#just because doll is an identity I hold so dearly

[postdoe]

I understand why it would make sense to use it to fill that niche, but when the vast majority of writings on doll/witch dynamics basically turned into soft mommydom with light fantasy elements, it did eliminate almost all of the draw for me.

[cruelfeline]

Entrapdak/Hordak songs currently in my listening rotation. And I'm marking what I find to be the best lyrics just because!

Work Song - Hozier Especially: "My babe would never fret none; about what my hands and my body done; If the Lord don't forgive me; I'd still have my baby and my babe would have me; When I was kissing on my baby; and she put her love down soft and sweet; in the low lamp light I was free; heaven and hell were words to me."

Ashes of Eden - Breaking Benjamin The entire thing. Like, I will cry.

All That You Are - Goo Goo Dolls Essentially all of it, but especially: "You, see me through; I was alone in the dark, and the fear was my truth."

What I've Done - Linkin Park So let mercy come and wash away; what I've done; I'll face myself' to cross out what I've bcome; erase myself; and let go of what I've done.

And especially: "For what I've done; I start again; And whatever pain may come; Today this ends; I'm forgiving what I've done."

On My Own - Ashes Remain "Every little thing that I've known is everything I need to let go; you're so much bigger than the world I have made; So I surrender my soul; I'm reaching out for your hope; I lay my weapons down; I'm ready for you now."

This one is particularly funny because I'm pretty sure it's Christian Rock and has the exact opposite meaning of how I interpret it.

I Don't Care - Ed Sheeran "'Cause I don't care as long as you just hold me near; You can take me anywhere; ANd you're making me feel like Im loved by somebody." Break the Cycle - You+Me All of it.

Like Half the Centaurworld Soundtrack Pretty much anything involving losing one's identity and/or being separated from a loved one against one's will. Dearly Beloved - AmaLee (From Kingdom Hearts) "My Dearly Beloved; Be strong, I shall be there; Always here beside you; So, keep your head held high; The shadows of this world; Will try to steal you away into their arms; But you belong in mine."

Falling Apart - Papa Roach "I'll follow you out of the dark; I tried it my way; But I keep falling apart."

And: "I stand here again; Forsaken in a place that feels like I can never win; I'm reaching for a saving grace' I can't even trust no one; I need to rise above; I don't think I'm good enough; To feel your perfect love."

Crush - Dave Matthews Band "It's crazy I'm thinking; And here, I'll be dancing on the ground; Am I right side up or upside down?' To each other we'll be facing my love, by love; We'll beat back the pain we've found; You know I mean to tell you all the things I've been thinking; Deep inside, my friend.; Each moment the more I love you."

Flames - David Guetta "Go, go, go; Figure it out, figure it out, but don't stop moving; Go, go, go; Figure it out, figure it out, you can do this; So my love, keep on running; You gotta get through the day; There my love, keep on running; Gotta keep those tears at bay."

Time Stands - Nathaniel Rateliff I don't actually know; just the whole sense of it, somehow; the melancholy of post-Prime recovery.

[tiramisiyu]

Tears of Themis: Lu Jinghe’s Birthday - 6.13 “Decision to Compete”

Translation Masterlist

Event Story: 6.13 Decision to Compete | 6.15 Personal Instruction | 6.17 Building Block Dolls | 6.19 Participating in the Competition | 6.21 Birthday Celebration

Event Story Interviews: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

Art Gallery Boss: Young miss, all pieces displayed at the Rembrandt exhibition this time are priceless authentic versions. Your request is very…

MC: But he really is my very special friend. Just like you, boss, Rembrandt is also the artist that he holds in highest esteem.

Not long ago, I found out that June 21 was Lu Jinghe’s birthday. To give him a birthday surprise, I came to Stellis City’s antique art gallery, where they were about to hold an exhibition on authentic Rembrandt works. 

With Lu Jinghe’s current identity, if he were suddenly appear in a well-known art exhibition, aside from garnering attention, it might also cause additional problems. So, letting him enjoy the works of the artist he so admired without disturbances should be an excellent idea. After a sincere, long conversation, the boss finally agreed to rent out the venue for me before the exhibition opened.

Art Gallery Boss: You absolutely must be careful – do not bump into or damage them.

MC: I will be careful, don’t worry.

After confirming the venue, I opened my notes, checking over the other things I needed to prepare.

MC: Cake… I’ll order taro mousse, but what should I give as a gift? Watches, leather belts, ties? Lu Jinghe definitely isn’t lacking on these.

I logged into the shopping app, and “Today’s Main Recommendations” on the gift recommendation page caught my attention.

MC: These are… building blocks?

On the product pictures, hundreds of building block components piled together, creating a flowing, miniature city. In an instant, the scenes of what happened at the Lu Mansion played in my head…

--

Three days ago.

 Lu Mansion

Lu Jinghe: Careful!

In the Lu Mansion, gift boxes of all sizes were piled up, making it easy to trip if one weren’t careful. Good thing Lu Jinghe caught me in time.

Lu Jinghe: Jiejie, you’re too careless.

MC: It’s clearly because you have way too many gifts here. So is it almost your birthday? Otherwise, why would so many people give you gifts?

Lu Jinghe: Sure enough, I can’t hide anything from you. There’s still over half a month until my birthday, so those people came running over in a rush.

MC: “Those people” are…?

Lu Jinghe: Past business targets, children of other major families, plus some entertainment stars. Lots of people want to get in on the Lu family’s good graces.

MC: (As expected of Lu Jinghe – even his birthday’s got to shake up all of Stellis City.)

Seeming like Lu Jinghe had seen through my thoughts, he laughed quietly.

Lu Jinghe: So… shouldn’t you also send me a gift?

MC: Lu Jinghe, you’re not lacking on gifts, are you?

Lu Jinghe: For those sent by others, of course I’m not lacking on them. But ones sent by you…

MC: Ahem ahem.

After receiving Lu Jinghe’s hint, I faked a cough. Turning my head around, I saw the “main offender” that had just tripped me. This was a meticulously-wrapped box of building blocks, with modern-looking buildings printed on top, with “limited edition” written on in conspicuous text.

MC: Lu Jinghe, you play with building blocks?

Building blocks were a toy invented by the Austin family. They became popular worldwide as soon as they were launched, and now have nearly a hundred years’ worth of history. If they didn’t suit someone’s tastes here, toys like this would not appear here.

Lu Jinghe: I have played with them before – someone probably remembered that up until now. Although, I haven’t played with them in a long time.

MC: Why?

Lu Jinghe started to speak, then stopped, a troubled look emerging in his clear eyes.

--

Building Blocks Room

MC: So many… did you build them all?

Lu Jinghe took me to a room on the second floor of the Lu Mansion. What appeared before my eyes were innumerable building blocks models. From rich, colourful flower fields to the little roads of a foreign country’s streetscapes – there was even a proportionate reconstruction of Stellis University.

MC: Amazing! You must have spent a lot of time to make so many works, right? You’re so talented, so why didn’t you continue?

Lu Jinghe: Because…

Lu Jinghe walked to the French windows, sinking into a short silence. Golden sunlight shone on his side profile, creating a dappled light effect.

Lu Jinghe: On certain levels, I can no longer continue creating with building blocks…

MC: (What… Certain levels means…)

Lu Jinghe: My mother passed away right after I was born.

Lu Jinghe slowly began to speak, his voice quiet. I suddenly regretted asking a little.

MC: If you don’t want to talk about it, you don’t need to force yourself. Everyone has their own secrets.

Lu Jinghe: It’s fine. I have no secrets in front of you.

Lu Jinghe’s words were indescribably gentle, but my heart felt like a little like it had been yanked.

Lu Jinghe: Though I lost my mother, my father and older brother loved me dearly. Compared to others, I’ve never been lacking in anything. I even had more than them. Until I noticed that for both oil paintings or building blocks, I couldn’t create anything related to “family”…

MC: (How could that be… Speaking of which, “Z” has indeed never made anything related to “family”.)

