#Easter Chocolate Review

[bluepoodle7]

#Walmart #SamsChoice #WalmartEasterSamChoiceBelgianTrufflesAssortedFilledBelgianChocolates #EasterChocolates #EasterCandy#EasterChocolateReview

This is part 2 of the Walmart Easter Sam's Choice Belgian Truffles Assorted Filled Belgian Chocolates and these are the rest of the images.

Part 1

#Walmart #SamsChoice #WalmartEasterSamChoiceBelgianTrufflesAssortedFilledBelgianChocolates #EasterChocolates... – @bluepoodle7 on Tumblr

[banjolandsblog]

EASTER CHOCOLATE

[randompic]

[adamthepastryguy]

An Easter post in October!

An Easter post in October!

[honeydewsour]

The Quibbler but as monthly shoujo magazine cover parody with wizarding world fanfic titles

(made this while ago to play around with fonts and giggles so pardon the messiness)

might become a series hopefully getting all the titles covered as the cover art or/and adding new titles …uuuh let’s see, any idea what bonus gift for the next parody?chocolate frogs?snitch keychain?? also can anyone guess which shoujo magazine i used for reference?

warning all of the titles mentioned are 18+ read the tags!

a bit of review me gushing out/screaming about the fanfics mentioned, under the cut;

A Good Man Is Hard To Find by cloniccouer

Sebastian Sallow x Player Character | completed | post canon 7th year au | re-read worthy | characterization 10/10 | cinema | easter eggs type of writing | the more you re-read the better | banter between the characters is one of the best part | filling the hole in the canon hp universe | this is probably the 3rd time i mentioned this fic in my blog | that’s your sign to read it! |

Lace, Letters, and Lectures: Professor Sallow by mahoushoujo_m

Sebastian Sallow x Player Character | ongoing | post hogwarts au | professor!seb au obv | i’m letting this one marinate to 100k words | will come back to edit |

Lost Connection by AsphodelRose87

Harry Potter x OFC | completed | Post Hogwarts Battle au | questionable harry | questionable character(s) | questionable decisions | messy, just messy | the kind of messy i like | auror!harry au | right person wrong time and place or right place and time wrong person? |

break a sweat by @shadowtriovibes

Sebastian Sallow x OFC | ongoing | 7th year au | but iirc there is also a tumblr completed ver? if you want to read it | sports & sweats yeah | seeker!seb au | imelda best captain you can ask | inappropriate use of the room of requirement ahem |

Post War by @josiecarioca

Severus Snape x OFC | ongoing | EVELYN BLACK IS SO MOTHER | this one is masterpiece | cinema | Post Hogwarts Battle au | Snape lives au | i still read Al-Andalus part A LOT | better writing than some of tv series out there | exploring more about hogwarts founders | characterization 10/10 | especially the OCs | even the villains | altering the chemicals in my brain | prepare yourself | for this life changing event |

Unraveling of Fates by @aesopsharpstuff

Aesop Sharp x OFC | ongoing | pre canon au | ex auror OFC | werewolves | trauma | i can feel nina’s pain through the screen or am i just dramatic | unreliable ministry & headmaster black what’s new?? | 1880s hogwarts staff are baddass | not talking about a certain headmaster obv |

In The Shadow of Us by @slytherizz

Sebastian Sallow x Player Character | completed | post hogwarts au | #sebastiansallowgettingoutfromazkabanparty /jk uuuh not really but that’s the vibe | post azkaban | enemies to lovers mmm slurrp | was it a misunderstanding or was it betrayal? |

To Frame the King (of Cats) by heartsof_theround

Ominis Gaunt x OFC | ongoing | OMINIS IS A CAT PERSON CONFIRMED | nostalgic shoujo manga vibes except the 18+ part | sigh…teenagers | emotionally constipated ominis | lowkey stalkish OFC | cute cats | lot of cats | slow burrnnnn | character development | this fic might be the next art cover i will draw |

Of Paper Planes and Wildflowers by @eggymf-archived

Ominis Gaunt x OFC | ongoing? | filthy in the beginning | wholesome heartwarming vibe after that | pen pals | the letters is the best parts i still re-read them a lot | this fic lives rent free in my head | you don’t know me but eggy i miss you | idk why but i’m always getting hungry reading this | prepare snacks | sorry for the typo TT |

[del-sol-diminutives]

Review: The World of Sylvanian Families The Official Guide

This book is relatively new; it debuted around Christmas, 2023. It’s 110 pages, hardbound, and written with children in mind, but with value for adult collectors.

You can find some sample pictures of the interior on Amazon, but I wanted to talk a bit about what they do and don’t include, so you can decide for yourself if it’s a worthwhile addition to your own collection.

The book contains a story of the origin of Sylvania, which is heartwarming and sweet, with cute illustrations. The illustrations are the only time some of the vintage families appear in the book.

It also contains a section on the families themselves, including photos of the figures, their names, and the description of each member that you would usually find on the bottom of the box.

(Please forgive this photo’s strange lighting; the weather changed while I was writing.)

