#XT-3

[alwayswonderingandwandering]

portrait d'une arlèsienne

[neverafters]

one bed trope but it’s logan and garrett

"sue? can i call you sue? —right, susan," he corrected himself when the concierge sent an unamused look his way. "susan," he repeated himself to let her know that he understood she meant business. "there must be a mistake. we should have two rooms, under garrett graham? or maybe john logan. we're close personal friends of dean di laurentis." was it wrong to exploit your friend to get further in life? maybe. did garrett and logan care? no. they were shameless. and it's not like this hurt dean at all. financially or otherwise. he lifted his gaze, saw the sign on the wall and corrected their friend dean's name. "dean heyward di laurentis." it probably helped to actually say the name that he shared with the plaza. susan didn't look convinced, and garrett was pretty sure he heard the concierge mutter something under her breath about how everyone was friends with mr. heyward. he looked over his shoulder for help, but logan just held up his phone with a shrug, letting him know dean didn't answer.

"i see no mention of mr. heyward, but there is one room for mr. and mr. graham. it's a king suite, so you and your husband will be very comfortable." this had to be a fucking joke. dean was fucking with them. this was revenge for all the pink taking over their house, he knew it. he could feel it in his bones. garrett didn't have the funds for another room ( not until his birthday ) and logan couldn't afford a place in a hotel called a plaza . . . so a single bed it was. he rubbed a hand down his face and didn't bother correcting the concierge. hell, he didn't know if she was serious or just being a little shit. probably the latter. "we'll take it," he conceded, glancing over his shoulder to shrug at an approaching logan. ten minutes later they were walking into their suite. "i'm not a cuddler," he informed, only half kidding, but really, he was just trying to make light of the frustrating turn of events. garrett loved logan more than anything, but damn. he was kind of hoping he could at least face time his girlfriend.

[allcirclesvanish]

akemi takada's style is so lovely...

[dogwholikescars]

[celltophone]

Plug Type: India Type.

Input: 100-240V~ 50/60Hz.

Output: 5.0V 2.4A MAX.

AUTO-DETECTS THE CONNECTED DEVICE AND CHARGES IT AT THE FASTEST SPEED OF THE DEVICE UP TO 2.4A

Premium microchip

Multi-Protect

Travel Friendly

[aimimage083]

So, you get to hire the latest camera for a reasonable rate. It’s the sensible way to access quality equipment without paying a fortune for it.

 Renting equipment first however can be the sensible way to test a variety of cameras without investing too much.

[brainlicking]

Here it is, folks! my piece for the @xts-reverse-bangx event where I was paired with the very awesome @starlocked01!

Go check out the story they wrote inspired by my art, Twisted Tongues Around Our Souls.

Be sure to zoom in to get a close-up of all the little details I've put in, especially on the demon designs of Remus and Janus💚💛

I'm so in love with the designs I've made for this piece, so you lot better believe that I defiantly going to draw them again at some point (along with dear little human Virgil💜)

Image ID below the cut.

[ID: A five Panel comic with a brainlicking.tumblr signature. Panel 1: A close up of a dilated purple eye surrounded by dark makeup and black bangs. Panel 2: A hand with dark purple nail polish dripping blood from a black sleeve. Two drip sounds. Panel 3: A shot of Virgil's lower face with long black hair from the side. Virgil is wearing a black-and-grey plaid hoodie, saying "I—". Panel 4: The view pulls out to show Virgil with a manic grin looking up into the darkness shouting "It worked!" Panel 5: The camera pulls farther back to show the full scene, showing Virgil with a bloody knife in a summoning circle made of blood surrounded by candles. There is a bucket of blood off to the side, along with a bloody paintbrush and backpack laying on its side with a book spilling out of the top. In the background on the left is a massive demon made up with writing, twisted green tentacles in various shades. The demon has a head with six completely black eyes and a mouth full of long, sharp fangs. There is a single grey tentacle across the forehead. To the right, a two-headed snake demon with a yellow underbelly and black scales in a caplet and wide-brimmed hats looks to Virgil with amusement. The left head of the snake demon has yellow scales and an eye with black sclera and yellow iris on the left, with the inverse eye on the right. The right head has the flipped pattern. Virgil is shouting "It finally worked!" as they look up at the demons, Remus and Janus.

End ID]

[5tupidusrnam3]

Bomby….,. Yoir re ne xt…. ,,😈😈😈😈😈

Time : 3 hours 20 minutes

Layers twenty twooo and anf total strokes threee thousand yes

[alwayswonderingandwandering]

organic

[eightyonekilograms]

Can someone knowledgable about photography (and specifically white balance and color adjusting) help me out here? I'm going a bit crazy.

@etirabys posts pictures of her completed paintings (which you should go check out if you don't already) that she takes with her 3-year-old iPhone, and I figured it would help them sell if the images on her website were taken with my Fuji XT-5 instead. But I've fiddled with a bunch of settings, and the iPhone image is better in every way. The Fuji flattens all the colors, even when shooting in HDR mode. I'm convinced it's sharper as well.

