#and aurora she's neat

[alittlebitgoofy]

to scare the mutuals who've followed me for a while, i started actively posting fics when i was 15/16. i'm 21 next year.

[bbaked-beans]

alinua the girl of all time 💕

she's cool as hell (@comicaurora)

[piltover-sharpshooter]

So in Aurora's champion Insights they confirmed that she's Autistic, and I think that's really good, more representation is neat. (Even if a lot of the talk reminds me of when Neeko was released and they went 'This is our first Queer champion!' like what do you mean first--)

But far more interesting to me is that apparently in Runeterra, the concept of 'being Autistic' doesn't exist, which again, similar to they don't have the same concepts of sexuality and gender than us, they aren't slapped with a label by society, people just are.

On one hand that's kinda neat, the concept that in this fantasy world where these labels often used to opress or demean aren't a thing and people just are who they are, but on the other hand it feels very...non-confrontational? Like we didn't want to engage with all the baggage and conflict that comes with being labeled, the re-taking of the label, the pride or hate one might have in it, etc. So they just sidestep it by going 'in our world doesn't happen'.

[positivelyghastly]

*throws my shitty sketch of the new ghoulette at you and runs away*

[witchbugs]

speedran this thing before it’ll prolly be noncanon tmr

look, i just think eda deserves a drastic new gay hairstyle like all the kids

taglist (let me know if u wanna be added or removed!)

@your-local-hurt-comfort-junkie-1 @darcysd20 @hey-its-puddlesock @yourpersonaltimebomb @daughter-of-night @jaeandthefrog @saturniidd @facet5peridot @mayo-is-an-instrument @lili250307 @queercoded-disney-villain @uriahcantdraw @sapphicinthewild @acergi @skylarspacesod @stormy-space-jellyfish

[cheezyharu]

Pokeddexy 2023 | day 16: Rock

I can, and will, love Aurorus to the end of eternity

[purpledemonlilyposting]

[Lily's Post]

Look I know alot of you think my criticisms of A Place Further Than the Universe are only cause Lorch likes it but there is absolutely zero focus on science in the show and that's part of my problem with it.

It really is just a slice of a life focused entirely on getting 4 high school girls on a big technical boat for purity moeblob gooners.

At one point the girls go outside on the ship, alone, at night, during a storm, getting soaked by freezing cold ocean water in their pajamas against a thin rail they could easily get swept away from and this is treated as cute rather than idiotically suicidal. They just giggle and talk about how salty the water is.

SCIENCE!

None of the 4 girls are interested in anything STEM related. They all just want to go to Antartica because that's the plot.

Kimari just wants to do "something with her youth" because that's how 50 year old Jukki Hanada thinks 15 year old girls talk, Hinata just overheard them talking about it in the convenience store she works at and thought it sounded neat, and Yuzuki is only going cause she's like a minor child star celebrity idol vlogger or some shit and her manager mom (who is NOT accompanying her) thought sending her on a Japanese civilian expedition to Antarctica would be... good PR? Yuzuki also the only way the other girls even conveniently get on the trip.

Shirase at least HAS a reason, even if its a desperate, stupid one based on grief. Her mom disappeared out there 3 years ago and she wants to "find" her (more she just wants closure and is clinging to a childish hope her mom is still alive.) But Shirase's mom ALSO was NOT a scientist and ALSO just went to Antarctica just because she thought it sounded neat. And died in a blizzard out there trying to retrieve a laptop so she could email her daughter a photo of the aurora australis.

The girls get like one night of tent training and thats it. They don't even have to be in peak physical condition for a trip to one of the most dangerous places on Earth. It is barely about this expedition, its just there as an excuse to put moe high school girls next to accurately rendered machinery.

Here's how I'd rewrite this show: if it HAS to be high school girls maybe have the four attend the same school and be into different aspects of research. Maybe Hinata wants to be an engineer, Shirase is following in her artic researcher mother's footsteps despite the danger, Yuzuki could still run a popular vlog but maybe its climate science and no one takes her seriously cause she's a young girl believing she's just the presenter being fed information by a team, and Kimari could just be getting introduced to these fields she never even thought about before. And they're all trying to earn a grant that will allow them to go on the expedition.

But I suppose "girls and women being scientists" is too much of a stretch of the imagination for an aging Japanese man.

