#I’m am a creature of the moss >:3

[onemossygoblin]

hey man are you made of moss or are you covered in moss?/genq

I’m made of moss that is covered in more moss <3

[pollyanna-nana]

Louie isn’t evil.

Or: what Pikmin 4 tells us about his character.

BIG WARNING FOR PIKMIN 4 SPOILERS! (and the rest of the series)

———

I want to preface this by saying that I am in no way trying to be the end-all, be-all of character interpretations, but Pikmin 4 to me, at least, confirms the suspicions I’ve had since playing Pikmin 2 and 3 all those years ago that Louie ISN’T secretly evil, or possessed, or whatever else. He’s just… Louie. And I think that’s interesting in and of itself.

1. Olimar himself vouches for him, and clearly doesn’t think he’s a bad person.

Say what you will, but I’m inclined to think Olimar is a decent judge of character. Clearly he’s worked with Louie for enough time to see that while he’s not very good at his job, he’s not intentionally so— at least not in a malevolent way (will get more into this later). He also wants you to forgive him for Olimar’s sake, which can be read as self-sacrificing (as Olimar is known to be) but I also think hints at the soft spot he has for Louie.

It's also worth noting that he states during a end-of-day conversation that he told Louie that, since he's a new employee, he should do everything Olimar does... including throw castaways into the onion. Interesting that Louie took this so literally, but it does provide an explanation for why he kidnapped the Koppaites beyond "he's evil and crazy".

2. He really, REALLY loves his grandma.

Like, wow. He talks about her SO MUCH both in his Piklopedia entries and also elsewhere in the game. It's interesting. Worth noting is that he never mentions any other family members- unlike Olimar, who talks about his wife and each of his children independently. I've said this before, but the content of a lot of these entries implies to me that Louie was mainly raised by his grandma, likely since birth. And given some of her emails in Pikmin 2, assuming they're also canon to Pikmin 4's timeline... Well, Louie certainly had an interesting upbringing. But he clearly loves her all the same.

3. He has a mischievous streak and tends to do things on impulse.

This was already fairly obvious from the previous games, but I think it's worth noting that this game confirms that he's... would immature be the right word? In any regard, he doesn't seem to see himself as a "grown-up"- when in all likelihood he is. Personally, as a 22-year-old, I find that pretty relatable as I often think of myself as younger when in reality I am by all definitions an adult. This, along with his grandma still being around, makes it pretty much certain that Louie is a lot younger than Olimar and the president, likely in his early to mid twenties. Being a bit of a goofball isn't really out of the ordinary, all things considered.

THAT BEING SAID, he's clearly capable of practicing self-restraint when he wants to. What he says here about the red Pikmin is pretty significant, since we know he's willing to eat just about anything- but clearly he has some reservations about creatures that are friendly and helpful. Which leads to...

4. He loves dogs and fluffy things.

Same. But he doesn't even consider eating Moss, Oatchi or the Ancient Sirehound, showing that his creature-eating habits stop at things he recognizes as useful. He clearly also holds affection for things that are soft and fuzzy, and says as much.

5. He is so autism.

He plays with fidget toys. He loves certain textures and sounds. This guy is stimming all over PNF-404!!! I think this also lends some explanation for why his behavior is what it is- things like taking Olimar's suggestion to do as he does super literally even after crashing on an alien planet, his hyperfixation on cooking and tendency not to communicate and incorrectly interpret situations (thinking the Koppaites are kidnappers in 3, running away from you in 4). He could even be low or no empathy as well, explaining why it takes a hot minute to get him to understand why people are upset with him about something.

Interestingly this game also makes it clear that Louie wants to live on the planet, or at least thought he did while you were chasing him down, which makes a lot of sense when you consider that he doesn't really seem to fit in back on Hocotate. I, too, wish to run away to an alien world with all of the things that I like and no other people, so I get you, Louie.

6. He hates his boss and his job, and the golden pikpik carrot incident was likely premeditated.

This probably looks bad, but honestly? As a fellow work-hating anti-capitalist schmuck I get it. The president is for all intents and purposes a huge asshole, from sending Olimar straight back to the planet after selling his ship to not caring that Louie got left behind, just wanting to find the rest of the treasures. I doubt he is very kind to his employees, and doesn't seem very good at running the business. Definitely a funny character, but if he were my boss I would absolutely want to punt him into the sun.

From some other entries he clearly wants to sell certain things to accrue money, but it's for things like getting better kitchen tools and following his dream to have his own cooking show. Clearly being a freight driver isn't what Louie actually wants to do with his life, and he could not give less of a shit about what happens to the company. Very short-sighted on his part, but also again, yeah I get you Louie.

7. He... doesn't like the color red for some reason.

Honestly, I'm not even really sure what to make of this. Is it because it reminds him of the Hocotate ship? Or does he just not like the color? Would be very interesting considering that it's Olimar's signature color. Perhaps that's at least part of why he attacks you in Pikmin 2- though that's speculation for another day.

Also funny to me is his comments on the black-colored treasures. We know blue is his favorite color, but I guess he's also a bit of a goth at heart. Lol.

In conclusion.

I think Louie isn't written or intended to be evil, and Pikmin 4's portrayal of him was intentionally written to confirm this. He's just, as some have said, an agent of chaos, but that doesn't make him a bad person. Just an autistic 20-something working a shitty job he doesn't care about, who loves his grandma and has a mischievous streak and a hyperfixation on food. At least from what I can interpret, ymmv!

[diabolikwriter]

Nga yawne lu oer - chapter 3

Recom! Miles x Na’vi/Avatar! Fem! Reader – Chapter 3:

Warnings: Cussing, kidnapping.

Word Count: 1098

Chapter 3: Hostage

                                     (y/n)’s POV

Your head was ringing when you slowly came to, and you were lying on something hard and Your head was ringing when you slowly came to, and you were laying on something hard and not the usual hammock nor the moss and grass covered ground of Pandoras jungle, and you squeezed your already closed eyes tighter because of the bright light surrounding you, but when you heard a swoosh sound, and the footsteps getting closer, your eyes flew opened, though when you tried to push yourself up with your hands, you fell forward and upon further inspection they were cuffed with orange cuffs, and then you recalled what happened… The avatars at the old battlefield, the children being held hostage, you crouching over Spider and then… Miles. You knew it had to be him. But he was dead. Right? You felt a hand on your shoulder, and you immediately responded with hissing and pushing yourself away.

“Woah calm down tiger!” You looked up and there he stood. Miles. Only bigger and bluer... but how? You had ended up pressed into a corner of a white room, with a big ‘mirror’, and you knew that you were in an interrogation room. You looked at Miles only to realize that he had kneeled down a bit further from you and held his arms out in a non-threatening behavior. You felt your ears twitch and you tilted your head in a curious manner, the only word you could say in that moment was:

“How?”

“How what? You need to be a bit more specific Darlin’.” Miles questioned his eyebrows was knitted in confusion, just like human Miles’s would do.

“How are you alive? How did you end up in this body?” You asked still not believing what you were seeing, here was your ex-fiancé, and the father of your child, but how?

“You see Darlin’, that’s a long and complicated story, but the short version is that I’m not exactly that man. I’m an avatar with his memories, or at least most of them. And I’m not the only one, but you already have seen that. The RDA saved our memories in case we didn’t make it out alive and they had of course also some DNA shit so that they could make these bodies but with the memories of some of the best soldiers, and the most experienced in Pandora and its deathly creatures.” Miles explained in what probably had been the longest sentence ever since he proposed to you. Or rather since human Miles proposed to you.

“They went through with it?” You asked confused, Grace had been so much against it when Parker had mentioned the idea.

“That is utterly ridiculous!” Yelled Grace.

“No it’s brilliant, we can have soldiers with the same physique and height and color as those savages, but in contradiction to your and your little Pandora loving friends, these will be soldiers, with no connection to the planet they will be much more efficient in convincing the savages in one way or another.” Parker was wildly gesturing with his hands, clearly excited about the idea of trigger-happy soldiers running around in Na’vi bodies, and Grace, yeah she was not that happy about it. You understood why Grace was so much against it given that the soldiers on the base weren’t here because they were curious about the planet and the creatures inhabiting it, no they were here for the money and to fulfill their duty in saving the Homo Sapiens from doom. So yeah conclusion is that giving those people an avatar body would probably not end good… at all.

“Darlin’ you’re spacing out again.”

“Don’t call me that.” You hissed, snapping out of the flashback.

“I’ve always called you Darlin’.” Stated Miles, and yeah, he had right from the start, but that was a long time ago.

“Just tell me what you want, and where I am.” You had an idea about why you where here and also were you where, but one can never know.

“Well for starters you are at Bridgehead the RDA’s new base, and you’re my hostage, kinda, at least for now.” Answered Miles, “Now how about you get up from the ground and come join me at the table.”

“Well at least the kids are safe.” You said, and stood up, but when you looked at Miles, his ears was pressed to his head, and his tail twitching nervously. “The kids are safe, right?”

When Miles didn’t answer, you felt your heart drop to the bottom of your stomach.

“You can’t bring kids into this, they are innocent!” You hissed, which you had been doing way to much these past minutes. “Please tell me you didn’t take the young one.”

“No, that thing managed to escape… but we’ve got Miles.”

“No…” You were filled with horror, why couldn’t they just have taken you, why did they need to bring your son into this, you could feel yourself starting to hyperventilate and there was this horrible pressure in your chest. “Please tell me your lying! Please not my son! He’s got absolutely nothing to do with this!”

“He’s got information about Sully.” Miles stated calmly.

“So what? You’ll torture the information out of your own son?” You retorted.

“He’s not my son. We’re not even the same species. I just have the memories of Human Colonel Miles Quaritch.” He sounded so horribly cold, and the dread you felt was replaced by cold rage.

“Take me to him.”

“No darlin’ I can’t do that.” Miles sounded so soothing, no Quaritch sounded so soothing. But this. This was not your ex-fiancé, and he just made it fucking clear that he did not hold a single emotion for a son, that he at the very least should have memories about.

“Do not call me that! You are not my Miles, so don’t you dare call me that nickname, Quaritch!” You hissed and ran towards the door, but Miles caught you around the waist and held you down on the table. “Let me go! I want MY son! I need to see him! He’s not safe with any of you, and I can only imagine what you assholes will do to him!” Quaritch wouldn’t let you go, no matter how much you scratched, bit and hissed, but suddenly you felt light-headed and started gasping for breath and you could see something like panic in Quaritch’s eyes.

“Fuck! Darlin’, (y/n), you gotta breathe through this mask.” Quaritch pressed a mask to your face, but before you managed to take a breath everything went black.

Taglist:

@ratchetprime211 @mechformers @iwishiwas-anita @iskamr @yumuramma​

[daisybell17]

Fourth if July — Loki [song fic] {PART 3}

(warning: death‼️)

Sitting at the bed with the halo at your head Was it all a disguise, like Junior High

Years had gone by since your passing and while Loki wasn’t the same God he once was, he’s living out the simple life. He no longer visited your grave as frequently as he did, which he had forced himself to do, he knew that if he kept wallowing at your grave every other day, it would drain him of life too, which he knows you wouldn’t have wanted.

So as life went on he packed up the house you both built your life on and sold it off, it felt wrong for Loki to live in the walls and room you no longer filled with life, and every corner of that lovely place only brought a sharp pain to his heart, knowing that those moments of love are now but memories in his heart.

Moving into a new cottage just outside Asgard, Loki had built himself his own little life. He had an alter dedicated to you and planted flowers that would blossom in a beautiful garden, all for you.

Besides his princely duties, he started taking care of stray animals. He used to watch you take in all sorts of creatures and it only felt right by him to do as such. Now he truly understood the “why’s” of you and it only made him fall deeper.

Despite all this, he always found himself seeing you in everything he did, almost like you were disguised within the walls, just a moments glance from Loki’s perception. It reminded Loki about how you both were in your early 20s, playing all sorts of silly games and pranking each other every second you got…Oh how he wishes you were here, but alas, you haunted the mind of the mischievous God, disguised to seem real in walls you never entered.

This realisation made Loki breakdown on a random Wednesday morning.

Where everything was fiction, future, and prediction

There was one day Loki had come to visit your grave with a scrapbook in hand. He sat in front of the moss covered stone and held the scrapbook up “I made this for you…it’s been 8 years since you left me my darling…I brought a gift for you”

He opened the scrapbook and faced the pages to your stone “I gathered everything I have learned in the 8 years since your passing…It’s been a long time my Love.” He opens a folded letter, revealing a long paper filled with inked remarks “This was the letter I wrote on the one year anniversary of your passing…”I wish you were here, I wish I was with you. There have been nights where I created false realities in my head, just so I can pretend to have you alive and with me again…I slowly realised that I could dwell in this fictional fantasy forever…or I could change my life, do something right by you…and I’m trying…I really am…I just wish you were here to see that your light shines brighter, even when you’re not with me…I miss you each day my Love, and I will miss you forever…but I must leave fiction and build another future…Please forgive me for moving on so quick, but I know you never wanted me to be dwelling in pain for so long…Missing you does not pain me, it allows me to always be reminded of the person who changed my life, who changed their own life, and everything we built - L.L” It was quite a letter hm?” He looks up at your grave, allowing for silence to fill in as he imagines your response.

He continued to flip each page, reading another letter or showing an old picture or miniature gift you had made, the scrapbook is beautiful, Loki knew that if you could hold it, you would read and admire each page for hours.

——————————————————————————

(a/n): hello! i wanted to get a part 3 out so here you go!! will definitely follow up with a part 4 and lokius HAPPY headcanons! hope you enjoy thus short update!

——————————————————————————

TAGS: @ladychota @scoliobean

[arlerts-angel]

Hi Mack!!! Congratulations on 1k ❤️ I’m submitting for the match making event! This is such a cool, unique, and fun idea - I’m having a great time reading everyone’s submissions 🥰

Fandom: Attack on Titan

Physical description: I’m 4’11 with medium length, wavy/curly, dark brown hair. I have brown eyes and a round face, with a small nose, and freckles! I’m very pale and the sun is my nemesis. I would say I’m on the curvier side and I have visible tattoos all over my arms and on my thighs.

