#definitely want to draw more stuff from the book so look forwards to that i guess👀

[kald-dal-art]

Finished reading The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Really liked it, hoping the movie lives up to the hype.

So had to just get a drawing of best body Sejanus out there and how I imagined him in the books. He was also my fave and I can’t wait to get my heart broken by him in the cinema in November 🥲

[astonmartinii]

a spoonful of sugar | oscar piastri social media au

pairing: oscar piastri x fem chef!reader

cheffing it up all over the calendar

MASTERLIST | TIPS

yourusername

liked by landonorris, oscarpiastri and 124,509 others

tagged: oscarpiastri

yourusername: WOAH WHAT IT'S OSCAR'S HOME RACE WEEK? that mean's it's time to whack out the aussie cook book mama piastri got me for christmas and man this fish has a cool name. BARRAMUNDI is a fish very commonly used in aussie cuisine (real ones know it from masterchef australia). so here i've pan seared it with some herbs and some lemons and take it from me it SLAPS, but you know what i hope slaps more? oscar this weekend... LET'S GO BABY

[as always this recipe is on my website and will be in my 2024 f1 calendar recipe book coming out soon]

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user1: FAVES OMG PARENTS

user2: my favourite thing is where i read intently all of y/n's recipe and continue to make pot noodles

yourusername: pot noodles are good i can't even be mad

oscarpiastri: can confirm it did in fact SLAP

yourusername: oh wow piastri stamp of approval that's basically a michelin star

oscarpiastri: tbf i would eat a roll of paper towels if it was you who gave it to me

yourusername: okay.... I'LL TAKE IT

user3: can we please study these people cause why is saying you'd eat paper towels is the pinnacle of romance

user4: i NEED the recipe book STAT

landonorris: i was on board with this whole cooking thing but FISH IS WHERE I DRAW THE LINE

yourusername: oh boy we got a BABY ON THE LINE

landonorris: i'm allowed to like what i like my MUM said so

yourusername: bro is an elite athlete and exclusively eats chicken nuggies

landonorris: @oscarpiastri tell your girlfriend to stop bullying me

oscarpiastri: i'm on her side buddy maybe explore the culinary world

landonorris: that's it i'm going to HR

yourusername: try it girly the mclaren HR team LOVE my food

user5: the dynamics since oscar and y/n got comfortable in the sport are my favourite things

oscarpiastri

liked by logansargeant, landonorris and 793,288 others

tagged: yourusername

oscarpiastri: first time on the podium at my home race and the feeling is unreal. so thankful to have my family and love of my life around me, lets keep building on this !!

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user7: THANK THE LORD MCLAREN KEPT THEIR SHIT TOGETHER IN 2024 OSCAR FIRST WIN COMING IN FAST

yourusername: I AM TOTALLY FINE ABOUT THIS AND I AM NOT SOBBING UNCONTROLLABLY BECAUSE I AM SO FUCKING PROUD OF YOU AT ALL TIMES I LOVE YOU SO MUCH

oscarpiastri: I LOVE YOU TOO SO MUCH AND I LOVE SHARING THIS WITH YOU AND SEEING THE WORLD WITH YOU AND REACHING OUR DREAMS TOGETHER

user8: are they good?

logansargeant: from the man currently waiting for them to go to dinner and can hear them yelling this stuff to each other... no they are not okay and i don't think they ever have been

yourusername: LOGIE BEAR I AM SORRY I CANNOT CONTAIN MY LOVE FOR OSCAR

oscarpiastri: jealous bitches gonna be bitter

logansargeant: ??? excuse me

oscarpiastri: i'm sorry i got excited... love you logan (just not as much as y/n)

user9: this comment section is once again making me want to sneak into an F1 after party :(

user10: they're just going to dinner they've not even started drinking yet 😭

landonorris: i am proud of you mate - why is y/n dancing around in the kitchen in an apron that says "this chef FUCKS"

yourusername: fashion. (it says oscar piastri in small print right under that)

landonorris: i didn't need to know that

oscarpiastri: let her dance it makes the food taste even better

landonorris: there's definitely no fish right?

yourusername: no fish by order of the fussy child

landonorris: bullying online and in person @maxverstappen1 @charles_leclerc @logansargeant STEP IN

maxverstappen1: eh i'm good i'm looking forward to dinner

charles_leclerc: you're on your own with this one lando

logansargeant: i've learnt not to cross y/n

user11: the piastris invited lando, logan and the rest of the podium? i am soft

yourusername

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yourusername: a big post podium celebration dinner at the piastri house to celebrate oscar's home podium. first off, super duper proud. second, since it was a strictly no fish evening, i decided to go for classic aussie meat pies and grilled kangaroo LOL but there was only clean plates at the end so i'll defo consider adding it to the recipe book

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user12: i am getting a sugar rush this is so sweet

logansargeant: thank you for having me, a solid 9/10 - one point docked because kangaroos are cute

yourusername: wait until you run into one on a cold, wet evening

oscarpiastri: they are actually very scary and have a stealing problem

yourusername: tbf i think we all have a stealing problem

oscarpiastri: you definietly do ... cause you stole my heart

logansargeant: EW NOT ON MY COMMENT THREAD

user13: i'm so lonely

maxverstappen1: i definitely did not think i was going to eat kangaroo this week but here we are

yourusername: did you like it?

maxverstappen1: i was shocked at how much i did

oscarpiastri: babe get that on the review cover of the recipe book this guy got three championships that has to mean something

yourusername: good idea i'm on it

maxverstappen1: ???

landonorris: you fed me kanga and roo from winnie the pooh? Y/N YOU FED ME KANGA AND ROO FROM WINNIE THE POOH?

yourusername: you eat chicken all the time and you don't feel sorry for chicken little

oscarpiastri: she ate you up there PUN INTENDED

landonorris: i've learnt my lesson i'm giving up here

charles_leclerc: i for one had a blast and will be asking for y/n to cater my birthday party

oscarpiastri: FOR A PRICE

charles_leclerc: you her guard dog or something?

oscarpiastri: duh? have you seen her?

yourusername: i would love to (idk monagasque cuisine though so give me notice)

yourusername

liked by danielricciardo, landonorris and 152,339 others

tagged: oscarpiastri, logansargeant

yourusername: IMOLA, IMOLA MY HEART LIVES IN ITALIA AND MY STOMACH LIVES WITH ITALIAN FOOD. for real. the track is cute and whatnot but the real star is the pasta, the pizza, the gelato but most importantly the PASTA. here is two dishes that'll feature in the imola chapter: a burrata dish and a ragu !! oscar (and lando) certified so you know it's good, oscar even helped so it's defo beginner friendly!!

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user17: is it a collective f1 driver experience to be ass at cooking

danielricciardo: yes

maxverstappen1: yes

oscarpiastri: yes

landonorris: yes

charles_leclerc: YES

oscarpiastri: if i'm slow this weekend it's because i couldn't stop eating the ragu sorry mclaren

yourusername: i made sure no gelato until sunday so please don't take me out back and shoot me over giving him pasta

mclarenf1: bring some pasta for social media admin and no one has to know

yourusername: deal

landonorris: this is a public instagram comment section

charles_leclerc: why is mine always so darn crunchy

yourusername: inpatient, common amongst you drivers. oscar was once so impatient when boiling an egg he got it out and it was just watery egg

oscarpiastri: you said you wouldn't tell anyone :(

yourusername: no babe i'm proud !!! you've come so far

oscarpiastri: it's true i made my own omelette the other day :)

yourusername: and it was yummy

oscarpiastri: and it was yummy :)

user18: the positive affirmations in this relationship really keep me going

yourusername: he IS the MOST beautiful racer in all of the lands

oscarpiastri: she IS the PRETTIEST chef in all of the kitchens

oscarpiastri

liked by alexalbon, yourusername and 775,431 others

tagged: yourusername

oscarpiastri: not the race we wanted in spain, but we're still in good spirits and in the conversation at the top of the standings! also helps that when you get taken out of the race your girlfriend shovels the BEST paella ever into your mouth until you finally smile

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user19: bro got a girlfriend and personal chef all in one

yourusername: food is my love language and when babe gets twatted into the barriers by SOMEONE i will personally feed him some of his favourite food

user20: she's holding back

yourusername: PR said i couldn't say anything...

oscarpiastri: i love youuuuuuuuu and i love your paella i think it's laced with crack

logansargeant: @fia GET HIS ASS

yourusername: LOGIE BEAR?

logansargeant: i'm sorry, we're pretty desperate for the p7 here at williams

yourusername: i respect that

oscarpiastri: Y/N????

yourusername: MORE PAELLA

carlossainz55: big respect for the paella, definitely looks authentic

yourusername: OBVIOUSLY IT'S AUTHENTIC DO YOU THINK MY QUALIFICATIONS ARE A JOKE

yourusername: lol sorry thank you actually SPANISH F1 DRIVER APPROVED PAELLA

oscarpiastri: @fernandoalo_oficial can we get another good review please and thank you

fernandoalo_oficial: looks good, need a taste to be sure

yourusername: it's coming your way (please return the tupperware tho please)

mclarenf1: you'll come back stronger oscar 💪

oscarpiastri: fuelled by love and paella

yourusername: fuelled by VENOM AND THE WILL TO WIN AND CRUSH THE COMPETITION

oscarpiastri: and that 🫶

note: here's a short and sweet one that MAY return to finish out this fictional season ... i also just love this kind of set up for an imagine. it's a lil short i know but the CHRISTMAS CRAFTS ARE COMING IN FAST AND THE CROSS STITCH CHRISTMAS CARDS ARE SLAYING THE HOUSE DOWN

[punkshort]

somewhere to run | 2. book club

Pairing: sheriff!Joel x f!reader

Chapter Summary: An incident at the diner causes you to get shaken up, and Joel is there to help.

Chapter Warnings: language, slow burn, mutual pining, PTSD type symptoms, flirting, jealousy, attempted robbery, reader gets mildly injured

WC: 6K

Series Masterlist

"So you see why it's so important you keep on top of your oil changes, yeah?" Mr. Connor finished saying as you set down his plate of waffles and sausage. You nodded enthusiastically while you filled up his coffee.

"I was never really any good at car stuff," you admitted, but he shook his head.

"If you take care of it, that car'll last you five more years and save you boatloads of money," he told you, wagging his finger. "You come by my shop any time and I'll take a look at that beater you're drivin', won't rip you off, either."

You laughed as you heard the bells above the door ring and Maria greet the next customer.

"I'll hold you to it," you said with a wink before turning to put the coffee back on the burner.

Out of the corner of your eye, you saw the familiar outline of a man settle into Joel's usual seat at the counter, and you felt the butterflies stir up in your stomach. You glanced up to make sure there wasn't any food getting cold in the window before pulling out your notepad and walking over. As you approached, you mentally braced yourself for the onslaught of his cologne, but as you got closer, you couldn't smell it. In fact, all you could smell was soap and maybe a faint hint of oil from his gun.

When you paused in front of him, the realization dawning on you, he glanced up from the menu with a smirk. A slow smile spread across your face when you looked him in the eye.

"Better?" was all he said, and you couldn't stop the giggle from escaping your lips.

"You didn't have to do that for me," you said, suddenly feeling bashful and looking down at your blank notepad.

"I know, but I wanted to," he said, leaning back and closing the menu. He didn't even know why he looked at it anymore, he knew it by heart already. "Thought maybe it'd make you stick around long enough for me to get to know you better."

You definitely felt your cheeks flare at that comment, and it must have been visible because Joel just grinned, clearly very pleased with himself.

"Where are you from?" he asked, determined to try to make some more progress with you today.

"Pennsylvania," you said, finally looking back up at him with a smile as you tapped your pen on the pad.

"Northerner," he said with feigned disgust. "And what brought you all the way to Texas?"

"The incredible job opportunity, isn't it obvious?" you said, and he laughed. A real laugh, one you hadn't heard before, and it did something to you. Uh oh.

"You're funny," Joel said, almost as if he were saying it to himself. You grinned and decided to steer the conversation in a different direction: away from you.

"What about you? Have you lived here your whole life?"

"Born and raised," Joel said with a nod. "Our pop used to be the town sheriff, before he passed 'bout ten years back or so."

"So, you followed in your father's footsteps?" you asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Suppose I did," he told you, leaning forward. "But can I tell you a secret?"

You hummed and leaned forward as well, trying to bite back your smirk.

"Kinda wishin' now I was the one who bought this place instead of my brother," he said quietly and so close to your ear that it sent a shiver down your spine.