Lu Jinghe: Are you feeling sympathetic? Looks like not being able to create “family” is no big deal, because it’ll at least make you sympathize for me.

MC: … Lu! Jing! He!

I faked anger, but my sad feelings had been swept away by Lu Jinghe’s seemingly joking words.

Lu Jinghe: Alright alright, don’t be sad. I thought about it after – perhaps I can’t create anything with a “family” theme because I’ve never had a major female figure around me, ever since I was little. If…

MC: If what?

Lu Jinghe: Ahem ahem… nothing.

MC: …

--

After coming back to my senses, my fingers slid over the screen.

MC: Since Lu Jinghe likes building blocks, I’ll send him a building blocks set as a gift. Although… which set should I send?

--

Home

To find a suitable gift set, I looked up lots of information online related to building blocks after getting home. Among them, an article titled “The first Stellis Building Blocks Competition will be held soon” caught my attention.

MC: Building blocks creator Mr. Austin’s out-of-print posthumous work – the “Future” series’ first public reveal; only one set worldwide. Cabin in the woods, a glass flower room, and an open-air art studio that faces the mountains. This work is called… “Future Home”?

Note: “Home” and “Family” are the same word in Chinese.

MC: (This set… looks like one that Lu Jinghe would like.)

I couldn’t help thinking of joining the competition, but I froze after scrolling to the next article.

MC: “Z” will appear at the building blocks competition as an evaluator, and many fans have signed up… “The Shepherd Girl” may become a competition topic.

MC: (Lu Jinghe’s going?!)

The theme of this competition was “World-Famous Artworks”, where people were to reconstruct world-famous artworks using building blocks. With Z’s works being so famous, becoming a topic of the competition wasn’t out of the question.

MC: (If he really is an evaluator, my participation will definitely be exposed, and I won’t be able to give him a birthday present.)

But would Lu Jinghe really appear in public under Z’s identity? Though this might be something made up by the hosts, I still decided to call and ask Lu Jinghe, just in case.

Lu Jinghe: Hello?

MC: I-it’s me.

Lu Jinghe: What’s the matter, did something happen?

MC: Nothing, I just wanted to ask – do you know about the building blocks competition being held next month? I heard that “Z” was going to be a competition evaluator.

Lu Jinghe: There’s actually this sort of news, huh. The host probably was probably afraid of being low on hype and let out fake news. If you’re suddenly asking this… did you want to participate? Then I can teach you for free.

MC: (Since Lu Jinghe’s not going, getting taught by him is indeed the best introductory method.)

MC: Is that alright?

Lu Jinghe: Of course. If you need it, I always have time. Besides, after today… Z’s appearances may become very rare.

MC: ?!

MC: I-is it because of Pax?

I brought up the guess I had. Sure enough, Lu Jinghe signed almost inaudibly on the other side of the phone.

Lu Jinghe: Yeah, balancing studies and Pax already expends too much of my energy. After graduating, similar impediments will only continue to increase. To an artist, it’s really easy for these sorts of conditions to cut off creativity, so…

Lu Jinghe’s voice had an exhaustion in it that was impossible to ignore.

MC: Lu Jinghe, if you’re working too hard, you can stop for a bit and rest.

Lu Jinghe: … I understand. But unfortunately, no one will give me time to rest. Before being “Z”, I am first and foremost Lu Jinghe of Pax.

--

After hanging up, Lu Jinghe’s words echoed in my head.

MC: So many people clearly like “Z”. Can Lu Jinghe really give it up?

MC: Right! It just so happens that lots of “Z” fans will be participating at the building blocks competition. I should gather some things that they want to say to “Z” and give them to Lu Jinghe! Even if he really can no longer create in the future, the fans’ encouragement would be memories worth treasuring.

--

That night, I submitted a registration form on the building blocks competition official site, as well as an application to interview the participants to the hosts. After registering, a participant list, including methods of contact, was sent to my inbox.

MC: (Next, I’ll practice building blocks as I interview people for what they want to say to “Z”.)

[tkc-info]

Awakened And Sleepless

OCtober 2021 day 3 - duel

2011

“CC, shouldn’t you be sleeping?” Dad asked.

Cal shook her head vehemently. “No! I want to kill zombies with you.”

Dad always let her stay up a tiny bit after bedtime so that they could play video games together. They were currently playing BioShock 2, and Cal liked how one of the main characters was a little girl like herself. She didn’t understand why Dad would rather go who-knows-where.

“We’ll kill the zombies tomorrow.” Dad promised, kneeling down on the hallway to look her in the eye and ruffle her hair “Mum and I are going on a date, and that is very important because we’ve been very busy. Aunt Cora and Sam will stay with you.”

“Mum can kill the zombies with us.” Cal protested.

She liked her aunt Cora and her partner Sam, but neither people played video games. And there was nothing like snuggling against Dad’s chest as they watched the screen.

“I refuse to kill any zombies when I could be dining at a fancy restaurant.” Mum called out from the bathroom, where she was painting her face with boring makeup “I simply refuse. CC, honey, when you grow up you’ll understand how important it is to have a nice date amidst the turmoil of your job.” she then began complaining about the director of the museum she worked in.

As she did so, Dad grabbed Cal’s hand and guided her back to her bedroom. He made to get her to bed, but Cal attempted to stay awake one last time. “Shouldn’t I be awake to say hello to Aunt Cora and Sam?”

Dad quirked an eyebrow at her. “They will arrive a bit late.” Aunt Cora delivered babies, and Sam was a doctor. Cal knew they would arrive late. That’s why she had asked Dad whether she could greet them “For now, only Mrs Bates will be keeping an eye on you. Do you want to say hello to her?”

Cal shook her head. Mrs Bates was the Everitt’s widow neighbour; she was kind enough, but always insisted on pinching her cheek, and joked about Cal behaving more like a boy than a girl. Cal didn’t like to be told that she was like a boy simply for not liking most of what her female classmates did.

“No!”

Dad chuckled and ruffled her hair again. “Then go to sleep, CC. Here,” he took the Peter Pan stuffed doll Oliver had got her for her sixth birthday “take Peter. Mum will come in a moment.” he kissed her forehead “Night night.”

“Night night.” Cal hid her face with her sheets.

She did not want to sleep, and so would not sleep. Cal closed her eyes and kept very quiet and very still when Mum crept into her room to kiss her goodnight. For good measure, she didn’t dare breathe until the main entrance had clicked shut, and Mum and Dad had gone away.

Only then did she kick her sheets aside, roll out of bed, and leave her room. Cal had decided that —if she wasn’t going to kill zombies— she would at least do the best next thing: reading.

Mum and Dad didn’t want Cal’s books in her room because she would ‘stay up late reading’. Which was ridiculously; Cal knew how to manage her time. Be it as it may, they’d hid her precious books in their room, where Cal couldn’t go to in the dead of night. It was all very unfair, Cal thought, but now that her parents were away and she alone (until Aunt Cora and Sam arrived)…

Well, who could blame her?

There was only one bookshelf in her parents’s room. Cal was tall —three centimetres taller than Oliver!— but couldn’t hope to reach the upper shelf her current book was on. Instead, she had to resign herself to some Nathan Drake-moves.

“I wish Tinker Bell were here.” Cal grumbled. She wasn’t a very good climber, and pixie dust was dearly needed. Alas, Tinker Bell hadn’t liked Wendy much, so she probably didn’t want to aid Cal, either.

Cal almost fell twice, but finally was able to get her book and carefully climb down with it on her head. Mission success!

Just as her feet were back on the floor, the front door opened. Cal’s eyes widened: Aunt Cora and Sam were here. They had arrived way earlier than she’d expected. This was bad.

She scurried to her room, trying to make as little noise as possible. In her room, Cal slid her book under the pillow, and covered her whole body with the sheets. By some miracle, she had enough time to fake being asleep so that Aunt Cora couldn’t see what she’d been doing.

