#anyways here’s my sketch page from last night

[twinleafclover]

Feeling good

[bosbas]

Chapter 2: I didn't have it in myself to go with grace

series masterlist previous part || next part

pairing: colin bridgerton x enemy!fem!reader WC: 2.0k words

Warnings: period-typical gender roles, negative self-talk (Colin bby🥺🤏), a small part of the dialogue is in French

Summary: It took precisely two days in England for you to utterly despise Colin Bridgerton. It took him approximately twelve hours after that to hate you right back. But he doesn't care that you're the only person in the ton who doesn't like him. You're set to marry someone else anyway, right?

April 16, 1816 – And of course, one cannot forget to mention Lady Y/N Montclair, who looked like a vision in her emerald dress at the Danbury Ball last night. Her presence seemed to cast a spell over the gentlemen in attendance, and they were practically lining up to engage her in conversation. It was a sight to behold, watching them swoon over her. However, one can hardly blame them, given how effortlessly graceful she was. It appears Lady Montclair will have more than enough gentlemen to choose from this season…

Eloise scoffed and rolled her eyes, the newest Whistledown in hand as she sat on a couch in the tearoom. “My word, if she hadn’t been in Tuscany last season I would think Lady Montclair herself was Lady Whistledown! She’s only been here two days and she’s already been mentioned more than most of the ton.”

Benedict chuckled from his seat across the room, shooting a look at a disgruntled-looking Colin who was trying very hard to make it seem like he wasn’t listening to Eloise reading Whistledown’s account of the ball. 

“I’d wager that Colin is Whistledown, actually. I’m convinced after today’s column,” Benedict said teasingly, taking a bite out of an apple as he analyzed the sketch in front of him. 

“First of all, I don’t even write like Whistledown, which you would know if you read the letters I sent while I was in Greece,” Colin shot back, irritated. “And second, even if I were, I certainly would not have spent two full pages talking about Lady Montclair. I’m sure I have no idea why Whistledown thought she warranted such a large portion of the column today.” 

The words felt bitter and unpleasant in his mouth, and he regretted them instantly. He knew he sounded petulant, but he couldn’t help his defensive tone after last night. Eloise, catching onto Colin’s tone, cocked her head toward Benedict and raised an eyebrow in confusion.  

“She didn’t want to dance with him,” explained Benedict, sounding highly amused about what was one of the more embarrassing things to happen to Colin. 

Eloise burst out laughing. “No! A woman who didn’t want to dance with Colin? Something must be incredibly wrong in the world! How could she have said no to London’s golden boy? And on his first day back! Shall we call for a medic?”

Colin felt the blood rushing to his face and his cheeks warming, not particularly pleased to have to deal with his sister's teasing today. He knew he was being ridiculous, that much was clear. You were only one person who hadn’t wanted to dance with him. But you had just looked so beautiful, and the way your eyes had lit up when you laughed with your brother was so enchanting, that he fashioned himself half in love with you already. 

It was slightly gut-wrenching to know you didn't feel the same way. He must have done something, Colin reasoned. No one had ever not liked Colin simply because of who he was, and he was more than a little concerned that you seemed to be the first. 

Eloise had been joking, of course, when she called Colin London’s golden boy. But it wasn’t as much of a joke as he would have liked. Anthony was a viscount, and Benedict was a successful artist with a painting in the national gallery, but what did he have to offer? He was just aimlessly traveling the world, documenting his travels in a journal no one would ever read. His own family didn’t even read his letters, for Christ’s sake. He was a third son with no talents, and the only thing he could do was lean into his charm and good nature and hope that people liked him anyway. And he had been relatively successful thus far. Except for with you, it seemed.

Noting Colin’s uncharacteristic grim mood, Eloise briefly panicked, wondering if she had gone too far. With a far softer tone, she added, “Maybe her dance card was full, Colin. It doesn’t mean she didn’t want to dance.”

But Colin shook his head, placing his chin on his hand. “I highly doubt it.”

He knew better than to assume the best. He was remarkably skilled at reading people, but even without that, it had not been difficult to tell that you were full of contempt. For him or someone else, he couldn’t be completely sure, but the way you had been laughing and smiling with everyone except for him was a particularly useful hint. 

Before he could dwell further, Violet entered the tearoom. “We’ll be going to Hyde Park to promenade today, darlings.” It was far easier to coerce her children into doing her bidding when she didn’t give them a choice. 

Ignoring their grumbling, she left the room, calling out over her shoulder, “Be ready in one hour!” 

---

Colin had barely been at the park five minutes before he spotted you, and he drew in a sharp breath. God, it was infuriating. You were wearing a cream-colored dress, chatting pleasantly with your mother, and he wanted to scream. Of course, you looked completely breathtaking. It was exactly what he needed when he was already nervous about approaching you. 

During the carriage ride, he had decided to try to speak to you again. To be your friend, at the very least. Perhaps you did not want him as a suitor, but the thought of someone in the ton actively disliking him was nauseating. 

So, he steeled himself, staring longingly at you. Now was as good a time as any because, for some miraculous reason, there seemed to be no men hounding you at the moment. You had separated yourself from your family slightly, silently observing who he could only assume was one of your older sisters and her husband. 

He made his way over to you, hands fidgeting behind his back nervously. Swallowing down his fear, he cleared his throat as he approached you, a soft smile on his face. 

“Lady Montclair, it’s lovely to see you here today. I believe we may have gotten off on the wrong foot at the ball last night, and I wanted to offer an apology.” Your face was completely blank, not giving anything away, and Colin found himself a tad more nervous than he was when he first walked up to you. “Perhaps we could promenade?” he finished weakly. 

An apology? What on earth was Colin Bridgerton on about? There was no way he’d seen you in the hallway, right? 

“An apology, Mr. Bridgerton? Whatever for?” you asked carefully, not giving anything away. 

Colin cleared his throat awkwardly. He wasn’t quite sure himself, to be honest. “Well, I’m afraid I might have offended you by asking to dance so suddenly. It might have been a bit brash to ask for a dance without a proper introduction first.”

You almost sagged in relief. Your reputation was safe. Though now you seemed irrationally angry, despising Colin for no apparent reason. However, it wasn’t in your nature to make nice with someone who viewed women simply as breeding stock.  

Curtly, you responded, “I can assure you, Mr. Bridgerton, that that did not offend me. Had we been properly introduced, my answer would have been the same.”

“Oh,” he said softly. 

You stared at him blankly, with no hint of warmth in your gaze. Sensing your hostility, he promptly turned away from you, returning to his family. Anger burned in his chest. What the hell was your problem with him? He’d barely spoken two words to you, and you had acted like he had offended your entire bloodline. 

When his anger subsided, Colin had a sobering thought. For the first time in his charmed life, someone simply did not care for him. And the worst part? He hadn’t even caused it. Colin, who prided himself on his charm and wit, found himself in the position of being disliked without cause. 

He suddenly felt very inadequate. It was a foreign feeling, and it settled quite uncomfortably in his chest. If you were determined to hate him, so be it. But to hate him without reason? That, Colin could not agree to.

If you insisted on casting him as the villain in your narrative, then he would play the role with ease. If you wanted a reason to dislike him, then a reason you would have.

You stared after Colin, eyes narrowed. His ability to act like a complete gentleman would have been impressive if it wasn’t so disturbing. 

“Ma grande,” your mother called, coming to your side (My dear). “Did I just see you being rude to Colin Bridgerton? He left fairly quickly,” she scolded gently. 

“Non, maman. Ne t'inquiète pas,” you assured (No, Mom. Don’t worry). Upon seeing her unimpressed look, you switched to English. “It was just a misunderstanding.”

“Well, you don’t seem to like him very much,” she observed.

You let out a nervous laugh, waving her comment away. “I don’t know him well enough to dislike him, maman!” 

You needed something to distract her from this line of questioning. Your mother knew you well enough to tell when you were lying, and she would be positively furious if she uncovered the real reason why you despised Mr. Bridgerton. 

Fortunately, a distraction arrived by the name of Lord Arthur Barlow. 

“Lord Barlow,” your mother called out excitedly. “Allow me the pleasure of introducing my daughter, Y/N Montclair.”

“Lady Montclair,” he smiled warmly, stretching his hand out to you. “A name as lovely as its bearer, I daresay.”

 “Lord Barlow,” you answered shyly, placing your hand in his. You felt your cheeks heating up as he kissed the back of your hand, and you were taken aback. This entirely charming man had disarmed you completely in a matter of seconds. 

"Lord Barlow, the Duke of Monmouth," your mother announced with a flourish, her eyes bright with approval at the budding acquaintance. "Shall we take a turn about the park? I would be delighted to chaperone."

Subtlety was not her specialty. Or perhaps not her priority. Though you couldn’t really be upset with her, given how good-looking the Duke was. He nodded graciously at your mother and placed your hand at the crook of his elbow, smiling down at you as you began to stroll. 

You were so enthralled you barely registered him speaking. “I hear you’ve got a knack for languages, Lady Montclair,” he remarked, prompting your attention.

“Yes, your Grace. I speak five languages, and read Sanskrit,” you answered dutifully. Such accomplishments were no small feat in the circles of the ton, and you knew it put you at an advantage in the marriage mart.

“Most impressive, indeed,” he answered, his gaze thoughtful. “My brother’s wife is from Prussia, and I’m sure she would love a chance to speak in her native tongue.”

The Duke's boldness caught you off guard, the suggestion of speaking with his sister-in-law a surprising turn. "Oh," you murmured, slightly taken aback by his directness.

 “And what else do you like to do?” asked Lord Barlow, smoothly transitioning the conversation. 

A well-prepared response rolled off your tongue, a practiced smile gracing your lips. “I am well-versed in needlepoint, and enjoy playing the pianoforte,” you smiled. It was what was expected of a young woman of your stature, after all.

Lord Barlow nodded appreciatively, seemingly satisfied with your answer. “And how do you find England? I’m certain you’re missing the Tuscan sun,” he said, pushing the conversation to lighter topics. 

The Duke's engaging manner, paired with the approval of your mother, had utterly charmed you. Engaged by his charisma and easy conversation, you found yourself giggling during your conversation, utterly captivated.

Unbeknownst to you, Colin Bridgerton observed

from afar, his gaze sharp with a mixture of irritation and something deeper brewing beneath the surface. Each laugh, each shared glance between you and the Duke, stoked the flames of his simmering displeasure.

—

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[hearts4golbach]

Get the Angles Right!

chapter 4.

masterlist.

pairing:

Johnnie Guilbert x Fem!Reader.

warnings:

mentions of death and cancer.