Still leaning in, you dropped your voice to match his and said "then who would stop those teenagers from drawing phallic images on street signs?"

He laughed again, the same deep, throaty laugh as before, and you felt your stomach clench at the sound.

"You heard that, huh?" he asked, smiling and leaning back. You shrugged.

"Lee isn't as quiet as he thinks," you told him. You wanted to say you had to learn early on to eavesdrop, that listening and anticipating danger became second nature to you, but you caught yourself.

"Howdy, brother," you heard Tommy's voice boom from somewhere behind you. You took the opportunity to sneak away and check on your other customers while they talked, but you made sure to set Joel up with coffee before heading towards the other end of the counter, his eyes trailing after you and staring a moment too long on your bare legs.

"You givin' her the business?" Tommy asked, nodding in your direction, and Joel nearly choked on his coffee. Tommy raised his eyebrows.

"She's, uh... she's a nice girl," Joel finally managed to get out after wiping his mouth with a napkin.

"He's got the hots for her," Betty whispered to Tommy as she ambled by. Joel cleared his throat loudly and gave her a stern look, but she just laughed and kept walking.

"Oh, Joel, I'm beggin' you, don't screw this up for me. She's a real good waitress, I don't wanna lose her - "

"Would you keep it down?" Joel whispered, his eyes darting around to make sure you weren't within earshot. "I ain't gonna screw anythin' up for anyone, don't worry. She's just... nice."

"'Nice'," Tommy repeated, clearly not buying it. He was about to say more, but Joel straightened up in his seat and averted his gaze, trying to wordlessly warn him you were heading over.

"Sorry to interrupt. Are you ready, Joel?" you asked him, your pen and paper in hand. He looked up at you and it was hard to fight the goofy look on his face now that you didn't regard him with such disdain.

"Yeah, sure. Let's put this guy to work, huh?" Joel said, pointing to Tommy, and you giggled. Behind you, Tommy rolled his eyes. Nice.

Joel told himself he was only allowed to think about you on his walk back to the station after lunch. You had told Betty you weren't interested in dating anybody at the moment, but he could wait. He wondered if he could change your mind, if he could make you come around to the idea of being with him, or at least give him a chance. You definitely seemed much warmer towards him today. He must have been wrong yesterday, you really must be sensitive to smells if all it took was for him to stop using that obnoxious cologne Sarah got him that he felt too guilty to throw away.

"Hey boss, how was lunch?" asked Bobby, the town's deputy and Joel's right hand man.

"Good. Anythin' goin' on here?" Joel asked, shrugging off his blazer and hanging it on the coat rack outside his office.

"Not much. I was 'bout to let Ollie outta the drunk tank. His wife was callin', askin' after him," Bobby said before rising to his feet with a groan. Although the man was ten years younger than Joel, his joints seemed to be ten years older.

Joel glanced at the time on his watch with a nod.

"Yeah, go ahead. Third time this month, though. Next time it happens, I'm keepin' him longer."

"Alrighty," Bobby said over his shoulder as he pulled the keys from his pocket and headed back towards lockup.

Joel sighed and began flipping through the papers littering his desk before giving up and leaning back in his chair to stare out the front window, watching people as they walked past. Before he could stop himself, his mind had already wandered back to thoughts of you, and it took him five whole minutes and Ollie's hungover ramblings to snap him out of it.

Maybe Sarah would want to get pizza for dinner.

It was nearly seven at night as you made your way back home from work, your feet aching and your head throbbing. At the very least, it was a cool, summer night. The breeze was enjoyable and the sun was still peeking out just enough to keep your skin pleasantly warm. All you could think about was getting home and running a bath to soak your sore muscles. It had been a long time since you held a job, let alone a job that kept you as active as this one.

Patrick didn't like the idea of you working. When he first suggested you quit your job and stay at home, you thought it was sweet. You took it to mean he wanted to provide for you so you could relax and be a homemaker, maybe even a mom one day. But after a few months, you quickly realized he just didn't want you around other people, or more specifically, other men. Without even knowing it, you trapped yourself at home without a lifeline, and it was exactly what he wanted.

Even though you were sore now, you felt good. You were taking care of yourself. Providing for yourself. And you never felt more proud.

You were juggling your keys, trying to find the right one that opened the door to the sidewalk, when you heard a familiar voice exit the pizza place.

"Well, look who it is," you heard Joel say, and you let the keys dangle at your side as you turned around with a smile.

"Evening, Joel," you replied, your eyes quickly drifting down his body. It was the first time you had seen him in casual clothes. Every other time you ran into him, he was in his work uniform, which usually consisted of some type of suit. But tonight, he was wearing dark blue jeans and a beige button up shirt with short sleeves. As he strolled over to you, balancing a pizza box in his hand, your eyes were immediately drawn to the way the muscles in his arms strained against the fabric of the shirt, making your mouth go dry.

"Tommy finally let you leave, huh?" he joked, and you had to remind yourself to laugh, your mind still too fixated on the way he looked in that shirt.

"Dad?" you heard a girl's voice call behind him, and you both turned your attention towards the voice. You remembered your brief interaction at the pharmacy and realized that she must be Sarah. Her eyes flickered from you to Joel, then back to you, clearly waiting for Joel to introduce you, but he seemed frozen in place. So, you stretched out your arm and introduced yourself with a smile, which she reciprocated.

"You look familiar," she said, tilting her head to the side the same way her dad did.

"I think I saw you at the pharmacy a couple days ago," you reminded her, and she snapped her fingers.

"That's what it is," she said, giving you another smile. "Are you working for Uncle Tommy?" she asked, looking at Joel again, who was still standing there, unmoving, watching the two of you interact. She frowned slightly at him, picking up on his strange reaction as well, before giving you her attention again.

"Yeah, at the diner. He hired me earlier this week, brand new," you told her, rocking back and forth on the balls of your feet. Joel's silence was deafening at this point and starting to make you uncomfortable, so you held up your keys and pointed to the door.

"I won't keep you guys. It was great to meet you, Sarah," you said with a wave, but before you could turn towards the door, she stopped you.

"Why don't you join us?" she asked, shooting Joel a mischievous look as if she finally realized the reason for his behavior.

"Oh, no, that's so nice of you, but I'm just gonna jump in the bath and go to bed, it's been a long day," you replied. Joel's body stiffened next to you when you announced your plans.

Finally, he managed to clear his throat and speak.

"We'd love to have you join us, we were just gonna grab a picnic table out back," he said, and you swore his cheeks looked a little pinker than usual.

You were struggling to find another polite way to turn down their offer when he added "c'mon, why don't you lemme serve you for a change?"

Sarah smiled as she watched the two of you. She couldn't wait to tease her dad about it in the car later.

"Alright," you said slowly, lowering your keys once again. Joel's face broke out in a huge grin before leading you and Sarah down the short alley to the small courtyard behind the building, where there were a few picnic tables and string lights draped overhead.

"Are you sure I'm not intruding?" you asked again, and they both vehemently shook their heads.

"No way," Sarah said, licking the sauce off her fingers after she picked up her piece from the box. "It's nice to have another girl around for a change."

"Sarah," Joel said warningly under his breath.

"I just mean it's nice to hear about something else other than work and football," she said to him with a grin, and he rolled his eyes, choosing to sit on your side of the table instead of hers.

"So, you live above the pizza place? That seems pretty cool. Pizza whenever you want," she said, covering her mouth as she spoke. You swallowed your food before responding.

"Yeah, it is pretty convenient. And they actually have good pizza," you said. "I think I'm finally getting used to the smell."

Joel's knee accidentally knock against yours under the table and you had to fight the urge to jump away, the contact startling you.

Sarah asked the same questions everyone in this small town inevitably asked you when you first met: where are you from and why are you here? The first question was easy, the second one always gave you pause. It wasn't until Sarah asked that Joel suddenly realized you never really answered him when he asked the same question earlier that day, so he stopped chewing to pay attention.

"Just looking for a change," you said with a shrug, taking another bite of pizza. Sarah considered your answer for a moment before following up.

"Have you ever been here before?"

"Nope."

"So you just got in your car and ... drove?"

"Kind of," you said with a nervous laugh. Joel frowned slightly.

"That's so cool," Sarah said, a smile stretching across her face. "Dad, doesn't that sound so cool?"

"Yeah," he said with a nod, finally joining the conversation. "Do you got family down south or anythin'?"

"Uh, no," you said, shaking your head. "Just always heard it was nice down here so I thought I would see for myself."

"You think you're here for good, then?" he asked, his voice a little more hopeful than he wanted to come across.

"That's the plan," you said to him with a smile.

"Do you have a boyfriend?" Sarah asked out of the blue, and your eyes darted back to her in surprise.

"No," you replied slowly, heat creeping up your neck and guilt dancing in the back of your head while Joel hid his grin behind his pizza. "Do you?" you deflected, raising your eyebrows at her with a smirk, and she giggled, shaking her head.

"You better not," Joel said, and the two of you laughed.

Over the rest of the hour, you listened to Joel and Sarah crack jokes and argue over what movie they would end up watching later that night and you felt the smile slowly begin to slip from your face as you came to the sobering realization that the type of dynamic they had, one that was so obviously built on love and trust, was something you never truly experienced before. It wasn't just something you saw in the movies or read in books. People in the real world actually got to experience it, and you couldn't help but feel a little jealous. Why not you? What did you ever do to receive the type of life you got?

After parting ways and thanking them over and over for dinner, you finally headed upstairs and collapsed on your small sofa. You untucked your work shirt and unzipped your skirt, but that was as far as you got, exhaustion winning the fight.

You closed your eyes and wished you had the energy to get up and run a bath, but you just couldn't bring yourself to do it yet. Instead, you let your mind wander, imagining a life where you could call out to someone who cared for you in the other room and ask them to run the water. Maybe they would surprise you and light a few candles and mix in some soothing bubble bath. You knew that would never happen. You could never let yourself be honest enough with anybody to allow them into your life, but it didn't stop you from wishing for it, anyway. And right before you drifted off to sleep, you imagined that certain somebody had dark brown eyes and soft curls on the top of his head that you were itching to run your fingers through.

As hard as you tried to keep to yourself, the town was very small, and eventually you found it was nearly impossible to keep from making connections with people. Whether it was through work at the diner or striking up a conversation with someone at the store, you were quickly becoming interwoven in the lives of the people who graciously accepted you as one of their own.

You were particularly becoming fast friends with the girl who worked the register at the pizzeria below your apartment. Her name was Hailey and she was a couple years younger than you, but you had a lot in common, one of which was a shared taste in the same movies and books, so you were excited when she invited you to join a book club she and a couple other women in town started. As much as you enjoyed talking about books, you found you also very much enjoyed listening to all the town gossip that inevitably came out after everyone had their first glass of wine.

"So, Nikki, did I hear Sam asked you out on a date?" an older woman named Martha asked. Nikki blushed when the group turned to her, some women poking her in the side and others murmuring excitedly under their breath.

"Yeah, but it's not a big deal," Nikki said, flicking her long, dark hair over her shoulder. She looked to be a little older than you were but it was hard to guess her age.

"Not back in town for two weeks and she's already got a date," Hailey said, rolling her eyes next to you playfully. "Some girls got all the luck."

"Oh, stop it," she chided with a smirk, then paused as if she were rethinking her next statement before blurting out "kind of wish someone else woulda asked me out instead."

That got the whole group's attention, even your own, and you barely had any idea who most of these people were. But you supposed any amount of gossip paired with alcohol is good gossip.

"Oh, please, you don't gotta say it, we all know who you've been chasin' after all these years," another woman chimed in with a giggle. Fortunately, you weren't the only person in the dark.

"Who?" Hailey asked, leaning forward eagerly.

"Joel, obviously," the other woman replied, and while the rest of the group groaned, everyone tossing in their two cents and offering up their favorite things about him, you remained frozen in your chair, blood running cold.

"Lord, he came into school last week to pick up Sarah, and the way his ass looked in those jeans..."

"Did I ever tell you about the time I nearly slipped on the ice and he caught me? Had to go to confession the next day..."

"... and I swear, I've considered committing a crime just so he would throw those handcuffs on me..."

"I don't know how that man has been single for so long..."

Part of you wanted to laugh at some of the things the women were saying about Joel, but the other part of you felt hot and angry. You wanted to scream shut up, don't think about him like that, don't even look at him. And through your alcoholic haze, you realized you were jealous. Jealous of all of these women, young and old, barking out comments about the town sheriff you had no business feeling jealous over.

