#I have some ideas. But first I need to finish my actual home website

[antisphinx]

Its like, I want to make art that if I found in the wild would make ME crazy. The inverse rule of nicher common experience = stronger connection. So that's why I'm building MFTBI basically like a digital snuffle mat; discovery and digging to learn stuff and creating a deeper understanding of a world are things that I really value in works of art. The downside is that this is just structurally not compatible with super fast paced modern social media and I hate shilling my own work because I find most tiktok trends utterly debasing. And also I will be the first to admit there's not a lot of juice on the site yet. Setting the stage for a lot of stuff I have planned but not a lot to sink yyour teeth into. It's gonna build up slow and I have to remind myself that I've only been working on it for three years (compared to my last project that lasted like ten, and for those three years i have been in uni so no shit I haven't made a lot of work for it lol) so people don't have a lot to be invested in yet. Idk just trust me bro <3

[storiesofsvu]

Decadent Desires Ch 3

Emily Prentiss x reader warnings: language, alcohol, minor political conversation, minor mentions of sexual encounters.

It was the sound of your coffee pot automatically brewing that originally roused you from sleeping, the beeping signalling it was done the reason you finally got out of bed. Traipsing down the stairs still in your silk pj set you yawned, starting to stretch out your body, dropping your phone on the breakfast bar before padding through the living room to open the blinds. The sun slowly rising through the sky and you deemed it warm enough to crack one of the windows, letting yourself actually get some fresh air on a work day. Wandering back to the kitchen you pulled down a coffee mug, adding a bit of creamer from the fridge before filling it with coffee. Right as you went to take your first sip, your phone buzzed on the countertop and you let out a huff, scooping up the device to a text from Heather.

‘You can work from home, it’s a low day.’

‘Thank god. I really didn’t want to put real clothes on.’

‘Well you’ll have to at some point. You’ve got lunch at Old Ebbitt Grill at two.’

‘Who am I schmoozing for you?’

‘Emily Prentiss.’

‘The fed from yesterday? What’d’ you need with the FBI?’

‘She asked to meet with you. You’ll have to discuss it with her.’ ‘Put it on my card.’

‘Alright. Thanks.’

‘Wear that Tom Ford blouse I like so much.’

‘The blue one?’

‘It brings out your eyes.’

‘I’m beginning to think you might have ulterior motives going on here...’

‘Enjoy your lunch.’

You dropped the phone back onto the counter with a huff, knowing you weren’t getting another word out of her on the subject. It wasn’t unlike Heather to send you in to do a certain level of dirty work when it came to getting other politicians to do what she wanted. It was technically part of your job, she would simply just suggest you use your assets in a way she couldn’t to get them to lean her way, and it almost always worked. Still, you couldn’t possibly imagine what a Section Chief from the FBI would want with your skill set, surely the bureau had their own type of publicists to deal with whatever kind of a situation this was.

You glanced to the clock above the stove to find it was barely eight o’clock and nearly debated going back to bed but you knew that was a bad idea and turned to your coffee instead. You thought about what to do for breakfast while you grabbed your work phone and laptop from your bag, setting them up on the breakfast bar before opening the fridge. You settled on some easy eggs and avocado on toast and restarted the coffee machine to brew a fresh pot, turning on an instrumental playlist on your phone to get your day going and your brain running.

Finished with the food, you refilled your coffee and settled in at the counter to start sorting through emails, shooting one off to Heather with reminders of all the upcoming week’s appointments, meetings and appearances. The rest of the morning felt rather dull, the anticipation of lunch piquing your curiosity more often than not, sending you down spirals rather than focusing on your actual work. You caught yourself leafing through FBI websites and any news articles you could get your hands on, and considering the status you held, that was more than the general public.

Finally around eleven thirty your brain couldn’t get through another email and you opted to jump over to the gym for a quick workout to distract yourself for a bit. You left more than enough time to shower, making sure you were fresh and styled, selecting the blue blouse Heather had recommended before finally leaving your house.

Old Ebbitt Grill wasn’t far, it only took you ten minutes to get there, especially considering the lack of midafternoon traffic. You’d been there a few times before, a standard choice for business lunches among the elite of Washington, close enough to Capitol Hill that it was convenient but just far enough away that it was slightly more away from eavesdropping ears. You pulled up the drive in front and were offered valet service that you accepted, passing off a five for a tip before heading inside where you were greeted by a young bubbly hostess.

“Hi,” you smiled back, “reservation at two, could be under Walton, Prentiss or Dunbar. I think it’s only for two.”

Her finger began scanning through the reservation look in search of one of the names, “oh! There you are.” She beamed up at you, “Walton for two. You’re the first to arrive, would you like to wait or be seated?”

“I’ll sit.” You laughed softly, “god knows I could use a drink.”                                                    

“Of course, right this way.”

You were led past the bar area to the dining room and directed to a green velvet back booth, white table cloth adorning the table. You slid in as the hostess scooped up the extra place settings and wine glasses,

“Can I get something started for you?”

“Uh… two waters and a glass of pinot grigio would be fantastic, thanks.”

With another smile she was gone from the table and you were left to settle in, glancing at your watch you realized you were practically twenty minutes early and let out a soft sigh. Punctuality was almost too much of your strong point, but at least you were never late for things. You scanned the menu quickly, sliding it off to the side to pull out a work file that you’d been putting off looking through, thanking the server that came back with your drinks.

*

When Emily entered the restaurant she wasn’t entirely too sure what she was getting into, it almost felt weird to be doing this during the day, especially on what was technically a work day. She’d gotten an out of office lunch and work from home afternoon approved so she didn’t have to drive back, and it was Friday so she just kept telling herself it was an early weekend. The hostess picked up right away that she was meeting someone and offered up your last name to confirm before guiding her through the room.

The moment they were through the bar Emily had eyes on you, neatly tucked into a booth, a pen in your hand and a file folder in front of you that all your attention was focused on. Your hair was pulled back off your face but most of it still down and loosely styled. The make up on your face was slightly more detailed than it had been when she’d met you at the office, a little heavier around the eyes, a slightly less neutral lip. Your outfit hugged your frame, accentuating your body perfectly, blue top dipping slightly to expose a tasteful amount of cleavage, black pencil skirt leaving just enough leg out to be admired, and of course designer heels on your feet. It was all accented with a silver bracelet, necklace resting on the swell of your chest and jeweled earrings to match your shirt. You glanced up at the movement coming toward you, a smile taking over your face as you greeted her.

“Agent Prentiss,” you smiled as she slipped into the booth, “or, is that a demotion? Should it be Section Chief Prentiss?”

“That’s way too much of a mouthful.” She laughed, “just Emily’s fine.”

“Alright.” You shot her a grin, flipping the file shut and capping the pen before you slid it back into your purse, “sorry, work never ends.”

“I didn’t keep you waiting, did I?” While she was concerned she may have been late, she was happy to see that you were completely content on your own, and that you took work on the go, already another green flag in her book.

“Oh not at all, I have a habit of being insanely early wherever I go.”

There was a slight pause as the server came over to ask about drinks and Emily glanced towards you, your eyes flicked to your half empty glass and you thought about it for a second.

“You may as well bring another one.”

“Heather okay with you drinking on the clock?” Emily asked with a small grin.

“Have you met a politician who doesn’t?” You laughed, “you know… I think that’s the biggest difference between our branches of government, you’re usually armed. The only weapons we carry are our words and nefarious blackmail.”

Emily chuckled at that, watching as you took a sip, “well I took a half day.” She turned to the server, “I’ll have a sauvignon blanc please.”

A few moments later they returned with Emily’s wine and the two of you placed an order for a round of appetizers consisting of scallops, beet and burrata, calamari and the bread service. Conversation flowed easily enough, chatting here and there about the day, how the weather seemed to finally be warm enough to enjoy being outside, little tidbits about work. Emily found joy in the fact that you could keep up with her when she mentioned work, that it didn’t take an extra three tangents of explaining details for you to understand what she meant. By the time the food came out, the two of you were fully comfortable around each other and after a bite of a scallop, you decided to make the jump to attempt to get to the point.

“So, I know I’ve heard that the BAU’s in a bit of hot water right now, but I didn’t think you needed a full PR takeover. Don’t you have your own communications team for those kind of things?”

Emily stalled, quickly popping a piece of calamari into her mouth to spare her a few seconds to figure out how to start things. “Uhm….” She swallowed the food down, chuckling awkwardly, “that’s not exactly why I wanted to meet. Heather… recommended you for something else.”

“Ah…” You leant back against the booth, your elbow draping over the back of it, “I knew Heather had ulterior motives about today but I didn’t realize she was passing me off to utilize the extra skill set.” You chuckled, having now figured out exactly what Emily was alluding to, but you weren’t going to let her off that easy, you wanted to hear her say it. The corner of your lips twitched up at the way she tensed across the table from you and you went in with another tease and false lead. “You want to know what other PR teams I’m close with, whose assistants have loose lips or an axe to grind, dig up a little dirt on someone. Director Bailey? AG? Who’s the thorn in your side, hmm?”

The knot in her stomach burst at the latter part of your sentence, suddenly distracted she glanced up at you with a furrowed brow, “wait, you could really get in with the AG for me?”

“Mmhm.” You nodded over a sip of wine, “she thinks she’s a good friend, would you like me to do some nosing around?”

“No, no.” She waved you off, “that could get you in trouble.”

“Emily, believe me, with most of them all you need is a few too many glasses of wine, a little flattery, maybe a hint of an illegal substance and they’ll tell you whatever you want.”

