#let’s chat and have fun!

[viperwhispered]

Too Hard

Woop part 2 of the trip inside Jamil's head. Part 1 here.

The next time Jamil caught sight of you on campus, his first instinct was to turn around on his heel.

What a stupid thought to have because of you.

Besides, that would only make him more conspicuous, not less.

So, when your eyes met his, Jamil gave you a short nod in greeting. He would’ve left it at that and kept on his way, had you not walked up to him.

“Hi Jamil! How’s it going?” you said with that impossibly disarming smile of yours.

Why was it so difficult to look at you like he normally would? You had no right to make him feel so stiff, so unnatural.

On autopilot, Jamil exchanged a few pleasantries with you - those lessons from his parents had been instilled too deep in him for him to falter too badly in a simple exchange such as this. Still, Jamil quickly excused himself by telling you he still had to find Kalim before his next class.

Jamil didn’t miss the way your smile faltered. Had you hoped to get something out of him?

“Oh, okay. I’ll see you two later, then.”

Something about that irked him, though Jamil did not allow himself to dwell on it further.

His heart really had no business still racing as it did when he walked away, unaware of the frown on his face.

Just act normal. That’s all he needed to do.

After all, he had no time for dwelling in silly fancies.

If Jamil had been acutely aware of you before, it only seemed to worsen now that he was making a conscious effort to not act any differently with you. In fact, the harder he tried to keep you out, the more you invaded his thoughts, unsettling him.

The most innocuous words from you looped in his mind, and even the simplest actions caught his eye. For goodness's sake, he’d found himself staring at you while you were queueing up in the cafeteria the other day, not even doing anything other than standing around and looking bored!

For once, Jamil found himself grateful for all his duties. At least they provided him with something else to occupy himself with.

After all, if he was busy enough, it was difficult to think about those bright eyes of yours, your sweet laugh, or the way you bit your lip while thinking.

Still, sometimes it felt like no matter which way he turned, you were there, ready to throw him off-kilter. Not like it was his fault that often the most convenient route to class intersected with your daily routines. Or that your face seemed to jump out from any crowd, catching his attention.

Which certainly did not help his basketball performance. Jamil certainly did not recall you having such an interest in sports before, yet suddenly you were always there, distracting him. What had changed?

Could you possibly-

Jamil scoffed to himself, forcing his thoughts back on track for the nth time that day.

He picked up the tray of food and started taking it to Kalim. After dinner, he’d need to help Kalim with his homework, there were some housewarden tasks that would need dealing with, not to mention the preparations for the next-

Jamil froze in his tracks.

The voice he heard was quiet, but it was unmistakably you.

Really, it should not have come as such a surprise to him. You had become a rather frequent visitor to Scarabia, and Kalim often invited you to stay for meals. In fact, Jamil had started planning the dorm’s meal prep with your tastes and dietary restrictions in mind, just in case.

Jamil rounded the corner with strange exhilaration, his heart fluttering needlessly.

Yet, his mood evaporated when he saw you.

Why did you stop talking and look so guilty as soon as you caught sight of Jamil?

Jamil knew that look you gave to Kalim, had used it himself a thousand times. The one telling Kalim to keep quiet about something.

What could there possibly be that you would be comfortable sharing with Kalim, but not with him? That would give Kalim reason to sit so close to you, a comforting hand on your shoulder?

Jamil's mind raced with possibilities, yet could not settle for any single explanation.

He’d have to ask Kalim about it later.

Jamil gave you a short, polite greeting, his eyes lingering on you in an attempt to read what you were hiding.

“If I’d known you were coming over, I would’ve prepared something for you to eat as well,” Jamil said, already thinking about which parts of the dorm’s dinner to spruce up for you.

“Oh, no need, just figured I’d pop by. I’ll get out of your hair soon enough,” you said, something sheepish about your expression.

As expected, Kalim asked you to stay and dine with them, and with just a bit more persuasion you agreed - though not before telling Jamil that he should join you too and have himself a breather.

And since Kalim agreed with you, Jamil soon found himself sharing a meal with you and Kalim. Yet, even as he sat down with the food, his mind raced.