The next day when he came into the diner for lunch, your head was still swirling with all of the comments the women in town made the day before. Distracted, you dropped your pen and pad on the ground as you made your way over to greet him, cursing under your breath.

Joel grinned when you finally approached, looking every bit as frazzled as you felt.

"Tough day?"

"Huh? Oh," you said nervously, tucking your hair behind your ear and shaking your head. "N-no, not really. Well, maybe - shit," you said when you knocked over a box of straws with your fidgeting.

Joel laughed and leaned back in his chair.

"What's got you all worked up?" he asked, and you felt your cheeks flush with embarrassment.

"Nothing," you said, shaking your head again, trying to focus. "What can I get for you?"

"Nuh uh, darlin', not so fast," he said with a tsk, and you sighed. "What's goin' on? You can tell me, y'know. I am a man of the law."

He meant it to be playful, but with your history, it had the opposite effect. You winced and swallowed the lump in your throat, and trying not to make matters worse, you caved.

"I went to a book club last night," you mumbled, and he raised his eyebrows.

"Book club, huh? Sounds like fun," he said, watching you carefully. "Maybe had a little too much fun?"

You finally dragged your gaze up to meet his and saw he was grinning at you, and you managed to force out a small laugh.

"Yeah, you could say that," you said, hoping that would be enough, but he wouldn't let it go.

"Can you get me a coffee? Then when I get back from the restroom, I wanna hear all 'bout your little book club," he said with a wink, then stood from his chair and turned around, heading towards the bathrooms while your gaze landed on his ass. It didn't look too bad in dress pants, either.

You tried to steady your breathing while you flipped over a clean mug and filled it with coffee, your mind racing and wondering what lies you could come up with to prevent telling him the reason you were so distracted.

Lost in thought with your head down, you didn't even notice when another customer took a seat at the counter until the man cleared his throat. You glanced up and apologized before bending down to grab another mug and set it down in front of the stranger.

You were pouring his coffee and telling him about the specials, your eyes glued to the counter, when he slid the barrel of a pistol across the table and into your line of sight. You froze, your hands gripping the coffee pot fiercely as you broke out into a cold sweat. You flicked your eyes back up to him. He didn't appear to be much older than you. He had his unkept hair hidden underneath his black hoodie, and you noticed his eyes looked bloodshot, his skin clammy. You knew that look. You've seen that same look one too many times.

"What do you want?" you whispered, your voice shaking.

"Open the register, gimme all the cash in this bag," he said quietly, tossing a tote bag across the counter at you. You nodded, grabbing the bag while your fingers fumbled with the buttons, desperately trying to remember how to open the drawer without a sale. You could sense he was growing frustrated with how long it was taking, and you felt the tears welling up in your eyes.

"I'm sorry," you sobbed quietly. "I-I'm new, I can't remember-"

"Hurry the fuck up," he growled, and you blinked rapidly, trying to clear your vision, the tears falling down your cheeks.

"Drop the fuckin' gun, Marcus," you heard Joel's voice call out, and a wave of relief coursed through your body. But Marcus got startled, and instead of doing as he was told, reached across the counter and grabbed you by the throat, pulling you against his chest to partially shield his body, the gun pressed against your temple as your fingers clawed at his arms.

You couldn't move. You couldn't breathe. Tears just streamed down your face as you locked eyes with Joel. They no longer carried that playful glint, his lips no longer turned up into a grin. His brow was furrowed deep and his gun drawn, cradled expertly in his large palms as his eyes shifted back to Marcus.

"I'm not lookin' to hurt anyone, sheriff. Just lemme walk outta here," Marcus rumbled behind you, his sour breath invading your nostrils and making your stomach roll.

"Now, you know I can't do that," Joel said, taking a small step forward. "But put down the gun, let her go, and we'll talk."

The grip around your throat tightened and you let out a small, pained squeak. Joel's jaw clenched when he heard the noise, his patience running thin. You hadn't noticed at the time, but the entire diner had gone quiet, some patrons slinking down in their seats, others craning their necks to get a better look.

"Goddamnit, Marcus, don't test me today," Joel growled, his eyes ablaze. "I don't wanna call your mama and tell her I had to spray her only son's brains all over the floor, but I fuckin' will." The tone in Joel's voice sent a shiver down your spine as you stilled, waiting for the stand off to be over.

Finally, after what felt like hours, the grip on your throat loosened and you no longer felt the cold metal pressed against your head. Joel locked eyes with you again as you coughed and shakily fell down to the floor behind the counter, curling yourself into a ball while you heard Joel reading Marcus his rights, the jingle of his handcuffs rang like bells in your ears.

Once Marcus was restrained, you heard Tommy bolt out of the kitchen and rush over to you. He knelt down on the ground, asking if you were okay, if you needed a doctor, concern lacing his voice but when he reached out to touch you, you flung yourself backwards violently, knocking the back of your head against the counter.

"Shit," you muttered, rubbing your head as fresh tears fell down your cheeks.

"Hey, easy now," Tommy said soothingly, glancing over the counter as Joel spoke on the phone with Bobby, ordering him to bring a car to take Marcus back to the station and book him.

"I'm fine," you whimpered, still rubbing your head as you shakily forced yourself to your feet. You watched as Joel marched Marcus to the front of the diner, his knuckles white from how hard he was gripping his shoulder as he directed him through the door. A few patrons clapped weakly as the two disappeared outside, and the diner filled with excited chatter once again.

"You alright, sugar?" Betty asked, suddenly appearing beside you, face etched with worry. You flinched and brought a shaky hand to your sore neck.

"Yeah, I just need to use the restroom," you said, and before anyone could say anything further, you tore off your apron and made a beeline for the women's room.

You locked the door behind you and slid down to the grimy floor, burying your face in your hands as you sobbed, the adrenaline wreaking havoc on your nerves.

It was too much. It was all too much. The look in Marcus's eye was one you saw too many times. A junkie in desperate need for a fix. A drunk who would say or do anything for another drink. The fingers around your neck were no longer there, but you still felt them squeezing every last bit of oxygen from your lungs, every tear from your eye until you could hardly breathe.

The door handle jiggled and you jumped, wiping furiously at your face before shouting out a shaky occupied!

"Hey, it's me," you heard Joel's voice say from the other side of the door. No longer did he have that hardened edge to his tone. The warmth and softness in his drawl had returned.

"I just need a minute," you said quietly after a long silence, and you heard him shift his weight.

"I know, but I - can you let me in?" he asked, and you could hear the concern in his voice. You slid your eyes shut as fresh tears drenched your face once again. You ached for comfort. You wanted it so badly you would do just about anything for it. But every other time, you've been let down. Over and over and over again.

"I just need a minute," you repeated, just a whisper, not even sure he could hear.

"Then I'll be right here til you're ready, alright?" his voice came back, even softer this time. You nodded, even though he couldn't see you. You heard him sit down against the door with a tired sigh, and you let your head tilt so it rested against the door. There was a small bit of comfort to be had when you knew only an inch separated you from him.

"You were real brave," he said after a few minutes of silence. You scoffed and wiped your nose.

"Is that why I'm crying on the floor of a bathroom?"

"Please don't cry," he said, his voice strained. But you didn't say anything in return.

"He wasn't gonna do nothin'. He's got troubles, is all. Bad habits get the best of him, but he's harmless," he said, trying to make you feel better.

"I don't know, these bruises on my neck say differently," you replied, and you heard his breath hitch. Then you heard his shoes scuff on the tile floor.

"Lemme see," he said, his voice firmer now. He was standing, his voice above you, waiting to be let in. You hesitated, the tone of his voice putting you on edge, but you knew you couldn't hide in there forever. With a trembling hand, you reached up and unlocked the door, then scurried backwards so you were pressed up against the opposite wall as he swung the door open and stepped inside. His gaze fell on you and his eyes went soft at seeing your wrecked state before clicking the door shut behind him.

He rushed forward and you flinched. A bad habit of your own. He paused and slowed his movements, crouching down in front of you instead. He lifted a hand to pinch your chin but you turned your face away.

"Will you show me?" he asked gently. You gazed up at him with red rimmed eyes, your knees pulled tight against your chest. Finally, you lifted your chin. Again, he reached a hand out, but you stopped him.

"Please don't touch," you whispered. He looked at you and nodded slowly, dropping his hand again, examining your bruises with only his eyes.

"Maybe you should see a doctor," he said after a few minutes, but you shook your head.

"I'll be fine, it's just sore," you said, and his gaze flicked up from your throat to your eyes. His lips parted the longer he stared at you, and you felt the tremor return to your hands. You couldn't look away, his gaze too magnetic.

"Don't like seein' you cry," he murmured, still gazing deep into your eyes, trying so desperately to read you.

"I cry all the time," you said without even thinking. He blinked and frowned. He was about to say something else when a gentle knock on the door interrupted him.

"You okay in there?" Maria called out. You sighed and stretched out your legs, standing up and waving off Joel's helping hand.

"We don't gotta do it today, but I'll need you to come by and give your statement sometime soon," he said, glancing down at you with a sympathetic look.

"Okay," you replied, your voice cracking a bit. You looked at one another, both of you wanting to say more but neither of you could. So you reached out to open the door, forcing a smile for Maria.

"Sorry," you told her meekly, and she laughed.

"You're sorry? You just had a gun pointed at your head and you're sorry?"

You laughed weakly, then stopped short in pain, your fingers brushing against your throat.

"I just wanted to bring you your purse so you could sneak out the back," she said, lifting your purse up and handing it over to you.

"But my shift-"

"Oh my god, take the day off," Maria said, shaking her head and grinning. "Think you earned it."

"Okay," you agreed, then turned to walk through the kitchen where you could leave out the back so no customers would gawk at you.

"Lemme walk you home," Joel's voice said, startling you. You had just assumed he went back out front.

"Don't you have to, you know... work?" you asked, floundering for the right word.

"He ain't goin' anywhere," Joel said, shoving his hands deep in his pockets as he walked by your side down the sidewalk.

The two of you walked quietly for a few minutes.

"I've never seen you like that before," you said, breaking the silence. He turned his head towards you, raising his eyebrows.

"Like what?"

"Like, all... cop-like," you said, chuckling at your terrible choice in words.

Joel grinned and glanced down at his feet.

"Yeah, well, job's not all inappropriate graffiti and speed traps."

You hummed in agreement as you kept walking.

"Do you have to unholster your service weapon often?"

"'Service weapon'?" he repeated, surprised at the term you chose. Although it wasn't wrong, it typically was not something most people said. You just looked at him, not acknowledging it, so he let it go.

"Uh, no, not really," he said, biting the inside of his cheek.

"Oh," was all you said, taking a deep breath and continued to stare straight ahead. He watched you from the corner of his eye for a moment.

"When I came outta the bathroom and saw - " he stopped short, then rubbed his lower lip with the pad of his thumb as he collected his thoughts. "You were scared. And I... reacted."

You glanced his way again, but he kept his eyes focused straight ahead. What was he trying to say?

"Thank you," you said softly, but he was quick to shake his head.

"Not lookin' for you to thank me," he said, finally allowing his gaze to drift back to you, giving you a small smile.

When you finally reached your apartment, you took out your keys and turned to him, ready to thank him again, even though he told you not to, but he spoke first.

"Here, why don't you take this," he said, holding out a small white card between his index and middle finger. You gingerly took it and flipped it over, reading the text on the other side.

"It's my card. Call me when you wanna stop by the station," he reminded you, and you nodded.

"My cell's on there, too. If you ever, y'know," he said, half a smirk playing on his lips as he nervously shifted his weight. "You ever wanna talk 'bout anythin', really. 'Bout what happened today, or... book club," he said, and you laughed. He grinned, relieved to finally see you smile again.

"Okay," you said with a nod, and turned to put the key in the lock.

He watched as you made your way all the way up the steps, and didn't leave until he saw the second door at the top of the stairs close firmly behind you.

Taglist: @harriedandharassed@merz-8@sarap-77 @nandan11 @anoverwhelmingdin @fandomscollide @survivingandenduring

[ragdolls-and-such]

MP100 WONDERLAND AU!!!

I will probably never write a real fic for this, so I'm gonna explain the general plot and ideas and lore and stuff as a way to introduce each character. Or you can just not read and look at the designs instead

Ritsu is our Alice,

and Sho is the rabbit he chases after. Unlike the white rabbit, Sho isn't anxious - he's mischievous more than anything. While he IS trying to be on time to the Queen's croquet game at first, teasing Ritsu as he fails to catch up with him becomes his main priority.

