#i Understand Decorating Sketchbooks Now

[skunkes]

combatting unnecessary spending by telling myself i cant buy a new sketchbook until i finish my current one. Which i started in 2019.

[milswrites]

Hobbies Part 4.

~Azriel X Reader~

Summary: In an attempt to keep Azriel away from Elain, Rhys sends him on a sabbatical to the Day Court. With a lot more free time on his hands Azriel needs to find something to keep him occupied. Unfortunately he meets Y/N who has the annoying habit of not staying away. Can she teach him that there’s more to life than he thought?

Grumpy!Azriel X Sunshine!Reader

Series masterlist

Warnings: tiny tiny bit of angst but this is mainly fluff :)

Notes: Thank you guys for all the love on this series! I love reading all your comments <3

“No Azriel! That’s way too much sugar!”

Frustrated, Azriel sighed, halting his pouring of the sugar into the mixing bowl and heavily slamming the bag onto the counter, where it fell over and sugar spilled out of the bag covering his kitchen top.

Trying to keep his cool, Azriel replied through gritted teeth, “Fine. You do it then! This is a lot more work than I thought it would be anyways”.

Y/N placed her small hand on his shoulder in an attempt to calm him, giving it a gentle and reassuring squeeze. It did the job, Azriel breathing in deeply through his nose and immediately apologising for his outburst.

“It’s alright,” she smiled, removing her hand from him so she could start to clean up the mess he had made, “it’s not that big of a deal. I just didn’t want you to rot your pretty little teeth with all that sugar.”

Sighing, Azriel moved to help Y/N, “I’m sorry, I’m not very good at this, you would have been better off doing it alone.”

“Nonsense, the point of this is that you’re trying something new. It wouldn’t be very good if you gave up this easy”

Azriel would never understand how Y/N could always be so happy and calm, especially when dealing with his bad moods and sudden angry outbursts constantly ruining their time together. No matter how much Azriel tried to shove her away or how many times he got mad at her, Y/N was always there, smile on her face, a soothing presence to help draw him back from the darkness. Y/N was an angel sent by the mother.

He couldn’t imagine anyone else he knew being patient enough to teach him how to bake, but here Y/N was. She had turned up at his door, bag of goods in hand and announced they were going to make a cake together before matching into his flat.

Azriel was glad he had started opening his curtains and fixed the holes his knives had left in the wall, which as the days went by started looking a little less like Rhysand’s face. He had even moved the sketchbook and pencils Y/N had gifted him off the floor of his flat. He wouldn’t have liked to have seen her distraught face if she had entered his flat only to have seen them gathering dust on the floor.

So here they were, squashed together in his small kitchen, attempting to bake a cake. Once the sugar was cleared, they continued with the recipe. Only this time Y/N hovered her hands close to Azriel’s whenever he poured something into the bowl to ensure there weren’t any more mishaps. Though he wasn’t sure how much that helped, the ghost of her touch making his hands shake nervously.

Batter complete, Y/N carefully transferred it into the container for baking and placed it into the oven. “Now we wait” she hummed, licking the cake mixture from her fingers before removing her apron, Azriel’s eyes transfixed on the movement.

“Uh, would you like to go sit down while we wait?” Azriel awkwardly stuttered, as if not sure how to converse now that there was a break in activity.

Y/N completely unaware of the awkward atmosphere that Azriel had imagined, happily skipped over to his living room before hopping onto one of his sofas, bring her legs up and tucking them under her. Azriel followed like a lost puppy and made to sit on the same sofa as her before he changed his mind, not wanting to make Y/N uncomfortable and sat in the chair opposite.

“I see you’ve taken up decorating,” Y/N teased, sight set on the wall where the holes at once been, where Azriel had done a terrible job of attempting to plaster them back up, “maybe don’t quit your job. I don’t really see a future for you in interior design.”

Azriel acknowledged her joke with a scoff but failed to reply. Instead, his focus was on Y/N’s dress now she had removed the apron which had been hiding it since she arrived at his door. Her dress was a lovely shade of cobalt blue, similar to that of his siphons, and was different to the normally bright colours she wore that reflected the usual Day Court attire. If he squinted he could trace the delicate silver threads that trailed over the material depicting swirls and markings that reflected that of the Illyrian tattoos he and his brothers bore. Azriel shook his head, no, the details were too small for him to make out from this distance, he was just seeing what he wanted to see.

“Your dress is pretty, is it new?” He asked wanting to sate his curiosity. At this Y/N blushed a deep shade of red and sat up a little straighter, “oh…um yes I had some free time earlier this week and I was feeling inspired so I made a few new things”.

“It looks… it’s great” Azriel cursed himself for giving such a poor response but he was too stunned by his shadows whispering to him that Y/N had made it with him in mind. His shadows message was what drew him back to reality. There was no way in hell that Y/N would use him as inspiration. His shadows, though they weren’t normally, were wrong.

Wanting nothing more than to distract himself from his swimming thoughts and shadows teasing that Y/N admires and appreciates him, Azriel joked, “no dress for me?” If possible Y/N turned an even deeper shade of red, “I don’t think you’d fit in this Az.”

Still unable to tear his eyes from her dress, which hugged her curves so beautifully it was Y/N’s turn to change the topic, “so how have you been enjoying the Day Court?”

“It’s not the Night Court, but it’s not bad. It has some redeeming qualities.” At his words Azriel’s eyes trailed up Y/N’s body, over her slightly exposed chest and finally stopped when they met her eyes which were staring right back at him.

Hiding their unspoken words with humour must have been something both Azriel and Y/N shared as she replied, “I’m suprised you didn’t burst into flames at the first sign of daylight. Isn’t it always dark where you’re from?”

“What?” Azriel laughed, thoughts of Y/N’s dress long gone. “You think it’s always dark in the Night Court?”

Embarrassed Y/N stutters, “Well… it’s just… it’s called the Night court!”

By this point Azriel had lost it, tears forced their way out from his eyes as he laughed and laughed at Y/N’s foolishness. Y/N looked as if she didn’t know whether to be amused by Azriel’s reaction or utterly distressed at how stupid she had made herself appear in front of him.

“You get nighttime in the day court don’t you?” Azriel spoke in-between laughs. Now defensive upon realisation that she really had been a fool, Y/N tried to help her situation, “well it’s not as if I’ve ever been to another court”.

Azriel’s laughter stopped at this, he forgets that not everyone has been to as many places as he had. That many people never actually saw the outsides of their own court. That was one fortune of his job role as spymaster.

“What do you even do for Helion?” Azriel asked, realising that he didn’t even know. It was easy to forget that Y/N was sent here by Helion, that she wasn’t spending time with Azriel out of her own free will no matter how much he wished for it to be so.

“I am a courtier. I deal internally within the Day Court. Make sure the people are happy, give their feedback to Helion.”

“So your whole job…is just to make people happy?”

“It’s a little more than that but yes I make people happy. Can’t be doing my job very well if you haven’t realised that though”

There it was again. The horrible reminder to Azriel that you weren’t here for pleasure, it made something ugly grow inside of him, the realisation that you were only pretending to be his friend.“Right. I forget you’re being paid to be here.”

“Actually no, I’m not. I took the day off today” Y/N said it dismissively, as if it wasn’t important.

But to Azriel, to him it meant everything. Y/N had taken the day off and had decided out of her own free will that she wanted to come and spend her precious time off with him. Azriel knew from his own count how few and far between getting days off are. Hope glimmered in his chest that perhaps whatever this thing growing between them was, she felt it too. That Y/N wanted to explore it just as badly as Azriel did.

The distance between them suddenly felt too much. Azriel shifted forward, all senses telling him he needed to get closer to the woman sat on the sofa before him.

He wondered if he asked the question, asked why she was here, she’d be honest and tell him it was for him. Tell him she wanted him just as badly as he found himself wanting her.

But of course, as soon as Azriel opened his mouth, as if knowing what he was about to say, Y/N jumped to her feet interrupting the moment. “Oh cauldron the cake!” It was only now Azriel noticed the burning smell slowly creeping through the flat, the two had been so engrossed in each other, in their conversation, that they hadn’t realised just how long they had been sat there.

Azriel launched on his own feet, tailing Y/N as she sped to the kitchen and tore the cake from the oven, the top of which was black and smoking.

“Well at least it’s not on fire” Azriel said and at the same time Y/N huffed “so much for a birthday cake.”

She said it quiet. So quiet that Azriel probably wouldn’t have caught it if it wasn’t for his shadows repeating it to him as they whispered in his ear.

“Your birthday? You wanted to spend your birthday with me?” Azriel was caught off guard with this information. Y/N, who had been stood there blowing on the cake as if it would suddenly catch on fire, stopped what she was doing and casually replied “yeah?” So casually in fact that she acted as if it was obvious that she would want to spend the day with Azriel, holed up in his flat baking together.

“But what about your family? Friends?” Azriel was still in disbelief that someone would choose to be with him.

“No family. And I guess I work so much and spend so much time making sure everyone else is happy that I forget about myself, so no friends really” she shrugged, as if it didn’t really bother her and Azriel supposed he could relate. He didn’t have any other friends outside the inner circle. And yet where Azriel was cold and moody, even with his found family, Y/N was alone and she acted as if she was the happiest person on the planet. Every time Azriel found himself understanding the Day Court woman, he learnt something new that completely altered what he thought of her.

“Come on are we going to decorate this or not! I hope your cake decorating skills are better than your wall ones” Y/N smiled up at him, “Ooh I totally forgot, I should have given it to you earlier, don’t want to get messy” she began routing through the bag she had brought, until she must have found what she was looking for as she pulled out a spare apron. An apron which was the same shade of bright yellow as her own.

Azriel opened his mouth to protest but his traitorous shadows reminded him that Y/N had decided to spend her birthday with him and urged him to go along with what she says to keep her happy. With a grumble Azriel put on the sun-coloured item, a flat look on his face as he glanced down at Y/N who was positively beaming.

“The mother sent you to torture me didn’t she” Azriel was sure he said it in relation to the uncharacteristically bright clothing she had made him wear but now, eyes hovering over her body once more, he wondered if he was talking more about the agony of being in her presence and not acting on the feelings stirring within him.

“You caught me”, she giggled playfully as she busied herself preparing the ingredients needed for the icing, “I was sent here to make your life miserable”

Unable to stop the words coming from his mouth Azriel couldn’t help but say, “well you’re not doing a very good job of that” That earned him a wink and an air kiss from Y/N, Azriel found himself wishing to know what her lips would feel like elsewhere. What they would feel like on his.

Thankful that Y/N had chosen to make the icing herself, Azriel watched on as she stirred the bowl, happily chatting away to him about her week and all the people she had helped at work.

It was in this domestic bliss that he allowed himself to dream. To imagine what his life would be like if Y/N was from the Night Court. He imagined coming home from work to find her in the kitchen baking, a kiss on his cheek in greeting as she tells him all about his day, about the dresses she made. It was a life Azriel could never have, not while they both had loyalties to their own courts, but he allowed himself to dream.

A tentative touch to his hand pulled him back to reality. Y/N was holding the tips of his fingers, face full of concern as she looked up at him, “Are you ok?”

Azriel’s breath caught in his throat at their closeness, heat crossing his cheeks, “Yeah, never better. Are we going to start?” Y/N’s smile returned but her eyes still flashed with worry, “Show me what you got bat boy.”

The cake wasn’t pretty. A mash of different brightly coloured icing mixed together in an unorganised mess. Some of which was smudged on their hands, faces and aprons as they struggled to try and make the cake look appetising after it had been burnt. Now they both stood admiring their hard work which stood lopsided on the kitchen counter.

“I guess we eat it now right?” Y/N said, reaching over for the knife on the top to cut into it.

“One minute” Azriel’s words stopped her reaching and he rooted through the cupboard above him looking for something. “Aha” he said victoriously, pulling out a single candle, the type made for lighting a room, not a birthday cake. But all the same, Azriel stuck it in the middle of the uneven cake and lit the flame. It wasn’t perfect but Azriel as proud, proud he had made something for once instead of the usual destruction he leaves in his wake.

“Make a wish” he spoke softly, traces of a smile creeping onto his face as he watched Y/N hold her icing-stained hair back as she leaned forward to blow the candle out, closing her eyes tightly as if she was wishing really hard.

“What did you wish for?” He asked, something stirring inside him.

“It won’t come true if I tell you silly” Y/N said as she plucked the candle from the cake so she could serve it. Cutting them both a slice they lifted it to their lips, each taking a bite.

It was the most disgusting thing Azriel had ever tasted and it was most definitely his lack of baking skills to blame. Y/N’s eyes bulged and she grabbed a napkin before spitting the cake in her mouth out into it. Azriel, not quite as ladylike, spat it onto the plate in his hands.

“I’m sorry I ruined your birthday cake” Azriel anxiously said as he watched Y/N help herself to water and start chugging it in an attempt to get rid of the taste. She shook her head, swallowing the last gulp of her water before saying, “it was perfect Az. Thank you for spending the day with me.”

Realising that they had finished doing what she had come for and that she would now take her leave, an odd sense of fear sparked in Azriel. Fear that he didn’t want the day to end, that he could spend forever surrounded by the vanilla-scented presence of this beautiful woman before him. So Azriel took a leap.

“Would you like to go out? For your birthday of course”

Y/N’s eyes snapped to his and for a moment Azriel was worried she was going to say no. But then the biggest grin he had ever seen on her face broke out and Y/N squealed, “Yes!”

“Great! Great!” panic now filled Azriel as he had no idea what they were actually going to do, “do you…do you mind if I have a few hours to come up with something?”

Y/N agreed, saying how it would be best to wash the icing from her hair and change first, and so she packed her bag and walked to the door to leave. Azriel, opened it for her the promise of seeing her later on his lips when Y/N leaned up and placed a gentle kiss onto his cheek causing his jaw to drop in shock.

A shy giggle left her mouth at his reaction, her sweet voice filling his red ears as she said, “I’ll see you soon Az” His eyes chased after her as she left, travelling down to linger on her beautiful dress once more, the silver markings, his markings, glistening in the light as she walked.

