#I started brainstorming and thought about the whole thing a little too hard then. this thought came up

[dropsnectar]

Pollen and Potions: Bee-men x afab!reader

PART THREE

This is a longer part than the rest, but its all necessary dialogue so it should be fine. More fluffy and romance than smut, BUT!! Their will be smut in the next section! I know I said this will only be 4 parts, but it may actually be more like 5 or 6. Anyway, hope you like!

So. You were starting to learn that using large batches of magic back to back weren't ideal for a young witch's health. It seemed like you might have overdone it, as when you woke you found you had been asleep for TWO WHOLE DAYS. So. If you were going to do magic, it looked like you were going to have to pace yourself, or perhaps use LESS magic.

You put yourself to learning more about witchcraft. The thing was, your grandmother's books didn't really go into the basics, and as witches were so rare, information was hard to find. Of course, the internet was full of supposed witch spells, or frameworks, but it was like throwing dice. Some spells didn't work. Some spells took up WAY too much energy. Some were just… fine? But not what you needed. 

Next you checked out forum sites. Maybe you could find a community through that way? But all you found were psychics and tarot readers. Nice people, but not what you needed.

Whelp. Maybe you needed to look at the issue differently. The environment used to be a beautiful, thriving area. What had changed between now and then? In order to understand a magic ecosystem, you had to understand ecosystems. So, for the rest of the week you busied yourself with ecology study. It was turning out that this project you had adopted on a whim would need a lot more time and breadth of knowledge then you originally thought.

***

When you met with Rena, under Lyith’s friendly gaze, you found that the magic you had cast hadn't waned at all. The flowers had grown beautifully and continued to give magic nectar that created the best honey. Rena was beside herself. “The elders of the hive say they haven't had honey of this quality since they were children! You are really onto something here, little one.”

Rena had now gotten in the habit of calling you little one. Sure, as a Bee-man she was slightly taller than you, but not by much. Also the constant fluttering and floating didn't help. 

“You've been given permission to test your magic on our other gardens as well. As long as we are careful and continue with caution!” Rena babbled. You gave her a small smile and felt Lyiths arm on your shoulder. He laid his head on your other shoulder, leaning his fuzzy head against yours. 

“Whats wrong?”

You wiggled a little. “I'm just having a hard time brainstorming how to do this. I know I said I'd help you guys, but I might not be able to use as much magic as last time. To be honest, I don't really know much about my mana and my limits…” you explained your situation. Expecting there to be disappointment, you were surprised to find none.

“I can’t help but think… How long will this last? One spell isn’t going to cut it for that long. I want to create something that will last for you guys, but that might take a while… and doing just this took all the mana I had. I want to do better. But I don’t want to hurt myself either, especially when I don’t know how this could affect my health in the long run…” The bee-men seemed to be catching on.

“Of course, little one. We wouldn't want you to harm yourself.”

 Lyith also popped up, his voice almost in your ear.

“Us Bee-men also have something like mana. Our magic is not never ending. We would have fixed this situation ourselves if it was.”

Rena reached forward and grabbed your hand, giving it a reassuring pat. “We don't have to do anything today. We can commence whenever you'd like. Our flowers have spread out beautifully and even this is enough.”

You frowned.

“I may have to do this every spring. Or even redo it in the summer…”

“You don’t owe us anything. You are trying your best to do us a kindness. And our hive knows and sees that. We are beyond grateful to you… Its… We’ve needed…We are truly grateful.” His expression fell at the mention of his hive, his antennas drooping. Rena moved forward and held Lyith, a sad expression on her own face.

There was a pause in conversation that grew somewhat awkward.

How do I make this better? You tried to brainstorm, but only one thing came to mind. 

You went over and gave the both of them a big bear hug. It was a tense one, but you tried to adjust your emotions, instead concentrating on how fond you had grown of the two. You tried to shout it as loud as you could through your brain at them.

This seemed to break the spell, as Rena started to laugh. Lyith looked at you affectionately. 

“I know we haven't known each other long, but I just want to say, you can count on me. If you ever need to talk about anything let me know. I'll listen.”

Rena and Lyith hummed in response, returning your group hug with a long squeeze.

Long hugs. The favorite actions of a Bee-men.

After some quiet reassurances, the two of you decided to idle while the two foraged on the edge of the Wood. You walked with them and asked them as many questions you could think of. How old were they? Were they able to do other magics? You had thought Bee-men to be isolated. How come they knew so much about human culture?

Lyith was the one who answered you most of the time. It seemed that bee-man typically lived double the life of a human, with Rena and Lyith being about 45, and 51, Lyith being the oldest. They were in the same season of life as you though!

Bee-man could do some other magics(they didn't go much into what), but they specialized in making their magical honey, which fortified the health and wellbeing of a Bee-men. 

They didn’t say it outright but it seemed like the dip in magic had affected the nutrition of their food source. They kept their own bees and shared honey, but it still wasn't enough, so they had ventured out into human society to buy fruit when it was necessary. They also did trade with neighboring beast-men, the Wolfmen being happy to share their fruit for their Bee’s wax waste. I 

“What exactly do you guys do for fun though?” You asked, trying to lighten the mood.

Lyith smiled. “Late night flying is fun.”

Rena snorted. “You mean late night spying. Lyith has a habit of looking through people's windows.”

Lyith wrinkled his nose at Rena. “If they did not want to be seen they would have drawn the curtains. It's not strange, I am just curious about human life is all.”

Rena reached forward and pinched Lyiths nose. “Poor thing. So bored he must make mischief.”

You looked at Lyith with surprise. His big eyes grew in concern and he pouted at you.

“You are not going to tease me too are you? I promise, I never see anything scandalous. I'm a good little bee.” He fluttered his eyes at you.

You giggled and pushed his shoulder. 

“As long as you're not spying on me I guess it's harmless.”

Lyiths expression shifted to one of his dopey smiles. It always surprised you how innocent he could look despite his size. Was it maybe…

“So… I may have read that you guys are telepathic right?” 

Renas face changed into a smirk. 

“Yes, and?”

“ Well, have you guys ever… used your powers on me?” 

Rena snorted. Lyith gave you an unreadable expression. “We Bee-man are very particular about sharing our heads outside of our hives. But no. We haven't done anything to you if that's what you meant…”

Oh. He was pouting now.

“No! Thats not what I meant! I just… i feel so comfortable around you guys it's almost supernatural. I just. Idk. Wanted to know. Please I didn't mean anything by it!”

Lyith wrinkled his nose at you and Rena continued to seem amused. You felt helpless and got a bit upset with yourself. You did your best to calm yourself down but you were upset. You had so few friends here and you were afraid you blew it. A wave of loneliness swept through you.

Lyith was watching you the whole time, before sighing. “All will be forgiven if you give us some of those fruit tarts you made yesterday.”

You looked at him, shocked. 

“I thought you said you didn't spy on me!”

“I wasn't spying, I just happened to be foraging by the window, and smelled something amazing. It was all incidental.”

“There's sugar in the crust. Won’t your tummy get upset?”

He just smiled. Rena laughed. “He named his price. For offending us, we must get fruit tarts.”

Finally feeling better, the three of you walked(they let you walk!!!) Back to your home. You served them up your tarts, when finally the questions started coming about you. Why did you move here? Do you have any siblings? What were you like as a child?

This went on until dinner time, at which point you decided to shoo your new friends away. “ I'll be back to do the flowers tomorrow. We… we will see what I can do.” You admitted. The two of them smiled at you, hugging you tight for a good three minutes. They always lingered, nuzzling your face and hair, as if they were getting a whiff of you. You could smell their own perfume and tried not to think too much. Their goodbyes always felt so intimate. 

 Rena decided to pepper your face in kisses before they left. Lyith just rolled his eyes at her. When they drew apart you felt empty, like some piece of you was going with them.

***

As always, Lyith picked you up that morning. This time, you made sure to bring a scarf and hat, alongside emergency snacks in your bag. Where he was taking you next was a little longer of a trip, a whole ten minutes to the usual six. That was a long time when you were hurtling through the air.

You were surprised to drop into a small crowd. There were ten Bee-men present besides Rena, who seemed to be communicating silently with them. The air was full of bee noises; humming, purring, the fluttering of wings. The air smelled amazingly fresh, floral and syrupy. It was an odd smell, but it seemed to put you at ease somehow. And maybe a bit peckish.

A Beeman a whole foot and a half taller then Rena fluttered towards you. They bowed, of which you awkwardly returned before they reached forward and took your hand gently. Lyith started,

“This is Elder Bisou. He is the eldest of our hive. He is showing you respect.”

Elder Bisou smiled at you. “Little Witch, I welcome you to our territory. My human is a bit… unused. Please receive our thanks for your efforts.” He took your hand and leaned down so that it met his temple. You could feel the rush of his magic, like your mind was a fish bowl and he was putting a gentle hand on the glass. You could feel his warmth, his deep gratitude through it. 

Your back straightened and you felt water prick your eyelids. You gave him a slow nod, becoming acutely aware just how serious this whole situation actually was. Rena and Lyith had been dancing around it, but the Bee-men must be slowly starving to death. That was the only explanation for the depths of what you had felt.

