#I spent around 2 hours for this doodle

[airirakugaki]

Dhaos is still my best hero in Rays' Best Heroes mode

Do NOT repost/republish this artwork

[wyvernity]

wip posting just to get something out there, and it's def a mixed bag!! the only thing more inconsistent than my posting schedule is my art style RIP

[darewolfcreates]

IM BACK! Its summer babyyy!!! Have some pics of my metals final! These images look weird? That's because I'm glazing my art to protect it!

[whatswrongwithblue]

Girl Talk

Part 6 of my Imagines with Angel Dust. My silly little plot-less series about you, some comical conversation with your bestie Angel Dust, and some delicious smut with you and Alastor.

“Ugghh, this is stupid,” you mumbled to yourself as you stared at the blank piece of paper in front of you.

Charlie’s ‘little fun idea of the day’ was to make everyone write a list of five things they did while they were alive that they wished to apologize for. Not only did you find it a massive intrusion of your privacy but you were honestly struggling to come up with anything substantial. Didn’t Charlie realize this was why you were in Hell? And you weren’t here for redemption, you were only here because Alastor had batted his pretty eyelashes at you when he showed up at your doorstep after having disappeared for seven fucking years and asked you to move in with him here. At least, that was the very shortened and abbreviated story you told the other residents.

Were you sorry for the pig-headed men you had murdered while you were alive? No. They deserved it.

Were you sorry for stealing and then pawning jewelry from the wives of the men you had seduced? Nope. You needed the money.

Were you sorry for using and dealing drugs? Not a chance. They were an escape and again . . . money.

And, besides the murder, you hadn’t had to resort to any of those things now that you were in Hell. Charlie just didn’t understand how hard some of you had had it while alive and a lot of your sins were just survival tactics. You refused to apologize for any of it. Not to her and not to God himself.

Well, there was one small thing that came to mind. You sighed and put your pen to paper.

#1. I am sorry that after I caught my older sister sucking my boyfriend’s dick that I snuck into her bathroom and sprayed vinegar on all of her tampons and rubbed cayenne pepper into her favorite red eyeshadow.

#2. And I’m sorry that I spread that rumor about my then ex-boyfriend that he couldn’t get it up for me unless he looked at pictures of his step-father while we did it. In retrospect, I should have just punched them in their stupid cheating faces and been done with it.

But after writing those two things down, you just went back to staring at the paper for several more minutes.

Eventually, Angel came into the room and plopped down next to you, resting his head against the back of his sofa with one arm flung dramatically over his eyes.

“Ugghhh, this is stupid,” he lamented.

“My thoughts exactly. What have you got so far?” you asked, peering over at his paper.

He lifted up a blank sheet. Blank, except for a few explicit doodles around the margins.

“Fucking nada,” he sighed. Then quietly, “I love Charlie but . . . she just doesn’t get it.”

You looked over at your friend, sympathetically. He had spent all day yesterday at work, doing a 16 hour shift, then had to spend his one day off this week doing this. At least you didn’t have to work and at least you had Alastor. Angel, you knew, was terribly lonely and sad underneath his flirty exuberant façade.

Not being the kind of person to outright show compassion or kindness, you decided to cheer Angel up in another way.

“Hey, what do you call a 6.9?”

Angel lifted his head and blinked at you.

“Come again?”

“What,” you repeated, more slowly and enunciated this time, “doooooo you call a 6 point 9?”

“I don’t know, what?” he asked, shrugging with disinterest.

“A good thing ruined by a period.”

A small smile cracked across Angel’s face as he registered the dirty joke and he sat up a little further, suddenly interested.

“What do you call a lesbian with braces?” he asked.

“Oh, oh wait, I know this one!” you said, putting a finger to your chin as you tried to recall the punch line. After a moment, it came to you. “A box cutter!”

“Okay, how about this one,” he continued. “Why do you never have to worry about getting pregnant when sleeping with a vampire?”

“Why?”

“Because they have to be invited to cum inside.”

You cackled, smiling eagerly as you thought up your next joke.

“Jesus, a lawyer, and a priest are on a sinking ship. Jesus stands up and says ‘Save the children!’ The lawyer stands up and says ‘Fuck the children!’ The priest gets up and asks, ‘Do you think we have time?’”

Angel bent over laughing, wrapping two arms around his torso and holding a third to the side of his head as he fought to catch his breath.

“Good one. Okay, okay,” he wheezed, “I got another one for ya. What did the leper say to the prostitute?”

“What?”

“Keep the tip.”

You both fell into another fit of giggles.

“I don’t believe this is what our dear Charlie had in mind for today’s activities,” Alastor’s voice said from behind you and you both turned in sync to find him smiling down at the two of you. “Though I think the creativity can be appreciated.”

“Do you always gotta do that? Fucking sneaking up on people, it’s not cool man,” Angel said, frowning.

Alastor just smiled more broadly, tilting his head and narrowing his eyes, as the sound of static momentarily filled the air.

You, as usual, did not let Alastor’s weirdness sour your mood. Instead, you just beamed up at him, unashamed and happy to see him.

“I need some fresh air,” Alastor said, turning his gaze onto you. “Today is rather tedious and boring. Care to join me for a walk?”

“Babe, it’s way too hot outside.”

“Of course it is! It’s Hell, my dear!” Alastor said with a chuckle.

“It’s 125 degrees,” you deadpanned.

“Oh please,” he said with a flamboyant flick of his wrist, “I’ve never been one to let a little sun stop me from enjoying my day.” And with a bit of a huff, he began walking towards the front doors, his shoulders rigid and microphone held behind him.

You rolled your eyes. You loved him but God damn, he was sensitive when you denied him anything. And you knew he was looking for just as much of an excuse to get away from Charlie’s activity as the rest of you were. If that meant strutting around Pentagram City in his full suit and pretending the sweltering heat had no affect on him for some kind of presentation of his power, all the better. But you were going to sit in here like a sane person and enjoy the air conditioning.

“Oh, and by the way, darling,” Alastor said, stopping in the entryway after opening the door. “You wouldn’t happen to know the difference between a vitamin and a hormone, would you?”

You just scowled at him and his sugary-sweet tone. It always meant he was up to something.

“You can hear a whore moan,” he said and shut the door behind him.

You laughed a little through your nose and smiled, shaking your head. To this day, sometimes even you were surprised by the things that came out of his mouth.

Then you turned and looked over at Angel, who was staring a bit wide-eyed at the direction Alastor had exited.

“I don’t get it,” he said and you looked at him quizzically. “Is he bi or something?”

“What?” you asked, totally thrown off by his question.

“Oh please,” Angel said, imitating Alastor’s tone and the flick of his wrist remarkably well. “I’m just saying, that’s some gay shit for someone who’s supposedly straight.”

You grinned a cheshire smile before taking on an air of indifference.

“Oh that?” You made the same wave and flick of your hand. “He’s not straight.”

Angel sat up and leaned towards you faster than you had ever seen him. You bit your lip to keep from smiling, enjoying this new way of toying with him.

“So he is bi. Oh my fucking God, that is . . . I knew it! I fucking knew it!”

He seemed so excited and you let him sit with that happiness for a minute before you tore it all down.

“No. He’s not.”

Angel stared so intently at you that it would have made you uncomfortable if you weren’t so amused. You could almost see the mathematical equations in his thought bubble as he tried to work out what you had just said.

“Is this the biggest plot twist of the century?”

“Hmmm?”

“Did you just tell me he’s gay!!??” Angel practically screamed. “But I thought you . . . you two . . . are you not . . .”

You busted up laughing.

“Oh my God, you are practically short circuiting right now, you should see your face!” you said through your laughter.

Angel just continued staring at you.

“Angel,” you said, putting a hand on his arm. “I thought you were the greatest sexual detective ever. That you could read all my dirty secrets just from the way I blushed? And you’re now questioning if Alastor and I are a couple?”

“Well, yeah but . . . you said . . . and that means . . . I’m so confused!” he said, throwing his hands up in the air in defeat.

“Oh, calm down,” you said. “Yes, we have sex. We fuck like animals and make sweet, sensual love and everything in between. Quite regularly, too,” you said the last part with a bit of pride.

Angel looked unamused. “So if he’s not straight, and not gay, and he’s not bi, then what the fuck label does he use?” You opened your mouth to answer and he held up a finger, halting you. “And I swear, if you say something stupid like ‘pansexual’ or some other nuanced version of bi just to fuck with me, I’ll never be your friend again.”

You raised an eyebrow, waiting a second to see if he would interrupt you again, before smiling broader and finally giving him your answer.

“He’s asexual.”

Angel gave you the blankest stare ever before picking up his phone.

“Hold on a sec,” he said, raising his finger at you again. “I’m looking this shit up.”

You allowed him this as he typed in his question into the search bar of his phone screen and he read whatever the internet was telling him.

“NO HE’S NOT!” Angel shouted, still looking at his phone. “It’s not even a real thing!”

Offended, you grabbed his phone out of his hand to read whatever answer he had found in his Googling.

You read out loud the ridiculous definition he had pulled up.

“’Asexual is a label invented by women who are perpetually tired of being pile-drived by their husbands’ unremarkable dicks and have overused the excuse that they have a headache.’” You sighed, raising an eyebrow at your friend. “Angel, maybe next time, use a different search engine than Pride Ring’s Dictionary. Of course it’s all going to be smartass answers like this.”

Angel snatched his phone back.

“Hey, I find them to be refreshingly honest.”

“That is not honesty, that’s mockery,” you defended. “Asexuality is valid. And so is aromanticism. Alastor is on both of those spectrums. Trust me, it made actually starting a relationship a long and complicated process . . . but it was worth it in the end.”

Angel saw the love-sick look in your eyes and rolled his eyes. “Gross,” he mumbled and kept scrolling through his phone, clearly looking at other sources for definitions.

“So you’re telling me,” Angel said, after a few more minutes of his ‘research,’ “That you are the sole proprietor of all his desires? The only person he finds sexually attractive and the only person he would pursue a relationship with? All because of your guys’s ‘deep emotional connection that you fostered over time.’”  

He was clearly reading a direct quote from something and said the last part with such a mocking tone that you were starting to get pissed off.

“Put frankly and simply, yes,” you answered, crossing your arms over your chest. “Is that so hard to believe?”

“Just sounds like a bunch of bullshit to me,” Angel mumbled. “And it doesn’t explain his gay-ass personality.”

You snorted. “You don’t have to fuck to be fab.”

“But you do fuck . . . or so you say,” Angel retorted.

“What can I say, she’s just that good.”

You and Angel both turned to find Alastor standing in the foyer again, looking more annoyed than when he’d left.

“See, this is what I was saying the other day,” Angel said, gesturing towards Alastor but looking at you. “Total voyeur vibes. Always spyin’ on people.”

You ignored Angel and turned a teasing grin over at Alastor.

