#i be like. want to finish drawing. NO WORK ON DRAWING. only finish >:(

[sae1549]

Head canons of the companions: Sfw/// Nsfw

Word count: 1.9k

Very random head cannons for the companions + Halsin

Shadow Heart:

—-Sfw——

•If she were to get her nails done she would get stiletto nails that are black chrome.

•I feel like she would argue with you about who gets to cuddle with your shared animal.

•She used to be an emo kid.

•I could see later if she does not become shars Dark judiciary she would change her style to something with cottagecore undertones.

•She loves to give you flowers.

•She also gets over her fear of swimming and now it is an activity she looks forward to doing with you.

•Always cold.

•Would love to have kids.

-----Nsfw below-----

•She is a switch, but prefers to do the work.

•But if you are the top best, believe she expects the princess treatment.

• Her favorite body part would have to be the stomach and thighs.

•She would be willing to have an extra partner in the bedroom, but she is mostly referring to Halsin.

•She is skilled with her hands.

•She loves to listen to all the sounds that you make.

•Very good with aftercare, either getting a towel to clean any fluids or getting water and a soft blanket. So that the two of you can cuddle and relax.

Astarion:

—Sfw—

•He loves his hair being played with.

•He also loves laying on your lap when you are reading.

•He hums when he is reading or “looking into the mirror”

•He often asks you to describe his face because he cannot see it. And if you can draw he will bashfully ask if you can draw him, mostly to see how you view the way he looks.

•Once you get into a relationship he becomes a softie only to you.

•He wants to try and knit or crochet but has no idea how to.

•He likes to hold your hand, or be at least touching you all the time in one way or another.

•He loves soft blankets and will wrap himself up in one before sitting in front of the campfire.

•Does not want kids.

-----Nsfw below-----

--------------------------

•He loves the predator/prey kink. Especially if you're willing to have your blood as the reward.

•7.5 inches. (19.05 cm) All ima say

•He loves to lightly drag his fangs down your neck before he bites you.

•Thigh guy. He can appreciate all body types, but something about plush thighs makes him want to sink his teeth into them.

•He always likes seeing your face, but not opposed to other positions. He just favors seeing you.

•He is a very caring partner, always watching and adjusting what he is doing so that you are enjoying it too.

•Man is absolutely amazing with his hands.

•Overstimulation plays a big part in your sex life, he would make sure you came 3 times to every one time.

•He likes to whisper into your ear how much he loves you while deep inside you.

Karlach:

—Sfw—

•Cuddling is a key point for relaxing

•Most of the food she likes is spicy.

•She is also very into Mead, and hard liquor.

•She always looks intimidating but literally the minute she starts talking she is the sweetest. This throws off everyone when they meet her.

•Very protective of everyone in camp. But I also want to see when fights happen.

•I believe that she has lifted Astarion by the middle of his shirt when he gets a little blood thirsty.

•She can dance like it's no one's business.

•She is the biggest flirt!!!!!!

•If you are a girl she calls you “hot mama” in passing or “hottie” as a male.

•Will forget what she is talking about in the middle of a sentence.

•Works out at 5 am every day, often going with Wyll and scratch.

•Loves kids.

-----Nsfw below-----

-----------------------

•Top

•Big mommy Karlach

•She loves sweet soft sex.

•Totally an ass girl. She will spank you any chance she gets. Sexually or non-sexually.

•Her tail is sensitive and loves when you touch it.

•Same with her horns but at the base of her horns.

•She would want to cuddle with her partner after finishing.

•She would also be great with after care, checking to make sure you are okay and that she didn’t burn you. If she had she would go into full freak out mode. Getting you anything and everything she can to make sure that it heals well.

Lae’zel:

—Sfw—

•She would be elated if you brought her a sword as a gift.

•often sighing when she was not involved enough in conversation.

•She has back pain, often asking for someone to walk or crack her back.

•Stretches often.

•Likes to work out as well, but does it around 4 to avoid everyone else but will find somewhere nice to have breakfast.

•Does not like flowers.

•Will give you a massage if you are in pain, telling you that you have been working well.

•Very Jealous.

•Her best friend is the owl bear. And you of course.

•Bae’zel

•Wants kids

-----Nsfw below-----

----------------------

•Possessive

•Very forward with what she wants.

•Rough sex all the way.

•Likes Ass. But will never outright say that.

•Likes it when you call her name.

•Likes being kissed.

•If you have a tail she likes it if you wrap your tail around her in some way.

•Low key freaky, but nothing too extreme.

•She likes to cover your mouth if you are being too loud, as she does not want anyone to hear how well you are getting off.

•She is not very good with aftercare. She will give you water though.

Gale:

—Sfw—

•ROMANTIC

•Wants to go on a picnic with you so bad.

•He prefers eating Gloves over shoes for his magical artifacts.

•When he is lost in thought, if you are also a wizard you can see bits of weave around him. Mostly circulating his head and hands.

•He loves reading and finding new books. Will even go out of his way to talk to withers to see if he knows of any more interesting books. Sometimes withers will give them to him to read. When he gets them back there are many dog eared pages. With different nice notes for Withers.

•He writes all over his books. He even gives you one that was enchanted to tell a different story that he loved of you each time the book is opened.

•He wears glasses when he gets older.

•DILF.

•Wants kids but is scared of having any thinking he wouldn't be any good at it.

-----Nsfw below----

-----------------------

•8 inches.

•Magical, loves to incorporate magic into your sex life.

•Mage hand?

•Boob man. Does not matter the size as long as he can suck on them.

•He is amazing with his hands and his mouth. Those spells are not easy to pronounce.

•Loves to slowly undress you to build up to the moment.

•Moderately horny.

•Making love to you makes him feel like you are becoming one.

•Whispers praises to you.

•Also loves to be praised.

•Never afraid to initiate the act with you, going as far as to pulling you away from the camp to enjoy eachothers company.

•Lovesssss to hear you moan, it makes him sure that he is doing everything correctly and well.

•Breeding kink. Goodnight

Wyll:

—Sfw—

Such a sweetie.

•Loves to dance, and will ask you if he may have this dance even if there is no music.

•He would go crazy for a Bard at his side.

•Man can sing. And dance what more could you ever need.

•He is charitable. Helping anyone that he can, almost pushy about it sometimes. But he is purely doing it out of kindness.

•Karlach is his bestie. They love to shit talk Mizora.

•She would love to adopt Scratch if he could. But believes he would be better off with Gale or Shadow Heart.

•Loves drinking wine. Often getting wine drunk and giving you so many kisses you could suffocate.

•When you are sleeping together he likes sleeping on the outside incase anyone comes in he can protect you and worst case scenario you can escape.

-----Nsfw below-----

------------------------

•8.5 inches

•He would be a boob man.

•Caring, and gentle.

•Loves getting heads, but is not opposed to giving it either.

•When getting head he would get too excited and fuck the back of your throat.

•Loud, will get very embarrassed if anyone happens to hear him.

•If you were on top and used his horns as leverage he would go wild.

•His favorite position would be missionary, so he could be closer to you and hold you in his arms.

•Needs to feel needed, often will ask for intimacy. But does not always mean bone and be done. He likes to take his time and enjoy each part.

Halsin:

—Sfw—

•Literally the sweetest man.

•Want to be the rock to everyone, and loves if anyone comes to him asking for advice.

•He would become everyone's therapist, but to talk with him he will also teach each person how to whittle a figure while talking. This leads to an excess of carving statues, surprisingly Lae’zels is the best. Making an owl bear that she let Halsin keep.

•Is basically the doctor, everyone going to him when they need healing.

•Often will find an area where he can be one with nature in the morning.

•Loves to cook, always making sure to feed everyone else before himself.

•He is a lightweight drinker. And will baby a drink for hours before finishing it.

•Likes going swimming in his bear form.

•Often going into his bear form when he is sleeping.

•Take baths in nature.

•he will hand pick flowers to give to you so that you have something beautiful from mother nature.

•Chews on pencils.

•Tests your food after Orin shows up at camp, he would rather him getting hurt than you.

•Wants kids, he would be such a good father!!!!!!!!!!

-----Nsfw below-----

------------------------

•HUGE DICK im talking 9.5-10 inches.

•He is big and he knows it. Making sure to prep you well before doing anything.

•He will split half and half when he does it in bear form or in his normal form as long as you are okay with it.

•He is a thigh man.

•He loves stretch marks, kissing them, running his finger tips over them. He just loves them so much.

•Amazing with his hands.

•Speaks in a way that's like honey dripping from his lips. (Very sweet)

•Animalistic when doing the deed.

•Freaky, and i mean like freakyyy.

•Does not care if anyone within a 10 mile radius can hear the two of you.

•Doggy style is his go to.

•He is not opposed to an extra partner in the bedroom, hell he enjoys to the fullest as well. Everyone involved is being satisfied does not matter how long it takes.

•Aftercare is top tier!!!!!!!! He is going to sit with you for a few minutes while he heals any of the wounds that may have been afflicted while everything was happening.

•He cleans you up, and sits you in his lap while he strokes your hair. Swallowing you up in his arms and chest.

•He will want to go over what happened later on after you have recovered. To see what he can improve, what you liked and what you didn’t like. Every detail is saved in the back of his mind for another time.

•Horny ass man.

————————————————————————

This was so fun to write. I’m not the best with writing about smut but I did my best.

[mari-the-bimbo]

Bus stops on dodgy roads

Sukuna x reader

A/N: Hey my lovelies! I know i been gone a while but he’s just a random thought I made into a fanfic! Enjoy! <33

Going to University in a rough area is definitely not for the weak.

Classes finishing at 7 in the evening, studying the notes in the library until 11 because your dorm doesn’t have a desk, meaning you’re waiting at the bus stop in the dead of the night with the local drug dealers, police sirens blaring in the back, but you try to tune it out with ‘like a tattoo by Sade’ blasting your your earphones.

But you just happen to be god’s strongest soldier.

Well.. at least you think you are.

Strangely enough, you do not feel threatened by the drug dealers who wait for the same bus, the silent agreement to mind your own business is mutual.

But more strangely, you notice the drug dealers aren’t here today, so you sit alone at the bus stop, the dry air hitting your face.

“Here all alone sweetheart?” Says a croaky voice in the silence, you turn your gaze to the ugly looking man who reeks of blood and alcohol. You don’t recognise him so you pretend you didn’t hear him, silently praying it’s not your blood splattered next.

You flitch as he snatches your earphones out your ear and throws it to the ground, shit, why did it have to be you?

“Don’t pretend you can’t hear me you stupid bitch, how much for a fuck before I make you do it for free”

You subtly reach for your pocket knife and you answer him defensively “I’m not a whore, go ask somebody else”, calling police would be useless, by the time they arrive you’ll already be roadkill.

You watch him seeth at your attitude as you gulp, realising a bit too late that was the wrong move.

You watch a black Bugatti pass, a car you knew probably belonged to an even dodgier person but you were desperate. You throw a rock at the car and scream “HELPPP!!”.