“CC, are you asleep?” came Aunt Cora’s low voice, in a murmur.

Cal wanted to say ‘yes’, but bit her lip in time not to.

Soft pads announced Sam’s entrance. “She’s sleeping, my love.” he said. As always, his voice was higher than his girlfriend’s.

“I just want to check whether she’s actually asleep. Are you actually asleep, CC?”

Once again, Cal had to keep herself from answering. She closed her eyes tighter, wishing very hard to be asleep just so that she could wake up when Aunt Cora and Sam went out.

When the couple finally did —long minutes later— Cal felt a strange sense of drowsiness. It felt like she was only half-sleepy.

Cal rubbed at her eyes with her fisted hands, then sat up to take her book. But had she really sat up? There still was a head resting on the pillow. Cal tried to sit up, but she was already sitting up.

Her heart began beating a little bit faster, and she promptly scrambled to turn on her book light. The lamp illuminated the face of a redheaded little girl hugging a Peter Pan doll and breathing evenly. It was Cal; but Cal could look down and also see herself sitting crosslegged on the bed —completely awake.

What was happening?

Pressure built at the back of Cal’s eyes, and tears promptly slid down her cheeks as fear took hold of her. She wanted to tell Aunt Cora and Sam, but when she crept into the living room they didn’t seem to see her. They didn’t care.

And Cal’s body began hurting so much she could hardly breathe, much less talk to get their attention. The only thing she could do was follow a desperate voice —instinct, she’d later come to learn— and crawl back to her room.

She was too scared to talk; couldn’t talk what with her tears and the pain that had lessened but not disappeared.

The voice that had told her to come to her room spoke again. That is you it said, pointing at the grimacing body laying on the bed and this is you, too. it continued, pointing at the body that kept Cal awake.

Cal did not want to have two bodies, and tried to tell herself this was all a dream. She was dreaming. She was dreaming. She was dreaming.

She was not dreaming.

Nothing had prepared her for splitting into two. Mum had told her kids like Cal grew very fast, and Aunt Cora that one day Cal would have to go to her clinic for something very important. But Aunt Cora had talked of Cal when she became thirteen or fourteen, not six. And Cal knew how kids her age should grow because Oliver had explained it to her at recess.

Kids weren’t supposed to grow a second body.

The only reference Cal had to something similar was Peter Pan and his shadow; but the body on her bed wasn’t night-black, and neither was it the one she could control. They were identical copies.

Cal tried to glue them together, still. She got on her bed, caught her sleeping body’s limp arms and tried to fuse them with her other body’s. To no avail: Cal wouldn’t have had more success trying to fuse with Oliver.

Fear was replaced by frustration and desperation. She tried again, again, and again. And nothing. Cal couldn’t have told how long she spent fighting with herself to become one with the sleeping form —just that she couldn’t achieve her goal.

It was like duelling with a statue. One body would give her all, and the other nothing. But still the former would win, always.

Cal wasn’t crying anymore. She doubted it was because she’d become braver, but rather because no more tears would fall. She tried to seize the opportunity and regain some semblance of normal breathing. Maybe she should try a different strategy?

Sitting at the sleeping body’s right, Cal closed her eyes and tried to fuse it with herself gently. She tried to coax it into the union.

At first, nothing occurred. But the feeling of semi-drowsiness she’d had when this mess started eventually returned. Cal could feel herself awake and sleepy at the same time; could feel both her bodies. She tried to push them together, bend them into submitting to her wishes.

Her sleeping body’s eyes fluttered open.

Just as Cal thought she’d succeeded, a wave of pain clouded her vision and loosened her hold on the bodies’s connection. It was the worst pain she’d ever felt, and knocked her out.

Into her sleeping body.

Finally whole, the pain subsided; Cal’s heart calmed down ever so slightly. She tried to get to sleep, but could‘t without feeling her body begin to split. So, she didn’t sleep. Instead, she only focused on remaining calm. Breathing in and breathing out. Breathing in and breathing out.

But Cal only reached five breaths before someone burst into the room and turned all the lights on.

“Good morning, CC!” Mum announced as she and Dad rushed to her bed “We’ve missed you so much.”

Cal blinked, barely processing Mum covering her in kisses.

“Princess, shouldn’t you let her wake up?” Dad asked.

Mum tsked. “Don’t be like that.” she told him, giving him a kiss, too. But this time on the mouth and long enough for Cal to understand what was going on.

Was it morning? How long had she been awake —or half-awake?

“Have I been dreaming?” Cal asked her parents once they drew back. Mum and Dad knew everything.

“Of course you’ve been dreaming.” Mum tucked a red lock behind her ear “That’s what people do when they sleep.”

Cal felt suddenly very uncomfortable. It had all been a dream, right? And yet the lingering pain in her head implied otherwise.

“Did you have a dream?” Dad asked her.

Tentatively, Cal nodded. “I had a nightmare.”

She tried to believe her words. Yes, what had happened tonight had been a nightmare. She was now out of it, and would have no trouble sleeping next time.

That’s what Cal told herself the day she awakened to the doppelgänger insignia. And the day after that one, and the subsequent months that followed it. It was only when she’d come to reluctant terms with her Split —and shame had made a secret out of it— that she wondered:

Why?

@oc-growth-and-development @wagnerthedragon @iloveallmyocs @littleturtle95

[salvadoerena]

Who are your favourite OCs?

Listen. I have so many OCs it’s not even funny so I’m going to have to narrow it down to top 9 because that’s the smallest unit I can make in some vague but non-representative order.

Seraetia

James Nigel Kirkland

Pirate Captain, navy admiral defectee

Trauma re: identity and autonomy.

Out for revenge but unsure if it’s for himself or others, or if it will make him feel better

Just wants to feel normal again

Loves lots, but relationships are complicated for obvious reasons

Twunk

“Unfortunately, I have a conscience.”

James is one of those characters that I have SO much to say about that I absolutely blank out anytime someone asks. I’ve got a side blog dedicated to seraetia tho.

Misses Abel Dearly

Robert Jones (note: the image is a winged AU)

“I want that twunk obliterated”

Outwardly Sophisticated gay man in a het marriage for the power and job security, but he absolutely hates it. Having an affair with his son’s tutor.

He legitimately despises where he is in life, never wanted a wife (obviously) and never wanted a son, but he’s too afraid of change to do anything about it

Humble beginnings that don’t excuse current actions

Basically one of James’ foils; he’s the one who helped train him when James became admiral.

Yes I took a lot of inspiration from Flint and Silver Black Sails except instead of being in love these two hate each other

He would be a cubs fan irl

Inside he’s a messy disaster with dead siblings

Abel Calder Jones 

Robert’s son. So obviously he’s already doomed.

Family trauma. Robert ignores his existence and his mother, Beatrice, treats him like a doll or a prop

Obsessed with his image (thanks parents)

Was engaged to James, but James ended up breaking it off with him when Abel refused to leave the Navy. Then James stabbed him because he was going to force James to stay.

Anger issues that he never addresses

Current Navy admiral--not as good as James not for lack of skill, but because his entire admiralty is based off of spite and contempt for James, and also some heartbreak. Thinks if he ones up James then maybe he’ll come back.