The most popular families get their own page and the Chocolate rabbits actually have a two-page spread. The families included are:

the Chocolate Rabbits

the Walnut Squirrels

the Persian Cats (the Persians)

the Huskies (the Huskys)

the Fennec Foxes (the Fennecs)

the Milk Rabbits (the Periwinkles)

the Ponies (the Manelys, plus Bella Chestnut and Giselle Silver)

the Bears (this is the Petite family of bears)

the Hedgehogs (the Brambles)

the Koalas (the Outbacks)

the Highbranch Giraffes

the Penguins (the Waddles)

the Snow Rabbits

the Toy Poodles (the Cakebreads)

the Sheep (the Dales)

the Maple Cats

the Pookie Pandas

the Marshmallow Mice

the Caramel Dogs

the Midnight Cats

the Kangaroos (the Hoppers)

the Yellow Labradors (the Fentons)

the Red Deer (the Buckleys)

the Reindeer (the Snowdrifts)

the Tuxedo Cats (the Marlowes)

the Bubblebrook Elephants

the Goats (the Brightfields)

and the Splashy Otters

The older brothers and sisters have their own page called “In The Town”, separate from the families. Interestingly, this includes Lionel Grand, who I hadn’t considered to be an older sibling. I might have to check his figure now.

The book also includes maps of Sylvanian Village, Sylvania Town, Seabreeze Cape, and Sylvanian Land, the amusement park for the babies. I think this is a fine bit of inspiration for designing your own layouts.

The book also includes descriptions of the seasons and Sylvanian holidays, including both Christmas and Easter.

In the back is a short timeline of Sylvanian Families history.

It is necessarily incomplete, given the target audience and the amount they’d probably have to pack into a book if they weren’t being general. Unfortunately it does not contain the full information on each of the various families and when they were released. There is definitely still room for a collector’s book for adults that includes information on the vintage families and sets.

Finally, the last page in the book is a delightful encapsulation of Sylvanian Families values.

I think this is a wonderful addition and a perfect capstone to the book, and I am very happy with owning it. I do hope that someday there will be a book for adult collectors, with the same kind of aesthetic, but with the full details we would love to have.

[ginger-grimm]

Hippidy-hoppidy, your OC is now my property...for this exchange, at least. While we may no longer be children and our Easter haul has been reduced to a chocolate bunny, that doesn't mean we can't use this platform and our OCs to exchange some little gifts.

So, if you will, enter one (or more) of your OCs into the basket, and let me give you some non-candied sweetness for the holiday. You won't even have to look for it! The poll was mostly positive so I hope you're ready and I look forward to doing this again.

The Rules and regulations are simple, but they exist nonetheless, so here they are:

The exchange, for now, is open until March 31st, though I may extend it who knows *Kevin James meme*

You may make 1-2 requests, but hey, I will probably reblog it saying you can make more once no one requests anything *Kevin James meme intensifies*

Please reblog this post to spread some awareness, please. You can like for remembrance but just a like doesn't count (you already know this, I know my 5 regulars who come here every time)!

As aforementioned, this is open to my regular drunks and new patrons alike, so please do not be shy. Think of me as I think of birds, I am more scared of you than you are of me.

Fill out the form linked below and find the password in the form!

Please only send me faceclaims with good quality and plenty of material to use. Also, no cartoon characters. Video game characters are all right if it's motion capture. I'm not trying to discriminate, it can just be really tough for me to find material for cartoons, animes, video games, etc. as I edit by making little video clips first blah blah blah. However, if you slide in my DMs we might be able to discuss some stuff.

Please, please, please fill out all the columns I need and choose at least two gift options. It makes it infinitely easier for me to make something for you. Just remember I can't read minds and it's worse when I can't find anything in your blogs.

Remember the pleases and thank you's, pleases and thank you's make my heart grow fond.

I don't do Harry Potter OCs or Stranger Things OCs and while I don't have a specific list of FCs I don't use, I ask that you do not request anything for overtly problematic actors, thank you!

I accept pretty much any gift in return, it can even be story reviews or playlists for people who don't/can't edit themselves.

I'm fine with gifts for any of my OCs - my master list as well as the link to my Pinterest is in my pinned post.

FOR ANY OTHER QUESTIONS OR CONCERNS FEEL FREE TO SEND ME A MESSAGE AND I WILL TRY TO CLEAR EVERYTHING UP!

SIGN UP FOR THE EASTER EGG HUNT HERE, HERE, DO IT HERE

TAGLIST: @waterloou @eddysocs ​ @ocs-supporting-ocs @foxesandmagic @veetlegeuse @decennia @hiddenqveendom @arrthurpendragon @luucypevensie @kentaroranda @noratilney @wordspin-shares @oneirataxia-girl @endless-oc-creations @lucys-chen @andromedalestrange @far-shores @daughter-of-melpomene @bibaybe

[honeyslime]

Peach Kohakutou by DamSoCafe.

Hi! As of today this is now also a blog about kohakutou, or crystal candy! This is a food both Erin and I can eat since it's gluten-free, which is most excellent. We love candy. Sometimes we say to each other that we'd like to eat particularly delicious-looking slime, so this feels like the natural space to provide kohakutou reviews.

My friend Ari said that the first piece of crystal candy I ever bought, shown above, looked like a fancy soap. They were extremely right. I loved the use of gold leaf and admired the delicate layers, carefully packaged and intact.

Happily, it did not taste like a fancy soap. It tasted like a rock candy on the outside and the most delightful blend between a gummy and gelatin on the inside. The flavor was a mild, juicy, and very natural tasting peach. I was so excited about this candy that I ate it way more quickly than I expected to: over the span of two days rather than a week. I had intended to try and save it like my childhood chocolate Easter bunnies. I forgot I always used to eat those pretty quickly too.

Would recommend energetically. I messaged the creator to tell her it was the best crystal candy I'd ever had. Technically true and an accurate measure of my joy.

[bluepoodle7]

#Walmart #SamsChoice #WalmartEasterSamChoiceBelgianTrufflesAssortedFilledBelgianChocolates #EasterChocolates #EasterCandy#EasterChocolateReview

I tried the Walmart Easter Sam's Choice Belgian Truffles Assorted Filled Belgian Chocolates and these were pretty good.