Personality: Highly reserved and introverted. I have a small group of friends that I really come out of my shell around, and I can be super goofy/eccentric when I’m comfortable. I’m loyal almost to a fault, especially for those I hold dear. I was the “weird kid” when I was younger and had a rock collection, so I feel like that gives a pretty good insight to who I am, lol. I’m a highly emotional person! Crying is my response to all my major emotions: happiness, anger, sadness, etc. I also struggle with depression, an undiagnosed attention disorder, and generalized anxiety disorder.

Interests: I’m a big reader, I love poetry and sci-fi and classic literature too! I’m also a ceramicist, illustrator, and motion graphics designer. I’m a big movie person, mostly sci-fi, animation, or anything space themed. I collect vinyl, music is sooooo deeply important to me. Kpop is a core tenet of my personality lol. I’m a casual/relatively new swiftie. Libraries, museums, bookstores, the farmers market, and cafes are some of my favorite places to be. I have a deep interest in marine biology and deep ocean creatures, small critters, tide pool dwellers etc. The beach is one of my favorite places to visit, but I also enjoy nature in general, specifically forests and any place that has lots of floral plantlife. Physical touch and quality time are my love languages!

Eeeeeee I’m so excited to see who you pick!!!

𝑰𝑻'𝑺 𝑨 𝑴𝑨𝑻𝑪𝑯!

hi moss!! this was easy..... a little too easy 👀 i'm pairing you with armin because you have SO MUCH IN COMMON!!!! armin would absolutely ADORE taking you on bookstore/library/museum/farmer's market dates !! armin is canonically a spoiler, so anything you want he'll buy it!! on the first date, he'd take you to a cat cafe <3

[happi-tree]

are we out (of the woods yet)

You look down.

Well, this explains the pain, you think, eyes darting over a body that you inhabit but do not recognize in the slightest, in colors that you can scarcely remember seeing.

Father is going to kill me. Then, Where am I?

Or: Henry Oak, and being destined for two worlds and when you've only ever walked in one.

ao3

Here’s my fic for day 3: werewolves. Like day 1, this is part of a supernatural au that @kaseyskat and @llumimoon masterminded alongside me, although this one takes place chronologically before day 1's. Hope you like it!

Life is good for you. Great, even! At least, that’s what Father wants you to believe. 

Below your feet, the leaves crunch in shades of silver and gold, compounded into tiny bits that fly up around you as you sprint through the dense forest, and life is… as good as it can get, for the time being.

The sky is becoming clearer by the day, more and more pieces of azure heaven made visible by the ever-growing gaps in the canopy, carrying with it relief and distress in equal measure.

The sun lances to alight on pale golden fur, warming you through, unfettered by the leaves as you bound from shadow to shadow, light to light. At the same time, you feel the autumn’s chill on the breeze; though it is not yet cold enough for the grass to don their frost-coats at the gray-gold-blue dawn (scarcely ever is, these past few years), there is a weariness in your bones that belies the winter ahead, aching in joints that have not shifted right in quite some time.

It tugs at the back of your mind, the turn of the seasons, the shifting of moons, the shedding of leaves that regrow with the promise of spring. But there isn’t much you can do about it - not without it getting back to Father in some way or another (it always does, and you have long since learned that this corner of the wood has eyes beyond those of the white birches), and that is the last thing you want - so you growl under her breath, clench your jaw, and run harder, as if the ache is just a muscle you can stretch simply by outrunning it all. 

You bank around the trunk of an old, gnarled dogwood and think of winter. They’ll need food stocked up at the Commune, soon. 

(Commune, a name that Father has given your number, because Pack is too much too animalistic, too barbaric, too laughably simple for what you are. For your purpose. For your community.)

(You would personally like to tell Father where he can shove his community.)

(Well, most of it.)

The sun will be setting soon, you know, and as you bask in golden hour you dread the encroaching indigo-tinge of twilight that will bring you to Father’s side, ever the obedient daughter. There is not much you can do, though, except to attempt at grasping ephemeral joy in your hungry jowls, to crush the dead growth underfoot until you are expected back within the heart of Commune territory. 

<Hen!> a familiar mind-voice calls out to you. <Hey, Hen, over here!>

Well. You suppose that maybe there is something else you can do.

The careless footfalls of your partner approach from behind, and you whirl around.

<Goose,> You sigh, half-exasperated, half-fond. <What in the moon’s name are you doing over here?>

<Could ask you the same question, Hen Ry’,> he chuffs, trotting over to brush against your flank. 

<Plus, you always head over to this part of the outskirts when you’re all moody,> he notes, gesturing with his muzzle at your surroundings.

The cliff-wall before you is a massive, towering thing, all craggy rock and silvery moss. You could spend hours following the striations in the stone, nosing at the peaks and valleys, following them to the edge of Father’s influence. You have spent hours doing just that, following the winding currents within the rock, stripes of light and dark that squirm organically like the veins of some giant, petrified creature. 

The trees thin out, here, and you glance sidelong at Goose.

<I’m not “all moody”,> You argue rather pointlessly, staring at the ribbons of light-dark in the stone before you.

<Please, babe, you’re always moody. I can smell it from miles away.>

Goose Sy’ is a gangly, wiry thing, with dark fur that looks lit from within in the dappled sunlight. He hunches lazily now, but there is strength and power and quickness beneath his pelt.

<What’s on your mind?> He asks, and you let him touch his nose to your cheek, an affectionate gesture that is a rarer and rarer treasure, these days. <Is the old man on your ass again?>

<When isn’t he?> You respond simply, growling a bit as you kick up more debris.

You sigh. <He keeps asking if I’ve thought about a mate,> you confess, and you scent his agitation and the slightest bit of worry as he turns his golden eyes on yours.

<He’s not, like, suspicious or anything?> Goose asks.

<Moons, no, thank goodness,> You respond, seeing him untense before you. <Could you imagine?>

<I could, actually,> Goose says, his laughter resounding in your brain. <I’d love to see the look on his face when he realizes his perfect paragon pup has been fraternizing with a mangy commoner. You know, before he kills me.>

You nuzzle against his side, let his scent wash over you. You’ll have to roll around in muck and mire for quite awhile to erase it, but as you bury your face into his ruff, you think it’s worth it.

There’s an ache in your heart that matches the ache in your unshifted bones, and you often wonder which came first.

<Killing is against his own rules, and my Father surely wouldn’t debase himself to such levels. It is beneath our glorious, enlightened kind,> You sniff mockingly. 

<I dunno, Hen, I think I just might send him over the edge.> He bumps his side to yours, snorting.

Father… has been getting very insistent about settling you down. Perhaps a part of you always knew that pups were the only things he judged you as being good enough for, but your stomach turns at the very principle. You feel trapped, miserable here in his territory, heir to his kingdom of oak and earth. To bring more of yourself into the world, to force them to endure as you have…

You scent a chill on the breeze, and it ruffles your fur, causing a shiver to run down your spine. The ache intensifies, and you can practically feel the creaking of your bones beneath the sinew.

You hear yourself whine before you can stop it, and Goose presses closer to your side.

<Have you thought about Changing?> He asks, mind-voice lowered to the slightest of whispers.

You balk. <Are you insane? Father would actually kill me. Just because you can get away with it doesn’t mean I could just - >

<I know, I know,> Goose says, trying on a soothing tone like an ill-fitting coat. <It’s just that - > he snarls, low and angry, and you flinch.

<Sorry,> He cuts himself off. <But you’re hurting, and it’s his fault. Him and his stupid fucking rules.>

It’s not the sun against your fur that makes you feel warmed through, now.

<I hate him,> Goose tells you.

<I know,> You reply, instead of the me, too that lies just below your speech-thoughts. 

<Does it hurt?> You ask him. <The Change, I mean.>

<A little,> He answers. <Well, a lot, at the beginning. But then, the pain goes away a little, I guess. Shrinks. You could try it, you know. I’d take care of you.>

<Absolutely not,> You say. <My Father would have both of our heads, and you know it.>

Your heart says something different, as it always has. You ponder for the briefest moment the concept of running away from it all, of a full-moon sunrise where you awaken in a body that is still yours but also not, side by side with him. You imagine the shift-ache unfurling into a new shape before shrinking dormant below your reformed skin.

You wonder if he would drag you to the treeline outside the nearest town, dress you in human things until you could masquerade among them. If he would teach you how to walk on two legs. 

You wonder what he would look like. Instead of brushing against your side, you wonder if he would hold your hand.

Wondering is a pointless thing, though, Father says, and running is cowardice.

Staying feels even moreso, but you know nothing else.

<Well, if you change your mind and wanna stick it to the old mutt, you know where to find me,> Goose’s voice echoes softly between your pointed ears, breaking you from your thoughts.

<Thank you,> You respond, trying to wrangle your mind-voice into something that sounds less morose and forlorn. You fail, judging by the way Goose presses his muzzle against yours. 

You wish you could go, just pick up and leave, but there are things that keep you. Mother, for one, though she grows more and more distant by the day, ever colder, like the Autumn she is named for, as Father sinks his claws into you both, bleeding you of your heart and your strength and your freedoms until nothing is left but exhaustion and ache and apathy.

Mother belonged to another Pack, once, you know, even though she has never spoken of it. A real Pack, in name and in function. She has known what it feels like to move between forms, between worlds, transient like the phases of the moon.

You would’ve liked a life like hers, a name like hers, one that feels equal parts human and beast.

Instead, you were named in Commune tradition. The first moons of your life you went nameless, in order for your parents (your Father, mostly) to judge what name would best suit you.

You think of Father’s name: Bear, a towering, massive presence compressed into lupine form that looms over you even when he is not there. Strong, masculine, predatory.

Goose was named this way, too, and the name suits him well - your partner is flighty, a free spirit, but brash and loud and quick to bite and clamor at whatever displeases him.

Even your childhood tormentor, Horse, suits his name. Proud and haughty and ornery and loud in his own right, skittish beneath Father and Mother’s glares. 

You do not have to wonder why Father chose Hen for yourself. You are a livestock, a thing to be kept in a wooden cage, with clipped wings incapable of flight, legs unsuited for traveling too far from his reach. Your children and your children’s children will feed the gaping maw of your captor, and there is nothing you can do about it. 

Your name chafes at you, scratches at you like brambles upon your hide. Meek and feminine and prey-animal and all the things you are but wish not to be.

<Sun’ll be down soon,> Goose’s mind-voice resounds in your brain, and you startle, cocking your head to dislodge your useless spiraling.

You look around, noting the yellowish light stretching the tree-shadows longer and longer across the ground. 

<You’re right,> You agree.

<Lost you for a minute, there,> He says.

Goose doesn’t press for answers, but the flicking of his ears gives away his concern.

<Just thinking,> You respond, glancing at the deepening blues on the horizon.

<You were thinking pretty loudly,> Goose remarks with a light press against your side. <You gotta get back, yeah?>

<Wish I didn’t have to,> You grumble, already turning to the depths of Commune territory, pawing forward even as you think it.

<Offer’s always open,> Goose replies. <Full moon’s only a week away.>

The pain within you seems to increase at the reminder.

<I know. Thanks. Don’t forget to get rid of the scent.>

<I know!> Goose exclaims as your paths begin to diverge - his, to his home on the far reaches, yours, to whatever Father has awaiting you tonight. <Thanks. See you soon?>

<Soon,> You agree, and hope you can make good on that promise.

“Hello?”

The first thing you register as you awaken is that your body hurts. 

Bone-deep, marrow-deep, cell-deep, all over. It feels like your limbs have scrambled themselves, ground themselves to dust, and then attempted to piece themselves back together from the rubble. It is as if every muscle fiber within you has been stretched past breaking point, as if every nerve ending fell prey to one thousand claws, one thousand fangs. 

Your very soul yowls in pain, and it is only because your teeth feel so wrong and foreign in your own jaw, because your vocal cords scrubbed raw, that you do not vocalize it beyond a shaking rasp. 

The second thing you register is a presence right in front of you. 

You open your eyes, and the third thing you register is dazzling, dizzying, scintillating color. 

Your hands (hands?) scrabble at the rough earth in a vain attempt to ground yourself as you look around half-dazed and hurting, and the soft, uncalloused flesh of your palms smarts and stings against jagged bits of debris.

You look down.

Well, this explains the pain, you think, eyes darting over a body that you inhabit but do not recognize in the slightest, in colors that you can scarcely remember seeing.

Father is going to kill me. Then, Where am I?

You don’t recognize this part of the woods - the scents of the Commune are all but nonexistent, and the area around you is well-trod, devoid of grass, human odors lingering and overlapping.

A human hiking trail?

You blink rapidly, taking in the fuzzy dawn light and its myriad of hues.

Mother had taught you about colors, once, when you were a very young pup and the world was still bright with more than shades of yellow and cerulean and she was not yet as poisoned by oppressive bear-weight of cynicism. 

She had told you their names, even, though you struggle to remember them. 

You test them out, now, forming their mouth-shapes with a slow clacking of newly-blunted teeth. 

Green, the color of moss and grasses and foliage at the height of solstice. 

Orange and her deeper sister red, the colors of the fallen leaves underfoot, the colors of the sky as evening starts its slow descent toward dusk. 

The coveralls that the human woman before you wears are purple, you think, a flower-color, a dusk-color, a dawn-color. A spring-color, a beginning-color. 

“H-ello,” you attempt, your voice creaking and throat constricting at the novelty of speaking aloud. 

“Hello, again,” the woman responds, slowly and frowning, but… not unkindly, you think.

You inhale, and her scent is tinged with something sparkling and warm and cold all at once. Magic-smell, you realize. There is worry there, as well - not for her own safety, but for yours. 

There is not even the tracest amount of falsehood to her - her demeanor, her expression (though, that, admittedly, is mostly guesswork), her scent. 