Still very much in love with James but it’s irreversibly tarnished and intertwined with his bitterness and contempt for everything James has done and come to represent (i.e: his failures)

William Byrne

i love him

he’s a repressed bisexual whose first relationship did not leave him with a healthy understanding of boundaries which makes navigating his relationship with emmanuel so much more difficult

cares a lot about what his family thinks (for now)

would have a pet pig 100% without a doubt

house husband who craves domesticity

whenever i listen to “Teir Abhaile Riu” by celtic woman I always daydream about how he ends up meeting Emmanuel at a bar, they hit it off, he runs away from his home (stealing a horse to do so) and joins the crew and like takes the first steps to embracing himself

he still holds onto a coin/necklace from his first boyfriend, mirek, due to guilt and unresolved feelings, but eventually he’ll just drop it somewhere once he finally comes to term with things

quartermaster of the ellina and james’ best friend and confidant 

Jean “Rasstrelnikov” Utkin

he knits

boatswain

transguy who thought one way of being perceived as a man would be to pick a ridiculously hypermasculine nick name (rasstrelnikov AKA “the executioner”) but only he calls himself that. most other pirates know him by Caladian Tiger (top scars looking like stripes. he’s a furry though so he’s like. secretly pleased by it)

his main priority is his brother, Pasha, and by extension their step-sister, Katherine, who he holds a grudge against because he hates her mother (his step-mom) and because Kathy is....stubborn in her ways (don’t worry she gets better)

best friend is Beni. they had a mutual crush on each other that ended up going no where because neither acted on it and then they moved on. he’s now in love with a member of a rival ship, Thomas, who is basically a socks-n-sandals bard man

he loved economics and business but hates capitalism. don’t ask him how that’s possible he’ll just call you mean names and say “i just think they’re interesting”

he’s a jerk and i love him

D&D

Dolores Vryakina

i love her

love love love love love love lover her

she’s got a chicken named Nahreena and they’re best friends

she’s a dragonborn bard with a southern accent who plays the balalaika.

she’s got a fairly good moral compass, but has some anger issues. she’s basically a bardbarian because this was my first dnd character and i didn’t know how to balance stats lol a legitimate herbo if i do say so myself

she loves lots and has a habit of making little hats for people. one time she cast speak with animals and managed to get out of a fight with a pit of snakes by asking politely. helped avoid a fight with two stone dragons by asking politely. gave a child scoliosis trying to help him escape from a magic fight club. froze a man and used his decapitated head to hit his fellow bandit, then cast shatter on the frozen body. 

she was a chicken farmer/tavern bartender before everything started out!! now she’s an adventurer who’s gotten roped into saving a kingdom.

she cares deeply about her party members, Ilian, Charthos, and Rilzir, even though she (thinks) knows they don’t care as deeply about her. it makes her feel a bit inadequate at times.

the chicken controls her (no she doesn’t) (yes she does) (no) (but yes) (who knows!)

Welcome to Irth

Cyril Gonzalez

vampire-witch. in irth all witches have a specific magical medium (like paint or music or some such thing). cyril’s is tea leaves. essentially, what they do is “divine” an outcome based off the tea leaves, and their divination casts a spell. ex: cyril tosses some leaves in their cup and goes “hmm. tea leaves say i’ll get a refill” and their cup refills with whatever they were drinking

they’re a small business owner. they’ve got a tea shop called TragiTea that also doubles as their house. they run the night shift, and their best friend (possibly 👀 more  👀 👀) lonelletha+her sister thelma run the day shift. cyril has not hired anyone else because quite frankly their standards are stupid high and they don’t trust others. this leads to some, uh, varying hours in their shop.

when lonnie is kidnapped, they end up travelling with dominick in order to get her back

very mean, very sarcastic, very huge jerk. to put it in layman’s terms: the epitome of a tsundere

spoiler: they fall in love with dominick

Dominick Salazar

peryton-cervitaur

catholic

he is MEGA shy and stutters a lot because of it. he’s got some uh, self-worth issues going on in there, which cyril does not help with in the beginning

in love with lonnie

cyril absolutely hates him (at first  👀 👀). but that’s fine because he hates them too, at the very least he’s not fond of them. cyril’s mean to him (JEALOUSYYYYY TAKIN OOOOVER MEEEE) until he ends up saving them one time.

his arc is basically realizing he has to advocate for himself even if no one else does, and that just because people tell him he’s one thing doesn’t mean he is (similar to lonnie’s arc)

he’s a gym rat but in a polite way

i feel like he’d run a flower shop. he doesn’t, but he has that energy.

gets mind controlled at one point because i cannot behave and i love the trope (ends up fighting cyril before cyril can break him out of it)

spoiler: he falls in love with cyril

Lonelletha Rainsford

the cutest lil faun you ever did she

flowers in her hair that keep her in good health and good company. faun hair does not grow back, so if she cuts it, she loses those flowers. they’re VERY useful magical items though ( 👀 👀 👀 )

i love pulling her out of irth and using her as a therapist for all my seraetia aus just because she’s got therapist energy even though she, herself, desperately needs one

her arc is essentially coming to view herself as someone worthy of love and respect, and that her maturity isn’t something that defines her

she is TINY

i love her she dresses like an 80s jazzercise instructor

has a boyfriend named Estaban (Estafan? i kept forgetting his name and ended up writing both in my scripts lol)

catholic

double spoiler: she ends up with cyril and dominick (polyam rights am i right?)

[starlingari-a]

                                         MOTHER, MAY I ???

                                   [ open starters! / memes! / calls! ]                    low activity | starlet-hopeful oc | multi-verse {default: 60s/70s} | multi-most

MARIONETTE mar·i·on·ette || noun, thing a puppet worked from above by strings attached to its limbs. see also: DOLL, DUMMY, FIGURINE, MANIKIN, MOPPET

ARIENETTE ar·i·en·ette || noun, thing person! page 22, your favorite cult film starlet, a music video extra 45 seconds in. see also: ARI STARLING, JUST TRYING, MOTHER’S DARLING

                                ! i can be anything you like !

NAME: Arienette Marie Jones // ARI STARLING ! AGE: twenty-two HEIGHT: 5'5" MOTIVE: ubiquity. attention. approval. INTERESTS: the next big thing. piano. theater. celebrities. fame. getting gigs…. OCCUPATION: film extra, pianist, back-up, dancer, model, a pretty face in print. STATUS: trying; too scared busy to mingle, probably…

BETTER AS A CONCEPT : MOTHER DEAREST : IDENTITY CRISIS : AWKWARD WHEN NOT TOLD HOW TO DO OR BE : CAN NEVER AFFORD THE LUXURY OF SOLITUDE OR SELF-REFLECTION : AN UNINTENTIONALLY CONVENIENT SOCIAL CHAMELEON : EAGER TO PLEASE, BECAUSE WHAT ELSE IS THERE REALLY : EXISTENTIALLY INEPT : PERPETUALLY BUSINESS-MINDED : BIG BREAK OR BUST : NOTHING TOO SMALL

OH WHAT A BEAUTIFUL BABY !! indeed.

Her overture came just opposite as faeries do- on the dwindling notes of an infant’s first cry. Ari’s first gig happened as she’d assumed everyone’s would- Mother imprinted the green ghosts of a camera flash into her retina and called her Darling while toting her from Agent to Agent.

Somehow, between babbles and being handed sparkly baubles, the darling landed her part as a precious, chubby-cheeked sweetheart rolling about in diapers, pasted on every cardboard box at any Baby Shower you’d ever go to :: LOOK AT HER! A NATURAL! apparently…

The ARIENETTE SHOW continued on–  as Mother knew it would. Chain store baby clothes advertisements, local magazines, a couple spots as a teensy sweetheart in commercials, many crowns ( & cash prizes ) from tiny tot beauty pageants– and Mother decided; nobody would stand in their way.

Especially not Arienette’s father, who dared to protest with all his crazy ideas of children being allowed to play in the dirt and act like children: only took divorce papers and three hours in the car to get rid of that negativity. 

The credit companies- who INVESTED in dear Ari whether they wanted to or not- wouldn’t be able to dissuade them either: despite the many times they’d called or sent strongly-worded letters... 

Her darling Arienette ARI! was going to be a STAR,  she just KNEW IT, just a DARLING STAR !

ARI HAD TO BE A STARLING! 

OR ELSE THIS ALL WAS A WASTE!

EXTRA! EXTRA! 

PRETTY GIRL WITH A MOTHER HAPPY TO SIGN THE DOTTED LINE!

