#Hope making it super short under the cut and doing extensive tags works

[curatoroffiction]

Overprotective (Part 1)

Based off of this post It all came to a head with The Incident™.

You were frustrated, having just left Levi's room. You'd brought him a series that you thought he'd love, it was much more like some of the stuff he used to be into, which had heartbreak and drama, but you'd heard it had a good resolution, even if it was sad. But the second things started turning sour emotionally, he began to panic. And when he asked if you knew what would happen, and you said "I've heard about the ending, but I saved actually knowing it for you", you didn't expect what he did next. He stopped the show and took the DVD out. This started a long fight that you barely understood. Him being upset that you weren't 'taking care of yourself', and you being upset that he was trying to micro-manage what you watched! You even jabbed at him telling him that "Avoiding the sad stuff isn't healthy!" which only made him more upset. You didn't understand why, so you just left. You ran into Asmodeus, who started worrying about the stress you were visibly under. Stress isn't good for one's health. He first asked if you wanted to take a soothing bath with him, which you shrugged off, thinking that would be the end of it. But it wasn't. He kept badgering you to let him help you destress. It started very flirty at first... Until it became desperate. You continued to decline, and he became more worried, which caught Satan's attention. When Satan heard you were stressed out, several stress-related illnesses flashed through his memory and he became very serious trying to give you other options. If anything, their insistence on controlling another aspect of your life was making it worse. You were on the verge of exploding when Belphegor came around. You called out to him, but he turned right around and walked away. You frustratedly chased after him, but when you turned the corner he disappeared behind, he was gone. Instead, you found Mammon. With the shadiest bag of vitamins you've ever seen. No label, just some random supplement in a plastic bag. "You want some vitamins?" The sight would have made you laugh a week ago, but right now, it was just frustrating. "No! I want everyone to stop badgering me! And for Belphegor to stop AVOIDING me!" "Sounds like you could eat. Lemme cook you up something." Mammon was the one who was the best at reaching out. He'd been slyly learning how to cook on the side, so he could get more veggies and fruits into your diet. And the food he's learned to cook was really yummy. Begrudgingly, you accept, and he takes you to the kitchen, also giving Asmo and Satan a covert thumbs up. The two let him take care of you, seeing that your stress instantly began to melt at the idea of food. That is.. Until you got to the kitchen. Mammon begins pulling out veggies and fruit to make you a few dishes, but Beelzebub keeps hovering around to try to control your portions. No matter how much you told him it was insulting, he just couldn't bring himself to stop worrying. Mammon always makes you too much food, seeing as how he keeps trying to pack in the nutrients like they're going to culminate in prolonging your life indefinitely. Once again, you're pissed, and this time with new vigor. You finally storm out of the kitchen and out of the house, only to see Lucifer coming in from the walkway. And he's blinded by how dangerous it is for you to walk around Devildom alone. He tells you as much and you just shout "WELL I HOPE I DIE THEN, BECAUSE IT'D BE BETTER THAN THIS HELLSCAPE" while trying to brush past him in frustration. You didn't even mean the words, but no one had been listening to you and no one was giving you a chance to control anything in your life without supervision. They've been so controlling and so accidentally belittling, making you feel less-than, making you feel like a child in a house without love. Part 2

[the--descension]

i would die for a "how to use html and css to format ao3" lesson from you 👀 no pressure but i'm genuinely in awe :)

Hello! So sorry it’s taken me ages to get to this. 

It's no pressure at all! I have tried to cover the basics of HTML/CSS on AO3 here, and instead of writing very extensively about the syntax which is very Google-able, I have tried to include little tips and tricks that have come in handy for me. 

This, by no means, is a complete guide but I hope it can get you started with HTML and CSS on AO3!

It got pretty long, so the answer’s below the cut.

Okay, so let’s start at the very beginning, shall we?

What is HTML and CSS?

Well, HTML is Hyper Text Markup Language and CSS is Cascading Style Sheets. 

But that is something that probably doesn’t help a lot, so to put it very simply, HTML provides the structure of a webpage while CSS does the styling, that is, fixing how and where the elements should exist, how to shape them, how to space them, all so that the webpage looks great.

Something to keep in mind is that all web pages can run only on HTML but the end result is not going to be something that’s nice to look at. In fact, without CSS, the page might not even make a lot of sense. Here, take a look at Tumblr itself with all CSS disabled (there’s a very useful extension called Web Developer that allows you to do this):

Not very nice to look at, but all the elements of the page are here only with the help of HTML.

And look, this is what the above section looks like with CSS enabled:

This was just a brief visual walkthrough to show what HTML and CSS really do, but let’s move on to HTML and CSS in the world of AO3.

Where does the HTML and CSS go on AO3?

The HTML part of the code is put into the text box when you post a new story/new chapter. You must have noticed the two options — Rich Text and HTML — and it’s important to have HTML selected for AO3 to identify the HTML tags that you’ll be using.

All your content goes into this textbox. Whatever text you may be writing, whatever images you may be hosting, whatever links you might want to add— everything goes here.

Now, for styling all the content that you’ve put into the textbox, you need CSS, and that happens through work skins. It’s super simple, and all you have to do is go to Skins on your AO3 panel and then to My Work Skins, and then create a new work skin where you can dump all of your CSS code.

Okay, so onward we go.

How to HTML and CSS?

I’m no expert in web design and my knowledge mostly comes from Coursera, one summer internship, one class in college, and extensive online searching. And, I’ll tell you this, the most I have learnt is from extensive online searching.

Because at the very heart of it, web design is not so much about understanding and applying concepts (as with other coding languages) but more about visualizing elements and testing them out. I must add that this is completely my opinion as a person who rather enjoys data structures and algorithms as compared to web dev, and I’m certain that seasoned web developers will disagree with my views here. 