“I will do my best.” Was all you could reply. 

Lyith, acting as your translator, took you to each Bee-men he could and introduced you. It seemed that some of the elders, as well as some of those who had free time had come to watch the “little witch” work. Most took your hand gently, and sent you a ghost of what their emotions were. There was a sort of film around the emotions, a barrier of sorts. Whether this was on purpose so you wouldn’t be overwhelmed, or just how their telepathy worked, you couldn't tell. 

You did your best to not let your nerves get to you as you dissected the sections of the field where you would be doing your experiments. You didn’t know how these particular flowers would take to your spell, so it was still best to be cautious. The bee-men looked on with interest.

You did your chants in a loud booming fashion, and channeled in as elegant a fashion as you could. Like always, the magic came, and the spell did its work. These flowers were different, like rainbow colored lavender. Rather than letting the magic gush through you, you let it gently trickle out, pacing yourself. When the deeds were done, you still felt sore, and you still held a headache in your temple, but there was no nausea, so growth! 

Once you were done with your work, there was a large excited buzzing throughout the forest. There was clapping, dancing, stomping of feet, pumping of many hands, whoops from Rena and Lyith. One Bee, a worker named Aidenn held a small wooden instrument in his hands and started to play. This triggered a chorus from the Bee-men. There was a harmonizing among the crowd and they started to circle each other, laughing and dancing. A circle of flying, spinning Bee-men formed.

Rena grabbed you by the waist and hoisted you onto her shoulder before joining in the circle of the dance. You giggled as you spun, feeling the giddiness in the air like it was laughing gas. That same pressure filled your mind and a part of your heart started to soar. It was intimate, but not stifling and you loved feeling so close to everyone.

You lifted your hands and, feeling in the spirit, decided to hum along. At some point Rena had taken you in her arms and held you close as they continued to fly in a circle, spinning and perrying, and switching. It was similar to square dancing, where there was a pattern to it. 

At one point, the tune changed and Lyith swooped down from above and grabbed you out of Rena’s arms. She snorted at him but let it happen, joining hands with another passing Bee-men. When Lyith gathered you in his arms, he cradled you as close as possible, surprising you. One hand was gripping firmly around your waist and the other crushing you to him. He landed on the ground, and the rest of the bee-men followed, causing something of a ballroom dance. 

“You did wonderfully today.” He breathed in your ear, causing them to redden. You pulled yourself back a bit to see his face and he was looking at you with such pride and affection it felt like a weight crushing your chest. You moved your hands from his shoulders to reach his own hands. You were shaky, but you wanted to return his feelings somehow. His palms were soft.

This caused him to laugh, a purring sort of trill coming from his throat. You couldn’t help a silly grin form on your face.

“I’m glad you came to my garden.” Was all you could think to say.

He looked at you, with those big black eyes, then reached forward and kissed you on the lips. It was only a peck, but you could feel his joy through it. 

Something complex within you, a mix of happiness, excitement, hope, all of your feelings rose up into your throat. Unable to find the words to express yourself, you took all of those big heavy emotions, wrapped them all up together and kissed him back, right there, in the middle of your makeshift dance floor.

When you pulled away Lyith looked shocked, his bottom lip hanging open. Adorable as usual. 

Rena hollered from the otherside of the gathering, sending out a big whoop. There was laughter, buzzing and an echoing whoop from some of the younger bee-men. Elder Bisou made some clicking sounds, but the sides of his mouth were slightly upturned.

It occurred to you then that you were in the middle of a group of very telepathic monster people. Your cheeks grew hot in embarrassment and you pulled away from Lyith a bit. Your shoes suddenly became very interesting. 

Lyith eventually turned your chin back up to face him. He held a small peaceful smile, before bumping his forehead to yours. He didn’t share his emotions but the affection was still there.

After you grew too tired to dance, you took a seat under a tree, munching on a granola bar. Another one of the Bee-men, a younger drone named Haven, made his way to sit next to you.

“I don’t know if it was mentioned, but honey production has picked up enormously since you agreed to help us. I haven’t felt this great in… well ever! Thank you little witch!”

“I’m not little, but thank you for saying so.” You were starting to get a bit lightheaded now, and not from the dancing. It was possible that some of the symptoms of mana sickness were surfacing a little late.

“You are strong! That is true! Even elder Bisou has said he hasn’t met a human or beastman with mana like yours!” Haven turned his voice down to a whisper, as if he was sharing a secret, “Your magic smells so much like flowers, really, its a huge blessing! In fact, I would eat you up if I could!” He laughed as if he had made a joke. He sighed and looked up dreamily at the sky. “Alas, I am saving myself for when we find our queen.” He wrapped his arms around himself, as if to fend off imaginary suitors.

You wrinkled your nose. “Queen? You don’t have a queen? Isn’t that super bad for bees, I mean bee-men?” 

Heaven tilted his head at you, reminding you of Lyith. 

“Of course. That's why we are all so small and weak.” You stared at him in shock. He put up his hands. “We are doing well though! It's been 20 years since our queen died but we are still here! Oh! There is a hive up north! Any day now, one of their queens' daughters might descend and bless us! Or.. Or we--”

“Little One! You seem like you're getting sick!” Rena Descended from above and put a hand to your forehead.

“You are far too warm! Haven, mind if I take her out of your wings?”

Heaven looked up at Rena, his face a mask of confusion. He eventually gave in though and stood up.

“I should check on Elder Bisou! He might need something!” His voice was flat, obviously fake, but he ran away- flew away with gusto.

Rena took your face into her hands, tilting your head back and forth. Your lightheadedness turned full on dizzy. Rena’s face screwed up in an annoyed expression.

“You overdid it. And after that whole speech about not knowing your limits too..” She gently put a hand on your back and picked you up princess style. You would have been embarrassed, if your brain was functioning properly. Instead your gaze fixed on Rena’s beautiful iridescent wings. The lights were so lovely and they helped ground you. Honestly, everything about Rena was lovely. Well, maybe lovely wasn’t the right word. She was rough around the edges. A tease and a know it all. But she doted on you so, it made you feel a bit overwhelmed. Your gaze shifted from her wings to her lovely nose, pretty sharp for a bee-men. 

Rena started conversing with Lyith about you, pointing her jaw and humming. Huh. Rena was actually incredibly attractive. You had known that before. Maybe it was something about how dizzy everything was. The last time you had felt this way she had been kissing you, her textured tongue pushing nectar down your thoat-

“Little One”

Your mind immediately focused. She was using a demanding tone. 

“Lyith will take you home. Next time, we will only do one spell at a time.” She leaned forward and placed her cool lips to the side of your mouth. Making you blush. Well your face was already heated so you would have blushed. “I will see you again soon. Rest.” And she was off.

You were in Lyith’s arms again. A place you were starting to get comfortable in. He stared at you for a moment, his lips pursed, then sighed loudly. He held your gaze for a moment.

“I do not like this habit you are forming. You will not get sick again, understand?” 

You nodded at him, mind hazy. Sleepy. You were sleepy. 

You didn’t register the fly home, only that the coolness felt nice. You were carried from the porch, into the living room, up the stairs, and laid on your bed. You were covered in warm, delicious blankets. 

You never saw Lyith leave before you passed out. Probably because he tucked himself in right beside you, the cool air washing over both of you from the open bedroom window.

[isjasz]

[Day 173]

There is a way to end it (Have you really succeeded?)

[writingquestionsanswered]

Hi! Do you have any tips how to not lose interest in a story and be enough interested to start/do write if? Personally I just get hyperfixated on a story idea I have, do the brainstorming, even the planning, sometimes world building and if I get serious I make lists about almost everything but never end up writing even if I have interest still, but at most cases at the point I could start writing I just loose interest and get bored of a story when I'm done figuring out what it'll be about and maybe because I don't really like thinking about the climax or the end of the story...

Hyperfixation on Planning Story, But Can't Write It

I do have some tips on rekindling your interest in your story, which I'll link below, but first I think it's worth addressing the specific issues you mentioned: that you don't like to think about the climax or end of the story.

Have you thought at all about why you feel that way? There are a few potential reasons I can think of:

1 - Your story doesn't have a conflict, so your story doesn't have a natural climax or ending. Stories revolve around conflict, or in other words a problem that needs to be solved. This problem could be in the character's heart and mind (internal conflict), in the character's situation/life/world (external conflict), or you can have both at the same time. Many stories these days have a parallel internal and external conflict. Stories are ultimately about someone (or a bunch of someones) trying to solve a problem. In order to solve that problem, they need to reach a particular goal or accomplish a particular thing. The bulk of the story will be their struggle to reach this goal as they overcome the obstacles along the way. The climax of the story is where they face down the cause of the conflict once and for all, whether that's a villain (like an evil wizard or corrupt corporation) or a force (like illness or a natural disaster) and try to solve the problem once and for all. Everything after that is the aftermath... whether they succeeded or failed, patching up their "wounds" from the "battle" (again, it doesn't have to be actual wounds or an actual battle), and settling into the post-conflict life. That's your ending.