Had you been getting particularly close to Kalim lately? But surely Jamil would’ve noticed such a thing. Maybe someone from the dorm had been giving you trouble? But if that was the case, then surely you could let Jamil know about it, too. Unless for some reason you did not want to? But if it was something that concerned Kalim, then sooner or later it was bound to concern Jamil, too.

All the while, Kalim was talking to you about this and that, the latest topic being the animals kept on the Asim estate.

“I’ve got some pictures, let me show you!” Kalim said with an excited grin.

Only, a thorough patting of his pockets and a look around confirmed that Kalim’s phone was nowhere to be seen.

Jamil pinched the bridge of his nose. Where had Kalim left it this time?

Before Jamil even had the chance to say that he would handle it, Kalim sprinted off. Jamil hesitated for a moment, automatically halfway up from his seat, before he decided that leaving a guest unattended would be a worse offense than not helping out his master.

Jamil slumped back down with a sigh, mentally tracing the path Kalim took today, trying to recall the last time he saw Kalim handle his phone.

“Breathe. He’ll manage,” you said. There was the faintest of smiles on your lips, and Jamil could not decide if it was knowing or amused. Perhaps both.

Somehow, despite his frustration, Jamil’s own lips wanted to curl up too.

“Hmm. Maybe he will.”

Sure, Jamil could’ve called Kalim’s phone, to make it easier to find, but it was not that urgent, was it?

Jamil took another bite of his food, keeping an eye on you from the corner of his eye.

How was his mind so empty and so buzzing at the same time?

“You know-”

“So-”

You looked at each other, both just as surprised that the other had spoken up at the same time.

Even your surprised look was so-

“You first,” Jamil said. The way you bit your lip... Jamil had to raise a cup to his lips, slowly sipping his drink.

“Just… Feels like it’s been quite a while since I’ve seen you be still, you know. Or exchanged more than two words with you,” you said. You were attempting a light, joking tone, yet it was quite clear there was more to it.

“You say that like it would be unusual for me to be busy.”

He was not prepared for the way your soft sigh tugged at his heartstrings.

“No. It is not.”

You were both quiet after, poking at your meals. Normally, Jamil would’ve cherished such a moment of peace, yet this particular silence between you two was decidedly awkward.

Where was your usual chatter? Why weren’t you looking at him like you usually did?

“If you’re worried about me, don’t. I’m fine,” Jamil said, some softness creeping into his tone despite his best intentions.

“That's what Kalim said too,” you said. Yet the way you looked at Jamil made it clear you were still skeptical.

Wait.

Had you clammed up earlier because it had been Jamil you had been talking about with Kalim? That Kalim had comforted you about?

The thought twisted his stomach into knots.

Eta: you can find part 3 here, part 4 here, and finally part 5 here. Hasdhfsdf the way I fought with that last scene I swear. I don't even want to know how many versions I went through, trying to figure out how to say what I wanted without rubbing it into your face or making it too veiled. The joys of trying to convey things through a limited pov. Hopefully it came out reasonably balanced in the end. Rip to all those sentences that were lovely on their own but didn’t work for the whole. Hopefully I can rehome y’all one day. I do have thoughts for part 3 and part x (might be some chapters between those two as well, who knows at this point), so maybe we'll see those at some point, too. Tag list: @colliope @crystallizsch @diodellet @jamilsimpno69 @jamilvapologist @twstgo If you'd like to be tagged for future works, let me know! (Just be aware that sometimes I do also write nsfw, though you can certainly ask to be tagged only for particular kinds of works.)

[jklpopcorn]

crying and sobbing i was supposed to draw doodles of my ocs but instead all there is is Siffrin

they're so shaped i have to draw them

also

100% :)

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Based on a real group chat convo (I was Jingyi)

[merakiui]

angel and devil on your shoulder as the leech twins except they’re both devils they just argue who’s bad idea u should do XD

OOOOOO omg devil!Jade who is always up to no good... and then angel!Floyd who is objectively the worst angel ever. T_T he's the least holy angel you'll ever meet (he's committing sacrilege daily and archangel Rollo is going to kick him out of heaven for one more infraction), but at least he's sort of good at his job (i.e. he's good at lazing around and putting good vibes out into the world)???