"What's next on your list?" Johnnie adjusted his shirt as you walked out of the cafe.

you looked up at the sky. dark storm clouds were starting to come in. "There's this old park that no one goes to anymore. it's rusty as shit, but it's where I go whenever I need it to be quiet. I guess you could say I go here to think." You sighed, "I'm not sure if we should go, though. it's about to rain. I don't want you to catch a cold."

"I don't mind the rain, don't worry. Lead the way." he glanced up at the sky before turning to you. "You know what's funny?"

you hummed, "What?"

"I haven't seen a single fucking child the couple days I've been here. like, anywhere." he had a small smile on his face as he turned his attention back to the sidewalk.

"damn. i never really thought about that. I guess this city is so bad that parents don't want their kids out. I mean, I see them, but not often." You smirked. "they're going extinct in NYC. the last ones left are a tourist attraction."

Johnnie let out a giggle. "What, do people throw bananas at them or some shit?"

"probably." you shook your head. "anyway, I used to always play in the rain as a kid. it's so fucking cheesy." you laughed. "My mom would drag me inside by my ear and make me take a shot of nyquil 'just to be safe.' I hated that shit. I mean, I guess it worked." he giggled.

a few minutes later, you made it to the park. you took a seat on one of the swings and Johnnie set next to you.

"I wanna show you something." you said, slipping your bag off of your shoulder and setting it in the wood chips.

he looked down and watched as you pulled a small notebook out of your bag. "What is it?"

"it's my mom's. this was the very last sketch book she used before she passed." You stared at the civer before hanging it to Johnnie.

"Can I look through it?" his eyebrows were furrowed together anxiously.

"Yeah, go ahead." You gently pushed yourself on the swing. "she was on her death bed, still sketching away. I came to visit and check on her. I mean, she knew she was dying, and she was okay with it. I think that's what makes her death even more devastating to me. anyway, she knew she didn't have much left, so she gave me it and told me to make her proud. I've never cried harder than I did that night." You rubbed your eye, trying to prevent tears from spilling out of your eyes. "Anyway, sorry for being depressing. I think there are some really fucking cool designs in there."

"you don't have to be sorry for that, y/n." he muttered as he slowly flipped through the pages. "I see where you get your talent from."

you blushed, "i- thank you."

he looked at you and smiled. "she sounds like a great person. I'm sorry you had to lose her."

you tried to shrug it off. you didn't want to cry in front of him. "cancers a bitch." you laughed quietly.

he set the book in his lap and took your hand. he continued to flip through it with one hand. "My dad had cancer, too."

"Really?" You finally looked at him. you admired his features as he looked at the notebook.

he never looked back at you. "Yeah. that's not how he went out, though. he actually went out with a bang." he laughed softly.

"Oh, oh." You hesitated, realizing what he meant. "I mean, that's a way to go out."

he nodded. "I make jokes about my dad all the time. it still hurts sometimes, but it's okay now."

"Thank you for telling me. I mean, really. we met like, two days ago and were telling each other our life stories."

his eyes met yours. he smiled. "I've never really been able to open up to someone this much." his hand squeezed yours.

"Yeah, me either. honestly, I don't talk to anyone. I have a couple of friends around town, but we don't talk." You scratched your neck.

"that sucks, I'm really fucking sorry." he handed the book back to you. you shoved it back in your bag.

you felt a drop of rain hit your nose. "it's starting to rain. we should probably go. the next place I want to show you is just up the street. we shouldn't be out long."

he nodded. "Okay." his hand left yours, and you stood up. you lit your cigarette, taking a puff before passing it to Johnnie. "Wow, you didn't forget your lighter this time." he teased

"Yeah, whatever." You rolled your eyes. "There's this thrift store, and then we can head back. does that sound good?"

he nodded, "Yeah, whatever you wanna do."

"im sorry, has this been boring?" you asked him, turning your head to face him.

"No, no." he shook his head. "im having a lot of fun. these places are really interesting."

"okay, just checking. sorry. anyway, this is where I usually get my fabric and shit from. I always find the cutest patterns."

"thats sick." he responded.

"What do you miss about LA?" you asked, taking a step closer to him.

"My guitar." he answered. "I play it almost every day. i kinda just get trapped in it, you know?"

"You play guitar?" you asked, amused. "that's sexy as fuck. I've always wanted to learn." You tried to ignore the compliment you let slip.

he stuttered. "I- uhm, thank you." his face turned red. "Maybe come visit me in LA, and I'll teach you."

"Maybe I will." You nudged his shoulder. "I've wanted to travel to LA for a while now, I just have been focusing on my business."

"im sure there are just as many opportunities in LA as there are here, but I don't know." he laughed.

"I'll keep that in mind." You opened the door of the shop and walked in. "you know, we should probably get an umbrella." you mentioned.

"good idea."

you scanned through the racks and found a fluffy zebra print jacket. your head started flooding with ideas for johnnie. you held it up to his body. the white and black complimented his eyes and all. "what do you think? I mean, about the pattern. not the ugly ass jacket itself." you clarified.

"I've never really worn zebra print." he felt the soft fabric.

"you'll look so fucking good, oh my god." you gushed before regaining your composure. "I have an idea. I think you'll like it."

"if you make it, I will." he smiled.

you hummed. "I'll keep that in mind."

[fantasy-things-and-such]

yo is it normal for your heart to just suddenly hurt really bad for a few seconds anyway, here's the two hundred and smth words i promised:

Ahri Academy is built upon a small cliff that overlooks the Abesine River. At dusk, the outer walls make for a beautiful spot to watch the sunset.

Settling down with a pencil in hand, i begin to sketch the scene before me as the air cools and the first stars blink awake in the darkening sky.

“Watcha doing?” Tira’s bright voice pulls me from my thoughts. 

“Just drawing,” I murmur. “You?” 

“Watching someone draw.” We both laugh.

“You’re always in the strangest places,” Tira remarks after a moment. “I would’ve never thought to come up here.”

“Well, I live here.” I glance over my shoulder. “I know a few spots.”

“Oh?” She sits beside me with a smile plastered on her face. “You should show me sometime.”

I stare into her flame colored eyes. “Yeah.” My notebook lies forgotten on my lap as her hand finds mine.

“You remind me of the sunset,” I blurt out abruptly. 

Her smile grows. “You remind me of the moon. All lonely and quiet and chasing the sunset.” My face turns cherry red in an instant. “That-” I’m speechless. Sure, i’d been stealing glances at her every now and again. But I hadn't been that obvious. Right?

“Draw me.” She prompts, scooting forward to take a seat on the parapet. 

“Okay.” My face is still cherry red as I flip to a new page and begin sketching. The minutes stretch on, with only the sound of pencil on paper and crickets to accompany us. Tira sits incredibly still as I draw her. As the last of the sunlight fades, I lean back with a sigh. “Right.” I stand up stiffly. “How's this?” Tira’s expression softens. “I love it. Can I keep it?” I nod, and she gently tears the page. “Thank you,” she adds. tucking the page into her bag. "let's go back to the barracks." "go without me. I won't be long," I add after seeing her frown. "I promise." "okay." she concedes, leaving me alone with my thoughts in the night.

Tags: @aesthetic-writer18 @the-ellia-west @the-golden-comet @angst-is-love-angst-is-life

[yanderepuck]

Salai-Chapter 16

WELCOME TO SALAI'S ROUTE. This is a FAN MADE route of my oc, Salai. This means this route contains my headcanons for the characters and in no way is suppose to represent the canon story. This is just a fun little time because I know many of you enjoy Salai. Feel free to engage, talk theories, send asks (even to @ask-salai ).

DISCLAIMER: His route his not canon to his character. Also, all of his lore in not in the route for simplicity reasons plus please feel free to ask about him.

Banner by @spooscribbles

You didn’t spot Salai at breakfast the next day.  Considering how much he enjoys food you were a little surprised. Not that he comes often, but you didn't see Leonardo either. They must be together. You make a tray of food for Salai and Leonardo and walk around to see where they could be.

After checking the parlor, library, and Leonardo's room you finally heard them talking down the hall. You get excited and hurry to the room.  The door is cracked open. Since you've been here it has always been closed, which means this must be the room Comte gave to Salaì.

You peer in to see the two of them sitting on the floor surrounded by papers, notebooks, clothes, and a bunch of small random items.

Leonardo: I can't believe you kept all this

Salaì: I couldn't part with any of it. I tried to keep everything I could

Leonardo is looking through some notebooks, fanning through the pages. You push open the door, mindful of what could be on the other side.

Mitsuki: I really hope your room doesn't end up looking like Leonardo's.

Leonardo: keep hoping. He's not much better than me

Salaì: I'm cleaner than you!

He pouts at him while Leonardo chuckles

Leonardo: only because you have less

He ruffles his curly hair and continues looking through everything he has. You look around the room. The floor and walls are darker, and there's already a bookcase set up against a wall with some things thrown on it. Some canvases are leaning against the far wall with his easel already set up. A bag of what you are guessing his paints and brushes are beside it.  Batuffola is asleep on the bed, curled up in a ball. Salaì stands up, adding papers to an already made stack.

Mitsuki: What are you two doing?

Salaì: Maestro wanted to see what all I still had of his, and then we're trying to figure out what to do with it

Leonardo: It's called organizing, cara mia

Mitsuki: Huh… I didn't think you knew that word. I brought you two some food since you didn't come to breakfast.

Salaì comes over and looks at what is on the tray.

Salaì: Ooo. Thank you, polpetta~

Leonardo chokes on a laugh. That's right. He hasn't actually heard Salaì call you that. He turns around to look at Leonardo.

Salaì: What’s so funny?

Leonardo: Of course it's you who called her that.

Salaì: What?  She's a cute polpetta~

He looks back at you with a smile and Leonardo can't hold back his laugh this time. 

Mitsuki: You aren't going to stop calling me that, are you?

Salaì: Nope!

He takes the tray from you and brings you further into the room. When he sets it down, it's on top of a small pile of papers. He's clearly going to be just as messy. You sit on the edge of the bed and pet Batuffola as you watch the two look over things. Leonardo takes the apple from the tray and eats it as he shuffles around papers.

Leonardo: I thought I just lost a lot of these.

Salaì: I've kept them all together and tried to mess with them as little as possible so they wouldn't fade.

You try looking at them but you can't make out anything. You can see that there are some sketches mixed in.

Mitsuki: Sebastian and Theo would go insane to be able to see these

Salai: What is Sebastian’s deal anyway?  He was asking me a bunch of questions last night

Leonardo: Don’t worry.  You’ll get a bunch more.

Mitsuki: Sebastian and I are from the 21st century.  He used to be a historian and since you don’t appear in textbooks as much he’s going to have a lot to ask.

Salai looks at you surprised.  That’s right, he didn’t know you weren’t from this time.

Salai: Seems like I still have a lot to learn about you~

You felt your cheeks warming.  Leonardo hit the back of Salai’s head.

Salai: Hey!

