#also I couldn't figure out how to do a background lol

[jonathan-cranes-mistress-of-fear]

@gothmoth3727 gave me permission to color their AMAZING jon art, and idk if I did it justice but I tired!

thank you for the practice!! <3

[smileyobrien]

gotta be about the worst theme anybody ever made but it's mine :)

[livingformintyoongi]

Misunderstanding | Kim Taehyung

a/n: I'm so bad with titles lol. At least you get the idea a bit :). In one part it is mentioned that Y/N is not a public figure like Taehyung, even though she is a chaebol. This is because her family is somewhat like that of Samsung's owners, they keep their children's identities secret until they make their own place in the company.

Summary: It's basically your reaction to hearing about the dating rumours between Taehyung and Jennie while the two of you are still in a relationship. And obviously, he is trying to fix things as quickly as possible.

wc: 2.9k (I didn't think it would be so long honestly).

When you started dating Taehyung, you never thought it would be a big problem. You knew that his schedule was complicated, but you didn't have any drama with that because yours was pretty much the same. You also knew that you wouldn't be a public couple because of the criticism you might get, but that was even better for you because you didn't like being in the public eye either. Problems on tour? Phones were there for a reason, not being able to have children? You were too young, can’t go out in public? Loved the cozy, private dates, little quality time together? Even better! Every moment with him would feel even more special because of how exclusive it was. Yes, you were willing to accept all these disadvantages because you never saw them as an insurmountable problem. At least until now.

You and Taehyung started dating in 2020, during the pandemic. You met him at the concert in cooperation with Lotte Duty Free, one of the companies your father founded, because yes, you were the youngest daughter of the Shin, the family in charge of the Lotte company and all its subsidiaries.

The two of you got along very well while preparing for the concert, so you decided to exchange numbers to keep in touch. It only took a few months before you started dating him officially, and you were very happy at first. 

His schedule was busy, of course, but he had time for you. He would greet you with a big smile, hug you from behind, and take you to the dining room where he had a whole show set up for you. Jazz in the background, scented candles, rose petals everywhere, and two plates of food of dubious origin that you would enjoy anyway because your boyfriend made it. 

You were willing to put up with all those cons if he gave you moments like this every chance he got, moments where it was just you and him. 

Once the pandemic was over and your schedule returned to normal, things got complicated.

And no, time, work, dating, none of that was the problem, because it didn't even have anything to do with you two as a couple.The problems were caused by a third person. Kim Jennie, one of the members of Blackpink and one of the most beautiful women you will ever meet.

You never had any problems with her. You had bumped into her once or twice in the hallway on your way backstage, but obviously she wouldn't recognize you, you were always covered from head to toe.You thought that your friend had the same relationship with her, something casual that couldn't even be called a friendship because you barely said hello to each other when you were together, in fact Taehyung never looked at anyone when he was with you.So why did this happen now?

Your boyfriend was on tour and it was the time of his concert, so you couldn't just call him and ask him about it. You looked at the screen of your cell phone for the sixth time, the headline in big, dark letters seemed to mock your feelings.

"Dispatch confirms, V of BTS and Jennie of Blackpink are in a relationship," you muttered to yourself, trying to get your brain to catch the words, to process them, to react. It didn't.

You scrolled down the page until you stopped at the myriad of photos they had as proof. None of them looked doctored. 

You saw the blue short-sleeved shirt with flowers that Taehyung was wearing in the photo and put your phone down to go to the closet you shared. You pulled out all of his clothes until you found it. You grabbed it and crumpled it in your hands. 

Only then did you burst into tears. You covered your eyes with your shirt and screamed until you felt your throat couldn't take it anymore. Your heart hurt so much that you even had trouble breathing. 

You looked around the room you both shared, trying to understand why he would do this to you. You thought you were fine, everything seemed fine, so why were there hundreds of videos and pictures of your boyfriend with another girl? You felt like all these people were making fun of you by being happy for them. What about you, why don't they think about his real girlfriend who had to put up with years of being locked away in secret while these two were fearlessly dating?

The sadness soon turned to anger, and it wasn't long before you got up and grabbed the biggest suitcase you could find, whether it was his or yours.

You stuffed it with as many clothes as you could, taking your time because you knew he wasn't coming. You lifted the suitcase as high as you could and carried it into the living room. You looked at every single picture of the two of you as a couple. Another few tears fell from your eyes and you let them out as you took the frames and threw them away. 

You threw out everything you could. Mugs, matching pajamas, pictures, rings, absolutely everything. When you were done, your eyes were dry and your head hurt too much, but you didn't care. You grabbed your suitcase and headed for the door.

The only thing that stopped you from leaving was Yeontan, who stood in the doorway, staring at you while wagging his tail from side to side.

"Tannie, mommy has to go do something, okay?" you nuzzled behind his ear and sobbed softly. You knew he wouldn't understand. "Don't worry, I'll visit you every day until your owner comes."

You stood up, took a breath, and walked away. You didn't know where you were going, but that apartment was no longer an option. 

You stood in front of the buildings where you lived and watched for taxis to pass by. Just then you received a phone call. For a moment you thought it would be Taehyung, but no, it was just Jimin's girlfriend, Soyeon, to whom you had become very close over the past years.

"Yes?" you mumbled hoarsely.

"Honey, it's me, Soyeonie," she said in a much calmer voice than usual. She was probably aware of your situation. "I read the news, are you okay?" You opened your mouth to reply, but she interrupted you so quickly that you didn't have time to say anything, "Of course you're not," she sighed, remaining silent for a few seconds, "Look, I know maybe I shouldn't pry, but I understand that you're hurting and the last thing you want is to be in a place full of... him."

You sob softly, wiping your cheeks as quickly as the first tears came.

"I haven't sold my old apartment yet, it has some furniture, enough to live decently, why don't you stay there for a few weeks?"

"Soyeon-ah," you cried, wanting to hug her until you fell asleep. That's what you needed, a long nap.

"Relax, everything’s gonna be okay, Unnie will come and see you there, I'll send you the address, just wait."

"Okay," you nodded, even though you knew she couldn't see you, "thanks."

"It's nothing."

And she hung up.

You looked around. It was full of cars and buildings that looked too big. 

You felt so stupid as you mentally wished that Taehyung was here to comfort you.

You saw a taxi coming your way and you made it stop. You weren't sure if this would be the end of your relationship, you were willing to hear his side, but you weren't willing to have to live with him or a place filled with his presence.

This was best for you.

Taehyung called you the next day, about twenty times, not counting messages. You didn't answer any of them, mostly because you were asleep until 4 pm. You had a hard time falling asleep. Every time you closed your eyes, you could see the two of them holding hands, together in the car, on a date to some kind of zoo. You cried every time your brain projected those images.

Your phone rang for the 21st time. You were still a little groggy from sleep, but you answered it anyway.

"Y/N!" You turned the phone away from your ear. It was too painful to hear his voice so loud with the headache you were feeling, "Oh God, I was so afraid something bad had happened to you. I called the girls, but none of them knew anything about you, so I got worried and..."

"Why did you call me?" you asked curtly. You thought maybe you were being a little cruel, but you didn't care. Answering him like that wouldn't make him feel a thousandth of the pain you felt and still feel since last night.

He was silent for a few seconds. You'd never answered him like that before, you guessed that's why he was so quiet.

"I..." he cleared his throat, sounding a little more tense than when you answered him, "I was a little worried, my manager told me about the news and I thought maybe you were feeling a little depressed-".

You interrupted him again, but this time with a mocking laugh, "A little depressed? Is that how you think I felt? A little depressed?" you laughed again. You had completely woken up this time, "Tell me, Kim, how would you feel if overnight it was all over the news that I was dating an idol? Huh? What would you do if this news came to you on the fucking Dispatch, while I was on the other fucking side of the world enjoying a concert? Would you be a little depressed? A little hurt? Would you even have taken the fucking trouble to answer my calls?" you began to raise your voice with every word you said. You didn't even notice at what point your voice broke. "You have no idea what I'm going through, and you never will, because unlike you I'm not a public figure! I could be fucking any man in Korea and you're never going to see an internet media outlet post it and 'celebrate' my relationship, you're never going to see any fan of mine go on social media and celebrate my relationship with someone else while you're behind the curtains" You sobbed, wiping your cheeks awkwardly.

"Honey, I know it's-"

"Don't you dare call me like that" you growled, clenching your jaw, "I don't even want to hear you say my name, do you understand?"

"Y/N" he muttered, his voice trembling. You assumed that at some point in your verbal vomit he had started to cry, "Just give me 1 minute, I'll explain everything, I promise."

You tried to control your anger by taking a big breath of air, it worked enough to stop you from sending him to fuck off... for the second time.

"Do you want me to listen to you?" you mumble, looking down at your hands, remembering all the times he came home late, wondering if all those times he was at her house, doing god knows what while you tried to stay awake just to see him before bed. 

"Y-yes, please, I just need a minute".

"Fine," you smiled half-heartedly, "then come and explain it to me in person. If you're really sorry and say it's a misunderstanding, come here and tell me."

Your more conscientious side chided you for your request. It was his job, you couldn't just order him to make a trip from the United States to Korea just for you. Maybe that's why you gave him that condition. You knew he wouldn't come all this way just for you.

The line went silent, you could barely hear his breathing. You ended your conversation.

"I thought so," muttering much calmer than at the beginning, "I guess Soyeon was right in saying that the only one who would have to make sacrifices for our relationship would be me."

And you cut the call short.

You put your phone on airplane mode and plopped down on your bed, ready to go back to sleep for the rest of the weekend.

It had been a day since you heard the news, barely 17 hours since you last spoke to Taehyung, because yes, you counted the hours. You hadn't eaten anything, you'd barely had a glass of water, and the only thing you felt like doing right now was taking a very long shower and then crying yourself to sleep. Yes, it sounded like the perfect plan to try to get over your ex, if that's what you could call it.

You got in the tub at 10am, didn't get out until 12:30, and when you did you could barely feel your fingers and toes. At least your muscles had finally relaxed.

You dressed more slowly than usual, in just your pajamas, the only ones that weren't your partner's, and went to bed.

Until the doorbell rang.

You changed direction, confused. You were sure that no one besides Soyeon knew you were here. It crossed your mind that maybe she was worried about you and that's why you'd decided to open up and politely turn her away.

Except she wasn't the one waiting for you on the other side.

"Y/N," Taehyung said, trying to regulate his breathing. "You really were here," he whispered, entering the flat and closing behind him. It wasn't until the door rattled that his arms wrapped around you so tightly that you almost stopped breathing. "Why did you leave home? I got so worried when I saw our stuff in the trash and the wardrobe almost empty" he cupped your cheeks, inspecting your face.