These assorted filled chocolates were firm, soft, while also creamy.

The milk, dark, and while chocolate was not artificial tasting but was light while the fillings inside overpowered the chocolate flavor.

The fillings in these had a light raspberry foam, liquid caramel, vanilla, and honey filled truffle.

When I bit into the animal shaped chocolates they seemed to break apart in a messy way while the square one with the bees on it had a cleaner bite cut.

These are very cute seasonal chocolate shapes and I hope Halloween and Christmas gets chocolates similar to these but with seasonal fillings like pumpkin spice or peppermint maybe sugar plum.

The dark chocolate ladybug shaped with raspberry was pretty good.

The dark chocolate ladybug shaped with raspberry ganache had a foam like texture to it and tasted like a natural light raspberry taste that was lightly sweet that went well with the lightly bitter dark chocolate.

The milk chocolate with salted caramel cow shaped chocolate was okay.

The milk chocolate tasted real and not artificial and the caramel did have a light salt taste to it.

The caramel was liquidly in texture.

But it just tastes like a mini milk chocolate caramel bar but the milk chocolate seems higher quality than Hershey's without the weird aftertaste.

The white and milk chocolate sheep shaped with vanilla cream and it was okay.

The white and milk chocolate mixed together seemed to overpower the vanilla cream to this chocolate but I did taste a faint light vanilla cream at the end.

The white chocolate truffle with honey ganche square with the bees on it and it was pretty good.

The white chocolate had a light taste cocoa butter taste while having a light sweet honey flavor from the ganche but at the end that was in a foam like cream texture.

All these assorted chocolates were lightly sweet.

I would eat these again.

Got at Walmart in the Easter area when they have them and I really like the shape designs of these chocolates.

My favorites in order.

White chocolate truffle with honey ganche square with the bees on it.

2. Dark chocolate ladybug shaped with raspberry ganche.

3. Milk chocolate with salted caramel cow shaped.

4. White and milk chocolate sheep shaped with vanilla cream.

[quibbs126]

Aight then, so this is the kid I alluded to in my last post for @arson-cookie, this is Marble Choco Cookie

Admittedly, her name didn’t originally come from a specific type of chocolate since well, there’s only so many kinds of chocolate out there. Her name mainly came from the fact that I was thinking of a way to combine dark chocolate and white chocolate (since I assume that’s the specific kind of chocolate Pink Choco is, given her similarities to White Choco), and o was thinking of marble cake, so I thought, “why not Marble Choco?”. Though I did look it up and it seems to be an actual thing, even if granted it just seems to be used by one brand as a flavor, so yeah it works

Marble chocolate:

I will admit however, that her design isn’t one I feel particularly proud of. Like yeah, it looks fine, but I feel like I just slapped something together. I had ideas, namely of her wielding a scythe and her having a love themed magical girl look, but when it came to actual execution I think I kind of just went with whatever. I think the main reasons for this were because firstly I made up her whole concept late last night, but by the time I wanted to draw her, it was close to midnight, and I try to not stay up much longer past that time, namely because I wake up early in the morning and I don’t want to be sleep deprived. So I had to wait until the next morning to draw her, when that fervor was mostly lost. I mean it was still there, but not as intense, and that may have affected things. The other reason is probably what I was doing while drawing her. See, I don’t like just drawing in silence, so usually I’ll have either music playing (usually when I’m out somewhere), or I’ll be watching videos in the background. With her, I was watching a YouTuber I like doing these multiple hour long reviews of books he reads, usually bad ones (the books, not the reviews). Thing is, there’s like, no ambience and the videos are really long, they’re just his extensive thoughts on the book as we go through them. They aren’t bad by any means, there’s a reason I watch them despite their length, but this also kind of puts me in a more dull mood, if that makes any sense. I’m just listening to a guy talking for 2 hours, and as such I’m not thinking too creatively. Does that make sense? Also the fact that I’m home for Easter weekend and as said before, I’m not as creative here

But anyways I do want to get into the process of me coming up with her as well. So basically we were driving home from my college, around an hour and a half drive, and I decided to spend that time coming up with ideas for fankids, since I hadn’t really done any this week, and I did come up with a few (that I’ll do later). I got to Marble Choco and was thinking of things for her, and I changed the music to Scanty and Kneesock’s theme from Panty and Stocking (I watched the show a very long time ago because I thought the animation was pretty. Didn’t understand the jokes at the time but I rediscovered the soundtrack a couple years ago and it’s honestly pretty good), and then my mind went “why do I want to base her off of Panty and Stocking?” I sort of filed that away but the idea stuck with me, which evolved into me making her a sort of magical girl, which I also feel is a not too ludicrous leap for these two characters. I gave her a scythe because I was trying to come up with ideas and I decided to look up Scanty and Kneesock’s weapons and saw Kneesock had dual scythes, so I decided to give her a singular scythe. Note that Marble Choco’s a lot more family friendly than this show, she doesn’t do the whole innuendos or anything, it’s just that they were the origins of her concept

But getting into my things with the design, I feel like I may have leaned too much into the Pink Choco and all the pinks, not too much Dark Choco

Anyways, so now let’s get into her herself. So like I said, she’s a magical girl that’s love themed, with the drawing here of her in that form. I imagine if she were in Ovenbreak, her skill would be like Hero or Kumiho in which she’d transform into this form and do things, not sure what though other than attacking things. Basically she’s supposed to have found a magical heart shaped gem (unrelated to Soul Jam) that gives her the power to transform into this state and then turns into her scythe. In normal form, it’s supposed to be a small hair clip like I showed in the sketch (which was basically supposed to be a rough draft for her civilian outfit. I had no actual ideas for what it looked like so I just have her a black jacket). The gem has no actual explanation for what it is, since I feel like that’s something that could happen in Cookie Run, like Snow Sugar’s wand and for all intents and purposes, the Strawberry Jam Sword. It’s just a thing she found that gives her magic powers