Azriel stayed rooted to the spot, staring into space at the corner of the corridor where she had just left. Unsure of how long he had been there, his senses returned when his neighbour walked round the corner, jumping in shock at seeing the large Illyrian warrior stood there in a frilly yellow apron. Azriel grunted and slammed the door shut.

Part 5

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Notes: would you guys like to vote where Azriel takes her in the next part or would you like to leave it up to me?

Enjoy the fluff while it lasts there’s still lots of angst to come :)

Taglist:

@thelov3lybookworm @minnieoo @going-through-shit @iluvyewman-blog @laughterafter @amysangel @bigcreatorwombatdreamer @aaronwarnerobsessedmylove @justvibbinghere

@darling006 @anuttellaa @serendipityx150 @xxxalicerogersxx @that-one-little-soybean @scatteredstardustt @naturakaashi @honeybeeboobaa @willowpains

(I think that’s everyone but if I’ve accidentally missed you let me know)

[l3viat8an]

Ro what about random silly headcanon with the bros? Anything you want to share 👁👁

👀 yessss I have so many silly hcs!!- These are all over the place ‘n not in any real order cuz I’m just typing them out as I go :))

Beel will lay in bed for hours at night just watching those cake decorating videos. he gets so mesmerized by them that he doesn’t notice just how much time has passed and suddenly it’s like 5am.

Satan runs a cat meme page on devilgram and a ‘best cat videos’ deviltube.

On the topic of cat memes, Mammon has a ton saved on his DDD that he’ll spam Satan with whenever Satan’s in a bad mood. Mammon knows they’ll make Satan feel a bit better- or at least laugh.

Lucifer sleeps in until noon or later on sundays. His brothers could literally be burning the house down around him and it just….doesn’t matter. He is NOT getting out of bed until he absolutely has to.

Lucifer was a huge MCR fan and even has a few old t-shirts in the very back of his closet.

Lucifer’s ears turn red when he’s really mad. So do Satan’s but don’t tell him.

Satan like scrapbooking. Occasionally he’ll ask Asmo for pictures of everyone (even Lucifer) to add to his scrapbooks, especially after big events because Asmo always has the best picture of everybody having fun!! Asmo’s the only one that knows about this and he thinks it’s adorable to see more of Satan’s ‘soft side’.

Belphie sleeps with one sock on because his feet gets cold, but both socks on make him feel too hot- it’s weird I know- but one sock is perfect for him.

Belphie HATES cold showers, like if there isn’t enough hot water for him to rise off he’ll just get out with soap still in his hair.

Levi is actually a REALLY good driver!!- but other cars on the road and traffic in general terrifies him so he never drives. (unless it’s an emergency.)

Asmo loves sketching landscape / flowers and has a couple sketchbooks full of amazingggg sketches!! But he doesn’t think they’re any good, so he keeps it a secret.

Asmo collets candles.

Levi once lost a bet to Mammon and had to wear his Ruri-Chan cosplay to RAD. (which really backfired because everybody LOVED IT and Levi was the most popular demon at RAD for a day.)

Belphie is lactose intolerant.

Mammon is insanely good at Uno, he once went undefeated for 7 months then Lucifer beat him in 4 turns. LMAOOO

Levi can’t pose for pictures to save his life, his default pose is that NPC stance with his arms just hanging down and his eyes wide in surprise. It looks like you’re holding him at gunpoint. don’t ask him to smile either because that just looks worse….

Beel doesn’t really understand personal space- so he’s always standing just a little too close when he’s talking to somebody. (most people think he’s trying to be intimidating, but he’s really not.)

‘n uhhhhh that’s all for now XD

[rabbit-or-rib]

Rubbing my hands together evily again

Wondering if I could make another request of it's alright

Tim, Brian, and Evan (I have favorites hehe) with a gn or Afab s/o whos an artist and sees them as a muse

(could be sfw could be nsfw whatevers more fun)

Tyty and your works are great :3!!

-🐟

hi !! glad to see you're taking requests for evan :) I was wondering if you could do some hcs for Evan with a reader who draws/sketches a bunch?? like they always use evan for inspo in drawings and they draw things they do in their relationship?? maybe something about how evan catches them looking and drawing him when they think he's not looking.. and maybe if you'd like you could include habit and his reaction to it as well.. I hope this makes sense and isn't too much!! if it is feel free to ignore 🫶

i decided to combine these two just to make it easier for navigation and all that, i hope that's okay !! thank you both soso much :) <333

🚬📹☠️🐇 Tim Wright / Brian Thomas / Evan Myers / HABIT x artist!reader

· · ·

Tim :

listen

he hates to pry. he really does.

but he wants to see EVERYTHING

he's trying to sneak peaks going behind the couch when your drawing in the living room, oh-so-conveniently needing to be in your guys' room when you're working on something at your desk- he thinks he's being very covert

he's an awkward and easily embarrassed man, he doesn't think to just ask to see no matter how many times you tell him he can

he is thoroughly thrown through a loop when he sees you drawing him

he has some. not great self esteem regarding all of the things he's been through and been told, and he has good reason to be anxious about most things- especially someone important leaving him

him getting reassurance that you actually do like how he looks and that you love him so much he's stuck in your mind when he's gone means so, so much more than he could ever comfortably express.

he does try to, though

through embarrassed and deeper mumbled praise, some red tinted cheeks and his finger nervously rubbing at the edge of the page

he asks if he can keep a smaller doodle on him :)

Brian :

YOUR !! BIGGEST !!! SUPPORTER !!!!

he's hyping you up however he knows possible

he was a theater and film kid, there's no way he didn't meet a couple art kids in there

he'll get a real good look at whatever it is you show him before he points out things like the shading in a particular area looks really good, the line art flows really well, things like that

as a former (short term lol) actor, he knows how frustrating it can be to just hear a "that looks great!" when you've worked really hard on something

if you draw HIM?? he's beyond flattered

and a little taken aback by how much you remember of him

Brian's big on trying to figure out other people, understand what makes them the way they are, what they're gonna do- so much so i think that he can forget how much other people soak him in, too

so when you showcase all of your focus and love for him through your art, it fixes up his worldview a little bit

he has a big burst of that "this is why i love you" feeling and he looks at you with the biggest dopiest smile

if you let him keep any of the work you do he'll try to find a way to keep at least one of them on him at all times

in his wallet, phone case, jean pocket, something like that

he just wants a little bit of you wherever he goes :)

Evan :

HE LOVES IT SO MUCH

little doodles on the grocery list, scribbles on the corner of a reminders list, drawing on his hand when you get bored; you name it and he's gonna cherish it

he thinks it's the cutest thing when you think he can't see you looking up at him every now and then while you're buried in your sketchbook across the couch

you have an entire page that's getting decorated with scattered snapshots of your life together

the two of you with your foreheads pressed together laughing at each other from when he was trying to butter you up to try and get you to go to a specific place for dinner, how he looked at you when you cut your finger making lunch and he decided he hand to kiss all over your hand for good measure- so many small moments that meant the world in both of your hearts and, eventually, you end up wanting to show him what you've been working on

and he may or may not have gotten a little bit very emotional about it

you just mean so much to him

this poor man has been through and lost so much

he's so grateful for you, and to know that you're so grateful for him as well? and enough to cherish the same moments he does and immortalize the two of you like that? he's gone

HABIT :

NOOOSSSSYYYYYYYYYY BASTARD

you couldn't hide a crumb from him

he's known you've been drawing him since the first time you did it because he is a little SPY

he can be so quiet when he feels like it, and he wants to see eeeeverything you draw

the process intrigues him

if he caught you looking up and back down to your sketchbook at him, i can see him doing two things

going over and seeing how the drawing looks already because he wants to know what you think he looks like

OR rapidly switching positions for you to draw him in, "is this my good side? make sure you get my face. can you draw me with blood? i want blood-"

he is very proud to be your muse, though

he'll hang up any finished pieces you let him have

[cuubism]

Physical Therapy, Part 8

--

A few days later, Hob goes to Dream’s old flat. He wanted to go immediately, but he needed time to calm himself. If he went to confront Dream’s ex immediately, he’d be too likely to do something inadvisable out of anger.

Truthfully, he’s still so angry.

He can control himself, though. So he knocks on the door, instead of taking it off its hinges.

Dream’s ex-boyfriend opens the door with an annoyed look on his face. But jumps back, startled, at the sight of Hob. He recognizes Hob, then. Good.

“I’m here for Dream’s things,” he says. No need to prolong this with pleasantries.

“His things?” says the ex, with disdain, like Dream’s possessions mean nothing to him. “Why? He’ll come back anyway. Eventually.”

“No, he won’t.”

Ex-boyfriend leans against the door frame, smirking. Maybe Hob should have just punched him. “You going to stop him?”

Hob takes a deep, long breath. No. He actually wouldn’t try to stop him. He’s not going to force Dream to do anything. He’d try to convince him otherwise, though. And if he can be a good enough boyfriend, then maybe Dream will never feel the need to go back to some horrible place, looking for love.

“I don’t try to make people stay in my house,” he snaps. “His things. Now. You think I won’t punch you again?”

So much for being calm.

For the first time, that smirking look slips. “It’s all worthless anyway,” he says.

Hob grits his teeth. The stupidest thing is, even for someone who doesn’t care about Dream himself, Dream’s art is objectively not worthless. Hob had looked it up once. Dream’s paintings sell for thousands of pounds. Sometimes tens of thousands. It’s not just Dream’s passion that he’s so jealous and disparaging about, but his livelihood, his basic ability to support himself.

“Are you going to let me take it?” he says. “Or are we going to have a problem?”

Ex-boyfriend looks annoyed—and uncomfortable?—but finally just gestures Hob in. “Fine. Whatever.”

Inside, the flat is… kind of cold. It’s not homey. He can’t imagine Dream living here; he can barely imagine Dream living in his own flat, which is likewise utterly empty of decoration. But there are spots on the wall, here, that are empty in a more conspicuous way. Like Dream’s art might once have hung there.

Hob doesn’t know the entirety of what he’s looking for, but he thinks he’ll be able to identify most of Dream’s things by sight. And indeed—with Dream’s ex trailing him like an irritable ghost—he finds some of what must be Dream’s clothes in the closet, and Dream’s sketchbooks and books and paperwork all stacked in boxes. Like they’d been on their way out.

So much for “he’s definitely coming back.”

Dream’s ex doesn’t stop him as he packs stuff up and gathers it by the door. But as Hob looks at what he’s managed to collect, there’s obviously something missing. Pieces that were still drying and pieces that were too large to carry, Dream had said, when speaking of what he'd left behind.

“Where’s the rest of his art?”

Now ex-boyfriend does look uncomfortable. A sinking feeling settles in Hob’s stomach. “Why would I keep that shit, anyway? I told you, it’s worthless."

“It’s not worthless,” Hob snaps, but this time his voice breaks. He scrubs a hand through his hair. Looks at the empty spaces on the wall.

He tries to imagine what happened. Did he just toss it all? Coldly? Methodically? No, Hob doesn’t think so. If he had he would have just gotten rid of the rest of Dream’s stuff, too.

What he can imagine is a fit of rage, with his real target, Dream, having fled, and only the supposed distraction, his life’s work, left behind.

Dream's ex-boyfriend is watching him warily. He seems nervous about what Hob might do, like Hob is an unpredictable animal. Good. Maybe he'll understand how Dream's felt. “You got what you came for,” he says. “Just go.”

“Yeah, I’m trying to decide if I'm going to kill you first.”

Dream’s ex takes a startled step back. And Hob really, really wants to just fucking bash this guy’s head in. But he has to restrain himself. Not just because he doesn’t want to get arrested for assault, though that’s also better avoided.

No. It’s really that he doesn’t want to be another violent man in Dream’s life.

As satisfying as it was to throw that first punch in Dream’s defense, making it physical now would be a different matter. If he shows that he’s capable of resorting to real violence to get what he wants, or to punish someone for something, Dream is always going to have that in the back of his head when he looks at him. There will always be a tiny corner of his brain harboring the fear that that impulse could turn on him.

He’s already kind of pushing boundaries by being here at all, and only getting away with it because Dream didn’t actually tell him not to go, just that he himself didn’t want to. God his blood is heated and this asshole definitely deserves to be taught a lesson but it’s not worth putting a crack in Dream’s trust in him.

“You’re lucky I care more about what he thinks of me,” he finally says. Then he gathers all of Dream’s stuff, and makes himself leave. Dream’s ex, wisely, doesn’t say anything else as he goes.

—

Dream is in the middle of trying to paint when Hob arrives. Or rather, in the middle of staring at a canvas, wishing he could paint. He’d bought a large canvas in the hopes that he might try to do something in his old style, something more detailed and precise. But he’s been too intimidated by the prospect to even begin mixing colors.

He keeps finding himself staring at all the empty space in his flat, at walls that should be hung with art. But he doesn’t have any of his large pieces left. They were all sold prior to… the incident… or left behind. He only has the smaller ones that were in his portfolio.

He’s been finding himself regretting selling those pieces. He had never been bothered by it before, but now he wants to track down the buyers and beg for them back. But he won't. Some of those paintings had sold for tidy sums, which is the reason he can afford this flat despite not having a steady job. And he has no guarantee of being able to sell something at that rate again.

He at least has photographs of everything he’s ever sold. The same can’t be said of what he’d kept for himself, or left unfinished.

He startles at the knock on the door, but remembers: Hob said he would come over today.

He still hasn’t been able to shake the need to block the door whenever he’s home, so he has to shove aside a bookcase before he can let Hob in. When he opens the door, Hob is carrying a box, and wearing a pained smile. “Here,” he says, giving it to Dream. “I have more in the car.”

He disappears back down the stairs before Dream can question him, and Dream sets the heavy box down on the kitchen island.

It’s full of his sketchbooks.

For several moments he just stares at them, not daring to touch. How did Hob— did he go to Dream’s flat?

Hob comes back with another two boxes, precariously balanced, while Dream is still staring at the first one. These, it seems, are full of documents, and personal effects, and some of his favorite books.

“How—?” he tries to ask, nearly struck dumb.

“I went to your house,” Hob says. “Sorry, I probably shouldn’t have. But you deserve to have your things.”