Tome and Goda (do people in this fandom call him musashi or goda?? i have never seen anyone talk about him) are the first characters Ritsu meets. They play the roles of the mouse and the dodo from the book. After the whole pool of tears thing - I'm assuming you know the general story of Alice in Wonderland - Tome infodumps at everyone, much like the mouse does in the book. Goda is basically like "that's BORING we should EXERCISE the water off of us" and then the caucus race happens!!

The scene where Alice gets stuck in the Rabbit's house does happen but I have no character assigned to Bill so I didn't draw anyone for this.

Next stop is the caterpillar!! Played by Dimple. He's the ghost of a caterpillar that looked forward to becoming a butterfly, but died before reaching the chrysalis stage, and has since become a little crazed about the butterfly idea. He finds Ritsu kind of annoying but keeps talking to him because he enjoys the attention.

Mezato is the Cheshire cat! Psycho Helmet is not a thing in Wonderland so her time is more devoted to being mysterious and cryptic and taking photos of people and things. Plays the cheshire cat role pretty straight.

And now! The moment everyone's been waiting for! The three characters that people usually care the most about in aiw AND mp100.

Reigen started the hat business with his good pals Serizawa and Mob and then went a little bonkers. The Queen sentenced him and his coworkers/friends to eternal teatime for being annoying basically. (There IS lore there, but aiw is my special interest and i could talk about that forever.) He's still very Reigen-y but always a little on edge. Basically, think about Reigen's most high-energy yet pathetic little meow meow moments, it's just that.

Serizawa is just like - imagine you teleported Serizawa into the March Hare's place without warning and he just had to figure out what to do about it. That's not what happened, but that's basically how he behaves.

Mob is the dormouse, but like the book version of the dormouse, he gets his time in the spotlight. (anyone out there know about the three girls in the well?? no? just me?) Because this is Ritsu's dream, nobody needs to wonder whether mousemob is humanritsu's brother. Just don't worry about it

Finally, we have Teru as the Queen of Hearts. His personality definitely matches his pre/during-that-fight-with-mob self. Violent, self-absorbed fashion disaster. Sho, being his messenger, has a very "siblings who kind of hate each other" dynamic with this Teru, in my eyes.

That's it!! If anyone wants to write or draw a wonderland au based on this casting, that's totally fine because I in no way own the idea of a wonderland au. That's like, the most basic "what if this media was actually this other story?" au concept.

[thefaiao]

Hi, firstly I just wanted to say that I love your art, especially with the way you use dynamism and angles in character sketches. It's really beautiful and I always look forward to seeing more black and white pieces from you.

I just wanted to ask, as a beginner artist whose been drawing on and off from 2017 onwards and hasn't seen much improvement, are there any resources or books you would recommend for someone still trying to grasp form and shape? Especially in creating 3d forms with line? I'd love to be able to draw characters in a similar way that you do but my cubes and cones never seem to come out correctly and humanoid shapes are even tougher. Thanks again for sharing your art.

Hello! Thank you very much for the compliments. Up until somewhat recently the B&W pieces were my favorite things to draw, so I get you. I did fall in love with coloring eventually though.

Alright, there are lots of things that can be done. I have had some classical training, and done human figure studies live, but honestly not nearly as much as I probably should have. You definitely should still do figure study as much as possible, especially in person. I'm just prefacing to say it may not get you to draw the way I draw I suppose, as its only part of what I've done to improve my drawing ability.

There are a few good resources to start with, notably the Loomis method, which a lot of artists use as a base. That's how you should use it too, ideally. It's not about copying his work exactly, it's about understanding just how the human body is proportioned, and adapting it from there. It doesn't have to define your thinking, it's just a good guideline. It's possible to structure a body quite differently than Loomis (and there are many many books for that), but the truth, which is, the proportions of the human body, is still there in all mindsets. Once you understand that, you can understand the reason for each approach, and even forego them to express something more unique, abstract and visceral.

The biggest thing you should do though, is always be observing the world around you, both online and offline. Figure studies are nice but they remove one of the most important things, and that is context. I find that people who will use those large libraries from people who pose professionally with bows and swords and the like will often draw technically impressive images, but they still feel like a fake pose. It doesn't feel like the person is holding onto the weapon like their life depended on it, or like they have a relationship with the object, that they pose and move in a certain way that reflects their personality. Live study with strangers helps rectify this somewhat.

Online you should also be following lots and lots of different artists! Don't limit yourself, pay attention to how they construct their drawings, how they go about things. It's important you follow a lot of people, see how they evolve. They are not only a point in time, they are also learning and evolving just like you. It's especially good if you can have artists friends to draw and share stuff with. I have a deep-seated belief that we draw art for others, to express ourselves to them, so they need to see it.

It may sound weird for me to say if you want to draw like me try to draw unlike me, but I'm just saying what I've done. I follow a lot of people and draw from a lot of places. Ultimately the main appeal of my forms is their dynamism and volume as you've said, but it's good to be versatile so you can always explore new avenues!

Now, you've done all these things, you are practicing them constantly. Now is the most important part. Keep drawing!!! Just keep drawing no matter what, no matter how bad you think it looks. You have to believe you have something to say, to express, no matter what. You say you haven't improved, but I don't believe you! Maybe you are faster, maybe your technique is better, maybe you have better habits, maybe you are a little more patient. There are a million ways to improve which don't even appear in the image. You have to keep drawing, NO MATTER WHAT!!! You have to believe you were born to do this and you will do it well, don't worry about what others think.

I can only draw such dynamic forms because I have kept drawing and masticating and elaborating this idea that is called my style. When you are drawing you are developing your own little language, and only when you are fluent you can start writing good books with it. Being fluent will take many years, you must accept that. If you take breaks, take breaks so you can keep drawing later. Take care of your health so you can keep drawing. You will only get to see your drawings become beautiful if you live long. To live a long and healthy life is to keep drawing.

That is my ultimate advice really, let that frustration build up, but keep drawing anyway. You will force yourself to find solutions to release that frustration as you do so, and improve. Maybe it's simple, but it's the only thing that is true no matter what. Don't worry about AI or whatever, none of that matters. Just keep drawing!

[likeabulldigidigibombombombom]

Open Window (Part 2)

Part 1 here

Pairing: Barely threatening thief!Hyunjin x fem!reader 

Trope/Genre: Non idol au, fluff

Summary: You’re nearing the end of your gap year, and you decided to spend your last month of it at your aunts house. Unfortunately, a very stupid criminal has struck your house many times and you need to figure out who they are and why they did it.

 1112 words 

Warnings: Hyunjin LITERALLY ROBS YOU. DO NOT DO WHAT Y/N DOES SHE IS A DUMBASS. Usage of pet names, swearing. 

It had been two days since you’d seen the robber. He had come through the window while you were asleep a couple of times and stolen a few small items that you had to look for when you woke up. You had so many questions.

‘Why is this guy stealing dumb shit?’ ‘Why is this guy stealing from me?’ and most importantly, ‘What is his name?’ All you were hoping for was for him to come back through your window (While you were awake) and explain everything. 

After another boring day, it was finally night again. There was one problem though, it was freezing. Although it had been warm the weeks prior, the temperature had randomly dropped. You weren't expecting him, but just in case, you left a note taped to the window that said “Knock on the window and I’ll open it for you so you can steal all of our prized possessions :)” 

Surprisingly, at midnight you were awoken by a knock at the window. Navigating your way through the dark, you managed to open the window and let the man in. “Hi again!” he said happily as he sat down on the windowsill. “What do you want to steal this time? Because I have a few things that I’d rather keep.” “Well, this time I’d like to talk for a bit, because I feel like you’re a little confused.” 

You were taken by surprise, but touched by the fact that he was willing to help you understand what was going on. “Oh, thanks!” 

“I’m not an asshole, darling, I’m not gonna leave you in the dark… Figuratively, it’s the middle of the night I can't make the sun come up again.” You laughed and began to speak. 

“Why are you stealing from me?” “I can’t answer that.” “Okay? Why are you stealing useless stuff?” “I can’t answer that.” 

“What can you answer then?” “You should start smaller. Let me ask you one. What’s your name?” “I thought I was supposed to be asking questions!” “You’re shit at asking questions.” You rolled your eyes. 

“Y/N. What’s yours?” “I can’t answer that.” “Seriously?!” “I’m kidding. My name’s Hyunjin.” “Hyunjin? That’s a really pretty name.” “Thank you. So is yours, it suits you.” 

“Well, Hyunjin, what do you like to do for fun? Other than stealing weird garden gnomes.” You could see a dimly lit face smile across the room. “I draw and paint and read, so basic stuff.” “I wouldn’t call that basic, especially for a criminal.” “Don’t judge a book by its cover Y/N.” “You stole an empty soda bottle from me, I think my anger is valid.” He laughed. 

“You’re definitely the most interesting person I've ever robbed.” “You’re definitely the most interesting person who’s ever robbed me.” “How many people have robbed you?” “Let me count. One.” “I’m honoured to be your first.” 

“How many other robbers do you know?” “Out of the ones I know? Six.” “That’s more than I thought would be around here.” “Yep, we all rob around this neighbourhood because we’re honestly not bothered enough to go anywhere else.” 

“Well, I’m all out of questions. Is there anything you wanna say or ask?” “Oh yeah! Are you single?” “Oh, um, That was very forward.” “I’m just asking!” Despite how far away he was, you could see him smirking in the darkness. 

“Yeah, I’m single.” “Okay good to know.” “What about you?” “I’m single. Painfully single to be honest.” “Really? I didn’t think that you’d be a romantic type.” “I’m such a hopeless romantic it’s insane.” 

“How many other robbers out there are like this?” “I don’t really know…” 

“Do you want me to turn the lights on? It might help you see what you’re stealing from me.” “Nope, then you’d see me and it would ruin my threatening mysterious persona.” “I hope that was sarcasm.” “No, but seriously, you can't see me with the lights on.” “Sure, but I’m not gonna look for you and report you to the police or anything, I probably should though.” 

“I promise, my stealing isn’t just for fun.” “I believe you, for some reason I trust you a lot. It’s weird.” “I’m just so charming aren’t I?” “I take it back.” “Aw, why?” “You’re too cringy to trust.” “What do you mean?! I’m not cringy at all.” You threw a pillow at him and you could see him dramatically collapse on the floor. “You deserved that.” “No, I didn’t.” “Find something to steal and get the fuck out before I throw something bigger.” “Fine.” 

He scanned the room. “What’s that?” He said, pointing at a new item on your bedside table. “Oh, I was gonna give that to you.” He walked over to pick it up. 

He was a lot closer than he’d ever been before and you could see his face in more detail. He was absolutely stunning. He had an incredible jawline and the prettiest lips you had ever seen. 

“Wow.” You said. He tilted his head in confusion. “You’re so beautiful.” He looked down shyly. “So are you.” 

He held the item and squinted at it. “Is it a torch?” “Yeah! I thought it would be useful to have something that could help you see what you’re trying to steal.” “Thank you so much!” He pointed it towards the corner and turned it on. 

“Why do you have a box of paper clips in the corner of your room?” “I don’t even know. I thought it would be useful but it really isn’t.” “I think I’ll take that.” 

He was about to grab the box when you grabbed his arm. “Wait. Don’t go yet. I’ve barely seen you and I have to leave in two weeks.” “You’ll see me again soon love.” You felt your face heat up slightly. “But,” 

He cut you off as he kissed you softly. Butterflies erupted in your stomach. Your hand was still on his arm and his hand had moved up to hold the back of your head. When he pulled away, he moved his hand and tilted your chin up to look at him. He smiled for a moment but the smile had quickly transitioned into a look of concern. 

“Was that okay? If you weren’t fine with that I’m so sorry.” You laughed. “No that was okay. More than okay actually.” “Okay good.” 

You let go of him and he walked to the corner of your room to pick up the paperclips. He opened the window and prepared to jump out. 

“I’ll see you tomorrow Y/N.” 

With that, he was gone and you couldn’t stop smiling, replaying the moment in your head as you fell asleep.

Author note: Thank you so much for reading! I seriously appreciate it. Like always, constructive criticism is wanted! I'm planning to make a part three to this so if you found it interesting stay tuned! If you liked this, please follow me for more fanfics like this one <3 Thank you!

