#and also it made no sense for the orderly to know so much about the operation and all

[paintedpeeta]

now, many of us, have at length discussed Peeta “born to be a little shit, forced to be a prisoner of war” Mellark coming into his own after the war, and I would like to hear your take on it but ALSO have we been sleeping on “two can play at the game” Katniss being just as immature when Peeta is pulling his stupid boy behavior? … basically, your headcanons upon the topic “Let Katniss and Peeta Be Normal Teenagers 2024”

this instantly made me think of the part in catching fire where katniss and finnick smear their faces in ointment just to spook peeta… like, if she’s able to be a little silly in the middle of a death match then she definitely goofs off when they’re safe and living a soft life together.

I think katniss’ sense of humour is often overlooked (which is fair enough because there’s a lot going on) but that girl was roasting career tributes names and giving us bangers such as “I suppose the apples ate the cheese” like 💀

but anyway, I agree that she definitely gives as good as she gets. peeta plays on her weaknesses by teasing her and being crude because he knows it makes her flustered, but katniss knows exactly how to deal with him too (think back to the ointment thing, where she uses a soft sing-song voice to call his name and wake him up). she’ll have him on the ropes, distracting him in the kitchen by acting all flirtatious and letting him think he’s about to get some and then THWACK. face full of whipped cream.

also I personally headcanon that peeta is a very neat and orderly person (to a certain extent… the room he uses as a studio for his painting is a wreck at all times) and he’s very specific about the way things should be done. purely in the name of being a pain in the ass, katniss will wrongly pair up socks when its her turn doing the laundry and leave her boots where she kicks them off at the door rather than lining them up the way he does.

just general cat behavior as well. she’ll plop herself down on his lap, to hell with the fact he’s reading the newspaper. yeah she’ll come padding into the room to bug him while he paints and yeah she will knock things off of the desk.

not exactly catlike, but a couple of times she tries to switch around his mug of tea and his mug of paint water. it fails every time because, y’know, he has a nose and all but hey. a girl can dream.

plus a plethora of other things she does just for the love of the game. the game of being a pest, that is. she’ll flick water and suds at him while they wash the dishes together, or shut the hot water off for just a second while he’s in the shower, or bite his finger when he tries to let her taste a new recipe.

when they’re not ribbing each other, they’re teaming up to terrorise poor haymitch. he’s so done with them but he would also never admit how much he likes seeing them so happy and actually getting to act young, even if it does mean being rudely awakened on weekends by the sound of laughter coming from their open windows as peeta crashes around after her because she slipped an ice cube down his shirt and then dashed.

[legacygirlingreen]

My silly little HCs for Sebastian Sallow

Some of these are really random but I’ve just had an abundance of HC lately so I thought I’d share:

✨ I GENUINELY see a world in which Sebastian could be slightly messy in some areas and very orderly in others. I don’t think he’d be messy in EVERY aspect of his life. Sure his hair is messy (this i attribute to it’s natural texture and the fact he’s a teen boy and likely doesn’t care that much about it), that large stack of books near his bed and on his desk are messy and I’m sure his life can at times be pretty chaotic - but I get the vibe he still cares on occasion. He’s always dressed properly for class, no less than Ominis or his other classmates. I’m sure his papers and class notes are very immaculately organized and he’s got a system that on surface level looks chaotic but to him makes sense for his books and other possessions. I also don’t see it possible that he can be a complete slob either given how small the feldcroft house is and having to share it with Anne and Solomon (and Ominis).

✨ I think as a child he definitely had to learn how to self sooth, or find ways to entertain himself. We get hints that his parents were often locking themselves downstairs to research, leaving him and Anne to their devices and he seems very well liked by his professors - so this leads me to think that with the exception of the resitricted section and occasional mischief, he may not be as “high strung” as he’s often made out to be. With the amount of time he spends reading, snacking and just overall finding ways to keep from boredom, I can see a world where afternoons with Sebastian are much more laid back than one would imagine.

Which leads me into some loose ideas I think he’d conceive if he was dating you/MC:

* laying in the grass together on sunny days, reading silently, pointing out cloud shapes or looking for 4 leaf cloves together

* swimming in the sea in summer, sunbathing on the shores, skipping rocks

* baking the muggle way and enjoying homemade pie over candle light and engaging in thought provoking conversations

✨ I don’t think that Sebastian cares too much about his physical appearance as a teenager but I can definitely see it slowly becoming more and more a priority as he ages. Several people have pointed out that there’s a razor in their dorm and if you zoom in you can see he’s got the appearance of hair follicles on the high resolution zoom in screen grabs, so I think by seventh year he’s experimenting with facial hair. Probably sideburns or just a mustache as that would’ve been fashionable for the time, but I can see him letting his sideburns go in his least year at hogwarts. He’d claim it was “more convenient that way” since he “didn’t have to waste as much time shaving his whole face” but in reality he just feels more grown up and mature and he likes it - but likely wouldn’t want to be seen as vain.

✨ Sebastian grew up with a twin sister and is likely quite well versed in female anatomy and issues… he’s more than likely a SAINT when it comes to that time of the month, however I don’t think he’d see it as anything to mention. Likely just know it’s roughly that time again, casually offer more snacks, perhaps offer a simple back rub without saying anything, or other varieties of comfort without acknowledging WHY he’s doing so. If you ever bring it up he’d likely just shrug and say “just tying to be helpful since I know you likely don’t feel well” And leave it at that.

✨ I can see a variety of the love languages being important to him. I do agree he likely responds well to physical touch. You cannot convince me otherwise that he would not adore having someone play with his hair. He turns into a puppy immediately and it’s canon as far as I’m concerned. He also likely knows some mild form of braiding due to Anne so he probably equally enjoys returning the favor in that way. Sebastian gives me more strong touch in private but little to no PDA . Exceptions can be made for timely acceptable actions like a hand on the arm to escort but nothing crazy like necking in halls.

✨ however… private Sebastian could be a mixed bag. Initially I see him slightly nervous. Sebastian seems confident and headstrong in areas he’s familiar but we don’t see him ever feel unprepared. I get the sense he’d be anxious when he’s going in completely blind to new arenas like physical relations with a girl… So early on here May be apprehensive. I agree with the thought he would research all he could and go out of his way to make sure they were comfortable and he prevented pain. But once he’s got a good handle in it… he’s always looking to improve until he’s confident he’s making you feel incredible…

✨ Sebastian finds feminine hands to be so interesting. Despite not liking PDA I can see him constantly grabbing yours, examining them, admiring the softness, pressing kisses to the back of them, and just all around finding them so insanely beautiful despite being so simple.

✨ Sebastian sallow definitely is the type to practice his signature constantly. He gets bored in class I imagine, with as much reading as he does, he’s likely way ahead of his peers. It’s common to see him doodling out new ways of signing his name and he still hasn’t found the way that’s quite him yet but he will eventually…

✨ deep down I think he can be very self conscious. I imagine he’d find certain features less than perfection … such as his wide nose or bushy eyebrows. Dark eyes and dark features are quite common , I can see a world in which he so often feels quite plain. However the right partner coming along and kissing that button nose or playfully stroking his brow while he rests his head in their lap would slowly make him feel better about what he sees in the mirror. Being complimented on his appearance, something I’m sure gets lost in his many talents, would mean the world to him.

✨Sebastian has a sweet tooth and would 100% rock the dad bod when matured . He’s lean now with all the hogwarts cardio, but once he slows down he’s getting thicker. Just look at Solomon and tell me the sallow genes aren’t slightly husky (Also check out @rednite-dork bc she’s got some awesome art depicting a more aged up, dad bod seb and they are mouth watering 🤪)

I have soo many more but here’s some loose HCs , and I’m always down for a part 2💚

[bebx]

no but wait. okay, okay, listen… what if, what if the Soteria wasn’t just used for suppressing Henry’s powers but what if it was also used to protect Henry from some other thing that possessed him — when he still lived in the Creel House with his family — and made him kill his mother and his sister back then? so the second Eleven removed the Soteria from him, that thing (whatever it was) was able to reach Henry again. and that’s why Henry went from ‘the friendly orderly’ to a murderer. and maybe Henry doesn’t even know he’s been possessed all this time? what if….

not saying the theory’s true but if it is, this deleted scene where Henry just sat like this, looking weirdly vulnerable (and lost?) after the massacre, would make so much sense. because he wouldn’t know what happened, what he just did. did it happen again? (after he killed Alice and Virginia). Jamie said something about this scene once during a comic con that he didn’t have any dialogue here and was told to just ‘crawl around’ looking creepy? I’m not sure if I remember the crawling around part correctly because I don’t currently have the video of when he said it (but it’s out there somewhere, you might’ve seen it or even have it). but I think he said they decided not to include the scene in the final cut because it was ‘too creepy’. but what if the actual reason they deleted it is because they thought if fans really saw what’s going on in the scene, it might be too obvious that Henry wasn’t himself? listen, I’m just guessing here. could he have done all of these on his own free will once the Soteria’s removed from his neck? of course. could I be wrong? yes. but my point is; who knows.

