I had to pass art and passwords over to a friend of mine to get them on the internet for a couple years before we got one at home), a better internet connection, and high levels of parental disengagement as we proved to be disappointments despite our previous ‘potential’ (my dad was hoping for me to become a life-long cash cow for him, IDK what was going on with my brother and his mom), which meant I could spend more time on the internet... which at the time, meant DeviantArt and FF.net (tumblr came way, waaay at the end of my time in high school).

Yes, that’s where I started out. That should explain a good 90% of why the early stuff was Like That.

Also don’t look for my DeviantArt because I deleted the whole thing years ago, for cringe reasons - namely, a really, really stupid minor war over something I can’t even remember but it ran a lot like those old ‘Potterheads Get Your Wands’ posts, though the fact that 80% of my output towards the end were extremely banal and/or fucking insane One Piece (and occasionally Soul Eater) Demotivator Posters didn’t help.

Pictured: proof of my crimes against humanity (with some minor repeats - every single one of those demovitators are something I did and that’s not even all of them) despite my attempts to destroy the evidence, because the internet (and pinterest) never forget and often reposts without permission.

[Image description: a series of drawn images of a man. the first panel is of him looking at a computer with the subtitle ‘recognition’, the second is a close-up of him with sweat and a look of surprise on his face along with two exclamation points subtitled ‘realization’, the third and final image is an extreme close up of his intensely stressed expression subtitled ‘fear’.]

[Image description, but funny: me accidentally coming across one of those reposts a couple years ago.]

I personally can’t forget because I know my style at the time (it had a few variations, but all of them have been seared into my soul) and how inane/insane some of them read. My favorite was one that ended up turning into a word vomit about how cool Gol D. Roger was that ran so far that it didn’t fit inside the format anymore and ended up running off of the page repeatedly.

...and yes, I did make one edit that was ‘Dead or Alive? is that a trick question?’ for Brook. That one’s still circulating too.

3. While that covers a certain amount of the problems with the early work, Witt and Witticism stands out as a pinnacle because I was both using a reaction heavy style (I was pretty much doing a live-blog of my One Piece anime rewatch in fanfic form, using Witt as a mouth piece - a similar style was used with Ultimate Symbiote but fortified with a few original stories and actual non-canon stuff happening!) and going through the tail end an extreme manic period brought on by escaping (read: getting kicked out of because they were no longer socially or legally obligated to care for me anymore) my abusive childhood home + having money (from my dead mom’s social security).

Seriously, that year was bonkers. I got to go to Disneyworld, got a new cat, published an insane fic, and blew through so much money on some dumb fucking shit when my dad wasn’t stealing it because I didn’t realize he had access to my then-bank account.

Also I’m pretty sure that you can detect when my sanity/depression started reasserting itself in the last few chapters of Witt because he starts experiencing consequences, though I’m not saying you should reread it to try to locate that moment because I’m having to re-read it repeatedly for reference purposes and I don’t think anyone should have to suffer this unless they’re into that (which admittedly, might be the result of that ‘charm’ you mentioned, because I can’t otherwise account for how that fic got over a quarter of a million hits otherwise).

Not to say that all of my early stuff was bad (some of it was actually shockingly good once I found it again, even though it was flawed) but the most easily accessible stuff is... not great!

And thanks for the well-wishes. I’m gonna need that luck if I want to get through it. I look forward to the feedback!

[am-a-greasy-tree]

Get To Know Me Tag

Thank you so much @byonggon for tagging me! I was really happy about it uwu

Rules: Answer the questions and tag ten followers you'd like to get to know better!

1. Name: Sabrina

2. Birth year: 2004 (Now, I know I'm not the oldest person but hey people born in 2008 are already old enough to go to middle school)

3. Sign: Rising Cancer, Sun Pisces and Moon Taurus

4. Height: 170cm or 5'6"

5. Put your playlist on shuffle and list the first five songs:

• Blood - Day6

• Find Me - Jun Hyoseong (ft. D.Action)

• As If It's Your Last - BLACKPINK

• Show & Tell - Melanie Martinez

• Tomorrow - BTS

6. Grab the nearest book, turn to page 23, what's the 17th line:

ein niedliches Haustier zeigen will."

(Der Insasse - Sebastian Fitzek) (It's a german book and I really couldn't find an english version but the title roughly translates to "The Inmate" (Like in a psychiatry) and the line kinda translates to "want to show a cute pet." but I'm not too sure since it isn't a full sentence.)

7. Ever had a song or poem written about you:

At least not that I would know. But to be honest, why would anybody do that?