2 - You have a conflict, but haven't figured out how it would be resolved, so the climax and ending are fuzzy. If you have a conflict but aren't sure how it would be resolved, it might help to think of the conflict as a problem that needs to be solved. For example, in The Hunger Games, the conflict was the Hunger Games Event... the problem was that Katniss volunteered to compete which put her life at risk. So the solution to the problem was to survive the event.

3 - You know what the climax and ending are, but you are enjoying the characters and world and don't want the story to end. This is one I think many writers can relate to. It can be really hard to let go of a story when you've enjoyed writing it, have gotten attached to the characters, and feel comfortable/familiar with the world. It can also be a little scary to think about diving into a whole new story. But, we do have to learn to let go of stories when they're finished and let them come to their natural conclusion. You can always go back to the world and characters, even if just for yourself, later on. It wouldn't be weird to write "fan-fiction" of your own story, and many writers turn these kinds of stories into prequels, sequels, companion series, and companion short stories that their readers enjoy, too.

Here are some tips for getting excited about your story again if you just need your motivation rekindled:

Guide: How to Rekindle Your Motivation to Write 5 Reasons You Lost Interest in Your WIP, Plus Fixes! Getting Excited About Your Story Again Getting Unstuck: Motivation Beyond Mood Boards & Playlists Feeling Unmotivated with WIP

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I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

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[thecommunityfridge]

infantilism: the musical

All characters are 18+

cw: abdl, messy diapers, diaper change

“Stop, stop, stop.”

Kayleigh obediently stopped, mid-verse, and stepped back, turning to face Ava, the director, who stood at the back of the auditorium. Grace, who was the musical director but also the pianist, and therefore facing in the opposite direction, gave the leading actress a sympathetic grin and pushed her stool away from the keyboard, reaching down for the water bottle that they all knew was a necessity if they wanted to make it through the long hours of rehearsal in this overheated room without gaining blinding headaches along the way.

“Everything OK?”

“It’s missing something,” the director declared, and Kayleigh worked very hard not to roll her eyes. A similar declaration had been made at least three times a day ever since they started rehearsing for this production. Plenty of somethings had been added, and most of them had been taken out again shortly afterwards when the director changed her mind about it after a night’s sleep.

But it was just one of those things that you had to put up with when you did amateur dramatics — you got amateur directors.

“Like what?” Kayleigh inquired, as politely as she could manage, sitting down on the stage with an audible squish and crossing her legs. She’d been standing, walking, and dancing for four hours and counting by now, and if there was an opportunity for an impromptu break then she was absolutely going to take it. “A tap routine? Or a male voice choir? Or a saxophone solo? Or —”

“No, no, none of that. It needs more whimsy. Something like…” The director paused. “Kay, would you stand up and sit down again for me?”

The actress shrugged. “Sure?” She hopped up to her feet and then, somewhat awkwardly, sat down again. Same squish.

“I thought I heard something!”

“Yeah, I need a change.” Kayleigh brushed a hand through her hair. “Sorry, and all that, but —”

“No, no, don’t you see? It’s perfect! That’s what we need!”

Kayleigh and Grace exchanged a series of looks, and at long last, Kayleigh accepted defeat. “What’s what we need?”

“More verisimilitude!”

“Bless you.”

“You’re a baby, right? So why are you standing singing sophisticated stuff with harmonies and counterpoints?”

Grace intervened. “Because that’s what you asked me to write.”

“Yes, yes, yes.” Ava waved a dismissive hand. “But it doesn’t fit! And now I know why! It’s too grown-up.”

“Too grown-up?”

“We have a nursery setting, so we need nursery music!”

“Like… The Wheels on the Bus?”

“No, no. This is an original musical.”

“Oh, of course. Silly me.”

“What we need,” Ava continued, the light of creation in her eyes, “is a score that feels at home in a nursery. We need rattles. We need banging blocks. We need a kind of… nursery ambience. The authentic sounds of the nursery.”

“I cannot conceivably score a musical for rattle and teething ring, Ava.”

“Sure you can.”

Kayleigh stifled a yawn. “So are you guys going to need me for this? Only like I said, I could kinda use a change.”

“And it’s past her naptime,” Grace added, striking a gentle discord on the piano. “Let her go, Ava. She’ll only get fussy otherwise, and we need to work on this.”

The director sighed. “Fine, whatever. Will you put her down, Grace? I’ll try and brainstorm a bit.”

“I guess.” Grace stood up from the stool and stretched, her shoulders cracking. “Ready, Kay?”

“Sure.” The actress got up, taking her friend’s hand. “See you, Ava.”

“See you, Kay. Have a good nap.”

The two exited stage right, leaving the auditorium through a little-used side door, and began the short walk back to Kayleigh’s nearby accommodation.

“Do you think we’re ever actually gonna finish?”

Grace sighed. “Your guess is as good as mine. She doesn’t seem to get it. I can’t just write whole new songs overnight. Maybe there are people who can, but I’m not one of them, and if it goes on like this much longer, there won’t be anything left of the original concept at all.”

Kayleigh squeezed her shorter friend’s hand tightly. “I know you can do it.”

Grace laughed briefly. “Swap you? You write it, I’ll sing it.”

“I don’t think that would end well.” Kayleigh fumbled in her pocket to find her room key, letting them both into her apartment, and Grace wrinkled her nose as they entered.

“Wow, you really do need a change.”

The actress blushed. “Sorry. It was that curry night at the students’ union.”

“Yeah, no kidding. Get your butt on the mat, girl.”

Meekly, Kayleigh laid down on the changing mat which was the centrepiece of her living space, and there was a rustle of fabric as Grace flipped up the other girl’s skirt.

“You reek. Well, here goes nothing.” As was her wont, Grace began humming something faintly soothing under her breath. Whether she meant to calm herself or Kayleigh, the latter was never entirely sure, but it was nice, and so she didn’t question it. She wriggled a little on the mat as the other girl gave her bum an exploratory squeeze, and then couldn’t help giggling as Grace tore the four tapes, one by one, perfectly in time with the rhythm of her tune.

“What are you humming?”

“It’s, uh…” Grace frowned and hummed a few more bars as she tried to remember. “No idea. Something I made up, I think. I always just think of it as Kayleigh’s Stinky Song.”

The actress attempted to swat her friend’s face, but the other girl pulled back and she missed dramatically. “It’s cool, I like it. Title needs some work, though.”

“It’s nothing special.” Grace peeled back the front of her friend’s nappy and pulled a face. “Girl, we are so totally doing something about your diet. This is gross.”

“I can change myself, you know.”

“Eh, what are friends for?” The humming resumed as Grace pulled the baby wipes towards her and opened the lid of the packet with a click.

Kayleigh lay back and enjoyed the tickle of the wipes against her skin, and the soothing notes of the music. “Grace?”

“Yeah?”

“You know that thing you’re humming?”

“Yeah?”

“Would you say it’s an original soundtrack?”

Halfway across Kayleigh’s bottom, the wipe paused, and so did the tune.

“You know, I guess I would.”

“The authentic sounds of the nursery, right?”

“And nurseries don’t get much more authentic than this.”

“Grace!”

[yjhariani]

Just so we could realise this idea a little bit, let's have a little bit of infected!Simon and doctor!reader moment.

You tried so hard to not sigh in disappointment first thing upon unravelling the bandage that was badly covering an ‘amputated’ arm. You took a moment to assess the damage before looking up at the man sitting in front of you.

“So, what’s goin’ on here?” you asked, getting your tools ready to clean up the stump.

The masked soldier took a moment before saying, “I got shot.”

“You got shot,” you nodded. “Close proximity?”

“Too close,” he said.

“How close?” you asked.

“Do I need to answer?” he asked back.

“You do know you should never lie to a medical professional, right, sir?” you teased casually, raising an eyebrow at him.

The man only looked at you for a moment, weighing on how much he liked the way you addressed him like that.

“Direct contact,” he finally said. “Almost direct.”

You looked at him in understanding because you already knew what happened. This soldier was probably alone when it happened, seeing that if he had at least one companion he would have had his limb cut off instead of shot clean off.

“Okay, uh… sorry, what’s your name?” you proceeded.

It was a rare thing for people to ask that. Hell, one look at his mask and people knew who he was. Sometimes they did not even need to know his name, they just needed to be very respectful towards him.

So, he said, “Simon.”

“Simon. Alright, Simon, do you wanna talk about it?” you offered.

“No,” he sternly said. “It’s stupid.”

“If you’re still here, then, it’s not,” you shrugged.

The man only looked at you for a moment.

“I might have… accidentally shoved my whole fist into the mouth of a zombie,” he carefully said.

“Oh,” you hummed in response.

To be honest, he was surprised by your nonchalant reaction. He thought you would have laughed at him. He was so glad you did not.

“Yeah,” he said. “It clamped my hand in. Took a force to get my hand out. Ripped my glove in the process.”

“You’re lucky the infection didn’t kick in sooner. Else you would’ve been one of them,” you said.

“I suppose, yeah,” he nodded.

From there, you thoroughly took care of his stump. You even told him afterwards how to properly take care of it. Then, you told him that he was good to go.

“You’ll be here tomorrow?” he asked as he stood up.

“Yeah,” you nodded.

“Alright,” he nodded and started to step away. “Just making sure I know who to seek in case I run a fever or something.”

You smiled at him.