She let out a low laugh, “I’m going to ignore that last part.” You chuckled as she picked up her wine, taking another sip while you scooped up another scallop. “You certainly have some kind of pedigree, don’t you?”

“I had a lot of ladders to climb to get where I am now, and a decent education and quick thinking always helps.”

“Was PR always the goal, or did you have your eye on Capitol Hill?” She asked and you nearly snorted.

“Where I am is where I want to be. Communications Major at UCONN, followed by a stint at Georgetown.”

“What does a ‘stint’ consist of?” She asked with a raised brow.

“Just a little law degree, never really intended to use it just wanted the knowledge.”

“Did you write the bar?”

“Mmhm.” You nodded, taking another sip of wine, “passed with flying colours. Just never really saw myself as a lawyer, fighting in courtrooms isn’t my style.”

“So why bother with the extra three years then?”

You shrugged, “Heather paid for it. Said if I was overqualified for a role I could bargain for better pay.”

“Wow…” Emily’s eyes widened, “she must really like you.”

“We’ve known each other a long time. She always knew she wanted me working for her in some capacity and she needed someone who she could trust, someone who was going to know what they were doing and was right for the field. When you work for Dunbar you have to fit the brand. Now making sure that brand is upheld is my job, she had to start with someone.”

“You enjoy working for her? She’s a good boss?”

“Are you kidding me?” You laughed, “being on her payroll is better than any other politician in the country, maybe even the world. She has a much higher level of expectations that always need to be met, she knows quality, she knows class and she demands it out of everyone. So she supplements with extras to make sure we know how appreciated we are and to keep us loyal.”

“Sounds like she knows what she’s doing.”

“She always does.” You leant forward, bracing your elbow on the table so your chin could rest in the palm of your hand, “which is why I know whatever she suggested I help you with is exactly what you need. But I’m starting to feel like I have to sign an NDA to even have this conversation.”

Emily sucked in a deep breath letting out a sigh before reaching for her wine glass, “well… I am hoping for a certain level of discretion and the previous couple of times I’ve tried this it didn’t exactly work in my favour.” She glanced back across the table to find your head still perched on your hand, eyes full of curiosity as you looked back at her and she nearly gulped.

“Do tell… what is it you want from me Agent Prentiss?” Your voice was lowered, both an attempt to get her to own up and to make sure you weren’t overheard, “I work in PR, I know how to uphold an image and believe me, I know how to keep a secret.”

She swallowed down a gulp of wine before slowly beginning to speak, “I’m… looking for someone who is willing to spend a night or two a week together, could be friendly company, could be more if you’re comfortable. And I’m willing to pay.” She winced, suddenly stopping herself, “wait, that sounded bad.”

You chuckled softly, smiling across the table at her to urge her to continue.

“Basically, I’ve got a bit of spare time and extra finances. I need someone who understands I can’t always be around, that work can and will upend plans constantly and suddenly. Someone who values privacy. I don’t have time to do the whole dating thing, the strings that come along with that.”

“Casual intimacy in exchange for fancy dinners, pricey jewels and lavish vacations?” You murmured softly, your head tilting in her direction and she nodded, “well… now we’re finally on the same page.”

“And you’re comfortable with that?”

Your eyes slowly raked over her, taking in her beauty, a small grin on your lips as you nodded, “Mmhm.”

“And the stipulations that come along with my work?”

“Not an issue. As you know, I have my own career and working for Heather can be a twenty four seven, seven days a week job and similar to yours, it includes a lot of travel. Discretion is easily attainable and I know how to uphold a certain image.”

“Good.” She let out a low huff of a laugh, “the last couple of dates I went on before this were garbage.”

“Mmm… I think you likely got caught with the ‘professional’ babies… they don’t want to work; they just want to get paid for being hot.” You rolled your eyes, “they don’t care about careers, they want to be center of attention at all times.”

“And lord knows I don’t have the time or patience for any of that.”

Before you could reply your phone began a series of buzzes on the table top, your eyes flicking to the lit screen and you sighed, “hold on, it’s Heather.” You picked up the device to swipe open the text chain, half muttering to yourself, “bitch said I could work from home today but god knows I can’t go twenty four hours without having to put out a fire.”

“Duty calls?” Emily asked with a near grin, watching as you finished your wine.

“Unfortunately.” You cast a smile in her direction, “and right as we were getting to the good part, sorry.”

“No apology necessary, go. I’ll take care of this.” She gestured to the table.

“Are you sure?”

“All things considered; I think it’s my responsibility.”

“Right.” You laughed softly, popping your phone back into your purse as you slid out of the booth, “you have my number?”

“I do.” She nodded, “I’ll make a reservation for next Friday, we can do dinner and discuss this further?”

“Of course.” You smiled at her, “I’ll see you Friday Emily.”

_______________

@mickey-gomez @momlifebehard @daddy-heather-dunbar @maybe-a-humanbean @rustyzebra @leftoverenvy @kades95 @dextur @supercriminalbean @emilyprentisssluvr @lex13cm @zizzlekwum @emobabeyy @riveramorylunar @scorpsik @onmykneesformarvel @inlovewithemilyprentiss @regalmilfs4me @ara-a-bird @five-bi-five-mind @inlovewithmiddleagewomen @hotchs-bitch @ollysmulti @kmc1989 @irishavengersassemble @hopedoesntknow @venromanova @waitaminuteashh @noahrex @imlike-so-gaydude @wittygutsy @cx-emerald-cx cx @momily @nilaues @borinxnovak @soverign @v3nusxsky @blackbird-brewster @mccdreamys-writes @l4yne @obsessedwjill @supercorpstan97 @asolitaryrose3 @honeyycatt @trauma-factory @lisqueen

[ya9amicide]

Redamancy [BTS]

chapter one

♡ info ♡ k-pop masterlist ♡ next chapter ♡

summary: Hybrids were accepted in society to a certain degree. To some, they are for entertainment. Used as sex and money tools. To lock up and abuse whenever and however they please. Something to have control over. To others, they are companions. Just like regular animals are used for therapy or simply companionship, hybrids are too.

To the rest, they are just like everyone else. Someone with their own life who deserves the same freedoms as your everyday John or Jane Doe. Wren is one of these people. She hates the idea of owning a hybrid. She has nothing against those who own them for medical or companionship reasons. Just the rest.

But, when a ragtag pack of seven mismatched hybrids somehow ends up in the woods behind her home, she takes them in and does the one thing she never thought she would do. Own them. But, she also does something she didn't even think was possible. She fell in love with each and every one of them.

pairing(s): ot7 x ot7, ot7 x oc

warnings: none

Most hybrids come from Asian countries because of the ethereal beauty they possess. For most, that is the only asset that keeps them alive. The way most of these hybrids end up in other countries is if they are sold to someone and brought there. Now, the entire world has hybrids mixed into its population.

Being a writer, I always get asked why I haven't written anything about hybrids. For a fantasy writer, it's like the jackpot of writing material considering they actually exist and all the information I would need is right at my fingertips if I want it to be.

It's just something that never sat right with me. I don't know everything and the only way to know everything is to speak to one myself. I don't own a hybrid. I won't own a hybrid. I have nothing against people who own them as long as they are treating them with care. But, I just don't feel comfortable interrogating someone for the purpose of a story.

Hybrids have very unique, very personal aspects to their lives that other people don't have. It would be like asking the deepest most personal questions about someone's life. It's unfathomably uncomfortable.

Luckily, I can escape the demands for hybrid content when I'm teaching. Teaching Greek mythology to college students has its perks in that regard. Which, leads me to where I am now, wrapping up my lecture for the day.

"Alright everyone, don't forget your homework for the weekend." Some students groan at the back of the room. I stand from behind my desk, walking around to the front where I lean against it with my hip. "Yes, yes, I know. Just be thankful you get a whole weekend for it, your other professors probably wouldn't be so nice. Now, any questions?"

Two hands raise in the air and I call on the first one to come up. "How many sources did we need to cite again?"

"At least three," I say. "You can use more if you'd like, I have no issue with that. However, I hope I don't need to remind you which types of websites aren't credible sources?"

Everyone shakes their heads and I nod, calling on the next person. "Will there be any time to come in to ask questions about our papers before Monday?"

"To come in, no. Unfortunately not. However, if you'd like you can email me with any questions you have or just send me a draft and I can read it for you and give you feedback that way. I will try to get back to you asap if I can. Just please do not email me Monday morning or late Sunday night as I will be asleep and it will be too late for you."

When I finish speaking everyone shuffles in their seats. "Any more questions?" When nobody else speaks up, I lean upright from my position in front of my desk. "If that's all then you are all free to go. Have a good weekend." I receive goodbyes from almost every student as they leave. Once the last one does, I shuffle all of my belongings together and leave the room, locking the door.

On my way home, it starts to rain. It's been in the forecast all week but it was only supposed to be a slight drizzle. This, however, is a torrential downpour. Pulling into my driveway and parking, I brace myself to make a run for it. There's no way I won't get drenched.

Walking inside, I toe off my shoes and drop my things by the door before going upstairs to change into warm and comfy clothes for the evening. Walking into the kitchen for food, I pass the large, sliding glass doors that lead to my backyard and the woods behind my house.

Cereal for dinner sounds good. With a bowl of dry cereal in one hand and a glass of milk in the other, I make my way to the living room. On the way, I pass by the glass door again. Lighting strikes, lighting up the yard and the woods in the distance. In the treeline, I almost swear I can see an animal. It's not super big, but it's not small either. Surprisingly, even with the woods bordering my house, not many animals make their way out. so, seeing one now is slightly odd.