[moonchemistry]

here's what it was all leading up to! my silly little next generation of MLP. more info about them under the cut because i can't help myself

ships:

fluttercord

appledash

cheesepie

twipie

shining armor / princess cadance??? whatever that's called

starlight / trixie / sunburst

derpy / dr whooves

sweetie belle / button mash

lore:

pandora is the oldest of the mid gang, jellybean is the youngest

anath is a student/apprentice of rarity, who initially they didnt get along for various reasons (do you notice i made them look as antithetical and unappealing to rarity as possibly) but now they see each other as family and rarity is a huge mother figure for her. rarity saw a lot of spike in anath and that was one of the reasons she started growing so close to her

zap apple wants to be the first earth pony to be in the wonderbolts. his older sister, aurora apple, desperately wants to get away from the family and just do her own thing

it took twilight and pinkie a long time to get together so thats why jellybean is the youngest lol. the poly relationship is twilight x pinkie and pinkie x cheese but not twilight x cheese

klaus is just some guy that pandora thinks is neat

pandora and anath cant stand each other

skyla is kind of in the group by proxy and because shes cousins w jellybean etc etc but she 1. lives in the crystal kingdom 2. kind of feels excluded sometimes because shes kind of just there cus their parents are all friends

on the other hand, lil' cheese and flurry heart are huge friends, despite the fact that flurry heart is prolly like 5 years or so older than him.

flurry heart and bundt cake dont rly know each other but lil cheese and bundt cake have been besties since they were born cus they were born around the same time and grew up together

silly string is trans. i didnt make her cape that color on purpose it was an accident but im going w it lol

silly string is the first pony to ever be born from 3 ppl and shes got some Things cus of it (dont ask me waht those are)

sudzy has heterochromia w a blue eye and yellow eye from both her parents

vanilla sweet is prolyl the hardest to identify here, shes sweetie belle x button mash, just mostly inherited her moms traits

fun fact these are all kind of based on designs I made when I was ten years old (of which will never see the light of day for various reasons)

[powdermelonkeg]

Gale of Waterdeep assorted headcanons: 2

Headcanons 1 here, Tower layout here

He overshares when he's drunk. It's a good look into how his brain works, but he has a 50/50 chance of putting his foot in his mouth

He has a handful of custom spells, one of those being an illusory campsite. Gale's Minor Mirage, he calls it. You're welcome!

The stitch scar on his neck is from being held at knifepoint by a particularly opportunistic thief. Said thief got hit with a lightning bolt

His spellbook is beautifully scripted to the untrained eye, but contains additional notes written in invisible ink. He presents himself as neat and tidy, but his real scribblings are anything but

While inflicted with the Netherese Orb, his blood leaves rashes on other people wherever it touches. Not severe ones, but it doesn't feel pleasant. Like a mild sunburn

Quothe (the raven familiar) is his. It's named that because it loves to listen to Gale read literature (and occasionally recite lines where he leaves off)

He owns a fancy lanceboard set; it was a housewarming gift from his parents when he first got his tower

When he was little, he used to wear a ribbon as a headband to pull his hair back with, and a cape. His hair was fluffy and fell to his chin

His favorite color is blue, but he thinks he looks more refined in purple. His mother thinks he looks most dashing in red

His favorite hobby is helping Tara adapt spells with somatic components for tressym use

His first staff was a Sun Staff, gifted to him by Elminster

His most recent staff was a Staff of Power

Both of these, he had to consume. It was a very, very hard choice to make

Other things he's had to destroy that he cared for dearly:

Emerald Pen (left over from days at the academy; worse that it wasn't worth it, as it didn't give him more than a few hours)

Chromatic Rose (given by a lover upon breakup)

Duplicitous Manuscript (The Art of the Night is one of these)

Needle of Mending (kept it on his person after the thief incident)

Wand of Enemy Detection (carried it with him on excursions with Tara)

Wayfarer's Boots (his favorite travel pair)

Arcane Grimoire (one of his first found artifacts, copied a few spells from it into his own book)

Candle of Invocation (a gift from Mystra)

Crystal Ball of Telepathy (Tara used it more than he did; her little paws can't cast Sending)

Songbird Sage's Signet (wore it everywhere, only used in a pinch; he misses the weight of it and rubs his finger occasionally)

Crown of Whirling Comets (wore it to the Blackstaff annual balls, partly to show off)

The 6th level spell Program Illusion is what appears during his Death Protocol. As it needs to be tied to an area within 30 feet of where it's assigned, it's what his briefs are enchanted with. His reasoning is that he'd always have them, and no one would take them off him while dead

When he's panicked, he burns through the magical item he fed the Orb with faster. That's why he puts such a weight on keeping calm

The reason you have 2 days to resurrect him before exploding, and why he can still live for a bit if you don't give him an item immediately, is because without careful management, it consumes HIM. He has 2 days worth of magic to his person

He doesn't like to turn people down outright. To him, the gentlemanly thing to do is to go on a first date to indulge whomever asked. He's had a lot of first dates

He's been accused of using Enchantment as to why he's so dashing once or twice. It absolutely stoked his ego around his looks

Quipper fish and hundur sauce is the dish he's most proud of, but his favorite is a good slow roast

He'll make illusory ceilings for dates with starry skies and auroras. Maybe floating candles if he's feeling fancy. Yes that extends to the bedroom