It’s a novel concept. 

You cannot remember that last time anyone had had honest intentions with you (apart from Mother and maybe Goose), let alone went as far to show genuine concern over you. 

It takes you aback, strikes you nearly as harshly as… whatever it was that has left you feeling so crippled. 

“My name is Mercedes,” the woman says, gently, softly, as if speaking to a wounded prey animal. 

The comparison is… not without merit. 

“What can I call you?” She asks. 

Smart, this woman is. Or incredibly stupid. To lend her own name like that knowing full well the risks is either an intense show of trust and compassion, or…

There is a glint in her eye, you notice, and the magic-scent sharpens. 

Well… best to repay a kindness with a kindness. 

“Hen,” you croak, trying to get the shape of your name to form on your clumsy, human tongue. “Ry’Oak.”

“Well, Henry,” the woman (Mercedes!) says, and you splutter at the way that she slurs the first two syllables together rather than the last. 

“Are you okay?”

Moons above, no, you are not. 

Your body hurts like it never has before, and your eyes sear with a kaleidoscope of hues you haven’t seen since you were a young pup, and the way this witch has butchered your name might be the most beautiful thing you’ve ever heard. 

Henry, you mouth to yourself, running it together. It sounds rather plain, achingly human. Father would hate it. 

You quite like it. 

“I think… I will be,” you tell Mercedes. 

“Good,” she says, extending a hand. “Now, let’s get you cleaned up.”

[rjmenvs3000f23]

Lichen and Moss ~ Blog 9

As we near the end of the semester in this course, I can say with certainty that I am a Nature interpreter, and that interpretation is all around us. It works to enrich our daily lives and serves as a motivator when we may least expect it. In our textbook reading for this week, one story struck me. A father and his son were visiting Gunnison National Park, but the boy was eager to leave the trail. One man noticed the pair and offered to take them to a spot where they could see a bighorn ram. The son was in awe, and now he was refusing to leave the trail as he was memorized by the animal. Honestly, if I saw one in real life too, I would also be memorized. This moment in the boy’s life was probably a stepping stool in his future with nature. It shows that unexpected experiences can change one’s life.

For this week's blog, we were asked to write about the most amazing thing we know about nature. Recently I started watching this documentary on Netflix called “Life on Our Planet”. I haven't watched a Nature series in a while, but I thought why not? This series is like no other I’ve ever watched, and I highly recommend anyone who has Netflix to check it out! It recounts the evolution of our planet and all the stages of life and hostility on Earth.

Before the age of the dinosaurs, our planet was completely desolate and inhospitable. According to the documentary, it almost resembled the moon, covered in dead volcanoes and craters. I know for me it's hard to imagine our world like that, but it's also immensely fascinating that it used to be like that. However, even before this, life underwater had thrived for more than a billion years. From this emerged lichen, a curious life-form that is neither a plant nor an animal. Almost like fungi, and they are a combination of fungi and algae. Lichen spread rapidly over our planet and worked to break apart and infiltrate rocks that covered the land. Producing soil, and I’m sure we’re all familiar with the life-bearing properties of this medium.

From this first development of soil, came moss; which ruled and carpeted the planet for 40 million years!! This brought forth the evolution of plants that had lignin, which strengthens the cell walls of plants, allowing them to grow upwards. Trees and all different types of plants start shooting up, growing closer to the sky to get the best access to sunlight. Trees are the tallest living organisms on our planet, and this green evolution made the land hospitable to animals, insects, and all different types of creatures.

It’s honestly crazy to think that lichen and moss gave rise to all the greenery we see on our planet. Now when we look at plants, we know that their beginning was simple yet so profound that it changed the face of the Earth. I find that simply amazing, and I stumbled upon this finding because I wanted to watch a new documentary on Netflix. There’s beauty in the small things in life, quite literally.

Lanfear, S. (Writer & Director), Hamlin, J. (Director), Salisbury, E (Director). (2023, October 25). Invaders of the Land (Chapter 3) [TV Series episode]. In S. Spielberg, D. Frank, J. Falvey, K. Scholey, A. Fothergill (Executive producers). Life on Our Planet. Amblin Television & Silver Back.

Beck, L., Cable, T. T., & Knudson, D. M. (2018). Chapter 21: The Bright Future of Interpretation . In Interpreting cultural and natural heritage: For A Better World (pp. 457–476). essay, SAGAMORE Publishing. 

[handelplayssims]

Now we’re just vibing until the library “opens” at 9:00. I glanced at the google at that is about the time they open up! Sent Ian to birdwatch and Derek to write a little.

Annnd this is why I sent Ian to the birds. High singing ability means we can sing with them! Beautiful! Anyway, it’s time to pop over to the library in Britechester. It’s where Derek wants to go and Ian needs to meet someone in another location for his aspiration. Also I suddenly remembered I could have Ian introduce people to Derek. Because he would if there were traits in common. (It’d be the only way he’d make friends) Anyway, Ian’s going home while Derek’s going to work on his novel. ...or the computer could break down. That too. Anyway now I’m just going to stare at the person hogging the one computer remaining.

Staaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaare. I’ll give it until 4PM until I go home ..IT BROKE DOWN AS WELL. BASTARD GAME! To home with us!

Paying bills and...3 thousand. YEESH. These men need pensions or something! The grip of mortgage payments looms over us all. -sees fox rushing towards the coop- NO! Go away! I’ve got a chick to hatch! Hopefully. Right. Ian needs to make 12 friends. Ho boy. Let’s get to work. Ohp! Wait! I was going to finish writing the book before Derek went to bed. Let’s go do that. Ian made a friend with Aubrey Shelley, a near randomized Sim I made up in an alt file and moved into Henford. Annnd his want isn’t clearing. We know what we have to do for that then. Anyway, the Creature Keeper, who is now a random sim named Barret Case (again, the starting Sim died) is out and about so befriending time! Right, after some chatter, and talking up Derek to a fellow animal lover, we head back home. Ian’s sleepy, after all! Meanwhile we finish off writing that book and send it off for Derek. Some passive income, yaaay!

Neighborhood Watch!

Brindleton Bay: The Raghavan household moved out.

Right, it’s been long enough another patch has happened. So now I have a new test file Sim to add to the world. Patricia Moss, an evil botanist. Well gardener for now but botanist is the goal. And she’s going into...Sulani. Not her first choice but we’re running low on starter lots.

Back to Moody and McMillan! Ian’s up and it’ s Love Day. Day of loooove.

Oh, Discovery Quests are a new thing. Basically tutorial for how the Sims works. I’m experienced enough to not care but I might as well do them on this file just to get the basic rewards. Anyway, Ian wants to practice a comedy routine since he’s a goofball, so let’s compose one first ...oh I evidently didn’t need to compose a routine to practice one. Welp. Ah well. Anyway, Derek’s finally awake, so let’s walk on over to the National Park for a date! ...yes I am having the two walk over there in-game as well. Gotta enjoy the scenery somehow.

Oh hey! I can have both Sims go and be playful for this date since Ian is already playful ...annnnd he’s hysterical now. God. If he dies during this date! Well we got gold for the date at least. Just some nice romantic chatting. I’m going to the restroom with Derek, (in a bush even) don’t die! No death towards eating food. Hmm, let’s have a snowball fight. That might-

And there we go.

Please Grim! It’s Love Day! Have a heart? No? Nope. Alas. I guess we’re just trudging home with a new fear of death in our hearts and much sadness. Eight days of mourning to be had. (Man mourning is overbuffed in Meaningful Stories) So we’re just going to be sad and listen to the tunes Derek likes. Or even perhaps...write! Channel that grief! Needs quest specifically calls for a nap so might as well. Let’s get back to writing then. But then!

Neighborhood Watch!

Carson Allen in the Allen household is now a Captian in the Detective career.

Book is finished and now we send it off! And get our proper sleep.

[filopay]

[ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ]

Prompt from:@oc-tober2023

[ I am not following the same order ]

CW: A little creepy chase, something stinks of death, all in the fashion of halloween I suppose (I am very bad at summarising CWs, I’m so sorry.)

~Saviour

You woke up with a start.

Something that months of running for your life did to you, is being attentive to any kind of noise around you - even when you sleep.

You did not dare make any hasty movements, if whatever is making those noises is human or animal, it might not see you, if it's not… you don't know what else to do but run.

The trees rustled ahead, it was dark. You realised, you were alone. She did not return. Why did she not return?!

A sudden stomp right next to your shelter made you snap out of the sudden panic. It was close, right next to you behind the twigs and leaves built to hide you beneath. 

You held your breath. Another step, slower this time, as if it was searching. You heard it moan and creak like bending a bark. Not human!

The Underfolk can see you. It can see through the leaves and twigs, you knew you should run, but something was rooting you to the spot. You couldn't move.

You heard it bend forward, its close, confused by the barrier it cannot see. Clumsy hands started to pat around your shelter. It won't hold. What are you doing! Why can't you move!

Your heart beat rapidly, you think you forgot to breathe entirely. Another stomp and it blocks the entrance now. You stare at the cold and dark legs, like the pitch black night itself, it looked boney and … dead.

Just then, its smell reached you. Rotten and foul, you had to stop yourself from gagging by slapping a hand over your mouth to not make a sound. It's no use, it can see you anyway - your mind tried to tell you as you stared at its legs to see the exact moment, it lost its patience. You need to run! Why won't your legs move! It will break through easily.

Then, a sudden tickle runs up your arms and legs, as you look down you see the shadow of something crawling up your limbs. A bug!

Suddenly your legs work! You sprint to your feet, break through the roof of your shelter and without further ado, turn and run. You hear the creature scream surprised, a voiceless, breathless shout. They no longer have a voice.

You don't wait to hear what it tried to say.

Stomp, stomp, stomp. 

It was quicker than you, you knew that from experience. Your mother always slowed it down with the power of her god. You had no god. Only your legs.

So you ran around trees, stumbled through the darkness, over hatches and moss. Your breath was cold but your hands were warm when you held onto the cold bark of a big tree. The Underfolk was on you in a second, so you slid behind the tree, knowing from experience that it can't see its surroundings very well.

It somehow always sees you however. 

You heard its gaze snap towards you in an instant, a painful crack of its stiffened neck. Then it ran and that fast, you slid down the tree, closing your eyes, waiting for the impact. It didn't take long and you felt the shattering of the creature hitting the tree. It wailed, a quiet scream - then you heard it stumble disoriented, boney legs slipping over wet leaves.

Then it shuffled away and you heard it run back into the forest. Only then you allowed yourself to breathe. It was gone for now, but it found you once, it can find you again. Your mind instantly shifts back to your mother still out there.

What if it finds her?

You sat there for a moment longer, knowing its not wise, but you needed a moment to calm down. The leaves of the trees above rustled with the wind and you felt a small breeze pass you by. Then suddenly a tickle up your arm. Looking down, you saw a small beetle, it was crawling up towards your hand and this time you lift it up and look at it with relief.

"Thank you for waking me out of my stupor." You say to the little thing, "You are my saviour. Without you I would have probably been dead or well, sick with the Rot by now. So, thank you."

You gently place your hand down onto the forest floor so it could scurry away, but somehow, it remained. 

"You don't want to leave?" You can't help a little smile, everyone always leaves you behind, how stupid to expect a bug to stick around. "I'm sure you have better places to be than stick with me."

You try again, placing your hand onto the ground, but the very moment your hand touches the ground, a bright light pops up in front of you and you have to shield your eyes.

It is not by my choice, just to make that clear.

An ethereal voice spoke to you and slowly you lower your arm from your face. There in front of you, was a bright light, floating and blinding. 

Bramble chose to help you.

"Bramble?" You did not know who or what was speaking to you, but it sounded annoyed.

The Rose Chafer in your hand calls himself Bramble, because he likes it so much. Why he likes you, I cannot understand.

You blink, looking down at the back of your hand, where the small green shimmering beetle was still crawling merryly over your hand, wiggling its antenna.

He misses the warmth of the sun. He said you are as warm as its shine. The voice scoffed, but you could not hear any real malice behind it. 

"You know what he says?" You pull the small beetle closer to you, trying to inspect it, and see its tiny antenna wiggle in delight as you do.

"What did he say now?" You wonder, fascinated by the little thing.

You hear the voice mumble something under its breath, you only catch single words like 'humans', 'annoying', 'ungrateful'.

When you look up towards the light, you see it shift from left to right, almost like it was pacing.

He says I should help you and listen to your concerns, despite him knowing that I do not converse with humans.

You blink, looking closer at the shining light, floating in front of you.

Are you talking to a god?

[ 1.059 words ]

Next Part?➜

[acupwithdirtinside]

greetings and salutations to anyone reading this!

this is an introductory post, so if you are not interested, then please scroll past and enjoy the rest of your morning/day/afternoon/night, please and thank you!

you can call me Moss!

I am a minor, I am neurodivergent, and I usually use they/them pronouns!

this is my first time posting stuff on a blog, please be nice to me, I just want to be a funky silly little guy (gender neutral) on the internet.

I will be posting content of some cool things that I like very much, i can’t list off all of the things because there are lots and lots of cool things to talk about, but here’s a few to get started:

-stranger things.

-what we do in the shadows.

-good omens.

-our flag means death.

-heartstopper.

-moral Orel.

-salad fingers.

-south park.

-don’t hug me I’m scared.

-bugbo.

-welcome home.

-the walten files.

-the mandela catalogue.

-bbc merlin

-music.

-the autism/tbh/yipeeee creature.

-LGBTQ+ content.

I can’t really honestly be bothered to list off every type of person who I wouldn’t want to interact with, so to sum it up, do not interact with me if you are bigot or if you post/plan on posting any sexual content, we’re all trying to be funky silly little guys (gender neutral) here.

I might possibly make art and post it on here sometimes, but I’m not very good at it.

have a nice morning/day/afternoon/night, please and thank you.

p.s. please ignore that fact that I don’t use capital letters, it’s a typing habit of mine, thank you.