Right, so the online searching. The best in the business when it comes to explaining HTML/CSS is www.w3schools.com. They have sample code, short and sweet explanations, and an online IDE to test your code. Really, it’s a win-win situation.

Alrighty, so now you know where to look for your HTML tags and CSS properties but how do you figure out which ones to use?

HTML Tags

I’ll talk about the HTML that’s required for coding on AO3 exclusively.

But before that— every HTML document has two main parts: the <head> and the <body>. But here on AO3, we only code the <body> which, as its name suggests, holds the content that’s going to appear on the browser. The <head> part is not required for AO3 work skins at all.

Okay, so how to code HTML on AO3? Well, your best friends are going to be the container tags such as <div> and <span>, and the paragraph tag <p>. What these tags do is they create areas on your browser — you can imagine them as small rectangles and squares — where you can put in your content via HTML, and then later style using CSS.

See this? The entire shaded area belongs to a <div> which is styled by a CSS class called “tumblr” (to keep things simple, we’ll only focus on CSS classes, and not id’s. It won’t really hamper developing a workskin in any way.)

This above belongs to a <p> that is styled by a CSS class “tumblrbody”. And, this <p> exists within the <div> mentioned above.

Here’s a <span> styled using the CSS class “tumblrtags”, which comes within the <div> and <p> we just discussed.

Basically, the idea is that the entire page will have to be divided into all these subsections, nested within each other if required, so that they can then be styled using CSS.

Other HTML tags that come in handy are the <a> and <img> tags.

The <a> or anchor tag is used to embed links. Want your reader to be led to a separate page while they’re reading your story? This is it. (This one’s quite common, and authors use them quite frequently in their notes to link to their Twitter/Tumblr etc.)

The <img> tag is used to embed images as the name suggests.

See how the picture is within an <img> tag styled by a CSS class “tumblrimg”?

Again, I’m not talking about the syntax of these tags or how they have to be written because that’s something which can very easily be found on w3schools or any other web dev tutorial website.

So, that’s pretty much about HTML. Now, CSS.

CSS Properties

So, when I talk about how most of my web dev happens through thorough internet searching, I’m mostly talking about CSS. Because HTML tags aren’t difficult to remember, they stay in memory when you keep designing web pages, but CSS properties... ugh.

But before we begin, a short note on CSS classes. To simplify matters you can look at them as labels given to your HTML container tags (<div> for example). Once you assign the label to your HTML element, you can then style that label in your CSS, and introduce properties to it which you want to see in your HTML. It basically forms the link between your HTML and CSS. 

Say, I have a <div> that I want to style, then I’ll give it a label like this: <div class=”mongoosesurprise”>Your code</div>. The class name is mongoosesurprise, and when I have to style that particular <div>, I’ll have CSS code that looks like this:

Now, about CSS properties. 

You see all the words in white followed by a colon? max-width? border? background-image? That’s it— CSS properties. I can never remember if it is maxwidth or max-width, whether it’s margin-right or right-margin, whether it’s padding-right or right-padding, and that’s where the Googling comes in.

Again, like with HTML, I’ll only talk about CSS on AO3. Unlike regular CSS, CSS here always has to start with #workskin. And then, #workskin can be followed by our class name. (The class name must be preceded by a fullstop though, like in the picture above.)

My CSS design procedure is all over the place. I entirely work on the basis of trial and error. I keep adjusting properties like max-width and padding and margin to see how the elements fit best. (It doesn’t take me as long as it did four-five years ago to estimate these values and I’d attribute that to practice and inspecting a lot of web pages. On a related note, it’s great to learn web design by inspecting other pages.)

I realize this isn’t great advice but like I said, it’s always been about trial and error when it comes to CSS. What I can say conclusively is that with properties width, height, display, position, padding, and margin most of your HTML tags will be placed properly. But when it comes to styling, the list is really quite endless. From a number of font-related properties to border, there’s a lot— and, thus, Google.

And, finally, what you must know for HTML/CSS on AO3 is how to host images.

Hosting Images

If you want your work to contain images, it’s best to host them somewhere online. Imgur is a great option; it’s free and really simple to use. Once the image is uploaded, you can get the share links and put it in your HTML <img> tag (under the src attribute— again, very syntactical so I’m not getting into that), or if you want you can put it in your CSS as an attribute for the property “background-image” (like in the code above).

You’ll have to make minor changes to the share link though, that is, add the image extension (.png or .jpg) to the end of the link. Also, sometimes the image doesn’t render if there’s no ‘i’ preceding ‘imgur.com’. Here’s a sample link that works perfectly: http://i.imgur.com/aSMSztl.png.

And, I think that’s pretty much it.

This covers the absolute basics of how to code HTML/CSS on AO3. But I’d like to repeat that by no means is this everything. If there’s a particular area you’d want me to explain, please feel to drop in an ask!

Happy coding! 

[handmadecp]

Small, Ladies ‘Satchel Style’ Shoulder bag.

Hi guys, been a while what with all this Covid Lock down stuff going on, been helping a lot of folks out that couldn’t get out so haven’t been able to do much, then came along a quite big extension to our current layout in the workshop so with all that I’ve been pretty busy, but..finally, I am back in the workshop doing what I enjoy. I was half way through a small bag build so some of you may/ or may not have seen a few pics already, but it’s all good. here is a short series of pics showing the build along of this particular bag. Apologies if it’s not in the same kind of detail I am generally known to show but as already stated its been hectic. If any of you give this one a go and you feel there is something missing from this build along please feel free to ask..I don’t bite and I welcome the interaction with other Makers. Lets go.