At first, he is only shocked to think that someone would go to such lengths for him. Then, Dream feels a surge of hope. Perhaps—

But. No. Of all things, Hob would have known to grab his artwork. He would have lead with that.

“…Oh,” Dream says quietly, looking down.

“Yeah,” Hob says, face falling. “I’m so sorry, Dream, that’s all that was there— I mean I still have some of your clothes in the car, but—”

“I love you,” Dream says, tearing up. Hob actually went back. To get his things. Even when Dream said it wasn’t worth doing.

When he looks up again, Hob looks stunned. And only then does Dream realize what he’s said. He swallows nervously, but he doesn’t want to take it back. It doesn’t matter if he truly meant that he’s in love with Hob. Because either way, he loves Hob. And no one has ever loved him like this, like it was easy. And without question.

“I—” Hob stammers. “I mean it’s really not—”

Dream takes his hands and squeezes them, and Hob stops talking. “It is,” Dream says. “It is a big deal. To me.”

“Well,” Hob finally manages, voice still tight. “I want you to be happy, Dream. You deserve that.”

It’s not a sentiment Dream is used to hearing directed towards him. But hearing it from Hob makes him feel like… maybe it can be. Maybe it should be.

Dream kisses him, still holding his hands. He feels himself smile into the kiss. Another thing he’s not used to doing, but it feels good.

Hob smiles too, as he cradles Dream’s face between his hands. And even though Hob wasn’t able to recover his art, even though his ex probably destroyed it—which is agonizing to think about—in this one moment, Dream is… happy.

It's so strange that it almost hurts. But he thinks he’s actually happy.

[mouwrites]

Creepypasta/MH - How They’d Ask You Out

Characters: Eyeless Jack, Nina the Killer, Clockwork, Jane the Killer, Tim/Masky, Brian/Hoody

Eyeless Jack

I don’t think it would take him too long to ask out someone he liked

As long as he was sure that he really did like them, and that they didn’t hate him or anything, he’d be comfortable at least asking

He would bring flowers for sure

He’d show up at your door late at night, bouquet in hand

“Would you care to join me for a walk?”

You’d stroll through the woods, talking a bit about yourselves

It’d be a pretty deep conversation, both of you staying serious as you exposed vulnerable parts of yourselves

He’d hint at being romantically interested in you, but he’d wait until you were back at your house to pop the question

“You’ve probably noticed by now, but I really do think you’re amazing. I’d love it if you’d be my partner.”

If you say yes he’ll be absolutely radiating joy and he’ll promise to treat you well before bidding you goodnight

If you say no he’ll understand, thank you for your time anyway, and disappear into the night

He’s okay staying friends, but he’ll be sad about it for a while

Still, your companionship is more important to him than being yours

Nina the Killer

It won’t take long at all for her to ask out someone she’s interested in

As soon as she knows she can trust them, she’ll go for it

She’ll use something homemade to actually ask the question

Like a kandi bracelet that says “be mine?”

Or maybe a cake she baked herself

Either way it’s bound to be something decorative made with lots of love

She’ll find you at school/work/home and tell you she has something to show you

She smiles hugely when she reveals her little project, but inside she’s buzzing with anxiety

“So..? What do you say?”

If you agree she’ll literally drop whatever she’s made and throw her arms around you

She will proceed to take you out shopping to buy something to commemorate the occasion

Matching shirts, bracelets, a new piercing, maybe even a pizza to share

Just a little something to celebrate :)

If you say no she’ll be devastated

“Oh… well, thanks anyway…”

She probably won’t talk to you for a while, if ever again

Clockwork

She’d have to know you for a VERY long time beforehand

She has trouble trusting people, as well as trouble finding someone she’s genuinely interested in romantically

You’d know pretty much everything about each other by the time she decides to ask you out

That just means that she knows the way to your heart though

She’ll make a beautiful sketch of you

Maybe there’s some gore incorporated, but hey, if you’ve stuck with her this long you’ll be used to it

You’ll be hanging out one day, her drawing and you distracted by something else, and she’ll suddenly tear a page from her sketchbook

She hands you the drawing while saying:

“Hey, Y/n, so… I really like you. You’re my dream partner. I want you by my side always.”

If you agree to be her partner, she’ll grin, turning back to her sketchbook with a little pinkness on her cheeks as she mumbles “cool”

When you leave she’ll peck your cheek before slamming the door in your face, giddy that she had the courage to do that

If you reject her, she’ll frown

Probably won’t want to be friends anymore :(

She just doesn’t want to be around someone she loves knowing they don’t love her back

Jane the Killer

I think it depends on the person when it comes to Jane

If you guys click really well, she’ll probably try to advance the relationship quicker than if your relationship started off rocky

But either way she’s going to plan something romantic

She’ll buy you something nice and deliver it in secret

Like, one day you’ll just find a box of chocolates or a necklace with a note attached telling you to meet her someplace

Personally I like to think it’d be a blossoming cherry tree, or perhaps a scenic overlook

You’ll find her there waiting for you, hands fidgeting nervously behind her back

She’ll get straight to the point:

“Y/n, I like you. It’s okay if you don’t feel the same, but if you do… wanna be my girlfriend?”

If you accept, she’ll get a huge smile and run over to you, throwing her arms around you and twirling you around

You’ll sit together at the scenic location for a while, leaning on each other with your fingers intertwined

If you decline, she’ll just nod with a sad smile

She’ll be sad for a while, but ultimately she’s got other things in her life to worry about, so I don’t think she’ll wallow for too long

Might keep talking to you, might not; again, it really depends with her

Tim/Masky

Another one who’d have to know you a while first

He needs to make sure he trusts you, yes, but he also needs to start trusting himself around you

Once he’s sure that you can both handle yourselves, he’ll take more time to hype himself up to do it

He questions bitterly whether you’d even accept if he did ask you out

Eventually he gets so exhausted from the constant will they/won’t they in his head that he spontaneously blurts out:

“Do you want to go out with me?”

You’ll be taken aback; you guys were literally just chilling in silence

Plus he would’ve given next to no hints that he liked you at all

If you accept, he’ll sigh, slouching severely in relief

Finally some peace of mind… and heart

He’ll murmur a thank you for giving him this peace, but won’t elaborate

If you decline, he’s going to beat himself up about it so hard

He won’t blame you at all; no, every ounce of blame is going into the anvil that he’s crushing himself with

Probably won’t want to keep contact for much longer

Your presence is just a constant reminder of (what he sees as) his failure

Brian/Hoody

He didn’t know you for too long before deciding to ask you out, but he knew a lot about you

If he’s interested in you, he’s going to find out everything he can

He prefers outside sources, but if he absolutely cannot find something he wants to know, he’ll begrudgingly just ask you

That being said, he knows how to charm you

He’s a pretty naturally charming person regardless, but he wants to do something special just for you

He’d leave a gift for you; something he knows you love

Jewelry with your favorite gemstone, your favorite flowers, a nice new fluffy blanket… something on the luxurious side

Plus a note saying:

“Y/n, please be mine. With love, Brian”

He’ll approach you later and ask for your response

If you agree, he’s got a whole nice evening planned out already, and he’s more than eager to take you on this first date

If you decline, he’ll probably “cut contact”

I use quotations because he’ll probably still keep tabs on you in secret for a while

He’ll get over it eventually, but until he does that’s his way of coping

Thank you for reading!! Take care of yourselves pumpkins <33

(divider by saradika)

[shieldofiron]

i need to know your latest munver thought….NOW!!

The latest Munver thoughts? Fall is so their season.

September first, Jason's on the roof hanging decorations. He also does the Christmas lights but they're not half as elaborate as what Eddie cooks up. Every year they try to win the Hawkins Halloween Parade Costume Contest, and they've only lost twice.

Fall is football season, Basketball is ramping up, and there's also Hockey. Eddie still doesn't completely understand any of it but he likes cuddling up next to Jason on the couch with a sketchbook or a novel, listening to Jason's groans and his heart race. He's even come to enjoy Hockey, and has gotten into numerous arguments with refs.

They love the slightly cooler weather, and the smell of the late summer corn in the mazes. Jason always finds Eddie and steals him away for a clandestine kiss.

Fall is their season.

[greypetrel]

WIP Wednesday

Thank you @daggerbean for the tag! And welcome back, consider yourself tagged back if you have something else! <3 Another slow week, a last-minute project took me away... Next I'll have something more, hopefully.

Some Cullavellan, it's been a while. Cullen tried again at challenging her to a drinking game. She was raised Dalish with home-brewed spirits and can't be beaten, just brought to sing.

Whale AU shenanigans, the original one: bed-ridden raccoons are a delight to have around when you're writing the essay of your life, absolutely. (traditional from my sketchbook!)

Some writing under the cut, I'm slow these days but I'm working on some silly thing.

Tagging: @salsedinepicta @ndostairlyrium @dungeons-and-dragon-age @melisusthewee @dreadfutures @pinayelf @whimsyswastry @sapphireangelbunny @flotttemotte @underneathestars

It was all going well, and she was chatting with Josephine and her sister Yvette about Antiva and vernissages, when the weird dish appeared.

A waiter stopped by the trio, perfectly still with a silver tray balanced on his gloved hand. He cleared his throat, once and twice, and when Aisling finally turned and asked him with a smile what she could do for him, the waiter lowered the tray with grace.

And presented her with a small china bowl, richly decorated in blue hunting scenes with gold details… Full of salad.

Aisling took the bowl with one end, the offered tiny fork with the other and thanked the waiter. She didn’t miss how both Montilyet sisters gasped, ad viewing the content of the bowl. Josephine with worry, Yvette with excitement.

Aisling looked at them and found the same emotions on their faces.

She had no idea about why such a gesture could elicit such a reaction from them. Looking down at the content of the bowl, it was just filled with arugula leaves, so freshly green they must have been just picked, and neatly washed before being served.

It was a little weird that there seemed to be no other ingredient to the dish, and no dressing whatsoever, but it also was true that Aisling wasn’t the best judge over how Orlais preferred to serve its rocket salad.

It was definitely weird how the whole of the west side of the upper corridor in the ballroom had stopped to look at her. Which explained why Josephine wasn’t telling anything about how she should behave right now, with a bowl of arugula in her hand.

She looked around, felt the expectation radiating in waves and directing at her.

Months ago, she would have been spooked by all the eyes on her.

Months ago, she hadn’t been the Inquisitor for months.

Without any clue about what the Game expected her to do with some salad, she just shrugged and did what it felt a good logical solution.

She dipped the tiny fork in the leaves, picked up a dainty little morsel -little and graceful, just as Josie had taught her- and brought it to her lips, taking a mouthful.

Other people gasped, Aisling just chewed. Spitting now was not an option, she could see it too.

Beside, she quite liked arugula, the bitterness mildened by the spiciness.

It wasn’t the best, unseasoned and alone, and this one came clearly from a greenhouse, for in the wild it would have been too soon, but it was fresh enough and tasty.

And under the scrutiny of half the ballroom, not knowing why exactly everyone had stopped to look at her and now apparently also called their friends and their grandmothers, she ate it all to the last leaf.

“Well, that was refreshing.” She smiled at the crowd when she was finished. “Can I know who sent it? I would really like to thank them for the lovely treat.”

It was, apparently, a good thing to say: some ladies started to giggle, and she could glimpse both the Dowager and Madame De Fer smiling under their masks, brief flashes before they turned away.

Something good must have happened, but she still didn’t understand the start from the end.

[simpforchuchu]

OMG I didn’t read the HnLTWX, so sorry abt that😭 I do have a req for TWX though! could i please req the Oyakou bois reacting to an s/o who has a talent? (any talent of ur choice n it doesn’t have to be the same for each of them) SORRY FOR THAT AGAIN BUT ANYWAYS LY N TY🥲

How would Oya Boys react to reader who has talent?

a/n: Hii! No need to be sorry and love you too 💕 Here is your request, i hope you like it 🤗💕

Sorry for the grammer or spelling mistakes.English is not my main language so...

Thank you and love you 🥰

Warnings: none

Fujio ♡ ~cooking~

•  I think Fujio definitely doesn't know how to cook

•  No, not because he was looking for someone to cook for him, but because he was such a bad cook that he could set the kitchen on fire.

•  Maybe he knows how to make scrambled eggs...

•  At the beginning of the relationship,when his sweet lover who was visiting him told him that she had prepared a bento and hearts definitely appeared in his eyes...

•  It means a lot for him that someone does something for him.

•  But preparing a bento?  Wow, this boy definitely thinks this is a very difficult thing and he is very grateful

•  When he opens bento, the carefully prepared food will make him very happy and he will eat it with joy

•  He's definitely talking about it to everyone...

• THINKS SHE IS THE MOST AWESOME CHIEF IN THE WORLD AND IS NO 1 FAN NOW

Tsukasa ♡ ~singing~

•  Although Tsukasa has a very calm character, I think he is usually a stressed person

•  In a world of fights, friendships, and lots of violence, there's someone who makes his life beautiful

•  And it's a treasure for him

•  He was quite surprised when he realized the beauty of her voice and thought how peaceful it was as he listened to it.

•  I think he will often ask his girlfriend to sing

•  A slow song they listen to and love together and the voice of his y/n

•  Lying and smiling on the knees of the young girl with his eyes closed

•  He keeps many audio recordings of his lover for when he needs her while she sleeps, and listens to the songs she sings when he can't sleep at night

Todoroki ♡ ~knitting~

•  No matter how tough he looks, I believe Todoroki would be a great boyfriend.

•  A caring, understanding and genius boyfriend

•  He always thinks and feels how lucky he is to have the young girl

•  But now he realizes he's never been this happy

•  He won't be able to say anything for a while when Y/n gives him a beret and scarf she knitted herself.

•  Pretty cute ones...

• He wants to cry from happiness but no, he won't

•  Even though he doesn't show much joy in front of her, I think he will hug his gifts for a long time at home.

Tsuji & Shibaman ♡ ~drawing~

•  Although their characters are somewhat similar, Tsuji is calmer and colder than Shiba

•  But they never show their girlfriends the aggressive side they show to their friends and enemies.