“Back so soon?”

Alastor glanced down at himself and fiddled with the ends of his coat sleeves before striding towards you.

“As it turns out, Pentagram City is entirely too irritating today.”

“So it’s too hot out there?”

“Shouldn’t you be packing?” he countered, ignoring your jibe.

“It’s one night Al’, it’ll take me five minutes to pack.”

Now it was Alastor’s turn to roll his eyes. “You say that every time. And every time,” he sang, and tapped you on your nose, “I end up having to wait on you.”

“Where you two going?” Angel asked.

“Just a little getaway,” Alastor answered.

“For our anniversary,” you clarified as you stood from your place on the couch and walked around it to join Alastor at his side.

Angel frowned. “Anniversary?” he puzzled. “Of your first date or . . .” his eyes darted down to each of your left hands, noting the absence of rings there. “You guys aren’t married, so . . . wait. You guys aren’t married . . . right?”

“Should we tell him?” Alastor asked you, looking down at you with a playful gleam in his eyes as he wrapped an arm around your hips.

“Nah, let him squirm for a few days,” you said and followed Alastor towards the stairs, Charlie’s project for you completely forgotten on the table behind you.

“Wait a sec . . . HUSK!” you heard Angel yell below you at the demon who was at his permanent position manning the bar. “ARE THOSE TWO MARRIED OR NOT?”

“WHO THE FUCK KNOWS!” came the dismissive reply.

You and Alastor just laughed together, enjoying this new game you had incidentally created.

Thank you to all who asked to be added to the tag-list for this series!

@readergirlstuff @thereallsaturnstar @somefancybb @moonstarrs11 @alastor-the-radio-demons-blog @rhiannaleek @selenezq @speedycoffeedelight @saturn-alone @whoknowswhoiamtoday @quill-to-book @sirens-and-moonflowers @cosmiccandydreamer @littlepoetnova @axellovesalastor

[atthebell]

if anyone wants a summary of last night's stream:

matt finished up on arkanis and went to go play deadlock; everyone else was late, cellbit because he was already in a lobby

they all finally got into a lobby and played together for a couple hours

bagi joked about playing roblox doors instead because fuck it

she went to sleep because she's somewhat sane but matt, guaxi, and cellbit DID go play roblox doors, a significant portion of which was just the other two watching cellbit play

cellbit tried to convince them to stay up all night with him and they said he's crazy (foreshadowing)

they spent the next several hours watching cellbit play krimson and talking, all of them fairly drunk

cellbit kept pretending to leak enigma do medo stuff but it was just random paint doodlings he's made during meetings

they somehow got onto hamilton and then started playing and singing along to it & in the heights

every time i thought they were close to ending cellbit found more wine

they watched cellbit play that new wukong game for like half an hour and then go back to krimson

at around 10 1/2 hours in matt finally started yawning nonstop

it was 90° in my house at 4am atp so i had to go to sleep out of sheer desperation

stream ended at 11h55m, at around 9am BRT

cellbit also said that he's been working his ass off lately and wanted just one night to hang out with friends and be silly so im glad he got to have that

[antariies]

how to build a chair........... director's cut ∠( ᐛ 」∠)__ this is about to be a very long very self-indulgent post where i just talk about my own writing. i also doodled on all the pages i think it makes the whole thing more fun to go thru. welcome to my ted talk

SIKE before i begin. credit where credit is due, this post was the start of it all. it changed my brain chemistry my jaw was dropped i was in awe i was obsessed and before i even finished it i knew that i would eventually have to make something similar for the commander or else i would be cursed to think about it for the rest of my life. and i Was cursed for like two years every day i would just be like........ is today the day i sit down and draft the commander chair fic of my dreams....... maybe tomorrow......

and then i got accepted as a writer for the gw2 zine ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ the chair idea was actually my backup option in case my first idea didn't pan out, and thank god it didn't, bc this one worked so much better. (still working on my initial idea, just turning it into a full fic! it was wayyy too long to be a zine submission.)

this is the chair i used. i downloaded the assembly instructions and tried out a bunch of different free pdf editors until i found one i liked, which ended up being sedja. if anyone's interested in doing something like this, i recommend printing out the pdf and writing directly on it! it was a lot easier for me to just figure out everything on paper first and then digitalize it after :P here's a picture of my physical copy

okay actually getting into it for real this time !!!!!

1. yeah i could've just erased the ikea logo and left a blank space but then i realized i could turn it into an in-universe joke. and then i ran with it.

2. i ripped this straight from the product description on the website. thanks ikea

3. i'm not sure if anyone went and looked it up, but it's a real item code!

hehe :3c

4. if your commander willingly goes to therapy i'm happy for them but TO ME? you'd have to drag the commander kicking and screaming. it's not that they don't know that something is wrong with them, they know, and they know YOU know. you're just never supposed to talk about it. they don't look at their own psych eval results bc that's none of their business.

5. i normally avoid specifying the commander's race when i write them bc i enjoy the challenge, but for the zine i was assigned to write about a norn commander! as a human main i was uhhhh very ill-equipped. but that just meant i had to study up on my norn lore (•̀ᴗ•́)و i spent hours on the wiki, then went around interviewing norn mains for their opinions, which was great fun :D it all helped me narrow the focus of my piece: joining the war on commander objectification on the side of commander objectification (ㅅ´ ˘ `)♡ and no one self-aggrandizes quite like the norn commander!

and to balance that i knew my narrator had to be patronizing as shitttt. they've clearly been following the commander since the beginning and seem to know a lot of intimate details about their life, despite not thinking very highly of them. wonder who that could be :3c

6. i can't stop making references. so the original part number is actually #122620 in the manual but i've changed it here (and on the previous page!) to #082812, as in 08/28/12, the date gw2 was released! no real reason for it, @dalennaugw suggested it for funsies and i liked it. if you're my pal and i show you a wip and you have a cool idea for it, chances are i Will put that shit in. hi dale if you're reading this

7. another thing about me. i loveeee repetition. here the word "over" is repeated four times to match the picture. honestly a lot of the creative process for this piece was just staring at the pages and figuring out how to tie the pictures to the commander in ways that weren't extremely corny or trite. idk why i enjoy writing like this when i could be frolicking in the beautiful prosaic meadows of a word doc instead but. it's like i see a tiny little restrictive box and i'm like OH BOY can't wait to think inside of that thing!!! i like when the format matters just as much as the content and in some cases informs the content. am i making any sense here. well all you need to know is that i'm a virgo and my favorite book is house of leaves

7. aw fuck just realized i wrote 7 twice. whatever i'm not changing it this is 7 part two now. the theme of my piece is glory, what it means to the norn commander, and how far they're willing to go for it.

8. does norn culture place emphasis on seeking individual glory Yes are norn also very community-oriented Also Yes. i think it's common to see norn kids napping together in a big pile, usually after they've worn themselves out playing games outside. it makes sense practically (apes together warm) and socially (pack bonding good) but that's just my hc. growing up i used to share a bed with my cousins all the time so it's normal to me.

a young, naive not-yet-commander, with no real combat experience, has no point of reference to compare a "blaze of glory" to. but the way everyone talks about it, it must be a good thing. a wonderful thing. a reward fit for a life well-fought and a legend hard-earned. so they imagine it must feel like falling asleep surrounded by the people they love, who love them in turn.

9. .........i was playing a lot of ace attorney when i wrote this page. i wish i was joking 👍🏼

10. ohhh shit the truth come OUT this whole chair thing was all a ploy just so i could write about the departing. again.

will i ever stop thinking about her. reply hazy, try again later.

11. out of all the pages, this one has the most emphasis on text placement, like comparing the enlarged picture of the screw to a sword, the numbers counting the screws, and "up up up" being arranged to mimic a wisp of smoke.

i also wanted to lean into the viking/norse mythology influences with my word choice.

12. more nods to norn culture. i didn't know they referred to the six human gods as "spirits of action" until i was doing the research for this piece :O

and the domain of the lost is called a hall of ghosts....... cause valhalla.....

13.

i'm sorry this so funnyyy. SAYS the guy who literally clawed their way back to life for a rematch.

me when i'm in a sore loser competition and my opponent is the COMMANDER!!!

14. arms as in "limbs" and also arms as in "armaments" :•]

15. haha get it because the picture makes it look like there are two mirrored speech bubbles while the text paints two opposing interpretations of the norn commander. one that's selfless and humble versus one that's selfish and vainglorious.

16. and the best part is IT DOESN'T MATTER which one is true bc at the end of the day no matter what their motivation, balthazar is dead by their hand. ofc i'm of the opinion that the most compelling interpretation of the commander is both, simultaneously. contradictions are good for the soul.

17. i could've name-dropped kas, the only person present that would do something like that, but i felt it was better to leave it ambiguous.

18. low-hanging fruit. the metaphor was so obvious here but i had to do it. for the culture

19. the alternate title for this piece was "THIS COULD BE GLORY". "how to build a chair" was only supposed to be a placeholder title til i figured out a better one, but the innocuousness of it grew on me. also i came up with the other one too late and had already advertised under the chair title lol

20. my first instinct was to end it with something more reassuring, like "what you have built so far is enough" but that would've been an ooc switch-up for a narrator who has been nothing but snide and detached this whole time. gotta stick to my guns

21.

obligatory chair joke as the last line. for realsies though it’s meant to be an earnest appeal to the commander to take a break, to have a seat, but it’s also a challenge. are they willing to lean on their friends? are the bonds they’ve forged strong enough to hold their weight? are they willing to put their faith in someone else’s hands? are they brave enough to try? well. only one way to find out.

also guess what that wasn’t even the real last page of the manual. it's THIS

but no way i was letting this be the image we ended on. IT LOOKS LIKE A DICK AND BALLS!!!

and on that note, THANK YOU if you made it this far!! a very special shout-out to @hawkepockets, my lovely boyfriend and beta reader, without whom this piece would not be nearly as polished. i would bring him pages to look over and he would say Scrap half of those lines you can do better than that. kill your darlings. i would complain and argue for a few minutes then we would revise. rinse and repeat until we had honed this thing to perfection. i can't stress enough the importance of having a second pair of eyes on your work throughout your creative process, even better if it's someone who challenges you. i don't even pay him 🫶🏼

and if there was anything i didn't cover that you still have questions about, please feel free to shoot me an ask! (ㅅ´ ˘ `)♡ thanks for reading! see u later dudes ;P

