#I need to separate the cod from the art

[averill-loves]

Would you be interested? Think

im thinking about making a separate blog for writing/ocs/art/lore and stuff

would that be something your interested in?

i have a discord server in the makings I could promote too

[gomzwrites]

Being their sugar baby

Summary: A look into some moments if they are your sugar daddy(separately)

Pairing: John Price, Simon Ghost Riley with x civy gn!Reader

Tags: fluff, implied/light nsfw, you call them daddy, kissing, mdni(18+)

Note: gif are not mine, reader’s texts are in purple!, indented texts are memories

a/n: this is for you annon who wanted a sugar daddy cod thing <3 It took me a while to get this done and I'm still not 100% satisfied with it, the amount of self-control I needed to not make this into a full-blown smut fic- 

Anyways, this time I only wrote for Price and Ghost, I do have a few drafts for Soap and Gaz but I haven’t finished it yet cause my adhd ass cannot be decisive. I don't know if I will complete them or not since my uni starts tomorrow, so no promises!

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Captain John Price

Hmmm absolutely not, you’re not going anywhere like that.

John clicks his tongue as he shakes his head and looks at the outfit you’re wearing with a disapproving look as you give him a pout. 

Daddy, we’ve been here for an hour already. 

You complain as you sigh and let the workers remove your clothes and frown as Price goes through another list of outfits, putting his finger up in the air as he gives you a smile.

Patience, sweetheart. I need to make sure you look just as good as I am at the party, hm? 

He says as he picks out another fancy clothe that is probably worth more than your car and orders the people around to dress you up again. You chuckle and roll your eyes as you do as you are told. Obediently dressing up as you glance at yourself in the mirror.

There you are, look at you…

He gives a proud smile as his beard shifts and walks slowly at you, you giggle as you give a spin and let him rake his eyes over your body, watching and observing you as if he is admiring a piece of art. 

Mmm, you like it?

He gives a nod as he rests his hands on your shoulders and gently adjusted the creased fabric slightly and glances at you through the mirror, always a perfectionist. A content look shows as he kisses your hair.

Always so perfect, sweetheart. Do you like it as well? 

He whispers into your ears as he runs his rough calloused hand around your waist and thigh, watching as your half-lidded eyes trace his motion from the reflection, he gives your ear a bite when you haven’t replied, already hazy when you take in a deep breath and stare yourself in the mirror.

You’re always confident with how you look with how much care and precision you put into yourself. Sticking a routine and maintaining your diet, and you thank yourself for having such discipline because that’s exactly how you even met John Price in the first place.

You give a few stretches and hum a tune as you feel how nicely the soft silk fabric adorns your body perfectly, no matter where you turn or pose it always displays your shape in the best way possible. You appreciate how he asks for your opinion still even though he makes the final decision, truthfully you’ll wear anything he wants you to because for one, it makes him happy and two, you can rock any outfit really.

Yes, I like it. Thank you, Daddy. 

He gives you a hush on your ear as he slightly runs his thumb across your exposed neck. This is nothing, no need to thank me. He whispers before tilting his head and turning back to the mirror again.

Hm, think you want a little something here? 

He gives a tap on your neck as you give him a nod.

He turns around with a hum and glances around the jewellery box he got you and picks one, you quickly place your hand on his as you shake your head, he raises his brow as he complies and lets you take out another shiny one instead, he gives a chuckle as he watches you wear it.

Out of so many of them, you always wear that one huh sweetheart? 

He says as he brushes your hair away and hooks his finger on the gold choker and examines it. It's the first of many pieces of jewellery he bought for you and it has since become your favourite. You’ll admit that the other necklaces with different gemstones and accessories would’ve fit your look better, but you also wear this one because it always reminded you the day you got it. 

Okay no way, you spent how much on this again?? You gesture at the beautiful gold choker, shining and twinkling brightly under the light as it hangs from Price’s hand. He gives a laugh as he ties it around your neck and ravishes the way it hugs around your pretty neck perfectly. Hush, if it looks good on you then it doesn’t matter. You give a frown and pout as he pokes your puffy cheek and smirks, turning your head to face the mirror again as you take a moment to examine it, you’ll have to agree that it does look pretty good as you run your hand along the cold metal, you’d expect it to be heavy but it’s pretty lightweight and it doesn't bite into your skin. 

Is it because you like the way you look with nothing but the choker on? 

He pulls you back out of your thoughts into the current time as he whispers with a dangerously low tone in your ear, causing you to blush as you tense up and recall the memory. He gives another chuckle as he bites your neck softly and nibbles it, causing you to whine as you push him away gently.

W-w-wait wait wait- the party-

Ah to hell with the party, need you now, need my sweetheart.

He rasps as he pulls the curtain and presses you onto the mirror with your back against him, feeling his palm going under the silk as he stares at you hungrily.  Are you going to be good for me then? He gives a devilish smirk as you quickly nod and arch your back for him.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Simon Ghost Riley

You walk towards your kitchen as you hum out a tune and give a soft yawn as you turn on the sink handle to let the water run, lazily rubbing your eyes as you wait for the water to fill the pot.  

Angel… 

A second voice joins you as Ghost wrapped around your waist and nuzzles close into your neck.

Mmmm, good morning Daddy.

You reply with another yawn as you kiss his cheek which earns a satisfied hum from him as he presses light kisses around your neck, leaving trails of goosebumps as he pulls your body closer to his. Soft, gentle yet needy as always.

You have been in this arrangement with him for the past two years already, he’d pay for your bills and get you anything you wanted, while you would court him to dinners, being his plus one essentially. It started off as once or twice per week, then to three or four, then somewhere along the line though, he had chosen to visit you and just bask in your presence whenever he wanted in your apartment, well the apartment he bought for you that is.

It took a while to get used to him, you were even sceptical and scared out of your life when you first met him after a friend recommended him to you. You study his actions a lot, being on your best behaviour for him on the first few outings. Overtime, you come to realise a few things about him.

He doesn’t ask for much whenever he’s at your place, he just wants to have you close to him, he’ll pull you away from whatever you’re doing to sit on his lap, smiling whenever you protest or complain about how it distracts you from doing your chores. 

I can hire a maid for you to do it you know. Absolutely not, I don't trust them. Hm, I’ll find trustable ones... Then what am I going to do? Then you’ll give me all your attention, Angel. 

Whenever you’re with him outside, one of his hands must always be on you, be it your waist, hands, or neck. He’s never one to speak a lot, instead to answer you based on his actions. He is also incredibly observant, if you stare at one item just another second too long you’ll see it on your bed the next day. Thanks to him, you also forgot what it's like to stress over every single payment every day, he’d always pay your bills the moment you send him the receipts. You don’t question where or how he manages to carry things out with this efficiently, but you suspect it’s probably due to his job in the military. Well, you don’t know if he actually is working in one.

So are you like an admiral in the military or something?  You asked casually one day when you were sitting on his lap and feeding him strawberries, you can tell he glance at you from the corner of his eye as he slowly run his hand along your back and munch the fruit, to your surprise he actually responded to your question this time and not ignore it like he always does to any questions that are related to him. How did you come to that conclusion? You give a long hmmm and answer back as you gesture at his body. Well, you’re ridiculously big and tall, and you carry yourself highly anywhere you go. At first, I thought maybe it was just a confidence thing, but the way you walk, your gait…it follows a very specific rhythm. You also tend to have a much broader, stricter stance.  You paused before you glance back at his arm and ghost your finger cautiously, Aaaaaand your tattoo, quite interesting with the choices of pattern no? You say as you trail along the dog tags, guns and skulls, pausing as you rest your hand on one of the longer faint scars on his forearm. and I’m assuming these scars are not just from simple accidents.  He gives a low chuckle once he patiently listen and wait for you to finish your answer, feeling the vibration from his chest as you give a grin and tilt your head and watch him, he gives you a smirk as he run his finger along your cheek, Such a smart angel, hm? He whispered as he brings you in for a kiss, wrapping his palm around your neck as you give a shudder, you kiss him slowly before retracting as you wipe the string of saliva that connected from his lips to yours. So was I right? He only hummed as he kissed your ears and grabbed your thighs over for you to straddle his hip. You never got a confirmation or an answer, but you didn’t mind since he was clearly professional in throwing your questions out the window the moment he pulled your hips close to him and feel something hard pressing against you as a gasp escape your mouth-

The memory sends a shiver down your spine as you snap back to the present time.

Cold?

He mumbles when he stopped his hands, you realize he has been rubbing your bare hips under your hoodie for some time now as you felt the warm pad of his fingers pressing into your skin.

You shake your head as you turn around and face him,

Mm, just thinking…

You whisper back as you rest your hand on his chest, watching it rise and fall, he raised his eyebrow as he carries you with ease and puts you on the cold kitchen counter, watching the way your thigh bounce softly upon contact, he glance back up at you as he rest his chin on your chest.

What were you thinking about? 

He says with a smirk as you blush and giggle softly.

Thinking about you. 

You replied back as he tilt his head in amusement.

Issit now…. 

He gives a reply as he kisses your nose and gives you a coy smirk,

Thinking about how well your sugar daddy treats you? 

He whispers as he kisses your neck teasingly, making your cheek red as he flattens his tongue on your skin and swipes it in a circular motion.

M-mhm. 

You replied back with a shaky tone as he sucks on your soft skin, leaving a soft mark as he chuckles. He starts to slowly trail his hand up under your shirt as he leans in and mutters against your sensitive ear once more. 

My angel, always so good to me.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

a/n: am pushing my soft Ghost agenda with this one >:] and yes, if you noticed I always write Price to be a bit mean hehe. I don't know how to feel with this fic, do let me know what you think! Have a nice day/night :D

[bluegiragi]

hello! i'm gira, i go by she/her, and i've been making fanart for the cod fandom for about four months now :) the majority of that time's been spent on the soapbox saga, which is sort of just what i call the very plot-ridden porn comic featuring ghost, soap and konig. and recently i've been working on the monster 141 au!

i'm here to address the reasoning behind how i assigned certain monsters to certain characters, particularly the POC characters as well as accusations of racism regarding me neglecting gaz in all my art :) whoever you are, if you're reading this in good faith, i thank you! i earnestly never intended to make anyone feel uncomfortable from my work.

The Monster AU

i won't post the blog who brought this issue up mainly because, (realistically speaking) i think people might go after them and spam them with hate so I'm paraphrasing here. but basically..."how come all the POC in the Monster AU are assigned animal-associated monsters? Comparisons to animals can be incredibly demeaning when it comes to minorities".

I completely agree! But earnestly, I think my desire to assign every character a 'monster' that was relevant to their culture overshadowed the part of my brain that would've raised red flags about this sort of thing. There's the argument here that I could've assigned these characters cooler monsters such as Price who is a dragon, and Ghost who is a wraith, but I wanted to be respectful of all the minorities in the COD cast by giving them creatures that reflected their culture and personality.

ALEJANDRO - NAGUAL

In the Monster AU, Alejandro is a nagual, which is considered a guardian spirit in Mesoamerican culture. Typically, it's said that the nagual is the shapeshifted form that powerful men can transform into in order to do evil (although that doesn't apply in this case, Ale's a heroic lad), and can come in the forms of a jaguar, deer, dog or bird. I chose a jaguar, since it seemed to be the most common form of nagual depiction in the resources I was looking at. The 'panther mode' isn't pre-established as part of nagual mythology, but since most panthers are just black jaguars, i thought the association wouldn't be unreasonable.