I set my food down on the coffee table and move back to the kitchen, making a plate of food for...whatever is out there. If it's in the woods in a storm like this, it must be hungry. Sliding open the glass door, I set the plate down on the porch under the awning and move back inside where I sit on the couch with my own food and the tv playing in front of me.

I'm around two episodes into the show I was watching when I hear footsteps on the back porch. They're small but loud enough for me to hear through the rain which has settled down into a soft drizzle. Standing, I make my way to the door, trying to keep my steps light and my posture open so whatever is out there doesn't feel threatened by me.

When I'm close enough to see what it is, I find a German Shepherd right before it shifts and a man is left in its place. My hand reaches out for the door handle when he sees me. His eyes widen and he scrambles to pocket all of the food and make a run for the woods.

I quickly open the door trying to stop him. "Wait, please! You don't have to go." He freezes in his steps, halfway off the porch. "I- I can give you more food if that isn't enough. And some water too if you want?" He's thin and pale and shaking like a leaf where he stands. "Please?" My voice is soft, I'm afraid if I speak too loud he'll run away. "I just want to help."

It feels like we stare at each other for hours before he nods his head, barely enough for me to see but it's still a nod. "Okay, okay that's good," I say and lead him inside. "Let me get you a towel so you can dry off, you must be cold." I don't wait for him to respond before I rush off to get it. When I come back, he's in the same spot I left him.

"Here," I hand him the towel and watch as he wraps it around himself. Slowly, his shivering starts to calm down. "Do you have any preferences?"

He looks at me strangely, head tilting to the side. The ears on the top of his head flop to the side softly, the fur wet. "To eat? Is there anything in particular you want? Anything I should avoid?" He seems to take a minute to process what I asked him before he slowly shakes his head. "Okay. You can um...you can come wait in the kitchen while I get you something if you want."

He timidly walks in behind me and watches everything I do. I decided on soup. Hopefully, the warmth from the food would make him feel better. "Is it just you?" I ask timidly.

"No," he says softly after some hesitation.

"Are- are they close? Whoever you're with?"

"Yes."

I pause what I'm doing. Maybe I should make more soup..."How many of you are there?" How much food am I going to need to make?

He shifts uncomfortably. "Seven. Including me."

"Do they want to come in? You can invite them if you want." I avoid looking at him, continuing to make more food.

"What?" He sounds surprised and wary.

"Only if you want. I mean," I stop and chuckle slightly, "seven versus one? If I were to try anything, which I won't, I think you all have the advantage. Don't you think?"

He waited for a few minutes, probably trying to see if I was pulling his leg. "Okay." He slowly makes his way to the sliding door, I can feel his eyes on me, keeping me in his sight. Leaving the door open, he shifts back into a German Shepherd and lets out a loud howl towards the forest. Anything else beyond that, I don't hear because of the volume of the storm raging outside. It was around 15 minutes before he came back inside, several pairs of footsteps shuffling in behind him.

I freeze, gently putting down what was in my hands before slowly turning to face the group of hybrids in my home.

[artofchira]

As someone else who's in the process of burning out just surviving, and has lost sight of why I enjoyed art in the first place, would you be willing to share some of the things you've tried to get back on your feet? Super glad that you're doing so much better, btw.

First: It's actually become a job for me to help artists reconnect to their art through my mentorship workshop with everything I have learned, and I consider myself very good at it. I've been doing it for about 4 years now. If you or any other artist would like direct help with recovering from burn out please check out the service page of my website and testimonials from previous clients.

To answer your question:

A lot of my own personal stabilization just came as a result of wanting the experience of making art to be comfortable. It wasn't a choice anymore. After my father passed I relaxed for about 3 months -- longest I went without drawing in my life since I started freelancing -- and when I sat back at my desk I just couldn't make myself work under the same pressure. I'd try to force myself to draw and it made me want to cry instead. I quickly learned I could only create if I felt comfortable and drawing felt gentle, so I had to accept moving forward if I wanted to continue being as productive as before I needed to find a way of working that eliminated stress or using will power, which means working in a way that was renovated from the ground up. I couldn't go back. How I was making art was over. I needed it to be repaired. I had no idea what that looked like, so it was truly trial and error.

A fact about me is I have a very high sensory/pain threshold naturally (I also recently learned I was autistic over the pandemic, imagine that has something to do with it) so I've always been historically bad at ignoring my physical limitations because I rarely felt them unless my body broke down on me, and when it did I treated myself with annoyance and forced myself to work through it. I'm talking like no sleeping for 3-4 days straight, or coming home after a kidney stone to finish a comic page still shaky on pain and morphine and then feeling bad at myself for being lazy. To say my old work habits were highly self abusive is an understatement. So when I started addressing everything that was an inconvenience and uncomfortable, it ended up correcting everything I was ignoring or failed to consider a problem until it was past due.

To cut a long story short, a list of material changes to my life that improved my health:

I got medicated, finally. I'm extremely bipolar. Always have been. Drawing between periods of oscillating between feeling divinely invincible vs ideating suicide every waking moment vastly became easier to manage.

I got glasses. I'm farsighted, but it was never a problem for me since I could see fine -- ooor so I thought. Turns out when you're farsighted you're focusing constantly without even realizing it. Turns out getting glasses gave me 80% of my mental space back so I suddenly had more energy, generally more awake, and more focused. No one talks about farsightedness so I had absolutely no idea I was burning myself out physically just being able to see. Worth mentioning!

Started seeing a massage therapist and a chiropractor regularly. I always thought of those things as luxuries, not necessities. Which was extremely stupid. Maintaining my physical body through directly working out kinks in it became something like brushing my teeth or showering -- it's just something you do to make sure health and hygiene isn't making you dysfunctional and rotting you. My body no longer breaks down.

For the same reasons as above, maintained seeing my therapist regularly even if I felt fine or had no issues to work out. I realized I was always quick to end support as soon as I felt I didn't need it anymore (again treating it as a luxury) so making the space in my life for mental/emotional check ins kept my head organized. My therapist is bewildered by me and has no idea what to do with me because she feels she's not doing anything. I just tell her by me making the space for me to explain myself at all, even if all I was doing was describing how I was fine, was the help. She's great.

Got a cappuccino machine. May seem stupid but being able to make gourmet coffees from my kitchen every morning really genuinely improved my life and mind more than getting medicated.

Got a dog. He's amazing. I love him. Very warm and loving companion, and such a gentle soul. He keeps me out of my head and gets me prioritizing walks every day, so my vitamin D intake increased massively. I don't have the luxury of staying in bed for 3 days straight in my depressive episodes anymore. I have to make the effort to leave it at least twice a day to walk and feed him and play with him. Like most people, I'm terrible at prioritizing for myself but will move worlds for those I love no matter where I'm at.

For personal habits I just reflected a lot on why I felt I had to will myself to draw when drawing is something I love doing most. It made no sense to resent doing what you devote yourself to doing. I changed -- and still changing -- my mental framing in how I think of working on art for it to be something I'm eager to do, not obligated to.

Hope this was educational.

[faccal]

WIP Wednesday (It's Saturday)

I was tagged by the wonderful @simonxriley thanks so much dude!

I always suck at tagging people, but I know this can be for writing and art, so I'll try to tag a few others. @samithemunchkin @tokillamockingbird427 @alidravana and anyone else who wants to join in on the fun!

I've been going back and forth with different WIPs, so I'll do the one that I actually worked on today.

Merrick’s in his office filing paperwork when he gets back, fingers clicking away on a laptop he’d been given. His graying brows are furrowed and surrounded by deep wrinkles, the man having seemed to age much quicker in the last year or so. 

“Hey Merrick.” Hesh knocks lightly against the open door, a flat smile on his face while he waits for his captain to look up. 

“What’s going on, kid?” His eyes flick up for a brief moment, a faint spark barely crossing his eyes for a second before it's gone and he’s looking back at his paperwork. 

“I uh, there’s not much to do. I wanted to see if you needed my help.” He takes a seat in the chair across from him. He quite likes the place they’ve been staying in, it’s got a lot of older furniture, but much of it is quite comfortable and cozy. It often reminds him of their old places they’d stay at. Safehouses full of outdated furniture among other things. He lets out a sigh, rubbing his hands back and forth on the fabric of the armrests. His grandparents had chairs like these in their lounge. 

“I’m all set, Hesh.” He answers, short and curt. Always cold. Hesh knows Merrick doesn’t mean to be cold, he’s usually warmer with his men when he can be. “I’m just finishing up my half of this, Price will finish his when he gets back.” Another brief glance. “Are you alright?” 

“I’m good.” He answers, which is a half-truth. Logan had been doing much better; less nightmares, fewer violent outbursts. He’s finally willingly letting nurses take blood samples, among all the other things they need from him. Constant checks, constant evals. It never ends. Hesh would give anything to snatch his little brother and take him far, far away from here. It wouldn’t have to be back home, there’s nothing left and that’s the first place anyone would look. Soap’s warm smile crosses his mind, a soft skip in his heartbeat catches his breath. Maybe they could all run away together. 

It wouldn’t solve their problems, and none of them were runners. Soap still wanted to lead his team, and Hesh was more than ready for another promotion. Certainly, he’d earned the privilege of being a Captain. Granted, the idea of leading the Ghosts not only excited him but left him with doubts. Rorke had led them, his father, and now Merrick. The Ghosts seemed to have a hard time keeping captains and soldiers alike. They’d all been through so much, both before and after ODIN. Both before and after Torch, Grim, Ajax and his father were killed. It was a heavy burden to lead the Ghosts, and Hesh was beginning to wonder if he still wanted that. 