[blue-thief]

do you perhaps have some headcanons about mr. isagi? <3

OFC!! <3333

on top of having 2.0 vision (and well, metavision) his VVIQ score is a perfect 5

this helps him a lot with art and he's actually pretty good at it even though he's not as passionate about it as he is with football/soccer

he started drawing through doodling his favourite manga characters and he's able to recreate art styles almost perfectly

he's actually pretty careless when it comes to his schoolwork (esp for STEM) so sometimes he'll hand in incomplete work bc it looks like he's already filled in certain questions

like no. you doodled an eye instead of solving for "x"

he canonically hates science, but if he had to choose one branch as his favourite, it would be chemistry (not boring & derivative memorization like bio but not absolutely insane like physics)

something might contradict this in canon but i hc his handwriting is pretty shitty lmao

since so many sports anime characters look like him (nanase haruka, kageyama tobio, etc) i like to pretend they're all cousins and they meet up at family reunions to compete to see who's better at their respective sport

so yeah despite having no siblings he has a shit ton of cousins who he's really close to

he was conceived by accident 💀 his parents love and coddle him despite this

despite showing the exact opposite of the typical symptoms (great spacial awareness, scarily good empathy, etc) i still say he's got autism lmao. he just has a really unique type yk

his hobby is canonically walking, but i wanna expand on this a little bit

he somehow doesn't listen to music on his walks

(in fact, he doesn't listen to much music at all. that's why his fav song is from a commercial 💀)

furthermore, he rarely ever brings his phone out on walks at all. he likes being at one with his surroundings and he doesn't want his phone to distract him

which is understandable. unless we're talking about how he'll sometimes walk 2+ hours to go to a friends house AND HE DOESN'T HAVE IT?? NO GPS??? NO MAP NOTHING

he's just spent so much time walking around saitama he has a map of most of it installed in his mind

he really doesn't use his phone much at all. he has a few accounts in case he wants to check something out, but he doesn't post anything + barely follows anyone + even has a blank pfp on everything

he apparently received 0 valentine's chocolates in the previous year, but a few ppl from school had a crush on him

he's not popular or anything but some ppl over the years thought he was a genuinely sweet guy and quietly observed him from a distance

he's completely oblivious to this

his school friends all have way more romantic experience than him and they all tease him for this

he gets really frustrated about this and tries to convince himself he likes certain ppl in hopes of something sticking

when he genuinely likes someone he's oblivious to this too lmaoo

he's the type of guy to take dodgeball in PE wayyy too seriously

the first time he swore was when he was eight and got mad at his teammates for slacking off

he got in trouble for this and never swore in front of an adult ever again

(the lack of any physical adults in blue lock made him fall back on his foul mouth)

his fav class is PE in canon but i think i remember something about isagi hating baseball? that might have just been someone else's hc but yeah

he enjoys basketball and badminton, but he thinks volleyball is mid

the one time his school tried floor hockey he enjoyed it well enough

american football is just way too confusing for him

he had no backup plans in case football/soccer didn't work out, but he'd be fantastic in psychology and/or politics

[fennecfics-the-simp-king]

Khonjin House and also a few Spooky Month doodles!!

Angel Hair (the motherfrusker with the handlebar-mustache looking hair/j) belongs to @peppeppeppepperoni-pizza go check out their art!!

It’s currently 5am and I spent the past 2 hours making this entire thing while listening to a murder documentary

I REALLY love how I drew Shelly in the two doodles they’re actually in XD- I’m also very proud of the one with Dexter and Y/N (it’s kinda based around my “Cat Eyes” fanfic .—.).

Also would you believe me if I said that’s the first time I ever drew Kevin? I know, I know, I’m a natural/j Also I know the logos seems excessive at this point but I’ve had my art reposted without credit before and I don’t plan on that happening again anytime soon, especially with the drawings I’m actually proud of -_-

[endereies]

Fuck it - Matt Sturniolo - Part 4

Spotify playlist:

Summary: Fem!oc x Matt Sturniolo

Growing up with parents who make her feel isolated, what happens when she meets Matt. A person who introduces her to new people, new experiences and new feelings.

Authors notes:

This chapter is my life rn fr

Warnings: Swearing

Word count: 2879

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

“Is this something we are meant to do?”

“Fuck it.”

Alyia Pov:

I was sat sketching in my last period of the day, creating small doodles around the edges of the sheets I got handed only thirty minutes prior. I had attempted to go to the library to focus on my work but it had the opposite effect. I had been sat here for half an hour and spent that time doodling eyes in the corner of my work accompanies by small starts and hearts. My phone suddenly vibrated in my pocket which caused me to be dragged from the comfort of my sketches. A loud sigh escapes my lips as I bring the screen towards my face which shines in near full brightness. The top of my notification bar held a text message from Matt, sent only a minute prior.

Matt🥁:

‘hey alyia, can we work on the project at my house today rather than yours?’

I tap the border of my phone, picking in the gaps of the phone case and the metal flicking between replies in my head.

Alyia🎸:

‘yeah sure, any particular reason why?’

Matt🥁:

‘I just have some shit to do before hand and I don’t wanna go back and forth between places’

Alyia🎸:

‘alr then, send me the address and time and ill come over’

Matt🥁:

‘sweet, can you be here for 7 ish’

Alyia🎸:

‘see you at seven Matt’

I sit staring at my screen for a while, looking at the ‘online’ that lingered under Matt’s contact name. He finally leaves the chat and I follow suit to place my phone face down on the desk. I let my hands rest on the desk but my body leans back into the chair. I haven’t ever been to his house before and I was used to him coming to mine, I had no idea if his brothers or parents would be there. How they would react to me suddenly being in their house.

I didn’t get a chance to properly react or overthink due to the bell’s intrusive sound that emits from above on the library’s walls.

-

It had been an hour since I had gotten home and it was nearly time for me to leave my house if I wanted to get to his place on time. I had just finished building my outfit which wasn’t too casual but it wasn’t smart either. A long-sleeved top with a shorter-sleeved, thinner sweater onto covered a black shirt that hung just above my knee. A pair of black tights ran up my legs only being covered by some plain air forces which seemed too worse for wear. Even if the weather didn’t immediately call for it, I paired the outfit with a black jacket I purchased a few years ago. The arms of the jacket swung off the edge of the leather seat I threw it on to. I rummage through my desk drawers for my keys, vitamins, charger and any extra notes to throw into my backpack.

-

Their house looked so put together from the outside of it the designs being simplistic but appealing to look at. The car outside was one I recognised from the same parking spot at the entrance of the school which him and his brothers exited every morning. I noticed them walk towards the main entrance on my way to the music room most days.

I stand in front of their main door and I hesitate before finally hitting my knuckles onto the centre of their door making sure I avoid the blurred glass. A shadow emerges from behind that glass and I take a small step back not wanting to feel immediately intrusive.

“Hey, oh-“ my words fade when I realise Matt wasn’t the one who answered the door but instead it was a longer haired brunette.

“Alyia? Hey what’s up” he grabs a hold of the door frame and uses the rest of his weight to push the door open “Come one in”

I don’t respond right away, making note that Chris remembered my name perfectly. Either he focused on that detail when he first met me and barged into the music room, or Matt has spoken about me to his brothers often enough for them to know. As unlikely as that was.

“Chris, hi.” I take a step inside, following Chris and shutting the door behind me which he ignored and left.

“What are you doing here?”

“Matt didn’t’ tell you” I’m only met with a slight shake of his head due to a lollipop he just placed in his mouth.

“Matt wanted me to come to his house to work on the project tonight” I slide my backpack down my arm, noting the loss of friction as it gets stuck on the folds of my sweater

“Really? Kid didn’t mention that to me.” I go to respond but another voice emits before mine does.

“Chris, who was it!”

“It was Alyia, Matt has invited her over for the English shit.” Chris walks past a corner and his volume in his voice decreases, so I follow him to listen to the conversation that now included me.

“Alyia is here?” Nick turns from the sofa and rests an arm on the back as he faces me directly.

“Hey guys... uhm hate to interrupt but where can I put this?” my backpack rests in my palm, causing my wrist muscles to flex slightly and after a few seconds it starts to ache further down my arm.

“Literally anywhere at this point, we need to clean up this weekend anyway.” Nick circles his wrist in a general location of the main sitting area.

I drop my backpack and use my foot to push it further to the side, so that no one trips up over it.

“So…where is Matt?”

“In the shower upstairs, but he went in 10 minutes ago so he should be out soon” Chris speaks, keeping his gaze fixed on his phone in my hands, slumping down next to Nick harshly.

I simply nod in response and start to sit next to them, creating a small distance between us. I follow Chris’s actions and pull out my phone and go onto random apps one after another before finally scrolling on Instagram for a moment. I few minutes of awkward silence go by before a loud voice echoes from up the stairs.

“Yo Nick, have you seen my pink shirt, the one with the bear on it?”

“Yeah, it’s on top of the table down here!” Chris yells back up to Matt upstairs.

I lift my head up from my phone, putting my attention onto the voices exchanging between each of the brothers. Footsteps approach and I see Matt walking down the stairs towards the three of us.

Traces of water track down the back of his neck from water that was adsorbed from the towel he now holds in his arms. Strands of hair cling to his forehead which appear darker, almost black. His lower body is hugged by a blue pair of plaid pyjama pants, sat on the bottom of his hips. His tattoos are clearly on show and I take this time to analyse them, noticing a few designs I hadn’t seen before. They traced around his arms and tracked the lines of his muscles alongside missed droplets of water. He brushed the strands from the front of his face backwards, parting his hair with his fingers slowly, not wanting any knots to remain. His tongue parts his lips slightly, wetting them briefly. He finally looks up from the floor and notices me sat on their sofa.

Shit.

“Alyia...hey you’re here early” He reaches the bottom of the stairs and walks towards the vibrant shirt on the table.

I swallow harshly when he turns around, his back facing me as he lifts the shirt over his head and past his shoulders. His back muscles flex as he drags it past his chest and hips

“Uh, yeah, my car is being fixed so I had to take the bus... I just took the one that wouldn’t make me late.” I rub the back of my neck, trying to calm myself down.

“I guess that’s fair. So, you wanna work on the project now?”

“Yeah, about that.” Chris mumbles and drags out his words and Matt looks at him with a confused expression.

“Why can’t we Chris.” His tone is a little harsher and his voice raises in pitch as he grows more curious.

“Well. I didn’t know Alyia was coming over for one, so I invited Nate and Madi over...”

I hear a sigh from Matt from across the room and I look up at him.

“Nate’s that hockey player in our English class, right?”

“Yeah, he is” he stops looking at me and turns to face Chris. “Did you invite them to do anything?”

“I mean yeah. I do every time, games n shit. You guys can fuck the project for one night to hang?” Chris’s demeanour has relaxed and he cross his arms over his lower stomach.

“Alyia hasn’t ever spoke to Nate and Madi is that fair?” A voice from Nick emits for the first time in a while.

I sit up and put my arms weight on my knees, slouching over. “I can always leave if you wan-“ I suddenly get interrupted by Matt and I glance up to him, his expression making him seem deep in thought.

“You could hang out with us if you wanted. It’s not like these guys know you, it could be fun to know each other more.”