If left to his own devices, he will relax in a bath for HOURS. Tara thinks he falls asleep in there (she can't prove anything)

Before the orb, he and his mother had a pseudo-competitive exchange of cookware. They'd take turns making the most ELABORATE dishes in the same fancy glass pan, and send it back and forth trying to outdo each other. Whenever one showed up with the pan, it would always be with a healthy seasoning of smug satisfaction and sweet compliments about the last meal

He likes picnics on the beach. If you show him shells and things he'll happily tell you where they came from

He always dresses just a smidge too warmly for the weather

He can sleep just about anywhere, and frequently does in his tower. It's not good for his back. When Tara finds him, she always tugs a blanket over him

His family symbol is a crescent moon setting in the water

Bonus Tara headcanon: her opal collar is her spellcasting focus

[bokettochild]

I absolutely love fics that give all the Links different written languages.

BUT

For the ones that don't...

Who do you think can or can't read/write cursive? I firmly believe that Wind's grandma taught him how to read it, but he never writes in it so he can't without double checking certain letters multiple times.

Ooh!

Yes, Wind is quite proficient in Hylian cursive! He and Aryll actually both are since Granny doesn't really use anything else except back when she was first teaching them how to read, and even then, her letters are all swoopy and graceful (they love that). He reads it well, but his handwriting is still awkward and crooked (JoJo had it overlapped onto Warriors'). Aryll spends more time writing things down so she's a bit better than he is, but only a bit.

Four is familiar with cursive, since he spends a lot of time at the castle and most of the royals use it. he can read it well, and he can sort of write it, but Blue finds the excessive loops to be ridiculous and while Red thinks they're pretty, it's too tricky to do all the time, so only really Green uses cursive, and only when split. Vio likes how it looks, but he writes to get things down, and he thinks too fast to care about how his writing looks (it looks like chicken scratches).

Legend is also quite used to cursive, and he can write in it, when he takes the time to try. Most of the time, he's like Vio and just trying to jot things down, but if he's writing a letter or a note to someone, he tends to at least try and make it look nice, and cursive does a decent job of that. I'd like to note, also, that since he's a bit of a book collector too, Legend is very good at reading even the crappiest of handwriting, not just cursive.

Hyrule hasn't got much expose to written materials, but most of what he has seen are old books with the gilded letters and the like, so he doesn't even know cursive is a thing until Aurora introduced him to it. He's not very good at reading it, and definitely can't write with it, but he's getting better.

Wild might have been able to write in cursive before he lost his memories, but he doesn't any longer. Most of Hyrule doesn't bother with cursive, not even Flora, since she, like Legend and Vio, has only the intent of writing things quickly and no longer has anyone to tell her to make it look nice. Purah and Robbie are the same. Sidon and the Zora do use cursive, but Wild doesn't really care enough to try reading it, since most of the time anything they bother to write is just official mumbo-jumbo to him anyway. He does have rather neat printing though!

Sky can read cursive, as can all the students at the academy, but he prefers to print things out, because it's easier and he was always a rather lazy student. Zelda feels the same way, but Groose actually has the best penmanship out of them all (he wanted to be better than Sky). They can all write cursive, but again, Sky never cared to practice enough to make it look very nice, so he sort of struggles to do it.

Twilight on the other hand! Twilight has the fanciest gosh-darn handwriting out of the whole chain! Since he's a total book nerd (look at his house), I'd say he's probably been exposed to all sorts of handwriting, and as a kid decided he would make his handwriting look like the stuff in fancy books. Ulli helped him to learn, and he now writes with a very neat hand indeed. Most of the time he prints things, to save time, but this man could be a calligrapher if he so chose! He really likes to do those embellished first letters like in old books, and while sometimes he gets teased about it, Shad may or may not have asked him to help with some of his publications because of his skill.

Warriors has very neat handwriting, but unfortunately, cannot read or write in cursive. I'm a street-rat Wars truther, so this man probably only recently learned to read in my take on him. He makes sure his handwriting looks nice, but cursive is a bit too much for his needs. Soldiers don't get sent things with cursive most of the time, so when he does, he can usually just ask Impa to help him read it, as it's usually in regards to an official frivolity anyways.

Time cannot cursive. Malon can, but she's not very good at it either (reading or writing). Time doesn't care to learn, Malon doesn't really care to improve, and the only way to get Time to even try would be to tell him he could use it top mess with Wars.

[miasmaghoul]

miasma would luv to hear ur thoughts on ghoul bush if you have any and would like to share

Of COURSE I have thoughts about ghoul bush! Here, have some body hair headcanons.

Aeon - doesn't have much in the way of body hair, but does have a neat little bush that he keeps well manicured. likes the way it looks when he's soft especially. there's one little white patch near his thin happy trail, just like the one between his horns. has no preference on the bush status of his partners, he's just happy to be down there.