“Let’s hope you don’t,” you lightly chuckled.

I’ll make an excuse, he thought to himself.

So, the next morning, once Simon woke up in his private quarter he brainstormed with himself on the excuses that he might use just so he could see you again in the infirmary. Maybe he could say that he had trouble replacing the bandage of his stump. Or maybe he was not feeling good, having a bad dream about it—something that was not entirely wrong.

This quarter—though not as spacious as the time before the apocalypse—was a little luxury that his rank gave him. He could sleep with his mask off and not have to share a bathroom with anybody.

Deciding to start his day, Simon got up from the bed and headed to the small bathroom. He thought about starting his day per usual, with a quick shower, brushing his teeth, then maybe getting some food and eating them in his quarter.

However, right after his very carefully done shower, Simon was frozen in front of his sink as he looked in the mirror. His right eye had turned milky like the infected, there were patches of skin that looked rotten on the right side of his face and body. His gaze descended to his right arm, seeing rotting looking skin. When he lifted a little bit of his bandage, he could see how much worse the skin around his stump looked.

For a few moments, Simon tried waking himself up, but soon he had to accept that he had been awake for quite some time. Though he was not a stranger to the thought of death, seeing that his time would come soon made him uneasy and a little anxious.

Well, Simon did not need to make an excuse to see you now because he had a very real reason to.

[hyunsvngs]

no thoughts head empty just fratboy!minho 😵‍💫😵‍💫 goD PLEASE i need to know what was going through his head throughout that whole exchange starting from the video (what if,,,,minho pov 👀)

for real omg, fratboy minho is taking up 100% of the real estate in my brain rn and he isn't paying me a single penny of rent 🫠

believe me tho, minho was going absolutely feral on every emotional level, from the second he saw that video. he's just far too good at keeping his composure

some thoughts below the cut....

minho had obviously had his eye on you for a while. from the very first time you'd shown up with felix and jisung, actually.

he knew you wanted him - you were much less subtle than you thought. he'd seen you checking him out, just about every single time the two of you were in the same room. and every time he so much as smirked at you, even raised an eyebrow, you either flushed bright red or found an excuse to run out of the room.

you seemed so shy, but minho knew better. this was the behaviour of someone who was harbouring some dirty, dirty thoughts.

honestly, he'd been disappointed when you stopped coming around. he thought that maybe you'd found yourself a boyfriend or something, which annoyed him more than he'd care to admit. if only he'd moved in a little faster, and you could've been his... he hadn't wanted it to transpire like that, though. he needed you to grow more and more desperate, until you needed him so bad it outweighed your shyness.

and that's what had happened. in a more roundabout way.

when he heard you in the background of that video, it felt like christmas had come early. minho prided himself on his restraint. he could wait for as long as was necessary. he wasn't one to rush. but after hearing that, hearing your vulgar words... he knew he had to seize this.

he hadn't even said goodbye to anyone at the theta chi theta party. he'd high-tailed it back home, he couldn't risk the possibility of you running away before he got there. seungmin was the first one he saw when he got there "where's-" "jisung's room."

he started to get hard as soon as he saw your shocked little face. honestly, he didn't know what had gotten into him. he usually had so much more restraint than this. he could hold off his own pleasure for hours, if it meant he could toy with a pretty baby, watching them get more and more desperate.

god, he felt like the desperate one with you. he did a fairly good job of not showing it, or he hoped so at least. but when he saw the need in your eyes; when you undressed for him, and he finally got to see your bare skin, all soft and ready to be touched; when he first saw your pussy, dripping with want.

and when you asked him to cum? he had just blown, instantly. this was the first time in a long time he hadn't felt in control. and the strangest thing was, it didn't even frustrate him. well, okay, it did a little bit. but most of all, he was intrigued.

he'd laid awake for a while, after you'd fallen asleep. thinking about things. he was satisfied, more satisfied than he'd been in far too long. but, in the same vein, he was hungrier than he ever had been, filled with pure want. he craved you, urgently.

honestly, he had to hold himself back from waking you up for part two. you slept so sweetly, though, he couldn't. instead he lay there, holding you gently, brainstorming all the horrible, filthy things he'd do to you tomorrow.

-billy

[maaxverstappen]

I’ve been asking ppl cus im nosy. What’s your writing process like if any? Do u have a preferred place or time. Preferred device. Do u write rough drafts then edit or is it much more considered. How do u decide that an idea is worth fleshing out or pursuing if it looks like it’s plotty. Pls yap at length if u so wish — wiz

i love this question!! and would love to know other answers so if you want to reblog them i shall be on the lookout 👀.

i answered partly here so will just like build on that!!

the process is that i’ll have an idea and depending on how large it is write out some sort of outline. my preference for all planning in life is on paper so i have a little journal that ill write out some ideas in. kind of brainstorm / mind map style of just jotting down random ideas that come to mind.

however, with longer fics like my current post-as-i-go wip i have to do it digital bc so much changes and it’s too long (see pics in previous ask). that one i actually started planning in my notes app on a plane bc the idea had to come out of me someway and i was really excited about it. i then transferred it to a google doc and added onto my chapter per chapter outline (1st pic in previous ask). i felt like that was a bit overwhelming for understanding the overall plot so then i went and made a simple overview of the key plot points per chapter (the 2nd pic in previous ask) just so i felt like i had a better understanding of the goal per chapter.

now when i sit down to write a chapter ill get both the detailed notes and the main plot points and just write whatever i feel like in order to get to the goal of the chapter.

for shorter one shot fics i’ll either have no full outline or a one page idea list kind of thing. for instance, for worth the trouble i knew that it would start and end in the present time and then everything in between would be a flashback, but i didn’t know the flashbacks would be non chronological until i was writing it. same for the chewing gum aspect that ends up being quite an important part of the symbolism and that almost weaves the parts together, that wasn’t a *thing* until i was almost finished with the rough draft and i then went to add it in to previous scenes.

for my long fic i have to be a bit more calculated with the hidden messages/foreshadowing as i can’t go back and edit published chapters lmao so that is a little more thought out + i keep track of loose ends to tie together at some point.

editing is a bit of a harder one. for my long fic my overal editing is per chapter, but i do tend to go back and edit per section too. like right now I’m writing a texting scene and first i wrote the plain texting dialogue, then i went back to add the bits in between from characters’ pov. then i’ll read over it fully and edit where needed. finally when the whole chapter is done ill read over it and edit again, but at that point it’s mainly grammar and punctuation.

my main writing issues i’ve noticed so far is that i tend to switch tenses without realising so that’s something i look out for when editing. i also am always worried they don’t *do* enough so i like to think “hmm what action can i add in here to make them more human” when editing.

so far only worth the trouble has been beta read, the rest i do myself. if I’m stuck i will talk through a lot of it with my partner who will give me some ideas and just like help lmao (she’s also the one that beta read wtt!). but she’s not in the f1 fandom so it’s a little hard to have her beta read for characterisation and specific plot points so i do that myself. like when she beta read wtt she gave a few points of feedback that weren’t too relevant bc the average f1 fic reader would understand (like the significance of spa21, there is no need to explain it).

I’m a baby fic writer so a lot of my process will be redefined and refined as i go I’m sure.

as for deciding what to write, it’s really whatever captures my attention. the prompt for help me hold onto you is one i really liked and a trope i love reading myself. i was also ready to challenge myself to a longer plot fic and i was really excited about the idea so i just went for it! my main consideration is really just how excited i am for it.

i will say that i am currently really struggling with perfectionism / imposter syndrome. I’m having a hard time getting the words onto paper bc it feels like it’ll never be as good as my favourite authors anyway so what’s the point. (which is now also impacting the way i read fics bc it makes me sad that ill never write anything as good as what I’m reading lol)

i generally write on my laptop! in a google doc with grammarly activated and the word count on screen (which pisses me off bc i have to turn it back on after every refresh). i wrote my latest crafty!oscar on my phone (bc i was too excited to wait till i got to my laptop) but wouldn’t ever do that for anything much longer or plot-ier than that.

i fear this has gotten very long. i know u said yap away but …. i perhaps have yapped too close to the sun.

[skyberia]

some "behind the scenes" stuff from this comic (read as: wips and assorted thoughts)

SOME BACKSTORY: i was halfheartedly playing through strikers after finishing p5r. the fact that akechi's not even mentioned in that whole game made me sad. the fact that akechi stops being mentioned basically the moment he dies in p5 vanilla makes me sad. i had thoughts. so i decided to make a comic about it

i wrote down the entirety of the script for this while in a complete haze listening to third eye by florence + the machine on repeat for an hour straight. that song has nothing to do with anything the comic is about. or with either of the characters involved. i can't explain my thought process there.