Pic 0 : The black dyed Veg Tan shoulder.

Pic 1 : I purchased a nice ready dyed black veg tan Shoulder 3- 4mm, nice strength and flexible too. I also purchased a pattern for a ladies small shoulder bag based on the old UK satchel bags school kids used to have, but a smaller version. All credit for the original design and pattern goes to ‘Craftsmangus’, they have a great YT channel and they make coold patterns. I purchased, downloaded, printed, cut out and transfered all the pieces to the leather as shown in this first pic, using a paint pen refill as usual as it comes of.

Pic 2 : After cutting the sections out I also used the pattern to mark all the holes on each piece and then followed up with a stitch hole punch as shown until all pieces were cut out and had the required holes. I will point out that if you buy this pattern from Craftsmangus and intend to make this bag a sI have done it there is a sklight change on mine to the video they have showing the build. on their video they are seen to cut one buckle strap...I decided to do the version with two buckle straps as you will see. Decide at the cutting out stage how many of each piece you will need for the version you want.

Pic 3: Stitching the small gusset to the outside small pocket using a saddle stitch. I find it difficult personally to use a stitch pony when doing the bags and doing it ‘free hand’ where it flops all over the place can be a bit annoying, but..just chill your beans, take a deep breath..smile and carry on, it’s the only way.

Pic 4 : Here you see the small gusset attached to the front pouch pocket ready to be stitched to the front of the main body. ignore the white marks dotted along the stitch holes..I count the holes to be sure there are enough on both pieces as I’ve been caught out before and end up with 18 holes on one piece and 16 holes on the piece it’s being attached too...you can see the problem. So I count and I use the paint refil pen and drag it across the holes as I go, that is the only reason it looks that way, just my personal choice..and I would recommend if you buy patterns, never just assume that the required holes are correct..check them.

Pic 5 : Hand stitching the other side of the front pouch gusset to the main body using a saddle stitch.

Pic 6 : Ta daaaa...done, the outside small pocket is now attached firmly to the main body and the stitches are consistant all the way round.

Pic 7 : Outside holes all counted, ready now to stitch the Bigger gusset to the front of the main body. all the stitching on this bag is saddle stitching. If it ever changes I will let you know.

Pic 8 : Using a few super strong clips I held the gusset in position as I stitched and moved them along as I went, it helps a lot to keep the holes aligned. Some times I will glue a gusset into position before I stitch but that can sometime leave holes out of line and also leave some glue on show when finished, so I pick and choose when to use it now, but if its a help to you do it..Sometimes I do...sometimes I don’t. Here you can see the clips holding it in position and the gusset laying along the edge as I stitch it.

Pic 9 : Large gusset attached to front section .

Pic 10 :

Pic 11, close up of the attached gusetts....so far.

Pic 11A Marking positions for the buckle and clasp straps to be glued and stitched.

Pic 12 : It’s a simple matter to cut out the buckle straps..I made two for my bag, then punch the stitch holes if not already done. rough the leather a little under where you will glue the strap (s), glue that small area , glue the back of the strap and glue...then stitch into position, before doing that bit, dont forget to make some holes for the buckle pin and force your strap through the buckles, on the other end which in this pic is under the buckle...you will need to attach a magnetic closure. Very easy to fit, just use the pins on the magnetic clasp to mark where you will put them,,then cut very carefully two small slits to pass the magnetic clasp ‘pins’ through, then bend the pins down to secure.

Pic 12A : using the clasp pins to mark where to cut the tiny slits to pass them through. Be careful when making the tiny slits you dont push so hard you make a ‘big’ slit.

pic 12B : Fitting the magnetic clasps.

Pic 13 : another view shows the underside/inside of the stitching when done. note the two ‘marks’ on the back section. just inside the bag, those are where the ‘D’ rinds are attached using the same method, thread the small strap pieces through the ‘D’ rings, rough a little and glue together then glue to the bag, this time I used a stitch awl to push the stitch holes all the way through and then hand stitched.

Pic 13B : gluing the buckle straps on ready for stitching I used evo stick 528 contact adhesive.

Pic : 13C positioning the ‘D’ rings.

Pic 14 : shows the magnetic clasps used, very easy to do and if you follow the video on YT from ‘Cratsmangus’ then you should have no issue with them. The next part of the project is to stitch the back section to the rest of the bag by saddle stitching to the other side of the gusset. I find you can’t really use a stitch pony for this as you need to get your hand inside the bag and it is quite a ‘fiddly’ part of the build but again..patience pays of.

Pic 14A : positioning the gusset to stitch the back section on. you could glue this on but I prefer to be able to move it around if the holes don’t alighn which I can’t do if it’s glued together. Your choice.

Pic 14B : sewing the back section to the main gusset.

Pic 14C : almost there...fingers getting sore, ouch.

Pic 15 : The strap making is simple, just like making a small belt. I used my strap cutter which can be bought online for a few pounds and is very worth the money, but you can do it with a sharp knife as I used to do. But for those of you here for the first time, there is a picture coming up that shows my strap cutter better. I then used an ‘English’ point strap end punch to cut the end shape, then held the strap to my partners own bag to get a decent length...cut to length, punced some holes for the buckle, attached the buckle by folding one end of the strap, cutting out a small area of the very tip of the strap (as bent over) to create a hole for the bucle pin to go through...attached it, then roughed, glued and instead of stitching I chose to use silver double headed rivits to match the buckle. All of the other clasps, clips, buckles on my bags are done in the same way, if you are new to leather craft there are more detailed instructions in my archive photos on other bag builds, belt builds and strap builds should you need more information. This bag, I would say..is for a person with the basics already sorted such as stitching, gluing neatly, strap cutting, buckle fixing etc however it could be achieved by a complete newby, but please be warned,,,use cheaper materials until you are confident in what you are doing...leather is expensive, especially here in the UK. You have been warned.