<3

[sidhewrites]

find the word tag

tagged by @serenanymph on this post <3 Unfortunately, only one of the words was found in Silverlight, so I pulled from other sources as well.

EVENING - from Silverlight (Original Fiction)

And then, all at once, some of the moss sat up. An ancient, gnarled creature, no larger than her hand, grumbled and rubbed his eyes, and said something that she fancied meant good evening.

BITTER - from Glimte (Original Fiction)

I sat in an office all night as people in uniforms came and went. Someone gave me coffee. Bitter, watery coffee. I only had one sip of it the entire night.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find the words Sample or Mutual, so instead I'll post some lines from Graveyard Lesbians, which I only recently remembered existed and may want to bring back to my active WIP List :3

But first: tagging @ambreeskyewriting @dreamcrow @sunnymusingsao3 and anyone else who wants to do this! your words are endearing, scowl, midnight, and floral

But that’s Josie. These people are just doing their jobs, minding their own business in a place that just so happens to be right across the street from me. I’m not going to go mess with people just because I’m angry and hurt and a skeptic who lives next to the cemetery. I don’t need to leave my apartment. I eat my ice cream, watching them putter around down there among the headstones.  I don’t need to go to the cemetery tonight. #

“Hm?” I glance over to see her looking at me. Even her eyes are dark, and I resist the urge to make comparisons to pools of water. There’s nothing poetic about two girls kneeling in the dirt behind a headstone at dusk.  #

The light could attract unwanted attention, and the plan tonight is to not be noticed. Just to be extra safe, I’ve got a dark jacket on with the hood up over my pink hair, so I blend in just a bit more with the background. I am secret. I am stealth. “I am the night,” I mutter as hoarsely quietly as I can.

[collectingsparechangemadeeasy1]

A Little Visit

I was struck with inspiration today! And so now you have this! Huzzah! (the inspiration was realizing this au was purely self indulgent and I can write whatever I want :3)

“OZ!” Glynda called, waving as she entered the gate. She wore a large purple witches hat, adorned with flowers and leaves and a few mushrooms along the inner brim. Her outfit consisted of a poet sleeved white blouse, black apron dress over top, brown riding boots, and her signature dark purple cloak billowing around her. Her face adorned with large framed round glasses, and light make up, or a glamor elixir, Oz couldn’t tell.

“Glynda!” he called back from the window. He wore his long silver hair in a casual braid that Oscar had done for him. His own tinted spectacles sitting low on his nose, making him continually push them up. He wore a simple off white poet sleeve shirt, moss green unbuttoned vest, and matching pants. His cane in his right hand as usual. “Put Disciplinarian in the field with the other horses and we’ll have a chat! You showed up at just the right time! Oscar and I just took our pie out of the oven!”

She quickly did so, smiling as her black Arabian horse snorting and nudging her face affectionately before racing off after Long Memory, Ozpin's black and white Galineers Cob, and Fairytale, Oscars chestnut blanket appaloosa. She walked up the short dirt path to Ozpin's cottage, the little trail lined by native wildflowers and little creatures of all sorts. Glynda giggled slightly as a fairy dragon zoomed past, chasing a lady bug for lunch. A jackalope hopping along merrily, a few glimmering limour birds flying and singing their siren songs. Such a lovely place this was… She reached the door at last, and knocked on the round wooden door, it had been hand made by Ozpin himself. This entire cabin really had. From the circular wooden door, to the cobblestone siding covered in ivy, the wooden curved gray roof, covered partially in moss and various flora, the white trimmed circular windows. Every bit, lovingly handcrafted, and magic crafted, but Ozpin himself. The door opened and Ozpin embraced his dear friend, “Oh Glynda it’s wonderful to see you! How are you faring? Come in! Come in! Please! Oh and take off your shoes, we just sweeped and I’d like to keep it tidy for at least half an hour. If we can.”

Glynda snorted, hugging him back and  stepping in, hanging her cloak and messenger bag, and placing her boots neatly next to Ozpin and Oscar's hiking shoes, still partly caked in mud. “Am I to wager that you only recently returned from an outing?”

“Caught red handed!” Ozpin laughed, “Honeysuckle and I picked the black berries just this morning, and spent the day cleaning and backing. There were a great deal of berries, and we may have gotten a tad overzealous in picking them.”

“AUNTIE!” a sudden blur cried before barreling into the potion maker, nearly toppling her over.

But Glynda just laughed and spun the young boy into a hug, “Oscar my darling! How’s my sweet sunshine, hm?” “I’m the best!” he giggled, his sweet apple cheeks, dappled with freckles making his youthful adorableness increase tenfold. He wore a little dark orange sundress, an unbuttoned green vest with mushrooms and sheep embroidered on it thrown over. He also wore a little bright red ribbon in his hair, it held the end of a neat braid laying on the side of his head.

Glynda set him on her hip as she walked with Oz to the kitchen. She always admired Ozpin's house, it was so colorful, each room a new color, the cheery spring yellow of the kitchen, the dark blue of the sitting room, Ozpin's own dark green room, painted with vines and flowers, Oscars autumn room with moving paintings of an autumn forest, set to match the weather outside, though it never changed seasons. A true feat of magic, artistry, and love. Yes, Glynda certainly admired Ozpin's house.

“Would you care for some tea? I find earl gray goes well with blackberry pie! Or am I thinking of the jam…” he hummed to himself, already getting out the delicate china tea cups, painted with pink flowers and gold edging, old, but looking new.

“I’d love some.” she smiled easily, putting Oscar in the chair next to her before sitting down. “I was on my way home after a day of foraging in the woods and thought I’d stop by. I found some good stuff! Some lavender, rosemary, wormwood, roses, and mint! And some brittlebush, radishes, milkweed, and white dead nettle!”

“My my! And how’d you find all of that in the woods?” He smiled easily and warmly, setting a slice of pie and a full cup of tea in front of her and a matching group for himself and Oscar.

Glynda inhaled and could smell the tea and pie, and the scent of pine and hot chocolate that seemed to follow Ozpin everywhere, as well as the smell of damp moss and dirt that Oscar carried. “I’m just that good.” she smirked back.

“But of course! The great potion master Glynda Goodwitch can be stopped by nothing! Even nature itself!” Ozpin laughed, cutting into his pie with a fork and taking a bite. Glynda did so as well and hummed contently. The buttery crust, blackberry juice running down the corner of her mouth, a touch of lemon, and the heat of cinnamon.

“Oz how in the world did you get so sublime at baking?” she asked, politely patting the filling off her face.

“Years of practice and burnt offerings to the trash gods!” he quipped quickly, taking a sip of his tea. Glynda laughed and shook her head fondly. She did love that quick wit of his.

“Sadly I can’t stay too much longer.” she sighed, half her pie eaten and all her tea drank. Looking outside, the sky was slowly turning pinker. “I have to get back home before dark.” Flicking her wrist to wrap up what little remained of her pie, she stood. “Nooooo!” Oscar whined, hugging her middle quickly and looking at her with his large doe eyes. “Don’t go yeeeeet!” Ozpin chuckled and gently removed his son from her waist, “She’ll be back another day my darling sunflower. No need to worry.” He pulled her into another hug, affectionately kissing her cheek. “It’ll be dark soon, better go now. We’ll see you soon Glynda, I love you!” Glynda smiled and kissed his and Oscars cheeks in return, “I love you two as well. I’ll see you soon! Maybe tomorrow if the weather is fair!”

She whistled for Disciplinarian and petted the steed's nose as it trotted to her. Saddling up she smiled at Oscar and Ozpin, waving to her from their doorway. She waved back happily, sending a little firework into the sky, making Oscar squeal with delight, and Ozpin laugh fondly.

[maybe-drawing]

Inktober 2022: A reflection

This year I did Luna ‘s (who is an amazing artist!! Check them out on Twitter!!) Inktober. Spoiler, I did not do all the days as I got sick halfway through and then just stopped lol. However, it was remarkable good practice and I learned a lot! One might say you can see me improving 👀 It gets better, promise!

Here the full prompt list:

by https://twitter.com/LunaIsAnArtist 

1. Sprout

yes this is bdubs fanart, (I’ll do a separate post with the fandom one and tag them there) Also learned about gradient maps!

2. Ladder

I cannot for the life of me figure out how to render stone, and it really shows

3. Glory

I do not dislike this one, however Clip Studio Paint's weird artistic render line feature really stole the show here lol

4. Investigation

Played with gradient maps again. The color is sure something!

5. Rosemary

At this point, I was wondering if a completely lineless painting style was something I even like? And honestly it has its appeals, and I think ill keep playing with it, but I missed having lines.

6. Home

Them <3 @liebesamateur​

7. Boots

I love this little buddy!! Look at them!! Lovely!! Also this was when I decided to return to a more painterly lined look for my art again :D

8. Voice

This is one of my absolute favorites!!! The light hello???? also the tiny pumpkin on the hat :D

9. Fragment

Did a study of a lemon and went you know what would be fucked up

10. Ranunculus

this looks so much better than it has any right to!! Indie game vibes hello?!?

11. Moss

Bdubs fanart again, but look at him, he's just a little guy! Very much based on countless designs I’ve seen all over. (if you know the OG lemme know) Certified creature.

12. Worth

I don't like this one... The concept is there, but the execution is sloppy and kinda off-putting. The only thing I kinda like it the blood at the very top opening. 

13. Float

I love this very much not anatomically correct baby!!!

14. Poppies

I mean long arms!

15. Zodiac

I’m torn bc on one hand the background is stunning, I love the colors. On the other hand, this would have looked too much better lineless, and the lens sky reflection is just lazy and doesn't fit with the rest of the style.

16. Evolution

GHOST CRAB!! I downloaded some new brushes, and it was just sooo much fun. 

17. Meadow

I really like everything except the “flowers”. The clouds and background/foundation is solid, but the weird flower brush is too sharp and it just doesn't work. Also, the colors of the flowers are supposed to be in shade and idk man 

18. Examination

Now this one could make more sense, like perspective wise and the highlights are a bit wack. However, it's really cool and I like it a lot. The bluish tint for the glass, the goldish bronze, the background yes!!

19. Reflection

The poses for this kept just not working out. I couldn't get the angles, nothing made sense, so I made them silhouettes! And it works nicely. I like this one. I am kinda starting to overuse that background contrast thingy, but it's fiiiiiinnnne. Also, the curtain??? The red pops so well hello, its just bam, and it deserves to do that. 

20. Bullet

It's a bullet train! Get it? Anyway, I really like the burn effect for this one and I wanted to make it a spooky train. One thing I'd improve is how the likes are fading into the smoke, it doesn't look quite right.

22. Bones

This is kinda my burnout point and it shows. The line thickness is all over the place, I didn't work on this very much and just slapped some things on there and put it up. I'd love to draw a proper pile of bones someday, but this wasn't it.

23. Mutation

I do kinda like this one, and I don't have any major complaints. I just remember not really feeling doing Art™ at that time.

29. Wyvern

I sketched this the next day and was so normal about it. Idk if this is really a Wyvern, but it looks cool! I really like the frame and breaking it. It gives a nice break and depth!

[rolliaa]

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Opensprinkler pi pump start relay pro#

Opensprinkler pi pump start relay software#

There are really only two required pieces for this project:Īdding the water can get tricky, but lucky for me the existing sprinkler system happens to run a water line right behind the waterfall of the pond. (In reality it's usually leaves and moss in the river that does it). Plus if I can make it do some sort of tracking of water loss, it could maybe warn me of excessive loss so I can go put a stop to that excessive loss. So it's definitely time to automate! Using the IOT2020, a sprinkler valve, and some clever sneaky wires here and there, I should be able to get this task under control. Or maybe it's those darn hummingbirds sipping incessantly!Īnd I'm not always too observant to notice the lowering water levels before the pump starts to show up out of the muck. Thanks Spruce! Check it out at it's due to the fish partying too much, racoons drinking it all, or thirsty plants, this is causing our fish to worry that one day they'll need to evolve to be desert creatures. This will save me a ton of money, AND ensure that the shrubs, flowers, and lawn get the right amount of water. This is 1000% percent smarter than my old Hunter controller, and even my somewhat newer Irrigation Caddy home automation sprinkler system, because with Spruce, it looks at the current moisture with the sensors, but/and also looks at historical data and weather forecasts. Why? Every morning, I see an email saying that either we had rain yesterday, we had an inch of rain over the last week, or that rain is expected today. In April/May, my system has not watered for the last four weeks. It really is the next generation in irrigation. I got a new irrigation controller from Spruce that includes moisture sensors that are put in the lawn. Note that this is TOTALLY different than my old irrigation caddy in that it uses moisture sensors and upcoming weather forcasts: Just posted this elsewhere on the board - a review for my new spruce system. Relating to the touchscreen interface I am currently using JPG drawings and can do live CCTV views of each of the 10 zones configured. It is not cloud dependent and mostly uses the weather station for ET calculations. I can remote control it via internal or external to my LAN interfaces. (I have one water meter attached for measuring irrigation and purchased but not installed a hard water switch for the irrigation lines).

Opensprinkler pi pump start relay pro#

It does today have external connections to my Davis Vantage Pro 2 via Cumulus, additional sensors via xAP, WeatherUnderground, et al and works fine. It is all inside of the original Rainbird box and has been running 24/7 with no glitches now for over 3 years. I upgraded my set up to running mcsSprinklers on a modded Seagate Dockstar running with two USB connected mini SSD drives. Here is a picture of the tabletop running the touchscreen interface where you could also run the software. My OpenPeak Jogglers / tabletop tablets would probably be better and faster with an integrated touchscreen.

Opensprinkler pi pump start relay install#

(easy m.2 sata drive configuration).Ī while back here did install Ubuntu on my Chumby's and it ran fine (a bit slow) but you could probably configure a Chumby as your irrigation controller. I personally like the new Intel micro PCs and this could work better than the RPi.