8. When was the last time you played air guitar:

I kinda don't do that. When it comes to music I just loudly sing along despite my lacking talent when it comes to singing

9. Celebrity Crush(es):

(Not in order but) Kim Taeyeon (SNSD), Kang Seulgi (Red Velvet), Son Hyejoo (Olivia Hye of LOOΠ∆), Lee Yoobin (Dami of Dreamcatcher) and Kim Minji (JiU of Dreamcatcher)

@uwujusonyeo has to listen to me talk about them like multiple times a day. I'm so sorry bro

10. What's a sound you hate/love:

There are a lot of sounds I somewhat dislike but I hate it the most when there's like a short sound that suddenly stops and then starts again and so on and so on for a long time. Everytime that happens I feel myself wanting to punch a b*

11. Do you believe in ghosts:

To be completely honest I don't give a flying fuck. If they do exist I don't care and if they don't whatever. As long as I don't have to knkw I can look at them my fucks will be given elsewhere

12. Do you believe in aliens:

So, judging by how big the universe is (since I consider infinite rather big), I for sure do believe the earth isn't the only planet with living beings on it. Like didn't they find those micro organisms on that one planet? (I really don't remember which one it was and I just got up about and hour ago so I'm too lazy to look it up.)

So, to answer the question,,, Yes. Yes I do

13. Do you drive:

I'm not even allowed to yet. Here in germany you can only start your driver's license at the age of 16 ½ and start driving at the age of 17 but only if a person over 18, that had their drivers license for at least five years and never got charged for any "crimes" regarding driving, is with you. Sounds complicated but I'd recommend starting your driver's license as long as you're underage here because firstly then you don't have to pay those 2000€+ with money you worked your ass off for but can rather pay it with the money that is given to your parents by the state to care for you. Also you have someone you trust sitting next to you while driving for at least a year which lowers the chance of any panick while driving to appear and to cause accidents.

14. Last book you read:

Heat Wave by Richard Castle. My parent got me that one for my 15th birthday and honestly I was so so so happy

15. Do you like the smell of gasoline:

Yes, I do. I know the planet is dying amd stuff and inhaling the gasses produced by gasoline is dangerous but yes that smell is good 👌

16. The last movie you saw:

The Outcasts (2017) starring Victoria Justice and Eden Sher

It's a really funny movie so I can recommend it

17. Do you have any obsessions right now:

Not really I guess just Minji in Deja Vu era because well,,,

Just look at her okay. She just breathed and my knees are fucking shaking

18. Do you tend to hold grudges:

I uh don't think I do. I don't know. Why don't I know oof

19. Are you in a relationship:

I'm not but at the same time wouldn't mind one

20. Tagging:

So I hope I don't annoy anybody with this,,,

@coo-t @sirlucina @bethesuntomymoon @benoutblocks @perryistired @whtclds @lesbiscotte @graymoonstar21 @windowcurtain @mv-knae

[blog-in-a-corner]

TSOTBL - A Poor Choice

After the talk Lucinda and Kim had yesterday, Kim though she'd pay Aphmau a little visit as well.

Aaron, Zane and Aphmau were all in the lobby playing UNO, as Zane had forgotten he had packed a deck of UNO cards with himself.

“The UNO company themselves said that you can't stack draw-4s!” Aphmau argued, mulling over all the cards she had in her hand. “Oh so now you're bringing that up, not when I was the one getting stacked on?” Zane commented. “Sorry Aphmau, we play by the street rules here.” Aaron claimed, although he wasn't smirking you could tell through his voice he practically was. “Hmph, it's not fair I tells ya!” Aphmau whined. “Hey Aphmau can I-oh, are you guys busy?” Kim accidentally interrupted. “We’re just busy watching Aph get her butt kicked in UNO.” Zane joked. “It's not funny!” Aphmau fumed. “Do you wanna join me, Zane and Aphmau for a game?” Aaron offered Kim. “Ah, no thank you. I actually came here because I was looking for Aphmau.” Kim explained. “What do ya need?” Aphmau asked. “I wanted to talk to you about... something.” Kim muttered. “Can't you tell me right now?” Aphmau said, putting down a card. “No, I need to talk to you in private.” Kim insisted. “Okay, okay, just let me finish this game and I'll meet you in your room, 'kay?” Aphmau suggested. “Sure.” Kim accepted, leaving the lobby and back to her room.

After quite a bit of time, Aphmau finally came up to Kim's room.

“That was a long game of UNO.” Kim commented. “I'm….very bad at the game.” Aphmau admitted sheepishly. “Yeah I can tell.” Kim added. “Anyways, what'd ya wanna talk to me about?” Aphmau asked. “I...erm..did you ever...” Kim mumbled nervously. “Huh? What was that?” Aphmau asked again, leaning closer to Kim. “C'mon Kim just get to the point.” Kim thought to herself. “Aphmau did….did you ever actually talk to Zane, or did you just lie to me?” Kim confronted Aphmau sharply.

Aphmau nervously avoided eye contact and fiddled with her hair, trying to mutter up something to say.