But basically her whole deal is that she’s a magical girl that fights against people without love in their hearts. I had this idea to call her the Love Reaper, you know because of the scythe. How her scythe is supposed to work is that the less love someone has in their heart for others, the more powerful the scythe is against them. If you have a lot of it, it will barely affect you, but if you have no love then it’s practically deadly. To reflect this I was considering making the blade holographic, but I decided against it. It’s sort of like what I think KARMA in Undertale is supposed to be like, where it’s more effective the worse you are, at least in theory.

Now that love doesn’t have to just be romantic, it could be platonic or familial or just a general love for others, or most likely a combination of all those. It doesn’t include self love though, since I imagine that’d skew things quite a bit. For example, Dark Choco seems like at his core, he genuinely cares about other cookies, but his self love is probably in the negatives, and that’s not really an accurate reflection of what the point is. Also it seems kinda wrong to punish someone because they don’t love themselves. That’s why I specified “love for others”. Though I haven’t quite figured out where obsessive love falls into this, as it is love, but it’s at an unhealthy level. I dunno. But against things like just animals/creatures, things without a real concept of love, it’s probably as effective as a normal scythe

As for her herself, well first off I imagine she’s pretty tall, getting that from her father’s side. Not really relevant to her personality but I thought I should mention. I imagine her to be a relatively serious person, but not particularly stoic, she’s generally pretty easygoing once you get to know her. I imagine her and the other 4 from this request are all friends, and she’s the cool dependable one they all go to. Also the one they go to if they need someone beat up since she’s the physical powerhouse

Honestly I’m debating making her a completely original Cookie Run character, since I went pretty in depth with the whole concept of her powers and they don’t need to be tied to being a fankid, she could probably stand on her own as a character with very minimal changes

But yeah, I think that’s everything about her, I hope you like her!

[uni-studyjournal]

15.04.2023

Day off. My closest cousin invited me to a Easter dinner at her house, since she was away during this spring break. We had a traditional southern Italian dinner, the main meals were il Tortano napoletano, la Pizza chiena and a chocolate cheesecake. I reviewed my lecture notes in the morning, then I spent the afternoon getting ready for the night dinner. I had less time to study, but luckily I made progress with my current reading.

Productivity:

reviewed my biology notes

Selfcare:

read 3 chapters of my current reading: Carol by Patricia Highsmith

let myself enjoy other activities besides studying

📸 : random stuff + some of my biology notes about examples of protein domains capable of interacting with DNA

[deepautumncolors]

💅🏻 ~Manicure Monday~ 💅🏻

Hi everyone! On Saturday I painted my nails with a color called Mint Sorbet from the Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear line. I already reviewed this polish last year, so this will be a short post. It’s a lovely light green crème polish that reminds me of Shamrock Shakes from McDonald’s and mint chocolate chip ice cream.

The first coat was pretty uneven, so you do need a second one to get full opacity. It was pretty easy to apply, but I see some bubbles on a few of my nails, which is probably my fault. If you like it, there’s a very similar color called That’s Hula-rious! from OPI’s Hawaii Collection that came out for the spring and summer of 2015, which may be a little easier to find. The one I’m wearing wasn’t in any stores, so I ordered it from Amazon.

Last year I put a layer of Fanta-seas also by Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear on top, but this year I decided to enjoy the pastel green by itself and save the sparkles for Easter in two weeks. I hope you all had a happy St. Patrick’s Day yesterday and enjoy the first week of spring!

[murderoushagthesequel]

my cover for teach them how to dream by @im-still-tryin-to-find-it is done!

the full image is here, and below the ~keep reading~ will be the front cover, spine, and back cover individually in better quality with explanations (this will include minor spoilers, mainly references to specific scenes i think are cute)

for those of you that haven’t read tthtd and don’t want spoilers, read it! you won’t regret it. if the color and joy i tried to convey on this cover is any sign, it’s every bit as cute and bright as i’ve drawn it.

---

front cover (click for better quality):

so the front cover obviously has the most easter eggs, but i’ll explain them all here for all y’all who are interested:

the stars above the blackboard are meant to resemble the glow-in-the-dark stars that are referenced a few times throughout the story

i really hope some of you get this but i added those white/blackboard borders teachers would always put up with fun patterns on them, i picked the alphabet

the chalkboard drawings!

a stack of chocolate chip pancakes because harry is obsessed with them

a whisk from james and regulus' halloween costumes

a text convo because the texting is pretty important in this fic

the framed poem!!

forget-me-nots because they just remind me of jegulus

snowflakes and hearts because of james’ love confession on christmas

butterflies flying in the shape of a heart: one is red for james and one is green for regulus

and finally a sunrise/sunset because james texting reg sunrise/sunset pictures!

ofc regulus likes reading in general but i drew the books specifically thinking about when regulus goes to lily’s bookstore and they first become friends

a pen cup both because it’s a classroom and because i wanted a way to represent regulus and james’ love of writing (thinking about the scene where regulus just looks at james' empty google doc and starts writing)

a rotten apple to reference one of my favorite scenes, chapter 6: the apple orchard, when regulus and james are talking about the kids finding rotten apples and then james has to eat one because harry asks him to

the desk, idk why i just picture regulus having this needlessly fancy wooden desk

and finally the sun streaming through the windows, i’ll explain a bit more when i get to the back cover

spine (click for better quality):

not much to go over here but

used the ao3 logo as a publisher mark

same writing of the title as the front cover but in solid writing instead of chalk

paint splatters for the background!