[luv-indigo]

okay so, redesigning nadine for the third and (hopefully) final time. i felt she looked too similar to soraya (my keyframes fall mc) so i changed nadine up a bit. also!! i was trying to find oc templates to fill out for my visual novel ocs and although there’s so many out there, none were exactly what i was looking for soooo…. I made my own! i’ll post my other our life ocs with them soon but first, nadine ! (again)

I’ve also changed my own mind. Nadine will be my MC for Qiu’s route.

Nadine introduction <3

Nadine spent much of her early childhood moving from place to place, all within her home state of California but oftentimes in different cities. Moving around so often made it hard to keep in contact with friends and after a while made it especially hard making friends in the first place.

When Opal tells Nadine they‘re moving once again, Nadine is surprised to learn they’re moving to Oregon, their neighboring state. This time, she learns it’ll be a more permanent location. Nadine doesn’t know exactly how to feel. She’s so used to moving around that being in a place for so long sounds foreign, weird and new. However, part of her can’t help but feel excited, especially since she gets her own room now! But no matter what, she knows mama will be with her every step of the way.

Upon meeting Qiu and Tamarack, Nadine quickly feels they can be the best of friends. Nadine has always been more of a quiet person but not necessarily shy. Spend enough time with her and you’ll find she can talk quite a lot. Yet she’s perfectly content with simply listening as well.

Nadine is mostly a rule follower. Rules are there for a reason right? She prides herself on being neat and orderly. All her belongings are pristine and in their place because that’s just how she likes it. During step 1, Nadine strongly dislikes getting dirty. Which can be difficult to avoid if you’re playing outside in the woods.

Step Two !!

After four years, Nadine has adjusted well into her new home. Although Nadine needs glasses she very much prefers to use eye contacts instead. It’s also the most convenient when ice skating. She’s taken on ice skating as her main past time and she’s fairly good. Her transportation of choice has been rollerblading so it makes sense she got into ice skating as well.

Her other hobbies are more on the creative side. She enjoys crafting and drawing on occasion. Cosplaying is also one of her major hobbies. For years she has worked on making her Halloween costumes with the help of Mama.

During this time Nadine becomes more of a shy person. During her earlier childhood, she had no problem voicing her thoughts and opinions but it seems now that sort of thing gets harder to do as you age. Thankfully, she has her two close friends to turn to whenever she needs a hand, and in turn she will be there for them as well.

Step Three !!

Nadine has less and less time to do things she wants. If this is how adult life is she wants zero part of it </3

Nadine has always prioritized their studies (although that became much harder to do when middle school started due to her procrastination habits). Now college is weighing on their mind. Nadine still very much enjoys ice skating yet she struggles to make time to practice. Similarly, cosplaying has turning into a year long project (for Halloween of course). Doing multiple cosplays a year is something she doesn’t have time for anymore. Although they are often busy, Nadine will always make time for a special someone and her best friend, Tamarack.

Step Four !!

Nadine’s all grown up </3

Throughout many years Nadine has learned things about themselves and grown into the person they are today. Her experiences and the people she has been around since she was ten years old have impacted her life to mold her into who she is, for better or worse. And honestly, they wouldn’t have it any other way.

And finally this little thing I made with all of Nadine’s doll icons. I had to edit many of them to fit the hair style and clothing options I wanted and it literally took forever </3 ouGh

Also, I apologize for the quality. I tried to preserve it as I was inserting the drawings into the template but resizing may have messed up the quality </3

[vodika-vibes]

Hey! I know he's a bit of a rare clone, but would you consider writing for maze? he's from the repcomm books and is endearingly (Imo) professional and surly 👉👈

Not That Hard

Summary: When one story ends, another one begins. Maze, formerly a Republic Soldier, is now a bounty hunter. He’s used to things being orderly, everything has a place, and everything should be in its place. So when he ends up locked in a small cell with the woman he’s been searching for, a woman who’s been missing for three weeks, he knows that everything is about to be turned on its head.

Pairing: Pre Maze (Alpha-26) x F!Reader

Word Count: 1722

Warnings: None

Tagging: @trixie2023 @n0vqni @imabeautifulbutterfly

A/N: So, I've never written Maze before, but I'm always happy to write any of the Alphas, or any star wars character. His page on Wookieepedia wasn't the best, but I did the best I could. I hope you like it! Also, I've been watching a lot of Numb3rs, so that's where the basic idea of this came from.

Maze leans back against the stone wall, his gaze drifting from the woman sleeping on the singular cot in the cell to the door, and then back again. He’s glad that she’s asleep. He wasn’t sure that she would fall asleep, honestly.

He leans over and tugs the thin blanket a little higher over her shoulders. The blanket won’t do much to keep the cold out, it’s too thin, but it’s enough that she can sleep.

Three weeks ago the University of Theeds reached out to him, telling him that one of their Teachers had gone missing. They said to him that someone had broken into her home, torn the place to pieces, and taken her.

The University hired him to find her since he was something of an expert on finding people.

The fact that she’s alive is a damned miracle, in his opinion. After three weeks, statistics indicate that he should have found her in a ditch somewhere.

He’s never been so glad to be wrong in his life.

Still, the fact that they haven’t killed her suggests that they want something from her. Maze shifts so that he’s sitting on the cot beside her, tired of sitting on the ground.

He needs to think.

Why would someone want a University Professor?

Absently, Maze brushes a strand of hair off her face as he thinks about what he knows about her.

She’s young, barely brushing 25 years old. She’s an only child. Her mom died from heart disease when she was a child, her dad recently retired to a lake house. There’s no other family.

She’s single, and her only friends are people who work at the University with her. Honestly, it sounds like a lonely life to him, but according to her colleagues and friends, she’s seemed lonely or unhappy.

He can respect that.

Maze’s eyes snap to her face as she releases a quiet noise and shifts on the cot, seemingly to curl into his warmth while also opening her eyes. “You should go back to sleep, Professor. It’s early.” He says quietly.

She sighs and shakes her head, “No point. They’re going to be coming soon.” Slowly, she sits up and shifts so she’s able to press her face against his shoulder. 

“What do they want?” Maze asks, mentally kicking himself for not asking her earlier. But then, her injuries were pretty severe. It makes sense that he would put that aside.

“I’m a Bio-Engineer.” She replies tiredly, “They want me to tell them how to break into BioGen.”

“Why?”

“BioGen’s biggest thing is weaponizing viruses.”

Maze stiffens and his gaze snaps to her face, “BioWeapons are illegal. Even in the Empire.”

“They weaponize them so that they can try and develop cures for them. It’s all legal and above board.” She reassures, “Even in the Empire.”

“Why’d you leave?”

“A Tenured Professorship at the University of Theeds is a great honor, not to mention it pays very well.” She replies, “It made sense, career-wise.”

“Only there’s a lot less security at the University compared to a Biomedical facility.”

She huffs out a laugh, “Yeah, there is that.” She shifts her head slightly, “But this has never happened before. Ever. People leave BioGen all of the time.”

“And you’re the first one kidnapped?”

“That I know of.”

There are heavy footsteps from the hall and Maze shifts so that his body is shielding hers. The door slams open and three men step into the room.

They’re not big men, if Maze were to stand, he’d tower over them. It burns him up that he allowed men like them to capture him so he would be able to find the professor. 

“Professor,” One of the men stalks towards Maze, and he feels her shrink down behind him, “Come on, girl. Are we really going to do this? All you gotta do is give us the information, and then you’ll both go free.”

“Don’t lie. We all know that the moment she tells you what you want to know, you’ll kill her.” Maze growls out.

The man laughs, “Well, it’ll be a quick death, rather than this slow, dragged-out death.”

Behind him, the Professor trembles. 

“Is this all of you? Just three men?”

“We still caught you, clone.” One of the other men sneers, “Grab the Professor—”

The first man reaches to grab the Professor, only for Maze to move, swiftly breaking the man’s arm, and slamming his head against the wall, causing him to crumple to the floor.

“Get low, Professor.” Maze orders as he stands and advances on the two remaining men. He doesn’t wait to see if she’s following his direction, as he suddenly has two furious men to contend with.

Unfortunately for them, he’s an Alpha Class clone, and they’re unarmed.

The fight can’t even be called a proper fight. The two remaining kidnappers go down with several well-placed hits, and Maze tosses them into the cell while motioning for the Professor to join him.

“We’re leaving,” Maze says to the woman as he holds his hand out for her.

Nervously she nods and takes his hand, “Where are we going?”

“Well, it was the University who hired me.” Maze replies as he peeks into the hall, and then leads her out of the cell as soon as he notes that it’s safe.

“Um—”

Maze stops and looks at her, “What’s wrong?”

“Just…did they seem smart enough to come up with this on their own?”

Maze stares at her for a long time, and then he sighs, “No. They didn’t.” He’s quiet for a moment, “Alright, there must be something here to indicate who hired them. Follow me.”

Maze leads abruptly turns down a side hallway and leads her into a much larger room. There are computers, though they seem largely untouched. It looks like the kidnappers were more concerned with the games that were playing on the four holos lined up next to each other than the computers.

There are three couches, each other them surrounded by empty bottles and empty pizza boxes. 