I chose Alejandro to be a nagual because it's so in character for him to be protective of his home. The idea of him being a literal guardian spirit for all he considers his just made sense to me :)

--

RODOLFO (RUDY) - CADEJOS

In this AU, Rudy is the vessel for two cadejos, which are legendary dog spirits popular in the mythology of Central America, parts of South America and Mexico. Historically, they've been known as psychopomps (guides to help humans into the afterlife following their death) but modern interpretation has shifted to depict them as the good guardian dog and the evil attacking dog respectively.

A lot of the minute information about the cadejos tends to differ depending on the source. Like whether they're actually two separate dogs, or they're the same dog just in different 'modes', or how big they are. My personal depiction of them has them sized as normal dogs (although their spirit nature means they can move into small spaces pretty easily by just becoming immaterial temporarily) and as separate spirits that have been passed down through Rudy's family generationally.

I chose the cadejo for Rudy because although I wanted to include him in the Monster AU, i still liked keeping him as a character who was a bit more 'human' than Alejandro. I think Ale needs Rudy to hold him back sometimes, and having the two cadejo definitely helps with that. Sort of like how cheetahs in zoos have therapy dogs growing up because they're so anxious all the time! I think it also does a good job of showing Rudy's two sides as well, like he's a softie who just wants to protect those he loves, but he's capable of a lot of violence too.

--

VALERIA - GORGON

Valeria is a gorgon which, admittedly, is not part of Mexican mythology. However, I was put in a bit of a bind here, since my research didn't really reveal to me a monster in Mexican culture that I thought would suit Valeria's vibe (manipulative, elulsive) and I just felt like a gorgon would be perfect for her. Medusa's myth has her being continuously demeaned by the men in her life and is a symbol of female empowerment, which I thought was a great reflection of the implied reason that Valeria left the army was due to internal sexism. There's also the perfect parallel of how anyone who sees El Sin Nombre's face dies, and Medusa's whole 'turn you to stone' thing.

I thought i could compromise by making Valeria a gorgon but her hair would be Mexican black kingsnakes but...turns out they're actually not that dangerous. Some people even keep them as pets! So I decided to keep the visual, but make her a pit viper, a subfamily of vipers found in the Americas as well as Eurasia.

--

HORANGI - HAETAE

Horangi is a haetae (해태) which is a beast in Korean mythology that typically comes in the form of a horned lion or dog. It's prevalent in a lot of cultures in East Asia actually, although it goes under different names depending on the region - kaichi for Japan, xiezhi for China. I made Horangi a tiger variant on the creature because...well...'horangi' means 'tiger' in korean. It just made sense to me to put that little twist on it.

Typically, haetae are seen as spirits of judgement, that decide on innocent and guilty parties in disputes and punish the latter. It's also considered a guardian against fire (hence the fire immunity and cloud manipulation powers I gave him).

GAZ - HARPY

Gaz is a harpy which, I won't lie, was purely inspired by the fact that he seems to keep falling out of helicopters. But it's also because...yeah, I did neglect Gaz in the soapbox saga. But I think I neglected...everyone in the soapbox saga who weren't directly involved in the main ship. I sort of just tunnel visioned on the main three, so my exclusion of characters isn't just limited to Gaz, it was included Price, Laswell, Alejandro, Rudy, Graves etc.

I just want to make clear that my treatment of Gaz in particular isn't reflective of any inner preference against him. And to make good on that, me assigning Gaz wings of all things was to help me spend more time on him in the Monster AU! I think the contrast between Gaz being an upstart harpy, and Price being a one-winged dragon has a lot of potential as a mentor/protege relationship (and perhaps even something more) and it's why I assigned this monster to him. I really wanted to establish a connection upfront, but just making Gaz another dragon felt cheap - the harpy thing felt a little more in turn with his character :)

--

I really hope this cleared up any remaining frustrations with my designs for the Monster AU. I hope you can see that I never meant anything demeaning by assigning these monsters to their respective characters - in fact, I earnestly tried to go out of my way and be respectful to their backgrounds.

In any case, if you have any more questions I'd be happy to answer them - I'd just ask you to please ask politely :)

[pixiemage]

I legitimately think a lot of people get too hung up on how other people write or draw characters (both in MCYT and outside of it). I sometimes feel like there's so much bitterness towards fellow fandom members just because they've chosen to enjoy a character or corner of the fandom in a different way. Do you picture the characters the same way the creators are IRL? Fun! Do you have a much more fanonized interpretation because you want to separate the characters from creators? Great! Do you tend to lean toward one kind of design overall in your art because that's just how you enjoy the act of creation? Fantastic!

Short, tall, thin, fat, human, hybrid, something entirely undefinable - every single option is correct. Every single option is right. That's the point of creativity and creative liberty. That's the point of fandom and the whole reason why fan art and fan fiction exist - to take what canon gives you and make something, whether that something clings to canon's every note, or if that something turns canon on its head. Especially if it turns canon on its head.

This is a vast fanbase built upon a sandbox game, and any creations we make should be treated the same. It doesn't matter if it doesn't fit the bill for what someone else thinks, and it doesn't matter if it doesn't fit some standard mold. If everyone else views Grian as a parrot avian, but you love writing him as a cod? Do it! If a lot of folks depict Tango as a blazeborn, but you fucking love the idea of him being an android? Well, for god's sake, what's stopping you? Make him an android! Does everyone else write Bdubs as short, but you think it'd be really funny if he was taller than half the hermits, so the short jokes are even more ridiculous? Then, holy shit, I wanna see that!

But to roll back to the point, fan creations is meant to be fun. And all of you out there being picky? As a viewer of other peoples' art and writing, don't go telling people they're "doing it wrong". Don't be critical. Don't tell someone they need to "do better" if their portrayal doesn't line up with what's in your head. There's no rules here. And similarly, there's no quota we need to meet on variety. There's no law someone is breaking if they're not following your expectations. If you're a viewer of art and fics, and you're pissed at someone because you believe they don't draw or write someone tall enough or short enough or thin enough or fat enough or young enough or old enough - make it yourself. Don't detract from someone else's joy just because their version of having fun in the fandom doesn't line up with yours.

People are going to create what they love. People write and draw from a place of inspiration and enjoyment and fun. If they choose to share it, they're doing that for free and of their own free will. They didn't share it for you. Fan artists and fan writers aren't here to be your dancing monkeys, we're here to just have fun. If you aren't seeing enough of whatever you're expecting to see, then don't demand it from other people who were proud enough of a piece of art to share it with the world. Make it yourself.

[konigsblog]

what do you think about the discourse of “ghost is a sa victim so sexualising him is wrong” or well just people complaining about cod characters getting sexualised in general? been encountering people saying this on tiktok and i can't help but disagree but i need to hear this side of the fandom's thoughts :/

i honestly don't understand their opinion, really. i don't see an issue with sexualising the COD characters, they aren't real people, they're fictional characters. of course, people could say, “well, what about the actors?” but these people need to realise that you have to separate the art from the artist.

at the end of the day, they can't control what people write and create. if they don't like something, they're responsible for filtering it out.

[shift-shaping]

The City of Wycome, circa 9:41 Dragon

Made this map of Wycome so I can keep track of where my characters are when they're in the city in my fic, raven. there is very little information available about what wycome actually looks like, so I made all of this up based largely off this map of boston from 1775 because i know how big boston is and i needed a city you could reasonably walk the most interesting parts of in one afternoon. we otherwise know wycome is at the mouth of a river in the free marches and is considered the revelry capital of thedas. some fourth blight stuff happened there. it has an alienage, distinct districts for nobles, human workers and merchants, and the duke, and probably not a circle of magi. aaaannd that's it. I made the rest up whole cloth.

descriptions of each district below the cut

Dockside - Where most of the city's human population lives. Mostly dockworkers, rope-makers, and fishermen. Dorian would call it a shithole. It is Isabela's favorite part of the city. Absolutely bumping at night in certain parts. Slowly sinking into the marsh, but at a manageable rate.

Alienage - Where all of the city's elves live. Dense, stuffy, and generally unpleasant. It was once called 'Backwater Marsh' because it is built on a poorly-filled swamp. As a result, it is slowly sinking into the water. Homes are built tall and narrow as flooding is a regular part of life. The long spit of land is called Long Wharf and it's actually a pleasant place to walk when the weather is nice (which is often, it's a mild climate).

Gadus Market - Biiig fish market. Everyone shops here, including the servants nobles send to buy food. Fun fact: 'Gadus' is the genus name for cod. Pretty fun place if you don't mind the smell of fish and so much yelling all the time. Built on much more stable ground than the nearby Alienage.

Castle Magnolia - The Duke's estate, full of beautiful and well-maintained gardens, elaborate apartments for guests and family, statuary, and a suspicious number of tunnels. Built on stable bedrock rising out of the surrounding delta. Usually quiet, but the Duke's parties are absolutely legendary. Lady Volant's temporary apartment is located in the southwest part of this district.

Beacon Hills and Old Orchard Lane - Also fairly stable land. Home to the city's nobility, as well as some empty buildings that used to be occupied but now are sort of haunted. Don't worry about those. This district (or these two districts, depending on whether you consider the more wooded Old Orchard Lane separate from Beacon Hills) is known for a thriving culture of art and drinking. Old Orchard Lane is home to the Wycome Conservatory, a very expensive school for well-connected, musically-gifted young people to drink a lot of wine and get even better connected. Lately something has been very wrong in this district, but the Duke would really rather you didn't think about that.

Parade Street - A whole street just for parades? Obviously! This is also where many businesses have administrative buildings, and some housing for what might be called a 'middle class' if you squint and tilt your head.

Fort Garahel - The somewhat small headquarters of the Wycome City Guard, named for the hero of the Fourth Blight. The elves in the Alienage see the irony in the name. The guards don't.

Feel free to use for whatever, no credit needed, so long as you don't claim you made it yourself.

[askagamedev]

On the topic of generative AI, what jobs are game companies looking to replace with it first? I imagine that concept art is going to be one the easiest things to replace and I harass some games are using AI to fill out voice over work ( AI is a major sticking point between game companies and the voice actor union right now), but what other jobs are at risk of being replaced?

Honestly, right now it's actually rather difficult to replace entire jobs with generative AI. It's much more of a situation where AI would be used to augment and fill in small knowledge gaps rather than replace contributions from individual developers.

Recently, a development company called Keywords attempted to build a 2D game internally using only generative AI tools. Keywords is a well-established co-development studio that has helped out with development on many large projects like Alan Wake, CoD: MW3 (2023), Super Mario Bros Wonder, Mortal Kombat 1, Starfield, Madden, Diablo IV, Skull and Bones, Baldur's Gate 3, Elden Ring, and so on. After six months the Keywords team [reported on their findings]:

Whilst the project team started small, it identified over 400 tools, evaluating and utilising those with the best potential. Despite this, we ultimately utilised bench resource from seven different game development studios as part of the project, as the tooling was unable to replace talent. One of the key learnings was that whilst Gen AI may simplify or accelerate certain processes, the best results and quality needed can only be achieved by experts in their field utilising Gen AI as a new, powerful tool in their creative process.