Leonardo: Don’t start flirting with cara mia

Salai: Aw, are you jealous~

Leonardo: She’s too nice to be messing around with someone like you

Salai had leaned against Leonardo, while he flipped through a book.  What did he mean by that?  Salai didn’t seem to take it as an insult, but you weren’t taking it as a compliment.  Come to think of it, you have a lot to learn about him as well.

~~

In the evening after dinner, you bring coffee and tea into the parlor.  Dazai and Arthur are playing chess while Salai is on the couch watching.  You offered to get everyone drinks, but when you came back they all had a glass of whiskey, the bottle almost gone already.

Mitsuki: You could have told me not to bother.

You set the tray down and take your drink from it.

Dazai: Andrea-san should have told us sooner that he wanted a drink

Dazai moved a piece on the chess board.  Salai looks at Dazai, a little confused.

Arthur: That’s not how you move that piece.

Dazai: Sure it is.

Arthur: I just want to play by normal rules

Arthur puts his face in his hands, groaning.

Dazai: Not my fault my queen wants to have an affair with your queen.

He sips his whiskey while Arthur groans louder.  You lean into Salai.

Mitsuki: Did I miss something?

He shrugs.

Salai: I don’t know how to play chess to begin with.

Arthur: Take Dazai’s spot ‘n’ let me teach ye.

Salai: You sure?

Arthur: I wid rather play with Jean than play with Dazai

Dazai: You just don’t know the fun ways to play.

Dazai and Salai switch seats while Arthur resets the board.  You chuckle as you hear more of Arthur’s accent come through.  The whiskey must already be getting to him.  Arthur finishes his glass and sets it down.

Arthur: These only shift forward one space.  These shift forwards, backwards ‘n’ tae the side. ‘N’ these go diagonal.

He points to each piece explaining what it does, the more he talks the more his words are getting jumbled together.  You look at Salai’s face.  He is completely lost and you know it.

Arthur: Git it?

Salai just blinks, trying to process anything he just said.

Mitsuki: I don’t think playing with you is going to teach him much, Arthur.

Arthur: ‘n’ why not?

Salai: you got drunk quickly

Arthur: I ain’t drunk

Dazai sets his empty glass down and stands up, helping Arthur out of the chair.

Dazai: Let’s get you to bed

Arthur protests but ends up following Dazai out of the parlor.

Mitsuki: For someone who goes to the pub a few times a week he sure is a light weight.

Salai: And what about you?

He refills his glass and pours another, handing it to you.

Salai: How well do you handle your alcohol?

You take the glass, looking at it for a moment before answering.

Mitsuki: I think I hold it fairly well

Salai: then bottoms up!

He clinks his glass with yours and drinks from it.  You hesitate for a moment but then take a sip.  You aren’t much of a whisky drinker but it’s not bad.

~~

Before you know it the bottle is empty and you are sitting in his lap, sideways, leg over the arm of the chair.  He drank a good bit more than you but he seems fine while you are giggly.  You lean against him, resting your head on his shoulder.

Mitsuki: …and Dazai filled all of them with water and filled it with fish

You both laugh.

Salai: That explains the big pond in the garden

Mitsuki: He won’t even use a door

You giggle again and close your eyes.  His arm behind your back starts to rub your arm.

Salai:  Let me take you to bed

He starts to get in the right position to pick you up.

Mitsuki: Nooo

You lift up your head and sit up, trying to prove that you aren’t tired.

Mitsuki: I’m awake, I’m awake.

Salai: Not for long.

Mitsuki: You drank much more than me, how are you okay?

Salaì: I don't think you want to know how much it takes to get me drunk.

Mitsuki: Maybe I do.

You start to tease him. You want to know more about him after all. It feels like a lot of effort but you drape your arms over his shoulders, clasping your hands together around his neck. He's not going anywhere but it looks like you are trying to keep him close.

Mitsuki: Andrea, why do you-

Leonardo: What are you two doing?

You turn your head a little too fast and feel the room spin. Leonardo takes a few steps into the room. You then remember what Leonardo said earlier about you being too nice.

Salaì: We're just talking, maestro.

He takes your hands off of him. It feels like he is pushing you away.  You keep your focus on Leonardo, not able to help it but pout.

Leonardo: talking huh?

Walking into the scene it seemed like the two of you drank a whole bottle of whiskey yourselves.

Salaì: Mitsuki was just about to go to bed, right?

You didn't answer, you weren't even listening.  You're still focused on what Leonardo could have meant. Salaì has been nothing but nice to you, maybe a little flirty but he's never overstepped a boundary. You are only snapped out of it when Leonardo tries to help you up.

Mitsuki: No!

You immediately push him away and get to your feet yourself. Your cheeks are flushed not only from the alcohol but from rage.

Mitsuki: Andrea has been nothing but nice to me! I don't know how long it's been but he's clearly changed since you were last with him. But you would know that if you weren't an ass and abandoned him!

Leonardo: Cara mia, plea-

Mitsuki: Don't cara mia me! You turned him, which makes you responsible for him, right!?

Leonardo: It's not that-

Mitsuki: Right!?

You got closer to Leonardo, glaring up at him. You didn't want to stop until you had some answers.

Leonardo: Yes…

Mitsuki: You messed up and maybe you should try to fix it!

You stumbled a little bit but you weren't going to back down. Your voice got lower, almost like you are threatening him

Mitsuki: Rather than thinking in the past you should worry about making things better.

Leonardo didn't say anything. He didn't know what to say. Salaì stayed quiet, worried about interrupting you. You turned around to face Salaì, no rage on your face, but still flushed.

Mitsuki: Can you help me to my room?

Salaì: y-yeah

He looked between you and Leonardo. He felt like the two of them should talk, but he wasn't going to tell you no. He gets up and walks you out of the room and down the hall.

~~

Only a few steps down the hall and he had to carry you the rest of the way. You were barely able to tell him which room was yours. You kept drifting in and out of sleep.  Salaì sets you on your bed and you hold onto him so he can't leave.

Salaì: Mitsuki. You need to let go.

Mitsuki: What made you not give up?

Salaì: Huh?

Mitsuki: Looking for Leonardo. He left you. You should hate him.

Salaì: I wish I understood it too.

He tries to free himself but you still won't let go.

Mitsuki: Not good enough.

Salaì sighs and tries to think. His feelings are complicated to the point where he isn't fully sure.

Salaì: He's my maestro. He took me in, took care of me, taught me, then turned me. All of my memories are with him. He's all I had for centuries. How could I not go after him? I had been alive for so long but I still felt lost and didn't know what to do. Besides, what happened was my fault. I would never blame maestro for-

You quickly pulled him down so that your lips would meet. You may have wanted an answer but he needed to shut up before you got upset again.  He wanted to pull away but he couldn’t.  He would blame that on you but the truth is that he couldn’t force himself.  He steadied himself while you pulled on the collar of his shirt.  He finally kisses you back.