“Well,” Maze notes as he steps around a pile of trash, “Criminal Genuises they are not.”

The Professor peers at a holo-board next to the couches, “It looks like they have a gambling problem.”

“Lucky for us. It means they probably didn’t delete anything.” Maze walks over to the computers, “Stay close, Professor.”

“Ah…Sorry.” She hurries to his side and peeks around him at the monitors.

Maze flashes a small smile at her and then focuses on the computers. “Hey, Professor?”

“Yes?”

“How’d they grab you?”

“I was heading home from a day of classes, and they ran me off the road.” She replies.

“You were driving yourself.”

“Yeah.”

“Does anyone know your route home?”

“I mean, there’s only one road off of the main campus,” She replies, “But I generally don’t know what route I’m taking home until I get in the car. It depends on the traffic and if I need to go grocery shopping.”

“And you didn’t tell anyone your plans for the evening when you were taken?” Maze asks as he scans something on the screen.

“No. No one.”

“It looks like our violent friends were hired by Levi Kelley. At least, that’s who paid them.”

“Levi Kelley?”

“You know him?”

“Yeah, he’s the head of the Biology Department at the University. I thought you said the University hired you?”

“Yeah, the Dean hired me. This Levi person, is he your supervisor?”

“No. I mean, he thinks that he is, but we’re on the same level.”

“Are you friends?”

“I’ve always been a bit…ambivalent towards him. He’s a good teacher, but he’s kind of a terrible person. Racist, sexist, the whole shebang.” 

“And he works at a University?”

“He’s a very good teacher. But he lost his tenure last year.”

“For what?”

“Academic misconduct, according to the rumors.” She leans against his side, exhausted, “The only person who knows the truth would be the Dean.”

“So it’s revenge.” Maze murmurs, “Use you to get an incurable virus, and release it on the school. Did you tell them anything?”

“No, I didn’t. I wouldn’t.”

“They tortured you, Professor. No one would blame you if you did.”

“I’m telling you, I didn’t. I left Biogen two years ago, Maze. I don’t remember any passwords or door codes. And they removed my biometrics from their system on my last day. I swear it.”

“Okay.” Maze lightly pushes some of her hair out of her face, “So they need someone else, a current employee.”

“Yeah, it’s the only way to get inside.”

“Alright. Let’s get out of here and alert the authorities. And get you some medical attention.”

“Yes please.”

Maze lightly presses his hand against the small of her back, guiding her towards the door, “I have one more question, Professor.”

“Go ahead?”

“When my brothers and I were decanted, we were given enhanced aging.”

“Yes, it was the only way for the Kaminoans to get a viable army in 10 years.” She replies.

“Yeah, you think you can reverse it?”

“Reverse it?” She repeats, sounding more thoughtful than surprised. Maze watches as she absently scratches at a deep gash on her cheek, “I don’t know about reversing it,” She finally says, “but I might be able to cure it. With enough blood samples.”

“Really?”

“Well sure, it’s not that hard. It’s just gene manipulation.” She frowns at him thoughtfully, “Look, all the information I need is here,” she lightly taps his chest, “The more of your brothers I can get blood samples from, the easier it’ll be to make a cure.”

“Can you do it at the University while also teaching?”

“I mean, sure. But the University of Theeds is funded by the Emperor. I’m guessing you don’t want the Empire to know about it.”

“No, I don’t.” Maze replies.

She’s quiet for a moment, “Find me a place to work, off of Naboo, and I can help you.”

“If you can cure this, I might just kiss you,” Maze says with a sly smile.

Her face heats and she won’t look at him, “Well, that seems a bit excessive,” She mumbles.

She squeaks when he lightly drapes his arm over her shoulder and tugs her against his side, “No. It isn’t. Come on, Professor. Let’s get you safe.”

[bonefall]

Anything planned for Whitetail? She’s bland in canon but I do love her

BB!Whitetail is so... I want to study her.

To begin with, she was an apprentice during the WindClan Massacre.

(Her mentor was not Onewhisker btw, he was too young)

She had two siblings, Graypaw and Blackpaw.

Graypaw was killed that night. Their mother, Sorrelcharm, probably also died.

Suddenly being thrust from her home and losing half of her family messed with her. Obviously. Who wouldn't feel this way

She has a perpetual sense of waiting for the "other shoe to drop." Like no home is truly safe, and it's a matter of time before the next big move.

Unfortunately... she's not totally wrong. Blackfur was either killed by TigerClan or a mine collapse. They were forced onto the Great Journey. Mudclaw's Civil War resulted in a raging inferno across the moor. Whitetail gets commended for how reliable and even-headed she is in the face of disaster, but it's because her mind is expecting the worst case scenario ALL the time.

Her personality is intense and orderly, only kept back by the fact she's a hopeless romantic.

PROFOUND sense of whimsy. She gives off a chilling air of seriousness, which stops people from discovering that she can be a real mush.

(Girlie galloping through the moor who whips off-course, as if she caught a glimpse of prey in her eye, only to have taken a short detour to crash through a puffy dandelion.)

When they all got to the lake, she had a brief fling with Onestar. She liked a lot about him-- his new status, yes, but also that when they were together they were just having fun. It was easy.

But... he didn't want it to continue romantically. He turned cold one day when the subject of kits came up.

They broke the unofficial relationship off unofficially, but a short while later he spoke to her again to arrange an honor siring.

He wanted to raise his kittens alone. Whitetail was willing to help him do that, as long as it could be known that she sired them. And that if the kittens wanted to know her-- they could do so.

But still, she didn't understand why he'd turned so suddenly. Not until much, much later.

But before then, she ended up developing an unlikely bond with Brushblaze.

Probably because they'd both been turned down by Onestar, funny enough. They were talking smack one day about failed relationships and it kinda clicked.

Whitetail: "Like idk, was it something I said? Am I the problem"

Brushblaze: "no, you're fine. He's the problem."

Voted WindClan's Most Intimidating Couple, between Whitetail's aura and Brushblaze's resting bitchface

They have two kittens together; Smokehaze and Galerunner. Around the time of their birth, Heathertail decided she wanted to take Whitetail up on the offer that had existed since she was born.

Brushblaze was a personal friend of hers for a long time, she wanted to know Whitetail, and she would like to experience what it's like to be a sister.

Sadly, Brushblaze didn't live to see his kittens become warriors, but Whitetail did.

Whitetail's BIGGEST personal failure interpersonally was, sadly, Breezepaw.

They were an awful match. Every wreckless action he took would badly set off her anxiety, which expressed as her snapping at him.

No matter how hard she tried to have patience with him, or how many times she scolded him to be more careful, it never ever worked.

On his end, the more visibly upset Whitetail became with him, the worse it made his fear of rejection. He was driven to do more and more dangerous acts to prove himself, which only served to make his mentor worse.

But ultimately, Whitetail was the mentor in this situation. She really tried, but she failed him as a teacher. They don't have the close bond that most apprentice/mentor relationships do, and Breezepelt only got lonelier.

For a while, Breeze felt like Brushblaze was "against him" for falling for his terrible mentor. It made it easy to reject his friend's advice when he said stuff like, "don't join the strange cult in the woods" and "this darktail bloke's a bit funny"

I think Whitetail has come a long way and is a much wiser person now than she was while she was Breezepelt's mentor... but.

She's cordial and accepting of Breezepelt now because it's what Brushblaze would have wanted. She doesn't trust him.

In fact she feels right about this. In her mind;

"Breezepelt needs to feel like part of the Clan, it's what Brushblaze would have wanted. Everyone deserves to feel safe, and more than that, this is the best way to neutralize him. When he's making soup and raising kittens, he's not hurting anyone... but he's had more chances than anyone here. Yeah I was harsh on him when he was a child, but he's made plenty of bad choices as an adult. I'm not being cruel or holding a grudge to keep him at a distance from Galepaw and Smokepaw... I'm being realistic. Brushblaze died to rescue him. I'm not going to lose more family to be nice."

This hurts Breezepelt... but it's fair. He tries not to think about it too much. He's learned the hard way that the people who will never like you anyway matter MUCH less than the people who love you.

I also don't really see a need to kill Whitetail off yet, because she makes a really good elder imo. She's practical but still likes to have fun, and is capable of giving really good analysis.