He's assigned to you as your guardian angel and all is well until Jade worms his way into your life, ready to lead you astray with all sorts of mischievous temptation. He's the soggiest incubus you've ever met because he thought it'd be cute to look pathetic and hungry, but you refuse to let him feed from you and now he just looks silly when he's all splayed out on your bed like a nude model in his skimpy outfit. :( mission failed successfully? Because now he's so whipped for you, the only human who's able to resist all of his charms. He thinks he'll stay for a while; your home is very comfortable. <3

Floyd's kicking him out because you're his human shrimpy. It's his job to look after and protect you. Jade is not welcomed here. >:( Floyd's jealousy gets the better of him and maybe he's being petty when he blesses your house and puts all sorts of magical seals and enchantments on it to ward off devils like Jade, but this is only because he wants you all to himself. How else can he possibly have a chance with you if Jade's so annoyingly relentless with his attempts to charm you into sex? T_T

[fridayyy-13th]

gotta love seeing people going "did cecil have any cultural impact though, no one listens to podcasts" during the whole sexyman rematch because friends. comrades. amigos. wtnv was one of the first fandoms on tumblr, with cecil clearly and openly stating he was in love with a man within the first six minutes of episode one. in 2012! gay marriage in the us wouldn't be legalized for another three years and media representation at the time was very few and far between. smh learn your tumblr history

[satans-knitwear]

Thought I should do a Look™, but didn't think as far ahead as Actual Clothes, so here we have... This.

Treat me ~ Tip Me ~ More of me

[raycatz]

I'm not including a situation where someone might be injured because in that case I'm thinking the bed goes to them by default or they are nominated for it. anyone who wants to be chatty goes to join the living room floor gang.

What are your thoughts and headcanons? Do you have thoughts on how the boys tend to approach assigning beds in inns? Who do the chain choose to sleep near when camping and why? What are their dynamics like when settling down for the night and getting ready for the day?

In "Mirror Vs Open Closet Door: Fight!" by Gintrinsic (here) Four refers to the chain's decision on how to split up between inn rooms as the "Link-per-room ratio" which I find very funny. He, Sky, and Time also talk about their thought process behind why they do or don't want to sleep in a room with some of the others which I find fun and interesting.

So! If you have thoughts and want to share them! *gestures to the post!*

[bookwyrminspiration]

some highlights from the first keepblr skribbl.io session <3

(artists: @camelspit, ash, @aphelea)

what a delight--there'll be another session at 8:30 est if you missed this one :)

[cellgatinbo]

ok so i know that they. don't exactly have the best history on the island so far, but i really want charlie and cellbit to hang out sometime. let the rpg nerds nerd out together in peace. and while charlie mostly goes for the funny sillies with everything he does, he can also appreciate and do some really good horror when he wants to. (see:blood in the bayou)

[dulcesiabits]

If Furina has a million fans i am one of them. If Furina has ten fans i am one of them. If Furina has only one fan then that is me. If Furina has no fans, that means i am no longer on the earth. If the world against Furina, i am against the world.

[patrochillesvibes]

Het were achilles and patroclus cousins? It's never been said in the illad yet people say that patroclus's grandma is achilles's great grandma , even though the illad never says this??

Maybe.

Here's Achilles' family tree per my Caroline Alexander translation:

I don't have a digital copy of Emily Wilson's translation, but it is relatively similar.

As you can see, Patroclus is not in the family tree.

Homer does mention Patroclus' father, Menoetius, a few times. He also mentions that Menoetius is the son of Aktor (or Actor). No mention of a mother.

Pindar suggest's Menoetius' mother being Aegina. Sound familiar? It should because Aegina had Aeacus who had Peleus.

Weird, right? Wouldn't that make Patroclus a peer of Peleus. Of course Aegina is a nymph and and nymphs are immortal, so a generation could have passed between her having her two sons.