“I...I didn't lie to you Kim, I did talk to Zane.” Aphmau explained. “You did?” Kim implored. “Yes.” Aphmau confirmed. “So why the heck is he still bad mouthing Garroth?!” Kim raised her voice. “Listen it's not that simple, he...has a lot of family issues.” “What, did Garroth do something to him when they were younger or something?” Kim questioned. “No not at all! He just-it's just complicated okay! It's family stuff between them and I really don't think it's my place to tell you exactly what.” “So what! I have family issues, a lot of people have family issues. Big deal. Didn't give me the right to treat the people who didn't do anything wrong like crap.” “No it's-argh you wouldn't understand!” “I understand that apparently Garroth covered for him when you guys disbanded the jury! You know I always wondered why I never saw Garroth during his senior year.” “I-how do you know about that?!” Aphmau asked in shock. “Lucinda told me about it.” Kim answered, lowering her voice. “What else do you know about it…?” Aphmau questioned. “Not a lot, just that and then some.” Kim explained. “Hm I see….” “I'm sure that after doing something like that, now that Zane is all “nice” or whatever, that they should have a good relationship by now? Garroth sure as hell loves Zane so why does Zane still treat him like crap despite everything?” “L...Listen Kim I'm going to be real with you, but you better not let Zane get word of this!” Aphmau whisper-shouted. “You have my word.” Kim promised. “I know that Zane is full of it, Garroth definitely isn't blameless in the situation, the guy still has plenty of flaws, but Zane is taking things way out of proportion.” Aphmau elaborated. “So why don't you tell him that?” Kim asked in confusion. “Because he'll just think I'm siding with Garroth and make this whole fiasco out of it! I don't want to deal with that, especially trapped in some run down lodge with four of my friends and my ex and no connection to the outside world!” Aphmau claimed in frustration, sitting on the bed. “Besides...he's on the right track right now, he still needs a lot of work albeit, but he's a way better person than he was a year ago...and I don't want to mess that up...” “I understand what you're saying Aphmau, but sometimes the only way to improve is by taking criticism instead of what you want to hear.” Kim sighed. “Yeah…I guess you're right…” Aphmau admitted. “Listen, you can just deal with the Zane situation later, it's bad enough already with having to be trapped in a place with the ex you promised to stay away from for a while, the Zane thing can wait. Garroth's been dealing with him for years, what's a couple more days?” Kim suggested, sitting beside Aphmau. “I’m sorry for not being more understanding earlier, I was so irritated at Zane that I didn't take a moment to consider how you were doing with everything that's happened.” “It's all right Kim, I understand why you got upset. I promise I'll really face Zane about it, just...not right now okay?” Aphmau promised. “Thanks Aph.” Kim muttered. “It's not a problem Kim..” Aphmau said, giving Kim a light smile. “Anyways, I'll let you go now. You probably wanna play some more with Aaron and Zane right now.” Kim said, getting up and opening the door for Aphmau. “Wanna join us?” Aphmau offered. “Oh, erm, I don't know. You guys looked like you were having fun all together and I wouldn't want to disturb you guys.” Kim rejected the offer nervously. “Aw c'mon! You're always welcome to a game of UNO!” Aphmau insisted. “Well...okay, maybe just one game.” Kim gave in. “Great! C'mon let's ask Lucinda is she wants to play!” Aphmau dragged Kim out of the room. “Ah but she's asleep! She's been taking a lot of naps to make up for the lack of sleep. “Aw well that's too bad, oh well!” Aphmau sighed. “At least it’s one less person to watch you get your butt kicked at UNO.” Kim joked, trying not to giggle.

“Hey!” Aphmau laughed, walking back to the lobby with Kim.

_____________________________________________

It was late at night. Kim, Aaron, Aphmau, and Zane had already gone to bed. Lucinda on the other hand, had just woken up.

“Urgh….what time is it?” Lucinda groaned, looking at her surroundings. It was pretty dark inside her room. “How long was I asleep?” Lucinda was still slightly disoriented from waking up. She picked up her phone and looked at the time. “Ten thirty? Damn, looks like I won't be falling asleep for a while” she sighed. She slipped on her purple fuzzy bunny slippers(the most iconic slippers) and stood up.”Guess I'll walk around for a bit as long as I'm up.”

Lucinda walked out of her room and stretched her arms, she was awake but her body still felt tired. She froze as she passed up the rooms. “That static feeling again! Eugh that feeling is stronger than ever right now…” Lucinda thought to herself. She continued to walk down the hall despite her discomfort. She made it downstairs and looked around. “Man I'm still feeling that damn static! I didn't feel it down here before but now I do…and even during the day…” She stood in the middle of the lobby, deep in thought. Was the static just a feeling? Or was it...a presence? Lucinda would have come to her conclusion but-

Lucinda heard shuffling through the bushes a thick snow, but not just any shuffling, it almost sounded as if someone was outside.

“What the hell?” Lucinda muttered, switching her attention to the outside window. “Hold on Lucinda, think logically, it's probably just a wolf outside or-” Lucinda then heard a grunt. “Dammit.” A voice outside uttered, shuffling not so quietly.

Lucinda instantly shifted into action, she summoned her wand in hand and bust open the door outside.

“Who's out there!” Lucinda shouted, keeping her wand close by.

There was no answer.

“I'm not going to ask twice, if you don't reveal yourself now, I'll blast this whole perimeter!” She yelled, prepping a spell with her wand.

Still, no answer.

“Alright, have it your way.” Lucinda then casted a blasting spell, it blasted a wave of magic around the entire lodge.

Although there was nothing to be heard from the mysterious voice.