[lemonjestercoffee]

horses! horses! horses! horses!

i redesigned them! with my own hcs and species design quirks. also woe, height chart be upon ye

some notes for everypony:

Twilight Sparkle- i like gold on her design but not the absurd amounts everyone else gives her for some reason, so i made it an accent color. yes her magic is gold now too because of her eyes. her hair was also inspired by Mikan Tsumiki's cause i thought a more orderly version of her choppy mess would look good on Twilight, i was right. also glasses go brr, i think she looks cute in 'em

Apple Jack- while i love the long fetlocks people give her, i can't see her actually doing that because they'd be a pain to keep clean, so i did the opposite and had her shave her feathering off. i also put her hair up to keep it off her neck so she doesn't overheat while working. her cutiemark is my favorite part cause it's that family symbol where two adults and a kid make a heart, but i made it an apple instead, does a better job at showing her emphasis on family ties. no hat cause i like the idea of her hat being from her dad, and she doesn't want to mess it up wearing it daily so she wears it exclusively to special events

Rainbow Dash- i decided to make her less of a living lightening bolt and leaned more into her lazy side, going for the type of butch lesbian look that makes her feel like she wears tank tops and hangs out in the basement getting drunk and listening to rock. i wanted her to look like the only part of her she actually puts effort into maintaining is her wings

Fluttershy- i take great enjoyment in making Flutters a fucking lumbering giant compared to his friends (yes my Flutters is a guy), taking fluttertree and running with it. no notes aside from tall and green patterns and long hair and ooo pretty bronze jewelry. ig also his cutie mark is like- it was suppose to just be a paw and a butterfly but i accidentally made a parasprite with it, and instead of fixing it i just rolled with it and made it look more intentional

Pinkie Pie- THIS HORSE GAVE ME SO MUCH TROUBLE!! every part of my body was like "give her patterns! add things to her hair! it makes sense for her!!" but everything i did looked wrong and i couldn't get it to work. so i bit the bullet and made her really plain... and it worked. i don't know why but she just.... looks so much better with a really simple design, the hair texture does all the heavy lifting really

Rarity- of everyone, she's the one who'd have the long pretty fetlocks, and i decided to double down on that by not only making them so long you can't see her hooves, but also by making her have the longest and softest coat in general. she has the time and dedication to take care of such a high maintenance coat and she's gonna do it. it's even more impressive when you realize ponyville uses exclusively dirt roads. aside from that i think she deserves nice jewelry, and they use leather straps cause i think leather would be a ponyville fashion staple, she shows her hometown pride in her fashion

Spike- i thought it was weird he was so small the whole run, he should have had a growth spurt at some point imo, so i made him a bit bigger and more proportional to the older teen dragons, this is less of a redesign and more of a "make him actually grow up" thing, he's still small but not toddler small. this is the point where Twilight starts complaining about him sitting on her back cause he's getting too heavy. i also don't like how adult Spike ended up looking, but i haven't made a redesign of him yet

i have made an older alicorn Twilight design that i've been referring to as Ethereal Twilight, but i might hold off on sharing that for a while cause i have some funky hc lore ideas for the alicorns that i wanna refine a little before posting her. maybe i'll have older Spike drawn by then too, who knows

[lulublack90]

Prompt 23 - Alley

@jegulus-microfic February 23 Word count 949

Previous part First part

CW- Torture via cruiatus

Regulus knew something was going on the second the werewolves arrived. They entered Malfoy Manor in an orderly manner, unlike their usual free-for-all. 

They seemed to be guarding something in the middle of the group. They continued on until they stopped in front of Voldemort, and a man was dragged from the centre and forced to the floor. 

Regulus immediately recognised him. It was Remus. He carefully masked his features so he wouldn’t give either of them away. 

“Shit, is that Lupin?” Barty whispered too loudly to Regulus and Evan. 

“Hush,” Regulus said, warning flashing in his eyes. Barty fell silent, and they all watched the scene unfold before them. 

“Mr Lupin. I have heard many things about you. Most of them are not pleasant. I believe, though, it was your intervention that saved our dear Regulus from that beast Moody.” Voldemort paused to allow Remus to respond. Remus didn’t lift his head from the bowed position he’s been left in. He nodded. Voldemort placed a cold hand on the top of Remus’s head. Regulus didn’t know how Remus managed not to shudder at the contact, but he did. “Regulus also told us you wished to join your brothers and sisters and help our cause.” Another nod. Voldemort turned to one of the werewolves standing near him. “What of his companion? I believe he was always seen with the disgraced Black brother.” 

“We left him in an alley. My brothers may have had a little fun with him first. There’s been no sighting of him since. The informant hasn’t confirmed his current status, but they are working on it.” 

Informant? That was new. 

“Shut up!” Voldemort screamed. “CRUCIO!” The man fell to the ground, writhing in pain and screaming at the top of his lungs. The other wolves shuffled nervously while they watched their brother be tortured. 

Voldemort grew bored and released the curse. “Take him and leave.” He spat at the rest of them. One came forward and took hold of Remus’s arm, ready to drag him away with them. “No, no. Leave this one. I wish to speak with him alone. Tell Fenrir I will send word when he can collect him.” The wolves bowed and hurried away. 

Voldemort turned to Regulus and beckoned him forward. He went, leaving Evan and Barty behind. 

“Yes, my Lord,” He said as he bowed low. 

“Watch Mr Lupin here for me, will you? I have some urgent matters I must attend to.”

“Of course, my Lord.” He bowed again before wandering back to the others, Remus following behind. 

Barty clapped a hand on Remus’s back. 

“Knew you’d see sense and join our team,” Barty said loud enough for the whole room to hear. 

It was clever if they showed they trusted him, less would question his loyalty. 

“Well, the other side wasn’t exactly offering me much being a werewolf, were they?” Remus spat on the floor in disgust. He knew how to play this game. Barty howled with laughter and wrapped an arm around his shoulder, walking him towards the kitchen to help themselves to the refreshments. 

Regulus followed them, his mind whirling at the prospect of the information the wolf had let slip. An informant within the Order was bad news. 

When they entered the kitchen, he and Remus made eye contact, and he knew that Remus hadn’t known that either. 

They needed to be careful how they tread from now on until they found the leak. 

Remus stuck close to Regulus for the rest of the evening. Until Voldemort took him into a room by himself, he came out sweating and shaking but still in one piece. He bowed to Voldemort and then came to stand with their small group again. He didn’t say anything, just accepted the wine glass Evan handed him and sipped it slowly. 

“Chin up, Lupin, you’re one of us now,” Evan winked at him. 

Three wolves showed up to escort Remus back to the pack. Evan, Barty and Regulus all shook his hand. Regulus slipped a folded scrap of parchment into Remus’s hand as he shook it. 

Regulus needed to get away and call James. He was waiting, and so was Sirius. He needed to tell Sirius that Remus was all right. He left, only saying goodbye to Evan and Barty before apparating home. 

He sat in the kitchen with the mirror, sat on the table, and spoke to Sirius. 

“Sirius, I saw Remus.” 

James took the mirror back from Sirius’s hands after they’d finished so he could say goodbye himself. 

“James, there’s something else.” He said urgently. James waited for him to continue. “One of the wolves that brought Remus in let it slip that there is an informant in the Order. They’ve been passing information to the death eaters. They’re trying to find out if Sirius is alive or not.” James had gone pale. 

“Shit,” He said. “Are you sure?”

“Voldemort told him to shut up, and then Crucio’d him in front of everyone.” He watched the worry etch itself into James’s face.

“I’ve asked for a meeting with Dumbledore about the other things we discussed. I’ll alert him to this as well. I’ve got to go now, Reg. I’ll call you after I’ve spoken to Dumbledore. Keep you’re head down. I love you.” James smiled at him sadly as the sounds of Sirius’s snuffling filled the silence between them. 

“I love you too,” Regulus whispered as he ended the connection. 

He relaxed into his chair, taking a moment. He thought about the informant, wondering who it could possibly be. A flash of red blinked in his memory, and his blood ran cold. Surely not. She was a muggle-born, after all. 

Next part 

[artyandink]

Light My Fire (Again) | beau arlen

Summary: “I thought I’d swore off love, Jenny.” I smiled, chuckling a bit as I looked down to my feet then back up the skies, taking in the twinkling lights. “God, I really thought I did, and I was doing such a good job at it too. But, well, I just… I couldn’t help it.” I wet my lips slightly, biting the bottom one. “It’s improper, but it’s true.”

SERIES MASTERLIST

MAIN MASTERLIST

(divider credits go to cafekitsune)

one - green lights and red stains

TWO MONTHS EARLIER:

I was at my desk in Big Sky Country, Montana’s sheriff’s department, papers strewn over the desk in a similar fashion as they were at home. Making small mountains and also making me rather sympathetic for the trees who suffered just to have me keep ‘em all like this on another plank of wood on more sticks of wood. However, I couldn’t bring myself to clean them, not today. As well as that, the acting sheriff had made his speech today, and I knew if he’d talk to me, I wouldn’t make a great impression, not with all this mess.

“Ain’t this a sight?” I looked up to see none other than Sheriff Arlen, standing in front of me, his stance wide set as he peered at my scribblings which varied between neat and scrawling handwriting. I jolted a little, panic striking through me as I began to shuffle my files into a more orderly pile, but he held out his hand to put me at ease. “Nah, don’t worry about it. Truth be told, I’m not the most organised either.”

In response, I stood up laughing a bit as I ran my hand through my hair, the action not as smooth and easygoing as I hoped as my index encountered a knot in my raven hair which I quickly untangled. “Well, I’m afraid this is what you’ll be seein’ every day.” I gestured down in circular motions to the messy piles.

“Then I’m lookin’ forward to it.” He put out his hand with a broad grin, green eyes twinkling along with his startlingly white teeth. He had an air of giddy charm and confidence around him that I couldn’t help but crack a smile to. “Beau Arlen.”