•  They would be quite surprised if they ever saw her sketchbook by chance.

•  No, they weren't going through her stuff, they saw her open notebook on the table

•  I can imagine Shibaman getting pretty excited and looking at the drawings.In fact, he will never stop talking about it. He'll probably ask her to draw him too

•  Tsuji will react more calmly. He's definitely fascinated, but he won't show it. I'm sure his heart will speed up when he sees himself among the drawings...

YasuKiyo ♡ ~baking~

•  I think these two definitely have a soft spot for sugar.

•  I can especially imagine Yasushi eating cake or chocolate every day

•  So having a lover who can bake will make them feel like heavenly

•  I'M SURE BOTH WILL BE EXCITED

•  Maybe Screams and Laughters?

•  I don't think they will force her to bake for them but they will definitely be the biggest fans of cakes

•  When she try new recipes, they won't be afraid to taste them.

•  Maybe they can even help her decorate the cream, but I don't think it's a good idea.

ChunChun ♡ ~dancing~

•  Of course it must be dancing

•  We all know this duo's love for hip-hop

•  That's why the dancer s/o is....

•  God, such fanboys...

•  They're both totally babies so I think they're going to have a pretty cute relationship.

•  And they probably won't find out by coincidence or accident, the reader will tell them and they will be quite surprised.

•  SO WHEN SHE SHOWS THEM UDDHHSJD

•  GOD THEY ARE HER BIGGEST FAN

•  They will attend every show or contest of her and support her

•  And yes, they definitely can't stop talking about her... never.

HnL taglist : @straysugzhpe @tiddly-winx

[yuhabeingasimp]

✦ "I went under the sky, Muse !" ✦

★ - Nagito Komaeda x reader

★ - Summary : You're an inspired artist, and he becomes your inspiration.

★ - You have no pronouns and no gender.

★ - Word count : 679

The moon’s silky light was enlightening Jabberwock island in a sweet and comforting way. The stars were out, shining as bright as they could and decorating the blueberry peaceful sky, clouds softening its features. The wind was gently brushing against nature, the trees and bushes making a familiar swish to fill the peace brought by night. The cottages were silent. Most souls had gone in Morpheus’ comfortable arms, resting peacefully. Tonight was poetically calm.

You, on the other hand, were not sleeping. You were filled with adoration. Looking through the unique window of your own cottage, admiration flowed smoothly through your spirit. Rimbaud said the stars were his muse and his home, and tonight’s sky was your way of understanding his rebellious poetry. Inspiration dwelled into your heart.

Swiftly, you got up and gathered your mediums in a bag with your favorite sketchbook, hoping they wouldn’t get damaged in any way. You covered yourself, slipped shoes on and quietly went out, closing the door in the most peaceful way in order to match the night’s mood. Going out at such hour was risky, but seeing the beautiful constellations above your head, your passion couldn’t wait for a “better” moment. In silence, you made your way to the beach.

You were the one to break the night’s peace, your footsteps sinking in the warm sand making the smallest but still present sound. That way, being followed was not a worry, but the unusual quietness and darkness on the island was quite unsettling.

You removed your jacket and sat carefully on it, then your eyes wandered on the peaceful water in front of you, the waves’ relaxing swish covering the leaves’. You admired the calm everything around you wore, almost envious of them. With no further wait, you pulled out your sketchbook, your medium and reproduced the mesmerizing scenery in front of your eyes.

As minutes passed, your piece slowly came together, the ethereal landscape resting on your thick paper and its cold colors providing the night’s atmosphere to your artwork. It was most likely not perfect, but satisfying enough to you to keep a memory of this nice moment that you’ll carry for years from now on.

A quiet shuffle came from next to you, which startled you at first but the fear faded away as soon as you recognized the presence. He was sitting next to you, hugging his knees which were brought to his chest, and his pale eyes were absorbed by the view’s magnificence. You didn’t hear him due to the ocean’s and the leaves’ sounds. Though, you took in a second to admire his light features which seemed embellished by the moon’s doing, its silky light making him look unreal. His skin as flawless as porcelain, his focused eyes adorned by long and white eyelashes…

Those same pale eyes flickered to you after seconds of silence between the two of you, and he held your gaze as if he was either searching for something in it or admiring it. Then, small creases formed under his eyes, and though his face’s lower half was covered by his arm, you could recognize his usual warm smile which you loved. After what seemed like long minutes, his mesmerizing eyes left yours as he turned his head back towards the ocean, returning to his admiration.

As you studied his facial features again, you flipped your sketchbook’s page to a blank one and slowly began sketching your beloved Muse, as he distracted you from nature. You were paying attention to the smallest details of his face, trying to replicate his beauty as perfectly as you could and you found yourself much more focused and careful than you’ve ever been. From his curved eyelashes to the shape of his nose, your movement was so precise and gentle as if the paper would torn under your touch.

Once you were done, you put your sketchbook away and scooted over to him, a little smile on your lips as you went back to admiring the ocean with him.

Maybe he was the ethereal landscape.

[selfindulgentfandomstuff]

Violent Psychopath + Abnormal Psychologist = Loving Relationship?

CHAPTER 4: THE CONFESSION

———

Fandom: CBS MacGyver (2016 reboot)

Pairing: Murdoc x Emmett Becker (fan character)

CW: kidnapping (not really but sort of), very brief mention of needles, general morbidity associated with a character like Murdoc lol

———

You’d be surprised how quickly one gets used to being kidnapped when it starts to happen weekly or more.

At least, Emmett was surprised by how easily they fell into this strange routine.

Well, if they were being honest with themself, Emmett could hardly call what this was ‘kidnapping’ anymore. Not when he rang their doorbell and asked politely to be let in now instead.

It had started when Murdoc had escaped from prison. The first time he did this it was scary. Granted, Murdoc hadn’t harmed Emmett; he had, in fact, been remarkably gentle. But that didn’t negate the fact that it was downright terrifying for Emmett. He’d used a needle to intravenously sedate Emmett and zip tied them to a chair in a cold, lowly lit room in the middle of nowhere; suffice it to say, it was not a fun experience for Emmett.

But things had changed.

Where Murdoc used to knock Emmett out for the car ride with a sedative, he now simply let them sit, unaffected, in the front seat of the car, free to enjoy the breeze from the open window. Where he used to zip tie Emmett to a cold metal chair, he’d now brought in a soft bean bag chair for them to sit in instead. He didn’t bother with restraining their hands anymore either.

They went to the same room each time, but each time Emmett was back, something about it had been changed, or more specifically, Murdoc had added some trapping or other type of decoration. Whether it was the bean bag chair, or some LED string lights, or even the snacks and water bottle lying atop the aforementioned bean bag chair, it seemed Murdoc was doing his best to make this a more inviting space for Emmett.

The effort was not lost on Emmett, though it did confuse them greatly.

Tonight, as they surveyed the room, they found that next to the usual snacks laying on the bean bag chair, lay a wrapped present. It was small, maybe the size of your average hardback novel.

Emmett looked to Murdoc in question, to which he replied, in a tone that suggested he was holding something back, “Go on, it's for you.” Emmett vaguely wondered if this was a booby trap of some sort before deciding, ‘no, if he wanted to hurt me, he definitely would have done so already’ and carefully unwrapping the present.

As they did so, it was revealed to be a small black leather bound sketchbook, accompanied by a teal mechanical pencil, the type Emmett always used when drawing, they noted, somewhat unsettled by the detail, though still impressed.

As Emmett sat on their haunches there, trying to process exactly what was going on, Murdoc padded over silently and put a hand on their shoulder, wordlessly asking them to stand and turn around to face him.

“Do you like it?” he asked in that same strange tone from earlier. It sounded…hopeful, almost tender, Emmett might say, if they didn’t know better from Murdoc.

Emmett looked down at the sketchbook held in their hands and then back up at Murdoc, only holding his gaze for a short few seconds before looking down again.

“...Yea, I- I love it, thank you, Murdoc..”

“But?”

“...yea..but why?”

Murdoc looked mildly offended. “What do you mean, ‘why’? It's a gift. I’m allowed to give gifts.”

Emmett raised a disbelieving eyebrow at Murdoc.

Murdoc huffed, “When I was at your apartment, I saw your pencil and paper, filled with unfinished sketches strewn about your desk. I figured you liked drawing, okay?”

Emmett shook their head, still confused, “Okay, so, you were right. I do draw and don’t get me wrong, I really, really like this sketchbook. It looks pricier than anything I could afford. But I still don’t understand why you gave me anything, let alone a gift so personal? Aren’t we, y’know, enemies? I work at the organization that’s been tasked with tracking you down and putting you back in federal prison. And you, well, you kidnap me almost every week, sometimes more?”

“Yea, but do I hurt you?”

“What?”

“Have I ever hurt you?”

“Well, aside from the needles-”

“Yes, yes, aside from the needles-”

“No.”

It was a definitive answer from Emmett, a resounding ‘No’. Murdoc hadn’t ever laid a finger on Emmett while he’d had them stolen away.

It wasn’t something Emmett had really thought about very hard, mostly because it confused the hell out of them. But, as Murdoc shuffled uncomfortably in his spot in front of Emmett, the gears turned in their brain and they came to a, frankly, really interesting conclusion: maybe Murdoc felt the same way they did.

It seemed impossible but the more Emmett thought about it, the more it seemed like the logical, feasible conclusion. It certainly explained his more gentle behavior towards them and of course, the gift.

But as Emmett opened their mouth to confirm their theory, they found themselves stuttering anew all over again.

“M-Murdoc..d-does this mean what- what I think it means?”

Murdoc glanced at the wall behind Emmett, now decorated in light blue fairy lights, not wanting to meet their equally blue eyes.

“What exactly do you think it means?”

“Murdoc, do you like me?”

The question hit Murdoc like a freight train. God, he did like Emmett. I mean, after all, why else would he go to all this trouble to impress them? Why else would he even be abducting them in the first place, if he could even call it that anymore? Hell, why else would he have left them alive to begin with when he knows he wouldn’t have done the same for any other person in their position?

The evidence was undeniable: Murdoc did like Emmett. He liked them a lot. He had for awhile too, since back when he had been in supermax and Emmett visited him so often. He just hadn’t had the courage to say so to their face, hence the weird pseudo-abductions and gift-giving behaviors.

In his defense, Murdoc was an extremely emotionally dysfunctional person. The fact that he had even fallen in love with one person before, Amber, remained deeply confusing to him. But at least Amber had made some logical sense; she was violent, dangerous and deranged, just like him.

But none of that was true for Emmett. They were the opposite of that, albeit equally if not more so intelligent. They were gentle, kind, soft and sweet and utterly defenseless. Normally that kind of person, that weakness, irked Murdoc greatly, but something about Emmett made those traits incredibly endearing. He wanted to protect them, hold them and let them melt into him at the end of a long hard day.

It was a sentiment he was not really familiar with, to say the least. So when Emmett asked him point blank, if he liked them, he was completely paralyzed. For all his pining, what if they didn’t like him back? After all, why should they, he’s a monster, to put it lightly.

But, he swallowed his pride and fear and answered.

“And what if I do like you?”

Emmett looked at him confused by the answer but hopeful too.

“Well.. if you did like me, then I’d probably be pretty happy about that actually.”

Murdoc spoke tentatively, surprising even himself at how vulnerable he sounded.

“Okay… then I think you’re gonna be pretty happy right now.”

Emmett blinked owlishly, as they did when they were confused, before catching the drift and realizing what Murdoc was trying, in his own emotionally constipated way, to say. Their lips quirked upwards slightly in a sort of questioning smile, and their head tilted a bit to one side, still not entirely sure if they were interpreting Murdoc correctly.

“Murdoc, am I correct in interpreting that as a ‘yes’?”

Murdoc didn’t answer but nodded his head almost imperceptibly to indicate a yes.

Emmett’s small smile grew and they replied softly, “I like you too, Murdoc. I like you a lot.”

The assassin sighed an almost comically loud sigh of relief at that and one could almost visibly see the tension leave his body. Murdoc smiled; it was an uncharacteristically wholesome smile, starkly contrasting the sinister grins that usually adorned his face.

He reached a gloved hand up to hold Emmett’s face before pausing midway there and asking, “Is this okay? I realize you’re not fond of touch in some cases. I also realize I’ve probably made you uncomfortable before and I don’t ever wanna do that again.”

Emmett huffed a small laugh at the apparent absurdity of it all; Murdoc, globally renowned and infamous assassin and murderer, was asking permission to touch them.

They reached their own hand up to hold his, placing it on its original target, their cheek, signaling to Murdoc that the touch was welcome.

“Hey, I get it, you had a persona to keep up. I’m just glad we can be like this now, y’know, touchy and what- wait- are we boyfriends now?” It was a genuine question.

Murdoc looked equally confused and after a moment of consideration replied, “Yea. Yea, I think we are. If you’re okay with that?”

Emmett smiled wide and leaned hard into Murdoc’s hand, much like a cat does when headbutting someone affectionately. “Yea, Murdoc, that sounds good, that sounds really good.”

Murdoc could swear he actually felt his heart beat faster at that and smiled warmly back down at Emmett.

The two stood there like that for a while, just basking in each other’s presence before Emmett said, “Okay, now that we’re boyfriends, do we have to go to this dingy old room everytime we see each other?”

“Hey!” Murdoc interjected, a little offended, “I worked hard to make this ‘dingy old room’ nice and pleasant for you…but, I see your point, maybe I could visit your place? Y’know, if you were cool with that?”

Emmett chuckled a bit at Murdoc’s initial response and replied, “Yea, Murdoc, I’d love that, let’s do it!”

And with that, the two made their way back to Murdoc’s car and headed back to Emmett’s apartment, sitting in contented silence for the majority of the ride home.

———

Annndd that’s all for now!! Perhaps if these get some traction I will write more!! :3

Previous chapter: https://www.tumblr.com/selfindulgentfandomstuff/757379545299107840/violet-psychopath-abnormal-psychologist-loving

[inbarfink]

Okay so there’s a lot of DHMIS fans out there who try to rank or analyze the Teachers and which ones are worse and which are better, and I thought I might as well throw my own proverbial hat in the proverbial ring and give my own take on the matter.