This gels with my own experience with Gen AI - it's an expanded Dunning-Kruger situation. Gen AI can create all kinds of content or results but it requires actual expertise in the field in order to separate the wheat from the chaff. Without having the skills needed to determine if something is good or not, the Gen AI results aren't (yet) good enough to use to build something.

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[laughroditee]

Thinking about the COD urban fantasy AU that I will be writing a fic for. I have a background in fine art and comics and have experience with video editing, so because of this, this fic came to me as a movie trailer, which I plan on making an animatic of. (If I can get my husband to learn how to voice the characters, I may include voices as well.) But it came from the idea:

What if there was a necromancer who would raise your loved one, but if you didn't pay them, they'd take control of them?

And that leads us to the

"Repossessed" Trailer Script, starring necromancer!graves

(please note that I do not have any formal training in actually formatting scripts so these are just my notes for the animatic. Filmmakers, don't come for me.)

(OPEN on a cityscape at sundown, cue music, if any.) Voiceover: "The name's Graves."

(NIGHTTIME. cut to a scene of a man, back to us in a cemetery. Close in on headshot, he turns to face the camera.) V/O: "Phillip Graves."

(INTERIOR OFFICE, DAYTIME. Graves is seated behind his desk, feet up, leaning back in his chair, maybe playing with a Rubix cube or something, speaking with a client, whom we can't see yet.)

Client: "Phillip Graves? As in 'fill up graves?' That's a bit… on the nose isn't it?"

Graves (smirking bc he's a cocky mf): "I don't so much fill ‘em up as I do empty ‘em out nowadays."

(Cut back to scene of Graves in the cemetery where a green, eldritch light glows from his hand.) V/O: "As a necromancer, I can bring anyone back from the dead."

(Cut back to Graves in office, looking at client.) Graves: "For a Price."

(Graves leans forward, cocking his head): "What would you pay?"

(Flashes of the deceased, happy.) V/O: "What would you do...?"

(Flashes of the deceased and the client together, loving etc huehuehue) V/O: "...To have them back with you?"

(Cut to Graves sitting behind his desk, holding up photo of the deceased between two fingers, looking at his client, cocky and eager.) Graves: "Pretty little thing like this? What's it worth to ya?"

(Cut to John Price seated in the chair opposite the desk, looking grief-stricken, desperate, and determined): “Everything.”

(cut to black, dramatic pause if there's music)

(Cut to first person POV, looking up at Graves, giving you a hand.) Graves: “Welcome back, darlin', to the land of the living.”

When I post the art (storyboards and eventual video) for this, it will be on my art blog @momokeen and reblogged from there. (I try to keep my 18+ stuff here separate from my main blog, even though I update more here, currently.)

Issues I know I will have:

Time - my chaotic brain always has a billion projects going at once, which is why I wanted to at least put this much out. I have at least four other fics that need attention, not to mention actual real life, and running a small business. I will be doing it though. It may not be good, but it will be done, eventually.

Finding the right music. Currently I'm looking for good epic trailer music. I have zero money to commission someone to compose something custom, otherwise I would ask my friend if he'd take the job.

Voices (because I want them 😩)

The decedent. I had planned on writing the fic as a "x you" POV, but if I'm including a visual trailer, done in the way that I want, obviously I have to pick one way the decedent looks, which I know will leave many people feeling left out. This is why I tend to make OCs, as it's easier for me to make decisions that my OCD and trauma brain won't let me make otherwise, because "this person is their own person and this is how I've developed them." (Also I'm new to fanfic, pls forgive me. I know OC x Canon is the less-liked option here. I really struggle with trying to make everyone happy, to the point that it's debilitating and I honestly don't know what to do.)

And finally, ✨mental health✨.

But yeah, that's it. That's a thing I'm gonna make. This was step one. Thanks for reading. 🖤

[callofdudes]

I've been seeing a lot of screenshots and videos going around recently about the cod fandom and the VAs that I thought I'd touch on. I've seen some people mention this topic and I'd just like to reiterate that people need to separate the character from the person. That person has boundaries and deserves respect just like everyone else.

Especially with a fandom as interactive as the cod fandom. Neil and Nick particularly are people. As human as us. They don't deserve to be impersonated on the internet or AO3 (it's illegal).

They deserve space and are allowed to do what they want. Specifically people yelling at them not to find AO3 or Wattpad or sending them edits and fanart. At the end of the day I understand why people would act that way, but they are not their characters. A lot of people have said this probably better than I have, but I just want to try and remind people that there is a difference and anything you wouldn't want done to you on the internet, don't do to the VAs. We are blessed to have interactive VAs like Nick and Neil. And even Alain, Barry and the others even if it's not as much. We are a good community and it only takes a couple bad apples or interactions to push them away.

I've seen how happy people are to have the two and I am one of those people. But there are some people that can take that further than it is meant to be taken.

I know that at the end of the day if they find what I've written about the characters I'm not going to care. They are adults, they can handle it. If they want to explore it and find the art, fics, and whatever else they don't need us yelling at them to not look or throwing stuff at them.

There are other Twitter posts about this that I'm having trouble finding but please remember to respect decent human boundaries and any other boundaries set by the VAs.

🙂👍

[moronic-validity]

Do you have any OCs? Talk about them!

okay so I have a lot of OCs (technically, kinda, sorta) bc every character I pull out of thin air for my original works are my OCs

but my fandom associated OCs? Oh buddy....

Oldest? Period? My x-men oc I made when I was 8. Never threw much detail into her (again, I was 8), but she was my very first. My first intentional oc? When I was 12-13 and stupidly into Hetalia, I made the personifications of two states (The one I was born in and the one I currently live in) and, for some reason, all the Canadian provinces. I...can't explain that one. I think I have sketches of them all somewhere....

Newest? I'm making a CoD oc... I don't have many details yet because I'm embarrassed he exists and he's very much a self insert. He's not military, stupidly good with languages, and has a knack for being able to blend in anywhere he is, able to just disappear into any crowd. He has tell me your life story written across his forehead and has a knack for always being in the wrong place at the wrong time and voicing his opinions to the wrong people. Will he ever see the light of day in any of my written works? Probably not because my fingertips are burning just typing this out.

Most fleshed out? Unfortunately, again, I have to look back to 13 year old me because while that kid really needed to get out of the house and make some friends....he also had a wickedly cool Walking Dead oc. I forget what I named her, but I had everything from her birthday to her blood type figured the fuck out. Her weapon of choice was a baseball bat (THIS WAS BEFORE NEGAN WAS INTRODUCED) and she was 16 when all of this started (because to 13 year old me, 16 was basically adulthood). She had watched her grandmother die (not due to the walkers) and reanimate, so her and her crew kinda figured out that everyone was infected kinda quickly. She got separated from her parents and brother (she was at school when shit hit the fan) and everyone that was left at the school (a queer football player, two theater kids, the art teacher, the ap chem teacher, the school drug dealer, a jrotc kid, and her) kinda formed a group and just stuck together because no one ever came for them. She actually never interacted with Rick's crew, but her and her group locked down the school and reached a point where they took in any kids that had gotten separated or lost and they basically just...tried to make things a new normal... Might actually revisit her because typing this out made me realize how cool she actually was.

Least fleshed out? The CoD oc. He doesn't even have a name yet and I'm sure as fuck not giving him mine. He's a loose idea at this point.

My personal favorite? Probably my old x-men OC I made when I was 8. Don't remember shit about her other than she could talk to animals and see through their eyes, saw Wolverine as her dad (he begrudgingly dealt with this because she was young), and she was stupidly good at climbing. I've considered revamping her for shits and giggles because she was fun and contributed little to nothing. She's still my favorite though.

[t00nyah]

it's been more than a month since i teased those pics, and i finally finished! splat clans au idol designs!

if you're wondering: i drew squid sisters the last and they were....surprisingly difficult considering they're idols who i draw the most usually lol

this au is still very underdeveloped and i'm very open to your suggestions of names and such

you can find some info about the clans here and my first art post of this au here

callie(really want to call her something like kestrelsong but dunno) and marie(marigoldshine? cause firefly squid?) are very important cats - callie just being a very talented and social warrior and marie being the medicine cat

as you may have guess marie gets some sort of a sign about a long forgotten clan going the dark path in need (this being octarian clan stealing all the herbs) and the cat who's able to save their clan(this being three), that causes them to form a traveling group all together for the prophecy

well of course as usual marina(juniperpool? really want to name her after some herbs 'cause she was in a very good medicine cat in training and something that relates to her original name(pool is close to sea, right?...)) is a warrior of the said octarian clan who was brought to inkling clan by pearl(pebblespark?), a daughter of respected senior warriors, and is said to be just a very cool rogue friend of hers

marina is a very great help to her new clan due to her being a fast learner and a medicine cat apprentice in her past. she's very conviniently there when marie is away with some new prophecy, weirdly being too similar to the last one... (this prophecy is also fabricated this time. she made it up because it's still the same herbs problem, it has to be octarian clan...also where in the name of starclan are three and cuttlefish? ughhh probably shouldn't have let them go to the twolegs territories alone...)

and of course deep cats! ahem. i meant. deep cut!

honestly. let me ramble a bit but while the other designs were inspired by the in-game designs mostly, with deep cut i actually had something to use as a reference. shiver is referenced from some mako shark images i found and frye is obviously referenced from moray eels. they also were A BIG PAIN IN THE ASS with trying to make them look at least a little bit genetically accurate before i gave up. i tried my best to make it somewhat based off cat genetics(cause i'm a cat genetics nerd) but. yeah. deep cut. (no big man you were the best one bc i could literally just use your in-game design as a reference you were a bliss thank cod big man exists) also i really want to point out bc i really love how i made frye's side scar long and wiggly looking a little like an eel and shiver's scars are meant to look like shark's gills.

AHEM. me rambling about designs aside.

deep cut are the splatland clan elite:

shiver(sharpstar?) is the leader. she has the charisma and she can keep her cool...kind of.

frye(no, no idea fr) is the deputy. she's very good at organising the patrols even though you would probably argue that frye could be the one to organise something, trust me, she just knows her stuff very well.

and, of course, big man(i literally can't come up with something not including 'big' in it directly HELP sadfgargagaw) is the medicine cat. with his pacifism and not really wanting to fight attitude it's probably quite obvious!

and of course they still descent from cats who've been living there since the very begginings of the clan!

separate versions under the cut

[ask-de-writer]

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THE FISHERMAN'S LEG (Part 12 of 20)

A sequel to Dee 1/2 Demon

by

De Writer (Glen Ten-Eyck)

13269 words (work in progress)

© 2023 by Glen Ten-Eyck

All rights reserved. This document may not be copied or distributed on or to any medium or placed in any mass storage system except by the express written consent of the author.

TUMBLR EXEMPTION

Blog holding members of Tumblr.com may freely reblog this story provided that the title, author and copyright information remain intact, unaltered, and are displayed at the head of the story.

Fan art, stories, music, cosplay and other fan activity is actively encouraged.