“Isabelle Joyner.” I replied, shaking his hand firmly. His grip was strong, but comforting in a sense.

“Well, darlin’, I’ve heard some good things about you from Jenny Hoyt, or Hoyt, as she wants me to call her.” Beau chuckled at the thought, glancing towards Jenny, who was in conversation with Poppernak. “She’s a real firecracker.”

“That’s Jenny for you.” I smiled, nodding resignedly and also flicking my eyes to her. “She knows me better than anyone; we’ve been best friends for as long as I remember.” Then I spotted the uncertainty in his eyes as he once more looked at Jenny, and I laughed a bit. “She’ll warm up to you. She’s just a bit miffed, y’know, didn’t get put as acting Sheriff.”

“I learnt that the easy way and the hard way.” He snickered slightly, his shoulders shrugging. “Well, it’s a lesson well learnt.”

“Damn straight.” I grinned, putting my hands in my pockets, and we fell silent for a moment before it got a bit uncomfortable. “Anyway, welcome to Big Sky. I’m sure you’ll be great.”

“I goddamn hope so.”

NOW:

“Liv, sweetie?” I called up the stairs, my eyes darting back to the pancake cooking on the stove. It was half past eight in the morning, and I needed to get Olivia, my niece, to her stepfather’s house. Her mother - my sister - had been… lost. In a murder, six years back, but they’d never found who’d done it. In her will, she’d given custody of Olivia to me, that the court had approved. Her stepfather, Markham, was not happy, but there was little he could do.

“Yeah?” Came her sleepy voice from upstairs, making me laugh quietly. She’d grown so much since I got her as a timid nine year old. Now she was sixteen in a week and the most beautiful girl I’d ever see. She was my baby girl at this point, and I couldn’t be prouder.

“I’ve got work, hon, and I’m makin’ pancakes!” I heard a brief pause, then a scramble to get up. I smiled knowingly, returning to the pancake as the thunder of footsteps down the stairs signalled her arrival. Her blonde hair bounced in stunning curls and her brown eyes flashed excitedly, even though they were riddled with sleep. I passed her a plate of pancakes stacked up, shaking the whipped cream. “Mornin’, gumdrop.” I grinned cheerily. “What would you like on your pancakes, hm?”

“Whipped cream, syrup, and raspberries.” She replied instantly, then returned my smile. “And good morning, auntie.” Olivia gave me a bear hug, which I returned gladly, kissing her hair before letting her go with a pat on the back.

“Good choice.” I squirmed the whipped cream in a circle, grabbing the syrup bottle and drizzling it generously before passing her a bowl of freshly washed raspberries so she could knock herself out, also sliding her a fork and knife. “Dig in.”

“Hello, there!” I heard Jenny call, the door opening. Jenny and Cassie walked in with big smiles on their faces, especially so when they found the combination of Olivia and pancakes. “Hope you don’t mind, we just used the spare key under the deco rock.”

“And I’m glad we did, because why weren’t we invited to the party?” Cassie faux-gasped as she gestured to the pancakes.

“Elle, explain yourself.” Jenny chastised, raising an eyebrow at me, but when I passed them each a plate of pancakes, they melted. “Ok, no explanation needed.”

“Yep, we’re all good now, no beef here.” Cassie agreed, dolloping whipped cream on hers before passing the canister to Jenny. “Also, hi, Olivia.”

“Hey, Cassie.” Liv waved with a smile and a mouthful of pancake. “Hi, Jenny.”

“Hey, kiddo.” Jenny grinned, waving before digging into the pancakes.

“Never knew I’d be catering for four today.” I chuckled, turning off the stove and embellishing my own plate of pancakes, making it even more of a sugar rush than it already was.

“Well, now we get to boast to Beau about what we got cooked.” She replied with a cheeky smile. “He’s always returnin’ with clean dishes of what Denise cooked, so I guess we could clap back a little.”

“His favourite deputy cooked us pancakes and not him.” Cassie giggled, making me roll my eyes. These two.

“Shut up. Both of you.” I snickered, trying to remain stern. “If Sheriff Arlen wants pancakes, he can come over and I can make him some pancakes, it’s not exclusive.”

“And here I thought we were special.”

“Aw, hey, I didn’t mean it like that.”

“She did.” Olivia giggled.

“Yeah, she did.” Jenny gave me a look before we all burst out into laughter. We spent a bit of time chatting as we finished our pancakes, telling Olivia the ups and downs of our latest solved case and what movie we wanted for movie night this week. When we were done, I picked up my keys, jangling them.

“Olivia, time to go.” I smiled, but Cassie put her hand on my arm with a smile.

“I’ll drop her off.” She chuckled, holding up her own keys. “I know where Mark lives, and it’s on my way.

“You’re not exactly the most civil with the guy.”

“That’s cause he’s an ass, but I’ll try my best.”

We engaged in a staring contest for five seconds, until I gave in, nodding in defeat. “Fine. But if I get a call from my brother in law-”

“You won’t!” She raised her hands in surrender. “I promise. Now, you and Jenny need to get to work before Beau rings you up.”

“God forbid he does.” I joked.

“C’mon, he hasn’t had the heart to tell you off after you found the hostages a few weeks ago, one of them happening to be his daughter. Another Darlene.” Jenny teased, nudging me playfully.

“You two are really keen on setting us up, hm?” I raised an eyebrow, shaking my head. “You know I’m not that keen on dating. Not after…” I trailed off with a frown. It was a sore memory, one that ended with me waking up at the bar with five empty shot glasses and a bill with far more drinks than I’d usually take.

“After Harry.” She sighed, patting my shoulder. “He wasn’t your fault. After all, he did the deed.”

“He doesn’t know what he lost.” Cassie added sympathetically. “The ass.”

“I wanna kick him in the nuts.” Olivia added, making us all raise an eyebrow.

“That’s fair.”

“And on all of our minds.” Jenny grinned.

“I can’t even be mad.” I sighed, then kissed Olivia’s forehead. “Be good, ok? If I get a good report, I’ll make you an ice cream sundae tonight.” As Cassie and Jenny opened their mouths to speak, I held up a finger. “You guys get one too.”

I walked into the sheriff’s department with Jenny, and the first person we saw was Beau Arlen himself. “Well, ain’t it my favourite deputies?” He sauntered over with that charming grin of his, looking between us. “Hoyt.”

“Beau.” Jenny smiled.

“Sheriff.” I chuckled, running my hand through my hair.

“C’mon, Belle, call me Beau.” Beau chuckled, gesturing to himself. “No formalities here.” The statement made me laugh, but I shook my head, looking down at my feet before back up into those twinkly green eyes.

“I’ll try my best, Sheriff.” I teased with a grin, then took a sharp breath in, looking around. “Any cases today?”

“A missing person’s case.” Beau’s expression changed slightly as he mentioned it. “Little girl named Harriet Brown, she was out playing in the front yard, parents were arguin’, when they come out, girl’s gone.”

“My god.” I whispered, then cleared my throat. “We should get on the case, and quick.” I pouted slightly, sucking in air through my teeth. “Any leads? License plate? Footage? Maybe someone who has a grudge?”

“Closest to a match we have as an enemy is the girl’s stepfather, Will Brown. And by parents arguing, I mean the birth father and mother arguin’.”

“Stepfather, what, lays claim to the kid?” I asked, concerned. I knew what that was like all too well (and by that I mean the outskirts of those feelings), and if that was the case…

“Possibly. He’s the only recent frequent visitor.” Beau frowned at the look on my face, tilting his head a little in curiosity. “You look a lil’ green around the gills there, Deputy. You doin’ ok?”

I shared a look with Jenny, who subtly patted my wrist, signalling me to speak up. I jolted out of my thoughts, nodding and putting on a smile that I felt didn’t quite reach my eyes. “‘Course, Sheriff. I’m always ok.”

“You sure?”

“Deadly.”

Beau looked at me for a bit, trying to gauge my reaction, before nodding resignedly and patting me on the shoulder with a small smile. “A’ight. But if anythin’ comes to mind, do tell.”

“Gotcha.” I nodded, my blue eyes looking into his green ones. After I’d met Beau on his first day as acting sheriff, he’d understood me. He knew I was raising Olivia, albeit had never met her, and related to that with his own little girl. Emily was an angel, and I guess I became more of one after he found me getting along well with someone who was his world. As well as that, after the incident with Buck Barnes, I’d managed to find the hostages, including Darlene and Emily, getting them out.

Ever since then, it’s like he treats me as if I’m God’s gift to him. I was just doin’ my job.

I breathed in, then released a deep on through my mouth. “Let’s hit the house, Jen.”

“You got it, Elle.” Jenny smiled. I picked up my jacket, adjusting the photo of my sister and I on my desk as I put it on with a sad smile.

“I miss ya, Lucy. Truly.”

I was in Beau’s truck, the landscape flying by as we made our way to the Brown’s house. The atmosphere was uncomfortably silent - damn the awkwardness of social interactions sometimes - but somehow Beau made coping with silence look easier than it felt. He wore an easy smile, waffling on about fishing with a charmingly boyish look in his eyes that I’d come to recognise and find adorable.