(the 'official' title of the comic is "a ghost amongst the living (consequences of a cognitive death.)" as a sort of tribute to that song, even though it has, again, nothing to do with what the comic is about)

THE SCRIPT: the numbers correlate to text bubbles on my thumbnails (see next). i also put it on discord so i could more easily see it/edit from either my phone or computer, which i don't think is the MOST efficient or professional way to go about doing this, but

you may notice this is a little bit different from the text on the final product. this is because. i changed some things while typing it out for the final thing. i don't know what else to tell you.

i did reach a point where i had read these same words over and over so much that i started questioning if anything i wrote made sense and if i even knew how to speak english correctly. i'd like to thank my friends for reassuring me that some of my wording was ok, and also google because every time i asked "is that even a thing people say" i would just plug it on there to try to figure it out (because i was too embarrassed to ask anyone to read over it)

THE THUMBNAILS: just a rough idea of panelling and where to put text bubbles and such. this took fucking forever. comics are hard. nobody ever tells you this (<- something i said about like 10 times to the same people while making this)

THE SKETCHES: basically grabbing the thumbnails and making them into an actual thing i can draw onto. also getting all the text laid out-- i don't think that's entirely necessary at this point but i was just excited to see it all laid out and being able to read it

(shoutout to my friend sophie for making the font i used for this/use for all my longer comics. she's an icon and a legend and has really nice handwriting)

you may notice that page 9 is completely different from the thumbnails. this is because i was tired by the time i got to that part in planning and i paid for it. brainstorming & reworking that page took me an entire day. comics are HARD. I AM TELLING YOU THIS

page 6 also changed by the time i got around to lining it because i decided that it sucked and i hated it. reworking that into something more acceptable also took me about half a day. i'm happy with how it turned out though, and glad that i no longer have the issue of having a flop ass page in the middle of this

THE PROCESS: was actually quite straightforward after that, just doing the lines and the like. but i wanted to share how i did the backgrounds. i grabbed a bunch of in-game screenshots i took for reference and just plugged them through csp's "artistic > lines only" filter and just traced over that

i love you art shortcuts that make my life & ability to make yaoi comics easier

(if you're curious too here's all the screenshots i took & was keeping on the side for reference)

ETC: some miscellaneous thoughts, because if you've made it all the way through this then you probably don't have anything better to do anyway:

all in all this took two weeks. script was written on the 11th, thumbnails were done on the 14th, sketches were done on the 17th, lining on the 24th, aaand colouring took me just one day. comics are HARD and TAKE TIME. NOBODY TELLS YOU THIS!!!!!

i actually started getting wrist pain somewhere along the 2nd day of lining/3rd page. that step of the process probably took longer than it otherwise would because i had to keep taking breaks 2 ensure i wouldn't break my hand completely -_-

my sanity throughout the lining process was only ensured by listening to a frankly stupid amount of jpop. thank you wednesday campanella and mrs. green apple

i think my favourite page is page 3. i like how the panels get crooked when akechi puts the detective prince persona on, i like how akira deadpans (in a straightened panel) to cut him off. also in order to get the hand right in the first panel i did the hair twirling motion myself and ended up hitting myself in the eye with my own hair. it was worth it though

IN CONCLUSION: i think they went a bit too hard with the yaoi fanservice in persona 5 royal

[togalnu]

Do you have any specific hcs for fem togainu or just fem nitrochi as a whole? I'd love to hear them! ^^

Oops I meant to answer this earlier. Anyways yes! I will be putting this under a read more because. Lol. Enjoy!

You wanna know a secret? Earlier this year I was researching parodies and the legalities of them because I had the grand idea to make a togainu remake but yuri and with some story changes. A whole ass visual novel. I was seriously planning on making it. Suffice to say I have put in some thought in turning these yaoi boys into yuri girls.

We will be here all day if I list every little thought and headcanon I have! I'll def make more posts about my visions in the future, but for right now I need to talk about Shiki. I NEED TO TALK ABOUT SHIKI.

First and foremost, my overall thoughts about Shiki: wasted potential. His route was a huge disappointment when I finally got to it. It was fumbled so fucking badly and it pains my soul because Shiki is hot and I love the concept of his character but.. man. What a let down. I ended up thinking about him a lot because of this. What I would do if I were in charge of writing his route, parts of his characterization that I'd rid of or ameliorate, and maybe even giving him some new quirks to not make him so one-dimensional-evil-villain type. And then along with this, I started thinking about what if he was a woman. because I am attractdd to women. Typical thought process.

First, his design. I am a sucker for black haired red eyes bitches. I love black and red. I'm dying my hair black and red at the end of the year. The majority of my wardrobe is black and red. I do not play around #EMO. I love the almost leather gothic look he has but unfortunately it is not enough for me. I felt that he needed more unnecessary accessories and belts and other clothing items, as any goth should have. I've had a few ideas in mind for Shiki girl outfit and they all lean into these more, like giving her extra bracelets, belts, necklaces, crosses, whatever. I want her DECKED OUT!!! But I also struggle coming up with outfits so I can't really decide what looks good LMAO

Things I love about Shiki's outfit:

- The gloves. UGHHH gloves are so fun. The longer the gloves are the better.

- His stupid coat

- The spikes and crosses. The silver adds a lot to his appearance

- Turtleneck<3

Things I don't like about Shiki's outfit:

- those stupid ass notches on his pants. I can't tell if he has insane thigh-high boots or strange pants, and neither can a lot of artists it seems like? Though it seems pants are the consensus. SAD!

- Turtleneck should have long sleeves

- Or his coat should have long sleeves. One of those two

- What the hell is going on with his belt. It'd look fine if it didn't have those strange hanging.. circle... things

NOW MY IDEAS

I like the idea of her having a corset and fishnets, so I've been including that in whatever iteration of her design I'm working on. I gotta keep the coat too as it's like, a Shiki classic. I've also been trying to decide how a skirt for her might look (I love the idea of it having a slit so you can see her fishnets and thigh high boots).

But I'm torn on including the turtleneck as much as I love it.... I feel like it kinda clashes. Idk maybe i should just move her skirt up so it's not hanging off her ass but also it's fun to draw it that way.

Although adding another belt with the skirt could work too, and have the fishnets peaking out from the skirt slit... not gonna draw that rn though im just brainstorming here

Like I said earlier I'd love to give her way more accessories than base Shiki has but I need to definitely play around with outfit ideas more bc I don't want her to look too cluttered either. Also sorry all the pics are torso only because for some reason I struggle HARD with drawing calves and feet

I don't have much to say for hair ideas.. I just like the idea of it flairing out + two long.. idk what to call them... strands of hair? Down her cheeks?? Okay well u see what I mean in the pic. Bangs pretty much stay the same

And ohhh my god I know togainu is set in the post-apocalyptic future, but considering it came out in 2005 I feel obligated to rework some of the designs to be a little more y2k.. Akira with low waisted flared jeans... making Shiki even more gothic... it's so fucking fun HOW CAN I NOT!!

Also the other day I saw this one corset that I LOVED and wanted to see if I can Shiki-fy it but hmm... idk... I definitely need to play around with the idea more but here's a quick sketch i did just for funsies so you get the idea

Okay moving on

Second, his characterization. I love the idea of what they were going for in terms of his relation to Nano. I wish so badly they had expanded on this past Shiki just hating line users and killing them because he's unable to kill Nano (although I do think this is a pretty good bit of characterization). I'm pretty sure the Chayamachi manga goes more into this but idc we are talking about the game so I'm gonna pretend it doesn't exist.

Shiki is smug and cocky. Incredibly so. But a big part of his character is how hateful he is, so much so that it's this hate that motivates everything he does.

I love it. I love his hatred. I wish the game went more into it sooo badly and like if he found out Akira had anti-line blood before the end of the game and there was time given to show his reaction? Would he hate Akira for it??? Would he feel any kind of resentment?? If I was Shiki I'd definitely feel complicated as fuck over it!!!

Anyways I'm still working out how fem Shiki could be improved upon in terms of this, and I LOVEEE LOVE LOVE LOVE writing personality and backstories and relationships with other characters and how they all interact with each other. I have very deep oc lore because of this but i will not get into my ocs rn because they have nothing to do with togainu.

This post is already long enough however and if I were to talk about all the ideas I had for Shiki characterization upgrade... well it'd take even longer. To say the least. One day I'll talk about it though! In a more comprehensive post including other characters and whatnot. It's something I definitely also need to work out in my head more tho

It's been a pretty fun project so far that I hope to do more with in the future. Side note that doesn't really matter but there's this song that I always imagine fem Shiki amvs too oops.. RIDE IT by LustSickPuppy... this part especially.......

(the part is around 1:17 if you don't feel like listening to the entire thing. But u should)

Urggghhhh I love lsp ugh ughhhhhfuhrhhcuuhfhuufghh sorry for posting lyrics and a spotify link. It will happen again

OKAY. AMYWAYS

I do not give a fuck if all of this seems too self indulgent. If anything it's supposed to be!!! It's a labor of love!!!