~~ ~~ ~~ ~~

New to the story? Read from the beginning HERE.

~~ ~~ ~~ ~~

Things went quietly and happily for the next few days. Besides fish sales, the whole Fish Market gang, Minara, Takahara, Tanira, and Ichuru, would take out one of the Shop of Repairs' larger boats to fish for crabs and sand sharks. Besides those, they often took snappers, flounders, sea bass and rock cod to liven their sales displays.

At their now almost “traditional” dinners with the Shop of Repairs gang, which included all of those working for the Shop of Repairs, the Chiasu Estate, and Sabo's Better Fish Market, Miko suggested, “Tanira san, Minara has told me that since Magistrate Lim separated your debits and Minami's you are no longer in debit. Rather, you have caught up those that are properly yours and are making cash beyond what you owe.”

Tanira, a little worried at where Miko was going with this, nodded a bow and replied, “That is so, Miko san. Why have you brought this up?”

Dee, at the long table's head answered, “Minara san and Takahara san have asked us if they can be released to work for you, that is why!” Pulling a comic frown, she went on, “They like you better than us!”

Smiling now, Tanira bowed deeply to both girls and replied, “I shall be most happy to have them, but on two conditions. First, my house is so empty without Minami's boasting and bluster, that I wish them to live there with me, as a family with Ichuru san. It will be good to have friends and peace in the house for a change.

“Secondly, they must be willing to accept at least five more of copper cash daily, making a full ten. It has been wonderful to have them but their help is worth far more than I have been able to pay before this.”

Ichuru, eyes alight, clapped his hands and exclaimed, “That is wonderful, Mother san! They are as sisters to me already!”

Tanira smiled happily and hugged her son as she said fondly, “Ichuru san, they have not yet accepted my conditions.”

Takahara simply whooped and pounded Minara on the back! “She does want us! Yes, Tanira sanma! When we asked, we were afraid that you might not want us underfoot all the time!”

Tanira nodded a deep bow to them both. “You are indeed most welcome to work with me and share my home.”

Turning to the head of the table again, she asked, “Dee san, how will this affect our agreements, which are only oral and made in conversation? Especially about ice? But other things too, like using your boats to fish for crabs?”

Dee nodded thoughtfully, “Tanira san, I can see no reason to make any changes to our present practices, including having you all here for dinner.”

Patsu took up, “Got an offer for you. I will soon have three new girls that I need to train. Would you accept as a training project a boat of twelve paces length? It will be equipped with fan like lateen sails, like some of our larger boats and set up for sail, oars, and to fish how you would like.”

Instead of temporizing, because she well knew her hosts, she bowed deeply and inquired, “Could it be set up for trolling but have space to install nets later if it seems wise?”

Patsu simply nodded a bit of a bow as she replied, “I will see to it.”

Ichuru, forgetting his manners in his excitement, waived his arms and called, “Can I help to make it, Patsu?”

Tanira corralled her offspring and remonstrated gently, “She can answer you, Ichuru san, as soon as you ask politely.”

Abashed, but still eager, he bowed deeply and offered, “Patsu san, apologies for my unruly eagerness. May I please be allowed to assist in the making of mother Tanira san's fishing boat?”

Patsu returned his bow and replied, “When your other work, which includes some lessons in reading, writing and figuring, is done, you may help us to build that boat.”

One of the young ladies bowed to him and asked, “Do you still have that toy boat that I gave to you?”

“I love it, Ontara san! I keep it and my floats at the Fish Market. Mother, um, Tanira san lets me take it down to the shingle beach to play with it, as long as I wear my floats and Takahara san is there too, in case I fall into the water. She can swim really well.”

Looking about, he felt secure enough in this company to confess, “Sometimes I fall in on purpose so that Takahara san will pull me back to shore.”

A giggling Takahara grinned, “I can always tell when he's going to do it, too! He pushes the boat over to the shore, so that the wind can't take it away. As soon as he does, I get ready!”

The whole table, including his mother, had a good laugh at the whole idea.

After the friendly and actually productive meal, Takahara and Minara happily called, “Wait for us, Tanira san! We don't have a lot to pack!”

When they came down with their first arm loads, Patsu had an odd looking cart waiting for them. Seeing both Tanira and Ichuru's interest, she explained, “We use this cart to bring our boats up to the boat house when we are done for the day. Its shape has room for a keel under the boats with sails. Beats dragging them up that boat ramp.”

Tanira tilted her head quizzically as she asked, “You bring them up each night? Why? Other fishers only bring their boats out once a week or so.”

Patsu jerked a rude thumb at the door and the street beyond as she spat, “Minami. If we leave them out, he will try to ruin them somehow. It has happened three times already.”

Nodding slowly, Tanira nearly whispered, “I can see how that might be, Patsu san.”

The cart loaded, they pulled it out of the Chiasu Warehouse.

Minami was waiting, but across the street from them as required by Magistrate Lim's order, and the Constable who stood patiently beside him. He sneered loudly, gloatingly, “So, thrown out by the Demon spawn for helping another? Where will you go now, worthless ones? Nobody wants orphans like you!”

To everyone's surprise, it was Ichuru who snapped back, “Silence, Foul One! They are coming home to be my sisters! You are not a father to me! I turn my back to you!”

The enraged Minami started to charge across the street to strike the boy! Takahara dropped the pull bar of the cart and slid into a dangerous karate combat stance. Unneeded this time! A fast swipe with the handle end of the constable's ceremonial but very functional naginata had him down face first in a tangle of tripped legs! Before could catch his breath, his arms were bound behind his back!

As he was being led away, they all overheard, “Didn't you hear what my insolent son called me?”

“I did. I also heard your provocation. Why do you always assume the worst of others without the bother of asking what is happening?”

The next morning was a happy one in Tanira's suddenly busy household! The girls had taken Ichuru out to clean, weed and harvest the fairly extensive but much neglected kitchen garden!

To be Continued

<==PREVIOUS ~~ NEXT==>

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[heart-shaped-chains]

Hello Tumblr I'm not dead. Life has sucked ass but I'm too mad and it's too much to describe so somewhat NSFW and cringe COD OC art dump under the cut. Came up with this in a day. This entire sketch was cause I was bored, waiting for my phone to charge and it took FOREVVERRR to even come to life so I decided to sketch/jot down ideas 4 my Little Army Dreamers Fallout (only the show cause I'm weak) inspired AU which. Is a lot.

So I will post screenshots of a synopsis and make a separate blog to post my stuff unless the COD ppl are rocking with me. Anyway um. Here's some doodles out of the way. Shitty ones first 2 build up expectations cause I'M SOO out of practice but anyway pls give me attention I need it m so proud of myself I wanna put these on the fridge....(NOT THIS))

Actually nvm here's an example to hopefully entice u....

Mr stick figure Riley. Ugh. Not very happy with the face but basically. 19 year old rookie goes through shit within a three year span, gets drunk at a banquet hall 2 weeks after a grueling mission bc Price dragged my super cool, war criminal self insert there 2 cool off. Kid goes off on a room full of Generals and royalty and corporate oligarchs and then while he's drunken and coked up and he can barely move and shit, he starts WWIII. In the fucking hall. And the BIG goal is to blow up the Pentagon (IN COD, FBI AGENTS IN COD) to stop them from dropping the big atomic bomb and they have FIVE DAYS to do it!!!.

And this is AFTER the NPD, OCD Autism and more ridden Sargeant goes from fuckin. Scared rookie, to respected team player, to a fierce Sargeant, to the most hated man in the WORLD. All because he didn't wanna go to a stupid fucking party. Anyway here it goes hope this is at least interesting. I **will** make a series. Whether it's an OC/self insert or a reader insert or even new characters to make it super my own. But I hope you guys like it. I'll shut up now and please be nice about any constructive criticism lmao.

LAMEEEEE BOO-HOOO. Not awful like. An artist DIDE draw these and this was my first time drawing Riley so I'm sorry that he's so weird. I hope y'all like my other designs cause they're so good. Gonna stfu let the pics talk and see where it goes from here

But I'll shut up and give my detailed thoughts either in the reblogs or I'll edit them in later. Here it GOES!!!!

This took under 2 hours. Arthritic hands didn't do SHIT!!! Not a fan of everything but considering it was just a bored sketch and not actually meant 2 be anatomy practice, I hope y'all like it. Thank the Lord for big, buff men who could kill me. I NEED. Bf soon man. Any of these body types are fuckin awesome. Please feel free to comment and be as annoying as you want about this bc I want it to b enjoyed.

[dicaculus]

Title: A Pile of Hot Metal and Dirty Dishes Artist: Crankyfossil Rating: Explicit Pairing: Magnus Bane/ Alec Lightwood Wordcount:42,462 Summary: Magnus Bane is the Head Chef at Encanto and doing just fine. Or that’s what he tells Simon the therapist, his boss Raphael, orders him to go to. Magnus is a genius in the kitchen, his food is art, but if he starts a fight with one more disrespectful customer, he’s gone. Simon is useless though, going on about Magnus using work as a means to distance himself from meaningful relationships, and emotional walls that could rival a fortress. What does he know? Magnus is fine. Then everything goes wrong. His best friend, Catarina and her daughter get into an accident. His eight-year-old niece, Madzie, is the only survivor and Magnus finds himself going from cool uncle Magnus to the only parent Madzie has left. To make matters worse, Raphael has replaced him while he’s on leave. Alexander Lightwood is a menace. He’s careless, breezy, and annoyingly good at everything he does. Magnus can’t stand him, but with Madzie refusing to eat his cooking and his hands full, Magnus needs all the help he can get. Along the way, Magnus begins to realize there’s more to life than seared cod and lemon dressing, and maybe, just maybe, it’s a life that he wants Alexander Lightwood in.

This fic was created for the Malec Discord Mini Bang 2023.

READ ON AO3

CHAPTER TWO

The world stops for Magnus as Dr. Roberts talks in his ear. Despite the chaos in the kitchen, the clanging on dishes and utensils, the familiar sound of Clary calling out orders and chefs calling back with times, Magnus only hears the doctor’s voice.

“T-boned…she didn’t make it…we did everything we could….I’m so sorry”

“A-and Madzie?” Magnus asks, barely holding back his tears, gripping onto the steel counter like a lifeline so he doesn’t crumble to the floor. 

“She’s stable, we need you to come down”

“I’ll be right there.”

Magnus hangs up the phone and leans on the pillar behind him. He closes his eyes, trying to collect himself and willing himself not to cry in his kitchen. A gentle shake of his shoulder brings Magnus back to the kitchen, his eyes landing on a concerned Clary.

“Magnus, is everything okay?”

“I- I have to go”

The drive to the hospital is a blur. Swirling in Magnus’s head is the memory of the last time he spoke to his best friend. It had been just this afternoon as he drove to the restaurant after his appointment with Simon. Catarina was checking in, telling Magnus about how their long drive was going and sharing her annoyance about other drivers.