“While I love talking and yapping about fish to the point your ears fall off, Belle, but, uh, don’t you wanna get that?” I was snapped out of my reverie, finding that my ringtone was playing with the name Dean flashing on my screen over the green circle of light representing the button to accept the call, which I’d gladly do.

“Oh! Yeah, that’s right.” My face lit up as I pressed the ‘accept’ button, bringing the phone to my ear. “Dean, hey!”

‘Isa, hi.’ I heard a cheery voice from the other end. This was Olivia’s birth father, Dean Barlowe, who I preferred in spades to Markham Leeds. I never understood why Lucy and Dean had split up in the first place, since Dean was the best father I’d ask for where Liv is concerned. We hadn’t had contact in months, but this was a pleasant surprise. ‘How’ve you been?’

“Oh, now I feel brilliant.” I laughed, looking out the window. “How about you? It’s been goddamn months, I’ve been dyin’ for a call.”

‘Well, I’m feeling great now too. It’s always nice to talk to you. A familiar face.’

“Yeah, it is, isn’t it?” I nodded with a happy sigh. “Are you holding up ok? After… Lucy? It’s been a while, but it hit you pretty hard too.”

‘Doing better, if that counts.’ I heard a pause on the other end. ‘Hey, do you think Liv would mind if I pop over for a visit in a week’s time?’

“For her birthday, right?”

‘Yeah. Mark wouldn’t be too mad, right?’

“Who gives a damn about Markham, just come over, ok?” I smiled, and I could practically hear his own relieved one on the other end of the line. “Liv’s gonna love the surprise, don’t you worry.”

‘You know exactly what to say to soothe my nerves, don’t you?’

“Hey, it’s nothin’. Just being a dutiful sister in law.” I saw an exit sign that said we were almost at the house, so I decided to wrap it up. “Hey, uh, Dean, I’m about to start working a case, so I’ll chat later.”

‘Ah, right. Thanks, Isa. Bye.’

“Bye.” I cut the call, and found Beau smirking at me, his eyebrow raised slightly. “What?”

“You seem real chummy with this Dean fella.” He snickered knowingly, but I shook my head rapidly.

“No, no, no. He’s my brother in law.”

“Wait, this is the ex-husband of your late sister?” Beau nodded approvingly. “By the way you’re talkin’ to him, he seems like he’s got his name written in your good books with sparkly gold ink. Unlike Mark.”

“Well, Mark’s an ass.”

“Markham is an ass.”

Beau, Jenny and I were flicking through the security tapes of the Brown house the day their little girl Harriet was kidnapped. “Look, there.” I pointed to the screen, where a man was approaching. “It’s our stepfather.”

“Damn straight.” Beau nodded, leaning forward to ID the guy’s face. “Yep, that’s him. And he just scooped the girl up gave her a lollipop and high-tailed it.”

“We need to get this girl back.” Jenny sighed, her expression pensive as she peered at the screen.

“We got an idea on where she could be taken?”

“Possibly his cabin. Witness accounts show that he’s been buyin’ a lot of bedding, more than you’d need.” I frowned, then stood up. “We need to bust this guy and fast.” I didn’t know exactly why, but this was pissing me off. A stepfather, kidnap his own stepdaughter.

“Let’s bust a crooked stepfather.” Jenny got up, and so did we, heading out the door, running to our cars as Jenny texted me the address, which I put into Beau’s GPS. We quickly got in, and Beau floored it.

“You seem rather frustrated on this case, huh, Belle?” He asked, sighing deeply. I shook my head, plastering on a smile that once again did not reach my eyes as I looked back at him.

“No, sir, I’m just concerned for the kid.” I answered not as smoothly as I’d hoped to have done. My voice was slightly shaky, and I knew what he was thinking. Mark had been after custody of Olivia for ages, and was still trying. However, he couldn’t do anything, not when I was named Olivia’s legal guardian and was Lucy’s next of kin.

“It’s about Mark, right?”

I chuckled lowly, nodding. “That obvious?”

“You’re like a mama bear in these cases.” He grinned, then patted my knee. “But now, I need my deputy to have a clear mind. God knows you help me keep mine all clear and sunny skies.”

“Gotcha, Sheriff.” I smiled as we pulled up to the house. “Hear you loud and clear.” I reached under the seat, pulling on my bulletproof vest and strapping it tight. I looked over, seeing that he’d done the same. “Shall we?”

“We shall, darlin’.” We got out at the same time as Jenny, making our way across the front yard before I tried the handle of the door, finding it locked. I nodded to Beau, who reared up and kicked the door open, all of us putting up our guns as we stormed the house. Jenny went to check the kitchen and living room, Beau heading upstairs while I took the basement. I crept down the stairs, treading light in fear of startling Will. I gently tried the door, hearing a little girl whimpering. Then I spotted a middle aged man holding a gun, and a small brunette girl hugged my legs, terrified.

“It’s ok.” I whispered, training my gun on Will Brown. “It’s ok, sweetheart. As for you,” My eyes focused on the man, “Sheriff’s department, put your hands where I can see ‘em-” He fired, and my trigger was pulled in a quick response, aiming for his shoulder while his bullet got me clean in the gut, which was caused by me moving to protect Harriet at the same time. The little girl screamed, while Beau and Jenny started yelling from upstairs. I collapsed against the wall, sliding down as Harriet crawled up to me, looking terrified.

“He hurt you.” She whispered, crying, but I shushed her and brought her head to my shoulder, ignoring the riddling pain in an attempt to soothe this little girl.

“Hey, it’s-” I was overcome by a cough as my hand moved to stem the flow of blood, “it’s ok, sweetheart. Perfectly fine, you’re safe, ok?” I stroked her hair, closing my eyes briefly as the red liquid stained my fingers. My head spun from how damn painful it was, like a thousand daggers piercing one spot on me, driving in slowly. “Just calm down for me, my friends are coming.”

As if on cue, Beau and Jenny rushed in, and once they realised that my attacker and Harriet’s kidnapper was downed, their attention turned to me. Beau instantly knelt in front of me while Jenny checked up on Will, his expression freaked out and pale. “Jesus- Jesus holy Christ, Belle, we’re gonna need a paramedic. Hoyt, call it in, now!” Then he turned back to me, putting his hands over the bullet wound to put pressure. I coughed slightly, hissing, but I kept stroking Harriet’s hair, not wanting her to get too scared.

“Just get her out of here.” I nodded to Harriet. “I’ll hold on, just keep her safe.” My bloodied hand reached out to grip Beau’s bare forearm. “Take her home.”

LMF TAGLIST:

@deans-spinster-witch @nancymcl @hobby27

Preview of Chapter Two

[ruii-cha]

sunday (hsr) theorycrafting!

alleged leaks ahead, proceed with caution

so. okay. the sunday leaks i'm referring to are the ones about how, apparently, playable sunday has a two-coloured coat; the left half looks different from the right half.

which got me kinda thinking. we all know what npc sunday, the one we're familiar with, looks like, yeah? (images below)

with the exception of a few things (pretty much par for the course in star rail), his outfit is basically symmetrical. it's very... orderly, one might say. it's more plain, more simple in terms of colour scheme, and generally symmetrical.

why is this significant? well, if this alleged leak is true, sunday isn't the only penacony character to have a very obvious dual-coloured outfit.

i am of course talking about robin (also image below). her outfit is far more asymmetrical and bright, and importantly, her dress has different colours for the left and right sides (white and purple).

okay observation part done. theory time!

personally, i'm a fan of the 'sunday joins the astral express believers'- my reasoning is that

1. given how high-profile sunday is, and how much pressure robin could theoretically exert on them, penacony would find it very hard to deal with him in a very easy manner

2. one of the easiest solutions? make it no longer their problem. how do you do that? you make it someone else's issue. so this is where the 'deal' jade and robin made comes in- sunday's safety, at the cost of eternal separation

3. robin, tied to penacony, means that sunday cannot stay on penacony. but if they want to guarantee his safety, one of the easiest ways to do that is a kind of supervision agreement- limited freedom, under the watchful eye of another organisation/entity

4. aaand there you basically have it. the astral express could function as sunday's supervision, and as an added hit, they're also shareholders in penacony, meaning that the family would likely see them as trustworthy.

but the ACTUAL theory i have is that this is going to reflect sunday's character arc, which is, i think, going to be sunday rediscovering/resonating with the Harmony again. chiefly because this would lend a lot of symbolism and vibes to the outfit change (harmony siblings, forever separated but mirroring each other, etc etc), but also because it would be an interesting way to lorebuild on how paths work in star rail.

also like. harmony quantum sunday please. it would make sense. anyway yeah! thanks for reading if you got this far, have a good day <3

images :D

[snugglesquiggle]

Any tips on writing Juzi would be nice to see

(planning a fun scene in SKN)

good timing — i was actually just about to hit submit on a reblog where this was asked in the tags, but this works better as a standalone post.

took so long to respond because i underslept yesterday because i kinda feel that, while there's many areas of writing i'm good at giving advice on, characters are one area where it's all intuition for me right now. but here's a few thoughts

the number one insight that made relationships in general click for me is the understanding that it's all about emotional needs. the core of any relationship isn't whether they like each other, or whether they have chemistry, or whether they do anything else that couples conventionally do. it's answering the question "what do they get out of this relationship?"