back cover (click for better quality):

starting with the background, again we got paint splatters

most books have a review on the back so i included an excerpt of my own review at the top

then one of my favorite quotes which is just so cute shut up don’t talk to me (this quote is part of the reason i included the sun streaming through the windows on the front cover)

and the official description by gabby from ao3

i used hearts as a separator between the words just because love!

and there are little doodles around both to fill space and also for the vibes

copied the cover art credit format from some books but without the publisher cuz there is none

and then the barcode! believe it or not there’s a lot here:

first of all the price, books in the us usually have prices written like that but the second one is canada- i changed it to international because it's the internet! and the marauders fandom is international!

the barcode itself is made up i just drew it

but the numbers are code for a series of letters (the alphabet where every 10 letters is assigned to the numbers 0-9) it spells “caught the moon” which is a reference to regulus and sirius’ memory of sneaking out to go capture the moon

and the qr code is a real qr code that leads you to the first chapter of tthtd!

ok that took forever to type out lol

i had a bit of trouble trying to balance out the kindergarten-y aspect with the actual plot and love story but i'm pretty happy with how it turned out anyway

if you haven’t read teach them how to dream yet PLEASE do, making this cover and going back through all my favorite parts of the story was such a joy and i really hope you appreciate it! i could only include so many references on this cover, there's so much more in the story.

going to go take a break and not move my hands for 5 hours because i just typed this all out on my ipad.

[meritatem]

For Easter Sunday, Damian decided to prepare something of his own, because the idea of painting eggs was so childish and sappy he just had to try it.

Damian couldn't say he was well versed at gift-giving because he rarely offered gifts and when he did, they were usually unconventional things, like finishing the family painting after he came back to life, hunting one of Grayson's first rogues from his days as Robin or giving back to his father one of the pearls his grandmother lost the day of her dead. Gifting small, simple things was something he wasn't very familiar with, but he could always learn.

With that purpose in mind, he acquired hollow wooden eggs and painted them accordingly for their recipient: a robin surrounded with green, yellow and red flowers, the masks of Melpomene and Thalia with grey monochromatic motifs and finally, an attempt of using white, green and black to create a neoplasticism pattern. As for their contents, he spent the day before using chocolate molds for the first time, something that was even more easier than baking, which raised again the question of why his cooking was so average still. Another mystery for his Green Casebook it seemed.

Damian started Easter Sunday with his usual routine, at least the beginning of it, because after his first workout and a quick shower, instead of going to the kitchen to prepare breakfast, he went to Dick's room. Grayson, like the fool that he was, didn't even bother to properly close his door before going to bed, so there he was, soundly sleeping and defenseless. He was so lucky Damian wasn't there with ill intentions, but if Grayson was going to be this careless, Damian needed to review their security systems again and see if there was something else to improve.

Despite Grayson's current state, Damian gave him the benefit of the doubt, moving as silently as if he were in the middle of a mission, stopping next to the bed to observe him, trying to look for tells to make sure Dick was actually asleep, which, after a moment, Damian concluded he was, so he proceeded to carefully place the wooden egg he brought with him - the robin one - over the nightstand. If Damian wanted, he could easily make a proper egg hunt that would test Grayson's detective skills... but this was his attempt to keep things simple, so after one last look at Grayson's sleeping figure, he left the room as quietly as he entered. Once he was in the kitchen, he found Pennyworth busy with that day's breakfast and after they exchanged greetings, Alfred paused momentarily what he was doing to point towards a wicker basket that was over the kitchen island.

“Master Dick was very enthusiastic when he realized I was making an Easter Hunt for you,” he began explaining before turning his gaze back to his work. “Not only he offered to hide the eggs but he personally selected many of their contents. I'm sure you're going to find both things to be an entertaining experience.”

“Is that so?” And he wrinkled his nose when those words made him think about Selina. “Very well, thank you for your efforts, Pennyworth, I'll convey the same to Grayson later.”

“It was my pleasure, sir.” Alfred bowed lightly his head in acknowledgment. “If you desire, you can start before breakfast, just remember that there's ten eggs and Master Richard said everything outside the penthouse was, and I quote, 'fair game'.”

“Of course he said that.” And feeling eager to be done with this whole ritual as soon as possible, Damian took the basket in a more dignified way than he really felt.

Once outside, he stood in front of the door that led to the garden, looking at the exterior with the calculating eyes of a tactician, trying to theorize the most likely spots Dick chose, which is why he turned momentarily to look up, glaring, hoping that Grayson remembered that no matter how high the penthouse was in the sky, it was still in public, so he'd better not have put an egg on the roof. The easiest one to find was on the same bench Damian and Dick had a conversation some days ago. Naturally, he refused to entertain the idea that such placement had a deeper meaning and instead, he devoted his entire attention to locate the eggs with the same attitude of someone of doing a tedious job. To Grayson's credit, he had the common sense of not picking unreasonable places for an ordinary child to search for.

As time went on, Damian became invested in locating the eggs, so it started to feel less like a chore and more like a novelty. It wasn't like he never used his training for things outside of vigilantism, but usually they were things that couldn't be considered for pure personal enjoyment. While he couldn't say he was having the time of his life, it wasn't bad either, if anything, it had been a while since he put into practice his tracking skills in nature, at least as much as one could call “nature” the manmade landscape in the penthouse.