CUE, STAGE LEFT– the barrage of childhood lessons: tap, ballet, singing, piano (probably the only thing she truly enjoyed out of the whole mix), jazz, guitar, poetry: just enough of each that made it so she could manage, hold her own– but there had never really been any chance for one or the other to last long enough to become a honed skill…SAVE FOR HER TIME AT THE KEYS, Arienette absolutely loves playing piano… at least something good came from it all…

NEXT TRICK: On to classes: etiquette, niceties, literature, the art of conversation: Mother “home schooled” her to keep that impressionable brain free from those vile teachers, who think they know so much!

really, it was just strategically simpler to keep up with possible gigs, travel, and to focus those lessons onto relevant topics… important topics… off the record, don’t mind a thing…

all extracurriculars and lessons would be considering Mother’s discretion, of course.

Thus came her second calling, her re-birth, name chosen by Mother as carefully as every other bit of her was: ARI! STARLING! and watch her Icarus her way right to burnout!

OH, THE TRAGEDY–  but the years passed, as they do, and when you’ve grown from a darling blonde baby to just another pretty-enough girl in the midst of talented starlets and performers: all the fun goes from being a DREAM to a method of survival !!

But oh, she tried, and some would argue– at least for the few years that would be remembered as fifteen minutes– ARIENETTE MADE IT! Was even notable for a couple of those months- especially after she was just shy of a Scream Queen title in some low-budget cult horror flick, she got to have her name printed in the paper, Mother kept extra copies, and a couple big name ARTISTS actually ASKED for her! As could, and should, have been expected; those highlights turned dim after the time was up and another pretty girl fell into media favor. Once left in the wake of her own shadow, without the persistent approval of Mother or the calls from well known producers: she struggled.

Thus: when the days of being unable to will herself out of bed took over, the times when she couldn’t even pretend to smile, her SECOND ACT HAD COME AT LAST…

Until that 11′o’clock cue came as a fellow actress who suggested that Therapist.  A DOC WHO UNDERSTOOD! IT’S HARD BEING A MOTH SUSTAINED BY SPOTLIGHT!

Who needs a bitch face when you can just give ‘em pure, prescribed, apathy!?

The paparazzi caught on, when they snapped photos including her pouting petulantly at the glare of a camera lens flash during brunch with a singer she’d be modeling with… they loved it: READ ALL ABOUT IT: DARLING ARI STARLING HOLDS MELANCHOLY WITH GRACE– and thank God for that caption, Mother hadn’t been talking to her since she’d gone and gotten pills… but now that even her Depression can be spun into Media Fodder, it’s all just fine!

HELLO! HELLO! IS THERE A GIRL IN THERE?!

She’s not ungrateful, truly. Or even notably unhappy! Easy to say: she’s quite blissfully content with where she is… always chasing after the next role.

Just dancing on the knife’s edge of knowing who she is and who she is to be. But does it matter? Can you have one without the other? Who cares? Where does Identity go when there’s so little of yourself you even truly know?

all she’s so sure about that ARIENETTE is that she loves her books, the theater, and her piano- but is that really enough to substantiate a someone…?

It’s a sweet surrender, but at least: it’s hers.

Thankfully: at 22, mother’s had to loosen her reigns! EVEN IF SHE STILL RIDES ON ARI’S COATTAILS AS A CAREER CHOICE! but her influence remains an omnipresence. Her social circle has expanded, through minor gigs covered in fake blood or sitting in the background as an extra, through miscellaneous commercial jobs and mostly modeling: COME TO FIND OUT, Ari’s pretty cute when she sits on a car while those fellows with more hair than metal traipse about strumming their guitars. Those wide-eyes also make her a devastating addition to those creepy-crawly movies: she’s become a cult film favorite just for being so awkwardly her and so darlingly easy to slaughter: a good lamb for those weird wolves, you know. Sometimes, someone will pay her a pretty penny for promotional gigs: she just has to bother strangers and convince them to do or buy something, easy enough– she’s even made it in some album art before, mostly just an additional face within the crowd. Once, they even let her play the piano, probably her very favorite shoot even though you can hardly see her…

The plentiful small gigs keeps her bill cheap, even lets her venture into the realm of what might vaguely be able to be considered Passion Projects… her very favorite are her stints playing piano, and any chance she can have on stage in theater: but Mother says that’s a waste...

There’s no job too big ; yet, there’s also no job too small ; a gig’s a gig.

she likes this easy stuff, with these funny people, all in their own shows… the perpetual EXTRA, she is !

AND FOR THE RESUME:

> Diaper Box Baby > Toddler Beauty Pageants > Kids Commercial Magazine modeling > The Soup Commercial — (she is very proud of this one- first job she really remembers getting any attention for) > Various TV (mostly various local stations) Commercials > The Puppet Show, for about 4 years, one of the recurring child roles > Background Dancing / Chorus Line Spots > Ambiance Piano; playing in the background at very fancy parties, in hotel lobbies, at casinos, etc. (this, she loved, dearly, because she adores piano and people watching) > Modeling, teen magazines etc. > Extra work in movies, which led to a couple very minor roles. > About now she was permitted to explore theater more — (Mother says it’s a waste of time and money) > Niche found in low-budget / campy / cult-y / independent Horror Movies > Promotional Work, general. > Modeling with / for other performers and musical groups; print, music videos, album art > Dancing, still (chorus line / ensemble; burlesque; showgirl) > Any piano or staged theater gig she can land (her f a v o r i t e s) > Absolutely anything you will pay her to do…

WHERE TO FIND AN ARIENETTE:

> Waiting in line for an audition. > An audition, in general. Always. > At a piano.  > In a terrible outfit, peddling shots or cigarettes or windows (THAT WAS ONLY ONCE!) > On set, as an extra or background model. > Covered in fake blood, amidst some weird cult film or… something…  > A chorus line / A temporary back-up dancer / A swing performer / Ensemble > Playing piano in a hotel lobby. > With Mother, or someone Mother’s appointed. > On her way to or from lessons of some sort, wishing she were elsewhere. > Networking. Or, trying to. 

In general: Arienette’s quite accustomed to being used more as a prop than companion: to be there in hopes of making the main attraction appear ever more magnificent. To being posed, instructed, critiqued, told how to be or how to do. It’s her comfort zone, being theirs.

Considers herself the understudy of her own life– Ari Starling’s the STAR of this show, but sometimes Arienette does take the time to come out for a peek at existence, tends to require some coaxing before that facade breaks down, though: EVERY MISSED OPPORTUNITY IS ONE TOO MANY, AND ANYONE’S ONLY HERE FOR ARI! Doesn’t even take much offense, ever: completely accustomed to critique and criticism: which leads into how the treatment she would accept being steadied on a rather low bar. Hard to offend someone who’s been up for scrutiny since she could walk, even harder to cross boundaries she’d never had the power to set for herself…

that was Mother’s job…

Oh, and our Darling doesn’t mean to come off as pretentious, but she’s had pretention pearled into her bones so long- she can hardly tell where Arienette begins and Ari Starling ends… 

can be snooty, life is only a job interview, honesty is the best policy, there’s no point in shinin’ up shit… doesn’t think things through all too much in conversation that’s not being recorded, perfectly content with saying what’s on her mind: tendency to share strange things, never bats an eye. Almost comatose when unsure of what’s expected of her, too quiet when off-script, constantly asking: what do you want me to do?

what do you want from me? how should i be? where do i stand?

Nearly always on the verge of giving a PERFORMANCE, since, as Mother always said:

“ WHO CARES WHO YOU ARE UNLESS YOU’RE EVERYTHING, DARLING!? “

But, the real HORROR SHOW: What About When Mother’s Gone? 

what does she have left, but the connections that have been made and the reputation / identity that’s been crafted and constructed for her? Who is she supposed to be without the familiar puppeteer there to pull her strings?

WHO IS ARIENETTE JONES!? 

Well… she’s still trying to figure that out for herself…

NEED A PRETTY FACE FOR JUST ABOUT ANYTHING? HAVE WE GOT THE GIRL FOR YOU!