Thank u to anyone who read this far. I appateciate it

[maiverie]

hello <3 i finally started reading triage and i laughed too hard reading the first chap :'D i loved the chemistry jokes sm (im still finding a time to read the rest but unfortunately it's almost time for school again) you're actually my fav author here in blr !!! your writing is just so well-written and that might be an understatement bcs it's just so good ??? i think no simple words can explain how amazing of an author you are <3 like the way you deliver the words and how you let readers imagine the little scenarios you make like it's so cool <3

(sorry if this is too long but) i also came here to ask you for advice hehe. im kind of a newbie here in blr and im currently working on my upcoming series.. and im unsatisfied with my progress and found myself deleting my drafts (for abt two times already ??) and i want to know how to be more confident in my writings and how not to overthink too much yk ?? would really love to hear your thoughts on this. you're not only a good author but a good advisor too !!! thank u sm <33

hi lexine (nice to meet u !!), stopppp YOU ARE TOOOO nice thank you sooo much for taking the time out to write this??? 😭💖 firstly, thank you for reading triage and plsss nawt the bitchless chemistry jokes 😭 kidding I also giggled while writing those parts smh

and secondly, ur fav author??? STOP LYINGGG i consider that such a high honour so thank you so much 🥹💞 to have your support is one thing and to read such positive words is another, so again thank you for taking the time out of your day to leave this message because it just made my day :(

aaa please don't apologise because I love long asks the most, and yes ofc my asks are always open! I have a tendency to ramble so beware a long message is below the cut — nevertheless I really hope this helps! 🥹💞

I firstly just want to preface that I obviously do not know everything about writing and this is all truly just one opinion, so only take what resonates 🫶

I can only really speak from personal experience, but I think it's actually a really good thing that you're going back to your drafts, revising your writing, which may or may not include the process of deleting/restarting things. obviously it's a really gruelling experience to go through (bc there's nothing worse than deleting all ur hard work), but I think it's really admirable that you're thinking about your writing and putting in the effort to make it better with each draft !! personally, I am constantly writing and re-writing my drafts and as much as it literally HURTS MY SOUL to delete words/paragraphs/sometimes entire chapters, I genuinely enjoy this process — to me, that's what writing is kind of all about? I know to most people ff is really not that deep (they're not wrong, it doesn't have to be) but I think the fact you're practising deliberation, reflection and thought in your writing, word choice, characters, plot etc. etc. is really really amazing !!

personally, I would say the thing to keep in mind is that everything needs to be in moderation — I've had chapters that have literally taken me a fuckload of re-writes (I'm a big overthinker / slight perfectionist), and while I did initially enjoy the whole process of editing / re-writing / discovering how to change certain scenes etc, it was really really mentally draining and I ended up losing passion for the story in the end. just be careful that this might happen to you? to avoid this, maybe every time you've reached a block (where no matter how much you re-write something, you always seem to hate how it turns out) you should try find a different source of inspiration — whether that means thinking about your story/characters with a different song playing, or moving wherever you tend to write, or having someone brainstorm ideas with you / beta-read your fic, or take a few days off !!

out of curiosity, what don't you like about your first drafts? is it the writing or the pacing or the characters? or is it something you can't quite put a finger on? let me know and we can try think about it together !!! im also the biggest overthinker when it comes to writing (💀) but what kind of comforts me and brings my feet back to the ground is reminding myself that 1) my fics are for MYSELF (i.e. you should be writing things you would want to read yourself, not what others might want to read - bc once you make it all about other people, that's when you really start to overthink) and 2) if im gna be fr, 90% of people on tumblr, especially enhablr, only really care about ff bc they want to read about their bias (if they wanted to read well-written literature, they would probably read a published book or smth yk). in saying that, it's totally okay for your fics to be imperfect (who cares! it's fanfiction!). I think just reminding yourself that ff is just a silly little thing u do in ur spare time (for which has 0 tie to your self-value) will keep you from overthinking things and raging when things get really hard !! when it comes to confidence, I think that comes gradually in small doses (the more you write, the more confident you become in your personal style / writing likes and dislikes), but maybe some ways to feel more confident is by getting a beta reader that you trust (and will give you effective advice — one that doesn't just shower you with compliments but can give you constructive criticism in a nice way), by reading other people's work (just to see if you're on the right track; if you read other people who have written similar tropes to you, it might make you feel less scared / in the dark bc you can see how they've executed it), or by changing the font on your google doc(?) to try reset your brain and re-read your work with fresh eyes.

I hope hope hope this helped in some way, please don't hesitate to reach out again if anything needs clarification or if I didn't quite answer your question (I'm sorry if I didn't 😭) !! <333 you're welcome anytime around here hehe so best of luck with ur series AND WELCOME TO BLRRRR <3333 it sounds like you're on the right track w ur writing if you're being conscious of all these things so I wouldn't fret at all!!! <33

if it helps, I've written other writing tips here, here and here! 🫶

[roseartsandfics]

9 -- Drawing Lessons

5 walked into his and his lover's bedroom as he saw ShadowSilver drawing, simply admiring her work.

"Hey, Shads." He said, walking to her.

ShadowSilver stopped drawing for a minute as she heard 5 coming in. She turned towards him and smiled. "Hello, love." She said to him,

5 stood beside her and peeked at what his lover drew. It was just a fairy.

"Nice, Shads!" He said "Impressive work!"

"Ha ha, thanks 5." ShadowSilver replied back, blushing lightly.

"Had the inspiration of drawing by 6, huh?" The one-eyed stitchpunk asked, making ShadowSilver smile and giggle.

"Yep! His drawings had inspire me to be more creative. Who else doesn't inspire me?" ShadowSilver asked back, prompting to test 5 on his knowledge of artists.

5 brainstormed, and trying to guess what artists he could think of that inspired his lover to draw besides 6. "Uh… Michaelangelo? … Raphael? … Leonardo Di Vinci?"

"You got it!" ShadowSilver said winked, while 5 thinked a little deeper.

"Uh… William Shakespeare?" 5 guessed.

"Well, William Shakespeare is the Renaissance poet and playwright." ShadowSilver corrected him "Well… I wrote as well, but 9 was his inspiration and he writes poetry as well after looking up to Shakespeare and his works. Romeo and Juliet was his favorite one, and so was mine. But yeah, could be the inspiration for creativity."

5 nodded in agreement, and smiled.

"Maybe I should teach you how to draw." The pink-haired stitchpunk said to him, which made her lover's eye wider, had never expected her to say this. 5 looked confused at what she said.

"...Teach me… how to draw?" He asked ShadowSilver, and she nodded. 5 looked around, hesitated to say anything, not knowing how to answer. "Well… I could try, but probably not as good as yours and 6's, though." He said.

"And that's why I am going to teach you how to draw, love." ShadowSilver said, smirking at him. This made 5 chuckle nervously, until he agreed to let her tutor him into art. ShadowSilver giggled, and took him by the arm towards her. "Come, love." she said as she took him to his seat, and gave him two papers (in case he screws up).

"Uhh…. Wha-" 5 said, until his lover cut him off.

"It's okay." The girl said "It can't be that bad. Here is a pen for an example, and think of what to draw." She instructed.

"Uh…. A bird, maybe?" 5 asked. ShadowSilver nodded, and replied "Well, let's see how you draw a bird by using the skills I did, love. Just a little pressure, but not too much. We don't want to ruin the paper and have messy inks, do we, now? Just picture what kind of bird in your head to draw and see what your style is."

"Uhh…" 5 said, confused and hesitated, but took the feathered pen and smiled at ShadowSilver. "If you say so." He said as he thought what bird he would draw. Maybe a little European Robin.

5 then started his process of drawing, thinking of what ShadowSilver had instructed him to draw. He began with the head and neck with some linings, and then the tiny beam. Then the back and wings he tried drawing, though it was hard for him to draw the wing, but he managed to finish the whole thing. ShadowSilver was quite impressed with his work.

"Well, what do ya know?" She said "It looks great!"

5 smiled, and answered "Thanks, Sil. Though, it's kinda difficult, ha ha."

ShadowSilver placed her hand on 5's shoulder, smiling at each other. "Oh, it's fine, love. At least you are getting the hang of it! I might teach you to draw other things, too! I'll even bring 6 along as well so we can both teach you!" She said,

"That'll be lovely." 5 replied, smiling.

ShadowSilver giggled and pecked her lover by the cheek before leaving the room. 5 watched her leave, smiling. He could draw other things someday…

…Someday.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My hand is about to ache, and so will my brain. I am tired ack

I somehow managed to finish the small fanfic. I made this artwork with 5 and ShadowSilver I think weeks ago and managed to finish it last week ^^;.

I have been tired since days and apparently had tried taking naps, doesn't work somehow lol. Maybe ShadowSilver (and 6) can teach 5 how to draw some days :3

What y'all think?

5, 6 (mentioned) and 9 ©Shane Acker, Tim Burton, Timur Bekmambetov and Focus Features

ShadowSilver and artwork ©SuperShadowSilver

No copyright infringement is intended

Used: Sketchbook app from iPad

[cult-of-dollbabies]

i feel like you probably answered this before, but how did devon get his spiderpowers? whats the first thing he did with them? is he hiding them, or is he having fun with them?

I've definitely not been asked any of this but thank you for asking! And apologies for the wait! This is mostly brainstorming and I appreciate you got my brain working kek

It's not terribly original, but see there was this spider-

this spider was caught in the crossfire between dangerous sorcerer, Charles Lee Ray (none of the fake voodoo nonsense, straight .. also fake magic) and some cops with a death wish. The spell Ray cast infused the spider with nearly radiation levels of magic. Devon, happened to be strolling home when this occurred, and the nearby blast was unavoidable as he was shot into a bricked corner, the spider slipping into his clothes.