Attached are a bunch of shots I took of this painting, in various lighting conditions, HDR settings, and Fuji color modes. They all suck.

cc @drethelin and @curse-that-wren-tern-skyline as the main photographers I know here. I know Apple's computational post-processing is really good, but surely I do can do at least as good and with four times the megapixels.

[solradguy]

GUILTY GEAR VASTEDGE XT - FULL ARCHIVE

Yeah. The canon pachislot machine. Here's everything we have for it at the moment, including a bunch of files ripped from the Android port, concept art, and a Japanese transcript of the game's dialog.

ARCHIVE.ORG

=== FOLDER CONTENTS ===

VXT CONCEPT ART - Character model sheets

FIXED COLORS - Color-corrected model sheets

VXT DIALOG TRANSCRIPTS - Transcript of the Japanese text, partial English translation

VXT MESHES + SOUNDS + TEXTURES - Assets from the game itself (graphics, etc)

MESHES

SOUNDS

TEXTURES

VXT MOBILE APP RIPPED FILES - 2 .OBB and 1 .APK files ripped from the Android port

VXT VIDEOS - Footage of the gameplay and of the physical machine in action (there were some cool moving bits, like an animatronic Junkyard Dog MK.II)

VXT ANIMATED GAME ASSETS - Anything from the game that moved (cutscenes, UI assets, etc)

CREDITS + INFO.TXT - Informational text file. Also including the credits and additional info in that file here below the cut:

=== CONCEPT ART CREDITS ===

Mister Guest (via e-hentai) Volcanic Fighter (Twitter: nincopyjasb; Tumblr: @nincopyjasb) Shmuel (Twitter: shmuelbrain; Tumblr @shmuelbrain) Renexuz (Twitter: renexuz1; Tumblr: @renexuz)

=== DIALOG MANUSCRIPT COMPILATION & PARTIAL TRANSLATION ===

Volcanic Fighter (Twitter: nincopyjasb; Tumblr: @nincopyjasb) Dialog script original host (defunct): http://priban.gozaru.jp/ggv.html

=== MOBILE .APK & .OBB FILE RIPS ===

Lux (Twitter: xaeldritch) Nainsoo (Twitter: na_insoo)

=== ANIMATED & GRAPHICAL ASSETS, MUSIC, AND MESH RIPS ===

Tillman (Twitter: validtine; Tumblr: @tillman)

=== RESTORED & REMASTERED OPENING ANIMATION ===

Shmuel (Twitter: shmuelbrain; Tumblr: @shmuelbrain)

Original video hosts:

Youtube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-Vj8wymN3Q

Twitter: twitter.com/ShmuelBrain/status/1650153182725636098

=== ADDITIONAL THANKS ===

Shmuel (Twitter: shmuelbrain; Tumblr: @shmuelbrain) Renexuz (Twitter: renexuz1; Tumblr: @renexuz) The GG Lore Rev server

=== ARCHIVE COMPILATION ===

Sol Radguy

=== ADDITIONAL NOTES ===

About the archive - The files here were previously scattered across multiple websites and cloud storage services, making them difficult to acquire to those outside the small Guilty Gear archival group. I did my best to gather them all in one place. Please contact me if more files are discovered and I will add them to the archive upload on Archive.org.

The ripped mobile port files - The mobile version of Vastedge XT was only online and available to even download for around a year before the servers shut down. The two .OBB and one .APK file were ripped from the Android port of the game and are what Tillman ripped the animated assets, meshes, sounds, and textures from. A lot could not be ripped because it was stored on the game's servers. The encryption also makes ripping files from these difficult. It's possible there's more on them that was not able to be ripped.

Japanese file names - The original name of the .APK was ﾊﾟﾁｽﾛ GG_com.dtechno.slotguilty.apk and had to be renamed to be compressed into a .ZIP folder. If the file runs into errors during launch/cracking attempts, try reverting the name. Likewise, the Japanese names of the videos could not be compressed and were also translated. There is a separate .TXT file within VXT VIDEOS that includes their original Japanese file names.

Duplicate concept art images - There were two archives of the concept art. One was hosted on e-hentai by Mister Guest and contained the full, uncropped, images. The second was from a folder that Volcanic had compiled. Volcanic's files were a higher resolution, but were cropped and missing some information Mister Guest's files had. I've included them both here as well as the files from a third archive where an anonymous user on Imgur had restored the colors on the character models to match how they look in the game itself.

Neon colors on the concept art - The neon sections on these character model sheets are temporary/placeholder colors and not how they appeared within the Vastedge XT game. Their true colors can be seen in the videos within the VXT VIDEOS folder or in the FIXED COLORS folder within VXT CONCEPT ART.

Dialog transcripts - What we know of Vastedge's story came from official story summaries posted by Arc System Works on the Guilty Gear websites. The dialog is exactly that: character dialog. There may be lines missing, that are inaccurate (due to typos), or other written/spoken parts of VXT not included. It may be possible to get this missing information from the videos in VXT VIDEOS or from other VXT video sources online.