[capsicletho]

No More Running

a Steve Rogers x Reader series, written by @stvrktony | chapter 01

genre: romance

trigger: a car accident, but it’s not descriptive.

word count: 1488

author’s note: I was watching age of Adaline a while ago, and I started to realise how slightly similar Adaline and Steve are, so here’s a little something for you guys haha. Let me know what you think! If you want to watch Age of Adaline, you can watch it here. Events start to take place one year after Steve was awaken in the movie.

edit: this is a reposted first chapter, and i amended a few things in this chapter to fit the revamp ideas i had.

summary: reader had lived for a long, long time. the difference between her and cap is that, she was awake and fully aware as she watched decades after decades go by while she looked exactly the same in the mirror. she had to change her name and identity every few decades, losing loved ones, avoiding loved ones, and only owning a few things from her past that would remind her of who she really was. one day, she was met with a man who was a huge part of her old life. 

masterlist | nmr masterlist 

When the clock chimed its twelfth bell, everywhere in New York City was filled with laughter, chiming of glasses, applauds, and the beautiful fireworks lighting up the night sky. It was officially the first day of 1920. Meanwhile, exactly at 00:00 of the same day, your first cry echoed throughout the operating room’s walls. You were the first baby to be born in that year. It only took your mother one look to know that she’d sacrifice anything for you, and your father; well, let’s just say you had him wrapped around your tiny finger.

Your childhood was filled with happiness and utter perfection. Your father’s business prospered and your mother was easily the most loving and caring mother you could ever ask for. She bought you porcelain dolls to play with as she braided your hair and taught you to speak French fluently, just as she does. In time, you were enrolled into one of the best private schools in town, excelling remarkably.

Life seemed to be at your side even as you thrived to become a naturally beautiful and smart woman. Your parents had retired to the Hamptons, but you couldn’t come with them because you have an occupation to be responsible of, and you loved being an art curator dearly. You miss them every single day, but you knew that you would spend every Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years with them and your family.

The year of 1945 was quite different for you. Right after you celebrated your twenty-fifth birthday, you decided that you needed to drive back to New York after you blew out the candles, kept your father away from the third glass of whisky, and made sure your mother enjoyed the cake instead of slaving away in the kitchen to serve your entire family with the best meals.

So out in the cold snow, you decided to drive about three hours back to Manhattan, which was not a problem until the headlights of the car coming from the opposite direction blinded your eyes for a few seconds. But those crucial few seconds had just sealed your fate forever.

Everything happened as if someone was pressing fast forward on a TV screen. Your car rolled off the street and you tried to keep your hands rooted on the roof of your car, but it was quite useless. Before you knew it, the freezing water seeped into your car, causing you to shudder  and everything went pitch black. When you woke up at the hospital two days later with bruises everywhere and a few cracked ribs, people were saying how miraculous it was that you survived.

But as years went by, death sometimes seemed like a better idea. Your bruises and cracked ribs healed, but something did not.

“Morning, Jane,” the receptionist greeted just as you walked into the Guggenheim.

“Good morning,” you replied with a smile, your feet continued pacing against the marble floor towards your office. With all the different aliases that you have been sporting for the last six decades, you were not surprised on how you are improving on quickly adapting to the new name that you will use for the next ten years before you had to change your identity again.

As you sat in your office, you groaned. You had forgotten that your assistant had resigned yesterday to become a full-time housewife, so now nobody is going to fetch you your coffee anymore. Although you told her that she did not have to, but without fail everyday, your assistant brought your coffee for you anyway and you had gotten used to it for the past two years. With a sigh, you stood up and grabbed your handbag, heading out to the streets to the nearest coffee shop, deciding you might as well have breakfast. On the way, your phone rang and so you picked it up and you were immediately engulfed in a conversation with a possible client.

You are Jane Hopkins, well, at least for this decade. You have been an art curator since you came back home to New York from living in Paris the previous decade, and since then the Guggenheim has named you the youngest but most capable art curators that they have. Little did they know, you were actually 92 years old, so of course you knew of all the art history that there is to know between now and then. Not to mention, this was also your job before you stopped aging in 1945.

Ever since the accident you experienced on the night of your 25th birthday, you had never aged a day. No one could’ve explained what was going on with you, and that was why since the day people started to question why you have never aged a day, and when you were captured to become a test subject, you ran away and never stayed in one place for more than ten years. At first you moved around the United States, but even the big country was a small place for someone on the run, so you had to move out of the continent as well. You hadn’t been back in New York for almost thirty years and you’ve decided to come back exactly nine years ago. You were planning to move right before Thanksgiving and everything was coming together perfectly, except for your excuse to quit this wonderful job.

You were about to reach for the coffee shop door when a gentleman from behind you beat you to it and opened the door for you. “Thank you,” you glanced to him and whispered because you were still on the phone. Under his cap, you saw the most mesmerizing blue eyes ever. But you dismissed that quickly and began to walk into the coffee shop when he stopped you by placing his hand on your arm.

“(Y/N)?” He called out your real name. The name you were born with; the name no one from this decade would know of.

Your heart froze as you stared at him, unable to form the words that you need to. For almost seven decades, you’ve never introduced yourself using your real name anymore, so it is quite impossible for anyone from this century to know who you are or call you by your real name.

“I’m sorry, you have the wrong person,” you managed to let out after a person bumped into you as they were trying to get inside the coffee shop. You turned around, deciding against going into the coffee shop and quickly leaving.

“No, I’m sorry, wait,” he said, chasing after you. He got hold of your arm and stopped you again, he was ridiculously strong that you didn’t dare move. “It’s just that you…you look like someone I used to know,” he said.

That moment, you registered who the man was. They all call him Captain America, but to you, he was just Steve Rogers.

You were seven years old, walking down the street on your way to the sweet shop when you heard it. The sound of the metal trashcan in the alley banging here and there and boys shouting around. You peeked at what was going on.

“Hey! Stop it! Get away from him!” You yelled, stomping your flat shoes while your curls bounced as you approached the two boys who seemed to be beating up the skinny boy they had shoved against the pile of trash bags and trashcans. Angry, you shoved one of the boys and they stumbled onto the ground. The other one who appeared to be stronger looked at you, seemingly directing his anger towards you.

“Oh, look, Rogers! There’s your girlfriend,” he mocked.

Your face grew red with anger as you decided to kick the boy’s shins, causing him to exclaim in pain. His friend grabbed him and pulled him to run away. Meanwhile you turned to Steve who had already started to groan.

“Are you okay?” You asked, offering a hand to help him stand. He took it and stood up.

“Yeah, thank you,” he said. He seemed a little embarrassed that a girl was capable to shoo away his bullies more than he can; you can see it through his blue eyes –– they were mesmerizing.

“Where are you going?” You asked, examining the boy who lived just a few houses down from you.

“Uh...the candy shop,” he said.

“That’s where I’m headed too! Come on, we can go together!”

“No, I think…I think I should be going home,” he rejected.

“Oh…okay,” you sounded a little bit more disappointed than you should have. You had been watching Steve from afar in a while, and you have always wanted to get to know him, even if he was two years older than you, he did not seem as intimidating as the other nine-year-olds did –– so of course, you were disappointed that the one chance you finally have to talk to him was not going the way you wanted it to. “Bye, then!” You tried to call out to him, but he was already walking away from you.

TAG LIST:

@patzammit @lovelykhaleesiii

[stephicness]

Fantasy Daddy Simulator -- Final Fantasy XV x Dream Daddy Headcanons (Part 1)

Okay, I’m far too impatient to wait until this is all finished. SO HERE! Have the first part to the FFXV x Dream Daddy headcanons. c: It’s fun to write, that’s for sure, and it’s cool to think about the fun scenario of all these single dads. I hope you guys enjoy the day I go on our Fantasy Daddies though! (So weird to say that, not gonna lie...)

PREGAME NOTES

Let’s add about 15-20 years on these boys. Give them time for the children to grow older.