“I’m so down if y’all are?” Chris faces Nick, earning an eager nod. I get a similar eagerness when Chris turns his body to me expectantly.

“If you guys don’t mind, then I’m down.”

-

A few hours had gone by and we were all sat down on the floor onto of pillows and blankets playing an intense game of monopoly. Initially I was intimated by practically 4 new people in an unfamiliar setting but once we all sat down and started talking, I got used to it. I had found out that Nate was the captain of the hockey team and that Madi was working with fashion and was in Jenny’s class. Chris’s personality filled the room whenever intense moments happened and it was fun to be around. He was a bubble of energy and it felt like Nick had to reel him back down any time he yelled too much. Which seemed to be often. Chris was being a sore lower in monopoly anytime someone had to take money for him, only to celebrate moments later when he passed go and got $200. Nate was currently winning but Nick and I weren’t fair behind him money wise. Nick was winning property wise and already set in multiple hotels down.

“Oh, come on! Again!” Chris had started to complain again which made us giggle, especially Matt as Chris once again owed him money.

“Not my fault, I own Oxford Street and so...you owe me money.” Matt holds his hand across the board in front of Chris who simply rolls his eyes and begrudgingly slaps $1100 into his hand.

It was my turn to roll the dice and a number of 4 is added between them. I grab the dog character and move it across, landing on the same square that Chris did. I sigh and flick through my money and pull out $1100 and hold it out for Matt to take.

“Damn again, Matt you’re getting lucky right now I swear” Madi giggles along with Nate and Nick but Chris still sulks at his loss of money. Matt's hand reaches forwards and grazes mine as he takes the money with a weak smile.

-

“Damn it. I’ve fucking landed on Mayfair” I see Nick slam his money down on the board. Nate just responds with laughter as he takes the money from Nick.

I had lost a while ago, having to mortgage my property after I landed on Oxford Street again, I sat to the side talking with Chris and Madi who had lost to Nate.

“Honestly I’m glad that ended, it’s getting late” Nate mumbles before yawning.

“late? How late” I quietly speak as I pull my phone off the sofa behind me and turn the screen on, the screen a little too bright now that it was dark outside. “Oh shit.”

“Hey, you okay?” Matt stands up and faces me, leaning down to reach the board to help pack it away.

“Its like eleven right now, buses are gonna be fucked.” I frown at my phone screen as I pull up my bus times for the journey home.

“You could always stay over, it’s not like we have classes tomorrow.” Chris smiles at the suggestion Nick makes, facing me with a genuine kindness.

“Really? It wouldn’t be intrusive; I mean I’ve known you for one day.”

“We've heard enough through Matt to be honest; it would be nice honestly.”

“I appreciate it, but one problem. I don’t have any spare clothes on me” I look down at the outfit questioning if it’s suitable enough to sleep in.

“I have some clothes you can borrow...” Madi finishes putting the board game away and faces me with a wide smile.

“If that doesn’t fit since she is shorter than you, I have shit you can use for the night.” Matt reaches into the cupboard to place the box onto a high shelf.

“Uhm sure. If that’s okay”

“Of course, no worries.”

-

Matt pov:

I have showed Alyia to a spare room we have across from mine and carried her things into it and placed them at the foot of the bed. We haven’t had a chance to paint or fully decorate the room apart from the bare minimum but thankfully, she didn’t seem to mind. I return back to my room while I grab a few options of clothing for her to wear overnight. One of which is the same ransom tee I wore the first time Alyia and I met. I smile briefly while walking back towards Alyia’s room.

“Hey I picked out a few options for you”

“Thanks again for this, I appreciate it” Her demeanour seems more closed of than it was when playing the game less than an hour ago. She seems to hide herself, rubbing her arm in what I can only assume as a form of self-comfort.

“You, okay?”

“Hm? Yeah, I’m fine. Just don’t want to feel like I’m overstepping” She sits down on the bed behind her.

“Trust me. You aren’t, I want you here.” Those words come out a little too fast than what I wanted them to.

“Really?”

“Yeah...really.”

We smile at each other for a moment before I snap out of it and hand her the clothes that were draped over my arms.

“Thank you, Matt.” She gives me a small smile which I reciprocate before I even process it.

Her phone suddenly vibrates on the nightstand displaying the name ‘Scarlett Hawkes’.

“Sorry, I have to take this.”

Alyia pov:

“Hello mother.”

“Hello Ally, why are you not at home?”

“I went out with friends, I’m staying over.”

“And you didn’t tell me? I’m at home waiting for you and you aren’t here.”

“You didn’t tell me you would even be home.”

“I told you I would be home on Thursday, Ally”

“Mother it’s Friday.”

“Either way I expect you to be home tomorrow.”

I sigh and hang up the phone, not wanting to deal with the conversation any longer and I place my phone back on the nightstand.

“Sorry about that” I mumble quietly.

“Was that your mum?”

“Uh yeah, she is finally home and wondered why I'm not.” I speak slyly, hoping he doesn’t pick up on my attitude.

“I haven’t ever seen your mum at your home before...”

“She travels a load; she works in fashion and is constantly travelling and my dad organises her meetings and manages all her work. They try to be home when they can but it’s not often enough.”

“Fuck...well you’re always welcome over here if you ever feel lonely or something”

“Yeah?”

“Of course, you’re my mate and you get on well with my brothers and everyone, tonight was fun. I’m glad you stayed over.” He offers me a smile and I smile back, watching as he sits down next to me.

“Well thanks for inviting me”

“Don’t sweat it, the buses are awful at night and we have nothing planned”

I keep my smile as I look down at my hands, fidgeting with them quietly.

“Well...I’ll uh let you get ready and I’ll see you in the morning?”

“Yeah, thanks again for this” I meet his gaze, standing up holding the clothes he gave me a few moments ago.

“If you need anything, let me know, yeah?”

I nod to him as he leaves my room, pushing the door to. His footsteps fade as he walks to his own room, hearing the chair creak as he sits in it.

I flick through the few shirts he gave me and I pull out a ransom shirt.

The one he wore when we met.

@yuhayeee @melliflws @axolotllover225 @st7rnioioss @sturn-bugz @sturniolosmind @worldlxvlys @patscorner @breeloveschris @y0urm4m

[loz-untold-myths]

UNTOLD MYTHS: Sages of Hyrule

Look below the break for more!

Program: Ibis Paint X

Time Elapsed (Zelda): 1 hour, 55 minutes

Time Elapsed (Link): 4 hours, 15 minutes

Time Elapsed (doodles): 2 hours, 57 minutes

All the art above has been made over the course of a couple of weeks, but I haven't had much time to draw so everything is kind of sloppy. Hopefully I'll get back in the groove soon.

UNTOLD MYTHS: Sages of Hyrule

UNTOLD MYTHS: Sages of Hyrule is centered around Nine Sages assembled under the command of Princess Zelda. Many forces of evil begin to rise among a once peaceful, expansive kingdom of Hyrule. With the forming chaos on the horizon, the Sages must rely on each other's strengths and balance their weaknesses to prevent the downfall of their homes.

Link

Sages of Hyrule follows an incarnation of Link known as the Hero of the Nine Sages. He is a 17 year old boy from Deya Village, a town along the Hylia River that leads to a mysterious sealed temple. Although he is inexperienced (and some would say childish), he is chosen by the Master Sword sometime after Princess Zelda makes the order to assemble a group of Sages to protect Hyrule.

He talks way more than any version of Link ever should be allowed to.

Princess Zelda

Princess Zelda is the wise heir to the throne, a young girl at only 16 years old who has been put in place as the head of the Sages once they are assembled. She is well-educated in history and legends of Hyrule and the provinces that make it up. While she is the commander of the Sages, no one besides the King has ever seen her use the power she supposedly has. Most of her time is spent in the library of the castle, rather than around others. Zelda isn't cold or anti-social, however, just... Preoccupied.

Reblogging is fine, but please don't post this anywhere else without linking the original post. Thanks!

[zarvasace]

Zarvasace’s LU Stuff

Shatterproof

aka Mina’s disability AU. An AU where each Link has a different physical disability, ranging from Legend’s RRMS to Twilight’s transverse deficiency to Sky’s Deafness

First appearance: 10-17-2022

Tag: #disability au (for older posts), #shatterproof

(there is too much to link it all so just a few things)

Series on AO3

Summary post

Original art and introductions for: Twilight, Hyrule, Time, Wind, Wild, Warriors, Sky, Legend, Four

Silly jokes one and two

Four’s chair reference

Crayon doodles

Dazzling Diamond Danger outfit doodle, Four and Shadow doodle, hyrule doodle, legend doodle

bonds physical booklet

Four and Shadow from "Mirror, Mirror, Listen to My Wish", anime-style

Shadow art

Marvelous Misadventures

In a world where "Hero" is a legal distinction given to extraordinary people who have done extraordinary things—a symbol on a driver's license, permission to carry a sword—the goddesses ask much. Magic is rare, magical beings even more so. Is it so strange that those most capable are those who have achieved?

Link Waker can See things: the ghosts on the docks, the feathered wings on a strange man's back. He leaves his home in the Archipelago to go gather the eight blessed others as required by the prophecy the goddesses seem fit to shove at him. It's not as simple a task as it seems.

First appearance: (not on tumblr) 5-17-2022

Tag: #marvelous misadventures

Fic on AO3

Group art

"cover" art

Random art of Wind

1931 Vampire AU

In a post-WWI world, Wind is a centuries-old vampire working with a small team. Little does he know that literally everyone else is magical too.

First appearance: 2-12-2023

Tag: #1931 vampire au

Series on AO3

Summary post

Relationship map

Art of Wind being extra

Art of Wind and Warriors

Doodles of Wind

Art of Sky and Four

Art of Time

Pathfinder Chain

Fake silent movie title cards

Art of Wind and Tetra in 1700s clothes

Character summaries and art as if the Links were present in Pathfinder’s world, Golarian.

First appearance: 4-24-2023

Tag: #pathfinder chain

Masterpost

Linked Nexus (LU Space Crew AU)

Most who work the celestial highways long to find a place that they can call home. Most drift between crews and jobs, whether within the Kingdom or without. Some, however, live for the stars and find home is a cramped ship with engines rumbling the ground beneath their feet, and a crew that’s almost family.

First appearance: 3-1-2024

Tag: #linked nexus (Old tag: #lu space crew au)

First post, summary

Lineup Art

Fic series on AO3

Gift fic!!! Twilight whump

Legend transforming into a bunny animation

Legend looking around mini-animation

Twilight art

Hyrule and Wild art

Sky and Sun video calling art

Deity infodump

Half Fours

Literally just, what if Four was merged into two people instead of one or four?