“Hm, whoever it was must've run off before I could blast them. What a coward and a creep. Worst of both worlds.” Lucinda muttered to herself, walking back inside, locking the doors tightly. “But for extra precaution, let's play with magic shall we?” She then guarded the lodge with a small protection spell, it would last them the night to say the least. “Well, I've got the heebie-jeebies now, so I guess I'll head back to my room, don't want to get spooked by another asshat in the woods.” She walked back upstairs and into her room, where she sat on her bed quietly, trying her best to fall asleep again.

“That was close.” The cloaked figure said under his breath, running through the snow ridden woods. He stopped by a tree, trying to catch his breath. “Too close….I have to be more careful next time. Things are aligning with each other….if anything time is running out.” The man stopped panting and looked up to the ever so bright moon. “I have to keep going forward. I can't stop now. Not when I'm so close to achieving what I...have worked so hard for all these years….”

//Howdy y’all! The story is going to be on hold for while, PAGE 23 is going to have a LOT of artwork, unfortunately I’ve been having some tablet and computer issues so it’s going to take a while T-T. But hey better late than never! In the meantime I’m going to make a book of oneshots next monday! Mostly featuring my au’s, maybe a few shippy or platonic ones here and there, and even a few comdey ones. So stay tuned! ;3//

[nevertobeships]

Do you have any writing advice for someone who really struggles with writing body language? I have a hard time reading it in the real world and I'm lost on how to write it in my fics. I think my dialogue is fine it just seems like everything else is lacking. The transition from rp writing to fanfiction is really tough, and I can't seem to adapt to the now popular fanfiction trends of the way things are written. I'd be very grateful for any advice.

Anon, do not worry! Many people, including myself, strugglewith this. I’m going to make a couple of assumptions to get us started (if theyare incorrect just shoot me another ask and I can go in a different direction).I assume that if you are coming to me then you have read some of my writing andtherefore I also assume that you enjoy supercorp. With those two assumptions inmind I’m going to use that arena to give my advice. But please keep in mindthat this is only MY opinion. I’ve been writing pretty much my whole life andI’ve learned that there really is no right or wrong way to go about writing.Sure, there are preferred styles, grammatical rules, trends that may bepopular, etc…but essentially you have to find YOUR flow and style. Writing andwhat is considered the right way to write so subjective.

And just as a quick note I have never done rp writing sokeep that in mind.

Here is my advice (and I explain each point below):

1. Keep trying at the real life body language and understandthe pros and cons of having that information.

2. Use the resources you have (e.g., the show and gifs).

3. Find actors/actresses to use as muses and inspiration whoare really talented and who also put everything into their characters.

4. Read! 

Reading body language in the real world is hard. When youare interacting with another person there is so much else going on. Not onlyare you most likely participating in that interaction but you are trying toprocess what the other person is saying and doing on top of consideringenvironmental/situational variables, analyzing your own intentions while alsotrying to gauge the other person’s intentions – its crazy! This is why so fewpeople are good at this. Yet body language is crucial in many cases. Hell, in apersonal example of mine just recently – I was saying everything I could tosomeone, being EXPLICIT with my diction and my intentions and they just didn’tget it (or chose to ignore it for what it was :/) and…*sigh* well it’s a messlet me tell you. And I wonder if the interactions between us had happened inperson where there was body language (i.e., extra data) to process then perhapsthings wouldn’t have become so convoluted? There has been a lot of research thatshows we humans are not really good at conveying what we mean in simple text.If someone sends you a text that IS IN ALL CAPS you know something is going onout of the ordinary. They are excited, angry, etc… and are trying to getcertain information across in that way. That helps to a point. And its funnythat the rise of emojis was supposed to help us communicate better, beyond capsand punctuation, in written form but new research is showing that we evenmisinterpret those as well lol. So obviously body language can help us withthis problem but again for many of us that can be overwhelming to deal with inthe real world. That being said, writing body language still needs to berealistic and convey important information but in fiction we can process iteasier than if it was happening live in front of us.

Lucky for us, we are writing fanfiction and we have thosecharacters on our screen where we can watch them over and over in the privacyof our own homes with little distractions. If you are in the supercorp fandomthen even more lucky because we have some of the best gif makers in the entireSupergirl fandom and they are an absolute blessing. I think gifs are underratedwhen it comes to character analysis but they are so good for body languagestudy because you have a small amount of data input, three to ten seconds orso, and it automatically repeats so no pausing and rewinding back on Netflix oryour stream. So let us look at an example:

These gifs were created by @brielarsan and you can find the original post here.