I’m going to go over all of the (central) Teachers in the DHMIS Web Show + DHMIS TV Show and give my own read of how ‘bad’ they are. I’ll be looking primarily at their focus episode where they actually act as teachers. I know a lot of the Webshow teachers came back in a much more chill and friendly role in the TV Show, but for me the things they did while they were acting as teachers is more important than how they act on their ‘off hours’ (if those even count as the same people in the same continuity)

And obviously, this is going to be a very personal sort of reading, very much based on my interpretation of DHMIS and its themes.

So let’s start with the Teacher who started it all! Sketchbook!

So I am gonna… try and start with the pros. So, before Sketchbook comes into the scene, our Trio was just sitting very, very still around the breakfast table. As per the creators’ own word, this is meant to show that our trio lacks creativity. So, learning how to Get Creative is a lesson that, in general terms, our trio could use to learn. Plus, not all of her lessons are that bad. Like, imagining silly faces on oranges, seeing images in clouds, using hair to express oneself - that’s all… alright I guess. And she can sometimes be entertaining and engaging to our trio, even including the not-easily-impressed Red Guy!

Sketchbook: Now, when you stare at the clouds in the sky, don't you find it exciting? Red, Duck, and Yellow Guy: No. Sketchbook: Come on, take another look! Yellow Guy: Oh wait! Together: I can see a hat! I can see a cat! I can see a man with a baseball bat! Together: I can see a dog! I can see a frog! I can see a ladder leaning on a log!

But, as we all know, the devil’s in the details. Alongside her kinda-alright lessons in creative thinking, she hides a pretty strong overcontrolling tendencies.

She has no way to engage her students when they go ‘off-script’ by not being immediately impressed with her lesson - outside of just vaguely telling them they’re ‘not thinking right’ - 

Duck Guy: I don't see what you mean. Sketchbook: 'Cause you're not thinking creatively!

Or just ignoring their words entirely. 

Sketchbook: I use my hair to express myself! Red Guy: That sounds really boring. Sketchbook: I use my hair to express myself!

And she clearly has a pretty strong idea of what is ‘good’ or ‘correct’ creativity. Making her shut Yellow Guy’s creative expressions down if he’s ‘doing it wrong’ according to her inexplicable restrictive standards.

And, well, this seems to be the Point where my opinion diverges quite a bit from that of the majority of the fandom… But, I’ve seen people say that the Sketchbook’s ‘never be creative again’ line proves that she might not be that evil, cause, well, look at all the horrifying shit the trio did while they were Creative! Not wanting this to happen is a perfectly understandable and moral position! And shows that she can actually be a responsible and moral teacher!

Well…that’s not my interpretation.

Yeah, the Creative scene is creepy and gross. But… I dunno if it represents something truly harmful and evil going on. Yeah they were using organs as decorations and baked that awful meat cake but… but while that gore is Gross, there’s not really the implication that they killed or harmed something to get it, you know? 

I think the Creative scene is not just our characters ‘going CRAAAZY’, I think it’s more like… both literally and metaphorically, the characters are being Creative in those kinda weird and off-beat ways. Expressing their creativity and feelings in messy and odd ways found in art pieces much like… well, Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared itself. 

That awful gore cake is almost a perfect metaphor for DHMIS, actually. A pleasant childish facade revealing an inner layer of gore and horror. 

They’re just making art that’s maybe a little gross. And maybe a little scary. And maybe a little too raw and visceral for themselves to handle. But that’s not inherently a bad thing. You know, even if it is pretty messy and they are kinda emotionally rattled from their own creative expressions, that might be something they would need a guiding hand in channeling in healthy and better ways…

But certainly not just “well, don’t you ever do this again”.

Now let's all agree to never be creative again.

For me this is just an extension of pouring oil all over Yellow’s Clown Painting. The Trio is still Doing Creativity Wrong by the Sketchbook’s standards - and she has decided they are doing it so Wrong that they shouldn’t be Creative ever again. It’s basically equivalent to some sort of hypothetical art teacher who watches DHMIS and goes “this is so creepy! I don’t think the people who made this should make art ever again!”. I think it’s clear why this kind of person would be a bad teacher when it comes to teaching art or anything to do with creativity!

Well, look at the time, looks like we should move on to...

Tony the Talking Clock! Okay, so I think… Pretty much all of the pros I was giving the Sketchbook are lessened with Tony. It certainly feels like there is an escalation with the Badness of the teachers going on. While one can argue that the trio needed to learn about the basics of Creativity - just not from a person like the Sketchbook - I think it’s harder to make the same argument about Tony’s very basic Time lesson. Like, before he shows up Red Guy and Duck just make a super-generic comment about time - 

Red Guy: Come on, guys, stop mucking around. We only have five minutes until our show is on. Duck Guy: It's not enough time!

And if you just compare the way the trio participate in Tony’s song versus Sketchbook’s song….

Sketchbook: I see a silly face! Yellow Guy: Wow! Sketchbook: Walking along and smiling at me! Duck Guy: I don't see what you mean. Sketchbook: 'Cause you're not thinking creatively!

Yellow Guy: This tree that is old, has circles inside! Tony: This tree that is older has shriveled and died. Duck Guy: The apple that's fresh is ripe to the core!

They don’t really appear confused by the concept of time or surprised by Tony’s explanation of time. Red Guy asks one question (“And then what happened after the olden days?”) but that just might be out of politeness. It all seems to be stuff that they already understand about time. And he was doing this while the trio had other things planned.

But we don't really want to, we're going to miss our show.

And he just whisked them away on a musical adventure repeating ideas they already knew. So even if he didn’t do all of the Bad Shit that he did, he’d still be wasting their time. 

But of course, we can’t forget about all the Bad Shit he does! 

First and foremost, he’s got the same Issues as Sketchbook with his students going ‘off-script’, but he is even less patient. Almost immediately resorting to name-calling and violence.

Don't be STUPID, friends!

There's a time and a place for mucking around!

And in addition to just being a very simplistic view of Time, his lesson also contains some stuff that’s closer to straight-up inaccuracies. Namely his overly-romanticized presentation of both the past and the future.

And once they start actually questioning the lesson, and asking questions more advanced than he was prepared too, at first he deflects in a similar manner to the Sketchbook -

Duck Guy: But when did it start? Yellow Guy: And when will it stop? Tony: Time is important and I am a clock.

But then he quickly resorts to shutting them down with his loud beeping, until their ears bleed. Just a more indirect form of violence. It’s clear that his idea of ‘teaching’ is not one that encourages actual curiosity about the world, it’s just about following and repeating his points. And while the Sketchbook had a similar worldview, she never seemed to have more than Words and Oil to shut her students down, Tony has Time on his hands.

Namely the infamous final scene of the episode, where the group withers away and dies.

Here, there is no doubt that what is happening is harmful and is causing them suffering, and while Tony denies it, the Trio seems to believe that he is responsible for it. Considering the amount of seeming-reality-warping he was capable of during the rest of his musical number, it’s not that implausible.

It’s unclear WHY he did that, I think it’s most likely yet another way to punish them for not respecting him and his lesson, and for asking questions they shouldn’t. It’s also possible he just has a sadistic streak and tormenting them was always his goal, but considering how much his Control Freak aspect was emphasized during the rest of the episode, I am kinda leaning towards the former option.

Also in general “teacher bad because they are a control freak who ties too much of their ego into being smarter than their students” is more compelling to me than “teacher bad because they love cruelty”

Oh! did I just mention... LOVE?

And now, Shrignold (and the rest of the Love Cult!)

Okay, so let’s cut to the chase here. The thing about Shrignold is that he’s literally a cult recruiter. And that fact invariably corrupts any sort of ‘positive’ I could possibly say about him.

Like, yeah, Yellow Guy was very emotionally distressed and in need of a pick-me-up and Shrignold’s lesson seems to be comforting him - at least at first. But that’s less of a matter of his Lesson having some useful elements as it is a matter of Shrignold finding an emotionally vulnerable and isolated person to prey on - because he’s a cult recruiter.

And yeah, some of Shringnold’s initial explanations of love weren’t all bad and they only turned restrictive and Weird later. But that’s because his whole strategy is to sell Yellow Guy on Love as a general concept representing happiness and togetherness -

But you know it doesn't have to be; I hate you, you hate me. Cause even though we're different, it doesn't make a difference and we can live in harmony. I know you don't know who I am, but maybe I can hold your hand and together we can understand about love!

Shrignold: To love each other is to care, to be kind… Flower: …and to share! Rabbit: I love my friend, so I give them a hug! Purple Guy: I made this for you cause I love you so much! Beaver: I love my pet cause he's a crab.

And once he is committed to the idea that he needs Love to be happy, that is when Shrignold starts to conflate that general concept of Love with a more restrictive one and start shoving Heteronormativity down the child’s throat. Because he’s a cult recruiter.

Shrignold: No, no, no, that's not how it's done. You must save your love for your special one! Yellow Guy: My special one? Unicorn: Everyone has a special one.

Beaver: He's made for her… Unicorn: …and she's made for him! Rabbit: And that's the way it's always been. Beaver: And it's perfect. Purple Guy: And it's pure. Shrignold: And it's protected with a ring. Tree: That's the way that old love goes. Unicorn: Like a flower it grows and grows! Purple Guy: And it's forever. Flower: And forever.

And yeah, Shrignold is one of the only teachers who never loses his temper with the students, even when they’re doing something that is ‘wrong’ in his eyes. But that’s because he is trying to Lovebomb Yellow Guy in every meaning of the word. Because he’s a cult recruiter.

There’s a level where I’m, like, ‘well does that make him that textually different from all the other Teachers in the show?” I mean, you can very well argue that Sketchbook didn’t have a ‘few decent points in her lesson before it turned sinister’ - she was just trying to make them follow her ideas of creativity by getting them excited about the idea of being Creative in general and then narrowing the focus into just the creative expressions that she liked.

Buuut… this is still more obviously textually what’s going on when it comes to Shrignold. And the fact that he seems to be intentionally trying to isolate Yellow Guy from his friends and preying on him when he’s especially emotionally vulnerable, trying to manipulate his emotions and decide for him what's he feeling and why

Yellow Guy: But what is love, is it in the sky? Cloud: No it's a feeling, deep inside. Yellow Guy: Because I'm hungry? Shrignold: No, you're lonely. I can see it in your eyes.

Just gives him that extra edge of Sinister. Tony might be more obviously violent, but something about Shrignold and his friends’ passive-aggressive manipulation of Yellow Guy that feels even more dangerous.

So yeah, Shrignold’s lesson was self-contradictory and nonsensical, he keeps reinforcing obviously wrong falsehoods about relationships and emotions, he condescends to his student when he’s just trying to apply his lesson. But most importantly, he’s a cult recruiter.

And also probably homophobic.

I don't have a clever segway this time but anyway, here's...

Colin the Computer!

So while ‘Creativity’ and ‘Love’ featured the characters arguably needing to learn the Lesson (just not specifically from these terrible teachers) and ‘Time’ featured the characters just kinda minding their own business before being pulled into a totally unnecessary lesson - ‘Computers’ add a new wrinkle in the situation. In this episode, the characters are explicitly unquestionably interested in learning - just not about the subject the teacher has come to teach.

If you wanna talk about DHMIS as a metaphor for an education system that forces children to conform and recite information mindlessly while punishing their genuine curiosity - you really can’t find a better example. The Trio was practically seeking a lesson this time, but their will was overridden because that is not what they were supposed to learn. 

And with the fact that they were robbed from learning about the world in favor of computers could be a metaphor for people isolating themselves from the ‘real world’ by focusing on technology. Or, to go more in line with the themes of DHMIS and how I interpret them - a metaphor for the internet and digital culture spreading misinformation and thus distorting one’s understanding of the world. 

And not only is Colin taking the Trio away from a topic they actually sincerely want to learn about - his lesson is about as uselessly overly-simplistic as Tony’s. Like Red Guy said, they already have a computer - and it actually seems a bit more advanced than Colin is.

So it’s probable that they actually know all about the Wonders of Computers. The vibe I get from Colin’s song is that Duck and Yellow Guy are kinda dazzled by Colin’s bells and whistles, but Red Guy’s bored reaction is the correct one - there really is nothing new to learn here.

If anything, Colin is limiting their information of the digital world by shoving them into this infinite feedback loop of doing the same three things over and over again. Rather than the countless other things you could do in the digital world (including, you know, learning more about the world).

Colin also tends to ignore questions that are Inconvenient for him to acknowledge, constantly talks over his students…

Red Guy: Oh, maybe you could help us answer this question. "What is the biggest thing--" Colin: Clever! I'm very clevery guy. Yellow Guy: Wow!

…and there is his infamous freakout.

The notable thing for me is that just before that moment he himself already got all up in the personal space of his students. He’s a hypocrite, he thinks that he’s allowed to do whatever he wants to the Trio but they should respect him. Just another variation of that egotistical prideful streak that Tony also showed. 

Also, I feel like a lot of people tend to kinda gloss over his bombardment of questions just before that freakout.

Colin: Great! Great news! Now before we begin our journey, I need to get some information from you! What's your name? Where do you live? What do you like to eat?

But to me this is clearly, like, a reference to websites collecting data from their users to sell to advertisers and suchlike. Colin is trying to pull the trio into using him more and more so he could spy on them and sell their data or whatever is the DHMISverse equivalent of that is. 

But his big episode climax breakdown by the end is… a bit complicated. Like I said, I think the climax of ‘Creativity’ is both caused by our protagonists and is mostly benign - while the climaxes of Eps 2 + 3 are under the control of the teachers (Tony sped up time to punish his Students, Shrignold is a cult recruiter). But with ‘Computers’… I think what’s going on is Colin’s fault but not necessarily under Colin’s control.

Like, what’s happening here is that the digital world is getting overloaded due to Colin’s endless and repetitive lesson, right? He wanted to keep them in his digital world as much as possible, and when keeping their attention constantly focused on his digital wonders became too much for him - he started to glitch. It’s his fault, since it’s driven by his own ego and control-freak nature (and desire to harvest their data), and I don’t know if he’s necessarily feeling bad about that - but it is distinctive from Tony actively and knowingly punishing them.