First appearance: 1-10-2023

Tag: #half fours

Mini comic

First doodles and names: one, two, three, four

Shadow’s relationship with each combination

Red + Vio = magenta

Full drawings for: Magma, Storm, Dust, Haze, Spark, and Mire

Spark doodle, Dust doodle, Spark and Mire together

Magma drawing remastered

Storm and Magma in the forge

Dust and Haze fighting a monster

Darkverse AU

Each hero has a dark reflection. This is about them.

First appearance: 4-21-2024

Tag: #lu z darks au

Masterpost

Mini-comic introducing Depth

Posts with art and information about: Depth, Agony and Lost, Shackle and Nothing, Dire and Madness, Prince and Mirage

First lineup art

Upgraded lineup art (same as above but more detail and a higher resolution)

References for artfight (mostly same as above)

Warriors and Prince, anime style

FIC FIC FIC

Misc. Fourdow Art

Four and Shadow take a selfie with Wild's slate

sleepy

follow-up selfie art, done a year later

Other Significant LU Art

(fics can be found on my AO3, Zarvasace)

tattoo doodles

Fancy Warriors I spent hours on

LU/FE3H crossover art

What I thought the LU boys looked like when I read a bunch of fic but hadn't seen official designs yet

LU group & AU prompt generator

Cute Four doodle (pfp at one point)

LU panel redraw that I'm proud of

Imprisoning War trio for @/skyloftian-nutcase's AU, not technically LU but it will go here.

All the LU boys as mermaids for Mermay 2024

[tacodemuerte]

could use some advice on how to make fun art shamelessly and also. how to. where does uh. the drive. where do u get all that drive. i hav lots of inspo but jts hars to turn it into real drawings and then even if i manage to it takes so much thought and effort that i just stop after that bc i know i would have fun or do well if i go on

the biggest key to drive AND shamelessness is to just stop carING MFIOSMFOISHJD

like u gotta stop caring about what people think and what your work looks like! sometimes we think TOO much, because thinking is easier than actually putting the paint down. but then we over think and we've spent 2 hours on pinterest and suddenly we are out of steam!!

IM GONNA SHOW U SOME UGLY THINGS.. THAT I MADE..

if youve been around my blog youve seen this! but tese were super ugly little things that i drew bc i was trying to draw christian cage..i still didnt get a good grasp at him and started to feel like everytime i drew him he just got uglIER MOIFSMFOISHF

so i just like..was like ok FINE.. this WHOLE PAGE isgonna be ugly I GUESS!! and i ended up having so much fun making these ugly doodles! it made me excited to do more and draw him again in the future!

once you like , put away that 'butwhat if its bad' and pull out the 'ok its gonna be bad whatever' , you ironically give yourself more fuel and drivE MFIOSMFISH cause its like well if its gonna be bad, and you DONT care, what's stopping you? and you end up making something that's pretty nice! or ok, or just fun to look at!

this page was another case of that, where i just drew while falling asleep MIFOSMFOISD. i did this a lot for a short time, not the BEST for your health but if you can like the stuff you did half asleep, then you can give yourself some grace and not worry about your work when you out in 200%...

somethings are just irredeemibly ugly but making it is just fun.. remember that art should be fun! it's not all about getting gud..look at this ugly little man, i hate him, but i had fun making him hehe

[winterfireice]

Chapter 2 has been posted of stinex/sokeefe fic hope you enjoy!

I don’t know if people want to be tagged for future chapters so let me know if it’s annoying: @frizzle-mcshizzle @doodle-do-wop

Full chapter under cut

“So Verdi is fully out of her pen at this point and running wild,” Edaline is telling Keefe and Sophie, “Grady and I have to chase her through the woods and the only way we got her back into her pen was to lure her through the trees with snacks,” Eda laughs with Grady who couldn't stop smiling at his wife,

Family dinners in the Ruewen house were pretty rare due to Sophie’s busy schedule and the fact that the animals at Havenfeild were constantly causing trouble, luckily the family had all adjusted to the craziness of their lives and tried to have at least two family dinners a week. A development from the last few years was Keefe being a regular member at least once a week.

Those days usually included a lot more epic stories of Verdi's escapes or other rehabilitation disasters. Sometimes one of Sophie’s parents even tried to slip in a Sophie story, which made her immediately blush and send Keefe a wave of embarrassment.

“How long did it take you guys to secure her?” Keefe asks with a bit of amazement in his voice. Sophie always loved her parents' stories but watching her boyfriend love them too was a different type of enjoyment,

“Hours, I still think the only reason she was able to be tricked back to her pen was that she was about to miss dinner,” Grady says still laughing,

“Makes sense, I am also easily persuaded by food. I mean these dinners are definitely what keep me going through the week,” Keefe half-jokes,

“Well you know you are always welcome here, even if Sophie is busy,” Edaline winks,

Dinners without Sophie rarely happened but were not unheard of. Once Sophie had been so busy with Mr. Forkle that she didn't have time to text Keefe or her parents that she was going to be late. When she did finally get home she found a very stressed out Keefe sitting at the table with her dad. Edaline was apparently also busy with one of the animals so the two of them spent the rest of the night laughing at their retrospective partners' inability to maintain conversions with each other.

“Thank you, it means a lot,” Keefe says barely above a whisper, “Ironic timing though because Elwin wants me home soon, so I should probably leave you Rue-Wins for the night,”

“Oo that was not one of your best babe,” Sophie responds standing up with him, “But I appreciate the effort,”

~~~

At this point, Sophie is starting to believe that her life revolves more around homework and documents than it does about anything else. She was sitting on top of her bed with books laid around her and was trying to finish a paper about the treaty between elves and ogres which Sophie found both hilarious and boring.

During her seventh imparter check (just to see if anything interesting enough was going on so that she did not have to keep working) it actually started to ring.

Stina’s face filled the screen and it seemed like she had just gone for a run or something because her hair was tied back and there was sweat all over her face,

“Were you serious before?” Stina’s voice fills the room before Sophie’s hand even leaves the accept button,

“I am going to need more context before I answer that question,” Sophie responds,

“When you said I could call you about the… thing,”

“Oh,” Sophie signs out of realization, “You mean the, having a huge crush on Dex thing?”

“I never said huge,” Stina snarks, ‘But yes that thing,”

“Then yes I was serious, super serious,” Sophie adjusts and practically throws her notebook to the other side of the bed, only somewhat overestimating her strength and sending the book toppling over the edge and to the floor,

“What was that sound?” Stina asks alarmed,

“My patience for distractions crashing, go back to Dex,”

“I don’t know! He just is always there, on my mind there, in the room there just always there,” Stina grumbles, “and you want to know what is also always there? His dimples and those should not be as cute as they are,”

“Why do you sound so angry about this? Isn't this a good thing?” Sophie smiles,

“No, It's awful I hate this feeling,”

“It gets better I promise,” Sophie reassures her while chuckling,

“Stop laughing! This is not funny,” Stina says starting to laugh, “Ah, I hate feelings and emotions,”

“You’re literally an empath,”

“And you are the only person who has hand-picked abilities,”

“I had no control over that. I also feel like we are losing control of this conversion, we should go back to Dex and his dimples,”

“You are the worst,” Stina grumbles,

“Stina, you are the one that called me,”

“Well I regret it,” She mutters half-heartedly,

“No, you don’t, admit it you’re happy you have someone to talk to about this,”

“I will not admit it, but I won’t deny it either,”

“I knew it!” Sophie exclaims, “You should tell Dex though, the two of you would make an adorable couple,”

“I don’t even know how I would go about talking to him about this,”

“Well I do not recommend doing what Keefe and I did which is dance around your feelings until you’re so confused you start to believe it’s platonic,” Sophie advises

“Trust me, you were the only one that thought it was platonic. The two of you were very obviously falling in love with each other,” Stina says, “Oh shoot, I have to go, one of the unicorns is trying to escape again,”

“Again?” Sophie asks, the question gets no response though as Stina’s image flickers away from the screen,

~~~

“KEEFE! KEEFE! KEEFE!” Silveny, screams in Sophie's mind, causing her eyes to crinkle together a little,

“She screaming already?” Keefe asks noticing the discomfort in Sophie’s face,

“Isn't she always? It's fine just takes a minute to adjust to it,” Sophie says to him before transmitting to Silveny, “Yes he is here, but I need you to be a little bit quieter so I can also be here,”

All she gets is more “Keefes” but they are at least quieter and make Sophie laugh,

“Hey I think she may be trying to beat me in the ‘who loves Keefe the most’ game,” She says as Keefe brushes his hand down Silveny’s mane,

“Well I’m sorry Silveny but I think I know who I want the winner to be and it's not you sweet girl,”

“You are the only saying that because we are on a date right now,” Sophie jokes,

“I will never tell, think of it as a fun way to add mystery into our relationship,” Keefe tells her playfully,

“I think we have enough mystery in our lives, I mean I was literally a mystery to the Lost Cities for a while,”

“Yeah but you're my favorite mystery,” he tells her blushing,

“You are adorable and a flirt,” Sophie says while she also blushes, “Anyway, how was your day? We haven't talked since dinner last night,”

“Pretty boring,” Keefe responds, “I’m not saying I miss school but life is not as interesting when I don’t have a girlfriend to bug or teachers to torment, but I am enjoying being able to torment Nobles at Slurps and Burps,” He says as they sit down in the flower field which was today’s date night destination,

After Keefe graduated Foxfire Kesler offered him a job for as long as he wanted. His job was usually just putting elixirs away and coming up with creative names for new ones but every once in a while, Keefe was allowed to make some which left very few people with injuries by the end of the day.

“I did have an interesting phone call with Dex yesterday though,” he smirks,

“Oh,” is all Sophie responds with, trying to keep her face calm,

“You know you just sent me a wave of excitement right?” Keefe says smiling, “What do you know?” he questions,

“I don’t know anything… unless you know something,” Sophie says smiling just as big,

“Well, how do I know if I know something if I don’t know what you know?”

“I don’t know,” Sophie says,

“Is it just me or does the word ‘know’ now have no meaning to you?”

“It’s not just you,” Sophie reassures him, “Okay I can’t tell you what I know but I can tell you that last night after you left I also had a very interesting conversation with someone but it was not Dex,”

“Was it Stina?” Keefe tries

“It was,” Sophie says as both of their smiles get bigger

“So you do know what I know,” he smiles,

“I think I do, or at least I know a part of something you know,”

“This is amazing, I mean they are not at all a pairing I expected but I am already imagining their wedding,”

“Keefe I love how excited you are but Stina and Dex are not even dating yet, you need to slow down just a little,” Sophie says after her eyes widen, “By the way I want to know how you found out,”

Dex called me after I got home after dinner, and he just told me. He said that out of everyone I would know how he was feeling when crushing on one of your friends. How did you find out?”