The man only gets angrier as he punches you for drawing attention, you fall to the ground with curses from your mouth but luckily the sleek car halts, before reversing slowly until it’s in front of you.

“g-get up you bitch” the man hurriedly orders, reaching out to pull you up but your new found confidence allows you to kick him before you hurriedly stand up yourself.

Before you can react again, you hear a deep voice boom through the abandoned road’ “Oi”

The black tinted windows of the Bugatti slides down to reveal a tatted man, a bit older than you but scarily handsome nonetheless. The creep’s eyes widens before speaking “Boss! I- I was just going to deal with this bitch becau-“

“Who asked?”

You stare quietly, taking in the interaction between the creep and his boss in the car.

“Did I not order you to report back to me once you were done with the job?” The boss asked. You didn’t even want to guess what the ‘job’ was.

“Sir this bitch got in my way so-“

“Shut up” the boss cut him off before his red eyes connected with yours, a shiver travels down your spine at the contact.

“Leave us alone” he says, you take a step backwards thinking he’s talking to you but realise you’re wrong when the creep walks away shakily.

Your own legs start to shake slightly in realisation of who this man could be.

“Hey pretty girl”

You gulp “Hi s-sir”

A chuckle erupts from the man at your immediate obedience compared to how animalistic you were with the other. “Why you calling me sir, you work for me too?” He asks. You struggle to find words so you simply shake your head.

He keeps eye contact with you as he puts out his cigarette that was hanging from his mouth. “Call me Sukuna”

The leg almost threatened to give in from the shake as he confirms your fears, he was the city’s drug lord Sukuna.

“Thanks Sukuna”

“No worries dear, why don’t you be a good girl and let me drop you home” he asks, you know it’s a command rather than an offer.

“T-thanks but my bus will be here any minute” you reply with a shaky smile.

His gaze is unnerving as he answers “your bus won’t be coming”

Your confused silence allows him to answer the question you were thinking.

He points in the direction that the creepy man left, “You see, I ordered him to kill some rats on that bus, the bus will be terminated in 3..2…”

“What” you whisper in disbelief.

“..1”

You look up at the digital bus stop timer.

“Zero”

‘Service currently unavailable. We apologise for this inconvenience’ the digital screen reads.

You stare back at him in disbelief. He was too good, devilishly good, and you were now putty in his tatted hands. All the questions left on the tip of your tongue disappears, Sukuna only offers an illegally beautiful smile to you.

“Well?” He says, “I really don’t like offering repeating myself dear”

Without missing a beat, you run to the passenger side door and enter the car.

To hell with morals and ethics, when you live in the ghetto, survival is your main priority.

You sit in the luxury leather seats with cowardly stature. Sukuna starts his engine and drives off.

“You know it’s breaks my heart to see a pretty girl like you wait in the cold like that dear” he teases gruffly, a new cigarette hanging from his lips. “Not your first time waiting there is it?”

“No” you reply but then you pause, wait how does he know that?

“How do you-“

“I know my city better than anyone, every corner and.. bus stop” he adds to lighten the mood, you can’t help the small giggle that escaped you, it’s hard not to when your saviour happens to be an big, attractive, clearly untouchable man who smells like oud and leather.

“Think I’m funny doll?” He says with a smile, red eyes still on the road.

“Only a little-” you reply before immediately closing your mouth in fear, you fix your posture when you suddenly remember this isn’t some friend of yours but rather the most powerful man in the city that could easily have your head.

He chuckles, “easy, easy doll. No need to humble me like that”

“Sorry” you say with a meek smile.

He looks at you and back on the road. There was no denying Sukuna found you adorable, you were amusing to him, and what kissable looking lips you had.

“You can joke around with me doll, consider me a friend hm?” He says as his hands move to the back of your neck, stroking it ever so gently, goosebumps quickly rise making the tatted man laugh as you look at him embarrassed.

He parks in the uni dorm car park. Before slowly turning his head towards you, you feel comfortable enough to look him face to face now, you offer him a smile “thank you dropping me off Sukuna… and also saving me back there.. I know he’s one of your man but still-“

Your sentence dies at the back of your throat when his rough hand strokes your cheek, “did it hurt?” He says, he’s serious now. “A bit..” you answer.

Your breath hitches as he leans forwards and presses his mouth to your ear “I’ll take care of him when I get back, you will never see him again, okay?” He says and you nod in understanding of what that entails.

“Such a smart girl” he coos gruffly as he presses a kiss to the shell of your ear.

“Thank you again Sukuna”

Another smile comes to his handsome face as he tilts his head “and how exactly do you wish to thank me dear?”

You gulp as you stare at the handsome devil, seducing you so easily, you feel embarrassed when he notices your thighs squeezed together, while Sukuna makes a mental note of the dirty things he’s going to do with those plush thighs next time.

He licks his lips, and you unintentionally imitate him. He shakes his head and bites his bottom teeth, he can’t hold back anymore, oh girl.. what have you started?

Suddenly his wet lips press against your own, moulding with the shapes of yours, his sloppy tongue makes sure you can taste the tobacco as you moan at the feeling, he chuckles into your mouth before pulling away.

You pull away with a gasp, he smiles, looking nowhere near as breathless as you, just admiring your beautiful face. He thumb plays with your bottom lip

“Well shit.. You’ve started something I gotta finish doll”

[witchywithwhiskey]

Hey hey! How about...

16. trying something new

With...😏

first-time plant parents

pairing: husband!ari levinson x female reader

warnings: domestic fluff, referenced smut (not really 18+ but i'd always rather minors do not interact!), kissing, little bit of dry humping, non-graphic sex, pet names (sunshine)

word count: 1,500ish

a/n: thank you for sending in this prompt Navy!!! i have no excuse for this except i just think starting a vegetable garden with ari would be neat 🤷🏼‍♀️ this is so so so so self-indulgent but i hope y'all enjoy ♡♡

You were surprised by how good it felt to get your hands dirty, your fingers sinking into the rich soil as you scooped some up and patted it down around the tomato seedling you’d just planted. Sitting back on your heels, you looked down the row of tomatoes you’d finished planting, a sense of accomplishment settling deep into your body and making you smile to yourself. 

But it seemed you weren’t the only one to take pride in your efforts, as a warm, familiar voice called, “Lookin’ good, sunshine,” from the other side of the small vegetable garden you and your husband had set up in your backyard. 

Lifting your eyes from the row of tomato seedlings you’d carefully planted, your gaze collided with that of your husband, Ari Levinson, his brilliant blue eyes sparkling in the bright spring sunshine. His grin was wide as he used a hand to push his golden brown hair back from his face, pride and affection shining in his gaze as he looked at you. 

Your smile widened in return, and you raised a hand to shade your eyes so you could see his progress. “How’re the herbs coming?” you asked, your eyes skimming along the basil, rosemary and mint you’d decided to plant. They were in their own planter boxes to ensure they didn’t overrun the garden, and it looked like your husband was done with the task. “They look good.”

You’d never had a vegetable garden before—at least, not one of your own. Your grandmother had one when you were little, your father taking you into the impressively large garden to show you where they’d planted spinach and tomatoes and green beans and rhubarb. 

But with that garden long since gone and both your grandmother and father having passed, you’d told Ari you wanted to try your hand at growing some veggies of your own. Your husband had been excited to try it, even though he had less experience than you.

But he’d jumped into it as eagerly as you, digging up a little plot in your backyard and setting up a fence so that the animals didn’t get to your herbs and veggies. The garden was bigger than the meager crop you’d decided to plant that first year—just the herbs, your tomatoes and some spinach—but Ari said the two of you would grow into it.  

“Do they look as good as your husband?” Ari asked teasingly, drawing you out of your thoughts and back into the moment. 

You couldn’t help but smile as you got to your feet, brushing your hands off on your shorts and picking your way across the garden to your husband. You bent down to look at the planter boxes, making a show of assessing his work in planting the herbs. When you’d drawn it out long enough, you stood back up and looked to your husband, having to stifle a laugh when you saw he’d somehow managed to get streaks of dirt across his forehead.

“They look better than you,” you said, barely contained laughter making your voice waver as you reached up and tried to brush the dirt from Ari’s forehead, asking, “How did you manage to get dirt here?” However, since your hands were also covered in dirt, you only managed to make things worse. Ari laughed at your wince of apology. 

“I think you’ve got a little something, too,” he said playfully, brushing his dirty fingers over the tip of your nose. You were certain you didn’t have any dirt on your nose, which meant he’d just gotten you dirty for no good reason.

Gasping in mock outrage, you jumped back as he reached for your face again, knocking his hand away. “Don’t get me more dirty than I already am!” you cried, but you were laughing as you fended off your husband’s filthy, reaching hands. 

You danced around the garden, trying to avoid Ari and your plants, but after a few moments, you decided to go on the offensive. “Let’s see how you like getting dirty!” you yelled, darting close to your husband and swiping your fingers across Ari’s cheek, leaving behind a new streak of dirt above the line of his beard. 

However, Ari didn’t let you escape, wrapping his strong arms around your waist and hauling you up against his chest. “Do your worst, sunshine,” he challenged, laughing right along with you. 

Since his hands were busy holding onto you and yours were free, you brushed even more dirt on his cheeks, giggling as you got him even dirtier. But it wasn’t long before your giggles died down and the two of you were left pressed against one another, your chests heaving as you caught your breath and stared into each other’s eyes.

You could feel your body warming, which seemed to be a natural reaction to your husband’s closeness, your nipples tightening and heat sinking low to settle in your core. Squirming in Ari’s arms, you could feel your expression change, your eyes turning pleading as an aching need built up in your body.

“Stop looking at me like that, sunshine,” Ari rumbled, a gruff warning in his tone. You could feel his body responding to you, his arousal digging into your belly and making your legs tremble beneath you. “Or I’m liable to take you right here—garden be damned.”

Ari’s words sent new tendrils of heat curling through your body, even as they knocked some sense into you and you managed a playful gasp, pressing a hand to your chest as you pretended to be scandalized. “Not in front of the plants, Ari,” you scolded, your tone more flirtatious than chastising. 

Your husband grinned, squeezing you tighter, and ducked down to capture your lips in a searing kiss that had you melting against his chest. Your fingers dove into Ari’s beard, clinging to him and holding him close while you devoured each other. When you whimpered into the kiss and rocked your body against Ari’s bulge, he pulled away with a groan.

“Sunshine,” he rasped, pressing his forehead to yours and drawing in deep, heavy breaths that pushed his chest against yours in the most delicious way. “If you don’t want our little seedlings exposed to our dirty deeds so early in their lives, you’re gonna have to let me take you inside now,” he murmured in a serious tone, but you could see the corners of his mouth flickering with his need to grin. “Because the idea of seeing you blissed out and satisfied in the garden we made is sounding better by the second.”

“Then take me inside, husband,” you said huskily, a smirk tugging at the edges of your lips, “because you are not fucking me the dirt.”