Aether - hairy all over, but not densely so. more like a nice layer of fuzz everywhere. he trims around his dick, but leaves his balls the way they are. (they're so sensitive, having them bare would be just terrible). also doesn't have a preference when it comes to his partners, but really loves when anyone asks him to shave it for them.

Alpha - hairiest on his arms and lower legs, with a patch on his chest and a relatively sparse bush. he keeps it shaved short to make his dick look bigger. does NOT like hair on his partners and WILL be an ass about it.

Aurora - hates the feel of having body hair and waxes regularly. it grows in soft and light, she just really doesn't like it. she's tried leaving a little decorative patch between her legs, but it just made her itchy. while she prefers being bare herself, she really enjoys nuzzling up against a nice full bush every now and again.

Cirrus - her hair grows in dark and silky, and she does not shave any of it unless someone is doing it for her. it's a dominance thing. she especially loves the way her bush looks in just a pair of panties or bikini bottoms. if she's going down on someone, she does prefer they at least be trimmed as she really doesn't like getting hair in her teeth.

Cumulus - her hair also grows in light and soft, but she shaves/waxes her pits and up to her knees. her bush, though, gets left alone. a lovely nest of platinum curls that sits pretty right between her thighs, begging to be kissed. likes her partners hairy, but doesn't make a big deal of it.

Dew - really only grows hair on his lower legs and armpits, and maybe half a dozen hairs on his chest that he shaves because they feel silly to him. doesn't have much downstairs, just a barely-there blonde happy trail and a light dusting just above his dick. more often than not he shaves there too, the smoothness appeals to him. LOVES hairy partners, despite the fact that he's crazy ticklish and they use it against him.

Ifrit - smooth everywhere, from his chin to his toes. thinks having any hair takes away from his muscular physique, so he keeps it bare. prefers his partners do the same, but will only bring it up once with each of them - he's not as bad as Alpha.

Mist - water ghouls don't grow much hair in general, and she's no exception. what she does have, stays put. my Mist is intersex, and her little dick sits in the nicest patch of silvery hair. no preference in her partners though, she's not picky.

Mountain - hairy legs, chest and pits, but keeps his bush nice and neat. it can get unruly very easily, so it's easier to just keep it short. doesn't like being hairless, though, just well-kempt. likes his partners comfortable, whatever that means for them.

Omega - similar to Aether, he's hairy all over, but unlike Aether he spends quite a bit of time trimming and manicuring. started doing it when he got together with Terzo, a habit picked up when the pair of them developed a morning routine. uses a trimmer for his bush, but doesn't take it too short. likes his partners to do as they please, but truly adored helping Terzo shave.

Rain - where he does grow hair, it's long and dark. a patch at the center of his chest, his shins, a nice trail from his bellybutton and a bush to match. he doesn't trim or shave it, but he does have special conditioner just for his pubes. likes to run his fingers through it whenever he's relaxing. doesn't care what his partners do with their own hair, as long as they don't care about his.

Swiss - hairiest ghoul, just covered in dark, coarse hair. densest on his chest, stomach, ass and - of course - between his legs. his bush and butt are the only things he performs regular upkeep on. it's mostly for the benefit of the others, too many incidents involving mouthfuls of hair for him not to. likes his partners to be happy, hairy or otherwise.

Sunshine - my Sunny is transfem and super proud of her body hair. a smattering of curls between her little tits, under her arms and trailing down her belly. she always wears low slung pants to show off her happy trail. loves her bush, couldn't imagine doing a thing to it. likes her partners hairy too, loves the way it feels.

[lilypadlys]

Ghouls at the Aquarium

Headcanons about the ghouls at the aquarium. Inspired by a trip to the Shed Aquarium in Chicago. Had to shout it out because it was so frickin amazing. No one ask me my favorite exhibit because I will say all of them. But also definitely the belugas and the jellyfish.

Cirrus: She loves the dolphins. As serious and strict as she sometimes is, she’s like a kid at Christmas when the group reaches the dolphin enclosure. She admires how smart they are as well as how sleek they look darting through the water. And yes she knows what little shits they can be and she doesn't care. She still thinks they’re neat. She plans the day around making sure to catch the dolphin show at least twice. Cumulus buys her a dolphin plushie and she just about melts into a happy puddle.

Cumulus: As much as Cirrus loves dolphins, Cumulus loves beluga whales. She thinks they look majestic. And huggable. She would hug one if she could. The rest of the girls booked a behind the scenes beluga experience for her and they got to see them up close, feed them, and even pet them. By the end of it they’re all giggling at how cute the beluga’s are.