Masterlist

@catiuskaa thanks for the stickynote idea!!! :D

[skeletoninthemelonland]

hey starbs! I was wondering something, I know you are studying biolgy in uni and as someone who wants to be a biolgist but has been told im too "artistic and creative" to spend my life working with such precise things. I know you are also and artist, obviously, how has it been for you that you are a creative person, yet working with a course that is so strict to what it is (like not incudlign the different types of biolgist, like how you work there you rcant do what you want like you could with art or writing etc)

do you have any advice on how to reach for this goal or how youve felt just wanting to be a biolgist? im struggling alot with future stuff and it would be nice to hear from a fellow artist. (keep up the great work)

I'll be honest and say that studying Biology was a bit of a rushed decision (?)

I had no idea what I truly wanted to do while studying for the entrance exam. I knew I enjoyed different subjects and could work flexibly, but depending on the path I took, things would become either enjoyable or difficult for me. Biology has always been a subject I loved as a kid, but never something I was constantly interacting with growing up. With art that was different. I was definitely more passionate and skilled at art than at anything else.

I would have choosed to work with art, if only I had scored higher in the entrance exam and if only it was easy to make art for a living. Still, I don't regret choosing to study Biology.

It was a little discouraging in the beginning with how little I knew about the subject. Some students had far more knowledge than I ever had growing up. Some of them know exactly how a biology major will help them in the future. There were also people like me who had no idea what they wanted to do, but were willing to learn.

Turns out that Biology is one of the least precise things you could ever work with. Sciences in general is a subject that functions on uncertainty, and is what brings people forward to gather more information. My Plant Anatomy teacher often says "Mas é isso né gente, as plantas não lêem livros" (Which can be translated to "But yeah, plants don't read books"), because very often you'll find exceptions and unexplainable occurances everywhere (In this case, students are taught not to make assumptions about certain morphological characteristics that are present in plants... but not in all of them).

Artistic and creative are traits that are incredibly helpful and often necessary as skills. In a more literal approach, it might help you understand illustrated examples and "train your eye" for the tiniest details. Using your creativity as a tool to learn will immediately make things easier for you. I can't always draw and paint like I used to, but I can say that "motor proteins travelling along microtubules look like tiny people going for a walk :D" and never forget the information.

Being creative helps you make analogies with already existing information, so it's easier to retain it. I could also say "motor proteins travelling along microtubules remind me of Michael Afton walking down the sidewalk :D" and it's even easier to remember! Play with the information like it's a toy. If you can explain it to a 5 year old, that's because you learned.

But of course, there will always be classes that are more difficult than others. Mathematics will always be that one for me. You can't escape the challenging parts ^^'

Overall, it really depends on the person. It might work for me, and it might not work for you. The key is to explore and experiment on your own pace. Answers will come to you if you keep searching for them.

My best advice (in any major you're choosing), which will likely save your time, energy and sanity, is to find people like you. Not necessarily people who share similar interests as you, but people that you can count on and share your struggles — and they'll sometimes share their own. Befriending people often keeps you grounded and less anxious about how you'll perceive yourself and the future. It's a win-win interaction. Everyone is struggling, so we'll help each other out.

Remember it's okay to not know things right away. Remember it's okay that you're not as skilled as x person. Remember it's okay to be kind to yourself.

I could be saying all of this, but every day there's a huge effort to remind myself to take it slow. Reality oftens becomes skewed when we don't give ourselves a break.

I hope I helped you somehow, with the little to no experience I've had over the past few months. Wishing you and any other person reading this and who's in a similar situation good luck.

-----

One last advice.

Please, SLEEP!

SLEEP. SLEEP. SLEEP.

Don't even think about staying up late. SLEEP. Eat healthy whenever you can. Carry a banana with you, they have potassium — which is fucking great for your organism !!!

CARRY WATER. EVERYWHERE. TAKE 💧💧💧💦💦💦💦💧💧💦💦

How is anyone supposed to make good decisions while exhausted, grumpy, dehydrated, overwhelmed and hungry? THERE IS NO WAY. TREAT YOURSELF WITH CARE !!!! NOOOWWWW

[theredponcho]

A Moment In Time

Donnie frowned as he looked at the hand written letter in his hands. Rereading it over and over once twice thrice making sure that nothing was out of place no careless errors or anything overlooked. After all he wouldn’t get a chance to look at it again once he was gone and it needed to be… no it had to be perfect. He had written and rewritten and rewrote this letter over an over till now and doing one final look over he gripped it firmly thinking to himself ‘OK! Ok I think it’s as good as it’s gonna be…’

Mayyybe he should look at it once over just to be sure. No no he can’t stall forever he has other things he has to do and the letter is never going to be perfect enough for him so he should just man up and just leave it already!

It won’t matter anyway there’s a good chance that after he does this that everything will disappear anyway! This is just a procontionary measure and he won’t be around for much longer anyway so he shouldn’t have to think of the possible aftermath of what he’s about to do! He won’t even be around to confirm or denia his theory’s so who cares! It’s too late to turn back now he’s done to much and lost to much to chicken out now. So with a heavy heart  sigh he placed the letter in the envelope and placed it on his work table. He turned to Sheldon who was still hard at work drawing runes and looking back and forth from the book on the floor making sure all the runes looked right. He opened his mouth and called out to him.

“Sheldon.”

Sheldon looked up at Donnie and had stopped drawing to give him his full attention. “Yea dude what’s up?”

“ How long till we are ready to move forward with the plan.”

Sheldon looked down for a minute seemly calculating the time. He looked back at the book on the floor for a moment before turning to look back up at Donnie. “Probably a few more minutes I think it’s a good time for you to get your stuff ready.”

Donnie nodded and turned to go grab his bag and-

“Um dad?”

Donnie paused and turned back to Sheldon with a confused expression. Sheldon was looking down not meeting Donnie’s eyes before looking up with a slight concerned look on his face which confused Donnie even more so he raised an eyebrow. Sheldon looked at him for one more moment and then spoke.

“You know um.. you can always still change your mind about this man. I know he wouldn’t blame you for-“

“NO!”

Sheldon flinched back at the yell. Donnie felt bad but his main emotion at that given moment was anger, that and also sheer annoyance! He couldn’t let him finish that sentence. He had already made up his mind and he had spent the last 2 years on this plan! If he stoped now it would have all been a waste of time so no it’s far to late to go back now! He gave Sheldon a sharp glare before speaking his words with an inch of venom. He took a deep breath.

“Don’t speak for him. You don’t know what he would or wouldn’t have wanted cause your not him. I’m not doing this for him I’m doing this for my family. It’s far too late to turn back now Sheldon. So are you going to stop me or are you going to help me?”

Sheldon turned away from him with a sad expression looking down almost guilty. “ Alright dude I’m… I’m sorry.”

Donnies face softened a bit and walked back over to him and placed a hand on his robotic son’s shoulder. “ I’m… sorry for yelling. I know you mean well I’m just…” he sighed and met Sheldon’s eyes again. “ stressed I guess.” They were quite for a moment before he forced himself to add a up beat tone to his next sentence. “ Buuut at the end of the day this should all work out so theirs definitely no need to worry! Besides there’s a 50% chance that once I go through the portal this world will disappear like it never even existed in the first place! So why worry about the what ifs right! Says convincingly.”

Sheldon looked back at him skeptical for a long moment before shrugging. “I guess you have a point but just know I’m your ride or die man whatever you decide I’ll support you.” He smiled and patted Sheldon on the head before turning back to get his bag prepared. Everything will be fine! He wonder how long it would take for those words to stick in and actually MEAN it.

He grabbed all the things he been preparing and shoved them in his black duffle bag. The bag itself consisted of only what he deemed the most important for this mission. He had recreated that blue herbicide and had made a dozen more viles to stash in his bag. He also made a few smoke boom versions to stuff in for good measure. He found out a few months into researching and studying the Krang that they seemed to not handle electricity very well so when he was in the process of creating a new metal tech bow for the mission he made sure to stuff it full of electrical fire power options like taser, stung gun, extra extra. He had the new tech bow staff in the bag next to the med kit and basic necessity items (aka snacks, water bottles, and other stuff). He had a few fold up copies of some of his tech and some USB’s sticks containing all his research and important Sheldon files just in case the Sheldon part of the plan didn’t work or something went wrong.

He plucked out the important outlier of the USB’s sticks that was not like the others and had a different purpose. The only difference look wise was the color. Instead of being colored his signature purple it was green and across the top written in sharpie said watch me. He took the USB stick and walked over to where he had the envelope sitting on the desk and delicate placed it next to it before moving on. 

He placed a few more last minute items in before nodding to himself satisfied and zipped up the bag slinging it around his shoulder but then paused. He looked at the wall to find the final item he was suppose to grab… Leo’s sword. It had been hard to convince his family to let him take it from the dojo. He made up the lie that he wanted to study it to see if it had any of his brothers ninpo left behind on it to study which wasn’t a total lie but also wasn’t fully the truth. They weren’t convinced at first and it took him promising he wouldn’t do anything reckless with it and saying that while he was at before returning it he would polish the sword. That made the others finally give into him taking it. He felt bad about breaking his promise with the sword but it was for the great or good and nothing bad was gonna happen to it. Besides they even get to keep it at the end! Plus technically speaking he had fulfilled the other side of the deal by polishing it with all the respect and precision he could. It would be fine. He wished he could believe himself…

He grabbed the sword carefully off his desk and saw his reflection staring back at him. He traced his thumb over the hilt and engravings on the sword before returning to his work. This was it. He was finally going to do it. All the positions are in place and the place is set and ready. It was all or nothing now. He took one last look at his lab possibly the final thing he was gonna see. He thought for a moment about what could happen if this doesn’t work. What he would lose what he still would have. How it would have all been for nothing.  He shook his head trying to dispelling all the worrying thoughts. After all worrying doesn’t give you results it only gives you problems. 

He walked over to Sheldon who was watching him intently. “Hey dude any last things you need to do before we start.” He did a once over look at the lab and thought for a minute before shaking his head. “Alright then let’s get started.”

Sheldon held out his hand readying to be handed the sword. Donnie looked at the sword for the final time before handing it over to Sheldon. Sheldon took it and then raised it high in the air before stabbing it in the little circle on the floor. The sword hummed and glowed with an all to familiar blue glow. He watched as the energy traveled up Sheldon’s left arm and his eyes start to glow the same blue glow that Leo’s would. He watch as the runes started to light up and travel in a line till they reached the guint circle on the wall. It sparked once, twice before a warped sound admitted in the room and then a burst of glowing blue light blasted out suddenly stunning Donnies eyes. He had to cover his face but went he looked up he was shocked to see the bright blue portal standing before him. He let out a small gasp. It had worked… IT HAD WORKED! Everything is going to plan! He’s actually going to be able to do this!

He felt sheer excitement radiating off of him at the sight before his smile fell. It had work but… that ment it was finally time to do what he had been dreading. The last of his excitement fell at that and he turned his head to look out the door of his open lab as his heart fell. He took a small breath and said “ Goodbye.”

Nothing fancy nothing long just a simple goodbye that’s all he really needed right? He turned back to the glowing portal in front of him and sighed before taking a step forward and-

“DONNIE!”

…what? No no no no no no NO! NOBODY IS SUPOSE TO BE HERE WHY IS HE HERE!?! He wiped his head around to see that sure enough there was Raph panting at the door frame fear in his eyes and gripping the wall like he had just done a five mile sprint and it was the only thing keeping him up in that moment. He could tell by the way he was looking at him and the portal that he knew what he was about to do but how!?! He had been so careful not to let anything slip and he hadn’t suspected a thing! He attended all the family therapy sessions, he had told him everything was fine, so HOW!? HOW DID HE KNOW?! They paused just staring at each other the only sounds filling the room were Ralph’s breathing the portal and Sheldon counting down the amount of time before the portal will close.

Raph took a deep breath and managed to make a shaky smile at him. “ Hey Don. Can you step away from that portal for me buddy?” He didn’t move. He only stared at him wide eyed and mortified. Sheldon was still counting down thirty seconds on the clock. Thirty seconds till the portal closes. Thirty seconds till the last of his brothers ninpo was used. He only had thirty seconds. Raph waited to see if he would move away but he stood his ground. The fear and worry in Raph’s face returned but still tried to make his voice as calm and smooth as possible which sorta failed due to the slight stuttering and frantic undertone of his speech. “ Donnie I know.. I know what you are trying to do b-but but you don’t have to do this ok? You can step away and Raph promises… Raph won’t be mad ok?” 