Opensprinkler pi pump start relay software#

I haven't touched the configuration of the software in many many years as it runs fine with no hand holding. I do not like to use wireless for my automation but you could configure an RPi3 and wirelessly connect to the software to make adjustments. I have now seen an mSATA GPIO card for the RPi's that would be OK to use. My only concern here is the use of an SD card for the OS and running software. Today you could get by with a RPi2 and a touchscreen for it on or inside of the rainbird box. I was playing a bit with the PogoPlug (had a few of these) and the Seagate dockstar debian devices. Over the last few years the author of mcsSprinklers and a number of users (I was one) tested a linux mono version of the application. Software wise used mcsSprinklers that existed as a stand alone or a plugin for Homeseer.

Opensprinkler pi pump start relay serial#

I used a long serial cable (catxx) to the other side of the house and in to the communications closet. Initially removed the Rainbird ESP controller (I had added wireless to it) and installed two serial controlled Rain8Nets. Here started with a Rainbird vendor Rainbird installation. I have since protected these two devices and they have worked fine. That said one lightning strike did trash my two Rain8Nets over the last 13 years. Here have never connected my irrigation to my OmniPro 2 panel for that reason.

[fruitcoops]

hi eve!! hope you’re doing well ❤️ i was wondering if you’d be willing to write a fic where remus and sirius have a fight/argument and they go to bed angry and sirius wakes up in the middle of the night from a nightmare and remus comforts him or something. i just feel like coops really embody the “no matter how annoyed or upset i am you’re still my #1 priority” energy. your fics have really been getting me through this ROUGH ASF fall semester, so thank you for doing what you do!

Oooo hurt/ comfort tonight! Coops credit goes to @lumosinlove <3

TW for frustration at a romantic partner (no full fight)

Downstairs, the front door opened and closed in a rush of movement. Fucker. Remus pulled the blankets further up his shoulder and glared at the wall.

“Re?” Fuck you. “Remus, are you home?”

Sirius kept moving around the main floor; his nonsense mumbling echoed up the stairs and grated on Remus’ ears like nails on a chalkboard. Finally, he heard a sigh, and the footsteps started up the staircase. Don’t you open that door, he thought angrily, balling his hands in the duvet. Don’t you dare.

The door opened a crack, flooding part of the room with soft light from down the hall. “Remus?”

He kept his eyes squeezed shut and said nothing.

“I know you’re not asleep.”

Do I look like a give a shit?

“I’m sorry.”

You better be. When he refused to answer, Sirius exhaled slowly and closed the door, casting them in darkness again. His traitorous brain knew every step of Sirius’ nighttime routine by heart—there was the shuffle of him rooting through the dresser for pajama pants, then quiet footsteps sneaking past into the bathroom to brush his teeth and rinse his face. There was a dull thud and a muffled curse; Remus could only assume it was his arm hitting the wall yet again as he tried to pull his shirt off with the toothbrush still between his teeth.

The sink went quiet. The door creaked open. The mattress dipped behind Remus. Sirius took two breaths before shifting, and a moment later fingertips touched his upper arm.

“Don’t.”

“I’m sorry, mon—”

“Sirius.” His voice was steady, though his stomach trembled and his throat felt thick. He had waited 40 full minutes with no answer before he finally made dinner alone. Sat at the table alone. Took off his nice out-to-dinner clothes and went to bed alone. “I’m really upset with you right now and really tired from waiting up to make sure you made it home safe so I want to go to sleep.”

“I don’t want to go to bed fighting.”

He closed his eyes as his heart yanked. “Sirius, I don’t want to talk to you at the moment.”

Silence fell over their bedroom. He felt Sirius move to lay on his back again, far enough that Remus couldn’t feel his warmth. “Goodnight, mon loup.”

A forest stretched out in his dream, deep and dark and green and cold. Trees reached toward the sky, bowing over each other in a woven canopy that nearly hid the stars as Remus walked through the melting frost covering blankets of moss. It was not a peaceful place—wolves howled in the distance and blurry creatures made his heart pound with unease. But he walked all the same.

A drop of warm water slid down the neck of his shirt and came to rest at his lower back, chasing away some of the wind’s chill. And when Remus was halfway through the arch of a dying nurse log, that little ball of heat jammed into his tailbone.

He jerked awake with a grumble and reflexively reached over his shoulder to stop Sirius from unconsciously rolling right over him, only to pause with his hand barely raised when reality came trickling back. He was angry, and hurt, and—

And Sirius wasn’t okay.

His elbow was flush with the small of Remus’ back, stock-still and a solid pressure as his breaths came in short, shallow wheezes in an obvious attempt to stay quiet. “Sir’us?” he mumbled, dizzy from the abrupt wakeup. The elbow disappeared. “ ‘s wrong, baby?”

“Shh, go back to sleep.”

Even his voice shook. Remus propped himself on one forearm, then both, turning to squint at him in the 3 am shadows. Sirius’ jaw was clenched so hard it had to be painful—his eyes were shut, but something wet glistened on his lashes from the streetlight outside. “What’s going on?” Remus asked, scooting closer to take his hand and carefully pry his fingers out of their tight ball.

Sirius took three deep breaths, in and out without moving a muscle. “I’m okay,” he lied. “Go back to sleep.”

“Talk to me,” Remus said, quieter than before.

“Just a nightmare.” His chest hitched—Remus could hear the tears in his voice as he cleared his throat. “Shook me a bit. I’ll be fine.”

Remus folded his hand between both of his own and kissed the back of it, then closed the short distance and laid his head on Sirius’ shoulder. He felt him shiver under the touch and pressed another kiss to the peak of his collarbone. “Can you tell me about it?”

“Car accident. You and Harry were with me.” Sirius tentatively leaned closer so his cheek rested against Remus’ temple; after a moment’s hesitation, Remus let go of his hand and moved up the bed so Sirius could tuck his head under his chin with a sniffle. “You were—you were bleeding. Nobody was there to help.”

“No blood,” Remus promised, reaching across his chest to hold him; almost immediately, Sirius curled a hand around his forearm and kept it close. “I’m safe and sound, and Harry’s home.”

“Couldn’t get him out of his seat.”

Remus shushed him softly and tangled their legs together until Sirius turned on his side, splaying a hand over his upper arm with a shuddering exhale. “He’s with Lily and James, right where he’s supposed to be. Everyone’s okay, baby.”

“Merde, Re, I’m so sorry about tonight.” His pulse was still jackrabbit-quick. He sounded miserable.

“I’m upset,” Remus answered honestly. “But it happened. Are you feeling better?”

“About the nightmare or about royally fucking up our date night?”

“Nightmare.”

He hummed and pulled back just enough to look up with honest regret written all over his face. “You always make me feel better. I’m sorry I woke you.”

“I’m glad you did.” Silence fell once again before Remus buried half his face in the pillow with a huff. “Christ, Sirius, I waited for an hour before Leo texted me back. I had no idea where you were, or if something had happened, and I get that you guys were having fun but worrying myself sick and then making dinner alone was kind of the worst way this could have gone.”

Sirius left a light kiss on his wristbone. “I know. My phone died and I completely lost track of time. It was really shitty of me to do that, and if there is anything I can do to make it up to you…”

Remus worked the words around in his mouth for a moment before they finally slipped out, hardly above a whisper. “Did you just…forget about me?”

“No,” Sirius said instantly, sitting up on one arm. “No, of course not. I had no idea how late it was until Leo got your text, Re, I wouldn’t—I would never—”

“Can I have a hug?” he asked. The raw spots were starting to heal over, but the pinched feeling remained. Sitting by the door with four unanswered texts and not even the foggiest idea where Sirius was had been downright humiliating. It had been terrifying, too, but that fear had turned to anger once he knew Sirius was perfectly fine. Like their date meant nothing after all.

Sirius opened his arms unquestioningly, forming the perfect hollow for Remus to cuddle into and let his emotions flow out on a long sigh. “Thank you for making sure I was okay,” Sirius said a while later, when drowsiness had replaced the ache and Remus was more than ready to just sleep for a while. They could deal with anything left over in the morning. “Even though you were angry.”

He rubbed his face against Sirius’ bicep and let his thumb trace the path of an age-silvered scar. “I’m your boyfriend. It’s part of the job description.”

“Not necessarily.” Lips lingered on the top of his head for a heartbeat. “You did it anyway. Thank you.”

“I love you,” Remus said, and he meant every word. “Yeah, I’m mad, but I love you.”

Sirius sniffed and held him tighter. “Je t’aime aussi.”

[lostinwildflowers]

Strange Magic

Ushijima Wakatoshi x Reader

Summary: In a world where dark elves are trying to take over, light fairies are being hunted and captured to be used as weapons. You are on the run from them when you enter a forest, accidentally injuring yourself. A mysterious wyvern appears before you, will it hurt you or lend you a helping hand?

Word Count: 10.5K

Warnings: slow-burn(It wasn't supposed to be I swear, I hope I did this right), pining, mentions of blood, swearing, choking(minor torture), fantasy AU!, Morphling!Ushijima(called a wyvern), Fairy!Reader(physical appearance is human), uhm I made some creatures up, angst, and fluff of course :D

A/N: Hey y'all this is my submission for @bluebellhairpin aka Nemo's Fantasy Collab! I wanted to continue stepping out of my box, so I wrote for good ole Ushiwaka for this fic! Please leave a comment or reblog this, I worked really hard and planned this out for a long time. Thank you and enjoy :D -Birch <3

You didn’t know where else to run, the thundering of hooves sounding out everywhere as you charge towards the forest. The dark elves were on you in an instant when you crossed their border, and you should have known better than to run.

War cries could be heard from behind you, and you duck under some vines, terror ripping through your body as you could start to make out individual voices.

You try to tread as quietly as you can through the forest, the dark green canopy thick and very high above you. Your (colored) eyes catch onto some small blue wisps floating through the sky, the small creatures twirling around in a friendly hello.

There isn’t time to dawdle though, Oikawa’s elves would be on you in a second if you didn’t keep moving. You wind your way through the trees, the voices and clangs of the elf warriors fading as you make your way deeper into the woods.

The bad thing was that the canopy was so thick you were starting to lose your vision, and you were terrified to use your powers. As a light fairy, you could produce soft beams of light at will whenever you were in a good headspace. But whenever you got mad or frightened, you lost almost all control over it, leading to forest fires and devastation.

You settle for emitting a small bit of light from your pointer finger, allowing it to glow like a soft candle as you pick your way over huge and gnarly roots, the material of your skirt getting caught on the jagged edges of the moss.

Crackling in front of you stops you in your tracks, and you are soon met face to face with a small herd of shadow deer. The black creatures were known to be kind and friendly toward those around them, so you smile in relief when they simply acknowledge you as you walk by.

There must be water nearby if there are shadow deer around. Hopefully, there aren’t any water sprites, those things are painful to deal with, you think to yourself, once again tugging on your skirt as you scutter around a particularly nasty vine.

Your breathing had managed to calm down at this point, the only thing you could hear was the rustling of the shadow deer next to you munching on the grass and the faintest roar of water in the background.

A squeal almost leaves your lips as your eyes focus on the faint path in front of you, pointing your glowing finger forward for a better view. When you catch sight of a shimmering dark blue sparkle you immediately start making your way down the dirt path, pink and purple glowing mushrooms lining the way down to the water’s edge.

At this point, you were completely lost in the middle of the forest, your surroundings glowing a deep midnight purple. You look around the path briefly to see if any small animals would cut in front of you and you think, I bet nothing is out here in this twilight. It’s almost impossible to see without a light.

You were lost in your thoughts and trying to remain calm, keeping your light steady, that you didn’t realize the path had turned from dirt into wet stone. Your feet slide out from underneath you, a loud crying leaving your lips as you hit the ground, your right calf ripping against a huge and sawtoothed rock.

In your haste to get close to the water, you also didn’t notice a sharp pair of green eyes were watching you from across the riverbed, eyes that seemed to glow neon with intensity.

You groan at the pain radiating through your back and your butt. The fall had made you land clumsily, causing your light to flicker out in haste.

In the dark twilight of the forest, you could see the faint gleam of rushing water, and you sit up slowly as another whimper leaves your lips when you shift your body. At a quick glance, you can see a wet, dark red liquid on your leg, and then a burning pain starts to set in.

You cough lowly, gasping in pain as you try to clutch your leg, eyes welling with unshed tears. A loud splash in the water sings out as a huge shadow begins to loom over you.

You are met with bright and shining olive green eyes, and you feel your heart start to race and your stomach clench in fear as you gaze up at the wyvern in front of you.

A harsh and dissonant screech leaves your lips as you try to scramble away from the huge creature that resembled a two-legged dragon. The sharp green eyes pierce you to the point where you feel like you can’t move, but the pain in your leg tells you that you can’t move because you’re injured.

In your panic, you accidentally start spewing light from your hands and onto the soft, dry leaves next to you. They easily catch fire, the orange and yellow glow of the flames lighting up the huge creature in front of you.

You could make out large, dark green and brown scales all over its chest, and you catch sight of a huge and swinging tail behind it. The flames start curling up a dried tree on the end of the path, and you begin your scrambling again, trying to crawl away from the monster in front of you.

In a flash, the wyvern turns around, its tail cutting deep into the water as it puts out the flames around you in an enormous wave. The path is dark again, the only light being from the few squished mushrooms you scrambled over and the olive glow of the wyvern’s eyes.

The figure of the wyvern shimmers for a few seconds before your eyes, and in a heartbeat, a tall and muscular figure stands in front of you. His eyes don’t seem to glow as much in his human form, but the intensity is still there as he begins to walk toward you.

Your heart is beating erratically at this point and you point your hand at him and shout panicked, “Get back or I will blast you!”

That immediately stops the large figure in front of you, the man stops dead in his tracks and puts one hand out in front of him slowly. He blinks once, his eyes staying focused on yours as he states, “I’m not going to hurt you. I am here to help.”