could be validation, respect, a sense of security, even just having fun, but i find it clarifies things to be able to frame it as "this character needs something, and that character provides it"

there's a fair amount of room to flesh out J's character to whatever works for you story. in terms of what's established, it's not groundbreaking, but you can understand a lot of what she needs through the lens of middle management. she simultaneously wants to have someone above her and someone beneath her, smugly obedient or smugly superior, but always smug.

this isn't all of her character — her humansona drawing is very suggestive of a repressed drive for expression and individuality — but i think it's the easiest part to relate to Uzi.

because Uzi is a lot easier to get a read on. the text all but announces what motivates her: she wants respects. the edgy teen assertions, acting out in class — she badly wants recognition. (i think deep down, it's partly cope and she needs affection more, which N provides, but this isn't a post about nuzi). she also has a drive to for expressing individuality, but she's far less repressed about it (though of course, being loudly unconventional gets in the way of the whole recognition and respect thing).

and again, this isn't all of her character — her quest for answers about her mother suggests a drive for meaning, purpose even — but this post isn't exhaustive

the thing is, you can see the resonance, but these pieces don't fit together. i think it's easy enough to see the ideal form of the relationship. it's mutual respect, it's Uzi knowing J is proud of her accomplishments and who she is, and J knowing Uzi thinks she's doing a good job or that Uzi will listen to her orders.

but the thing that makes J/Uzi so interesting and spicy is how much it doesn't work. even along their most compatible axis, you can see a much more likely outcome is a rivalry, each wanting spite and outdo (or undo) the other. J would want to slot Uzi in as her underling, which Uzi reject conforming to. and given the things that J takes pride in — efficient, orderly adherence to rules — can you imagine Uzi complimenting that?

a very concise way to put it is an old joke of mine. J/Uzi is a mutual superposition of "i hate her, she's fucking insufferable, but i can fix her" and "she thinks she's so much better than me, but i can make her worse"

[murmurlilies]

Less about OCs, but I'm interested to know what your process is like when creating a piece as detailed as that one you posted for Valentine's Day. How do you go about it? And do you happen to do time-lapse videos?

hmm can't say I can give an explanation that's terribly interesting or satisfying lol... I'm almost entirely self-taught, so "process" is a very loose and nebulous concept for me, and it changes from piece to piece. the one common thread among my works is that they all involve obscene amounts of trial and error. I don't have any recent time-lapses because I never think to record them, but if I did you would definitely see how often I feel the need to adjust and redo every little thing.

for the Valentine's Day piece, because it was a "remake" I had the benefit of a much more solid foundation than usual to start out with. however you can still see where I ended up deviating from the sketch phase - most obvious being her pose, the design of her hair, and the details of her sandals. (there were also meant to be candles on the dresser, but I forgot and didn't feel like adding them back in later and so I decided a vague suggestion of candlelight was enough lmao)

anyways, compared to everything else, sketching and linework are fairly straightforward and come most easily to me. there really isn't much to say, just scribble some messy lines and then whittle away at and draw over them till they magically become less messy!

when it comes to coloring and shading, things get a lot weirder and more complicated. this is where my process tends to vary the most, because it really depends on the mood of the piece. for this one I wanted something dark and seductive, so I covered the whole image in a layer of burgundy red, then painted the "lighting" on top across several Overlay layers. additional shadow details were brushed in on Multiply layers using deep purple instead of straight black, but ultimately I didn't want them to be too dark, as that initial layer of red was meant to serve as the primary "shadow" of the piece.

this is also usually where I decide which lines I want to "color" with clipping masks, which can either make certain elements pop or feel softer. it sorta brings the whole image together, giving it a much more painterly look overall. from there all that's left is to keep making adjustments and adding little details - the glittery effect on her dress was one of the last things I added, I thought it looked really nice!

...ok now take everything I just said and throw it all in a blender. because even though it might sound fairly orderly, the truth is I'm constantly making changes to all stages of my works, even the earliest ones, all the way to the end. I'll still be making adjustments to the linework and such after I've already put so much effort into the lights and shading! it's not the most efficient way of doing things... but again, trial and error. my perfectionism gets the better of me...

anyways I apologize if NONE of this made any sense, like I said I never had any formal training in art, so I'm not very good at teaching or explaining it!! at the end of the day my process is less about what makes logical sense and more about finding what feels right in a given moment. at the very least I hope it was a fun read lmao 🥳

[happyk44]

This is the incoherent flow of my thoughts.

The first Neptune [god of fresh water and rains] is the beloved son of Saturn and they have similar possessions - food and water.

Saturn is the one who gives food, Neptune is the one who gives water to drink. Saturn grew food, Neptune, with the help of rain, made sure that it grew healthy and nutritious. Rains are important for agriculture.

Their relationship, in my opinion, was somewhat similar to that of Demeter and Persephone :)

Ahhhhhhh, I love that idea. Which makes the whole thing between Percy and Kronos a little bittersweet. Oh man, it would've been so neat if that was used as a set up for the next series. Something triggering Kronos to do a mental switch to Saturn during the fight and he falters for a moment, because, yes, the son who brought forth rain to cultivate the fields may have changed into someone darker as the empire became mightier but that is still his son, and how could he fight his grandson for such a reason?

I think what fascinates me about the events of Saturn vs his kids and Kronos vs his kids is that the war doesn't seem to be as publicized in Roman mythology. I'm not as well-read on Roman myths tbh but from what I've been able to pull online, the general consensus is very much yeah, yeah, Jupiter overthrew his dad and expelled him to Latium (the future birth place of Rome), where he brought knowledge and agriculture, okay whatever let's move on, and that's it. Like it's not as detailed and if I do try to go into further, it will immediately shift to Greek names, or reiterate that the two are conflated

The general consensus does appear that separating Saturn's original iteration from his conflation with Kronos has been rather difficult for scholars. No matter what though Saturn is a very important figure. He is the ruler who human once thrived under during the Golden Age. His festival is major. He had a temple!

I wouldn't be surprised if it turns out that unlike Kronos, Saturn never consumed his kids, and his being overthrown was merely representative of how children succeed their parents - as what I've gathered is that Roman mythology was more based in politics and government, essentially how people are, versus Greek myths which looked more to the ways of the natural world (seasons changing, how certain plants came into being, etc).

So him and Neptune being able to bond is very plausible under this theory, since, presumably, he would've raised all six kids before they (or at least Jupiter) kicked him out. It could be that Saturn, seen as a benevolent figure, was viewed as too kindhearted or something similar by his children, so they dethroned him, allowing orderly and rigid Jupiter to take his place.

(Saturn is not completely benevolent since he also killed his dad and had ten day gladiator combats held in his name, but like. Ten days of beating the shit out of each other in exchange for the rest of the year being peaceful and fruitful isn't the worst thing, ya know, lol)

I know that sacrifices made to Saturn were done in with their heads uncovered (Greek rite), where other Roman gods were worshipped while veiled - which kind of furthers that Saturn is more representative of the time before the Roman Empire came to fruition.

Given Jupiter's importance to the Roman people, it doesn't make a lot of sense for them to worship his father, if there was a huge blowout between the two the way it occurred in Greek mythology. Especially since he's not the only god of agriculture or harvest. Obviously a lot of people worship based on representation rather than mythology, and I don't know how ancient Greeks or Romans reconciled their worship of the gods with the stories told in their name, if the two were separate or done in tandem, but nonetheless, again, I wouldn't be too surprised if it's uncovered that, no, Saturn didn't eat his kids, he raised them until they decided his ways were archaic and outdated and booted him from both the throne and Greece.

And under that theory, a trigger in PJO to make him go from Kronos to Saturn would've been cool. Why is he fighting his grandson? His children dethroned him, yes, but he still loves them, wouldn't dare hurt their offspring. So he stops fighting and calls out to grandson with a gentleness that makes Percy stop, baffled, before Kronos kicks back in and the battle continues.

But whatever he says is just enough for Percy to dwell on it later, teasing the set up for the next series 👍

(Granted, in this sense I don't see the Titan Army fighting on the Roman end, because I feel Saturn wouldn't have any interest in battling the Roman camp/gods, and tbh I don't fully get why that happened in canon because it was Luke's beliefs that stemmed the resurrection of Kronos and the war and Luke didn't know about the Romans, so the whole thing should've been solely Greek but like, whatever, lol, Percy telling Jason about how he fought Kronos and Jason is just, "You fought grandpa??? Why would you do that, he's so chill.")