“Traffic is insane as per usual. I swear a little snow on the ground and everyone forgets how to drive. “

But now, only a few hours later, she was gone. Just like that, his best friend dead. It was hard to wrap his head around. Magnus couldn’t think of a time when Cat wasn’t in his life. They’d grown up together, lived on the same street, went to the same schools, were in the same classes and had sleepovers most weekends. Cat was there when his mother passed away as a teenager when all of his other friends shied away, unsure what to say to their friend. At Cat’s house, there was always a place at their dinner table for Magnus and the guest room was his if he needed to get away from his father. After his wife’s death, his father became isolated and cruel‌. A dramatic change from the man Asmodeous used to be, the man Magnus at one time wanted to become. She was there when Magnus was figuring out his sexuality, his first relationship and first heartbreak. When Magnus decided to become a chef, she was there to support him by looking at culinary schools and trying his dishes without hesitation no matter how odd they might been.

After high school they’d gone their separate ways, going to schools hours apart. But despite the distance, they were always in contact, phone calls, texts, video chat, even the occasional  weekend visit. When Magnus got the chance to train in Europe, he’d jumped at the chance and Cat had been so proud of him. Not wanting to go alone, Magnus begged Catarina to come with him, she been hesitant at first of course. Catarina was always the practical one of the two and setting of to Europe for an unplanned trip was anything but practical. So she said no, instead they settled on Catarina coming for a visit in a few months. Filled with pride Catarina drove Magnus to the airport and hugged him goodbye with tears in her warm brown eyes. When Catarina found out she was pregnant, Magnus was with her every step of the way. He went to all of her appointments and was even present at Madzie’s birth. They were always there for each other and Magnus was sure he’d found his soulmate in his lifelong friend, which made her death that much harder to grasp.

A woman at the hospital entrance gives Magnus directions to the ward Madzie is in. After taking the elevator up a few floors and going through a maze of white hallways that never seem to end, he finds himself in the unit Dr. Roberts told him over the phone.

“I’m looking for Dr. Roberts. My niece admitted here, she was in a car accident with her mom. “

The nurse at the desk nods and gestures to a couple of chairs for Magnus to sit and tells him Dr. Roberts will only be a moment. Magnus sits but nervously fiddles with his fingers and lets his leg bounces as he waits. Time seems to slow down and every minute that passes feels like an hour to him. Images of the worst swirl through his head. Madzie covered in bruises, broken bones, connected to machines and surrounded by various wires. Magnus shakes the thoughts from his head and tries to breathe; the doctor had said nothing about Madzie’s injuries being life threatening, infact if he remembers correctly she’d said Madzie was stable. 

“Mr. Bane?”

Magnus shoots up from his chair, his foot tangling with leg, making him stumble. Magnus clears his throat as he catches his balance, smoothing down his coat with his hands. He smiles at the doctor and approaches her, slower this time.

“Yes, hi, that’s me. I came as fast as I could”

Dr. Roberts smiles softly and squeezes his shoulder in a comforting gesture. “I’m Dr. Roberts. We spoke on the phone. Thank you for coming so quickly.”

“H-How is she?” Magnus stutters. “Can I see her?”

The doctor nods and gestures for Magnus to follow her. “Madzie’s doing great.” She says. They walk down the hall, passing a few rooms until they stop at one. They stand in the doorway and Magnus sees Madzie curled up in the hospital bed, facing away from the door. He lets out a sigh of relief that she’s not hooked up to tubes and machines like he’s imagined. “Some bruises, a mild concussion and some stitches on her face and arm from where we had to pull out glass. Other than that, she’s gonna be fine.”

Physically, yes…but her mother is dead. She’ll be anything but fine.

“Has anyone told her yet?”

The doctor shakes her head. “We thought it would be best for her to hear it from someone in the family. Do you know how we can reach Madzie’s father? You’re her emergency contact, but we couldn’t find anything about her father.

“Oh um,” He sniffs, wiping a tear from his cheek. “He’s never been involved” Memories of Cat travelling to Europe to visit him while he was training flood to the surface. Specifically, a night when they’d gone dancing and had maybe a little too much to drink. She’d danced with a man that night. He was beautiful and charming, knowing how to treat a woman and knew all the right things to say. They had a holiday fling only for his friend to find out she was pregnant when she went home. “I don’t even know his name.”

Dr. Roberts to Emergency, please. Paging Dr. Roberts...

“I’m so sorry. I have to go, but I’ll be back to check on her‌.”

She turns and walks back down the hall, leaving Magnus alone in the door. Finally, he steps into the hospital room. It’s quiet other than the beeping of a monitor. He walks around the bed and smiles softly when he sees that she’s sleeping. As quietly as he can, he makes his way over to the chair in the corner and pulls it closer to the bed to sit. Madzie looks small in the hospital bed, blankets up to her chin and he can see the bruising and stitches the doctor spoke of.

“She’s changed so much since the last time you saw her”

And how right had Catarina been? Madzie always resembled her mother, but even now at only eight years old Magnus could tell she was going to look just like her mother. He reaches forward to move some hair from her face, and it’s then that her eyes flutter open.

“Magnus?”

“Hi sweetpea” He caresses Madzie’s cheek with his thumb for a moment, smiling softly.

“Where’s mom?”

Magnus’s heart clenches in his chest all over again and lets out a deep breath. 

“Is she dead?”

He squeezes one of her hands as tears well up in her dark brown eyes and, for the first time that day, Magnus lets the tears fall from his eyes.

“I’m so sorry, sweetpea, but she didn’t make it. “

Tears fall from the child’s eyes and she sobs, full body sobs that make her little body shake. Magnus pulls the chair closer, kisses his niece’s head and holds her as she cries. They fill the room with tears and whimpers as they cry together until Madzie falls asleep from exhaustion.

As promised, a few hours later, Dr. Roberts comes to check on Madzie. She explains that while she’ll recover; they want to keep her for a couple of days because of her head injury. Magnus stays with Madzie until the visit hours are over and a nurse kicks him out.

“Get some sleep,” He tells her with a kiss on her head. “I’ll come by tomorrow. How about I bring you dinner?”

Madzie agrees with a nod and waves a tired goodbye to him.

It’s not until Magnus gets to his apartment that night and crawls into his bed next to his cat and has a moment to check his phone that he realizes he has a voice mail. He goes through all his texts from various coworkers, deleting most of them except the few from Clary and Raphael. He updates both of them, getting sympathy from Clary and Raphael, telling him he understands if Magnus needs time off. When he checks his voicemail, tears fall from his eyes and sobs himself to sleep.

You have one new message.

Hi, it’s me.

And me!

We just wanted you to know we’re running late. Traffic’s insane. We’ll get there, eventually. Bye.

End of messages.

Magnus sleeps in the next morning having given the early morning market duties to another coworker, only rousing when his cat, Chairman, demands breakfast. He feeds the animal and begins a slow morning, enjoying his coffee rather than gulping it down, even taking a bubble bath before deciding to get ready. But when Magnus walks in the restaurant, he’s met with silence and stares from all of his coworkers in the middle of their meeting.

“Did you know he was coming in?” 

Magnus ignores the whispers and stares, holding his head up high, and continues to his kitchen. Magnus puts his coat in the office, puts on his chef’s whites and steps into the kitchen, grabbing an apron and tying it tightly.

“Magnus, what are you doing?” Raphael barges into the kitchen with his perfectly tailored suit.

Magnus raises an eyebrow. “What do you mean? Working? What does it look like?”

He grabs an onion from the basket and begins the daunting task of dicing pounds of onions for the night.

“I thought you were gonna take a few days off.”

“No.” Magnus says, pointing the sharp end of his knife at Raphael. “You thought I was going to take a few days off” Magnus goes back to dicing. Here Magnus could be busy, there was food to be cut, sauces to make, and things to do. At home, it would be him, his cat, and his thoughts, and the last thing Magnus wanted right now was to be alone with his thoughts.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah.” Magnus lies

Lunch service is busy, the kitchen is hot, making Magnus sweat and loud with clanging of dishes, chefs calling to one another, servers asking where their table’s food is and Magnus barking orders. 

Give me one duck, two beef rare, and a rack of lamb.

I’m still waiting for those beef tenderloins.

Pick up for 10

I need a quail and a Dover sole for table nine. Okay, let’s go, guys.

It’s demanding and never ending, a perfect distraction from thinking of anything else, exactly what he needs. While Magnus pretends everything normal and perfectly okay, he’s aware the chefs around him and the servers know better. He sees the worrying glances Clary gives him from the corner of his eyes, Raphael hadn’t interrupted him or asked him to speak to a customer once tonight. He gets very little talk back from his other chefs. Not a single eye roll when he’d forced someone to refire something.

Come on, let’s move it.

Lucas, I need more pans, now!

Fire one rare steak on the fly.

Two duck breasts, two racks of lamb. Let’s go, people!

Magnus is usually demanding and expects the best from his staff. However, tonight he sounds even sharper than usual. There’s an edge to his voice that leaves no room for argument and the chefs simply shrug and look at one another, unsure of what to say.

“Why is there no food on the counter?” He barks exasperatedly, “Come on, we got tables and there are too many servers in my kitchen!”

“Where’s my souffle for 14? Eleanor, where the souffle?!”

“Chef?”

Magnus turns around and it’s Lucas, finally with the pans he asks for, which he takes, but then he’s given an envelope. Magnus takes it and looks at the young man with a question written all over his face.

“A man in a suit came in during our meeting and wanted to give this to you. He said it was important. He left a number to call him at as well. You told us never to bug you in the kitchen during prep so—”

Magnus thanks Lucas, but his voice sounds strained when he recognizes Catarina's handwriting on the envelope. He shoves the envelope in his trouser pocket and turns to Clary who somehow is already looking at him, “I’m going for a short break, you okay taking over?”

“Of course”

Magnus steps away from the kitchen and opens the metal doors to the large walk-in fridge. The walk in was his safe space, his refuge since no one really likes being in the cold too long. But with the heat of his kitchen, Magnus finds it nice, refreshing even. He sits on a wooden crate  against a wall and takes the envelope from his pocket. He smiles sadly, running a finger over his friend’s familiar script and wonders what he’s about to open. Magnus assumes the man must have been a lawyer. He assumes the family would have gone through her will by now. As a nurse, she’d always known the importance of having a will, her desire for burial and a power of attorney, just in case.

“You’re never too young, Magnus,” she’d lectured him one day, “Accidents happen, and if the worst should happen, I don’t want to spend the rest of my life attached to a machine”

Dear Magnus, the baby is gorgeous.

I’ve called her Madeleine, a French name for a baby made in France. But I think I’ll call her Madzie for short. Now she’s here, I’m beginning to get what a huge thing it is I’m doing on my own.

So I want you to know if anything should ever happen to me. You are the only person I would want to have her. I know you’ll love Madzie as if she was your own and you’ll teach her everything she needs to know and maybe a few things she doesn’t.

If something should happen to me, Magnus, don’t let her forget me and don’t push your memory of me away like you’ve done with all the other things that make you hurt inside. 

And maybe when she’s older, when she asks about me, you can tell her about France, maybe tell the PG version.

I love you, Magnus, the brother I always wanted, my best friend and soulmate

Catarina.

Magnus’s tears dribble from his cheek onto the paper, making it wet. Him, she wanted and trusted him to care for her daughter? It’s a little too much for him. Magnus lets the tears flow and cries. His sobs echo through the walk in, he cries for his friend; he cries for Madzie, losing the only parent she’d ever known, and he cries for the future. The unknown and uncertain future that lay before both him and Madzie. 