Pulling himself from his thoughts, he jumps a bit when his eyes land on Merrick’s stern ones, boring into his face. 

“Thought I lost you for a second there.” He states, eyes flicking around Hesh’s face. “Go get some rest kid, you need it.” 

“I don’t-” He tries to argue, shutting up when Merrick gives him that look., the same look his father used to give him when he’d try to argue. “Yes sir.” He answers with a sigh, pulling himself from the chair and leaving without looking back. He probably had that look on his face still, and he didn’t want to see his father in Merrick’s eyes. 

Sorry for any weird spacing, I didn't feel like fixing it, I'm terrible at website Tumblr.

[lucisunderwitch]

Welcome to the (non) official

BLOG!!! (For short LUW)

This AU is my own idea. There may be some questions you may ask yourself, but first let me explain what this blog is for.

This post is the main one, I recommend checking it if you're new to this AU. Here I'll post everything Luci's Underwitch related. Or almost everything. I'll try. (I may have missed some art from my main acc, it is @artsycrow46)

Also, if you want to ask any character anything, on @lucisunderwitchasks you can ask them! Edit: The account was deleted and moved here(i have way too many accounts so I need to do some cleaning from time to time)

Let me give you a brief explanation of the AU. Luci's Underwitch is an AU where all monsters are actually humanized, being called Witches. Frisk is 12 during their travel around the Underground, doing the Pacifist Run, and in the end, accepting the job as the ambassador of Witches, but going 'home' to their dad. Chara fallows them pretty much everywhere, and likes Frisk very much, being besties.

Now several months fast forward, Frisk lives with the Dreemurr Family. Asriel (11 y/o) and Kris(5 y/o) are their siblings, and Toriel takes care of all of them, dating Sans (mhm, I'm one of them Soriel shipers).

Ten years later, Frisk and Asriel are at college, and Kris found out about the Dark Worlds!.. The year now it's 2025, and Kris with Susie are now at their homes, waiting for their siblings to come back from college for Easter! Scarlett is one of Frisk's best friends, maybe even more than friends! And Asriel is still single since he's autistic as fvck.

Toghether, Frisk (with Chara ofc), Kris, Asriel, Susie and Ralsei are going into a steampunk adventure in Frisk's closet.(all of this is happening after Chapter 2. I am going to play the next Chapters when they're out, and add them to another fanfic)

Under the cut you'll have more, and at the end there will be the questions.

'kay, the explanation wasn't that brief. I am going to make a comic about it, but I am still learning about how to draw perspective and hair sooooooo y'all won't get this soon.

I have two fanfics on the way with this AU, and a third one might appear after I finish the second.

The main fanfic is called Lost Souls, The First Part explaining different events from Frisk's life after they got out of the Underground, and The Second Part is going to fallow the two humans into the closet adventure! (The closet has nothing to do with lgbt, but the fanfic surely has a bunch of lgbt in it)

I might upload several chapters in a day, or forget about it for weeks. If anyone wants to read more and I haven't uploaded a new chapter in a long while, uhhhhh tell me? (My dumbass my forget fast)🫡🫡🫡

The link to it? I might add an AO3 link too after I figure out how to use that website-

The second fanfic is called Underground Adventures, fallowing Frisk trough the Underground. This one will be out all at once, not by parts, so it's no worth to put the link here.

Now the third fanfic. It's going to be called Runes And Adventures. It's going to be abt Kris in the dark world, during Chapter 1-2. The Chapters 3-4 are going to get a separate fanfic, since they're gonna be AFTER the steampunk adventure. I am not even working on how to write it or any ideas, since it's going to take a long time, and it's not the biggest deal. I might not write it at all, since you get to see most of Kris's interactions in the game already, but who knows?

NOW!!! The possible questions(since I can't say FAQ)

1. Why is it called Luci's Underwitch?

Well, it was supposed to be called Underwitch. But apparently that exists already so I had to add my name to it. TwT

2. How do the characters look?

Well, if you've been on my main, @luciluck2046, you would see a bunch of fanarts, but I'll post them here too a bit later.

3. Comic?

Not yet. I suck.

4. Inspiration?

I got inspired to make this AU after I finished TOH(The Owl House), and also I liked the idea of humans with magic that UnderMate has. So yeah, I kinda combined those two with Undertale and my creativity, and I got this AU!

Reference sheets

Welp, it seems you got to the end of the main post! I might update this often, but who knows? See you later my friend, and have fun reading!

[nocompromise-noregrets]

five good things

It's been a while! Let's see...

I finished my BA in Language Studies with English and German with the Open University (part time distance learning) and achieved a first class honours! I've been kind of playing it down and thinking of it as not a huge deal, partly because I've got this internalised sense that you don't brag about your achievements, nobody likes a know-it-all, being intelligent/academic is not the done thing, which dates back to my schooldays (which are over 30 years ago at this point what the hell), but actually...look, I was a solid 64% achiever throughout my initial academic career at 18-24, and I thought that was all I was capable of, but if I've calculated it correctly (not entirely certain, maths is still not my strong point) I think my overall score for this one has been 94% which...holy crap, you guys. Nobody is more surprised by this than me. I think it's a combination of 30 years' extra maturity plus they actually tell you what they want you to do these days, but...wait, I'm playing it down again, aren't I? Anyway. On to the Masters in Applied Linguistics!

Which starts in October, but the course website opens next Wednesday so the plan is to get in there and try and get ahead. Whether I'll actually manage that is up for debate, but I do rather want to try and do at least some of it early, especially because...

I am going to be spending eleven days in Helsinki in mid-late October because Japa from Private Line's new band is playing a show on the 19th, Private Line are playing a show on the 26th, and my absolute hero Michael Monroe has announced a solo acoustic show on the 25th which it would be rude not to attend, since it's a 5-minute walk from my hotel XD I'd already booked to be there from the 18th to the 28th so I could see Japa and PL because I have loved them inordinately since 2006, so when MM announced his solo acoustic tour of Finland beginning in August and ending in October and I realised one of the last dates was while I was already going to be in Helsinki, well. :D :D :D I am super excited, I have a spreadsheet with museums and opening times and days and hopefully I'll be spending a day in Tampere and a day in Turku running round museums as well as all the Helsinki museums, some of which I've already visited several times and am excited to revisit, and some of which I've never been to before. I am looking forward to this SO MUCH YOU GUYS OMG.

And then, when I get back, rather than coming straight home, I will be spending three days in London with the utterly glorious @lemurious who is spending a couple of weeks this side of the pond! I cannot WAIT. We are going to run round London looking at museums and Roman stuff and eating food and drinking beer and nerding out about Tolkien and history and EVERYTHING and it is going to be AWESOME. aaaaAAAAAAAA!

TRSB reveals are in less than an hour! My fic is here, the art by the lovely @erathene, who I am delighted to have got to know this summer, is also here, and I am so excited for everyone to finally get to read a story from Tilda's point of view, after her spending so long on the sidelines of Empty Vessel-'verse! Tilda herself was super excited to finally get to talk properly, as evidenced by the fact that the fic is 46k long (oh GOD) and I've already had to begin the sequel because there wasn't enough space (or time XD ) in the story for everything that needed to happen! She is still going, and will be for some considerable time, and it is such a joy to finally have her unleashed! Those of you who are already familiar with the concept of the Tilda Warning will understand that it very much applies to this fic XD

@sigrielweek is in a month! The eternally awesome @seagull-energy has very kindly done some beautiful art for the header and icon, and I am percolating prompts/themes this weekend (if you have some please sling them my way, you all know I am not at home to the idea fairy at the best of times XDDDD ), and the event will be running between 7-13 October, to coincide with the Battle of the Five Armies on the 10th (following on from Smaug's attack on Lake-town on the 1st)...

Innumerable Stars assignments are out and I am super excited by mine! I can say no more at this point but it's going to be huge fun :D :D :D

Oh! I finished Writers' Month as well as TRSB! The masterpost is here, and I'm rather enjoying re-reading the fics I had to bang out without having time to read them again, at a rather more leisurely pace.

I had a very successful meeting at job number two yesterday to finally kickstart a project my predecessor dropped in my lap having got the relevant people interested and raring to go, without having actually done the doings as to practicalities like funding, and who might actually do the work, and how it all might function. I (not a natural project manager) took fright and immediately shoved it onto the backest of back-burners while I got my feet under me, and only this year have begun to feel as though I might be ready to start exploring how it might work. I am not an academic, unlike my predecessor, at least not in this subject area, and I am very intimidated by everyone else's knowledge, but I have two absolutely fantastic volunteers who are very keen to be involved, and between them they've been coaxing me back towards it. I had a very useful online meeting with the two academics who were interested earlier in the year, and yesterday they came to see us and talk about it some more. Much to my relief, they will sort out the funding, the people to do it, the actual doing of the doings, my volunteers will do the photography (it's a catalogue of the medieval (and possibly later) seals attached to the documents I look after, of which there are at least 3000; I know nothing about seals, we're not really taught about them when we learn to be archivists, they're kind of treated as an adjunct to the "important stuff" which is how to read and interpret the documents they're attached to, so I am massively out of my depth but the academics are awesome and are so excited to get started, I showed them a tiny fraction of the stuff and they were nerding out in a delightfully knowledgeable and also recognisable manner, so I feel much more as though I am among my people, even if we know about different things XD there is so much to learn and find out and I am so excited for them to get started)

We hired a skip last week and emptied out the junkyard that the garden had turned into, plus a certain amount of stuff we didn't need from the loft, got rid of loads of cardboard boxes we didn't need, and generally the house feels a lot better as a result. There are still several boxes of stuff that need to go to the charity warehouse which I have not managed to sort out doing yet, but they're in the corner of the living room and ready to go. Weight off the mind, I swear.