[ixylle-d-from-the-stars]

“You forget”

Okay but consider, aliens thinking humans are only surviving on our death world because of our machines since we don’t really have any natural advantages? Eg we don’t have tusks, fur, or anything else that aliens might think one needs so they make fun of humans. but that one alien who has gotten stranded on death worlds or even on some places of earth, and know we don’t technically need advantages or machines... (this is just me explaining things needlessly probably over explaining. its completely self indulgent bc i find humans funky and like explaining things :D)) The bar is loud, different species mingling, laughing, trading stories. In the back of the loud, hot as hell bar is a large group of Pilgrophams, huge, thick skinned species with bald heads and tusks, laughing, sloshing yalagran in their cups (also known as beer across many species) A few other species are there, a Swelvie, lean and muscular, with long talons and sharp carnivores teeth, and a long demon arrow tail. 3 or 4 Grublirgs, squat things with scales and powerful jaws, hands, and even harder fists, small spikes all across their back. “See thats where your wron’ Nakatachie, the humans could never survive without their precious little machines. photon blasters and what was it... bombs?” The Pilgropham laughs, sounding guttural. The group around him laughs as well, but not one lone being, squashed in the corner. A Frilgrettin, one of the smaller extraterrestrials, but, they have claws and poisons that could kill most species instantly. “They are deathworlders Potoki, don’t be fooled by their soft flesh” the Frilgrettin looks up at Potoki, the snide Pilgropham it seems, face serious. “Aren’t we all little Frilly? Where are their tusks? Their scale or fur or talons, hell, where are their poison tails?” The ogre like being says, thinking he made a point. The frilgrettin, called Brouve, chuckles. “Humans, do not need those things to survive.” “And how would you know?” Someone chimes in from the crowd of listeners. Brouve chuckles again. “I got stranded on XT-fl-1, 9th galaxy, with a pair. I would know” Some of the species around Brouve hoot, but most scoff. “Impossible. A human of all species would not be able to survive an 1 classified planet, much less one in the ninth galaxy.” The one named Potoki says, not buying it. Brouve raises an eyebrow at him, lifting his tail to reveal several poison glands missing. Further up his body, is covered in burn and cold scars from the 1-class planet. “Then I must be a ghost because I sure as void would be dead without those humans” More scoffs and outright laughs. Potoki, who seems to be some sort of leader of the group, being the biggest, goes to speak again but Brouve raises one of his appendages. “Now, you, are going to voided listen, because I’m about to tell you some shit that apparently, is not only common knowledge, but easily practised and conditioned on the humans Planet” The beings around him scoff, but its clear Brouve have their attention. Potoki crosses their arms. Brouve stretches the silence, thinking back to the 4 cyclings, or weeks as the human had said they spent on that hell of a planet. “first off, you must know humans have... other senses. Not only the semi standard of sight, hearing, touch, tasting and smelling.” “Humans, have several more obscure senses from what I could tell.” “She called it, her danger sense, watching sense, weather sense, and... common sense. We will get back to the rest later but first...” “A human’s danger sense, is the ability to sense danger, to an extent. For example, The human knew of predators near by simply by something she said was a ‘gut feeling’, which apparently humans fall back onto this feeling quite a lot, using it for most of their non-physical senses” Brouve took a swig of his beer, relishing in the way the large group had simply gone quiet to listen to him. “There were apex predator, ones even my venom could not take down- mind you, I’m not able to take humans down with it either. Their ‘immune system’ stops me from causing them any biological harm that way- and the human would simply know when it wasn’t safe. Jade would get up in the middle of the night, rushing us away for no identifyable reason, Mark- that was the other one’s name by the way- agreed, even if all she had done was mutter a few words in their native language, claiming something was coming when nothing had even changed. Neither were never wrong however, not when hideous, blackened, dangers creatures would stroll through our camp the other human had set up in the span of a day, maybe two.” Brouve took another swig of his drink jaw clenching. “They saved my life you know, mid attack. Humans are fast. Very fast. They simply outran the creatures and dangers after us” Brouve blinks the flashes of danger from their eyes, trying not to get sucked into the dark memories.  After a minute or so, before they lost the people’s interest, they started speaking again. “And a watchers sense, as mark called it. It’s kinda like the danger sense, just slightly varying.” “Humans can detect when something is watching them, from afar, or close by, hidden or not. Apparently,  yet again, they can ‘feel your eyes on them’ and even sometimes identify semi exactly where the stare was coming from.” Potoki scoffed, but they were about the only one, and it sounded forced. Like they believed Brouve but didn’t want it to seem that way. Acidic venom stung Brouve’s eyes, the flashes coming back more intensely, fear boiling his cold blood, and her wipes away the tears, determined no tto cry in front of everyone here in a packed bar “And- and weather sense.” “Their bodies physically react to changes in atmosphere, alerting them of weather changes and if it could potentially be dangerous” “A squeezing in their knee, sudden and certain sensations or pains, anything, sometimes changing depending on humans” Wide eyes filled with awe and admiration filled everyone’s faces, even Potoki seemed in amazement now. Although quickly burying it with a facade of skepticism. “Eh, you seem to know a lot, sure you didn’t just pick that up as some folklore, maybe a little white lying here and there?” The ogre jabbed. “I was on planet  XT-fl-1 for 4 cycles, with virtually nothing to do other than survive. We traded stories and they answered my questions, and jsut because your planet was mostly domesticated and you probably grew up in a nice 9th-class planet, doesn’t mean you can take away from humans. if you don’t believe me you can void off” Brouve stood up, walking away, some following, some staying as Potoki went green in the face but tried to laugh it off. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Alr what do you guys think :D guve me suggestions ideas and hc’s to write about as well plsss-

