#I might also make some little organizer tray things?

[tinydefector]

Iron Giant 4

Warings: none

Word count: 1.7k

Woooo finally did more for this fic and also got some inspiration from the ask which was about Optimus reacting to Baking from ages back so enjoy.

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A small smile graces their lips as they try not to give away the fact they know he's watching them, they can see the blue optic following them, through the window. Each time they look over they can see him trying to make it look as if he wasn't watching and in truth it was delightful watching such a large being who was too shy to ask what they were doing.

"Hello Optimus" they call out, eyes flicking over to him as a smirk forms on their lips when he looks almost like a deer caught in headlights. His optics brighten at the sound of his designation spoken so familiarly from them that it nearly makes his spark sing. creases forming at the corners of his lips. "Hello" he rumbles kindly in return, angling himself so that he could watch now that he had been caught red handed.

"If I may, what are you doing?." The curiosity is evident in his voice as the circles of his optics continue to trace their movement through the kitchen. A faint memory file flickering across his HUD, faces long lost to millennia past. It almost reminded him of an Energon chemist, making sweets and flavour rations. It's like a hollow ache, but watching makes it not hurt nearly as much.

A soft chuckle leaves them as they begin measuring out ingredients for baking. "You know you're more than welcome to watch" they call back "I'm just making kiddos favourites, easier to keep baked goods than it is constantly shopping for sweets, plus cheaper too" they remark.

Optimus watches with avid curiosity, soaking in every small detail as the carrier sets skillfully to their task. In some aspects it was alien but in others it was nostalgic to watch something being crafted. "Fascinating," he rumbles quietly. "Is this how you Preserve fuel?, I haven't seen anything crafted as such before, so forgive me." He goes quiet for a moment just watching. “Your youngling likes these?” He inquires, which earns him another smile from the human.

“Yea kiddo happens to love homemade cookies as long as i don't put raisins into them, but don't get me started on homemade pickled veggies, can't get enough of them” they laugh while making sure that the vinegar, water and salt were to the right ratio.

"Might I inquire about the functions of the elements?." Optics brighten eagerly. “Well you see these are Organic and if left to long out in the air and heat they will start to wither and wilt, sometimes they will go bad and get mouldy, so when you mix the right stuff together you can preserve them to last long.” they explain while cutting up the different vegetables and adding them into the large jar.

He remains still and silent, enjoying just watching them work. optics drink in each subtle movement and instruction they explain, processing and learning all he could, he may not be able to ever do something like this himself but it was therapeutic to just watch.

They move again this time back to the Oven as they pull another tray out. placing it on the bench before throwing another one filled with biscuits to cook. "I'd offer you one but don't know if you can eat them" they call out to him. Optimus rumbles a weary chuckle, sagging slightly into the dirt as he stretches. He looks over his shoulder for a moment to watch the little one playing.

"Regrettably my fuel lines wouldn't process the compounds" he murmurs lightly, amusement in his tone." There are few things on your planet that I can consume, Diesel is one I tend to resort to." A contented sigh leaves him. Diesel wasn't as filling as Energon but it kept him functioning and meant he didn't have to remember that horrid device.

They shoot him another look. "Do you have any sort of snacks you miss from your home?" They inquire as they move to lean against the open window brushing the flour off their clothing. Optimus's optics crinkle thoughtfully at the query, "Simple energon treats were often very hard to come by, even more rare for high class rations," he rumbles.

"Mostly high class Mechs were the ones who would have access to them." He trails gently, "but Crystallised sweets fashioned from refined energon centres are one that I enjoyed when I could afford them."

They give an almost sad look to the big blue and Red mechas hearing that. His optics flicker back to them with a smile. So they take the opportunity to wipe a small bit of batter across his nasal ridge before laughter bursts from them, seeing the surprised look on his faceplate. " Sorry, sorry I couldn't help myself" they wheezed through laughter.

Optimus pauses in mild surprise, optics blinking rapidly at the unexpected touch. It takes but a moment for his systems to process and identify the substance smeared across his faceplate, and a low chuckle rumbles from him bemused amusement as his optics focus in on them.

"Ah, so the youngling isn't the only one who seeks trouble," he chuckles lightly while trying to wipe the batter off, he raises a digit to sample the sweet residue left behind, analysing slowly as his optics begin to break down the different compounds in it.

Their eyes crinkle as they smile more, giving a small come hither motion with their finger as they lean against the window waiting for him to lean down. A sly smile on their lips as if mischief was on the prowl.

He lowered his helm and chassis to give better access to his faceplate. Trusting they were about to steer even more of it across his nasal ridge. They lean out the window, wiping the rest off before pressing a soft kiss to the side of his faceplate. It's quick but it makes Optimus' spark flutter in delight.

"Would you mind taking some of these out to kiddo me?" They voice is overly sweet and Optimus in that moment doesn't care that they are trying to sweeten him up to do their bidding.

For a moment, he can hardly speak, optics blinking rapidly. But slowly, he regains composure, "you'll fry this rusting mech's circuits if you keep that up," he rumbles warmly, unable to restrain the hint of tender playfulness creeping into his own tone.

"Though I find myself willing too." He inclines his helm hopefully. "A small exchange is a fair toll, for transporting treats, would you not agree?" He was feeling rather bold this time.

They roll their eyes playful, sauntering up to the window again, lending it again with the tray of a few cookies beside them. "very well, I accept the extra charge" they hum before leaning out the window slightly and pressing a kiss to his lips.

Optimus' plating warms significantly as the carrier leans close once more, softly pressing tantalising contact to his lip. A low, pleased rumble resonates through his massive frame, as he savours the fleeting exchange, optics flutter, only opening once once they pull away, ending it far too quickly for his liking. But contentment glows off him as servo raises accepting the tray of cookies intended for the little one.

"Thank you," he murmurs, audial fins flicking slightly as he moves back slowly so he can stand. The little one looks up in excitement as they see him walking towards them with the tray. “Cookies!!!” They shout out in excitement and they pull themself out of the sand pit and make their way to meet Optimus halfway. As Optimus feels another chuckle leave him as he walks towards them.

A loud crack across the sky makes his frame freeze beside the large tree, gears and fan belts whining as his helm snaps towards the sky. The sound was one he knew all too well, it had terrorised him and the Autobots far too long. The ominous sound of a Jet engine ripping across the sky.

His battle protocols surge instantly online, optics scanning the horizon, his other Servo drops the tray of sweets as he scoops the little one up, holding them flush against his chassis. sheer panic fills him, why were they here, how had they found him. And guttural fear fills him when he realises just where he was and the sweet youngling he held protectively.

Optics dart desperately to the fragile human now staring up in confusion at him before their eyes dart to the sky over the loud Whistle and clap in the sky. His optics land of the source, a Blue and black seeker with smoke billowing from his frame comes into view. but before he can even plan an attack or defence he watches as the seeker seems to almost fall out of the sky in the distance.

"What was that?" The older human ask running to the doorway of the house when they hear the crash in the distance. Optimus's optics remain grimly trained on the treeline for a long moment after the flash of blue disappears.

A metallic grinding issue from his tightly-set denta His free servo curls protectively around the little one as their carrier calls out, "Decepticon," he rumbles low, meeting concerned faces with optics that bear weight of worry.

"Crashed maybe half click out, seemed damaged. But I won't take chances, gather essentials quickly. If you hear fighting you run" he pleads, his optics bright as he looks at their face as if begging that they go if something happens. He would be dismantled before letting any harm come to either of them. "Hurry now," he urges gently, lowering the child down into their parents arms.

"It's one like you isn't, like the Soldier's warned?" They ask Optimus while hiking their child up their hip, worry etched into their own face. "Par what's going on, loud bang!" Their child says while watching the sky.

Optimus nods solemnly, grief and regret settling into his frame. "Yes," he rumbles low, “I ensure no danger comes to you, but if there are more its not safe for you. You will take your little one and not turn back." They nod before darting back into the house.

Rising carefully. "I'll scout crash, when i come back be ready to jump in" Without further word, he struts, cogs and palting slowly shifts back down into the damaged Peterbilt, smoke comes from him for a moment before he rolls down the grass only to disappear into the tree line.

________

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[ashintheairlikesnow]

🦷 for…literally anyone. Go crazy with this

CW: BBU, some mouth whumpiness although the whump is emotional, medical whump

"Okay, here we go. Now, I'm going to insert this into your mouth, and you're going to bite down, as evenly as you can, and hold it until I say. Got it?"

Oskar looks at the little plastic tray in Arvid's hand as though the spongy, grayish thing inside of it is something alive that might bite him at any second. "Why?"

"I want to make a mold of your teeth."

Oskar shifts rapidly backwards in the exam chair in Arvid's 'medical room', also known as the half of his basement space he doesn't sleep in. One wrist brushes against the open leather buckles that can be used to restrain patients and he flinches violently away from it, face going suddenly white except for two red spots in his cheeks. "But-"

Arvid closes his eyes, taking a breath. "Oskar. Just do it."

Oskar shakes his head, curling his knees up to his chest and sliding his arms around his legs. His mouth opens and closes a few times on a word that never seems to quite make its way out. "I-... I don't want to," He whispers, hiding the bottom half of his face behind his knees, only his dark eyes showing, staring, hurt, at Arvid. "I don't want to do that. Please, Arvid, I-I don't, I don't want to-"

"Oskar," Arvid says, keeping his voice calm only with difficulty. This is irritating. "

Oskar's eyes drop and he stares down at the stirrups that hang off the end on long metal poles, where patients can slide their feet and hold their legs open. If possible, he blanches even further, and Arvid fights down his annoyance at the delay. "I have Samael coming in in like half an hour for bloodwork, we need to get this done before she gets here."

Oskar curls himself up even more tightly, closing his eyes and giving his head one more weak shake. "Please," He whispers. "I don't want to."

"Oskar. It is just to get a teeth mold! This is completely normal!" He thinks. Actually, Arvid doesn't have much of a comparison for normal, but it's normal for the work he does, anyway. He has molds of the mouths of all of the archangels and most of the other employees of the organization, too. He has molds of his own teeth, damn it. "I'm tired of you wasting my time with this, so just... fucking do as I say. You're my pet, aren't you?"

Oskar's breaths are coming shallowly, and he doesn't open his eyes. "Yes," He whispers. "I am." One of his hands moves to touch the collar around his neck, as if reminding himself. "I, I am yours."

"Right. So just. So just do the thing, so we can get it done and I can go back to doing my actual job before Samael shows up and wonders why nothing's ready for her..." He trails off as he hears a strange noise, like a clicking, and tilts his head. His eyes trail downward, until he realizes... it's the chair rattling in place.

Oskar is shaking so hard the exam chair is shaking, too.

"... hey." Arvid looks down at the molding clay in the dental tray - it'll dry out and be more or less useless if this takes much longer - and then, with a sigh, he sets it back down on the little metal rolling table and reaches out, putting one hand on either side of Oskar's face. "Talk to me. What's wrong with this? The tray, the... the chair? Is that it?"

Oskar hesitates, then opens his eyes again, looking up at Arvid without raising his chin. "... both."

"Okay... uh. What the fuck is wrong with them?" The chair is... just a chair. Arvid had gotten it at an insanely low price some years back during a private estate sale he decided not to look too closely into - but Oskar is clearly terrified of the damn thing. He's not even restrained - Arvid only uses those when one of the archangels is violent or hallucinating.

"Clinic c-chair." Oskar's teeth click together from his trembling. His eyes are glimmering in the lights with tears that haven't fallen yet. "The, the mold for a-... a gag, I don't... I don't want to have a gag here, Arvid. I don't-... I don't want to-"

"What? It's-... it's not for a gag."

Oskar swallows hard, licking at his lips. "It's... not?"

"No... no. Jesus Christ, Oskar, it's for if you get hurt and lose a tooth or something, so we can get you a good screw-in tooth and shit. I was thinking the other day about how you've ended up going out on fieldwork with me twice, plus you've been climbing the tree in the yard, and just in case, we should have shit ready to go for your records. That's all."

Oskar glances sidelong at the little plastic tray, then back at him. His lips press into a thin line, the skin paling at the pressure, before he tries to talk again. "I don't... want anything in m-my mouth, Arvid. Please-... I, I can't. Please, please don't make me. Please."

Arvid inhales. He knows if he checks his phone that time is running out, Samael's going to walk in any fucking second. "Oskar. We are going to do this and we are going to do this now. Open your fucking mouth. I am ordering you, as your owner, to open your mouth."

The look of open, honest pain and fear on Oskar's face sends a twist of some strange unpleasant chill through Arvid's chest, but he at least slowly nods and - jaw trembling - opens his mouth wide for Arvid to slide in the tray, then bites gently down. Sounds come, unbidden, from his throat - muffled whines that he doesn't even seem fully conscious of. Arvid can all but see his pulse racing in the spot just under his jaw. His eyes lock on Arvid's face and stay there.

"Good boy," Arvid soothes. Usually praise is a one-way ticket to fixing Oskar's bad moods, but this time it just seems to bounce right off him. The tears finally fall, running in clear trails over his cheekbones. Arvid wipes them away with his thumb and Oskar flinches, minutely, never quite pulling away. "It's all right. It's all right. Just a few more seconds..."

He takes the little handle on the tray, murmurs for Oskar to open carefully and slowly, and pulls it out to set it aside and get the next one ready for the bottom teeth. Oskar's trembling never stops, the chair rattling lightly, the pet's fingers dug into the padding until his knuckles are pure white.

Arvid finishes the second tray, and as soon as he removes it and says a soft all done, you were very good, Oskar uncurls, bolts off the chair, and races past the curtain that separates the two halves of Arvid's life. His feet slap on the concrete floor and Arvid watches him go, sighing.

He hears Oskar climb into the bed, the gentle squeak of the springs in the mattress as he buries himself under blankets and probably curls right back up into the little ball likes that. Muffled sobs are just barely audible, and Arvid's teeth itch to go ask him to stop that shit, it's annoying and he has shit to do today, he can't waste his time comforting Oskar's every fear.

But... he caused the fear.

Arvid hesitates, feeling that strange unpleasant twist again.

It's guilt.

He inhales, looking over at the curtain. "Oskar..." He trails off. He should just... go over there and apologize, hold him for a while, let him talk about it or something. It'd be the kind thing to do, and Oskar is the best thing he has in his life these days.

There's a harsh, loud sniff. "Yes?" Oskar's voice is thick and heavy with his tears.

"Listen, I just-" The door to the basement opens and Samael, a woman who seems created entirely in shades of black and slightly less black, steps inside. Arvid swallows the rest of his sentence.

The sounds of Oskar's fear stop - muffled even more thoroughly as he must hear Samael enter, too.