Feeling him give in you let go of the fabric and instead wrap your arms around his body.  It doesn’t take long for Salai to take charge.  The bed caving in under his weight, accepting that he isn’t leaving your room tonight.

~~~

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[seraphicsentences]

canvas of comfort: when tattoos mend hearts in the dark <3

ellie williams x cat 👩‍❤️‍💋‍👩

AN: lol. i don’t know how to write but i never see ellie x cat stories so i thought i’d give it a shot. this is not edited. why did i try writing. let me know what you think!! xx

tags: ellie williams x cat, tlou universe, first kiss kinda, soft ellie, baby ellie, jackson’s resident tattoo artist cat, the story we never got but deserved, background joel + ellie <33

After turning over the idea numerous times in her head, Ellie gave in. The bite mark was, for the most part, hidden. Ridges and indents from the remnants of her old self-instilled chemical burn perfectly blended the curved marks of infected teeth— not exactly pretty, but it did the job. She received a real scolding from Joel when he found out what she had done.

~~ flashback ~~

Ellie didn’t know what to do once she rinsed off the chemical mixture with water. Her skin flamed a bright red, and the shirt stuffed in her mouth was entirely soaked through with saliva. She was dizzy with pain, and the air against her forearm felt like needles. The burn didn’t seem to be getting better the more she rinsed.

Ellie heaved a sigh, “Well fuck me.” She knew what she had to do… or more, who she had to face. Joel was going to absolutely murder her.

She loosely wrapped her arm in the softest shirt she could find, and used her good arm to pat her face with water- hopefully reducing the hot pink flush across her cheeks. Feeling this was the most normal she was gonna look, Ellie quickly snuck her way towards the main house, praying to God she wouldn’t run into anyone.

It’d be hard to explain exactly why she decided to melt off a layer of her skin in the middle of the night.

~~

“Are you crazy? Ellie, you could have been seriously injured! What if it burned off more than just your skin?”

“I’m fine Joel! It’s not a big deal! You said we needed to figure a way to hide it from the others, so I found us a way.”

“This is not what I meant when I said that! We don’t have doctors here in Jackson.. let alone the right supplies at the moment to let this properly heal. We’ll have to keep this bandaged for now. You’re lucky I have patrol in Teton tomorrow morning, I’ll stop by that pharmacy there first thing. You were scheduled for patrol in Wilson, correct?”

“Yes… I can still g-“

“Absolutely not. You���re staying here until I get back tomorrow. Don’t go putting anything else on it. I mean it. I’ll tell Maria you’re not feeling well, you hear me?”

“Yeees, Joooeel. What you say goes.”

“Thank you, Joel?”

“Thank you, Joel.”

~ flash-forward ~

Ellie finds her way to Cat’s place, a small old back-house on the far edge of Jackson. Cat had agreed to do the tattoo, after much convincing that it would be perfectly fine to do over her old injury. Ellie had brought her notebook with her, several pages with sketches dedicated to potential designs.

She knocks on the door, shifting with anticipation. “Hey Cat. It’s me, Ellie, here for, uh, you know,” she calls through the wood.

The door opens, Cat’s face peeking through. Her dark eyes slide down to meet Ellie’s as she smiles. “Oh hey Els, come on in,” she beckons, widening the space between the door frame to let Ellie slide in under her arm. “Sorry ‘bout the mess, it’s from last night’s whole fiasco. You should’ve come!”

Ellie chuckles, scratching behind her ear out of nerves. “Yeah yeah, next time. Joel and I were having a movie night.”

She follows Cat towards her room, stepping over bunches of paper and books, before finally entering the dimly lit space.

“You guys and your movies. Cute. I don’t have like a tattoo chair or anything so you can just sit on my bed by that table. It’ll be more comfortable anyways.” Cat motions.

She goes around the room, picking up a few materials and such before dragging a small stool to the edge of the bed.

She sits down, straddling it, as Ellie, wide-eyed, watches. “You coming or what?” Cat laughs, head tilted over her shoulder to peek at her.

“Yeah, sorry”, Ellie mumbles, ears blushing, as she moved her way onto the foot of the bed. She shuffles backwards to lean against the wall and hands Cat the sketchbook, already flipped open to one of her drawings.

“I was thinking something like this, just around here,” Ellie points to her scabbed forearm.

“I like it. You’re quite the artist aren’t you,” Cat teases.

“Ha- ha. Shut up,” Ellie says, rolling her eyes.

Cat grins, eyes glinting with laughter before pulling Ellie’s arm off her lap and onto the table.

“Let me know if it hurts, okay? This’ll take a couple sessions, so we can take breaks whenever, just let me know.”

Ellie hums an okay, and Cat moves to get started.

~~

After a painful 2 hours, Cat decides they’ve made enough progress, and scribbles down a couple of dates for Ellie’s next sessions. The afternoon had been filled with slow chatter, warm smiles, and soft touches. Ellie was completely unable to tear her eyes away from Cat as she worked.

Everything about her was hypnotizing: the way strands of her jet-black hair fell out of her loose bun, framing her sharp olive cheekbones, how the veins on her hands pronounced with every motion, the way Cat peeked through her eyelashes at Ellie to make sure she was okay to keep going…

Ellie hoped she didn’t notice the raised goosebumps on her skin. She had never felt so nervous around another person here at Jackson, but there was just something about Cat that had Ellie’s heart in hummingbird mode.

Her piercing appearance contrasted greatly with her gentle mannerisms, and Ellie felt entirely succumbed to her.

~~

It was just about afternoon and her final session at Cat’s, and Ellie couldn’t help but feel disappointed, knowing she wouldn’t have any more excuses to spend hours alone at Cat’s, pressed close together hovering over her arm.

“Hey Els,” Cat greets, her eyebrow raised. “You ready to finish this up?”

“Hi Cat,” Ellie smiles, “Thanks for doing this.”

“Sure thing,” Cat says, as they trail into the bedroom.

Ellie settles in her typical spot, fingers drumming on the table as Cat preps her station with all her tools. By now they’ve fallen into an easy routine, actions on autopilot, Cat humming some 80s tune under her breath as she inks.

An hour or so passes before Cat looks up, meeting Ellie’s enamored green eyes, and says, “Well… I’m all done here. You like it?”

Ellie tears her eyes away, stumbling over her words as she gawks at Cat’s beautiful work etched onto her skin. “That’s crazy good, I-what do I owe you?”

Cat laughs as if Ellie’s just told her one of her pocketbook jokes. She moves onto the bed as her laughter fades, pushing aside Ellie to make room to sit. Her gaze slowly traces up from Ellie’s forearm to her lips- then her eyes.

Cat’s hooded expression grows darker, and she asks just above a whisper, “What can you give me?” She sounds absolutely carnal, her head turned just enough for their noses to hover not even a centimeter away from one another.

Mind-fogged and pupils blown, Ellie breathes out the only word that comes to mind, “Anything.”

She blinks and Cat’s moved on top of her, straddling her thighs, core hovered just above Ellie’s hips and lips crashing to meet her own. It’s filled with passion, but so soft at the same time, just like Cat. She tastes like soda and cigarettes, and Ellie lifts her hands to rest on Cat’s waist, when her freshly done tattoo brushes against the bedsheet.

It’s as if she’s just been dumped with a bucket of ice water, and instinctively, Ellie throws Cat off of her onto the other side of the bed. “What the fuck, Cat?”, she yells.

Her fingers meet her lips as she touches them, face paled, and her heart in her stomach. Cat’s expression matches her own.

“Shit. Sorry, it’s just-“ She’s infected. I just infected her, was all Ellie could think. What came out of her mouth was, “Let’s go for a walk.”

Cat pauses, her hair now tousled as she tucks in her lips. Looking down, she quietly responds, “Yeah, okay.”

~~

The pair paints quite the picture, a rather buff woman covered in tattoos following after a shorter blushing brunette (redhead?? how does one classify auburn 😭) through the greenery filled outdoors.

Cat is the first to break the silence. Clearing her throat, she says, “Hey Ellie I’m s-“.

“No, no, listen,” Ellie cuts her off. She turns around to face Cat, eyebrows scrunched together as she looks up. “I- I, uh,” Ellie stumbles over her words. She doesn’t know how to break the news, how to explain her past, how Cat will react if she tells her she might turn because of their kiss.

Cat’s head falls to the side, a soft, pained smile gracing her pink lips as she murmurs, “You don’t have to explain yourself. I totally misread the vibe.”

Shaking her head Ellie tries to explain, “Cat-“

“I’m sor-“, Cat apologizes.

“I’ve never kissed anyone! I was nervous!” Ellie blurts out.

Cat’s eyebrows jump up as her mouth gapes open, trying to make feel for the words she wants to say. She lands upon the word, “Oh”, a laugh bursting from her chest as a heartwarming smile spreads across her face.

Ellie, knowing the truth and finding the situation a whole lot less amusing, groans, “Caaaat. Stop it, it’s not funny!” I mean, there was a chance she wouldn’t turn, right?

Cat ignores Ellie’s arguments, still laughing and grabs her hand, pulling her back towards the house, teasing, “C’mon, Els, no need to get all scared of me. I don’t bite.”

You might in a couple of hours, Ellie thinks.

~~

It’s half past 3 in the morning, and Ellie is anything but tired. The garage- turned room is filled with sounds of Cat’s sleepy snores, and Ellie watches (creep 🙄) as her chest rises and falls with her breathing.

The movie is long over, Cat not staying awake to see the ending, and Ellie quietly thanks the heavens for Cat’s exhaustion. She hasn’t shown any signs of infection yet, luckily, but Ellie isn’t going to take any chances.

In the meantime, she takes in Cat’s seraphic features. Her lips are just barely parted, slightly cracking due to the dry air. Ellie wants to wet them with her own. Strands of Cat’s short, black hair fall across the bridge of her nose as she shifts onto her side. Ellie reaches out to tuck them behind her ear, ever so gently, so as not to disturb her slumber.

The night passes and the morning comes, and Ellie stays, her face rested on the crook of her arm, eyes peeking over to watch Cat’s face. Soon enough, Cat inhales deeply and her eyes flutter open to meet Ellie’s stare. “Hey, stalker.” she whispers. The rasp in Cat’s voice pulls at Ellie’s heartstrings and she blushes a scarlet red, feeling caught. Her embarrassment is quickly overturned by the surging relief of Cat’s normal condition. “How do you feel?” tone hopeful, she can’t help but ask.

Cat lifts herself to lean on one arm before smoothly responding, “Like I want to kiss you again.”

Ellie lets her relief crash over as she smiles, still blushing, and leans in to press it into Cat’s matching grin. She can’t help but sigh into the kiss, before moving her lips more fervently, more hungrily, scrambling to take in as much of Cat as she can.

Finally Ellie leans away, falling back into the mattress, bouncing when she lands. Cat chuckles, “Not so nervous anymore, are we?”

Ellie doesn’t even complain about her teasing. She tucks her smile into the pillow, saying, “Just kiss me.”

AN: they’re so cute 😭😭. pov me blushing and kicking my feet at my own writing. i just needed this so bad.

[teen-cups-au]

Teen Cups - Plot Notes Part 1

Doudy (mod): 7 parts are ready so far. For now, they'll be posted weekly!

Beginning of the comic | Previous | Next

Cuphead walks further away with his bag [I would have corrected the sketch in the last page WIP, since I drew him letting it with the others. You’ll know why in a bit.], where he and Chalice were at night in the flashback a few pages ago. Mugman and Puphead join him to check on him.

Mugman: Cuphead ?

Cuphead: I wanna be alone.

Puphead pokes him.

Cuphead: Ugh… What ?!

Puphead: *signing* We’re all happy to get to spend time with you again.

Mugman: They could have done better, true. But you should still enjoy the moment !

Cuphead: Leave me alone...

Puphead follows Mugman as he walks away, mumbling :

Mugman: At least, he’s taking fresh air…