He looked away from his face. If he looked any longer it would be tempting to give in and break down into a sobbing mess which he could not afford right now. He had to get into that portal no matter what. He had to do it at the right moment. Because if he left to early Raph could easily snatch him back or even worse follow him through the untested possible fatal portal. If he left to late he would miss his only opportunity to go through the portal and still be here. No he couldn’t afford to do any more risks he had to play this very CAREFULLY. 

He composed himself and looked back up at Raph. “ Raph I want to go with you.”

He looked hopeful at that tears building up in his eyes. Don’t think about it.

“15” he heard Sheldon call in the background.

“ You can Donnie you can just take my hand it’ll all be ok!”

“14” he heard Sheldon call again.

“ If you come here we don’t have to go through with all this! We can sit down on the coach and just have a good old movie night like the good old times yea?”

“13” 

“ Mikey will be there and we can order pizza and watch some Jupiter Jim o-or Lou Jitsu like we used to.”

“12” He heard in the background.

“ I know you want him back and I do to but I need you here Donnie.” No no no NO don’t think about it.

“11”

“ Raph know’s it’s been hard we all have been going through it but I can’t lose another brother so please.” He took another step forward. Time seemed to hold its breath. “ Don’t… do this.”

He doesn’t want to hurt him. Apart of him wants to cave but all of this would have been for nothing. He can’t let this be for nothing. He’s nothing short of stubborn but the hesitation is still lingering… It would be nice it sounded nice to go with him. He wished he could and he still can. Just wants to fix his family. So he had to choose. So he chose. He takes a breath.

“Raph” 

“10” Sheldon called out in the background.

“ I don’t want to leave you or Mikey or dad. And that does… sound nice.” Raphs face looked hopeful.

“9”

“ It sounds really really nice.” His voice cracked a bit dame it. He was trying hard not to cry this was why he didn’t want him to be here. Raphs face sofend at the tone and held out his arms readying for a hug. 

… A hug he would never get.

“5”

“ But I can’t… I’m sorry. I’m going to fix this and I wish I can go with you.”

“4”

Raphs face fell he looked mortified. 

“3”

“I’m sorry hopefully one day you will forgive me. Hopefully you will forget all of this.”

“DONNIE!!” Raph sprinted toward him hand out stretch ready to grab him. It’s now or never.

“2” 

He ran into the portal… He heard Raph scream.

“1”

Just as Raph reached the portal it disappeared leaving only the reamanes to sweep across his hand as he fell down to the ground. The portal felt cold but not as cold as the shear chilling of fear coursing through his vanes at that moment. He fell down to the ground a loud thud ring out through the entire lab. He could distinctly hear Sheldon in the background saying “ Portal was a success transferring data now.” Then he heard a distant loud metal thud from behind him but to be honest Raph could bearly hear anything besides his own heart beat, breathing, and the ringing in his ears that was getting louder every second. 

He took a breath… He chocked on a sob. And then… he screamed. And the lair felt a little more lonelier.

CHAPTER 1 END

Link to chapter two -> https://www.tumblr.com/theredponcho/752513555749896192/a-moment-in-time?source=share

[worldsokayestmagicalgirl]

The first batch of pictures for Amoré's character journal are here! Also I have been so super sick that I've literally had nothing to do but to work on this for like almost 2 weeks so...

The cover to cover tour officially starts here. All I can say about the front & back is that I lament my lack of experience with my Cricut when I made these decals. I only had 2 "fun" colors to work with at the time & I was still getting comfortable drawing in Procreate, so my silhouette art leaves a lot to be desired compared to some stuff I've made recently. I also found it's incredibly easy to burn this leather book.

But she's volume one, everything with her is a learning experience, & I realized as much as it helps to have a mini heat press for tight corners & small spaces, the cloth barrier they suggest you use between the vinyl & the iron tends to make things harder to press on this scale. So instead I gotta quickly tap straight on the transfer film & hope I don't burn anything around it :(´◦ω◦｀):ﾟﾟ

So at the risk of thoroughly exposing my inner theater kid, Amoré set the precedent with how I went forward creating campaign characters. I started off collecting 5 songs to make a mini story arc (almost like a show choir set list 🙃) that helps me figure out an outline for the kind of story I wanna give them.

Somehow Amoré ended up with a truly horrendous blend of rock & theatre. Absolutely incredibe. No wonder she's always such a dramatic bitch.

It was a lot easier to go in & add little decals around these lyrics. I'm definitely cursed with the Too Much™ gene, but I enjoy the little pops of color they give ✨ plus it justifies me hoarding all these vinyl scraps printing stuff this small lol.

Stat sheet!

In all honesty, as my first character I had no fucking clue what I was doing when I placed these & if I could go back & change one thing I'd probably swap her Intelligence & her Wisdom. She’s definitely more people smart than book smart.

But everything else is...very accurate. She has all the upper body strength of a chicken nugget. Plus on top of the (already) negative I traded disadvantage on everything DEX for magic crystal shoes that can be periodically harvested. Just a way for her to carry around the family fortune without actually having to return to the vault✨

For something that started so average, her CON became a monster & always comes in clutch for her alcohol tolerance. I've played variations of her across a few different one shots & I always manage to roll well for anything alcohol related. The dice do respect a bit 🤣

Spells on the other hand, I floundered with a lot at first because we’re not a combat heavy game, but then I found Chaos Bolt & that was that. It’s essentially Amoré in spell form & I’ve had a ton of fun with it over the years. Also Mage Armor cuz my girl is SO DISTRESSINGLY SQUISHY.

Cantrips were more or less a bit of a toss up. Message was fun for the sheer idea of her using it to talk shit during social events without being caught. But aside from Light serving fun backstory purposes the other 3 are kinda just what looked fun ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ unless you count the idea that she would absolutely delight in zapping handshakes.

From there, I wanted to extend the world map made by our wonderful DM @cappierong into a full scroll. Ya know, for the aesthetic ✨

Our campaign started in Civania, where Amoré's main Estate is. I just wanted a quick mock up to reference, so I edited a preexisting picture I found that checked all the boxes (large, on a plateau, accessible only by bridge) and then absolutely smothered it in flowers.

But anyways... This is primarily where Diana & Amoré grew up together in their decade of backstory ✨

There was probably waaaay to much back & forth trying to keep the continuity between stuff I've already drawn & this big reference. But I think it turned out pretty ok? Not like if I make a mistake anyone will really know lol.

Scaling was also another big issue I had, & I moments where I thought something was too big I just kinda handwaved it away like "ehhhhh she's from a stupid rich family." But now I have a NEED to draw baby Diana & Amoré around like, the statue gardens or something cuz I feel like certain parts of this place are definitely ominous 👀 especially for children...

And lastly we have the back cover & the High Noble political relationship map! I normally have this closer to the front but for layout purposes it'll be here. I kinda feel like I need to do more for the decoration of it but I can’t think of anything else to add at the moment.

Sam if u read that no you didn't.

But now! Other than a family portrait that I've always wanted to draw, I think I'm ready to move onto the art for Season 1 : Arc 2. It's a pretty hefty amount of art in comparison to others, so I gotta get busy. Especially since I think I'm gonna have to draw a few comics *sobs*

If you made it this far, thanks so much for reading! I'm always excited to talk out our little idiots so thanks for indulging me ❀(*´▽`*)❀

[nalyra-dreaming]

Hey. I originally sent this ask to virginia bc a lot of what i see usually comes from her asks, but it is also relevant to your s2 rant so wanted to ask you this too. I don’t understand what you mean by the show people are “making up in their heads”. I watched the show and then went online which was a mistake since a lot of book content was being revealed to me, so I read a couple of the books for context. Still I disagree with a lot of the takes I have seen. How is lestat being “big bad patriarchal” something that people are making up in their heads? Why is it that when the vamps are having good moments we can agree “that they are married!” and “that’s their daughter!” but when it’s bad moments all of a sudden it’s “they’re vampires so it’s not domestic abuse and lestat is not big bad patriarchal”? I understand that a lot will be revisited in s2, but s1 is Louis’ account of things and what he is showing us is very much big bad lestat so idk how that can be something people are making up in their heads. I’ve noticed that while a lot of the speculation for s2 draws from the books (obvi), they don’t take into consideration that some things just don’t work anymore because of the change in the level of violence shown, and bc these characters are Black! Like Louis or Claudia lying about their abuse would be incredibly problematic, so would a revisit of Lily showing that she’s shady/a villain. (And i feel like you agree with this so idk why you say you’ll block ppl who say this). I understand where the theories are coming from, but having these things play out would actually be racist and calling it bad writing if it happened would be very valid criticism! It’s very important to be critical of these things even if it comes from an otherwise very good show!

I’ve also seen stuff about making fun of people complaining that Assad and Jacob are not being paired together, when that is also a valid complaint/want (and I’m positive they’ll be paired together more as they keep promoting s2). I’m excited for loumand even after reading some of the books and knowing that Loustat (or just lestat) is the center of the VC, but the second half of book iwtv definitely centers Loumand, and even before reading the books my expectation was still a centering of those two characters. Don’t get me wrong I am a huge jam reiderson fanatic (literally started watching the show bc I saw that trivia with jam reiderson video) but I am also excited to see Jassad!!! Another incredibly important reason that people are excited for this pairing is of course that they are a queer interracial poc couple!! In fantasy no less!! So it’s understandable that people (myself included if you couldn’t tell lol) would be excited to see them together outside the show as well!! And making fun of them looking forward to it is like not great. So far the stuff ive seen ab press pairing is ppl being eager to see Jassad, but over here it reads as “haha no jassad we told you so” which is so incredibly weird. Again, I’m trying not to come off as like aggressive, and I get that being accused of being racist is obviously not a great thing to receive, but I do think that a refusal to examine or question why people think certain decisions would be racist is also not great.

I feel like a lot of the times when fans are pointing out the racism in the fandom and stuff, it gets taken as them being hateful and aggressive etc etc, but like idk it’s hard to be nice when you see things that are clearly so problematic and it gets glossed over in the fandom. Idk if you’ll answer this but I just thought it was important to share.

Okay, you know, I'll bite. Once.

"Making fun of people is not great". "being accused of being racist is obviously not a great thing to receive, but I do think that a refusal to examine or question why people think certain decisions would be racist is also not great"

"I’ve noticed that while a lot of the speculation for s2 draws from the books (obvi), they don’t take into consideration that some things just don’t work anymore because of the change in the level of violence shown, and bc these characters are Black! Like Louis or Claudia lying about their abuse would be incredibly problematic, so would a revisit of Lily showing that she’s shady/a villain."

Let's examine these, shall we.

Just because Louis and Claudia are black now, they are NOT different characters. If you had read my rant, and listened to the sources, read the interviews, then you would KNOW that. You would know that JACOB (and Bailey) have said that. LITERALLY.

A certain part of the fandom keeps saying this, but that is just... not it. And I get where it's coming from! But they already confirmed that the characters are still the book characters. And the people (including you?) who keep worrying that point just don't want to acknowledge their stance being wrong.

But that is not something that >I< am making up.

Which, in turn, negates your argument.

Also, everything shown in s1 will be put into context in s2, as already said - also something I more than laid out in the rant. That includes the "violence". Again, that's been said.

When the racial changes became clear for Louis and Armand (and Claudia) some of the book fans winced, NOT BECAUSE OF THE CHANGE ITSELF, but because you know, we KNOW what's coming.

All the show fans now claiming Lestat was sooo bad for Louis... oh you haven't seen Armand. Armand will literally gaslight Louis, make him do things against his will (things that will have Louis say he lost the last of his humanity!), isolate him by KILLING CLAUDIA and the coven (intentionally! so he can have him to himself!), and spell-bind him, repeatedly. Armand will chop off Claudia's head and sew it onto another's body to see what happens. And then send her into the sun, to burn.

He will also, as has already been made clear now, "tinker" with Louis' memories.

You think that's cute?! Wholesome? Because they're POC now? Oh sweetie. This show will pull the rug out from under you. And that is not meant as belittling. These things will happen. They dialed up the (absolutely existing) themes to 10 in s1, they will do so once more in s2.

And lastly, re the fun, and being accused of things.

Go and read through the comments of "Laden as the sea". Read what I wrote in the notes, and why, and then what people threw at me. Come on, go ahead. It's a ride. I did not delete ONE comment. None. They're all there. Some of the commenters have edited their comments, so the still-up one is not the one they initially wrote, but I get mails for all comments, so... I've read them.

And I'm not even talking about the shit here.

Oh, and I didn't say that the patriarchal and abuse themes were made up. Which you would also know if you had actually read my rant.