"Am I early?" Sam asks, eyebrows raising. The piercing in one glints in the flat white light of the exam side of the room. "Where's your little creature, isn't he around you all the time these days?"

"He's... busy," Arvid says. "Just give me a second to get the vials ready for you."

"Busy? Doing what?" Sam hops up onto the exam table, even swinging her legs a little. She's maybe five foot three on a good day, but Arvid knows damn well she can snap necks with her thighs alone and is one of the best in the business. "What do pets even do?"

Arvid ignores her. He walks over to peek around the curtain, faintly smiling as he sees the very Oskar-shaped lump on the bed, a hint of his hair showing on the pillow.

"We'll talk about it later," He says, pitching his voice low. "Okay?"

There's a rustle as Oskar shifts around under the blankets he's hidden himself in. He peeks out, just a bit of hair and pale forehead and huge eyes. "Yes, sir," He says, voice weak.

Arvid sighs. Oh, good. He's sir again. Great.

Sometimes, this shit is harder than he thought it would be.

[somanyratsinthewalls]

Burning Hearts Chapter 11

Pairing: Law x Straw Hat Zoan Type (named) OC 

Summary: You were teleported across the globe in an instant, away from your crew. Your body was badly broken and beaten, thrust into the harsh landscape of a Northern island. You are discovered by the Heart Pirates and brought back to health. Startled upon waking up in a foreign place with an unfamiliar crew, you are shocked with the news that you’ll be spending two years there. Trafalgar Law, the captain of the Heart Pirates has made a promise to train you, but will it become something more than a mentor relationship?

WC: 3000

Taglist: @cottoncandyloverrrr @zoros-fourth-sword @nothing-but-brass

Burning Hearts Chapter 11: Coffee Break

— — 

Law was a creature of habit. Your training begun every morning, Monday through Saturday, at 8 AM sharp in the clearing in the forest. It would end promptly at noon and the two of you would return to the base together for lunch. Law didn’t wear a watch, he was so meticulous that he could run his daily routine in his sleep. 

The opposite of how you were. Your body was finally used to having a strict wake up time, but even then Ikkaku would often have to bust through your door and hoist you out of bed when you were feeling extra lazy. You missed your life on the Sunny with your friends, there was organized chaos every day. You could roll out of bed at 6 AM or noon, Sanji would make your favorite breakfast anyway. You could spend your days sparring with Zoro, doing makeup with Robin, or playing Go-Fish with Chopper… no one breathing down your neck about what to do and when…

“Why can Bepo talk?” You ask, trailing behind Law on your way back from training. It was a few days after your confrontation with him on the submarine and you had continued your training without addressing it again. 

“What?” Law replies. 

“He’s a bear… but he’s also like… a person? I’ve seen him swim so obviously it’s not a devil fruit situation…” 

“You’ve never seen a mink?”

“A who now?”

“A mink? The people from Zou?”

“Nope.” 

Law sighs. 

“They’re a race of bipedal animal beings. History says humans evolved from them, we just became less hairy.”

“So everyone there is a polar bear?” You cock your head. 

Law sighs again, frustrated. 

“No. They’re all different mammals. How have you not heard of this? I thought you said your doctor was deer?”

“A reindeer. And no, Chopper’s a real reindeer, he just ate the Human-Human fruit.” You respond. 

“Hmm… Interesting.” 

Several more minutes pass with no sounds except the squelching of your boots in the mud underneath you as you made you way back to compound. Law glances back at you. 

“So… ah..” Law begins, uncomfortably. “Do you like to have coffee?”

You furrow your brow. 

“Like… in general? Do I enjoy coffee?” You respond, confused. 

“No, shit, I mean like…” Law stumbles over his words. This was very much not like the composed, mysterious pirate captain you trained with. “What I mean is, do you want to have a coffee later? In my office.”

Those last words almost looked like they pained him to get out. 

You raised your eyebrows in surprise. 

“Oh! Well I…” You begin. 

“I got some books when we went to town the other day, I want to show you a few things from them. It might help with developing your devil fruit ability.” Law quickly interrupts. 

“Right, well… it’s tomato season so I’ve got a bunch of work to do in the garden, then I’ve got kitchen duty for dinner… but if you can put one of the guys on dishes I think I can stop by afterwards.” 

“I can do that.” 

— — 

“Daisyyyy! Shachi is hogging the sandwiches!” 

You spin around with a grilled cheese in your mouth. 

“Shachi if you don’t let that plate go I’m going to set you on fire!”

“Jeez, okay mom.” Shachi rolls his eyes and passes the plate of sandwiches to Penguin.

You wolf down the rest of your dinner and pour a hefty bowl of soup to set on a little tray. You place a spoon and a napkin on the tray. You ball up the dishtowel on your shoulder in your hands and throw it at Shachi’s head. 

“Your greedy ass is on dish duty tonight, I have a meeting.” 

“Oh a meeting?” Ikkaku raises an eyebrow over her bowl of soup. 

“Yes a meeting to make sure your captain doesn’t die of scurvy and malnutrition. Now, if you’ll excuse me.” You push out of the galley with the tray of soup and head to Law’s office. 

Upon reaching his door, you knock with your heel due to your hands being full. The door cracks open with some unseen force… oh yeah.. the room thing…

“Supper’s on!” You smile while pushing the door open with your shoulder. You see Law at his desk with stacks of old, coverless tomes surrounding him. The books had notes crudely shoved into certain pages. He looks up from the text briefly to beckon you into his office further. You set the bowl of soup and a spoon in front of Law on his desk after folding up the book he was actively reading. 

“Eat. You’re borderline skeletal.” You meet his eyes then nod towards the food. 

Law hums and picks up the bowl.

“Its tomato and egg soup, I grew the tomatoes myself and I added some white pepper and ginger. Tell me if you think it’s-“

Law gulped down the entire bowl in a few seconds and wiped his mouth with his hand. He placed the empty bowl back down on his desk. You raised your brow in surprise. 

“Gods when was the last time you ate?”

“Hmm… yesterday?” Law grabs one of the books from his many stacks and opens to a marked page. 

“These are texts on medieval creatures. It’s not devil fruits, but it might help us figure out what you’re capable of. If you look here- wait. I promised you coffee, didn’t I?”

You smile a little. 

“That you did.” 

“Well, excuse me then.” Law stands, shut the book and moves towards his coffee maker in the corner of his office. 

As Law fiddles with his espresso machine, you take the time to get a good look around the room. You had barely spent any time in here so you wanted to see what Trafalgar Law, Surgeon of Death keeps in his safe space. It was bookshelves, mostly. The antique wood of the bookcases and the worn leather and suede of the furniture was sure a stark contrast to the cold steel flooring and walls. Everything was meticulously clean and organized, except there were tiny little human touches that didn’t go unnoticed by your. His wastebasket was full of empty shrimp-chip bags, crushed energy drink cans, and salt water taffy wrappers. This must be what he lives on when you don’t force him to eat. 

“For a doctor,  your diet sucks.” You chuckle as Law returns to the desk with two cups of coffee in hand. He hands you one and sits back down in his desk chair. He smirks. 

“I forget about food.” 

“That’s insane.”

“Is it?”

“Food is… so important! It fuels your body! Your brain! You can’t live off caffeine and carbs… but I think you know that, doc.”

Law rolls his eyes. “Thank you for the soup.” He opens a drawer in his desk and roots around before pulling out a small bottle of whiskey. He pours a shot or two into his coffee before handing you the bottle. 

“Is this a good idea, after what happened the last time we drank together, Mr Trafalgar?” You smile cheekily at him before grabbing the bottle and pouring some into your cup of coffee. 

Law blushes. Oh gods you had never seen him blush before. He was quite adorable when he was flustered… 

Law makes a hand gesture as if it say “shut up” and cracks his book open again. 

“A wyvern is much like a traditional dragon… scales, breathing fire, long tail, but the difference, as you know would be the wings. It’s clear you’ve harnessed quite a few of these attributes, but you’ve failed to unlock your full Zoan form. I think if you look at these pictures and notes, you might find some information that might help you.”

You look down at the dusty page. It was filled with vicious, fire breathing dragons ripping the heads off unsuspecting villagers. 

“I…. I don’t know if I was to be just like… that…” You point down at the page. 

“Of course not. That’s why you need to learn to control yourself and your abilities before you assume your final form and-“ 

“So I have to stop accidentally burning your eyebrows off?” You interject.

“That would be appreciated, yes.” Law responds, playfully annoyed. “Once you can burn my eyebrows off on purpose, we can move forward.” 

You snort-laugh into your spiked coffee. Was he funny? Or was it the whiskey talking? First you think he’s cute, now you think he’s funny? Was it a full moon? Were you finally losing it?

“What’s with all those newspapers?” You take another sip of your drink and stand up. You walk towards the stack of old newspapers at the bottom of one of Law’s bookcases. 

“It’s not for the newspapers. It’s for the comics.” 

You nod your head down and give him a look. 

“The comics?”

“Sora, Warrior of the Sea. It’s the greatest comic ever made. I have ever single issue ever made.” 

“hmm… never heard of it.” You say as you flip through the stack. 

“What? You’ve never heard of Sora? Stealth Black? It’s been running in the WENP for years.” Law asks. 

“Nope, nothing rings a bell.”

“Grab the bottom one. Bring it here.” 

You oblige and carefully pull Issue 1 from the bottom of the stack of papers. You bring it over to Law’s desk and he flips open immediately to the beginning of the comic strip. “See look, this is Sora. He’s a marine hero, and he fights against Germa 66. He’s got this robot here, see?” 

Law points at the comic on the page and you listen intently. As he explains the years long lore of this fictional hero, you notice a certain sparkle in the pirate captain’s eye. He wasn’t looking at you, he was looking at the figures on the crusty old newspaper page with awe and splendor. You listened for what felt like ages about this nerdy comic strip, but you were mesmerized at the sight of Law finally showing interest in something. 

“So who is this guy?” You point at a character on the page. 

“Good question, this is a new character in this chapter so… wait you’re actually listening?” Law turns to finally meet your gaze. 

“… yes? Why would I not be?” You cock your head. 

“I-I just thought you’d be.. bored… or something..” Law still looks at the page. 

“I’m not bored. I’ve never read this before. It’s interesting. Can we read one more? Tomorrow’s Sunday… no bed time, am I right?” You ask. 

“O-Of course! If you want to!” Law quickly moves from his desk and grabs Issue 2 from the stack. He hurries back to his desk and opens up to the first comic panel. 

“I-If you really want to see the art, you can move your chair over here…” Law scoots his desk chair over to make space for you on his side of the desk. 

You oblige and move your chair to the other side of the desk so that you and Law were sitting shoulder to shoulder. He points to a character in the comic. “So if you see here…” 

Law rambles through the entirety of the comic book with great interest. You alternate looking from the page to his shining face as he smiles, explaining the deep lore behind the story. You had never seen Law so impassioned about anything, let alone a nerdy piece of print media. The hour was drawing late and you yawn involuntarily. 

“Hey, you should get to bed. You worked hard today.” Law closes the old newspaper. 

“Hm. Thanks. You know I really want to hear more about Sora. Maybe we can read more another time?” You ask.

“R-really? I mean.. Yes. We can do that. Enjoy your day off.” Law replies with wide eyes.

“Goodnight, Law.” You smile as you head towards the door of Law’s office. 

“Goodnight.”

You shut the cold steel door behind you and return to your room. Halfway through trudging through the base you realize you had a stupid grin plastered across your face. It was so fascinating to see such an uptight and cold man let loose and info dump about his special interests. He liked superhero comics. How were you supposed to ignore how cute that was?

You sigh and push open the metal door to your room. 

“Well, well, well.” 

“Ah!” You jolt in surprise. 

“It’s 12:30 AM. Where were you, miss girl?” Ikkaku cocks her head as she closes the gossip magazine she was reading while lounging on top of your bed. 

“I-I told you I had a meeting!” You respond defensively. 

“Alone? With the captain? Until the wee hours of the morning? Hmm?”

“OK don’t ‘miss girl’ me! He had some books he needed to show me!” You unzip your jumpsuit and start to brush your hair out for bed.

“That man doesn’t let anyone in his office for more than 10 minutes, let alone several hours! What the hell were you talking about!” Ikkaku asks you in an accusatory fashion. 

“Oh my GODS, nothing! He wanted me to learn about my devil fruit powers and we got side tracked talking about that weird comic he likes!” 

“Sora?”

“Yes, Sora. The Sea Warrior guy.” 

“Damn.” Ikkaku opens up the magazine again and looks down. 

“What?” 

“He didn’t tell us about his boy-crush on Sora for YEARS! And you’re already reading it with him after a few months? You think I’m stupid?”

“What do you mean? Of course I don’t think that!”

“He likes you. Clearly. Do you like him?” Ikkaku cuts straight to the point. 

“I… I don’t know yet.” You sit down on the bed next to her as you stripped yourself of your clothes. Ikkaku wraps an arm around you. 

“And that’s okay. Just… be careful. You’ve been through enough, I’d hate to see you get your heart broken too.”

You sigh, relaxing into your pillows. 

“I know… Hey… please don’t tell anyone about this, okay?” You look at her. 

“of course.” Ikkaku holds out her pinky to you and you smile and hook it with your own. You press your foreheads together and laugh. 

“Shit, if he starts getting laid it might be a lot more chill around here.”

You smack Ikkaku on the shoulder and the both of you fall into a fit of laughter. 

— — 

The next morning you wake up at your own pace, thrilled to not have to train. You throw on some sweatpants and decide it’s time to get some breakfast. As you swing open the door to your stateroom you notice an ugly, dirty glass vase filled with marigolds and coneflowers at your doorstep. 

You lean down and pick up the bouquet. It was put together haphazardly, but you recognized the blooms. These were from your garden. You pick up the arrangement and bring it to your nose, inhaling its fresh airy scent. You turn back and place the flowers on your vanity before heading to the kitchen for breakfast. 

Ikkaku was at the stove making rice and eggs. You come up behind her and pinch her hip. 

“Good morning.”

“Morning, sunshine!” Ikkaku turns her head and smiles at you. “I made a plate for you and one for the captain. Can you drop it by his room?” She smirks. 

You roll your eyes. 

“Yes ma’am.” You grab both plates and head to Law’s office. 

Once reaching his door you shout instead of knocking. 

“Chow time, Cap!”

The door opens and you push yourself in. 

Law raises his head from his desk and clears it from the medical journals he was reading. 

“Good morning.” You smile. 

“Good morning, back.” Law looks at the plate you placed in front of him. “Guessing you weren’t on kitchen duty this morning?”

You laugh. 

“Ikkaku makes a fine breakfast, you’re just getting spoiled.” 