Also I have dismantled the old swingseat and treated myself to a double egg chair which is so much more comfortable. It was in the sale (bonus) and although I probably won't get to use it again this summer it's there (covered up, it came with a cover, so it's protected from the elements) and I can get back out there on it as soon as the weather perks back up again next year. :D :D :D

I (with the missus' capable assistance) redyed my hair last Friday and it is now a delightful confection of sunset colours - orange at the roots, then purple, then pink on the ends. I took some selfies last weekend so there may be a gpoy post if I can work myself up to doing it XD

I'm in the pub right now with a nice beer and the laptop, writing (working on the sequel to the TRSB fic) and generally chilling out and having a lovely evening. The music is 1960s girl groups/Wall of Sound, which is one of my favourite things, and it is delightful.

I think that's more than enough for now. :D :D :D As always, if anyone feels like this exercise might benefit them, do feel free to take it and run with it! Five good things about your day/week/month/year/life, however big or small, and if there are more than five then keep going! Writing it down makes me realise and appreciate it all so much more than I do if it's all just drifting by.

[inkofamethyst]

June 21, 2024

Okay so I started working through some problems on a website I discovered called Rosalind. It's several bioinformatics coding challenges. Harder ones unlock as you complete easier ones. It's pretty fun! Each problem has taken progressively longer to complete, sure, but I'm really loving getting back into the problem-solving mode. The one thing is that they don't give you aaaaaany coding help or hints or suggestions, so that will probably make things really difficult down the line (the best way to learn!!! (I need to maintain optimism)). Currently (almost) everything has been within my skillset, so mostly string manipulation and simple operations, and even though all of my work was probably worth a combined five hours on the eight problems (only finishing seven because I couldn't figure out probability), they ultimately weren't too bad. This will probably be what I spend my time on in the office to keep my coding skill up when I have nothing else to do.

While I should probably be learning R... I simply don't want to right now. Maybe in July after I get back from home idk.

I've also started watching music theory lectures (as opposed to just the interactive online textbook thing), and I really enjoy them! The circle of fifths is really clicking now for the first time in my life lol. I might try to also use downtime in the lab to write out my scales since I have a better understanding of how they work (kinda). It presents the textbook content in a slightly different way which I kind of appreciate, and then I can take that perspective back to the online textbook exersizes which I do for a few minutes daily. When I go home (so very soon!!!) I'm going to have to bring out ol' girl Melody and try some things, I think.

On that note (hehe), I need to think of a name for my bass!! My flute is Melody, my sax is Jasmine, my uke is Lulu... which are admittedly not very creative but I think they got a little better over time :P (Melody because flutes play melody (I was twelve, okay?), Jasmine because saxes play jazz, and Lulu for Honolulu because ukes are from Hawaii). So I think that, in keeping with tradition, the name has to be a little cheesy. I have one idea, but I don't think it's clever enough.

I haven't been eating very well lately. I'm in the process of restocking my pantry. I think I sort of just.. ran out of steam for cooking for myself. So it's been an embarrassing amount of chef boyardee, uncle ben's, velveeta... but tomorrow, I'm shaping up! Meatball stroganoff. And I have a plan for future meals, so I'll keep an eye out for sales, etc etc. Gonna get restocked! I'm shaping up! Maybe tomorrow I'll go for a walk in the morning! Maybe before even picking up my phone! Who knows!

Today I'm thankful that it's cooling down!!!! And also for the rain :) And also that the pollen is gone!!!!! After a month of suffering it was suddenly just no longer blowing into my open window :D

wait one last thing, circling back, even though I want to give my brain a break from the bioinfo problems, I inherently still feel that I've left something undone, as in I started working on problem 7 but couldn't figure out the right formula to even do the probability by hand, and even though I want to give myself a full weekend break, my brain is still passively thinking about it because I feel as though I didn't come to a satisfying conclusion. i wasnt even supposed to finish problem 8 tonight but i couldnt let it go.

so i need a distraction.

crochet it is (I'm working on my vest! it is suuuuper cropped (I'm about 2/3 through the front panel right now) and I fear my tiddies will not make it in, but hopefully it will be done before I go home so I can block it and maybe fix it? [edit, two days later: the front was just wonky because this is the first thing I've crocheted in years and I hadn't figured out my tension yet; def gonna redo it i think]).

actual last thing: surprisingly, I'm actually actively working toward several goals. like i always set them, but the past couple of weeks have been a bit of a lull. now I just feel craaazy energized.

[bi-dykes]

Ok so. It's like I have forgotten everything about writing. How does one even begin writing? 😭😭 Do you have any writing advice for beginners?

This is a great question! I think you’re going through writers block. Sometimes, after years of writing, we one day are like “what r words.” It’s like if you’ve ridden a bike for years and one day it’s just so difficult randomly. But don’t worry! You can always get back on that bike.

Here is a website I found to combat writers block:

10 ways to overcome writers block

I also have some words of wisdom for beginner writers that I hope will help!

1. Start with a scrap journal.

This journal does not need to be like a diary or anything, but it can be fun to just write down sentences for your story as they come into your mind- in whatever order! I have written down the beginning of my spin off- I’m not even done the first book in my series! But writing down any ideas for your characters or the universe your story takes place in- whether it’s the first chapter or last-

My scrap journal is a mess. I’ve been writing in it for years, it’s purple and glittery which I looove, there’s ripped out pages stuck in the middle, there’s ideas for the sequel, there’s some dialogue written for the first book, for chapter 1, then chapter 12 randomly etc. Writing in a little scrap journal or diary of lined paper (or you could use your notes app on your phone, or a google document on your laptop, or whatever you prefer to write in! I just wouldn’t use the same folder as your actual manuscript/draft of book) can take away the pressure of it feeling like a “good copy” that has to be “perfect”, and instead just gets the writing flowing :)

2. Fill out a character chart!

These can be fun to get in the heads of your protagonists! You can find many on Pinterest, but here’s one I found from Medium!

Also: don’t worry if you don’t know your character’s favourite food or favourite number or favourite shirt yet, some of these you’ll never even need to know as the author, and some of these you’ll discover along the way. Whatever suits your story! It’s more important to know your characters’ goals, ambitions, fears, and inspiration than say, their favourite animal.

3. Give your document a funny name!

The first manuscript I ever wrote (and never finished lol, abandoned middle school project) had it’s book title and chapter title of course, but said just below the header, “warning: don’t read if you’re homophobic or hate fall out boy” or something else cringy like that, I can’t recall exactly 😅 but it helped take the pressure off of beginning a “formal looking draft”! Some header titles could include:

- Welp here we go, I have nothing to lose

- First draft, cowabunga!

- Here is some beautiful messy writing

- Hmm let’s give this a try

- Behold! Beginner’s writing!

And then just write your book title and chapter title below it, and began typing out the intro. It could be your main character describing her life, or it could pick up right during two characters’ conversation, or it could begin with the main character walking home and describing the world around her, there really are no rules!

4. Use a few tumblr writing prompts!

If you feel stuck at the beginning of your story, many tumblr users do post great dialogue prompts! Here are some I enjoy :3

@givethispromptatry- I literally recommend like all of their prompts lol, whichever ones you get inspiration from :)

150 random writing prompts by @writinginstardust :)

@writing-prompt-s is also a good account! :)

5. Don’t overthink it!

Let your beginning of your novel have mistakes. Let it be a work of progress. Let it be childish or messy or cringy or whatever. Your second draft can be the fancy one, don’t hold back on the first draft! It will be okay <3

Goodluck! I hope this helped!

[dijanadraws]

2023 review

Hi beans! I bring you an art dump of all my art made in 2023 because I keep forgetting this website exists. (It's c/pd from my Patreon, that's how bad I am.)

First up is a book cover I made for my sister (Daina Rustin - Demon Hunter, not published), that I actually started a year or two ago, but had the last push/rework in January and called it finished. I’m also adding the sword concepts I made for it, even though they were technically done in 2022, as I haven’t shared them before.

In February, I did some figure and hand studies with some friends on the NFC discord, and thumbnailed a bunch of locations and ideas for Sky Across illustrations. March was the beginning of my character concept art project for the main character of Sky Across - Aurelia.

Started with figure drawings, then outfit variations and explorations for different uses and settings. After that it was colour variations, and the last one is a finished character illustration. I also spent some time doing general research and working on worldbuilding, writing and designing certain elements that will be important for the story later on :>

At the beginning of June, I started working on a “props” section for my portfolio. I made it so far that I made a whole 3D/blender scene with them, and then…. I wasn’t excited about painting them. I kept pushing it around, sort of like pushing food around your plate when you have no appetite. After some time staring at that task in my calendar, I decided I would be better off doing something that ✨ sparked joy ✨ instead. So, I painted a new Witcher fanart piece.  It was done in anticipation of the third season of the show on Netflix…. That I still haven’t finished. Oops.

July and August were a big dud for me, art-wise. I was going through a rough period and I was busy with real-life issues.

September was a big month for me as that was when my ADHD diagnosis was approved and I finally got medicated. I think I did more things (in general) in that first week than I did in the entire July+August. I finally saw the bottom of my dirty laundry basket after 7 years.