He actually didn't feel anything of the bite, too shocked by the blast and only rushing to get to safety as quick as possible, if his mother wasn't on his tail for coming home so late she surely would be now. He shook the spider from his shirt and noticed the bite on his torso getting ready to shower, but thought he'd worry about it the next day, not a clue of how his life would change.

His first reaction was.. shit I'm in a coma aren't I.

He was actually very intrigued, on the thought he might be taking a long ass nap and quite afraid of that possibility but by now realized that was just paranoia. The new abilities were incredible though, of course he wouldn't tell a soul, not yet, up until Lexy found out by mistake.

Devon spent more time testing what he could do, wearing a ski mask to climb the alley walls so no one could see who he was, and jumping between them, he has organic webbing, so that was weird and a little gross he thought. Shooting them off buildings until they hit something and pulled him forward and off like two stories. But this wasn't a superhero story, he told himself, no sir, not him, it would probably wear off. It didn't. (Other abilities are pending! In my mind)

Oh and he definitely hides them from most, Lexy was fortunately cool enough to not tell.. he thinks, he hopes. At this point she's still Jake's bully so it's hard to say, but he's never heard any of it.

But I think he started his podcast as the spider huntsman, (think of it like how Tom Holland spiderman was "the spider guy from youtube") using a mic attached to headphones as he broadcasts who he's pursuing and swinging through the city, the audio isn't too great actually but it's a great laugh especially when sometimes he'll crash into drones and curse under his breath & his commentary while fighting, and he adds his own subtitles to boot.

Jake listens to said podcast, no surprise there, I'd say he's about one of the only ones who will listen to the whole thing, too. He can't put his finger on it, but that voice is so familiar

[wizard-finix]

Fic in Review 2022

was tagged by @ragecndybars, thank you!!

Total Number of Completed Stories: 

I completed two oneshots this year!

Total Word Count:

After some math, I have apparently posted over 52k words on ao3 this year… which is a whole lot more than I expected

Fandoms Written In:

Persona 3-5, and (to my surprise) Spy X Family!

Looking back did you expect to write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you’d expect:

I’d say more? Most of it got poured into Stygian Ringlet, though, since that’s my main fic and it’s a longfic.

What’s your own favorite story of the year?:

Stygian Ringlet is probably the obvious one, haha. I can’t help loving my boys

Did you take any writing risks this year?:

The P3/Spy X Family crossover was an unexpected surprise, but it was really fun to write for! The crossover spawned in the Marigolds discord, and boy was it fun to brainstorm ideas for Persona characters that could appear. I especially had fun with Shinjiro’s moments. I was actually working on another oneshot after Strangers Are Just Friends You Havent Met!

Do you have any fanfic goals for the New Year?:

Trying to hammer out more of True Crime Special on the Midnight Channel, aka my IT Akiren fic. I feel like it should have a bit more groundwork planned out to do it justice, but it may end up being relatively short anyway. Who knows! :)

Best story of the year:

Outside of my main fic, I was really proud of how Red Strings and Frogged Stitches came out! It always bothered me how Yosuke would treat Kanji throughout P4 (especially since Yosuke heavily reads like he’s gay and in denial about it), and I was really in the mood for a fic where Yosuke finally apologizes and they talk things out between them in a way that does them both justice. Of course, after months of them being at odds, it would take more time than just one night and a talk, but it’s a first step in the right direction.

Most popular story of the year:

Ddefinitely Stygian Ringlet haha

Story of mine most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion:

Red Strings and Frogged Stitches; not too surprising since it’s a P4-only oneshot and centered purely around Kanji and Yosuke

Most fun story to write:

I have a lot of fun writing Stygian Ringlet (because I love my boys), but I also had a lot of fun writing Shinjiro in the P3/Spy Fam AU!

Story with the sexiest moment:

You’ll never get one from me lmao :^)

Sweetest story:

It’s a hard pick between Red Strings and Frogged Stitches (which I explained above) and Strangers Are Just Friends You Haven’t Met (because Shinji reuniting with Koromaru and Minato and meeting Anya is cute as hell)

“Holy crap that’s wrong even for you!” story:

Ehhh none really? (Unless you count the cliffhanger I did for ch. 11 of Stygian Ringlet lmao)

Hardest story to write:

True Crime Special is giving me some difficulty, but starting new multi-chapter fics are always a little rough while you try to find your groove.

Biggest disappointment:

Idk… I guess that I haven’t written more of my other fics? I tend to focus on the main one, but I’m really determined to see that one through. I do want to write more P3/Spy Fam oneshots, though.

Biggest surprise:

Stygian Ringlet’s popularity. Like, holy shit.

I Tag:

uhhhh I tag @mmmn-thristy-for-vinegar and @queen-ofsunflowers for this!! BUT ONLY IF YOU WANT TO youre not obligated to

happy new year!!

[autobot-ratchet]

MTMTE 41-43

MTMTE 41

oh right I forgot about Thunderclash's death scare

Nautica with an entire gaggle of freaks in her room, just freakin it up

“Why is everyone being silly today?” Today???

hdfjsk I forgot that Brainstorm doesn't know how money works

aww Swerve misses Ratchet...

we did it, we finally made exactly one (1) step of progress in the actual quest what with the knights and such

oh right, Roddy's desk doodles that turn out to be a copy of the map that the matrix had, if I remember correctly

oof, Nautica and Firestar are making me have high school flashbacks lmfAO

oh, Thunderclash was also drawing the map. The same map, or part of the map and Roddy's got the other half? Fuck I was almost proud of myself for remembering a minute detail lmfAOsjadfk

I barely remember what these weird little parasite things are, I just remember that they feed of charisma and die immediately when Roddy and Megatron walk into the room lmAO

MTMTE 42

“Oh, and First Aid's there too- the poor man's Ratchet-” don't be fUCKING RUDE, SWERVE LEAVE HIM ALONE

I do find it unbelievably funny that the best way to deal with the Gender Conundrum that Simon Furman forced upon this transformers continuity is to just. Downplay it as much as possible and not make a big deal out of explaining why the robots use more than one set of pronouns, especially since the entire fucking reason we have this problem in the first place is because Furman could not stop himself from making a big deal out of it and creating a lore explanation instead of simply being normal about it lmfAO that's honestly why it matters so much that Anode's explanation for going from he to she was just “I found out that girls exist and thought they were pretty neat,” like that was truly all it took this whole time and Furman never had to do All That Shit

Skids is real sweet with Nautica

Jesus, rip Skystalker. Poor Firestar has clearly never had to deal with this kind of gore before lmAO

Thunderclash's speech here is simultaneously funny because of how overly heroic and perfect he's being and also genuinely touching lmAOgdfjks I am not immune to Thunderclash's pull... “For every act of aggression there are a thousand acts of kindness, for every hateful word, a million declarations of love” is hitting me particularly hard after having been on Twitter for the last few years. Like yeah yeah bird website bad (or I guess it's the letter website now but I'm gonna be real I'm calling it Twitter forever) but like actually, I'm not just dunking on it for laughs, it is a website designed to thrive off of negativity and it is also unfortunately the best social media platform available so it's the only place you can reliably find everyone from all over. So for a lot of us, our only option for keeping in touch with a lot of our friends and peers has just been forcing the most soul-draining bullshit in front of our eyes for years and it's hard not to start thinking that the world is just an inherently awful place, but it's not. We're just being shown so much of the bad at such a constant rate that we forget that there is just as much good, the good isn't an outlier, it's just getting buried by algorithms. It really doesn't help how much other websites are also going down this road of “all attention is good attention and making people upset gets the most attention so we'll just constantly churn out rage bait so our funny little engagement number go up”

like. I'm reading all this explanation on “personality ticks” and thinking back to Ratchet checking everyone for “super scraplets” and First Aid being like “really? That's the best you could come up with?” as if it was too stupid and yet here we are dealing with this

I do love how it was a group of nobodies who saved the day from the charisma-eating parasites, good for them, good to know if all our showoffs can't handle a situation, team nobodies has still got us covered lmAO

aww good for Firestar and Nautica for starting to put in some genuine effort in their relationship

oof hgdjfks and on the other hand we've got Cyclonus and Tailgate not quite putting in enough effort, Getaway has thoroughly sunk his grimy little claws into Tailgate's heart at this point, noooooooo

ooh Swearth is next hell yeah

MTMTE 43

I said it before but I'm still so glad for the new holomatter avatar designs lmAO granted not all of them are winners, I'm gonna be real Rewind's avatar is kinda boring, but they're still leagues better than the old designs

“Bluestreak said you don't look very twenty fifteen-y.” casually crumbles into dust lmfAO this DID come out in 2015 huh... that's almost a decade ago........

this fuckin rendition of the Cheers theme, fuck off lmAO

oh that's right, First Aid had to go do combiner shit for a minute lmAO

it's weird seeing all the human-sized holomatter avatars next to Rodimus, I frequently forget the robots are giant since it's mostly just them interacting with each other