Wrapping one of his hands around the back of your neck, Ari held you still while he kissed you again, his tongue plundering your mouth until your mind was fuzzy and you’d mostly forgotten where you were. You knew that had been Ari’s intention when his lips trailed along your jaw, nipping and kissing your skin until his mouth brushed the edge of your ear.

“What if I made love to you in the grass?” he rumbled teasingly, bending down to grab your leg and hitch it over his hip so he could press his bulge into the apex of your thighs. His grunt was loud in your ear, but it didn’t drown out the low, filthy moan that slipped from your lips.

Still, you weren’t so far gone that you’d let Ari have his way with you just anywhere. “What about the shower?” you countered, your voice high-pitched and breathy, making your husband chuckle as he kissed down your neck. 

Then you were shrieking in surprise and delight as Ari hauled you off your feet and threw you over his shoulder, carrying you into the house to finish what you’d started. He took you in the shower, the two of you laughing as much as you kissed, taking turns washing the grime of dirt from each other’s skin before sinking into the familiar rhythm of your bodies coming together.

Later, when you were both sated and clean and the sun was sinking lower toward the horizon, you stood in the grass outside the fence of your humble little vegetable garden. Ari stood at your back, his arms circling your waist and holding you close as you both took pride in the work you’d accomplished that day. 

“Do you think we’ll be good first-time plant parents?” you asked softly, your fingers trailing idly through the hair on Ari’s arms. Tilting your head to the side, you wondered if you’d watered the newly transplanted seedlings enough to make the transition easier for them.

“I think we’ll do our best,” Ari murmured, curling his body around yours and pressing a kiss to your temple while he squeezed you tighter in his arms. “I think we’ll give them all the love they need, and I think they’ll flourish because of it.” 

A pleased smile curved your lips and you hummed in agreement, leaning back further against Ari, knowing your husband spoke the truth. After all, you’d done the same with each other—you’d given each other all the love in your hearts and both of you had flourished. Ari was your partner, your husband, the love of your life, and you wouldn’t want to be first-time plant parents with anyone but him.

[imagine-a-life-like-this]

Not My Boyfriend : Teaser

Word Count : 0.7k

Warnings : drinking, swearing, mention of heartbreak, jealousy, arguing

A/N : I don't have an official release date for this story yet, but I wanted to get a teaser out for you. I want to finish Changbin's story before I start on this one, so hopefully the epilogue will be out soon and I can start this one! I'm really excited to share what I've been working on. Hope you enjoy!

          “Cheers to you!” She clinked glasses with Hongjoong, a smile spreading across her face as the two of them downed their respective shots. “I really am proud of you. You’ve been working so hard for this.” She placed a hand on his arm, giving him a sincere look so he knew she was serious.

            “Thank you, Y/n. I wouldn’t have been able to do it if it wasn’t for you, though.” She cocked her head to the side, raising an eyebrow at him, urging him to go on, tell him how she helped. He chuckled, shaking his head at her. “You really don’t know?”

            “How am I supposed to know, Kim Hongjoong?” She questioned, bringing her face closer to his. Hongjoong chuckled again, pushing her face away from his. “Tell me.” She pouted. And he knew he was going to tell her everything the second he saw it. As if her pout was a superpower. Drawing out any and all secrets you’ve kept hidden.

            “The theme for this exhibit was love and heartbreak.” He started slowly. Realization hit her and she took a step back. His name fell from her lips and he shook his head. “Y/n, I loved you in high school. Idiot.”

            “Oh.” She giggled.

            “And in the first year of university. But you met Minho and I moved on.” Hongjoong added with a laugh, taking a sip of his drink. “I like someone else now, but I the idea of a first love and the feeling of letting that go, I knew it would be a success.”

            “So what you’re saying is I should get half the profits.” Y/n teased.

            “I hate you.”

            “No you don’t.” Y/n said as she linked their arms, smiling over at Hongjoong. He smiled back at her, sliding her drink farther from her, telling her she’s had enough. “Look at you caring about me. How did I never notice?”

            “This is me being a friend. But you’re oblivious. You’ll never realize when someone likes you, no matter how obvious they make it.”

~

            Minho saw them from afar when he burst into the bar. Watched for a minute as they laughed and got too close for his liking. The way she was far too comfortable with him, a man that wasn’t him.

            He started walking towards them, fire in his veins, only seeing red. Hongjoong saw him first, and turned to whisper something to Y/n. She turned, and when their eyes met, it was like the world stopped. His anger melted and all that was left was jealousy. “Minho?” She seemed confused. Of course she would be. This was supposed to be her night out with her friend. But why didn’t she tell him the friend would be a guy?

            “Time to go home.” He said simply, grabbing her hand and dragging her out of the bar. She said goodbye to Hongjoong as she was dragged away. Part of her was angry that he would come and pull her away from her friend. But another part was swooning. Hopeful that her feelings weren’t one sided. But she stopped herself from feeling anything but anger. Stopped herself from feeling hopeful that they could be anything more than what they are.

            “Okay can you tell me what the fuck that was?” She asked, pulling her hand away, and crossing her arms over her chest. Minho turned around to face her, his anger and jealousy obvious.

            “When you said you were grabbing drinks with a friend I thought you meant a girl. Who the fuck even is that guy hmm?” She scoffed.

            “Hongjoong. You know him. We went to university together.” The name sounded familiar to Minho. One of the many guys that hung around her. One of the many guys that had feelings for her. Minho would know because he was one of them too.

            “That still doesn’t explain why you told me you were grabbing drinks with a friend after work instead of just telling me it was Hongjoong.” Minho countered. “If you two are really just friends, there would be no reason to hide that.”

            “Oh my god Minho. You’re not my boyfriend! It doesn’t matter who I grab drinks with. Who my friends are. Who I spend the day texting. You. Are. Not. My. Boyfriend.”

            “Well if you would pick up on my damn hints, I fucking would be!”

back to masterlist

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pink means I couldn't tag you 🥺

[reverie-starlight]

{the proposal- kuroo}

on today’s episode of “rev accidentally disregards the polls she made”, we have this fic :3 I actually adore this one, it was so fun to write!! hope you enjoy <3 also… thank you sm for 1k followers 😭🫶🏻 that’s huge, I appreciate everyone sm 🥹

gn!reader, no physical descriptions. fluff fluff fluff. alcohol mentions, drunk reader. dialogue heavy at the start.

“You need to propose to me.”

Kuroo, who is enjoying his drink, begins to choke. “I what?”

You roll your eyes with a barely concealed smile.

“Not for real, silly, just a fake one.”

He looks at you like you’ve gone insane. “I’m not following.”

“We’re broke university students, do you really think we can afford to pay for more than two drinks tonight? If you propose, I bet people would make a drunken mistake and offer to buy us a celebration round.” You wiggle your eyebrows at him as he continues to give you that same incredulous look.

“That’s-“ he cuts himself off before he can finish that thought and starts with a new one. “I doubt that would work. I mean, maybe at a restaurant with free dessert, but a bar? Really?”

“I’ve seen it done in stranger places!” You defend yourself. “Besides, you’ve been sipping on your drink for the past 25 minutes. If the ice had poison in it, you’d be dead by now,” you lean back and cross your arms.

Your boyfriend just shakes his head. “Your mind is a very interesting place. Alright, fine. We’ll do it, but if it doesn’t work that’s going to be really embarrassing. Hand me your ring, I’ll do it when more people are around.”

You only have to wait another ten minutes before a group of business men having a meeting a couple of tables over appear to be drunk enough to invest in young love.

Your boyfriend nods once to signal that he’s going to do it and soon enough he’s on one knee, fake tears forming at the corners of his eyes and a dusting of pink on his cheeks that make you want to kiss them.

(Your heart jumps that the thought that he could do this for real one day).

“You’re the love of my life,” he begins, and you make a mental note that he either has a bright future in acting or his drink really is too strong, despite his insistence that he could handle it earlier.

A lady one table over gasps and draws more attention to the performance in front of the customers.

“And I absolutely adore every single thing about you. I had a whole plan for this, but with the way you’re looking tonight, I can’t wait a second longer. We’ve managed to get many years together already, and I’d be honoured to spend the rest of our lives just like this. Will you marry me?”

You’re genuinely touched at his words and the sincerity in his tone almost makes you forget it’s fake.

Not wanting to make your audience wait much longer, you make a big show of nodding your head and jumping into his crouched form with a loud “yes!”

Drunken cheers are only background noise while you press against his chest. His heartbeat eliminates the chance of you focusing on anything but him.

Kuroo tips his head down to whisper, “think we pulled it off?”

You nod against him and start to get up. He looks over to see one of the drunk business men coming over to greet you.

“Congratulations on your engagement! Let us buy the happy couple some drinks!”

The man’s face is flushed and he gestures to his table. “Order whatever you’d like, it’ll be put on our tab.”

You fake surprise. “Oh my goodness, that’s very generous of you, but we could never take advantage of your kindness like that!”

Beside you, your ‘fiancé’ stifles a laugh but the man doesn’t notice. “No, I insist! You should celebrate.”

This time Kuroo takes over. “Ah… well, thank you, sir. Rest assured we won’t go too crazy.”

The man laughs and claps him on the back. “What a polite couple of kids you are! Reminds me of me and my wife,” he winks before heading back to his table, whistling some tune.

You spin around and look up at your boyfriend with a smug grin. “So what are we getting first?”

A couple of hours later, you’re both stumbling into your campus apartment, giggling and trying to shush each other despite not having any other roommates.

You somehow manage to get through your night routines and fall back into your bed soon after. You’re a far more wasted than Kuroo is (he always drinks less than you to be able to take care of you), so he tries to get you to sip on some water.

He watches you with a silly grin as you fiddle with your “engagement” ring. You’ve since slipped it back onto your index finger where it originally was this evening, but you move it back to your ring finger and fiddle with it.

“I think…” your words are slightly slurred and laced with sleep. “I mean, I know… that I don’t want my real engagement ring to be diamond.”

His grin widens so much his cheeks begin to hurt. “No? So what will it be, baby?”

You form your own smile. “I’m sure I’ll love whatever you come up with. You know me best after all.”

He forces you to take another sip of water when your words don’t get any less coherent. While you drink he thinks of the ruby ring tucked away somewhere at Kenma’s house. You’re far too good at sniffing out clues and he’s never been good at keeping secrets from you.

You’re still in university, it’s far too soon to get engaged for real- you’ve both always said you wanted to wait until you’re done with school- but he’s been saving up for that ring since high school. he’s always knows you would be the one for him.

So when the time comes he’ll be ready. With a speech much better than whatever he said tonight.

“Alright, let’s get some sleep. You’re going to have the worst hangover tomorrow, you haven’t had that much to drink in a while.”

You tug at his wrist before he can shut the lamp off. “Wait, don’t you want to celebrate our engagement?”

“Sleep, baby.”

You pout a bit. “Don’t you think we celebrated enough tonight?”