The two of you eat breakfast in silence for awhile. 

“Y-You saw the flowers?” Law stutters out in between mouthfuls of rice. 

“I did. They’re lovely.” You smirk. “So you snuck out into my garden and picked my flowers to give them to me?” You ask with a playful smile. 

“T-that’s… the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.. when you say it like that…” Law puts his fork down and rubs his eyes. Your heart pangs with sympathy. The man had tried. 

“Hey, it’s the thought that counts. I loved them.” You finish your plate of food. 

Law still doesn’t meet your gaze. 

“Thank you for breakfast.” He says while finishing his plate. 

“Thank you for the flowers, Law.” You picked up his plate and stacked it with yours. Before grabbing the tableware you make your way around Law’s desk. 

You grab Law’s cheek in one hand and lean forward to kiss his other cheek. You let your lips linger on his skin before pulling back. Law freezes. 

You take the dishes out of his office and back to the kitchen to clean. As you wash the dishes, you can’t help but worry… were you really going to get involved with this man? This relationship would have an expiration date… would that be fair to either of you? Did you care? He made butterflies erupt in your chest simply by being vulnerable… there was no denying that you felt something from that kiss, too. The noise in your head was too loud. It was time to take your red satchel and head out to the garden shed…

xx

Authors Note:

chapter 11! it's here! If you guys have suggestions on where you want this to go from here, I'd love to hear them! I have a few thoughts floating around but I'm open to suggestion! Law is just such an awkward loser nerd in my head that's why I simply have to write him as one. (He might close the deal soon thought hehehehe)

[foodandfolklore]

Kitchen Altars - Placement Pros and Cons

For those unaware, an Altar in Witchcraft is a surface where you do most of your magical or spiritual "stuff". It helps you focus your intentions, harness power, and is your general working space. I see a lot of Kitchen Witches making or wanting to make altars to have in their kitchen. It can give them a space to charge items, to leave offerings, to gather energy and power, ect. They may also use it to invite a specific deity or entity into their kitchen. So what or where can be your Altar? Here are some ideas depending on your needs.

The entire Kitchen This is the route I think many traditional Kitchen Witches Take. An altar is meant to be a working space. Your kitchen is like a swiss army knife of working space. If you want your entire kitchen to be your altar, don't be afraid to add things to Up it's magical energy. Kitchen/Cottage Witch Poppets, Decorative Crystals, Important Symbols, hand made garlands, charms, Whatever.

However, the down side to this is: first, It's harder to stay in the broom closet the more you have on display. I am very lucky in that I don't fear any kind of persecution from family, friends, neighbors, ect. But not everyone feels as secure openly practicing. Second, if you are someone who shares a kitchen with many people like roommates or extended family, you may not be able to set up or decorate the kitchen exactly as you want. Additionally, All these extra people coming in an out at different times with different moods can throw off the energy in the space. So having something separate might work better for you.

Counters Probably the most popular place to set up an altar in a kitchen as it's the most obvious. You may want to set aside a small section of your counter and dedicate it to an altar. A shallow wooden box or tray for you to put your altar in may be a good idea. This is because the main downside to having an altar set up on your counter is you lose counter space. Which can be very valuable. So by building your altar on or in a tray allows you to move it temporarily should you need the extra counter space.

Cupboards or Drawers This is a little more broom closet friendly. You can set up an altar in an obscure cupboard shelf or unused drawer, then open it up when you want to use it. Then when not in use, it's closed up out of sight. Since it's closed off, you don't need to worry as much about dust or kitchen grim. However, the downside is your altar is either taking up valuable storage space or it's in an awkward to get to area. Like that corner cupboard that you need to get on a chair in order to reach the back, or that drawer that can only open when you have the oven door open. If it's a pain in the ass to get to, you're less likely to use it.

Kitchen Table If your table is large enough to hold a bowl or basket as a decorative center piece, consider building your altar in that bowl or basket. This tends to be a great option for those with their foot in the broom closet since the altar can be written off as a decorative piece. It's also good in that it doesn't take up work or storage space. And since it's in a basket or other container, you can move it when you need the space.

The downside is for us witches who are a little more...chaotic...in our organization style. Stuff gets dropped on the kitchen table to be dealt with later, only for later to never come. Mail, clothes, documents, drinking glasses; things just get lost in the layers of time. Your altar may end up lost or damaged.

Windowsill Another popular choice for Kitchen Witches who like to grow herbs or plants. They'll set up their foliage by the window and base an altar around that. Space tends to be a bit limited in these cases, so make sure any additions are small. Also be carful when setting up crystals in your windowsill. While sunlight is great for plants, it can be harmful for some popular crystals like Amethyst and fade the color.

Also, pay attention to how your window opens. If you want to open the window and it slides, or you need to crank a handle, you don't want anything to block the window from opening. And on the flip side, you don't want to damage your altar items if opening the window causes them to fall.

Shelves Specifically shelves that are separate from the kitchen cupboards. You may want to install a floating shelf or just get a corner shelf stand. You can build your altar on one (or all) of the shelf surfaces. It's great as it can be set out of the way but still in an area that's convenient to get to.

The downside tends to be cost and installation. Floating shelves tend to be cheaper than a standing corner shelf. You can find some nice wooden floating shelves at second hand stores or flea markets for anywhere between 10 to 60 dollars. But when you install them, you want to make sure you drill part of it into a wall stud. This helps stop them from falling down. This is assuming you CAN drill into a wall, as many rental agreements don't allow you to put holes in walls. A small, standing shelf is a good alternative and renter friendly. However, you tend to need to buy these new and can cost several hundred dollars. If you or someone you know are good with carpentry, maybe you can build a custom shelf. But new wood is still very expensive.

Fridge Close the fridge, we're not putting it inside. I mean you can; but that might be messy. Most fridges have at lest 1 magnetic surface. And did you know there are a lot of things you can get with magnets attached? Magnetic Jars or Containers, Magnetic shelves, Magnetic hooks- Not to mention the plethora of decorative magnets. I've seen tarot card magnets, moon phase magnets, Astrology magnets, ect. You can arrange your fridge to be a vertical altar.

The downside here being most of these items will probably be bought online, and the quality of the magnetism can vary. Make sure you read reviews and make sure something won't just fall off one day. And avoid pushing the strength of things like Magnetic shelves by loading them up with heavy objects. Another downside may be your fridge doesn't have a magnetic side exposed. Stainless steel fridges tend to not be magnetic on the front. Something about the metal used. They are magnetic on the sides, but if your fridge doesn't have exposed sides due to placement, you may be SOL for a fridge altar.

Outside the Kitchen Lastly, remember that just because you practice kitchen magic, doesn't mean you need to restrict yourself to the kitchen. Kitchen witches are allowed to practice other kinds of magic in addition to kitchen magic. You may want an altar for these situations. So set one up in the living room, dining room, bedroom, backyard, bathroom, wherever works for you. And if it doesn't work for you, don't be afraid to move it!

[balkanradfem]

How not to over-water your plants

So, firstly, if you're new to plants, you might be wondering, well what is so bad about over watering? After all, they're plants aren't they? Don't they need water to survive? The more the merrier? And to you I say, good point, here's why it can work with plants outside, but not plants in little pots inside.

Have you ever left a piece of organic matter in the water? Like, a leaf, or even a flower in a flower vase. If you left it in for a week, it develops a bad smell, and the leaves, stems and roots will start to degrade, ferment, and rot in the water. That's exactly what's happening to the roots of your houseplants if they're left in an overly-wet soil; they don't have any access to oxygen, and they rot. Outside, the soil is constantly draining the water further down, the earth is capable of absorbing a lot of water while leaving the topsoil pleasantly damp, but not liquid with water. So you need to make sure your soil is never so wet that it rots your plants roots; if it comes to that, your plant will start turning brown or black, become squishy and spongy, and eventually rot completely.

So how do you avoid it? You'll often hear advice about 'having good drainage', which means your pot needs to have little holes for the water to come out, and the soil shouldn't be so dense and clayish that it would stop water from draining through. However, even if you have perfect drainage, you can still pour in so much water that the little tray under the pot is filled with water – thus the plants sit in water again, rotting. It's difficult to see whether the soil is saturated with water too, sometimes the top of the soil can seem completely dry and you don't see if it's all the way dry or not, it can be misleading. You also can't just stick to a watering schedule because the soil dries out at different speed, based on humidity, heating, temperature, season, exposure to sunlight, it will be different every time. So how can you get around this problem?

The solution I found works perfectly is: lift the pot. As soon as you feel the weight of the pot in your hands, you'll be able to tell whether that thing is heavy as if it's filled with water, or if it's so light that there's barely any water in it. If your pot is super heavy and feels like you just lifted a bucket of water, leave it be, do not water it for a week, until it becomes a normal weight (it should feel like one third of it is water). If your pot is so light, that it feels like nothing is in it at all, then you need to water enough to fill that entire tray underneath, and then let the soil absorb the water for a while. If the soil is super dry, it becomes hydrophobic, and it will take time for it to start absorbing water again; but don't worry, if you leave it sitting in water overnight, it should be fine again, and the plants won't start to rot after just one day of sitting water. A normal watering should be just one third of the container of the plant, that should saturate the soil so it's damp, but not dripping with water.

A further step you can take to make sure your plants are happy with the amount of water, is to research the plants themselves, and how they like to be watered. Most plants will do well on having their soil pleasantly damp, but some houseplants like to have their soil dry out completely before they get a good amount of water again; for instance, lemon trees like that feeling of being dried completely, and then being watered generously, because they're used to growing in tropical areas, and going through droughts and rainfall. Some plants are capable of taking moisture from the air, but they still love having a good amount of water in the pot. Nothing will give you better insight than researching every plant separately.

So what about succulents? You may have been told that you can ignore succulents and they'll be fine, however I found this not to be true, after my poor neglected succulent died due to non watering. You can't even use the trick of lifting the pot, if you're having succulents and aloe vera, because those plants keep water inside of their bodies, so if you lift the pot, it might be heavy, not because it's filled with water, but because the plants themselves are heavier, keeping water inside of themselves. They absolutely need water too, there's just a difference in how long they can do without it. But we're not trying to give those plants endurance tests, we're trying to make sure they're happy and thriving. So how to know when to water your succulents or aloe vera?

The solution is: you try to see if they're squishy. A succulent happily filled with water, will be firm and sturdy to touch. If your succulent is starting to dry, and is now spending the water they have in their inside store, they'll become squishy! If you lightly press with your fingers on the leaf, or the stem of a succulent, and it gives way and squishes, that means the plant needs more water in order to be happy. The squishiness starts closer to the base and the stem of the plant, so if you can check the widest, most base leafs, you'll get the best idea of whether they need water or not. Also, if you see any leaves on them that are dried, brown, dying away, you can pull these off! Your plants are only burdened by keeping dead plant matter on, if you pull those off the plant will immediately look healthier, have less to worry about, and be ready to grow new healthy leaves.

Any big plant can generally survive longer without water than a smaller plant, simply because they are able to store water inside of themselves, so they have some reserve. You always have to keep a closer eye on your tiniest little plants, and your giant plants will need your attention less frequently. Another tip is to have your plants somewhere you see them every day, because if your plant is somewhere you have to specifically go to see it and water it, it is likely you'll forget about its existence until it's too late. Even writing this I remembered I had some plants on a window that I don't usually use, and I've forgot to water them for two weeks. Oops. (they're fine I watered them now).

I hope these tricks help you have confidence in caring for your plants! It took me a while to figure it out, so I'm happy to share my knowledge. If you know more tricks please write them on this post so that I may become smarter too.

[aurumacadicus]

What are you procrastinating?

Steve and Tony techy spy au?

*waves hand at... everything* Eh.

Anyway I'm feeling some okayish-dad Howard and stupid boys. But when am I not feeling stupid boys 🤔

Steve isn't about this whole... high-tech stuff. He's been doing this spy thing for years without even a smart phone. He doesn't want all these newfangled gadgets that take up space that could be filled with extra bullets instead. Sure, the key-reader had come in handy, but he also could have just kicked the door open in the same amount of time. He tries, though. He knows the world is getting more reliant on tech, and while his flip phone and motorcycle are enough for him, espionage is advancing to heights he never could have imagined. Plus, it genuinely helps that he always looks a little confused when he does anything tech-related. Most people think he's too stupid to know how to upload viruses and key loggers. He's gotten a lot more on board with it now that Tony is working in the labs, though. Tony is bright, and he always smiles wide as he explains exactly what his inventions do. So maybe Steve leans into being a neanderthal a little bit, just so he can get some extra attention as Tony makes absolutely sure he understands how everything works. His life depends on it, sometimes! He needs to know this stuff! And sometimes Tony leans in, one long line of heat against the side of Steve's body, and Steve is grateful he actually knew what Tony was talking about because all he could think at the time was 'Tony Tony Tony Tony' and he took in nothing.

Tony is, unfortunately, untouchable. Peggy is the head of the organization, but there are several others under her who wield almost as much power. Howard Stark is one of them. Steve had thought he and Howard had a pretty good rapport. They would get drinks after work, sometimes even eat lunch in the commissary together. Howard liked the work Steve did, and he also had a soft spot for older technology like Steve. They got along. But then one day, while they were taking their trays to one of the tables to sit at for lunch, someone said, "Have you seen the ass on that new guy in tech? Bet he's tight as a--" and Howard wordlessly slammed his tray into the guy's head with such force that it bounced off the table. "My son's ass is as tight as what?" Howard had asked mildly, as if he had not cracked his tray in half, and the surrounding three tables had scattered. Steve had wanted to run, too, but he'd pretended he understood Howard's reaction and how obviously he'd made the right decision. No one should be talked about like that, least of all a sub-director's son. After lunch, Steve had immediately gone to a payphone three blocks away and left all his friends messages to please god please don't tease him about how much he's talked about how sexy Tony is at work Howard will murder him Agent Malloy got a concussion please.

It's not like Steve is special, anyway. Tony is enthused about one thing only: Technology. Part of the reason he got the job was because Howard was tired of being pestered to show things to Peggy for him. Howard had cleared a path for him to force his way into Peggy's office and show off his stuff firsthand and that had been that. (Rumors said that Peggy was still aghast that Howard would allow Tony into a situation where he might be shot by his godmother, but both Howard and Tony showed a distinct lack of care for their safety, so. Maybe there was truth to the rumors.) So being an idiot about technology is the only way that Steve can get his attention. He think it's probably not the best way to endear Tony to him. Tony probably wants someone he thinks can keep up with him, anyway. Steve portrays himself as sort of a dinosaur when it comes to tech. Surely someone who didn't "need" to have things explained to him in very small words. Besides, active field agents were discouraged from serious relationships. It's always possible that they might not come back, or that their significant other would could be used against them. He wouldn't be Tony's first choice, and Tony probably had the good sense not to get involved with an active field agent. (Or if he didn't, Howard had probably scared the majority of them off. Agent Malloy had been the first creep he'd used his hands on. He hadn't been the last.)