Pic 16 : And basically once the back is stitched on and the strap has all it’s clips and buckles on...that’s it. The only other thing I have done is to go around the edges with a fine sand paper to smooth the edges a little but not too much as I feel the unburnished ( or unpolished for the newbies ) edge adds to the overall look and appeal of this tough looking but smart little shoulder bag. Also I have added my own ‘Shaman’ Tag to it which I think sets it off just right. The following pics are just to show it from different angles.

Here you can see the wooden strap cutter I use, a simple, cheap easy way to cut nice straps.

I hope you like this latest project, as I’ve said many times before, I started my blog in 2015 when I picked up my first piece of leather to document my own Journey into this amazing craft little realising how passionate I would become about it and whilst I am by no means a novice now I still have much that I can learn and as I learn I share with anyone who might be looking and thinking...there’s no way I could do that..but it looks cool. Well...check out my archives my earlier attempts are a little ‘rocky / shakey’ and my stitching took practice. If you are willing to not let mistakes make you quit and choose to use failure as a lesson on how ‘not’ to do it, then you too can do this. Give it a go, just get a cheap piece of leather to begin with , find a smaller project and go for it. Please feel free to ask questions that is why I started this blog to share knowledge that others have shared with me. Many more projects to come guys so watch this space and as always..’Stay Crafty’. P.s..to any of you guys wondering about my little old workshop and what it was that took me so long these next few pics will explain. Thanks for sticking around.

This extension to my partners area of the workshop, lower work surfaces for sitting.

Extensions to my work area for lower surfaces for sitting, last year I did a lot of standing..this year it time to sit a while especially if stitching by hand.

The brown table you can see is no longer there, my partner and I now have plenty of room for standing work or sitting work, as with all things it took time, but it’s done and we can get back to business. I hope you’ve enjoyed this latest build, thanks to everyone who follows my little blog I appreciate it and if it was your first time seeing it I hope you will check out the archives and come back again. till next time ..take care guys.

[dewitty1]

Chapters: 47/47 Fandom: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Harry Potter/Draco Malfoy, Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley, Albus Dumbledore/Gellert Grindelwald (brief mentions), Sirius Black/Remus Lupin (very brief mentions), Assorted background canonical pairings Characters: Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, Albus Dumbledore, Most everyone who appeared in canon Additional Tags: Horcrux Hunting, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Animagus, Dragons, References to Switching, super slow burn, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Brief scene of dubious consent (medicinal aphrodisiac), brief homophobic language, Minor Character Deaths, Patronuses, Mates/Mating, Sexual Content, Canon Rewrite Summary:

[Extensive re-telling of Deathly Hallows] ‘Kill Albus Dumbledore’ is less a challenging task and more a suicide mission, so when Draco Malfoy is presented with the option to either dispatch his Headmaster or suffer an excruciating and most ignominious death of his own, along with his parents, he reaches deep into his black little Slytherin heart and manages to scrape together enough courage to go with option C instead: Spend Sixth Year secretly studying Animagecraft in the hopes he’ll turn into something sufficiently imposing even the Dark Lord himself won’t be able to keep Draco under his thumb. But just his luck, his Animagus form turns out to be a dragon, and a rather randy juvenile at that, intent on finding its mate: one Harry James Potter.

Excerpt:

Malfoy really wasn’t helping anything; this was going to be difficult enough as it was, but with Malfoy griping and complaining the whole way, it was going to be downright dismal.

They were adults; surely they could be mature about this. Probably. “Well—think of it this way: you stopped fighting the urge to transform, and it didn’t turn out so bad, did it? Maybe this will work out the same.”

Malfoy sneered. “I’ve heard tell of your snogging prowess, Potter; trust my expectations are at the ground floor.”

And now Malfoy had bruised his ego. Harry’s patience could take quite a beating, but this was a bridge too far. “Oh, and you’re so much better at it? Felt like you were going to gnaw my face off earlier.” It wasn’t entirely the truth, but he took the swipe anyway.

“I’m at least the more experienced between us,” Malfoy said, studying his nails.

“Sure about that, are you? You’ve only ever seen me at school—but you know I’ve spent my summers with my Muggle relatives, and when I’m not with them, I’m with the Weasleys, who live near a lovely wizarding village of several hundred.” Harry could count the number of times he’d set foot in Ottery St. Catchpole on one hand, but Malfoy didn’t need to know that.

Malfoy’s expression darkened at the implication, and Harry felt a brief flicker of concern; perhaps it wasn’t the smartest of ideas to trigger what were likely deep veins of jealousy and possessiveness.

He took a steadying breath and paced out a circle, letting their tempers cool. “…Look, I know this isn’t ideal—” Malfoy snorted as if to say No, really? “But we’ve both got far bigger, more important issues to focus on now, so let’s just…do this, so we can move on?”

“Fine,” Malfoy ground out, wrinkling his nose. “…Try again, if you must. I’ll try to tamp down the urge to clock you this time.”

“Wh—now?” Harry blinked, thrown. He hadn’t realised Malfoy would expect them to just get right to it.

“Backing out, Potter?” Malfoy arched a brow, lips pressed into a thin, judging line. Like he’d known Harry would try and weasel out of the agreement. “What was all that talk for, then?”

“No, just—I mean, I thought…” Well obviously, whatever he’d thought, he’d thought wrong, and he should have seen this coming. Malfoy had been dancing on the edge of a breakdown for several days now, and with potential salvation so near at hand, the urge to claw back some of that reassurance and confidence would be nigh unbearable. “…All right.”