You stare at him and he sighs. “There’s plenty of time for celebrating our fake engagement some more tomorrow,” he shuts the lamp off and wrangles you down with him. “Now it’s time for sleep.”

“‘m not tired,” you mumble, obviously lying. “I could go all night.”

You settle onto your pillow and he strokes your cheek. “I know, sweetheart, you’re a fighter.”

You nod as you begin to doze off.

He notices the ring still on your finger and he smiles softly.

The hangover you’ll be sporting tomorrow will definitely have been worth it.

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

ty for reading!!! i hope you enjoyed <3

tagging: @emmyrosee @luvring @dira333 @tetzoro

[sleepiexx]

Friday Nights

Valeria Garza x fem!reader

Note: It’s been a while lol, writing has been such a chore lately it’s my passion so I refuse to give up on it. I’m working on a part two to Everything is Falling Apart, but I know it’s going to take a while so here’s this short little piece to tide y’all over until I do get around to finishing, editing, and posting it

Summary: You meet an alluring woman at the club you frequent.

Warnings: alcohol, clubbing, nothing angsty tho

Word count: 1033

The music is loud, the room is bathed in a mix of colorful light and shadows from bodies tightly packed together. A buzz resounds, chatter, laughter, fun. Yeah, this is your scene alright.

You could dance the night away with your friends, and from the moment you put on the outfit which flattered all of your best features, you knew that that was exactly what you intended to do. The smell of sweat and perfume was one you knew well, and as your brow glistened you felt right at home.

The compact feeling of the dance floor could make someone feel claustrophobic, like they were being suffocated by the touching of dozens of bodies against one another. To you, the feeling was a comfort, a grounding touch that was promised at the end of every week no matter how rough. It was a feeling you could only pull yourself away from for one reason.

The effect of the shots you took hours ago began to fade and you couldn’t have that, your night is hardly over. This is what lures you away. You alert one of your friends that you are headed to the bar before slipping your way through the crowd. The bartender knows you well, you frequent and she works Friday nights so she sees you often, often enough to know that you want a little something that’s fruity but strong. She switches it up every time, just like you like. Some part of you used to have a crush on her, but you aren’t naive and you know how to spot a straight woman. A shame, really, you never find anyone cute to go home with at this place.

Maybe your confidence is intimidating, maybe your outfits are too bold, or maybe, just maybe, you have a hard time getting asked out because you spend too much time dancing to talk and you’re always, always with your girls, never alone. Save for the frequent trips you make to the bar for another round.

The bartender places your drink in front of you, and you reach into your purse in search of your wallet. Not one to keep an ongoing tab, you usually opt to pay for each drink individually, that way you don’t go too crazy on the spending. It seems this time you don’t have to worry about that, though, because a hand is placed on your shoulder, stopping you, as a smooth voice says “this one’s on me.”

You see the woman hand the bartender her card and you turn to her, having to hold yourself back from audibly gasping. She’s gorgeous, strong cheekbones and long lashes, framed by dark shoulder length hair. Not to mention her impeccable style, she wears loose black slacks and combat boots, but the main feature that has caught your attention is her shirt. A dark red satin button up, the sleeves rolled up and the buttons so generously undone, giving you a view that you struggle not to stare at. The red looks good against her warm skin tone and you can’t tell which you’d rather touch, the silky shirt, or her smooth skin.

You realize you’ve been staring entirely too long, scolding yourself for half a second before smiling and thanking the woman for the drink.

“I haven’t seen you around here before,” you say, desperate to keep the conversation going. You finally have an opportunity to flirt with a stunning woman and by god are you going to take it.

She smiles at you, eyes smug, you can tell she knows she has you hooked and a part of you really likes that idea. “I could say the same.”

You furrow your brows, trying to think if you have ever seen her before. You draw a blank, “I’m here almost every Friday.”

She hums, “I’m here Wednesdays, guess I’ll have to change up my schedule. You come here alone or?”

“With friends,” you point to your girls, “nothing takes the edge off the week quite like dancing the second the weekend starts. What’s got you coming on Wednesdays? Unconventional work schedule?”

She laughs, eyes half lidded, “something like that.”

You bat your lashes at her and she wonders if you know what power you hold with just a blink of your eyes, it prompts her to elaborate

“I own the place,” half of her is just answering your question, the other half is flat out bragging in hopes to impress you.

“Seriously?” The smirk on her face leads you to believe she’s messing with you but she nods. You want to stare slack jawed but you refrain, instead smiling wide and responding, “well then I’d better stay on your good side, it’s a nice establishment you run here.”

“A business is only as nice as the people in it,” her eyes trace your figure from bottom to top, you spot a hungry looking glint, “and, well, if you frequent then I suppose I run the nicest establishment in town.”

The line was cheesy, yet still you find your knees weak along with the feeling of blood rushing to your face.

“You uhm-“ you stumble over your words, hoping to god you don’t sound as anxious and giddy as you feel. Your intense eye contact makes up for it, ensnaring the woman before you, “you like to dance?”

Her smirk grows, shifting into something more like a smile, “I love to, you?”

“Yeah me too.” You cautiously take one of her hands, continuing to hold eye contact as you gently pull her in the direction you’d come from, “I’m y/n, by the way.”

As your feet meet the dance floor, she pulls you close, her hands meeting your hips as they’d been aching to do since she’d seen you standing there at the bar. She can dance well, you can tell before you’ve even started, her stance is impeccable and there’s not a hint of hesitation on her. You know you’ve got a full night ahead of you, and you don’t find yourself complaining, “Valeria.”

You repeat it, tasting her name on your tongue. It sounds good, so very good, “I like it.”

And there it is again, that smirk.

[2hoothoots]

So I was going through your blog (again) and found some of your stuff mentions fsau Raz having ADHD, as somebody with adhd I’m intrigued, may I have some of those headcanons (canons??) related to that? Also, I would give “a penny for your thoughts” but I’m out of pennies, so here’s various images of a drawing of ur blorbo I put next to my animals, note that a rock had to be added in one picture to keep him from flying away (BONUS: his now permanent place with the wifi guardian frog)

NOTHING brings me more joy than seeing physical drawings of these guys, like, out and about. in situations. thank you for this gift, and ALSO for the great ask because it's a perfect chance to ramble

so first of all, canon Raz having ADHD is very real to me. he's constantly fidgeting and moving around, getting distracted by sidequests and scavenger hunt objectives, always talking to himself out loud, gotta write everything down so he remembers it because there's so much to DO!, running away from home because his dad yelled at him one time and now Raz assumes he must hate him forever... i could go on, but i think there's a lot of room for interpretation there!

in my headcanon, he never got diagnosed as a kid. maybe there were some notes about it in his reports each year, sure - but a little hyperactivity and distractability never seemed to slow him down. he excelled in lessons and on missions, and when he was with his family their performances gave him something to focus that energy into. it was only really when he turned 18 and graduated to a full agent that the cracks started to show.

because there's a big difference between the responsibilities you have as a minor, and the responsibilities you have as an 18-year-old living away from home! one who's expected to cook and clean for themselves, and take care of adult life stuff, and also work the 9-to-5 office job he's just graduated into that involves sitting in front of a computer and write reports all day.

short-term, he found he could get himself to power through a deadline with energy drinks and psi-pops (a lot of psi-pops...)

long-term, something had to give. he was working himself to exhaustion, constantly stressed, swinging between days spent staring at his computer screen doing nothing and all-nighters desperately trying to finish his paperwork before the deadline. it just didn't make any sense to him. he'd finally started his job as a Psychonaut, he was living independently like he'd always dreamed, he'd gotten top surgery after planning it for so long. he should have everything he ever wanted. why wasn't he happy?

following a deep post-surgical depression, about a month before his 19th birthday Raz was living out of his car, couch-surfing or sleeping in his office. he got kicked out of his apartment after falling behind on bills and rent. it wasn't that he didn't have the money, it was all just too much for him to stay on top of.

he'd probably have stayed in that misery hole for a lot longer if Frazie hadn't marched into his life and demanded he let her help him move into a new place, or she was telling mom that he was homeless. together, they sorted through all of his possessions from the last place - everything that had been hastily shoved in his car, or tossed in a box in his office, piled in a heap that was giving him anxiety even looking at it.

things do get better for him from there.

when he eventually explains things to Hollis, she gently suggests that he should get a roommate. he ends up moving in with Phoebe, and they become pretty good friends after a couple months! something about having another person around to help do the chores and wash the dishes and share the space helps, even if it takes him a while to admit it.

he gets his ADHD diagnosis, and finding the exact right medication and dose is a journey he's still on years later - but they're a huge help in getting him to actually knuckle down and finish his work on time. and the whole thing ends up being a chance for him to take a step back and really think about what he wants to do with his life. he'd always assumed that being a Psychonaut was his dream, but he'd never really reckoned with what that dream would look like before.

in the end, he sticks with it, but also decides to follow Lili's example in branching out. he applies to study a part-time Bachelor's in Psychology on a remote course, and gets accepted. juggling missions and paperwork and study and relationships (because the whole thing made him realise he also wasn't setting aside any time for himself, and wow, dating is a thing) is a lot - but he manages to figure it out, day by day.

(Lili comes back to the Psychonauts after graduating. she and Raz have both changed a lot over those four years, but on their first mission together they hit it off like a house on fire - and the rest is history!)

[metamatar]

“I didn’t give up Iraji!” Baru snarled, drawing Osa’s grunt of warning. “I could’ve brought him here as a gift for the Cancrioth, but I didn’t!”

“No.” Tau sighed, pushing ahead, after the Womb. “Because you’re waiting for me to give you permission.”

“What?” She’d thought nothing of the sort.

“Tain Hu gave you permission to kill her for your own advantage.”

“Don’t you dare talk about—”

“Dare what? Talk about the woman whose death you use to justify your atrocities? She gave you permission to do a terrible thing. Now she is dead, so she cannot withdraw her permission. But you know her permit only reaches so far: it does not extend to Iraji, or to me. So you’re waiting for me to give you permission to sell Iraji and Abdumasi to the Cancrioth. You want me to say, at least we’ll be together again, damned together in chaos, Abdu and Tau. Really, you’ll be doing what’s best for both of us. Is that right? I think it is.”

“Tau . . .”

A smile sweet like sugar rot. “You need me to be your little amphora, your bottle of reserve goodness, to shatter and use up. You’ve been dying a slow death since you killed Hu. You need to take another soul to finish your work. Only it’ll never be done. You’ll always need more. And no matter what you do here, Baru, I expect that by some strange coincidence it will end up being what Mister Cairdine Farrier wants. Don’t you think so, too?”

Baru lost her breath.

No matter what exercises she tried, no matter how she crushed her innards and panted like a bear, she couldn’t get her air back. Her fingertips prickled. Her heart stumbled. Dread settled on her like a crown. The green paint on the black ceiling above seemed to slither, like tapeworms dangling from a burnt lilac branch. The things Tau said made such sense—all her curiosity and intellect fastened on them and worried at them—

She felt genuinely as if she were drowning.