You didn't understand what exactly was going on.

"What are you doing here?" you mumbled, letting him search your face. 

"You told me to come" he looked into your eyes and, almost instantly, his eyes began to fill with tears. "I couldn't let you because a misunderstanding made you hate me to the point of breaking up with me, I... I don't want to be without you, at this point I don't think I can be," he bent down until he could place his forehead against yours, his thumbs caressing the skin of your cheeks, "You're the best thing that ever happened to me, I don't plan on losing you over something stupid like this."

You looked at Taehyung, still not understanding what he was trying to say. 

"The pictures are real" he exhaled deeply, "but it's not like you think" he pulled his phone out of his trousers pocket. His hands were shaking slightly. You wanted to hold them, but you completely erased the thought, "We dated for a few months, it was a very short thing, about two or three months before we met".

He showed you some conversations from a few years ago. He was asking her to bring him the shoes he had left at her house last time, and that he would appreciate it if she would bring the leash they had bought Yeontan. You also saw the last messages they sent to each other, it was only a few days ago.

Jennie told him that someone had hacked into her phone and most likely found the pictures they took the time they went to the zoo. She apologized and sent him stickers of crying puppies, saying that the lawsuit against the hacker had already started and that she would try to speed up the process so that he wouldn't be affected. 

"I totally understand how angry you were, and obviously I also understand that you want to talk about this face-to-face, so I took the first flight I could find so I could come talk to you and-".

You didn't let him finish. You couldn't do that, not after everything you've been feeling the last few days. So you did the only thing you could think of since he came into the flat. You kissed him.

It was much more awkward than your kisses usually are, but you didn't care. You were so relieved that it was all a misunderstanding that no matter what kind of kiss it was, it would still be amazing to you.

He followed your kiss as soon as he came out of his surprise. He clung to you as if his life depended on it. He was the one who deepened the kiss and lifted you off the floor so he could kiss you better.

"I'm so sorry" you whispered in the middle of the messy kisses he was giving you, "sorry for doubting you" you sobbed softly, hugging his neck with all your strength.

He shook his head, holding your cheeks, "Don't apologise, it was a normal reaction, you said it yourself, I wouldn't have even answered your calls if I had been in your place" he kissed your shoulder softly, letting out a soft sigh. It felt so good to have you with him after all the tension he experienced during the flight.

"You were right about everything you said" he murmured, pulling away enough to look you in the eye, "so please don't apologize to me".

You nodded a little calmer, closing your eyes as you felt Taehyung's nose on yours.

"Now let's go get your things, I don't want to go back inside the house and not see your things in it."

Masterlist.

[ebonyslasher]

Hey I'm new to these requests so sorry if it's bad. Plus been reading ya stuff and I feel like you are the only one who can do this justice. But for some reason having the slashers react to their s/o having a decrepit version of their fit makes me laugh. Like they seem so excited to show them and it's just.. 👁️👄👁️bad. (Um I do see you're on hiatus so I'm sorry if this is an inconvenience or anything.) Also can this be the mask that Michael s/o has plz?

Hey! Thank you so much for reading my work and sending this in. That mask cracks me up

What the hell you got on?!! Slasher mask reaction:

Michael Myers

You saw that mask at a spirit halloween and had to get it

That specific one in Haddonfield couldn't sell the more accurate, original one anymore....mostly due to combined ptsd lol.

But, this would be great to use to try to get a reaction out of him...maybe a chuckle 🤭

It seems impossible but you were successful a few times, he just has....dark humor.

Knowing him, you had to just go ahead and out the costume on in the parking lot. That nigga be stalkin'.👀

You bust through the door🚪 with the whole fit on, confident as hell

😠Michael strides to the front door, figuring out why you making all that fuckin noise and slammin' doors in HIS house.

Michael sees you. And he stops.

You looking how you looking is looking at Michael and he's looking at you.

Girl...what the fuck you got on?

Michael knows he don't look like that y/n🫤, you look derpy. He looked intimidating- there's a difference!!!

He starts to walk past, acting unaffected. But, he swiftly pulls that shit off.

You're shocked 😲, he just scalped you! You start giggling.

"Michael that cost money!!!" 😩

Michael thinks, 'You shouldn't care, you were wasting it with this shit anyway.'

Stu +Billy

Oh, this shit was perfect.

You saw this while browsing on e-bay and thought that Stu and Billy would love this. And you got an old big ass block cordless phone too? Oh baby!✨

You went over their house to spend the night. And of course you hid the costume and mask in the spennanight bag 👜. Y'all were in the middle of the first blunt rotation. You excused your self to the bathroom so you could enact your grand plan.

Taking your personal fat ass weed 🍃pen, you hopped into the bathroom and put the costume on. You also smoked tf up out of the bathroom so you could have some smoke as a background.

Throwing open the door, you jump out and say, "Wassuppppp!!!!"

They look at you, shocked, before Stu and Billy double over. They are hollering.

Y'all all crying 😂 over the mask. The weed wasn't making things better

Stu and Billy both randomly say WASSUPPP😝 and point at each other as they laugh.

Honestly they love it. and your grand entrance ? Fantastic

Bubba Sawyer

Listen.... you don't know about putting someone else's skin on your face

If you want to do that, by all means. you strong as fuck. And fit right the fuck in with who you with.

But you find this mask for pretty cheap online, the others were....costly (like $100 + for the good ones, dayum!)

Once it's delivered, you run up into a random room and shut the door. You put it on and look in the mirror as you evaluate the mask.

Man, what the hell were these ears?🙃 It looks like someone tried to make earmuffs but didn't really know what they were.

Also this fucking hair? You looked like a fucked up lunch lady

It's huge asf on your head, balloon 🎈 ass mask. It's lopsided. Looking like you got hit and was turned halfway loose

Bubba comes in and spots you with the mask.

He starts, jumping and clapping❤️❤️. Bubba is bubbling and squealing at how cute you are.

Essentially he's like, "oh baby yay!" He loves it. Bubba doesn't think it looks bad! He's flattered! 🤗

It's like physical thing that represents you truly being a part of the family~

Pinhead

Well...Pinhead's face isn't a mask. It's his damn face. But it'd be a mask for you!

You gotta show your appreciation to yo mans!!! and mess with his ass. He's dramatically hilarious.

There were, surprisingly, a lot of masks made of Pinhead's face. It was a bit odd, but useful for what you needed. At least you didn't have to make one from scratch. 🤷🏿‍♀️

However, You still wanted to be a little creative. Dip a lil toe into your ✨craft era✨.

So, it was obvious you got one without the pins! Going to the store and seeing to most colorful 🎨 of pins was an automatic yes.

Now, this shit was not easy putting in. Some of them was bent every whichaway, the holes were uneven so some were drooping.🫠

You looked a mess, chile.

"Y/n...what is the meaning of this?" You snicker. "Babe, I'm You!"

"So, you attempt to mock ME! Blasphemy!"

"Not trying to mock you!! I was making this so I could be like you...and mess with you a little."

"Silly human....tsk tsk. I will have my comeuppance."

[chiscribbs]

Apocalypse Future Donnie Concepts

I wasn't actually planning on posting these until I had a definitive final design to share alongside them, but- It's probably going to be a while before that happens and I feel bad for how inactive this blog has been lately. I've been working on stuff, but only in-between projects, and none of it is really ready to post. So, here's a little something to prove that I am still alive. ❤

Donnie's design is so hard to update. It's just...so good in its simplicity??? Every element feels necessary to his character - so figuring out what to keep, what to get rid of, and what to change slightly is a definite challenge. It's even harder when we're given so little (canonical) information about what role he played in the Resistance and what effects the Krang Apocalypse may have had on him...including how long ago he was killed in relation to the movie. Or how he was killed, for that matter.

So, I'm playing around with some potential ideas and trying to get something that feels right - feels like Donnie, but if he had to adapt to the apocalypse (while also trying to stick to the show's simplistic, shape-heavy style, so nothing too terribly detailed or complex.) I'll share a few of these ideas below, for anyone who's interested.

(Also, yes - I know the spot-goatee is in no way an original concept, but I have a deep affection for it and had to include it in my design.)

One of the concepts I'm considering is giving Donnie a prosthetic leg, something to sort of parallel Leo with his Robo-Raph arm. But in Donnie's case, he probably lost his leg long before Raph was killed or maybe even before he built the robots of his family (maybe this serves as the inspiration or catalyst for the idea.) My working theory is that he was attempting to detonate a mine field full of some Krang dogs and something went wrong which caused him to get caught up in the resulting blast. He was lucky enough to keep his life, but lost his leg and probably some of his hearing in the process. Naturally, because it's Donnie (and because they're living through an apocalypse), the leg will be more than just a prosthetic limb - it'll have some kind of weaponry or technological capabilities built into it. Just haven't decided what that's going to be yet, lol.

I'm also toying with the idea of him creating some kind of "Ninpo Protection Device" - something to act as a defense mechanism against the Krang's mystic-cancelling (or, more accurately, locking) abilities. He's testing it on himself before green-lighting it to be used on his brothers (which, obviously, never happens.) The problem is I can't decide how to visibly convey this idea, I was thinking something along the lines of one of those medical aid devices that become permanent attachments to the user's body. But most of the visible parts of his body are covered in natural armor, save for his limbs and head. So figuring out the best placement for a thing like that has been a little challenging.

I was considering giving him a mechanical hand along with/in place of the robotic leg, as well. Reason being - he works primarily with his hands and almost never wears practical protection gear (another thing I tried to partially remedy with the addition of the gloves), so if any part of him is going to be lost, his hands would be the logical first choice. I also think there's a poetic element to the guy who relies on his tech becoming more and more "mechanical" himself (but only in the physical sense). It would also imply that there was a time when he couldn't work as efficiently on his own as he normally is able to, due to having one less hand, so there was likely an adjustment period wherein he had to lean into his mystic abilities (and the aid of others around him) far more than he's used to doing. A little background character development for him, because I love that kind of stuff.

These are about all of the definitive concepts I have for him at the moment, but obviously, I'm nowhere near having a finished design just yet. So, all of these could potentially be scrapped or tweaked in the final version.

If you read this far - kudos! And thanks for your interest! :>

[misc-obeyme]

Couples Discount!

Okay, here it is, the daily chat scene I was supposed to write a couple days ago before I got distracted. I gotta say, I really enjoy writing for Diavolo. He's so funny, I love him.

Anyway, this got a touch suggestive at the end, so uh... there's that. I feel like it would be easy to write what happens next, but this is definitely a fade to black sort of situation lol. Though you can now read the secret smut scene here if you like.

GN!MC x Diavolo

Warnings: kissing, suggestive but it's all implied

DIAVOLO I have news, MC! Hell's Kitchen is offering a couples discount right now. Would you like to join me for dinner?

