#So there it is have fun y'all

[terresdebrumestories]

Work in progress: Together, in the same direction

A fic set in the same AU as All on my own, a TOG fic in which Nico and Yusuf deal with the ups and downs of parenting kid!Booker (with some help from aunties Quyhn and Andy). It is technically a sequel (there's a time gap of 33 years) but you shouldn't need to read AomO to understand the story.

In TitSD, Booker has been missing for eight years and suddenly comes back in Nile's life, his childhood best friend. The fic will be from Nile's POV with endgame Booker/Nile (though I want Nile and the sudden overhaul to her life to be the main focus) but this is perhaps one of the more Booker-focused scenes. Anyway, I just wrote this after eight months of being unable to write so you get the raw, unedited version as teaser :P

“Hi baba,” Basti says eventually.

“Where were you?” Yussuf demands, tears in his eyes. “What did you do? Why would you—do you have any idea how worried you were? The police asked if we wanted to declare you dead!”

Nile winces, rooted to the spot. she wants to interject, to say something in Basti’s defense…but she has thought all of this too. She wondered, and she asked, and as much as she empathizes with the way Basti hunches on himself she can’t make herself stop Yussuf, when he has even more of a right to know than she does.

“I’m sorry,” Basti sobs eventually, “Baba, I’m so sorry, I—”

“Oh,” Yussuf exclaims, anger and hurt vanishing from his voice entirely as he reaches up to pull Basti in a hug. “Oh, helwa, I’m sorry! I’m sorry. I was so scared and so sad for so long, and now you’re here and I’m yelling!”

“It’s okay,” Basti says while Nile breathes a sigh of relief. “It’s okay, I—”

“It’s not!” Yussuf cuts off.

Behind him, Nile can see Nico’s hand play with his collar, the way she’s always seen him do whenever Basti had an episode. It’s comforting and sad all at once, and when he catches her looking she can’t help but go to him and press their shoulders together.

“Baba,” Basti’s saying, it’s okay—”

“It isn’t, but thank you for pretending,” Yusuf says, shaking his head. Nile can’t see his face anymore from here, but it’s so easy to hear the smile in his voice. “Helwa—my son, my boy, I’m so happy you’re back.”

Yussuf pulls Basti in even tighter, burying his face in his shoulder, and then Basti does the same, and Nile watches them cry into each others’ neck. She feels Nico put his hand in hers at the same time she realizes she’s crying too, and when she turns to the side his cheeks are dry but his eyes are bright. Nile squeezes his hand, comforted when he squeezes back.

“'Ana jidun masrurun,” Yusuf says, muffled, and Basti sobs again and manages:

“Me too—aishtaqt lak kathiran ya 'abi.”

There is a long silence, broken only by Basti and Yusuf’s gentling sobs. In her hand, Nile can feel Nico’s fingers trembling. He’s quiet still, the same silence that made him seem so much more solemn than he truly is. It’s the same silence that used to scare Basti to death, convinced as he always was that one day it would break and give way to some great disappointment.

Even now, forty years old and a full head taller than his father, Basti can’t quite make himself look him in the eyes. Nile watches him extract himself from Yusuf’s embrace with slow movement, like he’d prefer to stay hidden in there forever. She tries to give him an encouraging smile, though she’s not sure he sees it, and then she steps away from Nico when he releases her hand.

She shuffles, awkward and raw from the tears that still linger in her eyes, and willingly goes into Yusuf’s arms when he opens them for her.

“Thank you for bringing him back,” he whispers in her ear.

Nile chuckles despite herself—wants to say she didn’t do anything, she just drove—but she lets Yusuf hug her and kiss her forehead, happy to soak in the comfort he’s always so willing to give. When she breaks the hug and turns to Basti again, she finds him standing with his face in Nico’s hands, the back of his ears crimson with emotion as he chokes:

“—but it wouldn’t have helped, papà. I was—I—” Basti sobs again, sounding almost like a little child, rubbing at his eyes with the back of his knuckles. “I wanted—I wanted—a way out. And there—there’s only two ways out; there’s—the slow one—or the fast one and I thought—I thought—”

“Oh, pìcolo,” Niccolò sighs, pulling Basti’s head down until their foreheads are touching, “sometimes you are like me in the ways I least wished you to be.”

Nile gasps and feels herself move to speak, but Yusuf’s hand on her shoulder roots her in place. In front of her, she sees Basti try to jerk away, but Niccolò holds him tight and sighs:

“That’s not what I meant.

“Papà—”

“I told you, didn’t I? That I didn’t choose to stop talking to my family.”

Nile has never heard this story. She winces, even as Basti nods, and tries to step back, but Yusuf catches her hand on his shoulder and holds on tight.

“You’re family,” he mouths when she looks at him. “You can stay.”

“I thought it would be fitting,” Nico is saying when Nile swallows and looks back at him. “To die in a place known for the very thing I didn’t want to be, when even Jerusalem had failed to change me.”

Twenty-six years earlier

“No but really,” Nile insisted, ignoring the way her mom tries to shush her, “how did you meet?”