“Magnus?”

It’s Raphael. Magnus quickly wipes his tears and tries to plaster on a smile for him in an attempt to keep up his ‘I’m okay’ facade. But Raphael sighs and crouches in front of of Magnus, placing a hand on his knee, giving it a squeeze seeing right through it.

“I want you to take a week off. That’s not a suggestion, it’s an order.” He says when Magnus protests.

“But the restaurant..”

“Will be fine for a week. Clary can handle it for a week and your staff aren’t clueless. You’ve trained them well.”

Reluctantly Magnus agrees. He finishes the lunch service but leaves quickly after. He goes to his apartment, pets Chairman his large fluffy cat and hugs the cat to his chest despite him probably not enjoying it nearly as much as Magnus. Then he takes a shower, scrubbing the smell of the kitchen off of his skin and decides tonight he’ll prepare food for Madzie when he visits her. Perhaps something sweet as well. Maybe dessert will be a good way to soften the blow of telling Madzie she’s moving.

This visit to the hospital is less chaotic than the last, but seeing Madzie laying down in the small bed looking so fragile still makes Magnus’s heart clench. Magnus watches her from the door, leaning against the frame for a moment. The bruising on her face somehow looks worse than yesterday, but he supposes it’ll look worse before it gets better. There’s a table on a wheel that looks like she pushes from her bed at one point with a plate on it. From where he stands, Magnus sees some kind of food on the plate, but he doesn’t recognize what it is. He’s not even sure the lumps of green and orange things are food. Madzie doesn’t appear to notice him, absorbed in a cartoon playing the small television near her bed. He steps into her room, deciding to make himself known.

“Hi Madzie.”

She turns her head and a soft but exhausted smile appears on the young girl’s face. “You came back”

Magnus’ heart shatters in his chest, she must have thought he’d abandoned her. He holds back the tears that want to fall and walks to her bedside. He gently kisses his swollen and bruised cheek, caressing the other unharmed cheek.

“I promised I would sweetpea, I’ll always come back for you” Magnus sits himself in the same chair he sat in last time and pulls it as close to Madzie’s bedside as he can. “I made us something to eat”

 “I’m not hungry.”

Magnus nods “Okay.” He pulls her portion of the steak sandwich and chocolate chip cookies he’s made earlier and sets it on the bed. “I’ll leave here for you later, then. I can’t imagine the orange and green coloured mess on the plate over there tastes very good.”

Madzie looks towards the door, then looks back at Magnus, beckoning him closer, so he leans forward. “It’s disgusting, Magnus,” she whispers to him, as if the hospital’s chef is around the corner. “I think they’re trying to poison me”

Magnus chuckles, his heart warm with a glimpse of the silly Madzie he remembered.

“So the doctors tell me you’re being discharged on Friday”

“Yeah,” she shrugs, turning back to the TV.

“Madzie,” Magnus reaches for the remote on the hospital bed and turns off the tv, ignoring the looks Madzie sends him “You and I have to talk about what’s gonna happen on Friday.”

“I’m going home aren’t I? Can I go back home?”

 “I’m afraid not, sweetpea?

 “Why?” Madzie asks, tears welling up in her eyes.

“Madzie, you’d be all alone and you’re too young to be alone,” Magnus wipes the tears from Madzie’s cheek and squeezes her hand closest to him. “Your mom asked me to take care of you if anything ever happened to her. So on Friday, you’ll come home with me.”

The rest of the week Magnus spends the days getting his apartment ready for Madzie’s arrival and the evenings visiting with her and coaxing her to eat something. He cleans the entire apartment from top to bottom, even going as far as scrubbing the walls and the baseboards, which is something he realizes he should do more often when the paper towel come off covered in dirt mixed with fur. Magnus tidies up the rarely used guestroom and freshens up all the bed linens, then closes the door to keep it neat, much to Chairman’s dismay.

“You’re only going to cover it in your fur,” he scolds the cat, who sits outside the door glaring at Magnus.

Magnus buys more towels, extra cutlery, dishes and bath and body products with cartoon characters advertised for children.

“Don’t laugh at me, Clary!” he’d hissed at her over the phone while out shopping. “I don’t know what children like or need. It’s been quite a while since I was one, and you have two..well, almost two kids.”

With Clary’s advice, he doesn’t buy Madzie a new wardrobe, but he does pick three outfits for her to wear, one for her to leave the hospital in, a second one for Catarina’s funeral and pyjamas for that night. Friday morning arrives much too quickly for Magnus. He readies himself to pick up Madzie, then spends far too much time wandering around his place, making sure everything is ready. But the only things missing are Madzie’s and it would deliver them Saturday morning, an arrangement Magnus had made earlier that week. 

Magnus makes his way to the hospital and for the first time that week his heart doesn’t feel like it’s beating out of his chest as he drives and his heart doesn’t clench walking down the white hallways. He easily finds Madzie’s room and is greeted with her sitting up on the bed in the outfit he bought her the night before, a simple pair of jeans and a plain t-shirt, with her feet dangling over the edge.

“Hey sweetpea,” he wraps his arms around her in a warm hug and kisses the top of her head. “Ready to get out of here. “

Madzie nods against Magnus’s shoulder and mumbles, what sounds like a ‘please’ into his jacket.

Madzie is more than ready to leave not only this room but the hospital entirely. She’d barely slept the past week, despite whatever the nurses had given her to help her sleep. Between the beeping machines, the uncomfortable hospital beds, nurses coming in at odd hours of the night and no matter how many blankets she was given, she was still cold. So saying she was looking forward to a real bed would be an understatement. 

The drive to Magnus’s place is quiet and uneventful. Madzie spends the start staring out the window, then she nods off in the backseat, lightly snoring. When they finally arrive, she’s still sleeping, with her chin resting on her chest and his heart aches, thinking about how exhausted this child must be. Not just physically from her injuries, but mentally. A car accident, losing her mother, a hospital stay and moving to a new city where she knows no one but Magnus. She’d also be starting in a new school soon. One of those things would be a lot for anyone, but to an eight-year-old, it’s like her world was turned upside down.

Despite how peaceful she’s sleeping, Magnus gets out of his car, opens her door and caresses her shoulder to wake her up.

“Come on sweetpea, you can have a little nap in your room. “

Magnus holds the girl’s hand the whole way up, opening the heavy wooden doors for her, and smiles when Madzie’s eyes go wide at the spiral staircase in the foyer. He points out the neighbours as they pass their doors, being sure to point out his nearest neighbours who have children around her age.

“... They have three daughters. One is a teenager, but they have a daughter your age and you’ll probably see her at school. Maybe you can be friends.” Magnus says, pausing at another door, “And this is mine.. well, ours now.”

He unlocks the door and lets Madzie step in first. She takes in the room as she places her shoes on the shoe rack. She stands in place with her arms crossed. Magnus can tell she feels awkward and out of place and he wishes he knew what to say to the girl, but nothing sounds right. Instead, he smiles warmly and decides a small tour would be nice.

“So,” He says, standing beside Madzie. “The kitchen is just to the right there. It has everything really–”

“Chocolate chip waffles?”

“No, but we’ll get you some,” Magnus promises. “Now, let me show you the apartment. This is your home, too. I want you to feel welcome and maybe one day at home.”

Magnus shows her the living room, showing her where the remotes are for the tv and for the electric fireplace. He shows her the bookshelf filled with her hundred cookbooks and other books, making sure Madzie knows she’s welcome to everything.

“There are board games in the ottoman,” he says gesturing to the furniture

Next, he takes her down the hallway and points out one of the two bathrooms. It’s the smaller of the two bathrooms, only having a sink, toilet and shower, unlike Magnus’s ensuite. Magnus makes sure to point out where he put the toiletries he bought her.

They pass a closed door going for the next open door showing her his bedroom.

“My bedroom.” He says, “And the ball of fur is chairman. Don’t be surprised if he comes to sleep with you or sits on your lap. He likes to cuddle.

Madzie giggles, “I like cats” She steps into his bedroom and gently scratches between the feline’s ears. He makes a surprised chirp but quickly leans into Madzie’s touch and purrs.

After a couple minutes of petting the cat, Magnus opens the closed door they passed.

“This will be your bedroom.”

Magnus’s former guest room, now Madzie’s room, is the smaller of the two bedrooms. The room is carpeted with a plush grey carpet that’s soft under the feet and the walls painted white. On the far side of the room is a large bay window that faces the park. There’s a large bed on top of a white metal bedframe and covered with a fluffy duvet and multiple pillows.

“You also have a closet and the dresser is empty so you can fill it with your clothes when your things arrive tomorrow”

“It’s pretty,” she turns and a round face Magnus, a small smile on her face. “Thank you, uncle Magnus. I’m tired. I think I’ll lie down for a bit”

Magnus nods and tucks her into the bed, pressing a small kiss to her forehead before gently closing her door behind himself. He leans against the door and closes his eyes, letting out a deep breath.

“I don’t know what I’m doing Cat” He whispers, looking up to ceiling as if she Catarina could hear him “I wish you could tell me what to do”

Saturday morning comes far too quickly and with it comes a busy day. Together Magnus and Madzie go to Catarina’s funeral, it’s a small service filled with close family and friends. Magnus holds Madzie’s hand the entire time, holding his own tears and ignoring the pain in his chest when he looks at the large picture of her on display to be strong for his niece. After the service, they attend her burial. Again he holds her hand, pulling her close when he feels her tremble. 

“I’m proud of you, you know,” Magnus says on the drive home. “Death isn’t easy for anyone, Madzie, but you’re handling it well. Much better than I did when my mom passed.”

They spend the rest of the day directing men with boxes into his apartment. His once grown up apartment where everything had its place and everything was in order was now filled with boxes, bikes, and various children’s toys. When the moving truck finally leaves, Magnus helps her unpack boxes and put things away. Soon the once nearly empty room, mostly white room, is filled with colours, toys, books, games and more stuffed animals than Magnus thought one girl could own.

Eventually, he leaves her to finish unpacking the last few boxes. He checks his text messages for the first time that day, replying to everyone wondering how he’s doing. Once he’s replied to Clary and reassured that yes, he’s fine and its early days, but Madzie seems to be adjusting slowly. The smells coming from the kitchen pull Madzie from her bedroom nearly an hour later.

“You’re just in time sweetpea, go sit down” he says gesturing to the dinner table “Bon appetite” he says their plates on the table.

For dinner, Magnus grilled whole branzino with a lemon gremolata and a lemon, parmesan kale salad. Magnus quickly starts eating, branzino being one of his favourite fish and, in his opinion, eating fish on the bone was the best way to eat it. But Magnus notices after a couple bites of his own that Madzie isn’t eating and instead staring at her plate.

“Everything all right?” He asks.

Madzie nods and picks at the salad, but when all her greens are gone, she puts down her fork.

“What’s the matter?” He asks again, “Aren’t you hungry?”

“Can I go back to my room?” she asks instead of answering Magnus’s question

“Sure.”

He watches as his niece disappears down the hallway. Magnus sighs and eats dinner alone. He wants to be upset with her, but she’s going through a lot, so he lets it go. Magnus knows it’s going to be a change for both of them getting used to living together, but Magnus wishes she would just tell him what he could do. He gives Madzie space that night, deciding not to take it personally knowing the past few days hadn’t been easy.