Sunshine: She thinks the lionfish are neat and likes how their spines look like sunbursts. Kinda sad that they’re an invasive species but understands why work to remove them from the wrong areas is important for the marine ecosystem. Gets a postcard from the gift shop with a picture of one to put in her room.

Aurora: She spent a solid half an hour sitting in front of the moon jellyfish tank watching them. It was one of those circular tanks that have a slight current to gently cause the jellies to drift in a circle. That and the color changing light had her mesmerized. She would have spent longer watching them but the others literally pulled her away so she could see the rest of the aquarium.

Dewdrop: He wasn't too sure about it at first. The aquarium kind of dredged up some melancholy and yearning for his water ghoul days. He's happy as a fire ghoul for sure, it suits him better. He definitely misses his water though. Fortunately he warms up to it; seeing how excited Rain and Phantom are playing a big part. He can’t help but crack a smile when Phantom starts mimicking the penguins. He ends up loving the eels and the caimans. Joins Rain in naming all this fish, offering increasingly unhinged suggestions.

Rain: His unglamoured form is pretty sharklike so it's not surprising that Rain has a fondness for sharks. The pile of shark plushies on his bed definitely isn’t a tip off either. Besides the sharks, Rain likes pretty much every exhibit. He gives silly names to every fish that catches his eye with help from Dew and discusses which fish would taste the best with Swiss much to the horror of the other patrons.

Mountain: He really likes the sea dragons because they look like plants. He didn’t know they were a thing until seeing them at the aquarium for the first time. Also really interested in the aquatic plants (of course) and the frogs and turtles.

Aether: He really likes the manta rays. He thinks they’re so cute. Loves how it looks like they’re flying through the water. Way too excited about getting to pet them but it's endearing.

Swiss: Phantom actually saw the piranhas before Swiss did, took one look between the two of them and dubbed them cousins. Swiss did not help his case by immediately baring his teeth in a grin. He then proceeded to chase Phantom around the room threatening to nibble on him while Phantom giggled. That is until Cirrus put a stop to that so they didn’t get kicked out.

Phantom: Loves absolutely everything but also the penguins and starfish. He asks the staff a million questions and they’re happy to answer every one. Leaves the gift shop with a stack of books on ocean facts that he and Rain end up reading aloud the whole ride home.

[littleadaline]

Once Upon A Time [P.G6]

Warnings: NOOOOONE [just fluff] Uncle!Gavi

Word count: 1.2k

A/N: Took me 3 miserable days to figure out the ending but here she is! Enjoy 😽

———————————————————-

The house was awfully quiet. Putting your bag down in the entryway, you made your way to the living room. To your surprise, the tv was on, an unfinished game of FIFA left on pause. Your boyfriend’s slippers were next to the couch, a sign that he wasn’t far away.

“Gavi? I’m home!”, you called out but no response. Your heartbeat quickened, fearing the worst. Unsure, you made your way upstairs as silently as possibly. If Gavi felt like fooling around, you wanted to catch him in the act and save yourself the lame excuses. Entering your shared bedroom, you took notice of the mess that had replaced the neat room you had left in the morning. “What the fuck is going on?”, you said to yourself as an expression of confusion replace that of fury on your face. Perplexed by the events, but exhausted from your day, you began to undress, peeling off your work attire for a pair of Gavi’s sweater and a pair of worn-out sweatpants. A shuffle coming from the hallways made you stop halfway. 

“Gavi? Is that you?”. No sound was heard, aside from the buzzing of the AC, working overtime to keep up with the Barcelona weather. 

Having had enough of the mess, you grabbed your clothes and headed down to the laundry room, simply wanting to put away the eyesores that were the scattered clothes. Turning on the light in the laundry room, a small giggle came out of the hamper. Concerned, you grabbed the first item you could get your hands on, fearfully approaching the laundry basket. Peeling away the layers of clothes, your hand came in a contact with something soft… hair? 

“Joder! What the fuck!”, you yelled out in shock. As quickly as your hand retracted, the small figure of a child jumped out. The brunette-haired child stared at you; a grin as wide as the world highlighting her missing front tooth. “Beatriz! ¿Qué haces aquí?”, you asked the toddler, your heartbeat slowly getting back to normal. 

“Tia Y/N! You’re home! Uncle Gavi and I are playing hide and seek…. Shhh.”, she said, placing her chubby finger on your lips in an attempt to shut you up. 

“¿Beatriz? Where are you?” a man’s worried voice rang through the house. Soon enough, Gavi was running down the stairs to the laundry room, where he found the toddler in your arms. 

“Playing hide and seek, huh?”, you teased your boyfriend. 

“I… I euh, can explain!” He said, embarrassingly rubbing his head. 

“It’s because tío Gavi kept beating me at FIFA. He’s a bully.” Beatriz ratted out your boyfriend. 