And, again, if you had really read what I've written, you would know that I wrote this: if I‘m going to see anyone scream “bad writing“ or “Louis being made a liar or the memories revisited/changed is racism“ when the changes will hit I‘m just gonna block you.

And that... has nothing to do with the problematic things that might arise from the revisits, because of course there are many traps there to consider, because of the racial change. That I agree with.

But it's not bad writing, or racism, if and when these things happen.

It's just not what some people want to happen. And that is what I mean with the "story made up in their heads".

If you really read the books, then you would know what's coming.

Because this show is made by book fans. It might be good to remember that.

[stay-midnight]

Unreleased Draft #2: Divine Amusement

God! Han Jisung x Male Reader

Sypnosis this time: In this world certain gods rule over certain cities and each god graces their city with their different blessing and operations based on their own preferences but what happens when a servant of the God of Order was issued to take a vacation to the City of Entertainment where the God of Entertainment, Mischief and Enjoyment resides in?

A/N • This draft is actually more recent than snowswept tails! And the writing is definitely more improved than the s.t, this plot is something I wanted to explore cuz when i see Han on the mv of circus the firsy thing I thought of was, “What if Han was a higher being who is the embodiment of entertainment..?” HAHAHA anyways it was also influenced by genshin at that time in modern state ig.

A/N Ratings • Plot/Interest - 7.5/10, I don't mind writing it but i certainly have an idea in mind and plus its quite unique as it strays (haha pun) from the usual god/goddesses au where its usually not modern, oh and I kind of wanna see where it goes?

Writing in this draft: 8/10 much much much better! HAHAHA

Write-ability / Needed Creativity: 6.5/10 I would have to scoure my head for ideas cuz my usual bright brain doesnt function quite as well.

TW: Vulgar Words, also its kind of short.

“We are now arriving at the city of entertainment everyone — for the people stopping here, please prepare your things and pack so that we can go forward with no delay. Thank you for using SK train as your transport and we hope to ride with you again. Please entertain yourselves in this amazing city.” the voice on the speaker said in a cheerful tone contrary to your facial expression right now — pissed and not quite happy as you stood up, holding your briefcase. The other people turned their eyes on you, in the compartment — you were the only one that's about to leave.

“‘Amazing city’, my ass.” you grumbled, copying the speaker guy sarcastically, the train stopping abruptly as the mechanical doors slide open. The flashing bright lights and the vandalism drawings on the walls were the first thing you were met with as you step out of the train.

After the bullet train leaves, you look around and saw just about 5 people actually stopped here. You sighed, carrying your luggage as you walked out of the train station — cursing the name of your best friend who said goodbye to you with a smile as he watched you get send off to this hellhole.

Walking the streets of the city in the night was a hassle but in no way in hell are you riding the taxi services called "Fake Taxi" that are literally the only taxis you see pass by, you even saw two people getting it on inside them.

“Oh, Lord Bang — why here, I want out.” you cried to yourself, you wanted some place to relax — but not here, my god, definitely not here.

The unclean alleyways, the smell of alcohol wafting throughout the air, the loud men laughing with no decency, the ladies' attempt at seducing the smoking men aroundand the children laughing as they vandalize the walls with penises and other horrid stuff.

What kind of god do they worship in a place like this.. .

Your legs felt like giving out at the long walk to your booked hotel, your arms were wobbly too from the heavy luggage and lastly, your eyes were about to give out from the lack of sleep.

“Oh heavens, what kind of horrible thing did I do in my past life to have to go here.” you grunted, and finally, breath of relief releasing from your mouth as you finally came face-to-face with your oh-so-very-lovely hotel with a broken sign and walls filled with drawings that are explicit.

Very welcoming, you thought.

After a long time of contemplation about whether it was worth it to go inside, added by the fact, you felt eyes at the back of your head. You took the step forward and headed in the establishment.

–

“Mhmm, the name is already written on there — I booked it 2 days beforehand.” you said calmly at the receptionist, feet ready to bolt and eyes closing in distress. The awful scent of cigar was making your head throb, your eyes were about as bloodshot as the druggies you saw earlier.

The receptionist eyed your badge on your clothing — a symbol of worship towards the god of order. He remained looking at it before handing you a keycard, a smug look on his face as he did so. “Goddamn order scum.” he muttered under his breath before your eyes wandering to the face of the man.

Not easily swayed by it, you took your keycard and tore your eyes away from him.

Walking over to the room given in long, drawn out strides and sliding the keycard on the room — you sighed and slumped your shoulders, stepping towards the bed with much little energy left.

The room has a rather comfortable atmosphere, very different from the outside — it had well-cleaned king-sized bed filled with pillows and a warm-looking blanket, windows, an air conditioner, nightstands and a good-sized bathroom.

“At the very least, there's one good place here.” you said in a relieved way, smiling for the first time since you got on that train and falling to the bed but not before throwing your badge, phone and removing your coat.

“Oh lord, sweet sleep...” you mumble tiredly, before almost-drifting away to your bubble in a abnormal position.

RING! — —

As a response to your lethargy, your phone started ringing. Your eyes slowly blink open at the loud noise interrupting your supposed—beauty sleep.

The number shown was terrifically familiar and you rolled your eyes at the man calling you at this hour. Always finding the perfect time too.

What a fucking amazing best friend.

“What the fuck is it? It's 2:30 AM.” you aggressively said through the phone, heaviness in your tone as you were met with mellow silence hereafter.

Silence from the other line cut shortly before you were met with the voice of none other than Kim Seungmin, the devil himself. “Looks like someone didn't take his chill pill tonight.” he snarkily said, plain sarcasm on his tone.

You sat up from the bed shortly, rolling your eyes as far as they could roll, “What is it? I was about to sleep.” Voice stained with annoyance as you groan afterwards through the speaker.

“Mhm, What? Can't check up on my best friend now?” he said through the phone, making a bunch of noises as if he was on the verge of hysterically cackling.

“I swear—”

“Anyways,” Seungmin cut you off sharply, his grin widening.

“Had fun there yet? Body count yet? And I mean both sexually and the deadly kind.” he continued, snorting a bit at the end before you heard him talk to someone else in a bit.

“You are annoying. Okay, I’m going to hang up now. Y/N needs his beauty sleep, thank you for calling Y/N's phone this fine midnight. Bye.” you said sarcasm fills your tone as a sour smile is on your lips.

“Wai—”

CLICK! — —

After the line cut, you threw your phone toward farther nightstand, it barely hanging on the edge of table. Your hand rest atop your eyes, a soft snore sound passing through your lips before you flop down to the bed, sleeping like a log in a matter of minutes after the call stopped. Dreams woven in your mind as someone finally noticed outside the hotel that an outsider entered their territory — grin full of interest and awaiting entertainment.

“Well, well, well~ That old man knows how to pick his followers alright.” A cracking laugh slides down their tongue effortlessly, eyes intrigued and form trembling in excitement.

—

As the sun hangs brightly, you stretch your arms — mind aloof.

On a normal day, orderly practices, altar cleaning and other things were your main priorities but today. . .

Let's just say while the heat is shining on to you via the windows, all you could feel is as if a heavy raincloud is atop your head.

Seungmin mentioned something of a library in here, so that's the first place you will go to instead of going to daybars or clubs (which he recommended but received a smack on the back of his head).

Though he did mentioned getting laid, acting like a child as he did — you'd rather learn about why this place is quite the dump it is and about this city’s ‘beloved’ god rather than prance around like a virgin in headlights or go straight for a hooker in sight.

If somebody was reading your mind right now, they would be both hurt and amused.

You groan standing up from your now-messy bed, wiping the dried saliva from the sides of your mouth — last night's sleep was the one of the best sleep you had in awhile to be honest.

“Okay, first day — Woohoo...” You mumble to no one in particular, cheering in a monotonous way possible.v

[forevfangirlwrites]

love me better

She’s grocery shopping when she sees them. Just off the produce area, a beautiful bouquet of carnations in all different shades of pink just sitting there marked forty percent off.

Normally she’d just look at them and sigh then continue on with her shopping, but something compels her to move forward and pick them up. They’re even pettier in her hands, velvety soft and fragrant.

Annabeth has always loved flowers even though she doesn’t really get them that often, and now that she’s holding them, she doesn’t really want to put them back.

Why put them back?

It’s a great question. Why should she put them back? What’s stopping her from buying them and bringing them home?

Nothing.

Some revelations happen during important occasions or in the middle of a sleepless night or under duress.

Hers happens at two o’clock on a Tuesday afternoon in a grocery store in between picking up tomatoes and bread.

She can buy herself flowers.

An ability she’s always had really and now she doesn’t know why she hasn’t exercised it more.

Another rough day at work because of the project and on her way home she daydreams about coming back to dinner and flowers and Luke giving her a hug and telling her he’s ready to turn the day around. And the disappointment that follows when he’s not even there to greet her but at a bar with coworkers.

Actually, he never bought her flowers.

She’s already leaps ahead of him by simply ringing up the flowers alongside the milk and eggs.

The flowers are strapped to the passenger seat so she can look at them at the red lights and she wonders if maybe she’s going crazy. It took a month after her breakup for her to lose it?

“The project is almost done,” she says to the flowers as she starts to drive. “It’s been rough, but I’m really glad I pushed to take a half day off today.”

She nods to emphasize her point. “I can actually have real food in my kitchen now. Maybe I’ll make stuffed peppers for dinner, it’s been a while since I did that. Or…” she trails off thinking about her groceries.

“Or loaded at home nachos, and I won’t look at work stuff either, I’ll…”

She thinks of how to fill her afternoon. The luxury of free time is almost overwhelming. “Maybe I’ll go to the beach, it’s been forever.”

The beach isn’t far, but even with California weather, it’s not really warm enough to go into the water. But now that it’s in her head she can’t get it out.

She gets home, puts away the food and digs out a dusty vase for the flowers. They look nice on her small dining table, immediately working to uplift her mood even more.

Humming to herself, she grabs a beach towel and a book she’s been meaning to read along with some snacks and heads back to her car.

“I’ll just sit and read for a while,” she says out loud. “It’ll be cute, like I’m the main character in a movie or something. Piper is always telling me I got to romanticize my life.”

The flowers aren’t there so at this point she’s just talking to herself because she just feels like talking and it’s actually kind of nice to get her thoughts out of her head.

The sand is warm from the sun as she lays down her beach towel and sits there looking at the ocean and listening to the waves. It’s peaceful.

Some kids are running around, dragging sticks through the sand, no doubt trying to draw something, and it makes her turn to the sand beside her.

Without thinking her pointer finger automatically draws a heart, no doubt a remnant from the amount of times she used to doddle hearts back in high school.

Then in the middle she writes her initials: A.C.

They’d come to the beach with some of his friends and one of the guys had drawn a heart in the sand for his girlfriend.

“Aww, isn’t that cute,” she’d commented to Luke.

“Don’t expect me to do that though,” he’d said.

She’d frowned. “I don’t, I just meant that it—nevermind.”

Well, she definitely doesn’t need Luke to draw a heart with her initials in the sand for her, it’s something she can do herself. (And better because after years of doodling she’s mastered how to draw the perfect heart).

Two points of Annabeth, she thinks. Not that it matters, Luke is out of the equation anyway.

(But if it was a competition, she’d be winning).

It’s not till later while she’s listening to music and dancing along does she remember how much Luke didn’t like to dance. He claimed he wasn’t good at it.

“Neither am I,” she’d said, “it’s just fun.”

And she’s right, it is fun to spin around in your socks on the only part of the apartment that has tile other than the bathroom while you wait for pasta to boil.

The vague jumble of thoughts floating in the back of her mind finally unravels.

Three points to Annabeth.

For what?

For doing the things that make her happy.

For making herself smile.

For loving herself better than Luke ever could.

The things she’d wanted, needed, from him to feel loved and he never gave them to her, those things she gave herself.

She’s never really thought about the idea of loving herself, but listing it out like that, well, it’s obvious that she does.

And it’s obvious that Luke never really did.

It’s a bittersweet moment but ultimately the sweet wins out because Luke’s gone and she has herself.

And there comes the chorus of the song.

Time for an encore.

MORE DRABBLES: SEMANTICS OF LOVE 3

[smoothshine]

2022: greatest hits

@roseofbattles thanks for the tag! 💕

Not the easiest task you gave me here, ahah, but here are the points I'm definitely grateful for this year:

1. Changed a studying program and got accepted into a new (my current) university!! I was previously in a medical school, but this year I decided to change both my uni and a studying program (gonna ba a clinical psychologist now yaaaay!!). Both my physical and mental health improved a lot after this change, and I got to meet a lot of new wonderful people, while also still staying in contact with some of my folks from the previous studying place.