I do think it's interesting that Swerve's avatar gets split into three different facets of himself, I've said “we stan a multitalented king” but I guess we're taking that to its extreme here huh lmAO

god. I hate that I still find Roddy's holomatter avatar hot lmfAO I am forever afflicted with this curse. I wanna run my fingers through his stupid mullet

gonna be real, Bluestreak is kind of a random pull for this issue but I appreciate it nonetheless because his avatar is very cute

aww Skids... come on buddy it's not your fault you couldn't have known anything was wrong

man, poor Swerve. I fuckin get it though, I didn't quite get as bad as almost dying, but being covid-conscious plus a bunch of personal losses and tragedies have left me rotting in my house for years and all that lack of self care left me with three kidney stones, one of which was so intensely painful it traumatized me into taking better care of myself last year and the other two I've been battling as I've done this reread. Shit's rough and it is so easy to not take proper care of yourself when you're too physically, emotionally, and spiritually drained

still so funny that all the Swerve recap pages were just canon, like no this is plot relevant, remember these

something something meta commentary on how MTMTE, much like the sitcoms Swerve loves so much, is also a story about misfits and failures who are trapped with each other and get on each others nerves but they overcome various obstacles and, in the end, they come to like each other. I don't have to brain power right now to do it justice but yeah, that is absolutely what this comic is to me, same hat Swerve

I really do like that Cyclonus likes Swerve, I definitely noticed at least a couple little background moments throughout the comic with them interacting and I love that it culminates into this moment where Cyclonus can just come out and say it

uuuuuUUUGHGFSND that little group picture with Ambulon, Ratchet, and First Aid still kicks my ass

oh shit that's right, the bullet that was a message from Dominus, I completely fucking forgot

[planstransamanacanalpanema]

Positive things from this week:

I'm usually extremely passive. Not like, almost to a fault but like actually to a fault. I never want to hurt someone's feelings by standing up for myself, but also when I do stand up for myself I have a tendency to run with that confidence too heavily and I can get kind of mean about things. I also, for some reason, have this abject fear of authority and will often lie to cover up mistakes because I'm afraid the indefinable worst will happen if I admit fault.

So, in the last week, I've been a bit more aggressive about making contact with people who can fix my problems. I messaged my doctors office after they wrote a prescription for the wrong med (and yes, that is something I would have just gone along with in the past). I've been calling my landlords office weekly to get my mailbox fixed instead of contacting them once and then never being able to access my mail again (I had to replace my mail key, but they gave me the wrong one and it's the only one they have. In the past I would have called once and then maybe after a month been like "hey, can I get my mail please?" I still don't have access to my mailbox after 4 weeks, but I'm still trying at least). I accidentally dented my dad's truck, but I told him the truth and he was very gracious about it, and helped me brainstorm ideas on how to fix it (I'd been trying to come up with ways to pretend like I was surprised to see the dent, like it'd been an accident, but decided I was braver than that). I had a coworker very clearly decide to make up a policy that meant she couldn't do something she we extremely clearly able to do, so I sent a message to our manager asking for clarification on the policy that will be cc'd to everyone, instead of just being pissed off about it and complaining and name dropping. I also spent the whole shift with her actively avoiding doing things, which meant I was in charge of everything (we work in an emergency department, so the things we have to prioritize can absolutely mean the difference between life and death) I was busy doing and EKG, and she ignored the overhead page to do another EKG on a very sick patient. I ended up getting both, and she didn't help, but I was able to ask for help and delegate out a few tasks to get everything done, instead of stressing and trying to do it all myself and then being pissed off and gossipy for the rest of the night.

And then, I saw someone I thought was cute on a dating site and sent a message. Recently I've been putting myself down a lot and likely would have just said he was too good for me and let it slide. Anyways, first dates next week :)

And yeah, a lot of this sounds very childish, and it is. Gossip isn't cool and lying isn't cool and a lot of the things I do are things I know I should be ashamed of, and I am. But the problem is that shame doesn't really fix these things, and figuring out how to get out of habits like that can be really hard, even if you know what you're doing is wrong, and especially if you dont know what to do instead. And its even harder when we dont talk about it either. But hey, any time is a good time to start working on yourself, and I'm proud that I'm a little better off this week than I was last week.

[thegrandlinesimp]

Katakuri with an average sized partner (F) and just him freaking out on how to treat her or even how to kiss/hold/touch/sleep with her. He’s the toughest guy on whole cake but just has no idea what to do with this little wife. Eventually realizes he’s kinda into it and has his fun with it.

(If you would prefer, you can just do some bullet point hcs for this, I don’t want to pressure you!)

I am sooooooo sorry this took so long! But I have a good reason!

Ended up doing bullet point headcanons, but that was because I asked for help on the fluff (i suck at fluff) from the Katakuri queen herself, @starrybrujita!

Anything that has 💫 next to it is a headcanon she either thought of or we both brainstormed on together!

Also for simplicity's sake we went literal and went with his s/o being 163cm tall, cause according to google that's the average female height

Katakuri with an averaged sized fem!s/o

SFW

At first having a small s/o isn’t too jarring of a difference for Katakuri than, say, if he was hanging around any other small person

He walks slow for her if she insists on walking with him, while glancing down beside himself every few seconds to make sure she is keeping up, if not he waits for her

If she is having a hard time keeping up, he’ll ask her if she wants to be carried 💫

Deeply enjoys having her sit on his shoulder too, her hands gripping his scarf for security

She doesn’t have to worry about falling though, thanks to his advanced observation haki he’s able to know well before she takes a tumble and can steady her with some fingers on her lap 💫

If the two of them are somewhere cold (Ice Island for example) he doesn’t mind her burying herself in his scarf, especially since it makes her that bit more secure

He’s definitely thought about getting a pocket added to his jacket that’s big enough for her to be carried in, but will ask her if she is okay with the idea first 💫

Katakuri: *arriving on Whole Cake Island for a party* My partner and I are here for my mother’s tea party.

Attendant: *looking around* Uh, y-yes, but, uh…where is she, sir?

S/O: *pops head out of pocket on Katakuri’s leather jacket* Hello!

His brothers (especially those close in age to him) tease him immensely when they see him with his s/o on his shoulder 💫

Perospero: *chuckles* "Oh look at you, carrying your little lady around again!"

Katakuri: *blushing furiously under his scarf*

Kissing for this man is a difficult one, he needs to keep the lower half of his face hidden behind his scarf at all times out in public, but he won’t say no to a kiss on the cheek if his s/o is on his shoulder

But when it comes to kissing with his mouth, he’s super weary, given the fact that 1. his teeth are sharp and 2. she's small, so it could mean she's more prone to getting a big injury on her face if he isn't careful with his kisses 💫

He would let her take the lead as well as initiate kissing, at least for a while, refusing to deepen the kiss until he becomes comfortable with it/works out how to do it without hurting her 💫

He wouldn’t lift her up to his full height, going from ground level to 16ft for a quick kiss and then straight back down is not good for the stomach, or any internal organs for that matter 💫

He’d crouch down to her at first, getting on his hands and knees for a quick kiss, she’d have to tell him that he can pick her up the rest of the way if he’s slow about it while crouching

All in all, a highly awkward kisser at first because of his insecurities, he just needs time to get comfortable, once he is he’ll even start to initiate them 💫

Will go bright red in the face if she spreads her arms wide to touch his cheeks when they kiss 💫

Since we’re talking about a female partner here, let’s add the thing us afab’s bodied people hate the most, menstrual cramps

He knows how to handle them, guy’s got so many little sisters that he’s seen plenty of horror stories in action (much to the embarrassment of many of said sisters), knows all the remedies (hasn’t personally administered them all though) and knows better than to talk back to a woman “on the rag” (as his older brother so poetically says) 💫

But when it comes to his tiny s/o, he’s a bit lost, she’s so tiny compared to him

The very best he could do for them is some incredibly gentle massages if she asks for some sort of comfort, along with ordering extra sweets for her during merienda time 💫

Highly doting if she gets emotional as well

NSFW

First, let’s get the obvious out the way: man’s a virgin, no way he’s risking the possibility of his scarf shifting to accidentally uncover his face while banging some random stranger, and that’s without the fact he has an image to keep up 💫

Then we add the immense size difference and we get some very…uniquely awkward moments

When he finally works up the courage to go down on her it’s both equally delightful and messy

Poor woman comes so hard she nearly blacks out, but by the end her lower body is just covered in saliva, man went to town on her

He gave a bunch of flustered, mumbled apologies, and she’s gonna be baffled as anything but who can resist the cute blushy face he has

Let’s not forget the time she was grinding down on his dick (let’s be honest it’s probably be roughly the same size as her) like one would a thigh, when he was suddenly overcome with the urge to kiss her 💫

Can’t contort his body, and didn’t want to use his Devil Fruit to reach her because he was worried about it ruining the mood

So he just…picks her up…

Just straight up hand around her waist picks her up and plants a great big smooch on her lips, then puts her right back, expecting her to go back to what she was doing

She, of course, was more than a little surprised by the whole thing, while Katakuri was deeply embarrassed once he realised how random doing that was

Pretty much an absolutely flustered mess, but once he gets the hands of things he’s better (though the blushing still happens a lot)

In the end he really gets into the size difference, thinking of new and unique ways the two of them can get off

Glimpsed tentacle porn in one of his brother’s magazines once, now he cannot get the picture of using his mochi powers to effectively give his lover a proper pounding, is waaaaayyyy too embarrassed to bring it up though