[prince-rowan-of-the-forest]

We Might Not Have A Tomorrow (Please Let Us Have a Tomorrow)

There was a prince from another kingdom that Roman’s parents wanted him to marry. He’d meet him at the Royal Ball in a days time, the same night they were to be engaged. Roman didn’t want to date - let alone marry - someone he didn’t even know. Not when he already had someone he loved right here.

----

| Ao3 |

----

Warnings: Fake blood, faked death.

Pairings: Prinxiety, Demus

Word Count: 4327

Notes:

Hi everyone!! This is my first piece for the @xts-reverse-bangx !! My partner for this fic was @its-the-cat-queen !! Go check out their awesome art with that link there! Trust me it's so beautiful <3

----

“Stay?” Roman asked, voice small and desperate as he clutched at Virgil’s hand as the knight went to walk away, “Please?”

An indiscernible look crossed Virgil’s face, something sad and strained as he stopped in his retreat, looking back at his Prince. For a moment Roman thought he really would come back. It was never that easy. 

“You know I can’t, your highness,” Virgil said softly, “We knew this wouldn’t last forever.”

“I know,” Roman said, still holding tightly to Virgil’s hand, “I know, just - one more night? Please?”

Virgil faltered, he could hardly resist the expression on Roman’s face, that sad look, “You are to be engaged, Roman,” Virgil said, “How many ‘one more night’s will you ask for?”

“You know I can’t answer that,” Roman said softly, looking up at him. 

“You’re highness-”

“Don’t call me that,” Roman said, bringing Virgil’s hand up to lay a kiss to his knuckles, “We’ve been through too much together for you to call me that, Virgil.”

“Roman,” Virgil corrected himself, “If this continues - I’m afraid we’ll get in more trouble than we can get out of.”

“I’m not engaged tonight,” Roman said, squeezing Virgil’s hand, “Please?”

In the end, Virgil knew he could never say no to him.

“Okay,” Virgil said softly, “Okay - but, really, this is the last time, okay Roman?”

“Right,” Roman said with a soft sigh, “The last time.”

Roman felt his stomach twist at the idea, but he still let Virgil’s hand go when he said he wanted to get out of his armour. He tried not to cry as he was left alone in his room, he knew Virgil would come back, he always did, Virgil had been there for him ever since he could remember.

“This isn’t fair,” Roman whispered to himself as he changed into softer sleep clothes. There was a prince from another kingdom that Roman’s parents wanted him to marry. He’d meet him at the Royal Ball tomorrow night, the same night they would be engaged. Roman didn’t want to date - let alone marry - someone he didn’t even know. Not when he already had someone he loved right here. 

When Virgil got back, Roman pulled him into a tight hug and Virgil ran his fingers through his hair twirling and ever so gently pulling at the long loose strands in the way that made Roman melt into the strong arms that carried him back to his bed, laying him down gently whilst his beloved knight climbed in after him. Turning, Roman buried his face in Virgil’s shoulder and wished he could stay here forever.

—

“Five more minutes,” Roman said softly, keeping his nose buried in Virigl’s shoulder as light from the sunrise streamed in from the open curtain at his bedside. Virgil’s hand rested at the small of his back, lightly gripping his clothes. His knight sighed, heavy breath ruffling Roman’s hair just a little. 

“You have to get up, Roman, we have responsibilities,” Virgil said sadly.

“What if we didn’t?” Roman asked, squeezing Virgil a little around the waist in hopes of getting him to stay a little longer, “What if we ran away together? We’d be able to stay like this forever, we wouldn’t have to be apart.”

“Oh, Princey,” Virgil said sadly, “You know it isn’t that easy.”

“But what if we could?” Roman said, “Would you want to?”

“...Of course I would,” Virgil said with another deep sigh, “I… I love you.”

“I love you too,” Roman said, voice soft and quiet.

“I’m sorry we can’t be together.” Virgil brushed his fingers through his long hair, untangling knots that had formed overnight, “I’m sorry things can’t be the way we want them.”

With a deep sigh, Roman sat up, pulling Virgil with him, “Will you help me get ready?” He asked. 

“Of course,” Virgil nodded, “So long as you help me too.”

“Always,” Roman said with a smile, cupping Virgil’s cheeks and pulling him in for a kiss. He would take every moment he could get before tonight. 

—-

The suit Roman wore felt tight in all the wrong places. The shimmery white material pulled at his thighs, forced his shoulders back, the collar choked his neck and the gloves he wore pinched the webbing between his fingers. It was a perfect fit, naturally, but still it felt suffocating. The gold glimmered, the jewellery set with rubies and rose quartz shone in the light, the crown atop his head sparkled. He looked beautiful, there was no doubt about it. 