2. Got more opportunities to spend time with my very close friends - for quite some time we were all caught up in our studies and haven't seen each other in a long while, but I feel like this year we became even closer than before. I love them with all my heart and soul, and I'm looking forward to spending the next year by each other's side.

3. I got back into drawing and started my own blog! I had a strong art block for the past year and a half, for several reasons, but still. It felt so satisfying to pick up my favorite hobby again, and moreso to be able to draw for the fandom I'm currently into x) Huge thanks to each and every person who supported me until this point, I always enjoy reading all your lovely comments in the tags and just talk about stuff with everyone who feels like it! 🥺 💛

4. Which leads me to the next point - FMA (and especially Royai) fandom - thank you all so much for all the encouragement and positivity and just for being such an awesome and welcoming community of cool people!! Special shout out to my dear tumblr pocket friends and my lovely Discord people, you guys absolutely rock 😎💕

5. My health improvement! - I was able to get my final big eye surgery, so I hope I won't have to go back to this stuff next year and that I'm finally leaving this part of my life behind.

6. Movies, books, fics and music - all this stuff gave me a lot of strength and inspiration during the year, well, especially the latter two, not gonna lie, ahah. I guess it's partially related to the fandom point, but especially music always has played a pretty big role in my life, and, since I got an honor to meet such incredible writers in 2022, I wanted to mention this point separately as well:)

I'm afraid I won't be able to get to 10, but anyway x)) This year with all honesty was a rough one for me in many aspects, but I'm glad I still have all these good things that I got and can share with you all.

Tagging all these beautiful people more as an act of appreciation, hehe, but I would love to read your lists if you feel like doing them too! (Upd: some of you already did, but I wanted to tag you anyway, it's my equivalent of a forehead kiss, *muah* ✨️)

@jedidragonwarriorqueen @nightofnyx8 @klainelynch @scienceoftheidiot @chrysopoeias @goneadrift @g3yser @monnigu @fullmetalscullyy @chewytriforce @peartato @firewoodfigs @musing-and-music @dairogo @niconiconina @hanamuri @tsaritsa @viridashi @magipies @dragonifyoudare @js589

Happy New Yeat everyone, very excited to see what it holds for us all:)

[ocil91]

Chapter 3 Readthrough got a bit longer than intended. Putting it under readmore for the sake of anyone who doesn’t care about what I have to say. I’ll be tagging these going forward as ‘wha reading’, so if you don’t want to see these, blacklist that.

Also I’m going with the character names as they are in the translation I’m reading. If anyone knows the names used in official translations, feel free to tell me!

I’m glad we took a bit of time to talk about magic toilets. It was really the piece of the puzzle that this magical world needed to feel complete.

Stuff like the list of magic supplies where the panel borders are drawn like pieces of paper are the little details I really enjoy. I’ve also got a great appreciation for when parts of a scene are drawn with no panel border at all.

It’s also very funny at the Magic Wand is just a completely ordinary pen. Since all magic is drawn it makes sense that a totally normal pen would be a part of any aspiring Witch’s toolkit.

With the Sap Wand and the Magic Ink apparently being derived from sap, I’m expecting to see some suitably magical trees down the line.

I love Coco’s enthusiasm but she’s understandably overwhelmed.

Exposition on how magic runes work had to come sooner or later. I’m actually quite fond of how precise it requires you to be. As far as drawing your own runes goes, you need to be experienced. As for tracing existing runes... Well Coco has shown us what that looks like.

And her first successfully drawn rune just blasts Agete with water immediately. I can’t tell at this stage if Agete is genuinely understanding of Coco’s lack of knowledge or experience or just waiting to set her up for failure. Either way, Coco is definitely rubbing her the wrong way.

Agete taking the time to explain specifically what went wrong with the rune is super helpful. It feels like she’s actually trying to be helpful but there’s a nonzero chance she’s showing out for the Professor.

...And Qifrey dips out before the first lesson can even finish. Teacher of the year.

“The time for half-hearted studies is over.” THE TIME FOR HALF-HEARTED STUDIES DIDN’T EVEN BEGIN. WE GOT LIKE A QUARTER-HEARTED LESSON. AT BEST.

“Why bother building stairs if no one even uses them?” That’s a good question. It seems like perhaps this building was designed with the intention that decidedly non-magical people would be using it, which simply doesn’t happen in the current day.

It’s nice to meet you, Alaira! It’s worth noting that Alaira immediately refers to Qifrey as a problem child. Qifrey suspicion go up.

“The Brimmed Hat Group” It’s fun to possibly have a name to go with the mysterious witch that gave Coco a book of Forbidden Magic. Also it’s absolutely delightful that Witch factions are divided by Hat Type.

So the Test gets mentioned again. Seems like it’s dangerous and particularly so at this precise time of year. Certainly not the sort of thing you’d want to throw a complete and utter novice into.

That being said it seems that Agete’s plan is to do exactly that. Agete claims to have completed the test at the age of 10 which, even without knowing what the test is, is quite impressive.

So the test is to climb a mountain and get a flower from the top. Even if it were a normal mountain that would still be super dangerous. But I’m assuming it’s a Magic Mountain. I hope a sideways water spell will be more useful than it seems.

So you’re allowed to bring three Magical Items for the test specifically restricted to household use Magical Items. I hold nothing but respect for Coco’s desire to bring the toilet. I think that should be allowed.

Agete proves interesting again, letting Coco borrow her shoes for the test without much in the way of hesitation. BUT she’s also tossing Coco out into this test while being well aware that she only has like... ten minutes of formal training.

So you only get one chance and if you fail, then you lose your chance to become a Witch’s Disciple forever. That’s rough. Qifrey has referred to the others as disciples, so I suppose they’ve all taken the test already.

I was right. It’s a Magic Mountain.... Should’ve brought the toilet.

[louwhose]

2023 Projects

Now, by no means is this going to be everything I'm going to do in 2023. But there are a few things that I hope to get done that are... bigger projects so I wanted to share in advance what the plans are. Mostly LoZ AUs (like I say, that's one of my goals) but that's not all so keep reading.

Let's start with AUs I've already started publishing. Zelda in Shining Armor I'm planning on getting back to with the new year after entirely too long a break. Nothing too terribly exciting with A Princess to Protect, Lock and Key, HERO x FAMILY, and Turn of the Century, other than I will be working on them and have a general idea where I want them to go. Fake It 'Til You Date It, however, is more complicated as I am honestly uncertain how I do want it to go, but I'll try to work on figuring that one out, as well.

Now it's stuff I've begun to work on but aren't published yet. I will try to refrain from starting anything new until I've got actually doing an AU more figured out, but for now these are ones I've been working on.

Link Spellbound. It's going to be an Ella Enchanted AU, and for OoT Zelink. Book, not the movie. But I'm not planning on posting it until I have the whole thing written because there's just enough that I need to make sure I can just nail down and that will just work better for it. But it's my main writing project at the moment, so it's slowly going to get somewhere.

And here's a few upcoming honestly way bigger AUs that I will need to put in the effort to make sure I can get them done properly. An Aladdin AU that will talk about ten thousand years ago before BotW, that I am definitely excited about the ideas I have. Royal Enigma, a Yiga!Zelda AU that both way too fun and way too long already. Swords and Storms, which is a BotW Stormlight AU (either you know what I'm talking about or don't) that I'm almost done nailing the characters down for and then I'll move on to other things like. The plot. Mostly the plot.

As for drawings, there isn't too many big projects beyond my comic. There is master study that has been... slow-going and beyond being vaguely interested in hosting a DTIYS and doing an animatic which would certainly be a project that's all there really is to tell you in this corner because I don't even have ideas for them yet. Anyhow.

Dwight in Shining Armor. I want to do more for them. I've done more art than anything so far, but I need to draw more. And I do intend to be working on something for it at any given time. I have a shorter idea for an AU with a bit of a... role-swap. There's more to it than that but I won't expound on it just quite yet. But as soon as I have that done I'm planning on getting some serious brainstorm for an AU with some LoZ elements because. my brain likes to combine my hyperfixations in every possible way. But I already know it will be great fun!

And the only other thing I have planned that would really be a project that I'm not sure if I'll get around to is cytoverse series of pictures I'm thinking of called "Roadtrip through Nowhere." Because let's be honest I really got family roadtrip vibes from Cytonic.

Anyhow I have no clue how well I'll do with any of these but these are my intentions at this time! I hope you look forward to this stuff just as much as I do!

[duskpinelydearyou]

Artist Dates

Hello again Tumblr, I've got more to share with you!

I loved my second time at Full Sail University. From the start, I knew I had made the right choice in going back to the place where it all began, but I knew it'd be bittersweet as I was quickly coming to the end of my chapter in college and moving forward with the rest of my life. Though I learned a lot from this, I remember one thing that always stuck with me. My third month of twelve, a quarter of the way done with my program, I picked up on something in my scriptwriting class that had me thinking about enjoying something so nice for myself. And it all has to do with thanks from a self-help book by an author named Julia Cameron.

As you can guess by the title of this, I did what was called an artist date. But what is an artist date, you're probably wondering. For me, it was a time I devoted myself to creatively getting out of my comfort zone to find inspiration in the world around me. Though the actual definition is close, it's what I saw my artist dates for the month of October. How did it help me? It freshened me up for a change as I had been so focused on just schoolwork and the like that I never took the opportunity to get out of my shell. Like a turtle, I finally got out of my shell and started going out to have fun, whether it just be around my apartment complex I was staying at, or actively going around the Winter Park community. So to add a little bit of fun and excitement to my blog here, I would like to convey the dates I went on, how I saw the world around me, and how it helped inspire me moving forward with my final venture through college.

We all have to start somewhere, and that start for me was on September 29th with a Hydrodipping even that was done in my apartment complex. What made it fun? Well, we got to design our own cups into unique and colorful patterns similar to how they do the wraps on cars to get those crazy unique styles. I challenged myself to be creative, to think outside the box with what wacky design I could come up with, and settled on it. It also happened during a time where I was working on my first script for the class, a one-page script that I had issues trying to write for as I had been so focused on writing stuff for a full short film.

The second event was exploring Winter Park in and of itself, and was among one of the more expensive dates I went on. Where did I go? Well, I went to Hobby Lobby, one of my favorite craft stores! I think that's something I share between myself and my family as we all love Hobby Lobby, and I was so happy that one was in the town I was living in for the year! My haul wasn't too big as there wasn't much to pick from, especially with it being close to Halloween at the time (October 6th is close in my book, don't @ me). I did manage to grab a couple of books though, mostly on how to draw anime and chibi (a subtle middle finger to my drawing teachers and instructors who tore me down when I was younger) and went home with my haul. Brought the books with me every day for the rest of the month just to chill out and draw something in my notebooks that I brought with me. What I got out of this was just turning my brain into off mode and focusing on something else. It was refreshing to just explore and not have to worry about any assignments for the day.

My next artist date after was just something so very simple: getting a haircut. Why was it considered an artist date? Well, sometimes an artist needs to look their best before a big project, and usually that can just be a change in their own self-appearance, which was what I wanted to do. I wasn't dealing with class that day, so I figured it was a good opportunity to put my controller down and just go for a haircut. I wasn't going to hermit myself in when it was such a beautiful day outside! I even made a video of it that has me doing my favorite video cut: the fingersnap cut.

October 17th was a day at the beach, just having time to enjoy myself and celebrate an incredibly big achievement. I had finished the rough draft of my five-page script and the pitch for this script. My family was also visiting at this time and it gave me a chance to just relax and enjoy the fruits of my labor now completed. A reprieve from the hard world of school, the reward being the gentle lapping of waves on the sand and music in my ears. This was also my last artist date for the end of the month, but there was more to be had as I enjoyed the concept of going out and enjoying myself as a treat for completing something, or getting out of my own head.

Those were just the first four of many I did. Fun experiences to be had all around, and it was just the start of many more wonderful experiences I had. From kayaking, to movie watching, to even enjoying a game I've not had the privilege of playing in years, my artist dates varied, and they continued to vary as such over the next year. I have more experiences to enjoy, much more to go out and see, and I plan on doing it all when I have the stability for it. Hope my next big artist date takes me across the country, or even the world for that matter. I'd love to see another culture and garner inspiration from it seeing as there is more to it than just seeing it on a computer screen. To a future of exploration and enjoying every moment!