MC I'd love to!

DIAVOLO

Thank you! I've decided to invite you whenever Hell's Kitchen has a promotion like this. If people are going to gossip about my love life, then I'd prefer that they think I'm with you. Please wait for a moment. I'm on my way to pick you up.

You sat across the table from Diavolo at Hell's Kitchen, enjoying the shadow goose meat and egg lasagna you ordered. It was a nice evening in the Devildom - breezy but not too cold. This had made the walk over here pleasant as you and Diavolo chatted about this and that. You had dressed casually for this outing, so you were comfortable and relaxed.

Diavolo had also changed out of his usual RAD uniform. When he had shown up on the steps of the House of Lamentation, you couldn't help but be surprised. He was wearing a pair of black jeans, a black button up shirt, and a tasteful selection of gold jewelry. He still looked like a prince, but he was more dressed down than you'd ever seen him. He looked cheerful as he escorted you down the street.

When you had arrived at Hell's Kitchen, the two of you decided to hold hands in order to really make it seem like you were a couple. The whole point was to get the couple's discount, after all. And though you didn't think they were going to make you prove it while you were with Lord Diavolo, you figured it would be more fun this way.

And that's all you were doing - having fun, fooling everybody, and acting a part. And yet you couldn't ignore the way your heart raced when he took your hand in his. The way your chest throbbed when he told the hostess that he and his date were here for the couple's discount.

As the hostess brought you to your table, Diavolo looked over at you and winked mischievously. You smiled brightly, hoping that he couldn't see the truth about how you were reacting.

By this point, after your food had arrived, you were feeling much more relaxed. It was easier when you weren't quite so close to him and you were preoccupied with what was going on around you.

It was just as Diavolo had said. People were paying attention. You could hear the gossip, see the furtive glances. Diavolo either didn't notice or didn't react. It was probably the latter. You thought he must have a lot more experience ignoring the stares of others than you did.

Earlier you had been a little anxious about the way you seemed to be reacting to pretending to be in a relationship with Diavolo. Now you were anxious about all the people who were gossiping about you being in a relationship with Diavolo.

Diavolo reached across the table and took your hand. You looked up from your plate in surprise.

He leaned forward a little and said softly, "Don't let their stares bother you, MC."

You could feel the heat of a blush across the tips of your ears. "How can you sit here and let them talk about you? You act like you can't hear it."

Diavolo laughed, letting go of your hand and leaning back in his chair. "I can't! Not anymore, anyway. It's only background noise to me now."

You shook your head a little. "It's seems so loud to me."

Diavolo's smile vanished. He wasn't frowning, but he certainly looked more serious. "I'm sorry, MC," he said. "I should have realized it would be difficult for you."

You gripped your fork harder and sat up straight in your chair. "No," you said firmly. "Don't be sorry. People should mind their own business. All that matters is that we're having a good time."

Diavolo's smile returned. "Are you having a good time?"

"Yes," you said. You waved your fork just a little. "This goose meat is delicious!"

Diavolo laughed again. "Ah, MC, being with you is always a delight!"

You laughed, too, seeing him looking so happy.

After you finished eating dinner, Diavolo escorted you back outside the restaurant and turned toward the House of Lamentation. But you weren't quite ready to go home yet. Impulsively, you grabbed his hand and pulled him in the other direction.

"MC!" he said, almost stumbling as you pulled him along. "Where are we going?"

"Wherever we want!" you said, laughing as you tugged on his hand. "I just don't want to go home yet."

Diavolo kept hold of your hand as you walked down the street, not at all sure where you were going. You just didn't want to leave him yet. The way he was smiling, the sparkle in his eyes, the gentle squeeze he gave your hand, it all gave you a confidence you might not have had in his presence otherwise.

The two of you ducked into various stores as you came upon them, stopping here and there to look at anything that caught your eye. Diavolo offered to buy you something in nearly every shop, but you always waved him off. You didn't want trinkets. You just wanted him.

You had found a dessert stand selling odd looking ice cream in a quaint plaza with a fountain and several benches. The two of you were sitting on one of the benches, having just finished the enormous desserts Diavolo had bought. There were some other people in this area, most of them walking by, but a few sitting on benches similar to yours.

You knew the evening had to end, even if you didn't really want it to. You sat there, looking out into the Devildom night, taking in the soft lights of the town. And then you realized that the people who were nearby seemed overly interested in you. Of course. They were looking at Diavolo. The whispers you heard in the restaurant earlier started up here, as well.

You sighed and looked over at Diavolo. "I guess we should go home now."

Diavolo tilted his head to the side. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," you said. "But you know, people are talking about us again."

Diavolo laughed. "I hadn't even noticed! But of course they are. And it's just like I told you before. They're going to talk anyway and I do prefer they think I'm with you."

"Oh?" you asked with a mischievous grin. "But really we haven't done much of anything to make them think we're together romantically, don't you think?"

Diavolo put an arm across the bench behind you and leaned in. You were surprised by the almost wicked look in his eyes. "What do you suggest we do about that?"

He was so close to you, but you still moved in just a little closer, somehow still not quite touching him. "You'll have to deal with any gossip more than I will. So you tell me."

"I'd rather show you," Diavolo said.

He put his other hand on your cheek as his lips met yours. They were soft and sweet. You knew people were watching, but you didn't care. Your mind was full of nothing but him. The touch of his skin, the scent of his cologne, the feel of his body so close to yours.

You reached forward and gripped his shirt, unable to keep your hands to yourself. You felt consumed by the heat that ran through you and you gently bit his bottom lip.

Diavolo pulled away and you felt like a fire burning against the cold that threatened to close in on you. Just as that flame was about to go out, succumbing to the loss of Diavolo's heat, he stood up from the bench and pulled you up with him.

Gripping your hands, a bright blush spread across his cheeks, Diavolo said, "Why don't you stay at the Demon Lord's Castle tonight?"

You glanced around at the plaza. You could hear the furious whispers of the people still watching you with the prince of the Devildom. It was as though by kissing you, Diavolo had really set off a storm of discussion. But then you remembered how he had said he wanted them to think he was with you. Everyone in this plaza certainly thought so now. Why not seal the deal?

You stepped closer to him and said softly in his ear, "Take me home with you, Diavolo."

The next day, you heard all about your own "night on the town" with Lord Diavolo from the seven brothers. They had read all about it in an unfortunate tabloid that one of them had gotten a hold of. You refused to answer any questions about it, telling them if they really wanted to know, they could ask Lord Diavolo themselves.

others in this series:

Mammon | Barbatos | Solomon | Lucifer | Simeon

Leviathan | Asmodeus | Beelzebub | Belphegor | Satan

masterlist | Thank you for reading!

[datura-tea]

holy shit this year marks 10 years of this blog and moz!! i can't remember the exact date i started posting here - my archive says i have one post from november 2013 but let's disregard that - but i do remember it was around late 2014/early 2015 :)

^ one of the very first moz art pieces i ever drew, for fallout week 2015!!

memories and art through the years under a read more bc it got long

2014 → baby's first rpg!! i started playing fnv on my cousin's jailbroken xbox late 2013 and finished mid 2014 and i loved every minute of it. i remember waking up at 8am and playing almost nonstop until 2am the next day haha!

i didn't play moz on my first playthrough - but i did start creating a character that would eventually become her: a shorthaired ex-boxer who punched her way through obstacles when diplomacy failed. i remember she spent a lot of time with boone. i liked him then, because he saved my ass more times than i can count. but i digress. this is draft 1 moz essentially

2015 → this is the year that i was doing my thesis so i could graduate but i was so depressed and stressed about it that i distracted myself by replaying fnv on pc, where i played through the dlcs for the first time. i fell in love with the dlcs' oversarching story; particularly ulysses, who i became obssessed with, especially since i couldn't find any content of him at the time. in the game, i played as moz; i had most of her personality and choices down, but her backstory was still up in the air.

fun fact: this was an existing sideblog that i remade to be a fallout blog so i could look for ulysses content, and when i couldn't find any, i made some myself, featuring moz as my main courier six. originally, i didn't ship them, but eventually i ended the year as a courier/ulysses otp shipper.

this was the year i started drawing digitally - my uncle let me borrow a drawing tablet and i used an old copy of photoshop i pirated hehe

2016 → i graduated this year!! and promptly fell deeper into my depression. this was the year that it got so bad that i had to be medicated. through it all, this blog and moz and ulysses and my fandom friends were with me. and for that i am truly grateful :) this was the year i figured out how to lock transparent pixels so that i could color my lineart lol

2017 → i started hammering out moz's backstory this year i think. there's a lot of sketches of her and her family in my files. i experimented with shading and backgrounds here but that experimentation was pretty short-lived

2018 → i started using references seriously!!!! i did a lot of oc on oc kissing this year, featuring mostly moz and many friend ocs haha

2019 → didn't draw much this year. actually this year was a blur and i can't remember much from it except from it being the year of my terrible no good bad copywriting jobs... anyway i did manage to continue my courier/ulysses brainrot and make this piece, which i'm still proud of

2020 → pandemic time. i spent a lot of time asleep at home and i think this was also the year i started doing commissions?? shoutout to anyone who has ever commissioned me - thank you so much, i truly appreciate it!!

2021 → i switched from my old-ass pirated photoshop to clip studio paint and never looked back. also i did a bunch of commissions for my grandmother's surgery, which failed, and i distracted myself from the sadness by drawing my ocs over and over and playing disco elysium

2022 → by this year, i've got moz down pat and have started vaguely developing other ocs instead. but she's still always at the back of my mind

2023 → i bought new brushes from true grit texture supply and immediately found new favorites that i started using for everything. i tentatively started incorporating background elements in some pieces!

2024 → while it's still too early to say where this year will lead me art-wise, i will say that i started experimenting in realistic paint studio (which i bought in 2021, the same time as clip studio paint) a few days ago and i'm liking the results so far. we'll see!

all in all, these last 10 years have been quite a ride, but i'm glad i stuck around and i'm glad you guys stuck around too!! much much love 💖💖💖

[lostkitsclangen]

Look at all the little guys!!!! I had such a blast drawing everyone's ocs! I look forward to doing more stuff like this in the future!

Turtlekit, Spiderstar, and Redflower belong to @nettleclanstale! Love those guys sm

Berrymoss belongs to @heart-flower-cat

Stemstar is from @bundlesofcrows

Aphidburrow is from @fallen-aspenclan

Willowstar belongs to @sunflowerclangen

Hawksight from @whenwerun-clangen

Flipwind belongs to @smoothsands

Howlclaw is from @moonlightsnow

Thistleglide is from @legoangstissogay!

rambles and unshaded version under the cut!

to start, I maybe kinda tweaked the template to include more kitties bc they're all so pretty and handsome and cool that I didn't wanna miss out (also my friend who runs Roseclan was one of the later entries and I love Thistleglide am that I really wanted to include him <3 so heartbroken that he was captured by twolegs)

I did some snooping on most of the blogs to find more info about each character and see if I could incorporate that :3 hope I did good!