Tony is absolutely, embarrassingly, and obviously in love with Steve. He thinks Steve is so sweet. He doesn't understand a lot of high-tech stuff, but he's so earnest when he asks questions, Tony doesn't even mind taking time from other projects to give him explanations. He wants to make sure Steve knows as much as possible so that he's less likely to get hurt. Steve has a sweet smile and he's literally heard him say 'aw, shucks.' He kinda wants to take Steve to bed and make him learn new swears. Steve's basically the only one Howard has good things to say about, too. 'He's a polite young man who would never gossip about how good his boyfriend is in bed,' he'd said. Tony... isn't actually sure why his dad felt the need to tell him that? But he appreciates it. He had his time as the college bicycle and while he's maybe not ready to settle down, he's ready to test the waters, date around. Maybe with Steve, if he could ever get Steve to catch a clue. Every time he hints at a date, Steve starts babbling frantically about someone named Agent Malloy? Tony only met him once. He thinks the guy's on medical leave, maybe. Maybe he's more Steve's type, Tony thinks in disappointment.

"...So you were just making fun of me," Tony says, hurt, after Steve has cracked the code on the digital cuffs he'd been bound with. "When you asked me how things worked." "I just liked listening to you talk," Steve admits, embarrassed, and doesn't meet his eyes. "I'd listen to you read the dictionary. You at least seemed to like talking about tech." "Aw," Tony begins, and then grabs Steve's arm and yanks him down with a scream. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" "What?! What!?" Steve shouts, but then Tony is gathering him to his chest and holding a taser threateningly. "Who are you threatening I can't see Tony oh my god." Howard adjusts his grip on the wooden beam he'd found to use as a weapon. "If I have to watch this comedy of errors for one more minute, I will beat Steve to death." "What are you fucking talking about?!" Tony splutters, at the same time Steve wails, "NO I SAW WHAT YOU DID TO AGENT MALLOY WHEN HE WAS TALKING ABOUT TONY'S ASS!" In the end, Tony has to use a prototype bondage device to disarm and bind his dad so he doesn't kill Steve accidentally club them both and Steve is so in love with him. He's so smart and beautiful and kind. "He is not kind," Howard barks from where Steve is carrying him like he weighs nothing. "Look away Tony. I don't want you getting ideas about his biceps." "It's too late. I had them the first time I saw him training newbies in the gym," Tony retorts, and Steve has to fumble around with Howard as he snarls and gnashes his teeth.

[prettyrainsstuff]

Sigma with an ADA!Male!Reader

✮⋆˙

Warnings: mentions of murder, angst. Spoiler warnings for bsd season 5 and spoilers for bsd chapter 108!

Summary: How would your DOA boyfriend react/act if you were in the ADA?

Note: I’ve never written for sigma yet, this is my first time writing for him so bear with me XD (TW: brief talking about sigmas death)

When Sigma first found out you were in the armed detective agency, he didn’t freak out like you’d think he would.

Well he did freak out, but not in the way you’d think. Sigma had mixed emotions about it. Why would you want to be his boyfriend if his organization tried to frame and kill off your organization?

You knew Sigma wasn’t really like the rest of the Decay of Angels. You also heard him say that he wanted to be in the armed detective agency.

-

•You and Sigma try to keep your relationship a secret.

•You both found it a bit easier if people knew you guys weren’t in a relationship so that the armed detective agency wouldn’t freak out.

•You would come to the casino to see Sigma and meet each other in his office.

•you would usually come in when people would leave.

•You and Sigma also keep your relationship a secret beautiful if The hunting dogs found out you were dating or just found out you and the casino manager aka one of the decay of angels members, something definitely would’ve happened.

- scenario -

You had been brought to the prison along with Dazai and met Sigma there. Apparently Dazai and Fyodor were taking injections from Nikolai that would last an 1 hour before they would die and the last one out would be able to be released from the prison.

You decided to not take it and just watch with Nikolai and Sigma and “to just watch the show go on”. Besides what was that psychopathic clown on anyway? You weren’t even sure what he even put in those injections.

“Are you sure you don’t want to take it, Mr. Y/N?” Nikolai said practically shoving the suitcase with the injection in your face.

“No…thanks” you said.

“Alrighty then! Suit yourself..” Nikolai said joyfully before putting the case back in his cape.

Sigma was next to you while you watched it all begin. You squeezed his hand nervously while he squeezed back.

You were mostly worried about Dazai. Your Coworker and friend might die and there was basically nothing you could do about it.

“Assistant! bring me the thing!” Nikolai pointed at Sigma beside you. “Im not your assistant!” He yelled but let go of your hand to bring out the large cart. “In honor of your pathetic doom and your death I decided to do a little something for you two.” Sigma then came out with a cart. It had tools on it. “Here we have some powerful tools that can be used throughout your escape. First up we have a radio that was from one of the guards. You can use this to tell if the guards are present in the area. Next we have a security card that will access to to the ocean heliport with the card. Third..Coin bombs”.

You’ve heard of the bombs before. Sigma had told you about them.

“And fourth..The satellite phone! It has radio reception to the first floor. If you make it you can request help from anyone worldwide!”. Nikolai said. Sigma nervously looked at me and at Nikolai then looked at Fyodor and Dazai unsure of what he should do.

“It seems the escape has already begun.” Fyodor said.

“You choose first.” Dazai said.

“Thanks, that is rather decent of you..” Fyodor said.

You and Sigma wondered what they would pick. Fyodor went up to the tray of tools and pointed at the security card.

“Excellent choice!” Exclaimed Nikolai.

Now its was Dazai’s turn. You clenched your fists in anticipation.

“Lets see,,I think I like this one the best.”

Dazai was pointing at Sigma…

No..You didn’t know why you were so filled with anger and anxiety. You wondered why Dazai accepted the deal with Nikolai. You dont even know why he took the injection in the first place.

“M-Me..?!You want me..?” Sigma said.

“Your marvelous. I like you.” Said Nikolai with a slight laugh.

You and Sigma looked at each other with worried looks. “Its okay Sigma, Me and Nikolai will be watching through the cameras.” You said trying to stay calm but deep inside you weren’t. You were worried about Dazai being killed but now you had to worry about sigma too?

“So it begins!” Nikolai exclaimed.

Sigma and Dazai left but Fyodor was still there. “What are you wait for Dos-kun? You can swap your tool with something else.” Nikolai asked Fyodor spinning his cane

“I have another card to play.” Fyodor said.

You looked at Fyodor in confusion.

Nikolai stopped spinning his cane. “I see im not the only one with tricks up their sleeves.” Nikolai said.

You, Fyodor, and Nikolai waited there in which seemed like forever.

Then a couple guards came in and pointed their guns at you both.

“Holy shit! Well it looks like its time for me to bounce!” Nikolai said before escaping the scene through his cape.

Two of the guards took you back to your prison cell while the others took care of Fyodor.

You stood in your prison cell pacing around your small cramped room. All you could do was think about what was going on with Sigma and Dazai. And the rest of the Armed Detective Agency.

Suddenly you felt something pull you down like last time. You fell down in what seemed like the security camera room.

“Why hello Mr.Y/N, It seems we meet again.” Nikolai said.

How many times does he have to do this to you?!

“What do you need from me now Gogol?” You said with an irritated tone.

“I thought it was pretty unfair that those guards put you back in your cell so I decided it would be fair to let you see what has been going on.” Nikolai said.

“Besides you seemed pretty worried about Sigma back there.” The jester said.

“Um..Thanks I guess?” You said.

“Anyways..Just make sure that the guards don’t try to take you or kill you again. Your from the Armed Detective Agency you know..” Nikolai said before escaping through his cape again.

You sighed and got up to check the cameras. You saw Sigma on the camera but he wasn’t with Dazai. Where did Dazai go?

You tried to see if you could speak to him through the security cameras but unfortunately it didn’t have a speaker.

A couple minutes later you checked the camera again. It seemed like Sigma was on the floor beneath you. But Fyodor was there with him.

You wanted to run as fast as you could down there but you heard something they were talking about.

Your mind over flowed with thoughts and questions. Where was Dazai? Is Sigma okay? Why is he with Fyodor?

Your thoughts were trailed off by Fyodors scream. Why was he screaming.

Then it hit you.

Fyodor wasn’t in any pain or suffering.

Fyodor was gonna kill Sigma instead.

You ran out of the room. You wanted to cry.

Sob even.

You didn’t care anymore. You didn’t care that Sigma was apart of the Decay Of Angels.

You ran as fast as you could and took the stairs instead. Tears ran down your face not knowing what was going to happen to Sigma.

You practically jumped off of the last step of the stair case and ran to the second security system.

You ripped open the door to find no one but Sigma.

Lying lifeless on the cold floor.

“SIGMA!” You screamed running up to him.

Sigma had always told you that you were like his home.

You thought the same thing with him.

But now your home was dead.

Almost cried while making this lol.

[oftlunarialmoon]

Royally Cute/Kawaii Room Decorating! – Royals Lesson!

Originally posted to www.onlyfunthings.org on November 07, 2018

Ciao lovelies! Today’s lesson falls more on the kawaii side of things, as well as potentially on the LARP side of things (if you consider decorating your space in a royally cute way to be LARPing as a Royal, that is). Today we’re talking about Royal Room Decorating, I’ll be sharing some of my tips on how to get a super kawaii and fun-to-live-in space, as well as some decluttering tips, sharing some of my fave DIY’s, and even spotlighting some YouTube Videos about this topic. So let’s jump in!

Step One to Royal Room Decorating is starting with a clean space. Making sure that you have a fresh clean slate is very important. 

Some tips to decluttering your space are:

-          Know what you do and don’t use, and get rid of what you don’t. If you’re like me and hoard craft supplies, make sure that your supplies are actually useful items that you will put to use soon, or discard them (or give them away to another crafter). 

-          Go through your clothes, anything you don’t wear anymore, donate to charity.

-          Clean out any trash from your space.

-          Everything should have a designated place, even if that place is a miscellaneous bin. 

Step two is deciding on your generalized décor theme. You don’t have to confine yourself to one narrow theme, but picking a general idea can help keep your décor cohesive. I am guilty of having non-cohesive décor, unfortunately, but my general theme is “Kawaii”. So, I try to display items in a cute fashion, have cute décor items, and decorate things accordingly. (Though some of my décor is a little out of the theme, but these “different” pieces are not in the majority.)

Step three is, naturally, decorating! Finding décor pieces to match your theme might be easy, or might be hard, depending on your tastes and interests. For today, I’m going to be focusing on a generalized “Cute/Elegant/Kawaii” theme. (We also have a Luxury Room Decorating On A Budget Post HERE!)

So, if one wants to decorate their space in a “kawaii” fashion, finding décor to match might be hard.  While yes, if you have the funds you can buy from shops like Blippo or buy cute anime figures or other kawaii décor at conventions, but if you want to decorate cutely on a budget, there are many options for you!

How to Decorate Cutely on a Budget!

1.       Thrift Shopping! One of the best ways to get cute décor for your space is thrift shopping! Even if you don’t find anything inherently cute, you can always get creative and add a DIY touch to items you find! And you never know, you might find something super kawaii at a thrift store. Check out THIS POST for some Thrifting Tips!

2.       DIY! Another great way to get cute décor for your space is to make it yourself or transform existing items into cute items! Yumi King has a great Playlist for Kawaii Room Décor DIY’s. We have even done some DIY posts on Room Décor, check out THIS Royals Lesson on how to transform items into cute room décor, and we also have a post on how to make some Kawaii Paintings (CLICK ME!). 

3.       Dollar Stores! You can find some cute stuff at the Dollar Store too! I found all this super cute stuff for decorating at the dollar store (each item was only $1):

. I also found this cute serving tray which is metal, and I use it to display lip balms on my dresser at Uni:

4.       Double-Use Items! What does this mean? Well take for example my desk’s décor:

I use my squishies as both décor and stress relief! You can also use items like cute clothes/bags/accessories for décor, like hanging cute necklaces on jewelry organizers on your dresser and such, or displaying cute bags on a shelf. 

5.       Sales! Take advantage of Sales, but make sure items are actually on sale (sometimes stores mark up items shortly before a sale and then mark them down to look like a sale, but they’re actually normal price.). Sales like post-holiday sales are great. For example, Halloween just ended and you can still find discount Halloween stuff, if that’s your thing. And I’m thinking, after Valentines Day, you could find tons of cute pastel items on sale!

Thank you for reading! I hope these tips on how to decorate cute on a budget helped you! 

Remember to Stay Awesome and Love Yourself!

[amyyythestarry]

✦︎ KAMOME HORROR STORIES ✦︎

——

Prologue: The Hundred Tales.

——

After school one day, my friends and I joined a book club.

There wasn’t a book club before, but now there is, made by a sophomore at my school, Nanamine Sakura. It may be the first time I’m actually interacting with her, except for one time in cheer practice when Nanamine-senpai was told to teach me the new moves since I was out the other day. But that was probably the 5th week of school.

She’s a total beauty, for one thing. Her 3B hair is mostly fern green but you could kind of see that on the inside it’s darker, same colored eyes, her eyelashes are the color green, and her skin is cider brown. She is wearing a white cardigan sweater that has a little brown yarn in the mix, over a long sleeved Kamome uniform dress.

Nanamine-senpai always has a perfectly neutral look on her face, or, from what I see in the gym sometimes after school and now. Her eyebrows slightly rise when she sees me, not a look of surprise but of knowingness as she knows who I am.

When I waved to her, she waved back and walked up to me, leaving a candle on a table with a lot of the same candlestick on circular trays covering the whole thing, even some on the floor. I wonder how many candles there are.

“Good afternoon, Yashiro-san.” She says, entwining her fingers together in front of her.

“Good afternoon Nanamine-senpai. How are you?” 

“I’m good, thanks for asking. You?”

“Oh, I’m great!” 

After that we stood there for a bit, not talking any longer. I put my hands behind my back and look at the library. It's on the first floor, there are two libraries in Kamome and this one was the smallest. I don’t come here often. There is no one else in here except for Nanamine-senpai and I. I’m guessing the other club members haven’t got here, but I’m only talking about my friends who joined with me. I don’t know how many people joined the newfound book club, especially since it’s new, there might not be so many people..

“I didn’t expect you to actually come, if I’m being honest.” Nanamine speaks again.