Holy shit. This is a writer’s gold mine. I mean look atthis: we know Lena doesn’t have a lot of friends (really none at this point inS2, our poor precious baby *cries*). We know she only ever felt accepted by Lexand look what he did to the world and ultimately her. And we’ve seen the longgazes, the smiles, the lip bites between her and Kara/Supergirl. We alreadyknow all of this – we have this data! So in that mindset, what does this mean?What does that sudden breath mean for Lena when Kara finally opens the doorknowing what we know? She has found acceptance in someone else – Kara – someonewho knew she was a Luthor from the start but has put her belief in Lenaregardless. But even if you don’t know or don’t use all of this data look ather body! Look at her hands, for example. They are in a classic worry positionone that other characters have done (see Meredith Grey from Grey’s Anatomy asjust one example) and Lena has done this herself several times across many episodesbecause she is a soft precious baby who is really worried how others perceiveher. Now look at her facial expression. You can tell exactly when Kara openedthe door and realized it was Lena. Even though we can’t see Kara’s face we cantell from Lena’s face when Kara smiles because we see that relief on Lena’sface. And then in that second gif what does that little shy sway mean? What doyou pick up from her doing that? To me, she is not only relieved that Kara isletting her in her home and doesn’t seem at all freaked out that she is there butalso in a way she is in a giddy disbelief that she’s not being turned away akashe feels accepted (and of course these two fools love each other and we cansee that here). And look how we can see all of that in how her hands start torelax too! My biggest piece of advice is to study stuff like this and/or mimicit in your own fics. Also look at what people say about gifs in the tags! Its so frustrating when people don’t put anything in the tags and I can be guilty of it but some people do the type of interpretation I just did above in the tags of gif posts and you can learn a lot by seeing how others are interpreting a scene.

You really can’t do anything that I just mentioned above ifyou don’t have that talented person on your screen though. Lucky for us we havethe one and only Katie McGrath who conveys more character information in twoseconds of acting than some of the other characters on Supergirl do in anentire episode. I could probably write two pages of description based on thetwo short gifs above and that is all in thanks to Katie and her wonderfulness. Katieis also a perfect example at someone who puts her heart and soul into hercharacters. You can tell that by how she does her interviews and the in-depthanswers she provides. She really IS Lena on screen. Chyler is another greatexample on Supergirl. I mean, Chyler should be earning Emmys for her portrayalof Alex in both Season 1 and 2 but I’m biased (and Katie too for Lena’s character). Sasha Alexander as Maura Isleson the TNT’s now concluded show Rizzoli and Isles is yet another example thathas benefitted me. When you have amazing characters and actors/actresses behind them they can inspire you to write your best stuff and give you so much to workwith. 

Lastly one of the other things you can do is to read.Whether its published fiction or fanfiction just read and see how others are conveyingbody language. When you read a section and get that vivid imagery as a readerstop and evaluate that section. What did that author do to set up that scene foryou? How do they have the characters interacting with one another and theenvironment around them? If you ever get to beta for somebody take thatopportunity! It will give you the chance to read someone’s fic and be in themindset of editing where you are looking at how the story is coming togetherthrough dialogue and body language. Or you can even contact one of yourfavorite writers and just tell them about your favorite sections of their pieceand list the reasons why. Not only will you make that author’s day but that mayalso help get a conversation started where you can discuss the intricacies ofthe characters including body language. This is really how @stennnn06 and I gotstarted talking. We squealed about Katie (as we still do) but then we startedlooking at each other’s writing, beta-ing for one another, and collaborating. Ican’t speak for sten but I know that I write better after discussing Lena andour headcanons with her. You can try to get a beta for your stuff too! Whenyour beta starts analyzing your stuff and asking you questions it really putsit in perspective for you and you can learn so much. I can tell you right nowthat I learned more about one of MY OWN stories by having @mssirey beta it andgive me feedback.   

On another note, also check out some writing blogs for tips. @heywriters is a great source and would be a good start for you. You can alsogo to my blog on tumblr (not tumblr mobile) and I have a page on the right handside labeled ‘Writing References’ and you’ll find a bunch of sources. Just out ofcuriosity I searched ‘body language’ on the search function on my blog and itbrought up some good posts so maybe check those out too! 

I know this is long and probably not anything you wanted butthere is my advice :)

[edourado]

Prompt: Matt comes home from doing his nightly patrol a little bit bruised and accidentally wakes his kid. His kid who inherits too much of Karen's inquiring minds :)) Okay i'm just another anon who just found your Daddy Lessons fic and I absolutely adore it and it made my mind go haywire with possibilities of future Page-Murdock clans.

Oh, boy, Karedevil babies, huh? Who knew?

We all did. Let’s not lie to ourselves. 

This is short, kinda fast, but hopefully it’s sweet enough to warrant a smile or  two. 

Also: any name suggestions for this kid?

Much love ♥

Middle name Trouble

Matt admits: he doesn’t really like Harlem.

He was all too happy to help Luke. His friend had done him many favors over the years, and he never really collected, so when he asked for Matt’s help, he couldn’t really say no.

And don’t get him wrong, he likes doing it for the sake of doing good, too, that’s why he puts on the mask in the first place, to help people, but damn. The thugs in Harlem are better trained in combat than the ones in Hell’s Kitchen.

When he comes back home, his ribs are throbbing. They’re not broken, but that one kick got him right. He’ll have Claire take a look at him in the morning.

“Shit”, he curses under his breath when he kicks an ambulance toy, the thing going “911! 911!” as it rolls away. Thankfully, it stops soon enough, and he listens for movement in his bedroom.

Nothing. Just her rhythmic breathing, sound asleep. Good.

He wasn’t so lucky with the second bedroom, though.

There’s shuffling, and little feet pat pat patting away from the bed. Quickly, Matt removes his mask and throws a sweater that is resting on the couch over himself, while the bedroom door opposite his and Karen’s opens.