Malfoy swallowed, throat bobbing, and uncrossed his arms. He was holding himself stiff as a rail, and he looked terrified.

“Did you…want to close your eyes again?”

“No I did not. Just get it over with.”

Malfoy’s voice broke just on the end, and he seemed to bite his tongue in frustration. Harry took several measured steps forward until the toes of his trainers kissed the tips of Malfoy’s fancy leather loafers—where had he dug out all these spells for this ridiculously fashionable wardrobe?

Was he meant to touch Malfoy? They hadn’t discussed etiquette—and at this point, Harry didn’t really want to. Discussing it was nearly as bad as doing it, so he decided to play it by ear. Touch was something that he knew settled Malfoy, at least on a subconscious level. If Malfoy didn’t want Harry touching him, he would surely let Harry know.

He brought his hands up and let them rest just at the knobby joint of Malfoy’s elbows, steadying the both of them in the tentative embrace. 

He could feel the fine thread of tension racing through Malfoy’s sinewy body, stretched tight and taut and ready to snap in the next strong breeze. 

Slowly, so as not to spook, Harry traced the jut of bone, memorising it, like Malfoy had done to him after the close call in Godric’s Hollow. He felt the tension ease, though only a hair, and Malfoy released a soft, haggard breath.

Harry found himself suddenly over-conscious of his technique. His earlier boasts of experience had been pure bravado, and while Harry was not entirely ignorant of the dynamics of kissing someone, he was certainly no Casanova. He and Malfoy were the worst people in the world to be stuck doing this. They were both equally terrified of losing face in front of the other, and both able to cut each other particularly cruelly if they felt so inclined. When it came down to it, Harry thought he’d probably rather kiss Voldemort than Malfoy, if only because he didn’t really care what Voldemort thought of him.

He did care what Malfoy thought of him, though. It was curious to think, but true. He didn’t want to seem cruel, or insensitive. He had so much power over Malfoy right now, in so many respects, and he wanted to show Malfoy that this trust he was obliged to place in Harry—this trust he would never have freely offered—was not unappreciated and not something Harry took lightly. He wanted to show him he appreciated the efforts Malfoy was making—though the steps were small at times, and he backslid on occasion.

The larger battle they were embroiled in now, together, made these smaller ones seem so inconsequential, and he just wanted to stop wasting his energy on these pointless fights so they could focus on the more important ones.

Harry lifted his chin, tilting his head just to the side so that the tips of their noses brushed—and Malfoy inhaled sharply, holding his breath. Harry stole his moment, leaning forward to bring their lips together. They held there for a long beat, neither moving, with mouths clamped shut and lips pursed tight. It was nothing like the heat and bruising force Malfoy had used on Harry earlier, and Harry felt a bolt of panic spear through him. He hadn’t a clue where to go from here—when the other party was this unenthusiastic, generally it was good manners to stop—and any moment now, Malfoy was going to realise he’d been bluffing and storm off in a strop.

But then Malfoy let his mouth fall open, just a hair, and a breathy little sigh escaped. Harry gave a gentle tug on Malfoy’s elbows to draw him down, closer, and he deepened the kiss. Malfoy’s hands slid up to curve around the back of Harry’s shoulders, clutching the fabric of his shirt with an edge of desperation, and he let Harry nibble on the soft of his lip. He pressed forward, for more contact, and Malfoy met him, turning into the pressure and running his tongue over the seam of Harry’s lips, like he’d done before.

It was slick, and hot, and bloody brilliant. Another way to make Malfoy shut up, aside from the occasional little sigh or catch of breath, and if Harry just focused on the sensations, gave himself over to it, it was…really not bad. 

Not bad at all. 

Too easy, in fact, to forget who he was doing this with and why. Too easy to just let it happen, to do it.

Harry took an open-mouth breath, and Malfoy’s tongue slipped between his lips, brushing against Harry’s. It was alarmingly hot, but Harry struggled to find the will to break the kiss to address it. It probably wasn’t important. Probably. He nipped Malfoy’s lower lip, then laved his tongue over it in apology. “…Is your tongue getting hot because you’re about to puke fire, or…?”

“Dunno…” Malfoy’s pointy nose was digging into Harry’s cheek, and his lashes fluttered against Harry’s. “Should we stop, to be safe?”

“Nah…” Harry said, muzzily, and laid down a soft, insistent kiss at the corner of Malfoy’s mouth, encouraging him to turn into it at a lovely angle that let Harry cover Malfoy’s lips wholly with his own. They moved with a gentle, languid rhythm that Harry could get drunk on, and what had he been worried about? How had he thought he could screw this up? They fit perfectly, so warm and right, and it was like Malfoy read his mind—couldMalfoy read his mind? Oh, what if they used Legilimency and—

A hand came to rest on Harry’s hip, though, and Malfoy drew back, their noses brushing. Harry’s breath was coming in warm, short huffs, and he felt flushed all over. His lips tingled, plumped and full, and he tamped down a giddy little grin, tilting his head to press in again—but then Malfoy pulled back, properly, and glanced away, covering his mouth with his arm and clenching his eyes shut tight.

Harry tensed. “What? Wh—did I do—”

Malfoy just shook his head, taking a step back. With the distance came fresh air, and each breath cleared the haze from Harry’s mind just a bit more. He took a moment to put his head back on straight while Malfoy collected himself.

Fuck. He’d just been snogging—full on snogging—Draco Malfoy. And…and he’d kind of liked it. Granted, that had been the point of the whole exercise: human contact, intimacy, and that damned reassurance. 