(Also I know some people say that he intentionally caused Red Guy’s head to explode somehow and killed him at the end but considering he is unscathed in the next two episodes I am choosing to read it as Red Guy simply having his mind metaphorically blown)

So while Colin (at least Webshow Continuity Colin) is absolutely a Bastard, this is the first case where it is hard for me to say there is an escalation in the Terribleness of the teachers?? Maybe it’s just my personal biases talking? like, is spreading misinformation to manipulate you to join a cult better or worse than spreading misinformation to manipulate you into spending all your time on social media so he can monitor, harvest and sell your data? I can at least see the argument that the latter is worse?

And I do think the intention is to continue the escalation, considering that up next is…

Lamb Chop and the Rest of the Healthy Band!

Okay, so, I think it’s pretty clear by now that I’m doing this list with an attempt to prioritize actually evaluating the Teachers as teachers. You know, how bad their lessons are, how mean they are to the students, who much their behavior discourages actual curiousity or creative thinking… But, well, with these guys - there’s kind of a big elephant in the room about it. 

Like, yes, their lesson is basically self-contradictory nonsense, they do nothing but ignore and override their students’ words and desire, and they don’t even seem particularly good at the ‘entertainment’ part of ‘edutainment’ - their song does nothing but annoy and distress the puppets for the most part. I mean, the circumstances around the song are probably a bigger factor but it certainly doesn’t help it’s so disjointed and chaotic. 

 But all of this feels kinda small potatoes (small potatoes make your teeth go gray!) against the fact they had one of their students killed and force-fed to another!

And unlike the thing with Tony, this doesn’t seem like a punishment for misbehaving (at least not on their specific lesson), it seems like Duck was doomed to die since the episode began.

It feels more like the Healthy Band was sent here to distract the puppets from Red’s disappearance and Duck’s oncoming demise over any attempt in education, even a very misinformed and misguided one.

But also, yeah, their level of education is quite bad and the way they treat their students even when they’re not killing them is very shitty. It's just kinda the culmination of all of the badness we already seen so I don't really have anything new to say about that.

Don’t murder your own students. That’s bad.

Anyways!

Lamp!

Lamp might be a bit harder to judge, because despite ‘officially’ being the main Teacher in Ep 6, he basically has like, a total of a scene-and-a-half to really show off his lesson. But… even in this scene-and-a-half he really demonstrates that he is a terrible teacher.

Much like the Healthy Band, he totally ignores and overrides his students… urn, student’s adamant refusal to join in on his lesson. Which is espacially obvious this time as Yellow is just TERRIFIED through the whole lesson.

And similar to Tony, he punishes Yellow for ‘misbehaving’ in a terribly cruel manner. 

And there’s one more thing unique to him, and that is that the subject of his lesson is even more ludicrous than normal.

How can you be sleepy if you don't know how to have dreams?

It’s not something like ‘what are dreams’, but specifically ‘how to have dreams’. There were already a few lessons in DHMIS that seemed to teach the students stuff they already knew (or at the very least, stuff that they knew more/as much about as the teachers did) but now we’re really moving into the territory of things no one needs to learn. Just another way to demonstrate the continued degradation of the teachers even with Lamp's limited screentime and also this time no one gets murdered. 

And now, let’s pull the plug on the Webshow Teachers…

And start up the TV Teachers with… 

Briefcase! Again, I will start with whatever pros I can find… I think you can argue the Trio at least needed some sort of lesson about jobs? In the sense that Duck at least wanted to do something with his time - and also Yellow thought his welch was a ‘Job’. So I think that the Trio could probably use a lesson about what jobs are, just you know… not from this asshole.

Because while Briefcase isn’t as actively punishing or hostile as some of the DHMIS Web Teachers, he is incredibly misleading - first presenting an idealized version of the working world…

you can be anything you want to do It's totally up to you

Presenting work as a wonderland of infinite choices, including artistic pursuits…

But also publicly shaming his own brother for trying to chase his own career aspirations because they’re not successful at the moment.

And then trapping our Three of Us in a drab, unrewarding and utterly superfluous job. 

He might not be as big of a jerk as some of the Webshow Teachers but he’s certainly pretty condescending - and he adds a new wrinkle into the wide tapestry of Teacher Awfulness: he is intentionally misleading. 

Like, okay. This is kind of up for interpretation. But to me it feels like most of the teachers we’ve seen so far are true believers in their bullshit. Maybe not the Healthy Band or Lamp due to just how incoherent their lessons are and how much they’re seemingly motivated to just distract/punish their students. But even with them I’m not sure, the forces behind them might be more actively malicious, but the Teachers themselves could be just warped enough that they believe they make sense.

But this isn’t the vibe I get from Briefcase. I mean, there’s his blatant broad-daylight hypocrisy with Unemployed Brendon. And… he seems to be fully aware that he’s trapping them in Peterson's and Sons and Friends Bits & Parts Limited - doing the exact opposite of what his song says by forcing them into one of the least desirable workplaces he has access to. I feel like he must know that his song is just a way to entice suckers to give their life to the Capitalism Machine.

Like, y’know, maybe in his mind it was “it’s for their own good, they need to have jobs! Any jobs! And that’s the only one they’re good for!” but he certainly doesn’t believe ‘you can be anything you want to be’.

Especially when all that’s needed to get them back home is for him to finish his song, and yet he instead watches over quietly in disguise until Duck accidentally uncovers him. So while he might not be directly responsible for everything that happened to the trio over the factor, he’s at the very least complicit in it. 

Was he planning to wait until they all retire before finishing his song? Was he planning to have them all die from old age at Petersons? Did he pull them out due to Yellow’s workplace accident or just because Duck ruined his cover?

Not to mention the way he pulled them into and back from that Time Hole proves his general emotional callousness, especially when you consider the effect this whole thing had on Yellow Guy.

My hand... My child...

Nor does it seem like he cares about his pound being lodged in Duck’s eye, which reinforces the idea he would’ve just let Yellow Guy bleed out and die in his retirement party if Duck hadn’t forced him out. 

Speaking of Death…

Coffin

So Coffin’s the guy who really starts the trend of DHMIS TV Teachers being… different from their Webshow Equivalents. Both in the sense that they tend to be less actively and obviously malicious and in the sense that they tend to suffer some sort of Terrible Fate - this, combined with the main trio themselves proving they are capable of some Fucked Up Shit, make them more sympathetic to the audience. For a lot of people, folks like Coffin are actually pretty decent teachers. 

My opinion is… a bit more complicated. Now, it is true that he showed up offering an important and necessary service to the trio - he’s basically a funeral director who got summoned because someone died. While he can be a bit of a jerk and that’s Bad- 

This level of jerkiness is, like, the maximum he reaches when even Duck pees inside him. Compared to basically every other teacher and even our protagonists, that makes him remarkably even-tempered. Even the more seemingly-fucked-up stuff he did - like removing Duck’s organs and y’know, sealing him underground forever while he’s still conscious - seem to be pretty normal for Dead people in this bizarre world.

So yeah, I do generally agree that Coffin is not nearly as bad the teachers we’ve had before and he certainly did not deserve to get pissed in and then die, but…

The important thing to remember, from my perspective, is that Coffin isn’t just a Funeral Director. He’s still supposed to be a teacher, who teaches the trio about death. And judging him from this metric, he did an abysmal job. Literally all of the troubles in this episode; from Red and Yellow’s emotional anguish, their shitty treatment of Stain Edwards to, again, poor Coffin himself getting pissed in and smashed to bits - those all stem from the same root cause. Which is that our Main Trio just doesn’t know shit about dealing with Death. 

Out of the Three of Them, Red Guy seems to be the only one who’s mostly aware of what Death even means and even then only from the perspective of the deceased - he had absolutely no idea how to deal with the grief of losing Duck. TEACHING the Trio about Death IS supposed to be Coffin's responsibility. And instead of making sure they actually understand what is going on, he pretty much immediately roped them into the excitement of preparing for the Big Day, Big Day - leading to pretty much every conflict in the episode. 

Plus, the funeral he arranged (the part of his job he seemed to actually put effort into), had a bunch of inaccuracies (most notably the David Blunder)... And he might be the one responsible for sending the mourners to the house with the Make a New Friend Kit. All of these - seeing Duck being memorialized inaccurately, and having all of these super-performative grief forced on him, and then being pushed to explicitly move on and replace Duck as quickly as possible… Although it seems they were done with some good intentions, all of these pretty much exacerbated Yellow Guy’s Issues with dealing with his grief - in addition to never really having the permanence of Death explained to him before the event.

I mean, you have to make some consideration towards the fact that the Puppets themselves were not really able to admit that they didn’t really understand Death - so it’s not like Coffin was willfully ignoring requests for knowledge from his students. He didn’t know that they didn’t know! But I also feel like it is his responsibility as their teacher to take the initiative and make sure they understand the material he is teaching. (and of course, the Puppets not taking the initiative to ask questions themselves is pretty understandable when their educational environment has a history of punishing questions). 

Coffin is a pretty interesting anomaly in the continuum of DHMIS Teachers. Because a lot of the time the Teachers are, implicitly or explicitly, redundant at best. Telling the Trio about things they already know in a way that is condescending, or overly simplistic, or just filled with inaccuracies even the Trio can spot. Coffin, however, is here to teach the Trio about something they legitimately don’t know and should probably know about - but he just fails to divulge that basic information that our main characters need. I think you can read it as, like, a statement about the way our society stigmatizes the discussion about Death. Especially with all the performative inaccurate mourning and then the quick push to move on (in this case by literally replacing Duck).

But whatever he was motivated by a desire to avoid actually discussing the ramifications of Death, or it was literally just a goofy misunderstanding and he thought the Trio knew what they were getting themselves into - I still feel like it was his responsibility and his failure that caused all of the troubles. I mean, it still puts him pretty high in the ranking as far as DHMIS Teacher Quality goes just cause the bar is so low - and it still doesn’t mean he deserved the Duck Piss. But this is why I don’t feel 100% comfortable with calling him a ‘Good Teacher’.

Lily and Todney!

Now with these two, the Terribleness is a lot more clear-cut. Lily and Todney are a pretty classic example of what I was talking about just before in the Coffin entry. The Trio already had a pretty good understanding of the ACTUAL concept of Family at the start of the episode. 

Sure, we're not technically a family, but we live together and we have the same lawyer and it works for us.

They didn’t need a lesson about that. And Lily and Todney were less ‘teaching’ them as much as trying to ingrain in them arbitrary nuclear standards for ‘Family’ in their heads. ‘Your idea of ‘Family’ is Wrong, we are here to teach you how Wrong you are’ is their thing, basically.

They are also pretty condescending to the puppets, put them in many uncomfortable situations, and do the Classic DHMIS Teacher Move of being deflective and avoidant when one of their students calls them out on their bullshit. 

Faulbchdt... That's not a word! That's right, isn't it, Lily? Family is much more than just a word!

They punish their students for failing to follow rules they have not actually properly established to them before they ‘broke’ them (see: the Mother's Piece debacle). 

They also, like, ate a fellow Teacher???

All of these are pretty standard practice for DHMIS Teachers by now (I guess not the Teacher-Cannibalism), the thing that makes Lily and Todney notable is the way they try and exploit our puppets. Their main motivation is explictly not just to 'educate' the trio/make them think the 'right' things.

The reason why they try to reinforce the idea that the trio is doing family Wrong and only the twins can teach them how to do it Right is because they have something to gain out of it. On the micro-scale you can see it in the Family Tree sequence. Where Lily and Todney’s, um, roommate (relative?) is literally sustained by the blood of Red Guy - which was given willingly because Red Guy bought into L&T’s constant insinuations that he needs to be with his ‘real’ biological family in order to belong.

But more obviously, there’s the whole scheme of turning Yellow Guy into their new mother. In fact, if you watch the episode closely, it’s pretty clear they had their eyes on him from very early on.

So this whole ‘lesson’, with all of its nonsense arbitrary morals and rules, was nothing but a ploy to get the Trio into their house and isolate Yellow Guy from his friends.

But the interesting thing for me is the motivation. On some level, Lily and Todney might be the most sympathetic Teachers we’ve had - because we actually know for certain what motivates them. And that’s desperation.

Lily and Todney are HUNGRY. It’s implied that it’s not actually an uncommon occurrence in that family, since it's also mentioned in the home movie that they made before Mother was gone. 

Despite having a bigger house than the Trio, it seems like this family is really financially struggling to keep themselves fed. And the Grolton Chicken Family Discount seems to be the only affordable food option they have. I mean, it doesn’t justify, y’know, driving the trio apart with their nonsense or drinking Red Guy’s blood or kidnapping Yellow Guy. They would definitely be a lot more sympathetic if they just stole food from the trio’s kitchen or something. But it gives them some sort of non-abstract material reason to do what they do where most teachers seem to do the same or worse purely out of a sense of ego, or a warped ideology, or just plain sadism. 

Plus, there is the factor of the terms and conditions of the Family Discount themselves. Where, like, either Grolton’s Chicken refuses to give a Family Discount to any Group of People that is not a “Real Family” as defined by having a ‘dad’ and a ‘mom - or Lily and Todney are simply under the false impression that the Family Discount require that they’ll be a ‘Real Family’. So either there is a restaurant out there reinforcing this restrictive idea of family through financial discrimination. Or Lily and Todney have this concept of ‘family’ so deeply ingrained in them that they can see no other way.

Even with their ulterior motive to get the trio to listen to them, they probably actually believe only Real Families can open Family Packs. A lot of teachers seem to be True Believers in the nonsense they enforce, but Lily and Todney are our first example where the implication is that this ideology harms them just as much as it does the puppets. Either BECAUSE of that deluded belief or because there's a more influential organization that is also enforcing it. It’s a much bigger social system, and Lily and Todney are just cogs bringing it along to the next victim.

I mean, at the end of the day, I am trying to judge their value as teachers to the Puppets. And while this aspect makes them maybe a bit more sympathetic, it doesn’t make them any better as Teachers. This is just a new interesting flavor of Teacher-Badness - where they are directly harmed by the values they try to enforce and harm our trio with. Just one more link in a chain of harm, kinda reminds me of the way our trio treated Stain, actually. A new Wrinkle to consider when thinking of the teachers’ awfulness, I suppose.