“Nile,” Mom said on her right, Jordan snickering on her left, “if they don’t want to tell the story they don’t have to.”

“No,” Niccolò said eventually, “it’s alright.”

He had very, very blue eyes, the kind that made it easy to forget he and Seb weren’t related. He spoke quietly, seriously, like every answer to every question was important. Sometimes, it made him feel almost austere—that was a new word Nile had heard in school and it suited him—and it scared Seb, but it was also nice to be taken seriously.

“We met in Tel-Aviv. Yusuf was there on annual leave.”

“From Egypt,” Yusuf chimed in, smiling as he reached for his husband’s hand. “Homosexuality is illegal there, you know…so sometimes I gave myself a week to go be gay somewhere where it was okay.”

Nile nodded, trying to look a little like she understands the feeling, even though she didn’t really. She already knew about Egyptian law, because Seb had wanted to do a presentation about the history of marriage equality in their Civic Education class last year. Seb had even mentioned his parents had lived there for a while, despite the risks, so that part wasn’t surprising.

“And I was there because I was gay and didn’t want to be,” Niccolò said, sighing, something like a sad smile at the corner of his mouth. “I wanted to prove to myself that I could decide to be straight.”

“Fortunately, our love was meant to be,” Yusuf chimed in, smiling so bright even Seb—who had rolled his eyes when Niccolò started the story—couldn’t help but smile in answer. “We met, and we talked, and we parted ways—”

“You left,” Niccolò pointed out, quiet but smiling.

“I did, I did,” Yusuf admitted, nodding his head with his eyebrows raised high. “And that was almost the biggest mistake of my life—but! I came back!”

“You did,” Niccolò concedes in turn.

“I searched all the bars and all the restaurants I could think of to find the beautiful man who had stolen my heart and soul,” Yusuf continued, “but I couldn’t find a single trace of him! Even on my very last day—you should have seen me: I was trekking through the streets with my cabin luggage, staring at strangers like a possessed man—”

“You should have combed your hair,” Niccolò said, mock serious, and Nile heard Seb snort in laughter at the same time she did.

“Hayati, I am trying to be romantic,” Yusuf protested, making Seb scoff.

“That’s your default state, Baba.”

“Thank you,” Yusuf said, “I’m glad you noticed. Now, as I was saying—”

“He found me,” Niccolò said, finding Yusuf’s eyes and holding his gaze. “He saved me. I’ve never needed another altar since.”

[artkaninchenbau]

Crocodile finds a strange stray cat an 11-year old Nico Robin (AU where they met 13 years earlier. Robin's been on the run from the World Government for 3 years. Crocodile's 27 and has not set up base in Alabasta yet)

It seems like I have become possessed. By some sort of demon.

Bonus:

[hell-is-a-teenage-girll]

I'm gonna add since people misread.

No the point is not empathy in this post.

There is nothing wrong with different types of empathy levels, all are valid 🩷

What is the point tho, is that people decide what autism is, that we are all the same, what empathy is and automatically assume we either don't have it or must be a bad person if our empathy level is not the same or what they think it should be.

So please, don't speak badly of people with low empathy or whatever level. Cause I say it again.

I don't allow it, I don't condone it, and you are just as valid 🖤

[mobius-m-mobius]

Lokius in Loki 2x01 - "Ouroboros"

[madootles]

happy october third!

[originalartblog]

Do you understand how much Dazai dancing means to me

[abd-illustrates]

I might’ve spoiled the plot of Natlan | Genshin Impact THEORY

In which I read so much lore that I gained the power to see the future (maybe) This ended up being a real challenge to make - but it was also really fun! Please do lemme know what you reckon of these ideas, and whether y’all wanna see me pattern-recognition my way into several corkboards worth of theories about any other topics sometime down the line! (^^)/

(also: HAPPY NEW YEAR! 🥳🎉 Here's wishing y'all every good thing for 2024)

[mcflymemes]

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE (2005) PROMPTS *  assorted dialogue from the film, adjust as necessary

you must know... surely, you must know it was all for you.

you are too generous to trifle with me.

if your feelings are still what they were last april, tell me so at once.

my affections and wishes have not changed, but one word from you will silence me forever.

you have bewitched me, body and soul, and i love... i love you.

i never wish to be parted from you from this day on.

i have struggled in vein and i can bear it no longer.

these past months have been a torment.

i came to [location name] with the single object of seeing you. i had to see you.

are you too proud, [name]? and would you consider pride a fault or a virtue?

we're doing our best to find a fault in you.

i have fought against my better judgement, my family's expectations, the inferiority of your birth by rank and circumstance.

you really do love him, don't you?

please, do be seated.

this is a charming house.

all these things i am willing to put aside and ask you to end my agony.

how are you this evening, my dear?

may i have the next dance, [name]?

my brother gave it to me. he shouldn't have.

i wish you would not call me "my dear."

what endearments am i allowed?

what should i call you when i am cross?

i cannot believe that anyone can deserve you... but it appears i am overruled.

are you out of your senses? i thought you hated the man.

have you no objection other than your belief in my indifference?

i do like him. i love him.

only the deepest love will persuade me into matrimony, which is why i will end up an old maid.