The dragon had to be purring like a kitten after that display, surely. Harry could say, unequivocally, that he’d never done anything like that with…well, anyone.

 If Malfoy needed further reassurance that he was not someone Harry was going to dismiss so easily, that he was not someone Harry was disgusted to touch, Harry didn’t know how he could express it. 

He’d had Malfoy’s tongue halfway down his throat, for god’s sake.

[etherealrj]

bad at love - part three

pairings : reddie

words : 1.3K

warnings : none

part one

part two

part four

ok but bc part two did so well i decided to treat ya'll  and post part three super early! bad news tho this is the second last part of the series, I hope you all like it!!

Eddie’s shoulders were tense under Richie’s hold. He could feel the breath from the taller boy fall upon his cheek, and the dark curls he loved so much melding itself with his own dark hair. Eddie could feel the heat rise on his cheeks, gladly appreciating Richie covering half his face with his bushy hair.

“Back already?” Mike questioned. Richie snorted before sliding down beside Eddie, throwing himself on top of Eddie’s lap, his legs tangled with Eddie’s own.

“Well, long story short.” He puts his arm against the back of the chair. “I’m a free man.” He showered the group of misfit teens with a blinding grin.

“But you guys were so happy.” Eddie says glancing back at Richie. The position the boys ended up sitting in was nothing new to the either of them. Richie draped across Eddie’s lap, Eddie’s arm wrapped around the Richie’s waist. This is how it had always been. “I saw you earlier, after school. You guys were acting like perfectly happy couple.”

“Well, Ed. Funny thing, it’s not that hard to fake happy.” He gripped Eddie’s shoulder with his right hand. “Now, you and me though, I could work with that.” He winked at Eddie, smirking slightly at the smaller boys flushed cheeks. “No, faker needed.” He starred for a bit, maybe a little bit too long. Eddie was beautiful. This was nothing new to Richie, he had harboured a crush on the boy all through most of their childhood. From the lack of any present and reliable parental figure, Eddie was one of the only constant Richie had in his life growing up. Despite the Loser’s being there most of the time as well, Eddie had always been Richie’s favourite. The former friendship had only begun due to the relatively easy flow between the two. They would bicker back and forth but knew when to draw the line. Richie admired the fact that Eddie could bounce back from whatever insult he through at him, he challenged the boy to think and come up with bigger and better content for future conversations.

Richie in simple words loved Eddie. He loved him with his entire being. From head to toe. Richie would do anything for this boy just to see his bright smile. Whether that was taking on a murderous shapeshifting clown or sneaking into his bedroom window at three am, to bring him a hot chocolate when he was feeling down. Nothing was too much. Most of Richie’s waking thoughts were spent hoping that Eddie was safe and having a good day, missing him when he wasn’t there and wondering when he was going to be back. And If that isn’t love, well Richie didn’t know what was.

An extensive ‘Um,’ was drawn out by one of the remaining four Loser’s sitting at the table. Too wrapped up in his own thoughts Richie hadn’t yet noticed the departure of Ben, Mike and Bev all claiming they were going to get a head start on playing Streetfighter. Ben exclaiming that he needs all the practice he can get if he wants to beat Richie anytime soon. “So, Bill and I are going to go play some pinball, we’ll see you both later yeah?” Waiting for no response Stan dragged Bill off toward the pinball machines. Face flustered at the tension which had settled in-between the two boys in question.

Eddie shifted his position to face Richie more directly, pulling at Richie’s waist to turn his body with his own. Richie tightened his grip around the boy’s neck hopefully making the situation a little easier. Richie always commended the boy at his ability to hold his weight so easily considering the dramatic size difference. The boy had yet to make any eye contact with Richie, he starred down into his lap and played with his fingers. He mumbles something under his breath which Richie had no hope in hearing. “Sorry Eds, couldn’t quiet hear you.” Richie teased the poor boy. Eddie took in deep breathe before clearing his throat. He glanced up into Richie’s warm honey eyes.

“You, uh – you said earlier you were in love with someone else?” Swallowing down all the courage Eddie possessed to confront Richie, he flickered his eyes to behind Richie’s face where all five losers are standing. They all give a reassuring nod to Eddie. He took in a deep breathe knowing this wasn’t to end the way they all were hoping. “Why did you never tell me who it was?”

Gasping loudly, Richie’s mouth opened wide as he stared at Eddie with a hand clenched to the shirt covering his heart. “My boy, I thought you already knew.” Eddie raised his eyebrows and narrowed his eyes, still awaiting his answer. “Your Mom Ed’s. I’m in love with your Mother. Mrs.K. You better get used to having another Da- “Richie was cut short by Eddie throwing him off his lap. He landed hard on the ground with an ‘oof’ Richie sat in shock, he looked at the boy with a smirk playing on his lips. Eddie’s face remained void of any emotion as he stood over him and walked away.

 “Eddie!” Richie shouted as he watched his figure faded into the overly crowd arcade.

All five losers had watched the scene play out. From Eddie pushing Richie onto the ground, to the part where the boy wiped away the tears leaking from his eyes as he walked past them, slamming the door shut. They all glanced over to Richie, mouths wide open as he starred at the door with confusion on his face. “W-what the fuck Rich!” Bill voice boomed across the room. Richie stood form the floor and headed toward his friends.

 “All you had to do was not be a dick, for once in your life.” Bev piped up, crossing her arms over her chest and narrowing her eyes at him.

“What did I do?”

Stan scoffed from behind Bill, “I told you it wouldn’t work. Richie is too- he’s too Richie Tozier.” Stan said with a wave of his arms as he gestured up and down Richie’s body. “Now poor Eddie’s all heartbroken and shit.”