And speaking on things that are Wrinkly, it is time for…

Warren the Eagle!

So the thing about Warren is, the lesson he has to teach our Trio was actually a necessary one. While all Three of Them care about each other, their friendship is also really dysfunctional for a variety of reasons - as you can see in this very episode’s ending.

So yeah, a lesson about how to ‘be better best friends’ would be something they needed, and especially on that day when they were so mean to Yellow Guy! And most of the lessons he has to teach them make good points! It’s just that Warren is the worst person who could deliver them. Like, leaving aside he’s a negative hole of charisma and talent the trio just does not want to listen to. He’s also a huge-ass hypocrite! 

The lessons he says are actually good friendship advice (presumably just parroted verbatim from the ‘Okay Stop! learning materials) - but he himself fails to follow them even on the most basic level. For him, these are lessons he needs to Teach others, not anything he needs to learn from himself. He only interacts with them when they can be an Excuse for his own shitiness. They’re just slogans to repeat without actually understanding them himself. (Which is extra sad cause Warren IS primarily motivated by his lonliness. If HE could learn how to be a Better Best Friend, that would benfit him more than anything!)

Much like many other Teachers on DHMIS, this also feels like a reflection of problems in Real Life Early Childhood Education. How often are children taught basic concepts such as friendship, honesty, respect or kindness by parents, teachers and other authority figures - who utterly fail to actually follow these same ‘basic childhood lessons’ themselves and especially towards their own students? How many children are taught 'kindness' by the unkind?

So while Warren being an obnoxious and toxic person who shows no remorse as he destroys Yellow Guy’s mind for the sake of his own ego and self-satisfaction and, y’know, turned into a giant monster is bad enough if he was simply the puppets’ peer - the fact that he is also supposed to be ‘teaching’ an actually important lesson to them, kinda makes it worse? Because now they all know that Warren sucks, it’s also a lot easier for them to just ignore everything he told them. To just process them as empty slogans like Warren himself did, and therefore…

Anyways!

Choo-Choo!

This one’s another kinda Complicated one, and much like Lily and Todney, a rare case where we might need to consider Outside Factors when evaluating the character - so let’s take this one at a time.

First, while there is not much Wrong in his lesson - it’s unclear how necessary it is. While the puppets didn’t know much about, like, travel and driving a car - all of those are things that Red Guy taught himself on his own while Choo-Choo was kinda MIA. Choo-Choo’s own lesson was mainly just about listing various kinds of vehicles and transportations methods and I think the Trio are at least aware of what a bicycle is. So it’s probably yet another case of a Teacher giving them a lesson so simplistic and condescending it’s totally unnecessary.  

Yeah, he came as a reaction to a Need one of the Puppets had, but in the sense he seems to be here as a way to try and passively placate Red Guy’s dreams of escape by offering him a faux ‘trip to the outside’ that actually never leaves their living room. It’s kinda like the Healthy Band maybe, although at least Choo-Choo isn’t distracting them from anything terrible well at least not anything more terrible than the general background terribleness of their existence. 

And while he’s certainly not the worst Teacher we’ve had so far, he’s got a rather short temper, he tends to hit his students, even if it seems to be mostly by accident, but not always… And he often fails to engage with the actual questions his students ask of him…

Now, that’s the whole thing of Outside Factors. Because all of these issues with Choo-Choo’s teaching methods aren’t really Flaws In His Personality, as much as it is just… him being old and not-in-very-good-health. He’s not really ignoring or dismissing his students’ questions, he just legit has a problem hearing them properly. And he seems to be straining himself very much to the point of pain and death just to give them that lesson - which makes him easier to read as genuinely, if misguidedly, invested in Educating the Youth.

Plus, while he’s got a bit of a temper, it never really gets beyond ‘exasperated gruffness’ - not even when the trio hijack his own body to go on their little escape plan and drink all of his oil and force-fed him raisins and cigarettes -which would certainly be a justified point for someone to get angry!

And then there is the fact that he’s yet another Teacher who ends up dead due to the Actions of of the Students, so a lot like Coffin, that automatically makes him more sympathetic. (I think the Students actually killed Choo-Choo like three different times in that episode). I can totally see why he’s considered, at least, one of the ‘least evil’ teachers. 

But… Well, while he might be one of the better-intentioned and least villainous teachers out there - he’s still not very good at his job? If you want to talk about how good the Teachers function as actual Edutainment for their students… yeah, Choo-Choo is not very good. We’ve certainly seen worse teachers, but his interactions with the students are generally unpleasant, the contents of his lesson are probably entirely redundant, he can't really engage with the students, and - you know- he DIED mid-lesson. Which is generally considered a downside.

I mean, Choo-Choo can’t help but be Sick and Old, I don’t want to blame him for that… There are people who can manage to be good teachers while being Sick and/or Old. The important factor here is that… while on some level it might seem admirable that he’s pushing himself despite his health - that just kinda made things worse both for everyone involved! If Choo-Choo toned things down a bit to make the lesson plan more accommodating to his own health problems (as in, take Duck's advice and Stop Morphing), that would’ve led to a more pleasant experience for both his students and himself (as in: he wouldn't have died!)

The question, I guess, is why did he feel the need to physically push himself like that? I know for a lot of people, Choo-Choo’s whole vibe reminded them of elderly and/or sick people who are forced to work and unable to retire due to financial pressures or other kinda crappy job conditions. I noticed the parallels too and it’s possible Choo-Choo is going through the anthropomorphic puppet train equivalent of this dire situation. On the other hand, part of Choo-Choo jerkish behavior is constant denial and insecurity about his own health problems. Being super-defensive about them even when his students bring them up with genuine concern.

Yellow Guy: Is that supposed to…? Choo Choo: Doesn't matter.

Duck: Can you stop morphing? Yellow Guy: Yeah! Stop morphing! Choo Choo: I'm not morphing, you're morphing!

 Which of course, reminds me of the General Vibe of insecurity and condescension coming from a lot of the DHMIS teachers - clearly having their ego harmed by being outsmarted by their students or even just being asked questions they are not sure about. You know, it’s this mindset of ‘I’m the teacher and you’re the students, therefore you must Respect everything that I say because I’m always right and if you disagree with me you are Wrong’. And I think Choo-Choo’s defensiveness might come from that same source? That it is embarrassing if you have to admit your students are actually right about something, even when this thing is literally threatening your life and health.

It might be a balance of both of these. Maybe Choo-Choo has been forced into Teaching by, like, Lesley’s lackluster pension fund for her inanimate-object-nightmare-puppet-teachers or something but ALSO he feels too proud to admit any of this in front of his students or even ‘tone down’ the physical intensity of his lesson-plan once called out on his health problems by his students of all people!

Much like Coffin, Choo-Choo is sympathetic because his flaws cause mostly problems (and death) for himself. I think more so in Choo-Choo’s case since he didn’t even cause a lot of anguish for other people. His sense of pride over his students only harmed himself - in the worst possible way.

Farther complicating the issue is the fact that Red Guy was literally encouraging all of this! While Yellow Guy and Duck were clearly worried about Choo-Choo's health, Red Guy was goading him to keep going!

Yellow Guy: Maybe you should have a sit-down. Red Guy: No, don't sit down.

I dunno if that makes Choo-Choo's death Red Guy's fault (I mean this FIRST death after the song, the other two are absolutely Red Guy's fault) - I think it's likely things would've gone just the same with Choo-Choo's personal pride even if Red Guy was on Team Stop Morphing. But this moment seems so intentful and calculated (I mean, even YELLOW GUY noticed that Choo-Choo is not doing well) - that it feels even harsher than Yellow Guy smashing Coffin in his grief. Maybe Red Guy was just that hopeful that the song will eventually actually take them Elsewhere that he was willing to risk that guy's health. Maybe he was already considering hijacking his corpse?

And unlike with Coffin's death, I can't say this was caused by the problems in Choo-Choo's lesson. So it's not even a teacher's flaws coming back at him. I mean, I GUESS that was caused by the fact this supposed song about Transport wasn't actually going anywhere which was agitating Red Guy - but REALLY, Red Guy is more motivated by larger-scale wider issues about how he's trapped within the Format and thus he is THAT desperate to have a chance to escape, not anything to do with Choo-Choo individually.

I guess that's actually something you can connect with Choo-Choo's 'old teacher unable to retire' coding. Both Choo-Choo's problems as a teacher and the way Red Guy treated him are caused by wider-scale and more powerful systemic issues inflicted on them, which then reflect back on the way the act during the lesson.

Electracey

So good ol’ Electracey the Meter is generally regarded as one of the best Teachers in the whole show and that is… a pretty accurate assessment. But it’s also kinda grading on a curve, y’know? Being the Best Teacher on DHMIS is a pretty low bar to clear. So I am going to go over her problems - because I think they are often overlooked - but I do want to emphasize that, yes, while she is far from perfect, she is also the Best One we’ve had so far!

First things first, her lesson is entirely necessary and important. The Trio legit did not know what Electricity was and why it was important before she showed up.

Duck: I always assumed it was some kind of natural phenomenon, some sort of weather or something. Electracey: No, what about the lamps, and the lights, and the plug-in blanket? Red Guy: Uh… magic? Some kind… Like a spell?

And she obviously excels in the Entertainment Part of Education.

And just genuinely seem nice and cordial towards her students, which is a welcome change of pace!

She’s not even very angry when Duck steals her batteries and leaves her almost to die. 

But while all of these are true, it is important to remember that she still has some Issues. For a starter, she seems to not have a Full Grasp of the Mortality of Organic Beings.

AND, like a lot of other teachers, she kinda Struggles when her students go off-screen:

"Now tell me, could you make a phone call on a phone that was just made out of rocks and soil?" "No, probably not" "Go on, try it!" "N- Why?" "Try it!"

Which honestly kinda reminds me, of, well

"I use my hair to express myself!"

And the most important thing is… there is another Point to her Lesson outside of ‘electricity is useful and you should pay your bills’. Electracey doesn’t just believe Electric Devices are cool, she believes they are superior to non-electric-devices. 

"Soon everything in the home will be plugged-in and part of the electric family!"

Which is a pretty Dubious message to send to the impressionable puppets.

Now, Electracey’s saving grace is what happens when the students actually start following her lesson - as a combination of their newfound excitement for electricity and trying to distract themselves from Yellow Guy being Smart now, Red Guy and Duck do indeed start making sure everything in the house is ‘plugged in and part of the electric family'. Filling it with useless and gimmicky Smart Gadgets.

And Electracey, through her low-power shitty-battery gaze does actually try and warn them this is not a good idea.

(And it was not a good idea, obviously)

So while some of her lines are a bit ominous, maybe she at least didn’t want them to go that far, and that’s something, at least. Or maybe it was only a problem specifically because it was overloading the power on herself and the house? 

Like I said, definitely the Best Teacher we’ve had so far, but she’s still far from flawless…

The big thing I am thinking about is the general fandom assessment that the TV Show had Better Teachers in general compared to the Web Show. It is true, but I think it’s important to consider why it is like this.

First and foremost, it’s because the Webshow had a clear element of escalation in the awfulness that the TV Show does not have. The difference in quality between the two Teacher Groups would’ve been a lot less clear cut if we had to compare all the TV Teachers just with Notebook, for example.

In addition , I think part of the reason the Badness of the TV Teachers is a lot more subdued has less to do with a change in tone and more to do with a change in the format. The longer, more character-driven narrative of the show allows for a more subtle and complex exploration of what makes the Teachers terrible - as well as having to explore a more diverse range of motivations and reasons for their terribleness. 

Again, this is a very personal look at DHMIS Teachers, I would be happy to hear your perspectives on the matter assuming anyone made it this far into the post.

[yslsevy]

Virtual Sketchbook Section 1

Discussion 1:  Hello, my name is Yves Feron. In the future I plan on working as an attorney. I would specifically like working in immigration. I am dual enrolled and will be hoping to graduate with my A.A. as well as my high school diploma. A fact about me is that I love drawing, but right now I will say I am on an artist block. I usually take large breaks in between drawing. And then randomly I have the urge to draw out of nowhere.

(Music, Pink and Blue No. 2 by Georgia O’Keeffe in 1918)

The names of O’Keeffe’s paintings are in reference to music, which points to the connections between the visual and the aural. 

Georgia O’Keeffe with idea of music being translated into something for the eye. 

The paint lines and colors all suggest and are inspired by the rhythms and harmonies O’Keeffe perceived in nature and was painted during her exploration of abstraction. 

This artist, in her century, was often misunderstood as people misinterpreted her artwork as psychological depictions of her sexuality, when in reality it was heavily inspired by nature. 

The painting Pink and Blue No. 2 was one of the paintings that helped O’Keeffe gain recognition in the abstract expressionist movement.

I initially thought of this painting as one of those stereotypical artworks that be called technical. I personally don’’t thinks much of the meaning behind it. Afterwords, learning the context of the painting really helped me understand it. Now I think it as a calm depiction of nature because the artist uses soft colors and soft paint lines to make what similarly to maybe a rose in my eyes.

Select a work of art from your life. It must be something that hangs in your house or your room, something that is important to you or that you look at everyday. Include a picture. In paragraph form (4 sentences), tell me about the art – what media were used to create it? What use does it serve? Do you think it is beautiful? Why?

(By: Yves Feron)

This artwork is currently hanged up in my room made on a whiteboard which is erasable and can change at anytime. I use this as a decorative piece in my room, but also it represents a new era in my life. It includes my name and for some reason I always put the alphabet at the bottom. It’s a tradition I do for myself, which I think is is beautiful because it is supposed to be a drawing of me. 

What “baggage” are you bringing along when you look at art? Answer the following questions – How old are you? What is the gender you primarily align with? Where are you from? What is your ethnicity? What do you do for fun? Are you a member of any organized group? Where do you work? What makes you uniquely you? This helps us see from what exact point in the world we view and receive visual information.