Cuphead hears him and rolls his eyes while getting a cigarette.

Cuphead sits down at the edge of the water and stares at the sea. The night falls, and he’s now writing in a notebook, his bag open, as he got it from it. The moon is surrounded by a few clouds. He then gets up to join the others again. They’re all around a campfire.

Sammy: Aha ! Look who decided to come back~

Cuphead: Sammy, you say one more word and I leave.

Sammy: Geesh, can you stop being a jerk ?!

Baroness von Bonbon: Cut it, you two ! Want a marshmallow, Cuphead ?

Cuphead: No thanks.

He walks to his tent.

Baroness von Bonbon: Okay ! But stay here at least !

Cuphead: Am I allowed to put my stuff in my tent, or what ?!

Baroness von Bonbon: Yes. As well as having manners !

Cala Maria: Is it me, or everyone is in a bad mood since he arrived ?

Mugman looks down next to her, tightening his legs while sitting. He starts coughing. The coughing worsens, making Cuphead hurry out of his tent. Samuel, who’s sitting on Mugman’s other side, puts a worried hand on his shoulder.

Samuel: Mug? Are you okay?

Cuphead reappears and crouches beside him.

Cuphead: Mug ?

Mugman gets up and walks a bit further to isolate himself, as the fit is getting worse, Cala commenting in the background :

Cala Maria: Man, his cough is so nasty…

Baroness von Bonbon: Poor Mug…

Cuphead gets up again to follow him.

Sammy: I thought he wasn’t sick anymore ?

Cuphead: Do you have your inhaler ?

Mugman nods and gets it from his pocket. Cuphead takes it and shakes it for him.

Cuphead: I knew it was a bad idea to come !

Mugman frowns.

Mugman: Shush…

He inhales the medicine, Baroness von Bonbon yelling from out of the panel :

Baroness von Bonbon: Is he okay ?!

Cuphead: UGH, GIVE US SOME SPACE, BONNIE !!!

Mugman retains his breath with a done face.

Baroness von Bonbon: Dammit, what’s wrong with you ?! We barely see you anymore, and when we do, it’s to be yelled at non stop ! You’re ruining our night !

Cala Maria: No wonder. He always goes to the casino. He can’t be surrounded by respectable people.

Mugman is catching up his breath, wheezing.

Cuphead: Mug, let’s just go home ! You’re not well anyway.

Mugman: No ! I’ll be *cough* fine… *wheeze* I won’t let it prevent me from having fun ! *wheeze*

Cuphead: I’m clearly not welcome anyway.

Mugman: Of course you are ! *wheeze* Just try to… Just enjoy, okay ? Puphead brought- *cough* *cough* -cards to play. *wheeze* Maybe you can teach us poker or something ?

Cuphead: You won’t go back home, are you ?

Mugman: No.

Cuphead sighs.

Cuphead: Fine.

They come back.

Baroness von Bonbon: You chill now ?!

Cuphead stays silent, looking at her scornfully. He then asks Puphead :

Cuphead: Hey Pup, Mugman told me you got a card game ?

Puphead nods.

Cuphead: You guys wanna gamble ?

Sammy: To be honest, I’m curious.

Sam: I don’t want to bet money. I don’t even have that much on me right now.

Cuphead: No problem, Sam. We can make it interesting another way.

Sam: Like ?

Cuphead: Loser sniffs cocaine.

Sam: I’m out.

Sammy: ...Why not.

Sam’s eyes widen.

Sam: WHAT ?!

Sammy: For my experience ! It’s just a try !

Sam: Sammy, you know what it implies, right ?

Sammy: Yeah, yeah, dependence, blah blah blah… But it’ll be just once !

Cuphead: Hehe, yeah sure~

Sammy: You don’t think I’m able ?

Cuphead: Yanno it’s hard drugs, right ?

Sammy: And what does that mean ?

Cuphead: The kind that are hard to stop.

Sam: Cuphead, don’t do anything that extreme ! Please...

Cuphead: Fine. Marijuana it’ll be.

Sam: How is it not extreme ?!

Cuphead: It’s soft drugs.

Sam: Are you serio-

Sammy: Shut up now, Sam ! I’m tired of you bossing me around ! If I want to give it a try, I’ll just do it !

Sam frowns and grumbles.

Samuel: But I… I don’t want you to die !

Cuphead laughs.

Cuphead: He won’t, don’t worry Samuel. It’ll be more like-

Time skip to Sammy puking at a tree a bit further. Cuphead teases him, while smoking too.

Cuphead: That makes you a double loser, dude !

Mugman is sitting beside Baroness von Bonbon, a hand on his nose.

Baroness von Bonbon: YOU’re the loser ! You don’t even care about your brother who can’t breathe because of you !

Cuphead: He’s far from me enough !

Mugman: No. You know the smoke always comes to me, whatever you do.

Cuphead: Ugh, fine. I’ll extinguish it.

He rubs it on the floor.

Cuphead: There, happy ?

Mugman: No. I’m SO ashamed of you !

Baroness von Bonbon : To be honest, I don’t want you to hang out with us anymore.

Cuphead frowns as she says that and gets up, an empty glass bottle in his hand.

Cuphead: Fine with me !

He throws it violently on the floor.

Cuphead: FUCK Y’ALL !

He lifts his middle finger to them, as he goes to his tent.

[Alternate idea: Try to make him lift the 2 middle fingers, as he has 4 fingers, to see if it works visually, and make him say :

Cuphead: Uuh, which finger is it again... Ok nvm, imagine there's only one - FUCK Y’ALL !]

Cala Maria: Geesh ! How are you dealing with this everyday, Mug ?

Mugman: It’s not that bad, usually. Sometimes with Grandpa. But with me, I feel like he retains himself.

[someone-always-cares]

chapter 5, page 79

first - previous - next

[image description: an sac webcomic page. "hold on, stay still for a second". rami says, as he puts his hand close to lewis, the angle making him almost look like he's cupping lewis's face, as lewis stares back at him with very wide shining eyes. he then rips off the duct tape off, lewis jolting and making a weird face, the panel borders shaking from the shock, before lewis makes a different face like a grimace or like a cat would make after smelling something foul right before slapping the shit out of it. "sorry. you alright?" rami asks, holding a swiss army knife down near lewis's bound arm, the knife already out. "i- what- i will be? not important. what the fuck are you doing here??". lewis replies. "saving you, apparently. and your friend- sorry i'll get to you in a minute" "no really, why the fuck are you here? how did you find us? why did you come?" lewis says. this last panel is entirely black, aside from the speech bubbles. "you're the one that sent me the location. Is your friend concussed? They're not responding to me. Or you. And are either of you injured in general?" rami responds. "What? I don't think either of us are. And no, she can't hear you, just wave or something. Uh, not with the knife, like a friendly not about to kill you wave, like-" lewis's rambling is interrupted. "It's pitch black in here? Waving won't help?" end id]

edit: a bit late but forgot to mention: next con i have is on june 1st, at animangapop cardiff! feel free to say hi if you're going!

i've always gone back and forth internally if rami's supervision gave him better night vision or not but i'm going to go with yes, it does. lewis also has better night vision on account of his eyes being cat-like. jade has normal human vision unfortunatly. on the bright side (pun not intended), she can make her fingernails glow.

also, thought on book cover? tried a few ideas and this is what i came up with

[id: concept a book cover. mostly sketched, styalised like a corkboard with various photos, pins, ect. the front side (right) has a piece of torn paper with the title and a couple stickers, one star and the other rami's logo. below is a drawing of rami surrounded by eyes. the spine has a strip of washi tape, blue with star patterns, with the title and a "1" at the bottom. the back (right) has a few photos of various panels from chapter 1 and two, a top corner of a missing poster, a business card for iris's ice cream shop, pins of mindforce's eye, and pride pins of the asexual and transgender flags, and lastly a scrap of notebook paper with eye doodles (like iris's eyes), rami's logo, titled "blah blah blah" and placeholder text of the bee movie script opening. red string is scattered around. end id]

note: the panels featured will be redrawn (for the cover. the actual pages will not be) and the one on the front is just a placeholder. not sure what i'll change it to, but something with both rami and lewis.

so, this is fashioned similar to the back of the flyer i use to advertise my comic at conventions, it allows me to show off multiple things, allows me to put in easter eggs and similar, and it feels right, yknow? it looks like the same board i use for story planning, concept art, to do lists, and trinkets for conventions, ect.

i look up and i see my corkboard covered in all that, so it feels like me. like i'm already pouring everything i have into my comic, why not this? also, red string murder board. thematically appropriate, and similar to the one omen has. expecially fitting since they appear end of chapter two bonus pages, which is where issue 1 of the physical book ends (not including bonus pages)

anyway would love to hear your thoughts!

more rambling under the cut

keep jumping from task to task. eg started planning the cover. jumped from irl task to task and then got back but then needed to figure out 100% how big the book is page-wise, because spine width

so i go do the bonus pages first but despite me collecting all the stuff for that before i keep finding more. because i have been making pages for 7 years and worked on it for longer with just having them as ocs roatating in my mind

and, yknow, i am not an organised person at the best of times. and over the past 10 years, not much has been the best of times. so you can imagine the chaos i've gone looking through. most of it isn't too recent, because turns out i had a lot more time working to draw when i was still in school. and also right after school. also 2020.and most of it is bad due to me improving my skill over time! which is good but still. going to have to carefully pick out what to use

also unrelated but i want to make one of the exclusive kickstarter print rewards foiled because i just love how they look. specifically i want to do one of tsunami and the foil (silver or holo) being the sparkles his water does because it'd look cool!

[prismaticpollen]

the things we do for friendship (2/?)

original characters, f/f, allergy

Wren is trying her best. She and Vul make a big discovery.

pssst! read the rest too!

part 1

part 3

><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><

“Vul?” Wren called. Nothing. Still no response from the bathroom.

Fine, she’d surprise her. Turning away from the locked door in front of her, she made a beeline for the closet on the other side of the room. She found what she was looking for in a matter of seconds, then retreated to the living room to wait.

Wren was halfway through a new sketch when Vul finally emerged. She’d put the same jumpsuit back on, but hadn’t bothered with her jacket, making it abundantly clear that however different they were, her people still got goosebumps in the cold. Perfect timing, then.

“Come here, let me show you something,” Wren urged her friend. “Sit down.”

Vul obliged. Wren leaned sideways, dropping her sketchbook and pens on the end table to her left, then shuffled over a little more to pull a large down comforter from where she’d hidden it between the table and the couch. Deftly unfolding the blanket, she draped it over Vul’s bare shoulders. “Cozy, right? This way we’re both comfortable.”

“Cozy,” Vul murmured, the word half swallowed by fabric. She was already burrowing into it, nuzzling her face into the fringe along its edges and tucking her legs underneath her. “It’s so soft!”

“Glad you like it,” Wren chuckled. She hadn’t been sure what kind of bedding Vul was used to, but she wasn’t about to let any guest of hers sleep on the couch with just her ratty old throw blankets, and Vul had refused to take her bed for the night when she’d offered. “You can keep it once we finish redoing your room if you want, it’s too warm for my taste so I don’t use it much anyway.”

Vul smiled, or at least she did what passed for smiling, too many teeth showing but still undoubtedly cheerful. She waved too, fingers fluttering in front of her face, ending the conversation on a high note.

Wren waved back, but Vul was already looking away, pulling the blanket tighter around herself to settle in for the night. That was fine, she could draw for a while longer and then turn in for bed herself. It was good seeing Vul at peace.

As unfamiliar as everything must have been for her, the alien had been nothing but bright and cheery since they’d met, even as she was visibly shaken by the circumstances which had brought them together. She couldn’t imagine being that brave herself, but Vul made it look easy. If all it took to make her feel safe was a spare quilt, making one available was the least she could do.