“Stina has been talking to herself in French about how she feels about Dex for weeks after Team Vailent meetings, she seems to be pretty bad at remembering I can understand every language that exists,” Sophie laughs, “I finally told her I knew what she was saying and she called me about it last night. I think she may still be in a little bit of denial about her feelings,”

“I remember what being on the other side of that feels like,” Keefe jokes which earns him a handful of grass being thrown at him by his girlfriend, “Hey cease fire, cease fire, I was just telling you the truth,”

“It still deserves grass throwing, but I will also apologize if needed,” Sophie grins,

“Well the grass was very sharp, I could have been seriously injured, I think I deserve compensation,” Keefe says

“What kind of compensation?” Sophie asks,

“I think I kiss would cover it,”

“Deal,” Sophie says leaning towards Keefe,

[enigmatist17]

Part 2

Dark blue eyes snap open with a start, a body jerking back and off the chair it had been sitting on to fall onto a worn wooden floor. He can't suck in enough oxygen as a hand flies to a wound that is suspiciously absent, the room not smelling of the suffocating incense that had followed him into death. No, he was in a room that he hadn't seen in what felt like a lifetime ago, the rolling hills outside aged windows he'd spent hours studying in front of so jarring.

"It seems someone fell asleep at his desk again." Wesley jerked at the joking voice, scrambling onto his feet with a simple move, his fists raised, only to see a startled fellow student he couldn't remember. "Watch it!"

"I-I'm sorry." Wesley coughed, the other's eyebrows raising.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Wesley forced a smile on his face as he straightened his clothes and looked around the old study hall. "I know exams can be quite exhausting."

"I'm fine, really, just a bit lost in my head." His laugh sounds hollow, but the other seems pleased and wanders off, leaving Wesley to run for the nearest calendar he can find. The Academy grounds held none of the shine as Wesley headed for his dorm, partially glad that no one was paying too much attention to a soon-to-be Watcher who had aged in the span of a few moments. His dorm ends up holding a calendar, the man pausing for a moment to smile at the little doodles he'd drawn around the border, a symbol of a happy student who hadn't experienced the horrors of the world.

1998

It's the week before his graduation exams, two months before he'd chosen to go to Sunnydale as a sacrificial Watcher, and five months before he chooses a Slayer over the Council to his own detriment.

Wesley can't help but start laughing as he looks at the date; if it's out of relief or anxiety, he can't really tell. He's in tears by the time he stops, slumped against his bed as he traces random shapes over the paper in his hands, trying to come to grips with the fact that he really was alive again.

Angel, Cordelia, the calendar skitters across the floor as Wesley lunges up and onto his feet when he thinks of family. Students were allowed to use a communal set of phones for calling family, and his past self had never once used them after his first and only call. He waits for night to fall before he goes for the phones, his heart skipping a beat as he hovers over one of them, casting a small spell that would make his call sound like one to the family for any who might be listening in before he picks up the receiver.

Is he the only one who came back? Is he the only one who knows?

He punches in Cordelia's old number before his mind goes any further, and retreats to the shadows as it rings, reaching to his neck to rub a scar that hadn't come to pass yet, maybe wouldn't this time.

"Hello?" Wesley has to take a breath at the familiar voice, tears slipping down his cheeks. "Hello?"

"Cordelia?" He can hear an intake of breath, and for a moment, his heart sinks. "I apologize, is this -"

"Wes? Wes is that you?"

He laughs, a strangled noise as he tightens his grip on the receiver, going through another dozen sets of emotions before he pulls himself out of it.

"It is so good to hear your voice."

Oh, and Wesley? You still work the best mojo in town.

"Likewise."

"I've so much to say, but this sort of conversation needs to be in person. Plus, I need to go soon, international calls are rather expensive." Wesley doesn't want to leave the call, but to gather the Council's attention too soon is not wise. "I'll call you when I can."

"Okay...stay safe Wes, please?"

"Always." He hangs up with a click, removing the spell before returning to his dorm, spending the first of many sleepless nights staring at the ceiling.

Counting down the days until he'll be sent to Sunnydale.

[khaothanawat]

My School President wants to subvert your expectations

(or: if you're not watching this show, you're missing out on something wonderful)

...so. I am supposed to work today, but I don't wanna and also i rewatched all four episodes of My School President last night and if I don't let out as many feelings as possible about it I might explode because I am unhinged.

so I wrote a 4,700+ word essay i'm so sorry oh my god I spent hours writing this good lord

episode 1 / the introduction

episode 1 plays out mostly as a traditional high school series might. we have gun, who is not the greatest student, but who loves music and, even more than that, loves music club - which revolves around his friends and the band they’re in. it is, as we’ll learn a few episodes down the line, his “safe zone”, and the one place in school where he’s found love and acceptance.

we also have tinn, who is the son of the incredibly strict principal and who himself is a fantastic student, good looking, admired by all the other students. he gets voted in as school president, and thus has complete control over the fate of all the school clubs - including, of course, the principal’s least favourite club (on account of how its members keep failing their classes and almost burning down the school), the music club.

the dynamic between tinn and gun is familiar to us - it’s a rivalry, with one side being very charming if a little ridiculous and the other being a traditional tsundere-type character - stern and not particularly forthcoming or unforgiving at first glance. we see little hints though, very early on, that tinn, despite his exterior, gets drawn into gunn’s music.

the end of episode 1 is our first real insight that not everything is going to go quite as expected - thanks so a slow reveal that tinn has doodled a little picture of gun singing, and written next to it the words “you’re cute. so damn cute. cuter than anyone in the world.”

it’s a well-used trope in BL romances to have the handsome, tsundere character be secretly a MASSIVE SIMP for his love interest. we’ve seen this in previous GMMTV shows, with a mid-series reveal that the tsundere has been wildly in love and putting up a ridiculous front the entire time. What MSP is turning on its head is not the fact that Tinn has feelings, but the decision to reveal it in episode 1. the traditional mid-series reveal allows romantic tension to develop in the story, the will-they-won’t-they of each moment existing because we don’t know for certain that the tsundere character has feelings. the reveal is usually used after the first kiss, when the tension is no longer needed by the narrative.

MSP deciding to remove that tension entirely completely changes the way they need to build the romance between tinn and gun, as well as subverting our own expectations around what we’re watching. tinn is no longer cool and detached and stern - he’s awkward and adorable and… completely insane, honestly, he’s just absolutely unhinged. he does not know what he’s doing and has somehow boxed himself into pretending to be a tsundere in his secret quest to help gun save the music club.

now, the tension in the story is whether tinn can get gun to stop hating him - and if, how and when gun will develop feelings for tinn.

(yeah yeah yeah yes, we the viewers know that they’ll end up together, but that’s beside the point)

I can't believe this got so out of hand that I need to use a cut - let's kEEP GOING I GUESS

episode 2 / in which we are made aware that all is truly not what it seems

episode 2 introduces us to another trope - the “secret correspondant” trope. only, of course, it’s not a secret here. we see tinn posing as ‘nong lion’ and messaging the music club to try and help them with their problem (and side note - MSP has the same structure as Bad Buddy, wherein episodes are self-contained stories; an obstacle appears and is resolved in the same episode). in fact, the show turns the trope on its head even further by having gun almost immediately suspect tinn, only to get conveniently thrown off the scent by tinn’s bestie for the restie, and the owner of the sole braincell on the show, tiw. and even beyond that, tinn does a terrible job at hiding the fact that he’s ‘nong lion’, but the show just mines this for comedy, because a huge running line in the show is that the members of the music club are, bless them, absolute dummies.

even so, the episode culminates in tinn openly helping gun in-person (on a stage in front of a bunch of other people, no less!!) and then openly vowing to help the music club win the hot wave contest.

which isn’t a super selfless move - tinn is told earlier that evening by an old music club alumni that music club members can’t date unless they win the hot wave contest. of course, one of the very first things we learn about the music club in the show is that it’s former leader lost the hot wave contest because of his girlfriend, so it seems possible that maybe that rule doesn’t actually exist anymore. but that’s for a later time.

episode 3 / remember episode 2? lets do that again but MORE

episode 3 of my school president takes the concept of subverting expectations and turns it into a whole-ass episode (and it’s perfect).

episode 3 opens with tinn going on another adorable little meltdown about how cute gun is, only for gun to be standing right there listening. another trope again, but this time - i have to wonder whether gun realises what has happened. the narrative has told us over and over that he’s sort of a dummy - the remainder of episode 3 revolves heavily around this, in fact. but he did suspect tinn of being nong lion in episode 2, he’s not always completely obtuse, and he explicitly asks tinn who he was talking about, before waving away the conversation entirely because he has more important hot wave-related things to discuss. this is one of the many instances we see of tinn conflating his own fantasies with reality - something that will become infinitely more prevalent this episode.

speaking of: tinn has to tutor gun. we see them sitting at a table and tinn has somehow made calculus sexy by drawing a heart with equations. they move closer, almost kiss and then- it is, of course, just a figment of tinn’s wild imagination. in reality, he’s yelling at gun for being a gay who can’t math. this is the first time the show tells us to be on our guard in this episode, because tinn’s little mind is going wild and not everything we see will be real.

eventually, tiw suggests they (tinn and gun) move in to his sibling’s apartment for a week to study because tiw is a romantic mastermind, and then, when tinn panics because he does not know how to be a normal person around gun, tiw suggests tinn recreate classic BL tropes with gun. like in bad buddy, tiw says. tiw played by mark pakin, who was in bad buddy. tiw who says that his favourite actor in bad buddy is mark pakin. i’ve gotten off track a little. except i HAVEN’T because -

ok, MSP is written by the same writers as Bad Buddy and directed by one of the assistant directors of Bad Buddy (and 1000 Stars), director au. this is au’s first full director role, but he’s obviously been working closely with backbone of GMMTV aof and aof appears a number of times in the MSP special episode to discuss the process of making the show, which would maybe indicate he had a decent hand in the show - or at the very least, has had a hand in helping au develop his own skills (and to be clear, au worked as part of the writing team for years before this, so he’s not new to the business by any means) (not me speculating on aof’s own staff career growth plans loool). i think it’s not a stretch to say that MSP has a very BB feel to it, and i’m so endlessly impressed that it has managed to maintain that so far whilst also forging its own identity as a show. it doesn’t feel like a carbon copy, or a poor imitation - it feels very much like it’s telling it’s own story, but it’s using a something that BB used super successfully to do so, which is the subversion of tropes. MSP goes one step further with that though, and uses it differently (helped by the fact that because BB is set in college and MSP is in high school, the tropes are naturally a lot less… well. horny.)