“Move,” Osa grunted, and shoved Baru forward.

She wanted a whiskey, a vodka: something, anything, to wipe the running centipede legs off her hands, to fill up the agonizing bubbles in her blood. Her heartbeats hit like hooves, cavalry charge, memories of Tain Hu turning the flank at Sieroch, memories that made the panic deeper.

So. So. This was what it meant to make an enemy of Tau, of a laman with the keenest understanding of empathy and sentiment. She had never been struck so precisely.

Tain Hu had seen the worst of her and stayed loyal.

Tau had seen the worst of her, and now they were telling her exactly what they saw.

The Tyrant Baru Cormorant, Seth Dickinson

[samlizzy71]

I love your art! It’s so nice seeing trans art by a trans person about happy trans people :))))

Any tips for a beginner artist? What to draw, how to stay motivated, etc.

Thanks! I hope you have a wonderful day.

Thank you so much!! w I wouldn't know what to say, the usual "keep practicing" doesn't look like much of a help x) but sadly, is the only thing that will make you better as an artist. I always say that a good sign is that, a while after you've finished a drawing, you start finding imperfections, mistakes, and things that can be improved. Don't be obsessive, and be aware that your drawings won't be perfect, don't think that it means you're useless or anything, is part of the process. Don't hate what you do if it doesn't look as nice as you'd like, that won't get you anywhere, but is fine if you don't like old drawings after a while. That's a sign that you're growing and getting better. You're now able to identify what you can do better, I would worry if after years you still think your drawings are perfect, that means you're stuck there. However, when you become aware of one of those things that can be improved (for example, you realize that in a previous drawing, hands looked weird), try to do it better next time. Don't say "I can't draw hands", just try it x) And you won't suddenly make them perfect, but now you know what you have to work on.

Use references, DON'T copy or trace, but as a visual artist, you have to be very *visual*, so, look at the way others have made their own art, and see what you like about different styles. Search for pictures of people doing activities you want to draw, doing different poses, etc., Is like writing or composing music, you need to read or listen, even if you will create something new, it's great to have references and guides. As for motivation, that's more difficult ^^ It is completely different for each. For me, the motivation at first was creating characters I could surround myself with when I was feeling awfully lonely and depressed, you know, to give them their own lives to get myself distracted from my own. Now my motivation comes more from knowing other people have found themselves in my characters and stories, and that somehow what I create has helped them, even if just a few, even if just a little. I like to compare my old drawings with the newer ones, just to see how much progress I've made x) This is my first digital drawing from 2012, versus one from 2024 (Some people improve a lot faster, I just took a lot of time because the first years I didn't draw as much, in 2018 I only made 3 drawings)

[wishjacked]

Happy #WebcomicDay!! :D

This year we're celebrating the process of making pages... so below the cut I've got a bunch of pictures sharing how I go about making pages of my evil post-apocalyptic workplace sitcom, Cargo!! :D

So! My process!!

Writing-> I think sometimes there's pressure to "write" your comic a certain way, I see people talking about script format and stuff a lot. That really doesn't work for me, though! I write my "first draft" script in short scenes on scrap paper, in whatever order they come to me. Sometimes a scene will just be one or two lines, and then a little description of what I want to happen in the rest of the scene.

Later I type the scene up, and write the "connective tissue" that fits between the disjointed scenes so they all flow together like they ought. I don't do page breaks or even character tag or action notes hahahaha I like it to be as BASIC as POSSIBLE so it's easy to edit. And since I'm the person drawing it I can almost always remember who's supposed to be saying what lmao

I edit a lot, but the most major editing is also probably the last bit... when I letter my pages usually I realize "they would never say that" and so I end up rephrasing everything. My art brain is sometimes waaaaay better at phrasing hahaha. Like you can see in the finished page for this script I rewrote like basically all of it, and actually went back to the original "sketch" script in a lot of places.

Thumbnailing-> my thumbs are really big, I draw them with markers on printer paper and keep them in a binder!! I like to thumb scenes in batches and I also usually write my dialogue on them, just so I can read through them before (and while) I draw to get a feel for how the pacing works. :)

Sketching-> OH sketching is also really hard for me! I don't have a good visual imagination so it's really important for me to make sure I have good references. Last year I was especially focusing on setting.

My comic is set in Florida. I'm lucky in that I used to live there and still go back to visit sometimes, so sometimes I can gather my own reference images! But more often I start on Google Maps or Zillow, trying to find buildings that have interesting features or the right kind of "look" for what I want. I'll also look up other interesting elements, my comic is set in a post-apocalypse and I'll research home gardening and things like that which people would probably have.

For example, in this set in chapter 7, I used Google Maps images, photo references of indoor hydroponic gardening, and like, 90's-00's hacker computer setups haha. Also my BFF Roomstyler.com, where you can make 3d house interiors haha!!

Lineart-> I LOVE lineart it is my favorite!!!! I sketch and ink two pages at a time, and it usually takes somewhere between 10-12 hours to do both steps.

I actually think my art looks best when it's just lineart... but I think my STORY is better with color, like it makes it clearer and easier to read and it has a better atmosphere HAHA.

Colors-> I think it usually takes me 4-6 hours to do 2 pages (I haven't timed myself as consistently as I time my lineart and sketching). I have a big file with small copies of my previous pages that I color drop from, and my characters are all flats only. The limited palette that I use is also really handy, it streamlines coloring a LOT.

Finishing Touches-> aka I steal mercilessly from my one true love, my internet home, the beautiful and blessed Wikimedia Commons

I put lots of overlay layers on my art! I like textures so having some strange little textures or pictures on things makes my art feel a lot more finished to me.

And finally my very most favorite ✨finishing touch✨ is the bright colored/patterned gutters that I use. Here are some of my favorites that I've made and used in the past!

And that's all!! I hope you guys have a very happy Webcomics Day and find lots and lots of wonderful new things to read!!!

[matchesarelit]

Imagine If You Will... (Silly, Spencer Agnew x gn!Reader)

REQUEST: I really enjoyed your fic from earlier this month so I'd like to ask for a Spencer Agnew x reader!! Mainly where the office is oblivious to his and the reader's newly established relationship and they start flirting more often, wearing each other's clothes/jewelry, going home together and people start realizing 1 by 1 until the news spreads that they're dating. (including their reactions lol) Thanks :))))

W.C: ~2.4k Warnings: none I think, Reader and Spencer are gd hopeless, the word gigachad, badly crafted memes?

Waking up on Spencer's couch with a controller in hand and your head draped back over his shoulder was becoming a hobby of yours and the almost immediate creak of your neck was a now familiar ache. Usually, the pair of you had the foresight to set an alarm, or twenty. Today however, you woke to catch the long hand solidly past the six and the other making its way towards nine. That left the pair of you with less than half an hour to get ready and get to work about ten minutes away.

Twisting hurriedly you pat Spencer's chest a few times, the controller long lost to the couch cushions in your haste, 'Hun, wake up, we need to go.'

Rubbing the back of a knuckle over his eye he slowly turned to face you, his voice soft yet rough from sleep and still slightly out of it,

'Huh? What time is it?'

'About twenty-five to nine' His hand hand shifted to rest against his chest, meeting and holding your own as a small smile fell over his features, clearly still a little too out of it to read the situation as it was. Your expression probably wasn't helping, the initial stress had disappeared the moment his lips pulled into that pretty expression, and you had never had the strength to not smile right back at him.

Admittedly it had taken five additional minutes for the pair of you to remember the issue at hand and spring from the sofa, at which point the pair of you had grabbed whatever you could, changed and scrambled to the car. Pulling into the office carpark, you thanked yourself for setting the top you'd brought over out on top of the dresser.

A self to self mental high five that was not at all warranted, a fact that you would only realized as you stepped into the bathroom at work when you went for a tea break later that morning.

Catching sight of yourself, your cheeks immediately grew hot; across your chest, in a vintage font, was the phrase, 'She Bul on my ba until I saur' alongside a gigachad version of the Pokemon underneath. You'd bought the shirt for Spencer a few weeks prior upon stumbling across it on Instagram and thinking it was perfect for the nerdy man that he was.

Finishing up in the bathroom, you beelined for the Games area, scurrying (in the most nondescript way possible, of course) over to Spencer's desk, you immediately began tapping his shoulder until he tugged his headphones from his ears.

'Is everything alright?' Jaw hanging motionless you gestured wildly to the top, your wild eyes begging him to catch on to your not so subtle concern.

'Ha! nice shirt-o-OH WAIT' Eyes blowing wide and brows drawing together you remained silent lost on how to proceed. Although you had yet to discuss keeping your relationship a secret, you hadn't discussed announcing it either, and it had caught the pair of you quite off guard.

'I-I've only worn it once on stream? if that helps? I doubt anyone will realize' at his words you nodded, giving a cursory glance about, you were glad to note that the other two people in the space had headphones on, presumably drowning out the world around them.

It wasn't that you wanted to hide your relationship, and the shirt certainly wasn't the worst way to launch your coupling, that being said it wasn't the best either. I mean c'mon at least something classy like a gigachad Mr. Mime right? A Bulbasaur was just a little silly.

Meeting his eyes with a small grin tugging at your cheeks, you put your hand over his and squeezed lightly, before stepping away, brushing your hands down over the fabric and turning to return to your own desk.

There was only one conclusion to draw and it was one that the pair of you agreed upon that night as he dropped you off at your apartment; there really wasn't any point in putting much effort into hiding your relationship, after all you already knew you were horrible at it.

That much had been revealed weeks into seeing each other, when a stray brightly patterned hair clip wound up tangled in Spencer's hair, the matching one sitting neatly by your temple, a fact you doubted Kiana would ever let the pair of you forget. Especially as that same hair clip had remained on his desk since she had twisted it free it months prior, and she still often feigned looking for the matching one in your hair.

Pulling into the carpark outside of Spencer's apartment, you barely held back your laughter as you leant over and pushed open the car door for him from inside. Watching as he cautiously all but tip-toed closer, arms piled high with a clutter of hard drives and cables in a tangled mess, you raised an eyebrow at the chaos of it all.

Settling himself down with a relieved sigh, he let the balled up hardware sit on his lap resting a hand on top so to keep it in place.

Leaning over once again you pressed a quick kiss to his cheek before twisting to grab a bag from the back seat. 'Did you want a bag for that Tangela'd mess?' Unable to dissolve the much-too-happy-with-yourself look on your face you watched in glee as he took in the pun.

'oh god' His exasperated mutter was plainly for show as he shook his smiling head in disbelief, before thanking you as he took the canvas from your hands and began haphazardly shoving the mass inside.

Much too caught up in discussing the date planned for later that week all throughout the drive and as you walked into work, both of you failed to notice the print on the side of the bag that was soon emptied out and folded on his desk awaiting that evening when he'd give it back.

Marcus, however, in light of the copier breaking down, had been asked to trek to the local Staples and make some copies and soon spotted the folded tote on his way to the door.