You manage to shuffle back onto your butt, sticking both hands out in front of you. Your eyes are wide with fear and you yell back at him, “How do I know you aren’t working with the dark elves to capture me?!”

This causes the man to tense all of a sudden, his large frame freezing at the sound of “dark elves”. His olive-green eyes remain latched on your own as he slowly crouches down, his hand still held out in a peaceful manner.

“I am not working for Oikawa,” he states lowly, his voice gravelly and deep. You just stare at him distrustfully, so the man continues, “My name is Ushijima Wakatoshi, but you can call me Ushijima.”

You put one hand down as you start to gather your feet underneath you, preparing to stand up. In your movements though, you gasp in pain, and Ushijima shuffles forward to help you.

Quickly you put both hands out again and you yell, “Stay back!” With that, a small burst of light flies from your hands, but Ushijima ducks out of the way easily, turning his head to watch the light sail past him.

He turns his head back to you and he replies, “Your aim isn’t too good, you must be in a lot of pain. I know you light fairies only have a limit to how much light you can expel.”

Now it’s your turn to freeze at his words, your hands dropping as you look at him in shock. Your mouth remains hanging open as you stutter out, “H- how did you know?”

A frown finds its way onto Ushijima’s face as he murmurs, “My friend, Tendo, was a light fairy. He was taken by Oikawa’s dark elves when he wouldn’t turn himself in to be used as their weapon. As far as I know, they killed him.”

At Ushijima’s confession, you sigh dejectedly and nod slowly, “I’m sorry to hear that, Ushijima. There aren’t many of us light fairies left. My name is L/n Y/n, and I’m on the run from Oikawa and his men.”

Ushijima seems to soften as you introduce yourself and he blankly responds, “You are injured. You can’t possibly run from the dark elves in this state. Let me help you, my hut isn’t too far from here.”

You nod wearily, trying once again to get up on your own, by whimpering when you brush your leg against the hard stones underneath you. Warm hands on your waist haul you to your feet, and you are met with those same intelligent green eyes.

“It might be best if I carry you, we have to cross the water and there is no way you can wade through that on your own,” Ushijima remarks, his hands lingering by your sides as he awaits your response.

You go to argue with him, but as you apply pressure to your injured leg, it wobbles and gives out on you. Ushijima’s firm grasp is around you in an instant, and he doesn’t say anything as he picks you up in his arms bridal style.

Ushijima is very cautious as he carries you through the water, the coolness of it lapping at the bottom of his tank top. Once on the shore, Ushijima asks you how you are doing, and you simply shrug, “I don’t know, you’re the one carrying me.”

With that, a small smile curls at the edges of Ushijima’s lips, and he sets out for his small hut. The walk to his shack is quite beautiful, you must admit. On this side of the river, the moss glows a gentle emerald green, and the tree trunks are a mix of black, navy, and burgundy barks.

There are a few small creatures you see along the way, one or two more shadow deer, a few red and oranges wisps too. What catches your attention is the fire sprites hanging around the tops of the trees.

The fire sprites were known for their very short tempers, but you were surprised to see how kindly they smiled at you in Ushijima’s arms. The man doesn’t seem to notice them himself, his pace not wavering as he maneuvers through the trees toward his home.

You notice Ushijima relaxes slightly at the sight of his house against the twilight sky. The hut is pretty small, enough to support one person, I suppose, you think to yourself as you take in the compact building.

Ushijima is ever the gentleman as he helps you inside the front door, boarding it shut behind him as he guides you over to a table. He clears it as quickly as he can, taking the pieces of parchment and moving them to a smaller desk.

You look around the house as you plop down in one of the wooden chairs, eyes scanning to see a small fireplace, couch and kitchen. Ushijima appears in your vision, two lit lanterns in his hands.

He sets one on the table you were sitting at, and he hangs the other on a hook by the door. After that, he finds a drawer, pulling out 10 or so candles. He quickly lights each of them, setting them up throughout the room to provide ample light.

It was at this moment, with his back turned to you, that you realized how handsome Ushijima was. He was littered with ropes of muscle, and you can’t tear your eyes away from the beefiness of his back that you see peeking out from under his tank top.

In your ogling, you hardly register it when he turns around, his gaze soft and curious as it meets your own. He sets the medical supplies on the table as he takes his place in a chair next to you and asks, “Y/n? Are you alright? You look slightly dazed.”

You just rub at your eyes and shake your head side to side twice to clear your thoughts as you mumble back, “Uh, yeah. I think I just lost a lot of blood, but I should be okay.”

Ushijima nods in reply as he starts to prep the supplies, grabbing a small glass bottle of alcohol and some gauze. Kind green eyes meet your own troubled (colored) ones and he asks quietly, “Is it alright if I clean your cut now?”

You blush faintly and scoot your leg over to him, pulling up the hem of your skirt so he had access to your wound. Ushijima’s hands are rough and warm against your smooth skin, but he is gentle as he picks up your foot to set in his lap.

In a few motions, he wets a small piece of cloth with water, cleaning up the edges of the cut from where the river water mixed with your blood. After that, he takes a clean cloth and allows it to soak in the alcohol for a second, glancing at you and saying, “This is going to sting.”

You grip onto the edge of the desk as he dabs at the wound, and you can’t help the way your knee tugs toward your chest at the sharp sting of it. You bang your knee slightly at your sudden reflex, and Ushijima stares blankly at you and says, “I told you it was going to sting.”

An embarrassed flush covers your face as you nod, stretching your leg back out. Ushijima stops you though, moving his chair closer so he’s sat next to you, your thigh slung over one of his legs as he looks down at the cut intensely.

“I’m going to have to clean this thoroughly. I can see dirt in there, and it could get infected if not cleaned properly,” he states monotonously, looking down at your scared face.

His expression softens at the clear panic etched on your features and he glances away while mumbling, “You can grab onto my arm if that will help ease your pain.”

So while he gets to work on cleaning your wound, your hands find a place around the girth of his large bicep. He does his best to work as efficiently as possible, but when he has to pluck a few pieces of grass and rubble out, your hands tighten around the muscle to the point you thought you were hurting him.

Ushijima is nothing but kind and patient as he wraps your calf with some gauze, securing it with some medical tape before setting it on the ground tenderly. His hands don’t linger as long as you would have liked, because he’s soon grabbing all of the dirty supplies and finding a place to dispose of them.

As Ushijima washes his hands in a pail of water he murmurs quietly, “You can sleep on the bed for as long as you like. I can rest out here by the fire.”

You wince as you turn to face him and you say, “I can’t possibly take your bed, this is your home. I’m just a guest here because you were kind enough to help me out. I don’t even know how to repay you.”

Ushijima almost smiles at this as he shakes his head, “No, I insist. You need the room on the bed for your leg to stretch out. I will take the couch to keep an eye out for intruders. No one should be around or have followed us, no one knows where I live except for you.”

You open your mouth to object again, but you think better of it and instead ask, “So you said you knew a light fairy? Oh, what was his name… oh, Tendo?”

Ushijima’s large frame freezes from drying his hands, his back turned toward you. You see him sigh and turn around slowly, sitting in the chair next to you again. Ushijima runs his hands over his face, his fingers trailing through his olive-brown hair as he takes a moment to gather his thoughts.

“Tendo was my best friend,” he starts, “I’m a wyvern, and Tendo grew up next to where my family lived. He was never afraid of my morphling form, and I was never afraid of his light powers.”

You listen as Ushijima tells you his backstory and about how he ended up in the twilight forest. He mentions how his family moved across the country without him, and that he was sought after for his hardened scales as armor.

In turn, you explained how the dark elf king, Oikawa Tooru, was hunting the light fairies for his own personal army. You tell the story of how they caught you on the edge of their territory, leaving them to follow you in pursuit as you made your way into the twilight forest.

Deep in the dark lands, an obsidian castle stood high against the rising moon, one of the tallest towers flickering with the light from a holding chamber.

In this chamber, a defiant red-headed light fairy was chained, his spirit not broken as the dark elf king and his loyal soldiers tried to corrupt him.

A gasp of, “I will never, submit to you, Oikawa!” leaves the redhead’s lips as the dark elf uses his power to choke the air out of Tendo’s lungs. The dark elf king just smirks madly as he releases his power, allowing the light fairy to crash to his knees.

Oikawa turns to his left and calls, “General Iwaizumi, bring in The Siren.” The dark-haired male nods, and slips down a blackened hallway within the castle.

A few minutes go by before General Iwaizumi is accompanied by a silver-haired male covered in patchy blue and green scales. Oikawa turns to the siren and states, “Semi, you need to sing this foolish light fairy into command.”

Semi nods hesitantly under Oikawa’s command and makes his way toward the chained-up fairy. Oikawa and the other dark elves leave, locking the two creatures in the room as Semi’s enchanting voice starts to sound out.

The following morning in the twilight forest is surprisingly calm, and you groan as you roll over in the large king-sized bed. A broken cry leaves your lips as you feel pain in your leg, and in a few seconds, Ushijima is standing at the frame of the door, concern written all over his features.

“Y/n,” he rushes, “What’s wrong?” He answers his own question when he pulls back the sheets on the bed to expose your leg, blood coating every inch of the bandage he had wrapped last night.

Ushijima’s eyes harden in determination as he glances at the pain etched on your face. Without another word, he turns and strides out of the room, his hands clenched at his sides as he finds more medical supplies.

In a minute, he’s back by your side and murmuring softly, “Y/n, I need you to take your skirt off, it got tangled between your legs when you slept, causing your wound to open in the night.”

You are half asleep and in pain as you listen to his words, and you grumble out, “Can you at least help me to my feet? I don’t think I can stand up on my own.”

Ushijima is immediately by your side, sliding one hand behind your shoulders while the other sits at the small of your back, helping to heave you to your feet. You stumble slightly, but Ushijima catches you as you fall into his chest, your forehead making contact with his sternum.

You close your eyes in pain as you mumble out, “Ow, you’re bony.” Ushijima huffs at this, a genuine smile sitting on his lips as he steadies you.

Ushijima is very respectful as he helps you out of your skirts, his eyes only staying above your chest or below your knees as much as he can. He starts to take off the soiled tape once he has you sit on the edge of the bed, and he kneels in front of you to remove the blood-soaked gauze.

His hands feel nice, you think to yourself as he situated the new wrap of gauze, his brows furrowed in concentration. You blink shyly at your own thoughts as he stands up and walks over to a chest near the end of the bed.

Ushijima pulls out a pair of pants and a large green shirt and sheepishly rubs his head as he looks at you. He starts, “I, uhm. I don’t have any clothes that will fit you, and your skirts will keep getting in the way. You can wear these.”

Your face flushes with warmth as he hands you the clothes, slipping out of the room to let you get changed. As he walks away, Ushijima doesn’t understand why his heart is beating faster and he can’t stop thinking of you sitting on his bed with his clothes in your hands.

It takes you a little while to get changed, but once you do you hesitantly call, “Uhm, Ushijima? Could you help me to the kitchen?”

At that, Ushijima walks back into the bedroom with a small plate of fresh berries, some bread, and a small piece of meat. He tries to calm his breathing as his eyes catch you looking divine in his clothes, but he can’t help the way the tips of his ears burn red.

He clears his throat and says, “I made some food for you, Y/n. I need to leave you here and head to the nearest town to get supplies. If I’m not careful, your leg could end up infected, and I need more bandages and some clothes for you.”

You shuffle toward the food, the collar of the shirt sliding down to expose your collarbones as you reach for a strawberry. Ushijima has to rip his eyes away from you as he bows slightly, walking toward the door.

You look rapidly at the sound of his retreating footsteps and you yell out, “Ushijima, wait!” The tall man stops as he passes through the doorway, placing one hand on the frame he turns his head over his shoulder and asks, “Yes, Y/n?”

Butterflies erupt finds in your stomach as you manage to say, “Thank you, Ushijima. For everything.” He doesn’t say anything for a moment, and you almost think you said something wrong when all you can focus on are his bright green eyes.

But then Ushijima gives you a gentle, closed-lipped smile before saying, “I will be gathering my cart for the next little while, I will tell you whenever I am leaving.” At that, he leaves you in the tightly packed bedroom to go prepare for his trip.

The day goes by pretty slowly at the start, as you had woken up early in the morning due to pain. Ushijima had left right as the forest started to shimmer a mulberry shade of purple, the sun trying its hardest to brighten the dark woods.

You try to rest on the bed, but you feel bad for having bled all over Ushijima’s sheets, so you take your time in standing up, carefully peeling the blankets off the bed and over to the washbasin you had seen when you walked in.

You didn’t necessarily walk around the house, but you limped with care as you lifted the sheets off the bed and carried them into the small living room. You add a log to the fire burning in the hearth and your mind wanders, Ushijima must have added wood before he left this morning.

Somehow you manage to tug the basin closer to the fire, allowing the heat of the flames to warm the basin slightly as you begin scrubbing at the bloodstains. This takes up most of your late morning and into lunch, having to stretch your leg out carefully as to not cramp it.

At this point in the day, the forest was a lot brighter, as the wind was moving quickly through the canopy, splitting open the dark blanket to allow some light to shine down onto the forest floor.

You hang the blankets up in front of the fire in hopes they would dry before Ushijima would get home. You feel your stomach grumble from all of the moving around you were doing, and the dull ache in your leg only intensifies throughout the day.

You look at the small kitchen within the hut, and you see the small box of berries that Ushijima had grabbed fruit from whenever he gave you your breakfast. As you gaze upon the small fruit you think, I really don’t want to eat all of these, but I don’t know where else to get food.

Thus, you end up snacking on the berries for a while, filling up your stomach while also leaving plenty of strawberries, raspberries, and wild berries in the bottom of the small basket. Once your belly was pleasantly full, you crawl over to the couch where Ushijima had slept and you curl up into a ball, letting sleep overtake your exhausted form.

It’s late afternoon when Ushijima returns, the sounds of wings beating alerting you of his presence. You quickly get up from the couch where you had been dozing, and you head straight for the front door, undoing the deadbolt in a hasty swing.