Art wise, I did another bunch of thumbs for my Sky Across illustration, I set up the references I needed in Daz3D and Blender, and I got an offer to work on an exciting freelance project so I jumped on the research and thumbnails for that as well. The project is still in progress, and I'm looking forward to sharing it next year!

September was also when I drew Hopper, Nickie’s cat, in pencils. I used to do a lot of traditional art in the past so I didn’t think it would be complicated, despite not having drawn a realistic cat in over a decade…. I always forget how humbling traditional work is. Nickie visited my hometown and I travelled back home to meet her and see my family <3

I got a cold as soon as I returned and that slowed down my zoomies for a few weeks, some family/personal issues happened, and I had to start branching out before I was ready to - which is how Patreon and Twitch came to be. The rest of September and October were spent on YouTube researching and developing “passive” income ideas.

I won’t be talking about Oct/Nov pieces as I’ve already done that in the previous few posts. In short, art zoomies picked back up in October, I managed to knock out some presents for friends and some fanart pieces, only to be absent for the majority of November again because I had/was recovering from Covid. (I’m still coughing 💀)

Over the course of the year, I did some animal drawings as presents for friends - Joe’s wonderful sassy corgi Dennis that I'm plotting to kidnap (at least for a day, if I ever make it to the UK), Joel’s cat Kissa that looks like someone spilled ink all over, Isla’s cat Skye that has seen all of the horrors of the universe, and I’m cooking something up with my own cat - Azriel.

I started working on another illustration for Sky Across featuring the same character I concepted at the beginning of the year, I'm streaming the process on Twitch when I can, and I started a little banner illustration for socials that I noodle on from time to time.

There were a few bits and bobs that I don’t feel are worth mentioning, and some Blender practice things that aren’t really worth sharing but were great practice.

All in all, this year was mostly marked by a million doctors’ exams, a big focus on exercise/physical therapy, dealing with ~feelings~ about medical issues, and general financial uncertainty. But also more art than I made in a long while, so swings and roundabouts!

I'm really proud that I've managed to handle and organise so many health-related things, and I'm getting better at judging how much I can do and schedule for myself, recognizing when I need to take time off and when I can afford to push things. I hope to do more original illustrations and concepts next year, and I’m adding traditional art to my calendar for next year as I’ve been itching to experiment more. I’m very grateful to my family and friends that held me up, I wouldn’t have been able to manage without them <3

Hope you have a successful 2024 and may all your dreams come true!

Until next time,

xo

PS: INPRNT is running an end of year sale, and you can get my art for an extra 20% off with the code: OQKQS6DJ

[phoenixiancrystallist]

Hey, just finished the story of In Tanta We Trust. In my mind, Frey is still in regular contact with the four other Tantas of Anthia and has to explain to them the events of ITWT. As if that wasn't enough, then she'll have to tell them about what Rheddiah's Tanta told her(and the fact that Rheddiah even has Tantas in the first place) and that she has to go to that place to meet with her. That conversation isn't going to go over well, is it?

Tumblr is a perfectly functioning website with a perfectly functioning app and absolutely did not eat my response to this ask SIX GODDAMN TIMES (three before I got smart and wrote all this out in my notes app so I could just copy/paste until it stopped arguing with me).

I honestly don't think Frey would be the one who initiates those conversations. She grew up bouncing from foster home to foster home, aged out of the foster system, and essentially had no one but herself to rely on for her whole life. And then she gets dropped into Athia with no one but herself and Cuff to rely on, and it took her a long time to actually rely on him.

So, I don't think she has the instinct to seek out advice—and to make matters worse, she also sorta kinda murdered the Tantas a little bit. Yes, it was the right thing to do, and no, they're not mad or upset about it, but I'd imagine she's still carrying some guilt around because of it (guilt that Cuff would absolutely prey upon, too). That's not exactly the kind of thing you can just get over, you know? It takes a lot of therapy and there's not a whole lot of that to go around in Athia.

Besides, the moment she starts thinking "maybe I should ask my predecessors for advice," you know Cuff is going to pull some "oh yes, let's go talk to the women I drove insane and manipulated you into murdering. That'll go swell" bullshit, or otherwise try to talk her out of it. She might decide to go talk to them anyway out of spite, or she might think he has a point.

But it does happen, one way or another—either of Frey's own free will or because Cinta's Momma Senses are tingling and she finds a way to yoink Frey into Svargana from beyond the grave. Say Frey does ask their advice and tells them a Tanta of Rheddah showed her the Gloaming and asked to meet her. Well, what I wouldn't give to be a light jellyfish hanging in the air for that conversation!

Sila I can see being all for letting Frey go, but cautions Frey that talking may not get the results she hopes for, and that she had better be prepared for a battle to the death if things don't go well.

Prav would be tentatively amenable to the idea of Frey going to Rheddah to speak with the Rheddig Tantas. She'd emphasize a need for diplomacy and compromise. Her ideal outcome would be a peace treaty between the two nations, or some other formal agreement that Rheddah will no longer seek Athia's destruction.

Olas... could go either way. Of all of them, I think she would be the most familiar with the Tantas of Rheddah, if only through her studies of history. (I also think she's the most likely to have spies set up in Rheddah, but that's neither here nor there.) She'd know better than any of them if the Rheddig Tantas are likely to kill Frey the second she steps on shore, or if they'd try to manipulate her and turn her against Athia, or even if they're completely benevolent and trustworthy. Depending on what she knows of them, she could be all for Frey meeting with them, cautiously for it, cautiously against it, or vehemently against it.

Cinta would be against it. As Frey's mother, her instinct is to keep Frey safe. As Tanta, she cannot recommend any course of action that leaves Athia defenseless—and as it stands, Frey is Athia's only defense. She is the only one capable of protecting the citizens of Cipal from the Break, and she is the only one who has any hope of standing a chance against another Rheddig invasion. What if this is a diversion, meant to remove Athia's only protector so the Rheddig can finally complete their mission of eradicating Athia? She can't accept that risk.

Ultimately, after a lot of heated debate where Frey loses her temper at the pointless bickering at least twice, and Cuff is spiritually eating popcorn and doing a one-wrist-idiot Statler and Waldorf bit the whole time, the consensus they finally arrive to is the Tanta equivalent of "ho don't do it."

So, naturally, Frey does it. How else would we have a story for the sequel we're never going to get?

[sushiwt]

website update log #7 (April 14th, 2023)

Note: all changes in the site are documented in github now :D

the only reason i havent actually worked on /index is because i cant think of any ideas of what it should actually look like..

my creative juices arent spewing out of my brain and into the site, so i gotta look for inspiration.

and what better site to look for inspiration than... neocities!

i know that i wont be using this site anymore for site hosting, but i realized that there are so much creative websites in neocities that are just out in the wild so i decided, why not use those sites for my struggling brain to figure out what my website index is supposed to look like :shrug:

when i was browsing the site for a bit, i came across this site called NOT FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION by sugarforbrains...

besides the colorful artstyle that i love so much, it made me contemplate some things about this site and mine.

well first, ive seen that same chatbox (the box on the right with the text “WEB SITE DO NOT EAT”) a couple of times now, and im thinking if i should add one as well, but like, there wont be activity for a while since only like 3 people know about this blog and website aghaha

second, im seriously thinking if i should replace the top navbar with a sidebar, as it appears here, since there has been a problem i havent been documenting as much...

...and it was centering the damn top navbar.

ok now that im actually looking at this it doesnt really look like its a problem since no one is going to use the site at 6400x3200 but it still makes me angry.

but even if i wanted to change the top navbar, thats not what im in neocities in the first place.

i wanted to find inspiration for replacing the “hello” textbox youre seeing now, but now im just getting pissed at something i already finished creating, which was the top navbar!!!

now, back to finding inspiration.

im not a fan of the grid lookin look, because of how inconsistent it looks, but ill think about it!!

oh btw if you have time, please visit the site!! it looks so visually stimulating its great!!! here

now, onto more exploration!

i found some sites by neoratz and keyzklubhouse (neo's HEAVENWURLD ଘ(ˊ_ˋ) and Key's Klubhouse) that piqued my interest ‘cause of one thing.. can you guess what it is?

if it wasnt obvious enough, its the characters on the side of the boxes!!! I wanted this thing to be the first thing you see when you enter the site! it felt good that i was actually making progress on this for once, but then i realized that...

i already did this already!!!

on my old site!!!

its the old me on the old site, on the side of the menu screen! what im planning to do here is that instead of giving one half of the home screen to the image and another half for the text box (which is shown here) im going to make it so that the box is going to be centered, and the character is going to be layered in a way where its still beside the textbox, but its layered!!

this is a visual representation of what i am talking about:

actually, ill throw another character while im at it:

probably add one more here just to fill some space:

ok this should be enough characters:

now that the overall concept of the first thing you see when you enter the site is finished, i was going to figure out what i wanted to show when yall scroll on the site, but then something just hit me.

i need a way to show the characters. how do i do that.

im actually planning to show one of my characters, slooshi (the icon of the website and my internet persona in general) but how do i present it to you??

this can go two ways. i can either 3d model the character, or draw it. the catch is that they both have to be pixel art as to match the theme of my site...

i could totally go for 3d modelling, with a more low poly 3d look, kinda like the style of pico-cad by Johan Peitz:

but i want to step outside my comfort zone, which brings me to my second choice, drawing.

its not like i forgot how to draw people, its just way harder now since i havent drawn actual people in a while. ive been focusing more on 3d modelling, game development, and school that i havent really been practicing on my drawing skills more, which sucks but its what happens...

ill think more about it, but for now i finally figured out what im going to do with the site! (atleast the first part of it...)