'Hey Spencer, would I be able to borrow that bag for a copy run?' Peering around his monitor, Spencer looked from Marcus to the bag and back again before finding his voice, 'Oh um, this is-'

Stepping into the room and catching on quite fast you spoke up, unintentionally, and yet mercifully, cutting Spencer off, 'That one's mine, of course you can borrow it!'

Standing just outside of the kitchen with your umpteenth mug of whatever sachet you had picked up, possibly a soup, you watched Spencer chuck the bag over and watched as the other man caught it and left the building with it tucked under his arm.

Looking all around her desk, you and Erin were searching for her bag, a tote not unlike your own, that had been lost in the chaos of the day, but with her phone on the verge of dying the pair of you had sprung into action. Venturing further and further from her desk as time went on, you found yourself by the assortment of boxes in the corner while Erin searched near the door. Just as she opened her mouth to call the search a failure, Marcus stepped back into the office, bag slung over his shoulder.

'Hey is there any chance that bag is my one?' She was clearly hopeful but that was a fleeting moment as she cut off his response,

'No its uh-'

'oh don't worry. This is definitely yours, isn't it?' The question was yelled across the space at you, a point you only noticed when you looked back at the cacophony to find her eyes already looking in your direction. Walking over you were lost as to how a nondescript tote-

Nevermind.

Illuminated momentarily by Erin's camera flash, across the side of the bag was a graphic, edited by you, for you. Across a captioned screenshot of parks and rec, you'd put the words, in a horrendous green, 'This is my boyfriend, and my boyfriend's Mtn Dew KickStart' alongside a included picture of the can. It was messy, and hyper-specific and yet it had given you such a good chuckle, you'd elected to pay for it to be printed. A fact you'd completely forgotten when blindly grabbing a bag that morning.

'I-' Your attempts at any explanation, no matter how unnecessary, fell short as you struggled for words. Marcus was in the same boat, now holding the bag up in front of him, eyebrows furrowed and mouth opening and closing repeatedly as he studied the print. Erin however, seemed to have no such problem, tapping a few buttons, locking her phone and spinning on her heel presumably to keep looking for her own bag.

Silly as ever, you thought those few buttons were unrelated, until Spencer make a squawk-like noise from the passenger seat of your car on the drive home. When you pulled over, he accompanied the sound with showing you a story from the main Smosh account, it was of the bag with the text 'Found in the wild. Your soulmate @/spenser?'

Grabbing the balled up bag in the cup holder you handed it to him, at which point you returned to the open road, not missing the little, 'So true' that came from the man next to you.

You'd just switched on the kettle when Tommy stepped into the office kitchen, grabbing a mug of his own and perching beside you against the island.

'Hey so my car is in the shop, would I be able to grab a lift home tonight?'

You and Tommy had spoken many times in the past regarding your shared suburb, so it wasn't at all a surprise when he asked, and yet you were still stuttering to answer.

'oh uh-'

''its no problem if you can't-'

'Oh no I- We can, I carpooled with Spencer, but I'm sure he wont mind...'

'Are you sure?'

'Of course! I'll just let him know, don't even stress'

Living in the same neighborhood, you and Tommy had given each other lifts and carpooled in the past, but that was before you started spending so much free time with Spencer, something that started almost a full year before you'd actually gotten together. This Included, almost without discussion, your carpooling, despite living in two different areas in opposite directions from the office.

That last aspect, the part that made the whole carpooling situation between the pair of you impractical, was the part that completely slipped both yours and, when you confirmed the change of plans with him, Spencer's minds.

It wasn't until a few minutes after you had slipped inside Spencer's car, Tommy had nestled himself into the backseat, and Spencer had started off in the direction of your area, that any of you had shared a word. The regular flirting that flowed freely over the car ride home, after being bottled up at work, was absent and left the space eerily silent. Until Tommy's head cocked to the side and he addressed Spencer.

'I had no idea you were in our area Spencer, when did you move?'

Spencer was silent for perhaps a beat too long, 'oh I uh-'

'Cause weren't you up north?'

'I... uh... still am' His voice was almost silent towards the end, achieving his goal of leaving Tommy momentarily clueless.

'What?'

Patting a hand on Spencer's shoulder you wordlessly insisted he go on,

'I still do, live up north that is.'

'Then wh- OHHH' In the quiet car his realization was like a siren, thankfully however, it fell away quickly, being immediately replaced with an amused chuckle. His laughter meant Tommy struggled to get out his playful criticism,

''S-so you d-drive like the compl-ete wr-wrong direction t-to t-t-o drop off... oh my god that's s-so silly and so cute b-but so dumb.'

'Not always... sometimes Spencer'll stay at mine or I'll-.' Your defense wasn't nearly as good as you'd thought it was in the moment and was cut off with more laughter and a sarcastic yet good natured, 'y-yeah that makes it make sense,' from the man behind you and a smile from the man by your side.

It might be silly but at this point that was a founding pillar of your relationship, and one you'd long since stopped denying, but that didn't stop you from trying, and failing, to defend yourselves on occasion.

Pulling a headband from your desk drawer, you pushed your hair out of your face and out of the way. It was a common enough occurrence, as was accidentally taking them home and losing them to the abyss, that you had quite a large number squirreled away. In the light of previous occurrences you had moved away from hair clips, cough Kiana cough, to their much less find-their-way-into-your-boyfriends-hair friends, the headband.

That being said, less than an hour later, standing, once again, by the kettle you watched as Spencer brushed hair from his eyes and tucked it behind his ears only for it to fall back in place almost immediately. The struggle was one you knew well, but the pout that his lips pulled into as it happened for the twenty-something-th time, was not something you could abide.

So settling down your mug of freshly made who-knows-what at your desk, you retrieved a headband, one not at all dissimilar to the one currently holding your own locks in place. Walking over to Spencer you tapped the table to get his attention, doubting his ability to see you through the hair he had seemingly relented to.

'Hey...'

'Hey... Come here.' Moving to stand by his side, you spun his chair from under his desk around to face you, running your hands through his hair, pushing it up. Softly pushing his head to hang back, you placed the headband across his forehead, before moving it up to secure his hair in place underneath it. Letting your fingers linger, you considered the moment. It wasn't Mr. Mime classy, but it was definitely a little bit silly and that seemed perfect.

Trailing a hand up past the band and over the back of his head, you rested it on the back of his chair, a movement he met with his cheek nestling against your forearm. Meeting his eyes, you held his gaze as his head tilted down and then back up. A single nod was all you needed as you leant down and pressed your lips to his.

It was nowhere near the first time, but it was the first time that it was accompanied by a call from down the hall, where Ian stood pumping his fist in the air.

'CALLED IT!'

[skaruresonic]

So the latest discourse is that saying that Sonic isn't a hugger and his clingy behavior towards Shadow in Prime is proof of how much the fandom loves to complain about the smallest things. In fact, "yall say Sonic should be free but yall don't want him to do anything".

I find it fascinating. One, the language that implies that fans who say "no Sonic wouldn't do X because it's OOC" are actively stifling a person's freedom. My dudes, Sonic is a character, not a real person. Please don't conflate the two.

Second... this is the same fandom that has been crying for 10 years that Shadow is being written terribly. That now he's just Vegeta, that he's nothing like he used to be, that his Boom portrayal was a travesty, that his prickliness towards Sonic is completely wrong because he has always respected him, really, go play SA2 where he was at his peak!

Why is Shadow's perceived character defended so staunchly, but defending Sonic's character comes off as restricting the freedom of the very character?

It's as if Sonic, to these fans, simply doesn't have a personality in the first place. He can be whatever we want him to be. Shadow, on the other hand, can only be how he used to be in a game 20 years old now, because we loved that one.

So the latest discourse is that saying that Sonic isn't a hugger and his clingy behavior towards Shadow in Prime is proof of how much the fandom loves to complain about the smallest things. In fact, "yall say Sonic should be free but yall don't want him to do anything".

If we're gonna treat Sonic like he's a real person, it's only fair to respect his boundaries, no? Why should your desire to see him be cuddly supersede his boundaries? Would you do that to a real person?

Ofc the better retort would be "Sonic is a fictional character with an established character and you're misconstruing his love of freedom to suit your flanderization; pull your head out of your ass," but since this argument was made in bad faith, you gotta meet it where it lives.

People have been misinterpreting Sonic's whole attitude towards freedom to justify OOC non-game portrayals. First they insisted that Sonic has some dutiful love for the platonic ideal of freedom and that was why he always showed his enemies mercy. Now they're saying "you won't let Sonic do anything," as if fans are physically preventing poor third-party creators like Prime's showrunners from creating Peak Sonic(tm) by... criticizing Sonic's behavior after the fact. Because that's totally how reality works.

No, Patrick. Just because Sonic is "like the wind" doesn't mean any and all behavior is automatically in-character for him.

I suppose tomorrow's discourse will contend that Sega should let Sonic take the fattest rip off that bong because ST put a gag drawing of Classic smoking cigarettes on the break room door thirty years ago.

lol 420 blaze it

Anyway, if you look at the games, you'll find that Sonic isn't actually that touchy-feely. He rarely, if ever, hugs other people, but is typically the party being hugged instead. And he is usually portrayed as awkward or uncomfortable: he doesn't know what to do with his arms.

While some may argue that Frontiers!Sonic now feels "comfortable" enough to put a hand on Amy while she clings to him, he isn't... exactly reciprocating? He only seems to feel comfortable being glomped on when focusing on his other friends:

He's still not looking at Amy, he's looking at Tails lmao. More like he's just waiting for her to finish because he's come to expect getting glomped for long periods of time.

Whenever Sonic "touches" someone who initiates contact, he usually holds them at arm's length.

This is how he holds his best friend in the entire world, the second half of the Unbreakable Bond. If not even Tails is exempt from the junior prom dance rule, what makes folks think Sonic would act even chummier towards Shadow of all people?

Besides, I'm sure Game!Shadow's reaction to Sonic even attempting to hug him would be

---

Second... this is the same fandom that has been crying for 10 years that Shadow is being written terribly. That now he's just Vegeta, that he's nothing like he used to be, that his Boom portrayal was a travesty,

It's really bizarre. I swear this is the only fandom where the main characters' IC behavior is derided as OOC purely because it doesn't gel with the fanon fandom has built up in their heads. Mostly because we've fostered this environment of "the games suck" through a constant background radiation of disparagement, with such messages seeping through every pore of Sonic fan spaces as:

1.) "Sonic is inconsistent" 2.) "the series was never good" 3.) "the Sega-Sonic character design standard is too generic and cookie-cutter" 4.) "the games are incapable of being as complex or as deep as [insert spinoff media here]" 5.) "Sonic is a static character [and therefore that's bad]" 6.) "Sonic vs. Eggman is boring and routine" 7.) "game purists think the games and/or Sega can never be criticized."

that his prickliness towards Sonic is completely wrong because he has always respected him, really, go play SA2 where he was at his peak!