You fling the door open to be met with the green and brown wyvern you know to be Ushijima, his eyes ferociously green in his morphling form. You notice the large cart on the expanse of his back and you recognize boxes and crates full of supplies.

You can’t help the awe that covers your features as you begin to walk toward Ushijima’s huge form. He quickly starts to transform, allowing the cart to slide off of his back gracefully before he is revealed in his human clothes.

Ushijima quickly starts heading toward you, picking up a jog when he sees you stumble. Just before you reach him, your injured leg dips down in a slight hole in the forest floor, and you trip, your face rushing toward the ground.

In a flash, Ushijima lunges forward, somehow managing to slide under you so you land on his chest with his back to the ground. He coughs once as he tries to regain the air in his lungs, and you tense as you feel pain ricochet through your legs.

Neither of you realizes that his hands are firmly wrapped around your waist, but as your head catches up with what happened you look down at him and ask, “Ushi- Ushijima, are you alright? You didn’t have to catch me you know.”

Ushijima just nods slightly and sputters out, “Hng, uh, yeah Y/n, I am fine. Is your leg alright?” You nod in response, and you notice that your lips are only a few inches away from his own plump ones.

You can see smaller speckles of gold and brown within his sharp green eyes, and you feel yourself getting flustered by noticing his handsome features up close. You swear you see Ushijima’s eyes flick down to your lips, but you blame it on your vision failing you.

Ushijima’s hands tighten around your waist even more, his arms practically wrapping you in a hug to his chest when your leg slides off of his own. You flush under his warm gaze and his even warmer touches, your stomach filling with butterflies as he looks over your features.

“You are very beautiful,” Ushijima whispers softly, untangling one hand from around your waist to brush a piece of hair out of your eyes, tenderly tucking it behind your ear.

You don’t know what to say for a second, your cheeks getting hotter as he continues to look at you. You end up murmuring back a simple, “Thank you.”

Ushijima sits up slowly, your forehead moving to rest on his own as he shifts his weight forward. Your lips catch the side of his cheek in a soft kiss, and you pull away quickly at the realization of your actions.

You don’t notice the red staining Ushijima’s cheeks though, and he simply helps you stand up without another word.

The two of you work in tandem unpacking all of the supplies, Ushijima brings the crates inside while you start taking items out and reorganizing them. This goes on for an hour or so before Ushijima’s cart is cleared.

He locks the door behind the two of you, securing the deadbolt before swiveling around to the boxes. Ushijima glances at your leg and asks, “How does it feel? I managed to bargain for some pain medicine, if you need some I can grab it.”

You shake your head and say, “I’m alright as of now, but maybe before bed, I really don’t want to bleed all over your sheets again.” You glance absentmindedly at the sheets strung in front of the fireplace and you curse yourself for not putting them back on the bed earlier.

Ushijima’s gaze follows your own and he almost frowns when he sees the sheets hanging. He steps forward and states, “I’m sorry Y/n, I should have cleaned those before I left this morning. You probably overexerted yourself doing this.”

You smile up at the large man from where you are sitting and say, “No, it’s alright Ushi. I didn’t have anything else to do today, and I was the one who dirtied them.”

His hand tugs on the now dry sheets and he grumbles lowly, “I will put these back on the bed. You can help yourself to the meat crate on the table.”

You simply nod as he walks past you, and a fluttery feeling makes its way from your stomach and into your chest as you catch a whiff of the woodsy scent lingering on him from his journey.

These next few days are going to be interesting, you think to yourself. I don’t know what I’ll be able to do to make up for my injured leg, but I’ll have to figure something out. Ushijima is too kind for me to just leech off of him.

Days turn into weeks as your leg starts to heal, and you are walking a lot better than you had before. Ushijima was nothing but kind and compassionate toward you as you healed, making breakfast and dinner every single morning and evening without fail.

You, in turn, would help do laundry and collect berries and vegetables from the small garden Ushijima had next to his hut. Ushijima had objected at the start, but he realized you needed something to do while he helped you heal and hide from the dark elves.

More recently you had decided to show him your powers, starting off with emitting a soft and golden glow from the tips of your fingers. Whenever your leg was completely healed you showed him how you could toss the beams of light like how you did when he first encountered you.

Ushijima found himself enjoying your presence more than he would have liked to admit. You had started filling the hole in his heart that had been made by Tendo’s absence and he was scared. He was scared that you would leave him or be taken away like how Tendo was, and he couldn’t let that happen.

Even worse yet, Ushijima was wanting to touch you. Not sexually or suggestively, but whenever you both would walk to the river to get water, he wanted to reach down and lace his fingers with your own.

He wanted to cuddle you on the couch in front of the fire when the nights got cold. He wanted you to grab onto his arm when you tripped or if you needed him for something.

Ushijima found himself wanting to be your person. He didn’t even know what to do about it because he didn’t know if you felt the same way or not.

Meanwhile, you wanted to rest your head on his shoulder after you set the fishing line and were waiting for something to catch. You wanted to chase after him in the field of wildflowers on the edge of the forest. You wanted him to kiss you on the forehead when you went to lie down in his bed.

You craved his touch after all of these months, his warm and rough hands sent shocks and shivers up your spine. His touch was electric and magnetic all at the same time, it caused you to shiver and shake with a simple graze on the hand.

You thought for sure you had ruined it one night when you had asked, “Ushijima, I know I have been a guest in your house for a while, and you’ve been calling me by my first name since we met. Is it alright if I called you Wakatoshi? Or even Toshi for short?”

The man had frozen where he was cutting vegetables for your small dinner. A pregnant silence hung in the air and you bit your lip in nervousness when he didn’t answer.

You shuffled on the couch as an embarrassed flush spread on your cheeks and you murmur, “I understand if you would like me to continue calling you-” “No,” he cuts you off.

“Please call me Wakatoshi or Toshi. You have been great company, you can call me whatever you like,” he continues as he resumes chopping up the carrot. You don’t notice the red on his neck and ears, and you don’t see the toothy grin that he lets slide onto his lips.

There was another instance when you had been making small sandwiches for lunch while Ushijima was out chopping wood. He had been at it all morning and you thought he might like a glass of lemonade.

What you weren’t prepared for was to walk around the corner of the hut, a cup of lemonade in hand, and be met face to face with Ushijima’s muscled and very much shirtless back.

The sound of the cup hitting the ground made Ushijima whip around, the axe in his hand swinging as he faced you. When he saw your dazed look and redden cheeks, he immediately dropped the tool to his side.

“Are you alright? What’s going on?” he had asked you, raising up the axe above his head to lodge it into the piece of wood he had been chopping.

A squeak leaves your lips at the sound of the crack, and your feet step into the remnants of the lemonade on the ground. Ushijima turns back to you, his broad chest glistening with sweat as he walks over to you.

You can’t help but gulp as the huge man approaches you and then reaches down to pick up the cup, handing it to you with a gentle, “You accidentally dropped this.”

You just nod and take the cup from him, quickly limping and scurrying back into the hut. Your fingers at your face and eyes as you groan into your hand, and you look at the cup with disgust as you think, Have I really gotten this attracted to Ushijima? I know I’m living with him, but damn.

A few weeks after the lemonade incident, Ushijima took you down to the river to help him gather water to store for drinking. He carried two buckets on a long pole slung over his shoulder, and he let you carry a few bottles in a satchel slung across your body.

The two of you made simple small talk as the river approached, and Ushijima took the liberty of getting thigh-deep in the water to fill up the buckets of water before returning to shore.

You had simply crouched on the riverbed, reaching forward ever so slightly to fill up each bottle carefully. You watched for sand or any bugs that might have gotten in the way, so you didn’t see Ushijima behind you.

He rested a hand on your shoulder gently as he said, “The buckets are full, so whenever the bottles are ready we can head back to the house.”

Ushijima’s touch and low voice ended up scaring you, making you jump forward into the cold water of the river with a shrill scream. You ended up only rolling into the shallows, but your entire body was soaked head to toe when you emerged.

Your mouth hung open accusingly at Ushijima, whose expression was one of shock and fear as he regarded your wet figure. He steps toward you and into the shallows, reaching a hand out to say, “Oh my goodness, Y/n, I did not mean to scare you, I simply-”

A splash of water cuts him off as you shove water with your hands toward his tall frame. Ushijima slightly recoils at the sensation of the cool water on his skin, and he goes to ask you what you were doing until he sees the coy grin on your lips.

With his own chuckle, he reaches down and splashes you back, his feet guiding him deeper into the blue water of the river. A squeal flies from your lips as you try to scramble away from him, but his hands grab at you as he dunks you both in the refreshing river water.

Laughter sounds out from the two of you, your giggles sound like wind chimes compared to his deep baritone. You almost stop laughing just to hear the beautiful sound fall from his lips as you catch his gaze.

Ushijima rests his hands on your back, holding you close in the middle of the river as the two of you lock eyes. Water drips down from his hair and onto the plump apples of his cheeks, where a large and toothy grin awaited you.

You mirrored the cheerful look on his face, eyes squinting up at him as you rested your hands on his chest, your own torso heaving from the giggles still falling from your lips. The warmth from his body made your skin tingle from the temperature difference, and you found yourself getting lost in his comforting green eyes.

A loud buzzing can be heard from the other side of the river, catching both you and Ushijima’s attention rapidly as a horde of water sprites fly at you angrily. Ushijima pushes you towards the shore as he follows in suit, his clothes clinging tightly to his muscled form as he grabs his buckets and lifts the bar across his back.

You grab for the few bottles you had managed to fill, pushing them into the damp satchel quickly as you clamper out of the water and to where Ushijima was waiting. The two of you set off as quickly as you can without spilling the buckets, laughter and giggles spewing from both of you as you make your way back to the hut.

Then there was your biggest and most embarrassing moment yet. You had come to learn that the days in the twilight forest were warm, so a shirt and pants were fine, some days even a cropped shirt was acceptable.

However, the nights in the forest were absolutely brutal, as temperatures dropped rapidly, and that was why Ushijima kept the firewood supply stocked constantly.

The night had gone as usual, the sun was setting which meant it was time for the front door to be locked and the board to be set in place. Ushijima had the fire going from dinner and was poking at it slightly to shift the embers around.

He still insisted on sleeping on the smaller couch, even though you had offered him the bed countless times. Ushijima would always say something about how he was raised to respect women and that you were recovering from an injury and he didn’t want to take advantage of you.

But that night, you laid shivering and cold in Ushijima’s expansive bed. The comforters did little to warm you, and you even wore one of Ushijima’s larger shirts over your own smaller one in an attempt to warm yourself.

The constant cold and shivering had you exhausted, but sleep couldn’t quite seem to find you. This led you to your current predicament.

You were standing in the doorway of the bedroom, facing the kitchen and the soft glow from the fire. You couldn’t see Ushijima, but you knew he was laying on the other side of the couch, hopefully asleep.

Soft footsteps lead you over to the front of the fire, and with as much care as you can manage, you settle down next to the hearth, hands held out to try to warm them up.

A sigh leaves your lips as the fire begins to heat your fingers up, and you tuck your knees under your chin as you bask in the quiet warmth. A blanket being draped over your shoulders makes you turn hastily, and you see Ushijima standing behind you, eyes half-lidded with sleep.

“If you were cold you should have told me, I would have added more logs to the fire,” Ushijima states quietly, his arms crossing over his chest as he regards your small, balled-up figure on the floor.

You glance at the flames to keep your eyes off of his handsome face as you murmur, “I thought you were asleep, Toshi. I didn’t want to wake you up.”

Ushijima carefully sits down next to you, opening his left arm to invite you into his chest for extra warmth. You shyly scoot closer to him, tucking your cheek into his chest and letting one hand rest on his thigh.

He wraps his arm around you slowly, as if to not scare you as he pulls you closer to his chest. His green eyes linger on the top of your head as his voice rumbles, “You are my main priority right now, Y/n. I have to tend to your needs, even if it is as simple as warmth.”

You nod slightly, the body heat radiating from Ushijima sending tingles up and down your spine. The warmth starts to spread all over, and as you start to drift off in Ushijima’s arms, you could swear something touched your head.

In a few moments, you were asleep in Ushijima’s lap, and he couldn’t believe he had actually kissed your forehead. Ever since you had accidentally kissed his cheek, he had wanted to return the kiss to you somehow, and he had been given the perfect opportunity.

The following morning, the fire had burnt out when you woke up, but you weren’t cold at all. Yes, there was a blanket covering you, but the weight of a solid and firmly muscled arm was wrapped around your torso, locking you in place and constantly giving out heat.

Behind the said arm was the looming figure of Ushijima, whose eyes were peeked open slightly, watching and waiting to see when you would wake up. He felt you shift against him, and that’s when his eyes popped open.

He lifted his arm slightly, allowing you to turn to face him as you blinked sleepily up at him, (colored) orbs half-lidded with a lazy smile on your lips. Ushijima smiles softly in return, his arm tightening again when you nuzzle into his chest.

Neither of you discusses the way you enjoyed holding each other, especially when you have to untangle from each other’s limbs and begin your day. After breakfast, you call out, “Toshi, I need to go refill our basket full of berries, I’ll be near the river if you need me for anything.”

Ushijima nods from where he’s sketching a map at the table before turning to you and saying, “Be careful out there since you are going by alone. I know you can protect yourself but some creatures won’t be kind to you.”

You roll your eyes and nod, giving the green-eyed man a mock salute as you grab the basket, hauling it to your hip as you make your way out of the small shack and into the woods.

The walk to the river only takes a few minutes, and so you set to work, grabbing handfuls of the small blueberries and huckleberries that liked to grow within reach of the water.

You quiet hum to yourself as the basket slowly starts to fill up, your leg cramping every once in a while, forcing you to take small breaks in between handfuls of berries.

Out of nowhere, a large wave of light is fired at you, causing you to get blasted through the huckleberries and down to the riverbed. A scream escapes your lips as you land, echoing throughout the forest as the plants around you catch fire.