I am an 18-year-old female and have lived in Florida all my life, however I was born in the Virgin Islands. I am Black or more specifically Haitian American. I love watching the reality TV Love Island (UK). Their accents make the drama on the show more entertaining. I do volunteer at different places, such as Healthy Teens, which train teenagers to advocates against drugs and alcohol and educates other teens and younger on issues they may deal with on a day-to-day basis. I think my name makes me very unique. I’ve never met anyone else, besides the brand name Yves Saint Laurent, who has my name. Through the information given about me, I believe the baggage I carry when looking at art is trying to take all pieces seriously. Unless the art is easy to understand, I’m more likely to just look at it, rather than appreciate the work the artist put into it. It may be my age and how I don’t really have the patience that comes with age. Also, I tend to take things that affect me or my friends more serious. An example is vaping or mental health which I spend time every week to work against, or even advocating for minorities like me. I tend to not venture out into stuff I do not know about.  SELF PORTRAIT

(By: Yves Feron)

[burnwater13]

“Hey, buddy, how are the plans coming along for the Clan Mudhorn, Night of Scary Stories?” Din Djarin asked his son as he brought a small bowl of fresh frogs over to Grogu who was sitting at their do everything table.

Grogu shrugged. Things were not going as well as he had hoped. Planning a large event, even when it only involved the two of them was not as easy peasy as he hoped it would be. There were so many things to do that he wasn’t certain if he could get it all done in time. Even with his dad’s help. 

“Well, did you start your list of supplies, like I suggested this morning?” Din asked as he took a seat at the table.

Grogu chirped in the affirmative. He had started the list. That was the problem. He had started it but he didn’t think he’d ever finish it! Oh, the stuff he needed for his costume wasn’t bad. He’d added that stuff first. The helmet, the goggles, the boots, the riding a blurgg attire, the blurggs, the saddles for the blurggs… you get the picture. He had a very complete list started for that. But under the heading of Food, Decor, Music, and Atmosphere, Grogu had nothing. 

His dad tried to take the list but Grogu wouldn’t let him have it. The Mandalorian tried again and this time he tricked Grogu by pretending to let go and then grabbing it as soon as Grogu looked at the bowl of frogs. 

“Buddy, you only have a few things listed here. I thought you liked the idea of ‘A dark and stormy night’ of stories and fun?” His dad sounded disappointed and that made Grogu sad. He knew his dad was very excited about them starting their own family traditions. 

Grogu chirped and coo’d and explained that as soon as he had sat at the table and just started listing the parts of the costume he was going to make, he suddenly couldn’t think of anything else. Kuiil was so nice and fun and he cooked such good broth, that Grogu just couldn’t think of scary stuff.

“You can’t think of scary stuff?!” The Mandalorian seemed to be pretty surprised at that. 

Grogu didn’t know why. He was, on the whole, a very sweet, gentle, kind hearted, simple, easy going, youngling. He liked to laugh and smile and giggle and wink and occasionally make funny faces for his dad. The scary, haunting, frightening stuff had been what happened to him. Other people did all the organizing of that kind of thing. He just survived it. He had no idea where they got the stuff. 

He tried to explain that to his dad. 

“Okay. I understand. You’re right. The Jedi didn’t have festivities like this. So, why don’t you and I take a trip and we’ll find the scariest place on Nevarro and we can see what we learn from it?”

Din Djarin’s voice sounded all sorts of happy and Grogu giggled a little just hearing it. 

He wondered where they would go?  Greef Karga’s storage room at the High Magistrate’s offices? The protocol droid had complained more than once they were a terrible fright. Or maybe they would go over to the Nevarro City lock up. IG-11-M said that the cells of the jail reminded him of Arvala-7.  Grogu had found that place pretty frightful. Or maybe they would go down into the old covert halls below the street level of Nevarro. 

As far as Grogu knew, no one had been down there since the Mandalorian’s had left the first time. Now, a lot of them had gone back to Mandalore to try to rebuild their home. It should be dusty and filled with spiders and other critters and was likely to be too warm because the lava flow was still active in the area. 

He liked the idea of going there and bringing his sketchbook with him. He could make some sketches and that would help him develop the list of things he needed for their festival. He smiled at his dad and nodded his head. 

“Okay, buddy. Get your stuff together and we’ll take a ride. By the way, don’t forget to use the privy before we leave.” The Mandalorian stood up and walked over to the room they shared for sleeping. Grogu would have wondered why, but since his dad said the word ‘privy’ he suddenly had to use it quite desperately and he went trotting off to do just that. 

A few minutes later Grogu and Din Djarin were on their way. His dad had decided that they would take the N-1 and do a fly over of Nevarro City and the surrounding area. Grogu had liked that initially but then it occurred to him that his sketches would come out pretty blurry because they were moving to fast for him to get any good details. 

His dad parked the N-1 near the base of a cliff. Grogu wondered why. The cliff wasn’t remotely scary looking. He turned to his dad to complain when he noticed that the Mandalorian had put his flight pack on. 

“We’ve got to go up to see the scary stuff. Trust me buddy, you’ll find this plenty scary.” 

Grogu smiled at his dad and then pulled his backpack on. He needed all his tools and supplies for this part of the adventure. He just hoped it wouldn’t be as blurry as when he was on the N-1.

To be continued tomorrow...

[paleparearchive]

Clear Sky After Rain

Van Dyck's initial 4★ story (2/3) ( 1 - 2 - 3 )

Location: café (morning) ; café 2 (morning) ; city (rainy) | Characters: Van Dyck, Rembrandt, Rubens, Aoi/MC

Van Dyck: How beautiful... The decorations are delicate and soft... and the colors are lovely too. I've never seen such a beautiful cup of coffee…!

Rembrandt: You're riiight~ The master told me that each of these cups is handmade by an artisan. There are many other designs too.

Van Dyck: Really!? So how many cups of coffee do I have to order to enjoy all these beautiful cups… For now, if we get one for me, one for the teacher, and one for the deputy, we'll have three. Now if Rembrandt can refill about five more cups…

Rembrandt: Five cups?~ My stomach will get full because of iiit~

Aoi: Van Dyck-kun, don't bother ordering, just ask the master to show them to you…

Van Dyck: Ah!! A beautiful me, Teacher, the deputy. And the stylish interior... What a beautiful place! I need to paint this wonderful scene as soon as possible!!

Aoi: (He started sketching. I don't think he heard me…)

Van Dyck-kun, you always carry a small sketchbook with you.

Rubens: Of course. I also carry it with me. You never know when inspiration may strike.

Aoi: That's also true…

Rembrandt: By the way, Van Dyck-kun seems to so absorbed in it. I don't think he's even looking at me.

Aoi: (It's true… He's drawing with a lot of energy.)

Van Dyck: No! Not like this! I need to paint more beautifully…!

Aoi: (It's kind of heating up? What should I do, this isn't a good way to relax…)

Van Dyck: Aaaaaaah!! Wrong, wrong!! More, more…

Aoi: Van Dyck-kun.

Van Dyck: I have to paint it as delicately and beautifully as this coffee cup!

Aoi: Van Dyck-kun! We've come all this way for tea, so let's take it easy today.

Van Dyck: Huh? But I have to paint this emotion now…

Rubens: Tony, I know how you feel, but Deputy-chan has a point. Take time to appreciate the beauty of this space as you treat yourself to cake and coffee.

Van Dyck: Teacher…

Rubens: If you do that, you'll get a better picture. Right?

Van Dyck: R-Right! You're right, Rubens-sensei. Let's order!

—

Aoi: The cake was really excellent.

Rubens: Right? The chiffon cake was as delicious as ever, I thought my cheeks would fall off♪

Aoi: The seasonal cakes were also very good. They had just the right amount of sourness and sweetness. Right, Van Dyck-kun?

Van Dyck: … After all, I wasn't able to conquer all the coffee cups. I wanted to see them all…

Aoi: Fufu, but don't you think it was fate that you encountered such a coffee cup?

Van Dyck: What do you mean?

Aoi: From among those many cups, the master selected a coffee cup just for you… I think that's something special. I understand your desire to see all of them, but I think such a chance encounter is wonderful.

Van Dyck: A chance encounter… Indeed, you may be right... If Teacher and you hadn't brought me here, if we hadn't met Rembrandt… I would've never found that breathtakingly beautiful coffee cup.

Of course, the cup of coffee I enjoyed was beautiful, but I'll never forget the initial shock. It's fine to draw impulsively, but it's also good to savour that beauty in a relaxed way in your heart… And then the emotion gradually spreads through my chest... I don't know how to describe it.

Rubens: It's just as I said, isn't it?

Van Dyck: Yes! Perceiving the beauty slowly... I learned it.

Rembrandt: Somehow Van Dyck-kun looks different from when he came into the café. I don't really get it, but good for youuu~

I'm going to stop by an accessory store after this, so you guys take your time.

Aoi: Thank you very much, Rembrandt-san.

Rubens: I'm out of my favorite pearl pack, so I'm also going to go buy some.

Van Dyck: I'll go with you, then!

Rubens: No, Tony. I don't want to drag Deputy-chan into this, so why don't you accompany her back? Beautiful men treat their women with care, don't they? Well then, see you, Tony, Deputy-chan♪

Van Dyck: …

Aoi: Van Dyck-kun, I'm fine by myself, so if you want to go with Rubens-san…

Van Dyck: Teacher is always right. Beautiful men treat their women with care. Especially when it comes to beautiful women.

Aoi: Van Dyck-kun?

Van Dyck: What are you just standing there like that for? Come on, let's go back home soon.

Aoi: Y-Yes.

—

Aoi: Ah, it started to rain. I thought the clouds were getting darker… even if it was sunny at noon.

Van Dyck: Do you have an umbrella?

Aoi: I didn't bring it because it was sunny when we went out.

Van Dyck: You don't have it? You usually need at least one for when the sun is shining.

Sigh… Guess I have no choice, you'll get under my umbrella. It's not that big, so stick to me as much as possible to avoid getting wet in the rain.

Aoi: Fufu, thank you.

[kanisema-blog]

Not Your Typical Reincarnation Story

Chapter 4: Dinner with the Duchess

After exploring the mansion and trying to piece together the fragments of my new life, I returned to my room. Despite the strangeness of the situation, I found solace in something familiar: designing accessories. I sat at the ornate desk in my bedroom, pulling out a sketchbook I found in one of the drawers.

The inspiration I had gathered from the mansion’s intricate decor flowed through my fingertips as I sketched. Elaborate chandeliers gave rise to designs for statement necklaces, and the floral patterns on the tapestries inspired delicate earrings. This new world, with its opulence and grandeur, was a treasure trove of ideas. I felt a surge of excitement and creativity, and for a moment, I forgot my confusion and anxiety.

I was so engrossed in my work that I didn’t hear Mich enter the room until she gently cleared her throat.

“Miss Xaiana, it’s time for dinner,” she said softly, her eyes curious as they flicked to my sketches.

I closed my sketchbook and stood up, stretching my stiff muscles. “Thank you, Mich. Let’s go.”

Mich led me through the grand corridors to the dining room. This time, a woman was already seated at the head of the table. She was elegant and composed, with a striking resemblance to me—our shared features were unmistakable. This had to be my mother in this world, the Duchess Elsher.

“Please, join your mother for dinner,” Mich said, her voice respectful. “Duchess Elsher, this is your daughter, Xaiana.”

Duchess Elsher looked up, her sharp eyes assessing me. “Good evening, Xaiana. Sit down, please.”

I took a seat across from her, feeling a bit like I was under a microscope. Mich bowed and quietly left the room, leaving us alone.

As the first course was served, my mother watched me intently. “Xaiana, you must eat slowly and with elegance,” she instructed, her tone firm. “A lady of your stature must always be graceful. And remember, do not eat too much. We must maintain our figures. I do not wish to see you grow fat.”

I nodded, feeling a mix of emotions—discomfort, irritation, and a pang of sadness. My mother in this world was very different from my own mother, who had always encouraged me to be myself and never worried about superficial things.

“Of course, Mother,” I replied, trying to keep my voice steady.

As we ate, I tried to emulate the grace and poise she expected, but it was difficult. The conversation was sparse and formal, focused mainly on appearances and social etiquette. My mind wandered to my sketches and the creative ideas I had been working on. This was a far cry from the warm, lively dinners I was used to.

“Xaiana,” my mother said abruptly, pulling me from my thoughts. “I heard you’ve been exploring the mansion today.”

“Yes, Mother,” I replied, hoping to steer the conversation to safer ground. “There’s so much beauty here. It’s very inspiring.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Inspiring? And what, pray tell, do you plan to do with this inspiration?”

I hesitated, unsure how much to reveal. “I’ve been sketching some designs for accessories. The decor here is very intricate and gave me a lot of ideas.”

Duchess Elsher looked surprised for a moment, then her expression softened slightly. “Well, it is good to see you taking an interest in something productive. Just remember, your primary duty is to maintain our family’s reputation and social standing. Do not let frivolous hobbies distract you from that.”

“I understand, Mother,” I said, feeling a pang of frustration. My designs were more than just a hobby to me—they were my passion. But I knew arguing would be pointless.

Dinner continued in much the same vein, with my mother critiquing my manners and offering unsolicited advice on how to present myself. I responded politely, all the while yearning to return to my sketches and the creative freedom they offered.

Finally, the meal came to an end. “You may go now, Xaiana,” my mother said, her tone dismissive. “Remember what I’ve told you.”

I stood and gave a small curtsey, a gesture I hoped was appropriate. “Goodnight, Mother.”

As I left the dining room, I felt a mix of relief and exhaustion. This new life was challenging in ways I hadn’t anticipated, but I was determined to navigate it as best I could. My designs were a small piece of my old life that I could hold onto, a reminder of who I truly was.

Back in my room, I opened my sketchbook again, letting the creative flow soothe my frayed nerves. The world outside my door might be filled with expectations and constraints, but here, in these pages, I was free.

As I sketched, I couldn’t help but think of Loyd Hansley and the original plot of the book. How much of the story would play out as written, and how much could I change? The thought was both daunting and exhilarating.

One thing was certain: this was not going to be a typical reincarnation story. And I was determined to write my own ending.