By the time Damian found all the eggs, it no longer felt like all of this had been a pointless exercise in missed childhood experiences. He went back to the kitchen, giving a passing look to the breakfast that was served in the kitchen island, presumably waiting for him, so he left the basket near the food and decided to use Alfred's absence to go to his room. Once there, he retrieved the egg painted with the masks and made his way back to the kitchen, going directly to the cabinet where Alfred kept all the tea, opening it and leaving the egg next to the Earl Grey's can.

Not too long after Damian started eating, Alfred appeared again with a tray in hands, full of empty mugs. “I see you have finished,” he said after giving a fleeting look at the basket on his way to the sink. “I hope you had a pleasant time.”

“It wasn't bad. You and Grayson did an adequate job.”

“Such high praise, I fear it may go to my head.”

“You hardly need compliments, Pennyworth, you know you're competent, highly skilled and in the habit of surpassing expectations. I don't need to pander to your ego.”

From his position Damian missed the small smile that flashed for a moment in Alfred's mouth. “While it's always illuminating hearing your opinions, I must change the topic and inform you that I won't be limiting your access to the sweets you received, because I trust you can be responsible. However, I have to remind you should think about the health of your teeth.”

“I don't have to worry about cavities, is more likely I'm going to lose my teeth from fighting.”

“That's not very reassuring, sir.”

“I'm just stating facts, besides, if you were worried about the high contents of sugar, you should've give me less eggs.”

“It wasn't an option, the number has significance after all.”

“The thought did cross my mind. Why ten?”

“That's a mystery for you to solve.”

“How I'm supposed to know the obscure motivations behind your arbitrary number without a hint?” But even as he stated that, he took some moments of consideration. “Did you put an egg for each year I missed this celebration?”

Given that Alfred was still facing away from him, Damian missed again the expression in his face, something Alfred was grateful for, because he didn't want Damian to see the sudden sadness that appeared on his features, even if it was only momentarily, because years of tragedies at Bruce's side made him an expert at keeping his composure.

“That's a good start, my boy, I'm sure you'll figure it out in no time.”

“Is this some kind of test?”

“Not a test, consider it an opportunity to practice your work on hypotheticals.”

“I need leads, otherwise I'll just be making wild guesses.”

“That's half the fun, or so I've heard.”

“We have different opinions on what's considered fun.”

“Not all of us find Machiavellian undertakings appealing.”

“I'm my father's son.”

Alfred stopped what he was doing, closing his eyes for a moment, tilting his head slightly to one side, like he was trying to hear something in the distance. “You are, Master Damian, never a doubt about it.”

Turns out, Pennyworth was worried about the candies for good reason: besides the few eggs that were just pure solid chocolate, the myriad of confectionery inside the eggs screamed “Grayson's” everywhere; all of Grayson's favorites were there and the ones Damian didn't recognize, he assumed were Dick's attempt to figure out what he might like. He didn't know if Grayson and Pennyworth had so much faith in his self-restrain or if they were just being careless now, but either way it was too much candy, even if Damian decided to stuff his face to his heart's content.

Not for the first time he thought about Jon. How nice it would have been, to being able to drop at the Kent's farm and share all of these sweets with Superboy. And what a futile daydream that was, because the Jonathan living there wasn't Superboy nor was Damian's friend, but as much as he wished for impossible things, he accepted time ago it was better this way, because Jon deserved to have someone worthier of being called his best friend.

Damian put aside his wistfulness when he decided to focus on the little post-it notes he found inside of the eggs. Some were just scribbles of happy faces, others had short encouraging phrases while the rest were congratulatory words, all related to the egg hunt, but more important than that, he recognized Grayson's handwriting in them. So typical of Dick, doing unnecessary things like this, but Damian couldn't help but felt comforted by it; it was bittersweet, exasperating and touching, all in one: it was Richard Grayson being his bright, remarkable self, defined by hope, not grief. As much as things have changed in Damian's world, some things - the ones he would die for - had stayed the same. In a way, it feels like a reminder, that's why he decided to place the notes in the same drawer where he kept the sticker Colin gave him weeks ago.

In the end, Damian spent half of an hour sorting and appropriately storing his new stash of candy, taking the effort to mentally outline the best way to consume them in a way that should feel rewarding. The rest of the day held little excitement, something Damian had already gotten used to, because the ones living on the edge were Batman and Robin, while Damian's current life in contrast could be considered a stroll in the park... if the park was in the Seventh Circle of Hell, that is. Regardless of that, the fact still stands: Grayson is a busy person any day of the week, today included, even when Damian left enough clues for him to apprehend the Mad Hatter early, before he could do any harm with his cliché plans, like he did on Damian's first Easter in Gotham. It's not surprising then, that he only sees Dick again when he goes down to the bunker to get ready for the night.

The picture of Grayson and Drake in full gear hunched over the Batcomputer doing one thing or another is a common sight by now, it still makes Damian nostalgic, but he's gotten better at ignoring it. Originally his intention upon seeing Grayson was to thank him for helping Pennyworth with the Easter Hunt, but he didn't want to make an interruption for such a trivial reason, so he tried to go unnoticed on his way to the lockers. He's probably been giving the new Dynamic Duo little credit, because just like Drake did nights ago, both of them did notice his presence in an instant.

Whatever they were doing, Dick seemed to think it wasn't that important at the moment, because he stepped away from the computer, going to him. “Hi, Damian,” he greeted, like he always does when he sees him. It makes Damian think about how people greet their pets just for the sake of it, all sugary and pointless. “Thanks for the egg, it's really pretty! You're very talented.” And slowly, giving time to Damian to react, Dick put his hand over his head and then unceremoniously ruffled his hair. “And the chocolate it's the best I've ever had! How much do I have to pay you to make more?”