[arr-jim-lad]

i think that so far, Whenua might be my favourite character, or at the very least my favourite toa metru.

i do love pohatu he's my baby boy (PS: oh my god what did they DO to him in that short-lived reboot....) but there's something particularly intriguing about a character who holds so much knowledge & knows his way around a really unsettling place and is really chill about it lmao like ohhh what secrets do you hold 👁️👁️

but the best thing about him is that he has this specific casual type of humour i really love where like... with the way he words it you're not initially sure if it was supposed to be a joke, like if he knows that what he said came across funny, but with the consistency of it you can clearly tell that yes, they are jokes, and yes, whenua is really fucking funny.

and he still has the same type of humour as a turaga as well, the last line in this scene from tales of the masks took me out;

"No. But our power —" "Is nothing. A Toa’s true strength is here," Whenua said, pointing to his head. Then he placed a hand over his heartlight, saying, "And here. Your Toa power can move the dirt… Your mind and heart can move mountains." Whenua began to walk again, Onua beside him. "And is that what you used when we met the Kofu-Jaga?” the Toa asked. "My mind told me they have a sting," Whenua replied. "My heart told me I would not enjoy it."

onua literally asked this old man what gave him the wisdom to run away from fire scorpions and the man basically told him "common sense" lmfao

in the metru nui books and he gets this scene early on in his designated chapter;

"Go ahead," said the guard. "No one has ever made it past that door. You won't stand a —" Whenua threw the levers, one, two, three. The great door opened with a hiss. The Toa of Earth turned toward the guard and said, "What was that? Couldn't hear you over the door opening."

truly a master class in comedy, thank you whenua

not as much a spoken joke by whenua, but this scene with him gave me a sensible chuckle;

Whenua spotted Tehutti's transport cart in a corner, empty. Lying near it was a hammer, the kind used in Ta-Metru forges. The archivist in Whenua was dismayed. Ta-Metru artifacts belonged on one of the sublevels, not in a Rahi section. It was only when he looked again at all the damage that he realized why the hammer was there.

my man cant get his head out of the job and honestly i love that for him bc he loves his job and i love to see a guy who loves his job that he's passionate about uwu

i also loved this moment was when him and nuju went to look for the disc in the archives & nuju decided to disregard Whenua's warnings, which almost caused a monster to escape its containment;

He turned around. Whenua was standing in the doorway, watching him. "Done?" asked the Toa of Earth. "Listen, I know you don't like it here. It's not neat and orderly like Ko-Metru. Archivists don't sit in clean towers studying all day, they are out getting their hands dirty. But we have rules here too - like don't annoy the two-headed Tarakava, if at all possible."

the fact that he just stood by and watched nuju struggling and didn't do or say anything to help is, frankly, hysterical. like hey, he warned him. fuck around and find out ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

lastly, here's just one of my favourite things this guy had said;

"Screams a lot, though"

[withlove-xixi]

— HEARTSTEEL AS YOUR BOYFRIEND: heartsteel x reader

ᥫ cw: none ★ a friend got into heartsteel recently so they've been on my mind .... (shamefully) im sorry .. i like league of legends ..

yone is the type of boyfriend to shower you with gifts; surprise flowers at your workplace or on your bedside table, fancy wine and sweets on your kitchen counter, expensive new clothes on your bed. he loves spoiling you, whether it's buying you things you'd like (or even things he thinks you'd like) or doing things for you, opening the door for you, washing your hair, carrying your things, etc. like if your feet hurt, he'd offer to carry you or switch shoes with you. yone loves using pet names on you too, and they're often poetic. he'll press a kiss on your cheek and call you "my moonshine" or he'd wake you up with a "good morning, my spring gale".

his love language is definitely acts of service and gifts, yone just likes giving you things. there's a sense of security and domesticity he gets when he knows he's able to treat you to things, being able to provide for you. k'sante is a very patient boyfriend. he's very gentle, so much so you could call him delicate. from the way he speaks to you, to the way he touches you, it's all so soft and tender. you hardly ever argue or fight, and on the occasions that you do, k'sante makes sure it's handled calmly and orderly. he's a very generous person too, whatever is his is yours. k'sante is always ready and willing to share when it comes to you, give you bites of even his favorite food, lend you his jackets or shirts, share his personal space with you.

k'sante's love language is acts of service and physical touch, though more so physical touch than anything. it doesn't have to be some big grand gesture either, he just loves holding you close to him. in public, his hand is either in yours, his thumb gently rubbing against the back of your hand, or it's resting comfortably on your hip, like it's dips and curves were made for him to slot his big hands into. he's kiss you so often too, pressing his lips any place he can, like a warm wax seal to a love letter. he'd kiss the top of your head when he passes by you, he'd kiss your cheek or the tip of your nose when he bids you goodbye, he'd slowly kiss your lips when he comes home. kayn is ... uhm ... well for starters, he's hardheaded. he's not the type of guy to ask you where you want to eat because he knows where he wants to eat, so you're eating there. second, he's a bit prideful, it makes him shun away explicit "lovey-dovey crap", like when he reluctantly comes to hug you from behind or when he shyly hands you a gift, but then it also makes him brag about you all the time, to the other members, all over his social media. he's weird like that, and his pride (really for the most part of him being embarrassed, it's nervousness that gets him) hardly gets in the way, at least later on in the relationship.

his love language is quality time and gifts. though, he's always a bit embarrassed when he gives you gifts, it's really special because they're always things he sought out specifically for you and you alone. you like bread from a bakery in the next city? he's on his motorcycle halfway there to get it for you. you want to watch a movie? he's already got the tickets to the best seats and he's got your favorite snacks. (i like to think he loves making you handmade gifts too, songs, love letters, etc. :>) ezreal is ... also a handful. on one hand, he's the sweetest. he's mastered all the romance tropes from those romcoms he loves so dearly. he knows to hold doors open for you, he knows to get you flowers, he knows to hold you close on cold night. but then... he's... like a lap dog at times. like a lovesick puppy, he's practically glued to your side. he's constantly texting you, calling you, sending you pictures of himself, the food he eats, places he goes. (it's sweet but he very much blows up your phone with notifications).

his love language is quality time and touch! most definitely is! ez just loves being around you, he's pretty big on pda. he's not afraid to kiss you in public or hold your hand or grab your waist, he has to flaunt his love to you to the rest of the universe. sett is like having a big dog. he's cuddly, he's energetic, and he's surprisingly pretty low maintenance. he lets you sit on his lap and he puts his chin on top of your head, and you can practically see a tail wag from underneath him. but it's sweet really, like you had your own personal sun to brighten up your day any day.

his love language is quality time and words of affirmation. he's the type not to care what you're doing or where you are, as long as he's there doing it with you, there by your side, he's happy. sett is content with even just having you in the same room as him, even if you weren't by his side. your warmth radiates through your presence alone. aphelios is a very quiet kind of boyfriend. he doesn't like pda, he doesn't like being touched too often, and as much as he likes you, you're not much of an exemption. it takes a while for him to warm up to things like hand holding or hugs and stuff, and it definitely takes a good while for him to warm up to kissing. with phel, you'd have to initiate most touchy things like grabbing his hand first or leaning closer to him first. but what he lacks in initiative, he makes up for in other things. for one, he loves planning dates. he likes taking you to all sorts of places or to do all sorts of things, he's the type to try and do unique dates or to try and not go to the same places twice (at least, not twice so quickly).

his love language is quality time and acts of service. he likes it when you two spend time together not doing the same thing, if you're both on discord just silently doing your own things or if you're both in his room doing different things. he doesn't mind too much, for him it's comforting really that you like staying by his side. and he wouldn't mind too if you'd come up to him to initiate things. like if he were laying in bed and you laid your head in his stomach, he would definitely comb his fingers through your hair or rest his arm over your stomach.

[joysmileyay]

lines from homestuck that always bothered me

this is doc talking about lord english and himself "He's more deadly. But the danger he poses is sanctioned by paradox space. It is a known quantity. His very existence in a universe will mean it will inevitably be torn apart. But there are rules to his entry, and his grim procession through paradox space is rather orderly. The present equilibrium has accounted for him, and will continue to." "You do. But also know this. Refusing to venture out to destroy the sun in no way spares anyone from my master regardless. It is certainly true that destroying it will end my life. And it is certainly true that The Tumor you will deliver to its location has enough power to destroy it completely. But it is not the only way to kill me. It is simply a way I have suggested to you, which doubles as a way to disarm Jack, should you choose to go through with it. Instances of myself have spawned in countless universes, and my objective is always the same. I have never once failed to complete this objective, and I never will. There is nothing noble about taking a course of action you believe would prevent his arrival, because that is impossible. He will come. In fact, he is already here." most relevant text bolded. ive reconciled a lot of things i didnt like/understand about homestuck over the years but these lines still bother me. and dont seem to make much sense to me, or get elaborated on. because everything about caliborn and lord english is so specific to these sessions that we see in homestuck, it doesnt really make sense for there to be a countless number of caliborns out there, when all of caliborns characteristics and traits are the result of the setting we see him placed in and the specific characters he has to interact with, ie the characters from the sessions we see in homestuck. same for, dirk/AR, equius, gamzee, and lil cal since thats what lord english is made up of and i guess he could be made up of other people but then what "is" lord english? the result of a one player lord of time session? always caliborn? idk and i dont really have any personal theories about these lines other than doc scratch being an unreliable narrator, but this is unreliable narration in a way that is not true to how doc scratch operates in my opinion, because it just doesnt seem to make sense with what we know about the story at least as i understand it.