“At least she ate her vegetables,” He mumbles to himself before taking a mouthful of fish.

Magnus’s phone buzzes in his pocket. He groans to himself, seeing Raphael’s name.

Will you be in Monday?

Magnus sigh, spinning the phone in his hand. He should go in Monday, he really should. Magnus had never spent this much time out of Encanto’s kitchen before, and he can only imagine what a mess was waiting for him. He should go in to discuss menus for the week, specials, supplier’s lists, but then he thinks of Madzie. Madzie, who would start at a new school on Tuesday, Madzie, who was in pain and need someone while she mourned.

No, I’m taking another week. Madzie needs me.

Magnus doesn’t get a reply from Raphael until early the next morning.

Of course. Could you come on Monday night for an hour? I want to discuss menus.

Magnus rolls his eyes. Why they couldn’t discuss menus over the phone is beyond him, but regardless, he agrees.

—-

“So you’re sure you’ll be okay here on your own for a little while?”

“Yes.” Madzie reassured Magnus. “My answer won’t change if you ask me for the hundredth time”

Magnus looks at his niece with a faux glare as he shrugs on his jacket. “I only want to be sure you are much more important than a restaurant menu. Now if you need for anything, you have my phone and the number for restaurant is in there okay?”

Madzie nods, a small smile on her face.

“Encanto isn’t far, so I can be back quickly if you need me, okay?”

“Okay.”

Magnus hugs her goodbye with a kiss to her forehead, telling her there’s food in the fridge if she’s hungry and reminding her he won’t be long. He’s so anxious about leaving Madzie alone. His heart beats in his chest as he takes the stairs down and he nearly turns around three times on the way to Encanto. But Madzie assured him she’d be okay and won’t be long…hopefully.

By the time Magnus makes it to the restaurant dinner service has started. He walks through the doors and is hit with the familiar smells of the food and sighs happily. As Magnus walks towards the kitchen, unbuttoning his coat as he goes, he realizes as nice as it was to sleep in and have some time off despite the circumstances. He really did miss this place. Everything appears the same as he left it until he passes the archway that leads to the kitchen. He hears music, and not radio top10 music. It’s opera…is that Italian? A server leaves the kitchen. She’s smiling and giggles as the door closes behind her.

Noticing Magnus, she immediately stops and clears her throat. “Hi Magnus” She carries on out to the dining room with the plates in her hands.

This isn’t how he left his kitchen. He places his hand on the door, making a fist with the other and takes a deep breath, preparing himself for what he’s about to witness. Magnus pushes through the door, his eyes wide at the spectacle in front of him, tossing his jacket to the side. Other chefs thankfully have their heads and do their jobs, but Clary stands beside a chef he doesn’t recognize. His back turned to Magnus, giggling while this man speaks in a terrible Italian accent, pretending to conduct with a pastry brush in his right hand.

“He says, “Look! Look at the stars! Gaze at the stars which tremble with love.”

Clary takes notice of Magnus’s entrance and stops the giggling, any trace of a smile leaving her face. “Hi chef”

The chef beside Clary turns around and Magnus gets a glimpse of the intruder in his kitchen for the first time. He’s tall, with broad shoulders that test the fabric of his chef whites. His hair is a dark brown like a chocolate ganache, his hands are large, making the pastry brush in his hand look like a number 2 pencil. His eyes sparkle with excitement when he turns, noticing Magnus for the first time, and a big smile covers his face.

“Oh, my God, it’s you!” The chef exclaims with a deep but smooth voice. He walks over closer to the station’s closest Magnus but still stays behind the metal tables. Magnus now notices the raw quail breast in his left hand. I am begging you, will you please tell me the secret of your saffron sauce?”

“Excuse me?” 

The chef seems to ignore him and spins around and continues to pretend to direct his kitchen.

“Listen to this, guys. Listen to this right here. Listen. He’s saying, “Fade the stars, fade all the stars.” He gestures to a few chefs who look enamoured with the man. “So you guys are my string section…”

Magnus stands there in disbelief as the dark-haired chef conducts his kitchen in song. Clary stands with at least the decency to look remorseful, but everyone else goes along with it. Magnus feels his body fill with anger and an immediate dislike for whoever this chef is, he him gone and he wants him gone now.

“He says, “In the morning I am going to wake. This is our love. Now, everybody. “Win our love!”

Then the entire kitchen is singing in Italian, except for Clary, who looks like she’s in pain knowing exactly how Magnus is feeling. He doesn’t doubt his displeasure at the spectacle, for the man is written all over his face, but Magnus doesn’t care enough to hide it.

The music ends with a crescendo and the chef holding the pastry brush and the quail above his hand spinning slowly, holding the final note of the song. The kitchen erupts in applause and the chef takes a bow.

“Alright, alright, back to work everyone,” Clary says, trying to put some kind of order back into Magnus’s kitchen.

“Who the hell do you think you are?” Magnus snarls at the chef

“Alexander Lightwood,” He said with a small bow “And may I just say the world would be a dark and depressing place without your quail in truffle sauce.”

The smirk on Alec’s face fills Magnus with rage. He wants to smack it off the man’s pretty face then smash his face into steel counter tops. Instead, he turns to Raphael, who came up behind him during Alec’s little performance.

“We need to talk.”

Raphael leads Magnus to his office and closes the door behind them.

“You could’ve at least asked me!” He exclaims the second the door shuts

“I’m sorry, Magnus. I couldn’t wait.” The man shrugs, sitting at his desk. Alec was available, and I had to act quickly.”

Magnus leans against the wall, displeasure clear on his face. “The last thing I need right now is some lunatic in my kitchen.”

“He’s not a lunatic. He’s exuberant. We could use that around here.” Raphael says pointedly.

“Exuberant?” Magnus says shocked by while trying not be offended by his boss’s accusation, “Are you kidding me? Is that what you’re calling his little performance in there? The man thinks he’s Pavarotti!”

Raphael goes to speak again, but Magnus stops him. “The only demand I had when I took this position was I get to choose who I work with. Clary would have been just fine—”

“Clary is so pregnant she can barely stand up anymore!” Raphael says “What would you have me do, have her give birth behind the stove?”

“No, that would be a health violation” Magnus pouts

Raphael sighs, “Give him a chance, Magnus. Alec is an excellent chef”

“I know nothing about him,” He sniffs. “ I have no idea what–”

“Give me some credit. I know how to run my restaurant. He was the sous-chef at ll Treviso.

“Italian?” Magnus is shocked for what feels like the hundredth time tonight. “You bring a sous-chef from an Italian restaurant, and I’m the one in therapy?”

“We were lucky to get him. Peninsula offered him executive chef.”

Magnus is taken aback. Peninsula was an incredible restaurant. Magnus had nearly worked there himself before he got his position. 

‘Why didn’t he take it?”

Raphael stands up, signalling an end to their meeting. He places a hand on Magnus’s shoulder and looks at him. “Because he said he wanted to work with you.” Raphael opens the door and leaves Magnus standing alone in the office, still feeling a little angry but with a side dish of guilt.

Magnus arrives at this apartment much later than he meant to. He curses Alec and his performance in his head as he makes his way up the spiral staircase. Suddenly he’s glad he took another week off. It’ll give him time to get used to the idea of him.

“Madzie,” He calls, stepping into the living room. He looks around and it’s empty. Even Chairman is strangely missing from his favourite pillow. Magnus looks in the kitchen and it’s empty. When he looks in her bedroom and notices, the bed is empty, he panics.

“Madzie!” He calls out louder

Then he hears the faint sound of voices further down the hall. He peers into his room and there, laying on his bed asleep, is Madzie with Chairman curled around the top of her head. Magnus sighs in relief and turns off the tv in his room. He picks up the plate with crumbs on it and sets it aside. Magnus sits on the other‌ side of the bed. He could wake her, but he decides against it, noticing how peaceful she looks. He chuckles to himself, noticing a photo album on his bed. Apparently Madzie had done a bit of snooping tonight. But his heart shatters all over again when he sees which album by her side. Open are two pages filled with pictures of him and Catarina. Magnus picks up the album and smiles sadly at the pictures, pictures of them when they were children, when they graduated from high school, university, culinary school and even a picture of them with baby Madzie cradled in Catarina’s arms.

“I miss her too,” He whispers, running a finger over his friend’s picture. Magnus closes the photo album and places it on the bookshelf in Madzie’s bedroom beside the framed picture Cat, her mother, and his best friend.

Magnus doesn’t remember crawling back into his bed, and yet he’s woken up by Madzie’s high voice and her shaking his shoulder.

“Magnus, wake up! Magnus!”

Magnus looks at his niece with squinted eyes. “What is it, Madzie?

“School starts at 9, and it’s 8:20.”

Magnus curses and throws his covers off and out of bed. “Okay, get dressed, come on.” He looks at Madzie, who hasn’t moved. “Oh, you’re dressed, give me ten minutes”

Ten minutes later, he’s brushes his teeth, washed his face, run a brush through his hair and thrown some clothes on. Madzie stands by the door with her boots now on and her backpack on.

“Do you need supplies or anything?” Magnus asks, throwing his coat on. “Like pens or paper? I just realized we never bought anything.”

“They usually have those things.”

Magnus curses again and jogs to the kitchen, yanking the fridge open and pulling out a bag with Madzie’s name on it. “I made your lunch yesterday.” Magnus says, holding up the bag, “I hope you like duck.”

Magnus toes his shoes on, grabs his keys from a dish near the door and they’re out the door. Thankfully, the elementary school is only a short drive. Once there, they walk around groups of kids with friends and saying goodbye to their parents until they find the entrance. Inside, the school is overwhelming, big hallways, loud voices of children echo against the walls.

“We need to go to the office. Now where would an office be, Madzie,” He says.

Madzie points to the left and Magnus notices the small sign saying ‘Main Office’ with an arrow pointing left.

“Just making sure you’re paying attention,” He says with a wink

In the office, they’re greeted by the secretary at the front desk, who gives them a warm smile.

“This is my niece Madzie. She’s starting here today.”

She tells them to take a seat, only a moment later a tall woman in a well-fitted suit and a blunt brunette bob greets them.

“Mr. Bane?” She shakes his outstretched hand. “I’m Ellen Parker, the principal”

“Magnus,” He pleads. Mr. Bane always made him feel old and reminded him of his father. “And this is Madzie”

“Hello” Madzie says in a small, shy voice and shakes the principal’s hand.

“It’s very nice to meet you both. I’ll take Madzie to the classroom and we’ll meet your teacher.”

Madzie gives Magnus a hug, and he squeezes her back, then he watches suddenly feeling a little sad as Madzie Ms. Parker walks down the hallway together. For once, Magnus is glad he’s seeing Simon today. He needs to talk to someone about Madzie, about the entire situation, and how clueless he feels about it all.

“There has to be someone better suited for this,” Magnus exclaims with a shake of his head as he paces Simon’s office. “I don’t know what to do with a kid, especially one who’s lost her mother.” He stops behind the couch and grips the back of it with his hands. “I don’t know how their minds word. Catarina was the smartest woman I knew, but this was a stupid decision for her.”