I remain skeptical. I think if Patroclus had such a famous mother she would probably be mentioned by Homer as Thetis was mentioned. BUT THEN AGAIN these people were SUPER sexist so 🤷‍♀️

Here's the infamous Google family tree to explain the possible relation:

Here's a better one.

What is that like first cousins once removed?

So given it's not explicit in Homer and the connection and understanding of other sources is dodgy at best, it's really a matter of how /you/ want to define what is canon.

Is your canon The Iliad? Is it the entire Epic Cycle which we only have parts of? Or is your canon all works of Ancient Greece?

I mentioned this in another post, Greek mythology is fucking frustrating for this very reason. We know of a bunch of ancient authors who wrote about mythology and they each had their own headcanons. And of course no two headcanons are the same, just to fuck with us some more I swear.

For emphasis, here's a summary of the different hcs for Patroclus' mother:

But back to the cousin thing...

At least in various civilizations in Europe, marrying your first cousin was a thing up through the mid-20th century. Just Google search any European royal family. We mainly only now find it "weird" or "creepy" bcs of our modern understanding of genetics.

Google is telling me it was common in some periods and some areas of Ancient Greece. So if they were cousins, it most likely would not have been considered "icky" by their contemporaries through Homer. I mean those ppl in Athens created ritualized pedophilia so I think cousin incest is pretty tame in comparison

Many of the headcanons floating out there by all these dead famous white men are contradictory. For example: there are multiple versions of how Achilles gained his powers, there are multiple versions of Achilles' death. It can't all be true! So pick what you like and move on. Or better yet, make up your own canon for yourself! Don't stress about it.

[imthepunchlord]

Since the show gave us two different Cat hero designs for Adrien, I kinda wonder what people like/prefer between them.

[fadewalking]

More from Part One.

[flightseason]

I don't think grinding for currency is a good way to keep people engaged with Sky; on one hand TGC acknowledges that candle running has become a chore, but on the other, the ways they said they thought about to keep players active for at least half or more of an event revolves around grinding (either with the high prices or by adding yet another currency).

Also I can't put it into words well without sounding like I'm reaching but is anyone else confused by how AFK farmers were talked about ? Like I get the frustration because I've been in a server where everyone was asleep while trying to open doors, but I don't think "exploits" are the root of the problem.

Which leads me into my next comment, there's this push to make us social that quickly becomes suffocating when you're more introverted and don't always have the social batteries for that. Sky is a social game so I find the expectation that I should be helpful and courteous to strangers reasonable, but expecting and forcing players to constantly interact with eachother becomes exhausting, especially since you can't properly curate your experience (the block system is wack and you can't stop someone from teleporting to your server once you became friends) so it feels overwhelming, especially with people that get clingy that may range from young children that don't mean to be like that (which I can tolerate) to folks that talked to you once, so now you're their therapist/partner... And I find it also affects closer bonds too ? There's this general unease around enforcing boundaries, I have to reassure new friends that they can tell me they're busy or can't hang out for any other reason, since I sometimes teleport to them just out of curiosity to see what they're doing.

It's just my two cents of course, but I think that there should be proper ways to enforce boundaries before players are pushed to talk to eachother if you want a majority of them to happily do so.

[todayisafridaynight]

Share Mine notes please I beg (and on the arakawa fam if you have the timefkfd)

forgive me if these are messy as all fuck i'm not good at making notes BUT here's everything i generally keep in mind when drawing mine and hijikata + the reference sheets i look at when drawing them :)

arakawa family notes + references below:

(more notes about aoki + sawashiro's faces ft. ikumi here)

[samarecharm]

Man. Goro being in strikers wouldve been soooo fucking good. Especially w the surprisingly good writing and plot??? You have to live w the consequences of your mistakes? You dont get to just Die and leave the mess you made behind? You have to confront the people youve hurt and accept that they may never forgive you? That people who care about you and love you will support you even when youre at rock bottom as long as u show a willingness to change and do better? This wouldve been a perfect way to tie up Goros whole story in neat little bow 😔😔😔