I tilt my head a little to the side, “Why is that?”

“… Well, you looked a bit hesitant when you first signed up for it.”

I signed up yesterday when my best friends Akane Aoi and Aoi Akane told me it would be cool, and that they have always wanted to join a book club. My other familiars Akane Sumire and Minamoto Teru agreed to that. They didn’t want to leave me out so they suggested we all join together as there were definitely enough spots for four, because the club had only been a thing since last week, the first meeting was on Friday.

It’s Friday now, and here I am, earlier than my friends because they’re all at the garden.

“Oh, yeah! I… Didn’t really think I would be able to fit this into my schedule. I’m a part of the gardening club and cheer team. I thought joining something else would make things difficult to manage but I worked it out with all of my teachers and things are fine!” I waved my hands in a reassuring manner, hoping I made that clear enough so she didn’t think I was lying.

Luckily, she nodded her head in understanding. “I’m also a part of two clubs. Book, broadcasting, and I’m a cheerleader. I understand being afraid of not having organized management when you have to be a part of multiple school activities.” 

I smiled, then my phone rang from inside my backpack. I predicted it would be from one of my friends, and I was correct. Aoi texted me saying that Akane and Sumire would be there soon, and that they had to take care of a few more things in the garden.

“My friends said they should be here in no time.” I told Nanamine-senpai.

She gave me a thumbs up, I copied the gesture.

Nanamine walked over to a center in the small library with a rug and three chairs. She started moving those out of the area, putting them in the back and coming back to go over to the piles of candlesticks on the table.

“If you want, would you help me set up everything for when all the members are here? I have to put all of these candles in that space right there,” She pointed to the area, grabbing one candlestick. “It’s for the game we’re going to play.”

“Sure! What game are we playing?” I asked, starting to help her out, carrying the candles to the center of the library.

“It’s a game where we tell horror stories to one another, and with each story we blow out a candle.” 

I paused before I could place another candle down on the floor, turning to my upperclassman by a year while comical question marks appeared over my head.

“Horror stories? Really…”

“Mhm.” Nanamine-senpai continued with the task, until she noticed my nervous look and stopped like me. 

“…. Are.. Are you ok with that? Telling scary stories, I mean.” 

“I mean, yeah! Yeah it’s fine, I’m ok with spooky tales, as long as nothing happens. Y’know, like in movies..” 

I’ve heard a lifetime of scary things just being in Kamome Academy ever since 6th grade. There are always rumors and tall tales spreading around this school, whether they actually have something to do with Kamome or not. Aoi and Sumire tell me a lot of them, like whenever me and Aoi are in our homeroom, she always makes sure to fill me in on the latest gossip. Sumire usually joins us during lunch and after school because she’s a sophomore and in another class.

They are never proven true or not, but with horror fuel in most of them, I always hope they aren’t.

“Does everyone have to participate?”

“It’s required, in order for the candles to go out faster. A hundred tales, a hundred candles.”

“A hundred?? But, how long will it take to blow out every candle in order for the game to be over?!”

“Don’t worry, with the amount of people joining today, time will pass quickly. Y’know, cliche, time always flies faster when you’re having fun.” 

Nanamine-senpai must have a way of bringing comfort to people, I assume. It’s the way she says that in an unworried, unbothered manner, like this might just be fun for all of us. If an aloof person like herself believes that nothing can go wrong, then I trust her along with her words.

I instantly feel less anxious about the game, caring about the task as well as Nanamine, of placing all of the one hundred candlesticks in the center of the room.

I figured I was just being paranoid, nothing bad actually happens when people share horror stories, if so, all of Kamome would be doomed. Heck, the entirety of Japan.

This will just be an afternoon of fun. I wonder who the people who joined the book club are, I wonder what stories will be told, maybe I’ll make new friends. 

Staring at Nanamine-senpai, placing the last candle on the floor, making sure the area is cleared, everything is clean, a few times over, I think she would make a good friend. I want to be friends with her.

I wonder how she feels about me.

I also start to check the library for any flaws, making sure it’s all tidy, before there’s a knock on the door. Nanamine goes to the door, opens it, and the room starts to fill with more club members, more than I thought would be here.

.

.

.

.

It’s 4:30 PM now, I’m in the library with my friends and Kamome students I hope to be fond of when the day officially ends, and so on as a member of the book club.

We’ve already started the game, Minamoto-senpai is the first to start telling us a story about cursed vegetables.

“And it is said that the souls of those vegetables that have been thrown away, are still waiting to initiate their revenge on those who hate them to this day.” Minamoto Teru says, ending his story there and blowing out his previously lit candle.

I look over at Aoi as she looks at me, then back at Minamoto with a smile when we comment on his story. Someone behind us claps, a friend of mine who I know is my underclassmen, and the younger brother of Teru.

“Do vegetables even have souls?” Akane questions, looking at Teru with an incredulous face.

“Who can say?” He answers.

“Now, it’s my turn.” Says a guy who I haven’t met before. As he stands up to get ready to tell his story, I see for the second time that he is tall, about an inch taller than Nanamine. I don’t figure out his name until he says it while starting.

“I’m Hyuuga Natsuhiko, and this centers on a lady who experienced something most peculiar.”

—

It was late at night when a woman was out, on her way home after a long day at work. She heard a sound coming from a deserted park nearby.

Scree.. Screeee..

When she looked over… 

She saw a small girl crying all alone on a swing.

“What’s the matter? Do you live nearby?”

No matter how calmly the lady spoke, the girl only continued to cry.

However.. 

“Where’s your mama?”

… The moment she asked that, the little girl said….

“IT’S YOU!!!”

—

“EEK!” I screamed, almost jumping up from my seat, a boy next to me flinched as well. The boy had pink hair, some of it covering his left eye, his visible one being pink, and he wore the school uniform topped with a light pink cardigan sweater and a black jacket. Minamoto Kou looked shaken by our shakiness.

The pink haired boy gripped onto the hem of someone’s white sweater. Someone who was right behind me, the boy had curly black hair, sepia brown skin and the owner of the white sweater that hung off of his clothed shoulders.

That boy laughed instead, patting the guy with the pink hair on the head, who swatted his hand away and said he only jumped because of my scream and Hyuuga’s yell.

“Turns out, the lady did have a kid. She secretly tried abandoning her in the mountains a long time ago.” Hyuuga finished his story, blowing out his candle. “The end.”

“Wooow,” The black haired boy with cat-like eyes said, “Then what happened next?!” A big fanged smile spread across his face.

“She got dragged to h*ll and died.” Another black haired boy, named Satouu, said. A boy named Yokoo covered his ears with his hands, “Scarrry~,” a tear dropping down his face.

“You know that one huh..” Sumire turned to Satouu.

“Hahaha! Guess you can’t beat a classic plot twist? Ok, whoever's up next, the stage is yours!” Yamabuki Lemon mused, waiting for someone to start.

“Ok, I’m Mitsuba Sousuke..” The same boy with pink hair said, raising his hand that wasn’t covered with the sleeve of his cardigan.

“So, I heard this from a friend of a friend.”

—

Do you know what a doppleganger is?

It’s like another you that shouldn’t exist. 

It’s said that if you ever meet your’s, you’ll die.

One day a boy’s upperclassmen said to him, “Weren’t you just at the rooftop?”

He hadn’t gone to the rooftop that day nor that afternoon, being busy with club activities, so of course he wasn’t.

“After that, more reports came in from people who had seen the ‘other him’. Someone would see him watching TV at home when he should have been at school, or at the park at midnight when he should’ve have been sound asleep.

The sighting kept piling up.

Neither his own family members, nor his closest friends could tell him apart from his double, and it was starting to get to him.

Then, one day at long last..

.. He spotted a figure standing at his doorstep.

Someone the exact same height as him, wearing the exact same clothes…

“H-hey! Who the h*ll are you!?”

The figure turned around…

… And the next thing he knew, he was standing there all alone.

The person he was so sure he grabbed, vanished just like that. Afterwards, I heard no one ever saw his doppleganger ever again.

—

“And they lived happily ever after.” Mitsuba said bluntly.

Kou and I stared at the boy with confusion, not believing he could end the story like that.

“W-what!! What do you mean!?” I asked.

“The double just disappeared!?” Kou joined.

“I’m not sure, but…” Mitsuba put a hand to his mouth, looking up and thinking.

“It’s possible the real one was killed by the doppleganger ages ago.. And nobody ever noticed! The end!” He smiled, blowing out his candlestick. His, supposedly, friend with black hair clapped his hands in the background, while another boy that looked identical to the other one followed.

“Scary!!” Yokoo said, shivering and wrapping his arms around himself.

“And you’re sure that wasn’t based on a true story?” Nanamine said, a girl next to her with two brown braids and glasses deadpanned.

“Ehehe, scary huh?” Aoi giggled, scooting closer to Nene.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do if the next one is spooky too…..” 

“Ok, I’ll go next!!” Yelled the friend of Mitsuba’s, waving his arm around behind me.

He grabbed a candlestick, holding it with the tray, and cleared his throat.

“I’m Yugi Tsukasa!” He announced.

I swore I've heard his name before, maybe even seen him before... Possibly his last name.. I wonder if the boy that looks identical to him, the one who looked at the ground while ‘Yugi Tsukasa’ stood up, was related to him.

“And my story is one about a little boy who made a wish to a supernatural! But for a hefty cost.”

—

This story is set during the Showa era, when the little boy was just a baby.

During that time, his family was extremely Ill, mentally and physically. His older twin brother had an unknown illness, and set to die right before he’s another year old. His mother had a heart disease, always bedridden and couldn’t move without her chest aching. And his father was physically healthy, but never able to give the boy enough attention and love.

One day, the little boy was at the park, all alone and left to look after himself. 

He was peacefully playing in a sandpit, until he heard a noise coming from under the slides.

The noise wasn’t one of an animal, nor a person, it was quite unhuman. But as the senseless little kid he was, he walked over to the slides.

Under the slide was pitch black, he couldn’t see anything or anyone. But he could hear, he heard more of the strange noises, they wouldn’t stop til he spoke.

“Hello..? Is anyone there?”

“Hello.” The darkness talked back.

“….. Is anyone there?” He asked again, looking deeper into the ebony.

“… I am here…”

The boy smiled, now knowing he wasn’t at this park completely alone. With nothing better to do, he continued to talk with the being, telling it about himself. It talked back, its speech being more distinguishable than before.

When the boy got to the topic of his family, he spoke about how he wants things to be better, how he wanted his family to have all the good luck they could possibly hope to achieve.

“I wish they could just live.”

He looked back to the darkness, only to find it wasn’t dark anymore, he could see the grassy ground under the slide now. He could especially see in the center, where a green leaf clover laid…

He’s heard the myth of it, but has never seen one. So he took it home, planting it in his backyard garden and praying this would make his wish come true.

It did, because a few days later his family wasn’t sick. His mother and father prepared for his big twin brother’s birthday, and his twin brother was alive.

They all celebrated his brother’s birthday, and lived a long life decades and decades and decades after.

—

“The end!!” Yugi announced, blowing out his candle and sitting back down.

Everyone in the room was silent for a second, before everyone let out a, 

“Huhhhh????”

“Hm?” Yugi hummed, tilting his head. “What?”

The boy that looked a lot like Yugi turned to him, having one of his eyebrows raised. “Where were the scary elements?”

“Yeah, that wasn’t scary at all, it had a happy ending?!” Mitsuba exclaimed.

“Oh! Well, the scary thing about it is that the family forgot allll about their other son. They only celebrated the older twin's birthday and not the youngest.” Yugi explained.

“… But, why?” Kou asked.

“Because the price for the wish was that the youngest had to be taken out of the family picture. He never wished for his own life, only his family’s. Forever and ever, the family never got the sweet relief of death.”

It was quiet again, everyone including myself having no words for Yugi’s story, only an applause from each person in the room.

Yugi’s smile brightened, and he half bowed in his seat on the ground.

“Welp, guess I have to live up to everyone’s expectations huh?” Yamabuki guessed after everyone settled down. “I’ve got one that’s for sure gonna scare your socks off.”

“Stop me if you’ve heard this one..”

I gulped, Aoi held onto my sleeves.

“The tale of the killer smartphone!”

After that, we all took turns sharing our own horror stories.

“This one is about a painting that was in our grandfather’s house,” Shijima Shijimei and Shijima Mei said in unison.

“A human face came out of the ceiling,” Nanamine said.

“This story is about a girl who ate her best friend,” Yugi Amane started, confirming my suspicions of him and Tsukasa being related. 

“The human dummy in the science room is actually…”

“This is something Teru-nii made…”

“Apparently there is this train with no destination that shows up at some station…”

“I guess I have to go now, hm?” Aoi said, raising the candlestick up and standing from her spot, gazing down at the flames casting light on her face.

“This is the story of a school… And the time the student’s attempted the Hyakumonogatari.”

—

It’s said that a supernatural will appear once the hundredth scary story has concluded.

“Is that true?”

Half-joking, they gather around to tell their stories. None of them seriously thought that anything would happen.

With each story, a candle went out, and as expected, there wasn’t a single supernatural in sight.

But, the moment the hundredth tale ended, and the last candle went out…

They realized…

There was one more student among them that hadn’t been there previously.

—

“And then—“ Aoi paused, blowing out her candle, then the library went completely dark.

“Ah, the lights went out.”

“It’s dark!”

We all stood up, some gathering close together in fear of the dim room.

Along with the lighting change, I felt the atmosphere change as well. Now it felt ghostly, and deserted despite people being in the room. I tried to breathe, but it just got caught in my lungs or the room's aura stole it all.

“Huh?” I heard someone say from behind me, someone talking from behind the library’s door.

I turned around, it rattled and shook as if someone was trying to get it open. Everyone heard the noise and faced the door as well.

“It won’t open… 

Hey, everyone’s in there, right?

What are you all doinggg..?”

“Who is it?” I asked.

“It’s me, Yashiro Nene.”

I didn’t look at everyone, but I could feel all of us had paused. It was more silent than the last time, a pin could be heard dropping on the wooden floor. The anxiousness I thought was long gone from when the club was just starting, had just started to come back.

“M—

Me…?”

Through the small clear material on the door, I could see the person’s hand faintly in the dark, they banged on it.

“Heey, open the door! Open the door!!” 

Their voice was exactly like mine, but from the second to the third demand for us to open the door, their voice became louder, more distorted in a way, more distant like they weren’t on the other side. At least to me.

“OOOPEEEN IIIT…” They slammed and banged on the door and wouldn’t stop.

“Could it be a doppleganger?” Mitsuba muttered.

“DIDN’T YOU JUST MAKE THAT UP!?” Kou yelled, turning to Mitsuba.