“Alright missy, enough mischief for today. How about a quick nap before supper?” Gavi didn’t wait for Beatriz to answer, swiftly whisking her away upstairs for her afternoon nap. After untying her pigtails for maximum comfort while she slept, he quickly kissed her on the forehead before closing the door of your shared bedroom. Jogging back downstairs, he found you cleaning the remnants of their afternoon. 

“How was work?” He said kissing your temple. 

“Not bad! We met our new project leader today. She seems very… energetic, to say the least,” you said, sighing. “She’s invited the team for an introductory supper, next week or so. Please be my plus one! You know how I feel about work dinners.” You whined into his arms. Gavi chuckled. 

“Vale princesa, I will be your plus one. By the way, sorry I didn’t tell you that Beatriz was staying over. Aurora and Javi had a work emergency out of town, and Bee was already at daycare. I picked her up and brought her here.” Gavi said, snaking his arms around your waist and planting a kiss on your neck. 

With Beatriz napping, you and Gavi got started on supper. Pulling the final touches of the dish, you heard Gavi’s footsteps followed by the tiny patters of Beatriz. 

“Look who’s up! How did you sleep, princess?” You asked the toddler while placing her in her highchair. 

“Muy bien!” Her face still bared pillow marks, an indication of excellent sleep. Her hair, while still short, was fusing in any and all directions, making it resemble the mane of a lion. Pushing away the brown locks, you handed her her plate. 

“Blow on the food, Bee. Like this.” You showed the toddler before handing her the spoon. 

Supper went down smoothly, with the light chatter of Beatriz filling the room. Chuckling, you got off your chair to pick up the leftover dishes. 

“Let me.” Gavi stopped you, taking away the plates from you. “Bee needs help brushing her teeth. Can you please help her out? Aurora and Javi won’t make it for tonight. Traffic is too intense, so she’s sleeping here. “I’ll make you a cup of tea once you’re done.” He said, quickly kissing your lips. 

“Come on Beatriz, let’s go brush our teeth!” You grabbed your niece by her hand, slowly leading her upstairs. Kneeling down in front of the bathroom cabinet, you pulled out the basked you kept in the case Beatriz slept over. Shampoo, hairbrush, hair ties, toothbrush-. Content, you grabbed her Spider Man toothbrush before handing it to her. 

Downstairs, Gavi had finished cleaning up the dinner table, slowly putting away the now clean dishes. The cup of tea he had promised you was cooling off on the coffee table. 

Back in the bathroom, Beatriz engaged in chatter, something the entire family was used to. After she was done, you led her to the guest bedroom, where you handed her some pj’s you had kept from her last visit. Admiring Olaf on her robe, Beatriz rubbed her eyes, defeated by her need to sleep. 

“Come on Bee, we have time for a bedtime story. Why one would you like me to read?” You said shuffling through her books. 

“How did you and tío Gavi meet?” 

Taken aback, you put down the books on the nightstand and snuggled in. 

“Well, my oh my, let’s see if I remember correctly….” You giggled. “Vale, it was 5 years ago, we were both 19.” 

“This many?” Beatriz interrupted, showing you the numbers with her fingers. 

“Correct, Bee! Where was I? So, 5 years ago, I met your uncle through your mamá. We had a similar class during university, and one day, my bus was late. We had a presentation that morning, and your mom was so so stressed. Obviously, she didn’t take it well when told her I was gonna be late. So, she sent your tío to pick me up-“ 

“And it was love at first sight,” a man’s voice interrupted your tale. Gavi joined you on the bed, his arms around your shoulders. 

“No, it wasn’t,” you giggled. “We didn’t like each other at first, your uncle was a bit cold.”

“Eh, I wouldn’t say cold, per say… more like, intimidated.” He reiterated. 

“Anyways, I forgot my phone in his car and Aurora gave him my address. He knocked while I was making dinner, and I ended up inviting him in. During dinner, a thunderstorm came over the city, and he spent the night at my place. We watched movies, had a mini party with music and my mini projector. Long story short, he asked me out a few weeks later after hanging out together during all our possible free time.” 

“Been in love with my nena since day one”, Gavi said, kissing you tenderly. 

“Ewwww” 

“Vale princesa, you’ve got daycare tomorrow and I’m driving you on my way to practice. So, it’s lights out and away we go.” Gavi said, kissing his niece’s head, followed by you. “Buenas noches princesa”. 

“Buenas noches.” Beatriz answered sleepily. 

[phthalology]

“Will you help me?” The wound is not life-threatening. But sometimes letting someone else care for you isn’t about necessity.

“Lot of fuss about Ghosts lately,” said Drifter, and he sat down bonelessly on the lush grass of the Pale Heart.

Ikora didn’t move. She stared at the pool where the Speaker’s orrery had once spun. “Of course there is. Ghosts were the ones who destroyed the Witness, in the end.” 