MY POINT BEING that that Bad Buddy call out was deliberate. they didn’t use the show just bc they had mark pakin saying the line - i think it’s likely that they felt it necessary to add in mark’s line 4th wall breaking line about himself because it was his character making the reference, but they want us to know what they’re doing. they’re referencing Bad Buddy because this show is, in a way, a spiritual successor to BB - it likely wouldn’t exist as it does if BB didn’t already exist (and wasn’t a huge hit). in the very next scene, we get a reference to the band scrubb, which is a huge 2gether reference - and, looping this all back to the creative team, au was a screenwriter for Still 2gether and aof created/directed Still 2gether. tinn’s character is a direct play on sarawat in 2gether - he is, in so many ways, sarawat, but the narrative is using him in a different way.

oh my god i legit wanted to write a one sentence post about this show how did i get here

OK GETTING BACK TO EPISODE 3 oh my god

episode 3 shows us over and over that tinn creates these vivid fantasies about being in classic romantic scenarios with gun that he then tries to turn into reality, pet tiw’s instruction - only for the reality to be a lot less romantic. in his one actual, real-life chance to get close to gun (the ballroom dance) where he’s not just trying to recreate something from a BL series, he gets so overwhelmed and nervous that he can’t dance at all, which we’re told through the loud and quick sound of his heartbeat.

and then, part way through the episode, the show starts bait-and-switching us.

first: tinn sees gun with food on his lip and fantasises about brushing it away with his thumb (an absolute romance series staple). gun licks it away before tinn can do any of that, because of course he does - but then tinn gets food on his lips and gun reaches over to brush it away. finally, tinn has ended up in a romance series moment with gun, only it wasn’t one of his own deliberate creation. it just happened.

second: tinn and gun talk at the swimming pool about themselves - finally. they’ve been living together for a week, but we don’t see them often having conversations about who they are. gun talks about seeing the music club as his ‘safe zone’. tinn explains why he became school president (to support people’s dreams). gun tells him that that’s such a handsome answer, then asks “have you used that line to hit on anyone?” tinn replies: “you.” we expect by now that it’s another fantasy moment, because we’ve been duped by the show with these moments multiple times by now, but once again the show twists things. the moment is real, tinn really says “you” and it hangs between them for a moment before he quickly changes the subject. but it’s the clearest declaration either of them have made. we don’t know what gun is feeling by this stage, however we do know that gun is in fact the one who gave them a Classic Romance Moment of brushing away food. it’s the show telling us that, whether he realises it yet or not, he’s in this too.

the third bait and switch is the Big One, except it’s not at all: we reach the ballroom dance midterm and tinn is trying to get out of dancing altogether - he still isn’t sure he can do it, he still feels overwhelmed when he tries to dance with gun, his heart races too hard and fast. gun refuses to listen to him and makes him get up. he tells tinn to close his eyes and says “let me help you”. tinn closes his eyes and suddenly the sports hall fades away - he and gun are in beautiful suits, they’re in the music club room (gun’s safe zone!), gun’s band chinzilla is playing and he and gun are dancing. throughout the episode we’ve heard tiny portions of the melody of the ballroom dance song, but now finally we hear the whole song, performed by chinzilla. as they dance together, the scene flashes between the fantasy dance, their practice dance by the pool and crucially, the actual dance that’s happening in the sports hall. as the dance comes to an end, we realise that even though we saw it happen in tinn’s fantasy, it was happening in real life too. the way they danced in tinn’s fantasy was how they really danced - staring into one another’s eyes, smiling at each other, looking completely lost in the moment. gun said “let me help you” and entered tinn’s fantasy with him. gun said “let me help you” and he’s telling us, the viewers, that tinn isn’t going to make this romance happen alone (even with the help of tiw). tinn can’t create romance moments when gun isn’t on the same page.

the final bait and switch happens in a series of parts: prior to the ballroom dance midterm, on the night after they go swimming, gun makes tinn share the bed (rather than the Bad Buddy reference sleeping arrangement they’ve been doing all week). tinn, because he’s a lunatic, asks if he can stare into gun’s eyes and gun obliges. after a moment, we hear the heartbeats again - but it’s gun that looks away and decides to go to sleep.

the episode ends, after the ballroom dance, with gun and tinn having a small moment together outside the school. gun tries to give tinn back the pencil case he borrowed earlier, because he of course does not own a pencil case. it’s one that says “i think about you” on it that gun has, obviously, doodled all over. specifically, he has drawn a cute little monster and written the name ‘tinn’ with a bunch of arrows pointed at it. you think about who now, gun? anyway, tinn tells gun to keep it, because what high school student doesn’t have a pencil case oh my god gun - and they hold hands over the pencil case for a moment. until the tinn’s mother the principal comes out of her office and tinn very gently drops gun’s hands. that’s not relevant to this, i just think it’s Big Foreshadowing. anyway. tinn leaves with his mother and gun is left standing there, staring after him. and once again, we hear the heartbeats. they’re gun’s, because of course they are. we get a flashback to the night before, to tinn staring into gun’s eyes and looking away, and we know for certain that that was gun’s heartbeat and not tinn’s, and that it’s happening again now. bait and switch - tinn’s heartbeats followed us through the whole episode, only for us to end on gun’s heartbeat, and a confirmation that yes, he’s feeling it all too.

again, the show is revealing things early. no longer do we have the tension of whether gun feels something too - now we have the tension of whether gun is going to do anything about it, or acknowledge it at all.

we're only up to episode 4 by now, and I wouldn't say that episode 4 turned much on its head that hadn't already been set up before, but I do think it serves as a way to start building up a number of new plot points, so I'm going to talk about that a little, just so that I can revisit this later once more episodes have aired.

episode 4 / resetting expectations (...sort of?)

episode 4 of my school president introduces us to a new character: tinn's original rival, sound, who joins the music club (because of course tinn has a rival).

I think it's actually really key to point out a tiny scene that happens at the beginning of episode 4, as the show is starting to lay out the plots for the episode. gun and the band are looking for a solo guitarist (hence the eventual introduction of sound). he puts posters up on a notice board. tinn comes along and, because he's a dweeb, mentions that people need permission from the school council to put up posters. gun sighs and obediently starts to take the posters down, before tinn dives in and says that he'll let gun put them up anyway, he'll make a 'special exception'. real smooth, kid.

anyway, this fascinates me, because it's such a good display of how much their relationship has changed by this point. tinn and gun have had a surprising number of scenes together in front of this notice board - mostly with gun fighting back against tinn trying to enforce the school rules as school council president. here we see gun not fight, but immediately give into tinn instead (even though tinn had no desire to win, he's just got so little game oh my god this boy has NO GAME i'm obsessed with him). gun looks thrilled when tinn lets him put up the posters anyway - he respects tinn's word enough now that he wasn't going to fight, which is so the opposite of the gun we've seen so far. it's just a really interesting story beat to throw in.

they have a little moment again (in real life) (initiated by tinn) and gun's heartbeats from episode 3 appear once more, reminding us that gun is also Feeling Things. gun runs away in a flustered panic.

(tinn, it must be said, genuinely has no idea what's going on in gun's head. because tinn is a dummy.)

from here, the dual plot lines of the episode play out pretty traditionally. story A sees gun quit the music club and tinn take the opportunity to get closer to him now that he's not beholden to the no-dating-before-hot-wave rule that definitely still exists. they do get closer. in fact, they go on an accidental date, flirt heavily over some imaginary cake, and tinn finds a position for gun in the student council that would allow him to sing and play music, story B sees sound take over the music club, who are unfocused and not actually using their practice sessions to practice, only to be a tiny teen tyrant about it. the band beg gun to come back. gun feels as though the band will have a better chance to win hot wave without him. tinn sees this happen and convinces gun to go back to the music club, because that's clearly where his happiness lies. even if gun being in the music club will inevitably put the absolutely real and very much something gun definitely is aware of no-dating-before-hot-wave rule back into play.

gun rejoins the music club, but lets sound stay (sound, to be clear, mostly joined because he thought it would piss off tinn, but we start getting the indication by the end that he could also maybe find friendship and support in the club, just as the others did). they have their traditional bbq pork meal together to celebrate being back together. it's sacred.

so, it's all fairly cut and dry - and we as viewers probably already knew where these plots were heading and that the main issues would be resolved in this episode, thanks to the self-contained episode structure of the show.

until we see gun grab a bunch of the pork and run off, away from the bbq, yelling that he'll be back soon. he goes, of course, to tinn. he, quite crucially, claims that the group have finished eating and that there was some food left over and he just wondered whether tinn might want it - once again, we as viewers know this is a lie, and are left in possession in much more knowledge than the characters in the scene. gun is making up an excuse to bring tinn food, and to hang out with tinn. if the question this episode was 'gun is having feelings for tinn; what will he do with them?', then we saw moments over the course of the entire episode that answered that. gun, unlike tinn, has apparently an abundance of game (if anything he's a little too dangerous, frankly). he jumps both feet forward into flirting with tinn, and manages to conveniently set up scenarios in which he can do that - successfully, unlike tinn in episode 3. where he's a little more in control, we don't get a return of the panicked heartbeats from the beginning of the episode.

maybe tinn had put this flirting all episode down to the fact that gun was no longer in the music club. it's not really made clear. however, now gun is back in the club, and he's abandoned the sacred bbq pork time to have a nivea micellar moment with tinn (once again, gun successfully initiating a BL romantic moment in real life, because gun is the only one here with game). he gets tinn to take a photo of them together, and so they stand pressed shoulder to shoulder, hands touching. they're smiling at each other, and the camera jumps back and forth between the way they're looking at one another and their hands. tinn, probably emboldened by how much gun has put himself out there across the entire episode, starts to move his pinky finger closer. his hand is shaking, but we see them over and over barely looking at the camera because they're too busy smiling sweetly at each other, as tinn's finger twitches closer and closer - the slowest build up in the world, as we wonder whether he'll get the guts to do it. and then finally, finally, tinn loops his pinky around gun's, and gun responds in kind, and we see a shot of them taking the photo, they're fingers out of shot but entwined.

this is almost par for the course by now - how quickly this show has put tinn and gun on a playing field of both having feelings for the other, and both being at least somewhat aware that those feelings could be reciprocated.

episode 5 and beyond / is this show impossible to predict?

it's not really something we get to see too often, the very cautious build into something more. the next episode preview doesn't really tell us anything about how that develops (but rather that gun has a lot of other stuff going on, apparently). i think this becomes it's own question - now that MSP have turned the traditional BL pacing on its head (akin to the way Bad Buddy did it before), what do they do next. with BB, we very quickly saw that the obstacles between the lead characters were almost entirely external - it's the basis of the entire show. they couldn't be together because no one wanted them to be. it made the pacing of the romance make complete sense.

with MSP, we're going in much more blindly. the boys are already on a similar page and there's no obvious obstacles between them outside of the definitely very real no-dating-before-hot-wave rule that no one in the present day music club has even spoken about or mentioned (yet?). what this suggests to me, and why this is so fascinating, is that we therefore don't necessarily know the basic conceit of the plot from here on out.