Smiling softly, Wren stood up and tiptoed around the couch, retrieving her pens and paper and relocating to the other side of the room. Flipping to a fresh page, she started testing out ideas, filling the sheet with different shapes in vivid blue and purple. A line here, a dot there, until the doodles converged to an image in her mind. This would be a hawk, wings outstretched, feathers like Vul’s eyes.

Later, she looked up, concentration broken by a small sound somewhere nearby. A whistle, or maybe a squeak, she wasn’t sure. When no obvious explanation presented itself, she set down her drawing, intent on checking the rest of the apartment. She wasn’t worried about a break-in, but the place had had issues with mice when she’d first moved in, and a recurrence of that fiasco was the last thing she needed just then.

Moving lightly on the balls of her feet, she’d only made it to the kitchen doorway when she heard the same sound again. Louder this time, right behind her. She spun around, too fast to stay quiet, readying herself to act. Then she realized: Vul was making the noise. The other girl sat stiffly with her face scrunched up, breathy gasps blending into one long high whine.

Was that normal for her? It couldn’t be, even if it was she had to check. Wren rushed back across the room, dropping to her knees in front of her roommate. “Vul? What’s happening, are you okay?”

Vul inhaled sharply, giving no indication of whether she’d heard the question.

“Hhaaah-ehhHHH!”

Her eyes fluttered open, then squeezed shut again. Her whole body trembled with urgency. Another gasp.

“HHIIHH-!”

The dam burst.

“Hhahtchuu! Tchu! Tchuu! Hitchoo! Hehtsch! Hehtchuu! Hh’schu! Hatschuu! Hih’tsch! Hhtssch! Hihhtsschuu! Itschieew! Tchuu! Tchuu! Ehtcheew! Hhah’TSCH! Hhtch’SCHUU! TSHU! HHTCHU! HH’CHEEW! HHAH’ETSCHU! TCHUU! HAHT’CHU! HETCHIEW! TCHUU! HHIHTSCHUU! HEHTCHEEW! TCHIEEWW! TCHU! ETSCHUU! HHAHTCHUUU!”

Vul scrubbed at her face with both hands, eyes streaming. Her breathing was fast and shallow, but she was breathing, and her lungs sounded clear. Hopefully that meant she’d be fine.

Eventually, she dropped her hands and looked up.

Not knowing what else to do, Wren stared at her. The other girl’s face was flushed, eyes still watery, but her posture had softened, and her mouth hung open in her usual almost-smile. Looking like that, she had to be okay. Nothing to worry about. Right?

Vul stared back. She stretched, tail lashing against the upholstery, then broke the silence. “Wren?” Confused, maybe defensive, but no hint of fear. She was fine.

Relieved, Wren stared a moment longer, then burst out laughing. “Seriously, you too?!”

“What?”

“I changed my mind, you’re not keeping that blanket. I think you’re allergic.”

[firestarwrites]

Hearts Unmasked pt. ii - (Jack Dawson x f!OC)

Fandom: Titanic

Warnings: None

Length: Short (603 words)

Pairing: Jack Dawson x f!OC

Eva made her way across the Titanic's deck, her skirt sweeping from side to side as she walked. Ever since the dance last night, she couldn't get the thought of Jack out of her head. Visions of him walking beside her appeared as if he was there. She brushed them off, thinking there was no way she had a crush on someone she just met.

She stopped in front of a door that read "Gallery". She didn't exactly know what kind of gallery to expect, but she entered anyways. Amongst the sea of people surrounding her, she thought she saw Jack. No, it couldn't be.

The pictures on the walls were of paintings from many famous artists. Eva looked up and saw a boat kind of like the Titanic. She smiled slightly and looked away from it, moving onto the next one. As she was approaching the third painting, she felt someone's hand on her shoulder. She slightly gasped and a pair of blue eyes met her.

"Jack?"

"Yes, I thought I saw you." he said. "I never caught your name last night..."

"Oh, I'm sorry, it's Eva." She replied, slightly blushing.

"Eva... what a beautiful name." Jack took her hand and led her to a corner of the room away from the people. He took out his sketchbook and flipped through the pages. Eva caught a glimpse of some of his drawings.

"You're a beautiful artist," she said, tapping on the paper.

Jack began to sketch and looked into her eyes. Then he looked back at the paper. "Thank you, I try my best to make a living off of my drawings."

Eva watched as the pencil lines on the paper became a face. Slowly, the face transformed to look very similar to hers.

"You drew me?" Eva asked him, lightly touching the paper.

"I always draw pretty faces," Jack smiled, looking at her. "How about we leave here?"

"Where did you have in mind?"

"I know a place."

Eva and Jack found themselves in Jack's room on the third class deck of the ship. She did not turn her nose up at the sight of his room, rather she found it very cozy. The ornate lamp and bedframe were beautifully crafted. Eva sat down at Jack's desk while he flopped onto his bed.

"So, how are you enjoying the voyage so far?" He asked her.

"It's been quite the experience." She said, laughing.

"I think so as well. Last night was very fun," he laughed with her.

Eva noticed him sit up on the bed as an invitation for her to join him.

"May I...?" she hesitantly asked him.

"Of course," he smiled, patting the bed beside him.

Eva stood up and gingerly walked to the other side of his bed. The third class beds were small in comparison to the second class ones. Eva picked up her skirt and sat down beside Jack. She never dreamed of being this close to him, let alone in this situation.

Jack placed an arm around her shoulders and stared at the wall across from the bed.

"I never thought this would happen, but yet this ship is called 'The Ship of Dreams'." Jack said.

Eva put her hand on his chest and let herself fall into his arm. She felt him put his other arm around her.

"I'm loving it though," she said softly.

Jack held her in a resting position as she breathed steadily. He made sure she was calm while rubbing light circles on her back.

"Good night Eva," he whispered.

"Good night Jack," she replied, drifting into a peaceful sleep.

Questions? Comments? Ask in the submission box!

Likes and Reblogs are greatly appreciated!

[haljathefangirlcat]

As far as I know I follow exactly two Italians and my dash is utterly FLOODED with Sanremo madness right now. xD it's fantastic I have zero clue what's going on but I kinda wanna look it up and watch

ASDFGHJKSDGHJKL I don't know if I should be like "welcome aboard, here's popcorn and a flower bouquet!" or apologize. XDDDD

Anyway, Sanremo is the colloquial name for the Festival della Canzone Italiana (Italian Song Festival) held every year in the city of Sanremo. It lasts for five nights, with a number of artists competing to win first place in between comedy sketches and serious monologues, and is one of the longest-running tv shows still on air. The winner is supposed to represent Italy during the Eurovision Song Contest (tho they can decline if they don't feel like going) but Sanremo actually predates and even inspired ESC. The English Wikipedia page on it has more info on it, ofc.

... however, I'm pretty sure it fails to mention how Sanremo isn't just about music or even about competition. It's about political, social, and cultural discourse. It's about memes and shitposting. It's about DRAMA.

Here's a few great posts (... plus mine. because it didn't show up in that year's tag for ages and I just wanted to show it to someone tbh) that can give you a better idea of what it's really like:

How it works this year (the overall structure doesn't actually change much from year to year, but some things definitely depend on which celebrity has been picked to organize and host. Amadeus has been the host since 2020, and this is his last year)

Sanremo: Music and Chaos

Sanremo: Just Chaos

"Why is the whole Italian peninsula complaining about being unable to go to sleep a decent hour?"

The Fantasanremo Madness

A few posts about The Incident in 2020

Sanremo 2021 gif moodboard

A bingo card for Sanremo 2023

A brief run-down of what actually ended up happening during Sanremo 2023 (including a mention of 2023's version of The Incident) (yes there is always an Incident) (... okay, actually there were two that year. What a time to be alive)

My own Sanremo 2023 post that was savagely censored by Tumblr until I removed the picture of that year's co-host, influencer Chiara Ferragni, wearing a dress with fake nipples on it (no, none of the year's Incidents were about that) (One did involve Ferragni's husband being lap-danced on, dragged on stage, and kissed by a male performer tho)

All the Sanremo 2023 after shows/dedicated specials on other shows/press conferences/social media presence stuff/general media circus (here as a "no seriously it may be ridiculous but it IS a big deal"/"did you think it was over with JUST the actual competition *evil laugh*" post)

... I do realize that might seem a lot. But trust me, it only represents a TINY percentage of the insanity that goes on both on stage and behind the scenes every time. XDD

[dunetevenn]

Hi everyone

A bit of a long-ish post today because I wanted to talk about my selfship/AU of the 2000 italian kid cartoon called «Monster Mash» (I already shared the sketch earlier on this blog but I finally finished it)

If you don't know the original movie (you can find it on youtube or on archives.org in better quality), here's the wikipedia page (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monster_Mash_(2000_film))

So it was one of my favorite childhood movie for years, and around halloween I got back to it, being focused on the movie for a few weeks (I still love it and watch it sometimes now). And it kinda revived my affection for one of the character (Drac), who was a huge crush of mine when I was a kid.

I created a quick self-insert for the original universe, but my mind quickly got interested in a few AUs. While I didn't do any art for the main universe or for my second AU, I was more invested into my Vampire Hunter storyline, which I'm about to tell you about in this post. If you just want the drawing it's okay, thanks for the attention

PS: pose base/inspiration by AdorkaStock "Frienemies" (https://www.deviantart.com/adorkastock/art/Frienemies-926193644)

So the context of this AU is the following:

There was always tension between monsters and humans, and one day a battle finally exploded, lasting for years. The monsters have been significantly numbered down by the humans, but they are still fighting. They're just staying hidden for the moment, plotting to get their revenge and imprisoned members free.

My character is named Swan (they/he). They're a monster hunter, recruted by the King (at least that's the version Swann is allowed to tell) to kill the last vampires in the kingdom. Amongst these vampires, their King, Drac, is the main target. Why vampires in particular? Well, strangely nobody really knows.

Swann is sent to track them down, which he does, and makes a first attempt to fight Drac. It failed, since the king of vampires was aware of a potential personal attack from the human king. But Swann doesn't give up. They're trying to get the closest possible to Drac, without his guards around. Once they manage to meet alone, Swann makes a suggestion to Drac: they cannot leave the vampires free here, but they can pretend to win the mission by helping them escape the kingdom and keeping the secret. Drac was surprised, but refused. He and the other monsters will stay and fight back. Swann tries to convince him, making it clear that they don't want to participate more in the massacre. Sadly, with the uncooperation of the vampire king, they have no other choice but keep fighting until one of them wins. However, this encounter changed something, making Drac more curious about this strange decision from someone sent to kill them, and already killed multiple monsters. They kept fighting, but it was less with the actual intention to end lives and more with a desperate attempt to make them go away. The big turn was when Swann saved Drac's life, from a guard of the human king trying to get recognition as a hero. Before the crucifix could hit his chest, Swann swooped in and attacked the guard. By seeing them, the guard was menacing to warn the king about the betrayal, but he was quickly shut down by the duo and sent to the other vampires.