Ushiwaka hears the scream from where he had just started tending to his garden outside of the house, and he begins sprinting toward the river at the resounding cry.

Then through the path burnt by the light and fire, stands Tendo Satori, his palms glowing and a sadistic grin on his face. As the light fairy makes his way towards you, you scramble to your feet, holding your own glowing palms out in front of you in defense.

Tendo smiles at you before saying, “Well, well, well, little light fairy, looks like you’re trapped.” And he wasn’t wrong, you were surrounded by water, which definitely didn’t aid you in fighting.

Ushijima appears moments afterward, his chest heaving and his eyes widening as they lock onto the tall form in front of him. He coughs for a split second, gaining the attention of the red-headed light fairy as he stutters out, “T- Tendo? I thought you were killed...”

Tendo just laughs out, “Oh my, you big oaf, I was simply recruited to the correct side of this world, to serve under his majesty, King Oikawa.”

As Tendo takes a step toward you, Ushijima steps toward Tendo with a deep shout of, “You get away from her, NOW.”

Tendo ignores Ushijima’s words and starts advancing toward you again, bringing a light beam to his fingers, he chuckles darkly.

You glance at Ushijima, panic, and terror written all over your disheveled features and you yell to him, “This is your friend, Tendo? Why didn’t you tell me he’s a psychopath?!”

Ushijima starts to make his way toward you as he calls back, “Well he wasn’t like this before! He never would have bowed down to Oikawa unless they brainwashed him!”

True panic starts to set in at Ushijima’s words, and you can feel the control of your power start to slip with every passing second. Tendo laughs maniacally, shooting beams of light at you in rapid succession.

On instinct, you engage your light power, sending a huge wave of light and heat out, causing trees and bushes on the edge of the water to catch fire. You had stopped paying attention to your surroundings, totally giving into the dark and dangerous part of your power.

Tendo just smiles at you and shouts with joy, “Yes! Yes! Unleash your true power, my fellow fairy!”

Ushijima had to stop whenever you sent out your blast of light, and he was at a loss for what to do as you lost control of yourself. He gazed around him, eyes cataloging the damage of your powers, ruining all of the berry plants and the new growth at the water’s edge.

With no other choices left, Ushijima starts to transform into his wyvern. He hopes it’ll be enough to battle Tendo, or at least begin to start putting out a large number of the flames.

Once he’s fully transformed, the large wyvern dives into the river before reemerging, trying to splash the flames out as you begin firing at Tendo. Ushijima’s wyvern lets out a roar as he dives at Tendo, his green eyes focusing on the smaller figure of the light fairy.

As Ushijima’s wings carry him around, Tendo gets slightly distracted from you, giving you the chance to aim a little more clearly at the evil light fairy. As quick as one of your light beams, a silent arrow flies across the sky, ripping through one of Ushijima’s wings.

The wyvern falls with an ear-piercing screech, and you suddenly regain control of your powers when you realize Ushijima’s body crashed from the sky and onto the ground. Standing downriver is a tall dark elf, holding an elegantly crafted obsidian bow with an evil grin on his face.

Ushijima had no other choice than to morph back into his human form, the poison arrow sticking straight out of his shoulder. Oikawa appears next to Tendo while you start running over to Ushijima, power and elegance hanging in the air at the dark elf king’s presence.

Ushijima rolls over with a groan and manages to cough out, “Don’t worry about me, Y/n, just defeat them.” Your heart breaks at the battered sight of Ushijima in front of you, his body broken, bruised, and bloody.

It was at that moment, you knew. Ushijima was no longer just someone letting you live with him, helping you out, or even just a caretaker for you. You were completely, utterly, and helplessly in love with Ushijima Wakatoshi.

With Ushijima’s go ahead, you turn around, light flaring at your palms as your eyes begin to glow gold. A loud scream leaves your lips as you charge at Oikawa and Tendo, light flashing from your palms as you aim the beams at the two men.

In a few quick movements, you have made a fire ring around Oikawa, the flames lapping tall against the sky as you turn to face Tendo. The light fairy is just looking at you smugly, but his smile falters when he hears Ushijima’s delirious call through the crackle of the fire, “T-Tendo?”

A look of horror appears on Tendo’s face as he takes in the raging fire around him and his gaze lands on Ushijima. In a few large strides, Tendo is in front of Ushijima and says, “Oh my gosh, Wakatoshi, what happened to you? What happened to me?”

Ushijima groans as Tendo helps him sit up and he blinks hazily at the redhead, the poison from Oikawa’s arrow starting to pump throughout his blood. It takes a moment for Ushijima to respond before he manages, “Tendo… you, you gave into Oikawa, you were fighting us...”

While Tendo tries to move Ushijima out of the fight, you step through the circle of blazing fire to be met face to face with Oikawa. With a snarl on your lips you sneer, “So this is the Dark Elf King Oikawa, huh?”

Oikawa just smiles back at you, reaching behind him to grab another poison arrow from his quiver as he says, “My, my. That red-headed light fairy wasn’t wrong when he said you had a strong will.”

You spit on the ground next to him, jutting your chin out you spew, “Pathetic. I expected more from you, Oikawa Tooru.”

The dark elf king just smiles maniacally at you, his brown locks of hair wavering from the heat of the fire, as he grabs the arrow from his quiver, quickly trying to catch it on the string of his bow.

However, you waste no time, raising your hands in front of you, you blast him into a solid tree trunk behind him. Oikawa’s hands drop both the bow and the arrows as he flies through the air, his back cracking against the firm wood behind him.

You find it within you to will the fires around you to calm, bringing the flames even with the forest floor before the embers burn out. As you step out of the ring of embers, you see Oikawa knocked unconscious against the base of a tree trunk.

Your (colored) eyes catch onto Tendo’s figure tending to Ushijima, and you go to scream at him to get away when you realize that your fellow light fairy is helping Ushijima.

You jog over to him, eyes frantically scanning over Ushijima’s large figure as you pant out, “Watch over Oikawa, I need to run to the shack and get some rope to tie him up.”

Tendo just nods as you take off sprinting, your legs carrying you toward the small house you had learned to call home. You barely register arriving at the house, finding the rope, and even making it back to the clearing where the three men were at.

You give the rope to Tendo to restrain the unconscious Oikawa as you kneel beside Ushijima, who was flickering in and out of consciousness. You start panicking, and you can feel the anxiety bubbling in your chest as you start to shake Ushijima, trying to keep him awake.

A sob of, “Please stay awake, Toshi. I grabbed an elixir from the medicine drawer when I ran back to the house. Please wake up!” Tears begin streaming down your face as your hands shakily fumble with the small glass bottle.

You call to Tendo, “Please help me get him against a tree so I can get this in his mouth!” Tendo had just finished tying up Oikawa before he returned to your side, helping you haul the large frame of Ushijima over to a tree, leaning him up against the trunk gently.

With your shaky hands, you pop the lid off of the elixir, allowing the mouth of the bottle to press against Ushijima’s lips as you pour the purple liquid onto his tongue. When the bottle is empty you pull away, your vision blurring as you gaze at the battered form of the man you had come to love.

A light cough leaves Ushijima’s throat, catching your attention before you’re hovering over him again, worrying etched in your features. With hazy eyes, he tries to focus on you as he asks, “Y/n? What happened? Where are we?”

A wavering sigh leaves your lips as you cup his face in your hands and you whisper, “You got shot by a poison arrow from Oikawa, Tendo’s back to himself. We are just outside of the river, I had to give you a potion to stop the poison from spreading.”

Ushijima doesn’t say anything, just slightly nods in your hands before his eyes close for a moment. Another cry leaves your lips as your hands tilt his face toward your own, your eyes scanning over his body rapidly, searching for any other major injuries.

You notice Tendo had managed to pull the arrow out, and as you take in Ushijima’s form, simply covered in a ripped up tank top and a pair of pants, covered in sweat, dirt, and blood, you can’t help but think it’s the most beautiful he’s ever looked.

“Please,” you whimper as you gently turn his face back and forth in your hands, tears streaming down your cheeks, “Please stay with me, Toshi.”

Tendo steps forward and says, “I think he’s just unconscious, I can carry him back to the shack if you want to stay here with Oikawa, I can bring back the cart to haul him to the Kingdom of the Griffins.”

You nod as you release your grip from his face, muffling your cries as you walk over to the tied-up form of Oikawa, and you can’t stand to see Tendo haul Ushijima’s body away.

You sit on the ground in front of Oikawa as you wait for Tendo to return, wincing in pain as you realize how beat up you actually were. Twenty or so minutes go by until you hear the sound of a horse’s hooves and a cart trailing behind it.

You turn to see Tendo driving Ushijima’s small cart and you smile when you realize Tendo had grabbed some chains too. You help the red-headed light fairy load up the unconscious body of Oikawa, helping his chain down the limbs of the dark elf.

A small smile sits on your lips as you look at Tendo and say, “Thank you, Tendo. I’m Y/n, I have been with Ushijima for a few months now. I appreciate your help, and it’s an honor to meet you.”

Tendo grabs your shoulder lightly with his own grin as he says, “No, thank you. I don’t know how Wakatoshi would have survived without me, and you have pushed him this far. The least I can do is take Oikawa to Prince Daichi’s palace, they can detain him there.”

You nod as the tall man jumps into the driver’s seat of the cart, calling over his shoulder, “The trip will take me a few days, I should be back in a week or so. The nearest town is about a half a day’s walk away from here if you need anything. Take care of Wakatoshi while I’m gone.”

You wave to Tendo’s disappearing figure as you begin your own trek back to the small house. You half limp, half walk back to the shack, your pace picking up when you realize Ushijima was left alone while you and Temdo dealt with Oikawa.

When you manage to make it through the front door, you stumble toward the bedroom. You burst into the room to see Ushijima peacefully resting on top of the covers.

You realize he’s in no immediate danger, so you take the time to strip out of your dirty clothes and give yourself a quick scrub down. Afterward, you carefully treat the wounds you can reach before changing into one of Ushijima’s large shirts and a pair of shorts.

Once you are clean and somewhat comfortable, you sit down next to Ushijima, taking a clean and damp washcloth to clean his skin. You wipe everything you can reach without having to remove any clothing, as you couldn’t lift his large form yourself.

You don’t notice the tears slipping down your cheeks until a warm and rough hand on your cheek alerts you. Ushijima is staring at you with half-lidded eyes as he mumbles, “You are so beautiful.”

A broken laugh leaves your lips as you lean into his touch, closing your eyes at the feeling of him being warm and alive next to you. Ushijima’s green eyes glow with love as he scans over your features.

He looks at the curve of your cheek under his palm, he looks at the soft gleam in your eye when you gaze at him, and he looks at the small smile settling on your lips because he’s still with you.

Ushijima allows his hand to travel from cupping your cheek to the back of your head, tangling his fingers into your (colored) locks of hair as he slowly sits up. You shift closer to him as he moves to lean his back against the headboard of the bed, and you gently sit on his lap as your faces near each other.

You lock eyes with the green-eyed wyvern morphling in front of you, and you can’t help the butterflies in your stomach as he observes you. Ushijima moves his other hand to rest on the lower part of your neck, pushing your body to allow your forehead to rest against his own.

The two of you are silent in that moment, sitting together, breathing together, living together, and for each other. Ushijima can’t help the way his eyes flick from your own to your lips, but he finds himself looking back into your eyes with complete and utter adoration.

His plump lips part slightly as he whispers, “You have my heart, Y/n. You have every part of me and my soul. I give myself to you, Y/n. I love you.”

A bright and blinding smile breaks out across your face as you press your forehead closer to his, and your eyes shut with tears of joy as you rest your hands on his broad shoulders.

Ushijima stays silent as he watches you, not an ounce of nervousness or care in the world for what he just said. He couldn’t be afraid when he just barely beat death, and he had you sitting on his lap, smiling at him.

He thought your smile was as bright as any light ray would have shined, and he feels his heart skip a beat when you open your mouth and reply, “I love you too, Toshi. You have my heart, my soul, and my body. I am yours.”

Ushijima gives you a breathtaking smile as he looks at you, brushing his nose against yours slightly as he basks in what he knows now to be your love for him.

You turn your head slightly, your heart beating faster when you take a glance at his mouth, and Ushijima quickly understands.

Ushijima uses the hand tangled in your hair to gently tip your head, tilting his own face slightly to the side as he leans into your touch. In a final bold move, Ushijima brushes his lips against your own parted ones.

You could feel your heart jump in your chest as your lips finally connect with Ushijima’s, a soft and inaudible gasp escaping your throat as you move your mouth against his own.

Ushijima melts in your touch, and he can’t help but crave the way you taste and feel against his mouth. Your kiss is slow, delicate, and everything he’s ever dreamed it to be and more.

Your lips seem to move in perfect rhythm with his own, and you let one hand smooth up Ushijima’s neck to run your fingers through his short locks of olive hair. Ushijima lets the kiss stay slow and wanting, never pushing you any further than you wanted to go.

You were addicted to the way his mouth tasted against your own, and despite the faint tang of blood, you knew he was everything you had ever wanted. You were almost sad when Ushijima started to pull away, but that feeling soon left when you saw the way he looked at you.

Those green eyes you had fallen in love with shined with adoration, and the smile on his lips told you that you were the reason behind it. You almost flush under the intensity of his gaze, so you lean forward again, chest heaving, to press a gentle and slow kiss to his lips.

Ushijima grunts softly at your movement, causing you to pull away rapidly when you realized your hand had slipped down to where the arrow had entered his shoulder.

You shift in his lap as you stutter out, “I- I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean-” “It’s alright, my love,” Ushijima says softly, cupping your face again and rubbing his thumb under your eye in small circles.

You feel your heart swell at the sweet pet name and you smile down at him and whisper, “I love you, Ushijima Wakatoshi.”

He smiles back at you and replies, “And I, you.”

Tags: @mortedeveles @haikyuutothetop @miatsubaki23 @pocky-writes