yes, we want to see how tinn and gun ultimately admit their feelings for one another, but at episode 4 of 12, the show has already done most of the work in getting them there. inevitably, we need to be faced with obstacles and there have been a small number of hints, maybe, at the things that could go wrong for them, but it's fascinating because those hints have been very sparse.

there's the perceived rivalry of the music club and the school council - which tinn has accidentally perpetuated a bunch of times, because he's a dummy. episode 4 reminds us conveniently that this is still seen to exist outside of tinn and gun's gay little bubble, when we see the two random students discussing it in the hall (this is of course also how sound ends up joining the club). it's not a particularly violent rivalry though - we're not at Bad Buddy drop kick into the chest two seconds away from breaking out into a sharks and jets style dance number. i wouldn't say it's rife for conflict, but that's sort of the thing: it's almost impossible to predict at this point what will happen. we know that chinzilla will probably perform at hot wave, and at some point tinn and gun will probably kiss. beyond that? it's anyone's guess.

another obvious obstacle that has been (honestly quite lightly) is the principal - we are literally introduced to tinn's pov in episode 2 by the concept of his mother coming in between him and gun, when he dreams about gun turning into her. he's lied to her a number of times in the name of helping gun. her character is generally quite fascinating, because she's a near-constant antagonistic presence, but it's clear she has huge amounts of love and care for her son, and she's trying to do her best by her students. she's also really frugal though - in episode 2 we learn that she and her husband would argue because she felt that music was an unnecessarily expensive hobby. a real subtle moment that i'm sure won't come back in any fashion later down the line...

the other obvious one is of course the no-dating-before-hot-wave rule which, sure, might be real, but might even become an issue in some form or another even if it's not. the reason the music club lost hot wave the year before, as we know, was because the last leader was distracted on stage by his girlfriend. this is how we meet the music club in episode 1, and we see gun vowing to win hot wave next year, because he knows it's what will save the music club.

it seems as though episode 5 is about to introduce new conflicts too, or expand upon things that have really only been very barely hinted at. but, if I know anything it's that promos are unreliable, so only time will tell how that plays ou.

it's important though, in my opinion, that the show really hasn't hit us over the head with anything here yet (except the very real very current day hot wave rule that very much definitely exists - and even then, it has only been mentioned a handful of times at most between tinn and tiw, usually as an occasional reminder to the audience more than a constant driving force for tinn's actions). these are obstacles, but they ultimately haven't been shown to cause too much issue to tinn and gun's story - or at least, tinn and gun have successfully navigated everything with almost no pushback, hence the fact that they're both sailing through their own romantic storyline at a pace faster than an olympic runner.

there's not really an ending to this post yet, because we're only at episode 4. I'm not particularly committed to any theory about where this could go (except the one about the hot wave rule being real YOU CAN'T CONVINCE ME IT'S REAL AU), but from a storytelling perspective alone: this show needs a conflict. the assumption it gave us and then systematically tore apart across the first four episodes was that the conflict would be around tinn and gun realising their own feelings for one another, because that's how these shows go. that's not the central conflict in MSP. the central conflict is... uh... one of these other things. or maybe a secret different thing. i don't know. come back to me in like 6 weeks.

[ironwitchau]

Here we go again with more of this au. I don't know, I kinda like it. I feel like people don't understand the horror of being dropped into your favorite video game or show. Like you could easily be killed and you don't know if you will be revived? Nah, sorry man, I ain't here for this getting killed plot. Anyway, you can get caught up here:

Part 1, Part 2

---

The Knee:

One of the features Luz loved about Titan’s Will was that the player could find the glyphs at any point, time, and order, so long as the player knew where to look. For instance, normally players get the light glyph first by using a demonic disposable camera with a cracked lens while Eda performed the light spell at the beginning of the Owl Beast Arc. However, there is a moment, between beating Wrath and the group of three leaving, where the player could roam the courtyard. Most players and speed-runners went straight to Eda and King, in a rush to get the game going. If they had looked around, specifically at a scorch mark on one wall, and interacted with it a few times they would get the fire glyph. Luz had discovered it by accident on her first New Game + run.

This information became invaluable to the human after she ran into Amity for the first time. After that meeting, Luz decided she at least needed the four main glyphs but when she sat down with a pen and paper and made the circle to put the light glyph in, she realized a problem. She couldn't remember what the glyph looked like. Any of them.

Luz, who had doodled them onto the corners of her school work because she was bored, couldn't remember what the glyphs looked like. She had panicked that first night but eventually calmed down enough to plan. She refused to get involved with the plot even though it would give her the chance to find the glyphs. Thankfully she remembered the Knee Event.

The Knee Event was the canonical time where the protagonist found their second glyph, the ice glyph. During the event, the protagonist has to learn a second spell so they won’t fail the Hexside Placement Test. If the player already had two spells at this point, they still go with Eda mentioning that they are “really dedicated to getting in”. Eda and the protagonist head to the Knee and usually end up running into Amity and the Blight twins. By the end of it, the player got another spell and leveled up some bonds.

Luz didn't care about that. At least, not now as she tried to stay out of the story. What mattered was that while learning the ice glyph this way, the player learns that the light glyph is also a constellation.

She was in no rush to get to the Knee, until she ran into Eda. It had to be a bad sign to run into two plot important characters and Luz refused to get dragged into the game now. She might get caught off guard but she wouldn't be unarmed.

---

They left for the Knee Friday afternoon, closing Raven’s Nest early. The plan was to spend two days and two nights there, which should be enough time for Luz to learn her two spells. She spent that first night staring up at the sky, connecting the stars in hope of finding a glyph. She even used Observe until it leveled up. Nothing.

Eventually, Raven told her it was time to call it a night and the two entered their respective tents. Luz woke up the next morning to a softly spoken conversation.

“Aren't you two a little young to be out here all on your own?” Raven had asked. Luz figured it was probably just some traveliers, or some St. Epiderm kids. That school was said to be on the Knee, an hour or two’s walk from the ruins Luz and Raven were camping at.

“With Willow around?” A younger, boyish voice laughed. “We’ll be fine.”

Wait a damn minute. She knew that voice. That was-

“You flatter me, Augustus.” A third voice said. It was feminine with a teasing undertone. Luz knew that voice too.

What the hell were Augustus ‘Gus’ Porter and Willow Park doing on the Knee?

---

It was mentioned earlier that when players took part in the Knee Event they usually ran into Amity Blight. The keyword being usually. The second purpose of the Knee Event was to level up two bonds, the Owl Lady’s and the lowest Hexside bond available at the point in the game. More often than not it would be Amity who’s social bond was just made a few event’s back, but it was possible for other characters to take part of the event.

Luz exited her tent and was met with said characters. The first was a girl, the same age as her. She was taller than Luz by a few inches, with short navy hair and olive-green eyes behind a pair of black rimmed glasses. Like most witches she had pointed ears. The second was a dark skinned boy who was two years younger than them. Luz easily had a head, maybe one and half, on him. Then again Luz was rather tall. He had short black hair that was shaved on the sides and dark eyes. These two were Willow and Augustus.

“Look, Luz,” Raven joked, “I've met a few more strays.”

Luz chuckled nervously and used Observe on the two just in case she was wrong.

[Observe!]

[Name: Willow Park

Species: witch

Titles: Half-A-Witch]

[Observe!]

[Name: Augustus Porter

Species: Witch

Titles: Illusion Prodigy]

She was two members away from meeting the entire Hexsquad. Thankfully the two didn't show until mid-game.

“We aren't strays.” Willow deadpanned.

“We are if we can get some free food!” Augustus argued. Willow elbowed the teen.

“I have no issues with that.” Raven smiled and offered the younger teen a bowl of warm soup.

Luz wanted to tell Raven that they probably shouldn't give food away to strangers, even if Luz knew who they were. She really didn't want to get involved with plot shenanigans. Instead, she sat down and accepted a bowl of her own. Raven was too nice anyway.

The human busied herself with her food before rushing off to try and learn her glyphs.

---

There were three options for the Knee Event. Amity’s, Willow’s, and Gus’s.

In Amity’s, the youngest Blight was at the Knee to beat the twins' score on some test. The protagonist, frustrated with Eda’s lessons, steals Amity’s training wand and accidentally angers a Slitherbeast. The demon native to the knee ends up taking Eda and the twins hostage, Amity traps the protagonist and goes to save them. The protagonist ends up discovering the light constellation after activating the light glyph, which leads to them discovering the ice glyph in a snowflake. They escape and help by distracting the slitherbeast while Amity saves the others.

In Willow’s, the plant witch was at the Knee to find a special plant that emitted an icy fog. Luz forgot the name of the plant but Willow wanted to take care of one and none of the markets on the Knee seem to have it. The two would meet up and mess around during a break. Willow ends up being the one who angered the Slitherbeast, by accidentally flinging it into the air. The beast knocks Eda out, takes Willow hostage, and shoves the protagonist into a cavern as it leaves. Much like with Amity’s, the protagonist discovers the ice glyph and uses it to escape. They wake up the Owl Lady and go to save Willow. Except, she’s already escaped by the time the two track the Slitherbeast down.

Then there was Gus’. He comes to the Knee to practice a complex spell, only to get frustrated. The protagonist, annoyed with Eda, joins him in lying in the snow. Gus confides in them that he hates being younger than everyone, that his classmates either treat him like a child or use him, and the teachers put so much pressure on him. He says that’s why he likes being friends with the protagonist. They treat him like a normal person. If the player chooses to tell Gus that they enjoy being friends with him too, the protagonist places a light glyph between them. Gus activates it and they watch it float up into the sky and join the constellation. This inspires the protagonist to look into a snowflake, and so they discover the ice glyph. It’s presumed that they thank Gus because as the two lie down he says “you're welcome”.

Gus’ was the only one where the Slitherbeast is left alone. It was Luz’s favorite.

---

“Fraah!” Luz screamed at the top of her lungs as she still couldn't find the ice glyph. The snow in her hand ended up thrown against a tree.

“What did the tree do to you?” Willow said from behind her.

“Nothing.” Luz huffed. She watched as the vapors that were her breath floated up.

“Hate to see what you'd do to someone who wronged you.” She could hear the playful smirk on Willow’s face. Usually Luz found it endearing, but she really wasn't in the mood right now.

“What do you want.” It wasn't a question.

“To find a Misty Mint but I’ll settle for your name.”

That was the name of the plant. A Misty Miny. If Luz got dropped into a cavern, that Slitherbeast will have more to worry about than whatever Willow did to it.

“Rude to ask for someone else's when you don't offer your own.”

“Willow Park.”

‘I know.’

“Luz Noceda.”

“You done being pissy, now?”

Luz groaned and let herself flop back onto the snow, kicking up a small flurry. The chill of the snow was nice. Made her muscles relax some.

“Yeah, I think I am.”

“Cool, because Augustus has been dying to meet you ever since Raven told us she met you around here too.”

“Great.” Just what she needed.