Drac kept the incident secret from the other vampires, at Swann's demand. But this night, they actually became friends. And, this friendship evolved, hiding behind the fights, hiding from both humans and vampires, even from other monsters. Developping a secret romance, never claimed by words, but affirmated by the nights they starting spending intimately (ah yeah s3x plays a huge part in their love story).

And there you have it, a very quick explaination of what this Vampire Hunter story is. Hope it wasn't too badly written, because I know my writing sucks (that's why I never write fanfictions).

Anyway, if you read everything, I'm really happy that you took the time for it, and if you didn't, that's fine it's still nice that you stopped by even if it was just for the art.

[middleearthpixie]

Better Days ~ Chapter Eleven

Summary: Frerin Durin had the perfect life, until he found out his wife was cheating on him. Now, he’s navigating uncharted territory as an about-to-be divorced single dad. Dating is a mess, he’s dealing with the fallout where his kids are concerned, and really, he would just love a vacation away from all of it. 

Elena Madison is new to Sidleburg, and also navigating life as a newly single parent. The last thing she needed was for her daughter to come down sick, when she hasn’t even had time to unpack the moving boxes, never mind find a pediatrician. And the last thing she ever expected was to meet a man like Dr. Frerin Durin…

Neither Elena nor Frerin were looking for anything, but fate has a way of messing up even the best laid plans. However, both have been hurt and both aren't at all sure they trust themselves, never mind trusting someone else...

Pairings:  Modern!Frerin  x ofc Elena Madison

Characters: Frerin, Elena, Carol, Ashley, Vanessa, various other hospital staff and patients

Warnings: None

Rating: T

Word Count: 2.7k 

Tag List: @mrsdurin @i-did-not-mean-to @lathalea @linasofia @fizzyxcustard @legolasbadass @kibleedibleedoo @xxbyimm @arrthurpendragon @exhausted-humxn-being @rachel1959 @laurfilijames @sketch-and-write-lover @sherala007 @enchantzz @knittastically @notlostgnome @myselfandfantasy @medusas-hairband @guardianofrivendell @jotink78 @sorisooyaa @ruthoakenshield @frosticenow@quiall321 @dianakc @buckybarnes-thorin @glassgulls @evenstaredits @heilith @asgardianhobbit98 @albionscastle @absentmindeduniverse @way-too-addicted-to-fandoms @sazzlep @court-jobi @masterofhounds

If you’d like to be added (or removed) to the tag list, please just let me know!

Previous chapters can be found here. 

“Dr. Durin?”

Please let this be a dream. I just closed my fucking eyes.

“Dr. Durin?”

“Mmmm?”

“Dr. Durin!” Leigh’s voice rang with sharp impatience. 

Nope, not a dream. He fumbled his way up from a semi-thick muck of sleep to mutter, “Yeah?”

“You’re needed in the ER.”

“Why this time?”

“Eight year old in respiratory distress coming in.”

“Can’t Gillis take it?”

“She’s not on until eight.”

Frerin lifted his arm to squint at his watch. His eyes didn't want to focus at first, so he brought his wrist a little closer to make it easier on them. Ten to four in the morning. “Where is McElroy?”

“Out with the flu.”

“Shit. Okay,” he sat up, rubbing his eyes with one hand as he reached for his lab coat, draped over the foot of the sofa in his office with the other. “How much time do I have?”

“They’ll be here in five.”

He got to his feet with a groan, trying to ignore the dull ache in his lower back. “I should just switch specialties,” he muttered as he dragged on the coat. “I spend more time down there than I do up here anyway.”

“So talk to Reese.”

He glared at Leigh as he tugged his hot pink stethoscope from beneath the pillow to drape about his neck. “You’re not helping.”

“Was I supposed to be helping?”

“Yeah, actually.”

“Sorry, Dr. D.”

“Yeah, yeah…” He and Leigh parted ways at the desk and at the elevator bank, he pushed the down button. When the doors slid open, he stepped in, hit the button for the ER, then sank back against the wall with a yawn. 

The doors slid open into chaos, otherwise known as a normal Saturday night. Sidleburg was in the more western part of the state, but like everywhere else, it was growing more and more developed every week. It wouldn’t be long before Sidleburg Memorial would be every bit as busy as the hospitals in Newark, New Brunswick, and Trenton were. And with the same traumas the more urban areas saw as well. Gunshot injuries had increased by about thirty percent in the last six months alone, according to data reports. Little by little, even the rural areas had urban problems.

He came around front desk. “You paged me?” 

The young woman working there was unfamiliar to him and she offered up a shy smile. “Dr. Durin?”

“That’s me. Jamie, right?”

She nodded, tucking a wayward lock of dark brown hair behind her ear. She was the most recent hire and she looked almost embarrassed to have paged him. “I’m so sorry to bother you, Dr. Durin. But it’s a little kid.”

“It’s okay. That’s why I’m here.” He squinted at the board while reaching for the right forms to clip to a board. “Who else is on tonight?”

“Dr. McDonald, Dr. Walker, and Dr…. Cooper?”

“Coerper, but close enough.” He smiled. She looked nervous enough as it was and the ER was was always a baptism by fire for new clerks. “This your first night?”

She nodded. “Yeah… It’s been… interesting. It’s really busy down here tonight.”

“Yeah, I’ve noticed.” Red lights reflected off the walls as an ambulance pulled up and EMTs jumped out. “Carol, give me a hand?”

“As if you had to ask.” 

He smiled as she took the clipboard from him, then followed him to meet the EMTs. “What do you have?” he asked.

“Lilah Hernandez, eight years old in respiratory distress. Mom said she was diagnosed with asthma two months ago, but it’s been under control until tonight.”

“Okay. Let’s get a weight check first.” He smiled down at the little girl with wide dark eyes who looked utterly terrified as she struggled to breathe despite the oxygen mask over her nose and mouth. “I’m Dr. Durin, honey, and don’t worry, Mom’s right behind but until she gets here, I’m going to take good care of you, okay?”

Her dark eyes were wide and almost glassy with fear even as she nodded and managed a roughly whispered, “Okay.”

“Good.” He slipped the earpieces of his stethoscope in and slid the diaphragm beneath the fuzzy pink pajama top with unicorns on it. As she tried to grab his wrist, he said, “No, no, honey. Let me listen, okay? I have to hear your lungs.”

“No, don’t…”

“Shhh… It’s all right,” he told her, then glanced up at Carol. “She’s eight, so that would be roughly forty to seventy pounds and she’s tiny, so I’m guessing maybe fifty, fifty-five pounds, so that would be what? Twenty… five kilograms? Get me two-point-five of albuterol continuous nebs.”

“You got it.”

The doors banged open and a disheveled looking woman, also in her pajamas burst into the room. “Lilah? Oh, my God…Honey…”

Frerin looked up at Jamie, who stood with the woman. “This the mom?”

Jamie nodded. “That’s what she said, but she—”

“This is my daughter,” the woman interrupted. “Please… just help her!”

“We are.” He looked back at Jamie, who’d gone pale. “We’ve got it from here, Jamie.”

“Oh, thank god…” she breathed as she hurried out of the room.

The small fingers on his wrist tightened and he glanced down to see Lilah’s eyes had grown wider still and she breathed more heavily now, fogging the mask as she shook her head. Frerin looked over at Carol. “Take Mrs. Hernandez to the waiting area, Carol?”

Carol nodded and passed the clipboard to Vanessa. “Of course. Mrs. Hernandez, if you’d just come with me. We should let the doctor work.”

“No,” Mrs. Hernandez said, jerking back as Carol reached for her. “I want to stay with my baby!”

“Mrs. Hernandez, it’s better to wait outside.” Carol caught her by the elbow

“No!” The woman swung about and shoved Carol, who slammed back into the tray of equipment, knocking everything to the floor. 

“Call Security!” Frerin told Vanessa as the woman tried to grab Lilah off the gurney. He swung about to put himself between her and the little girl, gritting back a curse as the woman’s fingernails bit into the side of his neck and raked along his skin. 

“You give me back my daughter, now!”

The doors swung open and hospital security caught the woman to drag her off Frerin, and as they pulled her from the room, he called, “I need that albuterol.”

“Got it.” Vanessa wheeled the nebulizer over. “What was that all about?”

“I don’t know.” Frerin ignored the sting in his neck as he focused on Lilah, who had a bluish tint to her lips now. “You’re going to be okay, sweetheart, I promise.” 

He glanced up at Carol. “You okay?”

“I’m fine.” She picked up her clipboard and made the notations on the chart. “You?”

“I’ll live.” He slipped the mask up over Lilah’s nose and off her head, then held out the nebulizer. “I need you to put this in your mouth, okay? And then just try to breathe normally. Can you do that?”

“I—I think so…”

“Good.” He let her take it and as she put the mouthpiece in, he added, “That’s it. Just breathe like you normally do.”

She inhaled and promptly began coughing, so he took the mouthpiece back. “It’s okay, Lilah. Clear your lungs and we’ll try again.”

She nodded, then slid the mouthpiece back into her mouth. This time, her breathing remained relatively smooth and calm and her color began to return to normal. Frerin smiled, smoothing her hair away from her face. “Why don’t we see if your mother has calmed and little and we—”

“She’s not… not my mother…”

“What?”

Lilah shook her head, her eyes shimmering with tears. “She’s not… my… mother…”

“Okay. It’s okay, honey, you just concentrate on breathing.” He looked over at Carol. “Get SPD over here now.”

“I will. You should have that looked at,” she gestured to her neck, “it’s bleeding like crazy.”

“I’m fine. Get the police, okay?” He turned back to Lilah. “It’s okay, honey. You’re safe here now.”

Lilah nodded, leaning her head back, and closed her eyes. Frerin met Vanessa’s gaze. “Keep an eye on her, okay? I’ll be right back. Get me if anything changes.”

“I will.”

He straightened up, patted Lilah through the blanket, and then left the exam room to join Carol at the phone just outside the door. She glanced over, then reached to snag a gauze pad off the cart on the far side of the hallway and handed it to him. “I’m on with SPD and that is a mess. She did a number on you.”

He sighed softly, taking the gauze pad to tear into the wrapper, and pressed it to the damp spot on the side of his neck, wincing at the hot sting that burned through him with the pressure. 

“Yes, hi, this is Carol Kingsley in the ER at Sidleburg Memorial. We have an eight year old girl who might have been kidnaped. Security has the woman posing as her mother and we’ve got the child in our care right now.”

Frerin peered in through the doors to see Vanessa talking to Lilah. Carol broke through his reverie with a soft, “They’re sending someone over. A girl matching her description was reported missing just outside Hamilton a little over a week ago.” 

“Wonderful.” He looked back at Carol. “How bad is it, really?”

He drew away the gauze, which was more scarlet than white and Carol winced. “It’s pretty bad, Frerin. Come on, let me clean it for you. When was your last tetanus shot?”

“Six months ago. I got bitten by a four year old who thought he was a vampire.” He followed Carol into an unoccupied exam room. 

“Lucky you.”

“Yeah. But I’d rather deal with that than a full grown woman losing her grip on me.”

She moved to the counter, taking out fresh gauze and reached up to take a bottle of hydrogen peroxide from the cabinet. “So, what was the deal with the mystery woman you brought in today.”

“Elena?” He smiled, tugging his collar away as he leaned his head to the side. “She’s… it’s tough to explain. I’d say she was a woman I’m seeing but—ow!” He sucked in a sharp breath through his teeth at the sudden burn of peroxide on his neck.

“Sorry about that. It might sting a little.”

“Thanks.”

“Anyway, go on,” Carol pressed the gauze to his neck.

“I haven’t actually taken her out anywhere except for coffee this morning.”

“She looked familiar.”

“She and her daughter were in here last week. That’s how I met her.”

“Nice. Hitting on a patient’s mom?”

“I didn't hit on her. Not here, anyway. I bumped into her in the gym and asked for her number there.” He sucked in another breath as Carol swiped gently along his neck. “Tell me it’s stopped bleeding, at least.”

“I think so. Let me just bandage it for you.”