Damian had little use for compliments because he knew how competent he is, however, after spending so much effort into figuring out how to make superb mint chocolate, he can appreciate the positive feedback.

“I can do more as retribution for providing Pennyworth with your help.” He says as indifferent as possible.

“You don't owe me for that, I was happy to help! I'm just sorry I wasn't there in the morning, I was pretty beat out but Alfie told me you found everything. Did you read the notes?”

“Yes, they were very childish, you achieved the tone of the occasion perfectly.”

At that, Dick laughed, resisting the urge to ruffle Damian's hair again because he didn't want to push his luck. “I can't believe he let you keep everything, that's crazy! On my last birthday he rationed my cake portions and didn't let me eat more than two a day.”

“He's a wise man, clearly he knows which one of us needs to be supervised.” 

This is such a nice interaction, so much like Damian's old memories, which maybe is the reason why Drake - unconsciously - chooses to intervene and ruin it.

“Why are you pretending you care about this?” He asks, sounding bored. “It's not like you're a normal kid.”

As much as Damian hates to be treated like a child when his current age is used against him, to the point where Drake's statement is one he too usually goes for, he can't help but felt insulted by the way in which Tim spoke those words.

“Tim.” Dick said in a tone that can't be interpreted as nothing else but a reprimand.

“What? You know it's true,” and he crossed his arms, almost defensively. “I'm pretty sure he did more killing in the League than egg hunting. Who are you fooling, Damian? Yourself?”

Drake is right.

Drake is right and it makes Damian flush, not with embarrassment, but with anger. And he has to contain himself, because by now, Damian knows well what this kind of rage is hiding underneath. Even if his first reaction is to scream and storm out, he does his best to stay calm; he has heard worse, he has felt worse.

“There's a world outside the League that has been denied to me my entire life,” he said loathingly, nose high in the air with disdain. “And I'm going to take it back. All of it.”

With that, Damian abides a curt goodbye before turning around, battling with himself to not run on his way to the lockers. Behind him, he heard the way Dick started to chastise Drake for his uncalled for comments, something Grayson has never done before, at least not to Damian's knowledge. Any other day, that would make him feel vindicated, but not today.

Once he reached the lockers, he resisted the urge to angrily throw on the bench the bag he's been carrying with him, because its contents are important. And it's ironic, because one of those things is the egg he prepared for Drake, which he brought with him with the intention of leaving it on Tim's locker before leaving for patrol. To think he worked hard trying to figure out the best way to mix coffee and chocolate to make something decent out of it, and for what? Because he's not giving him anything now.

Damian know he's being childish. Technically he's older than Drake, he shouldn't take to heart the petty ramblings of a teenager that has good reason to dislike him, but from Drake's perspective, he was older than Damian, he was the one who was supposed to know better. Why can't Drake give him some grace? He forgave Todd long before he did Damian and Todd had tried to kill him more than once, and even then, it never felt like Drake truly let go of the resentment he had towards Damian.

It doesn't feel fair. And he knows that thinking of concepts like fairness is another childish thing on his part, but this whole day had been about Damian chasing the shadow of the kid he never was and remembering the ghost of the one that sadly, he got to be. At least he could take comfort in the thought that most likely, both versions of him would've had agreed that Drake should get nothing.

Later, by the time he made it to the Grave, the whole incident with Tim was almost forgotten in favor of more agreeable things, namely, arranging the basket he prepared for Colin. Damian decided against proper hollow eggs because they wouldn't be as easy to hide as a bunch of small chocolates and cookies, so to make it up for it, he bothered to make said cookies in the shape of an egg and he decorated them accordingly with the icing. Overall, he was quite proud of what he accomplished for this day, unpleasant occurrences aside, he was sure he managed well the basics of moderate gift giving. 

Not too long after, when Colin arrived, he found Damian in front of the computer, seated with both legs crossed over the chair, but as soon as Colin set a foot in the room, he turned the chair to face him, looking serious as always.

“You're late.”      

“I know, I'm sorry, they let us get to bed late today and I had to wait to sneak out.”

“I gather that means you had an eventful day, then.”

Colin laughed, always finding amusement on Damian's way of talking. “It was great, better than last year! We got a lot of lot of chocolate too!”

Colin walked until he was in front of Damian, bringing his right hand to one of the pockets of his trench coat and he rummaged until he found what he was looking for. He held his hand in front of him and he opened his fingers one by one, revealing a chocolate egg - wrapped in colorful foil - on the palm of his hand.

“Mr. Wayne donated these, they're delicious! I saved you one.”

Damian observed the egg, that looked so tiny in Colin's big hand; it was exactly the kind he had requested to be delivered through his grandmother's Foundation. Just like with Jon, he didn't feel like he deserved to be Colin's friend, to have this wonderful selfless child caring enough about Damian to share what little he had with him. But circumstances had put him again on his path and Damian was going to do everything to honor that blessing.

He took the egg in the same ceremonious manner in which he accepted the first weapon his mother gave him. “Thank you.” Damian said while getting up from the chair. “I have something for you too.” He went to the worktable where he left the basket, that was hidden behind the tech of a half-done project. He took it with both hands and went to present it to Colin. “They're snickerdoodles, you said you liked them best from the ones I've made but if you have another preference, you should let me know to take it into account next time.”

He was expecting for Colin to react with his usual childlike enthusiasm, but instead he took the basket from Damian's hands delicately, like he suddenly didn't trust his own force.

After a moment, he finally spoke, voice too soft. “Thank you... I...”