“Daddy?” comes that little voice, sleepy but excited and he can’t help the smile. He could never, ever help it.

“Hi, baby”, he says, turning to face the five year old that owns his heart. “Did I wake you?”

“No”, she says, walking towards him, clutching her teddy bear with her left hand, and inside his arms. He’s kissing her temple when she goes on. “I was just thinking.”

Oh, his little girl.

“What were you thinking about?”

“School. We started meditating this week, but”, she shakes her little head. “It’s nothing like you taught me. All the kids do it wrong.”

“Well, you’ve been doing it a long time. Your friends just started, you have to be a little patient.”

“Yeah, but they keep giggling. They don’t take it seriously.”

He chuckles and almost tries to lift her to sit on his lap, but then his ribs complain again, so he just sits there on the couch, with her standing in front of him.

“Are you just coming home?” she asks, suddenly.

“What’s that?” he asks in turn, buying time.

“Why are you wearing boots?”

“Daddy had to be out a little late tonight, baby.”

“Why?”

Her mother’s child.

“Work.”

“Don’t you work in an office?”

“I do, bu-”

“I thought you were a lawyer.”

Again, he has to laugh, because she has inherited every bit of Karen’s curious mind, never letting go of an opportunity to ask, demand explanations to things she didn’t understand.

“I am a lawyer, honey, but sometimes I have to go some places, to better help my clients.”

“How come?”

“Well”, he says, pulling on her hand until she climbs on the couch by herself and sits by his side. “Sometimes I have to check to see if someone is telling the truth, or to better understand a situation, so I can do a better job in helping them.”

“Oh. That makes sense, I guess.”

They sit there for a minute, Matt’s fingers twirling a lock of her hair, her little feet hanging off the couch.

“Did someone hurt you?”

Matt’s brows raise.

“Why do you ask that?”

“You usually pick me up when you get home. You didn’t, this time, and mommy said that time that you couldn’t do that when you get hurt, remember? When that car hit you?”

‘The car’ had been Danny, who had gotten carried away during a boxing match.

“I remember.”

“So are you hurt now? Who hurt you? What happened?”

“Nothing happened, baby, don’t worry.”

“But-”

“I didn’t pick you up because I’m tired. Daddy’s not hurt.”

To prove his point, he moved to pick her up from his side and place her on his leg. He did it, but failed to mask the wince.

“See?” she pressed, her voice demanding and already a little scared. “You’re hurt, daddy, I know you are!”

“It’s nothing, sweetheart, it was just a little accident earlier.”

“Last week Mark hit Kevin during recess, and Miss Evans said it is not nice to play like that.”

“Miss Evans is right.”

“But then I remember I saw you once, in that place, and you were hitting a man.”

Oh, boy. That was almost a year ago, when Karen stopped by the gym to pick him up. He was not counting on his daughter remembering him in the ring.

“That’s different. That was boxing, it’s a… Controlled sort of fighting.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, there are rules you have to follow. And you only fight people who know how to defend themselves, and understand all the rules, too.”

“So it’s a game?”

She’s five. Are five year olds supposed to have such a sharp attention to details?

“No, not a game. It’s a sport, like baseball. But you have to train really hard to be able to do it, otherwise you can really hurt someone.”

“But you are hurt.”

“It happens, baby.”

“Is this why you’re wearing these clothes? You have to wear special clothes to play-fight - to sport-fight? To keep you from getting hurt?”

Shit. How does he explain the suit?

“I wasn’t fighting right now.”

“Then why are you wearing this?”

“What are you two doing?” came Karen’s voice, hoarse from sleep, from their bedroom door.

“Daddy just got home, mommy”, replied their girl, all too eager to show efficiency. “He’s a little hurt, but don’t worry. He was just poxing earlier.”

“Poxing?” Karen asks, walking to the living room, moving her hair out of her face.

“Boxing, baby”, Matt helps.

“Yes, that.”

“Hmm”. With a yawn, Karen picks her up from Matt’s lap. “You were supposed to be asleep, missy.”

“I know, but I’m stressed”, she says and Matt has to laugh in silence while Karen walks to the kitchen with their girl in her arms.

“You’re stressed”, she repeats, skeptical.

“I have a lot of homework. We’re learning the alphabet and ‘W’ is really hard.”

Matt is quick in his shower. When he gets out, Karen is blowing on a cup of tea for herself and the tiny little hurricane they made together is sitting on the counter with her own mug of warm milk.

“God, you look more like our dad every day”, Karen is saying.

“Do I?” she asks while Matt kisses Karen. “Uncle Foggy says I look like you, mommy.”

“You have my eyes, but the rest is all dad.”

“Miss Evans says he’s really handsome. Does that mean I’m handsome, too?”

Matt is laughing while Karen straightens up.

“Oh, she does, huh? She said that to you, that your dad is handsome?”

“No, not to me. I heard her talking to Mrs. Pang.”

“Drink your milk, baby”, Matt instructed, getting a cookie from the jar for himself.

“So does that mean I’m handsome too?”

“You, my love, are the most beautiful girl in the world.”