“Ah, right.” Natsuhiko said, walking up to me, putting a hand on my shoulder when he got close enough.

“According to Aoi-chan’s story, once the 100th story ends, a supernatural being is supposed to join us. Correct?”

Teru got in my face, smiling with his eyes closed, a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “In that case… Perhaps the Yashiro-san standing before us is the supernatural.” He assumed.

I felt a pit grow in my stomach. I stepped away, putting my hands up in defense, “Stop it, please! That’s not…”

‘… Huh..?’

I look at everyone in the room nervously, gazing at all of their faces. A light bulb clicked on over my head, my eyes landing on Kou. Something was missing, from all of them, actually.. All of them looked off. The situation started to feel so odd, I didn’t know why.. Everyone in the room, even the ones I had just met today in this library, had seemed so familiar from somewhere distant.

 I vaguely thought that was impossible, but the words that slipped from my mouth weren’t what I thought I'd say.

“Kou-kun, where’s the umbrella you're always carrying around?” 

Kou froze for a moment, before tilting his head, looking at me confusingly.

“Huh?” He questioned.

I looked at him, then turned my head towards Sumire, the Shijima twins, Mitsuba, and the Yugi twins, who were standing right by each other.

“Hana.. Amane-kun, Tsukasa-kun, Mitsuba-kun. Mei-chan and Sumire-chan too… Why is everyone able to see you all?” I asked unconsciously, whatever I was saying, it didn’t match up. And everyone in the room knew that too.

“And since when were we all able to gather together-“ I was cut off my Akane grumbling, putting a hand on his head.

“Ugh… Enough of this!”

Akane walked closer to the door, “This is stupid. Someone’s probably just pulling a prank on us.” He scoffed, walking past me and getting ready to open the door.

I felt panic rise in my body. My actions weren’t meant to be either, because as Akane declared he was going to open the door, I rushed to him.

“Ah.. Wait!”

Right when Akane twisted the door knob open, I pushed him out of the way.

The door opened anyways, I could see someone’s hand curl up on the door, all I could see outside was pitch black.

The unknown person stepped in, their whole leg being revealed. Their legs had on tights, the exact same tights I had on, with the exact same ankles as mine.

As soon as I blinked and opened my eyes again, someone was covering one of them with their hand, the whole world went blank, and the only thing I could hear was a whisper in my ear.

“Don’t look.” 

In my voice.

——

“Hey, have you heard of the rumor?”

“When telling horror stories in the Kamome first floor library, you should never, ever, tell a true story.”

“It will cause bad luck upon you, so be sure to make the tale up.”

——

HOPE YOU LIKED THE PROLOGUE OF KAMOME HORROR STORIES!

ALSO FOR SAKUNENE FRIDAY WHICH IS TMR BUT I’M DOING THIS NOW!

NEXT CHAPTER IS “Ototo”!

[bellshazes]

do it again, director's cut edition because i'm procrastinating writing the last part of the last chapter and it's kind of helpful to review. with luck someone else here will enjoy the behind-the-scenes content as well

chapter 1

The little desk Scar has set up right across from the front door of his studio apartment is covered in them, some of them larger and loose, the smaller ones in what clearly used to be ice cube trays.

no joke this detail is because of a New Uses for Old Things feature that used to be in the magazine Real Simple, which was life hacks before "life hacks" was a term. ice cube tray as a jewelry organizer.

There’s an orange one with smooth, straight-cut sides that fits perfectly in his palm.

i really did write this with the intent of it being the courage crystal (formally established later) but I never have gone back once to check whether it's orange. ditto the green danger detection one later. no one's called me out for it though

it'll never get explicitly said in fic, but they each induce the opposite of their intended effect. bdubs' courage crystal makes him extremely paranoid, etho's danger detection lands him in the hospital, and even tango's rage crystal leaves him mellow and avoidant.

We’ll just go up there and put a little tarp over it,” he’d told Etho when their kitchen ceiling had started to drip. “I’m a professional, it’ll be easy, and we won’t get rained on inside while the landlord takes two weeks to get someone out here."

i think about bdubs' tenure as a general contractor a lot, mostly because i know of very few other people who have opinions about roofs they pass while driving.

and Etho’s always been good with a bow –

historically speaking, anyway; the very first indication that LL!bdubs remembered previous timelines as well.

Etho is wearing his ancient, scuffed-up blue sneakers, and only then because it would have been about sixteen different ladder safety violations to wear the socks and opened toed slippers he constantly wears in the house.

another old joke about etho's diamond booties and/or socks-and-sandals depictions in fanart. i imagine the sneakers as diamond blue high tops befitting a guy who's into pop punk.

“Already hid it while you were in the bathroom,” says Etho, extra chipper. “And now that you mention it, a two-person Twilight Imperium game is tempting –" “I know just enough about that to know you’re just being mean.”

Board games come up again in chapter 2 and 7, but TI usually takes minimum 8 hours to play and is a space-set empire building and turn based strategy tile-building game. I think Tango and Etho are regularly trying to rope friends into playing with them but it's a bit much for most people, and absolutely not viable for a concussed Bdubs. Catan is also stretching it, but I think bdubs has extremely normie board game taste as a path of least resistance.

chapter 2

He knows he died saying Etho’s name, but unlike a normal dream, his death doesn’t wake him up. He has a faint awareness that whatever his death set in motion is still happening out there, somewhere, but he can’t access it anymore, wherever or whenever he is now, in a darkness waiting for the credits to roll. Nothing comes.

the mechanics for what dreams come when, with what level of detail etc., have been winged this whole time. but I definitely struggled to find a way to have bdubs plausibly and selectively remember only the dying, the difficult parts and not his enjoyment of them. there's no hard rules beyond what seems appropriate to the situation - things the crystal might be in synergy with, or bdubs recalling his nether death when he falls from the roof similarly - but I did think about it constantly while writing.

that said, something the characters never fully figure out but bdubs will almost recognize is that the people who were given and gave away the most lives have an easier time remembering:

scar with his crystals and his souls is really unfazed by past life memories (and calls back to hcs7).

tango, who was given many lives for his betting game and was forced to give them away on top of distributing the winnings, reacts on instinct way before he has dreams. when he does, they're messy and violent like bdubs', more tangled with the reality.

etho only ever gave one life for the betting game, and received none. he dreams by proximity and by crystal, by resonance; the dreams contrast and he has mainly good moments.

cleo picks up the dreams easily - her allies also kept bringing her back up to yellow, and she responds at first like tango does, pre-emptively and instinctively. but when she gets a crystal it's off to the races, and it's not so bad because she had a more stable alliance and also she's got joe to call and bdubs to contrast against. she also definitely talks to scott and pearl about it, but it's not relevant for this fic.

bdubs, of course, gave one life and was given several. he had the bad luck to parallel his last life, and so the fic unfolds. you know how it is with past lives

this all probably implies the southlands, post death coffee incident, start having a spate of dreams and skizz and impulse (they are friends, impulse works at the cafe, it's just never been relevant) have a really funny conversation about their parallel friendgroup dramas but i don't feel like i can write most of the southlands confidently, so please use your imagination and possibly tell me about it.

“Say ‘thank you, Bdubs, for graciously offering to buy me coffee,’” hollers Bdubs as he scrambles out of bed. He doesn’t leave any space for Etho to reply. “It’s like I’m not allowed to get a little extra beauty rest now and then, not that I need it of course. If I were any less perfect than I am I’d make them put all that extra crap you hate in there as punishment for your ungraciousness, one of those – what did you call them, Etho, one of those frappucini things –“

I will never let the time Etho said "frappucini appletini" when onboarding Bdubs as a shade-e-ees employee in s7 die. he will never live it down.

Etho hadn’t fought back much, and seemed to enjoy the endless opportunities to accuse Bdubs of photosynthesizing or pretending to mistake him for a large houseplant if he happened to be wearing green, which was often.

this is probably my favorite one-off gag/detail. every single time etho wakes up at noon and walks into the office to see bdubs wearing green and limned in gold by the afternoon sunbeams he makes the exact same photosynthesis plant joke and bdubs reacts exactly the same way and tells him to get a new joke. neither of them ever do.

“You might need to feed Pineapple Pizza for me. And make sure and eat something, will you? Actual food.”

i'm going to be honest, i don't recall whatsoever the rationale for bdubs and etho having a cat is - I inherited it from the original MLL AU posts. but i'm fond of it because bdubs hates cats and etho loves collecting pets and forgetting about them but also practicing talking to himself. she's dear to me anyway

Maybe it’s not fair to resent Etho’s terrorizing when he can look down at his own hands and see someone else’s blood there, dripping from his own sword – but he has never dreamed of hurting Etho.

this bit of hypocrisy was another huge hurdle for writing, lmao. bdubs' kill of tango and insistence he'd never kill etho after killing grian in ep1 show how cavalier he liked to play his own bloodlust, but with imperfect information in this life it's less hypocrisy and more fixating on etho's "killing" of him not because it's murder but because it's betrayal. cleo engages with this deftly later, because she of all people has seen the etho and bdubs trying to kill each other while secretly wanting the other one to survive song and dance more closely than anyone.

“What do you want,” says Cleo, but it’s only her usual level of grumpiness. “Can’t I call you for no real reason?” Bdubs says, extra-sweet. “Well, one reason, but the reason is I just wanted to talk. I’ve missed you so much!” “It is one o’clock on a weekday, Bdubs. Not all of us can set our own schedules.”

my headcanon is that cleo is a taxidermist, which is partially a joke about an au i made with a friend like 7 years ago for a different fandom, but i thought it would be funny with her armor stand ksills. i don't know what a taxidermist daily work life is like and i've avoided having to describe it though. i did interior designer a day in the life research for bdubs and have managed to gloss over etho's work details beyond "computer guy" so that's all you're getting.

“Oh, you’re too kind,” Bdubs had laughed as he built a statue and moved his victory point marker around the next corner. “You’d give up anything for a loyal friend like me, right?”

it's the chapter 2 board game: this time it's kingsburg! you roll dice which allow you to gain the favor of courtiers on the board to build up your city; buildings give you materials or other advantages or best yet, victory points, which are tracked with meeples on the outer rim of the board. i think it's bdubs' compromise of choice because of the medieval and courtier-courting and city-building themes AND you can cockblock people's desired resources with your own rolls. and it's not hard but it's fun. skizz also really enjoys it and tango and etho have more fine taste but also are usually down for it. this has been "board games headcanons with peter"

Intellectually, he knows the dream is pulling from what’s on his waking mind, like Tango’s weird aggression and being a little lonelier now that his and Bdubs’ schedules don’t often line up.

honestly this is my own stance on dreams, despite an enduring involuntary belief in signs and omens, but etho is such a rationalist it fits, and paves the way for the 1% flawed convo he has with scar in LL that i steal from later. but it's also transparently a little self-deluding because reality in these worlds is much weirder.

He had a tendency to come off as standoffish and intimidating, but Bdubs had seen right through him and immediately started calling him a nerd and a softie and stuck to his side.

etho's on record as talking about making videos as a way of improving his speaking skills, which really shows if you go and watch his old content! i was also thinking about (or maybe predicting?? i don't want to take too much credit but this was written at the end of 2021) etho in bdubs' netherite hunting stream saying something about how he used to be the timid one and now bdubs is. they don't change, they just take turns ;)

“Can he? I say that with love, of course,” Scar says hastily at the incredulous raise of Etho’s eyebrow. “Bdubs and I, we go way back – not as far back as you two, but still. What a guy. He’s had a hard time of it lately, though, hasn’t he?”

somewhere in this fic tag is the elaborate au of this au in which bdubs accepts scar's job offer and doesn't move in with etho; that one would be circa the 90s and lead into hcs7, so the resonances build in that direction instead of LL. but etho and bdubs go way back, further.

Scar picks up Jellie from the chair behind his desk before settling into it and repositioning her on his lap. “I don’t want to assume since Grian said he didn’t remember the name but the guy was wearing a bright green windbreaker. Terribly inconvenient for a business like mine.”

if, when I'm done, I revise things I'd like to make it more clear here that scar considers his business one of information more than trinkets. the trinkets are a means to an end of getting favors and intel from people! he likes wheeling and dealing more than anything, but the "business like mine" line could be improved. i'm not allowed to revise until it's all published, though.

Etho pockets the little bead. “I’m not signing anything, but if you see Bdubs, will you let him know I held up my end of the bargain?”

a missed opportunity to drive home the resonances here, but this is recalling etho pointedly getting out of signing the contract he makes bdubs sign when he boogey fishing rod kills scar.

Before he can respond, Etho’s phone goes off and Grian visibly startles, hopping back a little bit. Which seems like an overreaction, but Etho does forget how creepy his alarm tone of ominously ringing bells is if you’re not expecting it.

his alarm tone is 13, of course, and it comes up at the board game shop later. incidentally i also for a while set my own feed the cat alarm to 13 when i figured out how to use spotify for phone alarms, and sometimes i still accidentally turn that alarm back on and jumpscare myself irl. i'm very competent.

Bdubs, presumably, will have to come home to sleep at some point and the coffee will ensure Etho is awake to see him. One way or another, they’re going to make this work.

this line is specifically echoing bdubs saying they're gonna make this work during the LL office scene, and will foreshadow what etho does to make things come to a head in the final chapter. but that's spoilers ;)

[quinloki]

Family Ties

Fem Reader x Donquixote Doflamingo

CW: Language, violence, blood, moral ambiguity, murder, sexual themes and situations 18+ only

Chapter 1 - Table of Consent -

Chapter 14: Let Me Sum Up

You woke up with good muscle pain in more places than expected, but admittedly Doflamingo's bed was more comfortable to wake up in than your own. Sitting up you realize you are alone and wearing a short-sleeved silk nightgown.

Correction, short-sleeved night-shirt.

You look around for pants, underclothes, anything you could add to what you had on before you start wandering around the estate, but you didn't look long before the door to the bedroom opens and the man of the house walks in with a tray of food. A smile grows across your face, and you stretched while staying put in bed.

"Breakfast in bed?"

His smiles reaches his eyes, even if you couldn't see them from behind the shades. "A little cliché maybe, but I figured it would be gentlemanly of me to allow you to relax in bed a bit longer."

A life like this might not be so bad. It's hard to feel restless or antsy if you're having muscle-destroying sex almost every night. There's no way you'd feel like you weren't doing enough, and you're certain there were jobs within the estate or the organization that you could easily do. The trade-off would be a decent chunk of freedom though. It wouldn't be safe to go about your day on your own.

Though, it might already be too late for that. You'd been to the estate enough times for word to have gotten out. People were going to start to talk, and whoever was Donquixote Doflamingo's latest dalliance, could also be his latest weakness. Either from a PR perspective or an underworld one.