Thus, the conundrum of being an SA2 fan in a day and age where fewer and fewer who hype it up have proven they've played it, much less understand the game's themes. I get stuck between this rock and hard place of being just as tired of the overhype, yet being forced to admit over and over again that I acknowledge my favorite Sonic game it isn't nearly as unimpeachably Peak(tm) as everyone portrays it so people won't think I'm... for lack of a better term, the kind of SA2 fan who thinks SA2!Shadow is the GOAT. Battle!Shadow is the GOAT and nothing anybody says can change my mind. None of you fake-ass Shadows ever said anything nearly as metal as "This is the final voice of the last war machine," have you? I thought not

It can't be understated how much Gerald's brainwashing mitigates SA2!Shadow's portrayal. Although it doesn't completely invalidate the entire portrayal, it does beg questions of how much he was driven by forces outside his control.

While there are aspects of SA2!Shadow's character worth genuine analysis, people exaggerate his better qualities while ignoring or downplaying his less palatable traits (traits he displays in later portrayals as well), like the showboating and arrogance. And like I always say with Shadow, you can't cut him up into pieces like that. You have to accept the whole, rough edges and all.

It also doesn't escape my notice that SA2!Shadow advocates imply the only time Shadow ever had a "good" portrayal was before he underwent character development, which is another stereotype of us SA2 fans: that we perpetually huff nostalgia think the past is better simply for being the past.

Meanwhile, I've been saying for years that I would love for someone, anyone, to give Shadow something to do that has nothing to do with the ARK. That's why my first reaction upon hearing about SxS Gens was to headdesk. You have a character who's all about forging his own path and moving on, yet you're always sticking him in the same goddamn hamster wheel. Why.

---

Why is Shadow's perceived character defended so staunchly, but defending Sonic's character comes off as restricting the freedom of the very character?

It's as if Sonic, to these fans, simply doesn't have a personality in the first place. He can be whatever we want him to be. Shadow, on the other hand, can only be how he used to be in a game 20 years old now, because we loved that one.

Tbqh, I don't think it's fair to pit Sonic and Shadow against each other like that because the entire cast, really, is being gutted by a fandom that insists the games have nothing of substance to respect. God knows people make shit up for Shadow and claim it has canonical basis too. And, you know, sometimes they don't even bother to do that - they just make things up simply because they figure the tropes that are good enough for other franchises must be good enough for Sonic as well. Looking at you, "Shadow was tortured on the ARK."

Sonic, Shadow, Eggman, Rouge, Cream, Tails, Amy, Knuckles, Silver... Most, if not all, the core cast has it bad these days. And I don't think this fanonization is going to get any better unless there's a change in fandom culture. Not until people stop thinking of the games as inferior and game purists as the no-fun-allowed fiction police.

[bakathief]

I'm a little shy! But I would like to express my amazement and admiration! A while ago I found your Shadow Chase art, I loved it and became a fan, you create very funny stories and your art is beautiful, but that's not the point, I started following you because of that, but then I realized that you have many others projects and You are also very busy with your personal life. My question is how is everything organized and planned to advance a project despite academic/work responsibilities? I've seen that you even have collaborations with others and I keep thinking "this person is great." As a final note, I just want to leave my good wishes and hope you have a nice week. <3

Gosh, so many compliments in one ask, I‘m still a little loss for words. Thank you so much for reading my work and looking into my other projects, collabs and art! I hope you‘ve been enjoying them. ❤️ 

I think there is no denying that I need to organize myself a little bit to make everything work. I think I‘ve always used drawing, especially drawing comics, as a way to breathe and when I started uni I promised myself I would continue drawing somehow. The first semester was hell, but I finished all the way. 💪 And I had the same mindset for working, so when I started this year I was very motivated to draw. Lol I think it also helped that I had several different projects to work on so when I wasn’t in the mood for black and white I would move to something colorful. Comics also offer the possibility to work on different parts. Do I want to work on the story, on the storyboards, on the actual drawings or just editing…? A lot of options. And this is something which I heard on a video on AI but artist and creative people in general don‘t create in other to have more content but to get something out of their head and feel the satisfaction of creating a certain idea and I felt that very much. And then there is the joy of collabs and while there were unfortunately more failed attempts at collabs I’m very glad for those which eventually resulted in great projects. ❤️ I might have to take actual breaks from drawing when I get back to my thesis. I finished all the work but need to write the discussion part and wow, how much I don‘t wanna work on that. 

Currently I use my time on commutes for drawings digitally or making storyboards. In the evening I finish private stuff and when time is left I work on traditional art. Shadow Chase is the only project where I try to have an overview on how many pages I have done and want to finish before the next upload. Other works can usually go up once finished. When I create something for fan projects like zines, bigbangs, etc. I usually just try to finish said project right away. I don‘t like procrastinating (except my thesis I guess) and rather have stuff than can be finished done right away and focus on my other projects again.  Shades of Tourmaline was definitely my biggest collab project yet and with the amount of art planned it took like 3 years to finish because that was something I couldn‘t get done right away. 😂 fortunately clef was very patient with me (and kept me distracted with new collabs, oops). 

The short answer would be I try to draw as much as possible because it is just a lot of fun with the additional bonus of entertaining a few people. ❤️ 

[awkward-tension-art]

Darkness on Umbara Chp.5 (Rex x Reader)

Chapter 4.

Beginning of the List

cw: Rex x Reader, Reader is a medic, incorrect military procedure, graphic descriptions of injuries, blood, swearing, death and battle, Spoilers for the Umbara Arc, Pong Krell is an asshole, reader insert, Reader gets shot, details of a wound on reader, stress vomiting, reader is gender neutral, no use of (Y/N), if i miss a tag LMK

Minors DNI,

After the Umbarans had attacked again, everyone was exhausted. It was either luck or divine intervention that the 501st managed to fight off the second attack. This time, Krell actually fought alongside the soldiers, since he had been caught between blaster fire. You’d give the Jedi credit, he was lethal with his lightsabers, making quick work of the adversaries in his path.

You still hated him. Many good soldiers had died in the fight because of his half-assed strategy. To make matters worse you and Kix were at your limit trying to keep everyone alive. 

The supplies in your packs were low, and thankfully the speeder had more. But they wouldn’t last forever if Krell kept up his plans the way he was. 

You had just finished patching up your sixth, ARF trooper Steele, when Jesse put a hand to your shoulder, “Doc. you're hurt. Since the retreat on the road.”

The haphazard bandages you put on your arm had fallen off.  After a quick glance to make sure the soldiers that needed medical care weren’t in a dire situation, you finally assessed yourself. 

Lifting your arm in your uninjured hand, your eyes roamed over the damage. 

Direct hit. 

The minimal armor you had on your upper arm was completely scorched. The fabric underneath had offered no protection either, revealing the internal parts of your limb. 

Your bicep and tricep had been destroyed by the shot revealing the humerus. Bone was stained black with the ashes of your muscle. The only reason your arm was still attached was by the melted, burnt remains of the tendons of your shoulder. The lack of movement in your hand was the result of the fact that, along with a majority of blood supply, the nerves had been entirely disintegrated. 

It was almost comical how the true agony of the wound set in as soon as you looked at it. Well, truthfully, you didn’t feel it. The nerves were gone, so the burn itself and all feeling in your wrist and hand was nonexistent. 

However, you felt everything next to the wound. After all, you still had the nerves that functioned in the area of your body right next to the blaster shot. 

White. Hot. Blistering heat. Your entire shoulder throbbed, each pulse sending a wave of agony through you. Your ears were ringing and your head was spinning. You bit your tongue and tasted blood. 

Your jaw locked up, and you couldn’t scream. 

Everything was shaking. Your breathing was heavy. But you didn’t make a sound. Wordlessly, you stepped out of view behind a thick, dark tree and wretched. Bile exited your stomach as you gagged and heaved. Black dotted your vision, muting the bright red limbs of the plants around you.

Jesse, bless him, kept a stabilizing hand on your back, “do you want me to get Rex?” he asked, waiting for you to get yourself together.

You shook your head and dropped your injured arm, using your trembling free hand to inject yourself with painkillers. After a second, you leaned closer to Jesse to speak, voice strained, “Do not draw attention. Do not make a big deal of this. But please get Kix.” 

All attention was on Rex and the surrounding area right now. No one was paying any mind to your situation. You’d prefer to keep it that way.

Jesse nodded and quickly stepped away to get the medic. He wasn’t going to argue with you. 

Your body felt hot and feverish. You leaned against the tree as sweat dotted your skin. It was mere minutes when Jesse returned with Kix. but it felt like hours.

“Hey,” you croaked, sliding down to sit on the ground. 

The medic was kneeling by your side in an instant. He pulled off his helmet and silently used everything at his disposal to try and save your arm. It was clear you’d need more than several tubes of bacta and bandages to recover, but…well, you knew Kix, he’d think of something.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” he asked, fingers becoming stained with the ashes of your upper arm. 

“I didn’t know.” You admitted, “I knew I got shot, I just didn’t know the damage until after the battle.” 

He nodded in understanding. He’s had tunnel vision before. Every soldier has.

You took a sharp breath as your medic friend cut away charred flesh, “I know I won’t die. So I’m gonna close my eyes for a bit, ok?” You nodded to him before addressing Jesse, “Thank you for getting Kix. You can go back to the others.” 

The trooper didn’t seem so certain, “I’ll be close by.”

Once he stepped away, you closed your eyes and rested your head back. The bacta felt cool on the remains of your arm. One eye cracked open, peering at what the medic was doing. He had soaked bandages and patches in bacta, and began to tightly wrap the pieces around your limb. 

Smart. You would have done the same.

“Tell me straight, doc, will I live?” you tried to joke, only to be met with the sound of a helmet hitting the ground. 

Your eyes shot open and you froze, staring directly at Fives. You tried to move, but were quickly stopped by Kix, “I’m not done.” He warned. 

“Listen, Fives. Before you say anything…” you tried to reassure him before the ARC trooper said anything, “Do not tell Rex.” which…sounded very suspicious. As if you had gotten in trouble or caught in a lie. 

It was futile. The two of them were close as hell, it would take a lot of convincing to get him to remain silent. 

“What?!” He nearly shouted, and you desperately tried to shush him, “Why?” 

“He’s going through enough.” You snapped, “I know it looks bad, but I’ve dealt with worse. The men have survived worse themselves.”

“This is different. You’re a field doctor! You warned Krell that you weren’t trained for the front lines with us.” He responded, kneeling next to you, “and he didn’t care. Now look at you!” 

“Both of you, shut up.” Kix snapped, tightening the bacta soaked bandages on the remains of your upper arm. 

You hissed, nerve endings getting irritated by the movement. Luckily the painkillers were strong, and you weren’t put down by the agony you should be in. 

It hurt like a bitch anyway, but you’d manage. 

“Don’t tell Rex.” You looked up at Fives, pleading with him. Fuck pride, your love didn’t need to know you’ve been hurt.

He picked up his helmet, mumbling, “You can’t hide that.” 