“There you go,” Virgil said softly, patting down the suit jacket he was wearing, “You look amazing.”

“So do you,” Roman hummed, “Did you polish your armour?”

“Of course,” Virgil said, rolling his eyes, “Are you ready?”

“No,” Roman said, “What if he’s awful, Vee? What if I can’t stand him?”

Virgil sighed, “Well, hey,” he said, “I’ll still be here - you know we can’t… but I’m not going anywhere, okay? I’m still your guard.”

“I wish we could keep being more than that.”

“Wishing for things we can’t have will only cause us more heartache, my love,” Virgil sighed, cupping Roman’s face. Roman gave a soft, sad smile before pulling him in for one last kiss. 

—

The only thing keeping Roman from flying apart into a million pieces right now was Virgil's strong and sturdy presence behind him. 

Filled with people, the ballroom buzzed with an energy that settled on Roman’s skin and made him feel nervous. He could see handfuls of royals and nobles dotted about the room, he had no clue who or which one he was going to be getting engaged to tonight.

His presence was announced as he descended the stairs and heads turned. Everyone knew what they were here for tonight. Even his younger twin brother was already there despite being renowned for his lack of punctuality, it was like Roman was the last to arrive despite him being right on time. 

As it turned out, though, he wasn’t the last, because shortly after him, another prince was announced. The Prince came from a kingdom not far, but not exactly close either. It was a kingdom Roman hardly knew anything about. Their royalty was elusive and secretive and their Princes the most of all. Roman had never even seen this man before, in his fancy cloak and big feathered hat that covered most of his face. Roman shivered - he had such an… oppressive presence, almost scary. Roman really hoped it wasn’t him.

It was him. 

Not even twenty minutes later his mother approached him with the mysterious prince in tow and Roman’s heart dropped. 

“Good evening,” Roman greeted with a polite bow. The other Prince gave a nod and returned the bow. 

“Prince Janus, this is my son,” His mother said, gesturing to Roman, “Roman, this is Prince Janus, from the kingdom of Nathair.”

“It’s good meeting you,” Roman said stiffly, holding out a hand for a polite handshake that was returned swiftly. 

“You as well,” Janus spoke for the first time, dropping Roman’s hand quickly, “It is a pleasure.”

Roman noticed at that moment that Janus seemed a little distracted by something behind him, but Roman didn’t have the time to dwell on that right now.

The conversation moved on to how they were to be married, the announcement of their betrothal would happen later this evening. The royalty from both of their kingdoms had agreed to give them this time to get to know each other before they were swamped with the other guests attempting to talk to them. 

That was how Roman found himself standing with Janus on the balcony that overlooked the ballroom. It wasn’t so crowded up here and Janus had brought him up here so that they could talk in peace. Aside from their guards of course, they were completely alone up here. 

For a while neither spoke. Roman leaned on the railing and placed his chin in his hand. He was sure he looked awfully glum, but he couldn’t bring himself to force a smile. Janus must have noticed, because eventually he hummed. 

"Dearest betrothed,” Janus started. Roman winced - normally he would’ve been able to control such a reaction, but right now he was struggling, “I’ve come to assume your feelings on the situation we're in happen to be similar to mine." 

"That depends darling,” Roman said, the nickname tasted rotten on his tongue, “Do you happen to loathe the way we were set up with no way out?"

Janus laughed, “I wouldn’t have worded it so colourfully, but this situation is certainly unfavourable, I’m glad you agree.”

“I don’t know how they can expect us to marry someone we hardly even know,” Roman sighed, shaking his head, “I understand the political gain - our kingdom and yours would make a wonderful alliance but… I don’t even know you.”

Janus nodded, “I quite agree, though you do not upset me as much as I expected you might… I do have my eye on another.”

The last part was a whisper, Roman’s eyes widened.

“Oh really?” He said, raising an eyebrow with a small grin, he glanced back at Virgil - who’s expression almost made Roman laugh, he clearly was just waiting for Roman to do something stupid, “Well - if we’re stuck together for now, the least we could do is engage in a little gossip - will you tell me who it is?”

Janus hummed, swirling his finger in the ballroom, “I’ll let you guess,” he hummed.

“May I ask questions?” Roman asked, tilting his head.

“Hm… you may have three.”

Roman smiled, “Hm, okay, are they here tonight?”

“Indeed,” Janus nodded.

“Do I know them?”

“Very well,” Janus nodded again.

Roman glanced around the room, eyes lingering on everyone he knew especially well, he assumed that meant they were from his kingdom…

“Are they royalty?”

“A yes once again,” Janus grinned, though his eyes were fixed on one spot. Roman followed his eyes to where his own brother was standing near the buffet table, no doubt stealing a heap of food. Roman almost burst out laughing.

“You like my brother?” Roman asked, before being shushed. Roman did feel a little bad about being so loud, “...Really?”

“Well,” Janus said, “Of course I couldn’t know for certain - but I’ve seen him around the ballroom and he seems quite endearing, I’d like to get to know him at least.”