She must have found that really funny, because she laughed, so much like Karen, that same pitch.

“How do you know that, daddy? You can’t see me.”

“Oh, you don’t think I know what my daughter looks like? Hmm?” he joked, moving to touch her face, and she closed her eyes, like she did since before she could sit up on her own. “I know every little detail of you, teddy bear, don’t you ever forget that.”

“How do you know, though?”

“Ok, that’s enough questioning for tonight”, Karen decided, putting her mug in the sink and moving to get her from the counter.

“No, but mommy!” came the protest.

“No buts. You have school tomorrow. Say goodnight to your father, you have to go to bed, now.”

“Daddy, tuck me in, please, please!”

“Daddy is tired, honey.”

“Please, please, daddy!”

“It’s ok”, he said, trying not to laugh at all the drama, kissing Karen quickly before lifting the small one in his arms, succeeding in hiding the wince this time. “Say ‘goodnight, mommy’.”

“Goodnight, mommy.”

She leaned in and kissed Karen on the cheek, who returned it with a caress on the chubby face.

“Good night, my love. Sweet dreams.”

He walked with her to the smaller bedroom, once again kicking the little ambulance, “911! 911!” echoing in the apartment.

“When are you teaching me braille?” she asked once she was in bed and Matt was tucking her in.  

“As soon as you learn to read a few more words in school.”

“Promise?”

“I promise. You go to sleep now.”

With a kiss to her forehead and a quick prayer, he left her nightlight on and got up to leave.

“Daddy?”

“Yes, baby?”

“Try not to get hurt anymore, ok?”

He smiled.

“I’ll try. Now sleep. Say your prayer.”

“I will. Good night.”

“Good night, love.”

He lied down on his own bed, sighing, clutching his side, massaging a little of the pain away. He was sore. Claire was gonna make him take some pills, he just knew it.

“I put your mask away”, Karen said, coming to lie by his side, getting under the covers. “You left it on the couch.”

“Oh, thanks. Sorry, she didn’t really give me a chance to hide it.”

With a sigh, she moved and touched his face, supporting her weight on her elbow, looking down at him.

“She’s really smart.”

“Curious. Just like you.”

“Stubborn. Like you.”

“Oh, I’m the stubborn one?”

With a smile he knew she liked, he closed his eyes, moving his hand until he reached her leg, pulling it over him, making her drop to kiss him and then lie with her head on his chest.

“She’s gonna give us trouble, that one.”

“Well”, Karen sighed, adjusting, careful with his wounds. “She’s our daughter. Trouble is probably in her DNA.”

.:.

He got to the office after court and smiled. The baby shampoo scent of her hair took up almost the whole office.

“Hi Vic”, he greeted the secretary who sat on her desk. “Any news here?”

“Hi. No, everything is normal. The little one is in, she’s with Mr. Nelson. How was it in court?”

He smiled and raised his brows, hanging his coat by the door, and the young woman tapped her desk. “You won! That’s great! Congratulations!”

“Thank you. Are there any messages?”

“Not for today, no. Mr. Rand called, to confirm your meeting tomorrow, but that’s it.”

“Ok. You have the notes on the case?”

“I do, they’re on your desk.”

“Thanks. You can go, now, if you want. I imagine Foggy is also done?”

“He is. They’ve been reading for half an hour, now.”

He walked to the conference room and smiled at the scene even before he opened the door: Foggy and kid were sitting by the big table, Matt’s daughter boosted by books and files, a book closed in front of her.

“Ssss…. She… Sheer… lock. Sheerlock?” that little voice bounced off the walls.

“This one is a little different. Sherlock. It’s a name”, Foggy instructed, sweetly.

“Ok. The adventures of Sherlock… Ho… Hol-mes. Holmes.”

“That’s right.”

“The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes!”

“Yes! Oh my God, you’re so good at this!”

They high-fived and she giggled.

“What are we doing?” Matt said, walking inside.

“Daddy! Look, I can read this, now!”

Sitting on the chair by her side, Matt pressed a kiss on her head and waited as she got ready to read the rest of the cover.

“This book is ‘The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes’. The… Com…plate… Complete! Ill-us-tra-ted sssho- short stooor-y-es. Storyes? Stories! The Complete Illustrated Short Stories!”

“Oh my God, she did it!” Foggy celebrated, over the top as ever, both arms up in cheers.

“That’s amazing, honey”, Matt praised. “But isn’t this book too big? Shouldn’t you start with something smaller?”

She told him that the books her teacher used in class were not very good. “Very silly”, were her words, so she asked Foggy for a better one.

“And you went with British literature?”

“It was the only non-legal book I had handy”, said his friend.

“Daddy I can learn braille, now! I know all the letters and a bunch of words!”

“We’ll see”, he said, putting her on the floor and getting her coat off the back of the chair.

When the three of them left the office, she was perched on Foggy’s shoulders, reading every sign she could while they walked towards his and Karen’s place.

“Pet-sho- Oh! A pet shop!” she pointed while they passed one and Matt pulled on Foggy’s arm to make him walk faster. He did not need her begging for a kitty or a puppy right now. “Daddy!”