“Did you listen to anything he had to say?” Mike raised his eyebrows at Richie waiting for a reply. Richie was slightly speechless as he looked among his friends.

“He hadn’t said anything!” Stan scoffed in response.

“Ah, so you didn’t even let him say anything before you were a dick!” Richie squinted his eyes at Stan, slightly insulted.

“He asked me who I was in love with, I said his Mom.” Ben groaned and if Bev could face palm Riche right now she would.

“G-go talk to him.” Bill said awfully loud if they hadn’t already attracted most of the arcades attention by now, they just did. Stan stepped in-between Bill and Mike to come face to face with Richie. Being the only two in the group who rivalled in height. Stan’s facial expression was extremely aggressive, if Richie were to say the least.

“I don’t have any clue as to why, but he’s in love with you, you fuckface! Now go see him before he changes his goddamn mind!” Richie’s eyes widen, flickering back and forth as he processes the information. A quick ‘shit’ was whispered from under his breath as he ran toward the door. Bumping into children and tripping every few feet. The Loser’s yet again stood back and watched the gangly limbed boy child make his way to the one and only person who will ever be able to stand him. With a shake of his head Stan headed back to the table, “He better not fuck it up again.”

A/N Hey my dudes, hope you liked this part! I'm super excited for thr next one tbh.  If you have any feed back much would be appreciated! I hope you are all having a nice day! x

if any of you guys wanna be tagged for part 4 lemme know.

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[netherwar-rpg-blog]

Welcome to the Wardens, Bec! Your application for THE ELEMENTALIST has been accepted with a Charlize Theron FC.

This skeleton bio was one of my favourites and you absolutely did this character justice! I adore how you made her Dawnish and really researched into the cultural norms of Dawnish society because they are all such an intelligent but crafty people. It really fits with Lisselá’s personality which is just perfect for an arrogant and power-hungry Mage! It’ll be so interesting to see how Lisselá uses her experience with the Game of Houses to manipulate any situation in her favour and how she excels in her adventures with the Wardens. The Star Tower will undoubtedly be super eager to claim their prodigy back but you really made her reason about leaving believable with those tensions with her tutors! We’re all really excited to see how this powerful Mage adapts to the Wardens’ challenges!

The application can be found under the cut. You have 48 hours to create a roleplay account (cannot be a sideblog) for your character and we will be updating our opening date soon!

O O C - I N F O

Name: Bec

Age: 24

Timezone: BST (currently GMT but switching over tomorrow!)

Activity Level: Every 2-3 days, higher activity on weekends as I work during the week

Extra: I’d appreciate tags for rape/non-con, domestic violence, self-harm and suicide please. I also have art and graphics experience so if mods ever want any additional help with that I’d be pleased to offer assistance!  

S K E L E T O N - I N F O

T H E - B A S I C S

Skeleton Title: THE ELEMENTALIST

Name: Lisselá De Sauveterre

Gender: Female

Age:  147

Class: Mage

Faceclaim: Charlize Theron

C H A R A C T E R - D E T A I L S

Nationality: Dawnish

Appearance: Lisselá takes great care over her appearance, rising early in the morning to adhere to a strict beauty regime. Her body language conveys a lady of status and grace, taught to never slouch and carefully conceal any tells. Her immaculate appearance and control over her outward emotion gives her an air of aloofness, her piercing grey-green eyes cold and calculating. Her long white-blonde hair is always perfectly styled in the latest fashion trends of the capital and matched with sparkling jewels and accessories paired with an ostentatious wardrobe. She flaunts her family name and associated wealth and prominence, her family crest displayed at every opportunity in her excessive range of jewellery. A lifetime in the Star Tower and born into privilege, she boasts clear skin and silken hair. She has few visible scars to speak of but the most severe she keeps carefully hidden by clothing at all times, unwilling to share the truth of her training.

Considered middle age for a mage, she benefits from their extended longevity and at first glances appears as a woman in her early 40s. There are hints of her true age, lines beginning to appear around her eyes and lips and signs of her hair beginning to thin and whiten further, but no more than to be expected for a mage of her age. However, she dislikes the physical reminder of mortality and obsessively searches for ways to minimise her aging and disguise her ‘weakness’.

Personality:

Ambitious from a young age, she has a shrewd aptitude for politics and the Game of Houses and is well versed in asserting the authority her connections afforded her. Growing up in the Star Tower, she hungered for greater power and devoted herself to honing her magical craft, aspiring to be the most powerful mage in Eldris. Fanatical in her desire, she has little patience for the strict and lengthy training and protocols of the Tower. She yearns to leave the oppressive regime and learn the secrets to unlocking the mysteries of the world with little care for the cost.

When the opportunity arose to leave she snapped it up immediately in the haste to obtain her heart’s desire and the consequences of this decision have begun to make themselves known. The family she has so proudly affiliated with have begun to distance themselves, viewing her position with the wardens as disgrace to their name. Bitter and resentful, she refuses to acknowledge their disapproval and stubbornly insists they will change their minds once she has achieved magical prowess to shake the very foundations of their world.

Whilst not unfriendly to her fellow wardens, she exudes arrogance and her guarded nature does not warm many to her side. She has learnt however that to attain her goal she needs allies and with her family severing their ties she has realised that she must make efforts to build new alliances.