“Thanks.”

“So, are you seeing her again?” Carol moved to the counter once more, rummaging about in a drawer for a large bandage.

“Yeah. We’re going out to dinner tonight. I’m just hoping I don't fall asleep halfway through. I’m not twenty-five any more.”

“You’re hardly old, you know.”

“I know.” He smiled as she smoothed the bandage into place and then turned to meet her gaze. “But it’s taking its toll, the overnights.”

“Nah. You don't look tired.”

“I hide it well.”

“Dr. Durin?” Jamie poked her head around the door. “SPD is here to talk to you about the Hernandez girl.”

“Okay. I’ll be right there.”

Carol stepped back. “Go. I’ll go check on Lilah.”

He moved to the door and grabbed the handle. “I have to admit, this was not on my ER bingo card.”

“Hey,” Carol called as he stepped through the doorway, “ are the rumors true?”

He paused. “What rumors?”

“That you’re possibly opening a pediatric ER down here?”

He smiled. “They might be. I’ve been down here enough lately.”

“For what it’s worth, I think it’s a great idea.”

“Thanks, Carol. You realize, I’m going to pull into to work it with me if Reese gives it the go ahead.”

“It would be a nice change. Go, your detective is waiting for you.”

“So, what time is dinner?”

Elena smiled across the table at Alyssa. “Seven. Can I trust you to not burn the building down?”

“I think I can manage.” Alyssa got up to go to the fridge. “What are you wearing?”

“I don’t know. Jeans. A sweater.”

“For a date with Dr. Hottie?”

“Lyssa.”

“Mom.”

“Lyssa.”

“Mom.”  Alyssa grinned. “I can do this all day, you know.”

“Alyssa.”

“Okay. You win. For your date?” Alyssa tugged open the fridge door and reached in for the bottle of orange juice. “I mean, I know he’s been here for dinner and you met him in a crappy ER, of all places, but don’t you want to look hot for him?”

Elena rose from her chair to go to the Keurig. “I haven’t really thought about it. It’s been a long time since I was on a date. And I’m not so sure I can pull off hot.”

“You went out with that accountant last summer.”

“That was not a date. That was a mistake.”

“He was a nerd.”

“Alyssa.”

“What? He was!” Alyssa brought the OJ back to the table and sank in to her chair again. Pouring a glass of juice, she added, “And Dr. Durin—see, no Dr. Hottie this time—is not a nerd. Let’s finish breakfast and I’ll find you something to wear. And trust me, Mom, you can definitely pull off hot.”

Elena smiled. “Thank you, but I think you might be a little biased.”

“Well, yeah. You’re my mom. But really, you still have it, Mom. I wouldn’t lie to you about that.”

Elena wasn’t quite as certain, but it was nice her daughter thought so. Still.. “Lyssa, I can dress myself.”

“Yeah, but I’ll make you look good.”

Elena chuckled. “Fair enough.”

Her cell rang then and she picked it up, smiling as Frerin’s number came up. “Good morning, Dr. Durin.”

“Yeah, I wish,” he said, and she winced at the sheer exhaustion woven through his voice. “I hate to do this, Elena, but I’m going to have to cancel tonight. I’ve got to pull a double.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.” Disappoint swelled within her, but she fought to tamp it down. “What happened?”

“We’ve got two docs out with the flu and one on vacation. So, I’m between the ER and Pedes today, and strictly in the ER tonight until tomorrow morning. And I’ll be a zombie by then. And I hate to do it, like I said, but I’m in a bind and trying to get something off the ground here, so I have to earn myself a few brownie points somehow and this is it.”

“Well, that’s what happens when you’re in charge. And it’s okay. Dinner will wait.”

“Yeah, but I didn't want to. I was looking forward to seeing you tonight.”

“Me, too. But another time.”

“Definitely.” Voices chimed in behind him, and then he said, “Shit, I’ve got to go, Elena. I’ll give you a call when things slow down, okay?”

“I think you should probably take a nap instead. You’re in for a long shift.”

“Don’t remind me. I’ll talk to you.”

“Bye, Frerin.”

“Bye.”

She clicked off and sighed as she set down the phone. “He’s got to work tonight to cover for someone.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, Mom.”

“Yeah, me, too.” She stood up and picked up her coffee cup as well. “I’m going to go jump in the shower.”

“I’ll be here.”

Elena smiled as she turned and padded down the hallway to the bathroom, where her smile faded. She’d been looking forward to going out with Frerin, looked forward to what might happen once they were alone once more. To say she was disappointed didn't even begin to describe  how she felt.

But there was nothing she could do about it. And it was just as well, really. She still had plenty of quizzes that needed to be graded before school tomorrow. So instead of eating Thai food with an incredibly sexy pediatrician, she would do that instead. It really was for the best.

At least, that’s what she tried to tell herself.

But she was full of it and she knew it. 

[blackvahana]

Unknown Void(?) language, 17/6/24

Lev pointed out last night that, while I was seeing it English, the self-writing book I was working with was actually recording in the same language(?) that the book now at the bottom of the gas-giant-cum-abyssal-ocean was written in.

I don’t want to get too much into it because I’d rather stream it out of me before dissecting it so I don’t start trying to force it into beliefs and rules surrounding what I think it should be…. Guess I’ll just get myself to write another couple pages.

The writing is partly linear. Taking this sketch of one page for example:

All of it’s in black, red’s just to illustrate something later.

The major theme(s) of the page are way bigger than the rest of the writing, sort of leaving it a little like a word-cloud-meets-magnet-altering-iron-filings, the words of the entire things bend towards the main concept… Except they don’t? They do? They heavily seem like they do. It’s more like those realistic portraits that are contained in perfecty concentric circles, you just see a face because the width of the lines is changing in relation to the features of the person being depicted, but the intent to depict the face is there like the intent to depict the gravitation is here.

Various important “words” pop out as larger, though this kind of shows (me) that it’s a… Syllabic set of characters? Characters are a mix between syllables of energy and meaning strung between them, so to a human on this plane’s mind it would pobably be classified as letters/syllables, but the syllables are strung together into temporary characters. This is hard to explain because that may seem like arguing that English words are “temporary characters”, but the difference is that when strung together they energetically become one whole. Think of English letters forming words as bits of pipes screwed together to act as one pipe, characters like kanji as singular tubes of whole pipes, and this more like when you screw the “letters” together they magically merge into one pipe with no screws. Bad metaphor.

It's a very expression-based language. Think of the whole syllabic symbols as words things like how w-o-r-d becomes "werd" when spoken, a single sound, a single unified thing, because we don't speak "w-o-r-d", the act of writing here is much more like the act of speaking than writing. Anyway

Now to the red part. The symbols are written in a way that reminds me of musical notation with sharps and flats. A base character, like a primal sound, is written and then altered by strings of characters above and below it. It’s sort of like writing:

ing driving driving

I go car shops home

am using to to

… to say effectively “I’m going to the shops then coming home”, constructed more like “I am going (driving) to the shops then to (driving) home” with various parts of that conceptualisation implied or spoken in different parts.

Lighter more transient alterations are on top, these are very solar based in my head, then heavier more stagnant, grounding things are on the bottom which are lunar based, though I think it might be more day-night, or light-dark based… I’d have to figure out which person incarnated into me is talking about this though and where it comes from because for me personally sun is grounded, heavy, and stagnant and then the Moon is transient and light.

Actually, I’ve been theorising that this is some version of Void Fae/Shadow Person type talking for. obvious reasons, but if this was more so Light Void + Dark Void = Void that would make more sense. Still, though, I can’t help but notice I smell Grey on it, I guess there’s nothing saying he didn’t learn this from someone and add it to his menagerie of languages.

I am wondering if maybe he took a Void language and then repurposed it slightly in order to call on the Void, which…. Hmm. Possibly. I’ll need to gather selves and investigate.

There is definitely a spoken version of this, I dug it up in muscle memory and oh boy am I not speaking it outside religious and ritual and magical stuff. It’s vibratory, very heavy and intense in, well, vibration. That’s part of why I’m like “Grey, where are you with regards to this..” because. Dragon Gets His Hand On Void’s Open Secrets vibes. Anyway. It's growl-y, it's heavy, it's watery

It’s also very sigil-esque not visually but in terms of magic and manifestation, and sigils are already tied to the Void. It reminds me of a distant great great aunt or something of the “Take an intent, turn it into a sentence, reduce it to letters, then sigilise it" type of sigils, in the way that a younger generation may start trying to reinvent disco while calling it something else without realising its the same kind of thing. In this case though, it's more like the Void expressing itself in parts like this and forming sigil-esque expressions that are only being labelled sigil-esque because people on this plane generally only know how to do what it does through sigils.

[i-got-bored]

Hey! List 5 things that make you happy, then put this in the ask box for the last 10 people who reblogged something from you! Get to know your mutuals and followers. Would love to know you more :) Here's mine:

1. Good Omens (obviously) 2. Reading mystery and thrillers 3. Rainy days 4. My friends and mutuals 5. Watching people play board games online -Ren

Heyy! not rly a spreader of chainmail stuff, and alsoo dont believe i have enough people interested in my page to send to, but i'll put them down anyway haha bcs why not

also Good Omens

Doctor Who, specifically 10

drawing messy sketches late at night

sleeping

my friends

[karmawonders]

Ah shit, here we are again.

Istg I will get back to writing my usual content but I am on a doodling spree rn forgive me

Anyway

🌸Teaching Myself To draw cuz Fuck the AI Art Bros🌸 #2

From the last post, I received a sketch book as a gift outta the blue. /gotta love manifestation/ And ofc I used that to my full advantage.

For the first page, I decided to do a full body as a comparison of my progress.

As u can see, its not great, but not terrible. Instead of getting down to practicing individual bits and pieces, I decided to do another full body, taking in consideration the notes I wrote after finishing the first drawing.

And this time.....

It looks a hell of a lot better! I even kinda figured out toe placements on feet djdjs.

Comparing it to the first time I tried drawing a person, I can actually see the improvement!

Highkey proud ngl

Anyway. After that I tried practicing more dynamic poses.

While they aren't as clean as the one above, I do think I'm starting to get a grasp of Limb lengths? Not perfect ofc but I'm starting to get there.

You can see that I went on a whole rampage on hands, and I plan on practicing them more!

I did one more doodle page, this time theorizing on collarbones and I THINK I figured out the basic shape of a hand? I stared at mine for a good while and the one above looks pretty nice compared to the OG stick fingers.

/yes, I got distracted and decided to doodle a mermaid and an inkling from splattoon/ yes, i tried drawing ruffles and clothes and yes they are not great /

Overall I'm really proud of the progress I've made the past few days of looking at my art critically with the intent to improve instead of moping about. I'm actually kinda excited to see how this develops.

Dead ass during the night I was like "yo, if I keep practicing maybe I could make my own fanart AND fanfiction'

I dunno if any mortal should be able to wield that much power tho.

Anywell, I am gonna keep going at it and see where this leads.