Let’s also say they live in that cul-de-sac area just like from Dream Daddy.

And the children are just me throwing dumb thoughts your way. Because yay for thinking up of headcanons (and child characters unmentioned!).

FANTASY DADDY SIMULATOR -- FFXV x Dream Daddy (Part 1)

Featuring: Noctis Lucis Caelum, Prompto Argentum, Ignis Scientia, and Gladiolus Amicitia

Noctis Lucis Caelum – Divorced, Father of Three Boys

Likes: Fishing, Sleeping In, Telling Stories About The Good Ol’Days Dislikes: Veggies, Cooking Heathy Things For His Kids, Not Being Able to Fish or Sleep

He was married to Lunafreya Nox Fleuret as part of an arranged marriage ordeal. But as time passed, they came to realize that they never really got the live they life they wanted to when they were immediately married at twenty-years old.

So they mutually divorced, yet they still remain very big and important figures in their kids lives, despite having a shared custody over them.

Noctis takes the kids for a month and then they alternate back and forth. But luckily for Noctis, Lunafreya just lives up the road, so they boys can really just pick where they want to go.

The boys ultimately decide that they’d rather live with their dad more than their mom. No offense to Lunafreya, really! They’re just, you know, more okay with Noctis being a chill dad than with Lunafreya being a proper lady mom.

Noctis is the kind of dad who will pretend to be asleep until noon on his days off, refusing to get up even when his little boys would jump on him and demand his attention.

Or demand food. Can’t they just make ramen like how Uncle Gladio taught them? Damn... Now he’d have to break out that emergency cookbook Ignis made him.

He likes to think his boys are good kids, but one would rather study for college and no social, one would rather socialize and not study for college, and the last one… Well, he wants to get into theatre.

The eldest son wants to follow after Noctis’s footsteps and own the family business as well. Just like how Noctis’s father did and his father did, etc.

Noctis tells a lot of stories about Regis to his kids, because he too misses his dad.

Besides the old nostalgic stories from when Noctis was a kid, he likes to take the boys out fishing. A lot.

The boys hate it, despite the middle son being a natural champ at it. So instead, they just sit on the boat, listening to Noctis talk about the story where he caught the Leige of the Lake for the fifteenth time. No way his dad caught that fish, but they’d like him have his moment.

And then, of course, the kids just get bored and jump into the water to go swimming instead, scaring all the fish away.

Noctis lets out a heavy sigh, but he takes off his chocobo cap and his vest before he jumps after them. He doesn’t have time to catch fish anymore because he has to catch his boys instead.

  Prompto Argentum – Donor Dad, Surrogate Father of One Boy

Likes: Photography, Hip Music, Chocobos Dislikes: Things That Cause Him to Panic, Bugs, High Places, His Creepy Neighbor

Well, he never got married exactly to have kids, and he never really banged a chick and knocked her up either. He was really good about being protected with how strict his foster dad was back then, and he… Well… Had some commitment issues with someone else usually on his mind.

But when he answered the door to a blond-haired, blue eyed, nearly identical version to himself looking boy standing at his door and shouting ‘Daddy!,’ Prompto screamed and slammed the door shut.

He then spent the next two hours calming down a crying little six year old with whatever he had around his bachelor’s pad. It ended up being Prompto’s collection of Choco-bonanza on DVD.

But with the boy distracted, he was able to check the boy’s back for something that would help him figure out why there was a six year old on his doorstep. Anything to explain why the hell there was a six year old on his doorstep.

It turns out, there was a note from a name he recognized: Aranea Highwind. A simple note that made the point very clear. “Look after our kid for a few days or I’ll fucking kill you.” The little lipstick mark in the corner was hardly anything comforting.

So it was up to Prompto to make sure that the little boy was taken care of, fed, was able to go outside and potty- Wait, that’s describing a dog. Prompto had no idea what the hell he was doing.

But the boy was relatively easy to manage, especially when Prompto decided to just take him to see Noctis and his kids. That is, until the Caelum boys decided to steal his chocobo doll and got him to cry for another two hours again.

But luckily, Prompto was able to bring his son over to Gladiolus’s. And since Gladiolus was the master at handling children, he easily gave Prompto all of the tips on making sure the little kiddo was alright. Thank god for the Gladdy Daddy! (He never thought he’d actually say that aloud.)

Despite Prompto having a hard time figuring it out at first, he really was a good dad and really grew to enjoy the kid. It made him wish he really was a dad.

And he only realized it more when he opened the door and saw Aranea standing there with Cindy, the little boy screaming. “Mommy! Mommy!” before dashing to his two mothers and kissing them both.

As it turns out, the sperm donation that Prompto made a few years back when he was strapped for cash was given to Aranea’s wife, Cindy. He was surprised that the two of them actually got married, thinking that it was only just them being good friends.

But after seeing just how attached their son was, Cindy and Aranea asked Prompto if he wanted to be apart of their son’s life more as his surrogate father. Prompto ended up holding back tears before he nodded and hugged all three of them.

Prompto ended up becoming a really important figure in his son’s life, sometimes having his son stay with him (after he child-proofed his place officially) and visiting his son on the holidays. He’s proud of his boy. Even prouder when his son took an interest in photography and wants to be a professional. Just like his dad.

  Ignis Scientia – Adoptive Father, Father of Two Girls

Likes: Volunteer Work, Cooking, Working, Sarcasm Dislikes: Cleaning Up Messes, When People Touch His Coffee, People That Bully His Daughters

For a man so devoted to his work as Noctis’s secretary, it’s a wonder why Ignis ever decided to have adopted anyone in the first place. He was married to his work, extremely concerned about the well-being of his living space and the like. Why kids?

Well, Ignis is a man who, despite often being busy with work, keeps himself busy with other things – especially volunteer work. He volunteers specifically at the homeless shelter to cook people a nice meal whenever he can drop by from his busy schedule.

And he just so happened to have met two young kids there as he was working, one eager to eat as much as they could because they loved Ignis’s cooking and the other just barely eating anything beyond a piece of bread. Curious about the girls, he asked the overseer about them.

It turns out, the two children were disowned by their parents after their son declared that he didn’t really feel like being a boy. His older sister followed him and they ran away from home together. They’ve been out on the streets ever since.

Ignis didn’t want to describe it as pity, but he knew what it was like to feel alone, especially having been adopted by his uncle when he was much younger. And to think they were disowned because one of them was just trying to discover who they wanted to be…

So Ignis befriended the two kids, gaining their trust slowly with food and conversation until they always asked whether or not Ignis would show up so they can hang out together. And as time passed, Ignis proposed the question: “Would you like me to adopt you both?”

The answer was almost instantaneous, and Ignis – to everyone’s surprise – because the father of two very beautiful girls. He tries his best to be supportive of his two daughters, especially as he’s helping one of them continue their transition. He loves them both dearly.

Usually if Ignis isn’t working, he’s usually cleaning up after his two typhoons for daughters. One is messy in terms of the sheer amount of clothing he spoiled her with and the other is messy in terms of food and plates being littered over their desk and couch area. It gives him something to do, but goodness…

Ignis’s dinner parties that he hosts for the neighbors are a real hoot too. He goes all out with it to make it fancy and his daughters usually are the ones to help him decorate the house to make it look nice. That is, until they try using his coffee cups for the guests. Hell no. They get the non-special cups.

His daughters usually get along with the neighbors, though the eldest daughter had some serious issues with the Caelum boys growing up. They would bully her and try to put gum in her hair for being a ‘nerd.’

Ironically enough, later in life, Ignis’s eldest eventually marries Noctis’s older son. Odd…

Meanwhile his youngest is doing well and has been recovering from her emotional trauma for before she and her sister were adopted by Ignis. She’s doing well and even started dating one of the Ghiranze boys. Dinners are awkward though as Ignis purposely sharpens his knives while talking to his daughter’s boyfriend.