C H A R A C T E R - B A C K G R O U N D

History:

Born to a wealthy family with ties to Clan Morvel in the city of Morn, she spent her childhood enjoying the luxuries and extravagance of a noble family. Educated extensively in etiquette, history and law she boasts an intelligence and cunning expected of a Dawnish lady. She dreamed of rising further and dedicated herself to expanding her scholarly knowledge and she had no qualms about where that knowledge came from, intrigued and seduced by the secrets of the forbidden arts. It came as no great surprise when she awakened her magical powers as a young teen and the move to the Star Tower seemed like her opportunity to unearth her true capabilities and learn more of Eldris’ mysteries.

She was named a prodigy from a young age; a label she wore proudly, making no secret of her aptitude for knowledge and magic. She soon grew tired of the tedious obsession with study and research with little to no practical application and the tension grew between her and her tutors. She had little patience to sit and learn the theory of magic, documented in dusty tomes and recited by every mage of the tower but her tutors insisted it was necessary to truly master the art. The overwhelming raw power burned through her however, begging to be unleashed and harnessed. This fuelled her temper and impatience and created further divide between not only her teachers but also her fellow mages. Her pride and disregard for the rules of the Tower afforded her few friends, seeing those around her as tools to get what she wanted and blaming their dislike on jealousy.

One of the more powerful elder mages who had tutored her from her first days in the Tower was her only confidant. She viewed her as a motherly figure and afforded her great respect for her knowledge and wisdom. Her grasp on the Game of Houses and her kind but firm nature appealed to Lisselá and she shared her deepest and innermost thoughts with her, trusting her council and seeking her approval. With a low tolerance for bullshit, the elder mage had always been most successful at effectively managing Lisselá and encouraging her to behave whilst satisfying her need for practical tutorage by secretly meeting to tutor her.

Reason for joining the Wardens:

As her mentor is reaching her twilight years, Lisselá knows the elder mage will not survive much longer. With growing friction between herself and the other mages, and her mentor unable to defend her (or tutor her) as she had in the past, she knows it is time to move on from the Tower before they find a way to permanently leash her desire for power. When news reaches the Tower that the Wardens have been formed in search of the Netherworld’s secrets, Lisselá knows this is her opportunity to leave the stifling oppression of the Tower and discover the true depth of her power and answer the burning questions that have dominated her existence.

R O L E P L A Y - S A M P L E

Wrapped in the thickest and warmed furs her coin purse could provide at short notice, she is suitably dressed for the unforgiving weather assaulting the mountain pass but still the bitter wind bites against her skin, seeming to seep into her very bones. With little sensation remaining in her extremities and her nose beginning to trickle with unsightly snot, any patience she possessed is long gone. As she is considering turning back and finding the merchant who sold her the furs to wring his neck and destroy any hope of a continuing career, she is startled by dark figures leaping from the mountainside. She feels her weary horse shifting its weight in anticipation before rearing in protest as the figures surround them. She utters a firm order for her horse to hush, gently patting its neck in a soothing motion, without breaking the glare she has fixed upon the figure who had landed directly in front. Her heart beat wildly in her chest and her an icy chill rang through her body, the skin on her arms turning to goose flesh.

“How noble you are sir,” She shouts over the howling winds, sarcasm dripping from every word and the lie coming to her easily, “To prey upon a woman travelling home to her father.”

The man seemed unperturbed by her comment, sneering as he wields a dagger in his hand.

“Give us your gold, wench!” He says with a snarl, desperation creeping into his tone, “Or we’ll cut you down and take it from you!”

Unable to hold back a nervous laugh, she attempts to steel her nerves and schools her features into an unimpressed sneer. She has no wish to fight these bandits, though she has no doubt she could take them, but she is already delayed on her journey and does not wish to further interrupt her schedule for a few foolhardy low lives.

“Please, do you even know how to use that?” She asks, arching her brow. “You do not wish to start a fight you cannot win. Certainly not against a daughter of Morvel.”

Again, the lie slips from her tongue. Not a complete lie, she is a Morvel in blood (albeit distantly). She knows this is a risky untruth, they may be so desperate they decide to take her for ransom but she trusts that they do not wish to take the risk of angering the most powerful family of the region. It is clear not many have travelled this road and so their supply of merchants and traders is woefully low but she feels little sympathy for anyone choosing a life of petty crime.

“Yeah right!” Another of the bandits says in protest, “As if they’d let someone that high o’ rank jus’ wander the pass unprotected!”

Well at least one of them had some form of intelligence, she mused. Letting out an audible sigh and making a show of rolling her eyes, she glanced towards the hooded figure that had spoken.

“Indeed. I am not alone.” She says evenly, looking down her nose at the man with greater threat in her voice.

A few of them started to argue, furiously whispering and nudging each other. Had the wind not been so noisy, she might’ve caught more of what they said but it was obvious they were faltering, unsure how to proceed. It was obvious they didn’t know the pass well and could not be certain she did not have hidden guards poised to attack.

Eventually they looked to the man who had spoken first and she was certain in her judgment that he was the leader of the thugs.

“If you wish to see the morrow I suggest you let me pass,” She says, “I will see that this… misunderstanding is not taken any further.”

He seemed to hesitate again, shifting his weight from foot to foot, before glancing at the faces of his misfit group and slumping his shoulders in defeat. Lisselá feels the tension ease in her body as he comes to his decision, relieved they have accepted her terms and trying not to let the satisfaction show in too much in her face. Fools, she thinks.

“Yeah, yeah… alright,” He says, finally conceding and stepping out of her path.

He lowers his weapon and uses his free hand to signal his group to follow suit, the weary men clambering back up the frozen rocks no doubt to await the next unsuspecting traveller. She imagines they will figure it out soon enough but she plans to be long gone by then and with the weather only worsening she is sure they are not so stupid as to risk pursuing her. Not wishing to wait around to find out, she clicks her tongue and gently kicks her horse forward, continuing on the icy path toward Miwor Town.