You'd almost be tempted to use your birth name, make a big stink about still being alive, drag dear old dad's name through the mud, all for the sole satisfaction of making sure he knew who you were banging.

Doflamingo sets the tray in front of you and sits next to the bed.

"Already ate?" You ask, uncovering a plate and diving in.

He nods, turning half his attention to his phone. "I've done what I could to make sure I could spend today with you, but I still have a few things to handle."

You almost choke on breakfast, and you can feel him side-eyeing you.

"You expected me to have my way with you last night and then abandoned you today?"

You shake your head, "N-no, not like that. I figured you would need to work regardless, and that I'd simply be on my own or something. That's all."

You caught the smile on his face and went back to eating while he did whatever he needed to on his phone. The silence between you wasn't awkward, aside from your own mind randomly realizing that the short, thin, silky night shirt was the only thing you had this morning.

Once he was done on his phone, you turn to him with a cheeky smile. "So, what does the prince of international underworld organizations do on Thursdays?"

He raises an eyebrow, "I don't recall saying I was international."

You hold up a finger, "Your cover-company Smile is, and secondly," you raise a second finger, "Pops told me. It's why I figured you had the clout to look into who I was and wasn't surprised by it. That said, I don't know if you're literally world-wide, or just mostly international."

"Would either or matter?"

You shake your head, "Trouble, I don't even care that you're international."

"Oh, then what do you care about?"

Your face goes red, but you give him a grin, "Pants. Unless you mean to rudely rile me up directly after breakfast, I'd love some proper clothes."

He laughs, the same kind of full laugh like last night, and stands up. He puts his hands on the tray and you expect him to take it. Instead, he pushes it into the bed, pinning your legs under it and leaning down, kissing you. With his hands on the tray, you were in more control than expected, and reach out, pulling him into the kiss for a moment longer before breaking it off.

"Rudely, huh?" He quips, straightening up and taking the tray away.

"Based on empirical evidence, you can control yourself after a kiss." You tease.

The rest of the mid-morning and afternoon went on like that. You took time to text Zoro to ask about his date when Doflamingo had other things to take care of. Zoro was a man of few words, and it was even fewer when it came to texting, but you got five full paragraphs out of him, so you knew things went well even before you read the texts.

Not much of the family was around, but you did run around the garden with Sugar for long enough to wear her out. Violet and Monet both thanked you, since it allowed them to focus on their tasks more than usual.

You even asked Machvise to let you make him and Doffy dinner that evening, and were glad to show off some of your culinary skills. You didn't make anything fancy, just your go-to single pan chicken pasta.

"It pales in comparison to what Sanji or Machvise could do, but it should be good enough for what it's meant to be." You admit, setting the plates in front of them. There wasn't a big family dinner tonight, people had been in and out all day, big gatherings happened once a week as a rule, sometimes more often.

Machvise takes a bite and nods. "It's good," he says thoughtfully taking another bite. "The seasoning is balanced, the chicken's juicy, and the pasta didn't overcook." He starts offering adjustments you could make to it, and you countered a couple times over cost and benefit and wanting to keep it to a single pan. You didn't have a kitchen full of help, and doing dishes sucked.

Doflamingo didn't say anything about it being good or bad, but he did clear his plate, so you took that as a small win. The man was used to a certain level of skill when it came to home cooked food, and you were not a professional chef.

At the end of the day, it was hard to leave. Really hard to leave. Staying the night had been so comfortable that you just kind of wanted to stay. Being around his family was really comfortable too, your place was starting to feel terribly quiet. But you weren't even dating steady as far as you could tell, so asking to move in would be too much even if you were willing to rush forward with abandon.

You were relieved when he saw you off at the manor doors and didn't ride back with you in the limo. Being kissed goodbye in front of the few family members who were around was a little embarrassing, but only because you weren't used to any real public displays of affection. You weren't really used to affection in this situation at all if you were being honest. You'd dated some, but nothing lasted long or got far.

After taking you home, you waved goodbye to Lao. Another perk of being seen off at the estate door was that you had been able to sit up front with Lao. You were becoming more comfortable with sitting up front than sitting in the back. You were sure that given enough time you'd be comfortable crawling between one space and the other. Or at least facilitating conversations between the two spaces without giving it much thought.

When Lao left, something caught your attention, and you noticed a knife in your driveway. It was a decently sized survival knife, but there was nothing else remarkable about it. It was good shape, looked brand new, so after flipping it a few times you took it inside with you. If one of the neighbors asked about a missing knife, you would at least know where it was.

Setting the knife on your coffee table you relax for a little bit, grab a shower, and go to bed. 

The next day was a typical mundane Friday. You worked a Sanji's café in the morning, gossiped about Zoro and Robin, and helped with the morning rush. Sanji's words about them dating were harsh, but his face always betrayed him, and it was obvious he was happy for both of them.

After time at Sanji's café, it was inventory at Robin's. She was humming, almost constantly. Her quiet smile seemed a permanent fixture on her face, and she didn't have a single doom-speckled response to anything you brought up. You would've thought she was a pod person if you didn't know why she was so happy.

Texting with Doflamingo throughout the day was becoming the norm. You didn't say much about anything, but it was just nice to get the little message notifications throughout the day. You kept wanting to see if you could come over at the end of the day, but you'd delete it and write something else. Going over every single day was too greedy. It was hard enough to leave yesterday; you'd be pseudo moved in before you knew what you'd done if you went over too much.

After Robin's you headed over to Eustass' body shop. you didn't have an official shift there today, but you also hadn't been invited back to the estate, and the idea of going back to your place and the emptiness of it wasn't very alluring.

Killer gives a low whistle as you twirl on the stool next to him. "You've got it bad, Mouse."

"Yeah, I guess I do."

There was a clatter and you look over to see Killer had dropped his clip board and Wire was froze, mouth agog, halfway into the reception area and the shop. Killer lifts the welding face mask he seems to wear more than not, and you were reminded how pretty those baby blues of his were.

Killer slides open a small window that is the usual go-between for the reception area and the shop and yells into it.

"Kid! You owe Heat $50!"

"What? Fuckin' why?!" Kid barks back, looking around from whatever he was working on to see you in the reception area with Killer. There was a beat and then realization dawns on him. "Did Mouse actually admit it?"

"Yep."

"The hell, you assholes had a pool going on me?"

"Just a bet between Kid and Heat," Wire admits. "If it makes you feel better, they both agreed you'd fallen for the suit."

You put your face in your hands. "I don't know if that helps, but thanks Wire. Zoro said you guys would be drowning your sorrows, not taking bets."

Kid had joined the rest of you by that point, "Killer probably had a drink." He said with a lop-sided smile. Killer's welding mask was back down, and he clipped Kid over the head with his clipboard. "Ow man, hells."

"Just know you got friends if things don't work out," Killer admits.

You smile, "I appreciate that. I decided to just go for it, so what will be, will be. Ah, speaking of relationships have you all heard who finally had a date?"

"The Florist and the Samurai?" Kid questions, and you nod. "I hadn't heard, but it's about damned time. She's liked him for what, a year now?"

"At least." You agree. "And get this, today she was humming in the shop."

"Humph." Kid grunts. "Might be safe to go in there now."

You tilt your head, and it's Wire who replies. "She kept telling him things like he was gonna lose an arm, or he would look hot with more scars. He didn't like going in there."

You laugh, the idea of Kid avoiding anyone for any reason was funny. You hung out with them and kibitzed for a couple of hours. They weren't as rowdy as Pop's boys, but they were still good for joking around and talking about a whole lot of nothing.

If you'd known how your night was going to go once you got home, you would've gone to Doflamingo's uninvited.

[alders-simblr]

Introductions

Hello! Look, a long overdue introduction post finally! I'm Alder and this is my Simblr. I created this originally to document the save file that I'm building for my own use but after a few RL friends asked me to make it available, I figured I might as well toss the build lists up here.

You'll also see me documenting my foray's into CC creation, efforts to make all my mods work nicely together, and the documentation of the history and playthroughs of the save I'm making available as it comes together.

I also keep updated masterlists of the CC I use that are probably the most reblogged thing on this tumblr by far because I keep links in them to where to download and regularly edit them to keep them up to date. My lists are under the hashtag #alder's lists but I've also linked them below to make it easy to find as they were the first things I put on this blog.

Master Lists

Overrides and Mods

ReShade and Lighting

Sliders, Genetics, Overlays

Presets

Create a Sim

Build/Buy

Pose Packs and Photography

Alder's Save

The other project that people are usually interested in are my builds and the save file they're for. There's a master list post that includes links to each post about each build here:

Save File Masterlist

It has some of the details about the thoughts behind my save file organization and the key mods that the save is designed around as well as links to each individual build with more details.

The Alder's Save hashtag will take you to everything having to do with the save file and build diary is the tag for me rambling about various progress posts and thoughts about the sim builds I'm working on.

Patreon

I use my patreon to share tray files for my builds which are always free as well as smaller mod changes and the random little CC fixes I make along the way, also always free.

Early Access will only be ever used for actual significant CC or things like photoshop templates I make to use for the save file story documentation and even those will stick to the two to three week guideline of EA's access if and when I ever get to that point.

Welcome to my blog!

[lafiametta]

In the modern Au, how do they spend their days when they're still not living together? And does Olek bring a duffel bag with some of his clothes and other personal items, which slowly take place inside Ling Yi's flat over the months until he moves in with her? I love this little plot about new lovers~ "There is so much of you here already. What took you so long to stay forever?"

And I hope that, unlike in your 1899 Au, one of them is good at cooking! Seriously, how sweet would it be if Olek cooked meals for Ling Yi to take to work! Maybe that is how her co-workers find out she's dating someone new? And... Is she the type of girl to announce new flings and/or relationships to her friends and family as soon as they start, or does she wait to see whether they're going to make it official before she says anything? And oh, I wonder what would happen if Ling Yi ever stumbled upon one of her exes while she is with Olek!

Before they move in together, they mostly see each other on the weekends, with one of them (typically Olek) staying over on Saturday night. It happened pretty organically, with Olek coming into the city on Saturday afternoons to see Ling Yi, and then eventually spending the night. Then they would have most of the day on Sunday to hang out, either staying in bed (sleeping in... or other things) or going out for brunch. By 5 or 6pm, he's on the M train, headed back to Bushwick, just enough time to have some dinner, do a load of laundry or two, and have a bit of down time before he has to be ready for the work week. After a few weeks of this routine, Olek started bringing some stuff with him, so at least he would have a toothbrush and a change of clothes for Sunday. By now he's got a little place for his stuff on Ling Yi's bathroom counter (surrounded by all the products for her multi-step nighttime skincare routine) and part of a drawer in her closet where he keeps some shirts and clean underwear.

In general, Olek doesn't have a ton of stuff in his apartment (and a lot of it is fairly crap furniture that he got second-hand when he arrived in the States or bought at IKEA), so when they decide to move in together, the whole process isn't as hard as they might have originally thought. Olek recognizes that Ling Yi's furniture is much nicer — and she has better taste and superior interior design skills — so he ends up selling or donating most of his furniture. When he arrives at Ling Yi's apartment, he's basically got two suitcases and his Monstera plant. (She's already cleared out a much bigger part in her closet for him, and she bought a little mud tray for the hallway where he can leave his work boots.)

I think they're both trying to be better at cooking. They both definitely know some dishes from home that they try to make, and they both love eating from their own cuisines when they can. But once they move in together, I can totally see the two of them trying to pick up some more skills (and save money on takeout) by doing more cooking together. (Maybe they'd get into something like Blue Apron or HelloFresh with the pre-portioned ingredients? Also, it would give them time together in the kitchen!)

Olek making Ling Yi's lunches is such a cute idea! Because of her job, she does have to think a fair amount about what she's eating and how much of it (unfortunately), but I could also totally see him chopping up a pre-made salad for her, with the dressing and the toppings all in those little containers. Because she doesn't work with the same other models all the time (although she definitely knows some from the agency, and she sees some of the same people at dance and theater auditions), no one would probably notice her lunch, but she would definitely appreciate it!

When she first started seeing Olek, Ling Yi only told a few of her close friends. She wasn't sure if it was going to work — although she was already impressed with how sweet he was, on top of being so cute! — and she didn't want to share the juicy details of her first few dates with the whole world. But after they move out of casual dating and into official couple status, she's ready to tell everyone: her good friends, her acquaintances, her hair stylist, the other girls she sees at the agency. And of course he's all over her socials because she can't stop taking pictures of the two of them together! And at some point, of course, she has to tell her mom, which she's a little nervous about. But she knows once Yuk Je gets to know Olek, she's going to like him as much as Ling Yi does! (And, goodness, what if she did run into one of her exes? I'd like to imagine that she'd be polite and say hi, but maybe be just a touch passive-aggressive and hold onto Olek's arm or casually slip her hand around his waist? Then again, she might just walk on by, not even noticing her ex because she's so focused on the gorgeous man beside her!)

[k00297635]

Day One

Hello. Today I did a last minute switch from Graphic Design into Ceramics. I was glad I did. We started our day off by looking at some mugs. I was really interested in how much design goes into functional pieces. Some mugs had a wider rim and I never really thought about it but the drink would cool a lot faster as opposed to a mug with a smaller rim. The wider rimmed ones would be better for a tea so it can cool faster and the narrower ones might be better for a coffee. It interesting to think about I suppose. Also, the handles of a mug are roughly double the thickness as the mug so that they can hold the weight of the mug. An uneven handle could lead to to an unbalanced tilt while you're trying to drink your drink and you could spill it. Also interesting. I'm a chronic drink spiller but I found out that the shape of the rim can make it easier or more difficult to drink out of. also how thick the rim is can affect this. This whole time I thought I just had bad aim. Its only now I know that my mouth will only accept a well designed mug. After discussing some different types of mugs we were asked to come up with 10- 15 different designs for mugs!

These were some I came up with. I played with some ideas of funky legs and tulip leafed cups but in the end I thoughts of things I would find useful. I've collected a lot of funky mugs over the years and I am constantly reminded by friends that the funkier the mug is the more difficult it is to drink out of. I thought of this sort of everything bowel/mug. Like a one piece fits all. If you poor and you like to crotchet you could use it to hold you wool and it had a chop stick holder or maybe even a sippy cupped corner for if you're in the go but in the end I thought it was too busy. I thought I would think of the ideas while making but try and just do something organically as it would be the first mug I've ever made. .