“Well..” Roman says, frowning, “If you’re supposed to be marrying me you’ll have plenty of time to do so, we are brothers after all.”

“And what about you?” Janus asked.

“What about me?” Roman asked.

“I’m not attracted to you - I’m sure I’ve made that quite clear - but I still would feel bad leaving you for your brother when I’m supposed to be your fiance.”

Roman rolled his eyes, “Don’t worry about it - I…” he glanced back over at Virgil, who frowned but shrugged, “I already have someone, anyway.”

“Oh?” Janus hummed, turning to him with a small smirk, “What a scandal, Prince Roman! Who might that be? I told you mine.”

Roman smiled, before glancing over at Virgil again, more obviously this time. Virgil gave a small, awkward little wave when Janus followed his gaze. Janus’ eyes widened.

“Your guard?” He asked in a whisper, Roman nodded, “A secret relationship! Well I am one for a good drama.”

Roman smiles a little, “Well - I suppose you will get some, if you wish to pursue my brother.”

“Will he not be upset?” Janus asked, a little astounded.

“Upset by what? You being my fiance?” Roman asked, “If we’re not interested in each other I don’t think he’ll care less.”

Janus frowned - it was a thinking type frown, not an upset type frown, which Roman was grateful for - and they fell into a somewhat comfortable silence.

Eventually, Roman’s mother stood from her throne to make the announcement and Roman and Janus had to return to the ball hand in hand. Roman somehow felt that he could breathe just a little easier after their talk, he couldn’t help but sneak glances at Virgil, a newly hopeful feeling in his heart. 

If Janus wanted to pursue Remus, then maybe he wouldn’t be upset if Roman wanted to stay with Virgil. 

They would have to talk about it, Roman knew that, but he was hopeful that this may not end as painfully as he thought it would.

—- 

Once the ball was done, Roman pulled Virgil into a tight hug. Neither of them let go for a whole five minutes, but eventually Virgil gently detached himself. 

“That was really dangerous, Ro,” Virgil said softly. Janus was staying in the palace - their wedding would take place in a week and they had that time to really get to know each other.

“He told me he liked my brother first,” Roman huffed, “And it ended well, so what’s the harm? Especially if it means I can still have you.”

“But what if he was tricking you!” Virgil said, gripping Roman’s arms, “This is Janus - he has a reputation for deceit! I wouldn’t be surprised if he was just trying to get to you!”

“Virgil,” Roman said softly, “I saw the way he looked at Remus - he was so distracted the whole time, that sort of thing can’t be faked - I just - this could be our chance, love, if he’s willing to let me have you -”

“Roman,” Virgil said softly, cupping Roman’s face, “Look - I’m hopeful too, okay? I know you want this to work but just - please don’t get your hopes up too high, okay? You’ll just - I don’t want to see you even more heartbroken.”

Sighing softly, Roman nodded, “I won't,” he said, “But - but I’ll do my best to make this work.”

—-

They got Remus involved. 

Maybe it wasn’t the best idea to do so immediately. Roman knew better than anyone how volatile Remus could be, but Janus had apparently sought him out the day after the ball, and now the three royals were sitting around a low table with tea and afternoon cakes to talk.

“So…” Remus said, breaking the awkward silence that had settled over them the longer they had sat there, “Lemme try and understand what the fuck the situation here is.”

He stood up, holding his teacup - which Roman was not sure actually contained tea - and began to pace. Roman raised an eyebrow and shared a glance with Janus, who only looked fond.

“You two are engaged,” Remus said, “But Janny likes me and Roro likes Virgil, and you two are coming to me because….?”

Roman shrugged, he had no idea.

“Well - of course, you found out about my feelings this morning,” Janus said, rolling his eyes, Remus nodded, “So I thought that perhaps you would be able to help with this… situation.”

“Well,” Remus said, taking a sip of not-tea before putting a hand on his hip, clearly he had an idea, “If RoRo went missing, then they’d probably try marry you to me instead to keep the political alliance, right?”

Roman frowns, “But then you’ll end up being King, Ree, you’ve always hated the idea, and we wouldn’t be able to see each other.”

“You think I can’t sneak out of the castle to come visit you and your boytoy guard?” Remus huffed, “Don’t tell me you wouldn’t want to run off and live in the woods with him.”

Roman couldn’t exactly argue with that, it was true after all. Running away with Virgil was something they had talked about time and time again.

“And the first point?” Roman asked instead of trying to argue.

“Well being king would stink but I’d have Janny.”

“I would be happy to rule your kingdom if it meant everyone would get their happy ending,” Janus said with a small smile. Roman looked at the two of them.

“So… you two really do like each other?” Roman asked, tilting his head.

“Who knows!” Remus said, walking over to sling his arm around Janus’ shoulders, almost spilling his tea, “Guess we’ll find out!”

Roman made a face, “You’d risk ending up not liking him for me?”

“Well,” Remus said, “Look at it this way: you get what you’ve wanted for like years, I get to try out dating this cutie and even if it doesn’t work we can just be besties and it’ll still be great, everyone’s happy either way.”