- sushiwt <3

[stringeralong]

Netherlands, Feb 2023 - Day 1 of 4

While at work on Thursday 2nd of February, it dawned on me that once I was finished for the day, I wouldn’t have any work until Tuesday afternoon and I decided to head over to Amsterdam as I had never been and it sounded like a better idea than rotting on the sofa (my usual time off activity).

So I booked my coaches, hostel, and museum tickets and rushed home to pack.

Coach: Searched using Rome2Rio, taken through to Omio, which booked a Megabus outward and a BlaBlaCar Bus return. Total cost £66.67.

The coach was a mistake. Apparently I was not the only person who decided Thursday night was the best time to travel. The coach I was booked onto didn’t actually exist/arrive, so the driver of another coach was told to take us. So we all squished into a bus. I had a chatty seat neighbour who snored. Dull.

We took the ferry, rather than the tunnel, and had a brief stop in France and Belgium. Eventually making it to Amsterdam just after 11am local time Friday morning. We were only an hour late!

Hopped on a train from Amsterdam Sloterdijk to Amsterdam Centraal for €3.60 (£3.22)

Breakfast was the first order of the day, though by then it was slowly becoming a Lunch. I half wandered towards my hostel while perusing the options. I knew I desperately wanted pancakes, but so did everyone else as most pancake places were busy. Some even had queues out the door, which my stomach was not prepared for.

I managed to find Madame Pancake, busy but without a queue.

€18.20 (£16.30) for Bacon + Chorizo Pancakes and an Iced Oat Vanilla Latte.

The lack of queue did not mean lack of quality as it was delicious and just what I needed. Satisfied and happy, I headed to the hostel for a drink before checking in.

Hostel: Durty Nelly’s Inn. £143 for a bunk in a mixed 10 bed dorm for 3 nights. Official Website | Booking.com

Obviously, I had to have a pint of Kilkenny Cream.

I drink slowly so by the time the glass was empty, check in was open (1400). The receptionist was super friendly and helpful. (As were the bar staff)

Room was clean and (as a green lover) nicely decorated. I had the bottom bunk so I could drunkenly stumble into bed without risking death. I had a lockable (with padlock) wire tray underneath that wheeled out.

After a much needed nap, I went out for an explore in search of cocktails. Finding a good cocktail bar is always a priority when I travel solo. Lucky for me, I found one in no time.

Dutch Courage: prices ranged from €8 - €10.50 for the different cocktails.

I had to have the one called a Van Gogh, inspired by his sunflower series, as I was having a Van Gogh heavy weekend. The bartenders had great recommendations, and were really happy to chat and were asking me about my trip.

After a few (several…) I caught a train off to Leiden, a city about 25min from Amsterdam Noid, for €22.20 (£19.88) return, to meet a friend who works nearby.

We went to a strange bar in a disused warehouse building to meet some of his coworkers. After it closed, we sort of ambled around trying to find a club. The club scene is not poppin, as they say, in Leiden. I was back in the hostel by about 2am.

[survey--s]

454.

As you begin this survey, what is the current date and time? It’s February 2nd 2023, and it’s currently 8.15pm exactly.

How many blue-eyed people have you kissed? I have no idea, it’s not really something I keep track of.

Do you have a friend named Holly? Not nowadays, but I went to school with a few people called Holly.

Name the last 3 books you read. I have absolutely no idea - I don’t really read much anymore, to be honest.

When was the last time you saw someone attractive? About an hour ago.

Who was the last person you got into an argument with? I don’t really remember the last time I had a proper argument with anyone.

Think back to this time last year; who did you have feelings for? Michael.

Are you wearing anything that has any kind of pattern on it? Yeah, my dressing gown has polka dots on it.

Name all of the websites you have visited so far today. Tumblr, YouTube, Facebook, Mumsnet, Reddit, Google and a few others that I can’t think of at the moment.

What are your parents’ middle names? I’m not putting that on here - it’s just way too outing as they’re really not “normal” names lol.

Who was the last curly-haired person you talked to? Michael.

Does frequent use of swearwords offend or upset you? No, but I also think some people just use them for attention and it makes them sound pretty ridiculous.

Do you have romantic feelings for the last person you text messaged? No.

Who was the last person you talked to, whose name started with ‘S’? Suzanne.

When was the last time you turned down an invitation to go somewhere? Why? I honestly don’t remember. Nobody ever really invites me anywhere anyway lol.

If you’ve had a bad day, who is most likely to cheer you up? The dog.

How many Facebook friends do you have? 152.

Is there anyone on your “friends” list that you dislike? Nope. I don’t really add many people to Facebook though.

Is there anyone you dislike, that you have to see/speak to regularly? No, thankfully not.

Does anyone have a romantic interest in you, that you don’t return? Not so far as I know.

Has either of your parents ever borrowed your computer? Not this one, but yes, other ones in the past.

Are you living with anyone that isn’t related to you? I mean, the animals are all adopted lol.

Do you prefer drinks in bottles or cans? Cans.

How many people would you say you’ve been “in love” with? Three.

Which one of your relatives are you most likely to argue/disagree with? My dad, for sure.

Have your parents met the person you’re currently interested in? Yeah, we’re married lol. 

When you’re interested in someone, do you let them know? Yes.

Do you know a Robert? Tell me about him. My brother-in-law is called Robert but I’ve only met him once. Who was your first major crush? A boy named William.

Do you still talk to that person? No. I haven’t seen or spoken to him since we were about eight.

Are you happy with the way things are going? I certainly am.

If not, what would you like to change? I just wish things weren’t so expensive lol.

Were you well-behaved as a child? Yes. I always hated getting in trouble.

Is there anything happening tomorrow, that you’re looking forward to? Tomorrow is just crazy busy lol. I am SO glad it’s Friday.

Is there anything you need to do, that you’re trying to avoid doing? Nah - I mean, I can’t just not go to work lol.

Did you have a good day yesterday? Actually yesterday was pretty good overall, but the weather was horrendous for most of is.

What about today? How has your day been so far? Exhausting lol. I worked 8.30-1.30pm, came home, had a shower, fed the animals, had lunch, watched some TV, walked Benji, fed him, came home and I’ve just been messing about online ever since.

Do you think tomorrow will be enjoyable for you? It won’t be bad, it’s just a really busy day.

Do you remember what you had for lunch yesterday? Leftover vegetable soup, some bread and an apple.

Are you looking forward to anything? Finishing for the weekend in about 21 hours time. Not that I’m counting lol.

What do you like the most about your own appearance? My height and figure.

Do you feel like you’ve changed at all over the past year? I’m happier and much more confident.

What were you doing before you went on the computer? Washing dishes.

How old were you 6 years ago? 28.

What are the chances that you will kiss someone tonight? 100%.

What did you drink at the last party you went to? I can’t remember the last time I went to a party lol.

Does the last person you text messaged have any tattoos or piercings? I think she has piercings but I’m not sure about tattoos.

Do you know what the person you have feelings for is doing at this moment? He’s upstairs - I assume watching TV or playing xBox.

When was the last time you had an alcoholic drink? New Years Eve.

When was the last time you had a difficult decision to make? I honestly don’t remember.

[livmenez]

Blog #2 (GEE 16 - Entrepreneurial Mind)

When I say a lot has happened since I posted on my first blog, believe me, *A LOT* did happen. It's been one month since my first blog, and aside from the challenges encountered as a student nurse who just got capped and had her first real duty at a hospital, not to mention witnessing an actual live birth and delivering of a baby by some patients, it has really been a challenging not just to me, but to my groupmates as well to juggle the tasks with our other subjects/course and work ahead of time to finish them as soon as possible. It was like a never-ending work for us and we are lucky to at least have considerate instructors and be surrounded by people we can always meet halfway.

Now let's talk about being an EntrepreNurse. We're only just getting started but I am starting to realize and be amazed at how the world works with all of the innovations we are being introduced today. It's even better and more advanced now and people just keep on creating and improving things for the world. I'm starting to even appreciate the things around me from the simple and smallest things like my sleek stick to keep my hair clean and proper every day at school, to the things like an app where I can easily order things that I especially need through online buying when it is not available around the city I live in. Everywhere we look, innovation is always emphasized. There is creativity within every people we encounter.

For the past month, as I said, a lot has happened. I'll start first with how we are able to finalize the business we decided to have. So I did mention on the last blog that me and my groupmates were interviewing people and brainstormed as much as we could until we were dumping the possible businesses we could present to the people. At first, it was about a website where people, specifically the students from CMU, can easily look for available dorms there. It was mentioned too that it would be convenient as a lot of them are looking for an affordable and nice place to stay up till now that classes are already starting. But that idea was scrapped out of the picture. We decided to replace it because we figured that although it would be convenient and helpful to students because it would inform them the details about a dorm/place that could potentially be a place to stay, the real problem they are encountering is the availability of most dorms that are just near CMU. We couldn't think of something that could solve that problem, so we had to think of another businesss.

Thus, we have come up with a new one. It's called BIRA, an app that is inspired by the famous ride and food booking in the Philippines named GRAB. We thought that it is time for the CMUANS to have that kind of convenience around the campus. How did we come up with that idea you may ask. Well, it all started when we had a late makeup class for our subject Pharmacology. When we finished, it was raining hard outside and most of the students are stranded at the college. Lucky for me and my friend, a rela passed by so we grabbed that chance to ride so we can go home right away. When we arrived at the CMU Public Market, we noticed that a lot of them (relas) were just outside, waiting for them to be occupied by people. I thought, they could've earned at least if only they knew that a lot of students from our college are willing to pay for a ride. They could've had customers, my friend said who was also my groupmate. And so, an idea then came up to us that maybe the CMU community could use a book-for-a-ride app. Maybe it was time to introduce that innovation to people.