I made these by rolling out slabs and letting them get leather hard. Then, I used an opened disposable cup from the canteen as a template. I slipped and scored the sides and then slipped and scored the base and attached it. I was generously with the slip and really let her soak it all up for a strong mug with no holes. I got some fresh clay for the handles and thought it might be fun to make them look like fish. I don't know fish was on my mind, I had been spending a lot of time by the river in Galway so maybe that's where my mind was. Anyways, it took a few goes to get them the right size because if they're too small you cant get your fingers through and if they're too big its awkward to store in your (my) already overcrowded presses.

I also made these. The one with the holes could possibly work as a three holed pin head camera. I also made a little tray with handles and attached some tiny ducks onto it, I remember going to the national gallery with my mother when I was a young teenager to see a Vermeer exhibition and afterwards we went to the gift shop and I saw the most beautiful bowl of my life. The outside was a white glazed stoneware kind of vibe and the inside was a baby pink. On the rim of the bowl was a tiny bird and in the inside there were little bird footprints leading up to it. It was the perfect bowl and I ate every single meal out of it until it was sadly dropped and broke beyond repair. I think about her often. I think the little birds were the perfect touch and I will be adding them to more pieces.

[casliveblog]

Custom Toonami Block Week 139 Rundown

Spy X Family: This is the episode for Yuri Briar, Yor’s brother and man several people compare to a dog of some kind or another. He’s with the Secret Police, the only organization name with less respect than the Regular Police. And he seems unable to stop going on about his sister even during a fucking interrogation with a guy that knows her that might be kinda mad about her brother beating the shit out of him and slamming his face in an ash tray, like he even goes ‘my sister doesn’t know I’m in the Secret Police’ to this guys face like this is supposed to be his big scary moment but he’s really a shitty interrogator giving the target more info than he gets, like he only has him dead to rights because of evidence he forgot to file so like I think Yuri’s kinda awful at his job. Meanwhile Loid and the family make the house look as vomit-enducingly cutsey as possible to sell the ‘yes married people who have sex live here’ even though that’s not the case. Luckily Anya goes to bed before everyone can get shitfaced and Yor kinda brushes off the whole ‘being married for a year’ thing as slipping her mind which luckily Yuri has enough of a sister complex and Yor is enough of a scatterbrain for that to actually be mildly plausible. Also Yuri’s particularly looking for Twilight, the super secret anti-establishment agent that Loid kinda… is. While Yuri’s getting blitzed out of his mind because apparently that runs in the family, Loid actually does figure out Yuri’s a member of the Secret Police because he’s not a fucking idiot most of the time and he tries to keep the conversation light. Yuri pushes the mildly gay thoughts about his brother-in-law out long enough to yell about how Yor came home bloody every night to help take care of him and instead of thinking ‘wow she’s murdering people at like 12’ he just thinks ‘wow part-time jobs are hard’ and questions nothing else. Anyway with a severely drunk brother-in-law ranting and raving in their house, it comes down to the scene that’s in EVERY fake romance story ever ‘If you love each other then kiss’ which I feel like would be less of a big deal in real life than in fiction like most of my female friends kiss each other like no big deal and if it’s a life or death situation it would probably be a little awkward but not the huge impediment most media portray it as.

Inuyasha: It’s the conclusion of the Naginata of Kenkon arc and with Inuyasha’s Tessaiga de-powered and everyone else at their usual level of uselessness, Hoshiyomi is basically untouchable. Still Kagome’s able to pull some spiritual power out of her ass and gets possessed by Hoshiyomi’s old lover Tsukiyomi because between this and Kikyo, Kagome’s body’s just really good for storing souls I guess *slaps hood* ‘This modern day schoolgirl can fit so many ancient priestess spirits in her’. But yeah turns out when Hoshiyomi got all butthurt about Tsukiyomi betraying him he conveniently left out the part where he was going absolutely mad with power and having his soul corrupted so Tsukiyomi could avoid the spiritual energy equivalent of tuberculosis. Tsukiyomi seals him away and splits the Naginata and is about to pop him right back out now that she’s hidden his soul-destroying toy but her spiritual tuberculosis hits and she dies before she can release him and explain things so he pops out like five seconds later like ‘She’s dead, that’s weird but guess she hated me all along, oh well gonna go kill all humans I guess’. And heading this Hoshiyomi half doesn’t believe it and half is just like ‘can’t go back now’ and cuts Tsukiyomi!Kagome out of the sky. Kagome having just been through this backstory montage is just like ‘Bitch if you hadn’t have been a pussy and get corrupted by a damn fancy fork thingy your girl wouldn’t have had to die’ which pisses Hoshiyomi off but luckily Akitoki’s able to save her cause I guess the power of the blade stronger than Tessaiga made by the guy that evaporates regular humans that get within ten feet of it can just be parried by some dude, why not. Kagome begs Tsukiyomi for some of her power to replace what the naginata stole and her impassioned speech also restores Inuyasha’s tessaiga and they do a cool Sacred Arrow/Backlash Wave combo to blow Hoshiyomi away so he can be with his filler girl. Seeing them do the sickest combo attack ever and realizing he’s just some dude, Akitoki gives up on Kagome despite giving a pretty moving speech about how much he loved her before but don’t feel too bad, he convinces another girl with the same name as the Demon Ninja that sexually assaulted him to change her name to Kagome so that’s mildly creepy I guess but all’s well that ends well… now if only we could get real world Hojo a girl, I really wish we could’ve seen him happily married in Yashahime, poor guy went through so much stringing along with Kagome.

Yu Yu Hakusho: Yusuke and Sensui are still fighting and Sensui basically pulls out his version of Yusuke’s Shotgun that can double as close-range armor. It’s pretty tough but Sensui makes the mistake of showing a shonen hero the same technique twice and whenever you do that you just know they find a way around it so Yusuke can get a counterattack in and then just to be pissy he jumps in the lake because he REALLY didn’t like Sensui calling him predictable and he’s basically doing the “Bitch you don’t know me, I’m crazy” dance scene from the first episode of Hey Arnold. However this was actually a lot smarter than it looked since Sensui mentioned the water basically dissolved his torn shirt earlier and Yusuke used this and the cover of the water to make a sneak attack out of a hand wrapping to tie up the ‘hand deflect’ part of Sensui’s ‘hand deflect and then soccer’ martial art. And it’s kinda funny with Sensui going on about how Yusuke can’t handle multiple targets at once because he just got done a 1v1 Tournament arc and then Yusuke’s just like ‘yeah well how about you handle a street fight you bitch-ass martial artist’ and this does get to Sensui so much so that he turns his free hand into a gun and just fucking shoots Yusuke… if you saw that coming you’re fucking lying. But yeah, turns out Sensui doesn’t have forms like Frieza but split personalities with their own objectives, missions and abilities and Yusuke got enough punch gacha currency to roll the ‘new York gangster with a gatling arm’ personality… kinda specific but can’t argue with results. Kuwabara and Hiei are trying to cut their way out of Prismo but like guys if you could just do that there wouldn’t be any point, if only there was someone here who recently unlocked the ability to cut through dimensions… oh well. Sensui’s gangster persona riddles Yusuke full of holes and is about to just cap him and end it when Koenma shows up to do… whatever the fuck his pacifier thing does.

Jujutsu Kaisen: So after the past couple episodes of Yuji and Gojo doing stuff we cut back over to Megumi and Nobara who are ambushed by Todo and Mai and Megumi doesn’t give the good answer to Todo’s fetish question so yeah they fight, apparently Todo’s fuckoff strong and just pounds people to dust but ALSO has a super secret technique he used to stop a bad guy attack at last year’s festival (which they decided to just hold again I guess? Doesn’t seem very safe like at least move them to a more secure location) and he beats the shit out of Megumi until he gets ready to unleash his super ultimate Sasuke Curse Mark thing but it’s not a dramatic enough time for that yet so we get cockblocked on that one for a second time. Meanwhile Mai shoots Nobara full of holes (first Yusuke gets banged by a spirit gatling gun now Mai goes all revolver ocelot and leaves Nobara in the same state, feeling a theme this week…) but apparently all it did was rip her jacket so they must be REALLY shitty bullets, she goes into the surprisingly large category of anime characters that’s just ‘uses a gun but it’s a magic gun but also just kinda worse than a regular gun’ because Japan has a weird relationship with guns. We get a little more info on Maki’s squad and how she’s basically the lovechild of Tenten and Rock Lee because she has no jutsu of her own but uses jutsu weapons and got REALLY good with them to compensate because her family was like ‘bitch you can’t be an anime girl you got no powers’ and she did it anyway out of spite and that’s just the kind of determined pettiness that Nobara finds charming. Also Gojo crashes the meeting of old men to be all ‘Hey you killed my new student so fuck you and also everyone’s getting stronger on both sides so fuck your status quo, I rescheduled your meeting so have fun waiting I hope your fucking tea gets cold and you step on a lego’ and then takes a selfie with his fangirl assistant. Overall this episode is really carried by the various personalities, Gojo’s a lot of fun of course and Todo is a fan favorite, one of the few things I knew of the series before jumping in was the ‘tall woman with a big ass’ thing and he is kinda ridiculously charming and even kinda wins Mai over to the idol side in the ending vignette so yeah, looking forward to more of this.   

Chainsaw Man: This is basically ‘Death Flags: The Episode’ we pick up right where we left off with Himeno propositioning Denji and then he has a flashback to Makima consoling him about the puke-kiss, most of Makima’s stuff has been kinda ambiguous as to whether or not it’s actually good advice or whether it’s straight talk that Denji’s interpreting as caring because he has a boner but this moment was genuinely pretty sweet, not saying if gets Makima off the sus list but there doesn’t seem to be any ulterior motive to this particular conversation. Anyway, spurred on by this Denji actually does the decent thing and lets Himeno sleep off her brief episode of sexual projection, I’m so proud, our boy’s actually almost a human being for a sec. It’s really funny how Himeno has a refreshingly frank take of ‘well that would’ve definitely been illegal’ about flirting with a maybe-16 year old and asks him why he even stuck around and he’s just like ‘bro there’s food’ and that’s the human garbage disposal we all know and love. Anyway they get to talking and I love Denji’s response when Himeno asks him what happens if Makima turns out to be an awful person he’s basically like ‘I’m into that shit’ because make no mistake his standards are still below rock bottom despite all the progress we’ve made. But they essentially make a pact to get each other the disinterested stoic significant other of each other’s dreams. Meanwhile Makima is on a train and gets fucking shot… kay, short character arc for her I guess. Turns out all the Public Devil Hunters we know so far are just getting fucking guns pulled on them which is a shockingly efficient way of doing things, like if more anime characters just had fucking guns a lot of anime would be a lot shorter. Lastly we cut to Denji, Himeno, Power and Aki eating ramen and one of the dudes that knew the old mafia boss Denji was indebted to fucking shoots Denji in the head and turns into a Katana Man Aki’s able to use his aforementioned super secret lifespan cutting technique to basically use a more elaborate version of Soifon’s Shikai on him but a little girl comes along and resurrects him so Himeno has to sacrifice herself to her Ghost Devil to keep him at bay and even that doesn’t work but she dies anyway because if a character gets too sympathetic they have to die, that’s the rules.

Ranking of Kings: While Bojji’s still doing his training we cut back to the kingdom now that Bosse is back in Daida’s body we get a flashback about how Bosse was a huge asshole and sold Bojji’s potential and part of his own lifespan to a demon to become stronger and then knocked up Bojji’s mom just so he could have someone to pawn the curse off onto, showing Daida’s already a better man than him despite his flaws. Also apparently this means the kingdom’s only like 16 years old which is super weird like they built a lot of shit and made a lot of dumb traditions in the time it took Bojji to grow to prime shonen hero age. The tradeoff is Bosse wanted to make sure Bojji would have a good life and not need for anything in exchange for the sacrifice but it’s still a fucking dick thing to do. Also Daida!Bosse is gonna kill Hilling now via some weird chimera beasts because apparently sacrificing his first son and half his life wasn’t enough. Meanwhile the random guard that was with Bojji and Sword guy comes back and tells Hilling that Daida ordered sword guy to kill Bojji and Hilling wants to literally shoot the messenger but sword guy comes to save him at the last second. Also snake guy was saved by giant snake. But yeah, Daida!Bosse flexes on everyone and tells sword guy to go seal the cave to the underworld that’s under the castle presumably to stop Bojji from coming back since the Morgan La Fae mirror told him Bojji’s the strongest person alive now that he’s completed the mysterious training so that’s cool. Also Daida’s lost in the sunken place from Get Out.

Vinland Saga: Askeladd’s crew comes home to his uncle’s for the winter with war with England looming on the horizon this is likely the crew’s last respite before the storm. Askeladd’s uncle has a new slave girl that was a former noble of a fallen Norwegian noble family and complains about how hard she is to push into shape, mirroring Askeladd’s relationship with Thorfinn and contrasting his methods to mold Thorfinn into a warrior. Speaking of which Askeladd finally gives Thorfinn his first duel since he was knee high and Thorfinn does a pretty decent job of it until Askeladd gets under his skin but being an ass and fueling the fires of his hatred to give him an opening to dislocate his shoulder. The group party in the meadhouse and Askeladd gives his Kenny Ackerman speech about everyone being slaves in some way. Thorfinn watches the ship and hallucinates his dad which is kinda funny because Thors actually tells him what the real Thors would tell him about revenge being stupid and shit despite this being Thorfinn’s hallucination and his brain probably wanting his dad to condone his path but even his subconscious knows this isn’t what Thors wanted. Meanwhile the slave girl comes out to feed Thorfinn and they talk a bit about how their situations are similar and Thorfinn tells her the story of Vinland and how that kind of dream world is the only hope for people that want to live quietly in peace. Meanwhile we jump to Spring and it’s time for war with England, the king’s son is gonna fight because you don’t get to be king of the Vikings without proving you aren’t a pussy, and also a dude that looks like Askeladd’s younger brother is throwing axes around so that’s fun.

[tj-crochets]

Crafting update! - knit beanie is about two thirds done! It’s the same sidewinder beanie pattern I always use - llama quilt needs one more line of quilting and then it just needs the binding! so it’s almost done but I have no photos because it’s currently rolled up on the chair in front of my sewing machine - I have not started embroidering the jacket sleeve but I plan on embroidering at least one tree on it, starting at the cuff, and embroidering a bunch of other flowers, mushrooms, ferns, and other plants around it. Further up the sleeve, I want to have the moon and shooting stars and maybe non-shooting stars (and probably also a little hidden ufo, because I think that would be funny)  - I have half the fabric cut out for a little quilted tote bag, but I can’t start it until I finish the quilt. It’s green! And has coppery moths and ferns!  - I want to make a llama plushie to go with the llama quilt - I need to make some baby beanies to go with the strawberry hearts quilts so I can get all three sets of baby stuff in the mail to my cousins in time for baby showers