His daughters are princesses, after all. If anyone tries to make his princesses cry, hell will break loose.

  Gladiolus Amicitia – Two(/Three)-Times Divorced, Father of Four Girls and Two Boys

Likes: Working Out, Teaching Literature, Playing With His Kids Dislikes: Divorces, Doing Paperwork/Grading, Arrogant Little Assholes

For a guy who’s the king of charm, he really has a hard time trying to stay in a proper marriage. It’s not because of him, remarkably. He just has some pretty rough choice in women.

The first one, where his eldest son and daughter were born, was when his wife flatout just decided to run off with her ex-boyfriend and leave the kids behind with him. The second was a mutual divorce as his wife decided that she needed to pursue her career, but she’d visit when she could. It’s rare that she does, so Gladiolus takes care of the twins he had with this wife.

There is a third time too, but technically they didn’t marry. Instead, he and his fiancé stayed fiances another set of twin girls. And then his fiancé broke-up with him and ended up wandering down a darker path he didn’t want his kids going through.

Yup. Gladiolus had some pretty bad taste in women. But that didn’t stop him from adoring his children.

Yeah, the family is a busy one, and it’s really rough for a single dad to take care of it all, but he’s had six kids to practice on. Four those kids being twins of some kid too, so he’s extremely skilled at juggling children.

Quite literally in one case. He felt awful about it, but middle twins still laugh about it and the small scar on his middle daughter’s forehead. Apparently it looks like a tonberry with a ninja sword.

You think he’d have crashed and burned by now, but Gladiolus is the dad of the year! At least, that’s what his kids like to declare. He just got lucky with his boss, Cor, really liking kids. So on the days where Gladiolus couldn’t get Iris to babysit, Cor would just casually just keep lecturing on his studies with twins in his arms.

In exchange for Gladiolus grading papers all day.

Compared to a lot of parents, Gladiolus tries his best to be a more lenient parent when it comes to these whole ‘changing generation’ type of things. He’s gotta keep with the times, after all, if he wants to keep with the kids.

But he still has a hard time sometimes coming to terms with the fact that his second eldest daughter is dating another girl. It was shocking to him, considering how she always had such macho boyfriends. But her dating a girl wasn’t exactly that surprising either.

What was surprising was noticing that Gladiolus’s daughter was dating Ravus’s daughter. Tall, scary, never smiling. Yup. Definitely Ravus’s kid.

But so long as his daughter was happy, he would be too. Besides, usually he would be the one giving death stares to his daughter’s boyfriends, but Ravus’s daughter was scary as hell. Damn…

Besides, he had to make sure that his two youngest daughters weren’t trying to stuff the dog in the drawers again. He’d rather not open up his underwear drawer and have to see Behemoth (the wiener dog) napping in there.

[sacredholylight-blog]

Broken Dreams

“Just like a dream, I was born to fade when morning breaks...”

Darkness covered her in a thick veil. Only shadows seemed to roam here in this forgotten little corner. The company here hadn’t been her first choice either. Rats chittering and the occasional magitek soldier staggering past her prison cell, visible only by the eerie, unsettling glowing eyes. Thin wrists clad in an unfamiliar metal were strung up above her head while her ankles adorned similar oppressive jewelry. Was this how the puppet felt, held together with strings and forced to entertain at the whims of others? For days she was left in this solitude, put aside like an unwanted doll. Every so often, men would visit with ill intentions in mind. Clad in their military garb they would approach her, demanding things of her she could not give, for she was not a genie. They left spilling foul words from their mouth like vomit, but not before harassing the Astral. Bruises decorated her ivory skin, the skirt of her dress torn and frayed. 

All of this was because of her true identity. Carbuncle, the guardian of dreams. 

It had been by sheer chance that the men had caught her, weakened from a fight prior to their meeting. Sore, exhausted and unable to fade from this world back to the safety of her dreamworld, they had captured her like some wild animal and caged her. 

Carbuncle had gleaned bits and pieces of information from the guards that came in and scowled at her, come to gawk at the once mythical creature turned reality before them. It was widely thought that Carbuncle, being something otherworldly, surely had power of her own. Once, nothing more than a fairy tale, but they had seen her abilities with their own eyes. The way the small fox aspect melted away, becoming a young woman in mere seconds. If this was possible, was it so far-fetched to believe that the Dream Weaver could access another plane of existence? The very world she protected dearly? 

Even now, alone in her cell, she shook her head. “I have no power like that...” Although she had repeated these very words many times to the mortal men, no one ever listened. Determination, even at something as fleeting as a dream, was a powerful thing in the hands of men. 

It wasn’t until the clattering of chains beckoned the Astral that she begun to realize something was happening. Her holding cell was surely a few levels below the surface of what she assumed was a military base, but even at this depth, something was causing her chains to rattle. In fact, the whole area was shaking. Was someone invading? This was her chance! 

The young woman lifted her glistening forest green eyes from the floor and began to concentrate. A signal... She needed to get a message out there. Anything at all would suffice. 

[[ sms ???:: ]] ‘Hello?! Is anyone out there?’

The message was sent to all nearby phones within a two mile radius. She didn’t imagine the base was that large, but it was best to be safe rather than sorry. The next, and last, message the Astral could send was something of broken app. The screen of the phone would turn black, as if switched off, until pointed in her direction, in which a soft ‘ping’ would emit from the cellphone along with a faint blue beacon indicating her location. 

[sacredholylight-blog]

“Just like a dream, I was born to fade when morning breaks…”

Darkness covered her in a thick veil. Only shadows seemed to roam here in this forgotten little corner. The company here hadn’t been her first choice either. Rats chittering and the occasional magitek soldier staggering past her prison cell, visible only by the eerie, unsettling glowing eyes. Thin wrists clad in an unfamiliar metal were strung up above her head while her ankles adorned similar oppressive jewelry. Was this how the puppet felt, held together with strings and forced to entertain at the whims of others? For days she was left in this solitude, put aside like an unwanted doll. Every so often, men would visit with ill intentions in mind. Clad in their military garb they would approach her, demanding things of her she could not give, for she was not a genie. They left spilling foul words from their mouth like vomit, but not before harassing the Astral. Bruises decorated her ivory skin, the skirt of her dress torn and frayed.

All of this was because of her true identity. Carbuncle, the guardian of dreams.

It had been by sheer chance that the men had caught her, weakened from a fight prior to their meeting. Sore, exhausted and unable to fade from this world back to the safety of her dreamworld, they had captured her like some wild animal and caged her.

Scarlett had gleaned bits and pieces of information from the guards that came in and scowled at her, come to gawk at the once mythical creature turned reality before them. It was widely thought that Carbuncle, being something otherworldly, surely had power of her own. Once, nothing more than a fairy tale, but they had seen her abilities with their own eyes. The way the small fox aspect melted away, becoming a young woman in mere seconds. If this was possible, was it so far-fetched to believe that the Dream Weaver could access another plane of existence? The very world she protected dearly?

Even now, alone in her cell, she shook her head. “I have no power like that…” Although she had repeated these very words many times to the mortal men, no one ever listened. Determination, even at something as fleeting as a dream, was a powerful thing in the hands of men.

It wasn’t until the clattering of chains beckoned the Astral that she begun to realize something was happening. Her holding cell was surely a few levels below the surface of what she assumed was a military base, but even at this depth, something was causing her chains to rattle. In fact, the whole area was shaking. Was someone invading? This was her chance!

The young woman lifted her glistening forest green eyes from the floor and began to concentrate. A signal… She needed to get a message out there. Anything at all would suffice.

[[ sms ???:: ]] ‘Hello?! Is anyone out there?’

The message was sent to all nearby phones within a two mile radius. She didn’t imagine the base was that large, but it was best to be safe rather than sorry. The next, and last, message the Astral could send was something of broken app. The screen of the phone would turn black, as if switched off, until pointed in her direction, in which a soft ‘ping’ would emit from the cellphone along with a faint blue beacon indicating her location.