It all gave Drifter the creeps. To look at the Pale Heart was to look at a tyrant’s idea of paradise, an endless growth inside a glass-walled prison. Cancer in a greenhouse. Other people found it comforting, for some reason. “And how is that sitting with you, with Ophiuchus as he is?”

Ikora laughed softly. “With me as I am, you mean.”

“It takes two.”

“That’s the point,” Ikora said. “If I had been with the Guardians who dealt the final blow, would Ophiuchus have been there for me? I don’t know. But I won’t give that to new Lights as a lesson. We need confidence now.”

“Ha, I guess there might be new little Lights after this who never even knew the Witness. Weird that the Traveler would keep making ‘em. Talk about a lack of confidence.”

“With that aurora in the sky and who knows what coming next, maybe we’ll need more Guardians after all.” Finally, she looked at him, with a directness that made him wonder what he had come here to say in the first place. 

Ghosts, sure. Even Eris was buddy-buddy with Immaru now. That Micah was a regular home for orphaned Ghosts. Drifter couldn’t shake his initial impression of his own Ghost as a tool, a vindictive resurrection machine that thought of humanity as a gun it could field-strip or fire dirty until a mechanical piece gave out. So, he’d made his Ghost into the same, striking first. Drifter had no doubt his muzzled Ghost would have fired at the Witness, because he’d have ordered it to. 

“I could use the near end of the world as an excuse to reconnect with Ophiuchus,” Ikora said. “But it’s been so long … I don’t know what sign I gave that let us reach this place, he and I. I don’t know what sign could bring us back together.”

“Ask him to help you.”

“I don’t need help.”

“It doesn’t have to be world-saving help.” Drifter gestured up at the vines built of memory, at the place where outside the real Tower, the Traveler had once floated. “Just a little favor.” He sleight-of-handed a coin-sized stone eye, one of the strange pieces of detritus he’d found in the Pale Heart, out of his sleeve and across his knuckles. “A little gift.” 

Fact is, the Drifter had a little bit of that Warlock magic nowadays. He did not care what class any Guardian of this temporary age would call him, but between the Light and the Dark, he knew things even more than usual. Now, he knew Ikora was thinking of giving that heavy, little stone eye to her Ghost, trying to wrest some meaning out of the collision of Drifter’s Dark Age history and the wilderness of Light she walked. 

Her thoughts itched against his like someone stroking a feather along the inside of his skull. 

How do you stand this? He thought. Hearing other people’s brains going?

Peel thoughts apart with careful fingers, said Ikora. 

Her mental voice was somehow the exact opposite of her piercing looks. Eyes like stars, heart like the jet off a black hole. Some strange genius in between. Drifter remembered what he had come here to say. “Look, anyway, I’m setting up a Gambit arena in that little beachy spot underneath the Blooming. Forgiveness, permission, you know. Thank you, good night.” And away he would amble, neat and peachy clean, on the side of the Light and with a neat little side gig too. Only problem in the world was Guardians kept asking him if he could make some sort of tincture or moonshine out of Dread, and he’d have to say again that he didn’t do that stuff for fun, there were plenty of plants and regular supply runs in the Pale Heart now, eat those while you can, you sick freaks. 

Ikora caught his intent to amble before it even started. “So, you’re telling me I need to let Ophiuchus see I care, even after the world didn’t end.”

Drifter looked over her shoulder. “Now, I wouldn’t go that far. World might still end.” 

Ikora tossed the stone eye in the air. It floated above her palm. “I just don’t know how to do it,” she said, shoulders slumped. “How to let him help me. I can’t hug him like I can Cayde or Zavala.” She looked up, and Light her features looked different when she was about to cry, puffy and reddening. “Will you help me?”

He almost sighed with how badly he wanted to make some joke about the great Vanguard asking him for help. But he and the Vanguard hadn’t played those roles in a long time, not really. 

Without touching her, he slid his palm between her hand and the stone. He tried, Light he tried, for the first impression she received not to be of his constant urge to run as he opened his mind to hers. 

Look, he tried, clumsily. Do this. Remember the victory your people just brought you. You’re alive and Zavala is alive, and Ophiuchus and them. Remember they’re — Except he couldn’t hide anything. They’re not gonna stay forever.

Except Ikora wrestled that thought back, thinking of the people who had stayed. When she took a breath, his own lungs expanded, mechanically linked to her body now that their neurons thought they were the same brain. Could you do this to kill somebody? Drifter thought.

Ikora took another breath which had a distinct note of disapproval in it. Or maybe that disapproval came from his breath, his vicious hatred for what the Traveler had made him.  

Then Ikora found a memory of great love, of love like a field of yellow flowers under gentle sun. Gold filigree on his shell. Drifter pulled away, prey-beast startled by the second-hand affection of the Ghost. He had completely ignored his sight during the mind-meld and had to blink against the Pale Heart’s fake day. 