“Who’s hungry?”

She read them all the items on the big menu inside the burger place they chose to have dinner, insisting on placing the order herself.

“So, guess what?” Foggy started once they were seated in a booth. “You’re gonna be a godfather.”

Matt took a second, then raised his brows in surprise.

“What?! Oh my God, man, congratulations!”

“What is it?” the peanut asked while Matt and Foggy got up to share a hug. “What’s going on?”

“Uncle Foggy’s gonna have a baby!”

They explained that aunt Marci was pregnant, that it meant she was gonna have a new friend, but it was gonna take a little time for them to get here.

“So”, she asked, mouth full of burger, after they were all sitting down again. “How do you make a baby?”

After five seconds of stunned silence, Foggy burst out in laughter and Matt sighed.

Five years old. He figured he would have at least a few more years until he had to have that conversation.

[thewakingcloak]

How did you pick your color palette for your game? I'm working on a similar styled game with the same software, there's a link at my blog to the itch io page for some screenshots. I tried to have my only restriction be to use the NES color palette but it's difficult to use. My concern with using any color available is a lack of coherency. Have you had any issues with that? How do you decide colors? Your games style is so clear. It looks awesome, I cant wait for it. Any advice is helpful. Thanks!

This is a fun question, especially since I didn’t really know about palettes when I got into creating pixel art. In fact, I didn’t really learn much about them until I was already a good deal into development, and I had to be forced by my brother and my wife to choose the new green of the grass.

Basically, keep in mind that I’m still new at this, so take my advice with a grain of salt. :)

To start, check out this thread. The whole thing is great, but this section is probably the best guide for picking a palette for pixel art! Required reading, in my opinion, before you continue.

So let’s take a look at your game (thanks for permission to post your images for critique!):

I think your spritework is pretty good in general–kinda has an Earthbound vibe. I’m a fan of the detail on the item shop, and the NPCs have a distinctive “square head” style that works well. Not shown here, but the menu is also nice, the NPCs are funny, and the camera is smooth. But let’s look at the palette:

There’s a lot of saturation. Most of the colors all feel equally “heavy”.

The luminescence/brightness level is pretty much the same for everything. Again not much contrast.

There are a lot of colors. It’s very busy.

There are four different conflicting greens–the grass, the trees, the cat/pumpkin eyes & windows, and the wall (which is kinda yellow/brown).

There are two “sets” of orange–the house and the pumpkins–and they also clash.

Compared to this, which looks much better. What are the strengths here?

There’s only two types of green–the blue-gray-green and the neon green. It compliments the blues well.

Using a lot of black helps ground the palette (plus it’s sweet and retro), while the bits of highly saturated colors balance it out.

Limited palette! You use fewer colors, which is great. It helps guide the eyes instead of overwhelming them.

A couple ideas for continuing:

First, use Paletton. Pick a nice base color, then use a tool like Paletton to find complimentary colors. I’d recommend either the triad or tetrad options at the top–three or four main colors is a good rule of thumb for any art. Try to use the "big" color squares presented by Paletton for only one or two of the colors–use the different brightness/saturation levels for the rest. For example, I grabbed your pumpkin orange and came up with this color set. You could use the "big" orange, dark shade of orange, dark shade of blue, light shade of yellow, and light shade of light blue. I wouldn’t use all four of the "big" colors it gives you, otherwise you’ll run into saturation/brightness issues again. And then, if you already have one orange, you only really need maybe a darker and lighter shade–you don’t need a whole new orange.

Another option is to try looking at existing palettes, or even consider using those palettes. DB16 and DB32 are good examples. Also check out this list of “Halloween Palettes”. Get a feel for what colors people chose and why. Notice that colors are almost always very limited.

Remember that grass doesn’t always have to be “grass green”. Here’s an experiment with the first image of yours. It’s not done or perfect, and by no means am I saying you have to use this aesthetic, but it’s just to demonstrate what happens when you consolidate colors and desaturate some of them:

I’ve taken out the original green of the grass and made it a darker, desaturated blue. This helps everything else “pop”. It’s sort of the reverse of what I did with The Waking Cloak, which is now a bright, luminescent yellow/green with hints of brown… and also makes things pop. The name of the game is contrast.

In addition, the walls are now gray, and the edges of the path are the same dark green used in the plants. I also changed it so the pumpkins use the same oranges as the house. I desaturated the brown of the path as well. Are you seeing a pattern? Consolidating and reusing colors, and a mix of high and low luminescence. 

This isn’t really the results of a lot of premeditated secret knowledge about colors, either (I’m a noob, remember?). I just grabbed some screenshots and played with tweaking/replacing the colors that were already there. There’s still stuff to change with this, like the color of the item shop so it pops a bit more with the new colors, or to add a bigger range of luminescence. The grass feels very dark and heavy. Again, I’m not saying use this palette (unless you like it–in which case go for it! But keep in mind to use the same palette in your battle scene).

If you’d prefer to read up on some more technical aspects, a suggestion I’ve heard is the book Color and Light, by James Gurney, though I haven’t personally read it.

I think that about covers it. Let me know if you have more questions! :D