I know I said only one kitty per blog, but I love Nettleclans tale and am really happy angie snagged the first spot so they both got in. (and also a surprise Redflower bc how could I draw Spiderstar without her). Also I haven't drawn Turtlekit yet and she needs a W so she's being absolutely bamboozled by Redflower lol

Don't have much to say about Berrymoss and Stemstar but I tried to add in Berrymoss's dark forest affiliation with the black goop and I'm not sure about Stemstar's design since I didn't know what colors went where so I hope I did him somewhat justice.

Aphidburrow is doing puppy-dog eyes bc why not, also tried to match her shapes but idk how I did 😬 hope it's still good

Willowstar is literally so cute and I knew I wanted to show off that snaggletooth

Since Hawksight was bloodthirsty I figured I'd give him a little battle action while also being snarky

Couldn't find much on Flipwind or Howlclaw but they both gave me certain vibes, y'know?

and Thistleglide, the poor baby <3 please tell me he finds his way home, he deserves it. Not sure I got his design 100% correct because it is very intricate, but I hope I got it close!

Here's the unshaded version, also without background so the names stand out more!

[tyrramint]

Happy Lockwood & Co. Big Bang!!! :D I had the absolute pleasure of collaborating with @The_Dreamer_Half_Alive (on Ao3 :) on her fic for the @lockwoodandcobigbang2023 event; set post TEG, it’s truly so lovely and heartwarming, and I had so much fun doing a piece for it! We very much hope you enjoy :)

Link to the fic!!!! (the horror of the night melt away) under the warm glow of survival of the day

(Closeups below the cut :D) (because I ended up making it too wide to be easily seen in full lol) (plus ~artistic commentary~)

(SPOILERS FOR FIC CONTENT)

Okay, so I tried to put a bunch of little easter eggs from the fic and just in general in here, so if you’re interested:

Alright, to start off, I was generally very inspired by them getting a record player; I thought it was very sweet, and I loved the idea of them finally getting to relax and hang out in the library (the lack of chairs, I know; I couldn’t figure out how to put them in without blocking people lol) and locklyle dancing, with the record player on in the background, so that’s what I took as the basis of the scene!!

We had discussed that the characters were kind of a combo of both show and book versions, so I tried to add a smattering and hints of both when doing their designs!

The record is, of course, an Ella Fitzgerald record as mentioned in the fic (the record drawn is her Souvenir Album)

Holly is wearing her engagement ring, and wearing shades of pink and cream because that’s what she wears at her wedding (although shifted in hue to better match the color scheme of the piece lol)

Everyone (minus Flo) of course has their white strands of hair (which is *always* one of my favorite details to draw)

Lucy and George bake in the fic, but I think I had just read the Christmas mini story when I was doing my thumbnail for this, so Kipps ended up being the one bringing in baked goods; however, the baking mitts are orange and monogrammed with George's initials because I couldn't let that slip by, could I?

I wasn't quite sure what to put Flo in, because in the books she never takes off her boots or puffer jacket, but I wanted to throw in some sign that she was living at 35 Portland Row and becoming closer to all of them, (and her close relationship with George,) so I let her keep the boots, but traded the puffer jacket in for one of George's plaid shirts :)

The chess game also made it in because of the Christmas short story, lol

Lucy's blue star jacket!! When I read the fic, I was planning from the start to have her wearing the jacket, so of course it made it in :) I wasn't really sure what style it should be, though, so I ended up with kind of an odd mishmash of designs, but I think it turned out working alright!

The sapphire necklace, because, of course

I adore that Lockwood wears his pink socks throughout the entire show (well, most of the time they're the pink ones ;) so I wanted to include them (and then gave Lucy blue ones to match :)

The chipped blue mugs that Lockwood brings to Lucy for her tea after she wakes up from nightmares are on the bookshelf, and I couldn't find a way to directly include the Earl Grey tea they have, but I made the tea bag tags grey in honor of it

The green glow is the ghost lamp outside because if I can find a way to incorporate cool glows in my art, I will (and also on a more narrative-driven note, symbolizing the past danger they've been through and how some of it is definitely still present, but they have each other to heal with and finally be able to have some simple fun with, and are now curled up in the safety and comfort of 35 Portland Row :)

And finally, a big theme of the fic is them healing and building a happy life together, so I just wanted them to all be happy for once, and hence I put in my best efforts to draw them as such :)

[jaetyun]

infrunami.

"can you come back to me? cause i was blind to see that you were right infrunami."

heeseung x f!reader

this is the original draft to the now smau, see if you can spot all the changes i made from oneshot ver to smau ver! also warning it ends very abruptly because its unfinished lol

wc: 4.9k

You couldn't remember how your life was before Ningning. Your best friend had moved to your street in the 3rd grade, your houses straight across from one another.

Ningning seemed straight out of a dream you had, with her closet full of the Justice you never got to own. Her hair was always perfectly groomed, and a pretty headband in place to keep it down. She was the kindest person you had ever met, and though you hadn't met many people at the ripe age of 8 you had guessed she must be the nicest person in the world because why else would she hand you sugary snacks from her lunchbox every day?!

She was comforting. Predictable even. Which is why it was such a shock when you met her older brother, Heeseung. He was the most confusing person in the world- scratch that- the *Universe*. He was always looming in the background, his closet being anything but flashy. Seriously, a black Nirvana shirt in elementary school?!

Because of this, you found yourself constantly trying to talk to him, to figure him out. Even though his shy demeanor pushed you away, you'd always come running back. Heeseung would never admit it, but he appreciated your company. A lot.

In middle school, it became even harder for Heeseung to express this sentiment. 'hey Yizhuo, is Y/N coming today?' became 'I hope to God your little friend isn't staying over', it was just a product of hormones and deep teenage angst. He couldn't help it!

As you both grew, he figured your childish interest in him would disappear. It was simply curiosity, nothing more. so when you stayed clinging onto him, Heeseung was left shrugging you off, his disinterest only feeding into your infatuation with the boy.

"You with barcode boy again?"

"Piss off, limp dick!" You sneered, tugging Heeseung closer to you as you both strode in the hallway.

"You don't have to do that y'know.." He muttered words barely above a whisper. You turned to face him, tilting your head. "Do what?"

"Defend me. or hang out with me in general" He looked away, staring at the lockers instead of making eye contact with you. You stared at him for a moment before looking away, your grip on his arm tightening.

"Don't be stupid." Heeseungs parted lips closed, unsure of how to respond.

"I'll always be here, Seung. Nobody will hurt you under my watch" You proudly grinned, giving him an enthusiastic thumbs up. He just nodded, the same tight-lipped expression he had before.

"Yeah, guess I couldn't get rid of you if I tried."

You snorted "Was that the goal?"

"Damn it! You caught me" He smiled, finally turning to face you. You grinned, softly meeting his gaze.

"I take it back, only *one* person can hurt you"

He cocked an eyebrow, tilting his head.

"Who?" You quickly unlinked your arm from his, punching the now-open area right above his waist. You gave his ribs one last shank for good measure before pointing to yourself with your thumb.

"I can!"

As the years passed, that mostly held up. What started as relief turned into humiliation, as he continuously got comments about your company.

What was even worse than the teasing was you: A generally popular cheerleader about half his height and a year younger berating anyone who dared to talk about Heeseung. How was he *ever* supposed to get a girlfriend at this rate?

It didn't help that you were practically an arm away at all times, given that you were with Ningning 90% of the day. Heeseung understood you just wanted to keep your oath, but he felt more than ever like a sad loser who resorts to being with his sister's cheer team rather than being his own person.

Heeseung tried to reason with himself. The people snickering were most likely just jealous! High school kids weren't known as the most accepting people in the world, so he took it with pride.

At least.. he tried to.

But the only thing worse than the people in his grade were the ones in *yours*. The glares the cheer team sent his way never went unnoticed, the already self-conscious boy only curling over himself more throughout the years.

He could hardly talk to you inside school anymore, with your presence becoming an honor more than a regular site. It didn't help that his friend was almost always whining about sneaking off to the library to play games on the computers, a sheepish smile on his face as you nodded in understanding.

He knew you were growing up, and that you'd change, that you'd both change. Heeseung told himself it was natural, that he shouldn't feel so bad every time he saw your new friends. People change, and they go with people who suit them. It became increasingly clear to him that you two didn't suit each other after all this time. It was time for your childish interest in your friend's older brother to leave, and for that interest to be with people who suited you. People that weren't Heeseung.

"You don't have to do all this for me"

"But I want to" You smiled, lazily swinging your backpack off your shoulder and placing it on his desk. You took out an old hoodie Heeseung had overgrown (It didn't quite fit you either, but trying to take it from you was like talking to a wall), swiftly sticking your arms through the holes to cover your sweaty cheer uniform.

"Which episode of Mob Psycho were we on?" He sat up, closing his laptop. You hadn't noticed, too busy grabbing materials from your backpack to see his uneasy expression. "15 right?"

"You should be with Yizhuo right now" You glanced up, eyebrows furrowing.

"She's with the team, they're out bowling" You laughed it off, looking back down at the perfume and makeup you had placed on the black wood. He cleared his throat, catching your attention again.

"That's what I mean. You should be out bowling" He offered, watching the way you waved him off with a laugh. "I like hanging out with you, don't worry about it"

"I know you do.." He trailed, Heeseungs expression saying what he didn't have to. You squinted, your hands slowing from your bag.

"Do *you* not like hanging around *me*?"

Before he could clarify, he felt the teenage angst start kicking in. Fuck, fuck! The last thing you needed was the wrong idea, but before he could stop himself from construing his own words puberty went to work.

"I just don't understand why you keep lingering around. you're forcing something that isn't working!" He threw his hands up, watching you mirror the gesture. "You think I'm forcing us? Is that what you really think?"

Heeseung's jaw tensed, of course it wasn't. But it'd be selfish of him to keep you to himself. "If you actually cared you'd leave me alone."

You scoffed, throwing the hoodie back into your bag as you spoke "I told you I wouldn't leave you anytime soon. You never seemed to be bothered by it until now"

"I don't need charity work. You're a cool girl, but you're supposed to be Yizhuo's friend, not mine."