Ikora smiled like she hadn’t in years. “That’s it. That’s exactly what I’ll show him,” she said, looking sidelong at the Drifter. “Thank you.”

“You got us most of the way there,” he muttered. 

Ikora gave another unlikely smile, looking so gentle and comforted it shamed him. He saw in one of their minds’ eyes her hands holding the purple-and-gold shell to her cheek. Then the Light untangled from them, leaving him not sure who had tangled it in the first place — Ikora or himself or the Traveler, giving those orders it called blessings. 

Well, Ophiuchus would maybe be more likely to be around when Ikora needed him now, and she hadn’t said no to the new Gambit arena either. Off he ambled, Ikora behind him happy. 

[spacetimeaccordionfolder]

I love how in today's page of Aurora (2.2.30) Falst is the one giving the group tasks while Erin's busy holding all the elements. There's a beat where he stares in shock(?) awe(?) just processing what is happening(?) before telling someone to give directions, which gets Alinua moving. In the background of panels 3-4 we see him continue to plan (can the sail be fixed? no, well it will have to do). I think if Dainix wasn't going through it at the moment he likely would have stepped up as well as he's the only one in the group accustomed to working in a group setting.

Additional note, I like how in panels 1-4 you see Dainix's cracks slowly fading, with him noticing in 3, and signing in 4. I guess the moment of calm and talking to Alinua helped a lot.

Kendal keeps holding his side. That is a neat detail, reminding us that he himself isn't fully healed after everything that happened in Zuurith. I also love his expression in the last panel. Reminds me of the Tynan fight for some reason.

Tess and Erin. Siblings. I like the artistic detail of lightning along Tess's arm as she gets near Erin. She's a lightning mage, and possibly feeling his influence over the lightning. Or perhaps the lightning is responding to her? Or she's using lightning to hold off on the other elements as she gets close to Erin, who currently has a lot of elemental energy around him. Since Erin's floating at the moment, I think he possibly bobs downwards when Tess touches his forehead, as he looks shorter in that panel. The "Don't pretend! Not to me! All this power and you've STILL found a way to push too far!" is fantastic. Is Erin in the beginning stage of elemental corruption? [someone said fever is stage 1 of fire corruption] Is he overheating from overloading his soul channels? How and why does Tess know to check for this? The pointy lines on the last sentence make me think she's yelling here, or at least raising her voice.

Erin's still trying to handle things, or at least protect everyone from everything. That choice of words is neat- "There's nothing out here I can't protect you from." Not "There's nothing out here I can't control or manage" or something that emphasizes how great he is, it's a focus on protecting others. Erin's still talking about his power and his capability, but the focus is different, I think. [the Kendal and Erin parallels are paralleling.] I like that Tess is now the one saying don't pretend you can handle this.

The light details are interesting! The ship is glowing with Erin's power, so light is coming from above and below the characters! And also Erin's general direction, since he is also glowing.

[musemelodies]

here, have a disney princess list (INSPIRED BY ROSE):

mulan (forever fave since childhood, gnc icon who saved china and ended up with the hot bi general, what's NOT to love? a legend in every sense of the word.)

jasmine (beautiful, badass, tells it like it is, always there for her loved ones, takes zero shit and i love her for it.)

ariel (loved her as a kid, had mixed feelings about her as a teen because of bad disney princess discourse, really love and appreciate her now.)

belle ("I WANT MUCH MORE THAN THIS PROVINCIAL LIFE..." me too, babe. what can i say about belle that hasn't been said already? as a fellow bookworm and monsterlover, i salute her.)

snow white (the sweetest angel who's actually hilarious and gets waaay too much hate.)

tiana/cinderella tie (I COULDN'T CHOOSE BETWEEN THEM HONESTLY, they're both really brave, amazing, and inspiring and also i kinda ship it...)

moana (she rocks and she saved the day with the power of love and her "i want" song is one of my favorites.)

rapunzel (she's adorable and funny but i didn't really fall in love with tangled like a lot of folks did...)

aurora (stunning design, incredible voice, doesn't have a lot of screentime but leaves a big impact nevertheless and her relationship with the good fairies is really heartwarming.)

pocahontas (it's complicated, folks. on her own, she's a great character with an amazing voice and some epic musical numbers but knowing the actual history of matoaka is...yeahhh, they really should've given her a different name as well as the other characters. the story's already completely fictionalized anyway.)

merida (she's neat and she has a really cool design and i love her relationship with her mom but it's another case where i like the character but i'm not too wild about the movie.)

raya (i only saw her movie once and found it pretty mediocre but she had a lot of potential, i liked her relationship with her dad, and she had good chemistry with namaari but unfortunately, disney was too cowardly to do anything with that so...)