Colin stopped talking, leaving what he was planning to say incomplete and instead, he gave Damian an indecipherable look, something close to wonder and then, to his utter confusion, Colin seemed to snap of his trance, hurrying to put the basket on the worktable again, retracing his steps and going back in front of Damian.

“Close your eyes.”

“Why?”

“Just close your eyes for a sec, please.”

Damian wasn't entirely convinced by whatever thing Colin was trying to achieve, but he trusted him enough to do what he asked. He closed his eyes and waited. And waited.

“Did you close your eyes?” Asked Colin after a little.

Damian let out a huff and put his hands over the lenses of his mask. “There, happy?”

He waited again and the first thing he pay attention to was the rustling of clothes, that soon got drowned by the cracking of bones, a very characteristic type of sound he knew well, one that Damian hadn't heard in years but it was impossible to mistake. For a moment he felt like he did when he reencountered Colin again: breathless.

“You can open them now.”

He already knew what to expect but hearing Colin's voice, high and young, just confirmed it for him. He tried to subtly take a deep breath before removing his hands from his face, opening his eyes slowly... and there he was, in oversized clothes, just slightly taller than him, with disheveled hair, sparkling viridian eyes and freckles adorning his smiling face: Damian's childhood friend, exactly just as he last saw him, a whole life ago.    

“So,” he said, with a hint of shyness in his voice. “This is me. Like the real me.” He rolled up the sleeve of the trench coat he was practically swimming in, to offer Damian his right hand. “My name's Colin.”

Damian didn't cry when he saw Grayson the first time after coming back and he refused to do the same now, but when proceeded to remove his domino mask with both hands, he didn't miss the opportunity of using that as an excuse to rub his eyes, eliminating any trace of dampness in them.

“I'm Damian.” He finally said, shaking Colin's hand.

Colin squeezed his hand, overjoyed. “You have green eyes too!” He said it like it was the most astounding discovery. “That's so cool!"

He tried to hold back, but Damian laughed, because it seemed that joy was harder to hide than sorrow. “You're such a child.”

“Hey!” Was the pretended protest. “You're a kid too!”

“I'm older than you. In my mind, at least.”

Colin took advantage of the fact that he was still holding his hand to push Damian back. “Well, that explains why you talk like an old man.” As retaliation, Damian flicked Colin's nose with his middle finger, making him shriek with genuine offense this time. “Of course you know, this means war.”

“Ah, too bad for you, I'm a ruthless general.”

Colin was about to retort, already visualizing in his mind a tickle fight of epic proportions, when Damian's smile abruptly disappeared just before he put his hand over the com in his right ear, his relaxed posture now completely gone. It was so much easier to judge Damian's emotions without the mask and the somber look on his face made Colin fear that something bad happened to Batman and Robin. When whoever was talking on the other seemed to be done, Damian let out a sigh before pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Is everything alright?” Colin asked, unsure.

Damian turned to look at him with a wry smile on his lips. “I suppose so.”

“You don't look happy.”

“Don't worry about it, it's not bad, I think. It's just that—” and he took a deep breath before continuing. “My brother has a terrible timing.”

It wouldn't surprise Damian then, if Jason chose on purpose this day to show any signs of life.

⪻Chapter 13

Chapter 15⪼

[colgatebluemintygel]

I was wondering if you were planning a sequel or a spin-off for Wading over on AO3? I know it's in a series, but there isn't anything else in there, so I wasn't sure. So, yeah, I was wondering if/when I might be able to expect something new in that series?

I've read through Wading at least a dozen times and, to my immense surprise and displeasure, I have been feeling feelings (your fault). And am, even more shockingly, DESPERATE FOR MORE OF IT (also your fault).

So, yeah, I have become accustomed to your particular brand of sugar-dusted, caramel-salted, chocolate-dipped, merlot-and-smut-soaked feelings and I might be able to cope with the emptiness, if I could just have the confirmation that more is coming... It is, right? rIGHT?!

PS: I think you're amazing.

PPS: I commented something similar to this beneath the work over on AO3 under Steph_K, if you want to give it a read? It also includes some things I picture Remus and Sirius doing now that they are disgustingly cute and all in-love, or whatever.

PPPS: Sorry if I did this ask twice. I clicked 'Ask' on my laptop and just got the spinning pinwheel of death, so I'm not sure the first one went through.

PS to the 4th power (sorry, I'm a nerd): YOUiRE AMAZING!! (saying it twice is my way of giving you a double handshake 🤍)

HI !!! <3

YES there will be a sequel! several, in fact, and i've started writing the first of them <3 they won't be long-form in the same way that wading in waist-high water is, but instead just various oneshots and snapshots of their life together. some will carry on more directly from the others, while others will be more vignette-y :-) i have so many ideas though, stretching from the year after wiwhw, to 10 years later. some of them are even a wee bit sad (bc life can be sad) but wiwhw is ultimately comfy escapism, so everything will always be happily ever after <3 in the end!

but as for when... i haven't decided yet :o))) re: your other ask, the 21st of april, as seen on the album review, is actually just my birthday and was a fun little personal easter egg i threw in there bc i needed a date ;-))) i am no mastermind! buttttttt now that you've mentioned it, i think it might actually be super sweet to release the first sequel then... you've put ideas in my mind .....!

also, i will reply to your ao3 comment soon (tho i am disgustingly behind w comments atm AGHhhhhh i feel so guilty about it) BUT i will say that you were v on the mark with some of your headcanons !! i will also say that the first sequel takes place 2 weeks after the final of bake off ;-) do with that info what you will!

MWAH thank youuuuuu sending u a thousand kisses xxxx