"Y'know what? You're right, I should've been bowling right now. But instead, I'm watching anime with a fucking loser. 'Cause I liked you more than them, my bad for not getting the hint it wasn't mutual"

You gestured to the perfume left on his desk, slinging your backpack over your shoulder. "I don't want it anymore. The scent reminds me of you, tell Ning it's a gift"

You shut his door on the way out, leaving him alone in engulfing silence. Well shit, this isn't remotely what he wanted. Fuck puberty. He'd rather drag you back in here and argue with you than sit by himself, the only thing he had left to think about is your words. You had done exactly what he asked, and he made it impossibly clear what he wanted. So why isn't he happy with the result? Why did it feel like this was gonna come back to bite him? Heeseung was no master of social cues, but even he knew he couldn't text you with a simple 'Hey soz lol I was having a bad day 🙏💯" and expect you to be happy. Making his sister talk to you for him was possibly the second worst idea he had ever had in his 16 years of life (The first was the time he convinced Ningning to get into the toddler swing in middle school. She broke her hip.)

Heeseung felt at a loss for words. At a loss of emotion even, complete suspension of thought in his mind.

He glanced at the perfume, squinting to see what scent it was.

Japanese Cherry Blossom from Bath and Bodyworks. A scent so feminine no man would ever willingly keep it, let alone use it. He had to give it to his sister, he was never gonna be caught *dead* with this in his room.

*spritz*

It was surprisingly strong. No wonder you used it after cheer practice, it makes sense how you never smelt bad even when sitting right next to him, the laptop on each of your thighs so it's an equal viewing experience. The smell was the only comforting thing to Heeseung at this moment, no well in hell he was getting rid of it. He took the bottle and shoved it into the corner of his nightstand: Out of sight out of mind!

--

As Heeseung expected, now that you were out of the equation the teasing went down by a mile. It also helped that any rumors of the two of you were shut down by the entire team, all of them seemingly having a consensus it was no hard feelings. Or at least, a consensus to tell people that. Heeseung also found himself becoming slimmer and gaining muscle, most all his time was devoted to basketball to take his mind off that night.

But moving on would be simply too easy. Whatever God or deity exists was most definitely on your side, or at the very least, not Heeseungs.

When he found out you had gotten with one of his middle school bullies, he was distraught. you had seen how much Sunghoon bothered him every day, the nickname 'barcode boy' still being used on Heeseung all these years later.

Though he and Sunghoon were on decent terms now, he couldn't help but feel as if it was a targeted decision. Getting with someone you knew hated him after having a blow-up fight sure was an odd coincidence at best and bafflingly petty at worst.

"You guys are seriously so cute" Kazuha gushed, your phone in her hand as she took the role of cameraman for your insta.

Sunghoon had his arm wrapped nonchalantly around your shoulders, a peace sign being his attempt at posing for the camera. You puckered your lips, kissing his cheek as the camera flashed. "Thank you, Zuha" You took your phone back, blowing a kiss that she quickly snatched before Sunghoon had a chance. you showed him the photo, smiling up at your boyfriend.

"Still can't believe how long it took for me to realize you liked me"

He shrugged, a sheepish laugh escaping his lips. "Didnt exactly express it well"

Ningning tilted her head "I thought you two hated each other, I know Y/N did for a while"

He shook your shoulder, a proud smile on his face. "Nah, I was just jealous of Heeseung and took it out on him" You tutted at the name drop, the simple mention of him still catches you off guard. Ningning snorts, leaning onto the diner's table in sudden interest. "What? You thought they were into each other?" You nervously laugh along with them, your eyes darting wildly now that your brain has been kicked into high alert with the new conversation topic.

"Still did up till she asked me out"

"God, this is so cheesy" You deflected, your head buried into his chest from embarrassment

Heeseung had arrived a few minutes ago to pick his sister up, watching the conversation in horror. He knew you'd be there, that was a given, but he figured it was a girl hangout and he'd possibly have the chance to talk to you. Instead, you were curled up next to Sunghoon, who had his arm wrapped around your back. The casual mention of his name drove him crazy, he hated how you were no longer protective over him. He hated that he lost your loyalty.

"Speaking of Heeseung, where is he? He should've been here by now"

You stiffened under Sunghoon, resisting the urge to rip away from him and look at your best friend after she offhandedly said he'd be here. Right next to you.

Sunghoon noticed, speaking for you "You need your brother to pick you up?"

"I don't have my license" she reasoned, scrolling through her contacts to find him. "And unlike all of you, I'm on good terms with him"

"Hey! I never hated Heeseung" Kazuha crossed her arms, clearly offended. Ningning looked back up at her, an unimpressed expression on her face "You talked shit about him every time Y/N couldn't join us"

Heeseung almost yelped when his phone audibly rang, revealing his presence at the front entrance. He cleared his throat and shoved his phone into his back pocket, big brother mode turning on.

"I just got here, Gyu was holding me up" The table physically relaxed, a relieved look on everyone's face. Ningning stood up, kissing Kazuha on the cheek while saying her goodbyes. Sunghoon gave Heeseung a short wave, an awkward wave back from the latter before they were on their way.

Heeseung wished that was the worst part about you dating Sunghoon, the fact that they had middle school beef. Something as stupid and trivial as that, and that deep down you were happy and living your best life while he was bitter he wasn't in it.

He wished the worst part wasn't the fact that Sunghoon, your first love, tried to fuck your best friend. Heeseungs little sister.

It certainly didn't help that you gave him a second chance and reassured everyone you knew it'd be a one-time thing. until it wasn't, and you walked in on him and another girl

Heeseung remembered you rushing into their house, broken sobs as you begged for forgiveness from Ningning.

He had just made a new bad decision that had to make the top of the list (beating out the broken hip incident by a long shot), and it was the moment you told Ningning what happened.

His biggest regret was not running out of his room and hugging you, comforting you, just *seeing* you. Instead, he chickened out like he always did.

How many regrets can one person blame on puberty? At what point does it become your personality, just a part of you that you can't deny?

Heeseung listened through a closed door, whispering how he was gonna beat Sunghoons ass into next year. Lies, he knew he couldn't do anything. He was simply the barcode boy, the boy that couldn't stand up for anyone or anything. He felt so useless, wishing he could do more than listen

The cherry on top was he was graduating that year, shipping himself off to university that summer. Without a proper chance to say goodbye, you went 3 years without a single word exchanged with one another.

-

"She's going to some preppy art school an hour away" Ningning complained, throwing herself onto her mattress without a bed frame.

"You'd rather have her come to us with our tuition rate? hard pass" Heeseung was on the opposite side of the room, placing boxes in a miscellaneous order. Ningning rolled over, now on her back as she continued to whine.

"Going to art school on a full-ride scholarship is about as embarrassing as wearing a varsity jacket after high school"

She peered at her brother who was in fact, wearing his varsity jacket after high school.

"Mom paid a lot of money for this!" He reasoned, pointing toward her. "You better watch your mouth before I leave you to unpack by yourself" She sheepishly smiled, mumbling an apology.

"Why do you have so much shit??" He continues to nag, opening the boxes to see what in the world could've made them so heavy and full. "You're gonna end up throwing half of this.." He trails off, not finishing his statement as his attention began to drift. Peeking through one of the box's flaps was a picture frame of the 3 of you. Heeseung could only half listen to what Ningning was saying, too preoccupied with flipping the box's lid with his backhand to get a better view. It's been years and there are absolutely 0 reasons he should still be hung up over you, but the sense of yearning for what could've been has been looming over his head like a notification he couldn't swipe away.

"They're filled with memories you heartless asshole!"

"That's what a hoarder would say" He scoffs, now kneeling over the box with the picture in his hand. Ningning fell silent, pulling herself up to get a better view of Heeseungs dejected sigh. His eyes flashed with so many thoughts and memories she couldn't even begin to imagine what he was thinking.

"She came to the party crying when you guys had that fight. She kept asking me if you never liked her" His heart sank to his ass, and at that moment he wanted nothing more than to shit out all the guilt pooling in his stomach. "It was for the better, she's happy"

"Have you been happy, Heeseung?"

He closed his lips together, forming a thin line over his teeth before pushing it back out to make a pout. "That's irrelevant"

"Not when she would ask how you were doing every day"

"I thought you were just being a caring sister!" Heeseungs frown was met with Ningnings evil cackle, putting her elbows on the bed and sliding so she was on her stomach.

"God no!" She snorted, tilting her head as if a thought bubble had appeared on the side of her temple. "it was always 'Is Heeseung okay? what's he up to? Has he made any new friends?' and I'd always have to be like 'well...'" she trailed, smiling mischievously when she saw his annoyed expression.

"Wait.. she was checking up on me?"

"The whole time." She hummed before shrugging "Not sure if it makes you feel better or worse, but I hope it helps you make the right choice"

He furrows his brows, placing the frame back into the box carefully, and he could barely spare his sister a single glance when his gaze was busy lingering on your giddy smile.

"What choice?"

"She's coming to the party later tonight."

Party was a bit of an overstatement, it was closer to a medium-sized get-together. Now that Ningning was a freshman at her brother's university, he gathered his friends (reluctantly after they practically begged to see her) and some of their acquaintances to hang out at Jake's fraternity house. Although it was optional, everyone was also welcome to bring a plus one. Heeseung had joked she was gonna bring you but hadn't expected her to take it as genuine advice.

"Does she know what it is?" Ningning brought her hand up to her shoulder, shaking it loosely. "So-so??"

Heeseung deadpanned, tilting his head in a final show of how unimpressed he was, leaving Ningning to drop her head with a sigh.

"I'm just saying. I want you to be happy again Seung." She lifted her head back up, and pursed her lips as she thought for a moment. "Y/N wants you to be happy. I'm her carrier pigeon" She finished, finally drawing a short laugh out of her brother.

"Yunjins my plus one" Heeseung breathed out, his expression turning sour at the mention. Ningning furrowed her eyebrows, her mouth tugging itself into an unamused smile. "Okay? You're not trying to fuck my friend are you?"

He quickly shook his head, hands coming up defensively. "No! She just never liked when I was around other girls."

Ningning face curled into disgust at the insinuation "You last talked to her when she was 15, I think she can handle you having a girlfriend."

"Not my girlfriend" He groaned, standing up to resume his task of relocating all the boxes.

"Whatever, just don't be stupid!"

-

An hour into the party, Heeseung was sure his sister had just bluffed. He had yet to spot you, which was embarrassing when he took a good look at himself in the mirror.

He had worn his best sweatshirt, paired with baggy jeans he only wore on special occasions. Though it wasn't obvious to any onlookers, to Heeseung the fact that he had dressed to impress you only reminded him of the anxiousness he possessed as a teenager.

Staring at his reflection, Heeseungs eyes widened once he peered down lower, a strip of pictures you two took in a photobooth sticking out his pocket slightly. Yeah, definitely resembling himself 3 years ago.