“Indeed,” Janus nods, “Even if it turns out we do not enjoy each other romantically, I still think I would value Remus as a good friend - And I would enjoy running a kingdom with him - I would not have gotten to do so in my own kingdom after all.”

Roman nodded slowly, “Okay - um - if we’re going to discuss this plan further, could we bring Virgil in?”

“Course,” Remus shrugged, “Go get your boy-toy RoRo.”

—-

The plan was strangely simple. 

Roman was supposed to fake his death. The night before the wedding, with Remus’ help, they were going to stage a murder scene. Roman would escape with Virgil and the palace and kingdom would think he had died. They’d make it look like an outside attempt - an assassination. 

On top of that, Remus planned to set Janus up too, have him be present for Roman’s ‘murder’ so that he could verify the story and help to convince them that it was true whilst also proving his innocence - if Janus barely made it out then he couldn’t possibly be at fault for the murder after all.

It was the perfect plan. Roman wasn’t exactly enjoying it as he packed up a bag - only the essentials, and stuff that would reasonably be stolen. Having fake blood smeared across his bedsheets and floor made him feel queasy and disgusting. Honestly he was just glad he wasn’t Janus, who was having the stuff smeared across his clothes and face. 

“It’s weirdly artistic,” Virgil said as he appeared at Roman’s side, scrunching up his face all the while, “In a really gross way.”

Roman made a face back, “You can say that again.”

“Hey RoRo!” Remus said, bounding over, “How's it going?”

“We’ve got our stuff,” Roman said, shrugging his bag onto his back. Virgil had already done the same, “And this looks like a murder scene.”

“Great! That’s what we’re going for! You think it’s believable or do we need more blood?”

“As long as Prince Snakeface over there can do his job then I think we’re good,” Virgil said. Janus glared at him though it was light hearted.

“Of course I can do my job,” he rolled his eyes, “Playing a damsel in distress has never been awfully hard, I act as though I’m grieving for a lost lover and find solace in his grieving brother, from there we grow a connection and the Queen will marry us instead, it’s practically foolproof as long as you two can get out without being spotted.”

“Speaking of,” Remus said, “Here, put these on, you’ll need ‘em.”

Two cloaks were tossed to Roman and Virgil respectively. Roman nodded and put his on quickly, though Virgil took a second longer.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” He asked quietly to Roman, who took his hands.

“We’ve talked through this plan a thousand times,” he said, “We can do it.”

“But if they don’t believe us - and we don’t know how to run a homestead by ourselves-”

“Vee,” Roman said softly, leaning forward to press a gentle kiss to his beloved’s cheek, “We have more than enough gold and jewels to get ourselves a house and plenty of supplies, we can buy books and seeds and food and we can figure it out, okay?”

“And if it doesn’t work you’ll still have us to help!” Remus said brightly, Roman smiled.

“We’ll be sure to send word once we’re out safely,” Roman said, before going over to give his brother a final hug. Remus wrapped him up so tightly he could barely breathe, but both of them pulled away with a smile on their faces. 

“Go live the life you want, dumbass,” Remus said, slapping Roman on the shoulder. 

“Thank you for everything,” Roman said to Janus, who gave a small nod and a smile in response, “No really - you had no obligation to do any of this for any of us - I still barely know you - but I’d consider you a great friend for this.”

Janus smiled a much more real smile at that, “I would consider you a good friend as well, I’m grateful to have you as a brother in law rather than a fiance.”

Roman laughed and nodded, “You as well, I think this will be much better for all of us.”

“Indeed,” Janus nodded, “Now, cut the sap, we need to get this done before someone comes in here and sees this mess.”

“Right,” Roman said with a laugh. Remus nodded quickly.

“Yes, yes, you two gotta go,” Remus said, “Make sure you don’t get seen, I’m gonna go as well - a different way, I’ll head back to my chambers from the library. Janny, you wait at least half an hour until you make a fuss, ‘kay?”

After murmurs of agreement all around, the plan was set into motion.

Once Janus raised the alarm, the palace and surrounding kingdom would be swarming with guards looking for the non-existent assassin, so Roman and Virgil had to hurry. Hand in hand the two of them rushed through servants' passages and down staircases. The palace was quieter at night, thank goodness. Less people hurrying about meant less chance at being spotted. 

Before long they had made it out, the two of them were almost giddy as they bounded through the surrounding city. The plan was to get out of the city by morning and head for one of the surrounding towns where hopefully they could buy a pair of horses. They would have to travel further out from the capital whilst the hunt for the assassin took place, the further out they got the safer they would be, but eventually they planned to settle in the forests a day's ride from the palace. 

Half a night’s walk got them to a nearby town where they were able to rent out a room once the sun had risen, not wanting to draw attention to themselves by appearing in the early hours. 

By the time they had gotten settled and bought some basic supplies, word had begun to travel of the Prince’s death by raven. It wouldn’t be safe to send a message to Remus yet. For now they would have to lie low.

Virgil had suggested that they cut Roman’s long hair in order to conceal his identity. Roman’s face was recognisable and his hair even moreso. At first the idea had upset him, but Virgil promised he could grow it back and Roman knew it would be for the better. No-one would be looking for a dead prince, but someone who looked exactly like him would surely catch attention. 