He wipes a few tears from his cheek. “I’m so out of my depth Simon, everything I do feels wrong.” Magnus’s voice breaks as more tears fall. “I can’t get Madzie to eat anything I make. What am I supposed to do, force her?”

“She probably misses her mother’s cooking. There are tissues on the table Magnus,” he says, gesturing to the box.

Magnus walks around the couch and sits on the edge of the couch, taking a tissue to wipe his tears. “Catarina never cooked.” He lays back on the couch, staring at the ceiling. “She reheated”

“Well, that’s the point. Maybe Madzie needs something more familiar, less sophisticated. For example, did you eat when you were a kid? I’m assuming it wasn’t–” Simon looks down at his notes “Seared scallops, apple and quinoa salad with a butternut squash puree”

“It’s not the same.”

“What do you mean?”

“My mother was an amazing cook.” Magnus remembers fondly, “She taught me everything I know”

“And after your mother passed away, did your father take over the cooking?”

“No.” He grumbles, “He didn’t take over anything. I was lucky if I even saw him at dinner.”

“So, who took care of the two of you?”

“Can we not get into this right now?” Magnus pleads. He hated speaking about his father. It was a sensitive subject. He supposes this would be the place, with Simon, to work through all those feels of hurt and anger he has built up inside. But not today, maybe another appointment.

“One day we’re going to talk about your father Magnus, but okay” 

Magnus hears the man scribbling on his notepad. Magnus images it’s just ‘daddy issues’ in all uppercase letters.

“What about fish sticks?” The therapist says suddenly, “Kids love them.”

“Fish sticks?” Magnus questions sitting up on the couch.

“Yeah, you know, they’re frozen and breaded–”

“I know what fish sticks are.” He assures Simon, “I just can’t believe I’m paying for these suggestions.”

Despite the shocking suggestion from his therapist, after he picks Madzie up from school, he finds himself in the frozen section of the grocery store with his niece picking out a box of fish sticks. He buys a bag of potatoes to make fries at home, picks up some chocolate chips for the waffles he’d promised Madzie, but draws the line at store bought tartar sauce when she tries to put it in the cart.

“I promise the one I make at home is much better”

She looks at Magnus doubtfully but agrees to put the bottle back.

A few hours later they’re sat at the table, Chairman curled up on the chair beside Madzie purring. Magnus feels relieved when he notices Madzie eating and immediately thinks of what else he could make with the surprisingly delicious fish sticks that she’d eat. Fish tacos? Maybe a sandwich like a po’ boy or simply wish some mashed potato and other roasted vegetables. Madzie is nearly finished with her plate, and it makes Magnus too happy to see. Maybe Simon was right? Less sophisticated, simpler food. He could do that.

“So Madzie, other than fish sticks, what other foods do you enjoy?”

[shinmiyovvi]

Hello hello! Poppin in to see how you're doing!

I've been a bit absent so I've come to wrack your brain, any new updates or projects you'd want to share about??

I hope you're doing well Shin!

Hello, Spengs, hope you're doing well too 💖 This is gonna be a long read so buckle up

I did some think thonkin for a while even if my brain was already wracked when school started last week (Senior year was now being an ass on me for a freshman as myself) but anyways, enough of that. Let's jump in to what I have in mind for my projects and updates

Update: Barely hanging while trying to run this abomination of a blog with changing the blog's color, header, and tumblr website's theme while dealing with school and trying to brace myself this Saturday for my birthday as I try to accept that I am now getting older 🫠 (Also forgive me for throwing a bunch of MW content if you ever come acrossed with it)

Art Projects: Now, I am atleast trying my hardest to bring myself to draw my Cod MW oc Noemi in which I haven't quite made a proper reference sheet for her. Now that MW3 2023 was announced and will be releasing on November(?), I need to work on her new design for the sequel. I have made her MW2 2022 design and not with her MW1 2019 which is I am planning to do. Her info was still on a wip and the shipping was somehow changed? To tell you what, Noemi is turning into an oc/self insert and I am not complaining about it. Going to CoD Zombies, you thought those reference sheets of my ocs are final? No, and I hate it 🙃. There is just so many ideas of changing their outfits and I rarely even draw the Ultimis versions of them and also my other oc crew Salvatorix. I even have a lot of changes for my self insert design as well and need to work on it as soon as Christmas break comes or in Summer. I also need to add some casual outfits for my ocs for easy drawing cause I know sometimes whenever we had an art trade together, I feel like the designs are getting the best of us so I am hoping to draw their casuals to give ourselves a slack. But if you're still fine with their usual outfits then that's fine by me 💖. I'm still working on with my ocs' infos and also the Ultimis voice claims so stay tuned if I ever find a gap to my time to work on it. I will also make some references for the fic I am working on which is an oc x canon one. Lastly, I need to draw my SoE oc cause I haven't even talked or posted something about her for months now.

Fanfiction Projects: I still have 3 fics that are discontinued or still ongoing but ran out of ideas.And now we have 2 new additional fics. I've answered this from an ask from a friend of mine but I'll tell you as well. Under the Red Moon and Echoes of a Certain Past are two fics that I've planned. Under the Red Moon is an old au concept for the Primis crew but I changed the idea and use it for the lore change of the Vampire Knight and Noble Prince Au from before. Basically the story will be an oc x canon one since it focuses on Primis Nikolai and Primis Val. Echoes of a Certain Past is a fic that will be containing the past of my ocs, from Primis to Ultimis as the story will be divided into two parts, separating the two from each other. In the story, the story will be divided into four parts for each oc, starting from Val to Dragomir. If you want to know where to read them, these two stories will be posted here, Ao3, and in Wattpad but I'm still undecided to post in Wattpad since I've already made their cover pages of the two stories but let's see how these two will unfold. I may be a bit rusty when it comes to writing but I will try my best to make you all entertain as I will also try to research more and more about my ocs so atleast I could add up the historical vibes of it even if there will be also inaccuracies so please bear with me on this.

[ursulaismymiddlename]

no pressure tags, feel free to ignore: @duckland @laurelwen @nightmares-and-fascinations @whats-rambled-rambled

Fic ideas for Jake (Sweetbitter) x You that i've been kicking around, but probably won't ever write:

You were a barista at a coffee shop that Jake frequented, at the start of the fic he hasn't seen you in awhile (he wasn't actually keeping track, but he remembers faces) and then one day you're at the restaurant

---

“Coffee shop girl?”

“.... Large black Americano, 2 pumps vanilla?”

“You remember.” (that dumb smirk of his)

“Yeah, you have your regulars, I have mine.”

“Sure, but what are you doing here? Doesn’t exactly seem your type of place.”

“Excuse me?”

“C’mon, you’re some bright-eyed early bird barista.  Shouldn’t you be gettin to bed soon?”

“So you’re mistaking my customer service persona for actually knowing me? Hmm… interesting.”

— “Oh, Jake, I see you’ve met the new line cook.  She’s going to start fielding the expanded dessert menu until we can get a pastry chef hired.”

---

In an effort to be as big of an asshole as you perceive him to be, you keep referring to him as Statefarm (Like Jake, from Statefarm)... this may or may not catch on to others at the restaurant. And you give him shit about being from Cape Cod all the time (personally, I'm from St Louis, which seems like naive midwest shit, but statistically is a tougher area than ThE cApE so I enjoying the idea of making fun of him for it)

---

it's clearly antagonistic to start (a little Beatrice and Benedick going on) though y'all slowly start to become kinda friends and then probably more than that

---

"Yo, Statefarm, I need some Grandma."

"Drinkin on the job, coffee girl?"

"I got a tableside Flambé, so make with the booze, barboy."

---

Making homey food for family meals since you're the FNG and put in charge of the bitch work, especially when you're pulling double duty making prepping desserts for dinner service...

And making a particularly good looking/tasting dish, enough to even momentarily impress Jake and giving him a shit eating grin and a snooty "That's why I'm here, asshole."

---

At one point Jake catching you in the walk-in, visibly upset

“What happened?”

“Nothin.  Go back to the bar.”

*blocks exit from walk-in* “What. Happened?”

 “I said nothin!  … *insert some name* was just being stupid and it got to me alright?”

“What did he say to you?”

*something about fucking a manager but not being pretty enough to be FoH and being given a spot in the kitchen*

Jake’s jaw clenches and he turns on a heel without another word, storming out of the walk-in in search of the offending person

---

I had a separate silly thought of you having to use the kitchen-supplied knives because you haven't been able to afford your own knife set yet and maybe catching a little (mostly jovial) flack for it, and maybe he gets one decent one for you or some shit haha

"Look, I saw it on sale while I was ordering some other stuff, so I thought I'd pick it up for ya. Maybe now you can stop bothering everyone else for theirs."

"Jake, I... thank you. How can I repay you?"

"Well, for starters, you can try this new cocktail I've been working on..." *pops open the bottle that came in the package*

---

“Wow, did you take these photos?  They’re gorgeous!  And is that… the hostess? Oh wow, she’s beautiful, all of these are so beautiful.  But there’s something about them that feels so..  I mean I’m no art critic but… Nevermind, you don’t wanna hear it.”

“No, go on.  Tell me.”

“Well, just… everything looks… out of touch. Disconnected.  There’s a beautiful woman in your bed and you’re miles away.  Guess life is easier through a camera lens… Sorry, I talk too much. Project too much too probably.”

“You’re right… You do talk too much.”

*rolling your eyes* “Shut up and make me a drink, Statefarm.”

---

Getting tipsy with Jake, he reminds you about your vlog for the folks back home and you decide to make one at his place, he’s just tipsy enough he’ll make an appearance, there’s some banter, later after posting someone you know comments “so when y’all gonna kiss?” and Jake decides to tease you about it whenever y’all get into your banter.

---

“I deserve to be pursued, to be worshiped.  I don’t think I’ll ever have that, but I still deserve it!”

“Why wouldn’t you get that?”

“Have you LOOKED at me, Jake?  I’m a pudgy wannabe pastry chef. Lol”

“I’d fuck you.”

“You’d fuck anything that consents.”

“That’s probably the nicest insult you’ve ever given me.”

---

Simone fucked off to France with Etienne, Jake is trying to recover, gets a letter saying she's signing over her half of the house to Jake so he owns in full, her final goodbye, totally cutting him off now, which leads to some appropriate emotional drama

---

"Now the house is sold, me and *some cook name* are looking to start our own place. Got a space and everything.  You should come with us."

"I'm not a chef, Jake."

"No, but you're a good cook. You could make your diner food. We could do brunch on the weekends. I'll sling mimosas and bloody Maries to the waiting crowd. C'mon it'll be fun.  I think you'd really enjoy it."

---

“When are you gonna let me kiss you?”

“Maybe one day, if you mean it.”

“And if I mean it now?”

“Then kiss me, Statefarm… See? You don’t mean shi–”

*grabs face, interrupting you with a kiss*

“Don’t fuck with me, Jake.  You know I’m not about this fuckboy bullshit.”

“I’m not fuckin with you, okay?  I’m not. I want you. And I think you want me too.”

This is all just shit I have in my doc, maybe another couple little ideas floatin around, but here's the long and short of the idea haha If you've read this far, thanks! ^_^