Now exiting the bathroom, he could hardly hold back the frown etched on his face, his mood undeniably soured.

"Didn't know you cared so much about losing beer pong" Jake teased, an arm slinging around his friends as the other arm handed him a red solo cup. "Hey, no hard feelings. just had to get back at you for the other day"

Heeseung tried his best to put on a more lighthearted expression, the corner of his lip quirking at the mention of his victory. "I've always been better at basketball" He nonchalantly shrugged, Jake's unimpressed glare working the other corner up into a full smile.

"But seriously, what's with the attitude?" Heeseungs eyes perked up the question, a confused furrow of his eyebrows functioning as a reply. "You look like you wanted to leave since you got here"

"Ah," He started, his gaze faltering when he realized he wasn't as secretive with his emotions as he had hoped. "I just, I dunno.." He continued, open hand going to the crook of his neck as he scratched absentmindedly. "Guess I acted weird cause of someone"

Jake frowned at the vague answer, tutting as he unlinked his arm from the other boy. "You can't wear your best for a girl you've been ignoring all night"

Heeseung winced, slowly moving his eyes from the crowd to his friend. "Am I that obvious?"

"Dude, you are *not* as slick as you think you are." Jake laughed, taking the untouched cup back into his own grasp and taking a sip. "Yunjin thought you were mad at her"

Heeseung blinked, worry turning into confusion. Jake was so incredibly close to hitting the mark, and then completely avoided it in true Jake fashion.

"Well I'm not"

"Tell that to Yunjin, she's been with Yizhuo and her friend the entire time. By the way, do you recognize her? figured I'd ask 'cause no one else does" Jake points to their general direction.

Absolutely nothing could've prepared Heeseung for the sight.

The reason he's been ignoring everyone, the reason he was nervous to show up today, the reason he had a stupid photobooth strip (that had to be at least 5 years old at this point) stuffed in his pocket.

There you were, laughing away with a small group of girls right by the assortment of drinks.

All he could do was gulp, a silent nod was all he could manage. "Knew I should've asked you first! Who is that?" Heeseung was utterly unresponsive, his eyes boring into every inch of you. Jake watched for a moment, cracking a grin eventually. "You're helpless," He chuckled, giving his friend a light shove in your direction. "Go talk to your girl!"

It completely flew over Heeseungs head that Jake had intended to tease him about Yunjin, his mind now coming up with a plan. He had to show he wasn't the same kid he was when you last saw him. He had to prove that he had grown.

And that he was really.. really sorry about that night.

The same question kept repeating in his mind: how can he act cool? What should he do to show you the best first impression he can?

What would Jake do? What would Jake do?! Since Jake always seemed to have a roster at any given moment, Heeseung figured he had to be doing something right. so if he just used the advice from his somewhat womanizing friend...

"Guess who?" He spoke lowly in your ear, covering your eyes with his hands.

Holy shit. Heeseung wanted to curl into a ball and roll off the face of the earth from how corny and absolutely *not cool* he was being.

You softly gasped, arms tugging away at his and turning around in complete shock. "Heeseung?" Your eyes beamed, looking him up and down as if you couldn't believe he was real. Though in a split second, all emotion drained from your face as you glanced back up and made eye contact. "What the hell was that?" He opened his mouth to respond, but he was quickly cut off by Yunjin.

"You guys know each other?" Her curious glance at the close proximity made the moment suddenly awkward, both of you nodding wordlessly.

The question was.. hard to answer. With your complicated relationship, neither of you were sure how exactly to answer without going into detail.

"We grew up together" Although you said it as more of a question than a confident response, you earned a nod of approval from both Ningning and Heeseung. you turned back to Yunjin, smiling as you took his arms and crossed them over your shoulders to prevent him from running away.

"This is the first time he's ever approached me first actually" The passive-aggressive comment had made one thing clear to him: you were most definitely still mad at him.

"Really? He's not that shy.." Yunjin looked back up to the boy for confirmation, earning a sheepish laugh.

"I used to be"

"Aww, that sounds kinda cute" She smiled, eyes never leaving his. Ningning groaned, a waving hand in dismissal

"Can you guys *please* not flirt at my party? Save it for the ride home"

You turned around, an unreadable expression as you glanced at Heeseung. He blinked as if he was asking you a question with his eyes, one you answered with an annoyed eye roll. "Looks like there's some catching up to do"

Ningning's eyes rose in realization, mouth forming an 'o' as she slowly nodded. "I guess I never told you, did I?"

"Let's not talk about it right now! It's so embarrassing" Yunjin had a shy smile, staring down at her cup with a finger circling the rim.

Your eyes never left Heeseungs, a passive-aggressive smile stabbing daggers into him. "A *lot* of catching up."

you let go of his wrists, waving a short bye before signaling to the bathroom. As if Heeseung was in a trance, he watched dumbly before walking after you wordlessly. He resembled a puppy as he mindlessly followed wherever you went, waiting outside the restroom with an awkward lean against the wall.

When you exited, your eyes widened with another unreadable expression. You had since stopped your motion of rubbing the excess water onto your skirt, arms crossing as though you were about to say some snarky remark to Heeseung. He cleared his throat, trying his damn best to fake nonchalance. The one question popping in his head over and over: What would Jake do?

"Didn't notice you there" You snorted, face visibly relaxing. "You didn't?"

His demeanor faltered, hands combing through his hair as Heeseung longingly glanced away. "Nah."

You took a wide step to the left, using your hands to gesture to the room behind you. He blinked, unsure of what your body language is implying.

"If you're not here for me, you need to use the bathroom." Heeseung eyes slightly widened, his eyebrows jerking upward before it falls back to his neutral expression. Your eyes crinkle as you smile, stepping back in front of him. "You're the exact same dork you were when I last saw you."

He couldn't mask his expression this time, his eyebrows furrowing in worry and his eyes now losing focus.

There's no way he was the same person. That's not possible, not when everyone treats him so differently. He must have changed drastically if he went from being bullied to having a best friend in a fraternity.

"I am?" You nod, your hard expression softening into a chuckle.

"I can still read you like a book."

"You can?"

"You've never been good at hiding secrets anyways, but you did the thing you always do when you're caught in a lie"

His mouth falls open, the defensive mode automatically kicking in for him. "I don't do anything when I lie" The teenage angst was about to take over until Heeseungs parted mouth closed, realizing what had just happened within his brain.

Fuck, maybe he hasn't changed.

You mimick the eyebrow flicking, your eyes widening and your eyebrows quirking up like a twitch.

"Is that you trying to hit on me?"

"Were *you* trying to hit on *me* when you did it?" You both blink for a moment, the pause only catapulting the two of you into a fit of laughter.

[kanmom51]

JK live 12 June 2023 7:02 am KST

Cr./ to creators of media used in this post.

JK came to us early in the morning, brought us into his bedroom, into his bed, to be with him as he falls asleep.

This was intentional, not a fluke.

JK knew he was going to fall asleep with us, and he also knew what the company's thoughts were on the matter, and he just didn't give a flying fuck.

One thing you couldn't see in the twitter translations was that cheeky smile, lol.

Man knew what he was doing.

He knew it. He just did. Fact: it took them longer to turn off the live this time than last time, lol. What was it? 6-7 minutes more or less?

JK tells it how it is.

He is gentle and genuine and just so real. When he tells us he's a human being he also shows it to us. He's not flawless and he isn't afraid to show us that either. He is a superstar with a heart of gold and some child like mannerisms. A pure soul. And I think that is partially the reason that millions of people will just sit there and watch him sleep for over 20 minutes.

Did he cut his hair again? Please no.

A summery of JK's live:

JK greetings to army.

An infomercial for the neck pillow, which is by now probably sold out.

"There are times when I snore and times when I don't...but I think I will I snore today."🤣

How can you not love this man? He literally turned on the live to fall asleep while telling us he missed us.

He tells us since he doesn't do IG, he doesn't do SM, so there aren't many ways to communicate with us. So he keeps looking for Weverse. Well, all I can say is "please don't stop".

Calvin Klein promotion from the worlds best brand ambassador ever.

Disappearing for a couple, talking to himself (most likely) in the background. I guess that answers his question if he talks to himself a lot.

Glasses on.

Glasses off.

Humming...groaning, lol.

Looks like maybe he fell asleep and then he comes back to us to tell us he was thinking just as he was about to fall asleep, that if he falls asleep: "If I really sleep I also think and imagine things that I don't want to think about. It's so fascinating..."

He ends with: "anyway, army you can't get hurt. I had a dreamlike thought about how you guys can't get hurt. We must be careful all the time. We can't get hurt."

I love his philosophical discussion with himself while half asleep. Granted, those are the times we are most likely to have our eureka moments. That is a fact. Lol.

I love how he is sharing these thoughts with us. I do hope that fans understand just how lucky they are for him to be doing this (yeah, that's wishful thinking, I know).

And from there on we have 21 minutes of JK playing sleeping beauty.

Live cut off by whoever it was in the company trying to figure out if and when they need to cut the feed off.

Well, at least they didn't have too many subs to add, hence the live being up and translated in a just a few hours.

Half of the subs for the live:

An almost perfect description of JK's live in 17 seconds:

JK's Weverse post 12 June 2023 14:34

You have got to love that man, lol.

Let's take a quick look at the numbers for a sec, again, just for fun.

JK's live was at 7:02 12.6.23

7+2+1=10

2+6+2+3=13

13/10

JK's post 2:34 pm 12.6.23

2+3+4+1=10

2+6+2+3=13

13/10

I think we have a few interesting weeks ahead of us.

I do hope that with everything going on we will still get to see this amazing so so special young man come to us to be with us.

And just before I go, I will leave you with this:

Oh Jiminah, you lucky bastard...

Also, love it when he has that JM out for show...

See you soon JK...

[kozachenko]

{Artists Note}:

I felt like doing a little illustration of Keiki because I had an idea for her outfit and I had a sketch I made of her a little while ago and wanted to use it since I'm kinda stuck on the border of being artblocked but having ideas at the same time ehhh it's werid moving on. I didn't add her little handkerchief thing on her head mainly because I couldn't figure out how to draw it right. This also served as some fun experimentation with my new style, the hair is personally my favourite pat of the drawing, along with the clothes. I just kinda gave up on making a background because I was tired lol. I wanna make a few more little sketches of keiki with the handkerchief in my hair since I think that's a really key part of her design and the only reason I'm unable to get that to look right is because of a ✨🎀 𝒮𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝐼𝓈𝓈𝓊𝑒🎀✨ (TM) on my part so yeah lol. I've probably been looking at this for too long anyway so, I should probably take a break from looking at this lol.