—

A week passed and slowly the buzz began to die down. A funeral was held, a big ceremony involving all the capital city. Many people went, Virgil and Roman were not among them. Janus and Remus were at the front of the procession, right behind the current King and Queen. 

The kingdom mourned for weeks, but still things moved on. Roman sent a letter to Remus telling him of their safety and journey so far. They travelled back up towards the capital and found a carpenter and stonemason willing to assist in building them a new home out in the forest. 

A month later a new wedding announcement was made. Janus and Remus were to be wed the next week and the whole kingdom would turn out for it. Of course Roman and Virgil would be there. Roman wouldn’t miss his brother’s wedding for the world.

—-

Life was good, for Roman. 

He never imagined he could live a life like this as he drew water up from the well behind their new house, using half of the water bucket to feed the garden he and Virgil had been cultivating together over the last three months. Some of the things they were growing had started to get big, some of the plants even showing signs of fruit and vegetables getting ready to harvest. Roman was proud of how far they had come.

“Oh Virgil!” Roman sang as he walked into the house, wiping off his boots and setting the now half full bucket down on the table, “I’ve brought the water for the soup!”

Virgil appeared through the archway that led into their kitchen with a smile, “Thanks Ro,” he said, kissing Roman’s cheek and making him blush. The easy shows of attention were something he thought he would never truly get used to. No-one was here to catch them out or punish them for behaving improperly. 

“You’re welcome of course,” Roman chuckled, “What are you making?”

“Just a simple vegetable soup with stuff from the market this morning,” Virgil said, smiling, “Hopefully it’ll be good, I got a good deal.”

“Yeah?” I’m sure it’ll be great, your cooking always is,” Roman laughed - they had learned quite quickly that Roman couldn’t cook if his life depended on it, his first attempt had resulted in the near destruction of their new house, Virgil had done all of the cooking from now on.

“Well good, because Remus and Janus are coming tonight, remember?”

“How could I forget? I’ve been excited all week,” Roman said, wrapping an arm around Virgil’s waist. Virgil leant into him, smiling.

“Hopefully the soup will be done in time,” Virgil said with a small chuckle.

“Im sure it will be,” Roman said, resting his chin on Virgil’s shoulder.

“Well it’ll be done a lot faster if you let me go and work on it, love,” Virgil laughed, “I have to boil this water hon, come on.”

Roman laughed and let him go. Yeah, he was happy with this. 

----

Tags: @full-of-roman-angst-trash @your-local-random-dino @cutebisexualmess @glacierruler @roseianxiety @bella-bugatti-frogetti-baguetti @scalesfeathersnfur @oatmeal-stans-the-trash-rat @littlerat2 (if anyone wants to be added, let me know!)

[violentkeysmashing]

Man i love working with hardware.

Gave my main PC bravo a clean today, took em outside and blew all the dust out her radiators with the air compressor and cleaned out her case.

Gave her a fresh bit of cable management and insalled a CD drive i was meant to install a while ago.

Fuck optical media <3

After all that clean i gave her annother wipe down and took off her cooler to re-paste the CPU.

So now she is all clean, her thermals look great and im pleased with todays work on her.

Gotta make sure you give your computer a good clean and some love after you abuse them. Especially when you set them up with positive airflow to maximise cooling at the cost of becoming a dust collector.

Overall Bravo had a good clean today, and i've eveb taken some good time to fix how her insides looked, had to be very carefull while doing that, since i dont want electrostaic to mess with her parts so i had to set her up on my desk and take all her panles off to get a good poke arround inside.

All good even dowm to the PSUs management, gonna be a hell of a lot easier to maintain her in the future.

Specs below \/ \/

-= Bravo - 2

+ AMD Ryzen 9 12c24t CPU with a base clock of 3.7GHz

+ 32GB corsair vengange RAM (Ik its the wrong ammount im stupid and will fix it soon)

+ Sapphire RX 6700 XT 12GB (love this card)

+ MAG B550 motherboard

+ 1TB WD Black SSD

+ 1TB samsung SATA SSD (870 evo)

+ 2TB Segate HDD

@arch-official @debian-official - if you guys wanna see :3

[chocoperrito]

Can we use your art as a pfp on social media's if proper credit to you is given?

Also! I'd like to claim anon tag: 🦴/boneanon

yes , as long as it isn’t my ocs !! ( like vic , my lambsona , or burgereki )

I’m / my characters are by no means well-known or really known at all , so i’m not comfortable with it xT

currently , the only critters with my permission to use my characters as graphics in general are my close friends and partner ! but anyone can just ask :3 <3

( nobody has asked yet , staring down some blogs /lhj )

[red-hemlock]

(Hi everyone! <3 Just popping-on really quick to say apologies for being radio-silent the past three days, I had my wisdom teeth removed and it's been a lot more painful than I expected. Thankfully I think my face is starting to stop swelling like a balloon, so I'm going to actually TRY and do stuff tomorrow. xT

Really sorry again, I promise I'm not ignoring everyone and also the things waiting for me here I'm missing Riv and RP terribly. Dx;;;;;)