Oh, thank all the gods in existence he wasn’t going to tell Rex.

“I won’t. I’ll just…soften the blow.” You attempted to ease your ARC trooper friend. 

“I fucking hate Krell.” He spat before getting his helmet on, “Careless. Reckless. Heartless…”  There was a commotion on the other side of the tree cutting off his insults. “We’re getting ready to move out. Heading the capital.”

“Almost done.” The medic at your side said, helping you get a snug brace on. It was lightly padded, giving protection to the bandages that made up your skin for now. It also had a mechanism that allowed you to move your wrist and hand if need be.

You gave it a few experimental moves. You could close your hand but your fingers weren’t as precise. It would have to be good enough until your arm healed. Fives offered an open palm and you took it before standing, “Thank you, both of you.”

Back to work.

The three of you walked back to the main force. Luckily, Krell didn’t argue when you returned to the speeder. It had gotten much lighter since you and Kix already used nearly half the supplies. As soon as the men started to march you started up the vehicle and stayed at the same pace as everyone else. Despite your exhaustion, after about an hour, you stepped off and gave control to a limping trooper, Dawn, keeping one hand on the side just for stability's sake. 

Looking over the men, there were more injured than healthy now. Tup held his wrist as he walked. Appo had a bandaged thigh. There was a crack on Hardcase’s chestplate that was crusted with dried blood. Two soldiers, Ken and Rin, were laying damn near on top of eachother on the stretcher attached to the speeder. Both had taken severe burns all over their bodies, melting the plastoid to their skin in some areas.

But there were more dead than injured. You’ve been keeping count. Taking notes of the names that died in your arms. 

Fyre. Vim. Oz. Ringo. North. Gabe. Tro. Tess. Zeb. Sante. Reign. Pheon. Nim. Jamie.

You recited their names in your head. You had to keep track of everyone lost under your care. There were more. Those Kix couldn’t save. Those that died instantly without a chance to survive. Sadly, you knew the list would grow as long as Krell was in charge. Under Anakin, the list of dead wouldn’t even get to be half as long. 

Hopefully the city would fall soon, everyone in the battalion needed a bacta tank and therapy. 

A lot of therapy.

“What happened?” 

Rex.

Your lover had taken you from your thoughts and you snapped back into focus, “Just a graze,” you lied. At this point, you weren’t going to stress him out anymore than he already was. He’s been shouldering the weight of the Jedi's bad decision, and you refused to add to it. 

You gave him a soft smile, hoping to ease his worry, but Rex saw right through your lie. The amount of bandages on your arm and a brace wouldn’t be needed for ‘just a graze’. His shoulders shook with his breath, “Doctor, I need the truth. Your status is important to me,” He caught himself and added on, “and the men of this battalion.” 

Dawn, who was controlling the speeder easily, looked at you, then to Rex then back to you before looking away. He wasn’t going to be a part of whatever was happening next between field doctor and captain. Something you appreciated because you weren’t leaving the side of the vehicle.

With a heavy sigh you shook your head, “Sir, it's a blaster shot. Nothing more, I promise.” 

The two of you had to keep your emotions under professionalism. But…well the moment you and Rex were alone there was definitely going to be a conversation.

“...very well, doctor.” he responded, staring ahead, “just…be careful next time.” His tone indicated that this wasn’t done. When the both of you had privacy, he needed to talk.

You nodded and continued onward. 

That was, until you heard a ‘whoosh’ followed by several explosions to the left of you. 

Another ambush!

Everyone scattered, finding whatever cover they could. You didn’t take the chance to stay, instead, grabbing the trooper on the speeder and stepping on the vehicle. “That way, now!” you snapped, pointing at an opening. The balance was off since you were hanging off the side of the thing, but the soldier did a good enough job driving you and the injured out of the line of fire. 

You grabbed the steering, forcing a sharp turn and stopping behind a large root dotted with glowing red. Poor Dawn nearly fell off after your sudden control, but neither you nor the injured on the stretcher cared. 

This is what you had to do. Lay low, protect the medical supplies, and treat the injured. You were close enough to see the fight, but still far enough away that the Umbarans could easily miss you in the foliage of the dark jungle. The problem was that since everyone scattered, the battlefield moved slowly closer.

The trooper stepped off the modified transport and crouched behind the cover. He readied his rifle, aiming it over the root, “I’ll protect you and the supplies.” Dawn sounded resolute but you noticed the tip of his blaster shook ever so slightly. 

“Thank you.” you weren’t going to point out his clear terror, so instead, you focused on the leg he didn’t put much weight on. At the angle he rested his ankle, you figured that was the cause of his initial limping, “Don’t move.” you said, tending to it. 

Torn muscle. Fracture. Bone still in place.

Simple. Blessedly simple. Better than the usual gruesome burns, broken bones or fatal wounds.

There was another woosh overhead, and two more explosions that followed. You looked up, the Umbaran starship twirled once before lifting higher in the sky. Through the smoke, you saw the shadow of a soldier reaching up for help, so you ran to him. 

The battle was moving closer to your position as the 501st was pushed back. It didn’t take long for you to grab the trooper by the shoulders and drag him back to your cover. An Umbaran raised their blaster, intending to take you both out, but Krell deflected the shot.

Oh, the bastard found your position. Lovely…

“I got you.” you spoke to the writhing soldier as you removed his cracked helmet. Immediately you got painkillers into his neck and began to assess. 

Bleeding left ear. Missing left eye. Massive laceration on left cheek and temple. Awake. Conscious. 

“Talk to me.” your words seemed to do something for him, as he snapped into focus and kept his rifle up and pointed at behind your position. He handled the wound well, acting like nothing phased him.

“Vaughn, my name is Vaughn.” he responded, managing to aim steady and fire at an approaching enemy, “Is it bad, doc?”

“Your eye is gone.” you told him the truth as you kept your focus on him, “But you’ll be alright.” You tried to speak again, but your voice was cut off by more explosions. Those flying ships were causing too much damage. 

The fight had moved to your position, putting the injured and medical supplies at serious risk. 

Dawn jerked back with a sudden cry. He collapsed, smoking hole in the middle of his helmet. 

Dead. another name to add to the list.

Krell carelessly stepped over his body getting around you and Vaughn. He looked uninterested as he pulled out a holocomm. You stopped paying attention to the General as Kix brought you another injured soldier. And then a few more managed to bring themselves to your side.

At some point, Rex joined Krell. You didn’t even know when he had gotten to your cover, but it was a relief every time you saw him alive. Jesse and Dogma had joined him, the latter taking a step in front of you to defend you and whoever you treated. 

You and Kix managed to get about nine soldiers stabilized when the order came out.

“We’re moving out!” The clone captain shouted, “We need to move! Now!”

There wasn’t much time to help anyone else at the moment. You ordered a soldier to drive the speeder. Once you stood, you draped a soldier's arm over your shoulder and held his side as you walked. Kix literally threw someone over his shoulder, and took hurried steps to follow the battalion.

Your eyes were on Krell as you marched. He didn’t even bother to look back at those that were hurt or dying. He didn’t know their names. He didn’t care.

But you did. And you’d add every name to the list you repeated in your head.

[indieyuugure]

Heyy Indie! Sooo I just begane with the comic TMS and I absolute love it! One question: why do u only post the parts on saturday and not when its finished?:>

But love ur work!

Have a nice day!😊💗

Aw, I’m so glad to hear you like the comic! ^v^

Hm, well, TECHNICALLY the pages are finished on Friday night, but I chose Saturday mornings because of Saturday morning cartoons programs.

I’ve found there’s something really nice about having something to look forward to all week and then be able to wake up and start a weekend with something you love. Several of the serial webcomics I read do this and I wanted to combine that experience with that of the childhood experience of Saturday morning cartoons.

Also as I mentioned the pages aren’t actually finished on any other days, I work in steps on all five pages so prior to Thursday and Friday which are the completion days, are just paneled sketches with some complete drawings mixed in and text bubbles.

Good questions! :]

[akai-anna]

Rambling post about The Art TM

Firstly, a special thank you to @livmadart who fuelled my motivation with her lovely tags on my art to finish making this post as soon as I could (life just likes to get in my way). You are such an amazing person and artist (by the way, everyone should totally check out Liv's BDay piece for our favourite little menace BECAUSE IT'S GORGEOUS), and your words always mean a lot to me (even if I'm not the best at communication, for which I apologize, still love and adore you, despite the awkwardness and sporadic talks).

The Idea

My art was inspired by the amazing @detshin's piece. Ever since I've seen it, I felt the urge to make a companion piece for it; I adore the composition and the symbolism in it to bits.

The Concept

I also wanted to take my own spin on the piece. From the start I wanted:

Conan's eyes not being covered (because he can see)

Conan looking at the viewer like he is looking straight into your soul. No thoughts, head empty why, it just felt right.

His mouth to be the one that is covered in some way. The sheer symbolism of his mouth being obstructed (but cannot speak) just made my heart ache so badly.

Changing the outfit based on this musing of mine.

As for the rest, it came about when sketching around, and waiting for that CLICK in my brain. And the forget-me-nots covering his mouth was that CLICK: SYMBOLISM IS MY LIFEBLOOD.

The Materials

I had 2 techniques in mind: watercolours and soft pastels. Ultimately I decided on soft pastels because

I haven't worked with pastels in YEARS, yet I adore the technique

I haven't used these pastels since I got them from an attic cleaning that we did for an old lady last year-ish (they would have been thrown away, after YEARS OF DISUSE and my heart couldn't take it, SUCH BEAUTIFUL MATERIALS TO WASTE AWAY)

I felt that what the material has to offer suited this particular piece: the vibrant colours offering a certain contrast to the original piece, and a certain feel (especially on the right paper) to the texture.

After some testing, I decided that going with a dark background works better: it made the colours more vibrant, and the slight texture of the paper did its magic. + Dark VS Light background colour was another nice contrast between the two pieces.

The Making

At first I didn't know what to use to sketch with, so I tested a couple things, and ultimately went with a white pencil: easy enough to erase if needed but also visible enough to see on this particular paper I had.

Looking up and studying tons of reference pictures for various things (sometimes with more, sometimes with less luck): the pose, facial features, the flowers... I have a whole folder of 'em LMAO

Actually drawing that sketch LOL

Then came the colours, which I tested on a separate piece of paper, to see which ones I want to use... After that I added the main blocks of colours.

And when I liked it, proceeding with the actual colouring: mixing all the different colours and layering them. In some places I used 4-6 colours (or more, depending how you look at it), while I used only 2, but mostly 3 in others.

Lastly: I used hairspray as a fixative, which slightly changed the quality and texture of the pastels and colours. (See below.)

The Feelings

As mentioned above, it has been years (I think around a decade actually, what the fck) since I used soft pastels, so it was a bit of a challenge to get back into using the material (and I'm not as experimental and confident I want to be yet, and likely fried my brain a little in the process). Also tons of fun, though! I forgot how much fun is there in the process of creation, and this piece brought that back into my life.