I imagine this outfit to kind of be what she would wear in a more formal setting, like, this is the one dress that she hasn't gotten dirty from crafting and stuff and she also has little earrings inspired by Kofun era jewelry. The outfit and bows are also kofun era inspired.

[chaosheadspace]

For the writer asks, for Library Boys!

2. How'd you get the idea, what kicked this off?

24. How did you celebrate finishing?

25-27 I would love to hear some favorite lines, details, and lore

28. Write a summary for it but badly

Hi TJ, thank you so much for asking! I apologise beforehand, this is almost 2.5K :)

2. How'd you get the idea, what kicked this off?

Originally, @notallsandmen asked me if I would write another enemies to lovers fic after Ill-advised things. By that time I had written a library sex scene for @staroftheendless's smut prompts (yes, the very one where Hob has Dream against the shelf, at least part of that). And I just couldn't stop developing headcanons about them in this AU, how they'd look, what they'd be like, what their background looks like.

I am very much a pantser, and in the beginning the plot was clear to me up to where Dream loses Orpheus and Hob tries to console him. Everything after that was loose points I was trying to connect. I remember having written most of it up until that point and the last chapter and thinking, "not much left now, I think I can start posting". Lol.

Everything that happens between those two points came to me after that, all of Hob's backstory (I struggled with that, he's been kinda hazy in my head), the very thorough dip into the mental illness theme (the bulletpoint in my brain sounded something like "make Murphy feel better and figure out what it is exactly—and see where it took me, two fights, a sex scene and a whole chapter focused on it), Orpheus's journey. This is precisely why I don't like outlining—I do better without. The pacing might be shot to hell, but tbh I don't care about that very much, I care about having put down all I wanted you to see, all I wanted you to know about these two.

24. How did you celebrate finishing?

By taking a break, by finishing the blanket that came with the fic (lol) and by going "I don't think they're all that happy yet" and writing a bunch for the sequel. I'm also gonna commission some art from my Christmas money this year (don't know who yet, but I've got a few scenes I'd like to see).

25-27 I would love to hear some favorite lines, details, and lore

Biggest fun fact that hasn't found it's way into readers focus (hopefully "yet"), is that Matthew is Jessamy's younger brother. At the very start I had a plan about Hob and Murphy being oblivious about that and them getting into a big fight only for those two getting them back together via shenanigans. But then Murphy demanded therapy, and Orpheus demanded screen time, and Hob begged for backstory, and suddenly it didn't fit anymore, tone wise. I'm hoping to fit more Matthew into the sequel.

Favourite lines is rather…uh… I mean, it's 90K 😬

I loved writing them kiss, every single time.

The opening to chapter five holds a special place in my heart (the description of campus on the day of the summer festival), as does the poor philosophy faculty member that keeps calling the stacks for books (this is really not how it works lol). A lot of what happens in non-Dreamling plot is taken from my personal experience. A lot of it happened to me, or to my coworkers. The library I picture them working at is the library I did my apprenticeship in. (I also detest Gorgonzola.) There really are people every year accidentally ordering a cart full of bound journals because they thought they'd get single issues. I always loved doing those and brining them up personally to see the face of the person that ordered them. Was worth the three quarters of an hour of work before and after every time. What I did not include is the small railway system we had. There were little waggons to put the books into, and they'd bring the books upstairs via rails on the ceiling. It's one of the coolest things I've ever seen in my life.

I loved this part:

He can suddenly see right through the thick layer of animosity like glass, and underneath it is a beaten, bloody, hurt thing."

And this one, because it's my Murphy, condensed into a paragraph, in all his confusion and hurt and love:

It feels good to have someone's attention on him, regardless of the kind. Murphy sometimes thinks he shouldn't encourage Hob's temper like that, should maybe apologise, and on his most lonely, sleepless nights he fantasises guiltily about making amends and asking Hob out. But what would Hob gain from that? Murphy has failed at marriage, the most long-term emotional commitment there is. And there is also Orpheus. Murphy loves him more than anything, but he knows that most single people consider children from previous, failed marriages baggage. It's the last thing Murphy wants for Orpheus, to feel secondary because of a relationship.

I also loved writing Orpheus deciding to go with Calliope, just because of how raw it is, and how true it feels. As a patchwork family kid myself, while not having been in the exact situation, I feel very deeply about all of this, and exploring why someone would let their child go, and why someone would encourage them to go, helped me tremendously.

This part I love because it shows the security that Hob gives Murphy even back when they were on bad terms, and just how wrong Murphy is and how deep his self-deception goes:

He starts to taunt Hob again. It's easy, so easy to fall back into it, almost as if they never stopped. Murphy carefully sharpens his tongue again and tries it out on Hob's thick skin. It feels safe. Neither of them mentions the closet and the hugs and Murphy's tears, and he is grateful. It's not real. This is.

This part is a feeling I have very often about emotionally charged situations bc I'm shit at them (the "oh fuck, the jig is up" feeling):

This is it, he realises, this is going to resolve things one way or another. Suddenly Hob wishes Dream had called in sick for a day longer, or two, or had stopped him two days ago when he'd walked out of his office. He can't stand it. He can't face it, either. But he must.

I'm also very proud of this, because it's the turning point of the whole story and I think I executed it rather well. It's the most revised part of the whole story, and the one that took the longest, writing wise:

"Wait wait wait," Hob interrupts him and all blood leaves his face. "What's this about deserving? Did you—Have you used me to punish yourself because you don't think you deserve basic kindness?!" He is so tense that he feels his muscles might spring out of his skin, so angry that he thinks his blood might boil out of his ears. And then. And then all the tension melts out of Dream as he sees him getting angry, relief etched into his face and rimming his eyes with red, and something in Hob breaks. This is the part of Hob he is used to. This is the Hob he knows and is comfortable with. Shame and grief so profound it settles in his bones creeps up from his toes and into his heart. He doesn't want that. He wants, needs it to be different. "Oh love," he says, voice thick with sorrow, and sits down next to Morpheus on his kitchen bench, taking his hands into his own. "Oh darling, no."

I'm throwing this one in, too, because I think I was really fucking funny:

The only positive effect this information has on Hob is that it makes his erection wilt like a candle in front of a blowtorch.

I also loved doing the phone screenshots of their texts with the secret emoji story from the evening before that played out during the phone call chapter, but I don't think anyone picked up on that. It was fun regardless, a nice little easter egg.

I am skimming the story for this and am only on chapter 16. I think I have to reign myself in a bit. Chapter 16 is also kind of a companion chapter to ch13 (where they get their shit together) in terms of emotional intensity. While in chapter 13 they had to painfully try and pull themselves together, to be honest and open even if it hurt, chapter 16 is the culmination of the new start they made for themselves, a little bit of "what if we hadn't been like that from the start" but better, because of course they have been like that, and imo dropping a weight like that lets people fly higher. A tender start would have been sweet and nothing else, but here they're conscious of quite a few of each other's flaws, and know the other is earnestly trying to put the work in, and that makes it as delicious as an overripe peach eaten over the sink, sticky and ecstatic and glorious.

This:

The giggle Hob has been suppressing bubbles up his throat, and he moves quickly to tap his index finger to the soft wet redness. Scandalised, Murphy pulls his head back, smacking his lips. "Bah," he says, taken aback. "Who does that?" "I do," Hob says, still giggling. "Worked, didn't it?" "You," Murphy proclaims, swaying back to him and holding onto his hips, "are the worst." And then he licks a long, wet stripe up the side of Hob's face.

I just love their silly. They need the silly. Even if I forget, they demand it themselves.

All the house/home metaphors I did for Murphy's life, and the sea metaphors I did for his mental health journey.

Also proud that I managed to still keep them real and make them fight and make up and not have them be happy lovey doves all the time (which may seem surprising considering all I put them through, but still). I wanted to be conscious of making their relationship equal, to not have Hob carry Murphy's issues but have him lean on him, too (although he's certainly the stronger one of them, emotionally. Carrying wise, I mean.), to have them give and take in equal measure.

There was also a short snippet of Hob meeting Jessamy, that would originally go into chapter 20. But it didn't fit the tone, and the chapter did better what I wanted from it without it, so it got cut. Generally speaking, there's very little scenes that got cut. I don't care about pacing that much, and even less if a scene is necessary or not. If it's something I want to tell, I'm gonna include it. But there's a few that took the story in a direction that I didn't like, and that I wrote quite early on, that didn't fit the story as it progressed. (notably, for the sequel, Orpheus finding a dog while playing with his best friend and Hob and Murphy adopting it.)

This one, for me, is the best sentence from the recovery chapter:

He needs—no, he wants to take it into his own hands, so that his happiness stops being a thing that other people need to give him."

(I also asked notallsandmen if the sex scene at the end is over the top, and they told me that not only is Murphy on antidepressants, he's also in love, and at that point I threw caution out the window and decided they can as happy and as schmoopy as I want them to be.)

Chapter 22 was entirely unplanned. At one point I realised that while readers have an approximation of Murphy's past, Hob still has no idea what happened :D

I also loved doing the Christmas chapter. I put a lot of thought in what celebrations like this might look for Orpheus as a kid of two cultures. I think some traditions would have been quite important to Calliope, not because I picture her as particularly religious, but because I think she would have liked to keep them while living in England. And I think Murphy would have agreed with her, because he wanted her to be happy, and I don't think that he's got particularly happy memories associated with family celebrations until Calliope, and he might even have seen it as a way to break away from his own family and his own past, just like his marriage in general had been. So the abundance of greek Christmas traditions is very much on purpose.

I also love any and all interactions between Hob and Orpheus.

This one, because it always makes me cry, even when rereading my own story:

“Hello, little sparrow.” He’s sure that his relief bleeds through into his tone, softening his voice to a sweet, velvety caress. Orpheus makes an indefinable sound at the endearment. “You've called every day for a week,” he says, unsure. “I did,” Murphy assents. “Thank you for speaking to me today. I missed you.”

Also loved reusing this one, even if it might be too sugary:

“D’you think it'll work out?” He finally says. “All of it?” Turning his head slightly, Murphy kisses Hob's temple, his cheek, his neck. “We try,” he says, gently. “We try and try, and sometimes that means we fail. But Hob, it also means that more often than not, we make it work.”

I also love the last chapter and the conclusion to bits, but sometimes I worry that it might feel like a haphazardly slapped on bandaid to some readers (which it it very much not. It's another testament to both of their stellar decision making, and it will come to bite them in the ass :D).

This turned into a very long and convoluted ramble, but I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless.