Later that month, we decided to interview some rela drivers and habal-habal drivers so we can validate the potential business we had in mind. We interviewed a group of rela drivers who were just at the side of the Market talking to each other. We asked just a few questions and told them about the business. We noticed that they listened very closely while we were talking as if thinking hard about what to say next. They told us that if something like our idea would be implemented or introduced, they have one condition: they have to have their fair share with the app and make sure they will not lose a lot. They emphasized that they are open about the idea but they have to make sure they will gain something out from it. Meanwhile, when we interviewed the habal-habal drivers about the idea that they might be hired to order something from the market and get paid after, one driver was really delighted saying it would be a great help to them as they don't often get customers daily. They said that they could have that as a sideline and there's also this assurance that they can earn while waiting for customers to ride.

It was nice to hear all of those thoughts and opinions from our drivers. Because of that simple interrogation, we now know where and how to improve the potential business we have. We had a serious meeting as a group and threw each other possible questions and how to dodge them. I was really glad about the teamwork we had within our group and how everyone was open to criticism. We really aim to grow and improve together and I liked that about our group. Another thing that was the highlight of our journey was that after we defended our venture proposal, we thought we did a really good job. But weeks after, we got a really low score that we panicked and questioned why. I thought it was a turning point for all of us as we need to come up with a revised proposal and new idea as fast as we could so we would still be able to catch up with the course's timeline. When we were ready to defend our supposedly 2nd proposal, we were told that it was a mistake and that we actually got a high score. We felt so relieved when we received the news.

Currently, we are preparing for our BMC presentation which will happen on Friday. We have still yet to talk and execute our plans but I hope it will go well. Wish us luck, universe!

[canirove]

Meu Amor | Chapter 1

Summary: "I don't have time for boys, Taylor. Especially not football players. I want to make the most of this opportunity. Who knows the doors it can open for me."

"The ones of Rúben Dias' house are already open" she says with a smirk.

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━   

When an unexpected promotion at your job as a journalist for Sky Sports, may end up not only changing your professional life, but also your personal one.

Author's note: I got the inspiration for this story while watching a basketball game and seeing a Spanish journalist who is married to one of the players. She has to work during many of his games, sometimes even having to interview him, and both of them always are super profesional.

The idea of writing it with Rúben is all thanks to my friend Ana (hi 👋🏻), who has been obssesed with him since the end of last season, and sending me photos and videos daily. You can thank her for it 😅

Thank you very much for reading, and I hope you like it! 💜

Next chapter

Masterlist

“Ok, guys. I’ve got good news and bad news. Where should I start?”

“Bad news always first.”

“John had a fall last night while training, injured his knee pretty badly, and will be out for the rest of the year.”

“Oh my God, is he alright?”

“He is in a lot pain, but he is having surgery today. He told me not to worry, that he will be fine. But as much as it sucks, his bad news lead us to the good ones. One of you will be covering for him, and the lucky one is… Taylor!”

“Me? But what about Manu? Shouldn’t he be the one covering for John since he is his assistant?” Taylor asks.

“I was going to tell you once he came back from his holidays, but nevermind. He has accepted an offer to join the Champions League team. It’s less work, and that way he can help at home.”

“So that means that Taylor and I are the new John and Manu?” I ask.

“Exactly. Congratulations girls! Your first game will be the Manchester derby. Hope you enjoy it!”

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━    

“Relax, girl. We’ll be ok and totally nail this, trust me” Taylor says, putting a hand on my leg and trying to make it stop moving.

“Oh, I’m not nervous. Well, maybe a bit. What I am the most, is excited” I reply. We are finally doing pitch side work, and I can’t wait.

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━    

I finished my journalism degree two years ago. While most people knew the field they wanted to work in, I wasn’t sure, I liked too many things. But one day, after seeing a female journalist covering a football game, I said to myself: maybe I can do that too. I sent a curriculum to Sky Sports, and God knows why and how, they called me back.

I expected to spend most part of my time doing things for others, from getting coffees to ordering files. Just as you see on movies. But to my surprise, they had me join the Premier League team as an assistant.

During my first year, I helped transcribing the notes others took during games, turning them into articles for the website. They were articles about the smaller teams, those only their fans care about, but I was writing and my name was there.

One day, one of the guys I worked with had to cover for someone from the Big 6 team, aka, the most important clubs in the country, the ones everyone watched on tv. It was a Manchester United – Liverpool, and we weren’t watching it from home. We were at the stadium, sharing our spot with journalists from all around the country, seeing it all first hand. And I fell in love with it. This was what I wanted to do. To actually live the games and share that with those at home.

For some reason, Taylor read the article I wrote that day, asked around… And the following week I was working as her assistant and becoming part of the Big 6 team. I wasn’t writing anymore, but just being by her side during meetings and helping wherever I was needed, was enough. An all this was finally paying off, making me go back to Manchester and to the actual pitch side.

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━    

“I’m going to the bathroom before we start. Can you make sure everything is ready and that no one ruins our spot?” Taylor says.

“Sure, don’t worry.”

We are at the Etihad, Manchester City’s stadium, the game starting in 20 minutes. The players are already warming up, and Taylor should be doing her live in just a bit. After that, we’ll stay close to the benches, taking notes during the game, reporting back during the halftime, and doing the interviews once the game is over.

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━    

“Taylor, where are you?” I mutter, checking my watch for the 10th time since she left. If she doesn’t come back soon, she’ll miss the live.

As I turn back to look at the pitch and make sure that everything is alright, I see a guy just in the middle of our set. Great.

“Excuse me, sir” I say, walking towards him. “This is a tv set, you can’t be here.”

Nothing, he doesn’t move. He is typing on his phone, the world around him gone. I let out a sigh and try to talk to him again, this time closer. He is way taller than I expected, and his back is huge. Like two times mine. No, maybe three.

“Sir. Sir, this is a tv set, you must move” I say, raising my voice. But nothing. “Sir, please” I say again, touching his arm. Even though he is wearing a jacket, I can feel his bicep. And just as his back, it is huge.

“Oh, hi” he says, starting to turn to look at me.

“Hi, sorry” I say, my hand staying on his arm for longer than it should have. “This is a tv set and we should be having a live any minute now. You must move somewhere else.”

“Yes, yes, I’m very sorry” he replies, his eyes fixed on me.

“Ok, thank you” I say, clearing my throat. Why is he looking at me like that? Is there something on my face?

“Mr. Dias, hello!” Taylor says behind me. Finally! “Such a pity that you aren’t able to play today.”

“Yeah, I know. But please, I already told you. Call me Rúben” he says. Do these two know each other?

“Yes, my bad. Sorry. Could we get you for a halftime interview? Are you watching the game from the VIP area or here next to the bench?” Taylor asks him.

“Yes, of course. And I was going to watch it from upstairs, but I’ve changed my mind” he says, looking at me.

“Oh, great. Then if they give us green light, we’ll see you later.”

“Looking forward to it” he smiles.

“Who was that?” I ask Taylor as I watch him leave. Though before he completely disappears among the crowd, I see him turning around to look back at me, giving me another intense look from head to toe, one that makes me blush a bit. Or a lot.

“Rúben Dias.”

“That’s him?”

“Of course that’s him! You are the most thorough person I know, you check every single detail, and you didn’t recognize him? Him? Last season’s best player?”

“You know Manchester City isn’t my cup of tea” I shrug.

“And Chelsea isn’t mine and I still know all their players faces. Anyway, you should start to pay more attention to him. You’ve definitely caught his” Taylor winks.

“Me? What? No!”

“He only had eyes for you! And he looked at you on purpose when he said that he had changed his mind about from where he was going to watch the game.”

“That was just a coincidence.”

“That was not a coincidence and you know it.”

“That… Ugh, Taylor, we are here to work, not to flirt with players. And we have a live in…” I say, checking my watch “2 minutes! C’mon, we need to get ready!

“Fine, fine” she says, rolling her eyes.

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━    

“He fancies you.”

“Taylor, please don’t start again. My head hurts” I say, closing my eyes and trying to find a comfortable position on my seat. We still have an hour left until the train makes it to London, and a nap would do me wonders.

“But it is the truth! He is super serious with his job, something he has in common with you. And he always gives his 100% and puts all his focus on it, even if he isn’t playing. But today? Today he couldn’t stop looking to the side, to where you were. And during the game, I also caught him looking at you a few times.”

“He was just probably looking at the pitch, at his teammates.” Though I must say I also looked at him a few times, and he wasn’t paying attention to the game. He was looking at us. At me.

“Seriously, girl. One of the hottest guys on the Premier League only had eyes for you today. You should be ecstatic!”

“I don’t have time for boys, Taylor. Especially not football players. I want to make the most of this opportunity. Who knows the doors it can open for me.”

“The ones of Rúben Dias’ house are already open” smirks.

“I’m serious, Taylor. You’ve been working for longer than a decade. I haven’t. I need this to work out.”

“I know. And I’m sorry. I promise I won’t play matchmaker anymore and will focus on our job. Unless he sends me a dm asking me for your number or something. That’s the only exception.”

“Fine” I say, giving up. “You need to tell me how you two met, tho.”

“We’ll leave that story for another day. Now try to rest, I’ll wake you up when we make it back to London.”

And as I close my eyes and try to sleep, my mind chooses to relive everything that has happened today. Especially the moments that involve him. Rúben Dias.