i love you. most ardently.

please do me the honor of accepting my hand.

i appreciate the struggle you have been through, and i am very sorry to have caused you pain.

believe me, it was unconsciously done.

are you... laughing at me?

i wonder who first discovered the power of poetry in driving away love?

i thought that poetry was the food of love.

what do you recommend to encourage affection?

i'm very fond of walking.

i do not have the talent of conversing easily with people i have never met before.

perhaps you should take your aunt's advice and practice?

so this is your opinion of me. thank you for explaining it so fully.

those are the words of a gentleman.

from the first moment i met you, your arrogance and conceit, your selfish disdain for the feelings of others made me realize that you were the last man in the world i could ever be prevailed upon to marry.

forgive me for taking up so much of your time.

maybe it's that i find it hard to forgive the follies and vices of others, or their offenses against me.

my good opinion, once lost, is lost forever.

i cannot tease you about that. what a shame, for i dearly love to laugh.

i will not and i certainly never shall.

you have insulted me in every possible way, and can now have nothing further to say.

i must ask you to leave immediately.

i have never been thus treated in my entire life.

i can admire you much better from here.

do you talk, as a rule, while dancing?

i prefer to be unsociable and taciturn.

i dare say you will find him amiable.

it would be most inconvenient since i have sworn to loathe him for all eternity.

no one would suspect your manners to be rehearsed.

i've come to tell you the news.

not all of us can afford to be romantic.

i've been so blind.

they are far too easy to judge.

i was wrong. i was entirely wrong about him.

i am well aquainted with you, [name], to know that i cannot alarm you, even should i wish it.

your skills in the art of matchmaking are positively occult.

i've never seen so many pretty girls in my life!

i do not deny it.

has the pig escaped again?

we are all fools in love.

[heatherchasesyou]

GUESS WHO MADE A COVER ART FOR A BREAKCORE TRACK DEDICATED TO VINCENT ON SOUNDCLOUD AWOOOOOOOOOOO

THERE IT GOOEEES

[saltpepperbeard]

M'NOSES...are edible. Leslie and Samba on Leslie's Tiktok

BONUS:

[willczek-art]

Decided to give Dragon Age another try and the first character I meet COMPLETELY wins me over in a matter of seconds-

[mobius-m-mobius]

I can rewrite the story.

Loki 1x01 // 2x05

[dailyloopdeloop]

DAY 32: HAPPY ONE MONTH

[gracefireheart]

Go for it, Heavy!

[Medic POV]

[echosong971]

Some Lost Memory

[somewhereincairparavel]

What would the seven wear? - Fashion Style analysis ( HOO Girls Ver.)

as a kid I used to want to be a fashion designer so making this post healed my inner child <3 enjoy ~

HAZEL LEVESQUE - okay okay omgg this girl would have the best fashion sense out of all of them (imo) because she is influenced by SO many fashion aesthetics, like her style would be vintage and modern at the same time! I feel like she would love long flowy dresses because it was the most common clothing women would wear in the 40's, she would love floral patterns sm because they are so cheery and it lightens her mood, this would bring out her "adorable" style more. also. JACKETS. this girl is OBESSED with jackets and cardigans, particularly in the colors brown and black. Overall her style is a mix of cheery, cute but she has that pluto edge to her style aswell with the jackets.

PIPER MCLEAN- honestly as much as she would hate to admit it, i feel like Piper would LOVE pink, pale pink takes up the majority of her palette. Her style is very youthful and it's a mix of rebel indie kid and soft coquette core. LOVES LOVES LOVES denim shorts, they are like a must in her wardrobe. Also, She loves jewelry, whether it be tassel earrings, beady bracelets and necklaces, rings etc. like she defo cares more about accessorizing than the actual clothing. she wears baggy white shirts a lot for some reason, but it suits her so well. Crop tops are a must, specifically pink or purple ones with a cute image on it, remember she wore a hello kitty crop top? yeah like that. I feel like her style is the most fresh and childlike without it being over the top, it is so cute. i love her style sm.

ANNABETH CHASE- Annabeth's style is super elegant tbh, she LOVES wearing grey, orange and white imo, also, i feel like she LOVES light blue/dark blue jeans. Ofc Annabeth loves caps, its like super dear to her, she doesn't have a specific "style" she just loves changing it a lot. Annabeth LOVES long dresses especially if they are white/warm brown. Her style is just super chill and modern. Percy is down bad when she wears baggy shirts tho cuz she slays so hard in them Annabeth loves knitted lace jackets because it gives off very homely vibes. Overall her style is super authentic and fresh tbh.

REYNA AVILA RAMIREZ ARELLANO- i have a feeling that reyna would love dressing up. it brings her comfort, she was the hairdresser in circe's island after all, Reyna is just straight up royal core. she likes wearing corsets, and silk gowns, Her color palette is gold, black, white, violet, and dark maroon tbh. Reyna LOVES large gold earrings that just dangle y'know? it makes her feel and look regal. She also loves circlets that you wear on the head. uggh she has got that roman classiness y'know. Super fancy and enjoys wearing long robes and skirts, i love my fancy shmancy queen <3