28. Write a summary for it but badly

I cannot decide, so you're getting all of them (yes, I crowdsourced):

Library 4.0: parkour edition

Dr. D. M. Olympiou's and R. Gadlings guide on how to regulate your behaviour in library spaces using real life negative examples, now with annex detailing the consequences for your private life

'In which library assistant Hob finds himself the prime subject of new subject librarian Dream Olympiou's study onwhether you're being checked out of the library or checked out at the library.' (courtesy of @sleepsonfutons)

Two insecure idiots fuck around and find out…that they’re actually really good together (courtesy of @edgedancer77)

Surrounded by idiots: The four types of human behaviour and how to effectively fumble all of them when it comes to your hot but asshole coworker (based on: Surrounded by Idiots: The Four Types of Human Behavior and How to Effectively Communicate with Each in Business (and in Life))

How to hatefuck your way into better mental health (courtesy of @reallyintoscience)

[t4tozier]

hello. starbreaker ask moment!! first of all, wanted to say that your playlists are absolutely excellent; have been going through them, and Good Looking and Coming Down being on jace's playlist both hit me like a ton of bricks. (the latter, I've always loved and WHOA is it applicable; the former is new to me, and WHOA is it also applicable.) second of all, your takes on what classes the two of them would be if they couldn't, for whatever reason, be their canon ones? (sorcerer and barbarian/paladin, respectively.) typed all that out and went "wait, am I also asking for class swap AU here? whoa" so that's a subset question if you're interested in that too!

yay i'm so glad you enjoy the playlists i have been listening to the starbreaker and porter ones nonstop. i'm ngl i haven't even listened to jace's all the way through yet because his songs are like slow and sad for the most part and i just haven't been in that mood. i actually moved a lot of songs from shattered over to smoke and iron because i needed to make a jace playlist and i thought it was fun to have shattered reflect more of the hatefuck dynamic and jace's playlist to be the obsessive religious devotion songs. i cannot take the credit for coming down that was all my darling natalie beeprich but i do think good looking is so jace. i can't remember when/where i found that one tbh i remember hearing the song before but it may have come up on the suggested for shattered which is how i come up with a lot of my playlists.

okay now to the actual question lol!! this is sooo fascinating i really have to think about it. this is going under a cut bc it’s already too long

i can't see jace as anything other than a caster but i think he has the stats for bard, specifically eloquence bard.

silver tongue means he can practically never fail a deception or persuasion check

unfailing and infectious inspiration aren't as useful to a solo adventurer, but i can see a young fresh jace excited to join a party and then be left with all of these useful abilities that he rarely gets the opportunity to use. it does end up coming in handy later on when he starts working with porter and the rat grinders (plus, with the way his mirror image works, i could see him being able to grant them bardics as well)

porter was harder for me to figure out because it felt like a cop out to make him a fighter. but i think an interesting flip would be to see him as a full paladin instead. in my personal canon, i think he took the oath of devotion before switching to main-classing barbarian, but here, i'm thinking about oath of conquest paladin porter.

this part from dnd beyond specifically sticks out to me in relation to porter, especially with the "survival of the fittest" nature of his goliath background:

Strength Above All. You shall rule until a stronger one arises. Then you must grow mightier and meet the challenge, or fall to your own ruin.

he gets some great spells to intimidate and dominate, and at higher levels he has the ability to physically punish those who hurt him without even taking an action to do it. he also would get resistance to all damage at 20th level and would crit on a 19 or 20.

now in terms of class swaps:

i also felt it was a cop out to make jace a wild magic barbarian, so instead, we're going with the path of the zealot. this ties in well with the deification of porter, and i also think it's funny that it's a hell of a lot easier to raise him from the dead than anyone else due to a lack of needing material components for revivify or any other spell to raise the dead. porter PWKs him? just call buddy over, he'll be back in under a minute. i also think Rage makes for a very fun dynamic between the two of them; jace rises from the dead and immediately goes for porter's throat. he just throws a shocking grasp back at him. it's fun we're having fun :)

i think it is also fun to have porter be a draconic bloodline sorcerer. he gets additional AC from his draconic resilience, and he can resist lightning damage which is rarer than other types of resistance. he also gets dragon wings which i just think is cool. i don't really see porter as a caster in general but i do think for someone who values his ancestry so much he would take pride in getting his magic from his bloodline.

[mtkay13]

Qin Huaizhang and his pupils! I always love thinking a lot about Siji manor and how it was, how it started, etc. I really wanted to make an illustration reflecting a nostalgia of these times. More Siji manor rambling below >>>

I am going through a crisis regarding my headcanons about it, though. As in, I can't be satisfied by what the book gives us, and clearly I got too invested in the backstory I made up to just accept giving it up based on some random infos sprinkled here and there. Here are the named characters that I assume are all from Siji:

(Duan Pengju isn't there because, for good balance, I thought it would be nice to have him as an agent recruited later on by ZZS.) QHZ is obviously the founder of the manor, right? According to the book (which gives us very little), he's an oddball, and he could have gone about with only two disciples-- or very young ones... But simultaneously, we do get informations in extra 5 about Siji manor's wide reach and activities. It's hard to believe that ZZS was the oldest disciple (as it is suggested in TYK in that one line where he's said to having been a dashixiong.....); he was 15 by the time of QHZ's death, so could QHZ really have operated alone with an army of tiny kids before that? Sorry, Priest, I will have to fight with canon lines here. I like to imagine that QHZ had associates within Siji-- he was the main founder, but he wasn't working alone. Old Bi, who's mentioned in TYK, chapter 1, could have been one of said associates. Lu Yu....... So Lu Yu is from Qi Ye, and up until recently he was my anchor when it came to justifying my idea that no, ZZS and LJX weren't the sole disciples in Siji Manor (since, in TYK, ZZS says it was "just the two of them"-- but it could be metaphorical!! and Lu Yu being there so early on in Qi Ye could be a proof of that!!). Turns out, the infos we get from Extra 5, once again, make me feel like it's unlikely that it was really literally only ZZS and LJX, but-- Anyway; I did picture Lu Yu as being older than ZZS, probably a shixiong, but it's also mentioned in Qi Ye that he his technique was "worthy of ZZS' teaching"...... which makes it harder to justify him being a shixiong. I mean, some mental gymnastics can probably make it work, and after all this is only a remark coming from Jing Qi's narration, BUT. Bichen suggested he could have been trained later on by ZZS as more people left Siji in disagreement with ZZS' own politics... so why not? I like to think that ZZS was QHZ's only disciple-- the others, shixiongs and shidis, were disciples of QHZ's associates rather than his own direct disciples. Maybe he didn't want any, until he met with ZZS and figured that the kid was worthy enough of being his disciple. LJX would have been taken in by QHZ as an additional trial or training method for ZZS-- because teaching is the best way of putting your own knowledge to the test. ALL OF THIS TO SAY, i do imagine that ZZS and LJX had a peculiar relationship with QHZ that other disciples didn't have, and that it was just the two of them from the moment ZZS was chosen by QHZ to become the next leader. Bi-shu... could have been reluctant at first, then decided to believe in ZZS until years later when he figured he couldn't do TC anymore and it was time for him to go? Anyway--- I could go on for hours bc clearly I have nothing better to do w my life than to muse about some random background storylines LOL

Thanks for reading!

[blind-alchemists]

sorry, Zagreus, I've had your sister for five hours and I already like her more than you.

anyway! I did treat myself and bought the game early and. it's just very good!

in somewhat chronological order, my thoughts after yesterday's session

the music! the music is even more amazing than in the first game and if I'm done, I need to listen to the whole OST on loop

the art!! also even better than in the first game!!

Melinoë is a great protagonist

it's incredibly funny the first god we encounter is Apollo, because Apollo is the guy people modded into the first game years ago

... boy, I wonder what the speedrunning meta will look like for this game (I have very obscure knowledge about Hades I speedrunning meta)

I love the little backgrounds that pop out with the art

oh, right, I jumped into the Hades I EA late, so I never saw the place holder graphics in-game before

the environments!! beautiful.

I shouldn't have played the first game last week. It's fucking with me. where's my second dash??? Why do we start with 30 HP??? where are my death defiances??? weapon mechanics???

of course there's a fishing mechanic again.

I like Hecate's design.

saluting??? what's the lore behind that?

OH. this tone of the story isn't ... quite what I expected. A lot more serious. a lot more severe.

Melinoë doesn't remember her family??? Hello??? what the fuck???

and she keeps talking about her task with such a dutiful determination ... no, I'm not crying. But. That's such an interesting conflict.

NEMESIS!! She's holding her sword aspect!! her design!! her resentment!! her vengeance!! her rivalry with Mel. how Mel calls her Nem. please. tell me she's a romance option. PLEASE.

oh, hi odysseus.

hey, there's hypnos! ... why's he sleeping??? (funny thing is, I got the Charon dialogue that implies he's more useful this way lol)

I cannot. Take. Skelly serious. It's worse because Mel does.

I like Moros' design. The long hair going over the horns? Yeah, that's good.

Mel gets an AXE??? a heavy, double-bladed axe??? (I love women wielding heavy weapons, and as long as the rail doesn't make a return, I'm good with anything after enough time)

I like the new art sprites for reoccurring characters!

ahhh, the good old "we don't trust Olympus so we're not telling them everything" line. understandable, but I figure that's going to blow up sooner or later.

I love Mel's bond with Artemis and Selene and the implication that both helped raise her.

... and I like the predominantly female cast so far

Nemesis can show up in Erebus???

BABY MELINOË omg

why does every chthonic goddess / titaness sound like they have a thing for Persephone. Nyx already had a few lines like that in the first game. Why does Hecate also have these kinds of lines.

the Hecate fight frustrates me to no end, because I'm very used to more dashes, more health, and more death defiances, and very different weapons :( (I have bet her twice in total so far)

unrelated, but I didn't know I needed a sheep in the Hades art style but it's so damn cute and I want a large art print of it

Archane!! I love how her silks change Mel's avatar

Oceanus is beautiful

... except for the traps. Really not digging the traps. or the maps.

CHAOS??? why are you holding your old form's head??? and why is there an embryo coming out of it??? why do you have wings??? why do you wear a suit??? the new design unfortunately checks all the boxes but upon reflection that is because it fits into that very niche character design trope I've seen in manwha recently and I couldn't put a name on it if I tried

on that note, I also adore Aphrodite's new design!!

not quite sure what I think of the gathering / farming mechanic yet

I do like the incantations, magic, hexes, and arcana though!

HERMES! I also adore his design.

wait, what? Mel's going to Olympus? You're telling me one part of the game is descending into the House of Hades and the other is climbing to Mount Olympus?? (that's my speculation, at least.)

god, I hope the cast of the first game is alright/alive. :(

I hope we also get to see Athena, Ares, and Dionysus at some point :(

on that note, I can't wait for Mel to meet her brother and realize he's the opposite of her lol. I love siblings and mirrors.